Depois Feliz Natal

Di/Familia/Amigos-

Wow it was so awesome to be able to use Skype. Really really hard, it honestly felt like i was right back there with you guys again, but so much better than just calling. Christmas was a hard day, but really good. Not sure if i mentioned but we had by far our best churrasco with an awesome family in our ward. Seriously better than Tucanos. It was sick. But i forgot to even ask what you guys did on Christmas!! You´ll have to tell me some more details. Sorry i turned into a blubber at the end. My DL owes my Zone leader five bucks, he bet i wouldn´t cry. I had stuff i wanted to say to each of you, especially cole, but i couldnt even get it out!! So sorry, im a wuss.

But overall, it was a pretty good week. Not sure if ive ever told you about possible my new favorite investigators. Alex and giselle. SO refreshing to find people that are ready to learn. They keep compromissos, listen when we talk, ask questions, do reading. I WASNT even mad when i found out they werent married. They now have a baptismal date. So stoked for that. We also have a baptism this week. Not sure if i´ve ever talked about Abrâao? (his real name is Luis.) But he is the guy that we found knocking doors, that smelled REALLY bad, with the GIANT beard. His story just gets weirder and wierder.

So i think i said he came to church (shocker), told us he felt the holy ghost, and that it was true, but THEN said naaaah im going to follow the church i created. (yeah, he´s defiantely gonna go down as wierdest guy i ever baptized) so we bore some testimony, and said your welcome back whenever. Long story short, he shows up 3 weeks later! We start teaching him, and give him a baptismal date. Only problem...he has some issues. Haha as you can see from the pictures we stole some stuff from him. I couldnt believe he gave it to us. BAG OF SIN. We´re not really sure what to do with that... We throw that away, it will get found and smoked within the hour...

Ah, other than that i dont have too much to say. Other than i am RIDICULOUSLY fat. (191 agora) I´m thinking about playing d-line for the cougs when i get back... Oh yeah! that is SO fun about Washington D.C.. I had never heard you guys were doing that. Jealous. Anyways, loved seeing all of you. I love hearing about E, Tate, Chel, Cousins, everyone that i love. Tell everyone to send a picture with every letter they send. And to send one more letter. :) Hope Christmas was phenomenal. Do a little good this week. The church is run by good members. And i love this church. Tchau.

I am a marriage counselor --and an email from Al's companion

Hello Family/Friends, Merry Freaking Natal!

Let me first just tell you a little about my week. I can sum it up with this... Marriage was SO much less complicated back in the states... Yikes. I literally spent my week trying to keep EVERTHING from falling apart instead of just most of it. Okay thats pessimistic but we recieved a lot of bad news. To give you an idea, This week we told an ex communicated ex bishop that he was BREAKING the law of chastity and to stop justifying it. Then we got a frantic call from one of our craziest investigators that her to be husband spent the marriage money that we gave him on a girl (again), But the highlight was definatly getting the call that Gilmar was arrested in front of his kids for crack, I serioulsy cried.

The situation turned the next day, when his wife foolishly let him back into the house. Needless to say that was an awkward visit. Neither my comp or i wanted to say anything, so finally i just started talking. To this minute i have no idea what i said or how i said it, but I found myself standing up after listening to him scream at his wife and saying NO, this is YOUR fault. You are going to lose your family and everything you have if you cant stop, and if you do it again, im going to make sure that you never step foot inside this house again. Yeah.. it was a little strong. I was shaking. The minute we left my comp was just like i CANT BELIVE YOU SAID THAT!! But somehow we (19 year old nobody americans) can talk to people like that (Even ex bishops) and people respect what we have to say. It was a long visit and i couldnt tell all if i tried but it was powerful. I pray it has an influence. I love those kids too much for it not to.

The day before that was a pretty interesting day as well. One of those classic missionary days where you are kicked down, shot in the kneecap, twice, then spit on, and kicked once more. Seriously every single thing we had fell, and they were important visits. It was about 745, we hadnt eaten dinner, and were seriously mentally and physically exhausted. We really thought about grabbing a pizza, taking our dinner hour and ending a little early. But we made a better decision, and trusted that if we knocked doors in the heat of the night, he would bless us. He did, the second door we knocked a very evangelical lady named sonya answered and invited us in. We began to teach her the restoration, but switched quickly to the plan of salvation after hearing that her mom just died. I have high hopes for her. Perserverance and faith always pays off.
-Little side note we decided to celbrate our persistance with some pastels that we buy at a bar. And while we were waiting i saw a little man drinking his life away and crying. I contacted him, and he said he used to take the missionaries. But couldnt kick COKE. Some missionaries are so freaking retarted. We´ll visit him thursday.

It was a hard week. And a really long one. Cant lie it felt like a month.. But the work will never stop right? We shed a lot of blood.. Moroni didnt like to shed blood on the battlefield, but did so when he needed to in order for the salvation of his people. I hated every minute of it, but it was necessary. I hope all of you have an EXCELLENT natal, i will miss it. Please give my Thanks to Jacobsons and Paulsons for sending me christmas cards, that was really nice of them. Love.

And yeah we have pictures of bowling!! I went bowling! No, its not the same, but still fun!

THE FOLLOWING IS FROM ELDER LYNN'S PERSPECTIVE:

Hey Fam

FELIZ NATAL!!!!


There was some pretty crazy happenings this week if I do say so myself.

We had a crazy move to do in the ward. A member was moving to a spot kind of by our house and of course she asked the Elders to help her out. We accepted and when we got to the apartment we found out that the move was from the 4th floor and not only that, they had half floors so it felt like 8! We moved wardrobes, a refridgerator, a oven, tables, and other crazy items. Not to mention it was about 95° outside ugh.

Then we had a cool National Geographic moment when we saw a orange wasp attack a big spider as the spider was fleeing. Then the wasp managed to paralyze the big guy and drag it to a hiding place in order to lay its eggs inside the corpse and have the little wasps have food when they hatch. The worst thing is that the spider is alive during most of it.

Also Elder Allred and I had to "shed some blood" on Sunday because of the choices of some of our big investigators. The term "shedding blood" comes from a conversation that Elder Allred and I had about how Captain Moroni didn't like shedding blood but did it because it was necessary. So we related this to the fact that we don't like chastising our investigators but when it is necessary we do it for their benefit. Hence "Shedding Blood"
So we found out that one of our investigators (Tall, Heavily Built) Fell back into his addiction to some heavy substance and but wouldn't accept responsibility for his actions that were destroying his family (literally) So We planned to have Elder Allred start. He started slow, not sure what direction to run, and looked at me. I then said that we would like a few questions and looked back to Elder Allred. That is when he grabbed that ball and ran for the touchdown. He told this heavier built man that it was his fault that his family was falling apart that he was the one guilty and to stop trying to blame others. I was shocked, one second he was fumbling and the next he smacked through the D-Line and took down the biggest guy in the field. This rocked our investigators world a little bit and as we told him that there were two options; keep the family or keep the drugs. Wow when Heavenly Father is on your side, why fear the arm of flesh. Elder Allred was awesome and taught me a thing or two about not fearing.

We're going to play a little ball right now.

Merry Christmas/Feliz Natal

Love you all,
Elder Lynn

Just in case!

Hello People

I am short on time this week. So i will have to hurry. I will start off with the big news of the transfer... I AM STAYING HERE IN PASSO FUNDO. As will my comp elder lynn, we are both happy to be here. We feel liek we still have some unfinished business that we need to get done.

highlights of the week- A very very drunk man picking a fight with me after he didnt get the answer he liked when he asked why i was in his country, A very very interesting type of fungus growing on my right foot, (thank you SO much for throwing lamisil into my kit di), a recent convert telling me and my companion WAY too much about her seemingly good guy husband. (YIKES) And of course the baptisms of Ruan and Vitoria,

About the important thing, the baptism. Quick story. As you can see in the pictures, we had planned all along for the cousin of these two kids i love (parents aren´t ready, having some serious problems with them) to baptize them, because he leaves on a mission in about 2 weeks. I had explained this to Ruan earlier in the day after he asked me to baptize him, but apparently it didnt get through. Because when i arrived he took me aside and asked if i would baptize him. When i tried to say no Douglas will baptize he gave me a look and about started to cry... I didnt have the heart to say no, so i looked at my comp, and he just sighed, and we took off. We had 15 min till the baptism, so we sprinted him like lightening. I grabbed my clothes and memorized the baptismal words on the way back, and you can see the end, i had my first real baptism! ill never forget it.


I had a good week really. We had some frustrations like always but im glad to still be here. we had a chance Sat night to go to a cultural celebration at the church and that was really fun. Interestingly strange, but fun. Please keep the Gilmar and Selete famliy in your prayers, along with me. Keep updating me on your lives, and your christmas plans. Not much christmas planning here. I love you all. This gospel is true. People have died and suffer for it every day.

Last week in passo fundo...Maybe, I hope not

Hello People.

It was a fast wierd week here in Passo Fundo. I serioualy am having serious mental blocks even remembering what happened at the start of the week. It feels like so long ago, yet yesterday at the same time.. Wierd. But Friday was sick. We had zone conference in CAXIAS. Which is a pretty big tourist hot spot around here. Legit, i will send lots of pictures. We got up at 4 to take a 4 hour bus, and im learning fast that any time missioaries get around each other shanangians happen. Fun stuff. We also had a special training conference on monday for just our zone. Had my first interviews with pres... he´s scary. But pretty chill. I get the impression i will stay here for another transfer..

Speaking of... this is the last week of the transfer! I really hope i stay.. But i will know on Monday. Therefore, my p day COULD be on monday next week, IF i get transferred, stay tuned. Anyways, this is random, but its really wierd how your taste buds start to change. For example, i hated guarana, black beans, and pinapple in the ctm, but now i have them everyday, and love them! Wierd. Jumping topics, did i ever say anything about my ward here? I think not. Its awesome. They are sick, my bishop is literally the best in the mission, and both he and the missio leader do things. (rare here) We have 3 missioaries that will leave this january (2 to São Pàulo, 1 to Recife) One of their older brothers is like my best friend here, Felipe. he is a RM from Orlando, speaks FLAWLESS english, and loves basketball. Yeah, he´s tight. Speaking of Felipe, I am so proud of the other felipe. (/our baptism) He is progressing so well, and received the priesthood!

So, a little more about our progression this week. Let me tell you one thing that i cant stand about brasil. Nothing is planned, and nothing is organized. It makes for difficult missionoary work. Example, had a big Chá Missionario (come give me the stuff i need) party that was supposed to start at 7. We are there with everyone waiting till 830, when the fam arrived with food and it started. No one respects our time. Especially our investigators. Its really frustrating. Our marriages continue to have problems.. Gilmar fell back into drugs again, and Selete has had it. She is so sick of trying. We spent at hour there yesterday literally having them yell at each other in front of us and their kids. I felt like a marriage conselour, and it sucked. We somehow managed to salvage the spirit and give a lesson, i hope it sunk in. We made the decision that we will still baptize the kids this week. I hope it gives, there are more complications, not enough room to explain.

I also had the pleasure yesterday of finding out that another one of our marriage couple, who has a date also this week, had a bit of a small little hiccup... that hiccupp being that the ´husband`spent the money the bishop gave him for marriage on what i think is another woman. Unreal. This lady though.. seriously i dont know if i can baptize her anyways. Its like talking to a brick wall. I ask her if she has a testimony of the book of mormon and she asks me what blessing she will recieve if she pays a fast offering. Unreal. Not sure what were going to do with her..

Quck respones to questions. Dad, the drug war your talking about. WOW. Its HUGE in rio right now, like, borderline civil war huge, but you can see it all over the country. 2014 is their date. Mom, no, i was being dead literal when i say pepole dont HAVE clothes. I have many investigators that im quite sure have 1 shirt.. because ive never seen a different one. QUICK story cause this is way too long. highlight of the week. We are knocking doors after a crappy day where EVERYTHING fell, my comp says lets cross and knock THAT house. We knock. nothing. knock. nothing. FINALLY a tall dude with full on moses beard comes out. Filthy dirty, gross t shirt, ripped short shorts, Pretty sure he didnt have toilet paper after i shook his hand. anyways, he wouldnt even let us in, but listened to a 2 min version of our message. We invited him to church, and asked if we could come pick him up. He accepts. Long story short, we go and hes not there. shocker. We show up the church, and someone taps me on the shoulder. I LITERALLY did not even recognize Luiz (We call him Abraâo) he had shaved his giant beard, taken a shower, and was wearing a clean collered shirt. he stayed all 3 meetings, and we are going back tomorrow. The lord works in wierd ways.

Sorry this is so long. I love my family. And i love this church. So fun to recieve my buddies mish letters this week, and while i am convinced i will never have that gushing speech that they have about their mission, i do know this church is true. That sucks for Tony parker that eva left him, but steve nash is cooler anyways. Tell them to all come here, their situation will be less complicated than my marriages now. Thats tight brett and melissa are in utah! but why did they wait until now! i love you all. This work is great and will never stop.

Passo Fundo Week 4

Hello people i love. It was fun to hear about all of your thanksgivings. I did not even remember it was thanksgiving until late that night. Needless to say i was a little sad. BUT, i think i lived it a little bit vicariously through all of you. So thanks.

I cant lie.. It was a bit of a frustrating week here in Passo Fundo. One of those weeks where nothing goes to plan and everything kind of falls apart. People have kind of gotten into the idea here that ìts just the missionaries.´ And we had just about every apointment fall through this weekend. Did a LOT of walking.. and a lot of time wasting. But, we continue to make progress with Gilmar and Selete, We had to be realistic, they will not be married in time for our date. But we decided that we are still going to baptize the kids. We are trying to keep them motivated and animated, but like our other couples, they seem to want US to pull them up the hill. I think they think its the church´s obligation to pay and organize everything for them, and yeah it makes me a little bit annoyed.

Can i get some support from ex-missionaries (Adam, Dad, Brit..) on how much you HATE the palavra... (the word) You seriously know your screwed in a lesson when your teaching and the person is sitting there nodding their head and saying yes, yes, verdade (truth). Certainly. We have a very unique message. People should not just agree! We had a plethora of peole this week that we came to find loved our visits, yet wanted NOTHING to do with the church. And even got a little angry! WHAT DO THEY THINK WE ARE?? Two people coming here to sit and go RAW RAW GOD!! your awesome! Seriously, I am going to make a statement. The minute you tell me you are evangelic, is the minute i tell you you are an idiot. At least catholics believe in something...

Okay, that was a little harsh, and probably not very missionary-esque. But i lost some serious respect for evangelics this week. Moving on. I am SO big. Seriously people. My pants are starting not to fit, and my garments seriously hurt when i take them off cause they are so tight. Yeah, its bad. I weighed myself at 81.8 kilos. Not sure. Do the math.

Can i just have a okay he´s finally getting it moment. All the things that dad used to tell me are finally making sense. Few examples. Lunch a few days ago. UFC fight is on. Im getting so mad at myself cause im not enjoying it like i used to. im just thinking how can we feel the spirit when this guys head is spilling blood all over the guy thats beating the crap out of him. The kids at my baptism, walk in with their ipods plugged in, (seriuosly you cant take it out for 3 minutes?) then are TEXTING while we are having our service. I was so mad. i straight yelled at one kid to put it away. I never thought i would ACTUALLY change...

I hate dogs. So bad. Brasil has the WORST overpopulation problem. And they are everywhere. And they bark, and they bite. I hate them. We had lunch with a guy we simply call homem loco (the crazy man) who told us he had a revelation that he should not pay tithing, and that all the people who have ever opposed him have died. Oh yeah and that his papers say he´s brazilian, but his blood is american. And god made a mistake. he has american crap everywhere. he has 6 dogs. Go figure.

How is the Christmas season!! They have started putting up decorations in centro here. They are different.. but close enough to make me a little sad. Are you guys going to go to scrooge this year?? I love this time of year. Football... Christmas. That sucks about BYU.

Di, i think you were inspired with your glucosamine pills. Because although i dont think they help my knee, thats destined to alwasy just be an annoyance (JUST an annoyance di, please dont send me anything else to help.) i have started having some seriously painful hip issues. So, i decided what the heck, lets take some glucosamine. Big difference. the lord works through mothers. Look at the sons of helamann.

It was a rough week overall but we made some progress and as always had some spiritual experiences. The church here is very disorganized and child-like but its the same church that is true everywhere and poeople continue to recognize it. Its an incredible difficult but powerful calling being a missionary. Thanks for all of your support to help me through it. I love you, and i love this church. have a good week.

Hey, just wanted to say a little more on something ive been meaning to ask if youve heard anything about for the last 3 months. I heard a lot about this at the mtc. If you havent noticed there have been like NO americans getting calls to brazil.. As shown by the 11 americans that were there when i left. Apparently this has been a a big decision by the church. Something obama said has made it near impossible to get visas, and here they have made HUGE effrots to get 5 missionaries from every stake. They are going to start calling people from other south american countries.. (argentina, chile, per etc.) here and ONLY callig brazilians to brazil missions.

So.. what this means. it looks like my section or group whatever you want to call it. Will end up being the last REAL batch of americans called to brazil.. obvioulsy there will still be some. but you will never see it again like you did, where there were tons. Because its too hard to get here, and they are trying to become less reliant on north america. Kind of cool to think about.

Here are a couple more pictures. The dark ones are from when our power was cut, we couldnt make food, or take showers! So we had to be a little creative!

The ones of me running are after a triumphant lesson and me screaming EU AMO MINHA MISSÃO!!!

Lastly, Wanted to share i think what i found to be my 2nd favorite quote ever. By C.s. Lewis, so naturally dad will love it.

-There is a common misconception in the world today that people who have not succumbed to tempation do not know how strong it is. You find out how powerful the wind is by walking against it, NOT by laying down.

Is that powerful or what...

Passo Fundo Week 3

So, I totally forgot about thanksgiving until i got on email today. Wow, crazy, eat a lot for me people cause no di, they definately dont celebrate that delicious holiday here. Firstly, i need to tell you about our holiday we created today!! We called our beloved lez´s (zone leaders) to see whats up, and somehow we decided to have AMERICA DAY!! So we met at the mall where they have an imitation macdonalds and subway, bought a coke, and had a feast!! Actually it was A TINY amount of food, and it was RIDICULOUSLY espensive, and it didnt taste lke subway or macdonalds (i had to buy the subway after i finished my big mac cause i was still starving) but it was AWESOME! ill send a picture.

Now, i need to tell you about my two first horrifying experiences this week!! Yayyy! 1. My first traumatic spider incident. So, wed night, we finish praying, i get up to close the door, and behind i find a nice big friend waiting for me!! Big as my palm, no lie. Yeah, i didnt sleep for two nights. 2. My first crazy person incident. Sun night I awake about 2 to people SCREAMING (demonnniiias!! (demons)) and glass breaking. I think its just idiots partying (idiots party here) until i hear BOOM BOOM BOOM. I start waking up thinking thats REALLY close.. it was then my comp GRABS my foot and pulls me down to the floor telling me someone was shooting!! Not sure if i told you the bishop lives below us, and his store is the first floor. Big mess in the morning, felt real bad for the bispo. Everyone was out in the streets after, crazy brasil.

We had divisions thursday. I went and worked in Erecheim (furthest city east in our mish) with..ELDER HARKER. Remember him? Yeah, not fun. He didnt say a word to any of his investigators.. it was kind of a conf. booster for me though, i understood most of it! i kind of had to dominate the conversation.. Good to travel a little though. On the way i read an awesome aritcle that i KNOW dad will remember. Coisas como realmente são (things as they really are) by david r. Bednar. Classic.

Week wise it was pretty good! We had our baptism (felipe) and Gilmar and Selete are really progressing! They are the family of 4 that i just love. nights like last night make the mission worth it, we had a family night with a member. We ate hot dogs (very different from what you are thinking) watched the joseph smith movie, and had a small testimony meeting. Everyone was in tears, and they have accepted to be married and baptized! It is going to be so difficult. We are going to the ex (she´s still married...) today to get his approval. Marriage is s chore here. And we do all the work.

So, i am having some serious bug issues.. Every morning i wake up with like 5 new bites. and they are big and hurt so bad. Cockroaches are getting riciculous, and we have these wierd bugs that we kill, and blood splatters EVERYWHERE. Like, a lot of blood. We think its ours, they are like mesquitos on steroids. Thanks for the letters, i finally got some! As far as mine, as you probably figured they will be fewer and further in between, but this means that im working my butt off and dont have time to write! I would still like some occasionally if you could though.. i know email is SO much easier, but its nice to get letters! Tell corb thanks for the wedding invitiation! That was really nice of them. They look really good.

We are halfway done with the transfer. Crazy. We speculate often about what the chances are of both of us sticking around... I actually think pretty good. We both want to stay, and i honestly think i would cry if i left before i got to see this family baptized. (Gilmar and Selete) not to mention we might have 3 wedding parties in 1 week!?? FESTA!! This place is crazy. Im starting to miss food a lot. Eating a sort of real burger didnt help. (NO where else has burgers) Overall the food isnt bad and SOMETIMES can be incredible. Real brazilian food is un imaginable, better than tucanos, no lie. But rice and beans EVERY day gets old. The people are good. They just need to stop smoking and having sex!! Easier said that actually done. I love you all and hope your thanksgiving is fabulous. Eu sei que esta igreja é a maneira para vida eterna. Só por meio o evengelho podemos voltar á presenca de Deus e vivermos com nossas familias para sempre. Joseph SMICHE foi um profets. Temos uma profeta vive em Thomas S. Monson. Como grande é nossa chamada.

Abracos.

Passo Fundo Week 2

Yo Family. And anybody else who reads this... Its was a pretty good week here in the land of Brasil. It is getting so fetching hot... Humidity is just a killer. and everytime i tell one of my investigators that they laugh and tell me we are not even fully into summer yet. Yikes.

i realized that from my last email i didnt talk a whole lot about my companion. his name is elder lynn, and he is from renton washington. he has 10 months on the mission, and has admitted to me doesnt feel at all ready to be training someone. not gona lie, somtimes i feel that way. I like him a lot but sometimes i feel like the senior companion. But its all good, i like having an american, and while i may not learn the language quite as fast, its good to have someone that is easy to realate to and can speak english with! As far as our accomodations.. i think i spoke a little about that. Our apt is grubby and full of cockroaches, but im informed that is gets a lot worse...

Food wise continues to be a bit of an adjustment.. I think i have finally adjusted to having lunch as the big meal of the day, and even to some of the food. I slowly find myself eating and even liking things i NEVER would have eaten. Theres gross stuff too.. But the hard part is the fact that we dont eat dinner.. That gets hard. i actually am really enjoying breakfast.. If you would have told me that i would eat bologna sandwiches every breakfast, i would have been more than a little nervous. But now i like crave them!!

So I was treated quite badly for the first 2 times this week... First at the house of Michael. An investigator that we had to make the hard decision to cut this week. Very sad. But we cannot go back after his mother yelled at us that we WOULD NOT believe in this foolish joseph smith, and that we do NOT have a living prophet on the earth. She has hardened her heart so hard that it has rubbed off on her son.. and its really sad. Ha, the other time was kind of funny. After lunch one day a little old later came screaming at us waving her finger telling us that we were sinners and that the world was going to burn because of people like us.. Good times.

A little about the good old south.. Its an interesting place. Haha, three things you will find at EVERY house here..1. A churrasca pit.. (by the way had my first REAL homeade churrasco, WOW. Doesnt happen very often, but it was SO good. made up for all the crappy food. better than tucanos, no joke) 2. A Cuia. This is the cup they use for chimarrão. If you are in the south, EVERYONE you see will have one of this with them if they are sitting. its really wierd to see. But i am slowly begining to be obsesed. They told me i would love it, and i didnt believe them.. but i drink like 4 cups a day, and it just gets better and better. For sure an aquired taste, i think di would love it.. 3. A flag of their soccer team. nobody supports brazil here. they support one of two teams.. Internacional, or Gremio. And it is scary. BYU/Utah times 10. I have a gremio jersey.. but i think i may have to send it home to wy.. Cause i think im making a trade. sh.. dont tell anybody.

I told dad a little bit about Darceu and Sonya. They are a family i love with an AWEOME member of a daughter. And the wife wants to get baptized, but she is on the string of her scary husband.. This week i looked him in the eyes and said things i never thought id say before.. I am still alive, but only barely. That was one of THREE baptismal invites we made on sunday!! It was a good day.. Why? Because Gilmar, Selete, and their 2 children agreed to start the process to get married and be baptized!! It will not be easy, but they have a nephew leaving on a mission Dec. 23, and he bore his testimony to them of how much it would mean to see them make this step towards changing their lives. We were literally all in tears, and now we have a baptismal date.

It was a pretty good week. Aside from a couple rude experiences and an extremely creepy husband of one of our investigators (when i say husband i mean ex-high priest who lives with her) who continually asks me why i am a virgin and how i can stand to do that, and if we are looking for any girls in passo fundo.. My comp says before i came he offered him a job, and told him he doesnt need to get married! just find a girl here and live with her! yeah, hes fun. But really.. life is pretty good. i love my ward, and we have some awesome investigators. The work is hard but fulfilling. I miss the simple pleasure of the united states, like hot water, food, cleanliness, and english.. but i love the culture of brasil. Going away from your family and your country makes you realize how much you miss both of them. i love you all.

P.s. I have been meaning to ask about a song that i used to love!! Come thou fount on the efy soundtrack... BUT, this morning i heard a familiar tune from my comps ipod.. and i was like hey thats my cousin!! (sort of) freddy ashby, hes famous here. Everyone loves that song. I remember it from chel, we used to listen to it. Anyways, good stuff. have a good week.

11/9/10

Oi familila!!
Di, you think two weeks was long for you? Yeah, i know. WAY too long. It was rough. and really hard. But i am currently escrevendo vocês from a little lanhouse filled with perverts doing some sort of online chat and a bunch of wierdos playing some sort of warcraft. Maybe ill rock their world and start handing out books of mormon... probably not.
So, some changes. one cool part about this mission- we do not have a rule about time on email. so i am in no rush. its pretty sweet, so tell people to email me if they want, and i dont have to worry about captuing them on my camera anymore!! its good. So, arrival details. As you know, i left at 345 in the morning (it sucked) and arrived in Porto Alegre that morning. I met President Pavan and his AP´s-two of the coolest guys i have ever met. I came to be prettty good friends with both of them, as they were in my city touring with their families! it was really wierd... and hard to watch. them ending, but it was fun, im really sad they are leaving. Elders Forgren and Zaharis. Because Im not sure if i mentioned.. my first city, is like the envy of every missionary. Everyone LOVES passo fundo. Yes, that is where i am. We call it passo FUNdo. Just kidding, its not really all that fun...
I have attached a bunch of pictures! And i am sending the rest of them home. Just send them back when your done, no rush. Cause i can actually send quite a few at a time through email.. and just disperse them. As to my living arrangements... im not sure how the states were, maybe the same Brit? But they are... interesting. Its a grubville people. Really gross. and missionaries are unfortunately not very clean. We have a quite nice infestation of cockroaches, that my companion loves to kill, and it smells in just about every room. it is pretty big however, i have heard the biggest in the mision. Ha, so, washers, dryers, and hot water are things that dont exist here in brazil. So its quite at interesting process. We have a little twirly thing that sort of washes them... then we rinse them and let them sit, then we hang them up. (Yeah its 1880 here) just kidding, that was mean, its just a different way of life. Everyone hangs up their clothes.
Thats really funny about Brolin... Its so fun to be able to actually look at pictures! ill probalby go back and find all the ones i missed! i would still like some hard copies though if possible. SO fun to hear about mike as well. it sounds like it was a pretty big party.. i will never forget that night for the primaries. Tell him congrats. and all your good looking sisters i say hi! i would have loved to go running with them, cause i go running here! yeah, my comp suggested it, and i really didnt want to, but i was like fine i guess ill go. so i did. and we go every other morning now. Speaking of my comp... He is an upgrade. I am still not quite sure how i feel about him. At first i loved him, for reals, pretty cool, but occasionally he gets really obnoxious.. but, he works, and thats a real value here. for reals. and the cool thing about a mission, is that we would have NEVER been friends before, but here, we have become pretty tight.
The knee still has some issues.. but, please dont worry about it. Not a big deal. For reals. Food wise.. I think i am officially getting over being a picky eater! Serious, i dont really have an option.. But i eat stuff and then like a minute later im like.. wait, did i really just eat that? We just ate at a sweat place called master grille, all you can eat for 6 bucks! Tight. Thats way fun to hear dad is coaching again. Go get them col! And wy, i laughed really hard at his halloween. Getting more scared than enjoyed at the scary movies, thats hilarious. People, i love you. Missions are so freaking hard. But we had a fantastic day yesterday.. im going to write another email in a minute telling about my investigators cause i think this is much longer than people want to read, but those good days are priceless. They make it all worth it. I love this gospel, and my family and friends. Boa semana.

-Elder Alllred

Write ALL letters/packages/anything to this-

Missâo Porto Alegre Norte
Caixa Postal, 13008 Cep: 91010-971
Porto Alegre -RS- Brazil


Sorry if your sick of me... But i wanted to tell you a little bit about some of our investigators.

My first baptism to fall through was a 21 year old named Felipe. Dude is ready. EVERYTHING, exept for cigarro. Serious, guy had some serious issues, but its all been resolved except for that freaking tobacco, everyone smokes here. We have many investigators that i try to have faith for, but struggle. My second to fall through this week was luzia. Awesome lady, piece of trash for a husband. They need to get married. (another huge problem) the guy has been saying he would for 2 years. Long story short, we caught him in a lie, were pretty dang sure hes cheating on her. Not sure what were going to do. One of my favorite families is Jamar and Shalene, they have an awesome nephew that will get a mission call this week! and they come to church, but for some STUPID reason we cant get them to be married. Im REALLY frustrated with a guy that Elder Lynn has been visiting for 3 months now, named Michael. Every time we go, we get berrated with 100 questions that ARENT relevent UNTIL he gets a testimony. but he is too stuborn and wont do it our way, he knows its true but wants physical evidence, and is looknig for any doubt he can. Why did Brigham young need 30 wives, why cant i drink coffee, why is the temple so secreitive? They are really hard questions to answer in english, near impossible in portuguese. One of my grestest experiences so far has been with Darceu and Sonya. As we taught about eternal families i saw a man that absolutely hated us and comes from a DEVOUT catholic familiy grab his daughters hand and start to cry. They will be baptized. I want to mark a date this week. Ah.. so many more. but my aboslute favoirte might be Rafael. We found him this week. And someday i will tell you the story because it was a great faith strengthener. Its wierd how close you come to some of your investiagators, you pray for them daily, and want only their happiness. Ha, i might write one more email, sorry, i just forget some of the things you people ask. I love you all dearly. have an awesome week.

Adios CTM

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Rua Visconde de Macaé, 245 – Cristo Redentor

Porto Alegre – RS - Brasil Cep:91350-290

Dear Allred Family,

After spending a few hours with your son, we sense his spirit, preparation and testimony. Our hearts are filled with gratitude to parents that sent us such a fine young man.

We thank you for your sacrifice and know that Heavenly Father will richly repay you and your missionary as he serves the Lord in this part of his vineyard.

We read in the Book of Samuel of Hannah, who promised, if she were granted a son, she would consecrate him to the Lord. Blessed with the son she asked for, she took him to the temple and “lent him to the Lord”. You have done something very similar to Hannah. What is marvelous is that, by offering our children to God, they become ours forever.

We are happy for the opportunity we have to be called with your son to serve in this mission. Rio Grande do Sul is a marvelous place with friendly people anxious to hear the gospel. Sometimes the work will be hard and your weekly letters will give him inspiration and encouragement.

Every young missionary, often through difficulties and challenges, grows a lot. He will have sacred experiences as he is obedient and dedicated. Great things are happening in the work of the Lord and it is marvelous that your son is playing a part.

We will most certainly take care of him and love him as if he were our own. We thank you one more time and pray that the blessings of the Lord be with you.

Sincerely,

President Edison Pavan Sister Marcia Fajiolli Pavan

Safe arrival to the mission home

Dear Allred Family,
After spending a few hours with your son, we sense his spirit, preparation and testimony. Our hearts are filled with gratitude to parents that sent us such a fine young man.

We thank you for your sacrifice and know that Heavenly Father will richly repay you and your missionary as he serves the Lord in this part of his vineyard.

We read in the Book of Samuel of Hannah, who promised, if she were granted a son, she would consecrate him to the Lord. Blessed with the son she asked for, she took him to the temple and “lent him to the Lord”. You have done something very similar to Hannah. What is marvelous is that, by offering our children to God, they become ours forever.

We are happy for the opportunity we have to be called with your son to serve in this mission. Rio Grande do Sul is a marvelous place with friendly people anxious to hear the gospel. Sometimes the work will be hard and your weekly letters will give him inspiration and encouragement.

Every young missionary, often through difficulties and challenges, grows a lot. He will have sacred experiences as he is obedient and dedicated. Great things are happening in the work of the Lord and it is marvelous that your son is playing a part.

We will most certainly take care of him and love him as if he were our own. We thank you one more time and pray that the blessings of the Lord be with you.



Sincerely,
President Edison Pavan Sister Marcia Fajiolli Pavan

10/26 Last Week in the CTM

Ah, my dear family. Its game time. I get really nervous for game time. its stressful... Especially this week. Much went on. No way will i have time to tell all that i want to tell. But thank you all for the countless letters and emails, they really help. Yes Di keeping fwding me emails, i take pictures of them and read them later! Im extremely clever i know. So, this week. Ill start from the top. I just got back from a churrascaria (tucanos) WOW. it makes our wussy little brazilian meat shops seem like macdonalds (which is like high high class expensive restaurent here, yeah, they~re all messed up.) It was so ridiculously good, i am so packed with odd meats that ive never heard of before.. and it was about a third of the price. legit. I just threw in a big load of laundry,... doin laundry yourself sucks. every time im like wait a minute, where the freak is di!!
I had scotty cut my hair this week so i dont look like a freak anymore... we have realized that our time together is quickly dwindling. a little depressing. This has been a wierd last week, it will be long. class kinda sucks cause we dont have anything left to learn.. we have learned everything, now we just need to be thrown into the fire. As far as info i dont have any more than you. i find out my flight plans next monday. It just sucks cause it will for sure be early in the morning.. and you guys are five hours back so i probably wont be able to call home, it would be in the middle of the night. Maybe ill call and leave a message or something. I also have no idea how long till i will be able to email again, since tuesday is my p day. It sucks. It could be two weeks... Not happy. STOKED to see if i can find a macdonalds at the airport though, i will pay 20 reijais for a sausage mcgriddle without even blinking twice. american food is hard to come by... That being said i have learned to love this food.. i said a little more about that in my letter, but beans and rice have just become part of life now.
Other stuff. Portuguese is coming. Two things i heard a lot of this week... how old are you? (for some reason people think i am like 23.. go figure) and do you speak spanish? Supposedly spanish is a lot easier to learn than portuguese. (from the brazilians) there are a lot less rule changes, and the conjugations stay the same more. But its still tough to kick my spanish accent. It is cool though i was flipping through a spanish bom today and read the whole introduction, once i feel at all confortable with portuguese i will probably start trying to read in spanish. i sent dad a little note in port. just to see how much of it he could understand.. im curious.
Thanks for the update on the sports! i had on my little note to ask for some more updates! ha, it was funny the first two weeks i got like a full page synopsis on byu then less... and less.. then none. they must really suck. I love the sports info and gossip columns though. Wy, and occasional newspaper article in the letters you never send me wouldnt hurt.. Just kidding. you do write. its colin that doesnt like me. write me a letter you little twat!
As far as things i need. NOTHING. please dont spend any more money on me.. stuff is surprisingly expensive here... and i nearly punched a whole in the wall when i found out my stupid candy store had a 10 rejai charge for every purchase... freaking brazilians.. But i would love some pictures of my friends... i literlaly brought no pictures, maybe some of my pictures from the album pre- mish...? I would like some of those, any pictures really, i love pictures. just dont send me like 5 of the same one!! haha, i got like 3 or 4 of literally the same one of leyla, love her, but thats excessive.
So, anyone know what 180 pound alex looks like? Cause you will... i have no idea what happened. I guess its the trade off for liking the food.. But i definatley weighed myself last night and that was the verdict. yikes. I still have a fantastic body though.. so dont worry. I am still president of the awesome body club.. Not sure if ive told you about that. we have weekly conferences in the shower, presidency meetings, ititiation. its legit. so far its comprised of me, byron, moake, and blackhurst. ill send pics. let me know if anyone wants to join and ill get you an application form. Wy, love the hair. its hot. not as good as mine... but still pretty tight.
The humidity here is getting crazy!! just the last couple of weeks.. byron summed it up perfectly when he said i love getting out of the shower and still feeling like your in one. its nuts. Other funny thing, so i was in class a couple days ago and smelled a very familiar smell. I looked outside and saw them pouring! me and byron were both like burning concrete! (he worked a little contruction too) I was yellnig at them your doing in wrong! freaking brazil! I miss contruction... And i NEVER thoguht i would ay that..
Dad to answer your question ive taken a little break from mr talmage and jesus the christ. were on a trial serperation. we both needed a little space. instead i am reading nossa busca para felicidage (our search for happiness) by ballard and it is fantastic. Takes me a while to read cause there is a lot of different words that i have to look up. But its good. ive also started the D C i think i mentioned that- legit. and i am re reading the book of mormon, but in portuguese.. i am in like the 7th chapter.
Wow, ive made it this far without even talking about my proselyting experience. wow, is all i can say. Who knew that casa verde (}here) is like the nicest part of sao paulo. you couldnt tell by seeing, until you go to the centro. I saw crazy crazy things... It is a dirty new york. A few of my favorites... Going down an alley FILLED with dark dudes with big beards sitting on their cardboard who for sure havent showed this year.. selling all kinds of wierd odd smelling things, then when a cop drives by you blink twice and they are ALL gone. Seeing a dude limping down the stairs with a full on broken leg, bleeding everywhere bone and all, i nearly threw up. Talking with a big group of black dudes blasting their reggae smoking weed and skating. They loved me. Not sure if they are going to read my book of mormon... it is a very very very very different place than i have ever seen. wow, culture shock- understatement. So awesome though, aside from those guys i literally think every person i contacted will at least read the introduction. We had some really good conversations. Missionary work is fun. Im stoked. one week from today i will be doing the real thing. Scary. But excited. i love you all. keep the letters coming, keep praying that i understand this riciculous language. Keep praying for me. This church is true. It has to be. -Al

10/19/10

Dear family, Well, i made it another week without killing my companion, i still dont understand a word of portuguese, and i got a haircut mop job that makes me look like a russian homesless man, but... thats a mission right. So, i was looking at some of the pictures from the airport that day, and i was amazed that i was smiling in most of them.. i will never forget the feeling of feeling like i AM going to throw up for about 6 hours. in talking with people here its been established i had the worst possible departure situation known to man. }To answer some questions. I will have no way of knowing about my departure stuff until literally the day before i leave. its crazy. i only have 1 p day left here!! }Yeah i would probably stop mailing stuff here by next week... but anything they get here theyll just send to my mission so its not tha tbig of a deal. Christmas stuff.. i will write a letter. i need to think about it. but i would love a photo album of some sort, and american candy you can stuff in, and a missionary journal. like, a real one. i write in a notebook... Ugh, i alwasy forget questions once im here. its stressful..Dads- yeah i was informed a few days before moake arrived, ha, everyone has pretty much been on high alert for the name moake for the last 7 weeks. so i found out probably before he did. and no, he is literally with me 24/7. its sweet. we have a couple different missions in our destrict. about provo... seriously, its a joke. i have NO idea what they teach down there.. but its not portuguese. thats all ill say. that was crazy to hear steves trial is another year... wow. Let me just take a mintue and talk to my best friend, and my brother... adam lewis. The email today made me cry thinking about how proud i would have been of your talk, and your time it is to finally serve. i thought about you all week ad, i pray for you daily, and i am so excited for you. i love you more than you could ever know, and i know you will be blessed this week. good luck. im proud of you. Ugh, a mission is so wierd. i talk to people that have been here like 2 weeks and they say names of moveis that im like wait, what? ive never heard of that... you really like think that nothing changes since you left, its like i put you guys on pause and everything should be the same, but its not. wierd. That said HA, braves. just kidding brit. i owe you ten bucks. my dear father will get that to you, he still owes me ten from the adam lewis wweight bet. So one thing that has definately improved with scotty is gym time. us and elder blackhurst have had a lot of fun playing some real basketball for the first time in a long time... Its wierd having him here though, brings back a whole flood of memories of friends..and ive realized that i need to be a lot more tolerant of some of the wierdos i meet here.. at some point you just have to accept that not everyone is as cool as your friends.. Another thing i realized is how LITTLE i know about the gospel.. weve gotten into a few deep deep doctrinal discussions this week and it hurts my head... i literally had no idea some things. its crazy. this world is nuts, and the next one is even crazier. The humidity is REALLY kicking up. we all noticed it this week. it just feels like you have like water on top of you ALL the time... i noticed my gum started turning into like jello... no worries i still eat it. thanks for the gift card too di! too much money but thanks so much! Bad thing this week was my knee is bugging again... i can NOT kneel.. its annoying. We got proselyting again this friday, except this one, in the centro of sao paulo... not gonna lie, dont love proselyting. one of my least favorite things to do.. but it will be really cool to see the center of sao paulo. Oh and i dont know if i ever answered you di i do not care if letters are typed or handwritten.. frankly i dont really care about the hand written and i get more info in typed. This week we taught a lot of lessons... i like teaching. i was frustrated though because literally probalby 5 brazilians asked if i spoke spanish.. i had no idea but apparently im not speaking much portuguese.. i insert a lot of spanish words. this language crap is difficult. I was so happy to hear and see about cole. congratulations buddy. im exited for you. ill never forget that oppoutunity to go through with nana and wayne. Well.... im sorry i know this letter was extremely jumbled. ad, i love ya man. i have another letter on the way. know how many ´people you have rooting for you. fam, i love you so much. 2 more weeks! nuts. -elder allred

10/12/10

Oi familia! Wow, it is really good to hear that the tibby got sold, i was starting to get a little worried about it. i did Not want you guys to have to deal with that during the winter. good deal. i had no idea i would be a little sad though... good memories with that car. and yeah, please put maaybe a 100 or so into my account. i go through money a little faster than i thought. ihad to buy some nicer scriptures (another unfortunate non-luxary of being iin provo) and that set me back about 120 reijais. But, as you said SCOTT IS HERE. I cant even tell you how happy i was. i dont care if satan himself shows up during this next 3 weeks it could not dull my spirits.. its so fun. and WOW, provo is different. i will explain more about that in a minute... i have no idea what they have been learning over there. So, im not sure how but i neglected you tell you that last week was our proselyting week! its kind of a big deal here... It went okay, except that i found out i dont speak a word of portuguese. wow, really frustrating. this langugage stuff has so many ups and downs, but when you actually have to do the real thing... SO difficult. its okay, i know it will come, im just not patient. because i know i am still WAY ahead of the curve, i just want it to be faster. I got out all 6 of my books, and got a taste of the real thing... its very hard, and very scary. but a nice change of pace from class all day long. Dad, i wish i coudl have wished you a happier birthday. i ate you almond bar in memory of you. it was delcious. I think im starting to figure out this food stuff... your son is becoming less picky. ive been eating a lot of beans and it in turn has returned my bowell movement close to normal. and we actually had 2 lunches in a row early in the week that were SO good. churrasco and then like a chinese chicken wierd thing. these people can cook meat, thats for sure. now they just need to learn evertyhing else. It was a wierd week running the show... i kept like waitiing for elder burright to come tell everybody what to do. but hes not there! and my roomates left this morning... it is CRAZY how close you can get to these guys in just 3 weeks... its so hard to say goodbye. im running out of ties to give them!! and the wierdest thing is the batch that comes this thurs will be the ones that leave with uS! last night i spent all night on my bed with scott and my írmao (brother) (elder melo) of this group. his name is elder avila, looking at pictures and talking. he saw one of our house, and said ohhhh igreja muito bonita!! i had to correct him and say nooo thats my house. he didnt believe me. i am so blessed. i put that picture away. He woke me up at 3 this morning to give me a hug. he was almost crying... kissed me a few too many time. but i will miss that guy. a lot. i sent a few pictueres of him. (oh yeah i found a place to develop pictures! it looks like hes selling cocaine.. not film, but it worked) so hopefully i can get those sent out today. I continute to buy delicious cakes, and name them bonifacio. i love that guy. ill have to send a picture of him. every time i pass him i chant u.s.a.!! u.s.a!! and then he calls me an ignorant american... Adam, me and scott read you letter together Sat night, (hope thats okay) and laughed our pants off. I have one on the way to you, hopefully it reaches before you leave, so you can see the pics too, if not ill have di drop it off. love you. so we did get two other new guys to my district with Scott. were now the biggest district here. one is WAY cool and the other is a wierdo. big surprise. gotta learn to love (or not hate) people. and understand that not everyone is as cool as your friends. Thanks for the package and the pictures! I got that and 6 letters (nice work people) Wednesday night! Mail is wierd. very inconsistent. i got dads and wyatts dear elders last night. i love letters. Okay... so a couple things in letters that made me LAUGH my head off. a. dads trade. if you did that, i am going to kill you. deangelo is the man. patience. darren sucks. DONT DO THAT TRADE!!!!!! b. wyatt, the water baloons. oh my gosh. dads letter was priceless. wy that was a total flashback to junior high to me. funny too because you probably got my letter that said have fun...just not too much fun. funny funny. reminded me of larry lawrences talk in conference.. i nodded off when he said he was talking to parents but then he mentioned sleepovers and i couldnt help but to think of wy, i know you were probably just grimacing as he said that, but hes right. its absoluteley true. hey, and someone tell adam to email me!! i dont have his email! i love you all. keep the letters and the prayers coming. good job selling my car. so glad scott is here. missions are hard. love you. chels just cause you have a kid doesnt mean you dont have to write me back, britt too. -elder al

Another Temple Picture

10/5/2010

Familia- Whew. it was good to hear from you. I am so glad to hear everythign went well with Leila. I was worried, sort of, all week. I saw the pictueres. shes a midget, big shocker. Pretty dang cute though, im so happy for you two. i am just sad i am not going to be there to watch Brit~s attempt at fatherhood.. just kidding. youll be great man, sounds like you already are.
Guys, conference was awesome. I really wish i could go through talk by talk like i had everyone do in district meeting yesterday- here were a few of my favroites. cladia m. costa sat sesh- awesome talk about prophets (common theme? yeah.) from brazil, and mentioned my missionary scripture! hollands made me cry a little, usually does, and i LOVED mervyn be arnolds talk in the sunday session. in priesthood my favorite talk was the english dude- kearon. was that awesome or what boys? wish i had my notes with me i forgot them, had a whole bunch more to say. gotta say i wouldnt have used to be excited to sit through 10 hours of conference in a hard wooden chair, but i loved every minute, it was like a vacation. and of course monsons words were as good as always.
for starters, i have sent TWO letters to cole, so dont give me that crap, and did you not get my one for jace? i hope so. mail here is kinda scketchy, so i worry. this week. good week? sort of. i didnt progress a whole lot in the language. i was a teacher this week. for reals. guys my comp is strugglin, and he doesnt seem to be near as worried about it as i think he should be. so it bugs me. the things he asks me... seriuosly. i spend our comp study teachign him portuguese. its a lot of fun. ive also conceded to go to choir practice with him.. i held out for a long time, but i finally just said screw it. its actually been good though, the one time of the week i can be alone, so i go in the corner and study. its helped. we got our new gym done this week, not really a gym, its a room with a bowflex or two, but ill take it. i have no idea why but i could NOT sleep this week. so wierd, and frustrating, cause the first 3 weeks i slept like a baby. di, im going to put all my shirts in a HOT wash today, i hope this is not a tragic idea. but i cant take them any more. they are just too massive.
today was bittersweet... love p day. but my `parent`district left today. i had no idea i would grow this close to people here. i was completely content to remain antisocial. but i nearly cried today when elder burright woke me up at 3 to give me a hug and some advice. we used to always talk about how there could not be a greater feeling than getting on that plane to see your fam in two years.. this morning he looked at me and said you listen ,you CAN NOT have a single regret when you get on that plane. okay? ive been thinking about that all day. last night they performed their `ritual`of the passing down of the famous pete the plant. it was retarted and childish, they flashsed on and off the lights and knighted me worthy to recieve it, then painted my thumb green. again, childish and dumb but they type of wierd missionary tradition ill never forget. its kinda cool.. started as a stolen seed from the cafeteria.. been passed down to one person for 36 weeks. i will treat it as my child.
so i think i told you abuot my delicious cake? i cant wait to send you pictures of it. i named it this week. his name is bonifacio. there is this hilarious teacher here that i am way tight with, we are always fighting about whose country is better, he is black. and his name is bonafacio. so i told him i named my cake after him cause its black, from brazil, and not as good as america. he still wont play me one on one.. apparently hes good. no one is good in brazil.
this freakin place is crazy. none of you have ever seen rain. i can tell you that much. it will be like perfectly calm one minute, and then suddently just POURING. its the wierdest thing, and it can pretty much rain all day here, no exaggerration. saw some more humbling things today... kids playing in the dirt on a piece of a couch. heart breaking. so grateful to be from where i am. i told you about the language. comp still just really struggling. im trying to progress, i HAVE to start thinking it portuguese rather than englihs, cause the structure just doesnt make sense. you cant translate word for word. my teachers and pres pratt told me yesterday i have to stop saving elder harker, i have to just let him struggle and find his words when we teach, instead of just jumping in when he gives me the helpless look.
so did you guys change hours at conference? you did i think? so now its five hours? man, just think, when i am waking up every morning at 630 wyatt will just be coming home from pennys house... i laughed hard about the police thing. i mentioned something liek that in the letter im sending to him today. I was looking through pics on my camera yesterday and could not believe some from the airport.. it is seriusly a miracle i am smiling in most of them, because i will never forget the feeling that i was GOING to throw up all over all of you for that entire two hours.
i sitll love brazilians. and for some strange reason they LOVE me. as my buddy put it `for reals i think brazilians just have a natural crush on you..`for some reason i find ways to have inside joke with all these guys. they are so easy to get along with. i didnt think i could like this new district as much as the old one with elder melo but i think im even closer. its wierd. i was probably sent here for a reason or something...
i love you all. so much. send more letters. email rocks but i have to read so fast. i probably miss so much and it makes me sad. happy birthday dad. i bought you this delicious almond bar but i have no idea how i can send it. i love you. -al

From a senior couple in Al's mission

Dear Missionary Parent,



Thank you so much for sending your son to Brazil to serve the Lord. It is our pleasure as a missionary couple to work with him each Sunday at the São Paulo MTC as his branch president and wife. You should know that he is doing GREAT! He is progressing at a miraculous rate in his knowledge of the gospel and in learning Portuguese. Each Tuesday, on his P-day, he goes to the São Paulo Temple. More often than not Sister Pratt and I are able to attend with him. This morning we snapped a couple of pictures of him with his MTC District after the temple session. Don’t they look great?



Thanks again for your faith and support of your son. He’s amazing!



Elder & Sister Pratt

Senior Couple

São Paulo Interlagos Mission

Email 9/28

Familia- Wow. Serious leyla? This is getting absolutely ridiculuos. There are only so many hours of praying i can do for that little girl. She´s stressing me out. Again, its wierd having no idea what goes on. frustrating. So, while chels is probably currently in labor, anything i have to say seems very insignificant, but seeing as how i have 17 min and ticking, i will start typing... First, let me just say. I´ve been waiting for this week for a month. it all gelled. I speak portuguese. It was SUCH a hard weak. I worked my butt off, but im starting to see results. I taught the first full lesson in portuguese, numerous times. my spanish is kicking in. my teachers tell me im way ahead of where i should be. unfortunately for as far as i am ahead, my companion is that far behind. im not exaggerating, he CANNOT say 10 words in portuguese. he always starts with0- oi, somos missionarios do igreja de jesus cristo... and then i teach the whole lesson. its sad. i dont understand it. With my comp... im about at my last strand of patience. a few days ago he stopped me on my way to gym- can we talk for a second? We had a full 30 min discussion about how i may have hurt another kids feelings for calling him retarted, and he couldnt feel the spirit all day. i wanted to backhand him across the face and say can you feel that? but i didnt, its a trial of my patience, and if i accept it well the lord will bless me. Wy- there are two ways you can serve obediently. you can go through the motions each day doin what your supposed to but all the while just trying to `get through`each day, going to bed as early as possible so time starts to go... or you can just embrace your calling, laugh with all the geeky kids at lunch, make jokes and enjoy the people that you would NEVER be friends with back home. trust me, ive done both, and im done with the first one. Have i ever mentioned i love my coutry? there is just about nothing more humbling than watching these brazilians kids walk in here with pretty much a duffle bag... it is literally all they have. i couldnt figure out why some of these guys were on a mission, cause they would sleep till 9, not really care about the gospel, i was like WHY ARE YOU HERE! but i finally realized it, TONS of these guys live way better here than at home... 3 meals a day and a place to sleep is worth it. its sad, and INCREDIBLY humbling. thats another thing i was kind of shell shocked of, how many missionaries dont want to work. i was sayin yesterday ive given up way to much of a life to come here, im going to WORK! Dad asked some questions about my roomates. (ps i didnt get those dear elder letters sent on the 10th till the 24th!, it kinda sucks, i love seeing dear elder cause it usally means like 3 letters in one envelope but they take forever) so, as i told you elder melo and elder andrage were our first 2 roomates, they came the same day i did and i was REAL close with that group of brazilians. we got 2 more after they left but i cant remember their names, im not as tight with this group. theyre good guys though and really helpful, i like them a lot. ahhh i cant remember what else you were asking about dad, i should have brought your letter. but i love brazilians, oh, and we got a few more guys from provo added to my district, i really like one of them. he played ball at a.f. It has really helped me deal with my companion situtation, im really frustrated with that. Unforunately though they brought me tales of the provo mtc that made me really jealous... american food, and they got like NICE scriptures with their names on them! i am probably gonna have to pay like 50 bucks for ones like that, and they wont have my name on them. PLUS they had a place to develp pictures and send, and a bookstore and money to spend every day. jealous. i love it here though. and im blessed to have a visa. so blessed. theres no substitute for being around brasis 24/7. So di i loved your letter about living in the moment. its kind of been my theme for the last couple weeks. im trying to be excited for things in the next few weeks/months not years. ive kind of settled into a routine here, its good because im really used to this place but someimtes i really feel like a robot not gonna lie. and you all know how much i hate being told what to do 24/7. thats my least favorite thing about being here. i need to be independent. that will probably be very helpful to get out to my mission. speaking of, ha, few thigns i heard about my mission. they are GREAT. apparentlkly from a guy that lived there pretty much all the houses are old wood... and FANTASTIC habitation for gigantic tarantulas from hell. really looking forward to that. and ALSO i am gonig to the least baptizing mission in brazil. yay! no you all know that doesnt bug me. ill turn it into the most. those europeans wont know what hit them. so like i said ive really developed a bond with my ´mentor´group. and they are leaving next week. it will be really hard. i will miss nightly prayer with them ,and our nightly hug. elder burright (my ap) and i have had some loving embraces the last few nights, our oppourtunites are coming to a close. i will be very sad. other things, weather here is unreal. it will be like bright sun, then... pouring rain. it prety much rains here 7 days a week. im convinced it never stops. family. i love you. leyla. your a joke. come out of my sister. tell byu to stop sucking. and keep writing me with updates on your meaningless lives full of sin. perverting the ways of the lord while your son/brother is doing the work of angels. jk, im not that egotistical, maybe i am. i love you. -elder allred (oh, and will you please get me ian schmutsz address!)

3rd Week- 9/21

WELL. let me first just start off my saying serious leyla? ive been worried sick all week, not knowing something that important in someones life thats that close to you is really wierd. tell her to hurry. FIRST, i need to say i was SO mad at myself after i finished my email last week. For three days i had it written in my planner to write adam a birthday note, since i couldnt send pakcages, and then i completely forgot. ridiculous. Ad, i love you. your my best friend, happy birthday. 1 month left today. it will FLY. i promise. di, take ad to holiday to get a drink and a donut on me? (when i say on me, i really mean on you.) So last week you were supposed to recieve a picture of me and my two companions? hopefully you did, and hopefully you could see the temple. its beautiful. Speaking of pictures di NO send them by letter! sending them by email i barely have time to look at them and sometimes they dont load. i barely saw dads moto pics. and loved them. but send them in mail. no, i cant send pictures from here. and i can only take them on p day, and i cant take my camera outside. yeah, it blows. but i have a lot to send the first day im out in the field. elder melo left today. im sad, but we took a lot of pictures.
to answer some questions. i recieved some letters this week! letters are such a huge boost. dad/brit/ad can tell you what they do for morale. i am quite satisfied with most of what we purchased di, except those jordan shoes. i dont dare wear them, the courts here blow. so we mostly just play speed. and everone sucks at basketball. im like kobe bryant here. so i just wear my old ones. thinking of some way i can send them home. others. i kinda hate my short sleeve shirts... for some reason the sleeves are like super long. anything i can do about that? if i iron the sleeves right out of the wash will they shrink? and i can wash my pants and all my shirts right? speaking of pants, i got a big tear in my grey ones! freakin mr mac. you would have been so proud of me di i totally stitched them back up. then they split again.... so i did it again but they will probably come apart. oh well, i cant impress chicks anyways. so, we had a new provo added to my district, and we have 2 more coming tomorrow. neither moake. i cried. were up to 7 in our distirct now, so thats good. and hoepfully they will continute to loosen up. the additions made it so i am no longer in a threesome. i got a companion, and it wasnt the one i wanted. its okay though, its kinda like someone saying want me to kick you in the face? or the nuts? neither are great options so it doesnt really matter... so yeah dad if scott came/comes he will for sure be in my district. and we would spent literally the whole day together, cause your dist goes to class/lunch/mdt everything same time. you were right too.. i dont have much trouble sleeping. im usually SO exhausted by the end of the day i just crash. keep the gum coming di. and yes i do my own wash, i just throw all my shorts/garments etc in the same load, is that okay?
i hit my first real language barrier this week. i had an absolute mental BLOW UP like ad was talknig about. i had no idea HOW hard it is to actually start teaching in a language. cause at first we were just doing like grammar and stuff and it was easy, but peacing it all together now.... its so unbelievably difficult. to say im a little frustrated is an understatement.
the doctor. no structual damage in my knee. but some scar tissue build up. probably still from my it band... gonna do motrin for a while, and see if it gets better, hopefully. funny thing when i went. sooo i told you abuot how it was amazing i think i had figured out why i always got sick, and was rushing to the bathroom all the time after i ate back home? i thought it was the soda, cause i dont drink any here, and i was NEVER having that problem. but... then it started getting wierd. like seriously about a week since ive had some quality time on the banhero.. i started getting concerned. sooo apparently, food in brazil has like NO fiber. hence, my bathroom struggles. i voiced my concern, the doc hooked me up and lets just say me and the toilet have gotten re-aquainted the past few days. (dont you edit this out di i want all your little friends to know about me and my bowel movement schedule) it was scary though, i thought i was beginning to have similiar problems to dad in his mission.
Other than that not all that much is new. i pray for leyla, scott, and strenth to keep going every day, and every day i press forward. ABout to go out onto the streets, have a few letters to send, grab some candy (im out, yikes.) and then stop at my favoirte guava juice place. (so sick, delicious jamba juice type stuff for practically nothing, like 75 cents.) oh yeah, and as for my scriptue on my plaque- 1 cor 10 13 or dc 21 6, choose one, i love them both. Also could someone get me wes christensens address, and also jake parkinsons? i think i have letters from them up in my room under my lamp, but they might be old addresses... i love you all. good to hear byu is sucking. and that dad is loving fantasy. dad was right, id give a finger right now to play a game of settlers with you. press forward. send pictures. go leyla. -elder allred

2nd email- 9/13/2010

Well, missions are still hard. Haha. hello family. yes, it bothers me as much or more than you that i cant use tabs or enters. maybe di you can seperate it into paragraphs so its easier to read?? first off, ive been dying to know all week about leyla! i really thought she was gonna be here. chels, i pray for you and her every single night. im so excited for you. she will be beautiful. ha its almost kind of good to hear byu lost. i was dying to think the year im gone they have a killer year and go 12-0 or something! haha. thats tight about wyatts coach! i know SOOO many people from fortaleza. i swear everyone is from there. it is RIDICULOUSLY hot there, and its way up in the northeast, so its pretty different from sao paulo, and WAY different from porto alegre. ive become quite the scholar on brazilian citites, and i already know sao paulo so well. ive seen tons of it. we get the chance to walk through and drive through much of the city. its a crazy place... icant even tell ya. its sad though, ive seen unbelievable poverty. youll see like gigantic high rises and big buildings everywhere, and then just like right in the middle HUGE sections of just slums... not to mention people everywhere on the grass with tents and all their clothes.. anywhere where theres a bathroom youll find that. but next to the slums today i saw like 10 square acres of people literally living in boxes. i was heartbroken. it seems like they all bundle together and rely on each other for moral support, only way to get through. its so sad.
this place is hard. a mission is hard. but i love the weekends.. its funny because the things that i used to absolutely hate doing.. are pretty much my favorite now. (firesides, devotionals, personal study) sat and sunday are great, we have a devotional and a fireside, and its like a complete re charge. spiritually and physically. its what keeps me going, to hear the great stories of others that came before me. i told you a little bit about the last one in a letter i sent (two on the way youll have to let me know about how long it takes, my guess is 10 days, sucks. really bad) but he was kicked out of his house to serve a mission. anyways he said he came home with 40 rejas (30 bucks) and didn~t know where he was going to sleep that night. i was immediately overwhelmed with how blessed i am. between the poverty i see and stories like that i realize how much i have, not to mention a family that i could not love any more if i tried.
its unfortunate that i cant take my camera outside the ctm. because i would love to show you this city. but we cant for obvious reasons. theres no way we would hang on to it... and i cant send pictues while im here, so we may ahve to wait till im in the field. bummer. cause this place is pretty cool. youd think the ctm would be in like a nice area....nope. anywhere that doesnt have a gate and a security system, which, any somehwat respectable building does, is ridiculously vandalised and tagged beyond recognition. but theres some fun stores. this one we call the tie lady, sells these sick watches and ties and soccer jerseys ,for like nothing. im buying a watch today. think ill wait on the jerseys. porto alegre ones will be cheap in the actual city.
my teachers are legit. i grow to love them more and more every day. irmao borges was born in fortaleza, served in menaus. getting married in jan. irmao veras was born in sao paulo, served in florianapolis. just barely got home. haha he was a serious tagger (grafiti dad.) before he left, and his girlfriend is 17. hes hilarious.
on the bad news. my knee has been bugging me. i have never been able to kneel since the lake powell thing, but i thought it was just a bruise and would go away. but now its bugging me to walk. so im gonig to go see the doctor tomorrow and have him take a look at it. cause it hasnt returned to size. so we wills see. ill keep you updated. im starting to love the poeple around me. i seriously love brazilians. and i couldnt tell you enough about my roomate if i tried. its funny how we can barely understand a word each other says, but yet we can sit for an hour and just talk, and laugh. he loves slipknot, red hot chili peppers, and killing people. with all sorts of weapons. (hes a little bit insane) but all brazilians are really. they cannot get enough of me. they all come up and touch my face and my hair. their standing joke is ohhhhhh bonito gravato!! which, literally translated means beautiful tie. but i think its slang for pretty boy. ive told them im from utah like ten times, but they think im a surfer from california, from my quicksilver shirt.
anywyas, sad to hear about byu. wish you had news about my car. wyatt, if you get any addresses from facebook email them to me. im missing a lot. if i have time in just a sec im going to write a note to scott, and have you post it on dear elder? p.s. you should try that once, im curious to see if it works here. i love you all more than you could know. these last two weeks have been the HARDEST ones of my life. and its not close. but im starting to see the love a man can get from the work. im hoping time will start to pass, cause it hasnt yet. we~ll see. i love you. chels, i pray for you. ash, looking forward to your letter. i miss all 3 of your boys. -elder allred

A few last pictures

The last hurrah at Angel's stadium

The night before Al left we dined at Fudrucker's- a classic family favorite.
Lunch at Kneader's before heading to the airport.

Too bad that screen behind us didn't say "flight canceled" instead of on time!