19 June 2011 - Pedras Area (Mom)

[How are things in the old town tonight? Things have been good here. I decided to volunteer every day and last week was a blast.] The old town is good here. That's good that you're volunteering. That's what I do all day, and it's a lot better than working. Speaking of service...we got to build a roof for some people in our ward. I know what you are thinking.... Elder Hawkes is building roofs now? Trust me, there isn't much to it here. I had to walk like a monkey on the roof and try not to fall and stuff like that. I was also praying that the not-so-good wood wouldn't break...luckily I made it out alive. I only hit my thumb a few times and punctured my butt on some nails. All in the name of charity.

[The U.S. has had quite a few natural disasters lately.] Brazil doesn't really have any natural disasters. They have flood sometimes. The most intense thing they have is mudslides and stuff like that. That isn't a problem here because it is level. Down in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo it happens more. Everything...and I mean everything is sand here. You can dig anywhere and you will find sand. It's good that they don't have mudslides because the sand wouldn't hold up too well. Fortaleza doesn't get hit by hurricanes. I haven't seen any real storms here yet either. Not even thunder and lightning, it just pours rain. 

I'm not going to lie, I forgot all about Father's Day :) I'll have to say something to Dad. Dad said he announced today as Son's Day. They should have that day a lot more often :)

19 June 2011 - Pedras Area (Dad)

[I'm trying to picture how you could break your oven in a way that it would be sitting at a 45 degree angle. I'm afraid I can't. You must be very creative.] Well I'll explain it. You have four sides, just 4 pieces of sheet metal. Then you have a box for your "oven" (which is more like a controlled bonfire). So those 4 sides....they are riveted. The top rivets broke while I was sliding it so it just slumped over to the side. For some reason it started to have problems with the burner after that....who knows, it's a mystery :) Don't worry we got a new one. I sent a picture. We kept the box that it came in as an imagination box...we have some ideas.

We had a good, painful day of service on Saturday. It's like back in your day when you had to do 4 hours of service...err I mean got to do service. Elder Hawkes was a licensed professional Brazilian roofer for a day. Their roof won't fall in anytime soon...probably. It was fun though. Monkey climbing on rotten rafters, swinging hammers left and right. We finished though, but my body hurt so bad. My old body just can't sit on rafters for 5 hours while curled up in a ball anymore  It was fun though. 

I have some updates on our culinary successes too. We made some brownies and hot wings! We got a new grocery store in our little town. It's huge! So we got some BBQ sauce and made some hot wings. They were delicious. Only with American companions. 

This week I was thinking a lot about prayer and how I could get better. I realized something while we were teaching some people. There is this girl, Camila, who is 9 years old. She is just so funny and great. I just had the random urge to pick her up and give her a big hug. I didn't because that would have probably interrupted the lesson. I just realized how much I love these people. I wish I could just hug them all. I hardly even think about home. I forgot about you all, but I guess that is good in this case. Just don't forget about me and keep sending me goodies :) It's good here, much better than anything in this world. My time is hurtling past me, and I will have to leave these people....

12 June 2011 - Pedras Area (Mom)

You don't have to do anything for my birthday. You already gave me my birthday present. Yeah trading goes down sometimes. [Mom sent him a t-shirt for him to trade with someone.] It's fine though. It is good to get food from America. Nobody tampered with the package. My companion got a package too so we had a package party and got fat. He got some skittles and reeses pieces. We snack on the sunflower seeds as we walk down the street. I was surprised that you sent a pot to cook in :)

It's good to teach because that way you get to learn a lot. I have learned a lot here. Not necessarily from the actual teaching part, though I do learn during my lessons, but from the studying part that I do everyday. A lot of stuff that I have heard and learned throughout my life has come up in my studies here. I'm always like 'Oh so that's where so and so got that idea from.' That mostly happens when I read Institute manuals and stuff. It's good to practice portuguese too. I have a year to do that though. I just hope to get rid of my accent and to be a master, but I'm well on my way!

[Mom mentioned some things she learned about parent-kid relationships as she was preparing for a lesson.] I was a perfect kid right ? ;)

One of the things I think that I need to work on is faith and my prayers. They are hard though. It's hard to gauge how well you are doing with both of them. The mission is an intense mind game you play everyday. You have to remember to do this and that, pray for this and that, teach this and that, show love, charity, faith, etc. You just have to remember to do a lot of stuff so that you can be a good missionary. That is really that hard part. I guess I just have to make it habit so I don't have to "remember."

12 June 2011 - Pedras Area (Dad)

[I sent Jeffrey a short bio on his soon-to-be new mission president.] Yeah President Batt is leaving June 28th. It's going to be a sad day. We had Zone Conference two weeks ago. It was a teary eyed meeting that is for sure. I'm going to miss the brownies and cookies Sister Batt always made us :) They just seem to have more flavor than diabetes cobbler. Our oven limits our pastry making though. It doesn't really hold any heat in, and it's like cooking over an open fire instead of an oven. The main reason for that is because I broke it, on accident of course. It use to stand up straight, but now it's at a 45 degree angle. Anyways, it'll be weird having a Brazilian as a President. Looks like I'm going to speak English even less :) Pres. Batt is hilarious too. It'll be good though, we'll learn new things. The new President might just have to beat it into our heads. When are you going to get your Mission President call? :) 

[Jeffrey had asked a question about official Church policies on different kinds of tea.] Well Pres. Batt told us not to drink any tea so that's good enough for me. I guess the people here would revolt if they couldn't drink coffee or tea. I'm not going to lie, coffee is probably one of Satan's most effective tools :) Everybody's doing it, it's harmless, it makes you feel good, it's not bad like alcohol. Whatever! All I know is that we lose baptisms because of it. I really liked Dallin H. Oak's talk in last conference. He, like everyone else, stuck marriage in his talk but at least it was at the end. Desire.......that is what moves us all to change. If we aren't changing, then we aren't desiring that change. Desire is a basic necessity to build any Christ-like attribute. Therefore, we need to have righteous desires and, like the scritptures tell us, then we can acheive anything we want.

5 June 2011 - Pedras Area (Dad)

[Well, it seems Brazil is rubbing off on Texas, considering that it is blazing hot and summer hasn't even officially started yet.] Good Texas is supposed to be a hot place!

Well funny story...this week I got my package :) [His birthday package arrived a bit early.] It would've been absurd to leave it in the house for 2 more months, so I just opened it. Now I have some food to celebrate the 4th of July. A little bit of America in Brazil.

[Since when do you know how to make a pie?] Well it's not really a pie. I'll tell you the secret. It's apples, cinnamon, sugar, more sugar, sprite (to make it sweeter), some cake mix poured on top to make a 'crust' and then sprinkle some more sugar. It's more like a diabetes cobbler. We have big dreams for our 4th of July party though, which happens to fall on P Day.

[I mentioned a thought I jotted down during a Sunday meeting: Would life without trials be sufficient to build great character? Did He who is greatest of all live without trials? Why then would we expect or want to?] Jeffrey R. Holland talked about that in the best talk ever that he gave, which unfortunately is impossible to find. You'll just have to take my word for it. He was talking about how each of us will have to experience a part of the Atonement, however small it may be. It would be selfish to think that this world would be a cake walk while the Chosen Son had to suffer beyond our imagination. It's like the 3 Nephi 11 scripture talking about baptism (You pretty much memorize that chapter on the mission and 2 Nephi 31). Jesus was holy and perfect but He too was baptized. Us being imperfect need such an ordinance much more. So Jesus, being perfect, suffered for all of our sins. Us being mortals need such suffering to become better, more 'refined'.

5 June 2011 - Pedras Area (Mom)

We had a good week this week. I'm really enjoying my companion this transfer. He's a good kid and I learn a lot from him. He has helped me with a lot of things. He helped me be myself (since my last companion frowned upon laughing, smiling, and joking aka stuff I like to do) and now the members are much more excited and are willing to help us. Good times.

This Sunday was funny, we had a bunch of people going to church (like 20) and they all lived in the same area. So we grabbed them all and headed to church. I looked like we were herding cattle. Two Texas boys taking our 'sheep' to church. It was good though...real good. There is nothing better than this work.

PS I got you package already :) I was surprised that you sent me a Coca Cola t-shirt. I laughed when I saw the pan too. When my companion saw the rice he was like "Doesn't your mom know that is a staple here?" What a goof :) I liked it though, thank you :)

29 May 2011 - Pedras Area

I forgot all about Memorial Day, that's ironic.

[I mentioned some near tornadoes we had near our house.] My Texan companion said that they had a tornado somewhere too that was ripping people out of car doors..cool. We had a 'It's gonna be a hot day' alarm go off today, and yesterday, and the day before that and before that.... :) That's the weather here. 

[I was going to answer a question Jeffrey asked about, but I failed to take notes at a meeting with Elder Oaks and couldn't remember the details.] Next time take notes on ALL the things that the apostles talk about :)

["When Mom saw your picture with your mouth stuffed with sunflower seeds she said something like, 'Hey, that's from his birthday package! That stinker!'"] Those were the seeds from Christmas actually, mold doesn't take to salty, baked seeds so I can keep them for a while. That was when my companion was sick so I just decided to take pictures of random stuff. 

["Hey, make sure you get some photos of the monkeys in the trees. The only wildlife I remember seeing in Central America were a few parrots, big frogs, and dead, stinky, rotting dogs in the streets. I didn't take pictures of them, so now I only have the smells to remember them by. (Sniff, sniff. Pee yew. Hey! That reminds me of Nicaragua!)"] I got some pictures of the monkeys in the backyard. They are a little bit fuzzy and the tried to attack me too, but whatever. I see lizards and that's about it. I see a lot of dead cats stuffed into bags. I get those same poignant smells too, especially when our house runs out of water. So we can't flush the toilet, if you know what I'm saying..... :) 

Well my companion is from Texas....Corpus Christi to be exact. We are having a rather dandy time here in Rocks. He knows a lot of scriptures and stuff like that. I don't really take time to memorize them, so he helps me a lot in that way. We have a good time doing the Lord's work. We do a lot of stuff differently, and it's good. We teach with a lot of love and it's good. I'm going to enjoy this transfer. It's fun being with Americans. We make pies and cookies and BBQ and stuff like that.