November 24, 2009 - Letter Home

Minha família!
Ahhhh. I Just had the best hour in my life, I think, the last month. Wow. I seriously am having a hard time typing because I can feel , literally, the euphoria of being with my family for a little while through your words. Everybody, thank you so very much for all the letters, pictures, mom for the blog... Wow. I really needed that.  The other missionaries here said it was okay to go onto my blog and Brendon’s, and I spent a long while going through Brendon’s, and then through mine, remembering every step of the journey so far. I really loved it. Thank you mom.

This week was good. It had rough patches, and I’m still overcoming the homesickness I mentioned last week, but I really feel on the top of the world now, and I’ve been getting better for the last couple of days so I think I have a really good chance getting over it completely this week.

Last Thursday we had zone conference, where all of the companionships in Passo Fundo and the surrounding countryside (16 elders) met together with the Assistants and President Pavan for a six hour meeting and interviews, and an excellent buffet lunch... more on that later. In my interview with the president I was finally able to vent some of my "saudades" and other little problems, and it was so awesome. President Pavan is the man. I love him already. He told me a bunch of advice that seemed to be directed exactly at me, and he talks to you as if you’re the only missionary in the mission. I came out of that meeting beaming, and after he gave an excellent talk on how to have the right attitude in missionary work, on having faith, and on getting along with your companion. Pretty much exactly what I needed to hear. I truly have a testimony that that man hás the keys of the missionary work going on here in Rio Grande do Sol. His wife is also so very wise and friendly and... Actually they really remind me alot of Grandad and Grandma, and I feel close to them already. I feel very blessed to have them as our leaders here.

After this, Elder Losee and I had an excellent... and dare I say a little bit teary-eyed companionship inventory, and I am really getting to love him and like being his companion. This wasnt as easy for me as it was with Elder Feller, and I’m not exactly certain why. I know see that I was actually really lucky to have Elder Feller  as a companion, and that I have a much longer way to go on learning how to be with one person for 24 hours a day and stay best friends despite all of our differences. I guess I never described Elder Losee... He’s from Delta, Utah. He’s the second youngest of a nine-person family. His family hás a ranch. He hás a very strong testimony and a very strong desire to be a good missionary, and he’s been  doing a good job. He’s been a good trainer, and I’ve learned a lot from him, and a lot from being with him. There have been very specific things that I know Heavenly Father meant us to learn from eachother. It’s been a bit rough in the past, but now it’s good. For surely the advice Presidente had about companionships is inspired because after having a long and heartfelt talk with my companion on what was bothering me and what I could do better and what we could do better, the work just completely raced along like it never hás before. We’ve been getting many new investigators, and been able to teach many lessons, and are becoming more and more confident in approaching strangers on the street. The spirit is flowing and we’ve been more open with eachother about our feelings and  are sharing more of our successes and difficulties together. It’s good.

Today was fun. We played futbol for 3 hours at the chapel with 8 other elders, and then had a picnic in the central park of Passo Fundo, and now are in an internet café. I'm sending photos about this. (below)  I’m really liking the other people in my zone here. We’re becoming like brothers. Elder Lima especially, the one I’m with in the photo alone, hás been such a good friend here. I love him a lot. He was baptized three years ago, and now is serving a mission. He’s the only one in his family in the church. He’s awesome. I really don’t know how to explain it, but some people you Just really click with, you know, it’s an unexplicable thing. I’m glad I’m getting along with people here. It helps.

 

 

I really like making things. I am very proud of the tools I’ve made here to do missionary  work. For example, Elder Losee and I have the largest map in the mission here, and it’s because of a dream I had, to make a  big map and plaster it over an entire wall. It took a lot of work finding a place to buy a map, finding a place to make that big of a copy, find ing a way to laminate it... But it’s beautiful.
Elder Losee and I colored it, and gave each of the áreas seperate colors and names, for example the south of our área is comprised of  “a selva, os morros, o vale” ( the jungle, hills, valley). There’s 11 seperate áreas. Then we  gave the map a huge title over the top “The Kingdom of Boqueriao!” (our ward), and signed our names. It’s great.  Then, at the end of every night we take stickers, and write the names of the people we met throughout the day, and mark them on the map. Then, when we plan for the next day, we can easily visualize our route through Passo Fundo, and make sure we’re not missing anyone. It’s helped A BUNCH with our planning, because before that we just tried to remember who was where. I liked making it. I think I’ll make one in each one of my áreas.

I also made  a  paper to be placed in the front of Books of Mórmon, with page references for special scriptures  and answers for important questions about life. We have 40 Books of Mórmon now with that page in the front, and it hás been helping in our contacting a lot. I made two different visuals for teaching lessons, and a chart for helping investigators know how to pray, and I made a really cool box to  hold Books of Mórmons in my backpack without making the covers get bent. It’s fun to make stuff and then get to use them. That probably sounded really boring, I know, but I’m proud of it. :)

I’m waking up at 5:30 every Day now ( a full hour before we are required to). I really like reading the Book of Mórmon by flashlight. The other night I was reading about Nephi on the ship when he was bound by his brothers, and one of the most intense storms I’ve seen was going on in the background. Lightning flashes and thunder constantly, the wind loud and battering the walls, and me alone in my living room reading by flashlight about the same thing happening to Laman and Lemuel on the seas.
Was cool.

I set a goal before I arrived in the Field that I would be fluent in two months into the Field, in time for Christmas. It still looks doubtful that I’ll be able, but I have faith, and am putting forth the effort required, I think. I would really love to just have na experience like in the movie "The Other Side of Heaven", where that guy just wakes up and starts speaking Tongan. It Will happen.  :)

This week two funny things happened. Yesterday we were returning home, and both of us were, in Brazilian terms “very close”. Meaning we needed to go to the bathroom. And we were way far from our house. So we see this old abandoned building a little bit off from the Road. We decided that would be enough cover to do our business. But it was dark, and the closer we got the more we didn't want to go in. But we did anyway, because our need was great. After finishing, I went a bit further into the house, and after looking around a corner, jumped in the air, shouted, and started for the door. Elder Losee screamed and darted out and was halfway down the street before I started laughing and told him it was a joke. I felt a little bad afterward because I don’t think I realized that he wasn’t quite finished yet, and I messed him up. It was the end of the day and he needed to wash some other clothes and it was funny enough so there were no hard feelings, but man I still can’t hold back a chuckle when thinking about his reaction. That was a bit mean, I know, but funny.

I miss the dunes, Dad. I really wish I was there with you. It seems like a world away. And I totally forgot about Thanksgiving! IT completely left my mind! Wow. I hope you guys have a super fun week with the family. Dad, I will answer your questions next week, sorry for not getting to them. I know I talked about a bunch of less interesting things, but I spent so much time reading that I didnt leave enough for writing. I know you will probably read this to the family there in Arizona, and I’m sorry that this wasn’t as big of a deal as it should have been. However, I love you, and I am again SOOO thankful for your letters. I feel  %200 better now, thank you so much. I especially liked hearing about the news about being EQ president, and I am so proud of you dad. Again, I am probably talking about you at least 3 times a Day here, and it is a story that always brings the spirit to the families here. I can testify of the power of the scriptures to change our lives and families because of you. We have a lot of good times ahead, I feel.

Unfortunately, I really need to go. Mom.  My mom! Thank you so much for the letters and for making the packages. I am excited! I love you Mom. You are with me here.

Sisters, I pray for you muchly, and thank you so much my sisters for your letters. You have no Idea how much I cherish them. You really lift me up here. Have fun with cousins!

Brendon, I got to go, but I loved hearing about your baptisms and other stories on your blog. Wish I could comment more, but - Remember going to the theatres, you and me, empty parking lot, driving around crazy and listening to sweet tunes and the cool air in your face? The movies were usually horrible, but being with you was awesome. "Blood Diamond", "Silent Hill", "1408", "The Mist", "Cloverfield", "Hot Fuzz".... others. Love you man. Thinking about you lots. Oh yeah, and I just heard from my other companions that we can send e-mail directly to one another,  and we can do the same for all e-mail addresses of immediate family. Do this! Because apparently I missed a lot of the stuff you've sent!

Other family, wish I was there! Love you and think about you much!
Have a good week all! Love love love!
Elder Con

November 17, 2009 - Letter Home

Time to Cowboy Up!

My family! Hello! Another week here in Passo Fundo. In three days I’ll have been in the field for a month! The CTM, my pré-mission life, is already becoming more and more like a dream. Weird.

                    Shining my Shoes... Thanks Dad for the shoeshine kit! 

So today I opened up my inbox expecting a bunch of e-mails, but there were none. Usually President Pavan and the Assistants send us mail every week, and there were none from them either. So I’m pretty sure my inbox was full and all of your e-mails were returned. I’m sure that was fairly frustrating for you! I’m sorry about that. I’ve emptied my mail and that shouldn’t happen again.

However, for some reason I’m thinking it’s a good thing I didn’t get anything from you guys this week. I’ll tell ya why. I can’t really start a summary about this week without mentioning... wow, it’s probably been my hardest week out here yet. If I let myself think about it I could have probably reasoned how it’s been the hardest week of my life, but I’m still holding on to enough hope to not let myself drift that far out.

Why was it the hardest week?

I’m really not that sure. You could say it was because a majority of our appointments and investigators have fallen through, leaving us to start from scratch. You could say it was because of the constant rain, wind, and overcast sky. You could bring up our lunch appointment on Friday with Jean and Tina, who showed us vídeos and pictures of their brother, Igor, returning from his mission, smiling from ear to ear and crying and hugging his whole family, and then they got on Google Earth to look at my home from sattelite, 9000 miles away, and then they got on YouTube to look at my Missionary Call vídeo on YouTube, complete with vídeo of my family. And after showing us all this, they sent us back into the rain.

It wasn’t quite any of those things that made it the worst. I’m pretty sure it’s just the natural reaction of a missionary only three weeks into the field. I’m right on the timetable of having the realization that my family is so far away, and will remain that way for a very long time yet. I didn’t really think it could happen to me. But it hás.

I only mention these things because
1. it’s somewhat cathartic
2. mom, I’m pretty sure you told me to tell you the truth about what I’ve been going through. If any homesickness rubs off on you guys, sorry about that. I know the natural reaction to the letter might be to send a bunch of reassurance, and that might be nice, but I actually think it’s good that I’m going through this, and maybe this should be a moment where I break out of the cocoon by myself. Difficulty is just nature’s way of making us stronger. ;)

I’m fairly sure that as soon as I get over this, I’ll finally start to feel like I real missionary. I’m still feeling a bit blue, but I’m loving the idea that I’ll be able to overcome this, and be stronger because of it. Some things happened this week and there’s probably a lot of details I should be telling you, but I feel like I’d be doing them more justice by waiting until next week. I hope that’s okay?

He can sew!

Grandma Imogene: Thank you so much for the letter! I got it! I loved it. It really helped me. It was all raining and blowing as I returned to my house, and I checked the mailbox and something was actually there! Wow! I love you so much Grandma, and I’m very lonesome for you tôo. Thank you for the counsel. You stay healthy and take care of my family okay? They need you.

Dad: Hey! How are you? What stage of work are you on now? Still developing ideas, still programming, testing, marketing, trying to sell? I really loved the idea and I want to know how it’s going. Liking your office? The view? Staying cooped up in the house still? Gotten out to do anything fun? I miss ya man. Just want to let you know that I pretty much talk about you every day. There’s been a couple of families that I know have been really touched by our example of how we were able to come together by coming closer to the word of God. I love you man. Be strong.

Mom: Hello! What have you been doing recently? Do you mow the lawn? If so, I suggest you trying listening to some podcasts while you do so. When I looked at Google Earth the other day I saw mainly our lawn, and that’s what I thought about: you mowing the whole thing. Wish we could do that for you. How’s your calling going? Are the plans for the holidays still to visit family? That will be awesome. We have to organize some party for when I call home for Christmas. Should it be a big thing, or a small thing? I’ll only have an hour so it might be better if there’s no other distractions. Just talking to my fam. I am so very excitied to talk to you guys. I love you so much, Mom. I couldn’t be out here without all that you’ve done for me. We’re out here preaching about how our families can be happier and more united through the gospel, and you have been that example of how much of a difference a good parent can make in the world. For my world, it’s been everything. Oh yeah, and I’m serious mom, we are visiting Passo Fundo. Even if it’s for a train ride and a short stop to see some friends with you guys. You would absolutely fall in love with the countryside, I know it. I always think of you when I see any pretty sunset or view. :)

 

"Bonita"                                     "Destiny is in the Air"

P.S. Please please send my letters to Brendon and vice versa. There’s absolutely no possible reason I’d want otherwise. I need to hear from my brother! Thanks mom. And P.S.S. baptism photo. P.S.S. and more photos o four family, vídeos, music. Just put it in a .zip file it should be fine. P.S.S.S. pictures from brendon in his mission would be cool tôo.

Lynsey: Hi! My sister! I thought your Halloween costume was hilarious. Thank you again for your letter a couple days back. I went to read it again this week and really enjoyed it. Doing anything new? I know you’re usually busy but I’m so glad that you have been there in the family. You are a very important glue in our family. I know school and life during high school can sometimes feel just like monotony, but I hope you can realize the excitement and adventures and opportunity just waiting in every day for you. Be impulsive, live life, keep an eternal perspective, and love everything that comes no matter what! I love you sis.

Kaitlin: Hey my little Kate! How are you? Doing anything different? Any cool new movies you’ve seen? Doing anything cool with the family? How is school? Any projects or interesting things? Still learning a language? You need to do it every day so that when we get back we can go travel the world together! Again, your Halloween costume was so great! I know you would totally love a lot of the other girls here in our ward in Boquierao! They are all really funny and cute, with cute little Portuguese voices. After I come back we can visit here together and you can meet some of them! Cool huh? I love you a lot Kate! I’m actually here, 9000 miles away! You have a brother! I can’t wait to see you my sweet sis! It will be so fun! I love you! Keep reading your scriptures!

Brendon: Hey man! Wow, I’ve wanted to talk to you so bad for the last couple of days. It was really funny when we looked up your área on Google Earth here. Haha! You’re in a desert! It’s completely different from my área. I’m sorry man. Fortunately, everyone here says that Jauzeiro is the only place there that is that much of a wastleland, and that the rest is actually fairly nice. I think about you a lot and how your coping with everything. It’s been pretty hard for me recently, but it’s been nice to know that I’m not alone in this. I haven’t received any letters from you except for your first week, so remind mom to pass on your letters! I hope you get this letter. On my companion’s iPod he hás the song, “Return to Innocence” and I always think of you when I listen to that song. Especially the words “believe in destiny”. Still believing? It’s been getting somewhat harder recently to keep that vision, but I have hope. One of these days it’ll come back into focus. Probably when I get my first baptism. That’d be cool. This week I did something pretty cool, pretty Biblical, and it reminded me what a mission was. We saw this guy sitting in his house and I decided to talk to him, even though we usually just talk to people walking on the street. He was very excited to see us and asked us if we could give him a blessing for his legs, because he had been in a car accident recently and never went to the doctor and was pretty much trying to heal his broken legs by himself. So we gave him a blessing. Then we gave him a lesson where I was totally feeling the Spirit, and he was talking about how he was depressed and was so glad that we had showed up, and when we left he walked out the door with us and said that his legs were already getting better! Wow! I felt like I had stepped into the scriptures for a couple seconds. It’s funny because all the missionary stories in the scriptures just talk about all of their successes, while all their day-to-day activities and rejections I think were just not gone into detail as much. It’s cool to know that cool stuff like that is possible. I’m very grateful for that experience which was given to me. Anyway buddy, I’m there with ya. Anyway, fique forte! Be the wizard, Brendon. Love ya!

All others: Love you! Talk to you next week. Again, a reminder that excessive reassurance is not necessary. I need to get through this by myself. And I’ll be fine! I’ve got the Lord.

Love love love!

Elder Con

November 10, 2009 - Letter Home

Ola from Passo Fundo!

I’m sitting in a LAN House now (place that sells computer time), outside it’s raining fairly violently, and I’m surrounded here by the rest of the missionaries in my zone, who are also e-mailing. Right behind me is a huge plasma tv screen with the menu of Halo 3: ODST playing. No one is playing it. If I wanted, I could exchange my e-mailing time (and break a couple rules) and play that game instead. Wow. I must love you guys a lot huh, ;) ?

So yesterday was a fun little holiday for me; I went on a division with Elder Almeida, who works in Lagoa Vermelhia. It’s three hours away. So I went on a bus through (take this description seriously) three hours of absolutely beautiful rolling hills, complete with swaying bronze wheat, farm houses in the distance with green pastures or the occassional pond, cows, sheep, horses grazing, dotted with trees, with a deep blue sky filled with puffy white clouds as far as the eye can see. I got pictures. But it was awesome. I sat in the bus and totally recharged from the last week. So nice.

Then I get to Lagoa, which is a small town, more rural than Passo Fundo, but also hás a bunch of more wealthy people who want to live out in the countryside. More hilly than Passo Fundo. Very beautiful. I would live there, serious. But, the few people we encountered were not as nice as most of the people we’ve talked to in Passo Fundo. Tôo bad. Last night I ate at a member’s house who pulled out a feast before us. Fluffy homemade bread, homemade butter, homemade cheese filled with spices, and the best part: churrasco. It’s the food of Rio Grande do Sol, food of the gaúchos (cowboys). It’s pretty much barbecue, but it was fresh and I’m pretty sure it was from a neighbor’s cow. And they eat it with this special cake which makes it way different than anything you can find in the states. I was in absolute heaven. Wow.

I’m not kidding guys. I’m in paradise here. Like seriously, it’s even actually been kind of something I’ve been having a problem with. I was ready to go out into the Amazon and sweat and bleed and find those converts by the last grasp of my outreached hand. This... is something I could never have suspected. I feel guilty. So grateful that I have been given such a good mission, so grateful for the blessings, but I also feel like I’m getting a bit fat (and not just physically). Trying to push myself is the number one thing I’m working on out here. So many hours spent in member’s homes as they give us more and more delicious food... So easy to put off contacting or finding new investigators and instead return to our same couple investigators who, while very nice, and while with very good food, don’t seem to be progressing. I know a lot of you haven’t read the Odyssey, but I feel a bit like I’m in Odyseus’ shoes. Odyseus was trying to find his way back to Ithica, his home and his family, after fighting in the Trojan War. But when the story starts, Odyseus hás been chilling on another island for 15 years, with a goddess named Calypso who fell in love with Odyseus, and who hás been providing him and his crew with an unending supply of delicious food, women, and entertainment, in hopes that Odyseus would forget his home. It’s not exactly what I’m going through, but I feel like that’s where my story is starting as well. I’ll figure it out.

Alright, sorry for that ambiguous and impractical musing/rant. Had to get it out of me.

My desk

Anyway, the language is going very well, or at least everyone tells me that. I’ve been working on listening, and every conversation hás me straining to understand every word, unlike before where I’d zone out a bit until something familiar popped out. I’m actually a bit proud of where I’m now in my listening skills. Probably at 80% words understood, but it’s interesting. I can pick out the words and what they mean, but the words come so fast that I can’t put them in context with eachother, especially with the slightly different grammar. That’s my next challenge. But it’s going really good. Really big jump in comprehension I think. Now if I can get my trainer to stop speaking English completely... I’m also having fun trying to pick up the accent of the gaúchos. It’s way fun.

Brendon, you will not understand my Portuguese when we are reunited. We have an Elder here from Fortaleza, and I can understand absolutely none of his Portuguese, because I’m so accustomed to the gaúcho accent. In all other places, Portuguese is pronounced with ´te´ as ´che´ and ´de´ as ´je´, but here it’s like it is in English, but a bit “harder”. You’d think it’d be easy to pick up because it’s close to English, but I’m basically having to relearn all the words I learned at the CTM with those sounds. And all the other Elders here, even the ones who have been here long, still pronounce words the other way. It’s fun because everybody always smiles and gets patriotic and starts talking about their heritage when I say a phrase the gaúcho way.

An other gaúcho thing is chimarrão, a hot drink that everyone drinks all the time, hot or cold, which is made out of grass clippings and hot water. The families also pass around this mug with a large metal straw so that everyone can sip the chimarrão. It’s like a peace pipe. Two days ago I spilt a fresh cup and burnt my hand quite a bit. It’s fine, a bit red. Was funny.

Let’s see... last Wednesday, Elder Losee and I had an “adventure day.” It was awesome. It was not planned. We figured out that an área we needed to be in was in a neighborhood connected to where we were only in a roundabout way around this huge meadow/forest/hilly area, so we decided to take a shortcut. I finally felt a bit like I was actually in Brazil! We trekked over hills, saw a snake, encountered a pack of dogs we scared away with picked up rocks, crossed over two little rivers, under two ramshakle barbwire fences, got my foot stuck in some mud, scaled a cool little cliff. Yeah. Sure beats cobblestone roads. Blazed some trails that day. Was fun.

I have more things I know happened, but I forgot them. I’ve been meaning to keep a mini diary for this, like Alec did, but... I haven’t. Will do now. Sorry.

Dad, thanks a lot for your e-mail. Don’t worry if it’s a bit late, I think as long as I get something about every month I’ll be fine :). I really enjoy hearing about business and what you’re working on. Such a cool idea! I wish I could see it in action, maybe after it’s implemented you could show me some screen shots or photos? Would be way cool. I will read Alma 42 again, thank you for that recommendation. I’m going through the Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants simultaneously now, and it’s been a bit slow. Still in 2nd Nephi. I need some Alma to get me through the Isaiah parts :). I love you Dad. You are my idol. I still use you as an example in my lessons, and I think I probably will continue to do so if you think that’s okay. Just shows how our struggles can be used as blessings. Even our struggles now will eventually be blessings if we do our part.

Kaitlin! I loved your letter! Thank you so much! What language are you learning right now, exactly? Can I see some pictures of your new clothes? I know everyone thinks you look so beautiful. Are you watching any new Bollywood films? I’m glad you went to the library, remember when we used to go together? That was fun. I’m so excited for you on Thanksgiving, that will be so fun! Guess what? Yesterday I was eating dinner with a family, and there was a little girl, 7 years old, who was wearing a burka! I forgot exactly what they were called in Portuguese, but they are Brazilian clothes! In the olden days here, all the girls used to wear them! Cool huh? When you come visit me in 2 years you can buy one and where it out in the streets of Brazil! That will be very fun. I will wear the clothes of the gaúcho: a wide leather hat, white shirt, long leather boots, and I will have a think black mustache just like all the gaúchos here. And I’ll ride a horse, with my little sister on the back. Will be very cool, huh? Love you Kaitlin!

Rest of my family, I love you muito, and I hope everything is going well. Please send me pictures: I save every picture you send. Only a couple at a time so I can savor each one. :)

Love love love!

Elder Con

P.S. need baptismal photos! oh yeah, and is The Office playing now? is it good? Okay bye I love you!

November 3, 2009 - Letter Home

Oi minha família beleza!

Wow, I really can't believe its been a whole week since I last sent a message. I know all missionaries say this, but it really just feels like yesterday. It's something I heard all the time on blogs before the mission, but really never grasped exactly how it would feel. Cool.

Before I begin, a little business; Mom, I got your package! Sweet! I loved it! I can't believe how fast it got to me! Cool! Man, I was so feeling the love after that was opened.

Connor in the Halloween costume Mom sent

(the glow-in-the-dark eyeglasses)

He came up with rest and is now...

the Amazing Twinkletoes!

Also, yes, please just attach a photo of my baptism, and I can print it out. No problem. Also, I’d like to request some more photos :) : a picture of our whole family that isn’t so ‘preppy’; a lot of people here want to see pictures of my family, and I’m always a bit ashamed to show them the only photo I have, the same photo we have in the living room, because I’m teaching some very poor people. We’re talking no heated water or air conditioning or heating or carpet, 3-room-house and watch-out-for-that-cockroach-because-there’s-cracks-in-the-wall. Actually, only about half of our people are like that, but they do spend a lot of time talking about how rich I am after seeing the photo, so another would be cool. Your choice :) .

              "My District  after a week in the field"

Where to start… The work is going forward. Elder Losee and I have been teaching a family of two, single mother Christina and her 11 year old son Bruno, and they have been really progressing, coming to church two weeks consecutively, although they still feel like they haven’t gotten an answer as to whether the Book of Mormon is true. They say the feel really happy when they read the book, but I guess they aren’t recognizing those feelings as the Spirit. We’ve been explaining it more, and I hope that tomorrow they have a solid answer for us. You know, in 3rd Nephi, verse 11 it took the people 3 times before they understood the voice that was coming out of heaven.

Our other family that I am SOOO excited about is a 7 person family Celson (Dad), Luciani (Mom), Jezemo (11), Rahana (9), twin Matteus and Lucas (7), and Rafael (5). They had investigated the church before and then got sidetracked, but Luciani started reading the BoM a week before I arrived, and she said she knew that we would visit soon because of this, and we did happen to stop by, and they were interested again! I am also really stressed out about this family because they aren’t married (although they really want to be), and they are chronic smokers (and they want to quit, but are doubtful that it’s possible). On Sunday Luciani accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 27th, and Celson accepted the invitation to be married. What we are trying to work on now is getting all the papers, money, and organization together for the marriage, while simultaneously trying to figure out a way to help them stop smoking, and we are really trying to get Celson to the point where he will want to be baptized as well. They are such a fun family, but have recently fallen on rough times, and they have the desire to change, but are under the chains of addiction right now. I absolutely love the family and am yearning so much for them to come into the church together, but it’s not a sure thing, I think, that it’ll work out… It’s high stakes, high risk. We’re spending a lot of time on them right now, and I hope it’ll turn out right. We are really focusing on having faith that God will send them strength and vision for the future. We did a fast for them yesterday, and right after we stopped fasting, we had lunch at a members house, a couple, both converts, who quit smoking and got married to join the church, who agreed to visit Celson and Luciani’s house with us on Thursday, and were quite excited to do so! I am so excited for that to happen!

"Mai Passo Fundo"

Oh, I am running out of minutes in the LAN house I’m using for the internet, so I will send this one off really quick. Another one soon, promise!

Elder Con

---an hour and 1/2 later ------

oi! mais!

Hey Family,
Actually, I didn't have as much time logged on as I thought. Sorry.

Anyway, right after I wrote about how I was doing last week, I started having a really hard week. It gets super hot here (95 degrees yesterday!), and we walk in the sun long distances, and the humidity is killer. The hardest thing is that saudade (longing , homesickness) is really hitting me hard, now that I know that this is what I'll be doing for the next two years. There's been some difficult parts of this for sure, but I hope you don’t mind that I kind of keep that part of the mission on the down low. It's just not something I like to dwell on. However, I'll speak a little bit about it every so often.

He says "I did this myself !"

Oh, parents, send me photos of Brendon in his new area. Send him my photos too.

I've been thinking a lot about all my family, but thank you especially to Uncle Todd for his e-mail, which helped me know how good I actually had it here. Nick and Zach, I used your scriptures in a lesson with a family! Doing missionary work is easy for you guys, isn’t it? I also loved the descriptions of the media going on back home, thanks so much! It helps.

To Brendon: How has your area been? How have you been excelling? Any surprises? I also put together a diagram of profetas (prophets) and how they each communicated from God to the people on earth, just like was mentioned in the section about teaching principles. I will make a picture of the temple with the 5 parts too, later. There is much to do, especially in contacting more people and figuring out how I can persuade my trainer to spend less time at members houses eating. Luckily, people have been very accepting here. We’ve got a bunch of addresses to contact, and a moderate pool of investigators. Still, I’ve really been troubled mostly about not pushing myself as hard as I could. This is hard because it’s very easy in our companionship for me not to do anything, or do much less than I’m capable of doing. So that’s what I'm working on. We are spending a lot of time cleaning the house, getting organized… I’m waking up 30 minutes early each morning for extra language study, and I’m listening to the Book of Mormon on my ipod while I make food in the morning. Oh, and I’m hiding little cards with a personalized thank you and a spiritual message in each house that I eat in. That has really been a success and I suggest you do it too. It’s hard to do the work the way I want to when so much still depends on my understanding of the language. I’m really trying to get that obstacle out of the way. Brendon, don’t be afraid of being a hero. Go all out, despite anyone else. The only person you are serving is your God, so you don’t have to hold yourself back here. Don’t be afraid of what others might think because of your ambition and desire to excel. This is advice I’m really trying to take, myself. In my area, poeple are all pretty chill as long as you act like a naïve yet outgoing American. Making fun of myself also seems to really help break the ice. The heat and humidity are killer, but I bet you’ve got it worse. The food is amazing and I hope it’s good where you are too. I love you bro! Keep it up! I’m thinking of you constantly!

To my Kaitlin: Your costume was beautiful! Wow, what a princess! Did people think you were a real Indian? I love you so much and your picture was so pretty! I hope you enjoyed Halloween!

To my Lynsey! Thank you so much for the letter! I haven’t read all of it, but I will answer your request to speak Portuguese: Amo minha irma muito, e eu penso sobre ela todos dos meus tempos aqui. Ela é um moça linda e é cheio de luz. Muito obrigado por suas palavras, eu vou desfrutar eles muito. Eu amo você Lynsey, e eu sou grato por que você é minha irmã. Seja forte, né? Até mais.

Mom: I feel close to you so much. Thank you for the letter. It strengthens me.

Dad: Hey buddy! I love you so much, and I think of you often. Stay strong. I know the Lord is with you. Be comforted. You are a great father, and a great man, and a great friend, and I want to be like you one day. Thank you for making it possible for me to be out here, in more ways than you might initially think. Com amor.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Con