This weeks vídeo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqH0A71Vllo
Hey my family! Another week hás gone by like the blink of an eye.
Tomorrow I’ll be 20. Woah! Seriously it’s very surreal that my 20th birthday hás finally come. I remember imagining having my birthday as a missionary since I was little. And in a little less than two week, I’ll celebrate 7 months in the mission. That’s nearly a third of the two years I’ve got here! It’s really freaking me out because it feels like this time is just going to slip out of my fingers and I’m gonna get back home not knowing what the heck happened.
The people here in Marau, especially, are really needing help, and it just seems there’s not enough time in the day to help all the families in the ward that are needing help, not to mention all of the people here in Marau who havent even heard of the restored gospel. It’s a bit frustrating but the work is going. Elder Silva and I are continuing to be good friends, and we’re really set on making a difference here in this tranfer. It’ll be good.
So this week we played futbol with an investigator and his family and a bunch of friends. We played for about 3 hours. The goal is to get to know all the friends (about 20 people, maybe 10 different families) to teach them. However, for some reason we just played soccer, and afterwards everyone scrammed before we could talk to them about any church stuff. But we’ll meet with them this next week and hopefully it’ll all work out good. It was fun, and I’m definitely getting better at futbol, but I also got a litttle frustrated when they picked me to be goalie, and then kept telling me to be goalie for the next 3 games. The only advantage I have on the field is that I can run. I don’t really have any other skills other than being able to sprint to the ball and try to knock it out of the reach of the person who’s got it, or (maybe) sprint to it and try to knock it in the general direction of the goal. So I totally spaced on a bunch of the goals when it was getting pretty competitive, and I opted to sit out the next couple plays to mull around a bit. Oh well. It happens. Just gotta put it behind ya.
We had Zone Conference. It was really good. I had an interview with President Pavan similar to what Brendon talked about a couple e-mails ago, and I feel like I’m going to start over again, make some changes, and rededicate myself to the work.
Zone Conference is usually when we receive packages that the mission home hás gotten, and so I was totally looking forward to my Birthday treat. But.... alas, the president’s car had no package with my name on it! I almost wanted to lie for you guys and say I got it, but it didn’t make it, and I guess I’ll just have to wait for 3 weeks until transfers to get my Birthday presents...
:( Let’s all cry together for me shall we?
:) Seriously don’t even worry about it. Us missionaries are so wrapped up in the work that 3 weeks will seem like 3 days, and while I’ll try to do something to celebrate my big 20th, it’ll be just as well to get all the cool stuff you sent me in just a little while. Tôo bad!
At conference, however, I got a customary box of candy that Presidente gives all the people with birthdays, and I also got a sweet letter (s) from Ashley which was just super awesome. I sat on the bus from Passo Fundo to Marau (about an hour), just going through everything Ashley put together and Jack’s handprints and drawings and it was really cool to think about all of the memories Ashley had on her mission and all the ones I was making here in Brasil. So I just sat on the bus, looked out the window, and had just a really nice peaceful ride, time to think and get my thoughts together and adjust my perspective on where I am in my mission and my life and everything. Really cool. Thanks Ash (and fam)!
I also received a letter from a girl in a family we reactivated in Boqueirão. It was covered with hearts and pretty much a full blown love letter. Woah. Maybe it was a good thing I left when I did. That would get weird. She wants me to write her through my mission but I don’t think I will....
Ahem.
My iPod nano broke. 2 weeks ago. And I’ve been without music (well, my own music). So I went out into the city and bought another one (but 2GB this time). But then I talked to another missionary who said there’s a place where they sell them for 70 reais cheaper. Shoot! So I’ve got music but it’s a bit bittersweet.
Man, nothing else really to say about my week. Just visiting families, sharing scriptures, trying to help, talking to people on the street, giving lots of first lessons (that talks about prophets and Joseph Smith and the Book of Mórmon), walking alot, and having some really good study time. Yep!
Thanks so much for all of your e-mails, photos, vídeos (Brendon, Lyns, and Dad). I feel like I could go next door and just go and talk to you guys. Sweet! I love that we can still feel somewhat close even 9 thousand miles away from eachother.
Dad, I love you buddy, my best friend, and am so glad things are going well. I that you’re gonna have to do a bunch more work, but how cool it is that we’ve received some blessings from the Lord! So awesome. He really is watching over us. I am so grateful that our family just got a good dosage of hope. Let’s be super grateful and just continue to pray and fast and depend on the Lord for every little thing. I tôo am a bit in the middle on whether you should sell the quads or not... :) Seriously, if you guys need to, go for it and sell them, they’re just things. At the same time, wouldn’t it be cool to schedule a trip to the dunes soon after our return, and just arrive all ready to go? Oh yeah, that’d be sweet. Hmm... better pray about that decision... :)
Also Dad, keep working out! It’s not just for your body or your outer appearance, it’ll also help you think clearer and work more effeciently if you have a habit of excersize. Most importantly, I think it’ll also help you spiritually, because we are commanded to take care of our bodies as they are temples. So if you haven’t excersized today, go for it! You can always fit a 20 minute run into your day or something like that. I love you so much man, have a good week!
Hey my Mom! I love the idea about inviting the kids over for our birthday! Such a good way to spend the day. More than presents, it’ll be good to remember tomorrow that somebody else gets to share a bit of happiness with our family. You’re a saint Mom :P. So glad that you’re keeping up strong with Releif Society and helping people get prepared. I second the thought that it’s very important what you’re doing there. For surely. Also cool that you got together with the Porters... I’m jealous. Good times we had together. Thanks for the advice, and I’ll try to follow it more strictly. Mom, I love you so much and am so thankful for your efforts to make sure I have a good birthday. Even though your package didn’t come through, it’s going to be exactly as meaningful to me in a little while when I get it. (I’m excited!) Also, thanks for the photos! My new ipod supports them so I’ll keep em with me through the week. You’re a really good Mom, Mom. :) Have a good week!
Hey Lyns! Thanks so much for the vídeo and the letter! I love you lots and am thankful that the work load hás gotten a bit better. Summer is soon! Yeah! For me, it’s just started to get colder. Weird eh? I love seeing you and think it’s so cool that you can just converse with me about the things I’ve just been going through. Love you so much my beautiful sis. Have a good week!
Hey my Kaitlin! I love you so much! I hope you had a good week and that you’re learning lots and having fun with the family! Ashley told me about when she visited you with Jack Jack and you told her cool arabic stories! So cool! I bet that was really fun with her and Jack and that she is going to have a baby. It will be cool to see all the new baby cousins I have after the mission! I love you, and hope you have a good day and a good week! A big hug for my sweet sister! Love you sis.
Hey Brendon, loved the vídeos buddy and I totally laughed out loud like the rest of the family. That fruit looked outright alien. They don’t have them here. I’m jealous about the hike because I want a Zone activity like that (all the rest of the zones have them).
Hey, real quick, here’s the scripture chain I created to mark in LdMs, they teach the 1st lição: 1st-2nd paragraph of the Introduction, Alma 30:44, Mosiah 4:9, 2 Nephi 9:17-20, Mosiah 2:41, Jacob 4:4,6, Mosiah 13:33-35, 1 Nephi 11:26-29,31-34, Alma 7:11-13, 4 Nephi 1:27-28, 2 Nephi 26:20-21, 2 Nephi 9:1-3, Guia de Estuda: Primeira Visão, Guia de Estuda: Restaracao do Evangelho, 4th-9th paragraph of the Introduction, Moroni 10:3-7, and then page 621 (which is a blank page where you would write a testimony or post something about the steps of how to pray). Maybe this is useful?!?!
I love you buddy. Happy Birthday! That might be the first time I’ve needed to say that: we’ve always just enjoyed birthdays together. Here’s to the first birthday we’ve had seperated in our whole life! Hopefully there aren’t many more. Love you bunches man. Have much success.
Jody, Karen, Grandma Imogene, thanks for the e-mails tôo. I love you my aunts, my Grandma. Thank you for keeping in touch and thinking about us.
Have a good week!
Love love love everybody!
Big Elder C
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
March 9, 2010 - Letter Home
Fixing people
Hello!
So it’s another P-day. I’ve had a very good P-day so far. What made the difference? Elder K. Silva and I woke up early and went jogging to start the day!
Video of Jogging this morning (click here)
We returned to the house, did a bit of cleaning, had lunch, and hit the lanhouse early. So today (much unlike Brendon), I got to just sit back and relax and enjoy my P-day. It’s makes such a difference to wake up on time for P-day. Usually we sleep away our time, but you really don’t need to. Whew.
So today I’m feeling really good not just because of the good P-day. I’m feeling good because I had in mind one picture of this transfer, and it changed completely. So when I started the transfer here in Marau, Elder Silva was happy and cool and we got along well. But after one day of work, Elder Silva changed. Pretty much he just didn’t talk to me. I tried to make conversation and joke around, but he quickly cut off any chance of conversation. So I talked to him about it, and he responded that he wasn’t a fun person, that not a lot of people liked him, that he wasn’t a good missionary, and that he would leave the area next transfer so we didn’t need to get to know eachother. I tried to discuss a bit more than this, but he didn’t go for that. I tried joking around to coax him out of his shell. Didn’t work. So I stopped talking, thinking maybe that he would start to want talking after he realized how the silence was. So for the second week I just did that. We do a lot of walking here in Marau, and walking in silence is horrible. I thought that’s how the transfer would go. I was getting pretty sad. Eventually, I just started to pray during all the silence. I had 2 full days of just constantly praying while walking around with Elder Silva. I wish there was a better climax than this, but one night after an especially hard day (a couple appointments fell through, and we arrived at a family home evening ready to teach an inactive family to find them all riled up after a fight between the parents, with the dad and the dad’s friends all over drinking alcohol and talking about it, and also a son who we were going to baptize drinking too and talking bad about the church… ahem), Elder Silva just started talking to me. Fortunately I was able to put off any possible contention, started talking and joking and conversing with him. He just completely changed. My prayers were answered. I still don’t know what exactly happened, but we’re like good friends now; jogging together, conversing all the time, he’s sharing food with me, taking photos and having fun in the spare moments of the day.
So that happened 3 days ago. These last 3 days have been really great! We have an awesome elect 40-year-old man with a family of 5, Sabino, that we invited to be baptized, and he accepted! We will teach him and help him out to reach this point over the next 3 weeks, and we think the rest of the family will follow after him. We have also been finding some new families, and getting a bunch of references from members! Yeah! So the work is going forward here.
I don’t really have a lot to say about our week other than this. Just little things.
We bought a fake pack of gum that shocks people, which we will playfully use with some members here. We have to be tactful here and not use with anyone who will get mad.
A member loaned me a Book of Mormon in French. I thought it’d be cool if I remembered anything. I didn’t remember anything. What’s cool is that after learning Portuguese, I can actually understand more or less the gist of French! What a cool thing it is to learn a Latin language: learn one and it’s super easy to learn the others! So after discovering this I started to daydream about going to live in France for a little while after the mission, try to pick up another language. It’s a dream I’ve had after our family visited Paris. Cool.
One investigator, Diego, is 21, has a sweet car, sweet house, very pretty girlfriend, goes to parties all the time, goes to a sweet college, and has been learning English with us. He hasn’t wanted anything to do with the gospel, but we’ve become good friends. We thought we were going to have to cut him, because we thought that with all he had in life, that he probably didn’t feel any need for anything else in life. He invited us to his house for an English lesson, and he had his laptop there. He was on youtube, so I told him I had a couple videos there, and we watched the photo reel you guys made, and also my mission call video. I thought that he would’ve gotten bored, but he was completely smiling through all of it. At the end, he said he really liked my family, that they seemed really happy and that we really loved eachother. We started talking about how his parents rarely see him, and how he is an only child and doesn’t really have that much of a family. I told him how our family wasn’t always completely like it was in the videos, and what made the difference. We taught the first lesson again and invited him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, which we had done before, but this time he was just smiling through all of it and there was a light in his eyes. I was feeling the spirit there with him, unlike the last times we taught him. We’re going to visit him soon to see if he read and got an answer about the Book of Mormon. I just really liked this experience because, even I was thinking that really, Diego had everything anyone would want, but after realizing the difference in our families, I realized that there was something more that he could have in his life. Go family!
I lost my wallet two weeks ago in a bakery in the poorest, most dangerous neighborhood in Passo Fundo. It had my personal and mission bank cards inside. I knew I had lost my wallet, but I simply thought that it was somewhere in the last house I was living in. How did I realize that I had lost my wallet in one of the easiest places to get stolen and have someone suck all the money dry out of both of my accounts? Because a member passed by in that bakery afterwards, who was part of a part-member family that we had been teaching in Boqueirao. The person who worked in the bakery mentioned that the wallet had the name of that members church in it, and the member called up Elder Lima, my old companion, and said that she’d bring the wallet to church last Sunday. So I’ll get my wallet, safe and sound, this Thursday in our district meeting. I was totally praying that I’d find it safe and sound! Sweet!
I hadn’t told you guys, because I was embarrassed, but I’ve been missing my wallet for a month. Before that I hadn’t used any money inside it. So now I’ve accumulated money for 2 transfers in my account. All I can say is that after months of bugetting the little remaining cash and change I had to get by, I’m going to go all out and Elder Silva and I will have a party. We’ll get pizza and icecream and everything. Sweet! I’m looking forward to this a lot.
Okay, I think that’s it. On to some responses!
I loved Kaitlin’s video! Kaitlin, you’re so good at making videos! I really loved it! It was really good! I think it’s really cool that you’re learning Spanish! Actually, Portuguese and Spanish are lot a like, so I will be able to understand (more or less) what you will say in Spanish! Cool! We can communicate after the mission. Actually I was listening to a Spanish radio program a member here listened to, and I can actually understand a lot! Sweet! Brasil is close to a lot of Spanish speaking countries, like Chile (you were right!) and also Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru! So maybe when we visit brasil after the mission together you will be able to understand the people here. Cool! Yes, I am sharing the gospel and teaching people, but I still haven’t baptized a lot a lot of people. Just a couple people right now. But I will baptize more people soon! I’m glad you’re saying prayers every day! That’s really good! I love to see you too Kaitlin and thank you for the video! You should do it again sometime for me!
Hey Mom! Thank you to you too for the video! I really just love seeing you and hearing your voice and pretending like your right here in front of me talking to me. Can you believe that we’re going to get to talk together on the phone in just 2 months for Mother's Day? It’s going to get here like no time. I was just thinking that after the videos, talking on the phone really might not be THAT exciting. At least not as exciting as it was on Christmas. Man I loved that… Anyway, it’s also good to see more of the house, just to remember all the rooms and everything, to know it’s still all there, all the same. It’s so awesome that, YEAH, the business is going forward! Holy smokes, it makes me feel good to just realize that things are going forward. Very cool. Way to go for you and Dad and everyone else involved! I also cannot believe that Kaitlin is actually going to High school. That sentence does not make sense to me. Where did the time go? I would also have the same fears, but from what I’ve heard, that high school is a good place to be. It is good to know that the Bishop is there. There will also be other kids of the ward there too right? It should be fine, but yeah, staying prayerful is a good idea. I will do that too. I love you so much mom. Thanks for the extra time of making a video. I can’t wait to get my birthday present this Monday! I am fairly sure it will arrive then, with Zone Conference. Gosh, I have such a good family. :)
Hey my Dad! Some of that last comment was directed to you! Para bens (congrats)! Man, I don’t think I can even begin to realize what a long road it has been. We just have to realize to not get comfortable on our dependence on the Lord, to continue to stay humble and thank God for every blessing he sends our way. Love you so much my Daddyo. I’m right here with ya. :)
Hey Lyns! Hope all is going well with school, and band and… man, there’s too much to list, isn’t there? :) Sorry to hear you were still feeling sick. I love you so much and can’t wait to discover the music you sent me! Love you my sweet sis. Keep being yourself!
Hey Brendon! Love you man! Hey, I figured out the scripture chain that David Stewart’s dad used when he loaned out Books of Mormon! Or rather, I invented my own. I wanted to share it with you but I forgot. But one thing I’m doing different is pasting printed maps of how to get to the church building, in our Books of Mormon. Oh yeah, and I discovered how to say “how about”. As in “How about we take a shortcut?” or “How about THAT type of icecream” or “How about we DO NOT do that?” I said “Como sobre” for like three months, but discovered it didn’t make sense. So I’ve been trying to figure out how to say it but it’s a bit hard to describe. But I learned how to say it from an English student we’re teaching. It’s “Que tal”. Like “Que tal um pedaso desse carne?” ou “Que tal você é loco?” I like using it. Maybe you can tôo!
Okay, I’m rushing off the computer now! Love you guys!
VIJEOS!:
Part 2/3 from Last Week (sorry about the wait) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv1YX4ap9V0
Part 3/3 of Last Week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKCv5UaO_kY
Part 1/2 of THIS week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDE3Mgom37k
Part 2/2 of THIS week: Aw man it didn’t upload! So I guess you’ll have to wait to see the end of that riveting story… Hehehehe. The suspense!
Love love love you guys! Just get busy livin already!
Yelder Con
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
March 2, 2010 - Letter Home
Everything has changed...
Hey guys! Quick e-mail today because the internet here hás been wacky and I lost a bunch of work... Just something you need to get used to I guess. I think I explained my week well enough in my videos this week, so I’m just going to respond to all of your awesome e-mails.
"photos of this one member who had a gun locker in his basement. He collects military things. It was cool to fool around with for a couple seconds."
Lyns! Thanks for writing me! I also love hearing from you because you always seem to be really excited and it gets me excited! I’m sorry you have been sick and are really rushed, but that seems typical for this time of the year. Just gotta get past it! There’s an awesome summer coming up just around the corner, and you just gotta hang on until then!
Practice for the SAT and AP tests! Set at least a couple days at least two weeks before the tests where you just study all day. Then, right before the actual tests, have one day of light studying to remember everything. It’s worth it Lyns! Give it all you got! Also, don’t worry about the past, just figure out what you can do NOW to make sure you get the grades you want in the future. Okay? I also liked Brendon’s advice for ya.
I’ve had a bunch of dreams with you too! Woah! Did you have one where we were co-surgeons working on a man made of jello? That freaking guy just kept falling apart and we couldn’t do anything! Woah! Yeah that was good times. Looking forward to some more dreams with ya Lyns. :P (Só estou brincando, não aconteceu esse sono. Translation: "I am only joking, that did not happen in my dream." Haha!)
It really doesn’t seem real that I’m turning 20. In fact, unfortunately it doesn’t even seem like a really big thing here. That’s how it is on the mission. You’re birthday will come and you’re still just working and doing the same thing. But I will do a little something, maybe burn a tie like is tradition (but I only have 10! Maybe I’ll burn a sock…) I’ll let the family who is feeding us that day know, maybe they’ll do something special.
Yep, I’m in another place right now: Marau. It’s a really cool city. It even seems just like Europe. Very pretty buildings and landscapes… but the people are supposedly harder to preach to here. Who knows. But I really like it.
Hey Mommy-O!
Thanks for the letter! I love you so much and miss you so much. Thanks for all of the photos! Seriously, I’m going to have to print out some of those to put in my “brag book.” I like the one of me, brendon, and nick and zach on the bench. Hehe. Good times. Also the one of me in the cave with lyns. And Dad and yours’ at the temple. Love it. Good memories.
Yes, I am in a new area! My new companion is Elder K. Silva. He’s very cool, but a bit complicated. Maybe I’ll explain next week. It’s only been four days after all.
"a photo of Elder Silva.... "Studying" Hehehe. No, seriously he actually was reading."
If we watch "Lost" from beginning to end should take about 120 hours to watch. 4 episodes a day and we could make it in one month! I’m all for it!
I did not hear about Chile! What the heck is up with all the earthquakes? Weird things are happening…
The grossest thing I’ve eaten has to be something that I actually drank. One recent convert said she was going to make lemonade, and I accepted, until I realized that she put an entire lime, peel and all, in a blender with icewater and salt. Woah! It was really very horrible. I can’t say anything good about it. Don’t even make it to try to see exactly how disgusting it was for me. But I drank the whole thing. Yep. Things you do as a missionary. At least it wasn’t like a chicken head or lizard intestines or something. For the most part the food here is very normal.
Hey Dad! I love you so much buddy! Thanks for the awesome photos! Man, I totally love seeing your mission photos! I swear I think I’ve only seen one or two from your mission before. More would be awesome! I like the questions too and it makes me want to work harder. Hope work is going well. I’m right here with you my Dad. Stay with the Lord.
Brendon, it’s freaking crazy that other people in your group have already turned seniors! What the heck? Trainers even?!?! I actually really don’t like hearing this. Makes me think I’m running behind. Actually, if enough new missionaries keep coming I too will probably turn senior in three months. That will be cool. Love ya man. Keep strong.
Kind of running out of time, so I’ll end with a big hug to my Kait! And a shout out to the rest of my fam. Love you guys! Sorry that I ended early this week. Maybe the video will make up for it!
See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDUIFVrjY0M
Love love love!
Elder Connor
Hey guys! Quick e-mail today because the internet here hás been wacky and I lost a bunch of work... Just something you need to get used to I guess. I think I explained my week well enough in my videos this week, so I’m just going to respond to all of your awesome e-mails.
"photos of this one member who had a gun locker in his basement. He collects military things. It was cool to fool around with for a couple seconds."
Lyns! Thanks for writing me! I also love hearing from you because you always seem to be really excited and it gets me excited! I’m sorry you have been sick and are really rushed, but that seems typical for this time of the year. Just gotta get past it! There’s an awesome summer coming up just around the corner, and you just gotta hang on until then!
Practice for the SAT and AP tests! Set at least a couple days at least two weeks before the tests where you just study all day. Then, right before the actual tests, have one day of light studying to remember everything. It’s worth it Lyns! Give it all you got! Also, don’t worry about the past, just figure out what you can do NOW to make sure you get the grades you want in the future. Okay? I also liked Brendon’s advice for ya.
I’ve had a bunch of dreams with you too! Woah! Did you have one where we were co-surgeons working on a man made of jello? That freaking guy just kept falling apart and we couldn’t do anything! Woah! Yeah that was good times. Looking forward to some more dreams with ya Lyns. :P (Só estou brincando, não aconteceu esse sono. Translation: "I am only joking, that did not happen in my dream." Haha!)
It really doesn’t seem real that I’m turning 20. In fact, unfortunately it doesn’t even seem like a really big thing here. That’s how it is on the mission. You’re birthday will come and you’re still just working and doing the same thing. But I will do a little something, maybe burn a tie like is tradition (but I only have 10! Maybe I’ll burn a sock…) I’ll let the family who is feeding us that day know, maybe they’ll do something special.
Yep, I’m in another place right now: Marau. It’s a really cool city. It even seems just like Europe. Very pretty buildings and landscapes… but the people are supposedly harder to preach to here. Who knows. But I really like it.
Hey Mommy-O!
Thanks for the letter! I love you so much and miss you so much. Thanks for all of the photos! Seriously, I’m going to have to print out some of those to put in my “brag book.” I like the one of me, brendon, and nick and zach on the bench. Hehe. Good times. Also the one of me in the cave with lyns. And Dad and yours’ at the temple. Love it. Good memories.
Yes, I am in a new area! My new companion is Elder K. Silva. He’s very cool, but a bit complicated. Maybe I’ll explain next week. It’s only been four days after all.
If we watch "Lost" from beginning to end should take about 120 hours to watch. 4 episodes a day and we could make it in one month! I’m all for it!
I did not hear about Chile! What the heck is up with all the earthquakes? Weird things are happening…
The grossest thing I’ve eaten has to be something that I actually drank. One recent convert said she was going to make lemonade, and I accepted, until I realized that she put an entire lime, peel and all, in a blender with icewater and salt. Woah! It was really very horrible. I can’t say anything good about it. Don’t even make it to try to see exactly how disgusting it was for me. But I drank the whole thing. Yep. Things you do as a missionary. At least it wasn’t like a chicken head or lizard intestines or something. For the most part the food here is very normal.
Hey Dad! I love you so much buddy! Thanks for the awesome photos! Man, I totally love seeing your mission photos! I swear I think I’ve only seen one or two from your mission before. More would be awesome! I like the questions too and it makes me want to work harder. Hope work is going well. I’m right here with you my Dad. Stay with the Lord.
Brendon, it’s freaking crazy that other people in your group have already turned seniors! What the heck? Trainers even?!?! I actually really don’t like hearing this. Makes me think I’m running behind. Actually, if enough new missionaries keep coming I too will probably turn senior in three months. That will be cool. Love ya man. Keep strong.
Kind of running out of time, so I’ll end with a big hug to my Kait! And a shout out to the rest of my fam. Love you guys! Sorry that I ended early this week. Maybe the video will make up for it!
See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDUIFVrjY0M
Love love love!
Elder Connor
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
February 23, 2010 - Letter Home
It never was easy!
"My messy desk"
Heellllooooo my family!
Another P-day has come! This week is transfers week too! This means that 6 weeks have passed since I’ve been with Elder Lima. Honestly, I cannot believe how fast this transfer has gone. It’s absolutely crazy how fast time is flying here for me. It actually kind of freaked me out a bit the other day when I thought about it, about the fact that really, my mission is going to go by like the blink of an eye, and I really feel like I haven’t begun to really kick into action and become the super missionary that I felt I would be. I definitely thought that by 6 months in I would be totally running things and baptizing like crazy, but the reality is that I feel like I’ve only recently gotten to a comfortable level of fluency in the language, and while I’m happy and having fun and working hard, it does seem like this transfer with Elder Lima will end like it started: without a lot of people to teach, and without prospects of anybody ready to be baptized.
What I really want is to be able to be that type of scriptural missionary that prays and fasts and works diligently every second of every hour, have visions of where and who to contact, know exactly what to say to every person to help them gain a testimony, do a bunch of miracles, and just convert the entire area just like Ammon and Aaron did with the Lamanites. That’s what I want. And while I know that, yeah, I guess it’s possible, I can’t help but hold back a little bit, and settle for the vision of the modern missionary: a young person who’s in a strange place, who messes up a bunch, learns a bunch, makes a bunch of friends with companions and with the people, does his work, but has fun and every so often has a couple really cool spiritual experiences.
See the difference?
It’s the difference between Jack and Locke in Lost: Jack woke up confused in the jungle, and started to act like anyone would expect a good doctor to do in the same situation, sharing the same fears and desires of everyone else on the island, and people looked up to him because they identified with him. Locke, on the other hand, woke up among the wreckage and destruction with an air of destiny, and everyone was surprised to see him become completely at home on the island, hunting, exploring, trying to find out the deeper meaning of things. People looked up to Locke, because he was different, because he didn’t share the same fears and desires as the rest of the people on the island. Both guys are good, I think, but it’s different. So basically I want to be Locke, but it’s a lot easier to try to be Jack. Unfortunately, right now I feel a lot like Boone or Charlie, just kind of bumbling around and doing a lot of cool things, but nothing REALLY amazing still. It’ll come.
Okay, I won’t continue on that thread more; just a peek into my mind today. :)
"Have you seen my ride?"
So the work is kind of going the same: we have a couple families we’re working with, that are making progress but many still have not yet come to church, we’re trying to contact every day and find new people, and we average maybe 2 new families per day, but at the same time we’re cutting families that don’t show or don’t progress. I’ll describe our most promising families:
Celson is a nonmember husband of Katcha, a member who was inactive but is coming back to the church. Katcha lost her sight suddenly about 3 years ago, and because of this, her last husband committed suicide, and she was depressed for a long time but is finally getting better and getting used to her new mode of life. Really sad story. Celson is catholic and works in construction and has lived a single life of work, bars and football games. But he’s starting to ask questions about what he really wants out of life, and we’re helping him. He really has promise but because he smokes it might be a while before he’s baptized.
Lila is a mother of 5 who has a member friend Carla, and has been reading the Book of Mormon regularly every day. Really awesome! She loves visiting with the missionaries and just conversing and shooting the breeze and asking about America and our lives and I think she will be baptized, which will probably lead her 2 youngest children to be baptized as well, but… she needs to stop smoking which will take a while.
We have a couple other families which we haven’t met with very much, but seem to have promise, like Cristina who has two young boys, one which reminds me of Zach, actually. And Guilarme and Juliana, who have 2 girls, the oldest of which is undergoing cancer treatments.
Hmmm. Right now I’m on a division in Ereshin, with two other missionaries. The problem is that they’ve finished (quite quickly I think!) writing, and want to go bowling. So they’re waiting for me to finish. Elder Lima usually watches cartoons for hours while I type, so it’s a bit different this week. I think I’m going to have to end it early this week. Sorry :(.
I am going to make a quick video to send to you to quickly wrap up everything else that I wanted to say.
see my video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_9OWJNKkgY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYXI7RuM9zU
Okay,
Love love love you guys sooooo much! Wish I had more time to write this week, but I promise I will next week.
Dad, good luck with work man, you’ve got this! I believe in you!
Mom, again, Happy Birthday! You have no idea how many huge parties you really do deserve Mom, (hint: it’s a lot).
Lyns! You asked for some advice, and I wish I could be more detailed, but just make a plan of all the things you want to accomplish, when you want to accomplish them, and don’t go too hard or too easy on yourself, then just focus on every step one at a time, and make sure you stay happy and pray every step, just love it as it comes!
Kait kait! Love you sis! I loved seeing our pictures together! Send me a Japanese word to learn! Big hug for my Kaitlin!
Brendon, love you buddy. Go for it man! I love that we’re having such different adventures here. Really miss ya buddy. Congrats on the 6 month mark! It’s gonna be so fun to hang out together in a year and a half!
Lacey, I did get you card! Thank you so much! Loved it! And your letter! Hope all is well in your beautiful little fam.
Jody! Thanks for the quick note! Good plan! I love you dearly my good aunt!
Grandma Imogene, thank you for the letter and the update!
Judith and Grandpa, thanks so much for keeping in touch and helping us out here! It really helps a lot!
Well, wish I could have an hour or so just to write to each one of my relatives individually, but I guess it’ll have to wait until a calmer P-day…
Have a good week everyone!
Love love and lot more!
Tchau!
Elder Con
Heellllooooo my family!
Another P-day has come! This week is transfers week too! This means that 6 weeks have passed since I’ve been with Elder Lima. Honestly, I cannot believe how fast this transfer has gone. It’s absolutely crazy how fast time is flying here for me. It actually kind of freaked me out a bit the other day when I thought about it, about the fact that really, my mission is going to go by like the blink of an eye, and I really feel like I haven’t begun to really kick into action and become the super missionary that I felt I would be. I definitely thought that by 6 months in I would be totally running things and baptizing like crazy, but the reality is that I feel like I’ve only recently gotten to a comfortable level of fluency in the language, and while I’m happy and having fun and working hard, it does seem like this transfer with Elder Lima will end like it started: without a lot of people to teach, and without prospects of anybody ready to be baptized.
What I really want is to be able to be that type of scriptural missionary that prays and fasts and works diligently every second of every hour, have visions of where and who to contact, know exactly what to say to every person to help them gain a testimony, do a bunch of miracles, and just convert the entire area just like Ammon and Aaron did with the Lamanites. That’s what I want. And while I know that, yeah, I guess it’s possible, I can’t help but hold back a little bit, and settle for the vision of the modern missionary: a young person who’s in a strange place, who messes up a bunch, learns a bunch, makes a bunch of friends with companions and with the people, does his work, but has fun and every so often has a couple really cool spiritual experiences.
See the difference?
It’s the difference between Jack and Locke in Lost: Jack woke up confused in the jungle, and started to act like anyone would expect a good doctor to do in the same situation, sharing the same fears and desires of everyone else on the island, and people looked up to him because they identified with him. Locke, on the other hand, woke up among the wreckage and destruction with an air of destiny, and everyone was surprised to see him become completely at home on the island, hunting, exploring, trying to find out the deeper meaning of things. People looked up to Locke, because he was different, because he didn’t share the same fears and desires as the rest of the people on the island. Both guys are good, I think, but it’s different. So basically I want to be Locke, but it’s a lot easier to try to be Jack. Unfortunately, right now I feel a lot like Boone or Charlie, just kind of bumbling around and doing a lot of cool things, but nothing REALLY amazing still. It’ll come.
Okay, I won’t continue on that thread more; just a peek into my mind today. :)
So the work is kind of going the same: we have a couple families we’re working with, that are making progress but many still have not yet come to church, we’re trying to contact every day and find new people, and we average maybe 2 new families per day, but at the same time we’re cutting families that don’t show or don’t progress. I’ll describe our most promising families:
Celson is a nonmember husband of Katcha, a member who was inactive but is coming back to the church. Katcha lost her sight suddenly about 3 years ago, and because of this, her last husband committed suicide, and she was depressed for a long time but is finally getting better and getting used to her new mode of life. Really sad story. Celson is catholic and works in construction and has lived a single life of work, bars and football games. But he’s starting to ask questions about what he really wants out of life, and we’re helping him. He really has promise but because he smokes it might be a while before he’s baptized.
Lila is a mother of 5 who has a member friend Carla, and has been reading the Book of Mormon regularly every day. Really awesome! She loves visiting with the missionaries and just conversing and shooting the breeze and asking about America and our lives and I think she will be baptized, which will probably lead her 2 youngest children to be baptized as well, but… she needs to stop smoking which will take a while.
We have a couple other families which we haven’t met with very much, but seem to have promise, like Cristina who has two young boys, one which reminds me of Zach, actually. And Guilarme and Juliana, who have 2 girls, the oldest of which is undergoing cancer treatments.
Hmmm. Right now I’m on a division in Ereshin, with two other missionaries. The problem is that they’ve finished (quite quickly I think!) writing, and want to go bowling. So they’re waiting for me to finish. Elder Lima usually watches cartoons for hours while I type, so it’s a bit different this week. I think I’m going to have to end it early this week. Sorry :(.
I am going to make a quick video to send to you to quickly wrap up everything else that I wanted to say.
see my video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_9OWJNKkgY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYXI7RuM9zU
Okay,
Love love love you guys sooooo much! Wish I had more time to write this week, but I promise I will next week.
Dad, good luck with work man, you’ve got this! I believe in you!
Mom, again, Happy Birthday! You have no idea how many huge parties you really do deserve Mom, (hint: it’s a lot).
Lyns! You asked for some advice, and I wish I could be more detailed, but just make a plan of all the things you want to accomplish, when you want to accomplish them, and don’t go too hard or too easy on yourself, then just focus on every step one at a time, and make sure you stay happy and pray every step, just love it as it comes!
Kait kait! Love you sis! I loved seeing our pictures together! Send me a Japanese word to learn! Big hug for my Kaitlin!
Brendon, love you buddy. Go for it man! I love that we’re having such different adventures here. Really miss ya buddy. Congrats on the 6 month mark! It’s gonna be so fun to hang out together in a year and a half!
Lacey, I did get you card! Thank you so much! Loved it! And your letter! Hope all is well in your beautiful little fam.
Jody! Thanks for the quick note! Good plan! I love you dearly my good aunt!
Grandma Imogene, thank you for the letter and the update!
Judith and Grandpa, thanks so much for keeping in touch and helping us out here! It really helps a lot!
Well, wish I could have an hour or so just to write to each one of my relatives individually, but I guess it’ll have to wait until a calmer P-day…
Have a good week everyone!
Love love and lot more!
Tchau!
Elder Con
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
February 16, 2010 - Letter Home
Warm & Delicious!
Alright! Awesome! Ready to start writing today! Wow guys, how much I loved watching your vídeos. Serious. Dare I say it was even better than our Christmas phone call? It was pretty close to equally awesome, I’ll say. I was totally laughing out loud in the Lanhouse here. Whew. So awesome.
What I think is cool is that making a vídeo is relatively easy compared to a letter, but seems much more rewarding. Really, every P-day I could easily spend 10 minutes talking to a câmera. I don’t think it’ll be tôo difficult. So sweet.
I have a couple vídeos for you all here:
Boqueirao House Tour (part 1): http://www.youtube.co/watch?v=89D6ZGNalDg
Response Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXGRR7PMRLc
Sweet! All done in less than an hour! Hope you guys like it. One thing I want to do after talking to Mom is talk a bit more about the work and our investigators and everything. Very good Idea, very necessary, and I’ll have a vídeo about that next week. It’s always just a bit hard to focus on those things when your in your house on P-day, you just want to focus on other things. But it’ll be good. Loved seeing my sweet Mom. Man it’s so awesome that we get to see eachother. Thanks so much for the vídeo.
So I was praying this last Friday, not even about anything specifically related, when I got this awesome feeling that something awesome happened with Dad’s business. I’ve been holding onto this feeling for the whole week, trying not to doubt that it actually was an answer. Trying to use it to build my faith that something good happened. So I opened my e-mail with faith a couple hours ago knowing that I would get some good news from the home front. In the vídeo from Dad, what do you know!? Good news about the ------ account! It’s not Mr. Cluck’s Chicken, but it’s something! Awesome! Woohoo! I loved the news that something was finally working out. I know it’s not the end all to be all of all of our problems and concerns, but it sure is a start! I am SO HAPPY to hear this news! Parabens (congrats!) Dad! So awesome!
It was also very great to get some down to earth advice from Dad, I loved everything you Said buddy. I also really needed to hear many of those things. It’s something I am going through right now here in Brasil. Very cool. It meant a lot to me. For sure, knowing that I am a part of such a great family, knowing how fast time is going, and knowing how much really is possible, really inspires me to work harder and do better.
Man, Kaitlin and Lynsey together really are hilarious! I Love seeing you guys together, my little sisters! I think you guys are as funny in your music vídeo as in your normal one! Hehehe! But so cool to hear from you; I think it is a bit easier to Express ourselves when we are just talking. Cool. Maybe next time you guys could do some shorter, seperate vídeos? I know maybe there’s not a lot to say but even a little bit every week will really help.
Okay, so I’ve been fiddling around so much with the vídeos and stuff today, that I kind of ran out of room to type. Feel free to post the vídeos to the blog!
So I’ll explain this week quickly. We had a zone conference which was awesome, got our spirits up, ran out to work and tract the streets and get new investigators, had some success, got a couple new families, were feeling awesome... Then we got news that we needed to get rid of our current house, and go find another. And the job of finding a new house was up to us. So instead of tracting around to spread the gospel, we tracted around to find a new house. Sure we made contacts on the way but we kind of just got the steam knocked out of us because for 2 days we didnt really teach that much because we were trying to track down some news digs to live in for the next couple weeks. Then we had a bit of rain, which isnt impossible to work in but for sure is a bit harder.
Elder Lima and I had a couple of disagreements which definitely put a damper on things. Just overall pride on both our parts, I think. Dad, maybe you remember how it is to argue with me. I just don’t really ever give in our give up, right? Well, even with little tiny things both I and Elder Lima are willing to argue until someone gives in or gives up. We actually really like eachother, I think, but it’s this one little thing that we’re really trying to overcome. So we had another discussion in companionship inventory and for now we’re doing really good. We just have to be on our gaurd to make sure it stays that way.
After this little down period, we had some success yesterday, worked right in the rain, clapping doors and teaching some lessons. Right now we have about 8 different families we’ve only taught a little bit, but they have potential. We are going to continue to teach them and continue to add more people to our teaching pool.
A couple minor things that were interesting this week:
- I’m getting really good at clapping really loudly. (You don't ring on a doorbell or knock on a door, you stand outside and clap until someone comes out to greet you. ) There’s a technique to it, you know? You have to use cupped fingers of one hand on the palm of the other, with a slight whipping motion as you trap the air in the middle. None of this palm-on-palm stuff here. Cool.
- I made syrup. It turned out really good!!
- We played this ridiculous Brazilian game where you use your pointer and índex finger to slap the other persons fingers. You go in turns. Until someone gives up. Elder Lima and I played for seriously 40 minutes. We decided to leave it as a tié. I was sweating really bad afterwards. My two fingers are still way swolen even after a whole day. Not a good idea guys.
Brendon! Love you buddy! Seems like my transfer is going somewhat like yours! I don’t really know any advice to give, but man, spending a couple hours tracting really makes me feel like at least I did something, even on the off days. Go for it and make new contacts!
‘Kay guys! Until next week! Love Love Love!
Elder Con
P.S. By the way, I’m super dissapointed that no one is even guessing in my riddles. Okay, here’s another one for next week. Another opportunity for you guys. Find the Lost reference in this letter.
P.S. Tchau! Amor! Have a good week! Just be happy!
Alright! Awesome! Ready to start writing today! Wow guys, how much I loved watching your vídeos. Serious. Dare I say it was even better than our Christmas phone call? It was pretty close to equally awesome, I’ll say. I was totally laughing out loud in the Lanhouse here. Whew. So awesome.
What I think is cool is that making a vídeo is relatively easy compared to a letter, but seems much more rewarding. Really, every P-day I could easily spend 10 minutes talking to a câmera. I don’t think it’ll be tôo difficult. So sweet.
I have a couple vídeos for you all here:
Boqueirao House Tour (part 1): http://www.youtube.co/watch?v=89D6ZGNalDg
Response Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXGRR7PMRLc
Sweet! All done in less than an hour! Hope you guys like it. One thing I want to do after talking to Mom is talk a bit more about the work and our investigators and everything. Very good Idea, very necessary, and I’ll have a vídeo about that next week. It’s always just a bit hard to focus on those things when your in your house on P-day, you just want to focus on other things. But it’ll be good. Loved seeing my sweet Mom. Man it’s so awesome that we get to see eachother. Thanks so much for the vídeo.
So I was praying this last Friday, not even about anything specifically related, when I got this awesome feeling that something awesome happened with Dad’s business. I’ve been holding onto this feeling for the whole week, trying not to doubt that it actually was an answer. Trying to use it to build my faith that something good happened. So I opened my e-mail with faith a couple hours ago knowing that I would get some good news from the home front. In the vídeo from Dad, what do you know!? Good news about the ------ account! It’s not Mr. Cluck’s Chicken, but it’s something! Awesome! Woohoo! I loved the news that something was finally working out. I know it’s not the end all to be all of all of our problems and concerns, but it sure is a start! I am SO HAPPY to hear this news! Parabens (congrats!) Dad! So awesome!
It was also very great to get some down to earth advice from Dad, I loved everything you Said buddy. I also really needed to hear many of those things. It’s something I am going through right now here in Brasil. Very cool. It meant a lot to me. For sure, knowing that I am a part of such a great family, knowing how fast time is going, and knowing how much really is possible, really inspires me to work harder and do better.
Man, Kaitlin and Lynsey together really are hilarious! I Love seeing you guys together, my little sisters! I think you guys are as funny in your music vídeo as in your normal one! Hehehe! But so cool to hear from you; I think it is a bit easier to Express ourselves when we are just talking. Cool. Maybe next time you guys could do some shorter, seperate vídeos? I know maybe there’s not a lot to say but even a little bit every week will really help.
Okay, so I’ve been fiddling around so much with the vídeos and stuff today, that I kind of ran out of room to type. Feel free to post the vídeos to the blog!
So I’ll explain this week quickly. We had a zone conference which was awesome, got our spirits up, ran out to work and tract the streets and get new investigators, had some success, got a couple new families, were feeling awesome... Then we got news that we needed to get rid of our current house, and go find another. And the job of finding a new house was up to us. So instead of tracting around to spread the gospel, we tracted around to find a new house. Sure we made contacts on the way but we kind of just got the steam knocked out of us because for 2 days we didnt really teach that much because we were trying to track down some news digs to live in for the next couple weeks. Then we had a bit of rain, which isnt impossible to work in but for sure is a bit harder.
Elder Lima and I had a couple of disagreements which definitely put a damper on things. Just overall pride on both our parts, I think. Dad, maybe you remember how it is to argue with me. I just don’t really ever give in our give up, right? Well, even with little tiny things both I and Elder Lima are willing to argue until someone gives in or gives up. We actually really like eachother, I think, but it’s this one little thing that we’re really trying to overcome. So we had another discussion in companionship inventory and for now we’re doing really good. We just have to be on our gaurd to make sure it stays that way.
After this little down period, we had some success yesterday, worked right in the rain, clapping doors and teaching some lessons. Right now we have about 8 different families we’ve only taught a little bit, but they have potential. We are going to continue to teach them and continue to add more people to our teaching pool.
A couple minor things that were interesting this week:
- I’m getting really good at clapping really loudly. (You don't ring on a doorbell or knock on a door, you stand outside and clap until someone comes out to greet you. ) There’s a technique to it, you know? You have to use cupped fingers of one hand on the palm of the other, with a slight whipping motion as you trap the air in the middle. None of this palm-on-palm stuff here. Cool.
- I made syrup. It turned out really good!!
- We played this ridiculous Brazilian game where you use your pointer and índex finger to slap the other persons fingers. You go in turns. Until someone gives up. Elder Lima and I played for seriously 40 minutes. We decided to leave it as a tié. I was sweating really bad afterwards. My two fingers are still way swolen even after a whole day. Not a good idea guys.
Brendon! Love you buddy! Seems like my transfer is going somewhat like yours! I don’t really know any advice to give, but man, spending a couple hours tracting really makes me feel like at least I did something, even on the off days. Go for it and make new contacts!
‘Kay guys! Until next week! Love Love Love!
Elder Con
P.S. By the way, I’m super dissapointed that no one is even guessing in my riddles. Okay, here’s another one for next week. Another opportunity for you guys. Find the Lost reference in this letter.
P.S. Tchau! Amor! Have a good week! Just be happy!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
February 9, 2010 - Letter Home
Dry Spell
Wassup guys!
Man, this week has been a bit dry, and I don’t quite know what to write this week. To be honest, I know why. I got along so well, I think, with Elder Duarte, that the only things worth noting were good things, and I was able to tell and relate some funny stories. With Elder Lima, more often than not our stories together have been about how we’ve not been quite getting along together, or about how we are working on getting along together. Types of stories which aren’t very fun to read and aren’t very fun to write. So enough of that.
This week has been hotter than ever. It’s broken 40 degrees C here, which is about 105 Fahrenheit. Everyone at the CTM said that Rio Grande do Sul was going to be cold, the coldest place in Brasil. Man! On the contrary I believe. We are pretty much melting every day. What temperature is it over there in Maracanau, Brendon? Elder Lima says it’s way cooler there than here. But we’re drinking water at every single stop, taking water bottles with us, and that sweet handkerchief that Sister Harris gave us is really paying off here; a bottle of water in one hand and a handkerchief in the other to wipe the sweat. Thankfully yesterday it finally rained, and today has been very nice and cool and cloudy.
Man, I’m really having a problem relating anything interesting this week. How about on to all of your letters?
First of all loved Brendon’s video. Actually, I think we pretty much have the same accent, or are at the same level of fluency :). The accent is going to be the hardest thing to conquer, I think. I’ve really tried to get the gaucho accent down, but what is kind of weird here, or at least what my companions have said, is that the gaucho accent is regarded as somewhat of a hick accent in other parts of Brasil. I really don’t know what to do about this, so maybe parents, you can help me out. My companions want me to learn to speak as a Paulista (person from Sao Paulo), which is regarded as higher class, but also as foreign. I want to have an accent that shows that I learned how to speak with the Gaucho people, which will show others that I appreciate and treasure their culture. I’m pretty much alone on this opinion. But, what do you guys think? Imagine if a Brasilian missionary arrived in Texas, would you recommend that missionary to learn to speak in a Texan accent? I don’t really know how to answer that question.
But it was really cool news that Elder S Costa is returning to the mission! Yes, the mission is so awesome and so worth it. It’s been really difficult, but at the same time, just last night we had two awesome lessons with people off of the street, and you could tell that they were getting it, and they really expressed a desire to learn more. Sweet. :)
Good job on starting to read the Book of Mormon out loud in Portuguese! I really know that it works. See if you can catch up, I’m in Mosiah 6. ;) Man, if you thought reading Isaías in 2 Nefí in English was a dry experience, wait until you do it all in Portuguese. I used up a couple hours of P-day and just raced through it quickly, because I was absolutely dying every morning because it is so hard to understand.
But here’s another suggestion for study. I haven’t done it yet but I’m going to start tomorrow. Elder Anderson (remember him?) got transferred here three weeks ago, and we’re having a blast together, but he said he’s been writing in Portuguese, and having his companion check his grammar and sentence construction. My companion really thinks this’ll help me too. And if you look in chapter 7 of PME, Language Learning, it says to write in your language. So I’m going to try my hand at writing some Brasilian Mission-themed Poetry. :) I thought it’d be a good excuse for you to exercise your writing muscles. 30 minutes of reading, 30 minutes of writing. How about it? We can exchange our writings if you want. You just have to remember that the purpose is to learn grammar to use on the street and in conversations, therefore, it won’t be very useful to learn all of the vocabulary of a science fiction or fantasy story, because you probably wouldn’t use that day-to-day. But it might be fun.
Brendon, you didn’t take the challenge! Family, you also didn’t get the challenge. "The Searcher" was the ship that Penny (wife of Desmond) used to look for him in Lost. Why is this related to my letter? Because the ship was staffed by Brasilians, and I just so happened to have a picture of a Brasilian ship in my blog post! Okay! So I had another riddle this week but it looks like it’s not going to work because my video isn’t uploading.
Mom, the zombie kit was awesome. How about you use it as a Birthday present? Hehe, that was cool.
(**from Kay Lea - it was a joke - a photo I found on the internet, there will be no "Zombie kits" for birthday presents)
Mom, way to go on all the Relief Society activities! You seem to really be putting your heart into you calling. This is so important! So many people just wait for others to help them feel the spirit and help them stay firm in the church, and so much depends on those who actually go out and try to help those people. As we do more and give more in our callings, we will influence others to take our same course of action, and they will start helping others, and the work will go forward.
Bah! I’m so jealous about "Lost". I mean, I’m glad that it was awesome, but for some reason hearing about "Lost" just made me want to find it online and watch it already. But I resisted the temptation. Hear that Brendon? We have to keep from the spoilers together! I will as long as you do.
That is way sweet that you are so involved in everything Mom! You have a bunch going on! You sound like Lynsey :). It’s also so great that you and the “wives club” are supporting Dad and his partners in the company. You can really make a difference there. I love you so much Mom. Thank you so much for keeping us updated. Your words have definitely lifted me up.
Grandma and Grandad sent an awesome letter too. Thank you guys. I love my Grandparents :).
Man guys, I had another video to send all of you, but YouTube is not uploading it. However, MyLDSMail is upgrading to use a specialized version of GMail, so I’m pretty excited that I’ll be able to send my videos to you directly instead of waiting for YouTube. Should work next week.
Man, I love you guys so much. I wish I had more to write, it’s been kind of slow here. But! Next week is going to be action packed. Let it be!
My Dad, keep going strong man. I believe in you. The only way to stay excited, stay energetic, and stay happy, is to just do it! Just start, right now, and feel that excitement for the next couple days of work you have before you. Heavenly Father will help you maintain this through prayer. I think it’s a type of faith. We can pray for blessings, and say to yourself, in your head, that they will be fulfilled… but at the same time NOT really believe that anything will change. We can want the blessings, we can ask for them, we can want the faith to believe that they will come, we can ask for the faith, but in the end it will come to our own little seed of faith. We NEED to make that small simple step. Once we inch forward and say, believing completely, “Yeah, those things really are going to happen, Heavenly Father will provide a way”, Heavenly Father will send the confirmation that our prayers will be answered. THEN we will say in our minds, “Woah! I know that those blessings will come!!! I had so much doubt before, but through the Spirit I have felt things that could not have come from any other place, and so I know that God is with me! Sweet! It’s all going to be okay! Awesome!” Of course, we all have to be doing our part, repenting for our mistakes, and relying on constant prayer to receive this, but I think we should not underestimate Faith. We can place wood and pour gas in the fireplace, and it’s a lot of work, but in the end we need that spark of faith. Do you believe? Just believe already!
Anyway, that’s how it’s worked for me and what I’ve understood about this. Don’t procrastinate setting this spark!
Lyns, keep going strong. Heavenly Father is with you. You can pray for comfort and for rest. Sometimes a sincere prayer is much more effective for your work and well-being than a nap or a couple hours of “me-time”. He will give it to you.
My Kaitlin! I am so happy I got your picture last week! I look at your picture almost every day! I love you my sweet Kate! I hope you are still working hard on your homework and on Japanese! Be happy okay my Kaitlin? Are you still saying your prayers? Have you tried to read the Book of Mormon every night? I love you so much my girl. Write me about some of the things that you’ve been doing recently.
Brendon, I love you buddy. Thanks for the video. Do you remember when I did that Game Jam thing at Santa Cruz? It’s already been a freaking year since then! It’s freaking me out how fast time went. Getting up to the 6 month mark! What the heck?!?! Love and live every day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuVboNL_Vv4
Okay, my photos names were a little less creative this time. Sorry. Kind of rushed right now.
Um, this weeks riddle is "LonelyElder617". What and why? 1 point up for grabs!
Tchau tchau! Amor amor amor!
Elder Con
Wassup guys!
"pancakes that Elder Lima and I made"
Man, this week has been a bit dry, and I don’t quite know what to write this week. To be honest, I know why. I got along so well, I think, with Elder Duarte, that the only things worth noting were good things, and I was able to tell and relate some funny stories. With Elder Lima, more often than not our stories together have been about how we’ve not been quite getting along together, or about how we are working on getting along together. Types of stories which aren’t very fun to read and aren’t very fun to write. So enough of that.
This week has been hotter than ever. It’s broken 40 degrees C here, which is about 105 Fahrenheit. Everyone at the CTM said that Rio Grande do Sul was going to be cold, the coldest place in Brasil. Man! On the contrary I believe. We are pretty much melting every day. What temperature is it over there in Maracanau, Brendon? Elder Lima says it’s way cooler there than here. But we’re drinking water at every single stop, taking water bottles with us, and that sweet handkerchief that Sister Harris gave us is really paying off here; a bottle of water in one hand and a handkerchief in the other to wipe the sweat. Thankfully yesterday it finally rained, and today has been very nice and cool and cloudy.
Man, I’m really having a problem relating anything interesting this week. How about on to all of your letters?
First of all loved Brendon’s video. Actually, I think we pretty much have the same accent, or are at the same level of fluency :). The accent is going to be the hardest thing to conquer, I think. I’ve really tried to get the gaucho accent down, but what is kind of weird here, or at least what my companions have said, is that the gaucho accent is regarded as somewhat of a hick accent in other parts of Brasil. I really don’t know what to do about this, so maybe parents, you can help me out. My companions want me to learn to speak as a Paulista (person from Sao Paulo), which is regarded as higher class, but also as foreign. I want to have an accent that shows that I learned how to speak with the Gaucho people, which will show others that I appreciate and treasure their culture. I’m pretty much alone on this opinion. But, what do you guys think? Imagine if a Brasilian missionary arrived in Texas, would you recommend that missionary to learn to speak in a Texan accent? I don’t really know how to answer that question.
But it was really cool news that Elder S Costa is returning to the mission! Yes, the mission is so awesome and so worth it. It’s been really difficult, but at the same time, just last night we had two awesome lessons with people off of the street, and you could tell that they were getting it, and they really expressed a desire to learn more. Sweet. :)
Good job on starting to read the Book of Mormon out loud in Portuguese! I really know that it works. See if you can catch up, I’m in Mosiah 6. ;) Man, if you thought reading Isaías in 2 Nefí in English was a dry experience, wait until you do it all in Portuguese. I used up a couple hours of P-day and just raced through it quickly, because I was absolutely dying every morning because it is so hard to understand.
But here’s another suggestion for study. I haven’t done it yet but I’m going to start tomorrow. Elder Anderson (remember him?) got transferred here three weeks ago, and we’re having a blast together, but he said he’s been writing in Portuguese, and having his companion check his grammar and sentence construction. My companion really thinks this’ll help me too. And if you look in chapter 7 of PME, Language Learning, it says to write in your language. So I’m going to try my hand at writing some Brasilian Mission-themed Poetry. :) I thought it’d be a good excuse for you to exercise your writing muscles. 30 minutes of reading, 30 minutes of writing. How about it? We can exchange our writings if you want. You just have to remember that the purpose is to learn grammar to use on the street and in conversations, therefore, it won’t be very useful to learn all of the vocabulary of a science fiction or fantasy story, because you probably wouldn’t use that day-to-day. But it might be fun.
Brendon, you didn’t take the challenge! Family, you also didn’t get the challenge. "The Searcher" was the ship that Penny (wife of Desmond) used to look for him in Lost. Why is this related to my letter? Because the ship was staffed by Brasilians, and I just so happened to have a picture of a Brasilian ship in my blog post! Okay! So I had another riddle this week but it looks like it’s not going to work because my video isn’t uploading.
Mom, the zombie kit was awesome. How about you use it as a Birthday present? Hehe, that was cool.
(**from Kay Lea - it was a joke - a photo I found on the internet, there will be no "Zombie kits" for birthday presents)
"the aforementioned fruit tree in our yard" (*See last week's post) Cool!
Bah! I’m so jealous about "Lost". I mean, I’m glad that it was awesome, but for some reason hearing about "Lost" just made me want to find it online and watch it already. But I resisted the temptation. Hear that Brendon? We have to keep from the spoilers together! I will as long as you do.
That is way sweet that you are so involved in everything Mom! You have a bunch going on! You sound like Lynsey :). It’s also so great that you and the “wives club” are supporting Dad and his partners in the company. You can really make a difference there. I love you so much Mom. Thank you so much for keeping us updated. Your words have definitely lifted me up.
Grandma and Grandad sent an awesome letter too. Thank you guys. I love my Grandparents :).
Man guys, I had another video to send all of you, but YouTube is not uploading it. However, MyLDSMail is upgrading to use a specialized version of GMail, so I’m pretty excited that I’ll be able to send my videos to you directly instead of waiting for YouTube. Should work next week.
Man, I love you guys so much. I wish I had more to write, it’s been kind of slow here. But! Next week is going to be action packed. Let it be!
My Dad, keep going strong man. I believe in you. The only way to stay excited, stay energetic, and stay happy, is to just do it! Just start, right now, and feel that excitement for the next couple days of work you have before you. Heavenly Father will help you maintain this through prayer. I think it’s a type of faith. We can pray for blessings, and say to yourself, in your head, that they will be fulfilled… but at the same time NOT really believe that anything will change. We can want the blessings, we can ask for them, we can want the faith to believe that they will come, we can ask for the faith, but in the end it will come to our own little seed of faith. We NEED to make that small simple step. Once we inch forward and say, believing completely, “Yeah, those things really are going to happen, Heavenly Father will provide a way”, Heavenly Father will send the confirmation that our prayers will be answered. THEN we will say in our minds, “Woah! I know that those blessings will come!!! I had so much doubt before, but through the Spirit I have felt things that could not have come from any other place, and so I know that God is with me! Sweet! It’s all going to be okay! Awesome!” Of course, we all have to be doing our part, repenting for our mistakes, and relying on constant prayer to receive this, but I think we should not underestimate Faith. We can place wood and pour gas in the fireplace, and it’s a lot of work, but in the end we need that spark of faith. Do you believe? Just believe already!
Anyway, that’s how it’s worked for me and what I’ve understood about this. Don’t procrastinate setting this spark!
Lyns, keep going strong. Heavenly Father is with you. You can pray for comfort and for rest. Sometimes a sincere prayer is much more effective for your work and well-being than a nap or a couple hours of “me-time”. He will give it to you.
My Kaitlin! I am so happy I got your picture last week! I look at your picture almost every day! I love you my sweet Kate! I hope you are still working hard on your homework and on Japanese! Be happy okay my Kaitlin? Are you still saying your prayers? Have you tried to read the Book of Mormon every night? I love you so much my girl. Write me about some of the things that you’ve been doing recently.
Brendon, I love you buddy. Thanks for the video. Do you remember when I did that Game Jam thing at Santa Cruz? It’s already been a freaking year since then! It’s freaking me out how fast time went. Getting up to the 6 month mark! What the heck?!?! Love and live every day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuVboNL_Vv4
Okay, my photos names were a little less creative this time. Sorry. Kind of rushed right now.
Um, this weeks riddle is "LonelyElder617". What and why? 1 point up for grabs!
Tchau tchau! Amor amor amor!
Elder Con
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
February 2, 2010 - Letter Home
"The Searcher"
"Procurando Por Almas" - (Seeking for Souls)
Hey Everyone!
Man, I really needed you guys this week. It was a bit hard. But you guys came through and my inbox was full and I even got some photos and man! I’m feeling good now! Thanks Dad, Mom, Lyns and Gram. Kaitlin too for being in the photos.
So listen, my bright idea this week was try to relate all of the information I had about the last week to you all via video! Sounds really awesome on paper right? I planned out what I wanted to say, and started the camera and went with it. Hmmm. I don’t think it turned out all that great. Definitely probably a lot like how Dad felt when he plugged in the camera and just started talking expecting to be perfect. It should be completely natural, shouldn’t it? Just like talking to you guys in person, I imagine. Unfortunately, I think the camera has the opposite effect for first-timers. I feel like I look slightly embarrassed and kind of befuddled in the video, but I hope you guys like it. I had the idea after Lyns said she wanted to hear my voice.
Hey it finished! I really don’t like this video, maybe it’s a little boring. Next time I’ll lighten up and make some jokes or something. I was a bit nervous to talk in front of the camera with everybody else in the lanhouse listening, so please bear with me as you watch. Here is the address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaOo6TWf3To
Anyway, what is cool is that I recorded about 5 minutes of video, and YouTube uploads videos fairly quickly. I think I could go longer. I want to practice doing this, and eventually, maybe transmit everything via video. For now, though, I am going to go slow and practice. Eventually it’ll be just like I’m in the next room.
I kind of forgot about last week, exactly what happened. Here’s a couple of interesting things though: a member’s non-member husband, Geovene, offered us a ride home one night. We accepted. When we got in the car, started driving, and starting making a bit of small talk, we discovered he was pretty drunk. He even stopped driving for a minute to look down and grab a bottle of beer and start drinking more? We asked him not to drink, so he laughed, took a big swig and threw the bottle out the window of the car!!! And the car didn’t have seat belts! Holy smokes! I was so freaking scared, holding on to the sides of the seats, but luckily we got home safely. Luckily it was night and there weren’t many cars on the streets, but he did swerve a little a couple of times. Next time I’ll converse a bit before accepting a ride from a someone I don’t know!
Another experience was teaching a family, with a dad who didn’t have any eyes. Yep. I’ve never seen that before. Blind? Sure. At least they have eyeballs. But unfortunately this man had to have his eyes actually removed, I really don’t know why, I think it was because of cancer. So I tried to talk natural and teach as normal, but I really couldn’t help staring. It’s interesting: blinking is a habit we have, that I think we do automatically like breathing. Even with no eyes, he still had to blink. Can’t really get that image out of my head. Nice little story huh? Interesting what you see on the mission.
I’m doing really good. I think I’m pretty much totally used to being a missionary, and I’m happy. Elder Lima has been a good companion, although it’s been difficult. He’s never been a senior companion before so we’re kind of figuring it out together. But it’s been fun. I’m learning a lot faster with a companion who doesn’t speak English. I hadn’t spoken English for 2 weeks straight until today when we met up with some other American missionaries. Seriously weird.
So tonight you guys are going to watch Lost. Holy smokes I’m so jealous! Live it up. Man, it’s going to be hard to resist downloading the episode on iTunes and watching it during p-day. I am glad I don’t have the iTouch to tempt me into downloading it and watching it during the night or something. I want to let you know, Brendon, that I’m not watching it. Promise. Only 19 months until we get to watch it, man! Sweet. Anyway, have fun and do something special! Maybe invite Cody and Julie and Chase over to watch with you! I think the Nethercotts watch too, make it a party! Take photos and send them to me!
Dad, I love you so much buddy. I too am so very grateful to be a part of your life. I think I really took it for granted back home, and probably acted a couple of times like I shouldn’t have. Right now I just am so excited for the day when Brendon and I can return, help out with the business, and just go and chill, just us guys. We did that a couple of times (like when we went to Glamis for the last time) and man, I love those memories so much. But I think I’m going to enjoy those times with you much more in the future, for sure, because we’ll know somewhat how valuable it is. I love you Dad. You really are my hero. Work hard, but don’t forget to stop once in a while and realize all the blessings you have around you, and that you’re doing your best and the the Lord is going to take care of you and the fam. I know he will. Love you buddy.
Hey Mom! So cool about your study experience. Loved it. I’m going to study about stars tomorrow, I think. :) I’m so happy you’re continuing to be strong and do the right things. I’m so happy to have you as a mom. Elder Lima doesn’t have one, and as we’ve talked about our lives I realized how much of a difference you made in mine. So thankful you’re there to take care of the family. I love you lots.
Winter here is supposed to be pretty harsh, but luckily Elder Losee and Elder Duarte left thermal underwear, sweaters, coats, gloves and hats with me. So actually I think I’m pretty ready! What you could do for me though is send me my black hoodie. The one I always used to wear? I hope it’s not stuffed away where you cant find it. I think it’ll be good because it’s something I can wear on cold P-days and can sleep in comfortably (imagine sleeping in a suitcoat!). I already have my pajama bottoms and I’m waiting to be able to use them :) .
I’m really good. Healthy. Tan. Getting really really buff with this excersize routine every morning. Yep, watch out world.
I love you so much my mom.
Hey Lyns! Hope you liked the video. I made it because of your comment. Life is CRAZY!?!?! How could it be any different for my sweet sis? Man Lyns, the end of junior year was the year I stressed out the most, I think. Senior year was hard, but I’m pretty sure junior year was worse for me. You just got to remember to start early on everything, and get done early, and try to minimize time to have fun. If you do it early you’ll find you will actually have more time to have fun, because you won’t be stressing later, which often causes you to work less effectively, which means you have to work even longer, taking up time with friends. I know it sucks, but you’re gonna get through it sis! You’ve got what it takes. Don’t let up okay? You’ll get used to it.
I liked remembering about us playing at the stream and all of our other memories. Man. Awesome times. Those times were great, but we have much better ones coming up. I think it just gets better as time goes on. Many many more memories to go.
Hey, you can watch all of the seasons of Lost again if you want, but I want to let you know that we’re probably going to watch them all again anyway when we get back. I’m so jealous that you’re gonna watch the last season tonight. Holy smokes I just want to watch Lost. Gah! Ahem.
Lyns, I love you so much. Stay strong. Thank you so much for the letter and photos!
Kaitlin! I loved seeing you in the photos! You’re getting older! I can notice! Kait I hope school is going good and that your learning lots. How’s the Japanese going? Kaitlin, I have a couple of girls in our ward here your age that are going to write you a letter! In Portuguese! I’ll translate it first though, don’t worry. Cool huh? You can write them back if you want, and I’ll translate for you too. They are very excited to write to you, because they really like America! Kaitlin, I love you so much. Here is a huge bear hug! Can’t wait to see you again.
Hey Gramma Imogene, I love you. Thank you so much for the letter. Hope you next week is good. I’m staying healthy thanks to your vitamins! All the other missionaries are jealous. Can’t wait for your letter! Take care of the family, okay? And stay healthy too.
Okay guys, kind of short today. Enjoy the week! Enjoy Lost you lucky dogs!
As always, love love and more love!
Connor
"Boat Guy"
P.S. Oh yeah, the photos! Didn't know that there were missionaries serving on the high seas? :) (this is a monument in the center of Boqueirao, that commemorates the Portuguese settling the south of Brasil. Cool...)
P.S.S. 1 Point for anyone who can figure out why I chose the words in the subject line. Game on!
Okay Bye!
Hey Everyone!
Man, I really needed you guys this week. It was a bit hard. But you guys came through and my inbox was full and I even got some photos and man! I’m feeling good now! Thanks Dad, Mom, Lyns and Gram. Kaitlin too for being in the photos.
So listen, my bright idea this week was try to relate all of the information I had about the last week to you all via video! Sounds really awesome on paper right? I planned out what I wanted to say, and started the camera and went with it. Hmmm. I don’t think it turned out all that great. Definitely probably a lot like how Dad felt when he plugged in the camera and just started talking expecting to be perfect. It should be completely natural, shouldn’t it? Just like talking to you guys in person, I imagine. Unfortunately, I think the camera has the opposite effect for first-timers. I feel like I look slightly embarrassed and kind of befuddled in the video, but I hope you guys like it. I had the idea after Lyns said she wanted to hear my voice.
Hey it finished! I really don’t like this video, maybe it’s a little boring. Next time I’ll lighten up and make some jokes or something. I was a bit nervous to talk in front of the camera with everybody else in the lanhouse listening, so please bear with me as you watch. Here is the address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaOo6TWf3To
Anyway, what is cool is that I recorded about 5 minutes of video, and YouTube uploads videos fairly quickly. I think I could go longer. I want to practice doing this, and eventually, maybe transmit everything via video. For now, though, I am going to go slow and practice. Eventually it’ll be just like I’m in the next room.
I kind of forgot about last week, exactly what happened. Here’s a couple of interesting things though: a member’s non-member husband, Geovene, offered us a ride home one night. We accepted. When we got in the car, started driving, and starting making a bit of small talk, we discovered he was pretty drunk. He even stopped driving for a minute to look down and grab a bottle of beer and start drinking more? We asked him not to drink, so he laughed, took a big swig and threw the bottle out the window of the car!!! And the car didn’t have seat belts! Holy smokes! I was so freaking scared, holding on to the sides of the seats, but luckily we got home safely. Luckily it was night and there weren’t many cars on the streets, but he did swerve a little a couple of times. Next time I’ll converse a bit before accepting a ride from a someone I don’t know!
Another experience was teaching a family, with a dad who didn’t have any eyes. Yep. I’ve never seen that before. Blind? Sure. At least they have eyeballs. But unfortunately this man had to have his eyes actually removed, I really don’t know why, I think it was because of cancer. So I tried to talk natural and teach as normal, but I really couldn’t help staring. It’s interesting: blinking is a habit we have, that I think we do automatically like breathing. Even with no eyes, he still had to blink. Can’t really get that image out of my head. Nice little story huh? Interesting what you see on the mission.
I’m doing really good. I think I’m pretty much totally used to being a missionary, and I’m happy. Elder Lima has been a good companion, although it’s been difficult. He’s never been a senior companion before so we’re kind of figuring it out together. But it’s been fun. I’m learning a lot faster with a companion who doesn’t speak English. I hadn’t spoken English for 2 weeks straight until today when we met up with some other American missionaries. Seriously weird.
So tonight you guys are going to watch Lost. Holy smokes I’m so jealous! Live it up. Man, it’s going to be hard to resist downloading the episode on iTunes and watching it during p-day. I am glad I don’t have the iTouch to tempt me into downloading it and watching it during the night or something. I want to let you know, Brendon, that I’m not watching it. Promise. Only 19 months until we get to watch it, man! Sweet. Anyway, have fun and do something special! Maybe invite Cody and Julie and Chase over to watch with you! I think the Nethercotts watch too, make it a party! Take photos and send them to me!
Dad, I love you so much buddy. I too am so very grateful to be a part of your life. I think I really took it for granted back home, and probably acted a couple of times like I shouldn’t have. Right now I just am so excited for the day when Brendon and I can return, help out with the business, and just go and chill, just us guys. We did that a couple of times (like when we went to Glamis for the last time) and man, I love those memories so much. But I think I’m going to enjoy those times with you much more in the future, for sure, because we’ll know somewhat how valuable it is. I love you Dad. You really are my hero. Work hard, but don’t forget to stop once in a while and realize all the blessings you have around you, and that you’re doing your best and the the Lord is going to take care of you and the fam. I know he will. Love you buddy.
Hey Mom! So cool about your study experience. Loved it. I’m going to study about stars tomorrow, I think. :) I’m so happy you’re continuing to be strong and do the right things. I’m so happy to have you as a mom. Elder Lima doesn’t have one, and as we’ve talked about our lives I realized how much of a difference you made in mine. So thankful you’re there to take care of the family. I love you lots.
Winter here is supposed to be pretty harsh, but luckily Elder Losee and Elder Duarte left thermal underwear, sweaters, coats, gloves and hats with me. So actually I think I’m pretty ready! What you could do for me though is send me my black hoodie. The one I always used to wear? I hope it’s not stuffed away where you cant find it. I think it’ll be good because it’s something I can wear on cold P-days and can sleep in comfortably (imagine sleeping in a suitcoat!). I already have my pajama bottoms and I’m waiting to be able to use them :) .
I’m really good. Healthy. Tan. Getting really really buff with this excersize routine every morning. Yep, watch out world.
I love you so much my mom.
Hey Lyns! Hope you liked the video. I made it because of your comment. Life is CRAZY!?!?! How could it be any different for my sweet sis? Man Lyns, the end of junior year was the year I stressed out the most, I think. Senior year was hard, but I’m pretty sure junior year was worse for me. You just got to remember to start early on everything, and get done early, and try to minimize time to have fun. If you do it early you’ll find you will actually have more time to have fun, because you won’t be stressing later, which often causes you to work less effectively, which means you have to work even longer, taking up time with friends. I know it sucks, but you’re gonna get through it sis! You’ve got what it takes. Don’t let up okay? You’ll get used to it.
I liked remembering about us playing at the stream and all of our other memories. Man. Awesome times. Those times were great, but we have much better ones coming up. I think it just gets better as time goes on. Many many more memories to go.
Hey, you can watch all of the seasons of Lost again if you want, but I want to let you know that we’re probably going to watch them all again anyway when we get back. I’m so jealous that you’re gonna watch the last season tonight. Holy smokes I just want to watch Lost. Gah! Ahem.
Lyns, I love you so much. Stay strong. Thank you so much for the letter and photos!
Kaitlin! I loved seeing you in the photos! You’re getting older! I can notice! Kait I hope school is going good and that your learning lots. How’s the Japanese going? Kaitlin, I have a couple of girls in our ward here your age that are going to write you a letter! In Portuguese! I’ll translate it first though, don’t worry. Cool huh? You can write them back if you want, and I’ll translate for you too. They are very excited to write to you, because they really like America! Kaitlin, I love you so much. Here is a huge bear hug! Can’t wait to see you again.
Hey Gramma Imogene, I love you. Thank you so much for the letter. Hope you next week is good. I’m staying healthy thanks to your vitamins! All the other missionaries are jealous. Can’t wait for your letter! Take care of the family, okay? And stay healthy too.
Okay guys, kind of short today. Enjoy the week! Enjoy Lost you lucky dogs!
As always, love love and more love!
Connor
P.S. Oh yeah, the photos! Didn't know that there were missionaries serving on the high seas? :) (this is a monument in the center of Boqueirao, that commemorates the Portuguese settling the south of Brasil. Cool...)
P.S.S. 1 Point for anyone who can figure out why I chose the words in the subject line. Game on!
Okay Bye!
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