January 27th, 2014

Hello everybody! So this week was a very good week, with alot of hard work! Me and Elder Mendes are really really trying our best here in this area, and we are seeing some cool things happen but we are kinda without much support from the ward so the work is progressing, just slowly. We dont get much references so we end up doing contacts on the road and knocking on doors all day long. Its pretty uneffective, and the apostolos say its uneffective, but we dont really have any other choice with this ward. 

So this week was also super hot! On thursday I think I overheated and like wasnt feeling super good, and we went home and I had a super super huge fever. Like it was rough! I asked for a blessing and I started feeling better, and the next day I was fine and ready to work again! Im so grateful for the power of the priesthood! It was pretty awesome, because I didnt lose a day of work because I was sick. So far even though I have gotten sick a few times, I havent lost a day of work because of being sick, so Im very blessed and happy for that!

This week was interviews with President Castro! It was so so good! He shared a scripture about how we need to be sanctified, and deliver our hearts to God, and do his will istead of ours. Theres alot of things that seem "different" for us normal people, that we have to do because we have faith in God, and because we want to do Gods will. It was very awesome the interview, and he also said that he thinks Im ready to start having more responsabilities and whatnot. So it should be pretty exciting!

So yesterday was stake conference and we slept over at another misisonaries apartment because the stake center is pretty far from ours, and so I made Jamba juice for everybody, it was pretty awesome actually. Man I miss my Jamba!

And yesterday we were walking on the road and we saw one of our investigators waiting for the other bus with some other ladies, and when she saw us she tried to hide behind a lady that was smaller then her! Of course me and Elder Mendes had to go up and talk to her and yeah.... ha it was pretty funny. She is like 60 years old and trying to hide from us, but we are always so nice to her when we talk to her at her home. So that kinda stunk, but then the same night we found two awesome people who are very interested, André and Jonaina. They asked questions and it was a very spiritual lesson. They are very busy but we are going to try to help them a bunch!

So that was my week! Im sorry if I dont answer specific questions, its pretty hard to remember them all, but I do try! I love you all so much! I hope you have a great week!!!

January 20th, 2014

Brasil is hot, very very hot. So this week I dont know if any of you checked the weather buit its been super hot and super humid this week!!! And whats worse its almost none houses have air conditioning.... So Im dying!! Haha at least Arizona trained me well, but its very hot! I actually forgot what it feels like to sleep with a blanket because I just lay on my bed and sleep without a blanket or anything!

Thyis week was a good week and we definately worked so hard. We only have a few investigators as of right now because the other people we were teaching didnt ever really show any interest in what we had to share. But this week we really tried super hard to find new investigators so we knocked on doors... knocked on more doors... and knocked on more doors. All week! In the sun! THE CRAZY THING IS, that I actually liked doing it, even though it didnt give a bunch of results, I was happy doing it! Even though almost nobody let us in,. I was happy! Thats just one reason why I know that this misisonary work is true! If it wasnt I would be miserable!

We tried one new thing this week, we have a list of members and we tried visiting the ones that I dont know, and it turned out super awesome! We found some people that have potential and it was really cool! We are going to keep doing it this week to find more people interested in being taught!

Also this week was transfer week and......... Elder Mendes and I will stay one more together!!! He became the district leader this transfer, and I am oficially assistant TO THE district leader (office joke... haha...) or I could be the corrupt advisor... muahahaha (Jonathan Connor and Carson should understand that joke). But it should be awesome, Im excited to keep working with him he is freaking awesome!

Anyways I love you all so much, thanks for supporting me and everything! I hope that you all have a great week! I love you! Tchau família!

January 13th, 2014

So this week was a good week, but on the misison, there are always the ups and downs. But this week was good with the work. We worked a bunch a bunch and so it always gets better with hard work.

The thing that was hard was that Jovelina ended up noit being baptized. She told us on Friday that she had some stomach problems, and wanted to reschedule for next week. She told us that she would come to church and everything and so yesterday we waited for her and called her and she didnt answer and so we got a little worried. At night we called her and she said she didnt want to be baptized anymore, she wanted to return the books, and doesnt even want to meet with us anymore... Yeah it was rough. We think that maybe she was a spy that the other churches use to find out about ours. Its sounds crazy, but its happened before, and the other churches here in the area literally fight against ours... Either that or somebody just said a bunch of stuff to her thats not true about our church to her... Either way Satan is definately fighting against us. So yeah that was kinda a bummer. I was so happy with her, it was a pretty big let down, but I just have to remember that its not my job to make the choice for them, its my job to give them the chance to follow This gospel.

Haha but something funy happened in church yesterday... Remember when I said that Claudio and Marcelo where talking about vampires and portals and whatnot... Yesterday they had some "Things" happen in their house... and they arrived at church telling everybody that a demon escaped the portal that is in their house.... yeah it was pretty funny. We went to their house to dedicate it and we... cleared up a few doctrinal points and now they understand a little better. Haha but it was kinda funny!

But yeah, yesterday the teacher for one of the classes didnt show up and so I gave a class without any preperation... yeah it was cool taht I can do that in Portugues now! Haha just thought I would throw that in there...

Carson hasppy birthday buddy! I hope it was a great day!!! Keep being such a stud!

And Dad I am so happy you are okay and that you werent hurt in that plane thing... Be safe and remember... may the force be with you... always...

Claudio quoted that line from star wars and it made me so happy... Que a força esteja contigo... sempre....

Anyways I love you all!! Have a great week!!!!

January 6th, 2014

HELLO MY WONDERFUL FAMILY!!! So first off, thanks for all supporting me and whatnot, I loved all the emails that I get from you! Thank you so much, you are a wonderful family! So this week was pretty awesom, as are allll the weeks on the mission! So first off all, for new years we went home at like 7 o clock because the streets can get a little crazy in Brasil during the New Years, so we bought a bunch of fingerfoods and whatnot and ice cream... lots and lots of ice cream.... So we passed the New Year playing ping pong with the ping pong things you sent me, eating ice cream and finger foods. It was pretty cool, but of course nothing beats spending Holidays with the family.

A few updates on Claudio and Marcelo, yesterday they recieved the Aaronic priesthood and are still so excited about the church. They are super smart and think of some theories that are a little bit "strange"... and so yesterday they told us a theory they have. Recently in Rio Grande do Sul and Argentina there have been sightings of "o chupacabra"... a monster that sucks the blood out of goats and dogs and whatnot... And they told us... o chupacabra doesnt exist, they said that its vampires that invaded this world through portals that are in the middle of Rio Grande do Sul and Argentina... Yeah... But they back it up with science and it kinda makes sense what they say... Either way they are so happy to be members of the church because they said they can already see a difference in their life.

Anyways we are also teaching Jovelina, who ended up getting pretty sick but she got better and went to church yesterday! She loved it and is good friends with the members already and it is fitting in awesomely actually! She will be baptized this Friday and she is so excited!!! And I am too. She is seriously a miracle! I feel like she was a direct blessing for the obedience that I had with Aramayo, because as soon as he left, she found us and yeah. But I am so happy for her, because she is seeing that the gospel is already blessing her life and giving her comfort, and I cant wait for her to find allll the happiness that can come from the gospel!

So yeah I am very excited for all the cool things that will happen this next week! Thanks for being so amazing all so much! Connor Im so proud of all the missionary work that you are doing!!! Ele é o cara! I love you all so much! Thanks for the support you give me!! Tchau!

December 30th, 2013

Hello my wonderful famioly! So it was very awesome to see you all! I loved talking to you all! Sorry for my inability to speak English.... I had a pretty difficult time with it!!! But yeah.... But it was so awesome I hope you had a very merry chirstmas! After talking to you, we went into the members backyard and they had a churrasceira to make churrasco, and so I grilled some cow ribs and some other meats. Lets just say it was pretty good for an american churrasco! It turned out awesome!

So yeah that was awesome, and then on thursday we started working again and we met with Jovelina and Claudio and Marcelo to finalize everything for their baptisms! Jovelina might not be baptized this Saturday because to be baptized you have to go to church at least twice, and she ended up not going yesterday because she got sick. But we are going to call President and see if we still can on Saturday because she really really wants to!

So Saturday was the baptism of Claudio and Marcelo and it went awesome!!!! I baptized Claudio (the older one) and Elder Mendes baptized Marcelo (his son)! The service was small, but special and I think they liked it alot! I sure hope so! One thing that President Castro is doing is giving the misisoanries special invitations to invite the friends of Claudio and Marcelo, and so we went and delivered invitaions to one of their friends that doesnt believe in God and it was pretty sad. I am so grateful for the knowledge that God exists and that he loves us. One thing I told him is that if God didnt exist, happiness would not exist and so the very fact that we feel good when we choose the right is a proof that god exists. So that was awesome.

And then on Sautrday night we decided to go to dinner to celebrate and we went to a pizza buffet. The other Elders challenged me to eat 30 pieces and so naturally I accepted. I almost died after.... but I am proud to say that I survived and beat the challenge. But yeah! So that was my week! I love you all so much! Hasve a great safe new year! I love you all so much!! Tchau!

December 23rd, 2013

Hello family!!! So this past wek was wonderful, but I a so excited for this week too! Its pratcally Christmas!!!! I remember thinking that Christmas would never arrive, but it snuck up on me! The time pases so fast! Its crazy that just about one more year and Ill be coming home. Ive heard from a few people that my group will be going home next January instead of Febuary, so I have just about one more year left! Crazy right?! I am so excited to talk to all of you! But one thing, the presidency of the area Brasil decided this year that the missionaries shouldnt talk for more then 40 minutes, which is what the rule normally was, but the just made it more official.... so that was kind of a bummer... it will be a test of my faith to follow the leaders of the church... but yeah! So if you have any questions in specific, write them down to ask me on Christmas!

This week we had our Christmas conference with President Castro, and it was very very cool! I loved it! I always love hearing president Castro, but I saw that photo that you sent that says we love you Hunter! It made me so happy! And so now I have that picture on my desk! Also I got the Christmas package!!! I put up the tree and put the presents under it and everything! I am very excited to see what I got! Thank you so much:) One other thing... you didnt happen to send shoes with my package?... my shoes are very.... dilapidated....

Anyways this week was awesome too becuase we taught Claudio and Marcelo more and more and they are very excited for the baptism on Saturday!!! They told us yesterday something interesting that they hadnt told us before. They told us that one day during their spiritual meditation (yes they meditate) they both felt the impression to visit the church and thats when they decided to start attending the church! Pretty neat huh?

Also Jovelina is so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So she is the lady that talked to us on the road and said that she wanted to be baptized and everything from last weeks email. So we started meeting with her this week, and she said that she was thinking about visiting the church on her own last week, but she was nervous last Sunday. So she was just waiting on the sidewalk trying to get the courage to go in when we walked by. And thats when she talked to us and whatnot! Very awesome! We taught her in the chapel this week and showed her the baptismal font and she is super excited for her baptism that will be on the 4th of January! Such a miracle!! She is so awesome and I am so happy for her, taking the courage to try something new and to see if its really what she wants!

So last PDay me and Elder Mendes found awesome soccor jerseys of the team Corinthians from São Paulo that were on sale from 200 reais for 50 reais, so we ended up buying them because it like is super rare to find that! I am officially a corintiano! Vai corintia! Haha but I think thats just about it for this week! I WILL BE CALLING TODAY AT LIKE 6 my time to test the Skype (President said we could) So be ready brothers!!