Esta semana meu guris!!!

Well this has been a very awesome week here in Capão do leão!!! First off, Dad that is so awesome that you are volunteering at the temple that is such an awesome thing!! I miss the temple alot actually becasue I havent been able to go here! But that is so awesome!!! I love hearing all the things that aare going on at home, even if I dont respond to all the things that are going on! 

Last night we had that awesome training meeting and it made me feel so honored to be a missionary! Things are changing alot, but I dont think that we will use facebook or email because we dont have very many computers here. But, I heard some missions in the United States have Ipads!!! What?! But it was so awesome!

To answer your question, yes there were alot of riots this last week because the world cup will be here in Brazil, and the government is spending a ton of money on it, but Brazil has like no schools and hospitals. So in all the big cities they had manifestições and burned buses and whatnot. Luckily Capão do Leão isnt a big city, but there was one in Pelotas that is super close to us. We are safe though dont worry:) I think for the most part they are over. 

So this week we started our Group in Capão do Leão! Ah it was amazing! Half the people there were from the regular ward because they wanted to come see what it was like, but it was awesome! I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting and it was really good! I wrote it all out and had Elder Menezes correct my Português before I gave it! And, I am officially the pianist for our group! I decided I want to practice and relearn Piano! So far so good!

So Oscar ended up not being baptized this Saturday, he smoked but we set a new goal for him and are working with him because I think that he really wants to do this. We met this awesome couple named Zaida and Madruga, and they are this older couple that I love! Ha they really want to do whatws right, and they are willing to test out what we say to see if its true! They are so cool! They came to the group yesterday and they liked it alot!

Oh yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this little dog thought he was so cool and decided to come up and pee on my shoe!!!!! But we were talking with somebody so I acted like I didnt notice becasue they didnt notice!! Ah I was not happy with that cachorro. 

Carson I got your letter!!! Thanks so much for sending it! The pictures were funny!! I tried for like 20 minutes on the bus to figure out your maze and I couldnt!! Urgggg!

I love you all so much, Im glad to here you are doing well! I love you all so much! 

Oi minha familia! Belleza!

Hello my family! How are you all doing! This has been a great week! But first! Jonathan. You played like a legit show. Holy cow that is so so so so so awesome!!! How did you get hooked up with cartel! And Carson you are doing awesome at baseball!! Man I have cool brothers. DAD! Happy fathers day! Feliz dia dos Pais! I hope it was a great day for you! 

Anyways, big news! So Oscar, one of my favorite people here stopped smoking!!!! So he is the nicest guy ever, and whenever we go over he likes to give us food, but he used to smoke, alot! But we gave him a blessing and told him we would help him stop and he was able to stop! He decided he wants to be baptized this Saturday!!! How awesome is that!! Haha he is so awesome I am so happy we helped him, because he has been trying to stop smoking for years! So awesome how the gospel can help people so much!

Also! This Sunday was ward conference and there was a choir for the youth, and so I played the organ for the meeting haha... Surprisingly it went really well! I asked for a special blessing to help me remember how to play piano and   I didnt play flawless, but I played better then I could have on my own. Way cool!

My Portugues is gradually improving! But, everybody thinks that I am from Spain because my accent sounds more Spanish then Portugues... but its better then a United States accent I guess! 

So next week we are officailly starting a group in Capao do Leao!! It will be in a school called Castelo Branco, and I think each week we will have like 20 people there! It should be cool!! The ward im in right now started in a school too, so in a few years I hope there is a ward in Capao do Leao!

One thing that I love seeing is how every person that gives the book of mormon a chance, or prays about if what we say is true, always knows that it is. The only reason people dont progress is because they arent giving it a chance. Its amazing the difference that praying and reading can make in peoples lives. Yesterday we were teaching a lady, and she refused to pray and ask if what we said is true. I think alot of times people are afraid that it is true and they will have to change, otherwise they wouldnt be afraid to pray and ask. But in all honestly, Ive seen that people become happier when they try to change for the Lord. It at times is hard, for example it was very hard for Oscar, but he is so happy now and Im so proud of him. I can honeslty feel that he is happier! 

Anyways, thats all for now! I hope you like the photos!! Tchau!

 

 

This week in Brasil!!!!

Well this has been an awesome week here! Tons of good things happened! But first of all, Happy Birthday Connor! Looks like you had a ton of fun in Houston! And Jonathan!!! How sick you are opening up for Cartel! Thats pretty awesome! You are goping to be big when I get home haha! Oh PS this keyboard I am using is terrible and so sorry if there is alot of typos... Mom! Im sorry you have been worrying! My pants are okay... I kinda tried to sew them together... And lets be honest they dont look tooooo good, but they work and I still wear them! Dad! That is so scary about the rattlesnake but I am glad you guys are okay! Scary! There are no scary snakes or spiders where I live so Im good haha! But yeah!

Sooo! Monday I went to Porto Alegre and got all legalized but didnt get to see the city much, but it was kinda nice to rest for four hours each way on the bus!

But the big awesome thing that happened this week, is I had the opporutunity to baptize a lady named Regiane!!! I cant believe I havent mentioned her yet becasue she is way cool! Here is her story!

So, we met her my first week here on a rainy night and she lives with her mom and brothers in a small house. She has a kid too. Sorry I am really bad at stories... Anyways! There was just kind of a sad feeling in the home and we didnt know why but we taught her family and invited her to church on Sunday. She accepted to come and she loved it, but she was the only one in her family to come! 

The next time we visited her was the same way, just kind of a sad feeling in the home, very quiet and we taught more and I could gradually understand more and more!

It was kind of the same way each time we visited her, and she didnt really seem very enthused to meet with us, until one night we met with her. The night before we talked about how she could recieve an answer to her prayers and when we met with her the next time she had this light in her eyes, and was talking, and we knew she had recieved an answer to her prayers! There was a completely different feeling in the home! She accepted to be baptized, but still was nervous and not 100 percent sure it was right! 

Well the day of her baptism came and she chose me to baptize her which was such an honor! Anyways we were in the font and I could tell she was nervous, but I baptized her and she came out of the water with the biggest smile on her face!! Like smiling so much she was giggling! It was crazy how happy she was and she just had this light in her eyes!

We talked to her a little more Sunday night and there is just a new feeling in her home. We never found out why she seemed sad, but we know that we helped her, whatever it was! Such a miracle!

So that is her story, she is so awesome and the more Portugues I can understand the more awesome she is! Things are going good here though, we are planning on starting a group or maybe a branch in Capao do Leao! 

Cool stuff happening! But yeah thats about it for now! I love you all so much!  

I wll send pictures next week the computer Im on today wont let me... I love you all!

Um outro semana no melhor lugar no mundo!

Oi minha familia! Como tu tais? Well well well it has been another otimo week here in Brasil! I love getting emails and whatnot from all you guys! How are things at home? Connor I was very happy to get aqn email from you becasue I havent heard anything from you since I have been out here! And I loved getting that video of Taco! I miss that snout... And dad! Thats so awesome you are reading the Book of Mormon in Portugeus! Wait till I get home to here the pronunciation. Trust me, its not what you think! Its very strange... And mom sorry for not answering all of your questions! Its hard to remember all of them so I try to answer as much as I can! Im sorry!

 

Anyways this week in Brasil was pretty cool! Finally I can comfortably talk to people about Gospel topics and In can understand most people. Some people have really weird accents... and I cant understand at all... But my Portugues is coming little by little. Anyways one really cool thing that happened this week! We were teaching this man named Oscár and he is like this super friendly old guy! But, he is like a legit gaucho and speaks ancient portugues and so he is hard to understand sometimes. Anyways he was having a difficult time understanding tithing, and I really prayed for the Spirit to help me during that lesson because he is one of my favorite people here and I can tell he is sincerely searching for the truth. Anyways I prayed and during the lesson I could understand everything he said! I like conversed with him and I even shared a stroy using past tense which is probably the hardest thing for me to speak! The Spirit was so strong and we resovled his concerns! It was just so awesome to recieve that literal help from the Spirit!

 

Last night we had a devotional and all the missionaries in 3 stakes, like 45 misisonaries sang for the stake and it was way cool! The spirit was really strong and I felt so proud to be a missionary! The members here love the missionaries becasue the church is so new in Brazil so almost everybody remembers the missionaries that taught them and so many people were very emotional. I hope people remember me the same way!

 

But yeah thats about it for now! Today I am going to Porto Alegre to get legalized. We found out the other day I was missing a very important document to keep me from being deported haha. When I arrived in Porto Alegre I was supoosed to see the Police but the assistants forgot to take us ther! (Kinda important! How do you forget?!) So I get to ride a bus for 4 hours! Yay! haha not really!

 

Oh PS... if you were to send me a package eventually... could it have peanut butter? Peanut Butter does not exist in Brasil...