Baaaawwwwwwllllllin'

So hey. This week flew by and I am pretty tired, but letttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt's crank out an email.

This week a bunch of cool stuff started happening. I just kinda realized that a lot of times I don't ask for some desires of my heart in my prayers, and there was no reason that I wasn't asking, so I started asking. For instance, I asked Heavenly Father to help us find people that really want commitments with Christ and just don't know where to find them, and then we went to go send email today and as we walked down the street we ran into a member of the church that was in the middle of asking his neighboor to hear our lessons right that instant and we marked a day with her. Then our phone rang immedeatly after and it was a member asking us to run over to her house because it was an emergency and it ended up being that she just got the feeling that she needed to talk to her cousin and needed a book of mormon and a pamphlet about the restoration of the gospel. And just a few days ago this lady called us and asked us to come over because she saw a card thingy from the church on the bus and felt something telling her that she needed to call that number. The list goes on, but the moral of the story is that prayers are cool. Sometimes that boggles my mind, and I don't really understand how he does it, but we see all the time that God hears our prayers. And the crazy part is that he answers them. Like, think of how busy he must be... my head just exploded.

Other than that we've just been working really hard. I have been working pretty closely with an Elder who is so funny. We talk on the phone everyday about life/work (not gay), and it is so refreshing to have someone that is not only funny, but is proactive in their work and does stuff without you asking them to do it. That reminds me of a time when dad asked me to mow the lawn and I mad up a lame excuse and put it off for a week because of laziness. And by "a time" i meant "a million times".

Everyone continues to love us. My birthday week was nuts because we ate so much. Soooooooo Muuuuuuch CAKKKKKEEEEE.

Also I keep having crazy dreams. Either I don't dream and it seems like I just shut my eyes and then pretty much immedeatly open them two seconds later and 8 hours has passed, or I have these crazy dreams that are all mixed up. I might start writing them down and send a "top 5 best dreams" list to you guys in a couple of weeks.

We had a pretty interesting lesson at church about the law of chastity, where the men here decided that a good way to teach your kids to avoid homosexual behavior is to point out gay people to them and say "son, that there, that is... weird." I can't wait to see the results of their super effective teaching efforts here in 10 years.

SOREN IS CRAWLING. sorry my caps lock got stuck on. soren is crawling. now just get him a pilot's liscence and a stephen hawking wheelchair and he'll be ready to go. I don't know what he'll be ready to go do, but it'll be... meh I am tired.

ANYWHO

I love you all and I hope you have a good week.

BYE

 

cheyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

This week was a bit weird.

here is a breif summary of the weirder parts.

Friday night - we were walking along and a car with this like nasty 15 year old girl and her old mom stopped and asked us to get in and go to a dance with them. They were members, but also they were being serious. My companion said, "DUDE. THAT WAS TEMPTING." gross.

Saturday night - this lady we are teaching was drunk and throwing herself at us and asked us to come into her house and I politely was like, "no way lady." So then she was like "COME TO THIS PARTY WITH ME IN THE CENTER OF SÂO PAULO. IT'LL BLOW YOUR MINDS" No thanks. gross.

Sunday afternoon - the old lady that was giving us lunch got me alone in her kitchen when my comp went to use the bathroom and whispered, "you are my princccceeeeee. MY ENCHANTING PRINCCCCCEEEEEE...! I LOOOVVEEE YOU!!!!" And kept trying to get close to me as I was like "WHAT THE FREAK LADY?!?!?!" in my head and running away from her. she's like a million years old. When my companion came back there wasn't really time to tell him what happened so I just had to avoid her. When we left, she was like, "elder... come sit on the couch with me..." and I was like, "no way. see you later. you are creepy." And she just laughed.

So yeah, that is the point we've gotten to. pretty frustrating.

Other than that we are just making people happy in HEALTHY AND HOLY ways. Everyone loves us, even if it is to an unreasonable extent sometimes. I think that everyone should talk to the missionaries. We make people happy and our message is cool. Even people that don't really want to learn about the church should talk to the missionaries, because we don't even teach about our church in comparison with others. We just teach about Jesus Christ, in a unique and interactive way that makes EVERYONE happy.

"But Elderrrrrrrrr, I already learn about Jesus Christttt..." Shutttttt upppppp. That is a lame excuseeeeeee. If you really learn about Christ it is because you enjoy it, and so you can spend 5 or 10 minutes with missionaries and learn a little bit more and you will continue to enjoy it.

"But Elderrrrrrrrrr, my beleifs are different and I don't want to mix themmmm..." Also a lame excuse. The last thing that we ever do is force our beliefs down someone else's throat. One universal christian belief is that God responds to our prayers. And so we always teach what we teach and invite people to pray about it in order to know that it is true. It is literally impossible for you to be forced into a new set of beleifs by missionaries from our church. We invite, you pray, and then you do whatever you want.

"But Elderrrrr, I heard your church is super weirdddd..." Lame excuse number 3. One of the things that we hear most is, "oh man, I thought your church was like a weird cult, but you guys are just normal. I am really happy I let you guys in my house. I was totally misinformed."

"But Elderrrr, I feel weird just calling them up and inviting them overrrrr...." Alright then, there are a few things you can do:
1)If you feel wierd because you think they might be busy, just call them. They will probably cry from being so happy.
2)If you feel wierd because you don't know them, you probably already know a member of the church. Call up the member of the church and talk to them with that member. It can be in your house, in the church, at the members house, at a park, in a plane, on the street, in a boat, in a cardboard box etc.
3)Go to church on sunday with your bros and talk to them there for the first time.

So yeah to all of you that don't regularly talk with missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints you should look up the church online at mormon.org and ask for a visit because it is FREE and it is AWESOME and you will enjoy it. trust meeeeeeeeee pleassssssssssssssssssssssseeeeeeee.

In other news I heard indirectly about a hurricane bigger than the whole world that made everyone evacuate new york. I want to hear what really happened though so, someone send me an email about that. I really doubt I heard the whole truth.

21 YEARS OLD THIS WEEK. THURSDAY IMA GONNA OPEN THAT CAP'N CRUNCH BOX I GOT IN THE MAIL AND EAT A BOWL. THAT COUNT DOWN IS ON.

it is fun that kelsey is getting obsessed about dating. BYU...

I didn't shave yet today and I look like a red headed paul bunion that went to prison camp.

we're gonna play basketball. There is a college basketball player in my zone. Should be fun... not.

LOVE YOU ALL remember to smile because life is ballin. we can actually be forgiven for stupid stuff we have done/do. that blows my mind pretty much daily.

BYE.

Starfox

Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllp I am in the same area and I already knew my companion. He was one of my leaders in my last areas so we always did companion exchanges together. So really this week just felt like a companionship exchange. He has one more transfer than I do on the mish so he's got about a year and 5 months already and it is refreshing to be with someone who knows what they are doing, is not a slacker, and has really good ideas. He works just as hard as I do. Finally.

So of course we are completely destroying our area as a team that consists of us with the Holy Ghost and the members in our area. We got 15 member refferals this week which was a big help, and my comp has this crazy ability of getting everyone to like us so the work has been going really good. Hopefully I can pick up a few traits of his because he is fun to be around.

The other weird thing is that he is just like Eric Turner. He looks and acts and talks and laughs and walks and everything pretty much exactly like Eric Turner. He is just brasilian and a bit darker.

But that is cool that kelsey went to college. Get your friends to send me letters because my friends never do. (winnnnnnnnnnnk...). And don't get married until after I come home.

"EWW GROSS IM NOT GONNA GET MARRIED!!!"

yeah, we'll see.

Also, congrats to rachael. Soon you will be famous.

I am so tired. I think at any point in my existance I can sleep. I remember when I was home, there were times that I thought, "Do I wanna take a nap?" and I would try but I wasn't tired enough so I would go play video games. I can't remember what it is like to not be able to sleep. It has been soooooo long. I will try to get a nap in today but we'll see.

This month (september) we should have a few baptisms. That is always fun. We met this dude on saturday and he went to church on sunday and read and prayed and wants to be baptised. I feel like it was a birthday present from Heavenly Father because he will probably be baptised on Saturday two days after my birthday. His name is Aloísio and he is a baller. Way funny. He is about 23 years old, just left his parents house into the big world, and is really smart. He is studying at college, working, and aquiring random skills to be successful and that is not normal here. People here just chill usually, so the fact that his life has direction and he is young is really crazy. He understood the message of the restoration of the gospel in about 15-20 minutes, so we just asked him if he wanted to be baptised and he was like "If God responds to me that this book is true it is the first thing I am going to do." So then he just showed up at church, the bishopric gave him a present, he loved church and made friends, and he said he read and prayed and he decided that is where he wants to be. All in 2 days. woohoo. So we'll have him go to church one more time to make sure that is what he wants to do and teach him a bit more and the next saturday we'll have a baptism.

Electttt

Also a lady in our ward will teach me how to make an awesome little hostess cake thing called honey bread (Pão de mel). IT IS SOOOO GOOD AND SIMPLE TO MAKE. I am going to just make myself a cake every freaking day when I get home because I know how. I am preeeeeeeeeetty excited about it.

And I love everyone. Have a good week. Have fun at college kelsey. Have fun at home everyone. Hug a cat and take a nap for me.

Beijinhos, ( <----that is pretty gay/hilarious)

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Transfersss

My companion is leaving tomorrow and I can't even count how many times I have thought the words, "stop touching me." hahaha.... not funny. He is super touchy feely. Last night I was trying to sleep and he kept making jokes and then being like, "OHHH elllllllderrrrr, you are soooooooo coooooool." I am waiting for the moment when he, like most normal people, says "I'll miss you dude..." and then I say "welp.... bye." BECAUSE THAT IS MY FAVEEEEE




in other news the plan to get refferals is working like a magic trick. At one lunch my comp asked for refferals, and everyone just sat there shaking their heads no, then when I reminded them about the peanut butter prize we walked out with 4 refferals and a family that had commited to pass by the house of an investigator and invite them to church.



If eternal life or pleasing heavenly father or being happy or even just doing the right thing isn't enough, peanut butter is. Maybe I will write a book about that someday... oh wait... I have no idea how to write. Should have paid more attention in school.



But yeah that is it. I heard my new comp is old in the mission. FINALLY. training is cool, but there is something else that we call greeny breaking that is horrible. It's being the second companion. You have to help them realize that they still need to learn and that their trainer was not the best example in the world in everything and they usually hate your guts the whole time. I am ready to never to that again.



It is cool that kelsey is going to college. Don't be nervous because it is a pretty simple existance if you want it to be. I just studied once in a while and listened to reggea a lot and hung out with everyone and took a nap literally every day. And I still managed to get a B average. Being that you are my sister I trust you to make friends with numberless attractive girls and tell them all to write me letters. Please and thank-you.



I love you all a lot. Thank you so much for sending me scooby snacks of various types. I love them all and I am trying to share them with everyone but it is hard. Thanks especially to grandma. They tie/shirt you sent me matches my black suit perfectly and is officialy my sunday dress because it is extra special. Also the peanut butter is SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD. skçljfkljsfd. Thank you all.



I miss you guys sometimes now. I think it took a bit longer than normal, but recently I think about what it will be like to come home sometimes. It is still PRETTY rare while I am awake because things are pretty busy here, but I dream about it at least two or three times a week. I think it is one of my desires deep down. So congrats because that wasn't super true for the first year/college. I really love you all.



But I need to go. Have a good week and be happy because you have made real covenants with God who is real. If you stop to think about that a little it is pretty incredible.



LURVESSESS



ELDER CHGRISTERJSAÇDLJ

BOREN EY BOARD‏

welp the ey board here s bro en. 'll just put spaces in for all the eys that don't work and you guys can play "fill in the blanks." Oh wait. It is working agian. Let's see how long that lasts.

WELP. got the package of captain crunch and peanut butter and reese's cake and BBQ sauce. THANK. YOU. I have been missing peanut butter. Also we will have a zone BBQ today so the meat rub and BBQ sauce willl blow the minds of both young and old. Well done.

I started my first activity to get refferals and the prize is a thing of peanut butter. It seems like it will work good. The activity ends on the 18th of september and every time I mention to people that they can win by giving me refferals they immedeately think of someone. It started yesterday. I just carry one around in my backpack that is sealed and I show it to the members and explain it to them and then they immedeatly think of someone to start getting points and want to take us to their house right then. We set it up like this:

Giving a refferal - 1 point
Going to a lesson with that refferal and helping us explain/testify of the truth - 1 point
Taking a refferal we are teaching to church for us - 1 point
If your refferal gets baptized - 5 points

So far it seems to be working good because people have a huge desire to get peanut butter. It kind of reminds me of this time that I used various revoloutionary war quotes and posters to incite a rebellion at college in the dorms. People are so easy to manipulate sometimes. I would feel bad about it if I wasn't helping them do something that will make them and the people they give us happier. But I am helping everyone so who cares. Let's use people's simpleness and lack of access to american treats to do a ton of work.

It is looking like we might be able to recieve about 100 member refferals in the next 5 weeks just from one little thing of peanut butter. Score.

In other news transfers are coming up. we get the call on the 21st of August.

But other than that there is not a whole lot going on. Just teaching and looking for people curious to know the truth. Oh, speaking of which, this dude that has pretty much the whole bible memorized showed up at church randomly yesterday. We were learning about tithing and the teacher asked, "what do you guys know about tithing?" and he whispered to me, "I know, but I'll stay quiet because all churches teach different stuff." So I was like, "no way dude, go for it" and he raised his hand and quoted malachi from memory as it is written in one of the translations of the bible, and then explained the point of view of the catholic bible and explained basically the entire subject in a matter of 5 minutes. The instructor was just like, "welp, did everyone understand? good. we're done then." and we watched a movie about lorenzo snow that was epicly old and cool. Needless to say I am happy he showed up.

We explained the restoration of the gospel between classes to him and he said he'll read the whole book of mormon this week and then get baptised on the 27th. So that was neat. Saldy he lives one street outside of our area and I will pass it to the other missionaries. I think that has got to be like the 30th time that this has happened to me so I just thought it was normal, but my companion was dumbstruck. It happened a couple of weeks ago with this lady that spoke to us and got goosebumps and then dreamt about us baptising her the same week. Also outside of our area. Werr werrrrr. But at least the people were found and helped.

But yeah, I love you all and I am very thankful for the support you give me through random packages and such. Also for the example you guys give. I lurves you lots and hope you have a good week. The church is true. pray about it.

laterssss

 

Blurgle Blurgle Blurgle

WELLLLLLLL another week goes by. Months don't seem to be as long as they used to be. Heck, months don't seem to be as long as weeks used to be. Sometimes I feel like I never really have a lot of time to decide what I am going to do with my time, because at the end of every day there is no such thing as spare time. I wonder what I'll do when I get home. Bah, who cares.

So anyways, this week was normal. My companion that at one point hated me now idolizes me. That gets annoying when you are with a brasilian because they are a super touchey feely people. He wants to touch me all the time. Taps on the shoulder, hugs, high fives, and all of it without reason. It drives me freaking nuts because sometimes I feel like I am living with a super excited cartoon character. I don't care how much I like someone, if it is a dude, I don't want them touching me all the time. But whatever, someday maybe I'll look back and think that it was cool to be around people like that... just not for now.

So I thought of a way for me to be able to use the members of the ward to give me refferals. I need you guys if you didn't already include it in my birthday box, to send me a package of candy that they don't have here in brasil. Candies off the top of my head include:

-Anything Reeses/peanut butter
-skittles
-starburst
-packs of those icebreakers sours candy that kelsey likes
-rolos

and then you just need to calculate how many weeks I'll have in brasil from the time I get the box (probably around 36) and get enough so that I can do weekly competitions of seeing who can introduce the missionaries to the greatest number of friends and have the winner get imported american candy that is literally impossible to find here. It is going to be amazing because I already know everyone will go crazy weekly to try to win, and I will be able to do it every week untill I go home, and it will be relatively cheap being that the alternative was to buy them a different prize that they are capable of finding in the stores here every week with my food money. So yeah, hook a brotha up por favor.

My hands smell like the pool because I found this ancient bottle of chlorine in our house and I am using it to get the horrible stains off of our tile floor, fridge, toilet, and pretty much everything else. It works super good and makes my eyes water the same way the chlorine feeders in the pool used to when we would clean them with acid. GOOD TIMES. I thought about dying my hair with it... but then I decided not to.

Soren has won the hearts of all the families I teach. Mom and Dad too. I take photos around to show people, and people regularly comment that mom and dad look young and then someone always says one or both of them are hot. Gross.

I had forgotten my suits in another area, and was freezing every night for a couple weeks, and now that I finally got them back it is outrageously hot outside.

The people I left with my son in my other area are all getting baptised. That does a heart good to see the people making good choices.

WELP GOTTA GO.

not really I just am out of stuff to say.

Love yas

Hello again. Letter number who knows. 5 million it feels like. I am just chillin in a lan house in my home away from home. I am not going to lie, I hate how retarded and non-functional the stuff here in brazil (government, laws, education, the jobs) but I love the people a lot. They usually have no idea. But I love em. I would almost think about living here forever, but then I remember their country sucks compared to ours and I think "yeah right, I'll just find a way to take them all home." I am still working on that idea.

ANYWAYS. news huh? people getting married, people being people, blah blah blah.

nothing new is really going on. We have about 7 people marked for baptism and we have 5 more we are teaching and trying to mark and we'll find more this week. So it goes. I am feeling more and more efficient as time goes. I feel like I can look at people and feel what they are thinking and apply that in a way that stimulates permanant growth in them. I think it would be manipulative if they weren't so thankful, and if it were really me doing the work. But in the end it is just what our Heavenly Father wants for them and my confidence in that has become really strong. When people don't agree with what we say (and also when they do) we just ask them to pray about it and they feel that it is true. Things get to be pretty easy.

But being that I have a bit of time, I thought I would write a "tribute to the mission" by telling people why it rocks to be a missionary. I am hoping that by telling what has happened with me up untill now I can express the deep and true gratitude that I feel in my heart for being a missionary.

Anyone who knows me knows that my whole life EVERYTHING seemed to come easy to me. The things that didn't come easy, I avoided and pretended that they didn't exist and made excuses saying that I could be better if I wanted to but that I just didn't feel like it. Just imagine super prideful times a million and that was me. I seriously in the depth of my heart thought that I was the best at everything.

so sweet, whatever, I like to believe that I wasn't too annoying about it, but I think to some degree this bled into every aspect of my life. My parents know that when I confronted something I wasn't able to do perfectly the first time, I couldn't handle it. I used to get so mad at myself and confused when I wasnt able to do something alone. I hated depending on other people. Right before I left for college I even punched a huge whole in my wall because I wasnt able to reconstruct my car's engine perfectly the first time without any help.

And so it went. I got to the mission thinking I would use all of my God-given talents to be the greatest missionary of all time. What followed was probably the least productive year a missionary has ever passed in my mission. I would come home at night after having tried so hard for weeks with no results, and ask myself "what is wrong with me...?" and just cry my eyes out. Every day week after week for months this happened. The thing that I wanted most was to be successful. Just when finally the area was coming around and I was about to have a bunch of numbers to prove to myself that I had some level of personal worth, I was always transfered to an area that was in the pits. In 15 months I baptised 5 people, while many people with the same time as me baptised 25- 30.

I got to the point where I was at my limit. I would think "why am I going out today...?" and didn't have an answer. I got incredible depressed. Then things got worse. And then they got worse again. No matter what I did, things always seemed to get worse. And it was there in one of the most stressful situations I have ever been in in my life, the I somehow learned a valuable lesson.

I don't remember when it was exactly, but somehwere along the way I learned that things that satisfy our pride don't matter. I was crushed to nothing, and then in a way that is impossible to every communicate in words built up into someone completely different. I have no idea how it happened, but I know that I feel in my heart a faith and dedication that are not connected to outcomes of any kind. I love my savior because he did this to me. He loved me enough to plan everything out just right to tear down my pride. My Father in Heaven patiently waited as I pleaded to him confused day after day, waiting for me to get used to the idea of being nothing so I would be read to learn what I really am. The love that I feel now writing about an experience that is so simple is a love that is greater than I have ever felt in my whole life. My Father in Heaven knows me. And I don't just believe that; I know that.

I am 100% certain that if I didn't go on my mission I would have never been able to have such an individualized lesson. And this is just one of many. I know my savior. When I look at a painting of him, I can say I know him and feel in my heart that I am telling the truth. I would not know him in this way had I not let him mold my life.

A life of a young man in our church that does not serve a mission cannot get to this point without a lot of remorse. He has commanded us to serve, and without accepting his will we will never be able be opened up to the truth. Our hearts will remain closed and hardened and prideful untill we repent. Then when they repent those people that didn't serve missions will want more than anything to go back in time and have that opportunity but it will be too late.

If anyone in the church has a doubt if they should serve or not, do a simple test. Pray about the book of mormon. If you know that book is true, you will also know that a prophet of God has commanded you. It is not a choice, neither is it a burden. It is the greatest blessing that I have received untill now. If I could go back to when I was 12 years old and relive the last 8 years, I would be so much better. And though I cannot do that I will be forever greatful for how my Father has molded me in that last little bit. I really wasn't deserving of what he has done, nor am I now. That is why it is called love.

but blah blah blah, everyone go on a mission. I am not kidding.

But hey I love you all. I know that our savior loves us. Like I said, those aren't just words.

have a good week, there is no reason to do anything else.

LURVES

ELDER SCOTTTTTT