Culture shock! Elder Henry is home!!!

Elder Henry has actually had a pretty good time adjusting back to normal life, but I was typing some of the funny things he said when we first got him back from Brasil. Oh and btw, the family from last week did get baptized, yay Facebook for keeping in touch with members from your mission.  Enjoy!

THERE HE IS!!!!!!!!

Ahhh!!!!!!!!!

The Mom hug!!!

Family hug!

Tori taking a photo with her "new" phone (aka Sherry's old phone)

I couldn't stop hugging him or smiling!

WHOA this phone is like a computer!!!

He looks great!

Good old American Root Beer.

Tori also inherited Sherry's guitar

Elder Henry and Sister Henry in the MTC!  I LOVE THIS PHOTO!!!!!

Seeing Sherry at the MTC

Reunited with Gran Gran

Sherry's good friend Andrew served in the mission next to Michaels so I made them wear their matching soccer jerseys for  a photo to send her!

Michael's initial reactions to the USA:

These cars are so big!

I love carpet!

The highway is so big!

Tina is so fat!

Is the cell phone 3g or 4g?

What can you all do on the cell phones?

Oh look its the carpet in our house (Tori showing him a photo of the cats)!!!

Every single house has 4 or 5 dogs and there are lots of street dogs they are nasty they bite they have Sarna a black skin disease you can get from them they are all deformed. Terrible smell.

The cats take care of themselves

Telling us about how the Brazilians thought mild mexican food was so spicy

BAH is an expression of surprise or excitement

Uhhu means yes or uh huh

MOM! I want to do all the laundry when I get home! I can't wait to use a dryer instead of hanging everything! And I want do all the dishes!!!

Where are the dirt roads?

Wait we have unlimited minutes?!!! In Brazil I had 100 minutes a month! The United States is great!

I'm cracking myself up with my own accent! English is weird!

SCREENS ON THE WINDOWS!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE AMERICA!!!!!

The first time he ate tacos, without hot sauce, he thought they were spicy.  hahaha!

Elder Henry's letter 1/21/13

Dear Dad,

I'm sitting here cracking up about the whole Bishopric rule XD. What apostasy is happening in the North Stake, the Bishop is merely a leader not a saint or an apostle. Oh my goodness, I would have just walked out at that moment... Anyways pretty ridiculous.

When I tell people here about church schedule there they are absolutely horrified. Here you only have 2 wards per building, its pretty rare to have 3, and normally you just have one. Also when you have 2 wards, one starts at 8:30 with the class block first, and the other starts at 9:00 with sacrament meeting. Then our ward, Gravataí ends sacrament at 10:10, with Parque dos Anjos (8:30 ward) starting sacrament at 10:20. Everyone is done with church before noon. I try to tell people here that this is completely backwards but they think that having church during the hour of Lunch is absolutely absurd. Still I prefer 11:00 schedule ;).

Hehe, sounds like Spencer was a little bit nervous (his first time tracting with our missionaries) huh. I can remember being that way as well all those years back, its funny because teaching the missionary lessons is 2nd hand nature for me now that I don't even really think about it. I just show up at the lesson and teach. Poor Spencer first time with the missionaries. But sounds like it was pretty good. Also your missionaries should not be knocking doors, but should be receiving references from members. Tell Spencer the next time he goes out with the missionaries to take them to his friend's houses like Ryan, or Tanner's or someone with some potential instead of knocking doors.

I'm super excited for this Disneyland trip, sounds really awesome. I can't wait to get home! Wait a minute, February, you're already planning for 2014 right? Just the four of us, why would you exclude Spencer or Tori from going? Dad you are so silly, there will be 5 of us in 2014, are you already forgetting that I exist!?

Really it sounds like a lot of fun that the 4 of you will have. I bet they'll be super excited to hear the good news. I just wish I could go too! :P
Anyways I need to get going,

Love you Dad.

Love,

Elder Henry

Dear Mom,

They buy the plane tickets usually 3 transfers before we go home, and then I'll receive an official date. So probably in March-ish I'll be getting a release date, but I'll probably be home July 18th or 25th, depending if we have another 5 week transfer or not. (I just called the secretaries and they told me that July 10th is my plane-date, but its not set in stone yet, it could still get moved around. Also that would mean I get home on the 11th). (Mom: my friends all know when their missionaries are coming home already and I need to get a couple days off, since they just re-organized my department at work.)

2. (Spencer started taking Economics and LOVES it) HAHA, I love it, me and my brother can open up a consulting firm together!

4. Well, about Sherry that's how things go I suppose, hope she is ok. I'm still really excited to tell everyone that my sister is going on a mission ^^. Oh and I'm totally rooting for Brasil I hope you know. I want all my siblings to serve missions in Brasil >:). (I told him we are hoping for Italy, for her opera singing,which didn't fly with him apparently haha)

6. Spence is awesome :D (In response to telling him Spencer went out with the missionaries for the first time)

My heart broke a little bit when I heard that Chip left the Ducks... Oh well that's how things go.

Also those pictures were pretty funny :P.

We had another pretty normal week this week. N is doing really great. I'm really happy with her progress and went to church this Sunday as well. Hopefully this week we'll be able to resolve her doubts and help her to understand and develop a desire to be baptised.

We had a couple more investigators at church for the first time this week. The first one is named A. He and his brother went to church for the first time and really enjoyed themselves :). Its a little bit difficult to meet with him because he works swing shift, basically all the hours that we work XD. So we have to visit him in the morning hours, but we'll see more of what he thought of church on Thursday.

Finally we had a less active member come to church with her son who's not a member. His name is A, and he's a young man, 15 years old. He's actually really cool, and when we taught him this week he really payed attention to what we were saying and liked what we had to say :). It also looked like he made friends really quickly with the other Young Men. Only problem is he's really hard to find at home as well.

Hopefully this week we'll be able to find a few other new investigators and help them to progress as well as mark dates with these investigators. Feburary should be another good month of baptisms as these 4 all have good potential to be baptised :). I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of missionary work after all this time.

Love you all, thanks for writing me.

Love,

Elder Henry

Happy in Gravatai

Looks like Elder Henry got salad and not Churrascos that night.  Elder DePena from Cape Verde Africa is his companion.

Dear Mom,

We had a really fun Zone P-day today, we went and climbed a small hill 14 missionaries together.  It was pretty cool, afterwards we headed to the Stake Presidents house and had a big old Churrasco, I ate waaaaay too much.  We also played a little bit of soccer and had a great time just enjoying one another's company.

Last week was pretty awesome.  V and B are really excited to be baptised this Saturday.  They both have given up coffee already and are preparing themselves.  Its really funny how you can teach someone and teach and teach, until you are blue in the face and nothing happens.  Then you knock on the door of someone who is searching for the gospel and they completely open up.  Its amazing to see the change in the lives of the people you are teaching and how powerful the gospel of Jesus Christ really is.

I had a pretty cool experience this last weekend as well.  I was fasting for one of our investigators, R, who really wants to be baptised but was unsure of the day.  We marked a goal for him for the 12th of January but he wasn't sure that that was the time.  I prayed, and fasted this weekend for him to have an experience that would help him to know that he is ready for baptism.  Sunday after church we finished our fast and taught a lesson to a new investigator.  Then as we left the lesson, I had the feeling that we should go to R's.  We hadn't planned this and had other appointments that we were already late for but I decided lets try and call someone for a ride and then we'll have time to go to R's.  We called, and no one responded.  Still I decided, well lets just go to R's and then everything will be fine.

We showed up at R's house and his Dad answered the door.  Turns out R wasn't home.  Well shoot, I thought, what are we going to do next?  Then R's Dad told us that R was at the bishops house.  I then turned to Elder De Pina and said, "What do you think should we go the bishop's house?"  After a few moments we both decided that we should go.  We arrived there and talked with R, and sure enough in response to my fast and prayers, R's doubts were gone and wants to be baptised this Saturday.  What a great response to prayer and fasting.

Other than these three we are working hard to find new investigators, we don't really have any more investigators that are progressing towards baptism.  I'm really quite happy here in Gravataí.

Thanks Mom and Dad for always being there to help me with my life and mission.

Love,

Elder Henry


Dear Dad,

Great news to hear that the Ducks won the bowl game.  Thank goodness! The huge wooden O sounds super cool.  Oh the simple things that please a Ducks fan ;).  

Its funny to think that Basketball season this year you won't be organizing.  Like I know you'll participate just like every year, but you'll be a lot less involved then in the other years. 

How I do miss the snow.  The worst part is I won't even get to play in the snow until NEXT December/January.  *sigh* Sooooo faaaaaar away...  Oh well there are worse things that can happen to a missionary than be far away from snow for 2 years, right?

I better get going, I love you Dad.

Love,

Elder Henry

Elder Henry~Gravatai 10/29/12

 

Elder Henry, Miguel R's Home Teacher, R. and Elder Roman at R's baptism =)

Finally I have a decent amount of time to write to you guys!  I'm really grateful for the help with those essay questions, I've forgotten a lot of the eloquence of English writing (not that I was ever all that good with English in the first place).  The questions looked a lot better after the revisions.  I just put all the questions in the boxes and submitted my application for BYU.  All that's left now is to wait until February/March and see what happens.

     I'm glad you are enjoying The District (a show on BYU-TV, Michael doesn't know this is the second season, not the ones he has seen).  It's actually pretty old, the missionaries had it for training purposes even before I left on the mission.  I think its about 2-3 years old, and I've watched it over and over and over, but it is pretty much what life was like in California.  Of course they weren't serving in Compton, its most similar to when I was in Whittier so far as demographics go.  Yes it does feel like a long time since I've been in Long Beach even though its only been about 6 months.  I'm 100% Brazilian nowadays. (Well as far as an American can be Brazilian)

     Politics are such a funny thing.  Here in Brasil all I ever here is how amazing the political system in America is, and how great it would be to be an American citizen.  Here in Brasil all the politicians do is rob rob rob rob rob.  For example, a city councilman in Vancouver receives something like $30,000 a year in compensation for his work.  Certainly a nice bonus, but nothing unreasonable as he will have to continue to work at his other job in order to continue to live.  Also Vancouver has 5 city councilors. Gravataí is a little bit bigger than Vancouver with about 250,000 people but its more or less comparable.  Here they have 25 city councilmen that gain R$10,000 per month, or $60,000 (american) a year.  Plus for every act they make they gain 30% of the expected cost of the bill.  So if they make a great big bill to build a hospital for 200,000,000 Reais, they'll gain 60,000,000.  Its absolutely absurd!  I've learned to appreciate our politicians much more, because for all their faults, at least they are working to gain an honest pay unlike the politicians here.

     I've never been robbed on the mission, but I always keep a little bit of money on me to give to thieves if I were robbed.  Fortunately I'm working in a very nice neighborhood, Gravataí really doesn't have nearly as much criminality as Porto Alegre.  Also I keep my money and my ID in different places, and Identity theft isn't a huge threat here (criminals are pretty stupid here), plus my Passport is locked away safe in the vaults of the Mission so I'll be able to return one day ;).

     I see Elder Glessing every now and then, but we are in different zones for the moment so I haven't seen him for about 4 months.

     Yup I can buy milk chocolate here, even Hershey's Chocolate.  I never thought I would see the day when I thanked Wal-Mart, but thanks to wal mart I have almost all the American products I'm used to.  The only things I don't have are Dr. Pepper and Root Beer :(.  Also walmart brand peanut butter isn't all that good, but its better than nothing.

As for my Christmas Wishlist:

Photos from everyone at home

And I have one really weird request, Could you send my decks of Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon cards down here?  I was talking with some people and they are really expensive here, so they make for a good presents, also helps them to learn English.

     So far as Weddings go, we marked the wedding for I and his family last week or two weeks ago.  Finally after a 5 month bureaucratic nightmare we marked the date for their wedding for November 24th, and the whole family will be baptized on November 25th.  I was so relieved to have that taken care of, now its just a wait for them as well as arrange everything for the wedding.

     S and N are on a bit of a hold, but they are only missing one paper and if everything goes right we should have the paper we need in hand here in 2 weeks, so they'll probably be married in December close to Christmas time.

     R was baptized which was very exciting on Sunday, and now we are going to work with his Grandma to help her into the church.  She was in sacrament meeting this Sunday and she really liked the church.  She also has a strong Christian background which means that the commandments won't be a problem for her at all.  I'd love to see the whole family in church together every week.

     Well that's pretty much my week.  Oh I almost forgot, this Saturday we had a huge ward party for the Youth to raise funds for EFY.  It was a blast and our investigators loved it!   I attached a couple photos of the activity.

Love,

Elder Henry

Dear Dad,

Man how I miss halloween, last year the missionaries got a TON of candy for Halloween, and this year nothing.  They don't even have Halloween here, how sad is that :(.  We had a pretty good week, and I'm excited to see our mission grow.  We really need more missionaries here to help the work.

     The LAN House is closing up, but thanks for keeping me up to date on the family.  I'm glad to hear Tori is working hard on her homework, and that the Ducks are creaming their opponents.

Love,

Elder Henry

Everyone gathering for the prayer at the ward party.

A picture of our ward activity, the place was packed with over 300 people who showed up.  More than double our weekly Sacrament attendance

In all last week I got really really really wet, but it was REALLY worth it :)

Dear Mom

I'm glad to hear USC was beat up by Stanford. Now the Ducks just have to beat USC and Stanford and it will be smooth sailing to another National Title Game >:). Of course I never really like the Ducks having a high number in the Polls, because I always get super paranoid that the Ducks will fall because they get a little relaxed.

      That's super awesome what Elder Oaks told the people of Utah. I'm sitting here in my seat just cracking up :P. It really should be a general conference talk, or at least published in the Ensign. One thing I've noticed about the politics here in Brasil is that there really is no hatred from one party to the other. Like the two major Parties here in Gravataí are 13 - PT (Partido de Trabalhadors, or rather the workers party), and 15 - PDB (Partido Democratico de Brasil, Democrat Party of Brasil). Of course Politics is a little bit different here in Brasil, they have 50 or 60 different parties that join forces in each city in place of our 2 party system in America. But really the fans of PT don't go around bashing the fans of PDB, and vice versa. Of course there are a ton of adds, and a bunch of music, and people waving banners, handing out pamphlets, and all that jazz, but so much as members and investigators talking about, "All the people from PDB are from the Devil, and we should use all force necessary to take them out!" Or "PT is just a terrible party, why would you ever vote for them". I asked Elder Roman if he'd ever heard someone fight about politics and he looked at me strangely like I had asked a stupid question. "No one here fights over politics, is it normal in the US to fight about such a thing?" Of course there are fanatics in every party, and perhaps because I'm a missionary I don't hear as much of the garbage that goes on, but its pretty nice not to have to debate politics everyday.

I'll fill out the form and send it in priority. Hopefully it will get to me in time, but we will see.

      Speaking of Sherry, every time I show her Senior picture to the families I visit, they are absolutely stunned. They say things like, "She's your Sister?!", "Are you sure she's not a model?" and all sorts of other things like that.

      So our week, well last Tuesday we had a bit of a surprise Zone Conference with Elder Mazzagardi, from the Area Presidency of Brasil. He gave a really powerful talk on pretty much everything, but afterwards I felt rejuvenated to go out and work. I love Zone Conferences, they are some of the best meetings of the mission, especially with General Authorities.

      We then spent most of last week finding... in the rain. It was pretty miserable, but its always 10x worse during the trial than looking back at it. Fortunately at the end of every trial are blessings, and the blessing this week was 11 investigators at church :D. I and his family were at church, and are doing great. They really remind me of the Gonsalves and Brown families, because they are so prepared to receive the gospel :). They are just waiting on some paperwork to finalize the preparations for the Marriage, and then afterwards the baptism! Unfortunately these types of things take a LONG time in Brasil, so we will see how soon will be the Baptism. Its looking like October/November...

      P and Alessandra were both at church as well. One of the talks at church talked specifically about how P's son Alessandro inspired the person giving the talk. She talked about how Alessandro had told her in Primary that he is so grateful for the sacrifices that his mom makes so that their family can stay together and always have food on the table. I'm hoping that this experience will help P to receive the answer she needs to receive her conversion, and be baptised. Everything is ready, I just am waiting on the Lord to give her an answer and change her heart.

      It really is an interesting event that happens when someone receives a testimony. Of course many people receive their testimony (principally people who were born in the church) through time and nourishment in the gospel. But with my recent converts L and L, it really was complete change in an instant. After an instant in a lesson, the Holy Spirit entered and converted them. Its absolutely incredible to see the change in the person from a person to a disciple of Christ happen so quick. Really its the best show on Earth, I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to witness this happen so many times on my mission.

      We are also teaching a woman named S. I didn't even mention her last week I think because I was pretty pessimistic about the whole situation. The first and second time we visited S and N were pretty horrible Bible bashes. N is a less active returned missionary, he served a mission in São Paulo Sul in the 80's and after a separation from his wife and kids, fell away from the church. A member in our ward works at a Market close to N and when he bought Cevada (a coffee substitute that everyone in the church drinks here) she asked him where he lived and what ward he belongs to. After he explained his situation she took down his address and passed it off to us.

      S is VERY Pentecostal Baptist, but last night we had an amazing experience with her. We were explaining about the Book of Mormon and showed her a couple of passages in the Bible that predict the Book of Mormon. One of the Passages was Psalms 85:11 (Which by the way is my LEAST favorite book in all the scriptures, because it really doesn't teach all that much, and is the only book in the Bible that people read here) which talks about how the truth will come forth from the dust. She wanted to confirm that, yes this verse exists in both my bible and your bible, and so she went and grabbed her Bible. She opened up to that passage, and she had already marked the verse in a previous read through the Bible. She really had no idea why she had marked it, because without the context of the Book of Mormon it really is a small overlooked little verse. But the Lord had touched her 2 years ago when she read that verse, enough so to mark the verse. When she saw that mark in her Bible, she received her witness that really what we brought to her home is the Truth. I hope that I didn't butcher this story, because it really was a miracle, from a Bible Bash, to a spiritual experience, complete 180 in our lessons with her.

      The last 4 investigators we had a church were M (a 13 year old young woman, friend of many youth in our ward), G and A(... I don't like to think about that situation), and V (who is still waiting on Prophetic approval for his baptism).

      In all last week I got really really really wet, but it was REALLY worth it :).

All my Love,

Elder Henry

Dear Dad,

I'm actually pretty surprised that the RAM worked for your Mac as computers can get pretty picky about their RAM. Of course I'm not all that excited to come home and see another MacIntosh in our house, but luckily I'll be headed off to Utah soon enough :P.

I wish that I had used my time more wisely in my teenage years like Spencer. He really is such a great kid. I think its super funny that he and Coby are training to be American Ninja Warriors.

Anyways my time has already ran out, I love you lots,

Love,

Elder Henry

Gravataí 9/10/12

Dear Dad,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  I did remember how old you are as well :P.  I really don't have a lot of time to write this week because P-days are crazy, but I wanted to send you at least a little note on your Birthday.
     I really appreciate all you've done for me, especially that you've always helped me to be focused on serving a mission.  Really this mission means everything to me, and you were the force behind me always helping me to get here.  Thank you for the best present of my life, and I hope you know that I'll always love you.
Love,
Elder Henry

 Dear Mom,
This has been the weekend of Birthdays!  With Bailey I know 5 people that had a birthday this weekend.  We had I (one of our investigators) Birthday on the 7th, Sherry on the 8th, Bailey and Alessandra on the 9th, and finally Dad today :).  I'm sitting in the house of one of our investigators using the computer while Elder Roman gets his hair cut, so if this E-mail gets cut a little short, I'll finish up later, just means I'm getting a hair cut :p.
 That's crazy that Lindy is way out in the middle of Europe.  I wonder if she is farther from Washington than I am.  I talk about our week a little more later, but it was kind of a let everything explode in your face and find out what happens kind of week.  Also its raining today.
So our week wasn't too horrible last week, but it was a challenging one.  Luckily it ended on a good note.  We also started teaching a young man by the name of L.  He's 20 and we found him through our English Class that I give every Saturday.  He went to church for the first time yesterday and liked it, and also is reading the Book of Mormon.
The reason last week was rough for us was, A) it rained a lot, B) most of our investigators weren't progressing so we ended up walking around a lot instead of sitting and teaching people.  Also Elder Roman and I had a couple debacles, but we cured those up quickly.  I'm grateful to have a companion that when we do get upset with each other, we talk it out quick and forgive each other within 15 minutes.
Probably the highlight of the week was yesterday at Alessandra's 10th Birthday party.  She and her brother, Alessandro (crazy Brasilians lol), have become my good little buddies ;).  We just have to help P to put down the one cigarette she smokes per day.  Very frustrating this whole Tobacco deal.  I've attached some photos of the party.
Actually I tried, but the computer I'm using doesn't want to work because it has an old slow version of Internet Explorer (yuck!).  I'll send them next week on a better computer.
Anyway hope your week goes well, I love you and pray for you always.
 Love,
Elder Henry

Elder Henry in Gravatai 9/4/12

Note from Mom:  I use initials instead of names to keep from offending anyone hopefully!  Also, I just love seeing through his letters as he grows to love the people and his companions whereever he serves (and there have been so many areas already!).  It makes me so happy from the inside out!

Dear Dad,
Its so funny, I was so scared to be a missionary before the mission.  I think back on the experiences I had with the Browns, and remember all the times I thought to myself, hmm maybe I should go visit Brother Brown, but then didn't go because I was scared.  Now I realize how AWESOME it would be for a member to just randomly show up and talk with one of my recent converts or investigators.  I'm glad what little I did had an impact on their lives :).
     Spencer is doing full-time Clark huh?  Smart kid, there isn't a day that goes by I regret doing Running Start.  Such a blessing, two years of college for FREE.  Just make sure you don't screw up your grades Spence!  You have to get into BYU with Sherry and I.
Is the Doctor (Dr. Who) the same still or did he have a change this season?  It hasn't died off any has it?  Or is it still as great as the first time we watched it?
     Hope you are enjoying a nice day off.  This Friday is Independence day for Brasil so I really have no idea what it will be like.
Lots of Love,
Elder Henry

Dear Mom,
You can let Tori know that she's right, there are no such things as screen doors here :P. 
     Our areas here are much bigger geographically, and more people live in smaller spaces here.  Our ward covers about the same size as our stake (minus Ridgefield) so its much easier for members to share the gospel with friends and co-workers.  Also here they don't hold very firm to the rules of boundaries when it comes to family, they just go where their family is, although usually the family all lives on the same city block.
     How crazy, Elder Clark has a baby (Jenna and Brett Clark).  I'm starting to feel the fact that I've been gone from home for a long time.  Yesterday I went to an investigators house, who's son was playing League of Legends, and I thought, "Great!  I can talk to him about the game and ease him into talking about the Gospel", until I realized that the game had changed so much in a year or so that I really had nothing to talk to him about... 
     Fruits are so much cheaper here.  66 cents per pound is expensive here.  Usually I buy fruits (Oranges, Tangerines, Apples, etc.) for 1 real per Kilo, or about 22 cents per pound.  I love Brasil!
One of the members gave me their cell phone to talk to someone (because here in Brasil the church doesn't give the missionaries an unlimited plan like they do in the states) and it had a touch screen.  I felt like such a loser because I didn't understand how to use it, I was pressing all the wrong buttons and everything pretty much exploded in my hand.  Tori's going to have to teach me how to use this touch screen non-sense when I get home with her tablet.
     Neither you nor dad told me who the Ducks were playing against.  How come USC is number one again?  Do the Ducks have the depth they need to support all the injuries they are going to have this season?
     The only other thing I desire from my Christmas package is Toffee, but I really have no idea if it will last ~2 months in freight :P.  Probably I'll have to go without this year.  From everything I've heard summer here is going to be scalding hot.  Around 35-42 degrees Celsius.  I'm not looking forward to it...
     So our week was pretty normal.  We ended up cutting a bunch of people that weren't progressing and went back to finding new's.  We were trying the normal methods to find and really nothing was working out the way I wanted it to, so we asked our district how we should go about finding people.  Like the States, knocking doors is ineffective and makes me cry (metaphorically speaking).  In response to our question our district leader, Elder Cefalo, told us about an idea President Pavan had given him a year or so ago.  Go put out a table in the middle of a park with a sign that says, FREE STUFF.  When people come to grab the DVDs of the church, Books of Mormon, Pamphlets that we have, get their address and tell them you will deliver it to their door.  So we thought, lets give it a try.
Of course we had your regular hobo's that see the word FREE and ask for stuff, and your bible bashers, but we actually had a couple really good contacts that came from Tabling.  One is named J, and she asked us for video Lamb of God.  We delivered it to her last Saturday and talked about the restoration.  She then told us about how she never walks by where we were and how she felt prompted by the Spirit to walk by our table.  Absolutely incredible!  We asked her to read the Book of Mormon and she accepted.  We are going back tomorrow to talk with her again.
     Also a less active member of the church saw us sitting out in the Park, came up to us and asked us, "when is church?"  Then yesterday at church she was there.  I couldn't believe the success we saw after just 2 hours sitting in a park with a sign that says free stuff on it.
     We also have a baptism marked this Sunday.  We are helping her quit smoking and she already gave up coffee (which is huge here, much more so than in the States).  Unfortunately her son was sick yesterday and couldn't make it to church, but this Sunday she'll be there again for her baptism :).
     Really there is nothing better in this work than to see someone accept the truth, and repent of their sins.  Such a burden is lifted from the person, and the Atonement of Christ is allowed to settle into their lives.  I feel so blessed to be a servant of the Lord in this work, because I have the privilege to see people change and grow and live happily with their families for all eternity.  What a Privilege :).
Anyways that's pretty much our week.  We were invited to speak at an Seventh Day Adventist school this morning for their religion class.  It was interesting, to say the least, but a very friendly atmosphere overall.  Out of all the other religions out there that I've come to know in my time as a missionary, the Adventists are one of my favorites.
Send my love to everyone in the Saint Johns ward, especially the Brown Family.
I love you,
Elder Henry 

August 27th, Gravataí

Family Home Evening with Ivo and his family and a family in the ward.  The kid to the left in the black shirt is a good friend of mine Nicolas.  He returned from his mission about a month ago and has been helping us out a bunch.  He also learned English on the mission and loves to practice with me.

Dear Mom & Dad,
What a weekend!  Sounds like you guys had quite the ride, and I'm glad everyone made it home safe and sound.  Send Grandpa & Grandma Nichols my love, and let him know I'm praying for him.  I'm glad everything turned out for the best, and that you can see the Lord's hand in everything.
     So now we have big Bear and little Bear in the family?  How will we be able to distinguish between the two?!  They can't both have the same nickname :P.  I had no idea Sherry was so into snowboarding.  I really want to pick up skiing when I get home, and I'll have ex-comps willing to help me out.  How crazy, Sherry will be skiing on the Alps 2013-2014.  Bah!
     A new senior couple has agreed to bring me a years supply of medicine in their bags so we don't have to worry about shipping it in, and I have enough to last me until they arrive.
So my week kind of turned out the same way as your weekend.  We had a lot of stuff just blow up in our face, but nothing really was damaged.  We didn't coordinate very well with the ward last week.
First on Thursday, we brought a bunch of Young Men to play soccer at the church, but the ward wasn't there.  They had told us every Tuesday and Thursday we will have activities at the church.  Turns out Thursday last week all the Adults went to the temple, so no one was there to coordinate the activity.  We had a handful of unhappy young men on our hand, but nothing too serious.
     Our Second boo boo happened on Saturday.  We had a big Choir Festival at our chapel last Saturday, and they had announced this for several Sundays in a row.  Elder Roman and I decided it really wouldn't be a very productive proselyting activity as most of the people would be from outside our area.  So we had planned on just going out and working, since Saturday night is a good night to catch people at home.  Turns out our Bishop had different plans.
     Soon after the Baptism on Saturday (actually during the Baptism) The Bishop yanked Elder Roman away to usher people into the chapel. Poor Elder Roman didn't even get to see the Baptism :(.  Afterwards we turned to leave and a couple of members begged and pleaded for us to stay but we had already marked commitments with investigators.  This did not detour our members from their purpose of convincing us to stay.  So we ended up rescheduling with our investigators and spending the time with the members.  We ended up not really doing all that much for 2 hours on a Saturday night, and the event ended at 9:30 so we ended up getting home late.  But our Bishop loves us, the members adore us, and they are helping us to find the elect, so in the end everything works out great :D.
     Finally this morning we went to the church to pick up some groceries that we had left in the Chapel on Saturday.  Turns out someone decided they needed them more than the missionaries and snatched them up.  Now I know I can't leave stuff in the church >.>.
     Anyway aside from this, the work is actually going along great!  We had an investigator, P, come to church for the first time this week, and she loved it!  She has already read the entire Book of Mormon and is reading the teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I've never met an investigator so golden in my life!  She loved church and is preparing to be baptized on Sep. 8th (Sherry's Birthday!).  Of course we were super excited to see L Baptised, she really moved a lot in her life to accept the restored gospel.  The work is moving along great, and have many other investigators with great potential to join the Church.
     Looks like time is running thin, so I'll wrap this up.  I love you, I'm glad everything worked out for the best this weekend.   Hope you and Dad are ready for school to start back up here in a week or two.  Thank you for writing me.
Love,
Elder Henry

The New Chapel at night

An overview of Gravataí with our new chapel right in the center :)

Elder Roman's Birthday, and Irmã Jove (we used to live at her house)

Le and her mom Lo (Le in White her Mom, Lo, is sitting down) at the baptism.  You can see my Chalkboard Display from my free English Class in the background. (names abbreviated for privacy)

 

 

Gravataí 8/14/12

 Dear Dad,
That's super exciting news about lithium ions in the truck :). Not quite a Tesla, but a huge upgrade from the 10-15 mile range we were getting. Speaking of Electric Cars, how are the new production line EV's holding up? Are they selling well or looking like another flop?
     The new sports court they have at the new chapel has a basketball court, so I took the liberty of purchasing a basketball to put it to good use. Speaking of which I spent quite a bit of money this past week and wanted to let you know where your money is going,
     Tuesday I bought some books from the temple as well as a couple DVD's. Including a hymnal for Elder Roman for his birthday, I believe the total came to around $35-40.
     Monday I bought some contact solution (20 dollars a bottle down here!), as well as medicine that the doctor in São Paulo recommended for me. Today I bought a basketball and a pump for another 20 dollars.
     I believe that's everything, sounds like you are enjoying the last bit of summer break. Here in 2 or 3 weeks everything will be back to school and in the grind once more. I love you and thanks for writing.
Dear Mom,
So the open house at the Chapel went just about as well as I expected it to be.  The first day, Thursday, pretty much only members showed up, I only talked with one or two non-members, but somehow other people were there that I didn't end up talking with.  Friday was a lot busier, and we had a good amount of members and non-members show up.  We actually had an opportunity to teach a lesson or two at the chapel, which was fun.  Saturday was the dedication and went well.  The new chapel was FULL of people, mostly members, but a lot of less active members and a couple of investigators as well.  I couldn't tell you what was actually said though, the Stake President here has an awful habit of mumbling his words, and we were sitting way at the back.
      Unfortunately I brought my camera to the dedication, but forgot to check the battery level before heading over.  After pulling it out to take pictures, I found out the battery was dead -.-'.
     I'm jealous you can hop into a nice cool pool of water, its steaming hot outside, somewhere between 28-30 degrees (C of course).  A pool sounds like a grand time.
     The work here is really starting to progress, we have a good teaching pool and a good amount of people who really show a desire to learn and act.  We had a really neat experience with one of our investigators, L. this past weekend.  She came to church for the first time, and she received a testimony of the gospel.  She felt something at church she had never felt before, (I.E. the Holy Ghost) and she told us yesterday that she there is nothing more important to her now than to continue firm in the church.  She has a baptismal date for the 25th of August, quite the miracle.  I don't know if I told you how we found her, but I'll tell you again.
     We were teaching her Mother, who really wasn't progressing at all.  We actually had returned that day to tell her that we weren't coming back.  In the middle of the lesson, L. pokes in her head (I had no idea she lived in the same house at the time) and asks if she can sit in and listen.  Of course we responded yes!  She then went on to tell us how she had heard about the Church on a television program (somebody named Dr. Ray) and she really wanted to know more about the church, but didn't know how to find out more.  Then just days later we show up with exactly what she wanted, from there she began to read the Book of Mormon, pray, and when she went to church for the first time, she received a witness of the truth :).  Its been an amazing experience all around.
      I. and his wife are going to go to the cartório (place where you sign marriage papers) this Friday to be married.  I'm really excited for their baptism as well (which will take a little bit of time, but I have some to spare).  I'm just sad for Elder Roman because we have 5 baptisms coming up and Transfers are next Tuesday.  Probably he'll be leaving and I'll be receiving a new companion.  We'll see though.
     Today is Elder Roman's Birthday, he turned 20 today so we celebrated by going to a member's house for lunch.  Only problem is the oven was all out of propane (instead of gas pipes here, we use propane tanks inside the house) so the meat didn't cook!  We waited for 2 hours and the meat still wasn't done.  By the time we figured out what had happened, we had to get going, but we had a nice little Torta de amendoim (Peanut Pie) which was delicious :).
     Also big news, starting next week all P-days will be on Monday instead of Tuesday.  So make sure to write on Sunday nights or Monday mornings.
     I love you all so much, thank you for writing me,
Love,
Elder Henry

Unity: Letter from Gravataí August 7th

Dear Mom,

Things are pretty rushed today because we are going to the Temple, and will take about 5 and a half hours out of our 8 hour P-day. I'm glad Tori had a great birthday and that she's enjoying her new tablet. It's so strange, technology is SUPER expensive here and no one has money to purchase anything. Like I haven't seen a single I-Phone here and I'm in one of the well off places in the mission. A lot of it has to do with the large tariffs Brasil puts on imports, but that's enough of that.
      Elder Roman is Brasilian, from Curitiba, Paraná (same state as Elder Oba). He's an average 5'9"-10" and very timid. Before the mission he worked, and his Dad was a convert and his Mom served a mission. He's also super young on the mission, only 4 months, so we are both learning together. Really though he's a great kid, I love serving with him. Its different then serving with Elder E Black, but every companion is different, and Elder Roman and I have finally gotten into our groove. It's funny because we arrived on the mission (officially) on the same day, so it's like we are two greenies stuck together.
      It's funny you should mention my organizational experience paying off, because I really do feel like that's one of my greatest strengths as a missionary. I keep everything organized both on paper and in my head so I always know where we need to be. This has really helped me a ton a as missionary, I know who we are teaching, where they live, when we can visit them. I know the members we have, their strengths, when they are available, and once you know all this its just a matter of fitting together the pieces to make the best invite possible to the church.
      My hip hasn't been bugging me since last P-day, I think it just needed some rest. Thank you for the Prayers, I know they helped :).
I'm finally starting to feel proficient in the language. Of course there are still people that are really hard to understand, but for the most part I can understand what people are saying on the phone, and in a normal day to day conversation I can understand what's going on and participate. I still forget lots of words though, and have a lot to improve on, but I've been noticing that my fluency has improved a lot. Of course some days are better than others and some days I struggle to explain a first lesson, but its steadily getting better and better.
      Thanks for being a support for Kelsey, I know that she really appreciates it. Almost every letter she sends me, she talks about how you always are calling just to chat with her and always so supportive of all she does. I really do appreciate that you took her in as one of your own and have always shown love and support for her.
      So this last week was pretty much awesome. After about 3 weeks of trials in our area, things are starting to improve. I. and his family are steadily improving and really looking forward to being baptised. He wanted to bare his testimony in church on Sunday, but didn't know if he could. I love to see investigators develop a testimony of the restored gospel. Once again, just as Rio Pardo, where we knock doors are opening. Its absolutely incredible, and I don't know how it happened. I don't know what changed, but I think a lot of it has to do with the unity between Elder Roman and myself. Not that we ever had any problems, but we didn't talk too much to each other during the day the first couple weeks together. We talked about it, and both opened up a little more and we are really enjoying one another instead of just getting along. Its amazing how much changes when you have a companionship of Elders that really get along :).
      The whole ward is super excited for the dedication of our new Chapel this week. Pretty much every day this week we have something going on at the new chapel. We are going to pass out invites to the new Chapel tonight after P-day, and then tomorrow we have a training on how to give tours of the building, what everything is going to look like. Then Thursday, Friday, Saturday are the Open-houses of the Chapel, with Saturday being the dedication. Sunday will be our first meeting in the new chapel. The chapel is absolutely gorgeous, I'll have to take some pictures and send them.
      I love you a ton, and appreciate everything you do for me. I also received a package from Kelsey this week, so please let her know that it got here safe and sound.
Love,

Elder Henry

July 31st

Service project

Hey Dad,
All I know about the Olympics is that the United States is kicking Brasil's trash haha. Everyone down here is watching the Olympics, and from what I hear China has quite the competitors this time around. Sounds like fun, too bad I'm missing out :P. That would be quite a sweet job, interpret at the Olympics in 2016. I would love to return to Brasil for the Olympics.
That's super sad about E and S's parents :(. I'll keep them in my prayers.
Tablets are running for as low as 87$ now? Man that's super cheap. Here in Brasil everything technology is SUPER expensive. Brasil maintains high tariffs to protect Brasilian jobs, but it suffers in the world of technology because of it. Also Pirating is a HUGE problem here. Just about everyone buys all their movies and games from pirates off the streets. It's absolutely insane.
Anyways I have to get going, still need to get a haircut and finish up p-day. I love you, thanks for writing.
Love,
Elder Henry

Hey Mom,
That's great news that Kelsey finally got a teaching job! I'm SUPER excited for her, what a great opportunity :). I know she was really worried about the job search, and super relieved that she found one, especially close to Provo where her friends are (and BYU for future planning...).
My hip hadn't been bugging me until yesterday. Its funny you mention it, because the whole time I've been in Brasil I haven't had any problems but yesterday I started having a lot of pain once again. So I'll rest up today, took some Ibuprofen yesterday to keep inflammation down, and hopefully be back up and running tomorrow.
No I didn't burn a tie on my year mark. I think its silly to burn something I'm going to need for the next year :P. But I did end up getting a dinner of sweets on the night of. Other than that it was just any other day. Oh, but I did finish the Book of Mormon for the first time in Portuguese on my year mark, so that was pretty cool :).
I'm going to come back and finish here in a bit, probably 3 hours or so. We have a lunch appointment, and we are already running late. The stupid LAN House made me wait for like an hour before using the computer. Love you!
Elder Henry
OK I am back. So this past week was pretty normal as far as missionary work goes. We've been running into a lot of brick walls recently, which has been pretty frustrating. We are doing everything we are supposed to be doing, but not having a whole lot of success. We are working a lot with members and contacting references, but nobody wants to listen to the missionaries. Fortunately after every trial, there are blessings.
Right now we are teaching two really awesome investigator families. The first is I, L, L, and R. They are an amazing family and love the missionaries. Every time we go over there they have dinner waiting for us, and pay close attention to the lessons. Really a special family that finally after a long time, found the gospel. Its awesome to see how the gospel really changes and builds family relationships like no other tool on this earth. When people are trying to live as Christ lived, people still fall short, but they are able to get back on their feet and try again.
We are also teaching a Mom and Grandma (actually Grandma and Great Grandma, but you could never tell unless you asked!).  We taught them again yesterday, and the younger accepted baptism for August 18th.the older still has some doubts, but she has already read 17 chapters from the Book of Mormon, which is AWESOME! I wish all my investigators would read that much from the Book of Mormon. They weren't at church this weekend though, because their house flooded over the weekend.
Saturday night we had some amazing storms all night long. Boy am I glad to have a roof over my head after that storm. Nothing unusual, just lots of rain and thunder and lightning all night long. I slept very well that night ^^.
Saturday day L invited us to go to her 21st birthday party. It was really fun to go to a Brazilian Birthday party, quite the experience. In essence its exactly what we would have for a birthday party, just different food. We ate Popcorn, pinhão, candy covered peanuts, Mini-pastel, and other fried finger foods (they call them saldavels in Portuguese which literally means salty, so I don't really know how to translate...). I'll attach a couple pictures of the adventure.
Other than that, life has been pretty normal. Good news though, we are going to have a brand new chapel dedicated for us on August 11th! It's been under construction for about a year now, and just about ready to open. It's absolutely gorgeous, much better than the rundown school we've been using to meet in.
Thanks for always writing me. My companions parents only have written 2 or 3 times his whole mission, its really sad. I'm glad that you and dad write me faithfully.
Love,
Elder Henry

Foggy morning from our apartment

Birthday Party with lots of delicious food

Birthday Party

Halfway mark week for Elder Henry

Thank you Eddie Costa for posting this photo from a couple weeks ago in Rio Pardo.  Eddie was a missionary in PAN and returned to visit, these missionaries made him feel a little short ;-)

Dear Mom,

Our week was okay.  We had some disappointments and some upsides as well.  Pretty much right now we are just putting along trying our hardest and hoping something will come of it.  Gravataí is a ward, and really its a great ward, but has some things that we have to change up.  Its funny as a missionary I think of the ward moving SOOOO Slowly because they don't change things in one or two weeks.  Usually to get some callings moved around and change the attitude of the ward takes months, and I'm not looking forward to the long haul.  The good news is there isn't anything bad about the ward, our problems are really just that the ward members are so busy, as apposed to Rio Pardo where there was always someone sitting around to help us out.  Our ward mission leader has good intentions.  But with the move, he now lives an hour and a half away from us by foot, or an expensive 6 reais bus ride there and back to meet at his house.

Man I do miss American pizza.  They don't use tomato sauce on their pizza down here, just meat and cheese, which took some getting used to at first, but now I enjoy the stuff.  Still its expensive to order Pizza here, and its not like the members feed us pizza for lunch like they did in the states either.

Its funny that you mention election coverage, because almost EVERYONE here asks me about American Politics.  One thing I kind of knew about the world before I came to Brasil, is the whole WORLD watches American Politics.  How strange is that, I mean to us watching Mexican, Canadian, European, Brasilian, even Chinese politics would be unusual for the average day joe.  Also everyone here has an opinion, mostly that they HATE Bush, and are luke-warm for Obama.

So far as mosquito nets go, there aren't any real problems with Mosquitoes down here, its only in the North that they use them, and then only rarely.  If you want you can send down another thing of Off (liquid style not propellant) but I have a ton still and don't really need to use it during the Winter.

I've been collecting recipes of Brasillian Desserts and Foods while I'm here.  So far I've successfully made Torta de Bolacha, Docê de Arroz (rice pudding), and today I made something called Danonhinho.  Also I'll probably make Pudding (Flan) here someday soon.  The stuff is actually really good ^^.  Almost all of the desserts here are based off of Cream and Condensed Milk, so they are all rather easy.  Hopefully I'll be able to find all the ingredients in the States and will be able to make them for you all when I get home.  I know we don't have Docê de Leite in America, but I found a recipe (its actually pretty easy, just milk and sugar and then heat and stir) and will perfect it!

I actually don't believe I've been a missionary for a whole year (well this coming Friday will make a year) already.  I really feel like its been about 6 months, and that things are finally clicking for me as a missionary.  Especially last transfer with Elder Black, we just did the things we knew, learned, were taught and everything worked out perfectly.  Right now I'm doing the same thing with Elder Roman.  The process takes time, but everything will work out great in the end.  I'm really enjoying this time of my mission because I really am right in the middle and know what I need to do, and have plenty of time to do it.

Speaking of our area we've been shifting a lot of our teaching pool around recently.  Pretty much everyone that was in our teaching pool to begin with have been moved aside, and we are working to help our new investigators to progress.  E and M weren't baptised last week because E ended up drinking once again.  They also didn't go to church this week, and I'm not sure there is much more we can do for them.  At some point they have to choose which is more important to them, following God or succumbing to their natural desires.

Anyways my time is just about up for this week.  Sorry that this E-mail is a little smaller than normal.  Hopefully next week I'll have some amazing stories to tell :)

Love,
Elder Henry

July 17th letter--from Gravataí Brasil

Elder Henry (grey sweater in left of choir director) singing with the choir in Gravataí, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

Dear Mom,
I'm glad that you are getting pictures from other sources, because I'll have just that many more when I come home. Cameras are a LOT harder to find in Rio Pardo. When I took out my camera during the Baptismal service, all of the kids from the branch came up and wanted to take a picture with it. I don't know if they've ever seen or used a digital camera before, probably only the ones that the American missionaries bring with them.
It's been a crazy transfer, I really wasn't happy the first couple days here in Gravataí. My companion Elder Roman is Brasilian, from Curitiba and I really missed Rio Pardo. My other areas that I've really loved I've had two transfers in, and I was super sad that I didn't get more time in Rio Pardo. The other part that threw me for a loop is the change in wealth. Rio pardo is out in the interior, and pretty much dirt poor, and here in Gravataí people are much better off. We have very very few shacks in our area, and most of the people here have cars, which is incredible for Brasil.

So far as Portuguese goes, I'm one transfer better than I was last transfer. What I mean by that is I've improved a lot from where I was, but I'm still far from fluent. I don't know that I'll ever get to a level in Portuguese where I think, "Now I speak fluently". It can be pretty hard some days, and especially with a native companion that doesn't speak any English, but its the challenge that I need right now to really better my Portuguese and get up and running.
That's super cool that you have bats in the wetlands now, all the better to kill all the mosquitoes! That's one thing I love about winter is I don't have to worry about freaking mosquitoes. Let me tell you I'm very grateful to have brought some "Off" with me, because I haven't seen any anywhere here in Brasil. I guess people here just live with it.
In the picture of the choir, my companion is on my left just so you know. We haven't taken any pictures yet this transfer, but I will repent of that soon enough!

So Gravataí is has about 20x as many problems as Rio Pardo, of course Rio Pardo was practically a walk in the park so I figured I'd be in for some tougher times in the mission. It always works out that way, pass through trials, receive blessings, pass through trials again. One of the biggest problems on our plate right now is where we live. We live with an older couple in the ward in their back house, which is pretty sweet. The only problem is it takes us about an hour to walk from our house to our area which cuts our proselyting time down by two hours. So the Assistants, Elder Allred and Persinger ;), gave us a call last week and said, "We have good news! You are moving!"
The LAN House is closing on us an hour early today for some reason. I'll come back later to finish up.

...
After a short intermission I'm back. Trust me, I keep my eye out for boys for Sherry. I already told Elder Black that I'd be more than happy to have him as a brother in law. He loves basketball, tall, handsome, a lot like dad, oh, and I forgot to mention, he has a Tesla ;), how's that for perfect match in families?
Anyways, other than the problems with our Dona, we have a lot of investigators progressing, VERY slowly which can be hard as a missionary. We also have been doing a lot of walking, and more knocking doors than I've ever done on my mission. The good news is, the whole ward is behind us in missionary work. The Sunday before I arrived, the whole Elder's Quorum each gave us at least one reference per person, and we've been working our way through the list. I figure things will pick back up after I have the area running the way I like it. I had the same struggles when I arrived in Rio Pardo, and its just a matter of time before everything is put back together.
I'm kind of excited to move this Friday to our new apartment. We will be living in a 4 man pad with our District leader and companion. Here in Brasil the only way you can get together with other missionaries for P-day is if you live together, unlike the states. So P-days are going to be a lot more crowded with activities to do.
The other really nice thing about Gravataí is there are no hills. It's very flat, which makes walking for an hour and a half not nearly as bad. We also have a lot of buses here because its a bigger city. In all, life is pretty good. We are hoping to have 3 baptisms next weekend.
One thing I wanted to put in my E-mail is why when you read Missionary E-mails we are always so excited for Baptisms. Baptisms are the physical manifestation of Faith in Jesus Christ and Repentance. What we do every day, what we work so hard to do, what we sacrifice our lives for is to help people to come to Christ, and receive the happiness that comes from his gospel. When we have baptisms on the mission, we know that our sacrifice of our lives really brought a change in people's lives. In order to be baptised in the Church of Jesus Christ, you have to be following the commandments of God, and so when someone is baptised into the church, we know as missionaries that that person is living the commandments, and thus receiving the blessings that comes from living the commandments of God. It is the most rewarding work I have ever participated in.
Anyways I need to E-mail President Wright,
I love you, and thanks for the support,
Love,

Elder Henry
P.S. Since packages can sometimes take months to get here, I have a couple of things that I'll be running out of in about November that I can't find here. Gillete Fusion Razor blades, Mapleine (artificial maple flavoring), actually that's about all I can think of at the moment. There's no rush on getting a package down here for me, but one thing that the office staff told me about packages is don't mail them in USPS boxes. Those are checked/taxed the most and sometimes they take 3 weeks to get here, other times 3-4 months. Just depends on your luck. You can try putting pass along cards taped to the box, especially those with Maria and Jesus at the tomb after the resurrection.

Goodbye Rio Pardo



The Baptism on Friday with L and G :)

Dear Mom,
I just got the news that I'll be being transferred from this area.  I'm pretty sad to leave here, but we finished off the week strong.  Last week was a miracle week, and I'll get to all that in a few minutes.  I will really miss Rio Pardo, and Isaac puppy for that matter!  I just got your e-mail informing me of the bad news.  The worst is since he died on 4th of July we will always remember the day!  To be completely honest I figured he would die while I was on the mission anyways, I was just waiting to hear about how he got run over or something like that.  I'm glad he just died of old age.  Although, kind of sucks that you just bought that invisible fence thing, and now you have no dog!
     Rio Pardo has by far been the best area of my mission.  I've been with the best companion of my mission, and I've grown a lot here.  This is exactly where I wanted to be this transfer, and we finished up with 3 baptisms, and I got to hop in the water as well this time :).
     I remember how fast you got me down to get my Driver's license, you couldn't wait, and now you are all, "We'll wait just a few more months"  Poor Spencer :P.  Sometimes being first born works to your advantage it appears.
     The Davis family in our stake('s son) married my mission president's Daughter (Hence Davis instead of Wright for the last name).
     So last week was a week of miracles like I said before, obviously finishing up with 3 convert baptisms :).  Last Wednesday L told us that she did not want to get baptised anymore, the day before her interview.  We tried our hardest to change her mind, but nothing worked.  We then went over to our ward mission leader's wife Nara and asked her to talk with L. At 9:30pm, L gave us a call and told us that she still wanted to be baptised.  Holy Macaroni!  What a relief that was.  The Baptismal services went really well, and we actually had a ton of investigators there as well.
    Probably the best part of last week was Sunday Morning though.  A family that we've been working with, M and J, came to church with their 4 adorable little girls.  Seeing them happy at church will forever be a treasured memory of mine.  When we arrived there for the first time, they were losing their house, wanted to split up after 10 years together and 4 children, and were absolutely miserable.  Now they have a new better house, they are still together, and they are happy.  The change that the gospel makes in peoples lives is absolutely outstanding.  There is nothing that could bring me more happiness than knowing that I saved a family from the pains of Divorce.  What greater blessing exists than this?
     There are a ton of amazing things up and coming in Rio Pardo, but the sad news is I'm being transferred, so it really has little to no importance anymore...  Elder Black is training next transfer, and I'm excited that his greenie will have an amazing first Transfer in the mission.  I just wish I'd be here too.  But what comes around goes around, so maybe I'll inherit another area just as amazing as Rio Pardo.  I have no idea if I'll have a Brasilian or American companion.  All I know is it's time to go pack my bags.

Love,
Elder Henry


We found a gecko!  How cool is that?



 Baptism on Saturday with W



The Baptism on Saturday, all looks normal, but something in this picture doesn't belong...
(Look under the chairs)