4.16.12 Apple Pie

Well it sounds like things are crazy back at home! I guess my prayers
were answered. From the emails you guys were sending it sounded like
you were pretty serious about the change and so I was praying that
everything would work out for the best and that you would get the job
at Shell. I am excited! That will be way cool. I don´t know how I feel
about you guys not living in Idaho anymore... That will definately be
weird. But I am happy for you. It will be awesome to get to know
another part of the US. Maybe I could go to school there in Houston
when I get home.. I don´t know if that would be possible but I could
keep dad company if I went there. (I don´t like BYUI too much, it was
just the easier thing to do)

Mom, I liked what that recent convert said. It is very true about not
being converted at baptism. We find a lot of people that want to be
completly converted before they get baptized.. which just isn´t
possible.. I believe before baptism you need to have a testimony of
the restoration and of the plan of salvation and of the gospel. You
need to commit to live the commandments and repent of the ones you
were breaking. Then you go into the waters of bapitsm promissing that
you will keep the commandments and basically live the Gospel
principles. Baptism is the start of the path, not the end. Some people
don´t understand that. They think that they need to know everything
and go to church for 5 years to get baptized. But what you need is a
desire to make a covenant with God and the desire to keep that
covenant.

Oh, I talked to Elder Eberhardt and he said that for sure I am going
home on the 12th and that he is fixing the problem and switching the
tickets. You guys will get a new email or whatever telling you the
flight plans. He said it is a slow process and that he is working on
it and it will all be taken care of.

Speaking of coming home.. I was talking to my companion about apple
pie... I really want one of those when I get home. That is just about
as american as you can get I think. So just be prepared to make me one
haha.

Our investigators are doin well. We are teaching an 82 year old man
named Luiz. I haven´t ever taught anyone that old before. He is
partially deaf and so we have to shout the lessons to him haha. And it
was pretty tough for him to understand my accent for a while, so I
would just sit there and tell my companion to say what I wanted to
say. But now he is warmin up to my accent and we can communicate now
haha. He went to chruch yesterday. That was awesome! He absolutely
loved it. He participated in the Gospel principles class and bore his
testimony yesterday at the pulpit. (yesterday was fast sunday for some
reason) And he told the gospel principles teacher that God sent two
servents of Jesus Christ to his house and that he felt in his heart
that this is the path. We will talk to him about getting baptized next
sunday after church. He is so awesome. He is a funny old man.

Things are going great here in timon. I love it. We are going to a
place called Encontro dos Rios here in a little it. IT is where two
rivers meet (poty and parnaíba rivers) and I think it will be fun. It
will be nice to leave here for a day.

I hope that Abigail has a great birthday on Saturday! I am excited for
you! I will think for you and I hope you can feel my love. I will send
some love vibes to ya haha.

Have a great week this week! Thank you for all you do for me and for
the prayers and everything. You are all the best!

Love Isaac

4.9.12 Happy Easter

biscuts and gravy!! Me and elder Sanders (from missouri) made them
A sweet spider that I found in a tree at my house.

the americans watching conference in Teresina. starting from the back from left to right Elder Plewe and E. Pearson (LZ´s) middle row E. Howe from D.C. E. Smoot, and me... In the front E. Sloan from SLC (no relations to jerry) E. Sessions (lived with him in Tianguá) and E. Sanders

Good morning family!

This week was pretty good... We were able to find 13 new people to teach.. along with some new families. I am excited for that. There seems to be some good stuff goin on right now. It is weird because the blessings come in waves it seems like. There will be a stretch of people who just don´t want anything and don´t do anything, then for some reason a wave of awesome investigaters comes in. So we are getting really busy again with teaching and making sure everyone gets the time they deserve. I love it when we have a ton to do. (it helps me not think about june haha)

So we have been trying to teach an help the rest of Raimundo and Julienes family get baptized. We have just been focusing more on their dad, Ribamar. He is thinking about getting baptized in a different church so we have been trying to help him understand about the restoration and how baptism should be done in the right church with the right authority. He kinda just blew us off and said something along the lines of, I really like my church, I feel good there, and I think I will stay there.´ He had already investigated a lot of other churches and is satisfied with his so far. The last lesson we taught, (about a week ago) I just kinda pleaded with him to just investigate one more church. Just give us a shot and see how it is. He said one day he will go to our church, but didn´t really committ to anything. Last monday we did a Family home evening with them but Ribamar wasn´t there till the very end. But last night his son sent a text message to us saying that his dad will be home tomorrow (today, monday) and the he asked if we could come over again and do a Family Night with him. I think he liked what he saw. I think his heart is softening a little. People don´t usually go and invite us over for things like this, so we will see what comes out of it tonight. I am way excited though!

I gave a talk in church yesterday. They told my Saturday night that i would speak... so I didn´t have much time to prepare much, especially with a busy schedule. So I kinda just winged it haha. Before I talked I knew I should talk about the Resurrection. I ended up sumerizing the suffering and crucifixion of Christ, and then talking about the Resurrection and how that is such a huge blessing. I used our family´s experience from 2003 about Grandpa and Uncle Kevin in my talk and how I know that because Christ lives, we all will live one day together. I am greatful for the atonement, and that we will all live together if we live the gospel. I know the resurrection is real.

I got my birthday card with a letter in it from Grandma Flash. I love it! The other elders love the musical card as well. The brazilians think it is awesome ha. I do too. Tell Grandma Flash thanks.. and that I love her. I would write back, but I am out of envelopes and paper.

I hope Mindy has a great birthday on Wednesday!!! I can´t believe she is 19! It isn´t as weird when Paige or Bailey have a birthday, but when Miranda and Abby have birthdays, I just feel old. But I hope that your day is a great one. I will think of you a lot on wednesday.

I also missed Bailey and Chad´s anniversary. I remembered this week that it is at the end of march. I hope you guys had a good day. I love you, Clarks!

I remember now that you guys had been talkin about school and a job for me. I was thinkin about that this week. I think it would be good if you guys could get a start on that for me. I don´t remember what needs to be done for school, but I am sure you guys know. Just do whatever and sign me up to live wherever if it is necessary to do that right now.

Oh and Elder Eberhardt is brazilian. That is why his english isn´t too great. I will send him an email and see if I get a reply from him.

I love you guys a ton!

Love Isaac

4.2.12 Conference

Hey guys,

Things are going well here in Timon... Yes, I am stayin here for at least another transfer... I wonder if President just forgets about me sometimes... I guess that would be alright cause I could understand it as I am not doin anything wrong to get attention.. haha. Elder Cruz is still my companion. When the calls came he seemed pretty disappointed. It is tough to stay with someone for a long time. I am just used to it by now, but I knew he really wanted a change. I will try to make things good for him.

I really enjoyed General Conference this weekend. We went to the stake center in Teresina to watch it. And yes, we did get to watch in English. I loved the messages. The over all theme that the Spirit taught me was this... Just hold on. Have faith. Don´t lose focus of eternal goals. Keep repenting. And you can do it. I got the idea that this life isn´t going to be easy. And it shouldn´t be. But it is very very possible and with the Gospel in our lives, we can get through it all. I am greatful for the talks given. I loved them all.

I talked to Elder Donizeti (my old comp) and Elder Smoot. Elder Donizeti will be released on the same day as me and he said it is the 12th. Elder Smoot said that he was with an elder that was gettin close to go home and his family got the travel plans for him that said he was going home a month later than he thought, but that was wrong. So I am still stickin with the 12th of June. But I guess we will see. It would be nice to not have so much confusion. Just know that some day I will come home.

I am doing well and am happy. We are working hard and I am givin it my best down here. I´m gettin kinda sad that the end is in sight. It will definatly be weird to not be a missionary anymore. I love this work, and I love bein in Brazil. There are some great people down here. I know that the Gospel is true. I know that it is the only way we can be saved in God´s kingdom someday. I know that Jesus is our Savior. He lives!

I love you guys a ton! Have a great Easter!!!

Love Isaac

Oh, and mindy, if you want to ever do that hike again with someone I will go with ya. I really want to go on that hike. It looks awesome

3.27.12 Woo!

That is so awesome that the Brooke was born!! That makes me happy. I am glad she
came a little early too. I didn´t like waitin for Miles to be born haha. She
looks just like Leslie when she was born. At least from the pictures. I am
excited to see all three of my neices and nephews.

Transferrs are today, but nothing has happened yet. We will see. I might run back here to email you guys a little later because I just called the secrataries, but they weren´t in
the office yet. So, I will call them a little later to find out what all the
confusion is about the release date. I am not too worried about it, but I am
sure it would be nice for you guys to know when you can expect me to get off the
plane. And maybe by that time I will know if I am staying in Timon or not.

This week was good. Monday we went and played bowling, as you saw in the
pictures, and I ate a milkshake. I think it gave me food poisening because I got
messed up inside. I spent a lot of time in the bathroom that night. Then on
Tuesday, Sister Dias made me and Elder Sanders (he was also messed up) go to the
hospital. We had to take some taxis there and I ended up paying for them. It was
pretty pointless and a waste of money because the hospitals here are dumb.
Everyone goes for tiny problems and so you don´t get the care you need. I just
went in and told him what happened, and he gave me a perscription for like a
poweder I mix in with water to regulate my intestines or something. I think just
my peptobismo was workin just fine. So i wasted 80 reais for nothin.... haha,
but thats alright. Then we got to work normally from Wednesday on. It
was a good week.

Our investigators are kinda weird. I can´t figure them out.
There was one kid named Bruno that has just been a pain. He wants to
know a lot about the church but won´t commit to anything. My companion was kinda
gettin irriated on Saturday with him. Bruno just wasn´t accepting anything and
was just bein lazy. After the lesson we were both like, alright, we are gonna
drop him. We were frustrated. But then on sunday we were just in the middle of
Priesthood Meeting and I hear the door open and in walked Bruno by himself.. I
was way surpised and way happy. It´s weird how peoples hearts can get touched.
We went and visited him after church, and he didn´t like everything, but he
liked it alright. I donpt know if anything is going to come out of it, but I am
glad that Heavenly Father is slowly opening his heart. We also had 6
people in church... we are getting better. The best part is that there was 15
minutes left and a member calls me and my comp out. She said that a girl´s dad
was outside. So we go out there and he is talking to another member. I got there
at the end of the conversation, but he said, I need to go to a church, and I
will keep comin back here. So that was awesome and he went in and watched that
last of the sacrament meeting. We visited him and he accepted to prepare for
baptism on the 14th!!! I was happy about that.

on a side note, that lesson with
him was really weird. We were teaching and a lady walked into his back yard and
was lookin through the back door to us. She just got done usin crack... So she
was talkin and doin weird things. The neighbors threw water on her to make her
leave haha. But she was weird... So we just finished up really quickly because
it was hard to concentrate with her back there. But he accepted to be baptized
and that is what is important. I was very happy, and his daughter couldn´t stop
smiling. It was a good day.

I love yo guys so much. Have a great spring
break... or i hope your sprink break was good! I dont know when it
is.
love isaac
ps... root for kansas for me... if they didn´t lose
already

3.19.12 Short letter and pictures

Blog Readers - If you looked at this blog post earlier you might have noticed that there was not letter. We waited all day for a letter and one never came but pictures did. Eric checked our email at 9:00 p.m. and finally the email made it here. It was sent this afternoon but didn't arrive until late. So here is the updated blog post with letter and a few more photos.
Marie

meus queridos!

This week was very good. We had 2 baptisms in our area!!! I am very happy about that. I will send you pictures of us with Juliene and Eduardo.

To answer your questions about the release date... I am certain it is the 12th. Maybe the travel department just isn´t sure yet. Because we spent the whole day with the secrataries getting visa problems sorted out so I could go home. He told me that he already changed the flight tickets to the 12th and everything. The 12th will also be right on the transfer date. There will be a 5 week transfer coming up so that is why it got moved from the 19th to the 12th.

President Dias will get switched out in July. Just a couple of weeks after I leave. That is pretty cool that one of miranda´s friends is gettin here in August. He will like it.

There isn´t much to say these days... I feel like I have told you everything about brazil... My emails aren´t so great anymore... This week was just a normal week... but I will send you some pictures of the last couple of things that have been goin on recently.

I love you all a ton!!!

Love Isaac

bowling today for I WON!!!!

baptism... the fotagrapher caught everyone off gaurd

My favorite fruit
goiaba
the 4 elders in timon on my birthday with my cake

me and my comp on my birthday

3.12.12 New Release date

Hey family... I will just try to answer your questions if I remember them all... Starting with Dad´s because I forgot last week... sorry...

I don´t have any problems with fleas. The only bug that is a pain are the little mosquitoes. they love to bite my ankles. It is way annoying and there are a lot more of them lately because it is very very humid. And the daylight is basically the same here. 6 am it is bright, and 6 pm it is dark. It gets light and dark very fast here. I do notice that sometimes it gets dark a little after 6 though... like 615 is when it is dark. It just depends on the time of year though. They have daylights saving time in the south of brazil. But here, it is always 12 hours of darkness and 12 of light.

Mom, Antonio is doing so good. He helps us a ton. He is very active in the church and loves going on splits with us. He is a great guy. I really like him. He doesn´t say much, but he has a very strong testimony when he shares it. There are 4 elders in timon. no body rides bikes. I think they used to have that option but probably elders were doing stupid things with the, and it is a target for the bad guys to steal. Ive heard of a lot of stories of just normal people being stopped on the street by a guy with a knife askin for his bike. So that might be another reason.

I am sad to hear about blue. that is too bad. Are you gonna get another dog? maybe in the summer... Ill probably make you get one if you don´t have one by the time i get home. Speaking of that, the date got moved. It will now be the 12th of june that I get home. I was with the secrataries all day today, and so i am positive of that. I hope everyone can be there, and that that isn´t a problem for bailey. So you can count on me leaving brazil on the 12th though... and probably the 13th when I will land in the IF airport.

I got your package. It was very nice to get. I got it on wednesday. It was a nice birthday present. I got a card from paige brent and leslie and baby 2 also. And a card from Kay grandma. Please tell her thank you. I love her a lot.

Dad, I was talking to elder sanders, who lives with me, about your bees. If you want a name to call your honey, we thought of a good one. We think you should call it Combing Home Honey. Because your honey can remind people of the taste of home... haha. take it or leave it.

We are preparing two people to be baptized this saturday. Juliene and Eduardo. They are both 17. I am excited for them both. They both have really strong testimonies and are ready to make a covenant with God. It will be a special day.

I am glad that you are all doing great. i hope dad recovers quickly from the surgery. I hope you all have a great week!

I love you!
isaac

3.5.12 Alive and Well

Hey guys,
Thanks for the birthday wishes! I will be in Teresina tomorrow
afternoon for a leadership meeting. So that is my birthday party haha. But our
neighbor said she will make me a cake tomorrow night when I get back from
Teresina, so that will be nice. She is a very nice lady. She isn´t a member yet,
but loves the missionaries and is always helping us out. So one way or another
she is helping the Lord´s kingdom grow by keeping the missionaries happy haha.
But, while I am in Teresina, maybe I will get the package you sent... that would
be nice.

This week was normal... It was definatly better than last week.
We got out everyday. The carnaval and colds and everything was gone. So that was
great. WE have some pretty great investigators. I am excited for this area in
the next couple of weeks. It finally is picking up and we are finally breaking
through our rough patch and good things are happening. I am happy about
that.

There isn´t very much news to share from Brazil... I guess this
email will be more of one to tell you guys that I am still alive and well ha.
Thanks for the pictures of Leslie! She sure is big now. That is weird to
me. I see the pictures but I don´t believe it is here because I just have the
image of her when I left stuck in my head. But she is a cutie. Well done
Cummings family! haha. I am way excited to see the new baby too! I would give
you some portugese names for suggestions, but like the only names the girls are
called here are maria and francisca and antonia. that is seriously just about
it. sometimes they mix the names so the ladies name will be francisca maria.
that is about as creative as they get here ha. There was a baby born in the ward
on friday.. they named her Ada. That is a cool name I think. probably just cause
its different.

I am glad that everyone is doing well though. I hope that
Dad gets the job he wants. I am prayin for you. Where is your preferance to
work? Does that question make sense in english???I love you guys.

Thanks for the emails and the thoughts and prayers. you guys are the best
family!

Love isaac