July 14,2013

Dear Mom,

The visa waiting has become a problem but you are correct the Lords time is different. Many times the missionaries need to learn something or they need to help somebody in that particular area. It could be a good thing that he goes to a states mission for a while. I am super excited for Colby and cant wait until he gets to brazil. The name is Nova Esperança. (Esperansa) The weather has continued to be the same thing and its been good. I got sick again though. A virus came through and got me with it. Im feeling better now. My Short term missionary went home today. We went yesterday to a special training in Feira de Santana and then left him there to catch a bus to his home this morning early. Me and my companion were sad and glad to see him go. Things will be easier now but it was fun to have him with us. After the meeting we hitched a ride into Salvador to renew my visa and to register my companion. So we got home at like seven at night that´s why the email is so late. This past week has been good. We were starting to get the rythym down and the work was better. Now we should be able to go full speed and get this ward into action. Other than that no real news. Thanks mom i love you :)

July 15,2013

Dear Mom,

Hahaha That´s my bro! Has to follow the tradition. :) Im glad to know that i wasnt forgotten by Joe. He hasnt emailed me since he said he was getting married. Oh well im sure he is plenty busy. Colby i am glad is growing up. All of us reach that point eventually. Unfortunately there are several missionaries that dont reach that point until much later and give their companions much grief. Fortunately my companion is not that type.

Ah stupid JWs they complicate everything. A lot of people dont even talk to us because they think that we are JWs. Im not worried about the visa thing. If he waits then it is because he was needed elsewhere. Not a problem at all.

I´m glad that Lyssa recieved my letters. I was getting worried that they were lost. Speaking of letters. I recieved another of the betridge letters.

I have no idea where i got the yellow fever shot. I remember that we had to go to Anchorage.

I actually have not recieved an email from emma in quite some time. I was wondering if she was writing or not.

Thats messed up that they would treat you like that as a customer. They should get reprimanded for that. Dont stress too much mom. Stress is the number one life reducer. That is one thing that i have learned here on the mission. When you are stressed you cant feel the spirit as well. There are two attributes that can do away with stress Humility and Patience. With these two attributes you can overcome stress and feel much more peace and tranquility in your life. The trust you put in the Lord will help you overcome and grow spiritually. Make a conscious effort to develop these attributes and you will see the difference in your life.

Mmm mosquitos sounds...yummy. Worse comes to worse they can eat tree bark right? I hear its good fiber hahaha    This week there is just a little news. The work here has slowed to a crawl. The members are not helping very much. We get money to lunch and dont have many opportunities to visit the members. I was at a ward council meeting yesterday and it wasnt very funcional. People arent doing their visits because their partners dont want to do them. They arent doing their stuff and are expected to try and tell others to do them. Its a difficult situation. Then they started arguing about food storage. It was rather ridiculous. I had to bring everyone to a calm and remind them that we where in the house of God. When the ward doesnt work right the missionary work doesnt work right.

Anyway thanks for you support Love you Mom have a great week

July 15,2013

Dear pops,

This week was good and bad for us. Saturday i got sick with some kind of virus that went through. Fortunately its just a cold thing. Then that same day we found out that i needed to go to Salvador on Monday to renew my visa and register my companion with the federal police. Then we got a call from President that my short term missionary would go home that day. It was good and bad news. He is a likeable guy with drive to work and learn. He was impeding progress of my greenie a little so it´s good to have just two of us now. So yesterday we got invited to get a free ride half of the way to Salvador to attend a special meeting with president Hart. From there we learned of multi stake goals and plan of action and watched some good videos from the church. Then we hitched a ride with President and left the short term missionary with other Elders. He left today and we got home at 7 from Salvador. Now that we have the whole time to focus on the ward and not so much on the training of the two greenies we are ready to go full speed to get the ward back into gear.

I am really  glad you guys got to experience the adventure camp. That sounds like such a fun time. I would have loved to come. I am excited to come back home. I never thought i would miss mountains or cool weather so much. It truly is a blessed place.

I cant believe that emma is driving already! That is a crazy thought. It will be good to have our whole family independent though. Other than what was stated above nothing really happened this week.

Love you dad thanks for the support

July 10,2013

Hey Pops,

Things are going well this week. My companions are learning very well and have taken well to the council that i give them. I am glad that i was given this opportunity to help these two good men. However the work here has slowed to a crawl. The members are not helping very much. We get money to lunch and dont have many opportunities to visit the members. I was at a ward council meeting yesterday and it wasnt very funcional. People arent doing their visits because their partners dont want to do them. They arent doing their stuff and are expected to try and tell others to do them. Its a difficult situation. Then they started arguing about food storage. It was rather ridiculous. I had to bring everyone to a calm and remind them that we where in the house of God. When the ward doesnt work right the missionary work doesnt work right.

 We do have one lady that says she wants to be baptized. Her son was baptized quite some time ago and she feels good about the church. She says that she feels good about the baptism but doesnt have a firm conviction about Joseph Smith. So guess who our focus is going to be this week. With a little faith and prayer Nivalda will be baptized this week.

Good luck on the survival camp. Man i wish i could go. I have been itching to do something like that. Saturday we went to a service project ,all five of us, and we mixed cement for eight hours. It was the old fashioned way with a hoe and shovels. It was a lot of work and i am still sore today. But i feel good about the service and the opportunity i had to use my muscles for something other than flipping pages and walking.

I am extremely happy that the Lord is taking good care of you. It has been a little difficult this week. As i have related the ward is in a low swing right now. I have been feeling very sad these past few days. The prospect of having the people i am trying to bring to Christ being turned away because of cold sholders is a disheartening thing. However I have faith that the Lord has a purpose in all these things. All i can do is hold my head and testimony high and work like there is no tomorrow.

Love you dad and have a great week :)

Doing Service

July 10,2013

Dear Mom,

Hahaha That´s my bro! Has to follow the tradition. :) Im glad to know that i wasnt forgotten by Joe. He hasnt emailed me since he said he was getting married. Oh well im sure he is plenty busy. Colby i am glad is growing up. All of us reach that point eventually. Unfortunately there are several missionaries that dont reach that point until much later and give their companions much grief. Fortunately my companion is not that type.

Ah stupid JWs they complicate everything. A lot of people dont even talk to us because they think that we are JWs. Im not worried about the visa thing. If he waits then it is because he was needed elsewhere. Not a problem at all.

I´m glad that Lyssa recieved my letters. I was getting worried that they were lost. Speaking of letters. I recieved another of the betridge letters. But to be honest i have no interest in writing to them. I dont even know them. If they were still in our ward that would be one thing but anyway. I dont want to seem rude.

I have no idea where i got the yellow fever shot. I remember that we had to go to Anchorage.

I actually have not recieved an email from emma in quite some time. I was wondering if she was writing or not.

Thats messed up that they would treat you like that as a customer. They should get reprimanded for that. Dont stress too much mom. Stress is the number one life reducer. That is one thing that i have learned here on the mission. When you are stressed you cant feel the spirit as well. There are two attributes that can do away with stress Humility and Patience. With these two attributes you can overcome stress and feel much more peace and tranquility in your life. The trust you put in the Lord will help you overcome and grow spiritually. Make a conscious effort to develop these attributes and you will see the difference in your life.

Mmm mosquitos sounds...yummy. Worse comes to worse they can eat tree bark right? I hear its good fiber hahaha    This week there is just a little news. The work here has slowed to a crawl. The members are not helping very much. We get money to lunch and dont have many opportunities to visit the members. I was at a ward council meeting yesterday and it wasnt very funcional. People arent doing their visits because their partners dont want to do them. They arent doing their stuff and are expected to try and tell others to do them. Its a difficult situation. Then they started arguing about food storage. It was rather ridiculous. I had to bring everyone to a calm and remind them that we where in the house of God. When the ward doesnt work right the missionary work doesnt work right.

Anyway thanks for you support Love you Mom have a great week

Picture

July 1,2013

Dear Mom,

That should be good for you to spend more time with family on saturday. It would be nice to be there with you all sharing these experiences. Colby i am proud of. He seems to be doing well. I missed his first date!? Dang it! I wanted to tease him. Oh well i will be there for Emmas first date. Heeheehee >:)

I will follow her the whole time.

Emma has always been loving and free giving. That is a very good attribute. I am very glad that she got that trait from Dad. I am as ever grateful for the things which i have recieved from my loving parents. Fourth of july here unfortunately has no meaning or significance. I would love to light fireworks and have a BBQ but i think i will have to settle for just the BBQ.

The weather has been good. For about the past month it has been raining on and off. Everything is green and there are lots of birds. As far as what Colby needs its pretty simple. Peanut butter, Lots of polyester ties not silk, pictures of the family his guns the dogs house etc, reglar flip flops for the shower, waterproof shoes there will be lots of rain in his region. I really like the hush puppy brand. Its been an excelent shoe for me. He needs to take good care of his shoes. No scuffing. The most important thing is that he will be comfortable in his shoes. Do exactly like we did one pair for more formal occasions and the other for day to day tracting. Lots of little personal care products he gets here. Bring deodorant that he likes and bring like five or six sticks. He can trade for good stuff with that. Get a seperate bible book of mormon comb. Hangers are important. Get good strong ones. Bring at least two towels. If you can get that microfiber one and then a regular thick one. For traveling purposes he will want the microfiber. Dont bring the shoe horns they are useless garbage. Duct tape of course.  I will think more about it and tell you.

News for this week. I am a trainer! So transfers happened on tuesday i stayed in the city and received a short term missionary ,a young man waiting for his mission call that will stay with me for the next few weeks, and on thursday i got a call from the assistents saying that a missionaries visa came through and i would train him. So on Friday i went to salvador to pick him up and President let the short term missionary stay to help me work. Its good experience for him. I have attached a picture of us to the email. President also put two more sisters in the neighboring city so now there is a lot of feminine talk in the district. Thats all for this week Love you