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