11-29-10 Another Week Flies By!

Dear fam,Well, to start off, I always have thought that Thanksgiving is the 3rd Thursday. I´m glad I could make you all laugh though! haha. I was set straight in district meeting because our zone leaders were there and he has an American calender and told me that is was on the 25th. So on Thursday I wished Elder Smoot happy thanksgiving and that was our celebration haha. So about my companion... He is from Salvador Brazil. He has the shortest fuse every and it is quick to light. He gets mad very very easily. I am always on thin ice with him. It makes it hard to do things the right way. I don´t want to just complain but here are some examples... Last p-day he wanted to watch Glory Road (the disney basketball movie) and that is against the rules so I just said, ´´If you call president and he says we can watch it, then I will´´ So that made him really mad at me and he swore at me in Portugues and didn´t talk to me for a 2 days. Then we waste a lot of time at this one house. One girl in the house has been baptized and the mom and 3 other girls haven´t been baptized, nor do they want to. But we go there EVERY SINGLE DAY. for a couple of hours. It is hard for me to feel good about that. I have said something about it to him that we can use our time in better ways, but he pulls the ´´I´m senior comp. and this is what we are doing´´card. So pretty much I just have to put up with stuff and I just study things when we are there. But on a good note, when he is happy, he is really fun to be around. He is pretty funny and stuff and I like him. I just have to pick my battles with him. I am learning patience. We have some investigators now. Only 3ish are progressing. But we are making progress from when I came here. I am sure we could do a better job at helping people progress, but that is another touchy subject. The people we teach are humble people and they just need a push to get goin´. The biggest problem we have for some reason everyone gets sick on Sunday. We go around to everyone we invited to church and they either don´t answer the door, or say they are sick. That is convient for them. haha it bugs me. But that is the culture here. They are too nice to say no so they accept all the comittments, but they don´t mean it. Its tough. I am glad that everyone is had a good Thanksgiving break. It sounded like a fun time! Did you go and cut trees with the Johnsons? We have a little tree in our house here. It is a fake one, about a foot tall. It is pretty awesome though haha. I hope Elder harris sends that letter soon! It had some good stuff in there. I was hoping it would have gotten there for Mom´s birthday because I wrote a letter to her for her birthday. Oh well. You all sound great and I am blessed to have a family like you. I got an email from Bailey and Chad which was great. How are Paige, Brent, and Leslie? How is school for Brent? and Paige, what do you do all day with Leslie? Email me! :)I love you all very very much and I hope you all have a great holiday season!Love, Isaac

Sobral pictures

Sobral, Brazil

Elder Blackham and Elder Robertson with a new converts.

Isaac and his companion carved watermelons instead of pumpkins for Halloween.

Transfered

Hey everyone,
Well, I got transferred. I kind of thought that I was going to. So the call came on last Monday night so I have been in Parnaíba for a week now. Parnaíba is up north in the state of Piauí. It is about a half hour from the coast. It is a lot cooler here temperture wise. There is a cool breeze from the ocean that is here all the time. It is still very hot though, but a lot cooler than Sobral. My new companion is Elder Melo. He is from Salvador, Brazil. It has already been a test of patience in this first week.
I got here on Tuesday night so Wed. was my first day working. I found out that we have no progressing investigators, not really any potential investigators, and before I got here they would spend a lot of time at a recent converts house and just talk. Not all day, but a lot of the day. So, I came and I don´t think my comp. likes me right now cause I want to work and he thinks that just being out of the house is working. So we got in a little argument about how to use our time and other things. Once we get used to each other it will be good. He is a really cool kid, its just the Brazilian culture to do the work the way he does. I have noticed that some brazilians just like to make friends on the mission and hang out with them during the day. It is going good though. We already have some good numbers and we taught a ton of lessons. We found 24 new potentials and we are gettin busy. It is hard though cause I still don´t know perfect portuguese and I am the junior comp, so I just have to put up with some things and do my best..... There is another American who lives in the same house as me, so we will keep each other sane. I am very happy to be in Parnaíba though. It is a good place to be.
I didn´t do anything for Thanksgiving. I didn´t even realize it was thanksgiving until it was about time for bed on Thursday night. Friday morning I asked Elder Smoot (the american) if yesterday was thanksgiving and we both weren´t reallly sure, but decided that it was haha. So, no I didn´t do anything for thanksgiving.
So it it pretty weird to see that it snowed in Idaho. I can´t even imagine that right now haha. I am not missing the snow at all. I am lovin´ the heat. Do you think you will get a lot of snow this year? How was everyone´s Thanksgiving? I love Thanksgiving time. It is one of my favorite holidays. Did you do anything fun besides get together and eat?
Did you ever get my letter that I sent home with elder harris? I wonder if he ever sent it... I hope he did. I still haven´t received any letters or packages. I hope they come soon. Speaking of which, whenever you feel like putting together another package, you can include a journal because I will fill the one that I have probably by the time I get to the year mark or sooner. So don´t feel rushed to send another package because I imagine it is expensive. I also need some more Lamisil for my feet. And feel free to edit that part out of this letter if you are still puttin them on the internet haha. I am cured of athletes foot now, but it took the whole bottle that I had.
I love you all and I am glad you had a good holiday. Congrats, Miranda, on your 4.0!! and Abby, driving in the snow is not scary, it´s fun! Good luck on getting your license when you take the test! I love you all very much and I hope you all have a great week!
Love, Isaac

Nov. 8, 2010

This week was a good one. We had zone conference on Friday. That was really good. Pres. Dias is a really good guy. It was good to hear from him. He and his wife came here and gave us some training for most of the day. Sis. Dias is CRAZY! haha she is so full of energy and way happy. For her training part of the conference she got out some portable stove things and showed us how to cook chicken and rice in 20 minutes. She is worried we are not eating healthy in our apartments. (She is right.) But she put on a little cooking show for us. She could be the next food network star haha. Another thing that happened was we were teaching Fernando on Sat. and a while ago we had marked him to be baptized on the 20th of Nov. So we were teaching and at the end we asked if he felt prepared now and he explained that he had been talking to his wife and praying and that he feels prepared!! It was so cool. I was looked at his wife while he was talkng to us and she just had the biggest smile on her face. She was baptized in 2003 but has been inactive until now. She still has a testimony and seeing her husband go through this conversion process has really made her happy again. It makes me happy to see this family happy together.Dad, about the language... I am able to follow the conversations and understand just about everything. I am still a way slow speaker because I have to still think about the conjucations in my head, but I can understand a lot. I am the exact same as you were on your mission. Not too long ago I could follow the conversation for a little, but then I would get lost and then just sit there and think about something totally different. I am doing better now and I can understand pretty much everything. The next step is being able to just talk instead of thinking and talking. I haven´t received any packages yet. If you sent it 3-4 weeks ago it should be close to here. It will probably come before the next time I get mail. We get mail everytime someone goes to Teresina (like my comp. for leadership training) or when someone comes from Teresina (like a transfer or the President) So the next time will probably transfers which are this week. And if it doesn´t come this week, then maybe the first of Dec. it will come. Did you guys get a letter from me? I sent a letter home with Elder Harris with a letter for mom, and a short one for Mindy and Abby with some presents for them that I bought. For the Christmas phone call I have heard that I will set up a time for you to call me. Elder Blackham said that usually we just go to a pay phone and call home the day before Christmas for like 2 minutes and set up a time for you to call that number on Christmas day. It would make sense to go to the church and use a phone there, but I don´t think the church here in Sobral have phones. But I might be transferred by christmas though.That is exciting about Sam! I am exited for him. That would be a way cool mission. I am glad he can teach our family over there! Thank you for praying for me and for lovin´ me. I love you all so much. Especially you Mom! Happy Birthday tomorrow!!!! I hope it is a great one for you and that your students will behave for you on your day! I love you!!Love Isaac

Nov. 8, 2010

Dear family,

It sounds like a sad time in Idaho Falls lately... I hope all of the families that lost people close to them will have comfort and hope in their tough times.

That elk Brent got looks like a good one. How much did it weigh? Did you shoot it right in the head? It looks like there is a bullet shot there. Did Dad get anything?

Leslie looks completely different than other pictures I have seen. In 20 more months, I will not be able to recognize that girl. She already looks huge! What other things can she do besides smile and laugh? Does she have any teeth coming? I miss that little girl.

Mom, I don't know my address here in Sobral. I can tell you the names of the neighborhoods of my area though.. Dom Jose, Sumare, Alto do Cristo... those are the ones I know off the top of my head. I don't know if that helps.. There is a market north of my house across the street and down the street a ways to the west are some railroad tracks. My area is the southwest part of town... There is a hospital south of my house too.. I don't know if that helps, but that is about as detailed as I can get... sorry.

I am doing great with my companion. We get along pretty well, probably because we are both American. I have heard it is pretty difficult to get along with some Brazilian companions. The culture is different and it really tests the pacience of Americans. I live with a Brazilian missionary and he kind of bugs me, but I just ignore the weird things he does and says and it works out ok.

This last week was a slow one. Our numbers were down a little and not much happened. We weren't able to get very many new investigators this week but this week we are changing and we are going to get some good work done.

We are teaching a guy named Marcos and he is so awesome. He has a baby girl and a wife at home. He has problems with drinking and smoking so we taught the word of wisdom and he really wants to change his life and get it back on the right path. He loves reading the Book of Mormon and keeps asking us to give him chapters that will give him a spiritual boost. He is having a hard time quiting smoking and drinking. He went out last Sunday to drink, and then he felt bad so he didn't come to church. We had a good talk and now he is back on track. He told us that he is doing it for God and not for us. That is exactly what we like to hear. Marcos is just a really humble guy. It is exciting to teach him and help him progress.

Fernando is doing well. He is the guy that I talked about earlier that asks the perfect questions for a lesson. He has A LOT of questions. It is good though because he is curious and really wants to know. The gospel is amazing because it answers all of his questions. I can't imagine life without the knowledge of where we go after death, or what are we even doing here. It would be pretty scary for me I think. I am greatful we know the plan of salvation and the Book of Mormon to answers some of those difficult questions. Fernando is very curious about temples and what we do in there. He is a little concerned about baptisms for the dead. I think we are going to give him the Oct. Liahona because it explains very simply what goes on and why temples are important.

We started teaching a guy named Roberto and his family this last week. They weren't able to come to church yesterday becasue he works on Sundays, but he said he would talk to his boss to try to change his schedule. Roberto is on fire. He is loving the Book of Mormon and reads everything we tell him to. We need to get him to read to his wife because she doesn't know how to read. Their son Henrrique promised us that he would read this time too. They are all progressing well (minus the BOM) but they are really fun to teach because the spirit is in their house everytime and they are learning a lot.

Another investigator we have is Lazero. I don't know if I have talked about him before... He is a very very humble guy. He has problems with drugs and he knows that he needs to change. We weren't able to teach him last week because he is always working. Hopefully we can get him this week. We saw him on the street one day and we were able to talk to him for a second and he said that he hasn't used drugs for 2 weeks. (since we first contacted him). That is really really good for him. I am proud of him and it is always a strange experience when we do teach him.

Those are our investigators that we are focusing on right now. I am excited for them all. I love them each and it makes me happy to see them all make some progress.

I sent home a letter to Mom for her birthday and there are also some little presents for Miranda and Abby. I sent them with Elder Harris who left last night at midnight to go home. He should get to the states on the 10th or something.. So hopefully he sends the letters I wrote to you.

I love you all very much! Pray for me during the holidays (it is getting a little hard to keep my mind off of home watching Elder Harris pack up and leave and it being the holiday season now.) I am doing great though. I am just going to get lost in the work this week and stay busy. I love you all and have a great week!!!

Love, Isaac

Happy Halloween 11-01-10

This is a picture Elder Harris sent us in an email. He is serving with Isaac.

Good morning dear family!

How was everyone´s halloween? Mine was fantastic. Just another day. (they don´t celebrate halloween here). For P-day today we are going to carve watermelons to celebrate.Dad, to answer your question, you are exactly right. Anyone can email me, but I can only email back my family. Anyone else that writes me can expect a letter in the mail sometime after.Also, thank you for your thoughts about Jeremiah. I am not too familiar with his story, but I think I will study it one of these days. Sometimes it does feel like what we teach goes in one ear and out the other. The people are just so nice here that they accept every invitation we give them, but then they don´t keep it. A lot of the time it feels pointless, but no effort is wasted. So, I am still alive and well. I have been thinking a lot about when the Savior came to visit the Nephites in the Book of Mormon. I have been studying it this week, and it is just amazing. My favorite part is in 3 Ne. 11 right when the Savior appears. When He is coming down and when he introduces himself, the multidude falls to the earth. Then Christ tells them to arise and come forth to feel the prints in his hands, feet, and side so that everyone can gain a testimony that He is the Savior of the world. So then I think it is verse 15?? but the multidude goes forth, one by one, and touches the prints and they all gain a testimony. I love this so much because in my head, there is significance in all of it. I think it is interesting that the people fall down when he comes. I´m sure it was a very humbling thing for them. But, I like to think that we are like those people. The natural man is an enemy to God, and I think in a sense, we are all fallen. We all sin and need to repent to become like God. But we don´t have to do it alone. The savior still calls today, Arise, and come forth. We need to all repent and feel the prints of the Atonement. We can´t have someone else do it for us, we need to do it ourselves, one by one. As we use the Atonement in our lives, we can gain and strengthen our testimonies of Jesus Christ. I also think it is interesting that the crowd went one by one. I think the Savior wanted it to be like that, because he suffered for each of us, one by one. I would imagine that it took a very long time for every single person to go to Christ, one by one, but He loved them so much that he waited and endured it so everyone could have the chance to gain that testimony.I know that the power of the Atonement is real, and that as we each use it, we too can gain a testimony that Christ is the Savior and our own personal Redeemer. I am so thankful for the Atonement in my life. I am happy that there is always a way back to the path that leads to eternal life. It gives me great hope and comfort in knowing that. I love you all so much!! I am thankful we are sealed in the temple so we can live together forever. I couldn´t imagine life forever without all of you there. Thank you for your prayers and support! Love, Isaac