Entao...
As for me here in bRaSiL. Everything is good. We had Stake conference this last week and I didn't understand most of it, lol. My heads starting to hurt because its being filled with words I've never heard before and so I usually find myself spacing out when my companion is just chatting. But I can hold a conversation with people as well. Kind of crazy how things work out. These last couple of days I have been talking to 20 people per day about the church and its been good. My companion and I had an exchange with the Zone Leaders yesterday and that went well. Had some training about planning and some paperwork stuff. And also yesterday we had interviews with the president and that went well as well. Just gotta keep talking in Portuguese and striving to continue to learn and not be scared to mess up. How many times did we fall when we learning to walk? Many times. So when things get hard, just keep on trucking on yeah??
I have had the opportunity to share a message for lunch with the members and I have been talking about the story of Zacharias(John the Baptist's father) and how he had no faith that his wife could have a kid and then his voice was removed because of his doubts. We must have faith and know that with our Heavenly Father all things are possible.
As for other things we visited the slums here and wow have I been humbled. As much as I thought I didn't judge people I really did. At the beginning of yesterday I wasn't talking to anyone and by the end of the day I was talking with all of them and cared about all of these people. Most of these people were born into this circumstance or something came up where they got put in this situation and we kind of take for granted the things our parents went through to make sure we didnt get into that same circumstance. They work really hard everyday to try to make money for their families to get food on the table. Hauling carts 10 miles a day full of garbage and trying so hard but sometimes it doesn't work out.
But things are great here. I am learning so much and growing everyday. I have pictures for you all. I got a little bit of America. YEAH SUBWAY! it was an awesome day. Take care everyone. Love you mom and I love everyone. Thanks for keeping up with me.
Elder Mitchell
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
04/22/09 Email
Hey I hope you can open this. We got disconnected from the internet earlier and I hadda wait til now. NIGHT! its 8 30 here.
The first week here was crazy. I found out I really don’t know any Portuguese I like the food here a lot. The people in my area aren’t as open as the rest of Brazil, so no, I’m not getting baptisms every other day. I wish
And as for the days, they are long. We have one of the biggest areas in Curitiba and I guess Guabiratuba means land of many hills because it seems like we have to go uphill both ways to get somewhere and back, lol.
Hmm so about the members here huh? Well all of the members are great, and we have some really good investigators but its just hard to find people to keep commitments, like when they set up an appointment that they are home lol. But they are really like Americans, they just speak a different language. You have the guys with Mohawks and handlebar moustaches. The people listening to American rock drinking outside. The kids all still listening to Lil Wayne ( in English), so am I really in a different country?? Lol things are great. The kids are awesome. They are helping me with my Portuguese. My companion is really patient with me. Our investigators are progressing. We have found some good people, they just aren’t doing the things we ask so they can't be baptized. But our goal is to baptize 2 by the end of the month and I'm guessing it will be Miguel (a man whose wife is a inactive member, he plays soccer, has a kid, and knows the church is true but has a hard time getting to church) and Selete (A catholic professor who definitely knows what we are saying is true but has commitments with the church so we've got to get that worked out.) And we have others who need to get married first or try to work out not working Sunday mornings etc. But I love it here. The scenery is wonderful, and I like the city so things are good.
I hope all is well for you in the US. I have you all in my prayers. Até logo!(until later)
Elder Mitchell
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
04/15/09 Email
Since Justin left the Training Center yesterday, I didn't know if I'd hear from him this week. But I got this quick update:
Hey, I didn't know if I would have been able to get on or not. My new companions name is Elder Rodrigues and we are in Curitiba but like 1 hr from the central. Its called Guabirutuba and its pretty nice. They don't get much baptism right now in this area and we are hoping to change that. At every chapel they have a futsol court, lol. (soccer on a court with small goals) and its pretty cool I played last night with some of the kids and dads from the church. It was fun. Haha, if you know my son, you knew that it would only be a matter of time before he found a soccer, or futsol, game.
As for everything, its been really good. Now that I'm here, I'm just getting everything organized to start working. Its been really good tho. I'm excited to see what is to come. I met the Mission president and he's really nice and my companion is real cool. I just can't understand him all the time, lol. I just shake my head and copy what his facial expressions are, lol. But I've got to run, we don't have the full time today but I will let you know more next week.
Oh yeah. Here we ride buses all the time and they are always packed kind of crazy but its the major type of transportation. The food here is so amazing. I guess I kind of just smoosh everything together so I just taste what I want to taste lol. The people are so friendly so far and its just so beautiful around here. Even if the houses arent like perfect its just the scenery is so nice. But take care! Ciao!
Hey, I didn't know if I would have been able to get on or not. My new companions name is Elder Rodrigues and we are in Curitiba but like 1 hr from the central. Its called Guabirutuba and its pretty nice. They don't get much baptism right now in this area and we are hoping to change that. At every chapel they have a futsol court, lol. (soccer on a court with small goals) and its pretty cool I played last night with some of the kids and dads from the church. It was fun. Haha, if you know my son, you knew that it would only be a matter of time before he found a soccer, or futsol, game.
As for everything, its been really good. Now that I'm here, I'm just getting everything organized to start working. Its been really good tho. I'm excited to see what is to come. I met the Mission president and he's really nice and my companion is real cool. I just can't understand him all the time, lol. I just shake my head and copy what his facial expressions are, lol. But I've got to run, we don't have the full time today but I will let you know more next week.
Oh yeah. Here we ride buses all the time and they are always packed kind of crazy but its the major type of transportation. The food here is so amazing. I guess I kind of just smoosh everything together so I just taste what I want to taste lol. The people are so friendly so far and its just so beautiful around here. Even if the houses arent like perfect its just the scenery is so nice. But take care! Ciao!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
04/08/09 Email
Hey yeah I am super excited to get out of the CTM just because its kind of getting old sitting here going to class everyday all day. I just can't wait to talk to real people about this wonderful gift. But everything here has been great. We did get to listen to conference and it was pretty amazing. This was the first time i listened to all 5 sessions and I got so much out of it. I really got a lot out of Elder Holland's talk about Jesus Christ and about the whole season of Easter. So amazing. It definitely made me start thinking about what I am doing here and who I am. (Here's the link to the audio of that talk: Link )
But anyway thanks for everyone's prayers and hi´s I really appreciate it.
I leave next week to a new place and officially starting what I came to do. (Mom you can send the stuff to the mission home that was in the packet.) I am ready to go and I can't wait to see what's in store for me around the corner. Everything here seems just like life. A lot of people think of Brazil as this beautiful place where everything is perfect, and it is in some areas, but we see many areas were there are people who are just happy with almost nothing. I've just come to a realization that I am truly blessed and that there are people in worse circumstances than I am, but they have done the best they could with what they had. And that's what we must do: work as hard as we can and do the best that we can with what we have. Then we will be truly successful and we will reach places we never thought we would. Reach for the stars and you will get to the top of the mountains, reach for the top of the mountains and you barely get started. Reach to start your trek and you get nowhere. Believe in yourself and give yourself the opportunity to be successful. You never know what you can become if you never try.
And yes ma'am, I got your letter Aunta Nita thanks. And mom, I sent a couple of letters. I hope you receive one soon. People are saying that it takes 6 weeks to get to Texas, so it might be a little longer. But take care everyone! Love you lots. Mom, as for the Ensign I don't know yet, and I don't know when pday is, lol. I'll let you know next week. Cião,e tem um bom semana tambem. Obrigado por sua oraçeos e por sue amor. Eu sou muito benção por teranda boa amigos e familia marvilhosa. Até logo.
-Elder Mitchell
But anyway thanks for everyone's prayers and hi´s I really appreciate it.
I leave next week to a new place and officially starting what I came to do. (Mom you can send the stuff to the mission home that was in the packet.) I am ready to go and I can't wait to see what's in store for me around the corner. Everything here seems just like life. A lot of people think of Brazil as this beautiful place where everything is perfect, and it is in some areas, but we see many areas were there are people who are just happy with almost nothing. I've just come to a realization that I am truly blessed and that there are people in worse circumstances than I am, but they have done the best they could with what they had. And that's what we must do: work as hard as we can and do the best that we can with what we have. Then we will be truly successful and we will reach places we never thought we would. Reach for the stars and you will get to the top of the mountains, reach for the top of the mountains and you barely get started. Reach to start your trek and you get nowhere. Believe in yourself and give yourself the opportunity to be successful. You never know what you can become if you never try.
And yes ma'am, I got your letter Aunta Nita thanks. And mom, I sent a couple of letters. I hope you receive one soon. People are saying that it takes 6 weeks to get to Texas, so it might be a little longer. But take care everyone! Love you lots. Mom, as for the Ensign I don't know yet, and I don't know when pday is, lol. I'll let you know next week. Cião,e tem um bom semana tambem. Obrigado por sua oraçeos e por sue amor. Eu sou muito benção por teranda boa amigos e familia marvilhosa. Até logo.
-Elder Mitchell
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
4/01/09 Emails
Hi everyone, this must be a very busy time for Justin because his emails were very short this week.
Hey yeah i received the Missionties. I like them a lot thanks. And Jeannette also wrote me and she sent me a picture of the gang back in sodak that was really cool. I wrote those things down in my journal thanks a bunch. I think I either received them the next day or in 2 days depending when you send it because if you send it on Tuesday or Wednesday then they wait for me to pick them up during my pday which is Wednesday and if you send it on the weekend they get it to me on Monday so its cool.
The week here has been hectic because we leave in 2 weeks so we gotta get on the ball and start getting the language down.
As for everything for me its going really well. And yeah Elder Young (his original companion that couldn't leave Utah because he had to have surgery) actually sent me some mail through a guy who headed up here from Utah last week and then he got here today so it was nice seeing him again. As for Missionties, yeah I don't know exactly what but it would be nice to get some American food. All they serve us here is beans and rice. How yummy lol. But American candy is cool if they have it.
I have 2 more weeks here at the CTM (Center for Training Missionaries), so one more pday (preparation day) then I leave the following Tuesday. Crazy how fast time has flown by here.
Yeah Derek (his very good friend that left for his mission to Spain shortly after Justin left) wrote me when he got there today. He said he´s going to email me tomorrow so I wont be able to email him back until like next week sometime. But all is well for him too.
We got 6 new missionaries and we got to take care of them and what not. They are all from Utah except for one of them who is from Idaho. Crazy lol. But they are pretty cool and definitely want to be here. As for the language it is coming fast, we are on the 3rd lesson out of five and they just seem to be easier because now its just remembering exactly the verbs and words for each of the lessons. But all is well I gotta run but ta ta
Love you all,
Elder Mitchell
And MissionTies is an American company in Brazil that is run by returned missionaries. It's a pay service that I can write letters and send photos to him, similar to email, but they print them out and mail them in-country. They have an office across the street from the MTC, or CTM and they deliver the letters there, and once they get to the mission field, they mail them out. It is supposed to take a lot less time than mailing them from the U.S. They also have treats for purchase. The treats are expensive, but sometimes it's worth it. Today I sent Justin a Pizza Hut Pizza and some candy, that he will pick up on his next P-day.
Hey yeah i received the Missionties. I like them a lot thanks. And Jeannette also wrote me and she sent me a picture of the gang back in sodak that was really cool. I wrote those things down in my journal thanks a bunch. I think I either received them the next day or in 2 days depending when you send it because if you send it on Tuesday or Wednesday then they wait for me to pick them up during my pday which is Wednesday and if you send it on the weekend they get it to me on Monday so its cool.
The week here has been hectic because we leave in 2 weeks so we gotta get on the ball and start getting the language down.
As for everything for me its going really well. And yeah Elder Young (his original companion that couldn't leave Utah because he had to have surgery) actually sent me some mail through a guy who headed up here from Utah last week and then he got here today so it was nice seeing him again. As for Missionties, yeah I don't know exactly what but it would be nice to get some American food. All they serve us here is beans and rice. How yummy lol. But American candy is cool if they have it.
I have 2 more weeks here at the CTM (Center for Training Missionaries), so one more pday (preparation day) then I leave the following Tuesday. Crazy how fast time has flown by here.
Yeah Derek (his very good friend that left for his mission to Spain shortly after Justin left) wrote me when he got there today. He said he´s going to email me tomorrow so I wont be able to email him back until like next week sometime. But all is well for him too.
We got 6 new missionaries and we got to take care of them and what not. They are all from Utah except for one of them who is from Idaho. Crazy lol. But they are pretty cool and definitely want to be here. As for the language it is coming fast, we are on the 3rd lesson out of five and they just seem to be easier because now its just remembering exactly the verbs and words for each of the lessons. But all is well I gotta run but ta ta
Love you all,
Elder Mitchell
And MissionTies is an American company in Brazil that is run by returned missionaries. It's a pay service that I can write letters and send photos to him, similar to email, but they print them out and mail them in-country. They have an office across the street from the MTC, or CTM and they deliver the letters there, and once they get to the mission field, they mail them out. It is supposed to take a lot less time than mailing them from the U.S. They also have treats for purchase. The treats are expensive, but sometimes it's worth it. Today I sent Justin a Pizza Hut Pizza and some candy, that he will pick up on his next P-day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)