26 Dec 2010 - Alvorada Area

"My sweet bike which is better than Michael's"

19 Dec 2010 - Alvorada Area

I will call you guys and tell you what number to call, which will be the phone at the chapel. Yes I have a cell phone, this is the 21st Century. I didn't call last weekend because I didn't have the number in California and you guys were already there. I will call sometime this week to let you guys know. I didn't email Mom because there wasn't much to say. So she shouldn't get mad or anything :) We went to the beach this last week with our President. It was fun and I got a lot of pictures. The water wasn't very clear, I guess I need to go to another part of the beach. Fortunately, it wasn't sunny or else I would have been BBQed because I'm pretty sure the sun scrapes the tops of the trees as it goes by...

It has been raining, but sadly only during the night so it doesn't really do much but get all of the clothes dirty and wet that are drying outside. Then it is hot and muggy during the day.

12 Dec 2010 - Alvorada Area (Mom)

Transfers were today but I stayed and a new Elder came...Elder Oliveira Santos. He is from São Paulo, I like him so far. I was glad of the change because my other companion was lazy and made it much more difficult to follow the rules..mostly concerning the morning hours. He is a DL so I will be traveling on the weekends to do interviews and stuff, but it should be good.

[Mom broke the news that she didn't use the photo Jeffrey sent for our Christmas card. Each of the kids was supposed to provide a photo with them and one of the digits of 2010. Below you'll see Jeffrey's contribution for the number 0.] That picture was awesome, I can't believe you didn't use it. You take away my creative art :) I could use some brisket maybe you should send some down here :) I had to save money these last few weeks so I was eating bread and eggs for awhile. Somehow I'm still fat, so I will have to work on that. My new companion walks 2352 mph so that should help.

I didn't get the Christmas package yet but I should get it tomorrow, but these mailman here are thirsty for american goods. They charged me an arm and a leg to send Evan some catholic saints... punks. My pants are ok, but they are changing colors from the sun I guess, but they are still good. Shoes are still good, ties are ok. I don't have very many so most of them are from other Elders, since they trade when they leave. I will have to start giving up the ones I like. Elder Ferreira took the tie that you liked :)

12 Dec 2010 - Alvorada Area (Dad)

I can't keep up my English grammar and Portuguese, so I will ramble in English.

[Dad reported the latest on BYU sports.] At least some team is doing well in BYU ;) I figured out that my last companion (Transfers today so I have a new one) was a secret Brazilian Utes fan....disgusting. He had a pillow case and a shirt of the Utes. It was like Provo MTC all over again when my roommate was a WR for the Utes...who knew they served missions :) [Response to a comment Dad made about not having served in a resort town like Fortaleza.] Oh and I'm not serving in a resort town, they are poor as dirt, and the dirt is terrible here, very cheap. Fortaleza, and the state of Ceará has the most deaths than any other state due to murders. However, I have never seen any action like that. I saw a few kids with guns trafficking drugs. They have a drug lord here that is only 15 years old that hangs out around a part of town we go to often.

[Questions about how the Christmas phone call will work.] Pay phones aren't pay phones. You have to have a card to use them. So you buy a card and stick it in and use it. So I would just buy a card/cards and use them until they ended. I have heard this, or using the church phone because you would use a card too and the church is a little apostate here ;) or a member's phone/cell phone. Who knows. I don't.

[Told him of Isaac Hadley, Andrew Munguia, and Chris Colby returning from their missions.] They will be jealous of me that I am still on my mission, I have no need to be jealous of them coming home :)

[Told him of a new elder serving in our ward who received his patriarchal blessing from Grandpa.] That's cool that he met Grandpa. A few things happened this last Sunday. 2 Seventies came to split my stake into 2...duh. They spoke during stake conference and then 4 general authorities had recorded something for 4 stake that were splitting in Brazil. 2 in Fortaleza (my old stake and my new one) Belém, and Rio. They talked about tithing and temples a lot, something that doesn't really pertain to me as a missionary since I can't pay tithing and I have no temple here :) Just kidding, nonetheless it was good to hear from my old pals Dieter F Uchtdorf and Elder Andersen. The church is growing rapidly here in Fortaleza, hence it is one of the best missions in the world. literally.

5 Dec 2010 - Alvorada Area (Mom)

[Mom asked if he teaches the Gospel Principles class for investigators.] No we don't teach that class because it's not my job. :) In fact we aren't supposed to to teach it, since they have a calling for it. Sometimes the teachers forget to prepare a lesson and tell us to give it, but President Batt told us to politely decline. We just attend and say things because they have 2 Gospel Principles classes here, one for old members and one for 1 year and less members (since baptism) so we attend the newer one and help with comments and stuff. [We did have a good lesson on the sacrament yesterday.] We didn't talk about that this Sunday... we talked about the life of Jesus Christ :)

This week was good here, we had a few references that turned out to be good. They are really open and they are making strides not just the little steps like usual. One of them even gave us 2 references to teach two of her friends. They are helping more than the ward does :) One of them we were teaching and had a pamphlet out for the 1st Lesson ( Restoration of the Gospel) and she was talking about how her husband died and how she was sad etc etc so I slipped the pamphlet back into my bag and grabbed the 2nd Lesson (Plan of Salvation). It turned out to be a really good spiritual lesson, which is obvious because the spirit told me to do it :) It's good when you have the spirit guiding you and telling you what to do, it makes teaching easier and a lot more spiritual. Well I don't have much to say this week. The stake is splitting next week so some Seventies will come and then transfers, so I might stay or move.

5 Dec 2010 - Alvorada Area Photos (Dad)

I put some random pictures in, one of Thanksgiving dinner and the other ones just random stuff I took on the street.

5 Dec 2010 - Alvorada Area (Dad)

[We're going to California for Christmas.] Mom told me that you would be going there. If the time difference is only 5 hours, I wake up at 6:30 so I'll probably call you at 6:45 AM my time ;) Just kidding. I'm almost certain I will call, from the chapel or even a pay phone on the street who knows I have heard both. [We look forward to hearing some amazing Portuguese.] I will speak too fast for you to be able to understand :) I'm pretty sure you will be able to understand everything anyways, it's not that different from Spanish. I don't know when they will tell us what the plan is. We are going to the beach next week with President Batt so that should be fun, since it's against the rules otherwise as of lately. It will be nice to see the nice sandy beaches with clear water and palm trees. Unlike the beaches you have pictures of, dead fish and dirty water :)

I sent Mom the pictures today, since I might have forgotten. They are good though.

Today was P-Day of the Zone so we played some soccer and ate mangos. It was good, it's always good to meet up with your fellow missionaries and it's the only chance I have to speak English too :) We had it at an institute building which was just a huge house, I mean huge for Brazil. It was big and nice, it even had a swimming pool too ;) We had barbeque so the zone will all probably sick this week because of uncooked meat. Just kidding. Well I have nothing else to say....

29 Nov 2010 - Alvorada Area (Dad)

[Scruffy died Wednesday. The vet says he had a brain tumor. I can't even write this without starting to cry again.] I have to say I cried when I found out Scruffy died too. It's sad but Scruffy lived a good life, lazy but good. We will have animals in heaven too, so maybe Scruffy will find us there :) It's better to learn about it here because I have something to do to take my mind off of it. [I've never lost anyone whom I was very close to, and this gives me some small insight into how much more I would miss a family member or friend.] Come to think of it, nobody that I am close to has died either. [Don't you guys ever leave this life before I do.] I don't think I will leave this world anytime soon, but you and Mom have to live forever too. :)

[Hopefully you had some extra good beans and rice or something delish for your meal, not that Thanksgiving is a Brazilian holiday.] I don't even remember what I had for lunch on that day. I actually forgot about Thanksgiving because nobody says anything about it. I remembered when somebody was talking about it during District Meeting. I had a turkey sandwich and some saltine crackers for my Thanksgiving dinner though :) I have a picture but this computer doesn't want to accpet my SD card. Someday you will see it. I sent my SD card a few days ago, but they aren't too exciting. I'm pretty sure I had rice and beans, and baked chicken on Thanksgiving because that is what we have in 90% of the houses. This place is a chicken killing/baking machine. The typical Brazilian street has at least 2 chicken bakers, 23 bars, barbers, 3 churches, and a homemade clothes store. That is just a small street, the number increases exponentially as the street gets longer. This area has a lot of soccer fields too, it kind of looks like an old west mission sometimes. There is a huge field in the middle with houses all around it, and a huge Catholic church. During the soccer games you have to watch out or you might get pegged in the head by a ball. It's kind of cool actually. I have yet to see anyone score a goal, I think they just aim for the missionary's heads.

[Your comments last week about teaching by the Spirit vs. by memorized lessons is right on target. Preach My Gospel is truly a revelatory change in missionary work. Where you are in your effectiveness as a missionary is far ahead of where I was those many years ago (or where I am now, for that matter). It is the Spirit that teaches, testifies, and changes hearts. We are simply instruments or conduits for the Spirit. But we are still key in the sense that God works through men to accomplish His work and that work won't happen unless we do our part. The people of Limhi would not have been converted if Alma had not repented and taught them. The Lamanites would not have been converted if the sons of Mosiah had not gone amongst them and served, testified to, and taught them. Through His faithful servants God blesses His children. And you are one of those chosen servants and He will bless you eternally for all that you do in His service.] It's not all about the PMG though, like you said Alma baptized a lot of people without it :) Paul baptized a lot of people, you just have to be faithful and work hard, or be personally taught by Jesus. However, PMG helps a lot for sure. It was revealed by God, and therefore should be used with that in mind. It's also a lot nicer to just talk to people and then teach them certain parts of the 1st lesson etc. There is no point teaching a hardcore Baptist that God is our loving Heavenly Father because he already knows that. It's better to go right for the throat and teach about authority and Apostasy. yeah! :) Then the Book of Mormon, then whatever 2134 scriptures he tries to show, you can just smile and nod and tell him to pray to find out.

29 Nov 2010 - Alvorada Area (Mom)

Do you know what Lauren and Michael did for Thanksgiving? I actually forgot all about Thanksgiving until the day of, so I had a turkey sandwich and some saltine crackers :) They don't even have turkey here, I would have had to use chicken or something. They have baked chicken every 3 feet in this place which is good because I like it, especially the skin! [The Hanson's dog had puppies.] Maybe you can get some of their puppies for when scruffy keels over. [Bad timing for that statement.] They will almost remind Dad of Bingo. [That should be Uno.]

[... We went to pick up the exercise equipment that dad won in the work lottery.] Dad is gambling in lotteries now?!?! :) Dad better be ripped by the time I get back. [Think of you multiple times a day, like yesterday when we watched the movie Diary of a wimpy kid. You would like it.] Diary of a Wimpy kid reminded you of me just because I am the exact opposite right? [Since we will be in California we will read your letters from computers there and call you on Christmas day from there.] I think, I'm actually pretty sure, that I will call you and since I don't know numbers of phones that might be a little difficult to call you :) I sent you pictures too but I don't think they have made it yet. Hope you have a fun time in California.

22 Nov 2010 - Alvorada Area (Mom)

If you truly believe that you were guided by the Holy Spirit then you were, and nothing anyone says can take that away. I was talking about this yesterday during the lesson for Relief Society, the teacher asked me to talk about the Gift of Tongues. Anyway I was talking about how we as members have the right and ability to have the spirit. Nobody can take that from us, nobody can take the feelings that we had or the thoughts of when we felt the spirit. They aren't physical, they are spiritual. They are in us forever. The 2 of the 3 witnesses left the Church but nobody could take away the fact that they saw what they saw.

When the spirit guides, just follow. I had an experience in my last area with this. We were teaching an elect of God ( all missionaries say that about every investigator :) ). We were teaching about the Law of Chastity and he was accepting everything but he is separated from his wife. He was truly hurting as he told us about the love for his wife and children etc. He didn't know if he could ever fix whatever happened or if he should just look for another wife. I wanted to say something to help him but we just continued giving him advice etc about it. Then I felt I should tell him to pray and do everything he can to reunite with his wife, because it was God's will. He was meant to be with this woman. I thought "Are you crazy?? This is some serious stuff and I don't know his situation!!" But I felt it again, and me being a doubting Thomas, I thought of what I should say again and thought "This is what I should say?" and a horse kicked me in the chest and I felt more than ever I needed to say it. So I did, I poured out the spirit that was in me and told him what I felt. Needless to say I cried :) as I usually did in his house. I never felt the spirit so strongly before in my life than in his house, every lesson. I don't know what will happen and I was transferred but could I deny that man what I felt? Is it right for me to hold it in and not tell?? No, I felt I had to say it, and after a bit I did. Never deny the Spirit, never think that His revelations are strange or not "cool" enough to say, just say them. If you hold it in, He will stop talking to you! That's the end of my sermon :)

22 Nov 2010 - Alvorada Area (Dad)

[Response to a comment Dad made about Elder Christofferson's conference talk where he mentioned the old film "Man's Search for Happiness," and how it reminded Dad of showing the filmstrip back in the day he was a missionary.] They had film back in your mission? :) The thing that stood out to me when I was reading this is how much the missionary stuff has changed. I haven't heard anyone teach anything like this in the trainings etc. We don't talk about time I guess :) ["Life offers you two precious gifts—one is time, the other freedom of choice, the freedom to buy with your time what you will."] Also, in your day it seems they encouraged carrying as much as possible, projectors, stone-age cameras, flip-charts, filmstrips. I have a backpack but all it has is Bible, Book of Mormon, and 6 pamphlets. Things are a lot different these days, but things are the same too. I'm pretty sure some of these houses here looked exactly the same 600 years ago when you served. I thought it was hard at first to just talk, but now it's a lot easier than memorizing every lesson. Elder Jeffrey R Holland talked about that a little bit during a devotional in the MTC. He told a story about 2 Americans on a Spanish speaking mission and they were in the age of memorized lessons. They found this one lady and they were talking to her, and she found out they spoke English. She wanted to practice her English so she asked them to leave the message in English rather than Spanish. The missionaries just looked at each other and started in Spanish. She stopped them and asked for English once again but the missionaries began in Spanish again. They had memorized it in Spanish after all. The lady stopped them and asked them why they couldn't teach her in English if this message was so important. She was disturbed that the missionaries only knew the memorized Spanish lesson but couldn't testify in their native language the truth of the gospel and she asked them to leave. Just a story, but it doesn't matter if the lesson is memorized or not, a missionary should be able to testify by the Spirit and not what he memorized or what he practiced 100 times in the MTC. In that way missionary work is the same forever and for always. We teach by the Spirit, no matter how smart or how much we know the language, the lesson will mean nothing without the Spirit. Paul taught by the spirit, Dan Jones too, You, Michael, Me all teach by the spirit and that is what missionary work is. That is why we don't need a badge or calling to teach the gospel, just the Spirit.

15 Nov 2010 - Alvorada Area (Dad)

The spirit is always good to teach because people are always excited to hear that they can receive help from the Lord 24/7. It is sometimes hard, like you said, to get someone to commit to being baptized because they think they need to know everything or they think they need to wait at least a year. All they need is the desire and after baptism, if they keep the covenants, they will never regret the decision. I had an investigator in my last area that we worked the whole transfer teaching him lessons etc. He is fully convinced that we are angels of God and his sweet little old mom always called us angels. I have had the most spiritual experiences in my life in his house and at times it felt almost like the temple because my chest was just burning the whole time. Sadly I left, but I feel confident that he will be baptized and I really hope that he does. If only he would just accept baptism. He has waited 6 weeks, he has grown and has felt the spirit, but his joy could be so much more and so much fuller. Sometimes missionaries look past the whole confirmation part. They just count the baptisms but baptism is nothing without confirmation. I am a little worried becasuse this ward baptizes on Sunday instead of the usual Saturday so the people have to wait a whole week to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and who knows what will happen during the week. This week was missionary week in the ward so I got to give a talk about missionary work. I just talked about 4 things that make us better missionaries. 1) Be a missionary forever, not just 2 years, 18 months etc 2) Don't be scared to share the gospel 3) Be an example 4) Don't get discouraged because missionary work will be hard. The 4 things are from Quentin L. Cook fom an Ensign article. The talk was easy, the Portuguese was easy, the spirit guided me and I think I spoke the best Portuguese of my life because of it :) I don't have problems with it, which I am grateful but I have other struggles because we all have problems.

15 Nov 2010 - Alvorada Area (Mom)

We don't have English classes in this ward which is good because it was a pain :) It went well though, but the problem was participation and crazies that thought they knew more english than me. It was good at first to get investigators (which is really the purpose of English Class) but after awhile only the same people came. It was good though teaching, its a lot harder than I thought it would be. I would be teaching a general principle, then they would ask about something that was irregular and didn't follow the principle...stupid English. Oddly it's kind of hard to talk in English now too because I don't speak any English at all, maybe once a week at District Meeting but not really. I speak 100% Portuguese and only hear Portuguese besides the random music here. It was kind of funny when I had my interview with President Batt I was talking like a drunk 5 year old and I gave the prayer of a retarded fat kid. You just start talking the way you would in Portuguese but in English which is totally wrong.

8 Nov 2010 - Alvorada Area (Mom)

[Mom made a comment about "hearkening with exactness" and using agency wisely even during free hours.] I'm not sure what this free hour you are talking about is on the mission...but the President Batt talks a lot about hearkening with exactness. Well not the exact words but that we need to follow all the rules on our mission and we will be better missionaries because of it. We will have the spirit and things will be a lot easier for us.

I don't have much to say this week, it's just the usual working and walking. We did have another baptism this week. It was a son of a family that was baptized last week before I got here. He delayed a week, but the family is strong as far as I can tell with the week here. They have 2 sons, now 1, that haven't been baptized they almost got killed/shot 2 times so far always outside of the church. The mom is good and strong though, and instead of blaming the church she believes they were saved because they were going to church. This area is a quite a bit more ghetto than the other area, but there is nothing to worry about. The Lord protects and if I get shot, for some reason the Lord wanted it to happen barring stupid behavior :) I know that prayer is a personal conversation with God, and I know that without it we are lost. I know that through faithful prayer we can learn anything that we want, and we can receive blessings from the Lord. The Lord has already testified of the truth to me through prayer and I am glad He has given us the means to talk with him.

8 Nov 2010 - Alvorada Area (Dad)

[Dad mentioned that BYU won, TCU handily beat Utah, and Oregon is ranked #1, with TCU #3. Nothing to do with missionary work, but Jeffrey's reply is amusing.] That's good, maybe they have hit their stride and they will destroy Utah :) That's rather embarassing for Utah, but it just proves that Texas is better at football :) Bigger, Faster, Better, but somehow they are below Granola Oregon....there must be something to the nature hikes and the fear of pumping your own gas thats helps them.

[I found an area on the map called Edson Quieroz, but it looks like a ritzy area near the ocean. Now that you've had a week there, give us a few more details to help us locate it better.] Edson Quieroz is fancy and it's next to the beach ....kind of. There is a huge Mall called Via Sul Shopping next to our house and I can't remember the street that has the church on it. There is a huge street Washington Soares I think, and then one that intersects by the Mall that goes towards the ocean, that is the one with the church on it. We live the opposite was by the Bank of Brasil and the Correios ( Post Office). I don't remember the street name but it's got a wall and a field. You won't be able to see our house anyways since it is below someone else's and it's the size of a rather large closet.....About the same size as our living room split into 3 rooms.

1 Nov 2010 - Alvorada Area

This week I was transferred to a new area, Alvorada. It's somewhere in Fortaleza :) Edson Quieroz I think, Seis Bocas area. I just got here today so I don't really know much at all. I don't like change very much so I am pretty sure I will move a lot here on the mission. I have already moved MTC's :) It's easier to move on the mission though because you now that God wants you there. You don't have to make a choice, the Lord makes it and you do the work there. So it's easier because I don't have to worry if it was the wrong choice or not and whatever happens I'm supposed to be here. They say the ward helps a lot here so that should be a pleasant change from my last area. They have a place called "Mundo Açaí" so I really can't complain. My new companion is Elder R. Ferreira from Curitiba. He has been here for awhile and I think things should go well here. My Provo MTC companion replaced me in Henrique Jorge so that is kind of weird/cool at the same time. That's pretty much it....

25 Oct 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area

[Combining emails to Mom and Dad this week because some of the content is common.] My area isn't bad at all in robberies and that kind of stuff. There isn't a place where the missionaries don't want to go. Robberies and stuff happen all the time here in Ceará though. A lot of people die too here, the most in all of Brasil. No doubt the culture here of beer and laziness plays a big role in these statistics. Every member has a story of getting robbed, but nothing bad has happened to me yet. Oh and no missionary has died yet from robbery, just a smash in the head by a gun ;)

[(Dad) Good to hear your MTC district finally made it there. What did they do while waiting for visas?] My district was in Nebraska serving their missions, with a part of South Dakota too yippeee. Some of them were on Indian reserves, others no. It will be a big change from Nebraska to Ceará, minus the drunk people of course they will be use to that.

[(Mom) When I pray at night, and get to the "Missionary" part, I pray for ... you ... by name. When I say your name aloud (I pray aloud now) always a warm glow fills me. It is confirmed to me each night that He is pleased with your service, that you are a valiant missionary.] It's good to hear that, it seems mothers usually always know what to say. One of my biggest concerns is doing all that I can and working so that I don't have any guilt. Baptisms etc don't really matter to me, I just want to be able to live the rest of my life without regret of what I could have done more on my mission. I think if I do this, the other successes will come, baptisms, spiritual experiences etc. It's good to hear that He is pleased.

[(Mom) I am happy that you were not shot. Have you shared those experiences with the mission president?] I didn't tell the President, this kind of stuff happens a lot here though (The whole mission). The area I'm in right now isn't bad at all, it's safe and there isn't really a place that I fear going.

[Mom commented about a book on prayer she has been reading.] I agree with praying aloud. It's hard in the morning to just pray because you think about other stuff and you want to sleep. I used to just mouth the words when I prayed in the MTC so that I could focus better. I haven't done that for awhile and I always told myself that I needed to do better.

I had a baptism this past Saturday. I was chosen to do the baptizing. I have was really scared, kind of. It wasn't fear but nervousness I guess. I said the baptism prayer a million times in my head so that I wouldn't mess up. We baptized a 16 year old girl whose cousin is a member. It was interesting because she has been taught by the missionaries for 3 years but never did anything. We taught her and she started going to church alone, without help from her cousin. Her cousin helped her a lot to prepare though. One day when we came over to teach they were super excited because the girl had read and prayed and received an answer. The baptisms went well, the font was a little low on water though. Afterwards when I was changing in the bathroom I just sat down and thanked the Lord with all my heart. I just sat there and looked at the wall and I felt the spirit and the weariness that I felt from all the worrying just left me and I was grateful. I'm so grateful that we have the authority here on the earth to perform baptisms that mean something. I'm grateful I was given the opportunity to do the baptizing too. Whenever I think about the baptism I feel happy because I know what a blessing it is. Even though I really only remember the water temperature from my [own] baptism, I know that it is the right thing to do. The rest of my life wouldn't have been the same and because of this I know baptism changes your life. I hope to see many more baptisms, not to add to my "glory" but the feeling is wonderful when you see your investigator get baptized. Whenever I think about the baptism I feel an indescribable happiness, not because it was my first but because I know it is a saving ordinance and this girl can feel happy for eternity. I know the power and authority is real on this earth. I have already had this confirmed to me in my short time here. I know Jesus is our Savior, I know He died and that he suffered for our sins. He didn't suffer them with regret or urgency to finish. He suffered them gladly, one by one for each person. I was reading in the Liahona general conference edition and someone said that He didn't suffer our sins in a mass. He suffered one by one and He thought about each one of us as He suffered. I know this is true and this is why He knows our names and our pains.

18 Oct 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Dad)

[Dad made some comments about the poor maintenance by the owners of Michael's apartments.] I'm sure its not that bad, you and Michael have seen worse on the missions. I remember the little cement house you lived in on a mission and had church in, at least that's what I remember. :) It will just make everyone more humble after living there for awhile. Besides all that matters is if the owner is a nazi, like mine was. It's much better when she is nice but your place is still a dump.

 

[Told him about the house fire around the corner triggered by some sort of explosion in a car in the garage.] It makes me grateful that you park the older cars with more chance of exploding in the driveway and street. Who calls a SWAT van to a car exploding scene?

 

Speaking of getting shot, for some reason I have almost been shot twice the past few weeks. Not to alarm you, I'm sure that my missionary name tag would have stopped the bullets. We were walking down the street and a drunk guy almost hit me on his motorcycle, well he hit me with the mirror. So I expressed my disbelief and anger to my companion but I guess he heard because he stopped the motorcycle a few feet in front of us (in front of his house) and started yelling to his wife to grab his gun because he is going to shoot this little punk. Oops :) I guess it was my fault. The worst part was this street is super long with nobody on it and a field on one side and a wall on the other. A perfect place to be shot and thrown into a ditch in the field. We just kept walking and everytime we heard a motorcycle coming we just prayed ;) The other time we were walking behind the Catholic Church (figures... of all places to be shot) and this guy was robbing a girl on a motorcycle but she peeled out and was screaming etc. ( she ended up t boning another motorcycle but not very hard they just kind of fell over) then the gang looked at us and one of them started running at us with a gun but since the lady was screaming etc his gang told him to come back. He looked at us for a bit, clearly wanting to shoot the one in with the glasses and steal all of the "valuable" Mormon pamphlets and Book of Mormons in his backpack, what a haul that would be. Instead he just ran away. Later the police stopped people in front of our house but they weren't the robbers. I have also come up with a genius technique to stop people from taking my money. I keep my money in my chest pocket in a protective covering they give you for the missionary guide. I put a picture of Jesus on my planner so when they go to steal the money they will see Jesus and think twice....yeah genius!!

 

[Dad had written, "We often learn and grow the most through trials, and the Lord always throws in a lot of happy experiences to balance out the tougher ones. Açaí to go with the mandioca."] Açaí and mandioca would be the nastiest thing ever. They have açaí in the US but surely it isn't the same.

18 Oct 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Mom)

[Michael is planning to go scootering down the canyon with some girls and his roommates.] It's the girls mom, they make you do anything you never wanted to do or even thought about doing. They are evil :) What every happened to the good ole days of drive in movies and caramel apples on the swing by the lake :) haha old people :) Who knows, Michael and I use to do the same thing by our house too, but I guess it isn't the same as Provo canyon. If you didn't support this idea why did you tell him to get a scooter to go kill himself? Just wait until he finds out about DI they have so much cool stuff there to kill dumb people. I'm pretty sure I was just born with natural talent....

[We went camping with another family and while gone a house around the corner had an explosion and fire, giving Sean a little more excitement than he wanted.] Dad told me you guys went camping and Sean almost died from a make believe shooting by the Sanderson's house. Is it cold there yet? You could have gone diving at Soldier's Bluff...by yourself. You guys are totally getting old now. You are going camping with other old people... [A family in the ward invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner.] the youngins invite the senior couples to Thanksgiving dinner because you can't eat a whole turkey :) muahaha just kidding though. [Sean had a few inches cut off his hair.] Sean should keep his hair long and play the guitar and get rich. There is a guy here named Wesley Safadão and he has super long hair and plays the guitar and the whole world loves him!!! I will be like that when I get home.

I told Dad about my near death experiences, maybe he will tell them to you if he thinks you need to hear. We have two baptisms for the next 2 weeks so things are getting better but they still aren't better. We had a lot more "success" this week aka numbers but it wasn't a quality week with hope for the future. Just two more weeks and we have transfers, I would like to stay here but I don't every worry about transfers because they are God's choice, so what could go wrong? I finally got to meet up with my district from Provo. They finally made it here and I talked to one of them today. It's weird how easily you make friends in the MTC. I have another good friend but he went to another mission. He is convinced we will go to California after the mission, but I am a non-believer.  :) The fruit here is magical also, I haven't eaten anywhere near all of it. Yum

11 Oct 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Dad)

[Dad mentioned some scriptures regarding why Jesus Christ suffered death (2 Nephi 9:5 and 3 Nephi 27:14).] I was reading in Romans (because Romans teaches you everything you need to know ;) and it talks about this a little bit too. I will have to see what I can do about those scriptures :)

[I really appreciate your insights into and viewpoint about your experiences. You see beyond the surface of experiences and understand the significance behind them, like what you talked about last week in describing the tough times and the point of a mission being more than teaching, but including experiences, feelings, etc. (although I didn't catch the full meaning of Paul/Jeffrey's experience with eating something nasty and putting pieces in his pocket; what was the nasty thing, by the way?). Getting beyond the superficial meaning of life's events (and everything else) can make a big difference in our perspective.] Just things I was thinking, the Paul thing was kind of random but the point was I think that Paul had a lot more experiences than the stuff that he wrote about. I know those experiences with Christ changed his life and helped him to become better. Also, they gave him thoughts or feelings he will never forget. I was eating Mandioca which is a root and is kind of like a potato. But it was nasty beyond belief so I stuffed it in my pocket so that I could finish faster. It might have been better with something on it, but it was just plain. That and Doce de Leite on cheese are the only things that I haven't liked so far. Coconut water is nothing to get excited about. Açaí is a miracle fruit, nectar from heaven. I could eat it everyday. Maracujá is good too, but it makes you sleepy (Passion Fruit). I have had a little bit of starfruit too but it tastes like apple. Guava is nasty too. There are tons of fruits that I haven't tried yet though. It's hard to look beneath the surface sometimes, especially when things are hard. One of our investigators was talking about how it's easy to thank the Lord in the good times but when they turn bad you forget about him and worry about yourself. The area is still hard here and the members aren't helping, nothing is really getting better. I will just keep working though and pray for miracles to keep happening. I did have a cool experience with a drunk yesterday. He was screaming at us that his name was Michael and he tried to shake my hand. It's an unwritten law that you never shake drunk people's hands. Instead he grabbed my hand and yelled we are going to church together. If only all the people had this kind of will to go to church :)

11 Oct 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Mom)

[Mom mentioned that she had started reading the book, "Jesus the Christ," by James Talmadge.] I like it, it's not that hard for me ;) The beginning isn't so exciting but when he talks about the parables and things in Jesus's life it gets more exciting because you get to learn things you never knew. I'm almost done now, but I have been reading since the MTC. I really just read it because I wanted to hear what he had to say about Pilate but I ended up reading the rest of it.

[Mom talked about difficulties we all have in changing behaviors and why that is the case.] I guess it's because people don't want to be wrong and they think they are right. The easiest way is just to apply everything to yourself. When you hear a person say that people in general should be like this or that, stop and think about yourself...am I that person? That's also one way to study the scriptures too. Just apply everything to yourself. You can read to learn about history, you can read to learn doctrine, or you can read to apply everything to yourself so you can change. In my scriptures in Alma 17 I have tons of notes. It talks about Ammon and the beginning of his mission and cutting off arms. I have tons of notes that apply to life today (with help from my MTC teacher). You can always apply the scriptures to yourself. I have a lot of things I want to change to and I was thinking it would be helpful to study about that for a week. If I want to be more patient I should study patience for a week, just a bit everyday, and pray about it to ask for help. It will be easier the more you know about it and the more you understand the principle. After all, we should obey because of understanding etc. not because of fear or promised blessings. Like you said if we knew these things we would be exalted. We can know these things on earth though, and we need to know these things. We can even receive the blessings and promise of exaltation while we are still on the earth. It's something you have to work for and you have to study and pray to know and understand.

4 Oct 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Dad)

[General Conference was, of course, very good. As I listened to the messages, I kept thinking how if any sincere and humble individual who is not familiar with the Church were to watch and listen, how could they not see how different it is in key areas and how much substance it offers as compared to the teachings of man? But, of course, it isn't that simple. The Spirit is the key, and listening to the Spirit doesn't necessarily come naturally.] I didn't get to watch much of Conference and it was all in Portuguese so it was a lot harder to understand. We didn't watch the Priesthood session and during the break in between morning and afternoon on Sunday a truck destroyed the telephone pole so we didn't have electricity for the rest of the day. I don't know whats it's like for others who aren't familiar because none of our investigators went....

 

Things didn't go well this week either. They seemed better at first, but they were just as bad by the end of the week. All of our good investigators didn't go to church, and we were sure that's all they needed to start the conversion. I guess we will have to wait until next week. It's hard though knowing that probably nothing will happen this week as we make return visits, knock on doors etc., but that is the work of Satan. We have been thinking of what we can do to be better. I guess that's why we have hard times so we can look at ourselves and change. Hard times aren't just there because everything can't be perfect all the time. They are there so we stop and look around and change so that things can get better. I'm here to change though I guess. It's not just about the lessons and baptisms. It's about the drunk people on the streets, the old ladies that tell me to go home, kicking rocks into the rain gutters shouting Pelé, tripping all the time, being soaking wet with sweat....these are the things of missionary service. I will remember the lessons and the baptisms but all the other things too. I think that Paul didn't just write about all the sermons in his diary. He wrote about that one time he was eating the nastiest thing ever and was [putting?] pieces in his pocket to finish faster...well maybe that was me. But the point is a mission just isn't about teaching, it's about the experiences, feelings, etc.

4 Oct 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Mom)

[Comments from Mom about a good General Conference.] Everyone has said that so far, but I didn't get to watch much. Only an hour of Saturday and part of Sunday morning. A truck smashed into the telephone pole so we didn't have power for the Sunday afternoon. I feel like the people that Paul wrote epistles to; not knowing what the prophets are doing. For all I know Pres. Monson could have said chocolate is necessary in church meetings. So we will just have to start making up our own rules now ;) [I liked in Sunday's 2nd session when Mervyn someone talked.... Anyway he was teary eyed almost his whole talk.  He reminded me of you.  I told dad that would be you, sniffing your entire talk.  I hoped you would be comforted by him.] I might have been comforted by him, but sadly enough a crazy truck driver took that opportunity from me. It wouldn't be the same anyways because I doubt the Brazilian translator would be teary eyed and sniffly. I'm pretty sure he winged it too because the translator wasn't just reading the pre-written talk he translated what he said. It was kind of cool because Neil. L. Anderson and Richard G. Scott prerecorded their talk in Portuguese so we listened to their own voice. 

 

I sent some pictures but I didn't have time to send more.

27 Sep 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Dad)

psshh the language was easy since I got here ;) It actually isn't that hard, I need to work on things and there are some sentences in English that I haven't figured out in Portuguese yet. I just need to learn a lot of words. One of my goals is to become a master in Portuguese by the end of my mission. I want to be able to talk about anything I want. Everybody says I speak like I have been out for 6 months or more so that is good....not to toot my own horn.

Don't have many stories this week because it has been a bummer of a week. A few highlights of drunk people trying to pawn off their bikes. I have a new strategy of talking to all the houses with intercoms in hopes of rewards in the future ;) Not really it's just easier to talk to them. We usually get servants instead of the owners, which is weird here in Ceará. We have this huge house across the street that shames our humble abode. I am forced to look at it everyday so I decided I would talk to those people. They asked who it was on the intercom, and I said Missionaries of the Church..... and all they said was "Não (no)" so I decided to be bold like they tell us and I said " Que??? Você não quer?? (What? You don't want it?) in a serious tone but they beat me by calmly saying "Não"......oh ok then bye. It happened again at another house but the lady said "Tudo bem então" "Alright then" and before she opened the door I said "Que??? Você não quer??" again because I didn't understand what she said. She opened the door and just looked at me like I was crazy and my companion was laughing at me....I guess it was funny.

[Here Jeffrey shared the same story he shared with Mom in the post below.]

I am so grateful to be here. Even during the hard time the Lord finds a way to bless me. I just try to obey and become better so that I can continue to grow. There is no way this miracle would have occurred if I was being lazy and didn't have the spirit.

27 Sep 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Mom)

I have been thinking about general conference all week because we have an investigator that doesn't believe in prophets. It's good to hear your testimony and I hope with all my heart that he goes so he can see the true prophet. Its a funny/spiritual story how we found him. We were walking on Fernandes Távora where the church is and E. Alves saw him from far off. We play this game where he chooses a house or person for me to contact then I choose for him and so on. He was thinking in his mind that we would talk to the person but was going to tell me when we got closer. We had been listening to a song nonstop in our house (I can only Imagine when that day comes blah blah) and he was singing it in his head. He said he sang it out loud but I never heard a word of this. He said "we're going to talk to this man" but he didn't say it directly to me, he just said it. When we met up with the man, I talked to him and E Alves walked past him and realized I was talking to him. We marked a date to talk to him later and kept walking. E Alves said it was weird that I talked to him because I meant to say something but then I started singing that song. I was like "No...you said lets talk to that guy so I did." He was dumbfounded. I know without a doubt that it was the spirit, there is no other way to explain it. It's so glorious how the spirit can talk to us in so many different ways. We decided that we would talk to him that day because of the way we found him. We talked to him and he poured out his heart to us. He would always warn us before he said anything that might be offensive. He said some pretty blunt things but they weren't mean. He said people had always been mad at him for saying things in this manner. He cried, he laughed, he told us everything. I could understand every single word of that man. We talked to him about the 1st vision but he couldn't believe, he wouldn't believe that God needed a human. We tried to help him, we tried to tell him the importance of prophets but he just couldn't believe that there was a human between God and him. We left a little sad and depressed. This last week was horrible to the max. Everything fell, every appointment we had fell, we taught like 6 lessons all week. Even the great, interested investigators we had were gone or etc. We didn't get fed by the members a lot, the "never fail" (immortal words of E. Alves) dinner we have each sunday failed too. But Sunday was our next appointment with this investigator. We decided after study and practice to teach him about the Book of Mormon (which you give during the 1st lesson but we didn't) to show as evidence of a prophet. We talked to him for a bit then I started to explain the Book of Mormon and he just said no its a waste of time. You can explain it but I won't read it, I wont believe it. I can't explain the sadness the distress we felt. He talked more and my companion was going to say something but he said "No I want him to talk." So I just talked, talked about the Book of Mormon, talked about how I read it how I know this book is true. I talked about how every page, every verse can bring your life happiness. I told him it was written by prophets of God. I told him all that I knew to tell him about the Book of Mormon. It was another time the spirit helped me. Of course I cried, he cried with me too. The spirit exploded from the little patio that we were sitting on. I don't know any greater feeling. Then I just handed him the Book to read and by golly he took it and said he would read. I can't wait until he goes to General Conference and sees the Prophet of God.

20 Sep 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Dad)

[I regret to report that BYU football had another poor performance ... Air Force nearly beat #7 Oklahoma (etc.).] Well it would have been good for BYU if Air Force had won. At least I'm not missing too much while I am here, it's no fun watching BYU lose :) They should be ready to go in 2 years. Is Heaps going to serve a mission? Eastern Carolina was supposed to be good, or at least they have been doing well. Would have been bad for Michigan to lose again to another Div II-A school. Doesn't BYU play Oregon state? Good ole Notre Dame hogging up NBC with their sub par teams :)

[Lauren called late last night ... She said they went to Brick Oven Pizza for dinner ... and saw Jimmer Fredette and Lamont Morgan there and ended up getting their picture taken with them ... I've attached a picture from one of Amanda's friends as proof.] Well too bad he has a girlfriend :) The picture looks questionable, there is no definite proof that Jimmer is there! I'm sure Lauren is happy with her pose too.

[Based on your description, I think I located your place on the map ... I don't see any guys in white shirts sunning themselves on a porch though. Hm, I see cars here and there, but oddly enough not a single person. I guess the photo was taken during the lunch/drunk part of the day.] Yeah that's the place. The porch is under an awning so you wouldn't see us fool. Probably is during that time...

[(Excuse the extended quotes from my letter here. I'm including them to provide context for Jeffrey's response.) Brother Hanson came over for a home teaching visit tonight ... He talked about the plan of salvation. A thought that came to me as he was talking about how the plan, the Church, the gospel, etc., all have Christ as the center ... One reason Jesus Christ is the central focus of and key to the plan of salvation is that He is the only one who could make it happen in the particular sense that only He could bring to pass our immortality and eternal life. No man can conquer physical death. Only the begotten Son of God has power over death, the power whereby death cannot befall Him without Him voluntarily giving up His life, and the power whereby that choice redeems others from death. No man is without sin; no man can take upon him the sins of another and take those sins away from the other. Only the begotten Son of God can do it, both because He is without sin and because He is God ... the basic point is that without Jesus Christ there is no plan of salvation and only Jesus Christ could make the plan of salvation come to pass.] I don't fully understand it. Often I have pondered if the killing was necessary. Could Jesus have just died or did he have to be crucified? He had to pay for our sins before he was crucified in amongst the trees, but did some nation have to be cursed to kill Jesus? Was it essential that someone betrayed him? He could have been tempted by satan, paid for our sins and then given up his life when he was 33 because he just had to conquer death. I don't know. Jesus the Christ talks about how he died was prophesied and symbolic. He was raised above all others after he was brought to the ultimate low. He was higher than the people that killed him, physically and in every other way even after that humiliation etc. All I know is that He indeed died for us. He truly prayed for each and every one of us, perhaps by name, in the garden so that we might not have to feel that pain. I know that He lives again and that He conquered death so that we can live with our Heavenly Father again. There was no selfish motive, no attempt at glory. He loved us so much that He was willing to suffer indescribable pain so that we could live again and receive the glory of God.

We had a baptism this week. It was the same family I talked about earlier. We just baptised the son because we still have to get the parents married. So many miracles have happened with this family. We cast out the devil, they didn't have any money at all to pay for the marriage but their uncle gave them some money as a present for something so they have money to pay, we tried dozens of phones (public phones on the street here) to call the marriage office to get the paper work done but none of them worked or they were busy but we said prayers like none other and it finally worked. So many thing have happened so that they could be baptized and I can't wait for the rest of the family to be baptized too. Transfers are this week and I am staying here for another 6 weeks so I hope they can get married by then.

20 Sep 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area (Mom)

[In response to Mom's email which discussed the parable of the prodigal son.] I was reading in Jesus the Christ the other day about the Prodigal son. The parable was to teach the hard hearted Pharisees about the Publicans I think, because they were hated by the Pharisees. The Pharisees preached that they were always righteous and they always kept the commandments and how is it fair that other sinners can still inherit God's kingdom. The 'righteous' son wasn't entirely righteous in this story and Jesus was comparing him to the Pharisees. I think the key is being righteous and holding on to the rod like you said, but accepting our fellow brother's return. In that way we too can experience great joy. The scriptures say how joyful it is to bring a soul unto/back unto Christ, so we can have joy when our own brother repents no?

[In response to question about whether he has materials for teaching English classes.] They don't give us anything to help us, we just plan and do whatever.

We had a baptism this week, it was part of the family that I talked about earlier. It's cool because they have had so many miracles occur so far. We just baptised the son because we still need to get the parents married, but they come to church on their own and the son will get the priesthood in a month. I'm staying here for another transfer, which started today so we have a lot of work to do. However, things started changing for the better so we should see a lot more success if we work hard and follow the spirit.

13 Sep 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area

[BYU played at Air Force on Saturday. A dismal day, unfortunately... Oh, and #13 Virginia Tech lost to powerhouse James Madison, 16-21.] Lost to Air Force? Those bums can't lose to teams like that.... I am getting crazy information here. We had Zone Pday today so we were with a bunch of missionaries and they said that BYU won and some other kid that went to Virginia Tech before the mission said they lost to another team. Oh well.

[Ok, I see Fernandes Tavora on the map. Unfortunately, big Catholic church and big field aren't labeled on Google Maps. Can you give a cross street, etc?] I live on Rua Audizio Pinheiro and Rua Prof. Edgard de Arruda, it's at an intersection. 466 Rua Audizio Pinheiro I think. The church is big and has a field in the background. It has 2 schools on either side of it. We live in an apartment right now but we are supposed to be changing to anothe apartment one of these days because ours is too small and has 1 tank of water for 4 people. I actually don't know if we have one, but pretty much every house has a terracotta roof. [On the Church lds.org map site, I see many buildings where the wards meet at 9-10 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. Is that correct, that some wards meet in the early evening? Just curious why.] Our ward meets from 9am  to 12 pm. The Fernandes Tavorá ward meets from 4-7. I guess it's because the building is small and can only fit one ward at a time and here in Brazil lunch is the most important meal and biggest. Plus here in Ceará everybody is asleep/drunk from 1-3 pm so I think thats why they do it like that. All the Brazilians apologize and swear that this is not what Brazil is like. Men hardly ever have shirts on unless they are going to school or work. Everyone sits on the sidewalk around 6 when the sun goes down and just stares at the other side of the street. Like I said everyone sleeps after lunch. There are no rules here and there was an accident at our intersection and like 3 cops just kept driving. Cops do nothing here. It's just a real lazy part of Brazil.

This week was Independence Day here on the 7th so there was a lot of drunk people and the schools all had parades. At night we were walking around and here they have bars everywhere and they are usually on the corners too. They are all outside as well. One of them had a band, or a guy and a microphone, and they were singing ABBA songs. There was 6-8 drunk people all huddled around the one and only table wobbling back and forth to the song. I told my companion it was the lamest club I have ever seen, but it was funny. You have to watch out for the drunk people too because they never let go of your hand. For some reason they always want to know what time it is too. It was a good week, we had a lot of new investigators and one of the girls told us she wanted to be baptized the first sunday we took her to church so that was good. We saw a wild parrot too, it was pretty....and Elder Alves tried to catch it but he failed. Usually all we see are Calungas (sp?) which are just lizards. The church building is the gathering place for the cats too so we have like 15 chilling in the parking lot. I slept outside the other day on our porch thing that we have and it was terrible. It's super windy here so I was freezing cold and of course it rained during the night too so we bailed and went back inside at 4 to finish sleeping.

Elder Hawkes

6 Sep 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area

[Last Wednesday BYU came out with a big sports announcement. They decided to go independent in football and join the West Coast Conference in the other sports starting next year.] NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! It won't be so bad for other sports, basketball is pretty good in the WCC. Being independent gives them as much chance to be in a BCS bowl as the wheelchair football team of Minnesota :( They did all this even after Boise left the WAC? Wait they are independent this year?? I thought the other changes were for the next year after this season. I remember all the talk about the quarterbacks, who is the running back now? [Well, don't mean to distract you with a bunch of sports news.] Pssh I could love hearing about BYU sports anyday even if it as heinous as going independent. [If you can give me some landmarks in the area, I'd like to try to find your place on the map.] The big road Fernandes Tavorá goes by my house but there aren't really and landmarks that I know of. My area is small but I don't know those names. There is a big field and a big catholic church but I don't know much. [What makes it hard to walk there? Is it because your balance is accustomed to the Northern Hemisphere instead of the Southern Hemisphere? Can't you just learn to lean a little to the other side to compensate?] All the sidewalks are unlevel here and the roads are just made of rough rocks so I usually trip on the random rocks and steps on the sidewalk. It's hard for my to know what to write. I usually think that most of the things are nice but not really worth remembering, but I try to write down a bunch of random things that happened during the day, and if anything special happened when we taught. My journal is really at 4 pm we did that 6pm we did this. I would love to write more but Lauren and Michael wrote me this week so I don't have much time.

I am excited to be here and I just love thinking about the people we teach in white clothes. Not because they are a statistic, but because they will be so much happier and receive so much when they get baptized. People here live in the humblest of circumstances, more than I ever imagined but they are so happy still. They laugh and play like the rest of the world. They read and pray just like everyone else and the Lord loves them as much as everyone else. I just want to share that love with everyone.

6 Sep 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area

[Just a short note today.I was just looking on aol and there was an article on the best water park slides in the world. Coming in at number two is "the Insano" at Beach Park in Fortaleza Brazil.] Short note eh? It's as long as the others. I haven't seen that part of Fortaleza yet, and we aren't allowed to go on the beaches. I hear a lot of people talking about the beaches here, but I have yet to see any body of water. It never rains here so I don't know how any rivers or lakes exist. My companion said it has rained 3 times the 10 months he has been here so who knows. I wish you were here to clean our house :) It's dirty forever and always, there is nothing to be done. Our house is super small and ghetto too, you can sit on the toilet and take a shower at the same time, so basically its the best bathroom you could ever think of :)

[I was looking online today about the Fortaleza Temple....] I have no idea where the temple is going to be, that is in downtown Fortaleza. I haven't been there yet. I will probably see it someday but I haven't seen much of Fortaleza proper at all, just the cities around it. I have taken the bus a lot for random things and that is kind of exciting. I get pushed on and the bus drivers are downright crazy here. You are all crowded and holdling on to whatever you can and the bus driver is flying down the skinniest roads, taking turns at 40 kph. I have almost fallen a couple of times when they start moving and I'm not holding on to anything. A lot of people here have never been to the temple and they have been members for 30 years. Usually the returned missionaries are the only ones that have gone. They have caravans every month that go down to Recife though. A lot of people only have the puny Book of Mormons we give out, with the blue covers. I would say 70% of the ward doesn't have D&C or Pearl of Great Price.

30 Aug 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area

[We just got back from Utah today. We spent a few days in the mountains of Colorado on the way up in Breckenridge, a ski resort (no snow this time of year though). Lauren, Michael, and I took a few trips down an alpine slide.... Somehow I managed to get dislodged from my sled on one run and left a few square inches of skin from my elbows on the track, so I had some nifty looking souvineers to remember the trip by.] Who needs mountains, all you need is desert and dust in the air. What is there to do on a ski resort but play in the snow? That sounds safe, fiberglass and sled.  I can imagine the excitement as you steered to your death. Oh your injuries explain the safeness and security of this slide. Well I guess you can sell the house and move up north now so that you can enjoy the mountains now that you're old an alone. The mountains are ok for fishing, hunting and the occasional man trip but other than that they just kill people. [The three of us (Mom stayed at the condo and read a book) also hiked a few miles up in the mountains to a small lake.... Lauren hiked around the little lake to a snow patch and said she saw some bear tracks in the snow. We didn't slay any bear or chipmunk for food though since I was wise enough to pack some water and fig newtons (hm, and for some reason the old man ended up carrying the backpack).] We did the same thing on the man trip, and we found a natural lake from a spring. Oddly they had bear tracks there too, I have pictures of those. Well we had already ate all the poptarts and drank the tuna water before we killed chipmunks for food! The old man carried it because you put granola food in it and you're from California, the Texas Proud couldn't carry that stuff.

Yep I'm in Henrique Jorge right now, I have no idea where that it is in relation to Downtown Fortaleza. Just the usual...bars, people riding bikes, old fat guys walking around shirtless, and sad reminders every 2 steps of Brasil's defeat. Every street has a Brazil flag painted on a wall or street or both, every telephone wire has yellow and green streamers. I tell my companion that they didn't think about all the possibilities before they plastered hexa (7 championships) every where. Its hard to walk here, I'm always tripping. So when I trip and lunge forward I say "Vamos correr!!" lets run!! so my companion doesn't think I am a dork and my plan for tripping and falling is "Vamos sentar aqui e orar" you can read it, its the same in spanish. That hasn't happened to me yet but a kid we were with slipped on the curb and I said that and we all sat there for a bit and then kept moving.

I'm glad to be here. We have one family of 4 that is close to being baptized and we just have to get them married so they can be baptized. I am so happy for them, I have only known them for a 12 days and I can't wait for them to receive the blessings. I love this work and I love this church so much. I fear everyday that I'm not doing enough or all that I can because I don't want to come home with any regrets. I love these people. I love preaching the gospel. Nobody here hates us, I have had a few old ladies tell me to go back to my country but thats only because they love me ;)

30 Aug 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area

That's good that you made it home. [Mom and Dad just returned home from dropping off Michael and Lauren at BYU.] I forgot that you were dropping of Michael and Lauren at school. What are you going to do now that everyone is gone?? [I (Mom) cried of course when we left the chitlins.  I didn't think I would, but when we got to Michael's apartment after spending the evening at Dan and Becca's with all the Utah Hawkes/cousins, we gave them a back-to-school blessing. Then I cried. It had been two years since dad had given Michael a father's blessing and I got teary-eyed thinking that dad won't be giving Father's blessings very much longer (on a regular basis).] Girl the whole world knew that you were going to cry when you dropped the kids off. It's because you're a mom and you love your kids. Only people that are glad to get rid of their kids don't cry :) Did Michael get to stay with any of the people from his mission? Dad won't be giving very many more blessings, he is just going to be the old wrinkly hand that holds up the baby or for the confirmation and stuff like that :) It's good that Dad is worthy to do that and he can gives blessings whenever he wants. They haven't left yet, they still are going to come home all the time and they still need you. There is nothing to worry about, you will see Lauren and Michael a lot!

I have been feeling crummy the past few days. It's all the walking finally caught up to me. My feet hurt and I had intense constipation. I swore my poop was going to be white from all the rice. But it has all passed, just one of those things that happens when you completely change your lifestyle.

This place is so great. I am glad that I am here. Whenever I am just sitting after we get back or maybe for a second during a lesson I look around and realize that I am in Brasil. I don't always remember, sometimes I forget but I love this place so much, I love these people with all my heart. I have only been here a few weeks and when I see these people in church I just want to cry. The family that we have ready to be baptized just needs to get married and I always think about the day that they will get baptized, the day when they are dressed in white. They are my first family I ever taught and I love them more than I could ever describe. This is God's work, and I cannot even imagine how happy he is for these people. I'm kind of glad that 2 years seems like eternity.

23 Aug 2010 - Henrique Jorge Area

[Time really flies as an adult. When you are little things seem to take eternity to happen.] Time flies my foot, 2 years right now seems like an eternity. Everyone says that time flies here but it hasn't so far :) It's 90ish outside everyday for the whole year, it will rain more in the summer so it will be more humid there. It's windy here so its not bad at all, I have been in much worse. The worst part is waiting outside the door for some reason. You are hot and there is no breeze and the sun is beating on your back. Houses are bad too, that's where you usually sweat a gallon in the houses because it is so stuffy. Yeah 3 days for you is like .00000000000000000000000000000000000000008 of your life :)

[I don't know if you have access to the Ensign magazine. We've been leaving it on the table and people read it as they eat various meals. I was reading the first Presidency article for August by President Uchtdorf. The article is on Temple Blessings....] They give us a Liahona every month here so it has some of the same things. I might be in the Portuguese Liahona one of these months. There was an open house for a chapel near the CTM so they made a missionary choir to sing there for 3 days. One of the days the Liahona people were there taking pictures, I signed release forms too so maybe.

Well thanks for all the words about temples, even though I won't see one for another 2 years :) I liked going to the temple in São Paulo, and I was bummed because the week I left the missionaries are going to the Campinas temple. [Take some pictures....] I have pictures, mostly from when I was leaving the MTC because they would only let you take them your last day. I have a few here but I don't carry around my camera with me. I don't carry anything with me but scriptures and some money in my front pockets so I don't get beat up. muahah I haven't even washed my pants yet, they haven't needed it but it is dusty here so I will have to. The shirts don't hurt anymore.

It has been a good first week here, the people are so nice and when you see a member on the street they usually just walk with you to the next house and teach with you so it's not hard to get members when you teach. It's hard to understand people, that is probably the hardest thing to do because they have a lot of slang here. I've had some spiritual experiences too, we cast out a devil the 3rd day I was here. My companion has been out for 10 months, his name is Elder Alves from São Paulo, and he has never done it before. It was intense but wasn't scary and it was totally different than what you usually think. I am working hard and walking a lot because this is the highest baptizing mission in the world and we have tons of investigators that need to hear messages.

23 Aug 2010 - First week in Fortaleza

[Still over 100 degrees here every day, but we'll be headed to cooler lands on Thursday. We plan on staying in the Colorado mountains for 3-4 days on the way to Utah to see what there is to see. BYU starts the 30th, so we'll have a week or so with the little ones before they have to get to studying.] It's not too hot here and we get a nice breeze from the ocean all day. There is nothin' to see in the mountains but cold and despair :) Yeah those little chitlins are off to school before you know it Lauren will be married in 6 months and you are going to have to buy oxygen tanks every month. I hear those old people scooters are cool though. Thats cool though, I'm not missing the cold of BYU-I right now. I did burn my shins in an attempt to become less white oops :) Today was P Day as you can tell so we were rocking out to a guitar and I realized how white I was, but now I am pink. They don't hurt though, they didn't get burned bad at all.

[You mentioned eating chicken hearts. I've eaten them before, although I actually like chicken livers a lot more. And they had more than rice and beans in Central America. We had tortillas too. And other stuff. But lots of rice, beans, and tortillas.] Chicken hearts were good, but just a little rubbery. Livers are nasty but that is all exquisite food here. I have only eaten rice and beans and noodles and some random bits of chicken. I had ramen noodle omelets the other day for breakfast, so chicken hearts are a delicacy right now.

[Any better luck this week getting Elder Olson to speak Portuguese in public?] We didn't go proselyting anymore so I don't know, but he speaks a lot better than when I first met him. The speaking part is the easy part, it's so much harder to understand the people. Especially here, they speak with so much slang and they say cara every 4 seconds with basically means dude, well my roommates do. The people of Ceará have so much slang and they say their 'r's weird here too. So I still haven't gotten the listening thing down yet. My companion elder Alves only speaks Portuguese so it will only be a matter of time I guess.

I got jipped when I got here, some random elders met me at the airport. The other elders said the Pres. met them and 10 elders and they had dinner at his house and slept there. I ate pizza on a dark stage in the church, they had chocolate pizza though which is dough and a half inch of chocolate.

I have done a lot already, we walk around because we have sooo many investigators that we have to talk to. The people here are so nice and I have only taught a few lessons without a member there. The most spiritual thing so far is when we cast out of a devil from a possessed lady, it was cool because she is a strong investigator so that's good we got to help her. I am so grateful for the authority on this earth, the priesthood. This land of Brazil is a blessed country and I think it can easily surpass America's number of members. I have never been yelled at or had slammed gates or anything bad yet.

11 Aug 2010 - Brazil MTC

[It is still in the 100s here and the forecast is more of the same. According to my iPhone it is only in the 80s in Fortaleza. I guess you'll find out soon if that is accurate. When do you head there?] It's only winter here so it's not going to be that hot in Fortaleza. I leave next Tuesday the 17th of August. I'm kind of nervous, going to the mission field is a lot different than just sitting in the MTC forever. Plus I don't think I'm that good of a teacher but in a week I will be teaching real people stuff. We went to a meat 'buffet' place today for our last Pday. I dont know what it is called, rodesia something like that, it's like Texas de Brazil but much cheaper. They just kept shoving meat down our throat and it was all good. Chicken hearts are good too, you should try them :) It was good though, they have lots more than rice and beans here sorry to say it seems better than Costa Rice... ;) I went proselyting this week again but this time it was downtown São Paulo so that was more intense. It was more walking around and talking which is harder than talking to old men eating crunch bars with no teeth. They were selling some pretty sweet stuff too. They had little ponies that walked around in circle on a string. They just walked around a stick in a circle. Pretty tempting stuff I know. The people were still nice though but I got rejected a lot more there, not really rejected people just said they were busy. I met a few members too so that was cool. We gave out 5 of the 6 Book of Mormons that we had in 1.5 hours. E Olson wouldn't say anything though, I couldn't get him to talk to anybody. But it was good, it's good practice and it easier to do it than you would think. [Sean isn't a Cub Scout leader any more. He was called as a teacher's quorum adviser. Tonight they went over to Brother Starr's house and cleaned guns. Now that sounds scary: 14-year-old city kids with guns. Fortunately I don't think they had any ammo, or there might be some dead teachers since Sean said they didn't seem to grasp the concept of not pointing guns at people even if they are not loaded. I don't remember doing anything like that (cleaning guns for Mutual) when I was a teacher. I was deprived.] I don't think they had guns when you were a teacher. I thought you guys were still working out the whole fire and wheel thing in your day. That doesn't sound good that they are playing with guns but I guess it's okay if you cap someone else's kid at mutual. I guess that's why you don't have 34 guns in the house and you live in Texas too. You granola California kid. Well I am just making up stuff now since my own mother didn't email me today and that lazy Michael kid who got a letter from me every week didn't write either. :)

4 Aug 2010 - Brazil MTC (to Dad)

Boa Tarde

[It has been over 100 degrees every day and is forecast to be over 100 for at least the next ten days, so we're thankful for air conditioners.] It's been pretty cold here lately, just cloudy. It doesn't rain much in the winter though, I have only seen it rain once and that was when we went to the temple so I got soaking wet. [You asked who Michael's home teaching companion is: it is Brother Dixon, but he's been out of town a lot.] Yeah he leaves in the summer, but that would be a good home teaching companion. [Wow, doing temple work in a language you're learning would be different. One thing that might be interesting as you master the language is listening for differences in words that might clarify meaning in English when the English word could have multiple meanings--you can do the same thing with the scriptures. Sometimes how something gets translated makes it clearer what the intent was in English, if that makes sense.] I like the scriptures more in Portuguese, they say stuff differently and it is interesting how they mean different things like you said. [The end of summer is fast approaching--well, not really the end, but the time to take Michael and Lauren to BYU. It is kind of scary in a way because it will be awful quiet, lonely, and boring with a nearly empty house and I know I will miss having all of you around.] Yeah you will be almost all alone in the house like old people. You better find something to do like soap carving or learn how to do weird grandpa things so you can show the chitlins weird stuff. You should also save up quarters so yuo can take them out of all the kids' ears. Nothing interesting here much we got 5 elders. 2 from my other disctrict so that was cool. We saw a brazilian smashing in a car at night the other day too after a fight, that was awesome!!!!

4 Aug 2010 - Brazil MTC (to Mom)

From what I have heard Fortaleza Mission is like Arizona and 110 degrees and dry, except for on the coast where Fortaleza is. Yeah I bet some of it is rich but the rest of the city is ghetto. Where are you guys going? [Speaking of upcoming trip to Utah, presumably.] dropping off lauren and michael? The swivel chairs are the best. [We bought a couple of chairs from IKEA (exciting, huh?).] You could always just travel instead of being a Scandanavian Viking IKEA cashier. Yeah its pretty much a compound. [The MTC.] Here in Brazil it's even worse, at least in Provo you got to walk outside and see light. I haven't seen natural light for weeks, well since last p day and through the windows. Yeah I got the package. Just for future reference I hate those Werther's Original Candies. But I liked the letter and the book about the apostles. It took me awhile to figure out that there was our family picture on it though....oops; Elder Holland is a good speaker, he is my favorite I think and not just because he has the coolest 1st name ever. He shows a lot of emotion, that was my favorite part about that talk I showed you. Eyring is good too, they are all good I suppose. I want all of that too, its a lot easier to want it here, but not much easier to obtain it. However, you got have a lot more powerful spirit and the mantle of apostleship (kind of) and that makes blessings pour in. Love ya

28 Jul 2010 - Brazil MTC (to Mom)

[I see how it is.  : ) you write me last??? then you only have 30 seconds to write???  who or what is the Nazi?] Yeah I did, you were last on the list so the internet clearly wanted to make you last. I had more than 30 seconds I just had 30 seconds when I said I had 30 seconds left. It has a countdown of doom and there is nothing you can do but accept it. The nazi is the countdown timer. [Brazil sounds different, but not bad.] I haven't experienced much of Brasil just a little when I went proselyting. I forgot to tell dad about that I thought I already told you. I went proselyting last friday, just walking around the CTM with my companion trying to hand out 6 book of mormons. It was easier than I thought and I realized I wouldn't mind doing that for the next 2 years. In fact I wish they would have let us pass out more. I talked to a lot of people and most of them had a book, nobody denied taking the book. Everybody is nice and not a mean thing was said, even when they don't want one they say how much they respect you and the church. We did have this one guy that we talked to for like 40 minutes about lessons 1-4 pretty much he just kept asking questions. It was good practice and I am surprised I could speak that much portuguese. Alas he didn't take our Book of Mormon he said he would stop by the CTM to learn more but who knows. I don't think I am learning much faster just normally as anyone here does. I think I am stuck right now, not really growing in the language. My companion understands about 2% of conversation so I have to do most everything which I guess is good to learn faster....What did you share from my emails? Well evan didn't write me so you got plenty of time this P day. It's good here, only 18 more days before I leave to Fortaleza. From what I hear it's the higher baptizing mission in the world, and it's hot, and I will probably stay in Fortaleza city the most. Every time I tell a Brasileiro I am going to Fortaleza they say "quench" or hot.

28 Jul 2010 - Brazil MTC (to Dad)

[Any new arrivals yet or is it still just the two of you soaking up all the knowledge from your teachers? I think the Lord is preparing you as select individuals to be leaders in your mission. Really, as you look back you'll see events and circumstances that happened to prepare you for situations you'll find yourself in. And I think you have the talents and abilities to be a leader.] We got one new arrival today but he was from the other district so I don't know him, figures though. I don't [think] he is preparing [us] for that, we aren't miles ahead of anybody. It will be hard to have a tripanionship (3 elders) especially when we teach but class will be the same. I didn't get picked out of our bustling district to be the DL so who knows ;) [Monday night we had a family home evening with the Hansens. We played a bunch of different games and everyone seemed to have fun. It was funny watching their young ones drawing tiny pictures of unrecognizable things in Pictionary. Sean was on a roll and seemed to guess the right thing even when the pictures weren't ideal.] That sounds fun, sounds like the pictionary we use to play when you drew 3 lines and someone got the answer....basically cheating is the word I would use. [I went home teaching with Michael tonight because his companion is out of town. It was an interesting experience being taught how to do it right. ;-) He opened with a kneeling prayer, made good and meaningful conversation that showed genuine interest in the family, shared the message in a very insightful way, offered specific ways in which we might be of help to the family, etc. Wow. I was impressed. You'd have to be there to understand exactly what I mean, but I could picture clearly how good of a missionary he was. You kids are so much better persons than I've ever been. The Lord was serious when He said He would send the best for the last days.] Who is Michael's companion? Home teaching is different than missionary work you don't have to commit anyone to baptism. I'm sure you had to stop michael a few times when he asked them to commit to going to church. But I guess the rest is the same but I didn't get that far before I said something oh well. It's a lot different than what I thought when I first got to the MTC, it's nothing like the fairy tale missionary stuff I always thought it would be. I bet you were about the same, but you didn't have Preach My Gospel hence you were a pro. Português é muito facíl. As palavras parece a mismo mas eles não falou a mismo. (I have no idea if that is right) é muito facíl para entender quando as pessoas lhe fala. Eu espero que eu possa ser um bom missionário e ensine as pessoas do Brasil. I went to the temple again today and I did initiatories. It was interesting all in portuguese and I didn't understand most of it but I still knew what they were talking about and it still was the same thing even if I was in Brasil.