Sherry's home!

Sherry got home last month, but we haven't really seen much of her.   After we moved her things in, she took off to be with Granny (my mom Lynda) for 15 days in Baja!

Hola!

The beach to themselves

With her big fish!

The day after she got back from Baja, she went to the temple for the first time.

The day after that she took a bunch of college friends to Seattle

 



Chelsea, her roommate/sister from another mister

Then had a bachelorette party for Rachel

With the beautiful bride at Elephant's Deli

 

Was a bridesmaid for the first time

Luke doesn't want their kisses apparently ;o)
 

Reunited with some of her very best friends, and her bffe Sasha

 

 

Went on a week of amazing dates with Elliot

One of the sweetest and handsomest young men you would ever meet. 

 

And now is nannying for a week for two of her very favorite girls (the ones next to Minnie)

 

 

Before taking of to sunny Texas to be a bridesmaid for the second time, for Hannah!



All the roommates Freshman Year

Snapshots from Hannah's wedding!

 

 

When she gets back, she will be working two jobs to save money for her mission.  She leaves in 42 days!   So, even though she is "home,"  we miss her, a lot! 

 

Last transfer of the mission.

Vitor & Douglas's baptism

 

 

Transfers!  I'll be staying here and training and Elder Chidester will be leaving.  I'm pretty excited to train for my last transfer, I can't wait to see who will be my greenie :).
     One more thing about BYU, Elder Black said that there might be room in his apartment for another couple people and I would LOVE to live with him, but I remember you saying something about paying a deposit.  Is there anyway for me still to switch over to his apartment?  I'll see him tomorrow at Transfers so I'll be able to get more details from him. 
     That's super cool about the new mission in Vancouver.  Where are they going to put the mission office? 
So this weekend was the Baptism of Vitor and Douglas.  It still kind of blows my mind how many baptisms we've had, honestly it doesn't feel like so many because it was just one family.  We started teaching a new couple that went to the Ward dinner party last Friday.  There names are Chay (sounds like Shy) and Guilherme.  Guilherme was a really successful investor until the 2008 crash and lost everything.  We had a great first lesson on Sunday, and I just love sitting and talking with him as he pretty much went the same career path that I'm looking at.  Anyways they both loved the dinner and want to go to Church next Sunday.

     Well this E-mail is kinda short, but there wasn't too much more that happened.  I love you all.

Love,

Elder Henry

Burger King & McDonalds with Vitor on P-day

Dear Dad,
 Here its really common as well for missionaries to pick up 9-11 year old kids off the streets and teach and baptize them which I really just do not like.  If this family stays active and continues firm in the church, there will be many missionaries that come from their family :).  The gospel really works the best when the family learns together in the home.

     I'm pretty excited to receive my greenie tomorrow.  I'm really quite happy I'll have the opportunity to get a brand new missionary, although it is a really big responsibility as your trainer really shapes how the rest of your two years go.  I'm excited though :)

Love you Dad.

Love,

Elder Henry

Elder Henry May 20th

Beautiful family Michael, Elder Chidester, and Bishop Pugin baptized Sunday.

Dear Dad,

I cannot believe what I'm seeing. Just being here in Brasil see the picture of the Zilla (controller for the electric truck they built) sitting on you desk leaves me with an excitement that I didn't even know was there. Finally a -Zilla-. I feel like our little truck has finally grown up and made it to -Zilla- status. Now we, with the rest of the EV's will be able to dominate Tokyo with our ZILLA's MUHAHAHAHA.... err I mean drive the streets of Vancouver at a relatively normal speed for about 10 miles until our batteries run out of juice...

      Tell Marko to take all the good EV stuff out of his Fiat and throw it into a car that deserves to live. Then take that Fiat and through it into the nearest junkyard and forget about it. If there are 4 car dealerships that I have come to hate here in Brasil its the Fiat, Peugeot, Citröen, and Renault (with Renault being the brand of car I least hate). We are not missing out on anything car wise in the states.

      You always make me laugh with your reactions to Sherry's boyfriends. It's absolutely hilarious.

Anyways I have to get going. Love you Dad. Don't blow up your zilla.

 

Love,

Elder Henry

Dear Mom,

Yup, V is our next baptism coming up this Saturday.

      Happy 24th anniversary! Mmmm, Beaches sounds really good all of the sudden. One thing I do miss about the states are nice restaurants. Here you've got a ton of cheap all you can eat buffets, which was AWESOME when I got here. Now I miss going down to Vancouver and trying out all the little restaurants that they have down there.

      So yesterday was a record day for me. We baptised a family of 6 people, the most baptisms I've ever had on any one single weekend. I was super happy to see them finally come into the church, especially the Mom, who actually found what she needs inside the church. We are looking at about 3 more baptisms next weekend, and I'm super excited for this week as we continue our work. We also have a ton of references we have to visit and get caught up on. Yup we are pretty busy these days, which is Great! I love when there is so much work and so little time, because you just work all day long. Its awesome!

      Love you guys. I'm attaching a photo of the Baptism. The other Man in the photo with the glasses is the Bishop, and then the kids, and the Mom in the back.

Love,

Elder Henry

Photos and update from Elder Henry

With Elder Paula, one of the zone leaders



Bishop, Elder Chidester and me, Super-Heros of Mathias Velho!

 

We had a wonderful Skype visit with Elder Henry, and no technical difficulties this time (although he called an hour later than we expected, since our time changed and he didn't realize it).  He loves Brazil so much and he is going to miss Rio Grande do Sul a lot when he comes home he said.  They are working on continuing to build the ward in Mathias Velho, and his English is a lot better than it was at Christmastime because of his American companion Elder Chidester.  A few highlights:

They continue to teach and baptize people and have found a large family who are embracing the Gospel. 

The ward and the Bishopric are doing great things to strengthen the ward and even though they didn't like the food at his Mexican Fiesta, they appreciate the effort that was put into it and Michael appreciates that they still give him a hard time about it hahaha/kkkkk.   (kkk is haha in Brazil).  The family who's computer he used to Skype us was really funny and made him tell us about it!

Michael and his companion have lots of fun on Pday, they had a churrasco (barbeque) this week with an investigator and sometimes play games like Risk.

 He told us about some crazy things in Brazil like how there are dead chickens left in places as an offering and people go around with chicken blood on their heads to become part of some cult down there. 

He was sort of awkward like it seems like all missionaries are toward the end of their missions--it will be "fun" to have him home and adjusting (aka sending him to Provo asap! haha).

He will be training for his final transfer and is SUPER excited about it!!!!  He is not cruising toward finishing his mission, he really serves with all of his heart each day and we are so proud of him!

Elder Henry this week!

Looks like a delicious meal for the Elders!

Dear Dad,
Have I ever told you that whenever I tell people that we (mostly you) made an electric truck everyone just thinks I'm the coolest missionary ever? Thanks for that dad ;).
     That's awesome that you all went to the baptism. We have a pretty hard time in our Ward getting anyone to go to baptisms, so I'm sure the missionaries appreciated your presence.
     Our weather is FINALLY getting cooler. Last week was almost felt like summer again. I'm hoping it was our last week of hot weather and that from here on out it will start getting into the cool winter weather. It's a comfortable 18 degrees out right now, right where I like it. (Celsius of course :P).
       That's a bummer about the controller, but I'm kinda confused. How are you gonna get a Zilla? I thought they stopped making them 3 years back. Did they go back to making them again?
     I can't wait till Sunday to chat it up. Love you Dad.
Love,
Elder Henry

M.'s baptism!

Dear Mom,
Seems like you completely forgot that Mother's day is this week lol. From what I remember you guys get done with church at 2 right, which would be 7 for me. So I'm planning on calling home at about 2, 2:15 your time. Same rules as ever, and I'll use my skype account to call.
     Week was good. We baptised M yesterday which was good. Other than that we have been working and ended up cutting a couple of investigators from our teaching pool, but that's normal missionary life for you. We are working a lot with less actives and completing families and the like. The last two days have been pretty hectic with running all over the place doing baptismal interviews and service projects. I'm pretty excited to just relax a little bit today after a weekend rush.
     I got news from BYU that I didn't qualify for a scholarship because my GPA is too low. (its like 3.3-3.4 and the cut off for half scholarship is 3.6). I'll need to get a good job when I get home that's for sure, so I can pay for my schooling.
     That's super exciting for Spencer that he could go to his first Baptism where he helped out :).
I love you Mom, I'll talk more on Sunday!
Love,
Elder Henry

Sherry's fish in Baja

Of course Sherry caught the biggest Pompano that my mom's friend who fishes all of the time down there has ever seen.



They look so much alike <3



HOLA!

She is having a blast with her Granny!  What a lucky girl--who paid her own way for the visit I must add =)