#66 Christmas, a baptism is coming up and pics!

 Here's their Thanksgiving meal... (in Recanto)

 Carl wanted to show how big a mango tree is- Elder H standing in front of one...

 Christmas in Miracema with Elder P

(I asked for his help with the lesson that I am teaching this coming Sunday, a missionary perspective) So... I'll try to get to that question after. . . After I think about what happened this week.

Monday, like I said, we played a million card games and sat around in Palmas all day. Tuesday we sat around with Zezinho all day (eating giant meat feast and talking with you). Elder P saw his sister really quick, almost nine at night. He couldn't get ahold of his mom due to lack of computer skills on her end... But he will be calling again on Wednesday I think. She should be closer to home so she can find someone to help her with Skype.

The rest of the week went by smoothly. We were both exhausted beyond belief, and Elder P's foot still hurts from soccer on Monday, but everything went fine. Even without Monday and Tuesday, we managed to make a new record for us with lessons with members. That is a very certain weak spot in this ward. This week we met several. 

We also continue to teach Amanda, and we managed to teach her parents this time too. Her uncle died recently (her mom got back from some other state on Friday), and both she and her husband seem very interested in the church. So. We were happy to teach them. We set a date for Amanda to be baptized this week, so we will be working a lot with her this week.

Oh, and that was an awesome lesson. It's probably one of the first REALLY cool lessons in Miracema until now. They really opened up and asked a lot of questions that were just perfect.

And yeah, passes fast. My 'mission year' is ending today.

Ha-ha, a missionary joke:

Senior missionaries almost always say at LEAST once "You don't go home this year, nor the next year, only the NEXT year"

Think about it that way, leaving in 2014 isn't so bad. Starting at the end of the year you can only hear that for a little while. Now, what Elder Craig said last Christmas was funny

He asked for everyone to raise their hands if that Christmas was their last Christmas, a bunch of people raised their hands and he called them trunky.

He then asked for everyone to raise their hands if they still had one more Christmas, and everyone else raised their hands (me included), he called them greenies

Then he looked at president and said, "ó, é mesmo! Vocês não vão embora este ano, nem o outro, NEM O OUTRO, só no OUTRO!!! " 

Or, "Oh right! You won't go home this year, nor next year, NOT EVEN THE YEAR AFTER THAT, just the NEXT year!"

Hehe, he then called president trunky :P

Anyway, I'm excited for one more year, let’s see what I can do, what I can change, who I can help.

Sacrament meeting this week was also really cool. Probably the coolest one this transfer (transfers are next week yes). I have a couple of quotes to send you that I enjoyed, but I need to copy them from Elder P first. They read two quotes in talks, and Elder P got them. I'll work on copying and translating them.

Alrighty, to speak very truthfully, I'm too poor to sit here reading all of it... However, I can try to tell you what I've noticed so far.

In case you didn't notice, I'm not a studier. De jeito nenhum (in no way/shape/form)

So that was a tricky one for me. I had to learn how to study first. I didn't like it.

But I just started by reading the scriptures looking for stuff that had special meaning. Cool, there's a start (it's still a plan B for when I don't have anything specific to study

Then I learned to study more specifically. You start with a question or goal, and you try to find that answer. Usually for us we look for something for our investigators. When you depend on the spirit, you find yourself looking in places that you never would have thought of, just to find exactly what you need. 

For me though, the coolest part is when I study with someone in mind ( I think in my example I was thinking about Cleison), I find something to use in a lesson with him, but then I find that the majority of what I studied works out perfectly for someone else!

We were talking with Yuri as always. . . And he had some doubt (unfortunately you are working with the worst memory ever, I think it might have been the 'mark and the curse of the Lamanites') and out of nowhere those scriptures that I read that day came to mind (scriptures I had highlighted, but didn't intend to use with Cleison) and I shared them with him. 

In the end, I learned how to use one more scripture, I learned to study with the spirit a little better (pay more attention to stuff I read), and Yuri was able to benefit from what I studied.

When you study the scriptures every day, they become a part of you, and random scriptures will come to mind every time you need to say something. When you slack off on study, the scriptures that you used to know so well slip out of your reach when you need them.

I realize that my examples aren’t too awesome. . . I like to agree with Mormon and Moroni in saying that my power in writing is much weaker than my power in speaking (not that I'm a fantastic speaker either...) But at any rate, I hope that that helps a little bit.

Talk to you next week!

#64 Hammocks and fans

Ward clerk huh? (Jarett’s new calling) Haha! I always thought of those guys as the nice-weird-nerdy-guys-that-I-never-meet.

Pois é...

Now that I'm a missionary (and as a missionary in Brasil, I am basically a third of the ward...) I have met quite a few clerks. And yes, busy busy. Good luck! But it's really cool too. He at least gets an assistant right? I've passed through both:

-Largish ward with one clerk

-and Largish ward with four

I think I'll just come home speaking Portuguese. (In an attempt to baffle Marques) If he tries to talk too much I'll just respond in a language that he won't understand :P But it's cool that Marques found another boy to drain his blabber at.

Permit... Maryn... Remember that whole "two years goes waaaay too fast"? Well yeah. It goes waaaaaaay too fast. Next year huh?... yikes.

100s and thunderstorms? Is it really only 100? Elder P I have determined that just THINKING about going outside causes us to start sweating like mad. The only way to survive here is in a hammock next to three fans (too bad I only have 1 fan and 0 hammocks...)

The thunderstorms are super neat though. It's kinda rare-ish to see lightning at home (remember when DQ mentioned that she never saw lightning?) In Brasilia, the lightning is pretty intense. Sometimes it got to the point of turning off the light-detector on the street lights... But here in Tocantins. WOW. The lightning is every color imaginable. They have the yellow/blue, but you can sometimes see purple/red flashes too. The really cool ones hop from cloud to cloud and make a huge circle around the area. These ones you have to spot and spin to see all of it.

Less cool part: EVERYONE is terrified of lightning. Apparently it's actually somewhat common here. They don't have super tall buildings, so that doesn't help. There's also a part of the city called Cidade Alta 'high city' (creative eh?), and people there literally don't leave their houses, and most old people have been struck by lightning once or twice in their lives.

Slightly crazy.

Still pretty though.

City sign. Until now, not seeing one. I'll ask Elder P, but I'm kinda doubtful. It sounds very much like a Brasilia thing. (I have a collection of pictures with Carl by the city signs)

Baptisms no. One has a coffee problem still, one make their parents really angry and we have yet to meet with them (or their parents), and the other is simply taking a long time to teach. BUT, we'll get there. Oh, and the eternal investigator that needs to get married.

P-day... very good question. I actually already made that question, and didn't really get a response. the 24th is a 'super p-day' (granted, I think it's still going to end at 6... we'll see) but it's basically just a big party for us (even though we had our party a week ago...) There will be games at this party though, and soccer will be authorized for this day only (yeah, it's banned now. been about a month) In general, I'm not superly-overly-excited... but whatever. Elder P said he'll pitch a fit if we don't get to go to the lan house next week, so chances are I'll get to email. But I'm not positive about that.

As for a computer, I still don't know which family we will go to. We have a few options, but almost none of them will be at home. However, if nothing else goes right, the bishop and Rosa (neat lady who went to Rio for the next two months) will have someone staying in their houses... and they invited us to use their computers. 

Problem. The most likely is the bishop. And he lives VERY far away. Ish

The sun makes it a lot farther.

YAY for boxes! No idea when they will get here. But yeah, shouldn't be much longer no.

When I send my box, I'll just invent a different name for it, because it'll be really late for a Christmas box. Any ideas yet on things that any of you would like to have from here? Other than the fruits... can't send those :P

And yes, I got the Skype stuff. So I should be able to log in just fine, the surprise will be where and when.

But yeah, I really don't have much news for this week. On Thursday or Friday we ate something that didn't like us much. Elder P was half-dead on Saturday, so we stayed in the house until 'the sun went down' (orders from the LZs) thing is... sun doesn't go down until almost 8... so we just left at 6:30-7. Sunday was all weird too. I was super tired and without any muscles. My legs decided to not obey.

Other 'fun' news, few people went to church, only 45 people total. We will be doing a division with the LD on tuesday, that's always fun. And other than that, not much to report.

We do have some great investigators though, they just progress really slow.

Amanda and Mayara are really cool. Their grandma is a member, and got them going to church. With some time, everything will go well there.

Diego is really neat, and even wants to be baptized. Problem: he isn't married yet. Other Problem: he LOVES asking about 'deep doctrine'.

And a bunch of others that also seem really cool, but have yet to do much. We'll see.

Well, I think I'll stop there for now. I've already been trying to write this email for over an hour... the lan house lost power. Not cool.

Tchau!

Elder Funnell

#63 Christmas, hammocks and conferences

Well yeah, I AM in fact melting. Was it yesterday that hit 92? (weather.com said they were are 95, but it felt like 105) Because yesterday was "coldish". . . And it always feels like 700 degrees outside, dunno what this whole '108' is about :P

It's very seriously hot. And this is the 'cold' part of the year.

Yay! Boxes. I'll be waiting on those, and one of these weeks I'll be sending my late-like-always box of random stuff. Please tell me things that people are wanting from Brasil. Until now, I'm looking for Brasilian flavors in juice mixes and I got some goiabada (to which I'm addicted).

Haha, got away from the young men once more! (Jarett was released from our Young Mens organization and is waiting to see where he gets to serve next) Does he get to babysit the oldies again next? :P

Elder P and I are getting along just fine. Full name: Elder P. We always have something to talk about, so the days pass without trouble. We are also teaching quite a lot. The first time without a lesson was last night actually... He just said "let's knock on doors then!" to which I was NOT excited... Never does much in Brasilia.

So we knocked on a door, and an older man answered. He was leaving, so we marked for today. He also gave a reference for the people next door, who invited us in and offered us dinner without even presenting ourselves. We had a cute little lesson there.

Tocantins is neat.

That stuff doesn't happen in Brasilia. (They didn’t have many people invite them in off a door knock)

(Marques had said that we were extra busy last week because we had church related things going on 6 out of 7 nights, so that would make Carl SUPER busy) Makes sense that I would be busy then... But I really am! In any perspective of the word. Missionaries are always running around like crazies. They just try not to LOOK too crazy.

The ward is certainly not the same as the Recanto... But. Work with what you got eh? There are some really cool people either way though, with any luck we will be getting 2-4 baptisms closer to the end of the transfer (6 week, not 5, ends on the 6th)

Oh, stuff for boxes can come in any order really... I'm not being too picky. Just when it's convenient. Oh oh, and I'll be writing letters today too. So Blake can chill :P

Sister Gaertner was happy with me though. She suggested this a long time ago, and few people do it. (He walks around with an umbrella to help in not getting sunburned) Haven't heard of cancer recently though, so maybe everyone started using sunscreen better.

This week we had conferences . . . I tried to say that like a Portuguese sentence... bother.

This week we had so many conferences it's just plain silly.

We went to Palmas (R$5 and 1:30min bus ride...) and stayed there two days straight. Thursday was the conference that I already watched in Brasilia, but this time with just one zone. It’s a lot cooler that way. President even said that he wants to do all mission conferences one zone at a time. But I didn't learn a whole lot of new stuff there. He just re-emphasized the fact that there are three methods to gain a testimony of the restored church (most people only talk about one)

-yes, read the BoM is one of them

-Pray with real intent (imagine the people that can’t read. . . they can still be led by prayer)

-Go to church (feel the Spirit confirm the truth of what people say.

And everyone will learn a little different. But it will generally be through one of these three methods that people truly gain a testimony.

That night was the first night I tried to sleep in a hammock. Problem is: there were two side by side, so it didn't work to sleep in the 'correct' form. So I abandoned the other missionary and went to the ground. Was less uncomfortable than hanging practically under him (wish I had a picture of that one, it was interesting. Like a bunk-bed, but it was a bunk-hammock) I really like hammocks... I think I'm going to have to find a way to use one at home... I'll just keep researching how much I like them for now :P

Friday was our Christmas conference. We talked a BUNCH about Christmas. I gave a talk (surprisingly, the first one I've given in Brasil) about The Birth of the Savior and its Significance.

Fine and dandy... but it was 7 minutes about that... when I can't talk about:

Prophesies of the Old Testament

Signs in the Americas

Signs in the Middle East

The example of Jesus Christ

The atonement

That limits my topic an AWFUL LOT. But it was fineish. Probably close to the worst talk I've ever given, but not too awful really.

Then we had a HUGE Christmas lunch. Wow. SOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! And huge. And really quite good. Wow. I slept PLENTY on the bus back home. Oh, I guess we sang at a children's hospital as well.

The Tocantins mission choir is kinda wimpy. Mostly because it's not a choir, it's just all of us. But whatever.

Then we had an area conference yesterday. 51 stakes (and 10 districts) in the Brasil area got together to listen to Elder Aidukaitis (spelling? and ex-mission president of Brasilia), Elder Ballard, Elder Gaverret, and Sister Stevens. 

Something cool you can say to other missionaries in Brasil: Sister Stevens talked about her daughter during her mission. She told this cute little story about how she got bug bites all over her legs and some cute little lady from Miracema helped her out a lot. Yeah, that would be the bishop's wife. This was before they were baptized.

The bishop called the mission president asking to see if the sisters could stay in his house until he found them a new one. So the sisters stayed there for a night, and the bishop's wife helped them out a bunch. This is all while the bishop's family was investigating the church for the first time, and it was these same sisters that baptized them.

Neat eh?

Places to go on P-day. Nope. You have to remember that shortly after I came to the mission the area presidency said that no one can go to natural cool stuff like waterfalls and the like anymore. Miracema has a bunch of stuff like that, but we can't go to them. This is also the area that Elder José was talking about having ancient Lamanite writings hidden up in the mountains. Yup, can't visit those either. I think.

Anyhows, I've been writing for quite a while, I guess I'll let you read it now :P

So tcha-tchau for the rest of everyone!

Elder Funnell

#62 Tocantins and It's FAN HOT!!!

Well, today I'm late, I know... but I'm in TOCANTINS!

First comment:

Oh my hot pandas! It's REALLY hot here! Really hot! Really!

The least hot time of day is at night, and as (I think Robb) said, "It’s impossible to sleep without a fan". When I'm in the house, it's fan-on the whole time. I would like to mention that I'm walking with an umbrella in the sun it's so hot... and I'm still managing to burn. Like, burn the part that was tanned-ish from Brasilia. It's kinda annoying. Oh and Deodorant…I accept. Has nothing to do with Miracema, I just forgot before. I'm very almost out of American deodorant (which is waaaay better), but isn't it neat that it lasted so long??? Looks like those fifteen million speed sticks you sent helped out. But I DO prefer the old spice stuff if that works :)

The bus ride WAS about 13 hours. Nice bus. Air conditioned comfy seats, and even a way to lie all the way back AND rest your legs on a... leg... rester... thing. I was by the window, which was neat, but it was from 7 at night until 8 in the morning, which is NOT neat. The air conditioning also was directly above me, so I was freezing most of the night.

But I made it here alive and I should like this area yes. I just need my body to catch up and get used to the hot already.

And I met Elder P (actually not sure if he spells it with an 'i' or a 'y'... I've seen both) He's from... wow... forgot the name... It's one of the southern states. Coldish there.

So when I got here, I had a district meeting (woo...) and another 1 and a half hour bus ride to Miracema. Oh wow we live in the middle of NOWHERE. We are the second-most-distant area in the mission. Guruppi (spelling?) is four hours from Palmas, and we are only 1:30. Granted, they are actually four hours CLOSER to Brasilia, and we are 1:30 FARTHER (I think).

(I asked what it is like in Miracema) It is pretty. Very pretty. VERY green. The only annoying part is that here has a smell too... In Recanto, there was a frequent sewer smell, wherever the crumby sewers blocked up. Here, there is a rotting mango smell under most mango trees. And there's a lot of mango trees. I think the sewer smell smelled better to be honest...

And there's bugs like CRAZY here! I haven’t seen any dengue mosquitos (only saw three in Brasilia), but there's a TON of normal mosquitos here, and BILLIONS of tiny mosquitos called pernilongos. They look like the itty bitty flies that are simply annoying, just that they suck blood too. Nasty little critters. The cicadas are really neat though. Fat little suckers that make noise all the time. It's neat. Lots of random fruits too. Lots of fruits that I didn't recognize until here.

So other than getting used to being EXTREMELY tired this week (dunno what's up, but this heat isn't being nice to me), drinking TONS of water, walking in a significantly less flat place, and sweating like crazy, everything is normal. "HILLY" no, but it's NOT like Brasilia. Brasilia is totally unnaturally perfectly flat. Almost like everything there is new and man-made.  (It is) Here is normal, and has a hill that divides the two halves of the city. And yes, we are totally alone. Closest missionary is 1:30 hours away. AND, just to be interesting, my cell phone doesn't work... I can receive calls from anyone, but I can't CALL anyone. Sounds like I'll be getting a new one this week though.

Elder P is really cool. He used to be one of those shy kids that just sat around playing video games all day. He also plays basketball, a very odd sport for most Brazilians. We are getting alone swimmingly. (8 months in the mission) I think he is from Nome é Santa Catharina? Sei lá! I don't remember the name now. You know when you are all brain mushy and trying to think too hard about something so you aren't sure what the correct response is?... yeah. I'm there. But I think that's his state. I'll try to remember better next week. I just know that it's one of the most southern states in Brasil. Closeish to Rio Grande do Sul. The (I think) capital is Florianópolis

Umm... The ward is good, much smaller than in Recanto, but that wasn't a surprise either. As always, the people that served missions are the most helpful. We had a ward council meeting to schedule a Christmas party yesterday.... THAT was interesting. In those two hours I learned a LOT about each leader in the room... I'm good at being quiet after just one week...

For the most part though, the ward is really neat. AND!!! I entered an area that is preparing four people for baptism. And they are all really close. YAY. There will probably be some baptisms this NEXT week.

Random note, last Saturday I learned how to do a magic trick with cards. It's actually quite neat. Toughie to learn. I'll have to send a video or something. Elder Amado did it too many times, and he doesn't do it very quick. Hehe. LEARNED

Boxes and stuff go to Brasilia, but they should come up to Palmas every two weeks or so, same as in Brasilia. I go to Palmas every Tuesday (plus an extra two times this week for Christmas conference)

I only pulled out R$50, because I still had a bit of reserve fund. Everything worked out fine there.

I know nothing about Christmas calls and stuff... So yeah. Nothing.

But otherwise, until next week!

Tchau,

Elder Funnell