Elder Henry finally getting transferred.

P-day Hike a few weeks ago

 

Dear Mom,

I'm finally being transferred tomorrow. I was pretty sad yesterday when I was thinking about leaving here and not seeing Gravataí anymore. But that's how life goes. I'm excited to see a new city meet new people, new challenges, but I will miss Gravataí. This is the area that I really turned from young-Elder Henry to veteran Elder Henry. We'll see where I'm headed tomorrow. (The tradition in Porto Alegre North is they find out at the bus station on Transfer Day).

This last week was HOT. Thursday and Friday both exceeded 100 degrees and we were out on the street knocking doors. Saturday was a lot better as it decided to rain which cooled things down.

I can't wait to hear the news about Sherry's call next week!!!!!

Tell Spencer that I got 100% in all my Economics tests at Clark. He'll have to study a little bit harder to be able to beat me.

Man now I have to pack all my bags. I'm absolutely dreading having to do that.

Last week was ok in the work. I feel like we are bating a lot of doors and nothing is happening. Maybe that's why I'm being transferred, who knows? I'm going to have to call my converts to let them know I'm leaving. In all I'm pretty happy with the work I'm leaving behind here. I had a goal of 12 baptisms in this area and ended up with 11, just one short. I've learned a lot with Elder De Pina as well, and really worked my butt off with him. We did have a pretty neat experience this week as well.

     Last Sunday (January 27th) we began to teach J. He's a complicated case as he's already been  wrapped up in all the wrong things. He said I want to change my life around, I want to be happy and have a good relationship with my Dad. We invited him to church and marked to return on Wednesday. On Wednesday he wasn't there and I figured he'd disappeared once again completely forgot about him. Then on Sunday while I was waiting for our investigators to show up, guess who walks in the door. J! We talked with him again yesterday and it looks like he really has the will to turn around his life. I was really surprised to see someone in his situation with the willpower to change his life around.

     Anyways that was pretty much the highlight of the week. I need to get going because there's a lot of stuff to get done today!
Love,

Elder Henry

Want to be rich?  Ask the missionaries!

For some reason they decided to spread all their money on the table and take photos.  Such funny guys!

 

Dear Dad,
     That's really sad to hear about taking away all of Isaac's things (our dog who died July 4th). The
deck will be so much emptier now. I suppose it will be good, but still its
like Isaac never even existed! That's how life goes I suppose. Just
think, your house will just keep getting emptier and emptier every year
that passes by now.
     I laughed when I saw your last sentence. I'm glad Tori is getting the help
that she needs. That's really the benefit of a family, is that you always
have what you will need and everyone works together to help one another.
I'm very grateful for having had such a great family and being raised in
the Gospel. The things you learn on the mission right?
     I gotta go, but I love you Dad
Love,
Elder Henry

Dear Gran Gran,

     How I miss swimming in the ocean. Especially on a really hot day, there's nothing like being on the beach in the ocean with a nice breeze. After living here in Brasil I don't think I'm EVER going to want a dog ever again. There's nothing worse than dogs barking at you all day long when you are trying to work.

     It's not official yet but it looks like I'll be leaving here on July 10th and arriving there July 11th. We'll have to see if the date moves. In about a month or so I'll have the plane tickets already booked.

Got to go. Love you!

Love,

Elder Henry

Elder DePina at the top of the mountain they climbed on p-day.  Look at the pretty foliage too!

 

Elder DePina and another missionary enjoying delicious food! And Pepsi it looks like, not Coke?!?! =)

Excitement for Sherry & what a mission has done for Elder Henry

Elder Henry and soon-to-be Sister Henry

                    

 

 Dear Mom,

Happy Birthday Aunt Vikki! I hope you have a wonderful year, and can't wait to see you this Summer :).

Man it really is exciting to know that Sherry's going to be heading out on a mission. What's even funnier is that two years ago this time of the year I was finishing up my papers and receiving my call. Now Sherry will be getting her call, and probably headed out before I get home :O. Imagine, almost 4 years without seeing Sherry.

     Also I wouldn't ever want anyone to get called to California. Not that I didn't love my time there or anything, but I simply do not like California. Plus I want my sister to have to walk as much as I do, and if she serves state-side she'll drive all day long. Cabo Verde would be really cool, but my heart is set on Brasil. We'll see though, where she'll end up serving. My guess is Italy.

     I'm not quite sure I feel like I'm on top of things now as a missionary. I think its just because after all this time I have experience and I know what to do and when to do it. I suppose that this is normal on the mission when you are in the last 6 months but I don't have any problems with Português, I know how to get along with difficult companions, I know how to work with the members, I know what a weak investigator looks like and what a golden investigator looks like, and I have enough experience balancing all the different parts of missionary work that I finally feel like I'm not running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Missionary work is normal to me now. I feel like all the techniques I've learned in the mission I'm finally mastering.

     "What are some of the things the mission has done for me?"

How can I explain the answer to this question. I've completely changed on the mission, not so much my physical appearance or what I like or any of the normal things, but my entire perspective in life has changed. Some of the things I've learned are Patience, Planning, Practice, Charity, and of course a new language. I guess what I've learned the most on the mission though is who I am. I am a Priesthood Holder. I am a child of God. I am someone who has faith sufficient to bring about miracles. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am a Christian, and live to serve others above myself. These are invaluable lessons that I've learned about myself. Before the mission I didn't truly understand Faith and the Power of the Priesthood. I knew what it was, I could define it for you, but I never understood the power that it contains, and now I understand so clearly how it all works. It's incredible how the mission changes your perspective of a church I've been a member of since 8 years old.

     This last week was pretty good until Sunday. Sunday was the first week in months that none of our Investigators went to church. That was a drag, you work your tail off all week with the expectation of people showing up on Sunday and then nobody shows up. Oh well, this week will be better I'm sure.

I better send this off, we are already late to our lunch appointment. I love you.

Love,

Elder Henry

P.S. I'm SUPER excited to hear about Sherry's Call XDD!!!

PPS Oh also before I forget, I received one more package from the United States, but it get hit by Tariffs and they wanted 75 U.S. Dollars to release it, so I told them to send it back. I don't know who sent it, but let everyone know that if they receive a package returned that that was what happened.

 

Dear Dad,
Personally I'm excited that Sherry is headed off for a mission. You know why? Because that means Elmo (our little red hybrid Honda) WILL BE MINE!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! All these years that she tried to steal him from me, and now she'll be leaving for a mission and I'LL be able to steal HER cell phone and HER car and all the cool stuff that SHE has. REEEEEVENGE!!!
That's way awesome that you'll get to see your old missionary companion. Where in Huntington Beach does he live? It's been a while since I've been there, but I still remember most of the main streets and places.

Got to go Dad. Thanks for the updates. I love you.

Elder Henry

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

Elder Henry January 14th

 Dear Mom,

If I send this E-mail 4 or 5 times, it’s because of this stupid Keyboard and keyboard shortcuts.  I still am unable to send photos, but we had 3 baptisms this weekend.  V, R, and B were all baptized.  It was pretty awesome :).

We have enough Priesthood holders on both sides of the ward, I'm not sure if in the end they will split the wards though... Because we have a sacrament meeting attendance of about ~120 after the split it'll be at 50 and 70, but the Bishop and Stake president are all for the split.  We'll see what the area authorities have to say though.  They've already sent off the paperwork and we are waiting for a response.

Splitting the ward is pretty much the best thing that can happen for the missionaries and for the Bishop.  Everyone else though complains.  But it’s good because everyone will have an opportunity to grow, and the ward will need more members, which means the members will have to work and baptize more people to make sure the ward keeps on functioning.

So far as housing at BYU, what I'll have to do is get a contract just for fall semester instead of buying a contract for a full year so I don't have to sell the contract.  We'll also have to look at prices and location, because I know more or less where to live, where not to live, and for sure I'm not going to rent out a 6-man apartment.  4 is my limit. 

The weather has not been nice and cool.  It’s been in the high 80's and 90's all week long.  Its good weather to stay in and turn on the Air Conditioning, not to go out and walk around in the sun in black pants and a dress shirt, but of course it could be worse.  It’s also been nice and cool at night, but let me tell you I'm not going to miss the weather here.

Oh!  I received all my packages this last week no problems.  I really have no idea what I'm going to do with all these Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon cards though...  There are a lot more than I expected. (He asked for them for the little kids in his ward for Christmas, but Brazilian mail is SLOW!)

So V, her daughter B were baptized on Saturday. R also was baptized, and his parents are also showing a lot of interest in the church.  They were talking with the Bishop about getting married in the chapel and everything.  Also they showed up to church on Sunday.  

We also have another investigator that went to church yesterday named N.  We found her a week ago, and ever since the first day we went there she has stopped smoking.  She was smoking 2 packs per day, we talked with her about it and are helping her stop smoking.  She really is incredible and full of miracles.  It’s awesome to see someone progressing so fast, it’s awesome to see that sometimes you just have to invite someone to do what is right and they are willing to accept.  Brazil really is full of miracles.

Well I better get writing to President before my time expires.  I love you thanks for always looking out for me and planning out my future :).

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

Gravatai 12/31/12

Dear Mom,

Wow! Sherry's commercial turned out super cool! I liked it a lot, pretty creative for a car commercial, and Sherry looked fantastic! Super natural, just like a movie star! Talk about talent.

I liked the pictures you sent me, but Tina looks especially fat nowadays XD. Bah this keyboard is horrible-.-, don't be too mad if this e-mail is short, it’s taking forever just to write a sentence.

I sure had a lot of fun talking with you guys too. It really surprised me how hard it is to speak English after not really talking with anyone for 6 months in English. You start to forget how it’s supposed to feel in your mouth and you get all tripped up with the small words that just don't translate all that great XD. I'm starting to practice a little bit more in English to make sure I don't completely forget here in Brasil. Actually yesterday we went to a friend of a member to teach him and João, the new investigator, just got home from Ireland a month ago. So I got a good hour of English in while I was teaching him. It really was strange switching back to teaching in English because I'm so used to my teaching groove in Portuguese that I had to reverse translate on the spot.

Last week was probably one of the hardest weeks of the mission. We ended up knocking a lot of doors and walking around everywhere trying to contact the few references we had and didn't really end up with anything in the end. The funny thing is, this week was really hard for Brasil, but if I compared it to the United States, I would be telling you guys all about the best week I ever had. There really is no comparison between the two missions. Let’s just say that I'm glad I'm here and not there :P.

J finally gave up yesterday. She is very stuck on a couple doctrines that she just doesn’t want to believe in and gave up on reading the Book of Mormon. Oh well, people have their free agency right?

Good news is V brought her daughter to church yesterday and absolutely loved it. V also gave up drinking coffee; it was actually quite an interesting experience. We hadn't explained about the Word of Wisdom yet and during Sunday school they were talking about how Alcohol, Tobacco and Coffee are bad for you. She asked the professor, "Why do you keep talking about coffee?"

I began to think to myself, oh no, this is not going anywhere good.  Bro. T, our Gospel Principles teacher began to explain that coffee is bad for us, has a ton of toxins and is addictive, and so we don't use coffee in the church. I was waiting for the normal backlashes of, "Soda has caffeine too! It’s bad for you, why do you drink soda and not coffee!" But instead afterwards V told me, "Wow what an incredible class. Last night I was looking at my blood pressure and noticed it was really high, so I asked Heavenly Father to show me how to improve my health, and then in the middle of a lesson on Charity, he responded! I have to give up coffee." I was absolutely blown away. Sometimes I forget that every person is a little bit different and reacts in a different way. Needless to say I was very grateful that Heavenly Father answers our prayers.

R was also at church today and has started to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover. It’s a little bit hard for him, because he's only 13 years old, but he's working hard to try and read and understand what the Book of Mormon is trying to say to him. It's really awesome to see Youth working so hard in the church, something that I feel like I never really participated in as an adolescent.

Anyways I better wrap this up. Happy New Year!

Love,

Elder Henry

Dear Dad,

I don't think a day passes by that someone doesn't ask me about snow. All the Brasilians are mystified by snow, and everyone wants to play in it. I'm a little bit jealous because I sure do enjoy the cold weather instead of the hot weather. They said that Christmas day was the hottest its been in 12 years, and the summer has just started. It hit 42 degrees Celsius or 107.6 degrees Fahrenheit, but the sensation with the humidity was 50 degrees Celsius or 122 degrees Fahrenheit. I don't really understand too well what they try to mean about sensational temperature and real temperature. To me it sounds like one of the things that people make up to make it sound like they have it the worst. To me if the temperature gauge says 42 its 42, not 50, but anyways it was HOT! It's actually kinda funny because Wednesday until Friday it rained and rained and rained. So it went from 42 degrees on Tuesday to 18 degrees on Wednesday. If the weather kills me here you'll know why.

I'm glad you guys had a great Christmas without me. I hope you all have a great New Years Eve tonight! Drink some Apple Cider for me ;).

Love,

Elder Henry

Christmas Eve!

This is Sherry's commercial for Mini Cooper she made with the BYU film, advertising, and music departments.  It is a Mario Brothers theme and she is a modernized "real life" Princess Peach. I think she looks great on film, I'm a little biased though =)

Michael's letter this week!  We get to talk to him tomorrow!!!

Dear Dad,

That's awesome that the new Hobbit movie came out!  Just the first part was
released for now?  Or both parts are out now?  I sure do miss snow for my
Christmas.  I'm never ever ever ever going to pass Christmas in the heat
ever again after the mission.  I only want freezing cold Christmases from
here on :P.

I do miss the good old Christmas movies.  Santa Claus is Coming to Town,
Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and all the rest of the
classics.  A bummer that they aren't playing like they used to.

Until tomorrow Dad!
Love, Elder Henry

Dear Mom,

Hahaha, I like Spencer's style! (he asked his date to Yule Ball last night with a dozen coral pink roses).

What a bummer that a bunch of people ended up not showing up to the Baby Shower :(.  That's always the hard part of trying to put together a party.

Anyways our week was full of, "Come back after the holidays!" which made it pretty difficult to find new investigators.  We had 3 graduations of high schools in our chapel this week which was pretty awesome, we picked up a bunch of addresses and found some people with really good potential.  Best of all, it gave one of our investigators, the opportunity to get to know the chapel.  Everyone was super impressed with the building, and she felt really comfortable inside the church.  Also turns out she's longtime friends with the Bishop.  So pretty much after she came to the graduation its a done deal.  She went to church yesterday and I'm pretty sure she loved it.  We are going to go there tonight and talk with her a little bit.

On Saturday we had a ward party which was pretty fun.  J went to the activity and really enjoyed herself, but had to leave early.  Best part was Sunday though, because I was feeling pretty unsuccessful this week, and then I went to church expecting nobody to be there and was surprised to see V, R with his parents, and J at church.  Our gospel principles class was packed with people and we ended up finding a couple potential investigators at church.  I'm pretty excited to follow-up on these relatives of members.  

Here in Brasil everyone celebrates Christmas on Christmas eve.  Its really strange, but tonight is Christmas.  We are going to spend Christmas Eve with a couple of families of members.  I'm pretty excited, and we should have a ton of churrasco to eat.

Anyways I love you a ton, sorry I didn't write all that much, but I'll talk more tomorrow.  That is if you can understand me through my accent ;)

Love,

Elder Henry

Staying in Gravatai, believe it or not!

Mom's note--I am so grateful that he is staying in Gravatai, because I know we'll be able to coordinate talking with him on Christmas!  We can't wait!

I'm not sure what this gathering was for, but I see many of the people Elder Henry has taught in the group!

Dear Mom,

Transfer News!  Actually there really isn't any news, I'll be staying here for another transfer with Elder De Pina.  7 and a half months in Gravataí, oh yeah!

I chuckled at Mitch's comment.  I'm definitely a northwesterner :P.  I'm afraid I'll just have to stick to Oregon/Washington for the rest of my life.  I'm starting to get accustomed to the weather, but it also has cooled down a little, or rather its not nearly as humid as it was a couple weeks ago.

That sounds like a great opportunity to visit with Brother Swanson.  I would love to work in an Economics consulting firm especially in a field such as wetland mitigation.  One thing is for sure, you have to have connections to get the job you want.

When do I ever talk very much about my Companions?  Elder De Pina is 26 years old, and worked for a local television station as an anchor.  He has 12 siblings.  Half of his family lives in the United States, and the other half in Cape Verde, but he's never gone state-side.  He's a hard worker.

From What I know P-day next week will be the same as always.  So far as the packages go, they haven't arrived, and probably will arrive 6-8 weeks after you sent them, or at least that's what the office staff told me about how long they take to get here.  Who knows, tomorrow with transfers they could arrive at the office and then send them with the new missionaries to our apartment.

We went caroling yesterday with a couple ward members, something that Brasilians aren't really used to.  Their reaction was really funny, I told them, "Ok this is how it works.  We knock on the door and then when they open we start to sing, questions?"

"So we knock on the door, enter and then start to sing to them?"

"No, we knock and then sing to them outside on the street."

"Sing to them on the street?  Wah?"

"Yes, we sing to them on the street."

Definitely a different experience for them, but it ended up really well.  We sang for a couple of our recent converts, L, and R as well as one of our investigators, V.  It certainly was a surprise for the people we sang to and they sure loved it!  Everyone was talking about how next year they will have to continue to do this except bigger and better.  I'm pretty sure we'll go caroling at least 2 more times, next Sunday and Monday right before Christmas.  

I would love to send you pictures, bought a new card reader, but this computer is reading the folders as executive files.  Next week I'll use a different LAN House to see if its the computers here or something is wrong on my card.

I was pretty disappointed yesterday because hardly none of our investigators showed up to church.  We'll have to work double time to help out our investigators progress towards baptism.  Sandra was married and baptized this weekend.  I baptized her, and the marriage turned out beautiful.  I was left a little bit unsatisfied because the marriage started at 8:30 and they didn't cut the cake until 9:30 by which time we had already left to get home in time for our schedule.  I love wedding cakes :(

Pretty much our week in a blurb.  I love you all tons.  Thanks for always writing.

Love,
Elder Henry


Dear Dad,
That's really cool that Spencer's seminary class did a Christmas Program.
 I don't think we ever had anything from Seminary outside of the hours of
seminary.  I'm glad Spencer is enjoying seminary there.  I'm glad to hear
that Tori has already forgotten about me...
 I'm super happy to hear all about the progress Tori is making in her life.
 Lots of hard work is paying off for her, who knows maybe we'll have TWO
Broadway stars from our family ;).  Its interesting that you mention how it
will be nice for Spence and I to spend time together again, but now that he
doesn't play video games anymore, what will we do together?!  That was like
the number one thing we did together :P.  If Spencer ends up taller than
me, it will be a life long lesson in humility that I'll just have to take.
 I hope you guys have a great Christmas Break!

Love,
Elder Henry

Reflecting on the mission so far and update

Hey Dad,
I never thought when I left home that one of the things I miss most is
laying down and enjoying a good book.  You'll have to make up a list of
good books I've missed out on for me for when I get home :P.  There have been
a couple times that this situation of a CD being cheaper than the MP3's.
 I'm not quite sure how it all works, but I'm certainly happy for when I
get the Physical CD instead of just MP3's.
     Are you guys looking at snow yet?  I'm not sure quite how cold its getting
there in Washington, I'm sure that Utah is starting the snowy season.  It's
super hot here.  Actually this week was completely miserable, I've never
experienced such heat in my life.  It was over 100 degrees, and super
humid.  I was sweating at 8 o'clock in the morning when I started studies
and during the night it stayed in the high 90's.  With 3 fans blowing in
our small apartment I still could not sleep because of the heat.
 Absolutely miserable, actually yesterday it was about 92-93 degrees
without humidity and I was thinking how nice and cool it was.  I've never
thought of 90 degree weather as comfortable in my lifetime!  I sincerely
wouldn't be surprised if this summer kills me.  I picked up Athlete's foot
last week because of the heat and humidity which is a super bummer because
I've got a bunch of red dots on my feet that itch like crazy.  Fortunately
I had bought and brought anti-fungal creme from the states so I could treat
it, and I was thinking remember when I bought all those drugs to bring with
me on the mission and we thought, am I -really- going to need all of this?
 Well the Anti-Fungal creme was the last of the drugs I brought with me
that I hadn't used and I'm still only half-way through the mission!  At
least its nothing serious, but it is a bummer to get sick and have to
continue to work.
     You know Dad, I have a lot of up days and down days on the mission, but the
longer and longer I'm here the more I appreciate everyday I have here.
 Certainly there are a lot of things I can improve as a missionary, but in
all I'm very happy with how my mission is panning out, I'll probably never
be an Assistant to the President, maybe never a Zone Leader, but I'm very
happy with my personal progress and the miracles I get to see on the
mission.  Just wish they'd happen more often and quicker ;).
Love,
Elder Henry

Hey Mom!

Mother's Day we ended up calling at about 6 or 7 o'clock my time, and I really have no idea what will happen this Christmas because we have transfers next week, so I don't really know where and when I'll be able to use a computer.  You guys are going to see Les Miserables on Christmas?  How awesome is that!

Honestly it simply doesn't feel like Christmas here.  Nobody is singing Christmas carols, no one talks about how their excited for Christmas.  The advertisements of grocery stores say "Boas Festas" which means Good Partying!  Even in Sacrament meeting this week we sang only one Christmas hymn.  I'm very disappointed with Christmas in Brasil.  Christmas in the states always seemed so magical to me, and here it just feels like another month.

     Its interesting you mention not having an activities committee isn't working out very well in the ward, but really here in Brasil we always have awesome activities with less than half the members St. Johns has.  What happens is the bishop says, alright the Young Men/Women are going to put on a dance party for the ward on this day, then they go and get everything ready and its turns out awesome.  Then the next month its the Family History Committee turn to put on a dance, the next is Relief Society, the next Ward Mission makes the activity, and everyone loves the activities.  It may be a difference of culture as well, because schools and the community here don't have extra-curricular activities, so the members more or less live in the church.

     I've been trying to send you pictures but every week I'm having the same problems.  It looks like my SD to USB adapter broke, so I'll be looking for a new one today.  I did enjoy seeing Mitch and Audrey in the E-mail.  It's fun to see pictures of people from home.

     We had a really productive week last week.  We are finally finding people who are worth our time and really have a desire to move their lives.  Some weeks you just find people who are nice and let you in once and really don't have any interest, but this week we found a lot of families that went to a ward activity we had two weeks ago.  Unfortunately hardly none of our investigators went to church this week which is a bummer, but we will redouble our efforts to help people get there next week.
     Our investigators that we are focusing on right now are J, S, R, and P.  J I believe I talked a little bit about her last week, but just a re-cap we found her knocking doors and she went to the Stake Conference two weeks ago.  Unfortunately she was ill yesterday and didn't make it to church.  She also loves the Bible and really hasn't been reading more in the Book of Mormon.  We taught her the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity this week and she doesn't really have any problems with the commandments.  It appears that her biggest problem is she doesn't really see the difference between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and every other church on the planet.  We'll review this week with her the importance of the Restoration of the Church with her, and make sure she understands the importance of baptism by authority from God.

     R is a cousin and P is a nephew of our Bishop.  We began teaching them this week and really want to be baptised.  R bore a strong testimony to me about how he began reading the Book of Mormon and going to church and now he isn't fighting with people, that really that desire has began to leave him.  P isn't quite on the same level as R yet but he's reading the Book of Mormon and likes church a lot.  The only problem is their Dad wants to wait a little more time before they get baptised, but we will see if we can't bring him into the church as well :).

     S is really excited for her Baptism and Wedding this coming weekend :).  I'm pretty satisfied with how everything turned out there.  Really there isn't much more for us to do but to stop in and see how things are going.  

     Hopefully we'll see some progress from our new investigators this week, and I'll have more to report next week.

I love you Mom, thanks for writing.

Love,

Elder Henry

December 3, loving the people of Gravatai

Dear Mom,

From what I know we will be able to use skype again.  It really is a lot cheaper than a phone call and a lot better for us ;).  New Mission President of course will have different rules, but I'm pretty sure we'll be able to use skype for Christmas. 

I'm very excited to hear the news about Cody!  Already headed off to Grad school, and to think he started at Clark one year after me, and now I'm one year behind!  Oh well, the mission is 1,000,000 times more worthwhile than college.

If the Ducks lose another Bowl game this year, I'm going to have to hide my Duck pride.  Seriously, I can't even remember the last Bowl game that we WON. (he apparently forgot about the Rose Bowl last year--probably because he could not watch it haha)

So Summer is just about in full swing here.  Imagine that right now is the start of June, and that's pretty much our weather.  We had a day of rain last week, but during the weeks the temperature is in the low-mid 90's.  Too hot for me.  I've been asking people how hot it gets here in the summer, and the tell me that it gets up to 40-42 degrees Celsius which is about 104-107 degrees Fahrenheit.

We had Stake Conference this week with another 70, Elder Ulisses Soares from Recife.  I've now almost met all of the Brasilian General Authorities, I just need to meet Elder Cláudio R.M. Costa, and Elder Godoy.  Its interesting, but I feel like here in Brasil the 70's visit the stakes a lot more than in the States, maybe its just because I'm a missionary and I'm privileged to meet with the General authorities more often, or maybe there's just less members so they have more time to travel and visit the stakes here.

We found quite a few new people this week, but the best was J.  We found her on Friday and invited her to be baptised on the 16th of December and she accepted.  On Saturday we confirmed that she would be going to the Stake conference on Sunday, and then she went to church on Sunday!   On Sunday she also took us to visit a friend of hers who also wants to be baptised on the 16th.  Its an incredible miracle that we found her just knocking on doors.

All of my recent converts are also firm in the church.  L is active in the choir and goes to church every week.  Actually her daughter will be giving me a free cleaning this Wednesday because she's a dentist.  R went to church this week alone because his aunt was with her mom in the hospital all weekend long.  L was at the conference as well, and wants to go out with us on exchanges more often, and last but not least, I and his family are doing great in the church.  I'm really quite happy with the work I've been able to do here.  Of course the real test will come once I leave, and who actually will make it to the temple in a year, but I'm certain that everyone will be able to make it there.

L went out with us yesterday and was talking all about going on a mission here in a year.  I'm so excited to hear him talk about his desires to serve the Lord.  Also he bore powerful testimony in the two lessons we brought him to.  I'm really quite proud of him, he worked hard to be able to be baptised, and wants to continue firm until the end.

S and N are also doing really well.  We are working to try and teach S's son G, but he's been giving us a cold shoulder.  We'll see if we can't soften his heart and help him accept the gospel.

That's pretty much our week in a glimpse.  I tried to attach photos but this computer isn't accepting my USB drive also.  I hope it wasn't damaged sitting in my back-pack.  Fortunately I know the data wasn't damaged because the SD card is working fine, but I may have to buy a new SD-USB adapter.

I love you Mom, thanks for writing me every week :).

Love,
Elder Henry 

Dear Dad,

You are absolutely correct, Missionary work is work, I was happy to hear
that you were reminded of this by your missionaries.  It doesn't even
appear like Christmas is here yet.  There isn't really anything to remind
you of Christmas time.  Nobody uses Christmas lights, trees, music...
nothing.  Travel is something much less common here in Brasil, because no
one has a car or money.  So you have to travel by Bus which is expensive
and takes forever.  Also families live pretty close together so when they
have a family get-together everyone is already super close.  So I don't
think there will be too many problems for Christmas time Proselyting.

I do miss basketball a lot down here.  There is simply know way to get
around to playing.  Also Brasilians make me look like a Michael Jordan on
the court.  Its hard to find a Brasilian that even knows how to dribble a
ball.  I'll have to make up for all the missed Basketball time after
the mission ;).

I'm really happy to hear you are helping out the missionaries there.  We
really depend a lot on the members, and not just for rides and food, but
for Baptisms.

I love you Dad,

Love,
Elder Henry

Continued growth in Gravatai

Dear Dad,

I'm really excied to hear that Trevor Sjogren is headed out on a mission. I do
remember him a lot from the times that Brother and Sister Bankhead brought
him to church. My time is already out, but I want to thank you for the
updates from home. I love you Dad!

Dear Mom,

What teams are still undefeated in the nation? If we ended up beating Stanford in the Bowl Championship (I don't remember well, but I'm pretty sure they are in the PAC-12 South division?) could we still make it to the National title? Anyways they just have to stay awesome for next year ;).

My Thanksgiving came and passed before I even knew it. I was planning at 9:30 at night last Thursday and noticed, hey I'm pretty sure today is Thanksgiving. That was pretty much my thanksgiving... Oh well last one I'll miss out on right? That is if the world is still around next year... :O!

Man Sherry's life is like a Brasilian Novella! It's all filled with romance and life-changing decisions and all sorts of crazy stuff. Kinda lame that the commercial ended up being just a student commercial, but hey it looked like a lot of fun, and the BYU film department is one of the best there is, and every opportunity she takes will bring her one more opportunity in the future :).

So far as photos, I don't really have any in particular that I would like, its just that everyone wants to see my parents and I don't have a picture of the kids with Parents. Just of the kids and singles of each kid. Wallet size would be preferable so I can carry them with me everyday in my wallet.

We are headed off to the Temple today which is pretty exciting. In other news I and his family was baptised this Sunday. I'm so relieved to finally have it happen. We've been waiting so long and its just been trial after trial after trial, but FINALLY everyone was baptised on Sunday.

Our next goal is to split the ward. We just need to baptize two more adult men into the ward and we'll divide the ward. We are going to be working overtime now to find, teach and baptize these last two people in order to split the ward. Unfortunately we really don't have anyone that's progressing. We have a couple people with potential, but we are really doing a lot of finding right now. Fortunately we received a bunch of referrals from our ward members this Sunday so we will be contacting these people and helping them go to church.

I feel like the more and more I'm on my mission the shorter and shorter my letters home become, because we just do the same thing over and over, just the faces move. I'm going to attach some pictures and then send this E-mail.

Thank you for caring for Kelsey while I'm gone, and taking care of me as well :). I love you so much Mom,

Love,

Elder Henry

Sorry can't send the pictures because the stupid computer isn't recognizing the device. I am taking pictures though!

New companion from Africa!

Elder Henry with Elder Glessing, from here in Southwest Washington

Dear Mom,

Life is GREAT!  I'll answer your questions and then get moving on to the week.

I absolutely love my new companion.  I'm very grateful for the move in companion to motivate me to get back to working hard.  Elder Roman's farewell party was good, he wasn't very sad to go though, because he had already said goodbye 3 times, this time was pretty certain it was going to happen.

That's WAY awesome that Sherry is going to be in a commercial!!!   I totally want to watch TV just to see the commercial with Sherry in it!  Send me the video when its all finished up.

Wow Spencer scored pretty high on the ACT for a first time.  Just remember 36 gets you a free ride at BYU Spence!

Of course I'm interested at working for BYU housing when I come back.  I also have my eyes on a job at the MTC, but those are pretty hard to come-by.  The nice thing about the MTC is you make 13$ per hour.

I was looking at the photo of our Family in 2004 and really our family looks like many families that I've seen on the mission.  It's really surreal to see my family so... Young?

So my new companion is Elder De Pina from Cabo Verde.   I'm really excited to have an African companion.  His Portuguese of course is a little strange but he's a super hard worker.  He's also 26 and joined the church when he was 17.  He and a few siblings are the only members of the church in his immediate family, but he has uncles and other relatives that are members.  Also he works -hard-.  It reminds me of me times with Elder E. Black, oh how I am grateful for those times to return.

We finally marked N and S's marriage in the office and they'll be married on Dec. 15th.  Also I and his family are all ready for marriage and baptism this Saturday, so I'm quite excited for this week.  We had a busy week last week with Transfers, P-day getting moved, and also a conference with Elder Aidukaitis.  So our work week got cut a little short, but the little time we had we worked hard finding new investigators and helping them receive the gospel.

Sunday was especially cool because we had a Priest from the ward accompanying us to our lessons.  It reminded me of when I was a Priest and would go out with the missionaries every week :).  We met a few new families with potential and will spend the rest of the week preparing I and family and our new investigators to head off to church and set baptismal dates.

Anyways I better e-mail some other people before time runs out.  I love you, thanks for taking care of me so far away.  I hope my packages make it here before time runs out, but we will see.

Love,

Elder Henry

Staying in Gravataí!

Dear Mom,

I'm not exactly even sure if its mosquitoes that are biting me or a different animal. I don't really think I need a mosquito net or I could buy one here. I'm keeping my eye out for Brazilian nativity sets don't you worry :P.

Everyone here was asking me about the Elections on election day it was absolutely ridiculous. Everyone stays up to date on American Politics here in Brasil except me. I thought it would take a little longer to have a winner but better sooner than later I suppose.

Great news about the Ducks! So we just have Stanford and OSU to play before the championship game? I don't remember if we beat Stanford already or not. Who's number one, Notre Dame?

I'm super excited for Sherry's mission papers to get started up. How exciting it is to have another missionary preparing to leave on a mission!

Thanks for helping me out with Christmas Presents. I'm sure everyone here will enjoy the new cards. Hopefully they'll get here in time. Packages and Letters get to me pretty slowly nowadays XD. The Address hasn't moved at all. It's still Caixa Postal 13008, Porto Alegre, RS - Brasil 91010-971.

Sorry I didn't write yesterday, the Zone Leaders called on Sunday Morning and told us our P-day was going to be moved to Tuesday and transfers on Wednesday. We also got the Transfer calls today and Elder Roman is leaving and I'll be here in Gravataí for another little while. 6 months in Gravataí, oh yeah baby. I actually don't feel like I've been here for that long, but by the time I leave I'll start to realise how little time I have left on the mission. Fortunately this next transfer should be really good as I and his family are all set for their baptism on Nov. 25th and their marriage on the 24th.

Another one of our investigators (a lady) is progressing really well. Also L was confirmed yesterday and went out and bought a suit so that he could go to church. I'm really happy to see him doing so well after such little time. The Bishop talked with him on Sunday and it sounds like he's looking into serving a mission in a year. I hope he goes to the United States and then I could see him in his mission there! How awesome would that be?

Also N went to Rio Grande once again to get the papers all ready for their marriage. Looks like they'll get married in December and S will be baptised soon after :).

So we have 6 people that are really quite close to baptism. Only problem is we cut all of our other investigators, so we will have to find a whole bunch of new people now ^^;.

Anyways I better wrap this up so I can write Dad and President Wright. I love you all, thanks for always writing.

Love,

Elder Henry

Dear Dad,

Sounds like this Christmas is going to be a good one. I'm still not convinced on these tablets, I like my computers just the way they are, with a keyboard and a mouse, but we'll see when I get back. Definitely won't be buying an I-pad that's for sure :P. I feel a little bit sorry for Sherry because I know how lame it is to only get stuff you need for a mission instead of all the cool new things that everyone else is getting :P. Oh well it'll pass and she -will- need stuff for the mission.

I feel really bad, because your E-mail to me was super interesting, and I already said all of my interesting stuff to Mom. Also my time is just about up for the week, but thanks for sending such a detailed account of what happened this week. I love you very much. Also I spent 30 dollars on a farewell party for Elder Roman and 25 dollars today on contact solution. Thanks for always keeping me well stocked with money to get by.

Lots of Love,

Elder Henry

Another wonderful baptism & admitted back into BYU!

From left: V (Neighbor of L who brought him to our english class), L,  Elder Roman, and Me at the baptism

Me, Bishop, L. Elder Roman, and R (who was baptized last week) at L.'s baptism.  L asked the Bishop to baptize him which was really neat.

Hey Mom,

Great news, I heard back from BYU already and I've been readmitted to the school :).  Looks like I'll be headed back Fall 2013 to my dreams!  I'm really quite relieved that I received a decision so quickly, I wasn't too worried I wouldn't get back in, but there was always a chance.  Now the future is as certain as it will ever be.  I also gave a look at MyMap to see how things turned out with my Associate's degree, and I'm only missing the religious requirements and another English class to finish up the GE's, so I'll be able to focus on my major when I get home.  I'm very excited to see everything work out so well :D.

Great news that the Ducks won against USC this weekend!  I'm still pretty much against the Ducks headed to the National Championship without me, but if they win I won't complain ;).

Its starting to get pretty hot.  It stays about 25-32 degrees Celsius but its very humid.  Yes the mosquitoes have returned and with a vengeance, fortunately I have OFF, but we'll see how long that holds them off.  I'm scratching pretty much every part of my body already and we aren't even in summer yet :P.  I'm sure I'll get accustomed to them soon enough.

This week didn't even feel like Halloween, I didn't even eat one piece of chocolate on Oct 31st :(.  Oh well, there's always next year...

So we had a pretty cool experience yesterday.  We didn't have anything planned for the afternoon, but L one of our Investigators was progressing super well.  We had already taught him everything and he had quit smoking and working towards a baptismal date of this coming Saturday.  As Elder Roman and I sat planning for our Sunday I told him, Elder, why don't we baptise L tomorrow?  We couldn't think of any reason to wait, so we called up our Zone Leaders and asked if they could give L an Interview after church.  After some deliberation they made room in their schedule for us and we marked for them to do the interview.

Sunday Morning we asked the Bishop, "I know we don't have anything planned for today, but could we have a baptism?"

The Bishop replied with a grin on his face, "Elders you only bring me good news!  Lets do it!".

The only person who we needed to confirm with was L, so after sacrament meeting we asked him, "L next Saturday will be a little bit tricky with your work schedule for the baptism."

He replied, "Yeah I know, what are we going to do?"

"Let's have your baptism today!"

"Today?"

"Yeah why not?"

"I don't know, one more week of preparation..."

"What's going to change from today until one week from now.  You are prepared for baptism already."

After a moments hesitation L replied, "Alright lets do it!"

So at 6 in the afternoon we had a baptismal service for L.  It was great, completely spontaneous and fun.  The bishop's daughters made a cake, and we had a great time.  Nothing has made me more happy than to see L baptised, because I brought a leader into the church yesterday.  Someone who will go off in a year and serve a mission.  Someone who will marry in the temple and be an Elder's Quorum President, Bishop, and who knows Stake President someday.  After the baptism, all the men from the ward surrounded him and made him feel at home.  What an awesome Sunday.  :)

The rest of the week was pretty hard, we didn't really find anyone new, and cut a lot of people we were visiting.  It's always hard to leave the people you've established a relationship, but sometimes these people just aren't ready for the gospel yet.  One day they will be and Missionaries will pass by and help them back.

Anyways I'm going to send this E-mail so I can reply to dad and e-mail our president.  I love you very much.

Love,

Elder Henry

Hey Dad,

Glad you guys had a fun Halloween :).  That's a bummer about Tori's tablet
dieing.  I'm still not convinced that a Tablet is for me though, I've seen
an I-pad or two here as well as a couple tablet/phones that have a few cool
tricks, but I'm still a big fan of the Tower/Monitor desktop computer ;).
You guys ended up buying a Chromebook?  I know a couple weeks back (maybe
months) you were talking about looking into one, but I didn't know you
bought one.  What's it like just having an internet browser?  Is it a lot
like having a tablet, or is it better or worse?  I suppose the cool part is
it still has a keyboard and mouse which I like a lot better than touch
screen technology, but still.... It's just an internet browser.

It's funny because homemade grape juice and eggs woulds seem like such a
treat in the US, but here its an everyday phenomenon.  For example
yesterday we had homemade Mango Juice, made from real mangoes, eggs are
commonly produced in the back yard (not everyone as them but quite a few,
and the ones you buy from the grocery stores are produced here in
Gravataí), and all our meals are cooked from scrap.  Nothing is pre-canned,
ready to cook, fast meals here.  You have to work to eat here, much
different from life in the US.  But real good grape juice is really good.
I'm excited because lots of our members have grape vines at their houses,
so here in a little bit we should be seeing home-grown grapes.

Got to go, but I hope you guys have a great week!

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