Email 06/26/17

I am doing great actually. I really like my new companion. I have still not been able to bake my cake, but I found one of the problems. The pan I need is in a member's house. Elder Silva and I accidentally left it there. We´ll probably have an opportunity to get it back this or the following week depending on whether we go to that member's house or not. My companion is a good person and he not only knows how to clean well, but likes to; so our house is finally approaching adequately clean. He has many good ideas that have been solving some of the more annoying problems that have appeared in our house. The number of Americans in our mission? I am uncertain about that. Considering there are 110 missionaries here and there are usually Brazilians and Americans paired up, as well as others from various other countries; I would say there are around 45 to 50 more or less.  I will probably never pair up with an American companion, here; but if I do I will definitely let you know. It is very likely I will have companions from any country other than America, but I could. Most of the Americans that come here, specifically Varzea Grande; are from Utah.  Just to let you know we received more pesquisadores this week. We have received 22 new ones since Elder Mendez arrived. Até mais.

Email 06/19/17

I am doing alright. My companion left yesterday for Cuiabá and will stay there until tomorrow. He will be leaving for Peru on Tuesday. My new companion's name is Elder Mendez. He is a good missionary so far as I can tell. I will still need to get to know him better. I didn´t know that there even was a Brazilian valentines day. I do know about Corpus Cristus, though.  Happy Father's Day to dad. My week was good. I had splits with an Elder and we visited some of our investigators. One family is improving, but we need to continue to visit them. The night that I had splits, me and my companion visited them and when we arrived, we found that they were watching "The Other Side of Heaven." They were very enthusiastic and said that they might go to church the following Sunday, but they didn´t. We need to keep visiting them. My Birthday was good, but the fourteenth was good too. On the fourteenth a member took us to Cuiabá to see a water show. The Lord blessed us with seeing this. I have a video, but I am having trouble uploading it. The sixteenth was nice because there was a little thing for Elder Silva that happened that day. My new companion is from Bolivia.

I have not had the opportunity to bake the cake yet, but I may during this following week. Last week was too occupied.  Thank you for the cake.

Email 6/12/17

My week has been alright. I thought that it was great to chat with you on Monday as well. I got all the packages including Grammy's things. I will be expecting your other package. Thanks for all the snacks in the other one. The cards were great and the things that Jostan and my other siblings said were great. Yep I have been out for six months already. I will be busy that day (birthday) with activities, seeing as my companion is leaving next Sunday and I will be receiving a new companion. Moab that is rather far south. I hope they have fun. Jonah and Jaylen getting shots that reminds me of last Wednesday, when I got another Flu shot. That day was busy. I am happy to hear you all went to Lagoon. Thanks for the Joke. We have not been having very much success with our pesquisadors, but I am grateful that the Lord is helping some of our pesquisadors to attend church. I hope that we will be able to do better in the future. I will keep trying to have good weeks.  Thank you for the spiritual thought. ☺Tchau.

Email/Chat 06/05/17

My week has been very good compared to weeks in the past. I am finally becoming able to improve. I had extreme opposition in improving in anything during the first part of my time here, but the Lord has helped me and is still helping me solve the problems that were keeping me from doing well. The thing that was going on last Monday is this: We needed to go to Cuiabá for the day. We had several reasons for being there. My Companion and other missionaries planned the day. They gained permission for us to eat at a restaurant, but the main reason why we were there is because my companion needed to find a good briefcase for him to take with him on the plane. He will be using it on the 20th to go home seeing he has finished his time here. Even after we were there for a while he still didn´t find what he wanted, a low price for the briefcase; so, we returned to Arzea Grande and he tried again to shop here. He eventually found what he wanted and by three O´clock we were ready to return home. He suggested that we come back here seeing as we had no other plans for the day, but I declined seeing as it costs me 4 reals an hour to use the computers here and I had already used a good 10 reals. I realize now that I could have returned and tried to see if any of you were available for a chat, but reasoned that it was not likely. This is, in short; why I didn’t have time to chat with you last week for very long.

I have not received the package you sent yet but I may receive it this Thursday seeing as there is going to be a zone conference and usually during this time President Oliveira hands out bug spray and tries to sell his "Missão Brasil Cuiabá" marked bags and merchandise. I will probably receive it then, seeing I just read that the tracking report says it was delivered to the Mission Home; but if not I will be able to tell you next week what occurred.

The language is coming along but I need to keep studying well. The language is very complex for me in my perspective, but I know that the Lord will continue to help me. The hardest thing to adjust to is not necessarily the language, but the hardest thing for me is knowing what the heck everyone is thinking. Their customs for what is ethically wrong and what is right are nearly opposite to that which I know. When they try to let me know I am doing something wrong they use sarcasm, thinking that everyone, no matter their heritage and background, will understand. They will not give me the information I need and so this is one of the reasons I have been having such a hard time with the language and everything in general. I have been needing to figure these things out on my own; though I know this good for me, it only makes things even more complicated in a situation where improvement is wanted quickly from my leaders. I am very grateful for this experience so far here. I have learned much and will keep going. So my Portuguese is getting better.

My investigators are fine but we are still having trouble getting any of them to want to go to church and read the scriptures. I still have so much to learn. We had an opportunity this last week to meet with one of the families we hadn´t visited for a while.  They were doing fine, but their daughter was having trouble and I guess this is one purpose why the Lord had us meet her in the Grocery Store. We haven´t seen them since but we may in the future. One family is starting to become promising, but slowly. The mother’s name is Eliete and she has several children. They are friendly enough to let us come and talk with them. Others that we have just started teaching are slowly getting interested.

Till next week, Tchau.