Email - 10/18/10

Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 7:44 AM

Well, dunno what to say about your itinerary that you got from the Mish. I suppose we´ll just kinda find out when we find out. I´ll call and ask the sec.s a bit later to ask them and see what´s up. Which is about the best I can do. I imagine that it must have been a bit crazy, as a few months back, when they were supposed to have bought my tickets, there was a sec exec who was less than great. When they traded secs, it was discovered he hadn´t bought any tickets for any of the groups leaving for the next few weeks.

Well it´s good to know I´ll have the window seat. Now I just wanna know if I´ll be sitting near one of my friends or not. But in any case, I´m sure we´ll pull it off to play around together on the last flight home. It´s really kinda weird thinking that it´s all almost over. But all things have their own time, right? I found out today, for example, that one of my comps, E. Dutra, who went home after the Conference in April, is going to get engaged this saturday. Oh louco!

I dunno if I´ll get sick or not, but based on how it was for me when I got in Brazil, who knows. I mean, I sure don´t WANT to go through all the fun of jetlag and everything again, but hey, you never know. I know I´ll die from the temperature, since here it´s been freaking hot the last few days. Yesterday it was just not fair, having to go to church in a black suit in that blazing and infernal heat.

I´ll be sure to tell you the many, many things which happened on my mission that I could never say before because they´d make you old with worry. Hahaha. The dangerous places I went, the dangerous people I met, the stupid things I did. I imagine I´ll get out the pictures and show them, and go explaining as I look at ´em. Though my Pen Drive doesn´t have space for the pics I´ll take at the end of my mish, so the camera´s gonna have to hold out just a little while longer, haha.

Ah, a Katrina (I think that´s her name) left for her mission? That´s great to hear! She sounded like she really wanted to go. I´ll have to remember to send a letter to her, congratulating her when she´s in the MTC. She´ll be there 3 months, poor thing.

New people in our ward who speak portuguese! WOO! I so won´t speak english with him.

Now if only there were new girls in the ward, hahaha.

Oh, I´ma send a few pics home, since it´s been 2 million years since I´ve done that.


1) E. Clark and I after we´d gone to see the waterfalls in Aparecida de Goiania.



2) E. Pimentel, Wislene and I being absolutely styling.

3) E. Botão, my greenie, the day we went to eat with the Zone Leaders.


Just a few shots for everyone to know how I am and everything, how I look and the what not. Next week I´ll try and find a minute or two to send a quick e-mail home. But if anything goes wrong when I´m traveling home, I´ll send off a call. Calling collect in the states works how? Wow, that´s brazillian grammar right there. I don´t remember how to make collect calls, but I´m sure someone will know.

Love,

Bryan

Another Email - 10/11/10

Sent: Monday, October 11, 2010 10:13 AM

"Dad has yet to contact the state executive secretary to make an appointment
for you to see Pres. McCoy, but you are scheduled to go to the stake PEC and
report on your mission. Dad will give you that date. He showed it to me
(had it in his phone calendar), but it was during sacrament meeting so no
time to really process it."

I forgot to include this. I have NO IDEA what a PEC is. I hope they don´t interrogate me, but I can give a full report. I just hope that I get released before that and everything. I mean, dunno if they´ll want a month per month er what, but I don´t really want to be in my own house, with my own things bound by mission law, hahah.

Also, please let my friends know that I have received their letters and that 1) I, for myself, have no problem with a Halloween party, though my parents and family might have some kind of plans, and while I love my friends, family comes first. 2) I´m not "Mad" with Kelsey or Sharelle for not me writing. I imagine it must be rather difficult to actually sit down and write and all that jazz. But maybe I´ll whack them once or twice just the same. and 3) If anybody wants a CHEAP souvenir, I have to know by next Monday, since it´ll be the last chance I have to look, and that all know that I will not be able to over fill my trunks with stuff that´s heavy, as there are weight limits and travel fees and it´s all real complicated, but what small lembrances I can, I´ll try and bring home.

Love,

Bryan

Email - 10/11/10

Sent: Monday, October 11, 2010 9:35 AM

This week was pretty crummy for me, but I won´t go into details. After all, who likes to hear a sob story, huh? E. Botão and I are still working, trying our best to save the area, if not the ward, from extinction. I admit there are days when I feel a bit tired, but I´m surprised by the fact that I´ve still got a good few kicks left in me, hahah. After all, they say that with my time there are a lot of Elders who simply stop working. A perfect example would be the one who was here before me.

Oh man, I am SO gonna catch a cold just as soon as I get home, hahaha. But I want to say that I also count my blessings. This week the Lord protected my companion and I greatly, and we are so very thankful for your prayers on our behalf. My testimony has grown much stronger during this past week of small results and great tribulations.

Colin´s gonna work at the TRS, eh? I hope he can cut me some deals, hahaha. I doubt it. But it´s good to hear that he´ll be working. After all, in today´s economy work is work and money money, since it´s all hard to come by.

My last day will be the 24th, unless Pres. lets us travel sooner. But any way the cookie crumbles, the 24th, Sunday, is the last day of "work" in the ward. I´m mostly excited because I´ll be getting the heck out of this ward. I try and get used to it here, but I´ll be honest. I just want these next two weeks to fly by as fast as they can. I´ll try my best to find a baptism until then, but I admit my hopes aren´t at all very high.

Bikes are better than nothing, right? I´ve had 2 years of walking from one side to the other of every town. I am SO gonna learn to drive when I get home.

After today, yes, there are only two more e-mails, maybe just 1. I say 1 because the 25th MAYBE is travel day from Minas to Goias, in which case I will use all the remaining time left to me to visit people I know in Goiania. I really wanted to go to Anapolis, but I don´t think it´s a very viable option, given my location. But whatcha gonna, do, huh?

In any case, it´s the 5th week of 6. Passing this week and the next one, and I´ll be free from Minas Gerais. I hate this attitude, but hey, I really, really want out of this place. I dunno why, it just rubs me the wrong way here.

17 days and we´ll see one another face to face, hahaha.

Another Email - 10/4/10

Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 9:14 AM
Subject: Re: hey

Wow, General Conference is always an amazing thing, and this last one on my mission was spectacular. I, too, felt that it was time to express my gratitude and be more greatful and focus less on what´s lacking.

Congrats on the home teaching! And I still remember when I was a priest and the stake presidency burned our ward for having the home teaching record of a dead man´s heart.

We haven´t yet baptized, but we´re working on it. I´ve faith the Lord will grant us at least one baptism before the end. We have to work all our days to bring at least that much to Christ.

I still don´t know why exactly I want to go to BYU. Some crazy part of my brain laughs and says it´s just to find a Mormon girl and marry fast, but the rest of me still says that there´s some reason I need to go there. I dunno. I just think it´s something that is important for me to do. It´s kinda like when I decided to go on a mission, I didn´t know why, just knew that I NEEDED to go. I guess that maybe the Spirit is saying that I need to go. If it´s so, then who am I to at least not try and follow?

I still have no idea what I need to after the mission. Pres. Tobias told me that I need to just keep my head in the mission and the Lord will reveal it to me on the plane. Good thing the plane ride´s so long, huh?


Love,

Bryan

Email - 10/4/10

Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: October

Dude, my computer here is all kinds of whacked out at the moment. I dunno what the Lan House lady did to my screen, but it´s all kinds of badness. In any case, let´s carry on, huh?

I seem to remember the flight from Dallas to São Paulo being longer. I swear it lasted more like 14 hours. But I could be wrong. In any case, I´m used to long travel times these days, as the bus ride to Uberaba clocked in at 7 hours and all that jazz. I doubt I´ll be able to get sleep, since I never was any good at sleeping in a vehicle. On the other hand, I´ll be pretty tired by the end, so who knows.

It´d be good to have Pres. McCoy release me as soon as he can. I mean, I don´t know exactly, but I imagine I´ll be home in the afternoon of Thursday. I don´t know how his schedule is, and I know that every Pres. has his own way of releasing, but if there´s an interview and ceremony, it´s best to start soon, isn´t it? Hahaha. I´m excited now, but I´m sure when the day comes to lay down my badge I´ll probably cry.

Leave it to Colin to know about bad movies, huh? But yes, what I saw was MVP2, not one. They passed the sequel, instead of the first ones, and the movie was in english, without subtitles, so basically only I and I alone understood what was said. It was, in fact, pretty stupid, a little cute, and the monkey was cool. I´m sure that it´s 2 years without watching a movie that makes it so interesting.

11 investigators is the sum total of men, women, and children above 8 who came to church. Unfortunately the greater part have this or that little difficulty. Some are drinkers and smokers and crazy, but as the Lord´s children you´ve just got to love them all. It´s probable that more visitors come out to church than you notice, what with the size of our ward and all. Here you can´t miss the visitors, as it seems they´re almost equal in number to the members.

I also found General Conference to be a wonder! I rejoiced to hear the Prophet declare Saturday morning that every young man should serve a mission, and that such service is an obligation of the Priesthood, and the same teaching repeated later by one apostle, who declared that Satan, and I quote, "Will do anything to keep a young man from going on a mission." As always during conference I heard a million and one talks that I thought, "wow, that´s great to tell so-and-so that we´re teaching, or such-and-such that I know!" But the best talks, as always, were directed to me.

Pres. Monson and E. Holland spoke a lot about Gratitude. So I thought I ought to send out some thank yous in this e-mail.

Let´s go in order of age, so as not to offend anybody, okay?

First off, a huge thank you to my grandparents. To Grampa and Gramma Barney, who have been such a pillar of gospel strength in my life. For teaching me the right since I was little, and for having raised up a righteous family, through which I came. Thanks to them I give for having always supported me in my decisions, and taught me that marvelous teaching of Gramma Barneys, which Elder Godoy, who closed the Sunday Morning Session´s prayer, repeated to us not long ago in Goiania, "In Love, there is no need to trade, rather, there´s an addition." Or as Gramma simply put it, "Your heart doesn´t ever run out of space to love people. It always grows for one more."

Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Haney, for having always supported me, even when they don´t understand a thing I´m ever saying. I thank them and my aunts and uncles for all the presents I´ve ever given, but I´m so very, very much more thankful for the time we passed speaking one with another in all the many birthdays, thanksgivings, and christmases since my birth on forward. Their love and attention is much more worth it than any toy or money has ever been.

Thanks to all those who have paid even if but a cent or made even if but the smallest of sacrifices to be on my mission. I hope to God I´ve brought honor to your sacrifices, and I can never, ever thank you enough for the wonderful experience your sufferings and sacrifices have brought into my life and the lives of others.

Thank you Mom, for everything. For giving me my life, for caring for me since I was little. For having the patience to teach me, even when I was not patient with you. For loving me enough to correct and even punish me when I was wrong. Thank you for 20 years of dinner on the table and running. Never have I been more grateful for this quiet contribution than in this time when I have so long gone without it. Thank you for always having me clothed, clean, and educated. For bearing to me your testimony when I was young, and for trying, so many times, to read the Book of Mormon with me. No man or woman on this earth reads the scriptures with a voice that moves my heart more than yours. Thank you for the many Halloweens you helped me with my costume, for the Christmas trees, and for the countless hugs and kisses when I needed them most. Thank you for being the woman of women in my life, who has taught me and loved me and cared for me forever.

Thank you, Dad, for serving a full time mission. Your decision, so very, very long ago, shaped my life and the lives of those I´ve taught. Because you one day served in Texas, men, women, and children have heard the Gospel in Brazil. Thank you for being my hero. Thank you for sitting with me the day I was to receive the priesthood, and reading to me and teaching me the importance of what would enter into my life. Thank you for the millions of car ride interviews, when we could just plain talk. Thank you for waiting up at night for me, even when you knew where I was. Thank you for being the Man of Men in my life, who showed me what a man ought to be. Thank you, for one night, so long ago, having the courage to ask a sister not to gossip to you, and forever showing your son the importance of never speaking ill. Thank you for teaching me to respect my mother, and all other women, and to put their needs before my own. Thank you for being my protector, my rock, and my sure place when I needed you. Thank you for your silly mustache, which has for so long been a constant in my life. Thank you for never giving up on me to get my eagle, and to come to serve a mission. Thank you for being there at all my concerts, and taking me to scouting activities, and even just talking star wars with me.

Thank you Katie, for being my big sister. I know I haven´t been the best little brother, and I´m so sorry for that. Thank you for taking care of me when mom and dad were away. For trying your best to make dinner for us, for playing legos with me, for talking Harry Potter or Final Fantasy or just making fun of any dumb thing. Thank you for not being the complete failure some people´s big sisters are. Thank you for always talking to me, even when I must have annoyed you to no end at times.

Thank you, Matt, for being my big brother. For always talking to me, even when times have been tough. Thank you for apologizing. I could never hold those childish fights we had when we were young against you. Thank you for supporting me on my mission, and talking with me, even when it was just about video games. Thank you for the many times we ran around the forest with wooden swords hunting monsters no one other than us could see. Thank you for helping me pick up an instrument and playing it. Thank you for being there to hear me, even if what I was saying was never important. Thank you for showing me the importance of going after what I want, and not waiting until later.

Thank you Megan, for being my oft-times partner in crime. Thank you for helping me so often to teach those crazy little kids. Thank you for being a shining example of the gospel in my life. Thank you for being the soldier-girl which has impressed men and women in this far off land for so long. Thank you for wasting important time to play with Colin and I, and for being what every latter-day saint ought to be, a missionary wherever you are. Thank you for one day having showed me that I shouldn´t complain about having the RIGHT to kneel down and bless the Lord´s supper. Thank you for playing star wars and Zelda and Mario Kart and who knows what else with me. Thank you for watching scary movies with me, and even silly girl shows with me.

Thank you, Colin, for supporting everything I put you throw. Forgive me for not being the best big brother ever. Thank you for having been the one who was my eternal Player 2, in games, in adventures, and in just about everything else. Thank you for being the crazy pal I could always rely on, and for being the one who always went with me, to scouts, to youth conference, to mutual and seminary. Thank you for being the best little brother a guy could ever have.

In short, thank you all so much, for your time. For your dedication, devotion and attention. There are many others who I would love to thank. Friends, family, and associates. Leaders from church and at school. Fellow members of the church the world over. Thank you all for everything.

Love,

Bryan

Another Email - 9/27/10

Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 8:38 AM
Subject: Re: hey

The Master Plan is the following

Week 3 (of the transfer): work with the key teaching group to prepare them for baptism in the 3rd and 4th weeks of October. Find new investigators to not leave the area as barren as when I found it. Enjoy General Conference. Try and Baptize during all this madness of elections and the what-not.

Week 4: Bring a bunch of investigators to church again, principally those key investigators who are preparing to baptize. Find news, Try to Baptize, keep teaching the greenie what he needs to do.

Week 5: Baptize and bring to church the key group for next week.

Week 6: Tell my greenie that I will soon lay these bones in the cold tomb, and go all the way of the earth, enjoy the festivities, baptize for the last time on the mish, and leave the area better than I found it.

Week 7: Ó, Gloria.

When I get home, then, we can sit down and work on these papers. I dunno why I want to go to Brigham Young yet, I just feel like that´s the next step for me, you know? I mean, I love Washington (and Goiás, haha) and it´s my home, up in the frozen north, where my mountains and my ocean and my forests and my family and friends are, but I feel like at some point I have to go to Utah, sit at the feet of the prophets and learn from them. I also feel that if I go there, I can make it 10 times harder for me to run the risk of falling away from the church after the mission, which has always been a dread of mine (because everywhere I´ve gone on the mission, there seems to be 3 of 10 missionaries who come home inactive.)

As for things going down, that´s kinda funny. Here the technology is permanently fritzy, the records are a mess, and almost no one knows how to mess with these things, so basically it´s up to the force of will of the leaders if they´ll do these meetings or not. Here it seems that the great are great and the not so great, well, not so great, haha.

Thanks for the support and help in everything. Send my love to everyone back home, a big hug to Matt, who needs it, let Katie know I had a crazy dream where I was at her wedding the other night, and send Colin on a mission (and send Megan to get married already, haha!)

Love,

Bryan

The Prodigal Son.

Email - 9/27/10

Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 8:27 AM
Subject: Re: End of September

Well, ask and you shall receive. My flight from Goiania to Guarulhos reads the following:

Goiânia (GYN) Brasilia (BSB) G3 1932 27/10/2010 12:20 13:00 U
Brasilia (BSB) Guarulhos (GRU) G3 1847 27/10/2010 15:50 17:25 U

Which means, if I´m not mistaken, embark, destination, flight number, date, embark time arrival time, and class (U). And to the good old USA:

AMERICAN AIRLINES 27OCT SAO PAULO SP DALLAS TX 1055P 605A
AA 962 WEDNESDAY GUARULHOS INTL DALLAS FT WORT 28OCT
N ECONOMY TERMINAL 2 TERMINAL D
NON SMOKING DINNER/BREAKFAST NON STOP
RESERVATION CONFIRMED 10:10 DURATION
AIRCRAFT: BOEING 777-200/300
SEAT 35J NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

And until I´m back in the motherland:

AMERICAN AIRLINES 28OCT DALLAS TX SEATTLE WA 910A 1125A
AA 529 THURSDAY DALLAS FT WORT SEATTLE TACOMA
N ECONOMY NON SMOKING FOOD FOR PURCHASE NON STOP
RESERVATION CONFIRMED 4:15 DURATION
AIRCRAFT: BOEING (DOUGLAS) MD-83
SEAT 26F NO SMOKING CONFIRMED



How did Colin know that was the movie? Was this movie EVER popular in the world? I mean, it was the first time I´D heard of it. But leave it to Colin to know about a bad movie, huh. I mean, the movie itself wasn´t too bad, but you know you´ve got a problem when the chimp is one of the best actors. I´m mean, the skateboarding kid was AWFUL. He really didn´t know how to act. The other movie that passed while I was on the bus was "Funny Money" with I don´t remember who now, I think Chevy Chase. Dunno, it wasn´t all that funny, though it was mildly interesting. I kinda dozed off during it.

I´m sure we´ll be able to do some good here. This week 11 investigators came to church, which is, according to mission Standard, excellent. And while about half of them we won´t be able to really help, there were still a couple who I´m sure we can make a diference in their lives. Especially one David, who in the 2hours he had the Book of Mormon, seemed to have read half of it already.

Feed the Elders always. Even when I´m not on the mish. There are rich blessings in store for those who do so. Legend has it you never lack food in your home. When I have my own home, I want to have the Elders over at least twice a month, and I´ll always give them desert, and I´ll seek to treat them like kings, because that´s how I have been treated here.

I dunno why they haven´t sent you my flight plans, I´ll try and call them before the end of the day. After all, can´t let those slackers up in the Office get any rest, haha.

Ah, eh? Megan asked for the same thing on her birthday? Hah, and I was banking that she´d ask for some bacon, haha. I´ve never forgotten that summer she came home and demanded bacon, haha. Send a birthday hug to Megan for me. I promise I didn´t forget, it´s just been so busy these last few weeks that there´s been no time or money to send anything to anyone. Speaking of which, send a big, "I´m sorry" to Kelsey and Jess and Josh, as I´m sure I "forgot" their birthdays this year and probably last. Send a happy birthday to Sharelle in advance, so that at least her birthday doesn´t go forgotten.

Not that I forgot Megan´s. I told everyone down here it was her birthday, and then that was that. People always get impressed by a few things about my siblings. 1) That Matt and Colin are so blonde. 2) That Megan is a soldier-girl, and 3) That Katie is so white. Yeah, I dunno what that last one is about, either, but everyone thinks she´s whiter than the rest of us, haha.

Don´t buy too much milk, you know, on the off chance that I´ve accustomed to milk down here (doubt it, I rarely drink milk here.) But you know, have a jug or two for me to fill my belly, haha.
It´s RAINING TODAY!!! WOOHOO!!! What a marvelous thing, rain! Yeah! As for Uberaba, it´s better to look at Uberlandia than Belo Horizonte. Belo Horizonte is a whole nother mission.

4 and a half weeks. Oh Trunkeza Miseravel, hahaha.

Love,

Bryan