Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 5:24 AM
Subject: Re: Sunny Days
Well, did I say Zone Leader? Yeah, about that . . .
As of this Wednesday I will be a Zone-Leader-Trainer, which means I´m the only Zone Leader in my Zone, and my companion will be a new missionary. Yes, this is the third time I will train. I´m new in the Ward, my companion´s new the country, and I´m new at being a Zone Leader. I would say that it´s all going to be easy, but at the moment I´m a bit stressed. Elder Dutra, my last companion, went to Goiania yesterday, and it´s possible he´ll so be back here tomorrow with his new companion. He left with Elder Lalli, one of the Zone Leaders from the other Zone here in Anápolis, and I stayed with Elder Lalli´s companion, Elder Ribeiro. Then, last night, just when Elder Ribeiro and I had everything all organized, the new District Leader in Elder Ribeiro´s District called, telling us he would be taking Elder Ribeiro with him to Goiania today to an appointment with the dentist. Which means they´ll only be getting back this afternoon. We had to reorganize where everyone would go and it still didn´t work out 100%, as I´m here in Jaira with 3 other missionaries who have to go to a wedding and a baptism this afternoon.
In brief, I am responsable for everyone in the whole city and it´s all a huge tummult of a confusion that I can´t wait to have end. Haha. I got up 4:30 AM, and I have no idea when I´ll get to sleep, nor if I´ll have the chance to nap or wash my clothing this preparation day. I almost didn´t have a chance to shave.
Well, seeing as Elder Dutra will still be with me until April, I´ll be able to work out this thing with him. I think his fingers might be slimmer than mine, but I´ll let you know next week.
I´m sorry to hear you´re not feeling well, you can give a light tap to Dad for me for having infected you. I think I ate something funny this last week, because I´m also feeling weird. Not sick, just a gunky throat.
So Katie´s finally gonna tie the knot huh? I always imagined that there´d be a bit more glamour than going before the judge, but in Brazil, all marriages are essentially that. Here, members of the church have to wed before the judge before sealing in the temple, so the procedure really isn´t to out of the normal. You go and see the judge, the judge gives you papers, both sign the papers, and then two witnesses sign and, from what I understand, that´s that. The problem is that, to GET to that point is a business so wacked out that really, I can´t blame some people here for not getting married. It looks at times, like the government doesn´t WANT people to get hitched. You want to pay or have the community marriage? Community is free, but only happens one day every 3 months. To get married you have to have stuff like birth certificates from the judge who presided such and such area the day you were born. If you were already married and are divorcing, you have to go BACK to the state where you were married, get divorced, then wait, then marry.
Or everyone´s lying and it´s not as hard as they say.
I hate to be the burden that makes it so that you all have to paint again. I don´t know why exactly, but I give you permission to take down everything that´s not on the shelves. What´s on the shelves I plea that you don´t take apart, but rather that you place such things, I dunno, in Matt´s room or something, since I think only on the shelves are the things which are expensive. The other things, If I don´t deceive myself, can all be placed in the plastic bins in my room and there remain until the day of their redemption, heh. I don´t mind so much about taking things apart (outside the stuff on the shelves), I mean I´ve been gone more than a year, and there´s still a good time before I come home, and when I´m home, I still won´t be able to play all day with my legos, so, well I´m sure I´ll survive.
Besides, building new things is half the fun of legos anyway.
Yay, photos for me! I hope you´re not spending a fortune, because if you do that, everyone will think I´m like the rich Utah boys and well, I´m not.
So this week was a pretty big race for me. Half the week I was on splits with other Elders, helping them out, the other half helping my companion. This weekend was the Dedication of the new Chapel, and man was it a show. We had some 300 people there, members from all over the stake, and some 15 visitors. We had to run around the whole time trying to keep things under control.
Then I had to teach Gospel Principles (Which is normal to me, whenever the teacher is sick in whatever ward in the world, she always seems to call on the elders, and in my last area I simply was the teacher.) Chapter 7, about the Holy Ghost, when one of the recent converts made a rather tough question: Who exactly is the Holy Ghost? So there I was, explaining and teaching, when Elder Dutra waved at someone out the window. I nearly had a heart attack when I looked out the window and saw Pres. and Sis. Tobias waving in at us. After the Dedication, we had a baptism, and then Pres. informed us a little about the fact that Elder Dutra would have to go to Goiania on Monday.
And so we see that, once again, our hero finds himself dashing from one side of Anápolis to the other, lost as heck, and trying not to get hit by a bus.
And that´s how my week went. Stay tuned for more updates next week!
Love,
Bryan
PS. Send my love and congratulations to Katie on her Wedding Day. I really am excited for her, and would have loved to be there.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Email - 2/16/10
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 7:39 AM
Subject: Re: Happy Valentine's Day
A week past Valentine´s Day? I don´t even know what day V-Day is any more. I just know that, as of Thursday last week, it´s Carnaval, and, well, yeah, there´s no one around. Almost every shop is closed. Rio de Janeiro, on the other hand, is one crazy party. I saw for about a minute on the TV how the holiday is going there and, yeah, you can bet that, if any missionary works during the day, he sure as heck doesn´t work at night.
MMM, snow . . . oh how I miss the snow. I´ll have to remember to grab a popsicle or something and chuck it at my companion, just to remember snowball fights.
Wow, the Culture party sounds like a lot of fun. I didn´t realize our ward was so full of people from around the world. Samoa, Australia, Liberia, Phillippines and Japan. Why didn´t Bro. Webster represent Brazil? Haha. You and dad should have danced, you have to do the things I´m not aloud to, didn´t you know?
At the moment, I miss milk so much I don´t care that they put these evil new jugs. Not that I´m not drinking milk, it´s just that milk here happens to be rather different. Brazil has millions of fruits, but just about 3 types of cheese, haha.
And now, for the interesting part.
One lovely Thursday Morning, that is, this very Thursday, I woke up, started getting ready, ironed my shirt and noted the telefone ringing. I thought to myself, "Gee, it must be the Zone Leaders." And grabbed the phone. I looked at the number and felt my blood freeze. Nope, I recognize this number, and it´s not the Zone Leaders.
"Good Morning Pres. Tobias!"
"Good Morning, Elder Barney. How are you, Elder?"
"I´m excellent."
"How´s the Garden (Jardim)? More Garden, or Desert?"
"Aaah, Let´s just say we´re still planting here."
"Elder, news for you. You´ve been transferred. Pack your bags, and head over to Jundiaí. Are you ready to be a Zone Leader, Elder?"
"Uh, sure?"
"Perfect. Let me talk to Elder Barbosa."
And well, since Thursday of last week I´ve been working here in Jundiaí, Anápolis, as a Zone Leader. My companion is Elder Dutra, who was Secretary Executive for 8 months here in the mission. So, I don´t really know if I´ll be leaving Anápolis or not this next Tuesday, but I also don´t mind much if I´m taken out of the city or not. Jundiaí is an excellent ward, and our new chapel will be dedicated this Sunday.
So, all´s well down here for me, burning in the sun, cooking and roasting, and loving every minute of it. Take care, stay happy, and take lots of fotos!
Love,
Bryan
Subject: Re: Happy Valentine's Day
A week past Valentine´s Day? I don´t even know what day V-Day is any more. I just know that, as of Thursday last week, it´s Carnaval, and, well, yeah, there´s no one around. Almost every shop is closed. Rio de Janeiro, on the other hand, is one crazy party. I saw for about a minute on the TV how the holiday is going there and, yeah, you can bet that, if any missionary works during the day, he sure as heck doesn´t work at night.
MMM, snow . . . oh how I miss the snow. I´ll have to remember to grab a popsicle or something and chuck it at my companion, just to remember snowball fights.
Wow, the Culture party sounds like a lot of fun. I didn´t realize our ward was so full of people from around the world. Samoa, Australia, Liberia, Phillippines and Japan. Why didn´t Bro. Webster represent Brazil? Haha. You and dad should have danced, you have to do the things I´m not aloud to, didn´t you know?
At the moment, I miss milk so much I don´t care that they put these evil new jugs. Not that I´m not drinking milk, it´s just that milk here happens to be rather different. Brazil has millions of fruits, but just about 3 types of cheese, haha.
And now, for the interesting part.
One lovely Thursday Morning, that is, this very Thursday, I woke up, started getting ready, ironed my shirt and noted the telefone ringing. I thought to myself, "Gee, it must be the Zone Leaders." And grabbed the phone. I looked at the number and felt my blood freeze. Nope, I recognize this number, and it´s not the Zone Leaders.
"Good Morning Pres. Tobias!"
"Good Morning, Elder Barney. How are you, Elder?"
"I´m excellent."
"How´s the Garden (Jardim)? More Garden, or Desert?"
"Aaah, Let´s just say we´re still planting here."
"Elder, news for you. You´ve been transferred. Pack your bags, and head over to Jundiaí. Are you ready to be a Zone Leader, Elder?"
"Uh, sure?"
"Perfect. Let me talk to Elder Barbosa."
And well, since Thursday of last week I´ve been working here in Jundiaí, Anápolis, as a Zone Leader. My companion is Elder Dutra, who was Secretary Executive for 8 months here in the mission. So, I don´t really know if I´ll be leaving Anápolis or not this next Tuesday, but I also don´t mind much if I´m taken out of the city or not. Jundiaí is an excellent ward, and our new chapel will be dedicated this Sunday.
So, all´s well down here for me, burning in the sun, cooking and roasting, and loving every minute of it. Take care, stay happy, and take lots of fotos!
Love,
Bryan
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Email - 2/9/10
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 7:53 AM
Subject: Re: Last week of January
Well, time to send a quick weekly up-date then, huh?
Not a whole lot of great report with respect to the work here this week. We´re working with a Bahian woman, but she´s a tad obstinant. Outside that, the only huge news about Jardim São Paulo Branch is that, well, our Branch President was released and we´re currently being presided by another. It´s a long story which would really be rather boring to count, but suffice it to say that, well, we´re still here.
As for Carnival, there´s not really going to be a big fuss here in Anápolis. Anapolis is a quiet city. Goiania might have something, but Anapolis is small enough that I can generally see the jungle on every side of the town independent of where I am. It´s a town full of churches and bars and surrounded by air force bases. Usually, people skip town for Carnival. However, pray for the Elders who live near the beaches. This time of year isn´t gonna be easy on them, haha.
Oh, wow. Valentine´s day is coming up, huh? Thank goodness that "Couple´s Day" As it´s called here, isn´t for a while, still. It´s bad enough having all these missionaries getting letters from there girlfriends recently, how much more on Valentines Day?
Oh, and another big news here in the mission. Today we found out a little about our next Mission President (Pres. and Sis. Tobias will finish there mission in June, after all) Pres. and Sister Prieto will be our new leaders. It´ll be a weird end to the mission, haha.
Oh, I hear Katie is getting hitched this month? Please remember the missionary down south and take many pictures, and send a few his way. It´s not every day my oldest sister gets married, after all. I don´t know if you remember Elder Lewis, my first companion WAY BACK IN PROVO, but I´m here in the same area he passed a while back, and one of the members of the branch is a woman who he helped get married. It was cool to see the pictures of her marriage.
Since letters take a good while to send, just a quick "HEY" to all my friends back home, and a thanks to Whitney for having written me. Don´t worry about me being unhappy about not getting any mail, since it took so darn long for me to send some, haha (You do owe me a picture, however). Oh, and Jessica, if you´re reading this, I´m sorry, but I sent a letter to Sharelle to your house, because well, frankly I don´t even know where Sharelle lives these days, heh.
I have to go now, I´ve got to send my report off to President Tobias still, and don´t forget, transfers are on the 23rd. Love you all, take care!
Bryan
Subject: Re: Last week of January
Well, time to send a quick weekly up-date then, huh?
Not a whole lot of great report with respect to the work here this week. We´re working with a Bahian woman, but she´s a tad obstinant. Outside that, the only huge news about Jardim São Paulo Branch is that, well, our Branch President was released and we´re currently being presided by another. It´s a long story which would really be rather boring to count, but suffice it to say that, well, we´re still here.
As for Carnival, there´s not really going to be a big fuss here in Anápolis. Anapolis is a quiet city. Goiania might have something, but Anapolis is small enough that I can generally see the jungle on every side of the town independent of where I am. It´s a town full of churches and bars and surrounded by air force bases. Usually, people skip town for Carnival. However, pray for the Elders who live near the beaches. This time of year isn´t gonna be easy on them, haha.
Oh, wow. Valentine´s day is coming up, huh? Thank goodness that "Couple´s Day" As it´s called here, isn´t for a while, still. It´s bad enough having all these missionaries getting letters from there girlfriends recently, how much more on Valentines Day?
Oh, and another big news here in the mission. Today we found out a little about our next Mission President (Pres. and Sis. Tobias will finish there mission in June, after all) Pres. and Sister Prieto will be our new leaders. It´ll be a weird end to the mission, haha.
Oh, I hear Katie is getting hitched this month? Please remember the missionary down south and take many pictures, and send a few his way. It´s not every day my oldest sister gets married, after all. I don´t know if you remember Elder Lewis, my first companion WAY BACK IN PROVO, but I´m here in the same area he passed a while back, and one of the members of the branch is a woman who he helped get married. It was cool to see the pictures of her marriage.
Since letters take a good while to send, just a quick "HEY" to all my friends back home, and a thanks to Whitney for having written me. Don´t worry about me being unhappy about not getting any mail, since it took so darn long for me to send some, haha (You do owe me a picture, however). Oh, and Jessica, if you´re reading this, I´m sorry, but I sent a letter to Sharelle to your house, because well, frankly I don´t even know where Sharelle lives these days, heh.
I have to go now, I´ve got to send my report off to President Tobias still, and don´t forget, transfers are on the 23rd. Love you all, take care!
Bryan
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Another Email - 2/2/10
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 6:08 AM
Subject: Re: Happy New Year!
I´ll try and respond better next week, out of time, APs will call any minute. Love you lots, por favor, grab Brian´s mission address for me.
-Bryan
Subject: Re: Happy New Year!
I´ll try and respond better next week, out of time, APs will call any minute. Love you lots, por favor, grab Brian´s mission address for me.
-Bryan
Email - 2/2/10
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 5:56 AM
Subject: Re: Last week of January
I am physically beat. I´m super super tired. I haven´t taken a break for a good while. Last week was our big long work week ending with me in Goiania, right? Well also this week was the last week of the month, and we had yet to baptize. 5 companionships in the whole mission needed to do it to make their goal. And we decided that, well, we wouldn´t let the Lord down, not in our branch.
So Wednesday night, wandering about, desperate, we ran into Nephi, (Néfi) one of the deacons in our branch (as of sunday, we´ll have 3) and he was walking with his friend, Jonathan. "Hey Elders!" He called, running up to us. "What is it?" "This is my friend, Jonathan! Remember that I told you about him?" We started, therefore, to talk a minute or two with Jonathan before Nephi interrupted us again, "Elder! He wants to be baptized!"
And, as per usual, the magic phrase filled the air with ice. We waited a minute, then asked. "How many times have you been to church?"
"More than ten."
"You wanna get baptized this Saturday?"
"Yes."
(Pause for the Elders not cry.)
"Is your mom home?"
"Uh-huh."
"Let´s go talk to her."
And away we went. Wednesday night we came home with one Baptism marked for Saturday with the papers signed and the whole world happy. By Friday the story had caught fire in the whole mission, and Sunday, after the confirmation, Pres. called us and asked that we send the story, written, to the whole mission. Jonathan was baptized Saturday night during an activity of the primary (He´s 12 years old, though) and Sunday he was confirmed. The best part, though, was relating the story, not to Pres, nor Sister, nor the APs, but to Nephi´s mom.
Nephi´s mom has been passing some difficulties, as she´s the single mom of 4 children, working and studying and trying to make ends meet. Her husband died this last year in an accident in Goiania, and life has been far from easy. As we thanked her profusely for having taught her son the importance of missionary work (and how much help he really is for us) tears filled her eyes and we had to take a step our two back, because it was obvious she needed to hug someone.
I am, to say the least, emotionally spent. So many highs this week were accompanied by a few big, bad, falls. One of the Elders in our district lost his father this week, and we were with him when he called. We´re trying our best to help him along, but really, there´s little we can do to help him out. Just pray and support.
Today is Elder Barbosa´s 21st birthday. We´ll celebrate later today with a bit of barbecue, and then I´ma sleep. I´ll try and send a few letters home, even though it looks like no one up north loves me, because I don´t get letters from family or friends any more (oh, how quickly we forget the many christmas packages, haha.)
I´ve got to answer your questions quick, then I´ll send my report to Pres, then I have to go home, cuz the APs´re gonna call soon.
We have a computer here, yes. I almost never use the thing, but yes, our branch has a computer. Actually they took two pairs of my pants. One dress pants and one pajama. I will kill them for taking my PJs.
Grayson is the name of the child? Do we already know the gender of Katie´s baby then?
Love lots, gotta split,
Bryan
Subject: Re: Last week of January
I am physically beat. I´m super super tired. I haven´t taken a break for a good while. Last week was our big long work week ending with me in Goiania, right? Well also this week was the last week of the month, and we had yet to baptize. 5 companionships in the whole mission needed to do it to make their goal. And we decided that, well, we wouldn´t let the Lord down, not in our branch.
So Wednesday night, wandering about, desperate, we ran into Nephi, (Néfi) one of the deacons in our branch (as of sunday, we´ll have 3) and he was walking with his friend, Jonathan. "Hey Elders!" He called, running up to us. "What is it?" "This is my friend, Jonathan! Remember that I told you about him?" We started, therefore, to talk a minute or two with Jonathan before Nephi interrupted us again, "Elder! He wants to be baptized!"
And, as per usual, the magic phrase filled the air with ice. We waited a minute, then asked. "How many times have you been to church?"
"More than ten."
"You wanna get baptized this Saturday?"
"Yes."
(Pause for the Elders not cry.)
"Is your mom home?"
"Uh-huh."
"Let´s go talk to her."
And away we went. Wednesday night we came home with one Baptism marked for Saturday with the papers signed and the whole world happy. By Friday the story had caught fire in the whole mission, and Sunday, after the confirmation, Pres. called us and asked that we send the story, written, to the whole mission. Jonathan was baptized Saturday night during an activity of the primary (He´s 12 years old, though) and Sunday he was confirmed. The best part, though, was relating the story, not to Pres, nor Sister, nor the APs, but to Nephi´s mom.
Nephi´s mom has been passing some difficulties, as she´s the single mom of 4 children, working and studying and trying to make ends meet. Her husband died this last year in an accident in Goiania, and life has been far from easy. As we thanked her profusely for having taught her son the importance of missionary work (and how much help he really is for us) tears filled her eyes and we had to take a step our two back, because it was obvious she needed to hug someone.
I am, to say the least, emotionally spent. So many highs this week were accompanied by a few big, bad, falls. One of the Elders in our district lost his father this week, and we were with him when he called. We´re trying our best to help him along, but really, there´s little we can do to help him out. Just pray and support.
Today is Elder Barbosa´s 21st birthday. We´ll celebrate later today with a bit of barbecue, and then I´ma sleep. I´ll try and send a few letters home, even though it looks like no one up north loves me, because I don´t get letters from family or friends any more (oh, how quickly we forget the many christmas packages, haha.)
I´ve got to answer your questions quick, then I´ll send my report to Pres, then I have to go home, cuz the APs´re gonna call soon.
We have a computer here, yes. I almost never use the thing, but yes, our branch has a computer. Actually they took two pairs of my pants. One dress pants and one pajama. I will kill them for taking my PJs.
Grayson is the name of the child? Do we already know the gender of Katie´s baby then?
Love lots, gotta split,
Bryan
Email - 1/27/10
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 9:53 AM
Subject: Re: Last week of January
Well this week was one to remember. Certainly one of the craziest weeks of my life. But first and foremost HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Seeing as I was a bad son and forgot that this last week, a Happy Late Birthday to you.
So this week I bought some pretty heavy combat boots and went out to work. I went on splits with other missionaries in our district. First with our Zone Leader, Elder Williams, then with another Elder. Wednesday we had a pretty funny chance to have an ex-model talk to us in the district meeting, and while it all started out pretty normal (outside the fact that poor Elder Williams was dying of embarrassment), things got pretty awkward at a few points. But hey, for a new age hippie single mom ex-model recent convert, it was pretty cool.
This same day splits started, and I new things weren´t going to go my way the moment we got on a bus for what technically isn´t inside the city. There we began to walk and teach in more or less the jungle, and then, later in the day we came back to town and visited just about everyone who could be baptized in the week. Then, to top off the night, we went out to an all you can eat pizza place, where I managed to scarf down six pieces, and Elder Williams inhaled some twelve. The nuns who were eating with us were, to say the least, shocked, though the cyclist in the corner was so impressed he bought us a soda.
The next day, as far as I can remember, passed without anything out of the normal happening, though I could be wrong. I can´t remember anything super special, though.
Friday I traded off to the next area, where I worked with Elder White, whose from Washington, Sammamish. We went WAY long in his area, arriving in a place called Paradise, and, for those who remember Paradise on Mt. Rainer, it´s the same concept. About 3 Million miles from civilization. I think I managed to see Goiania from there.
Saturday we went and grabbed all the young men in the ward and forced them to do a bit of proselyting in the bus terminal with us. It was funny to see them all cocky before hand and then all cowardly in the moment. Afterward they went with us to teach a few investigators in that area.
Sunday I went to church and saw the greater part of the congregation sitting on the stand, instead of in the pews. Then I went to a baptism in my district, then I went to work with Elder Williams again, and washed all my clothes in a bucket at night, since I hadn´t thought I would be on splits so long. Oh, and we found out Elder Williams was being transferred in the middle of the transfer.
Monday we had conference with Pres. Tobias. As per usual, it was super awesome. We learned a lot and laughed a lot, too. At the end, Pres. took us out to a restaurant to lunch, and then well, then we (the leaders) took off for Goiania. We grabbed a taxi in Goiania until Aparecida, where we took the bus until Independencia, which is more or less close to Garavelo, where I worked last year with Elder Deivison.
Tuesday we had the Counsel of Leaders. We learned a whole lot of awesomeness at the start, President called us all to repentance, and even demanded that we write, without names, a list of all our sins during the mission and hand it in at day´s end. That took a couple pieces of paper. Then, at lunch time, we went out to, um, I don´t know, like a farm thing, only more for rich people. We got to eat there, and then we rode around on a tractor a bit, which was neat, and then we WENT FISHING!!!! I caught about six, but our zone leader, Elder Dutra, caught the same fish some 15 times. Even Sister Tobias managed to catch a fish or two! Then we went and had a few games like ping pong and the what-not. It was, all in all, an awesome time.
Then we all piled in the buses, left Hidrolandia (where the park was) back to Independencia, Aparecida. From Aparecida until Goiania, where we took off for Anápolis. Once in Anápolis, we got on the bus for our house, wound up back home at around 9:15, and set to work planning the training for today.
Oh, and today we noticed that one of our washing machines vanished, which is pretty weird, since we live in an apartment above ground, and the only other thing that went missing was a pair of my pants. Frankly, I just want to catch the thief to know HOW he did it.
But that´s about all for my week. I hope your week goes well. I love you all and wish you the best. Happy Birthday Mom, ONE MORE YEAR OLDER AND WISER TOO!!
Love,
Bryan
Subject: Re: Last week of January
Well this week was one to remember. Certainly one of the craziest weeks of my life. But first and foremost HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Seeing as I was a bad son and forgot that this last week, a Happy Late Birthday to you.
So this week I bought some pretty heavy combat boots and went out to work. I went on splits with other missionaries in our district. First with our Zone Leader, Elder Williams, then with another Elder. Wednesday we had a pretty funny chance to have an ex-model talk to us in the district meeting, and while it all started out pretty normal (outside the fact that poor Elder Williams was dying of embarrassment), things got pretty awkward at a few points. But hey, for a new age hippie single mom ex-model recent convert, it was pretty cool.
This same day splits started, and I new things weren´t going to go my way the moment we got on a bus for what technically isn´t inside the city. There we began to walk and teach in more or less the jungle, and then, later in the day we came back to town and visited just about everyone who could be baptized in the week. Then, to top off the night, we went out to an all you can eat pizza place, where I managed to scarf down six pieces, and Elder Williams inhaled some twelve. The nuns who were eating with us were, to say the least, shocked, though the cyclist in the corner was so impressed he bought us a soda.
The next day, as far as I can remember, passed without anything out of the normal happening, though I could be wrong. I can´t remember anything super special, though.
Friday I traded off to the next area, where I worked with Elder White, whose from Washington, Sammamish. We went WAY long in his area, arriving in a place called Paradise, and, for those who remember Paradise on Mt. Rainer, it´s the same concept. About 3 Million miles from civilization. I think I managed to see Goiania from there.
Saturday we went and grabbed all the young men in the ward and forced them to do a bit of proselyting in the bus terminal with us. It was funny to see them all cocky before hand and then all cowardly in the moment. Afterward they went with us to teach a few investigators in that area.
Sunday I went to church and saw the greater part of the congregation sitting on the stand, instead of in the pews. Then I went to a baptism in my district, then I went to work with Elder Williams again, and washed all my clothes in a bucket at night, since I hadn´t thought I would be on splits so long. Oh, and we found out Elder Williams was being transferred in the middle of the transfer.
Monday we had conference with Pres. Tobias. As per usual, it was super awesome. We learned a lot and laughed a lot, too. At the end, Pres. took us out to a restaurant to lunch, and then well, then we (the leaders) took off for Goiania. We grabbed a taxi in Goiania until Aparecida, where we took the bus until Independencia, which is more or less close to Garavelo, where I worked last year with Elder Deivison.
Tuesday we had the Counsel of Leaders. We learned a whole lot of awesomeness at the start, President called us all to repentance, and even demanded that we write, without names, a list of all our sins during the mission and hand it in at day´s end. That took a couple pieces of paper. Then, at lunch time, we went out to, um, I don´t know, like a farm thing, only more for rich people. We got to eat there, and then we rode around on a tractor a bit, which was neat, and then we WENT FISHING!!!! I caught about six, but our zone leader, Elder Dutra, caught the same fish some 15 times. Even Sister Tobias managed to catch a fish or two! Then we went and had a few games like ping pong and the what-not. It was, all in all, an awesome time.
Then we all piled in the buses, left Hidrolandia (where the park was) back to Independencia, Aparecida. From Aparecida until Goiania, where we took off for Anápolis. Once in Anápolis, we got on the bus for our house, wound up back home at around 9:15, and set to work planning the training for today.
Oh, and today we noticed that one of our washing machines vanished, which is pretty weird, since we live in an apartment above ground, and the only other thing that went missing was a pair of my pants. Frankly, I just want to catch the thief to know HOW he did it.
But that´s about all for my week. I hope your week goes well. I love you all and wish you the best. Happy Birthday Mom, ONE MORE YEAR OLDER AND WISER TOO!!
Love,
Bryan
Another Email - 1/19/10
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 7:57 AM
Subject: Re: Happy New Year!
Well, one more week has passed us by here in Anápolis. These days I´m having to really try hard to keep up the good cheer. It´s been since Christmas since last we baptized, and while I know that baptism isn´t the End-All-Be-All of the Mission, it frustrates me at times to spend a week inviting people to church, sweating to show them the endless blessings the gospel can bring to their family, just to be turned down by any of a numberless amount of weak and obviously untrue excuses. Note: At the very least, Brazillians in the area of Goias-Minas are not good liars, OR, it´s much harder to decieve a missionary than a normal person. End of line: It´s frustrating when no one comes out to church for weeks on an end.
I´m not, however, saying that things are hopeless. The Stake President here has organized a program that we´re hopeful will really help us out. He wants every unit in Anapolis to baptize 5 families before March 15th, and he´s organizing the members to really pull this off. We´re working our hardest and praying a lot to find these families. Because, well, as he said, "It´d change the story of these branches."
It´s really a rather interesting experience, being a leader. Not because of the whole "Hey, I´m the Boss" GH, but because it gives a totally different opportunity to help, and to be helped. It helps me to worry more about the spirituality of those whom I lead, and, as a necessity, also works to help me be more righteous as well. President Tobias once said, "Leaders are those who have the heavier sins to pay." Haha.
I´ve got to send off my weekly report now, but I hope everyone is okay. Send my love to the ward, and say hi to Elder Van Duyn for me.
Love,
Bryan
Subject: Re: Happy New Year!
Well, one more week has passed us by here in Anápolis. These days I´m having to really try hard to keep up the good cheer. It´s been since Christmas since last we baptized, and while I know that baptism isn´t the End-All-Be-All of the Mission, it frustrates me at times to spend a week inviting people to church, sweating to show them the endless blessings the gospel can bring to their family, just to be turned down by any of a numberless amount of weak and obviously untrue excuses. Note: At the very least, Brazillians in the area of Goias-Minas are not good liars, OR, it´s much harder to decieve a missionary than a normal person. End of line: It´s frustrating when no one comes out to church for weeks on an end.
I´m not, however, saying that things are hopeless. The Stake President here has organized a program that we´re hopeful will really help us out. He wants every unit in Anapolis to baptize 5 families before March 15th, and he´s organizing the members to really pull this off. We´re working our hardest and praying a lot to find these families. Because, well, as he said, "It´d change the story of these branches."
It´s really a rather interesting experience, being a leader. Not because of the whole "Hey, I´m the Boss" GH, but because it gives a totally different opportunity to help, and to be helped. It helps me to worry more about the spirituality of those whom I lead, and, as a necessity, also works to help me be more righteous as well. President Tobias once said, "Leaders are those who have the heavier sins to pay." Haha.
I´ve got to send off my weekly report now, but I hope everyone is okay. Send my love to the ward, and say hi to Elder Van Duyn for me.
Love,
Bryan
Email - 1/19/10
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 7:48 AM
Subject: Re: Another week goes by
This week I´ll send a letter first to you, so that you don´t get short sticked, haha.
Well, I´m still down here in the Jardim São Paulo Branch in Anápolis, and I´m still doing everything I can to maintain a positive attitude. It´s not that things are particularly BAD here, so much as recently I´ve been having a few streaks of bad luck, haha. I´m super sore to day because yesterday we helped tear down a house. MY BACK! Also, if you note a sudden lack of money in my accounts, it´s because I went and bought those shoes. I´m hoping these suckers last till the end of my mission, given they look like I can step on a bomb with them.
My district is fairly interesting this month. Our Zone leaders are the old Sec Exec and an Ex-Assistant, one companionship is an ex-comp of mine and a kid from the Sammamish River, in another pair we have a bit of unruliness, but we´re working that out, and then there´s the newer kid and the newbie, who are doing just fine. I´m still with Elder Barbosa, and we´re running up and down like crazy.
I got your packages the week after new years, and, so that you know, the peanutbutter we inhaled in less than a week. Both my companion and the old Sec Exec enjoyed the jelly greatly. The chocolates are all gone, and now I´m killing myself trying to speak three languages out of the Book of Mormon. Oh, and the stalking you sent is a perfect fit on my foot, haha.
Why did Colin take out his teeth? And why didn´t he tough it out awake like I did? Dad should have stopped at the music store half-way home and left him in the car for half an hour so that he could experience my ride home that day, haha.
59? Yesterday it was 91 here. I think the highest it got last week was 100 or so. It usually gets really hot here in Anapolis, and then gets really wet when it rains, which is frequent. Oh! I saw a Tucan this week! We were on our way to an appointment the other day, and one flew above our heads. It didn´t really work out to see the whole dang thing, but it was still cool.
I hope everybody is okay out there. We´re doing well enough down here. Send my love to the family, especially to my grandparents. Let Grampa Haney know I wished him a happy birthday. Take care,
Love,
Bryan
Subject: Re: Another week goes by
This week I´ll send a letter first to you, so that you don´t get short sticked, haha.
Well, I´m still down here in the Jardim São Paulo Branch in Anápolis, and I´m still doing everything I can to maintain a positive attitude. It´s not that things are particularly BAD here, so much as recently I´ve been having a few streaks of bad luck, haha. I´m super sore to day because yesterday we helped tear down a house. MY BACK! Also, if you note a sudden lack of money in my accounts, it´s because I went and bought those shoes. I´m hoping these suckers last till the end of my mission, given they look like I can step on a bomb with them.
My district is fairly interesting this month. Our Zone leaders are the old Sec Exec and an Ex-Assistant, one companionship is an ex-comp of mine and a kid from the Sammamish River, in another pair we have a bit of unruliness, but we´re working that out, and then there´s the newer kid and the newbie, who are doing just fine. I´m still with Elder Barbosa, and we´re running up and down like crazy.
I got your packages the week after new years, and, so that you know, the peanutbutter we inhaled in less than a week. Both my companion and the old Sec Exec enjoyed the jelly greatly. The chocolates are all gone, and now I´m killing myself trying to speak three languages out of the Book of Mormon. Oh, and the stalking you sent is a perfect fit on my foot, haha.
Why did Colin take out his teeth? And why didn´t he tough it out awake like I did? Dad should have stopped at the music store half-way home and left him in the car for half an hour so that he could experience my ride home that day, haha.
59? Yesterday it was 91 here. I think the highest it got last week was 100 or so. It usually gets really hot here in Anapolis, and then gets really wet when it rains, which is frequent. Oh! I saw a Tucan this week! We were on our way to an appointment the other day, and one flew above our heads. It didn´t really work out to see the whole dang thing, but it was still cool.
I hope everybody is okay out there. We´re doing well enough down here. Send my love to the family, especially to my grandparents. Let Grampa Haney know I wished him a happy birthday. Take care,
Love,
Bryan
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