Letter from August 29th, 2011

We went to the zoo last pday which was pretty fun. As you can tell by the photo, I wrestled with an anaconda. All I can say is, "THIS ANACONDA AIN'T GOT NUTHIN ON ME!!". There was like nobody there at the zoo. All you do is pay to get in and then after that we pretty much did whatever we wanted. I wanted to get in the cage with the lion, but I decided not to (haha:) We had Zone Conference on Tuesday which was awesome. It was cool to see all of the other people that I know - all my old comps and people from my group. The Assistants to the President (AP's) and President and Sister Hall all gave talks that were awesome. It was a lot of fun.

Things are going really good here in our area. We should be having some baptisms this next week. I'm getting along really well with my comp. He said he is gonna ask President if he can just end the mission with me. He only has 3 months left. We have a basketball court in our apartment complex, and since I'm in Brazil, of course there are soccer goals too. So, it's pretty sweet!! We get to play basketball and soccer everyday. Let's just say that the Brazilians are a lot better at soccer than basketball (haha). It's starting to change from "winter" to summer here. It's getting pretty hot. There was one day that it was like 105 degrees, and let me remind you that we walk everywhere! It's really humid here too. So, it takes like 2 days for your clothes to dry completly (haha). Hope all is good and that you all have a great week.

Letter from August 22nd, 2011

That's funny that Grandma and Grandad ran into Elder Gilliland over in Flagstaff. He was assistant to the President, and he was the elder that came to Pombal and I got to go on splits with him for a couple of hours. We ended up finding the family that was baptized a couple of weeks later. I'm glad that he spoke good about me (haha).

Things are going really good here. As you can tell by the photo, we did baptize the man that was super excited! My first baptism here in Mandacaru, and it's a man!! His name is Fabio. He was seriously so excited to be baptized. It was really cool that he understood how important that baptism is. He had a few things that he had to quit like coffee and some other things, but he dropped them like it was hot (Snopp Dogg haha)!! It was funny, he got so cold in the Church because of the AC that he started to shiver (haha). And the water in the baptismal font was a little cold too, and so he started to shiver even more when I baptized him. It shows how used to it that these people are to just being hot all of the time!! We will have zone conference tomorrow, so that should be really good. I will get to see my old comps and some of the elders from my MTC group which will be cool. And it will be at the chapel in my area so i dont have to travel. The last zone conference, I had to travel 7 hours there and 7 hours back!

This week too, (haha) we discovered that my comp has a deep fear of spiders. So, the other elders that live with us they bought this huge fake spider and they scared the crap out of him with this fake spider. It was so hilarious!! He was like yelling and screaming and we were all just laughing so hard. It was so funny!!

I hope all is well and you have a great week.

Letter from August 15th, 2011

My week was pretty good. Me and my comp are really getting along well. We are working really hard and at the same time we are having a lot of good laughs too, which makes things a little bit more enjoyable and the time go by a little bit faster. By the way, I finally got yours and Grandma Hancock's packages!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for sending that stuff - I know it wasn't cheap, but it will help me a lot here haha. Tell Grandma H that I said thanks with a big hug:) I have already eatin almost a whole thing of peanut butter. It is so good!!!!!!!!!! Well me AND the Brazilians that I live with have been helping me (haha). They just love it when us Americans get packages.

This week had a lot of ups, but some downs at the same time. I know that this is the work of the Lord, but Satan works too. We had a baptism marked for this past Saturday for a young girl. We had passed by there alot and her parents were really cool and had no problem with her getting baptized. They even signed the baptismal record saying she could be baptized. But, Saturday morning when we went to talk to this girl she wasn't home, so we called her cell phone and she was at her aunts house. Her aunt took the phone from her and started yelling at us saying how she wasn't gonna get baptized and how she was Baptist. So we went and talked to her dad to see what the deal was and he just was completely different. He wouldn't even say why they wouldn't let her get baptized. I think they just heard a bunch of bad stuff about the Church and then changed their minds. So that really sucked.

But at the same time, we marked at least one baptismal date every day this week which was legit. And we have one man who is super duper excited about his baptism which will be this Sunday. Of course since I was the new missionary in the ward, the Bishop asked me to speak at the last minute. In my first area they never called me because they knew that I was new, but here it's different. I think that will be the first of many talks that I will give.

Things are going really good here. Me and my comp are kicking butt and taking names (for baptisms that is-haha). Much love and thanks for everything!! Hope everyone has a great week.

Letter from July August 8th, 2011

"Things have been going good here so far. We didn't have a baptism this week, but we should have one or two this coming Sunday. It's tough trying to memorize all the new roads and everything, but I'm getting there. At least I know where our house is (haha). But, I'm in the part of João Pessoa called Mandacaru. It's a really poor part of Joao Pessoa. They call this a "favela" or in other words it's like the ghetto. I live in the same apartment as our Zone Leaders. So, I am the only American with 3 Brazilians. We live in an apartment with 1 bathroom that we have to share so its a pretty tight fit (haha). But, I'm liking it a lot. It's a lot more fun when you live with more people. We had p-day today with our whole zone here which is like 20 people. It was really fun. We had this funny teaching practice thing that got everyone laughing really hard. Then of course being here in Brazil, you have to play a little bit of soccer. It was my very first time playing. It was pretty fun, but there are some elders here that play really good. I think it was more fun just to watch. But, that's pretty much it here. I'm just getting to know the people and the area right now. Hope everyone has a great week!!"

Letter from August 3rd 2011

"Well now that I got "Dear Johned" I guess my mission is complete (ha ha). But anyways - it is what it is!

So, I got transferred. Right now I'm here in João Pessoa, the capital. I'm here with Elder Vasconcellos. He will be my first Brazilian comp. I left Pombal last night at 12:00 and then I got here in João Pessoa this morning at like 7. But, I only got to say goodbye to like 2 people in Pombal because I had to stay with other missionaries in a different city because my comp is training right now. But, I'm excited to be in a new area and that I'll be able to meet some new people.

I'm sending some photos. The baptism was of Lucas. He is the son of Gorete, the lady that we baptized last Sunday. He just wasn't baptized because he was sick. So now in that family there is only one more person to be baptized to complete the family and she should be baptized soon. I will give you more details and everything Monday. I will need many prayers to help me get through these next couple of days."