Feb. 23: Great week!

haha well its getting harder and harder to come up with subject lines cause weeks are going faster and faster! But had a  good week for sure! Like i said we got to go to the temple and it was awesome as usual! The campinas temple is sooo beautiful! look it up and you will agree with me! Well we are really trying to kick this area into gear but this past week we got a little push back... alot of investigators being weak. So we are going to have to take a deep breath and push harder! Well this wednesday will make the 6 month mark until I am coming home. Honestly I Iove it cause it gives me the chance to take a mini inventory and rededicate myself to the last leg of the mission! But I will add it has gone by soooooo fast..... What makes it worse is when members say "your almost done!!" haha 6 months is still plenty of time! but even still I know it will pass fast!!! I love yall to the moon and back!!! I cant believe a week from today I will be 20! Dang I wont be a teenager..... dang I have to grow up! :) Nahh but I am excited! We will see what I will do for the b-day! pray for the people we are teaching here please! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Feb. 16: Batismo!

Well this week was a great one! I can honestly say this is one of the areas that needs missionaries that work! It has alot of potential! The problem is this area is super far from president and not to mention alot of other missionaries so it was really easy for people to be fubeca but with a little work this area is starting to catch fire! we had the first baptism in the last 3 months yesterday and hope to baptize a young kid who has been coming for awhile just hasnt been baptized! Alot of work to do so should be exciting!! My companion is a great guy. He is a fantastic teacher and is starting to come of out his shell with each passing day! He will make a great missionary especially when he gets really good at the language! I look forward to the coming weeks and especially my Birthday! dang I wont be a teenager!!! haha it will be awesome!! I really love the portuguese language! it is going to be such a blessing after the mission to have! I loved getting all your emails! We get to go to the temple in Campinas which I think is bueatiful! we go there on wednesday... we have to wake up at like 4 to head out there by 8! I will be dead but soooo worth it!! I will look for the package when it gets here! Lets keep our fingers crossed for the package.... I love you all!!! have a great week!!

New chapel being built

Baptism

São Bento!

Haha well the new area is easiest to describe as exactly what I imagined Brazil being before the mission. It is a rather small area, but we have large amounts of Grassy land and a bunch of houses (majority still missing a wall or a roof;) We have like 50 members and we meet in a house that has been converted into a chapel... Yeah its pretty small... Let me just say it is the complete oppposite of the area I was serving in Ariston!!! We have some awesome members. We are going to hopefully have a baptism for a Young women here named Jessica so pray for her! My new companion is SUPER quiet... haha Its alright though I am changing him slowly but surely;) He is still learning portuguese... so I am helping him as best I can! He is a great elder though he teaches with great power and spirit! I am loving serving here and look forward to helping this area progress. We expect to see miracles here. I think it i somewhat starting to cool off.... I dont want to jinx it but maybe its a miracle;) Love you all!!!

Back to Trujillo

Haha well this week was a good one for sure with alot of interesting things happening! First off let me explain the subject line in that I am heading back to Trujillo to be in an area that was a neighbor to the area I was already serving in!! Haha its crazy to me.... I will probably end up doing divisions in my old area! I will be companions with a new missionary who just finished his training period.. He is American and has like 3-4 months on the mission.. From what I have heard... he is from utah... thats about it.. We will see what happens. The miracle of the week was the opportunity to baptize "Julia". What a story/ miracle. Like I mentioned last week our plan was to baptize "Don" (her boyfriend) as well.. Well the time of the baptism arrives and in comes "Julia" without "Don".. She looked a little shaken up and as we talked alone with her she told us that she had left "Don" after him trying to tell her to not get baptized so they could continue doing all the things we shouldnt do. Her response... I cant do that anymore after learning this.. I have to get baptized!! It was AWESOME!!!! Super sad leaving this area!!!!! I love these people and will miss everyone soooo much!! I know I have a work to do there in São Bento (my new area)!! We had an awesome zone conference this week!!! Learned alot and now have the great opportunity to apply it. Only one problem this week was Brazil doesnt have shoes larger than a size 10.... haha I may need your help after all... I will see if I can find some new brown shoes in my new area! Thanks for everything family!!! Love yall!!

What a baptism!

Week in Review

Haha well there unfortunatley isnt much to review!! haha nothing really took place!! the assistants came to our area this week and I got to do an exchange with one of them. It went really well and learned alot.  This sunday will be very cool cause our ward will split!! Alot of growth here!!! We get to go to the temple next tuesday so I will email tuesday!! I love yall aton!!! Have a great week!!!

​If you can see the sweat strap..... its there......

​Coxinhas!! some of the greatest food here!! meat and cheese inside!

Great Week!

Well not much new happening this week as far as new news, but I guess its also a good thing that nothing has changed cause everything is going great. My companion and I get along great and had a great talk this week really talking about what the mission means to each of us and from that our views have meshed and are working in more harmony than before which is awesome. We didnt end up having the baptisms because of some problems that he needs to resolve but all we have to do is move the date back a few weeks so all in all everything will be fine. We have a large number of baptisms waiting in the woodworks, the only problem is that everyone needs to have something happen before the baptism. One of the biggest reasons for needing to wait is Marriage..... no one is married here!!! haha people just live together forever but never tie the knot.... but its all right It is good helping people accomplish two feats! I sent a letter this week to the family at home so mom dad and cassidy that goes into some depth on some things Ive learned since being here and also some of the things I have noticed as far as differences between here and Fresno. As I said in the skype call It will be hard for Brasil to take the number one spot as far as the mission goes. I love it but it just isnt the same! Im loving serving here and absolutely love the people and also love the language! everything is going great here and may I say it is hard to write this email cause this week went by so fast I have forgotten what has happened..... but all in all EVERYTHING IS GREAT!! LOVE YALL!!!!

My companion and I looking jacked

Feliz Ano Novo!!!!

Well I can honestly say it is shocking to say that it is 2015!!! WOAH! Time has flown by! New years was louco!!!! haha I had to have lost a little bit of my hearing!! Fireworks here are not built for the beauty they portray but for the noise they make! but none the less it was awesome celebrating with the brazilians!

The awesome fireworks here!

We had an awesome view from the balcony of the other elders apartment where we slept new years night. at 12 when the fireworks went off we all went to the balcony and it was awesome! Everywhere we looked had fireworks one of those mission moments I wont forget! No baptism this week... But hopefully we will have a couple next week! we have 2 marked! One of the cool things that happened this week was for the first time since being here I actually taught a Brazilian in English haha! He spoke really well and only spoke to me in English so it was pretty awesome! He said he is making a trip to New york next week and was super proud about it. He says he wants to live in the states... I have to agree... ;)

Beautiful Day in the neighborhood here in Ariston

For my new years resolutions I have a lot of things that I will do personally to better myself as a missionary and man for when I return but one I thought I would share that is more temporal is My companion are going to get jacked! haha not really jacked but we have started a workout schedule and are really hitting it hard! Should be great! The work is rocking and rolling here still and we are seeing alot of blessings and miracles in our area! The mission really is a blast when you are working well and have an awesome companion like I have! I love yall and hope everyone has a rock solid year this year or at least until I get home;)