Estou no campo finalmente!

Haha so i wont write in portuguese partly because it will probably be a little wrong and take me forever but the good news is is that the language is coming along quite nicely!

I made it to Brasil!

Haha i live with my companion and two other elders. my companion is from cape verde (islands of the cost of Africa) and the other two are native brasileiros então it truly is baptism by immersion with the language! But none the less it is sweet!!!

My companion and me

I love being here! My companion is sweet! He doesnt speak a lick of english and so i am teaching him english and he is teaching me portuguese;)

Our apartment over looks our entire area. My new area is Trujillo em Sorocaba.

view from our apartment

My ward is huge and we meet in the stake center which as you can see in the picture is set up on a hill so everyone can see!

I spy with my little eye...our church!

Better view of our church

Haha everything is different here! everything! for example church starts with priesthood and relief society and then sunday school and then sacrament meeting. the parking for the church is underground and the church building is protected by a huge gate! The people here are soo friendly! We can talk to anyone and they all are sooo nice.

Sao Paulo Brazil temple

so much graffiti

Well like you all know all i eat here is rice and beans for every single meal;) but luckily they always have a meat with it! and i love rice and beans! as you can tell by all the exclamation points I absolutely love it here! Haha I have soo many stories already that i will share when i return... Haha so i found out that the transfer that will most likely be my last happens in august.... dang haha i didnt even get to celebrate my hump day!! oh well!! I will hit the ground walking (because we literally walk everywhere...) seriously our area is probably the equivalent of walking Keller ever day!! its huge haha i will let you know when i am in need of new shoes which will probably be soon;) Maybe some dr. martins in honor of courntey:) But everthing is awesome here! I love my mission president i love my companion and i love being here in brasil! these next couple of weeks/ months will be difficult but they are soooo worth it!! cant wait to be speaking with ease!

My companion and me again.

The Bro is in BRAZIL!

My parents got an e-mail from Dallas' mission president this week...it included the  following info.

"Thank you for sharing your son with the Brazil São Paulo North Mission. We love him already and feel so grateful to be serving with him at this sacred time when the Lord is hastening the Work of Salvation."

Sincerely,

Presidente Timothy and Sister Linsey Farnes

BRASIL!!!!!!!!!!

Woahhhhh.... craziness!!! Haha it is funny emailiing right now because in like 4 days i will be off again and back out into the mission field to meet my new trainer again! haha I dont even know how to describe this last week! super fun and super weird to be back in the MTC! and the biggest question i am sure you are all wondering is how is the language going! And honestly i am doing way better than what i imagined! honestly i can understand probably 60 to 80 percent of the language depending on who is talking. Speaking is the hard part but with the practice we have everyday teaching in the language i am improving dramatically! I only have 40 minutes to email today because of the CTM so i will give you a better run down when i am in the field but know that i am super happy to be here and am loving every moment of this! I LOVE Everything about Brasil!!!

Brazil Bound soon!

So I am loving every second of my mission thus far and the idea of going to Brazil has only fanned the flames within me and made me want to go a thousand miles an hour this week! Not much by way of successes but none the less I am stoked to be a missionary! I am with Elder Gamino now cause another missionary went home and so another elder needed a companion so they broke our trio up... kinda depressing but we still see each other often! It is killing me to think I will have to leave this branch behind!!

I love these members sooo much! Today we had the chance to go to the Temple. What a great blessing for me. It did a lot of good in calming my nerves!

Transfer calls are going to happen on Saturday so I am assuming President will let me know these next few days about the visa because for some reason he wont tell me.. probably cause he wants to avoid me getting "trunkie" even though I have known for like a month... oh well alls well that ends well! Love Yall!!

Gryffindor

Lake Kaweah!!

Put your shoulder to the wheel!

 

The field is white, all ready to harvest!

Bom Semana!

Haha man before I start into the week let me just say that this tri-companionship is the funniest thing ever.. I have never laughed sooo hard! The best part is the work that we are getting done! I could not ask for a better way to leave Fresno than how things are playing out right now! I am almost emotional thinking about leaving this place. I told my Branch President yesterday about My Visa and how I will be departing for Brazil soon. So he decides that at the end of Sacrament meeting to have me come up and give my testimony. Of course I am used to it by now, but for some reason when i got up to the pulpit I was nearly overcome with emotions which was super hard for me... No one else knows about the visa so I had to stay strong and not give away the sadness i felt! didnt want people thinking i was some softy for no reason;) But honestly I am going to miss this place sooo much! I will never forget the memories i made while here! So many stories, especially one of the greatest miracles I have ever seen that I will tell you about when i call at the airport! So many special and lasting moments that make missions soooooo worth it. The best line I heard this week came from an 18 year old thinking about serving a mission who said "Seeing the way you three act and enjoy your missions really makes me want to go!" and honestly its sooo true. If it isn't fun you are doing it wrong!! I Love you all!!

Tri-Companionship

Haha so this week has been a fun one for sure. We had a lot of finding opportunities and found a pretty cool guy named Giovanni. He says he is a rapper so Elder Sims automatically loves him. Speaking of Elder Sims- I love him! He is awesome. He is kinda prideful but it is in a funny way. He had a record deal before his mission he says with Sony music. He says he worked on the show "Victorious" on Nickelodeon (I'm sure Cassidy knows what that is) He is very funny as well and loves basketball which is nice. He is small so it is fun. So an explanation on the subject line- A missionary in a ward in our district went home, so his companion is now with us for the next 4 weeks until the end of the transfer. Crazy part of it was that they were going to move to Modesto (the most northern part of the mission) and just have them be together because there is someone up there who is companion-less in a tri-companionship so they tried to move me up there but funny enough, I am the only one who can drive in our companionship so I got to stay! My members would have been so mad if I had just straight up left without saying anything! Plus I would have been ticked! We had the chance of confirming "A" on Sunday! Soooo awesome!! Like I said This was one of those awesome mission moments I will always remember. This week should be a great one!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Also i totally forgot a funny thing that happened!! We almost got eaten by a dog!! a stinkin pitbull!! Crazy fun story that i will tell when i get home... ;) LOVE YALL

 

 

 My new companion in the tri-companionship is 5'3". He's a fun-size candy bar.

What a Week!

So before I address the rather insane news I opened up to when I logged on (his visa was approved/arrived and he will soon be on his way to Brazil!), I will start with addressing the week! I LOVE my new companion! He is hysterical! He is from south carolina! He is a musical genius! He plays every instrument except like 3. He is an awesome singer and loves basketball. He is only 5'7 so he envies my height so we have some fun together. Plus we got out of the corrola and we are now driving a Chevy Colorado! Sweetness! Not much this week as far as new investigators. We are teaching the same people and are really praying they will have a change of heart! Most are prepared for baptism they are just holding themselves back! 

NOW for the rather crazy news dad informed me of... If that is true- i will have a coronary..... I am already hyperventilating... My mission president will call me soon and probably let me know of the news if it is really to good to be true! If it is true I will embrace this experience with complete trust that that is where I am supposed to be! I will continue to prepare myself in all aspects in preparation! I love you all soooo much!!