Email 01/02/18

I do not take any multi vitamins as yet.💊 Those are somewhat expensive here. I like that I am having an experience. I like that I am on a mission. I am happy that I am doing what the Lord wants. I am still struggling with some things in the culture, but I will improve as time goes on. I enjoyed talking with all of you as well. I didn´t know that Grammy and Grandpa were moving to a senior center. I hope they enjoy it. That is great that Brin and John are in town. I am grateful that you all enjoyed your Christmas week. My was pretty good. I got to go on splits with my first companion Elder Novaes here in Cacerés. He is my Zone Leader now and he had not yet been here in Cacerés during the duration of his mission. He will be returning home in March. I am very grateful to have had a reunion with him. I spent New Years with Casal Silva and other members. Yes I have been trying to perfect my control over my tongue, ever since I learned the necessity of controlling my tongue. My week may be better. I hope to be happier this year than last year. Last year was very hard. I hope to be able to continue and be happier, even if it still has difficulties. Oh I forgot to mention, I got very sick this last Saturday. I had to go the hospital to get vitamins injected. I had a bad fever and I also have an infection in my throat. I have been taking three different types of pills for the last few days. I feel a lot better. The day I got sick I received a priesthood blessing and soon afterward felt better, but I was still weak for the majority of the day. Don´t you worry, I am well taken care of here.  I am still anxious to receive the [Christmas] package. Hopefully I will receive it soon. tchau 🎅

Email 12/25/17

Merry Christmas to you all too. My week has been excellent. First things first, Elder Fuenteabla arrived here. He is the companion of Elder Maea. We have a rather unusual, but interesting situation of having no Brazilian missionaries in our house. To make it even more fun, there are a bunch of people here who are from Bolivia. I have photos from one of their parties that they on occasion have.

We also had a baptism that happened this last Saturday. The Branch Mission Leader here, Adauto, was the one who baptized her. I don´t remember her name, but we will be visiting her this next Thursday. Christmas morning was pleasant and the members here were nice enough to give us 'Élderes' a gift basket, filled with goodies. I enjoyed talking with you all yesterday. Other than that, I think I talked about everything in the video chat. Thank you for the photos, videos, puns, spiritual thought and the support. 🎄

Email 12/18/17

Hey. My week was great.  On Thursday we carpooled with Casal Silva and arrived in Várzea Grande. Elder Aguleira and I stayed in the house of the Varzea Grande 1 Elders. I got to visit the church house of Mapim for a little while. We had the opportunity of attending the baptism of two youth who are children of a man that we have been teaching. They were baptized by a priest in the ward on Saturday.  We attended the Confirmation yesterday. We had our Christmas Conference this last Friday. I have some photos of the Christmas Conference in Drive. I enjoyed it. I got to sing in a choir composed of four zones of missionaries of Matto Grosso. I don't know if I will be able to get the video, but if you would like to search for it, it is on Facebook somewhere. I have in Drive a file called "General Mission Things" that has the roster of missionaries for a few transfers. It has all the information of who are in the photos.

The baptism of Jarme has not yet happened yet, but we will be working on it. I will be staying in Caceres for the next six weeks. I am grateful I get to stay here for a little while longer. I like the Branch here.

The video chat will probably happen at 3 or 4 o'clock my time. I don't know what time it will be in Salt Lake at that time. Oh I didn't know that the package had fees. I will probably be able to pay them. I don't know if I will be able to pick up the package until after Christmas. It was hinted to me that I will have to wait until later.

Coleson got back. I remember when I was in school with him. Wow the home teachers came before the end of the month, that's an accomplishment.  Thank you for the puns. I didn't know what lucrative meant, I had to look it up. I get it now. That is clever. Thank you for the thought. Talk to you next week. tchau 🎅🎄🎁📦

To see the video of the choir, go to:  https://oliveirambc.blogspot.com/

Email 12/11/17

My week was great, although it was a bit different from most other weeks. Monday was our normal P-day, until we found out that Elder Borges would be leaving for Cuiabá for an emergency the next day. We spent the night with Casal Silva and afterwards helped him pack a bit. Tuesday Elder Borges left in the morning. Afterwards Elder Aguilera, Elder Maea, and I spent our time at the Hospital trying to get in and give a blessing to someone there. We spent the majority of the afternoon waiting there to get in. Later we had a meeting with the Branch Mission Leader. Wednesday I spent my time in a trio and we visited several investigators. Thursday we did pretty much the same thing as Wednesday, save that we visited a recent convert, Luis-Felipe. He and his wife gave us popcorn to eat and we watched "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of The Restoration" with them. He hadn't seen it yet. Friday we succeeded in cleaning the house well in the morning. Later we waited at the Bus Station for Elder Monson, another American; who would be here until Monday morning. Saturday I was with Elder Aguilera whilst Elder Monson was with Elder Maea. We tried to visit an inactive member, but they ended up not being home and later Casal Silva helped us and we went to visit one of their investigators who lived rather far from city center. The Family we visited gave us a fruit called Jaca and also gave us some mangoes. After that we visited an investigator whose mother had died last week. She was asleep when we arrived so we talked with her family members. Later we went to the market to buy food for the Sabbath and we ended up running into some members from Varzea Grande. Sunday was the best day of the week. In the Morning we had Church like always. Later we had lunch with Luis-Felipe. We watched "The Work and the Glory Part Three." After that we spent our time at the church house preparing for an activity. That evening we enjoyed a choral performance by the branch with some the Relief Society, Elders Quorum and Primary as well the youth participating. I enjoyed the experience. Elder Monson came here to Cacerés primarily for this. He played the piano. Many investigators attended as well as others. The members who I ran into previously were there. I sat next to them. The choir sang various Christmas carols and hymns. I didn't have my camera at the time, sorry. I did´t have an opportunity to return to the house to get it. Today Elder Monson left. That is my week.

Jarme, the man we were intending on baptizing yesterday; was not baptized. He has a problem with setting dates for things. Maybe this Saturday. We will be having lunch with his family during the week.

I am feeling a lot more comfortable with the language. People are saying that I am speaking better.

Yep I nearly have one year. What a year.

That reminds me they will be having a Santa visit the members here soon at the church house.

I miss you all as well. Thank you for the Spiritual Thought. I have a few photos, but not many. I will have more next week. We have our Christmas Conference this next Friday. Till next week.🎅🎄 Tchau.

Email 12/4/17

My week was great. We visited several of the investigators we have and we have been spending a good amount of time with Casal Silva. The weather has been rather rainy lately. This is good, for the most part. It just makes doing things like laundry more of a challenge. I am grateful for it though. It is cooler here whenever we have rain.

My area is improving. We had 100 people attend sacrament meeting this last Sunday for the branch. We had a baptism this last weekend. His name is Reginaldo and he is the husband of a member we have lunch with every Thursday. My companion baptized him and I helped give the gift of the Holy Ghost.  We have a baptismal date with one other man here who is in a very similar situation to that of Reginaldo. All of his immediate family are members like Reginaldo. We hope to have the opportunity of helping him be baptized as well. His name is Jarme. My week has been a good one. This last Saturday was also the Birthday of Sister Silva.  Things are going good, but the mission is struggling. The whole mission only had two baptism this last week.

I have been doing better health-wise thank you for asking. The suggestions that Jaron gave were helpful. Thank you for sending them.

Voice Male. I like that music group. I have a bunch of their music and the missionaries here say that it is really good. I have been asked on several occasions if I could share it, but it is on the Ipod shuffle. I would have to do that on the computer at home, otherwise it would likely erase everything.

I saw the photos of the Harry Potter store. I like them. You said that you were looking at Grandpa house. Are you planning on moving? That´s right the First Presidency Christmas devotional was Yesterday. I didn´t remember that. Thank you for the puns, photos, and the humongous spiritual thought. I may have time to read it.  😃

Email 11/27/17

I didn´t pass out, but I was not feeling good. Generally I eat plenty of crackers and/or peanuts when I am in the house. I think the problem was the heat; also sometimes the members do not put salt in their meals and I get sleepy easily later during the day. Yes, I am improving with taking care of myself gradually. I am doing better now. Are you all well health wise?

My week was pretty good. We found a few less active members here and learned that they have many less active members here, some of whom attended sacrament meeting yesterday. The chapel was full. Besides the less active members, we had five investigators who attended. Sorry I have no pictures of this. I forgot the camera in the house.

I like that my new area has an abundance of mangoes and it is mango season. I was told that nobody goes hungry during this season.

Saturday was a good day, mostly because I got to go on splits with Elder Maea. Talking with another American about things definitely helped with some of the problems I have been having. Speaking of haircuts, I may need to get one soon as well. Sounds like Grandpa is struggling. I like the photos. They are very good.  I only have one photo from this last week and it is of the map of Cáceres. I also was able to find some photos on President and Sister Oliviera's site. I added them to the "general mission things" file. Thank you for this email. Thank you for the puns. They happen to have their own type here. One they have is "Sinto Muito, usa cinto" which means: 'sorry use your seat-belt.' Thank you for the spiritual thought. I love you all. Tchau 👋

Email 11/20/17

Thank you I will wait for it (Christmas package). My week was pretty good. I went to the hospital this last Tuesday, because my pressure was down. I think that meant blood pressure. They said that I got it because of being in the sun a lot. My investigators are doing alright. One of the families left for Bolivia two Saturdays ago and didn´t return until Tuesday or Wednesday of this last week. We visited some of them this week. It was rather slow with the work and there was a lot of rain this week. I think That I am improving much (in the language). Casal (couple) Silva say that I write well and can understand well but I still have difficulties speaking well. Jonah is getting braces, he better brace for it. Looks like Jeffrey is staying busy. Looks like dad is staying happy. You have been having a lot of great activities That is excellent. The Spackman´s are moving? Well shoot. That´s right Thanksgiving is coming up. I might actually celebrate it here. 🦃 Thank you for the e-mail. I have a few photos for this week. We spent most of our time proselyting.

I am feeling better. My blood pressure is improving. I learned a trick from them. They told me to put salt under my tongue and it seems to work. I will continue try to keep eating at least three meals a day. I usually don´t have a problem with drinking sufficient water. Thank you for your concern mom. 🍖🍟🚰🍹 😃

Thank you. tchau😎