It is finished

I can´t believe it. I´ve over.

I keep waiting for me to get the wierd sensation that I always thought I would have of great joy and relief that it is a done deed but it just hasn´t come. I am happy, yes, to be coming home and thrilled to see some of the people the i have missed for 2 years, but mostly I just feel strange. I feel uncertain about what to do and who to be, I don´t really how to do anything else than be a missionary...

My last week has been spectacular, I have gone out just the way I wanted to; working hard while seeing the people I wanted to see. Tuesday President and Sister Wright took us to a temple session for the last time. Wednesday we had my final zone council that I directed, and after we went back to Santa Cruz with the Zone leaders to divide with them. Yesterday I went back to Gravataí for the final time and Franklin and Jussara made a huge churrasco for me, it was delicious. Little did i know we had a dinner planned that night with a super rich investigator who said she was going to make a lasagna, but ended up taking us to the nicest churrascaria in Porto Alegre! It was like Tucanos on steroids... I think I put down about 9 pounds of meat yesterday, I woke up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding super hard, I thought I was having like a heart attack, so drank some water to get the salt taste out of my mouth... love meat. 

I was so happy to have a good "last day" on Friday, i went out with an awesome zone leader in my old area with nothing planned. It was one of those days where we just roaming and testifying to people in the street that Christ´s church is restored. I felt such a sweet spirit in doing so and we found a lot of good people that they will be able to teach later one. I love missionary work, I hope I can find a way to stay inovolved in this God´s marvilhous work and a wonder.

Words can´t describe the gratitude I have for my mission experience. I have gained a testimony of the importance of not just being at church but applying the things we learn there. I know that God speaks with men today, and that if we follow the celestial counsels we reieve we will be able to have an eternal family. 

I´m so excited to see my family. I want you to listen to "I´m on my way" by Phil Collins on the drive up to the airport. Tell everybody I´m on my way.

Stay Classy. For 4 more days.

I'm On My Way (almost)

What´s up people

I honestly don´t have much to say. I´m tired and happy. We spent the week doing divisions, nothing very exciting. The idea of me actually leaving this place is starting to take effect, It still doesn´t seem real, but i know I will be leaving ever so soon. 

Thursday was great because it was the first day this transfer that I could work in my area with my companion, it was awesome, and super important for me to try to pass everyhting i know about the area to Persinger before I leave. At night we had one of those incredible visits that make you want to stay on the mission longer. It makes me sad to think i had almost forgotten how that feels. Good people, good understanding, good spirit, real example of how missionary work when it is done properly can change a persons life. It was a lady that has been coming to church the last couple weeks but always rejects our visits when I ask.. finally last sunday after sunday school she came to me in tears and said she was ready to recieve our visits. We went there and met her whole family and they loved us. They were intelligent and understand the restoration, they responded wisely to deep soul searching questions. It made me miss having all day every day to preach the everlasting gospel of Christ. I have loved the administrative work of being an Assistant and helping the mission, but for a few weeks I almost forgot my purpose of helping people. The mission has been an unforgettable experience that will serve as a foundation for the rest of my life.

Today was an awesome p day. I came back from Novo Hamburgo on a division and we went to the church to participate in the helping hands service project. After, Eduardo and Danielle made us a sort of goodbye churrasco. It was delicious, they bought me a sweet original inter jersey, i love them. Then we went to the church to play basketball with a few ward members, the second counselor and the young mens president are going to call president this week to ask permission for me to go play paintball with them on my last p day, pray that he lets me! After that we are going to eat with a bunch of members. 

I honestly can´t believe this is my last week on the mission. I don´t think it will register until I sit down on that plane next Tuesday. We´ll see, this week will be pretty crazy, there won´t be a whole lot of time to sit and think, so that will be good. 

Chances are if you are reading this I´m stoked to see you.

Stay classy.

To the People

Yo

This week was awesome, I don´t think I taught a single lesson... but it was awesome. We were so busy. Tuesday was transfers and I had no idea how difficult that would be without any help from another assistant (my comp was picking up his parents) or President Pavan. Missionaries have no idea how much time and money go into the small things to make a mission run, Tuesday I was running all over the city. Wednesday was our planning day, we weren´t able to get out of the office, mostly just spent the whole day mapping out the next 6 months for President, buying bus tickets for missionaries, and planning our leadership meeting on Friday, which went awesome. We invited two guest speakers, a recent convert and the most renovator type Bishop we have here in the mission. We also gave a couple trainings. Thursday we went to GRAMADO!! If I haven´t spoken much of Gramado I will now, its the biggest tourist city south of São Paulo! It was legit, the closest thing I can describe it to is like a Park City on steroids, its there that people come all over the world for Christmas time for that big show. Me and my comp had mostly just planned on going there alone because the district was struggling but when I mentioned it to President he was like "well I´ll go with you!" (it´s like 3 hours away...) I love that guy, he came ready to work! He wants to divide with the missionaries and watch as many district meetings as he can, what a champ.

My companion is the MAN, seriously the perfect companion. Not only is does he work hard and keep the rules he is NOT a wierdo! Something we both have in common that I have grown to treasure... I went and played basketball with him at the church today for the first time in 23 months and it was wonderful. After we went to Outback, then came back here to play War until now. Fantastic p day, I didn´t even have time to be trunky, and that´s how I like it. My comp´s name is Elder Persinger and he is from Colombus Ohio, but his family now lives in Denver. We will be at BYU together.

My mission is starting to scare me... Everyone tells me I´m dying and going home soon, my body is starting to cease to function, and Dad is giving me marriage tips which is never a good sign... It´s all gone so fast I feel like I need another two years to be able to appreciate all the things I´ve learned and changed. The funny thing is I still feel like a little boy waiting to one day "grow up." Here soon I will have to enter the real world and go through the refiner´s fire, and I couldn´t be more stoked for it.

I have loved my mission, am I excited to go home? Yes. Will I miss this place? Demais. (look it up.)

Love you all.

Stay Classy.

New President

Oi Gente. (Pictures of our goodbye dinner with Pavan, our hello dinner with Wright, at the "laçador" statue, and at the temple.)

This week was a turbulent week, as I mentioned last Saturday night we picked up our new President and his wife, President and Sister Wright. It was way more diffucult for me than i imagined to say goodbye to Pres and Sister, particularly for President. I have spent so much time with him over the last few months and he has had a great influence in my life. That being said I already love our new President and his wife. He is very different from President Pavan, he is very outgoing and excited, he will be a great President. His wife couldn´t hurt a fly if she tried, and if she tells every missionary in the mission that she personally loves them i think she goes to bed happy. 

We spent most of our time this week traveling to various cities doing zone conferences for the missionaries to be able to get to know President. It was a lot of sitting and doing nothing and repeating to the 200 missionaries that asked me that No, I dont know anything about the transfer yet, and no I dont know if he will prohibit Coka Cola or Chimmarrão. On on the last two conferences i wised up and slipped out for 30 minutes to drink a coke while we were waiting. We raced home all of the nights to be able to salvage a bit of our teaching pool, and we actually had some great lessons this week. Our group is small, but solid, President even left with us to teach on Tuesday night! The guy came willing to work! Sister already wants to go knock doors with the Sisters... 

Thursday we amped ourselves up for a long day in front of the trasnfer board. We had to pound it out in about 5 hours because if not we wouldn´t hvae been able to make the necessary preparations yesterday for the transfer. Seeing that this will be the last transfer that I will actually be here to assist in the process after we picked our next Assistant we called him in for an interview and to watch the process so he can catch the ropes. I couldn´t be happier with my new companion, his name is Elder Persinger and he is the man. He will not officially be here until Tuesday, and no one knows yet so don´t let the word out Di, I know what kind of a gossiper you are. 

Yesterday for the last distirct meeting of "The Council" my future comp and zone leader Elder Persinger prepared America Jeopardy. One of the categories was "Countries that End in Merica...", all of the answers were The United States, and you got double the points if your team spontaneaously broke out into chants of U.S.A.!! U.S.A!! Needless to say it was a rousing good time. (I remember once when I said that in a Preiesthood church meeting and everyone laughed embarrassed and asked me if I knew what that meant. I responded, Yes.) I love America. 

I can´t believe I have one month left on the mission. That blows my mind, Im excited for the transfer, i need one last breathe of new air before I put my head back down to finish strong. We are going to be traveling a lot until the end so I should get home with holes in my shoes and pretty worn out, that will be good. 

I put Mitt Romney faces on our Mission Newsletter, Go Mitt. 

Stay Classy.

Weekly Email

Is anyone else getting sick of my weekly emails?

This week was fantastic, we went to my beloved Passo Fundo to do my last division with one of my favorite missionaries; Elder Barbosa. It was a blasty as usual full of mate doce (sweet chimarrão) and laughter. This time i divided with Elder Erickson from Draper Utah, what a stud, super hard worker, he completely wore me out!! I dont know why but i think the last 4 or 5 divisions i have done have been STRAIGHT knocking doors, I think God thinks I need to work harder... I have come to the conclusion that i dont like leaving my area, I don´t have control over what happens. Its a funny thing though watching younger missionaries, I told my companion after our division that about half the day i just wanted to be like "calm down! your killing me, there´s an easier way to do this!!" I dont know if Im just getting old and tired on the misison or if I´ve gotten used to my comfy chair in my heated office, but I was spent, and. Which is funny because i was watcihng Elder Erickson knock doors relentlessly for hours and seeing myself in Caxias and the start of Gravataí, doing that daily for months. I get frustrated leaving my area becuase i know how much differently i would do things If I could go back and how much easier it would be, and sometimes i think about telling young missionaries that-- but I then end up not doing so with the rational that it is part of the growing process. I am the missionary (and the person) I am today because i had ot learn for myself. I had to pass through just a little bit of hell and frustration to be able to figure out how things are done, and in my mind its a necessary step to become a leader. That is the basic logic behind the suffering of Jesus Christ, we don´t have to be crucified because he did it, but to a certain point we have to understand just  a LITTLE of what he passes, hence the answer to the classic quetsion; "Why does God permit suffering." Answer; Because he loves us and doesnt want us to return unchanged. 

I don´t want to return from my mission unchanged.

We have several good people we are teaching right now. It´s funny how the addictions we deal with here in Lindóia, a wealthier area, are more sophisticated addictions, but nontheless; addictions. Instead of getting people to stop smoking and using crack we have to get them to stop drinking wine and cheating on their spouses.. It´s intense. The world is messed up. 

You Stay classy Orem. You don´t need to change one bit.

Santa Cruz du SUI

Hello

This week was pretty normal, we traveled during the middle of the week and tried to finish up our divisions at the end of the week. I am growing weary of traveling, it is really starting to take a toll on me. I have grown a loathing for the bus, its the only time i am stationed and dont do anything, and thus the only time that my brain has to really wander outside of the misison. 

Stress is really something I am trying to avoid in my life. It does no good for me, and unfortuantely I was born into a family that quite frankly just cares about things. I have wondered to myself so many times why I can´t just "not care." Sometimes I want to have that attitude, to just not be so affected by things but I can´t. It´s not me. Something I have really worked on the mission is to be okay when I don´t get things I want. All of my life I think my biggest strength is being able to get what I want, it´s always been something I´ve been able to do. But especially on the mission when we affect the free agency of others and include gospel principles into the picture it becomes a little bit more complicated. I need to get to the point where I don´t need to control the situation, where I can be okay with others making important decisions, that i even may not agree with.

The mission is an incredible ground for learning about God, others, and most importantly yourself. I´ve made so many important discoveries about who I am and what things control my actions, that difficult part is being able to cannonize those things, and direct them for good, be it my will or not. Mostly I´ve just realized that I am a selfish selfish person, and each day I fight with myself to become a little bit more like Christ. And that is my sermon for the day. Sorry I didn´t give more details about the week but quite frankly I just dont remember. My mission is becoming a big blur, and I know it will all be over soon so I´m going to try to work hard and stay focused as to have no regrets.

Stay Classy Provo.

Manaus

Hello people-

The temple of Manaus gets dedicated tomorrow, we get to watch, Schweet!

It is SO cold here. People look at my like I am crazy when I tell them I am from Utah where it snows, and I am freezing. Humidity is the worst thing that was ever created, I don´t want to say God created it accidentallly cause I think that might be blashpemous but I have not discovered its hidden purpose yet other than to torment me relentlessly from the hours of 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. I finally broke today and went and bought a new Shower Head and a heater for our house. It´s brutal.

This week was good, it passed really fast. We went to Caxias and did our division there, (-1 degrees) enough said. I went with Elder De Jesus who had no idea about anything in the area and we were far from anything I recognized, so.... we knocked doors from the hours of 2 until 7:30. Then we went to our appointment at 7:30 which fell, so we did contacts. BEST DIVISION EVER. Seriously, if you have never tried to convince staunchy catholics to leave their warm house and come out to talk to strangers in the below freezing weather for 6 hours straight you have got to try it! It´s a blast. 

Anyways we got home from Caxias for me to quite literally "jump" in and out of the shower change clothes and get on a bus to Canoas for another division. This one went a litter better, and wasn´t quite as cold. Except that we got fed "muscle soup." I´ve learned to be much more tolerant in all aspects on the missoin, but I don´t reccomend it. (Neither do i recomend knocking doors in Caxias all day in the freezing cold, that was a joke, but I´m not as funny as I used to be) 

We have cool investigators. We are teaching a lady named Mathilda (name has been changed) (the area seventy is really cracking down on not putting details into your emails, as if you guys were going to remember that her name is really Rubia...) that is the lady that had the cool dream. Anyways she is progressing super awesomely and now our biggest barrier is Alcohol. Long story short she texted us yesterday after us having taught the word of wisdom and told she drank a beer and she didnt get any pleasure out of it, it had a wierd taste. i can´t express how many times that has happened on my mission be it Cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol. We marked a baptismal date with her for the 8th of July, now we´ve just got to get her rich doctor husband to fall in the water with her. He (She) accidentally blurted out in the last visit that he is a mason, so I told my companion It´s simple, we just drive him by the temple, tell him he CAN´T go in and see what happens until he gets baptzied, and he´ll beg US to get wet. 

We also have a cool dude named Carlos that we are teaching that is a total rocker! He plays lead guitar every saturday night at shows that go until ilke 5 in the morning and he still comes to church at nine! What a boss! His baptismal date is marked for the 24th but he´s starting to feel a little uneasy about it but im not worried, the ward loves him and we´ve already done visits with like 5 members. Vinicscius (the lawyer that travels to the U.S. and São Paulo) and Marcia are doing well but just too hard to find!! That´s the problem with well educated people, they are busy and dont just sit at home. He told us the last time we visited him and asked him if he had read and prayed that he is "fleeing from the answer", because he knows it will require changes in his life. I love intelligent people. His wife has already read to chapter 21 in 1 Néfi and described in detail Lehi´s first vision, I love intelligent people. 

The mission is good, life is good. I have enough time to teach the elects and enough money to buy a coke a day so no complaints.

Stay Classy, read the Bible. (And when I say the Bible, I mean the "Bible of the Mormons," as they say here.)

Pictures of our the Last churrasco for Sister and Prezz.