"Christmas Time"

Alright guys so I am planning on Skypeing with you all Wednesday 11:00 your time and I am so stinkin excited!!! It honestly just seems like we were just talking for Mothers Day when I was way back in Viçosa with my boy Guerra... Crazy :) I cant wait to talk to you all though. And don´t stress because I am 99% sure I know how to get it to work right from the start this time! :)

  

So this will be just a quick little letter because the LAN house is packed right now and the guy isn´t in the best of moods so I doubt he is going to let me put more time on. We had a bit of a busy week this week because we had a lot of things in Farol - like zone counsel and then my comp had to help in the office because he was the mission secretary for seven months and the new guy still has no idea what he is doing. It was a good week though because we had a baptism and that was the best. His name is Thalisson and he is part of this family we have been teaching since Pájaro came here. The whole family is looking into the Church, but all of a sudden they just stopped progressing a ton, except for Thalisson. It is really sad because this family is exactly what our little branch out here needs. We have literally done everything to help them, but they just won't come to church ever... kills me. :( Hopefully his baptism will help them all feel the Spirit a little bit more, because luckily, they all came to the baptism. 

Also this week we had the Primary presentation which we all know is the best Sunday of all the Sundays in the year. The little kids of the Church are just champs and I love hearing their little testimonies as when they say the Articles of Faith. They may not understand completely what those words mean, but it is good practice. 

I think that is all I have for you guys this week... I am going to save the majority of it for Skype time :) I am glad it is really starting to look like Christmas and that you got to go see the lights down at Temple Square. That was always one of my favorite dates.... Memories!! Well I am out so.... See you next week and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Elder Big Deal

P.S. What is "THE GIFT" everyone wants this year and I can´t wait 'til Friday... The End of the World!! Hahahahahaha I can´t wait to wake up on that day and just laugh.

"Way Ahead of You :p"

So Danger your e-mail made me laugh pretty hard. All of the missionaries that are about to be going home in the next... 8 months are talking about how there will be legit no one to date. So we are way ahead of you on the "who will we date?!" deal. I think it will be so funny though because the majority of the missionaries won´t even know how to talk to girls when they get back, let alone date them. I do think it is sweet though how many people are leaving though. I have a friend back home who just told me she is going to Spain and a kid here in the branch also just got his call to Lisbon like Megan Duke. So wild. It will be really interesting to see what will happen when all these young girls start showing up. More than likely I won't even be here when they come, but those who are left behind.... Good luck! Hahahaha.

  

This week was a really normal week once again. We had transfers again and I am still with Pájaro, best comp ever, but one of the other elders in our house got traded. It was really interesting though because Pres is trying to show that leadership isn´t a ladder in the mission and that it is a calling. So he "dropped" 5 ZL´s and one assistant to be DL´s or trainers and said that he doesn´t want missionaries ending their missions as Assistants or ZL´s. He wants them to train in their last two transfers. Let´s just say I am already feeling like I will be training again. Not that I didn´t like training, but I will be honest... It would be rough to train a greenie fresh out of the MTC in the last two.... But whatever. I´ll just do what I have to. It is still a little ways off in the future too.

  

Also this week.... I got your package!! It was awesome and I am already going to deal you that I opened everything... I did it not knowing that I was supposed to wait 'til Christmas. It really put me in the Christmas spirit though :) Christmas is really fun this year because I actually understand what is going on. Last year I was just a space man trying to learn the language. It is bad though because I am just falling more and more in love with this country... Christmas is pretty much exactly the same as it is in the U.S., but come on... Christmas with palm trees and pretty beaches every where is hard to beat. Thank you so much for the package though and Pájaro loved the tie and the other gifts. He thinks you guys are the best.... I agree.

   

I hope you all get a chance to enjoy the snow and the lights at Temple Square. Wow, I miss the temple so much... Go to the temple for me. Also... HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Eliza the Awesome!!! What did you get dude?? Sick clothes? New scissors to cut hair? Trent won´t play Halo for a day?? Hahaha I hope it was a good one Liza :) Have a great week family! Stay sweet...

Elder Big Deal

"The Hunt"

It is December!!!!! and by the sound of things there is still no snow in Utah... What a horrible thing. At the same time though I think it is great! Because now I can´t say that if I was home I would be snowboarding because in reality... I wouldn´t be! So I count this as a blessing for me, but for you all back in the 801.... Não sei!

So we just got done with a mission conference from Elder Costa, who is the President of the Brazil area and oh my heavens it was awesome. He was so stinking funny. I don´t even know how to explain it. I was actually really nervous for this mission tour because he has a big reputation of loving to "burn" missionaries, but he didn´t even get angry. He just told us to better ourselves and that is obviously something that we all need to do. I just love how mission presidents, 70´s and Apostles have this way of being so so so extremely loving, yet always willing to correct the mistake. It is EXACTLY how people should be. It is how you can tell when people respect you. They aren´t a push over who everyone loves because they can do whatever they want, but then at the same time they aren´t raging dragons of anger and meanness. It is just a perfect mix. It was a really inspiring meeting and I am glad I had the chance to hear him talk about his mission stories and stories as a General Authority.

  

Since he gave his tour today, obviously our P-day, I am now here in the center of Maceió and do you know what that means?? Yep! I am on the hunt for Mom´s nativity scene. So far I haven´t seen anything too legit, but I am sure that I will find something sick here in a bit :) 

   

A few other fun facts about this week... 1. We had another baptism!! Her name is Gerlane and she is the last daughter of this part member family in our branch and she is just as sweet as can be. Her parents aren´t members because of marriage issues, but the rest of the family are members but are the most active in the Church. We are trying to help re-activate the family and help the parents but it is a bigger challenge than it seems. I don´t wanna go into details because I don´t wanna criticize the family, but let´s just say.... Beer is the dumbest thing ever invented. 2. We had the power go out for over an hour in part of the city and that was neat. We usually just go to some place that has any light at all because the chances of getting robbed are a lot higher when there are no lights. And I don´t wanna get robbed. That pretty much sums up my life though once again!! I am excited for the Christmas call... I have so many funny things I can´t wait to tell you, but they are only funny in person... or Skype cause it is almost the same thing... Tchau!!! Stay sweet.

Elder Big Deal

"Average week -- kinda hahha"

Hello to my family that is neat and awesome! I loved the e-mails I got from all of you and I am glad that Thanksgiving and Hazel's blessing were really good experiences for everyone. I am a little weirded out that you guys didn´t go bowling, to be honest, but I understand that it just isn´t the same when it isn´t at Teton Lanes and playing for quarters!

So to answer your question mom..... here you go,

MTC, 9 weeks, with Peterson and Gabel

Albany, 7 weeks, with Fristrup, Thompson/Tillick 

Medford, 5 weeks, with Sadler

Feitosa, 12 weeks, with Pinto

Viçosa, 23 weeks, with Shokes, Amorim, Guerra

Cententario, 12 weeks, with Mattos

Brasilia, 4 weeks, with Keen

Boa Vista, Current, with McCloskey, Pájaro

Wow.... I am old. I hope you can understand all of that too. If you want any more information just let me know. I have most of it written down already. I don´t know if you guys share stats and things at the MML hahahaha. That would be pretty funny though. I don´t have anything really specific for you to say to them, but let B-MILL know that it would be cool if he just happened to show up during or Skype call.... :) Speaking of which! Seeing as how Christmas is on my P-day this year we can pretty much plan to Skype on that day if it works for everyone. Don´t worry, I know how to get it to work this time so we won´t just sit there looking at each other awkwardly for... a half an hour hahaha. Good times. Can you believe this is pretty much my last call? Because the next one will be two days before I come home... I don´t even know what I am going to do that day.

   

So I am just going to give you a little run down of what happened this week in my life... I hope you are all ready for this. Monday, P-day was awesome - played volley ball. Tuesday, one of the missionaries who lives in the house with us decided he wanted to run away.... he jumped over the fence and just left full speed. We had a member help us try to find him but after about a half an hour he came back and said he just wanted to go for a run and get some air.... I sat him down and practically interviewed him and now things are all square and he already talked with Pres. Wednesday, Zone Conference!!! It was awesome. President was really funny and it was just a good time. The mission is doing really really well right now so we are all very excited about the work. I love working close to Pres though. I say this almost every letter, but it is so awesome. Thursday, normal work day. Friday, all of our district leaders had baptismal interviews so we had to plan our day super carefully and had to travel in the bus lots.... boo! But it all worked out and the people were baptized! Hooray! Saturday, normal work day everyone fell through, we walked a lot. Sunday, drunk guy came into the church during sacrament meeting screaming/crying that he wanted to see miracles. We had to sit him down and give him a talk and help him find his way out. Also there was a bat that was flying around the building and all the little kids were freaking out and the teenagers were saying, "It´s Edward!!" (Twilight) but we all know he never turns into a bat. It just made me think of that Office episode when Dwight catches the bat on Meredeth's head and Jim acts like he is turning into a vampire. Life is awesome :)

   

To be quite honest with you..... That is pretty much what my life has been for the last........ 12 weeks. I love it. I just can´t explain to you how much I am loving my mission right now. Yesh there are TONS of things I miss back at home but let´s be real here... When will I ever get to help drunk guys in Portuguese or listen to my inspired mission pres in the same week?! Never!!! I am so happy I am here and I love you all so much and these last 6 months are going to fly by... Just you watch!! I am healthy and happy and the Church is still true..... Have a good week :) Stay sweet...

Elder Bat Deal (this one was clever :p)

Oh yeah! and on Thanksgiving we had a DL buy non-alcholic beer for his district and called me after he bought to see if they could drink it..... The kid is going places.

Public Transportation

Oh my heavens.... I can´t even tell you how past the limit I am with public transportation. Ugh having a car in the mission and before was such a HUGE blessing. I honestly spend 70% of my time of the week on a stinkin bus packed to the brim with tons and tons of people. It is a killer... That is why I am writing to you so late tonight and why this letter is going to be horribly short, because I still have to pass our numbers... 

Ah! We went in to Farol to play some more volley ball today and on the way home there was a big accident on the main road in Maceió that everyone and their dog, horse, scooter, and car uses. The traffic was horrible. I am good though and just really tired as always. I can honestly say i have never been so tired in my life as I have been these last couple of weeks. Yesh, I still have energy to joke around and of course work, but I am to the point that if I stop for too long it will be near impossible to get going again.... And I am sure it is only going to get worse as more time passes by. I just gotta keep working is all. That is the big secret to the mission I think. Everything goes better. You find more, teach more, baptize more, and the secret blessing of time passing oh so much faster. 

I love you all so much and I am sorry that this is such a stinky letter... I love you and the Church is true! I am sure Mr. B-MILL can tell all of you that now! I wish I could be there for his homecoming so bad!!! Good Luck B!!!!!!!!!

Elder Big Deal

"Winter"

  
Ahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is so much snow in Utah! I have completely forgotten that snow even exists!! Has anyone already hit the slopes?? What did you all do for passes this year? Has someone already used my blue coat..... Ian! Hahahaha I blame everything on you when it comes to clothes :) I was talking about Bomberman 64 today with one of the assistants and it made me miss you. Have you beaten it yet? Sweetest game ever....... I hope everyone is liking the snow though and lil Hazel stays all bundled up and adorable!

   

We had an average week here. just busy busy busy. We had Zone Counsel this week with Pres and it was a blast. I honestly love working close to him and his wife. They are amazing people and really understand what their purpose is as the mission couple here. They do what is right exactly when they need to do it and they don´t look back. Our meeting was very inspiring and I feel like I learned a lot that I need to start applying in my own area, not just the zone. One thing that I really liked about the meeting though was that after it had ended I randomly just got to sit down with Pres and Sister for like a half and hour and just talk with them. It was really interesting because it felt like it was the first time that I really opened up to him about what I think about the mission and how we can try to do things better. I am not going to lie, I was a little nervous and intimidated at first which was....interesting because that isn´t very common with me to be nervous when talking with people. I just felt that every word I said was being listened to very carefully. It was a good feeling at the same time. He really is so interesting in uplifting missionary input. I say uplifting because there is PLENTY of missionary input, but usually it is just ridiculous. I just love having this relationship with him and hope to keep having more chances to work with him during the rest of the mission.

   

I heard the news about Obama getting elected again and it shocked me pretty bad. It actually shocked the majority of the people here actually. Brasil had made it sound like that Mitt had a really really good chance and I got all excited about it. I just wish I could have actually voted.... But I am so out of the political loop right now that I couldn´t even tell you what is going on over there in the states.... Speaking of the states, good ol´ Elder Miller is coming home next week.... I still can´t believe it. Time has flown by!! It seems like just yesterday that I was watching his farewell talk and bawling my eyes out. Don´t let Bro Peterson read that. I am so stoked for Elder B-Mill and I better get some pictures..... :)

    

I am really tired though and sunburned because we played some awesome volleyball today and I just wanna go "relax" a bit. I hope at least ONE person in the family goes out and plays in the snow this week and that you ALL stay safe. I miss you all a lot.... no joke, but I will be back soon :) Love you all and have a great week!!! :)

Elder Big Deal!

"T-ranch Happy Birthday"

  
T-ranch HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOOODE!!! I know that there is no better way then spending a birthday playing the sickest new Halo game ever cause that is pretty much what I did when Reach came out. Good times. Let me know how many headshots you get on Tanner and hammerwacks on Ian. Hahahaha I miss my brothers....

   

So you guys already know what i am going to say, this week was so busy.Once again.... and always. It is a good busy though so I am happy. My comp was a little sick in the start of last week so we didn´t get anything done on Tuesday so that just put us in more of a rush for the rest of the week. He is feeling better though now and we are both just as happy as ever. Elder Pájaro is honestly just one of my favorite people in the mission and now we are comps so it is awesome! It is just constant laughing on the road and we just have a really solid teaching flow together. I love having a comp that is just as stoked about the work as I am.

   

Speaking of the work... We had a baptism this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hooray!!!!!!!!!!! My heavens it has been awhile since I have had a baptism and it felt so good to get back into the water. His name is Alan and he is wild. We are trying to teach his whole family but it is really hard to find everyone in the house at the same time and he and his sister were always there so they progressed the quickest. Except the fact his sister doesn´t go to church and you can´t baptize people who don´t go to church! It is all good though. I think with the baptism of her little brother it got her excited about it too, so we will see how that goes! We have a lot of really good people that we are teaching right now and a few other baptisms marked for this week. I love when the work is like this, it is such a blessing. I just wake up every day actually just pumped to go work. So nice...

  

That is pretty much the majority of the week though... It was really hot here this week which is kinda bad because it is not even Summer yet, so that will be interesting when it comes. I can´t believe that it is almost Summer again.... where in the world does time go? I hope you like the pictures... the pic with all the kids is dark but I think if you take it into photoshop you can BRIGHTON (that was my high school!) it up a little bit. Have a wonderful week all of you and play lots of Halo, be safe, read the BoM, and never forget the Church is true.... It is so true. I love you all!! Stay sweet....

Elder Big Deal