Week 51

Hey Family!

The weather is as messed up there as it is here.  It´s hot one day and cold the next.  This type of weather is not good for staying healthy.  The hot weather here is brutual as well.  I´m not sure what i´ll do when its summer....melt?  Haha i think that the sun is a lot stronger here or closer. 

Being senior is a lot different.  We will see.  My companion is a lot different than he was in Salvador.  He doesn´t have much energy at all.  The only thing that´s good about this is it is forcing me to talk alot and well do about everything.  I´m hoping that he will rejuvinate and have energy.  He is a nice kid but does stuff that annoys me.  I just need to have patience.  It will be good.  

We had some interesting lessons this week.  I knocked the door of an 7th day adventists.  It was an interesting lesson.  They just wanted to argue and I kept saying pray and God will give you an answer.  In the end they gave us a book about what they believe.  Haha it is apostasy but I was stoked to get it.  We also had the Mom of one of our investigators finally come to church this week.  I´m hoping she will progress and be baptised but we will see.  It has changed her daughter a lot for the better.  

I´m really excited for conference this weekend!  The only bummer is it will be in portuguese and we wont be able to watch the priesthood session!  The best session of them all.  I`ll have to download the talks when they stick them on the internet.  It is always such a great experience to hear the Prophet speak!  The last sessions were so powerful!  It was great to be able to watch them all before I left for Brazil.  I didn´t know what I had there until it was gone...I´m trying to be better about that.  Enjoy the little things more.

I´ve heard about the soup with blood in it.  Luckily I haven´t had it.  But i´ve eaten a few things amost as bad...for the most part the food is pretty good and safe.  Rice and beans with meat.  Can´t go wrong with those ingredients.

Well I love and miss you all,

Garrett

Week 50

Hey Family,

The Transfer ended well here for me.  We had a baptism which was a blessing.  Its weird to think that 3 months have already passed for me here in Eunánoplis.  Elder Mafra my companion will be leaving for his house tomorrow, he finished his mission.  I hope that I never am a companion with someone going home.  It just makes things harder, he was really cool but was trunky.  My new companion is really cool.  I´ve already had divisions with him.  I also was made senior.   That will be a learning experience for me, but should be good.  I guess its time I am senior...i´ll have a year in 2 weeks.  I´m excited that he is Brazilian also.  It really helps to learn the language when your companion only knows portuguese.  When I get home i wont be able to talk in English that could be a problem...but i´ll deal with that when that time comes.

The weather has been messed up here as well.  The other week was extremely hot and this week has been cold.  I´ve been cold here and that is a new.  I´d rather have it be cold than hot though so i´m not complaining.  I hope I just don´t get sick with the weather changes.

Well i love and miss you all,

Garrett

week 49

Hey Family,

Haha....the language is coming but i still have a lot to learn.  I can do everything I need to but i still need to work on my grammer and sentence structure.  But this week in church all of the missionaries gave talks.  I gave my talk without reading from the paper.  I just used an outline so that is another sign that the language is finally coming.  It still hasn´t really hit me yet but every once in a while I be like i just talked on the phone with that person and understood everything they said.  Or had a conversation for a long time with so and so.  It doesn´t click because it happened so gradually.  But its definatly not all me.  The gift of tongues is real...President Pennington bestowed it and an apostle at the MTC as well.  Maybe that helped to learn because I had it twice.  No thats not it but i´m grateful for all the help God gives me each day.  

We got shut down...I guess we aren´t allowed to play soccer with members or investigators.  This is a bummer because i played really well this last time.  Everyone was like watch out the gringo is playing soccer correctly.  A couple even said i was playing as good as an Brazilian.  I ended with 4 goals.  They nicknamed me Robinho a really good Brazilian soccer player. Oh well...we won't be playing anymore.

These week was ridiculously hot.  I almost died...well not really but i wanted to.  I don´t do well in the heat.  I´m tempted to ask president to stick me in the office during the summer.  We will see. If it get worse i think that i will ask to go into the office.

That is awesome that you were able to go with the missionaries Mom.  It is amazing how much it helps when members go to the lessons.  A simple sincere testimony speaks louder than any elaborate wordery.  Just like President Young said it was the simple testimony of someone that made him feel that the gospel was true.  Many times we forget our testimonies because life just goes on.  But if we take time to look back we can see exactly when times were best and those were always when we were following the commandments of God.  I´ve realized this a lot while i´ve been here on the mission.  I thought I was happy without the gospel for a while but I was miserable.  It wasn´t until I got back into the church that things started to work out again.  Also these experiences help our testimonies grow.  I know that the gospel is true and the book of mormon is the proof that this gospel is true becuase i´ve seen the blessings in my life and in others.  Everyday is proof of this.

Well i love and miss you all.

Love,

Garrett

Week 48

Hey family,

It was a fast week.  It seems like the time is speeding up now.  Wow its already Labor day that is weird to think about.  Time really does pass...eventually haha.  Sounds like the weather is just right there.  Its been really hot here.  The sun just feels hotter here.  Maybe its closer...actually i think it is...isn´t it?  

 

Had a good experience this week.  I was on divisions with one of the other elders here and we had a really good lesson.  It went really well.  The investigator really wanted to stop smoking and be a better person.  I asked here to give her cigarettes to us so she wouldn´t have the temptation to smoke and she did.  The first person that has actually given me anything against the W.O.W.  It is a good sign that she actually wants to change.  

 

We had apartment checks this week with the President.  During the interview with him I had a really hard time talking in English.  By the end I we were just talking in Portuguese because it was easier.  If I continue to have Brazilian companions I wont be able to speak english when I go home.  President was really happy with my Portuguese as well.  He was like you speak excellent Portuguese.  That was a huge confidence boost.  When I think about how little of time I have here in Brazil its a huge blessing to be able to speak as much as I do.  I´m glad that the language came relatively fast because I don´t have the patience to wait forever to learn the language.  I still have a lot to learn but I know enough to do everything.

Well thats all for me.  I hope that things continue to go well for everyone there.

Love 

Garrett