Hello Family!
This week was pretty good. My companion and me have been working very hard on fixing this area. We have a goal to have an appointment every 30 minutes during the day. That is the goal of the mission so we are working up to that. We first need to get people to teach. Last week was very good and we found 31 new investigators. 3 families, and I think 11 men. The mission goal is 1 family a week, 3 men a week, and 21 total every week. We taught 17 lessons with members and we have some good progressing investigators. We also had 11 people in church yesterday!!! That is really hard to do. It is hard to get people to come to church here. So we are pretty much awesome haha. Just kidding. I will study humility this week... (I know none of this would have happened if we weren´t doing all we can to be the best instruments for Heavenly Father)
My companion is Brazilian. He is from São Paulo. He is a convert to the church for just 2 years now. Only his mom and I think cousin are members in his family. His dad left them when he was young and he doesn´t really know him. He is a really good missionary though. He connects with people way easy and can talk about anything. He has the same amount of time as me on the mission. 7 months. He hit 7 months on the 24th of jan, so he has a couple more weeks than me. It is good though that we have the same amount of time because neither of us think we are better than the other or that we know more than the other. We just work together and do the best we can.
I got a christmas card from the Kuhns last week and a letter from Grandma Flash and Katy. They were very nice and I loved them. Can you tell them thanks for me? I will write some letters back, but in the mean time maybe you can say thanks to them for me.
My christmas package had things wrapped in christmas paper. They didn´t get into that package to explore. I don´t know how long it will take for the other package to clear customs. President Dias is coming up here this week to do interviews so there is a chance it could get here and he could bring it with him. I think this package moved faster because it isn´t christmas time. maybe, who knows...
Things here are going great though. It seems that a lot more drunk people are talking to us. They are always fun to talk to. I just stand there and try not to laugh at what they are saying. They are pretty crazy. We gave a book of mormon to one of them. He just really wanted a Bible from us, so I gave him a Book of Mormon with the address to the church and the time it starts. Maybe if he ever sobers up he will read it. He didn´t know where he lived so we couldn´t teach him later in his house.
That is about all the news I have down here. Things are going really well and smooth. The work is back on track in Parnaíba. We have baptisms lined up for the next 3 weeks... I am prayin that we can keep doing things right so they will happen.
I love you all so much and thank you for your emails every week. I get way excited to read them every monday. You all sound fantastic and I am glad we are a family forever!
Love Isaac
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
I'm Free 1/24/11
Hey family! So, maybe you can already tell what happened by the subject of this letter, but the big news is that elder Melo was transferred!! IT was one of the best days of my life haha. It was random too. There has been a steady 3 week transfer for like the whole time I have been here and so I was hoping so bad for a transfer last p-day. Well, it didn´t come on pday so I just gave up and started looking forward to feb. 7th. But then on wednesday morning the phone rang at 630 in the morning and Elder Melo answered and I heard him say ´are you serious? a transfer? where am I going?´ I instantly hoped out of bed and it was hard not to smile! haha. I tried to act sad so he didn´t feel bad and it was tough haha. So he left at 2 o´clock on wednesd afternoon and my new companion showed up at 6 that night. My new companion is Elder Donizeti. He is awesome. He is funny and knows how to work. We are doing some good work. We are goin to all the way old investigators in our area from like 2006 and stuff. We are also trying to find some new people to teach in between our appointments. I am lovin it. The first day I was able to kinda do everything I have always wanted so we went and talked to our branch president and it turns out he is awesome too and all he wants to do is help us. I figured that was the case. We planned some activities to get people to bring friends to so we can start teachin them. Things are definately looking up! Last sunday a girl brought her friend to church, Giovani is his name. He is really cool. He is 15 and his member friends have been talking to him about church for some time now. They finally got him to go to church and he loved it. We started teaching him and he is way interested and wants to be baptized. He read and prayed about the book of mormon and got an answer and he is just a big stud. A funny thing with him is that he told us that if Elder Melo stayed here, he wouldn´t get baptized. He didn´t like him... haha. I baptized Odilon on saturday. (his mom is Antonia that I told you about on Christmas.) Odilon is awesome and I was so happy to baptize him. WE would have batized his whole family but they need to go to church one more time, and they are always working. I hope they will find time to come to church soon! It is a reallly special family. I am sorry to hear about Tanner. It was hard to read that email mom. I really hope everything works out for him. I am praying hard for him. Whatever happens I will still be there for him. I am going to do a fast for him too. I really hope he is ok.. Dad, your portuguese was near perfect! haha are you studying or did you use a translater or somethin? Mom, your portuguese was perfect too. and yes, tudo bom. (it means everything good? or everything is good... it is a question and an answer.) I got a card from Aunt Diane and a Christmas card from you guys too the same time my packages arrived. I think snail mail is faster than packages. Thank you for the cards and stuff. Things are going well though down here though. I am lovin it now. It was a tough 9 weeks and I was strugglin to stay positive. But its all good now. I am happy! Thank you for everything you guys to for me! you are the best family in the world! Love Isaac
Monday, January 17, 2011
1/17/11
Hey family!
This week was pretty good. I was able to keep Elder Melo happy for a week now...even though it meant I wasn´t. We just have different ideas about what work is. For some reason he thinks just being out of the house is work, but we don´t teach much. We are supposed to have a lesson every half hour during the day (that is the mission goal) but we are no where close to that. My thoughts are to just keep him happy for the few lessons we do teach. I just feel bad for the investigators we have that could be progressing, but we aren´t there to help them.
Remember the baptism I was supposed to have on Christmas? Well, he is running from us. We schedule appointments for interviews and teaching appointments, but he always leaves. When we do finally make contact with him he always says he really wants to be baptized, but now I am starting to think he doesn´t. It is tough because we have put so much work into him and it seems like it is all falling apart. We are going to keep talking to him and we set another baptismal date for the 29th in two weeks. I am hoping and praying he will feel prepared.
That is about all that has happened this last week. I am just patiently waiting for a transfer still... haha. President has been doing a small transfer every 3 weeks, so there is a chance that later today something could change... I´m hoping... haha.
Yeah , so that picture of the dead cow was just random. I was on a division with Elder Wells in his area and we were just walking down this dirt road and I saw a bunch of vultures so I got my camera out and we found that dead cow. It was way nasty. I don´t usually see dead livestalk on the ground. There were 2 dead cows there though. One looked like it had been dead for a monthish and the one I took a picture of was pretty new. maybe a couple of days.
It has only rained here last sunday and a little bit on wednesday I think. It might rain during the night a little too but I am not sure. We haven´t been getting too much rain though. It alway looks like it is going to rain, but doesn´t. Maybe it evaporates before it gets to me haha. And I have heard about the floods in Rio. It is not good down there. I am wondering about if any missionaries or members were affected or if they are all safe... I hope so. There is a lot of deaths down there I heard. Last I heard there was like 600 people dead. It is sad.
Well, I hope you all have another great week and enjoy the warmer weather you are having! I love you all so much and I miss you. I pray for you all all the time. Thank you for your prayers and help! You are the best family in the world!
I love ya!
isaac
This week was pretty good. I was able to keep Elder Melo happy for a week now...even though it meant I wasn´t. We just have different ideas about what work is. For some reason he thinks just being out of the house is work, but we don´t teach much. We are supposed to have a lesson every half hour during the day (that is the mission goal) but we are no where close to that. My thoughts are to just keep him happy for the few lessons we do teach. I just feel bad for the investigators we have that could be progressing, but we aren´t there to help them.
Remember the baptism I was supposed to have on Christmas? Well, he is running from us. We schedule appointments for interviews and teaching appointments, but he always leaves. When we do finally make contact with him he always says he really wants to be baptized, but now I am starting to think he doesn´t. It is tough because we have put so much work into him and it seems like it is all falling apart. We are going to keep talking to him and we set another baptismal date for the 29th in two weeks. I am hoping and praying he will feel prepared.
That is about all that has happened this last week. I am just patiently waiting for a transfer still... haha. President has been doing a small transfer every 3 weeks, so there is a chance that later today something could change... I´m hoping... haha.
Yeah , so that picture of the dead cow was just random. I was on a division with Elder Wells in his area and we were just walking down this dirt road and I saw a bunch of vultures so I got my camera out and we found that dead cow. It was way nasty. I don´t usually see dead livestalk on the ground. There were 2 dead cows there though. One looked like it had been dead for a monthish and the one I took a picture of was pretty new. maybe a couple of days.
It has only rained here last sunday and a little bit on wednesday I think. It might rain during the night a little too but I am not sure. We haven´t been getting too much rain though. It alway looks like it is going to rain, but doesn´t. Maybe it evaporates before it gets to me haha. And I have heard about the floods in Rio. It is not good down there. I am wondering about if any missionaries or members were affected or if they are all safe... I hope so. There is a lot of deaths down there I heard. Last I heard there was like 600 people dead. It is sad.
Well, I hope you all have another great week and enjoy the warmer weather you are having! I love you all so much and I miss you. I pray for you all all the time. Thank you for your prayers and help! You are the best family in the world!
I love ya!
isaac
Monday, January 10, 2011
More Parnaiba Pictures
Burnt Offerings - BBQ in the backyard
Baptism
Christmas packages FINALLY arrived!
Elder Melo and Robertson after running home in the rain.
Dead Cow
um outra semana 1/10/11
Hey Family!!
This last week was pretty good. Elder Melo was in Teresina for pretty much the whole week. He left on Tuesday and got back on Friday afternoon. There was a training for all the leaders there. So I stayed with another Elder in a different ward because his compainon is District Leader too. It was a good couple of days with him. It was a little tough to work in two areas for that long though. We worked in my area for an entire day and I realized how bad it is. I felt like I was opening a new area because we really don´t have very many investigators which is way sad. Anyway, on Friday we did a division so I went with Elder Wells for Friday night and Saturday. It was a good time. I learned a lot and we got some good stuff accomplished.
President Dias made a surprise visit to Elder Wells house while I was there. It was 10:30am and we were working in his area book cleaning it up and making it look pretty and organized and we got a call from President. He was like, Elders, it´s 1030 and time to work. Come open your door and let me in. We were both just like... ´crap´´... haha. not because we were doing anything wrong, but it was a little unexpected and it made us nervous. He went out with us and taught a lesson with us. It was way good. I learned so much from him. He is a pro. We were both nervous because two Americans and our president... We were worried about our portuguese and being perfect teachers... It was really good though.
So that was pretty much my week. OH, here is a funny story from yesterday at church... We were in our first class and a drunk guy walked in... and he just stood right in the middle of the room for a little then Elder Melo got up and helped him out and he wanted to stay so we sat him down and tried to keep him quiet during the lesson. It was so funny because he would just shout things out and do weird things. So that happened and he still wanted to stay, and he went to Sacrament with us. This is the best part.. our branch president started the meeting and he was giving some announcements and the drunk guy just stands up, and we were sitting in the middle of the chapel and everyone could see. He just stood up and stared at President Cunha for like 10 seconds then we grabbed his shoulder and sat him down. Haha it was funny. Luckily he was quiet all during the sacrament. Then people would give their talks and after every talk he would shout out his feelings. After one he was like `Beautiful words!! Very good talk!! Please continue!` it was awesome. I was dyin cause it was so funny. But Elder Melo did a good job with him and he was quiet for the most part except for those couple of occasions haha.
I GOT 3 PACKAGES!!! I got one from the young women, I got one from Grandma, and one from you guys! I am pretty sure that everything was in all of them. They opened up the one from Grandma, but everything she claimed was still there. I got a lot of mints, socks, fruit snacks, axe shower gel stuff, christmas tree, christmas card, hot wheels car, peanut brittle,,then from the young women, I got some cards and candy, and in the one from you, I got candy, deodorant, razors, pens, flash drive, memory cards, FRUITY PEBBLES!!, and I don´t know if I forgot anything, but I am sure it was all there. T HANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I LOVED IT!!! I got it all on my six-month day (7th) and it was perfect timing for that. Say thanks to the young women for me and to Kay Grandma and Jesse Grandpa! I loved everything I got. I will send a pic.
Mom, I will try to get a Coke can for your friend. Does she want just like a normal one? or one with like designs or somethin... and she wants aluminum right? or does she collect the glass ones? I will buy some coke sometime in the nex t 18 months for her.
Dad, your letter made me laugh!. I loved the lee-isms. The first one was ýou should meditate with your wife´ instead of medicate.. haha. and the other one is ´lynn thinks he is up in the lurky nights??`not up in the murky lights.. haha. . I liked those a lot.
It rained here a lot last night. this is a good story... It was 10 minutes to night and we are about to leave this house we were at then it just started POURING!!! so we waited a little to see if it would stop, but it wasn´t going to. we wated about a half hour. Then we got plastic sacks and wrapped our scriptures and things in it and took off running for our house to get home by 930. IT WAS SO FUN! the streets were flooded and the water was up to my shins. It was awesome. It was a good bonding moment for Elder Melo and me. We were soaked in 5 seconds of being out there.
Anyway, that is about it for this week. It was good. My goal this week is to not fight once. Right now we are happy with each other and so I am going to do anything (without breaking rules) to keep him happy. I will let you know how it goes.
Here is my testimony, (its been a while) I know this is the true chruch on the earth. I know that Jesus Christ is the head of this chruch and He leads and guides us through a living Prophet. I know that Joseph Smith really did see Christ and our Heavenly Father and that Joseph talked with them face to face and restored the original church of Christ. I have no idea how people can reject it.... But, I know Jesus Christ lives and he is our Savior and Redeemer.
I love you!
Isaac
This last week was pretty good. Elder Melo was in Teresina for pretty much the whole week. He left on Tuesday and got back on Friday afternoon. There was a training for all the leaders there. So I stayed with another Elder in a different ward because his compainon is District Leader too. It was a good couple of days with him. It was a little tough to work in two areas for that long though. We worked in my area for an entire day and I realized how bad it is. I felt like I was opening a new area because we really don´t have very many investigators which is way sad. Anyway, on Friday we did a division so I went with Elder Wells for Friday night and Saturday. It was a good time. I learned a lot and we got some good stuff accomplished.
President Dias made a surprise visit to Elder Wells house while I was there. It was 10:30am and we were working in his area book cleaning it up and making it look pretty and organized and we got a call from President. He was like, Elders, it´s 1030 and time to work. Come open your door and let me in. We were both just like... ´crap´´... haha. not because we were doing anything wrong, but it was a little unexpected and it made us nervous. He went out with us and taught a lesson with us. It was way good. I learned so much from him. He is a pro. We were both nervous because two Americans and our president... We were worried about our portuguese and being perfect teachers... It was really good though.
So that was pretty much my week. OH, here is a funny story from yesterday at church... We were in our first class and a drunk guy walked in... and he just stood right in the middle of the room for a little then Elder Melo got up and helped him out and he wanted to stay so we sat him down and tried to keep him quiet during the lesson. It was so funny because he would just shout things out and do weird things. So that happened and he still wanted to stay, and he went to Sacrament with us. This is the best part.. our branch president started the meeting and he was giving some announcements and the drunk guy just stands up, and we were sitting in the middle of the chapel and everyone could see. He just stood up and stared at President Cunha for like 10 seconds then we grabbed his shoulder and sat him down. Haha it was funny. Luckily he was quiet all during the sacrament. Then people would give their talks and after every talk he would shout out his feelings. After one he was like `Beautiful words!! Very good talk!! Please continue!` it was awesome. I was dyin cause it was so funny. But Elder Melo did a good job with him and he was quiet for the most part except for those couple of occasions haha.
I GOT 3 PACKAGES!!! I got one from the young women, I got one from Grandma, and one from you guys! I am pretty sure that everything was in all of them. They opened up the one from Grandma, but everything she claimed was still there. I got a lot of mints, socks, fruit snacks, axe shower gel stuff, christmas tree, christmas card, hot wheels car, peanut brittle,,then from the young women, I got some cards and candy, and in the one from you, I got candy, deodorant, razors, pens, flash drive, memory cards, FRUITY PEBBLES!!, and I don´t know if I forgot anything, but I am sure it was all there. T HANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I LOVED IT!!! I got it all on my six-month day (7th) and it was perfect timing for that. Say thanks to the young women for me and to Kay Grandma and Jesse Grandpa! I loved everything I got. I will send a pic.
Mom, I will try to get a Coke can for your friend. Does she want just like a normal one? or one with like designs or somethin... and she wants aluminum right? or does she collect the glass ones? I will buy some coke sometime in the nex t 18 months for her.
Dad, your letter made me laugh!. I loved the lee-isms. The first one was ýou should meditate with your wife´ instead of medicate.. haha. and the other one is ´lynn thinks he is up in the lurky nights??`not up in the murky lights.. haha. . I liked those a lot.
It rained here a lot last night. this is a good story... It was 10 minutes to night and we are about to leave this house we were at then it just started POURING!!! so we waited a little to see if it would stop, but it wasn´t going to. we wated about a half hour. Then we got plastic sacks and wrapped our scriptures and things in it and took off running for our house to get home by 930. IT WAS SO FUN! the streets were flooded and the water was up to my shins. It was awesome. It was a good bonding moment for Elder Melo and me. We were soaked in 5 seconds of being out there.
Anyway, that is about it for this week. It was good. My goal this week is to not fight once. Right now we are happy with each other and so I am going to do anything (without breaking rules) to keep him happy. I will let you know how it goes.
Here is my testimony, (its been a while) I know this is the true chruch on the earth. I know that Jesus Christ is the head of this chruch and He leads and guides us through a living Prophet. I know that Joseph Smith really did see Christ and our Heavenly Father and that Joseph talked with them face to face and restored the original church of Christ. I have no idea how people can reject it.... But, I know Jesus Christ lives and he is our Savior and Redeemer.
I love you!
Isaac
Monday, January 3, 2011
Ugh! 1-3-11
Well, transfers came and left and Elder Melo and me are still here in Parnaíba. The only change that came here in Parnaíba is that Elder Smoot left and Elder Cameron came. I miss Elder Smoot quite a bit. He was a great missionary and we did have a pretty good friendship. We would both come home at the end of the day and just talk about all our problems haha. It was good to have him around ha. But Elder Cameron is a good guy too. He is from Las Vegas and is way goofy haha. I like him. We get a long great.
Thank you for the pictures you sent, Mom! I am glad they came through the second time. And it is Ok that the last email didn´t send. I was sure that something weird happened. You wouldn´t forget about your only son would you? Just kiddin, it´s all goood...
This last week was up and WAY down. It started out good, comin off the Christmas high and stuff. On Tuesday I went on a division with Elder Vitor in his area and it was AMAZING! It was one of the best days of my mission. Elder Vitor is one of my zone leaders and he is a fantastic missionary. He is from São Paulo. When I was with him we never stopped working. We went from appointment to appointment talking to everyone in between. It was so good. The spirit was so strong in our lessons too. That kid knows how to teach with the spirit for sure. It was a good day. Then I went back to my area the next day and we really didn´t do a single thing. The last THREE days we didn´t teach one single lesson. I am pretty upset about that. I don´t know the situations when I should call President and what I just need to work out with my comp. But needless to say, my letter to President Dias will be pretty long this week. I have a lot on my mind. We seriously just sit at the same house for a long time. He talks and plays dominoes and sits there. I just read the Book of Mormon in Portuguese. It is helping with the language so I guess something good is coming out of this.
Anyway... Congrats on getting your patriarchal blessing Abby! Those are way special. I am proud of you!
Mom, I made some new years resolutions. They are to love every single one of my companions no matter what. Follow ALL of the mission rules no matter what. and have more patience with myself and the people I work with. My last one is to have a baptism every week. That is possible here if I do everything right.
Dad, when people get baptized it is a little hard to get them integrated into the church. We baptized a teenage girl yesterday and she will be fine because her older sister is a member and the young womens leader is really good in this branch. But after the baptism the members are supposed to teach the lessons again and take over, but that doesn´t usually happen. The church is way young here, so I try not to judge or criticize them. I just try to help.
I don´t remember any other questions, but if I didn´t answer some, just ask them again. I am sorry this letter isn´t very good. I just need to get goin´on my letter to President Dias. Thank you for your love and prayers!! I love you all so much and I hope you all have a great week back at school and work! I love you all!!!Isaac
Thank you for the pictures you sent, Mom! I am glad they came through the second time. And it is Ok that the last email didn´t send. I was sure that something weird happened. You wouldn´t forget about your only son would you? Just kiddin, it´s all goood...
This last week was up and WAY down. It started out good, comin off the Christmas high and stuff. On Tuesday I went on a division with Elder Vitor in his area and it was AMAZING! It was one of the best days of my mission. Elder Vitor is one of my zone leaders and he is a fantastic missionary. He is from São Paulo. When I was with him we never stopped working. We went from appointment to appointment talking to everyone in between. It was so good. The spirit was so strong in our lessons too. That kid knows how to teach with the spirit for sure. It was a good day. Then I went back to my area the next day and we really didn´t do a single thing. The last THREE days we didn´t teach one single lesson. I am pretty upset about that. I don´t know the situations when I should call President and what I just need to work out with my comp. But needless to say, my letter to President Dias will be pretty long this week. I have a lot on my mind. We seriously just sit at the same house for a long time. He talks and plays dominoes and sits there. I just read the Book of Mormon in Portuguese. It is helping with the language so I guess something good is coming out of this.
Anyway... Congrats on getting your patriarchal blessing Abby! Those are way special. I am proud of you!
Mom, I made some new years resolutions. They are to love every single one of my companions no matter what. Follow ALL of the mission rules no matter what. and have more patience with myself and the people I work with. My last one is to have a baptism every week. That is possible here if I do everything right.
Dad, when people get baptized it is a little hard to get them integrated into the church. We baptized a teenage girl yesterday and she will be fine because her older sister is a member and the young womens leader is really good in this branch. But after the baptism the members are supposed to teach the lessons again and take over, but that doesn´t usually happen. The church is way young here, so I try not to judge or criticize them. I just try to help.
I don´t remember any other questions, but if I didn´t answer some, just ask them again. I am sorry this letter isn´t very good. I just need to get goin´on my letter to President Dias. Thank you for your love and prayers!! I love you all so much and I hope you all have a great week back at school and work! I love you all!!!Isaac
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)