Last transfer of the mission.

Vitor & Douglas's baptism

 

 

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

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

Love,

Elder Henry

Burger King & McDonalds with Vitor on P-day

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

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

Love you Dad.

Love,

Elder Henry

Elder Henry's letters are getting shorter

Dear Mom,

There really isn't an autumn here that I remember from last year. All the trees are still green but a lot of them will loose their leaves here in a bit. I'm pretty excited for the cold weather to come back. Oh and I did buy a new battery for the camera, but it was super expensive, 60 dollars for a dinky little battery. Oh well, at least I have a camera now right?

So today is transfers and Elder Moura will be leaving me tomorrow. I'll be staying here in Mathias Velho for a little bit longer, and we'll see who my new companion is tomorrow. Also Elder E. Black is headed out of our zone now as well. I really enjoyed having him here close this transfer. Its a bummer that we don't stay close longer than one transfer together. I think he's going to be the new assistant, but we'll see...

Haha, I totally forgot that Sherry will have even less time in the MTC because she knows a thing or two about German (she only has to stay two weeks, she's worked really hard to learn German since she began studying it last semester, her report date will either be changed to May 29 or July 3) :p. That's ok life is WAAAAY better in the field than in the MTC.

So we had a pretty sweet week this last week. First off I went on an exchange with Elder E. Black for a day, and man did that really just give me a turbo boost of what its like to be a missionary. We had some pretty epic lessons on the exchange and we just had a blast together. It was a lot of fun to stay together again for a day after being separated for such a long time. We have both learned a ton as missionaries in these last few months :).

Then on Friday and Saturday we found a ton of new families. At the end of the week we had found 22 new investigators. Only problem is only 2 went to church this week. But things are going well here, and I'm starting to really enjoy Mathias. Hopefully we'll be able to baptise this month :).

Anyways that was pretty much our week. I love you guys, thanks for all the updates from home.

Love,

Elder Henry

 

Dear Dad,

Maybe we'll have to take a trip together back to California for you not to miss it too much ;). That would be super cool if you got the upgrade on the Truck's brakes done and everything. Its been a long time since you decided that we needed to upgrade them haha. It would be super crazy for Sherry to leave one week and me come home on the other. Could you imagine it?

     Anyways Dad, thanks for the update on the home front. I hope you figure out these app's and get something started up ;).

Love,

Elder Henry

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?!?! =)

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

Transfers--finally not transferring!

Dear Mom,
We got the transfer news today and both Elder Roman and I will be staying for one more transfer together. I'm excited, but surprised, because every transfer of my mission either I or my companion have been transferred except for Elder Galke, but our first transfer together was only 4 weeks because of the emergency transfer soooo I was actually expecting Elder Roman to hit the road. I'm excited though because Elder Roman will be able to stay with me for our baptisms coming up :).
So what Sister Wright told me to tell you is to send a package with melatonin, I'll keep looking, but the only melatonin we found so far was in Porto Alegre and costs 60$ which is absolutely ridiculous when it costs 3-4$ in the states but may be our only option. Essentially its not considered a medicine or drug here, but is classified as a vitamin supplement (which is exactly how it is in the states), so the pharmacies don't carry the stuff. I've looked in only two supplement stores and the both didn't have it, but have 3 more leads that I'll try today. I don't know why the stuff is illegal to import, or why its so expensive, but Brasil is full of crazy laws. Yesterday I learned that according to Brasilian law, if you kill someone and then stay hidden for 24 hours, the law can't hold you responsible for the murder so you go home free. What a crazy country this is...
I'm not too worried about Tori looking all grown up and going to dances, mainly because Tori is Spencer's responsibility, I had Sherry to watch after :P.
That's way crazy that Steven Shirley is married! How crazy! At first I thought you said that he was going to be married, then I realized that you said you went to his wedding reception. How weird, I'm going to come home one day and everyone will be married 0.0.
I hope the Ducks don't go to the national championship with a sophomore QB. Partly because they will most likely loose, and partly because I want to be able to watch!
Gravataí is pretty awesome, we had a pretty awesome week to finish up the transfer. We had 9 investigators at church yesterday, and have two baptisms lined up for this Saturday :). I and his family (L, L, R), L (47), Luisa (9), Brian (14), G (longtime investigator) and V(another elongtime investigator...).
We met L last Saturday and she's going to be baptised this Saturday. Essentially what happened is her mom went less active, didn't baptise her, but is active now and wants her to be baptised. Not really a great story, but hey a baptism is a baptism. She's super cute, and absolutely loves our visits :).
L (just baptised lady) is still going strong, she actually brought 4 people with her to church yesterday. How crazy is that! I've never had an investigator so excited about the gospel, she really reminds me a lot of Lynn, and how she received a witness of the gospel, and now is going strong. We taught her the Word of Wisdom last week, and she decided to give up coffee to be able to be baptised. I'm super excited for this weekend :).
B is a young man that we met actually a few weeks ago but started teaching him last week. He's the friend of the son of a former investigator. We invited him to play soccer at the new chapel, and he loved being there with all the young men. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he's read all the way to chapter 8 already. I'm super excited for him, but also a little nervous because we haven't talked with his parents yet. From what he's said his parents don't really like churches, but we will see what comes of it.
Ivo and Lucimara will be married here soon and the baptism of their whole family will follow. Ivo really reminds me of Bro. Gonsalves, they both had family problems before the gospel, and then missionaries and the church entered, and now their family is becoming more and more united.
I'm so excited for the Brown family! That's so awesome that they will all be sealed here soon. Anyways I think that's pretty much it for now. I love you bunches, and send my hello to everyone in the ward.

Dear Dad,
I completely agree.  Monday is a much better P-day day than Tuesday.
So is Sherry disappointed she'll be losing Elmo, or excited for the new
Subaru?  She is so spoiled to have a car at college you know :P.  Some
people have to WALK everywhere or take a BUS :P.  Don't get a sound system
too good, or I might get jealous you know...
There really is nothing better than a Gym in a Chapel to get non-members to
the church.  I took for granted all the times that I brought a friend to
one of our Chapels, because it was so normal to me, but now as a missionary
I think, look at all these Young Men bringing tons of people to the chapel
to play Soccer!  What awesome missionaries!  Its so hard for missionaries
to bring someone to the chapel, and yet the young men bring them in by the
10's and 20's.  Actually last Thursday we had 50 young men at the chapel,
of which 30 were non-members.  The whole neighborhood around the church is
all pumped about the new activities at the church.  I'm sure many baptisms
will follow, hopefully of families :).

Love,

Elder Henry

Last week in Porto Alegre area for now

Elder Henry with Elder Oba at his "going home" Temple Trip

Hi Mom,

I know you are just dying for pictures so here are a few.  I've taken quite a few more than these and I'm going to grab a couple from my companion from yesterday as well.

The District (Mike and Elder Oba are the only ones smiling...silly missionaries!)

Cleonira's baptism (got this from Elder Persinger's blog)

Elder Oba in front of "his" sign

Us with Santa Emilia (White Shirt) and her Sister (Red Shirt) on a typical street in Morro Santana

Us with Claudiomir our Ward Mission Leader and familiy in front of our church building (note the little girls' Primary bags)

Well Tomorrow is transfers and I got the news in an e-mail this morning that I'm being transferred tomorrow.  Here we don't find out until we make it to the rodoviaria (bus station, but like airport style) where exactly we are going.  Its been fun having the temple in my area and being in the middle of Porto Alegre, but I'll probably be heading for somewhere outside the city of Porto Alegre now.  Who knows where.

You might be wondering why there was no Baptismal picture included in this e-mail.  Carmen and Luan missed their baptism last Saturday, which was pretty hard for Elder Oba and Myself.  When I showed up with one of our ward members to pick her up, she was drunk and couldn't even hold a conversation.  The good news is we showed up again on Sunday after church to talk with her, and she knew what she had done was wrong and didn't want to do it again.  She also didn't try and hide or lie to us, but instead told us what had happened.  Still other missionaries will have to pick up where I left off now.

We found a new investigator this week as well named Rafael.  He's 16 years old, has no father and his mother is in the hospital with cancer.  He and his 2 brothers live alone, and a friend of his brought him to church for ward conference.  We taught him about the Restoration and Plan of Salvation last week and there was a special spirit there when we told him how he could live with his family forever.  He's reading the Book of Mormon, but sentences at a time, for like most Brazilians he does not read very well.

Other than that we've spent a lot of time walking, and walking, and walking around looking for people to teach.  My Portuguese continues to improve day by day and I still make a lot of mistakes but for the most part people can understand what I'm trying to say.

That's really awesome that you all had Brasilian food for dinner.  It looks pretty authentic from the pictures, about what I eat on a normal day.  We'll have to spend some time in the kitchen together when I get back so I can learn how to make all the food I will be missing.  I'm glad you all like Guaraná, I'm seriously addicted to the stuff. 

Elder Oba goes home tomorrow, finishing up his mission.  He's going through all the emotions right now, from super stressed, to excited, depressed, anxious, etc.  We had a party last night for his going home and Elder Persinger's Birthday.  We (and I really mean to say I) made pancakes at a members house complete with peanut butter and syrup.  They actually turned out to taste just like home!  I was impressed by how effective the syrup flavoring we had actually was.  After Pancakes and Guaraná, we had birthday cake.  A fun good way to wrap this transfer up.

Well I need to get going to lunch.  You know in Portuguese we have a verb, to lunch?  Its almoçar.  What a weird language this is.

Thanks for sending the pictures, and eating Brasilian food in my honor.  I'm glad to know my familiy has not forgotten about me :).

Lots of love,
Elder Henry

Elder Henry 1/23/12

 

     It sounds like your talk went really well.  Sorry my E-mail didn't get to you on Monday.  I got your letter Friday Night, and so the next day I asked if it would be okay if one of my members texted you the information, and it sounds like you got everything.  I could have sworn I pressed the little "would you like to include Lisa Y Henry?" Button, but I guess not.  Oh well things are all worked out now.  By the way the guy who texted you is Ben Maluia, one of the Less active members we've been visiting.

     BIG NEWS!  I'm getting transferred tomorrow to Whittier.

For anyone with letters on the way to my current address, my companion will take them to the mission office and then they will get to me.  It will probably just take about a week or so to get to me.

     More BIG NEWS!  I've been called to be a District Leader in my new area!  I'm really excited to serve the missionaries around me, and help them out the best I can.

     EVEN MORE BIG NEWS!  My new companion is also a visa waiter... for New Zealand.  His name is Elder Dixon, and everyone is telling me that he's an amazing missionary.  He's a recent convert of a year and a half, and President Bubert sent me a letter telling me that the two of us are going to be like Alma and Amulek up there.  Although he did specifically prohibit me from any fiery death scenes :(.

     I think that's it for the big news items of this week.  I'm really excited for my new area, calling, and companion.  Still I've had to say good-bye to a lot of my friends here yesterday, and it never gets easier as a missionary to say good-bye.  When you leave to go to the field you say good-bye to your family, when you leave the MTC you say good-bye to professors and friends, when you leave an area you say good-bye to companions, recent converts, less actives, members, all people you come to love, and then one day you have to leave the mission and say good-bye to your calling as a full-time missionary.  I can't imagine any of it gets any easier.

     I lied I have one more BIG NEWS event.  I'm going to be on bike in my next area instead of in a car.  Except I don't have a bike.... and neither does my companion...  I talked to President Bubert about it and he said the Assistants will be lending us a couple bikes from the mission.  I'm really excited to be able to go out on bike everyday, it is going to be quite the adventure.

      It was a really slow week for us as missionaries this past week.  No one has made any progress at all, and we haven't found any new investigators.  Its been a paitience week for us, where the people know what they need to do, and they slowly are making the changes and slowly the blessings are starting to come through.  It's been a week of getting the ward on board with us and setting things up to have amazing experiences.  We've been working with the members figuring out who they will fellowship, when both parties are available, and what kind of an activity will the members have planned (ie Dinner, FHE, etc.).  Hopefully things will start to pan out for the rest of the week :).  I've learned a lot of how to work with members in this area and I'm really excited to take that knowledge to Whittier.

     Thank you for the support, prayers, packages, and letters :).  I love you all so much!  Thank you for helping me to be the young man I am today.

Love,

Elder Henry

(P.S. I got a haircut today, so you don't have to worry about it, I know it was super long)

PHOTOS

1. Final good-bye to Eli, Isa, Matt, Siniva, and Zion

2. Matt with his one year old son Zion

3. Final good-bye to Ma'epu

4. The Sagala family, the Elders Quorum president in the Compton 1st ward.  Amazing members!

5. My District from this transfer.  We had a senior proselyting couple named the Blickenstaffs.  They were amazing, I can't wait until you and Dad can be the couple that all the younger missionaries just love to talk with and be around :)

Elder Henry gets to learn his 5th language!