Elder Henry 2/13/12 Transferred to Canoas

Dear Mom,

Nope I'm not training. It looks like all the Americans got stuck in America again, because we were supposed to get 20 missionaries this transfer, and only 13 showed up. I almost forgot that you don't know where I am. I didn't move too much, I'm in Canoas now, which is about 25 KM from Gravataí. From my apartment I can see Porto Alegre, so its not really all that exciting of a place to be :P.

I don't know if I've ever explained this to you guys, but here in Brasil everything works in Bairros, which are kind of like neighborhoods, only they are like the size of Hazel Dell, or St. Johns, or Salmon Creek. I'm in Mathias Velho, which is about 3 km from the Center of Canoas. My new companion is Elder Moura, from Rio Grande do Norte. Oh, and I'm close to Elder E. Black again! He's my zone leader this time around, but we are having all sorts of fun calling each other and catching up on old times. By far my favorite companion on the mission!

Wow, what a trip about Sherry's mission call. I never would have guessed, actually I was pretty close with Italy wasn't I? I'm super excited to hear the news. How cool it is for Sherry to go to Europe! I don't even really know what to say about the whole "super coincidence" of Sherry going to Preston's mission, I'm just a little bit sad because that probably means Elder E. Black will never get a chance with Sherry *sigh*. Oh well sometimes your plans just don't turn out how you want them to.

Next up is a list of all the things I call from Sherry:

- Her Cell Phone

- The Car

- Her Job

- Maybe her Laptop, I'll have to look and see first

- Any other cool electronics that she has that I don't know about

Tori can keep the clothes. OH, and now for sure Sherry will have PLENTY of room in HER CLOSET for HER (formal) DRESSES. So the first thing I want to happen when she leaves is the vacancy of my closet of all female clothes.

I'll write more if I think of anything else ;)

One of the most important things you didn't include is when she's leaving. Dad mentioned that she'll be leaving before I get home, but you guys didn't give me a date or anything. How weird I wont see Sherry for another year. 3 and a half years without seeing each other. Its almost like we aren't siblings o.o. Maybe by the time she gets back I'll already be graduated from BYU XD.

 

One more cool thing I thought of right now. You know how you say German in Portuguese? Alemão and the country is Alemanha. How weird, in German, English and Portuguese the word 'German' is completely different one from another.

Anyways I'm going to finish up this letter. There's not a whole lot to talk about my new area as I'm still trying to get to know who's who. Also we have to find some new investigators, because this area doesn't have a whole lot of movement going on. Everyone is pretty discouraged about missionary work, so I have a lot of work to do to get everyone excited again. Oh before I forget, I'm going to make Tacos for a ward activity in March, and I can't buy taco seasoning here. Could you send me a recipe in what goes in homemade taco seasoning for ground beef? Also if you find a recipe for Refried beans and Mexican Rice, that would be a great help!

Love,

Elder Henry

P.S. GO SHERRY! I'm super proud of you for choosing to serve a mission!

Also, let me know exactly what the rates are for where Sherry lives, and the address.

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

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

Elder Henry Oct. 16th

Dad,

I'm cracking up over here about your un-manly oil change experience :P. It's pretty stupid that a job that takes us 15 minutes at home without all the fancy tools they have at the Oil change took 30 minutes there. One thing I'm learning a lot of here in Brasil is the People don't have money to go to a specialist to fix stuff, so they just fix things on their own. It really doesn't take a whole lot of knowledge to change a tire or oil, just a little bit of time. Everyone here is their own handyman ;).

The weather is just the opposite down here. We are enjoying a beautiful spring down here, its not to hot yet, but the rain stays away for most of the time. Although it is still pretty grey down here, about as grey as Washington. Its funny but Rio Grande do Sul is just about as close to the weather in Washington as any other place I've visited in my life. The only difference is it gets hotter here than Washington.

Meh can't say I'm surprised BYU lost to OSU. BYU is still back in the glory days of the 80's and never seem to change their strategies. At the least it sounds like it was a fun game.

So Sherry will wait until April before she leaves? Depending on where she goes we may still have a quick moment to see each other :). We all know how long visas can take to arrive!

I'm glad Spencer has learned from his older siblings mistakes. Nothing is more trouble than a girlfriend at 16. I only wish I had had the wisdom to listen to my parents when I was younger >.>. Oh well we live and learn. Way to go Spencer :).

So today we are heading down to the Temple, that's why I'm e-mailing on a Tuesday instead of a Monday. We are pretty excited but its always super hectic to get P-day done with and go to the temple in the same day o.o. Thanks for the E-mail.

I love you all tons :)

Love,

Elder Henry

Dear Mom,

Sorry about the switch of E-mail days. We are headed off to the Temple today, but since the Temple is closed on Monday we have to go on Tuesday. Anyways we are doing well and excited to be working.

We are working with a couple of families right now and are super excited. I and L went this weekend to pick up the last few papers for their marriage papers as well as S and N. Of course its taking longer than we had hoped, but sometimes our planning isn't the same as the Lords planning. I'm sure he's got things all taken care of upstairs.

We also started teaching a family of 7, M and her 6 kids. They unfortunately weren't able to make it to church this Sunday because of M's work schedule but she is really quite excited about the church and our visits and is reading the Book of Mormon. We had a Family night with her and 2 of her kids last night (the other 4 decided to stay home). It was a lot of fun, we played around a bunch and also taught them about the Plan of Salvation.

J went to church this Sunday and is really excited about her Baptismal date of the 26th of October. I'm hoping that the rest of her family will have the same desire to go to church and read the Book of Mormon as well. Its crazy just how powerful the Book of Mormon is. It really changes our lives, thoughts, and outlook on life. I only have to look at my life to see the change the Book of Mormon brings, but yet I have so many more witnesses here on the mission of people who have read the Book of Mormon and have changed their lives because of it.

Anyways that is pretty much what happened last week. Yesterday we have a big Churrasco at one of our member's house that was absolutely delicious. I'm pretty sure I gained a kilo or two.

I love you all and are always in my prayers and thoughts.

Love,

Elder Henry

Such exciting missionary news!

Elder Henry with some of his wonderful investigators

 Dear Mom,
I pretty much had the exact same reaction (as the rest of the family) when I heard the announcement,  I pretty much spent the rest of the weekend wondering, "Does this mean Sherry will serve a mission?  I hope she goes, this seems like it was made just for her!".  I'm really glad to hear that she's going to serve a mission!!!!  I can't tell you how happy this makes me, of course we won't see each other for another period of time, but its soooo worth it.  BAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!  I'm soooo excited XD!

     Of course pretty much every one's world got turned upside down this weekend with the new announcement not to mention Spencer.  One less year to go until he hits the field as well.  How crazy, you and Dad could have at least one child on a mission for the next few years depending on the timing when Sherry heads off.  Seriously one of the most exciting announcements of my life :).

     I already called President Wright to receive permission to figure everything out at BYU so I can return studying there in 2013.  I'll be sure to keep you updated on the process :).  Looks super easy, all I need is an ecclesiastical endorsement and my transcript from Clark, I don't even have to do the essay questions over! =D

     So the last two weeks of stuff that happened.  Sorry once again that you all didn't get something to read last week, I'll try and compensate this week.

     Other than the news about missionaries, I really loved General Conference, of course it was nice not to have to walk for two days, but the spirit that accompanied the conference was excellent.  We had a very early morning Priesthood session because of the time difference we watched the re-broadcast at 6 in the morning on Sunday Morning.  It was pretty scary walking around the streets of Brasil before the sun came up.  Brasil really is a different place in the early morning hours about 5:00 all the drunks were out on the streets and it was the first time I actually felt scared here in Brasil.  Fortunately I won't have to do that again for a long time ^^".

     Sunday Evening we watched the last session of general conference in the comfort of one of our member's homes.  We brought N and S over and had a really good experience with them there together with a bunch of members.  S has really been progressing a ton and has been reading the Book of Mormon.  I'm really happy for the progress, and we went and marked their marriage at the registration office today so everything is set for S to be baptised on November 11th.  Other exciting news is I and his family are just about ready for their marriage as well.  I's papers came back, and we just have to get a paper from L M's hometown so they can go to the registration office to legalize their marriage.

     We've been finding a whole lot of new people to teach.  One was actually a pretty funny experience.  While we had an exchange a couple weeks back we knocked on a door and a young woman  J answered the door.  She was alone so we had to teach her on her front porch, but she accepted the Book of Mormon and marked to return.  After about a week of showing up late to appointments and her having already left and missing appointments we finally returned a second time to talk with her.  She mentions that she was talking to a friend on Facebook that had been gone for two years and didn't know where he had gone.  Turns out he's one of the recently returned missionaries from our ward, Andrio.  So we bring him to the third lesson and turns out they were best friends in high school and she's super curious about the church and reading the Book of Mormon.  It was fun to see just how small the world is in the church :).

     We also found a family of 6, and a couple other people that we only taught once but have a lot of potential.  I'm very excited to see what this month brings, especially after a long time of not having much success :)

Love,

Elder Henry

Artur opens up his birthday presents from the missionaries

A very rare sight here in Brasil, a game of American Football!

Final District meeting of the transfer

Dear Dad,

The new rules for missionaries really changed the dynamics especially for Girls.  Its a lot easier now for girls to serve a mission before they get married.  Of course you are the third person I'm ranting to about this change, but its really quite huge.  I kind of wish they had waited until Sunday night to announce this change as I probably would have payed more attention to General Conference if they had :P.

     I looked up some stuff on BYU.edu to look and see what I need to do to re-register at BYU for Fall 2013 and it looks pretty simple.  I'm glad that I did it on a P-day though, because it sure brought back a ton of good memories from college.  I try not to think about it too much or I might just start to get trunky. :P

     I'm happy to hear our Ducks are still on the up, although it seems to me they haven't really played any of their hard games yet.  We still have Stanford and USC, and looks like OSU will be a real big challenge this year as well.  Also the ducks tend to have a much harder time away from home than at home.  We'll see if they can continue their good playing and make their way to a National Game against Alabama and BEAT the SEC!  Of course it will be a shame to miss such a great season but the sacrifices we make right?

     So did cousins get rid of the White Van and swap for the Nissan Altima or do they have 3 cars now?  My standard of cars had dropped a ton nowadays, even a Toyota Carolla or a Honda Fit looks like a cool car after being around all these little Euro-cars.  

     Thanks for all the encouragement Dad.

Love,

Elder Henry

Drenched by rain but feet are dry!

Transfers are next week, so I'll find out next Monday. Most likely I'll stay and get a new companion. About time Spencer got his Driver's license! Spencer really does look super young to be at Clark College. But I also looked pretty young when I was there and it didn't really bother me. In fact I still look young, everyone here things Elder Roman is a lot older than me, and they say that I look like I am 16-18, maybe 19. I suppose that's a good thing for when I get old...

The Ducks game sounds intense! 49-0 shutdown?! Of course it was Autzen stadium, but still I was pretty concerned with the Duck Defense after they lost the National Championship two years back. Hopefully this year will be much better ;). Who's Number One? Alabama? I know its probably some SEC Scumbag, but hey its good to know who the Ducks have to beat this year.

Its funny that you mentioned that Sherry said Missionaries that serve in foreign countries need an adjustment period, because I still feel like an American, like I've never even thought, "Oh after the mission I'll need a couple months to get used to America again". Its probably true though, after the mission I'll miss the food in Brasil a lot. Fortunately I'm compiling recipes one by one for when I get back. Let me tell you, there will always be Condensed Milk in my house after Brasil. They use it in EVERYTHING here, well at least all the sweet stuff.

Thank you for changing the names on the blog, I wouldn't ever want to betray the trust of my friends here in Brasil because of that.

The Nike Waterproof boots (link for those interested: http://www.footlocker.com/product/model:25338/sku:65031009/nike-acg-air-max-goadome-mens/black/black/&SID=7111&inceptor=1&cm_mmc=SEM-_-Engine-_-Google-_-Plusbox ) work like a charm. I wear them every single day, and my feet have never been more dry. Also my feet never get too hot in them, I really have no idea how they work so well, I'm just glad they do. Also when it rains here it POURS, its never just a dry mist. Last Monday and Tuesday it rained buckets all day and night. Some people's houses were flooded in a different part of Gravataí, because of the storm. Also we get a TON of thunderstorms here. It's soo cool, someone in our ward said that there were over 2000 lightning strikes in Rio Grande Do Sul last weekend, and I totally believe it. The only problem is the wind breaks umbrellas here Super easy, I've already broken 4 umbrellas and I refuse to buy more. Unfortunately that means I eat a lot of rain walking around the streets, and that in turn makes a person a little sick. But I'm still living which is good.

Fortunately its officially Spring time here, which marks the end of my year-long Winter. I'm finally getting to see some sort of hope of Spring/Summer once again :D.

Last week was pretty hard for us missionaries. We had 2 days of rain, (which is the worst when you have to work in the rain), and also 20th of September is the biggest holiday here in the south. Its the day that started the Farropilha revolution when Rio Grande do Sul tried to seperate from the rest of Brasil. Holidays are also really hard days for missionaries because everyone is Drunk and doesn't want to talk with you, or even worse the people are drunk AND want to talk with you, but at least it makes for some fun contacts :P.

I had two pretty cool experiences last week that I'd like to share with you. Last Monday we lost our cellphone in the rain, as well as all our contacts (which were on the cellphone), so its been pretty hard to coordinate with people and mark appointments and the like. Saturday morning I woke up and was getting ready for the day when I had the distinct impression, "I really should put the number of Sister and President Wright in my planner just in case something happens. It would really suck to be stuck somewhere without a phone and without their number in an emergency." Of course being me I then thought, well nothing ever happens to us, but just in case I'll write down the number of the other Elders and if anything happens I can call them and ask them for the number to President and Sister Wright, or whatever we need. So I wrote down their number and went on our day. After lunch Elder Roman comes up to me and says, "Elder I'm really not feeling good. I am in a lot of pain right here in my tooth." Fortunately I had wrote down the number to the other Elders and was able to talk with them and get Sister Wright's number in order to find out what we needed to do to help him out. After about 3 hours we found ourselves a dentist and he was able to clean out the tooth and fix the problem. I really didn't think much of the impression that morning, but it turned out to save Elder Roman a lot of pain and suffering because I listened to what the spirit had to say.

Sunday we had an amazing lesson with S. She went to church yesterday for the third time and really is liking it, but still has a lot of questions and doubts. We went there last night with the intention of marking the date of her baptism and brought a member, R, with us. We decided it would be best to teach about Apostasy and then share the scripture of Acts 19:1-6 that talks about how people were baptized once, but were rebaptized to receive the Holy Ghost, because she had been baptised once before in the Baptist Church and it was a really spiritual experience for her. We started to teach her and R talked all about Apostasy and the necessity of being baptised once again by authority and to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. After about 40 minutes in the lesson I reminded her of an experience she had had last Saturday. She had received an answer that the Book of Mormon was true, and I reminded her of just that. She told me that she could not deny what she had felt at that moment. I testified to here that really she had received an answer and the Spirit just enveloped the whole room. The power the filled the room is completely indescribable, as I bore testimony that the Book of Mormon really is true, and invited her to be baptised. She paused for a moment and then replied, Yes. We marked her Baptism for October 27th.

I love my life as a missionary, it really is hard, and there are days and weeks that just go absolutely wrong, but in the end the experiences we get to see, the changes and conversions that take place are worth every pain I have ever felt as a missionary.

All my Love,

Elder Henry

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