HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Garrett made it home after 36 hours on Friday August 17th, 2012. It was  wonderful to see him!  He hadn't changed much, but he had changed. His luggage however did not make it and it took two days to finally receive that.

He had a couple of days to adjust and started working back at the ranch on Monday, where he has worked since he was 15, through the harvest. Then he tells us he head to Utah to work and go to school at BYU if he gets accepted in January. 

3 DAYS HE LEAVE FROM BRAZIL AND 4 DAYS TO BE HOME!!

Hey family!

Wow it is so crazy.  I can´t believe it is actually coming to an end.  I still don´t really believe it.  But its starting to hit me now.  It will be bittersweet.  But its always like that.  I feel that I worked and tried to help the people while I was here, so I can go home proud for what I´ve been blessed with accomplishing.  This last week didn´t end the way that we had planned...we were shooting for a baptism.  But in the end everyone fell.  It was kind of a mess.  But it will all work out in the end.  

So awesome experience.  We just got back from Itacaré.  It is suppose to be one of the best beaches in Brazil.  It was super sweet.  There were people from Germany, USA and other parts of Brazil that we saw there.  But there are suppose to be tons of people that come from Europe to visit as well as the states in the summer season.  I was able to get some sweet photos at least I hope so...i haven´t looked at them yet but it was super beautiful.  We were on the bus and there were a bunch of people speaking in German.  It just made we want to study German again...but it was weird after a little bit I started to remember German and I almost understood a couple of phrases that they were saying.  Anyways it was a sweet P-day.  We went with a member...a returned missionary.  He only has 1 month back from the mission.  I was asking him if he had any advice for me.  He was like just have something to do when you get home.  Well I should be fine with that....I´ll be working almost right when I get off the plane.  

So for food that i want.  I left my list at the house....haha i made a list of food that I want when i get home.  But anything will be awesome I know.  Some of the things that i´ve missed the most are mexican food, lasagna and stir fry.  Also for lunches if theres watermelon and maybe some chips that would be nice.  Oh and do we have peaches.  I want to eat a peach so badly.  But in the end i´ll be happy with anything....i´m not picky.  

So for doing something in Spokane....I can´t really think of anything that I´d want to do well at least that I can do.  I´d like to play hockey but I think that will have to wait for a little bit later on.  And I want to be released if that isn´t too big of a problem.  I don´t want to have a companion anymore...i´m done with those days...well until I find an eternal companion that is....haha.  

So I actually saw some of that soccer game.  We were at lunch with a member and there were watching it.  They didn´t take to well to loosing to Mexico....but there weren´t riots or anything.  If they had lost to Argentina it would have been a different story.  They hate Argentina here.  But yeah the people watch a lot of olympics here.  It kind of sucks because you´ll be walking down the streets and just see bits and parts of it.  I´m always like who´s winning, whats going on.  Haha.  But everyone tells us how good the USA is doing...so thats nice.  I guess we have the most medals....or did the other day.  I´m not sure anymore.  

Well I´m super excited to see everyone....this last week will fly by for me...i leave tomorrow for Salvador and then Thursday I leave for the states!  

I love and miss you all,

love Garrett 

7 DAYS TO END OF MISSION 8 DAYS BEFORE HOME!!!

Hey family!

 

Well first off....Happy late birthday Mom!  I forgot to send that last week.  But I hope that it was great.  This was a crazy week for us.  It didn´t go like we wanted it too.  We wanted to have baptisms this weekend but sadly 6 baptisms fell.  But we will hopefully have more luck my last week.  But this week started out really hard.  Everyone was falling or didn´t want to meet with us anymore.  Until the end of the week.  We are starting to teach one of our Recent converts son´s.  The missionaries already talked to him with little success.  But we were able to get him to open up and have a good convo wtih him.  At the end we asked him to pray and he accepted.  The prayer was so spirtual.  One of the most spiritual experiences i´ve had on my mission.  There were pauses of like 2 or 3 minutes in the prayer.  At the beginning it was just quiet.  But the spirit was so strong.  I was shaking a little bit it was so strong...then he started to talk.  He was like God I don´t know what to say but I know you can give me the words to say.  After that he just started to pray for help with some problems he had.  But it was super awesome.  But he should be baptised this weekend if everything goes as planned.

So right now i´m in Salvador.  It kind is lame because I´m going to be going back to Itabuna tonight.  I hate sleeping on buses!  I´m so not looking forward to my flight home...i´m just going to be miserable.  But it will be alright in the end.  I can do it.  I´m here because I had to renew my visa for the last week i´m here.  I´m been illegal here since April so I guess they think its about time to get me legal.  Oh well.  What are you gonna do?

Well I agree with you Dad about it being a good thing i´m coming home soon because I´m out of things to say as well.  So I guess I´ll just end.  I love and miss you until next week!

 

Love,

Garrett

18 DAYS

Hey family,

Wow so it was a crazy week.  So my comp actually didn´t have dengue which was good, he just had a really bad virus but by Wednesday we were working strong.   We had a wedding...my first on the mission!  A baptism the next day and then sunday....we went looking for people to go to church.  The first 5 people that we stopped by didn´t want to go or weren´t home.  So we were starting to get a little down and then at the last moment things started to work out.  We ended up having 16 people in church!  I´ve never had more than 5 so that was a huge blessing.  We are excited about what could happen this next 2 weeks.  We are going to try and do some big stuff here.  But we will see what God has in store for us.  But its cool to see the results come from the work.  We just have to keep going strong and finding the people that want something.  Then it will be easy.

Man that is crazy that everyone is getting married here in the ward.  Well I guess that is a good thing.  Means that the Prophets advice is being used.  Haha.  Also makes me feel old.  But oh well.

The mission been a crazy experience for me.  Actually it doesn´t feel like it will end in 2 weeks.  Because nothing changes here.  Its the same work everyday.  But i´ve changed I know that...that has also made the end of the mission scary.  Will it be the same back home....will people accept me how I am now?  But its also a good thing.  I have grown a lot in my testimony about the gospel.  Also i´ve seen where i´m weak in the gospel.  All of these things have been brought into a bigger light.  I see why we need the gospel here on the earth.  The gospel doesn´t need us...we need it to return to the presence of God.  It is the only way.  We can´t do it alone or without the saving ordenances that are so needed for our progression here on the earth.  Testifying about the truth of the Book of Mormon has come to show me how true it is.  Really all we do it enter and tell people that hey we have this awesome test you can do.  Read a part in this book, think about it, and then ask God if it´s true!  Its so simple and its sad when people wont even do that.  The simple things confound the learned or prideful.  I know that its true because everytime one of our investigators askes God if the Book of Mormon is true I feel it in my heart as well that it is true.  Its an undeniable peace and warmth.  Its all true....the people just aren´t.  And if we can overlook that part we have a chance a big chance to getting what we all want...to live with God again!  I know the church is true and that it helps us.  That God has a plan for us all and that all we have to do is trust in that plan.  We are here to have joy!  The gospel is joy. In the name of Jesus Christ amen

Well I love you all....Garrett

THREE WEEKS!!!

Hey family,
Wow another week went by.  This was a pretty good week.  Started really well.  We had a lot of success and were finding a lot of people.  The only bad thing is the end of the week we didn´t have that many people in church.  But its still all good.  We should have a few baptisms this week and at least one until the end of the mission.  At least that is our goal.   Things are a lot better here...i´m happier.  It isn´t always easy.  My companion and I don´t always agree but we are able to talk and get things done so its a working relationship.  The only problem is he got dengue.  Its a sickness that you get from masquitos.  Its really bad and knocks you down.  He still wants to work so it shouldn´t hold us back too much.  But we will see. 
So a crazy thing happened.  There used to be sister missionaries as well here but they are being transfered out.  So everyone in their group we will have including the baptisms.  So that will be cool.  We will just add to our group and in the end we should baptise a lot.  If everything works out then we will be super busy. 
So they had a talent show here.  And there were like 3 skits that little girls did belly dancing stuff.  I was like this is so inappropriate.  I felt like an old person watching it though because I just felt so uncomfortable.  I`m like this is a church activity and this shouldn´t be happening.  But the last skit was so good.  It was a Michael Jackson skit.  The kids that did it could dance so well and they dressed up really cool.  It was awesome.  So in the end it turned out well.
Well I hope that its a great week for you all. 
Love you all,
Garrett

FOUR WEEKS!!

Hey family!

Well things have changed.....it didn´t work out.  I was emergency transfered to a new area.  It got to the point that he was like I don´t want to be here and i´m not going to help with any decision making.  So I was like well then lets talk to President.  We did and I ended up leaving.  Oh well its better.  I like my new area.  The ward is so much better.  There are members that help and we have lunch everyday!  I´m so happy about that.  It was rough not having lunch all the time.  I´ll be able to gain some weight again.  I´m getting unhealthy.  My new comp is also happy with the new change.  He was like you can actually teach me something.  I´ll do my best to help him out.  He is a complete nerd...its all good though.  He likes to talk all the time so thats better than never talking I guess.  But the ward is awesome so thats all that matters.  We were able to get some good numbers in just 3 days that i´ve been here.   Oh so i´m in Itabuna Fátima ward.  Its close to my other area.  It is just another city.  Its a lot hotter here.  So I guess thats a good thing.  I´ll be used to the heat again. 

Well thats cool that the fence is almost done.  It will be a lot different having a fence in the back now.  I´m excited about that.  Jury duty.  That´s never fun.  Hopefully it is a fast case.  I forgot about those types of situations.  I´m going to go into shock coming home.  I`m almost certain of it.  I`m so used to strange things.  Flavela and 3rd world living standards.  It will be so messed up to go back to American standards.  Hopefully its an easy transfer....haha. 

Well i´m doing well here.  And 4 weeks and i´ll be home. That seems unreal and doesn´t seem like it will really happen but i´m excited to see everyone again!
Love and miss you all,

FIVE WEEKS

Hey Family,

Well it was a up and down week.  A lot has happened.  It wasn´t all that great as companionship unity goes.  We had problems all week but yesterday I was able to talk to one of my good friends here on the mission who is the Presidents Assistant.  He talked a lot about what you talked about Mom.  President is inspired and there must be a reason that i´m together with him.  Also he was like I don´t want you to end your mission and be like I could have done more so when it gets hard just remember that.  It will help you endure to the end.´  Its true.  So i´ll just have to suck it up and find a way to make it work.  Somehow we have to be able to get along.  We just have to find what ´that´ is.  

Other than the companion situation a few other things happened this week.  I got sick.  I had a fever and felt week for like 3 days.  I´m pretty much better now.  My companion got even sicker than me though.  He ate some street food.  Not a very good idea most of the time.  He´s been pucking and on the toilet for the last 3 days.  But he´s a little bit better now.  We aer still trying to find a group.  We are having problems finding news of quality.  Hopefully this week we will have more success finding becuase it makes the work even harder when all you do is look and don´t have people progressing.  Time goes a lot slower as well.  But I´ve got hope that things will change.  

The weather here is normal for this time of year.  They are saying that it could get colder.  The problem is that i´m just used to the hot.  I used to only be used to cold so everything felt hot.  But in Salvador its still hot its just in the interior that it gets cool.

  Well I love and miss you all.  

love,

Garrett

SIX WEEKS!

Hey family!
Wow so i don´t know where to start.  I think i´ll just start with the good the releif that I received to know that i´ve got a job!  That is nice.  The bad part.  My new companion.  He got here and just wasn´t showing desire.  He doesn´t talk to the members almost at all or to anyone for the matter.  Turns out he had problems with his knee and was in rehab for the last 2 months and President gave him the choice try and stay or go home.  He is still on the doubt about it.  I lost my cool a little and said some stuff I shouldn´t have.  I don´t know if I´ve got it in me to help another missionary out....it seems like thats all I´ve gotten on the mission.  But i´m giong to try harder.  I want to end the mission well...i was just hoping to stay with my other comp because he wanted to stay and had desire.  I guess we don´t always get what we want.  It helps us grow.  Thats all the mission is...growth.  I guess I needed more that other people. 
But I do agree with what you said about leave the past in the past with my old comp.  We are actually on good terms.  He talked really well about our work together. He was like we baptised everyone that you and I found together.  His comp was a huge slacker.  I´m happy that they baptised the group the we left there, I just wish that I could have seen it happen as well. 
Today we played soccer.  It was fun....i played a lot better today so that was a plus.  Its always the worst when you suck it up.  I´m super sore though.  I´m so out of shape.  I´m trying to do what I can to get kind of back into it.  Jump roping and such.  Its better than nothing. 
Happy Birthday Dad!  You´re only as old as you feel.  When I show my pictures to people they are like your parents are so young!  So that should make you feel good.  Especially since everyone here has 3 kids by the age of 17.  So you are really young.
It has been super cold here these last few nights.  I´m almost dying.  I have to sleep with socks on at night!  I´ve never done that in my life.
Oh so yesterday of all days...we help a member moves some stuff.  Well because we are in Brasil no one has a car so we walked stuff from one house to another.  It was horrible.  It sucks to move in the first place and worse when you walk a half a mile to the other house with a couch or stuff.  Oh well...its the last time I do anything like that.
Well I love and miss you all.  But these last few weeks should go by pretty fast.

Love,
Garrett

SEVEN WEEKS!

Hey Family!

Wow so it was a week!  It was a holiday here and holiday just means bigger parties than normal with lots of alcohol.  Oh well its pretty much over now.  Just a few people that are still trying to keep the party going.  But it will be my last big holiday here in Brazil!  I`m stoked about that.  I´m not a fan of their parties here and its horrible for the work.  So this holiday is called São Joâo.  It must be some catholic holiday with its name.  But what everyone does is dress up as cowboys and cowgirls....also they have these firecrackers called bombas, the only thing they do is make a loud noise and a bright light.  I think they bought them from the military (flash bangs)  because they are super annoying and i always get super jumpy when they start throwing them.  I´m glad i´m not in Salvador though.  It was so much worse last year there.  I thought i would die.  It wasn´t super bad here.  Also they have special food...corn that they cook until its dry and doesn´t taste good and also they have raw peanuts that they cook in water.  I´m not a huge fan of it.  Peanuts toasted are so much better.    Oh and also they have huge bon fires in the road that just create a bunch of smoke that comes into our house.  But oh well....its over.

The President of the branch here is so cool.  He is what saves this branch.  There are a few other cool people but there are a lot of people that I could do without.  All they do is complain and do nothing.  But President is so calm and he is like an actual friend, not a leader.  We can actually have conversations with him.

But on a better note we did baptise this week.  So that was nice.  We baptised the daughter of a recent convert.  Completing the family.  Its always nice to see the end result.  A family more united with the gospel to help them in their day to day life.  It is a blessing.  

The weather has been crazy here.  It is super hot during the day with a really strong sun.  And then at night its cold.  So at least it is easy to sleep.  I hate it when its hot at night as well.  Makes it so much more miserable to sleep.  Sounds like the weather is about the same at home right now.  But its humid here not dry.  I´m a little worried about that.  I think that i´ll be getting a lot of bloody noses when I get home because of the dry weather. 

So this week we were knocking doors and we found the most elect man ever.  He is so cool.  He loved the message and was at church this last sunday.  He loved church as well.  Only downfall....he is a truck driver and leaves for 20 to 25 days and is only here for 4 or 5 days.  So that will make it super hard for him to be baptised.  But he loves it and when he gets back he wants to continue going to church.  We are also teaching his family.  They aren´t as elect but they are at least nice.  We will see what happens. 

So we went to a museum...well thats what they said.  It was so small and not that cool.  We were hoping for something a lot bigger and cooler.  But we don´t always get what we want do we.  Then we went to the center.  While we were there i fell pretty hard.  We were walking and i stepped off of the sidewalk and here in Brazil nothing is level I hit something unlevel and my ankle just gave out.  I was more embarrassed at the time but now i´m a little sore my wrists and knees.  Oh well.  I should be fine.  I´ve only got 7 weeks left I can´t break anything now...haha.  

Oh yeah so transfers came.  I´m not happy about them.   My companion is leaving.  He didn´t want to leave either.  I finally get a companion that I like and he leaves.  And to top it off my last comp is coming to an area right next to mine.  I was hoping that I wouldn´t have to see him for the rest of the mission.  Oh and even better I´m his district leader so i´ll have to be in contact with him.  My new comp will be an American....i really wanted to end my mission with a Brasillian.  Its so much easy to speak the language when you have a native.  My Portuguese was getting so much better again.  Oh well....its my last transfer so i´ll just have to make the best of it.  Also the President of the Mission leaves.  So a new President will be here...we´ll see how that is.

Well I love and miss you all,

Garrett

EIGHT WEEK COUNTDOWN !

Hey family,

Well it was a week for us.  It was a week of trials.  We ran into every drunk person you can imagine here.  I don´t know why but it was annoying as all get out.  They wouldn´t leave us alone.  But hopefully this week will have more success.  

 

We did have a baptism this week!  That was a blessing.  Makes things a lot better when you can help people out to that point.  Its even better when you can go back and see them firm in the church after a bunch of time away from the area.  

 

Today we had a activity with the zone.  We played soccer.  Wow it just made me depressed.  I´m so out of shape and sore now.  I´m going to have to do so much to get back into shape when I get home.  But it will be a good thing.  I´m tired of being out of shape.  I got super sunburned as well today.  I even used sunscreen but it has been overcast for a long time so i´m getting white again.  Today was sunny and hot so i just burnt with the sunscreen and all.  

 

So this last week I did a division with elders in my district.  Wow am I thankful for my area.  Their area is horrible.  It only has stairs and hills.  I´m glad finally for the flat area.  My knees can´t handle the up and down much more.  They needed a break and i´m getting it now.  It was nice though to see another area and new people.  Its crazy how the areas change so much when we are only 15 minutes away by bus.  But it was a completely different atmosphere.  The people were a lot different.  

  I know what you mean Dad.  I´m running out of things to say as well.  I do the same thing every week so I forget what to say that will be worth reading.  Haha...oh well.  I still love reading your emails even when its just random things that happened.

 

Love and miss you all,

Garrett

MANAUS TEMPLE DEDICATION

Hey Family,

Wow Moscow weather is really messed up.  It has been cold here as well....low 70´s high 60´s.  So not all that cold.  It´s actually quite nice now that i´ve gotten used to it.  When I first got here I was freezing.  But now i´m liking it.  My friend in the south of Brazil said that it was 28 degrees in his area this last week!  Thats cold and humid cold is the worse.  But it happens.

  I´m still blown away that Brianne will be getting married here in 2 months and a couple weeks....haha.  Its so weird to me.  But its also cool.  It gives me an excuse to go to the temple and I really want to go back.  It has been way to long for me.  So we saw the Manaus temple dedications.  It was super good.  The translator is very good at translating english to portuguese but it was still good because I understand English.  Also we saw the cultural celbration.  I was super disappointed.  I was hoping that it would be some huge cool event and it was lame.  But oh well...we don´t always get what we want in life.  

Sis and Presidnet Vecchi leave the 29th of this month.  So i´ll just have the other president for 6 weeks.  Actually the son of the other President served here in this mission 6 months ago he finished.  He was a good missionary.  I knew him a little bit.  

So last week I was trying to save those pictures to my memory card and in the end it ended up deleting all of my pictures.  At first I thought that i´d lost 2 years of pictures but then my companion was like there is this program that can recover the pictures!  And it works...so good news i still have my pictures.  But haven´t sent any to you guys because I still need to finish using the program.

So we have a few people that are progressing really well.  They know that the church is true.  We just are teaching the last stuff to them and they will be baptised in 2 weeks.  We should have 2 baptisms this week.  I´m hoping...just depends if they don´t travel.  So we will see.  But it is good.  We are making progress.

Well I love and miss you all.

Garrett

ZONE CONFERENCE

Hey Family,

 

Wow so its been a week.  We had zone conference today.  President Vecchi and Sister Vecchi did their good bye.  It was so crazy to see them at the end.  I can´t believe that its almost ending for them and for me here the next.  Its D-Day.  I´ve only got a little bit of time to make the most of it.  I´m liking the area here.  There is a lot of potential.  I feel that we are being blessed we have new people that can be baptised these next 3 weeks or so.  So i´m hoping that everything goes well for us and for them.  

This week we had stake conference.  It was good.  And this weekend will be the Temple dedication.  I´m excited about that.  It should be super sweet to watch.  

 

Well sorry its a short email this week.  Thanks for the pictures and I love and miss you all. 

Love,

Garrett

TEOTONIA VILELA

Hey family,

Wow so it was a week!  Where i´m at is called Teotonia Vilela it is ghetto!  I feel like i´m living in Genese or Potlatch.  But its a pretty good area to work or at least these few days were good.  When I got here is was so so cold!  I almost died.  I wasn´t sleeping well because i was freezing and would walk around the house with all my clothes and shoes on because i was dying haha funny how our bodies get used to stuff after time.  My new companion is Brazilian.  He is pretty cool or at least for this week he was.  The house is good and dry.  But the shower broke and there is only cold water.  We have to buy another shower head we should get one tomorrow or the owner is getting one.  It was about 8 hours by bus here.  I´m hoping that its a good area.

Sounds like there will be a lot of awesome food when I get home.  I love barbecue.  And i´m tired of beans and rice so it will be a great change.  I used to be fat for ever but in these last 2 months i´ve lost around 10 pounds.  I´m like at my normal weight now.  I feel better as well.  I just need to get back into shape now.  And with the smoker you can make jerky!  So that would be awesome.  

Well next week i´ll try to load pictures.  It seems like the internet is pretty good here in this lan house so we will see.  

Mom....can you send me a photo of the family...one that´s really good and would look good on the wall.  Also if there is one...one of the guys  Dad, Ryan and I or Dad and I or something like that.  Thanks.

   

So I got my flight plans i´ll send you them.  I`m going into Spokane.  I not sure why.  If you think it´d be better I can see what I can do to get it into Lewiston.  But i´m not sure.

Well I love and miss you all,

Garrett 

YEAH FOR TRANSFERS!

Hey Family!

So it was a crazy week!  We were running around trying to get a lot of people ready for baptism.  In the end only 1 or 6 were baptised.  A lot of them didn´t feel quite ready to make that step in their life.  But i feel that this next Saturday they will be baptised.  Sad thing is I wont be here to see it.  But i´m happy to leave as well.  I´m going to Ilheus!  Its in the interior of Bahia.  Its next to the beach like it is here so that should be sweet.  I´m hoping that its cool there.  I´ve been so ready for a change.  It has been rough with my companion for 4.5 months!  I´m not sure how I got through it....well actually I do it was the people in my house that saved me.  But it should be a good change.  The only part that i´m not happy about it the bus.  I really don´t want to have to be on a bus all night.  Its the worst.  

It is crazy to see the change in people when they just accept.  We have been working with a family for a while and they are just so much happier now that they are living the commandments more closely.  Its a night and day difference.  That is one of the things that i´ll miss after the mission.  Is see the gospel really change people.  I wont be able to see that on the same level anymore after the mission.  A less active just told us the other day how much she is grateful that we found her.  I remember the day I knocked into her house when I was doing a division.  She wasn´t all that happy and didn´t want a whole lot to do with the church.  But we just started to teach her and know she is so happy and has a calling in the church.  The change is crazy!

So the weather is getting cold again here.  It´s feels a lot colder than it really is.  Its in like the 70´s but it actually feels cold.   Its crazy how your body does get used to the heat after time.  I do love the cold though.  It makes me think of hockey.  The worst part though is its been raining so much that they are having mud slides and the roads are all messed up.  Our house was completely wet inside as well.  The roofs here suck.  They have the stupid tile that is good for nothing.  So all of my stuff is wet and i´m leaving for a new area tomorrow.  Hopefully my new house will be good. 

Well i´m hoping the new area is sweet and that i´ll like it.  It could easily be my last area since i only have these 2 transfers left on my mission!  We will see.

I love and miss you all,

Garrett

Mother's Day Call

This was a short entry. We got to Skype with Garrett for Mother's Day on Sunday. It was great to see him and visit with him!


 Hey family,

It was so great to talk to you all!  I loved it.  I was thinking though I don´t think that I even said Happy Mothers Day.  I feel horrible so i´ll say it now.  But I hope it was great.  The next time i´ll be talking to you all in person!  

Well i´m not sure what to say.  I miss you all a lot and love you all.

Love,

Garrett

P.S  I got the photos thanks!

Hey Family,

 

Well it´s been another week.  Today we went to the Barra.  Its along the beach front.  It was pretty fun.  Got some pretty cool photos there.  I´ve been doing a lot with my old comp thats here in Salvador.  Its been really fun to meet up again and see the sites here in Salvador.  A good break from my companion as well. 

So this week we had some good success finding news.  We are teaching the rest of the family of our recent convert.  We did a family night in there house and it went super well.  Everyone liked it and wanted to learn more.  So it was a huge success.  We are hopefully going to baptise 2 of them this week because they´ve already been to church with us before and then the other 4 next week.  But we will see what happens. 

So I got my glasses done here and the other day they fell and cracked up near the frame.  I brought them in to get checked out and the guy was like i wont know the answer until tomorrow. So i guess i´ll be using contacts for another day.  Oh well.  But hopefully they´ll replace the lense.  It isn´t too bad because it cracked in a spot thats not in the direct line of sight.  But its still annoying.  But we will see.

 I´m excited to talk to you all Sunday!  It will be an awesome present for the end of the week.

 

I love and miss you all,

Garrett

Hey family,

So it was a crazy week.  I´m glad that the week ended and that we are on a new week.  It was super stressful but had some really good parts.  We were finally able to comfirm our baptism that was baptised 4 weeks ago.  What a relief.  

So Elder Clayton, his wife and Elder Carmargo talked to us in person.  We combined with the other mission but only the elders in Salvador got to see it.  It was so good!  He talked a lot about how we need to baptise more people but people that will stay firm in the church not the once that will enter and leave in 2 weeks.  He also talked about the importances to reactivate people.  One of the things he talked about it if we ask them to do harder things they will be better investigators.  He was like ask them to ask God if the BOM is true in the first prayer/first lesson.  He also talked about planning for the future.  Seems like there are a lot of missionaries that have been going home and don´t know what to do.  He was like make something of your life have a plan.  If you are poor its because you didn´t try to make something of your life...or about that.  He said that this was what the Brethen had told him to say..everything he taught.  It was super good i liked it.

So we used his advice and are asking péople to ask if the BOM is true in the first visit.  It has paid off.  Rafaela and Aline can be baptised any day but their parents wont give them permission to be.  In our lesson with them we had Rafaela pray and ask if the BOM was true.  She was praying fast and then asked God if the Bom was true.  The spirit was so strong that she stopped praying for like 10-20 seconds.  It was one of the strongest times i´ve felt the spirit on the mission.  What a great experience it was for me.

So I guess the members like me here.  I got another B-day cake!  This Sunday we had lunch with a super cool member.  And she made me B-day cake.  She was sorry its late but its for your b-day.  I was happy and super appreciative.  

So I´m planning on calling home around 7:00pm sunday. 

In our house we have 3 Americans and 1 Brazilian.  Also the kids that I`ll be going to Vegas with are from St. George.  Or one of them is and the other is from Boise area. 

 

Well I´m glad to hear that all is well and things are getting better for everyone.  Today we went to the Levador a tourist area.  We toured a lot of catholic church´s.  I´ve got some crazy photos i´ll show you all when I get home.  It was super fun though.  Went with my old comp from Eunapolis.

Well love and miss you all,

Love,

Garrett

Hey Family!

So guess what i´m still......in the same area.  Haha.  I think President forgot about me here.  Oh well also i´m with the same companion.  Things are getting better though with him so thats good.  I´m sad though because my friend one of the zone leaders that lived in our house got transfered.  It kind of sucks.  He saved me....we helped each other out because we both had bad companions for a long time.  But his companion misses him as well.  But we´ve already planned before he left after the mission we are going to go to Vegas together us 3.  So that will be fun.  Go to some concerts!  Anyways.

So I got the birthday package today.  It got sent to El Salvador first...so it just got here.  Its crazy how good the mail system is.  Oh well.  Thanks so much.  I loved the picture book and man granola bars.  I forgot all about those but they were delicious and the other candy as well.  

Oh my glasses.  I´m not a fan of them.  I don´t think they know how to do things here in Brazil.  They are alright but the quality is just so much crappier than my other ones.  I´m want to get another exam when I get back.  I´m pretty sure the exam was paid for by the mission and then i bought the lenses with some reserve that I had so i´ll just get better stuff on the plan when i get home.  They should hold up for the rest of the time that i´ve got here, or at least I hppe so.  

So this week we found 2 really cool investigators.  One of them Tacio and man had bought a book of mormon.  We were like well we give them for free so you bought it from a non member.  But he hadn´t really ever read it because people said bad things about it.  When we explained what the book of mormon was he got super excited.  He was like a book that compliments the Bible!  I love the bible and to have more knowledge...who wouldn´t want that!?  I was like that is a good question but many people don´t want it unfortunately.  But he´s super stoked to read.  Only problem he goes to college in another city and is only here every other weekend.  Other investigator Robson.  He is great as well.  We explained the book of mormon to him and gave him some homework to do.  He did it and the next lesson was awesome.  He was like I know that its true and i´m working towards baptism!  So we are stoked about that.  They are blessings for sure.  Hopefully we can find more people like them.  

This week should be awesome....well at least Thursday.  An Apostle is coming to talk to us.  He is in the presidency of the 70!  There will be 2 zones from our mission and 2 from the other mission here in Salvador that will get to watch it.  I love hearing and learning from these things!  

So crazy story.  This week we were walking and some guy starting asking us a question.  He was like are you guys from the same church as Mitt Romney?  I didn´t understand how he was saying Mitt Romney at first but then I got it and was like yeah.  He was like awesome I hope he wins!  I love the USA and its great that they have someone running that puts God first.  We also got a return appointment to talk to him.  I´ll talk to anyone that loves the USA....haaha..jk but its a plus.  But its crazy how Mitt Romney running is making the church´s name get out not just in the USA but in the World.  Great news.

I love and miss you all,

love,

Garrett

Hey family,

 

Wow so it was a week and a half.  I think everyone is just stressed out in the Branch here.  We get burned every week fro something or other.  But at least we have a majority of the people on our side now.  We will just have to work to get the rest on our side. 

This week I was able to go on a division with my comp from Eunàpolis!  It was awesome.  Great to talk about the old times and our old investigators.  Also today we were together all day because I´m getting my glasses.  They´ll be done here in a bit.  Hopefully it will be a lot better.

So i´m not sure if the packages came yet.  I think the other Elders passed by the office today to get some stuff.  But I got cake for my birthday and today i´m going to a party for my birthday!  Should be fun.  I´ll get another party or at least cake if i stay here in this area as well at another members house.  So thats nice to know that at least they like me enough to make me cake...haha. 

So this week the other Elders baptised 3 people and one of them we know pretty good.  He is 9 and we´ve helped them out a little with him.  He is super smart and always talks about going on a mission.  But the other sunday he was in our ward and i was sitting by him.  He was like why did you cut your hair like you did.  I was trying to explain that I didn´t like the way they cut my hair because no one knows how to cut hair here but he was like it makes you look super old!  But if you did a Mohawk it would look super tight....why don´t you do a mohawk and he was trying to stick my hair in a mohawk in the middle of sacrament.  I had to laugh...he´s s funny kid.  The first time he saw my companion he asked him if he was from Mars.  My comp was like why....because you have the face of E.T.  It was a little funny.  The little kid is burning the older people.  But at their baptisms the church ran out of water, so we had to bucket water in from the sisterns out side of the church.  It was crazy.  But they got baptised in the end.

 

Well I love and miss you all. 

Love,

Garrett

Hey family,

Wow so what a week.  It started out awesome.  We were having success and things were going well and then it blew up on us in the end.  3 of our baptisms fell.  2 becuase the parents would sign the form and the last one because she doesn´t want to change some things in her life, but knows its true.  And then the one that got baptised wasn´t comfirmed because she left with her dad for the day.  And to top it off my wonderful companion got us into a bunch of trouble but i´m the one that took the burn.  So right now our teaching group mainly consists of girls because we have only been getting references from girls from the ward.  Not by my doing i´d rather teach men.  So i guess someone made a comment about this and my comp was like yeah well you got to do what works...or some stupid comment like that.  Making it seem like we are stokers only looking for girls.  Anyways the President of the Branch called the mission President and now we´re on tight watch because of the misunderstanding.  The most annoying part is after this incidents my comp is like i was just kidding....i just want to say well your sense of humor sucks and its been getting us in trouble.  This isn´t the first time its happened.  I can´t stand him anymore...i´m praying that I get a cool companion my next transfer.  I would like to leave here as well but i might stay because its probably my comp will leave because the mission prez is mad at him.  what can you do?

So yeah we have been mainly finding our baptisms by reference.  We knock doors but they usually don´t last that long as investigators and the ones that progress are the references of members.  Its crazy how its never just one thing bad that happens but its like when something bad happens the snow ball effect happens.  I´m praying it gets better.  It´s been a very stressful week and my companion doesn´t help the process.  I´m ready to not have this stress anymore.

Well changing the subject.  Still snowing there that is crazy.  Its starting to cool down here a little.  Its not super super hot just hot now.  Hopefully it will cool down even more.  We will see though.  

Sorry if this email just sound like i´m complaining.  I be better next week.  Thanks for the pictures!

Love,

Garrett

Hey family,

  I don´t know what you consider cooler but it feels a little cooler at times.  Actually i just thinks its because the sun goes down so early.  Its like 95 during the day but the sun is down by 5:30 which is so awesome.  Makes this place bareable.
Is it flooding there like that one year it was really bad or just flooding in spots?  Sounds like it has been a messed up year.  Or messed up spring there.
So we had 2 baptisms that were planned this week.  Unfortunately they both got cold feet.  They will be baptised though this week.  I´ve got faith.  One of them we needed the moms permission because she is younger than 18.  When we got there she was completely against it.  Just closed heart all the way.  But i was able to explain why we were there and why baptism is important.  In the end she accepted to sign the sheet.  It was all the spirit on that one because she wasn´t having it in the start.  It was a testimony builder for me. 
Conference was good.  I enjoyed it.  We were able to get 5 people there, that was a huge blessing and we are super excited about that.  We are finally starting to have success here in our area.  I´m so stoked about that.  Hopefully it will continue to go that way.  The only thing that could make it better is a cool companion but we don´t always get what we want.  Well it should be a good week.  We could have 5 baptised this week if no one falls but i´m thinking only 3 will be baptised.  But we will pray for all of them. 
Well have a good week.  Love and miss you all,
Love,
Garrett

Hey,

Well I´ll write even though you forgot about me.  We had a pretty good week this week.  We were blessed by finding 2 elects.  They had already been to church multiple times and just weren´t baptised for one reason or another.  They are super excited now and progressing.  I`m hoping that they will continues to progress.  If everything works out they will be baptised this weekend.  Conference and baptisms!  What better combo can you get.  

So we have reactived a really cool famliy.  They are so nice and are helping us out a lot with the work.  They found out about my birthday and were like we are going to make you cake!  So i´m stoked about that.  I`ll get cake from them and then another member will invite me over because the 13 is her sisters birthday so i´ll get cake 2 days in a row.  I celebrated my birthday in her house last year she is super cool.  I love that family as well.  That is the good thing about being in an area for a long time you get to know the members well and they do things for us.  Makes the work so much more fun.

So the other day I was on a division with a member and I made a contact with the drug trafficers.  Invited them to hear our message and go to church.  They didn´t accept but they were like hey...you can walk anywhere in this area.  Please come back again.  So it just got a lot safer there.  If they are on your side you have nothing to worry about.  But the member was a little bit scared about it.  

So crazy story.  My comp from the MTC is in the area of one of the mssionaries that is serving here.  We used to live in the same house together and I was talking about how we always drank maté at night.  His mom got super excited and was like i´ll send him a cuia and bomba.  So i´m going to be getting stuff from another mission.  I don´t even know his mom.  But i´ll send her a letter thanking her.  Another birthday present.  Hopefully its a good cuia.  But i can´t complain she is sending it for free that was super nice of her.

Well I hope that all is well there.  I´m trying to think about what has happened but i´m not sure what more to write.  

I love and miss you all,

Love,

Garrett

Hey family!

It was a crazy week.  It went by super super fast!  But we finally had a baptism!  So we were stoked about that.  We had given up on him but then we passed by this week and he was like i want to be baptised.  It was crazy.  Just shows we need to be patient with people and they will progress at their own rate of speed.  

 

We had a lot of spiritual experiences this week.  One of our investigators that we had given a part in the Book of Mormon to read was like that night I wasn´t going to read.  I didn´t want to.  But there was something that kept telling me I needed to read it.  So I read it and i felt really good.  It is crazy how the spirit works.  The lord really is preparing people we just have to find them.

 

Also we had a family night this Friday at a less actives who we got to invite some friends that weren´t members.  We did a message about the book of mormon.  It went super well.  She is stoked and wants to learn more.  She is inviting us to her birthday and everything!  That will be cool.  Cake and a future baptism. 

 

 We are starting to have success though so thats good.  Also that night we went to a members house that was celebrating the birthday of her mom and an Elder we live with.  The member is so cool and it was a lot of fun. 

 

Oh Sunday we came home that night and there was a birthday party for a young kid so because its brasil everyone was extremely drunk!  But as i was going by this guy grabbed my arm and was like hey take a picture.  I didn´t want to but he would let go of me so i´m probably going to be on facebook or youtube with a drunk guy just what i want.  Elder Polatis a kid that live in our house just laughed.  He was with me when it happened.

 

So it was the first week in the Branch.  We had 45 people.  A big jump from 170.  But it was good.  It looks like everyone wants to work more and help us baptise people.  I´m hoping that we can have success and help this branch grow.  If the members help it will grow!

 

Did you get a letter with a arrival photo in it?  When i got here to brasil not california.  If not let me know and i´ll get one sent or tell the office to send one. 

I´ll send some pictures.  We went to the levador today.  It was pretty good.  Got some good pictures.

Well i love and miss you all,

love,

Garrett

Hey family!

What a week!  A moose in the yard. That is crazy.  Its big too.  Hopefully it doesn´t do too much damage to anything there. 

 

So its going into spring there.  Its finally going into fall here.  It rained a couple of days this week which was so nice.  It has been so hot here.  I`m ready for a cool down.  Everyone has been saying its almost winter.  Haha winter to me doesn´t exist unless there is snow or its cold. Winter here is 88 degrees.  

 

This week was really rough for us. Our baptism fell because he met a girl that talked bad about the church.  Then we had problems leaving with members and finding news.  But this sunday the ward split.  So I´ll be in the branch now.  That is exciting.  I´m hoping that we can get some help from the members and make it a ward fast.   My comp and I aren´t doing super good together.  We just don´t see eye to eye on like anything.  Hopefully we can find some common ground somewhere or it will be an extremely long 5 weeks.  We do have  plans this week that should help us get more news.  Hopefully people that want to progress as well.  

 

So i´m going to the eye docter this next week.  My eye is super bad its really bugging me.  But i don´t think it will effect you guys at all.  I think the exam is paid for by the mission and the lenses i´ll buy with some money that i´ve got here.  I know a elder that is in good with an eye doctor so i think i can get hooked up really cheap.  AT least i´m hoping so.  The exam is on the 20th so if there is something you want me to get at the exam just let me know next email.

 

So the mate here is called mate chimarrão.  I think that its about the same or the same as what we had at home.  I didn´t see much of a difference.  I´ve just gotten used to the bitterness.  Actually it doesn´t even seem bitter to me anymore. Its just super good!  

 

Oh and we just changed from daylight savings time a couple of weeks ago.  Worst idea ever.  The time we´re in now is so much better.  I don´t like daylight savings.  

 

Well thanks for the pictures as well.  I hope that its a good week for everyone.

love,

Garrett 

Week 73

Hey Family,

Well it was an interesting week.  It was extra hot this week.  I almost died it was so hot.  But its cooler now so hopefully it will stay that way.  Its starting to go into fall so that is a huge blessing.   I did feel cold the other day.  But I think thats just because i walk around all day when its 95 and then at night whens its 75 it feels cold.  I´ll die when i get home but i´m so ready to actually feel cold.  I really miss the cold.  

The end of this week was terrible.  It is sad how distinct the sin is here.  All you can smell is alcohol and BO on Saturday and Sunday.  And then what you see is worse.  It makes me really appreciate what we have in America.  Quiet...I don´t even remmeber what that is or privacy.

So this week we will have a baptism.  I`m excited about that.  Its been too long.    Transfers came and I´m still with my same companion.  I`m not too happy about that but I´m not the one that gets to choose these things.  Hopefully it will work out alright.  The only good thing is that the zone leaders in our house are way legit.   

This whole week I was drinking maté!   With the quia and bomba!  Its so good.  And then if you drink it with a piece of chocolate in your mouth its even better!    Today we had a BBQ as well at our house.  The 4 of us.  It was really tasty.  It made me think of home and summer time. I miss eating meat.  They don´t eat very much here.  Its  just beans and rice.   

So easter is huge here.  Its one of the bigger holidays that they have.  Last year we did an egg exchange and they said they´ll do it this year as well so i´m stoked about that.  Also i know where i´ll be going for my birthday...the same place as last year!  So that is the good thing about staying one more transfer.  

This week i did an exchange with my companion from Eunàpolis!  It was so good to talk about the old days and how things are.  It is crazy how fast time goes by.  Its almost been 6 months since he was my companion.   I could be his companion again but i don´t think that will happen.  

Well another week down.  I miss and love you all.

Love,

Garrett

Week 72

Hey family!

Well this week was a lot better than the last.  We had a lot more success.  Finally!  I´m tired of all the partying they do here.  But it went well.  We got another person to church and should have one or 2 baptism these next weeks here if everything goes well.  But we will see.  At times there are things that happen to throw off the expected.  

During Carnival the people leave for 2 places.  Either the interior of Bahia or the Island which is near Salvador.  I hear its really really cool there but we´re not allowed to go there on the mission.  Oh well.

  So we were able to teach a lot more lessons this week.  I think we doubled the lessons we taught, so that was really cool.  It helps a lot when we´re having success.  The time is starting to go by super fast.  It finally was a week without anything to strange happening.  We didn´t have to worry about partying or crazy people, what a blessing!

  Caiden is 4!  That is super crazy!  I can´t believe that he is getting so old.  And that is weird that he´s gotten shy all of the sudden.  He wasn´t like that before.  I guess its a stage that most people go through and some for more time than others.  But i´m going to be 23 and that seems so crazy to me.  I´m old!  I don´t need anything.  Just send pictures or something creative.  I love those things they really help me out.  

Well i love and miss you all.

love,

Garrett

Week 71

Hey family,

Well it was a interesting week.  We´re not allowed to go to carnival but I wouldn´t want to here.  Its not like Rio.  Rio is better it has the floats and everything.  Here just has bands and drunk people.  Also there are people that go just to fight.  I´ve heard so many stories about fights and people getting hurt that were just innocently watching.  It is sad because it seems like a awesome event but in the end its just a lot of prostitution and alcohol.  

I´m pretty sure they have ash wednesday here.  I think I remember a lot of people celebrating it the other year I was here.  Its a catholic thing so it would only make sense to have it here.  Well I think its catholic..isn´t it?  And fat tuesday...i´m not even sure what that is.  So i´m not sure.  

The worst part about the police strikes is that the police themselves were the ones doing the stealing.  Or at least a big part of it.  It was police with guns against rouge police with guns.  They do all the raids because if they don´t and nothing happens they won´t get what they want in the stike.  The police are just corrupt anyways.  Its really sad but they do so many bad things.  There is always an article or the people talking about what the police did wrong.  Count your blessings.  If the police do stuff wrong at least they have to pay a price for it.  Here its really rare that anything happens.

So this week we still had some success.  We didn´t have really any success knocking doors.  But we got some good referals from the members and had one go to church!  So that was awesome.  Carnival will end this Wednesday so we are hoping this week will be good.  Almost everyone was like come back after Carnival...even the referals.  So we have a bunch of appointments marked for this week.  Lets see if they were just giving us an excuse of it they´ll be there.  

My companion and I are alive.  When we are teaching and stuff like that its not to bad but him as a person I get annoyed.  The only thing that keeps me sane is that there is a cool elder that lives in our apartment.  So we talk a lot at night.  Actually we are on a division right now so thats cool too.  But I guess i´m learning stuff...everyday.  Haha.  

Well I love and miss you all,

Garrett

Week 70

Hey family!

 

Well to relieve your stress i´m still alive and the strike is over finally.  It was bad.  More than 200 people were killed in a week!  And I have no clue how much damage and stuff was stolen in that time.  We were having to come home early each day because its just so much more dangerous at night.  Its all good now though.  They said the strike was about pay.  They wanted more money.  But the strike moved to other states now.  Its in Rio and Sâo Paulo.  Its the first time the police have striked since i´ve been here but i guess it happens every once in a while.  Brazil and their strikes its really annoying.

I´ve heard a little bit about greece.  That is horrible and all or Europe is in the dumps now with the economy?  Oh also I saw that Romney is doing good or was...i saw a his picture on the paper with something that he won some state. 

  This week for us was so hard. We didn´t get let into a single house knocking doors.  That hasn´t happened since I was in California.  But the end of the week things got better and we were able to mark some appointments and teach a little bit.  Hopefully this week will be better but i´m not sure.  Its Carnival this week and i haven´t heard anything good about Carnival.  Everyone that lives here leave and 2 million people come in from other places.  Its pretty messed up.  Hopefully nothing bad happens. 

So this week we taught a part member family and it was a good experience.  The Dad who isn´t a member had a dream that he was a member of our church and gave a blessing to heal someone.  He was like I think its about my time to go back to church.  Hopefully we can help him get baptised.  The only bad thing is they leave for Carnival and wont be back until the next week.

Well I hope that things are well there and that its not too cold here.  It´s hot here right now and super humid.

Love,

Garrett

Week 69

Hey Family,

Another week down and lot has happened.  This week were were lucky to find a lot of new investigators.  Finally stuff just started to click this week.  It was nice to feel that things were working out finally.  I´m just hoping that these people progress.  You are right Dad about not giving up on people.  We will drop them for a while and return later to try and help them realize that there is a a difference when we are there and when we´re not.  Hopefully they will progress this time around.  We will see though. 
This week something interesting happened.  The military police went on strike...which means only 30% of the police force is in operation.  So there have been these raids where people break into stores or enter stores and steal everything.  The only thing left are the shelves!  It is really messed up.  We have been put on high alert and have to call in 3 times a day to our district leaders to report we are ok.  Where i´m at we haven´t had any problems but in other areas it is really dangerous.  It is more dangerous now for us but so far no problems and i´m hoping/praying it stays that way. 
It has been really hot this week.  But at night its raining so it cools down which is so nice.  It is miserable to sleep when its hot.  It just doesn´t work out.  The worst part is its only going to get hotter.  Hopefully these months pass by fast and it will be winter again when its only in the 80´s not 90´s. 
Well sorry this is a short letter.  I think i´m forgetting how to write.  It´s probably just because a lot of the same stuff happens every week so it doesn´t seem different to me so I don´t write about it.  Oh well.  I love and miss you all. 
Love,
Garrett

Week 68

Hey family,

Well this week was an interesting week. It was super tired by the end.  But i guess that means time will go by faster.  My new companion is a greenie.  He is brasilian.  Its a little annoying to have to train.  He is always asking how to do this and that.  He said that he manly stayed in house at home.  I can see that because he was asking how to use the washing machine.  Thank you for teaching me common sense and how to do stuff.  I guess I took it for granite but there are a lot of people that have troubles here because they don´t know how to do anything.  I´m just trying to remember that he wants to learn and that is a good part.  I´m just hoping he learns faster than later because I don´t have patience to train I don´t think.  Too many things that try a persons patience on a mission.  

Oh the Nielsons the parents of David in the ward sent me a card.  If you see them can you thank them.  It was really good to see and read about their family.  

This week we are going to be doing a house cleaning with our investigators.  We don´t really have anyone progressing.  We´re going to get rid of them and find new ones that want to progress and will.  Hopefully this week it will be successful.  We did have the oportunity to teach a lot of of different people this week.  It is so interesting how there are literally bits and pieces of truth in all religions but there is always something missing and a lot of the time the people have questions about these details.  The only problem is getting them to follow.  We had one investigator that received an answer about the Book of Mormon and the church.  She new it was all true but can´t change the stuff in her life to actually follow what she knows is true. I think this is the sadess part of a mission...getting to the point that you can´t help people anymore.  Oh well we can only do so much.  

Well I hope all is going well there and that you´re not too cold.  Its still hot here.  But i think that i´m getting a little used to it.  It almost is uncomfortable in the air conditioning.  Well good luck.

I love and miss you all,

love,

Garrett

Week 67

Hey,

That is crazy that Moscow got hammered with so much snow that it made news in Utah.  But it sounds like it was crappy snow.  Well its as hot as ever here.  95-100 everyday.  I´m getting backed thats for sure...i´m using sun screen so don´t worry.

 

So I´m getting a new companion which is a blessing because i can´t stand my companion any more.  He is so annoying.  Its just a thing of most of the missionaries from São Paulo.   They think they are better than everyone else.  Its annoying.  I have no clue who my new comp is so i´m hoping he´s cool.

 

The new program that we learned is about using the book of mormon to answers question of the soul.  Its not really new its always been in the book of mormon it just hasn´t been used on this scale.  But its really cool and does work.  Just imagine receiving an answer to a question you´ve had your whole life.  Thats proof right there.  

 

I´m hoping the area will get better but i´m pretty sure it will only get worse.  Carnival is in 2 weeks.  Everyone says it is just hell here during carnival.  It seems like that now.  They have like no standards here at all and it suppose to get worse.  I guess i need to get prepared.  Hopefully its not too bad.

Well I hope that the roads are better there and that all is well. I miss and love you all.

 

Love,

Garrett

Week 66

Hey Family,

Wow so this week was a interesting.  I was involved in my first emergency transfer.  We got a call wednesday at noon and they were like Elder Pusey my old comp you´re leaving in an hour and Elder Miranda will be there.  It was a huge surprise.  We were just starting to get used to each other and things were wokring out better.  Oh well.  Elder Miranda is a great missionary he is just a bit annoying sometimes really annoying as a person.  Oh well...it could be a very short time that we are together.  Transfer are this next week.  But I´m learning a lot from him that i´ll be using in the future to teach and baptise people. 
Zone conference was this week.  It was really good.  I learned a lot of good stuff that will help in out.  There is a new program that the mission is using to teach.  It is so cool and really does help people gain a stronger testimony.  I wish i´d know about this earlier in my mission.  But at least I know now about it.  We are starting to implement it and we should have a baptism this week and the next and its our goal to just keep it going like this.  But we will have to keep working hard to make it all work out in the end.
There is a new Elder here from Spokane.  It was cool to talk to someone that new Moscow and that area.  I´ve been gone forever.  It is so weird that everyone is almost home.  I don´t have that much time left either.  The members are saying that now which makes things harder.  Don´t remind me so that I don´t get too trunky....haaha.
The spanish book of morman i got from a member in the ward.  I was saying that I wanted to learn spanish and he just gave me a book of mormon in spanish one day.  I didn´t complain. Its so much different than portuguese.  I´m not reading it to much anymore because I think it was ruining my Portugues.  But now that I have a Brazilian comp I might start again. 
Today was a pretty good day.  We went to an area close to where we are at that Elder Miranda used to work in. There are some really cool members there.  There is a family that returned missionaries married...so they live in the USA but were here for the christmas break.  They were really cool.  And were talking about the states and the snow and I started to get all excited.  Haha...i miss the snow.  Then we went Bowling with a couple other elders.  Its was fun except the bowling alley was a peice of garbage.  At least we had fun. 

Well I love and miss you all.  I hope that all goes well.
love,
Garrett

Week 65

Hey Family,

Well this week was a lot better for the help of the members.  The ward mission leader had a temporary job and it ended so we have been leaving with him a lot this week.  He is also preparing to serve a mission so its a good preparation for him as well.  It makes it so much nicer to leave with a member.  The environment is better because there is someone else there to help out.  Being around the same person everyday for practically every minute does wear some people down like me.  It was kind of funny when I came back to Salvador on the bus I was alone and everyone was like that must have been really weird.  I was just like actually it was extremely nice.  OH well.

So there was some good experiences this week.  The other day it was about time to go home and we didn´t know what to do.  So I was like oh lets just pass this house and see if this member can go to a lesson some day with us.  When we got there she was super sick and we were able to give her a blessing.  She was like I know this wasn´t a conincidence....i´m not sure if it was divine or not but it was a good experience none the less.

This Sunday a member left lunch in the church fridge for us.  We were all stoked because there was tons.  But we found out later that night that we had taken half of the food of another person.  I felt bad but it did taste good.  I guess the sister giving us lunch wasn´t as generous as we thought.

We had been teaching a really good investigator this week.  He was on the internet and read a lot of the anti-mormon stuff and still wanted to learn more and was eating it up.  But he told us the other day that we was leaving to go back to college he studyings in Campinas, São Paulo.  So we will be giving a reference.  I hate how that works out.  But oh well it will be a good investigator for them.

It is so crazy how much different Salvador is to the interior.  The people are so much more closed and unfriendly here.  I think its just a big city thing.  I´m more of a fan of the interior where people are nice.  But we don´t get to choose where we go to.

 

Love and miss you all,Garrett

Week 64

Hey family,

 

It  is so crazy that it is already 2012!  I can´t believe it.  I´ll be home this year!    

 

The new year here wasn´t all that great.  It wasn´t super loud because everyone left for the beach to watch the fireworks.  But there were some people that shot of fireworks and we watched those from our house.  But it would have been cooler if we could have seen the fireworks from the beach.   We tried to buy meat to have a BBQ but everything was closed at 8 pm.  They really do like there parties here so much that they  close everything.  So we had the new year with little food. Oh well. 

I think with it being the year i´ll get home i´m starting to miss everything more.  It would be nicer if I could forget what America or where we live offers.  But i think it was also it was because this week was tough.  We just met a  lot of jerks.  I don´t think i´m prepared for  Salvador.  The people are just so much nicer in the interior and its just nicer there.  Maybe President will send me back one of these days.  I hope so at least. 

  

This week we tried to get the help of the members.  But we would show up to leave with them and they would just give a lame excuse why they couldn´t go.  It looks like they are more talk than action here.  Hopefully thats not true and we can get some help this week. 

 

 Reading the Book of Mormon is an awesome goal.  I finished it in Portugues like 2 weeks ago.  Now i´m starting to read it in spanish.  I´ll see if i keep that up.  Spanish is a lot different.  I want to learn spanish but i might just wait until after the mission...we will see. 

 

Well i hope that you all have a good week there.

love and miss you all,

Garrett