Feliz Natal/ Ano Novo!!!

Well let me start by saying it was awesome getting to talk to yall!!!!!!! I know the connection was not the best but we get what we get;) and honestly this late in the mission it is more about hearing yall and getting to chat and most importantly having the opportunity to bear my testimony for yall. That really means alot to me. I want each of yall to know what the mission has done to me and for me. It has changed me beyond description. Im grateful everyday for the chance to be here in Brazil sharing this wonderful gospel. I was telling my companion the other day Brazil has turned into home for me. The first month was difficult adjusting but now Im not reacting to the differences and I dont think twice at what takes place here. Haha .

So since the skype call we had one heck of a day on Saturday. I dont remember if I made mention of the young girl who has a phobia of water. She has tried to have us baptize her 3 times.  every time she gets ready to enter the font, she starts crying and runs away... So on Friday, we passed by to talk with her about what we can do. After much prayer between us as a companionship, we decided it was time to just try and "trick" her in a sense... so we explained the fact we were going to do a practice run with her. We had Bishop pick her up and bring her to the church. We had her change, let her enter the water by herself until she felt comfortable, and then Bishop entered the font with her to merely "show her" where she puts her hands and what he says (the baptismal prayer) haha and then came the best part when /Bishop throws her underneath the water! haha Bishop made sure she went under completely! It was a miracle in itself! I am grateful she was finally baptized and the funny part is after the baptism she came up and said "I wanted to stay in!" But Im grateful for the White Christmas we had in a sense getting to baptise her christmas weekend! It truly was a blessing!! Im glad to hear everyone's Christmas went well! Im soo grateful for all you do for me and I thank my Heavenly Father EVERY SINGLE DAY for all of you! I LOVE YALL!!!

Feliz Natal!!!

Well it has been one heck of a week!! Not to much craziness has happened except for somethings that can only be described as usual in Brasil!! We had transfers this week and let me say it has been amazing having a new companion! Im with Élder Nunes from Rio de Janeiro and dang he is great. for not having any of the same background we get along great!!! Im happy to have him here working with me. What I like most is that we actually joke with one another! haha the day after transfers I woke up and told him that carley would be getting home at like 6 our time and we forgot about it. Haha then at 6 o´clock on the dot as we were walking he tells me to stop. So we stop and he asks "Elder What is happening right now" I being a bit confused said walking to an appointment... and he asks "Noooo what is happening right now at this moment....." and finally it hits me and he justs starts dying laughing its moments like that that make a companionship awesome. We went and had probably the strangest Sunday meeting on the mission... We went to church for one hour cause we went to get our investigators and they took forever!! Our mission president spoke in our ward and then immediately after the meeting our ward mission leader and some young dad in the ward got in to like a brawl outside as one of our companionships here tried to have a baptism. Apparently the young guy head butted his wife.... As i said earlier... only things that happen in Brasil... The whole story will have to wait for in person! Well it is fun having 3 sets of Elders here. We have 3 americans and 3 brazilians! haha it is weird leading everyone cause only two of us stayed and the other elder that was already here only has like 5 weeks on the mission! I LOVE THIS AREA THOUGH!!! Literally the members are soooo amazing! My portuguese isn't a concern of mine anymore which is nice. As carley can attest once you stop thinking about the language the mission is SOOOOO much fun!! but as far as logistics We are going to skype from here ON Christmas Day at 6 oclock our time here so i think it will be like 2 oclock your time there?i think i still have a list courtney sent last christmas with all your account names and stuff so i will use that to call. keep your emails open so we can communicate if need be. LOVE YOU ALL!!!! FELIZ NATAL!!!

skyping with Elder Schoen on Christmas (Cam & Courtney's call)

Transferências

Well as you all now Carley is coming home this week and as for me here in Brasil we are also having our tranfers. I will be staying here in Ariston and will be getting a new companion- Elder Nunes i think is his name... I don't know anything about him so you'll have to wait until next week to know more about him. Well for my thoughts on this past transfer it is easier to relate to a common phrase that is applicable at least one time on every missionary's mission. This past transfer was my "Gethsemane". I spent more time pleading with the Lord during this transfer than I think the entire rest of my mission combined. It was a hard one to say the least for many different reasons but as we all know there is always a sunrise to every sunset, and I am super pumped for this coming transfer. I am going to make the most out of it! I'm really proud/excited for Carley!! what a mission she served! Give her a big bear hug for me!

As for this week and as mom and Courtney saw we had probably the most special baptism thus far on the mission for me. We baptized a man who is confined to a wheel chair after an accident he suffered more than 5 years ago.

It was a very special moment for me as I truly felt and imagined the love and happiness our Father in heaven was feeling as his son entered the font with more problems than one deserves to have, but putting all that behind him only looking forward. It was a moment I will never forget. I absolutely love this ward. They are all soooooo amazing!! I look forward to these next 7 weeks serving here in this area with a new companion as we bring souls closer to Christ!! 

Christmas is right around the corner as well as well as skyping yall:) It should be an awesome next couple of weeks;) LOVE YALL!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!! WELCOME HOME CARLEY!!!!!!!!!!!

Baptism!!

We saw the miracle of a baptism this week and because of one mother setting the example by being baptized yesterday, we have marked 2 more dates for this week with two of her children! As well we have a baptism for our investigator "M" who was only waiting for clearance which was given by our Mission President! So we hope to have 3 baptisms this week!!


We have made a goal of trying to work a little smarter this week. Because of the size of our area we end up walking alot because we are having to go from one place to another and it can take a ton of time. So we are trying to set appointments that live close together at the same time roughly! We hope to see miracles from our efforts!


I was rather sick saturday and sunday and with the sickness brought the first  and second time throwing up on the mission. but Im recovering now so all is well! Not sure what i got but it knocked me out pretty bad! some brasilian bug prabably! Hope to see  a ton of miracles this week!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!

 

The awesome routes we get to take!

No time this week

Well a quick email this week to let you all know I am healthy and happy and also that I dont have time to email back today! We went to Vinte e Cinco de Março! haha look it up!!! It was very fun! Had an awesome week! Haha I can honestly say I TOTALLY forgot about thanksgiving.... Literally no one knew... That is brasil for you! Thanks for all the emails!! Sorry no response this week but email me next week and I will respond!! Have a Great week!! LOVE YALL!!!

Willy Wonka Fruit Display

This is just one corner. Crazy! Like NYC!

Hard to tell, but this hill is practically straight up and down.

Feliz Dia dos Ações de Gracas!! (Thanksgiving) ;)

Well Good week for sure this week! I had the best numbers I have had thus far on the mission this week. We marked 15 baptismal dates and found 27 new investigators! Very hard work and the reward was very sweet! We did not have a baptism this week which was hard but we are trying to help one of our investigators be baptized at the end of this week as well!! 

Pray for "M.P". We went to the temple today and it was great being there! We only did baptisms cause we got there a little late but it was great having the chance to help each of those people accept the first ordinance of the gospel! My companion and I are doing fine. It will be thanksgiving this week and I want to let everyone know I'm soooooooooooo thankful for yall and everything you do for me!!! 

I know that is super simple but we only have two hours now on the computers (new rule) so I have to be quicker! Today also marks 1 year and 2 months on the mission and almost 3 months in Brazil! Time really does fly by!! I love hearing all about your weeks and although I wont be able to respond in depth anymore I still love hearing all about it!! I will continue to send pics!! I love taking pictures here! There is some crazy stuff!! Funniest thing that happened this week was as we were walking home from a lunch appointment with the other set of elders in our ward an orange came flying out of nowhere and nailed one of the elders walking in the arm it was a bunch of young men!! hahahah everyone was laughing soooo hard. You know you've changed on a mission when you first reaction is to laugh instead of chase the kids down. We were just impressed with the accuracy of the throw! he had to be like 20 yards away!! but good week nonetheless!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Happy thanksgiving!!!! Help the cowboys win for me!!!

At the temple

Largest church building I've seen.

Look what I found! I'll go get a pretzel in honor of Mom one day.

Ariston!

Well it is sad that I'm not very good at the puns so yeah my subject lines will usually always be super boring... But the good news is my new area is AWESOME!!! Man I love the people here. The ward is a few weeks away from splitting because of the size of the ward!!! the work here is crazy!! we are teaching like mad men!! My new comp is from Chile and he has 4 months on the mission, but acts like he has 24 months under his belt. He likes going a thousand miles an hour and I just let him wear himself out most days. Haha like Thursday we had to stop at around 7 because he needed to sit down...I am going to let him wear himself out a little bit just enough to be able to talk to him about how things are going to work.. The members love me too! I am speaking actually really well all it took was a new area to boost my confidence;) We have another companionship in our ward with us. They are both Americans. One is a previous assistant who goes home the end of this transfer and the other is a fresh off the bus from the MTC missionary. The new missionary is from Texas to and is kinda lacking on the Portuguese but I'm trying to help my Texas brother out;) And no we don't all live together...Too bad I know... But the big news this week is we  had a baptism!! They had been teaching a really less active family (the mom is a returned missionary from Brazil) and the mom is coming back to activity. There 11 year old son said he wouldn't get baptized unless the dad baptized him..but the dad is against the church. We had a heart to heart with him and the mom and he accepted baptism and the cool thing is he wanted me to do it. It was a very warm welcome to the area! I am really looking forward to the work here and helping the people of Carapicuíba (the city, Ariston is the name of the ward) accept the gospel.

Pray for my companionship please that we can continue to get along and that he can speak Portuguese and not Spanish... haha. He always is trying to explain things in Spanish which is not good for me when I'm trying to learn Portuguese still!!! But it is fun hearing Spanish and practicing;) I LOVE YALL!!

Well this coming preparation day will be switched to next tuesday and we will be going to the temple in São paulo. I am not sure how much time i will have next week to email so if i dont get to you know why!! I will hopefully be able to read all of them but i probably wont get to respond to all of them!! I love you al!! have a fantastic week!!!