2 Jan 2012 - Palmeiras Area (Mom)

So people are telling me that you went paintballing and others are saying that you went laser tagging, so I'm just going to assume you shot people. That is good that you are enjoying it. I have been working out here, but it not easy and sometimes I just don't feel like it. We went running in the morning the other day so that was cool. I do my usual pushups and pullups. Hopefully when I get back home I can get on a better routine. I too struggle with the task of eating right. It's not my fault all of the good food in this world is greasy and heart attack causing. I'm a southern boy, it's no fair.

I have been working hard, knowing that my time is ending. It's good to train at the end because you work harder and your companion always has that fire. I'm trying to do all that I can and I think I am giving my best effort. I'm happy and we are teaching great people. One thing that I'm trying to work on is prayer because it has never been a strong point and it is sometimes hard for me. I figure it will help me a lot after the mission too :) Just trying to do what I can. I love you!

2 Jan 2012 - Palmeiras Area (Dad)

It is going well. We have found a lot of great people this past week. New Years was a bummer but things should start picking up again. We have awesome people, so we are thinking about them a lot and how we can help them. We are praying and trying to do everything possible to have success with these people. I want it to be their fault if they don't get baptized, not my lack of skills/faith/teaching/etc. So we are trying to be perfect so that the Lord can use us and so that the people can be convinced as it says in the Book of Mormon to believe our words. We all know that the Holy Ghost is the one that 'convinces'. I have some more good news. I can held up again! Yay robbery! They didn't take anything this time but I got a few chuckles because my companion had no idea what was going on. The guy told us to stop or he would shoot. Everyone and their brother has a gun here apparently. Then he just shoved his hands into my companion's pockets. We didn't have anything though, we were coming home from Sunday lunch. Well I did have my camera in my bag but he didn't take my bag luckily :) The only two times I walk around with my camera I get held up....at least he didn't take it this time. Then he apologized and I told him no problem and said thanks and gave him a thumbs up and we walked away. I think I am getting the hang to this whole robbery thing. I'm just going to print off pass along cards saying "I don't have anything, please don't kill me, don't take our bus money. If you need money, my companion is Amercan/Brazilian and he is rich! " It might work. Well things are good here. By some freak of nature I got up and went running the other day. My body didn't like it and punished me with terribly painful knees. Lets see if I do something crazy like that again. I prefer exercising my brain in a chair, it's less painful.

26 Dec 2011 - Palmeiras Area (Mom)

[It was nice to hear your voice.  I have to admit that I, for whatever wacky reason, do not miss people that much when I do not see them.] People usually tend to forget people when they don't see them so that makes sense I guess. I don't really have an uncontrollable desire to be home either. I just don't miss it that much. Like you said, it will hit me when I go back home, but it's good for now. It is a lot easier to work when you aren't missing home. Some elders go crazy near the end of their missions. I'm more or less the same. I've gotten better in a few things, but I haven't changed much in other aspects.

[Brother Gerrard in his talk today likened Santa to Heavenly Father.  He said when he was small he remembered that he would go and sit on Santa's lap and tell him all that he wanted.  Santa would bring him what he had asked for and not disappoint.  He received more than he asked for most of the time. Tha is ho our Heavenly Father is.  We ask for things.  He gives us that and much more.  He does not disappoint.] I don't know who Bro. Gerrard is but I don't remember Santa giving me everything that I wanted. He often disappointed me ;) I don't remember when I stopped believing in Santa. I'm pretty sure you destroyed that whole belief so that we wouldn't ask for expensive things because we thought Santa could provide anything we wanted. Christmas here wasn't too special. It was a bore and a headache. People always say that they have awesome Christmas's on the mission, but mine are always terrible. Nobody goes to church, nobody wants to feed us, nobody come and opens the chapel so we can call our parents...maybe I'm just bitter and not loving enough :) Well New Year's will be more of the same and some more drunk people.

26 Dec 2011 - Palmeiras Area (Dad)

[We're going to play laser tag tomorrow with a couple of families in the ward. Hopefully we won't suffer any collateral damage and we'll have a lot of fun.] You can get eye surgery at the same time that you are shooting lasers at people. What collateral damage would come from laser tag? Just try not to pistol whip people.

Well Christmas wasn't much of anything. It was even worse because it was on Sunday. So people got extra special excuses to skip church, even the members. So that was a bummer because we had baptisms marked on New Years, but no investigators went to church so... This Christmas was a big headache. I'm convinced the mission teaches you to enjoy holidays and Sundays because you always end up working the most on those days. I think that being a member of the church is always accompanied with a lack of sleep. Mission, seminary, church in the morning, scout camp, kids, random meetings....That is why we have Sunday to sleep :) I don't have much to say. We had another week of the same old stuff. We taught a really great guy that is an elect, but he hasn't gone to church yet. He readily accepts all the invites to change and is keeping all the commandments. Hopefully, this weekend he'll go to church because New Years is drink-a-ton day and he doesn't drink.

19 Dec 2011 - Palmeiras Area (Mom)

Well this week was another hard week. All work, no play, and worst of all no success. Well I should say no immediate success. It gets frustrating sometimes. I just want my companion to have success and have a good time on his mission. It is hard enough smashing your head into a brick wall in a country in a different language. I guess that is the same thing that happened to me in my 1st area and I turned out ok. :)

19 Dec 2011 - Palmeiras Area (Dad)

This last P-Day we played volleyball with a makeshift net and the top of it was about 7 feet off the ground. So I really got to throw down some spikes. It made returning the serve kind of hard though because you could just launch a bullet without even jumping. No scouts were there so I think I'll keep my commitment with the Fort Worth Bottle Poppers, the semi-pro frisbee-soccer team.

 

I like how you slyly slipped in that it was your birthday, like I forgot or something. Happy Birthday. Yay 14th of December....one year older and wiser too happy birthday to you! Pretty soon it will be one year older and dumber. You know after 70 you start losing some marbles ;) Except for Grandma and Grandpa, they are as smart as a whip. 

 

[I'm trying out the Bednar approach to reading the scriptures that you mentioned.] I like Elder Bednar's approach because it is a more peaceful read and you are able to get more out of it. Rather than just looking for anything, you look for something specific. That way you don't just get a bunch of random stuff every time you read. 

 

We are in a hard area and sometime it feels like we are just driving down a steep hill in a school bus full of children and the brakes just went out. Sometimes you just want to swerve and end it all at once. We are busting our brains open to see what we need to do to have more success. This transfer (which starts today) we have some new ideas and I think things should get better....I hope. If not, I'll just break down and cry.

12 Dec 2011 - Palmeiras Area (Mom)

[Mom is fighting a cold.] That is what happens to me about every 4 months. I think it is because of the fans we have to sleep with. They blow on my face and probably aren't helping me at all. They are keeping me cool though :)

[On Sunday a speaker talked about how those who pay tithing are such good stewards of their money, the Lord has taught them to be so financially savvy that we are living and still saving on 90% of our salary, where other people are in debt and can't make ends meet on 100% of their salary.] They speak about tithing here in Brazil a lot. It seems to be that one thing that people don't think they need to do. When we, the missionaries, had the meeting with Elder Evan he talked mostly about how we teach tithing. He said that in one of the trainings with the 1st Presidency, Pres. Uchtdorf talked a lot about tithing. It is the only way for poor people to leave poverty. I thought that was cool. I look at how much money the church has to build stuff with 40% (random guess) of the Church paying tithing. Think of how much we could help/build temples if 80% or 90% or 100% of the members payed tithing. There would be no fault of supplies, chapels, temples etc. It would be cool.

[At the Christmas party last weekend, Suzanne did a little movie thing where the current missionaries' pictures were included.] Where did she show this movies thing? I have seen my old mission picture from the beginning and I am ugly. :) I'm ghastly white too, but that hasn't changed much. I'll go back to being white in a matter of days when I get home.

I got the package that you sent. The communist, money hungry post office made me pay 128 reais or $70ish to get the package. They say that all packages should be taxed, but they only take a few at random  to be taxed. It got here on the 16th, but I didn't get it until a few days ago.