"We found a stellar family on Sunday afternoon..."

Utah Street

So the phone call was way bomb! It was great to hear from all of you and talk about a bunch of cool stuff. Don't worry about the delay, It worked out in the end, and that's what matters.
So basically we talked a lot about how things are going here on the phone, but we had some relevant developments since Saturday.
We had our first contact with the Bishop on Sunday morning. His name is Toshio, and he is a dang good bishop. He was already a stake president, first counselor to President Leal, and is pretty missionary-minded. We had a meeting with him on Sunday afternoon and he busted out a bunch of good ideas. So we are dang psyched to work with him.
We found a stellar family on Sunday afternoon that consists of Rodrigo, Tatiane, and their children. They asked a ton of excellent questions that showed their desire to know the truth, like about how we got answers about the Book of Mormon and what the Holy Ghost does and stuff. So we are stoked to work with them.
So how is DJ hero? Email me a video or photo of you using it.
Yeah, our investigators are all moving forward well. There is this girl we are teaching named Carla who is doing well. She wants to be baptized and we are going to make it happen ASAP. This ward is getting pretty stoked about the stuff we are doing and I'm getting even more stoked.
Well, I hope everything is good. You could send me a DVD, that would be fun to watch. Also you can write as much as you want, then I can print whatever I don't get around to answering. I will get my mailing address and send it to you next week.
Well, that's all the time I have. Love you all!
-Joseph

Pajamas

The Christmas tree

"One of them got out a revolver, and the man said, "Yes, this may scare people who believe in many gods and one world, because for them this would end everything. I am a person who believes in one god, but in many worlds. So you can't scare me with that."
-Matisyahu

"So I'm dang psyched to talk to everyone on Saturday!"

Well, on Tuesday President called and told me that I would be transferred and asked if our area would be a safe place for sisters. I told him it would.
So on Wednesday the assistants called and told me I would be training and opening an area.
On Thursday, we found out that Elder D. Barbosa would be transferred and that sisters would enter.
On Friday Morning I had a trainers meeting and got assigned to my new area and new companion.
So now I am in the Quebec Ward, Londrina Stake with Elder De Azevedo, from Manaus. Quebec is the rich ward, so lunches are stellar. Also, this is known as the ward that functions. We have meetings about missionary work with presidents of every organization, the bishop was the last stake president here and is super stoked about missionary work, the ward mission leader is full of ideas and makes stuff happen, and people don't complain about the ward, they look for solutions.
It is a huge help for the missionaries, basically anything we say, they do. But there has not been a baptism here for 6 months. Why? In the words of Elder Allred: "There has not been a good pair of missionaries there for over a year." So we are going to try to reverse that luck in the next six weeks. We will have the first baptism in 3 weeks, so that will make all the members super stoked.
So I'm dang psyched to talk to everyone on Saturday! So, the number will most likely be -----. The number to call is the house of the counselor in the stake presidency. If for some reason we go somewhere else for lunch, I will call you from a payphone and get you the new number or email you. So in the run-up to the phone call, keep an eye on the email.
Elder De Azevedo is a pretty dang good dude, he already knows how to teach a lot. In my district we have the ghetto ward, of which 80% is off limits to the missionaries because they were informed by an armed man that he will shoot them if they enter.
Well I love you, have a great Christmas, until Saturday!!
Joseph

"One of them got out a revolver, and the man said, "Yes, this may scare people who believe in many gods and one world, because for them this would end everything. I am a person who believes in one god, but in many worlds. So you can't scare me with that."
-Matisyahu

"...Elder Araujo came instead, and he brought the heat."

Northeast District

Elder Leavitt

Elder Titus

Elder Allred

Elder Cordeiro

Elder Sehn

Elder D. Barbosa

The Lunch Line

Heeeyu family,
The conferences were great. I took a ton of photos and used most of my internet sending them to you and emailing president. Basically it was the bomb. There was a last minute change and Elder Araujo came instead, and he brought the heat. Everyone left feeling dang motivated and we found a ton of good people after leaving that conference!
We had four extra elders sleep in our house, that was a nightmare. But Friday was just like reminiscing day. Yes, I saw all of my good old MTC crew minus Elder Gibbons who is in São Paulo by himself. I talked with Jim a lot and we made some plans for our intramural soccer teams. There is this new Elder named Elder Sherwood. He basically is uber dope, he listened to all the rappers I listened to and did a lot of the stuff I did. Also he looks a lot like Ryan I think. He was friends with Bert in the MTC. The Mormon world is incredibly small.
Anyway, at lunch he was like "Hey, do you like to freestyle?" So I said yes, and we decided to throw it down right there. So yeah, we made a video of that freestyle session, everyone thought it was sick to the max. Then we rocked it one more time before leaving at night. Maybe I will be his comp next transfer and we could make an album. That would be nuts.
As far as the work goes, we have a bunch of really good people who have appeared in the last little bit. The only real problem is my companion. His negativity is tiring. Transfers are Friday. I still haven't received the Christmas box, but it will probably arrive in the office any day.
What time do you want to call on Christmas? Basically you can decide, I don't know what city I will be in, so just give me the time and next week I will send you the number.
Love you all
Joseph

The Table-Elder Shirmer, Rodriguez, Ghormley, Yuma, Sherwood, Burt

Elder Nacsimento/Santa lol

Elder Campêlo

President Tavares

Elder Reis

Elder Valiati

Elder Sherwood

Elder Carmo

"...our zone is off to a hot start this month."

So this week we have Mission Tour with President Soares and Christmas conference, so P-day only goes until one o'clock. So I don't have a lot of time.
This week was very eventful for the Londrina Tiradentes Northeast District(mine). On Friday, the investigator of Elder Vogeler, Regina, had her interview. So I talked to her for like an hour, and she was all set to be baptized on Saturday. So we left the interview room and she walked away with her boyfriend (who is a member) and I went looking for Elder Vogeler in the chapel, which happened to be full of young women stoked to see a new missionary. So I got out of there ASAP and found him playing basketball outside. I told him it was all good, so we went to say goodbye to Regina.
When we got there, her boyfriend had convinced her to put off her baptism til next week so he could organize a party. So that is way lame, we really wanted to have a district baptism weekend, but it's ok. I have to interview her again next week, so we will score some cake at the baptism.
Bryan came a long way this week. He, like most 9 year-olds, is not super mature, so we had to teach him in more creative ways, like threatening him with a knife lol, that was a joke.
Anyway, we watched church movies because that was basically the only way he would pay attention. His baptism was Sunday because his mom couldn't get work off on Saturday, but it was a very successful meeting. His mom and grandma got emotional, we are going to use that to get them going, and hopefully baptize them within the next month.
The other elders, Sehn and Ferreira, also baptized this girl named Suelen. Her interview was a lot shorter than the interview with Regina, but still good. Our district is bringin the heat, and our zone is off to a hot start this month. This zone is considered the zone where miracles don't happen, but we are changing that.
Well, thanks for the emails, sorry I don't have much time today.

Love you all, have a great week!
Joseph

"One of them got out a revolver, and the man said, "Yes, this may scare people who believe in many gods and one world, because for them this would end everything. I am a person who believes in one god, but in many worlds. So you can't scare me with that."
-Matisyahu

"...when I say I, I mean the spirit and I, because my comp was asleep..."

So we had some progress with Bryan this week, we solidified his baptismal date for the 4th. He is super excited, his cousin is going to baptize him. His mom and grandma are extremely supportive and without a doubt are not far behind him. They all really like the church, have excellent examples, and its only a matter of time before we make them crack hahaha!
So Guilherme had kinda come to a standstill with the refusal of his mom. Fortunately, after a ton of prayer and meditation, I (when I say I, I mean the spirit and I, because my comp was asleep) decided we had to knock on all of the doors of his street until we found his house, because we only knew the street he lives on.
So Friday night we went to it. We found a few really good people to teach in the process, and after a bunch of detective work we figured out what house he lives in. Nobody was there, so we decided to pass the other day. It was last night that we passed and were able to catch his mom there.
Her name is Claudia, and as it turns out she is a really good person. She is just a little concerned because she recognizes that it is a big decision, and she doesn't want him to just jump in the water. In the end of out conversation, she said that it is his decision, and we promised her that we will do everything possible to prepare him for baptism. We hope to baptize him on the 11th, if not sooner. So that little discussion we had with her on Sunday night was probably the biggest success of the week.
I'm pretty stoked because all of the missionaries in the district are going to baptize this weekend! That means a lot of running from one end to the other to do interviews for the other pairs in the district and probably a division with the zone leaders to do interviews for other pairs in the zone. Our mission is starting to get things going as far as baptisms go.
We will have two awesome conferences next week. On the 9th, we will have a conference with President Ulises Soares, the president of the Brasil area. Then we have Christmas conference on the 10th. Both of these conferences will be with all of the missionaries of Paraná. So I will see some of my comps, like Elder Carmo and Elder Titus.
It has been a year since the last time I saw Elder Titus, that will be nice. I had a meeting with president and the assistants the other day, so I was able to crack some lame jokes with Jim/Elder Allred like the pre-mission days.
Well, everything is going well, moving forward. Love you all, congrats on the snow, accomplishments, and Thanksgiving! I ate PBJ on thanksgiving.
Love you all
Joseph

The unknown Elder, Elder Sehn, Elder Barbosa, Elder Burt

Elder Burt and Elder Sehn

"One of them got out a revolver, and the man said, "Yes, this may scare people who believe in many gods and one world, because for them this would end everything. I am a person who believes in one god, but in many worlds. So you can't scare me with that."
-Matisyahu

"...brings him to church each week, so his conversion will be sustainable."

This week was exceptionally ordinary. We were unable to find a lot of good new people to teach, just a bunch of old people. No offense to old people, but they are very stubborn and don't really get what we explain.

Guilherme has continued to be in a tough situation. His mom refuses to even talk to us or anyone from our church, which is especially odd because she is not really solid in her church, and her church has nothing against our church.
We are working on a few little schemes to get her to let him be baptized, like tricking her into talking to us, giving her a present, threatening her with eternal damnation, and other stuff like that. I think it is pretty much foolproof.

So I will talk a little more about the food I have been eating. So normally, PBJ is eaten on white sandwich bread, which in reality has little to no nutritional value (thanks mom and dad).
The other night on the way home, we stopped by the bakery and they were out of white bread, so I was forced to buy some whole wheat bread.
I reluctantly slapped together a sandwich and lo and behold, it was the BOMB!!! Wheat bread, crunchy peanut butter, and guava jelly is an excellent combination. So that's about all I have to say about that. Also I bought this nutella stuff, which, when combined on bread with peanut butter, tastes much like a Reese's (spelling?) peanut butter cup.

My weight has dropped from 83 to 79 kilograms.

I got a hair cut the other day, I had been putting it off for the last seven weeks, just cutting it little by little myself. I had the lady (who happened to be a member who has been inactive for 15 years) cut it pretty short, and, alas, I am going bald. I don't really care though.

That little boy that I probably talked about last time, Bryan, went to church again and now we just have to plan a day for him to be baptized. We have a lady that brings him to church each week, so his conversion will be sustainable.

I got a letter from Zach, sounds like he is doing well. Also, I got one from Matt, the Russian!
That thing was sent in like July I think, but just got here. It was a great letter, and Matt, I'll hit you back soon with some classy photos and stuff.

Thanksgiving is Thursday, yeah!! I will totally not do anything to celebrate.

Well, it is raining a lot, and that means a power outage is inevitable. Love you all, have a great week and Thanksgiving!!

Joseph

"One of them got out a revolver, and the man said, "Yes, this may scare people who believe in many gods and one world, because for them this would end everything. I am a person who believes in one god, but in many worlds. So you can't scare me with that."
-Matisyahu

"Ah rice and beans, that definitely doesn't get old, jajaja."

Check out the name of this street, SO SICK

I will start off by saying that my companion lost his mission credit card, and our mission money is delayed, so I had to take some money out at the bank to email you guys. So yeah, I took out 20 reais, I don't know how many dollars that is, probably about 14.
We had a pretty normal week. Daniele seems to be avoiding us, I can't imagine why. We have called her a lot with no success and passed a lot by her house, but no cigar. Hopefully we can get in touch with her to find out what happened.
We had stake conference on Sunday, and it was easily the best stake conference I have attended. An Elder from the 70, Elder Araujo, came and gave a sensational talk about a bunch of stuff. He was really funny but also really spiritual.
Toward the end of his talk, he called all of the missionaries in the stake to the front of the chapel and started talking about how important we are. Then he had us sing "Called to Serve" in front of everyone, that was pretty/kinda cool.
Guilherme went tot the conference and liked it a lot. He is ready to get baptized on Saturday, but he thinks that maybe his mom will not approve. We are basically just going to be focusing on that the whole week.
I found peanut butter in the supermarket here, so I ate about 10 PBJ sandwiches since last Thursday. That is a very healthy meal, PBJ with milk, but my companion cannot understand how I can possibly consider a sandwich and milk, lunch. I let him try a sandwich, but he thinks that these things don't have nutritional value, that only rice and beans are food.
Ah rice and beans, that definitely doesn't get old, jajaja.
The other pairs here in the district are not doing well at all, they are both having companionship problems. They are hardly teaching anyone. So that is a little bit stressful but if they don't want to do anything,
I can't really force them. Kinda like my comp, he really doesn't want to do anything, but I drag him around with me all day so he doesn't get in the way of my mission being a success. He doesn't study ever, doesn't wake up at 6:30, and doesn't accept advice. But whatever, I'm pretty sure I will be transferred next transfer.
At the stake conference I saw Daniela, who me and C. Thrapp taught, and her RM husband Tiago. She almost died from appendicitis. She was in the hospital for three months, but now is almost completely recovered. I was really happy to see them and a bunch of other people from Cambé again.
That's basically all for now, love you all
Joseph

The best breakfast, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chocolate milk, and HORSES

"I must say, I am a pretty good confirmer."

The baptism

Us and Giovana

Yoooo family
So we have stayed on a roll, Giovana was baptized and confirmed yesterday. Her mom was DANG happy, she has been waiting for this day for a long time. A bunch of people came to the baptism to support from the ward here and from other wards throughout Londrina. The first photo attached is of the people at the baptism. A member from the ward baptized her and I confirmed her. I must say, I am a pretty good confirmer.
So our other main investigators, Guilherme, Daniele. and Bryan, are also doing very well. Guilherme has now been to church four times, is reading the BoM a lot, and is on the verge of baptism. He has already watched two baptismal services, and is good to go. Basically, it is either Saturday, Sunday, or next Saturday. He is the man, and he will probably go on a mission in three-ish years.
Daniele had to work on Sunday, but has expressed several times her desire to be baptized. With little doubt, she will be baptized on the 20th. She will be a great addition to the ward, she is intelligent and not crazy.
Bryan is a nine year old dude that is a nephew/cousin of members in another ward. We combined with his family to bring him to church here, and they visited. His grandma also came, who has been to church many times, likes the missionaries, and for the first time is taking the challenge of reading the BoM and praying seriously. Two of her daughters are members, and another, Bryan's mom, will basically be baptized when she can go to church. The problem with the family is that they work a lot, including a lot of Sundays. If it weren't for that, they would be members in a flash!
My diet is pretty dang unhealthy, I basically eat french bread and drink milk for breakfast and dinner. The real problem is lunch, which we eat at the members houses. There are many foods that do not need additional oil, but people put oil in them. My companion (Still Elder D. Barbosa) and I were prepping our pasta one day. I just boil water with a little salt. But he grabbed a bottle of oil and started dumping it in. I was like "Noooo!" but he thought that without oil it would be flavorless. That is probably why I have gained weight since my arrival, too much oil.
So our district leader became a zone leader in Londrina, so I became the district leader here. Basically it's the same thing, but the zone leaders call like 100 times a day and also the other missionaries call a lot. So yeah, really didn't change a lot.
Well, that's about all I have for now. It's almost Thanksgiving! YEAH!!!
Love you
Joseph

Some girl that ate with us

The dopest district ever (not pictured: Elders Corrêa and Vogler

"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

"This ward is being blessed like never before."

Kiara, Ianara, and Tainara

Well we had the baptisms of Tainara, Ianara, and Kiara on Saturday, that was pretty dang nice. I baptized Kiara and Ianara, and Barbosa baptized Tainara. They are pretty dang stoked about their baptism, and I believe they will endure to the end.
Well, once again, the Lord has poured out blessings almost beyond our capacity to receive. We taught Giovana all of the four lessons in less than an hour, which is definitely a record. She is really quiet, and has been going to church her whole life, so we just killed like eight birds with one stone.
Her teaching record sheet is pretty funny, October 31 (HAPPY HALLOWEEN!) is the date for first contact, all of the lessons, all of the commandments, and everything else. A classic record that will be an interesting thing for future missionaries to ponder.
Also we got a reference from the zone leaders for a nine year old boy who went to church in a different ward with his cousins and lives in our area.
Now, I don't look for nine year-olds to teach and baptize, and for this I will never be assistant or anything like that. But hopefully through this kid we will baptize his mom and grandma, whom he lives with.
They already know a little about the church, and his grandma said that now she will really dedicate and pray about the restoration. The mom has already decided that she wants to get baptized, but she hates her sister, who is a member, very much, and doesn't want to be baptized with hate in her heart. We will work a lot with them and see if we can help them out.
Daniele went to church again, and liked it again. Our bishop asked us "Is she a visitor?" I said "No bishop, she is just a member who has never been to church before, that we are teaching, and we put on the progress record that we give to you. OF COURSE SHE IS A VISITOR!!!"
I didn't really say that, but it would have been funny. She brought a notebook and took notes and is learning like nuts. She will be baptized on the 20th, if not sooner.
Guilherme also came again, and once again enjoyed it. We are cultivating a good friendship with him, he is a solid dude. His baptism is marked for the 14th, the day of stake conference. I have very little doubt that he will be baptized. So we will probably pull off over a month of weekly baptisms, something that President Tavares has been preaching since the day he arrived but has thus far eluded me.
I have had this enormous feeling of gratitude writing emails to you and to President. Relating all of the miracles we have seen has really helped me recognize the amount of blessings we have received lately. This ward is being blessed like never before.
I feel so sad that Bert is stuck in Provo! I sent a letter to the MTC in Lima a long time ago thinking it would reach him about the day he arrived, but they probably have it there. Tell him I support him and to SMASH LIES, even there in the MTC.
I am sending letters to a few cats around the continent today: Evan, Nick, and McKay; and Scott Rogers in Belgium. I don't know if Matt ever got my letter that I sent about eight months ago, but I will send another soon.
Good news of the week: Spencer has carried on the family tradition of being the senior elected least ready for real life! YESSSS!!!! REPRESENT! Burt for life! It's funny because they think we are immature, then we get into college and just destroy all normal people.
I was thinking about college this morning and about how I applied for Huntsman Scholars as a freshman accidentally in the category for juniors in college, but dropped a train on everyone there. Moral of the story, Spencer will drop a train on everyone in college, and maintain all momentum because he is not lazy.
Well, may the peace, grace and love of Jesus Christ be with every one of you in your individual adventures.
Love you all
Joseph

Elder D. Barbosa, Elder Reis, Elder Burt, Elder Galdino, Elder Corrêa, Elder Allred at a bus stop

"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

"...this week was nothing short of sensational..."

Yeah, I was thinking a little bit this morning about how I have the best of both worlds, Jewish blood linking me to Judah and Mormonism in my heart, which is really the only thing that matters.
I think I will start an international organization one day called "Jewish in the flesh, Mormon in spirit" and only allow blood jews that are temple recommend holders in. I think it could be a big hit. How much Jewish blood do I have, is it just Great Grandmother Geri's mom? That's all I need, but it would be cool to have more information.
Well, President Tavares was doing a little training with the missionaries, bishops, and ward mission leaders on Sunday afternoon and he called me in for a mini interview to tell me that Barb passed away a bit ago. I already knew that she had probably died, but even so it was sad to hear.
I hope the family is doing ok, especially Grandpa and Grandma. I think it is probably toughest on them. I believe the funeral is today. I hope it is a nice service and people can feel happiness.
Well, this week was nothing short of sensational for us here in Semiramis (my comp cant figure the name of this area out, he thinks it is Semirabes). We marked baptism for Lourdes' three of-age daughters: Tainara, Ianara, and Kiara. They are good to go, Lourdes has been a really good example for them, and now the ward is starting to really help them out.
The Relief Society is going to start teaching Lourdes to read, that will be an immense help for her. The president of the relief society in this ward is really good, really dedicated to her calling and really willing to help people with their individual problems. So that has been a huge help for us.
There is this 12 year-old girl named Giovana here who for the last four years has been avoiding baptism. But after her mom went to the temple and prayed for her to be baptized, she decided that the time is now! So we will baptize her next Sunday, the 7th. When I say we will baptize her I mean we will teach the four lessons really fast, fill out her baptismal form, and watch her baptismal service. She has been going to church weekly for the last 12 years, already knows everything. So that is a huge blessing for that family.
Also we found this lady named Daniele. Her dad has been a member for a year, and apparently now is on a mission in France, where he was born. So Daniele went to church with us on Sunday, and she was planning on leaving after the first two hours to go to work. But she called her work and told them she would arrive late because she wanted to stay for sacrament meeting.
This was a very good thing, because we had the Primary Program! So everyone was just really happy, which Daniele said she was most looking for in a church, somewhere where she leaves feeling light and happy. So it went well on Sunday.
The members have kicked things into gear. Still only first gear, a step above neutral, but a gear nonetheless (is that a word, or should it be separated?). Another girl brought a friend to church on Sunday, and the members are integrating our investigators well.
Well, this week has been good. Mission life is getting better and better each week! I used to look forward to P-Day, but now it's basically just a lame day with nothing to do! Teaching is getting super good, my testimony is getting stronger every day, and we are seeing a ton of positive changes in the members and investigators here!
Love you all,
Joseph

"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

"...we are going to a park to try to find monkeys and play soccer..."

Well, the members have stepped in and made a difference! This one girl named Milena brought three friends to church on Sunday. They all liked it, and all want to meet with us, so we are going to jump on that ASAP!
Then there is Lourdes, who was baptized two weeks ago. She has gone on the offensive in getting her children to go to church, and yesterday there were 7 Lamanites at church. Most surely her three of-age daughters will be baptized on the 30th.
Also there is this old dude whose wife and daughter are members. He has been an investigator for several years, and has read the Book of Mormon about 4 times. He was in São Paulo for the last three months because his son has been dying for a long time. He finally passed away last Saturday. So he was at church and we went to his house to share a message of comfort with the family. I talked about the experience with Barb, how Dad maintains happiness and hope because he knows about the plan of Salvation. It was a really good message, and they responded really well. Maybe the time has finally come for him to progress and get to the temple.
Even with the unexpected success, there were a few disappointments. Our dude Washington once again didn't show up. He really has no excuse: it was sunny, and we visited him on Friday to remind him.
Also there is Josi, who we have been teaching for a long time. She said the only thing that would prevent her from going to church would be rain. It was very sunny and still she didn't go. So we really can't keep teaching these people for very much longer, despite the immense interest they show when we visit.
This was a pretty normal week. I bought a futsal ball with the money you guys gave me, and the whole district had a great time playing on Wednesday. Today we are going to a park to try to find monkeys and play soccer as well.
It has been nice having a ball in the house, my skills are a little bit better than when I left, and I am stronger, but also fatter, so that will have to change a little bit before I play for RSL hahaha.
We had a meeting on Sunday with the leadership of our zone and the assistants, so I got to kick it with Jim a little bit and talk about the good old days.
How is school for everyone? Everyone stoked for Halloween? Basically Halloween doesn't exist here, nor Thanksgiving (obviously), but they have a lot of other meaningless holidays, like Childrens day, Teachers day, and other stuff. I believe that Brazil is the country that has most holidays.
How is the situation with Barb? And how is Tim? And Mom's wrist? Those are basically the only problems I remember, aside from Spencer's car. Let me know how things are. My P-Day is now on Monday, so I will always be here on Mondays to try to answer your questions.

Love you all. The Church is 100% true, represent it well.

Joseph

"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

"Know that Jesus Christ...is the universal cure to all pains physical and spiritual."

Well, this has been a pretty good week. We had the confirmation of Lourdes on Sunday, which was a great moment. She felt the Gift enter her soul, and we all felt the spirit. We had a member of the bishopric do the confirmation so she will have a better connection with the permanent members of the ward. One of her daughters also came to church, and it looks like she also wants to get baptized.
We have a lot of investigators who should have gone to church on Sunday, but didn't.
One of the most awesome investigators we have is Washington. We started teaching him about a month ago and he has been super positive and interested since day one. We went and visited him on Friday, and he said "I wanted to tell you guys something about the plan (Plan of Salvation). Three weeks or a month ago I was not even at all concerned about anything. I was just like 'ah lets go eat pizza, lets have a barbecue, those were my concerns. But since I found out about the plan I look at everything different. This is serious, this life we have. Now I am concerned about if I will make it to the sun or the moon or the star. And I am making changes."
He was moved by the spirit and definitely has started his conversion, but his daughter had to go to the hospital on Sunday morning and he was not able to make it to church. But this week we have more faith that it is gonna happen.
We also have this family, Aline and Michael (which is a male name here), who are married for real, and Lena, who is Michael's mom. They are really cool/interesting people.
Lena used to mess with Voodoo and black magic and devil worship and stuff, and says that she sees messengers from the other side all the time that bring her messages. So I dunno if we will have to do an exorcism or something like that, that would be pretty interesting. Anyway, the family is not religious, and basically Aline and Michael have always disliked religious people like us.
But when we go to their house, they tell us about how much they feel the spirit and how much we have changed the atmosphere of their home. Michael is a cool dude, he has some cool hair. I believe that they too will be baptized after going to church and overcoming beer and cigarettes.
I have been able to develop a lot of love for the people here, investigators AND members.
I continue praying for Barb, Tim, and the entire Burt family, which is passing through a very difficult time. Know that Jesus Christ understands the problems, passed through them himself, and is the universal cure to all pains physical and spiritual.
P-day will be on Monday from here on out, so I will be sending my next email in just five days. I don't know why it changed, but it did.
Thanks for all the help, may God bless you all.
Love
Joseph

"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

"...Lourdes got baptized on Sunday!"

Well, General Conference was sensational. We got to watch as many sessions as we wanted this time, so we watched the Saturday morning and Sunday sessions. I really liked all of them, and yes, mom, President Uchtdorf's joke was hilarious. We American elders put a tv in a classroom and were able to watch in English, which is ten times better than in portuguese.
Well, the notice of the week would be that Lourdes got baptized on Sunday! It was a great moment. She swapped Coffee for Cevada and was baptized by Elder Barbosa. It was a nice little baptismal service, and she will be confirmed next week.
Basically I'm getting more and more frustrated with my companion. I have taught him to do things I never imagined I would have to teach to anyone, things that are completely self explanatory, like taking money out of an ATM, reading and sending emails, not using my razor and eating my food...stuff that has seemed obvious to me since I was born.
Especially with President Monson's talk, I gained a greater gratitude for all the things you, Mom and Dad, taught me that I never realized were so hard for some people. He shows little to no desire to learn, refuses to study, doesn't pay attention in our training meetings, refuses to get up at 6:30, and only walks at a decent pace when we are on the way home at the end of the day.
I would be surprised if he makes it through the two years, he does not want to be a missionary.
Aside from that, things have been really good. I have been learning a ton, and have stopped seeing the hard parts of missionary work (aside from having a companion lol).
Today, we are going to play soccer with a few elders from our zone, (SOCCER IS LIBERATED)
so I'm pretty dang excited for that.
Well, that is about all I have this week, I used most of my time writing a letter to the mission president. So yeah...until next week!
Love you all
Joseph


"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

"We have been carrying around a package of Cevada..."

We are on the verge of baptizing Lourdes. It rained a ton on Sunday morning, which means that half of the members don't go, and none of the investigators go.
But Lourdes was the exception, she went in the pouring rain and enjoyed church again. Now it is just a matter of teaching her the basics and getting her and her family to stop drinking coffee. We have been carrying around a package of Cevada with us to get to her, but she went to her daughter's house on Monday and we have not been able to get in touch with her.
But we will soon teach her again and try to help her be baptized on Sunday. If that doesn't happen, she will definitely be baptized next Saturday.
Our other investigators are also doing well, but I don't really have any notable stories.
We have been receiving training every morning on how to be guided by the Spirit, how to help investigators be guided/converted by the Spirit, and how prayer, The Book of Mormon, and church attendance are key in conversion. So that has been pretty good.
I would say the only real difficulty right now has been training. The brasilians leave the MTC after 19 days, and rarely know how to teach the first lesson. Elder Barbosa is having a really hard time teaching and communicating what he wants to say. He has improved a little bit, but it's a lot slower that with Elder Proulx (now comps with Elder Carmo, what a coincidence!), who arrived basically knowing everything. So a lot of patience will be instrumental in his development as a missionary. He has had a sore ankle, and yesterday he was not able to walk during a few hours. It seems to be doing better now, and Sister Tavares is bringing him an ankle brace today that will help even more.
Well, I don't have a lot to say today. I will make a DVD of photos to send to you today. I forgot my USB cable, so I won't be emailing any photos today, sorry.
Well, that's about it. Love you all, have a nice week!
Joseph

"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

"We had lunch, then the big moment: The Sorting Hat!!"

Logan!!

The Tavares' at their house for the trainers meeting

Well family, Elder Miranda was transferred to Bauru. I was informed on Sunday night that I would be training again. So yesterday morning I went to the trainers meeting where we learned about training and got a trainer's book (the same as the first three trainers' meetings I have been to, but the book is now formatted differently and printed in color!).
We had lunch, then the big moment: The Sorting Hat!! So President Tavares put the sorting hat on the heads of the new missionaries one by one, and it pondered little by little (The first Elder reminded me of Harry Potter when he was being sorted. Harry was like "Not Slytherin!" and this elder was like "NOT BURT!!!" LoL that was a joke... these jokes are getting less and less funny as time goes on. SORRY) and sorted the elders and sisters to their trainer.
So President Tavares went to put the hat on the head of Elder D. Barbosa, and just like Malfoy, the hat yelled "BURT!!" before it even made contact with the head of Elder. So that's basically how the sorting was. I don't really know why I wasted time making up this ridiculous story, really it was just a suspenseful slide-show where the photos and names of the trainers and trainees appeared.
But If I were a mission president, I would definitely do it in a Harry Potter style with a sorting hat and pumpkin juice and everything. Anyway, summarizing and clarifying this whole weird paragraph, I am training Elder D. Barbosa here in Semiramis. He is from São Paulo, and has a brother here in the mission, Elder Barbosa, that arrived in and will leave the mission at the same time as me. Interestingly enough, Elder C. Thrapp trained Elder Barbosa. That's pretty cool I guess.
Well, more missionaries went home than arrived. So a few areas closed, including Medianeira, which has fallen into almost total apostasy (The branch president wanted to divide the 40 member branch into an intelligent/middle-class branch and a poor/uneducated branch. Unfortunately he told the members there about this idea, and frequency fell to 30.) and Cambé, which I believe has not had a baptism since I left. So Semiramis is in danger hahaha everywhere closes behind me!
Well, we have had a lot of progress with the Natives. Lourdes will be the first one baptized. She wants to be baptized, recognized the spirit, and already committed to go to church every week, and now its just a matter of us helping her understand the gospel on a very basic level so that she can pass the interview. Her children will surely follow, and others of the tribe after that. I think Elder D. Barbosa will be great with them, he is a simple person and uses a simple form of Portuguese like the Natives. Elder Miranda was great, but spoke very correct Portuguese, and the natives understood basically nothing.
We have a lot of really good investigators right now, I have a great feeling about a lot of them. I can't believe that general conference is upon us once again! It seems like a month has passed since the last one! But I am psyched for this one, hopefully I see some people from Cambé, seeing as we are in the same stake.
My man Elder Yuma from the MTC is the new Zone Leader here with my other friend Elder Costa, who was the comp of Elder Filadélfia when I got to the field, that's going to be super rad. Also Elder Allred, my friend from College, is the new Assistant, so that's also super cool. Hopefully I get to go on a division with them one day, that would be classy.
Well, that's about all I have for now. The mission is the a man-creater, no time for children.
Question: On what date did I take the last photo/video that I sent you? I will make a new DVD and mail it out next week if you get me this info!

Love you all
Elder Joseph Burt

"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

Last day with Miranda

First day with Elder D. Barbosa

"So that's a pretty good ending considering how horrible her life got really fast."

Mom, I was so sad and amazed to see the news that you broke your wrist. Again. I know that has to be so frustrating and painful. Thinking about the small injuries I have had, like my knee last summer, they frustrated me so much because I was unable to do trivial things like play soccer and work. Not being able to type properly, work, and also having the terrible discomfort of surgery (minus the great anesthesia just before going out) must be very frustrating. I really hope it gets better fast!
This was a pretty dang good week here in the mission. We had a lot of good success with our Native Americans. Four of them went to church on Sunday, double last week's tally. They all really liked it and one of them, whose name is Lourdes, has a strong desire to be baptized in a river. So we are going to try to make that happen ASAP!
Things got smoother with my companion, he is talking again, but I have become more frank with him, telling him when he acts like a child and stuff like that. It probably sounds pretty rude, but if nobody tells him he will honestly never figure it out. So I have been doing that.
I talked to Elder Wright last week, turns out his sister is a member of the Woodruff Ward. Her name is Mary I think. He is going home next week. So you can expect Mary to not be in church next Sunday or something.
Well we have been consistently finding good new people to teach. We have been teaching this really good lady named Josi. She has really liked our messages and tells us how much she feels/recognizes the spirit when we are teaching. She was super determined to go to church on Sunday, but a problem came up in the family. Her son-in-law came home Friday night high and drunk. His wife (Josi's daughter) started yelling at him, and they ended up fighting in front of the house. As this was happening, Josi's 3 year old son and "Husband" arrived, and both of them ended up in the middle of the fray and her son got hit a few times and thrown onto the pavement. He was ok, but there was of course a lot of emotional and psychological damage.
We visited her on Monday and she told us the whole story and just unloaded a ton of held-in tension and sadness on us. She said her "Husband" pretty much disappeared because he is scared of dealing with difficult situations. But she said she is even more dedicated to go to church this Sunday and feel the spirit again. So that's a pretty good ending considering how horrible her life got really fast.
I have been reading the Old Testament a lot lately, geez the OT has a lot of really weird stuff that is completely useless! But it also has gems in the mix, and a ton of really funny things that happened.
Well, that's about all I have for now, things have been really good as far as following the spirit goes. I have also been reading a lot of teachings of the living prophets, and they always have a lot of really good advice. I hope everything continues good with all of you, Mom I will pray fervently for your wrist to make a quick and full recovery. Also I will continue praying for Barb and for the entire Burt family.
Love you all
Joseph

"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

"We will talk about the Book of Mormon on Friday, and it should be incredible..."

Family night

Well I kicked things into overdrive this week, and my companion was not really pleased about it. He basically stopped talking for the last four days because I became more serious about our work. I hope he stops this "Frescura" soon so that he doesn't suffer too much lol.

This weekend we fasted (Along with you guys, THANK YOU!) for more new investigators that would be able to understand what we teach and want to learn. (This is the most confusing keyboard I have encountered to date, please excuse my poor grammar/formatting.)
But anyway, it's safe to say that we have found a ton of really good people to teach since that fast, and we have a few new people that have great potential. I would like to talk specifically about one special family: Ronaldo, Geraci, and Leonel.

So Ronaldo and family are different from our other investigators. Why? Because they aren't Brasilians. Well, really they are, but according to the opinion of the majority of the country they are foreigners.
They are Native Americans. Quick note: the Portuguese word for Native Americans is "Indios", which quite literally translates to the racist English word "injuns". But in Portuguese it is politically correct.
Anyway, so Ronaldo, his family, and a few other families live in these wooden shacks in this little forest park in the middle of our area. Indians here have a lot of rights, so they now own the park. They have a chief named Valdir, but we have not met him yet. We taught a small group the first time we went there, and it was nothing extraordinary, but Geraci said that she would go to church with us.
So Elder and I were talking a lot about what might happen when the members realized that we were teaching the Indians that invaded the park. So we prayed a lot that they might be well integrated and accepted by the members. In the end, it went perfectly. Lots of members talked to them a lot and helped them in everything. This one lady invited them over to her house to watch a movie with us yesterday, which was a great experience.
We have tried to get people to open their homes for stuff like this in the past, with little success, but now the members have become proactive and are doing exactly what Preach my Gospel teaches them to do. We will talk about the Book of Mormon on Friday, and it should be incredible considering that the Book of Mormon was preserved primarily for them.

Other news in the district, another elder wanted to go home because of depression. Missionaries here do a lot of weird stuff. He ran from the house in nothing but garments the other night. I dunno what he was trying to do or what caused that, but in the end his companion was transferred and a new missionary will arrive sometime today to help Elder _____.

That's about all I have, I'm glad everything is good with the family. Tell Barb that I continue praying for her and wish her well. STAY IN SCHOOL!!!!!! I got letters from Philly, Zach, Bert, and Elder Ellis yesterday.

Love

Joseph

P.S. I am getting pretty strong, I can now do ten consecutive pull-ups

"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

Letter to the home ward (congregation)

Dear Woodruff Ward,
Well, time has gone by extremely fast. I have now been out for over a year, and it has been an incredible journey to this point.
I have learned innumerable things and changed dramatically. I know that going on a mission is the only thing that can bring to pass such drastic changes in the lives of young men so quickly.
Here in the Brazil Londrina mission, we are blessed with a lot of people to teach. My current area is part of the city of Londrina. We have about 150,000 people here in our area, for just my companion and I to teach. "The harvest is great, but the laborers are few." But if we have the Spirit and work with all our heart, might, mind, and strength, "We all things can do".
My companion is a 26 year old Brasilian. He has been on the mission for 7 months, and has been a member of the church for a little less than 2 years. One great blessing given to those of us born in the church is that we have 19 years of mission prep, whereas recent converts often times have just one year. We need to start preparing from the day we are born and show our gratitude to our Heavenly Father for all He has done for us.
I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the kingdom of God, established on the earth in preparation for the second coming of Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and He lives. The Book of Mormon is true, and holds the secrets to entry into the celestial kingdom.
Young men, GO ON MISSIONS!!
Until 2011
---Elder Joseph Burt
P.S. Sorry for the bad English. I haven't spoken English in months.

"That would be great if you could fast for our investigators..."

Eu, Elimar, Hilda, and Miranda

Well things were pretty much normal this week. Just about all of our investigators are falling off the chart, getting scared or something. I don't know whats going on, our entire mission had been doing really badly over the last few months.
I heard that in June our entire mission had 15 baptisms. That's pretty crazy considering that we are in Brasil, but hopefully some of them will stay firm in the church. I guess this month (August) was the best of 2010 so far, that's nice.
Everyone seems to be working a lot more intelligently under President Tavares. He teaches us the "How" whereas president Leal taught us the "What" so that has been pretty good.
Elder Miranda and I have been planning a fireside for about a month, and on Sunday it happened. We had President and Sister Tavares there with us, and we had as many members there as we have in sacrament meeting (some people that don't even go to sacrament meeting went to the fireside!).
We basically talked a lot about how the members can share the gospel with their friends and strangers, especially using the Pass-along card (Thank you, Dad, for the translation). We had all of them practice, and it was really fun and spiritual for all of the members.
They all got really excited and everyone suddenly had references for us! One female was like "Oh Elders, I have this fiancé that you need to teach" and we were like OK.
A lot of people have gotten really into things, and it has been a huge help. There are these DVDs about "Preach My Gospel" that talk about how to find people through the members. We were watching that, and we decided that we also would start practicing inviting friends to come to church/meet the missionaries/accept the gospel, with the members at lunch. I would suggest that my crew does the same, it's on disk 2 of the preach my gospel DVDs, Chapter 9, I think the Bush Family.
Well, like the topic of this email says, everything is pretty normal. Things are good with Elder Miranda. He and I have been guided more and more by the spirit lately.
We are going to work with the daughter of a member that was not baptized yet, and hopefully she will be baptized next week.
That would be great if you could fast for our investigators, Miranda and I fast every Saturday (last week is was Friday and Saturday). That would definitely be a good help.
Love you all
Joseph

"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

"I guess with time they will understand. But maybe not."

Teaching a tortoise

"One year!"

Well, one year ago I left home. That's pretty weird, the time has gone by very fast, oh well.
Well, this week basically all of our investigators bailed.
Floriswaldo and Eva said that they are going to stay Catholic because their oldest son has a group at the church, but that they will pay us a visit one of these Sundays. João and his family are never home.
The only investigators that have really put a little effort into things are Getulio and his grandson Gabriel. They both went to church on Sunday, and Getulio is starting to really like it. But he also doesn't really understand, he just goes because he likes what he hears there. Gabriel just goes so he can mess with my calculator watch.
The metal one is reserved for Miguel, who walks from his family to us at the beginning of every sacrament meeting to pick up my watch. It is the only thing that keeps him quiet, so it's fine with me.

Well, this letter is probably going to be pretty negative and short, because really almost nothing good has happened in the last week. We finally got a member (returned missionary) to teach with us on Saturday, but he spent the whole time lecturing us about how good of a missionary he was and what we are doing wrong. Also President Tavares created a new rule that we can't do divisions with members, so that will further impede our progress. I guess it will help us somehow, but I can't imagine how.
I'm also pretty sick of how seemingly immune to understanding what we say people are. We have to explain really simple things, like "The Book of Mormon is like the Bible, but it was written in the Americas", at least 4 or 5 times, and also watch a movie, before the people seem to finally get it. I have an easier time getting babies here to understand me and to stop causing problems and making noise than I have getting adults in college to understand the idea that Jesus and the Apostles were rejected. I guess with time they will understand. But maybe not. We will have to do something different, we will figure it out.

People here traditionally send a letter to their ward at various parts of their mission, should I send one to the Woodruff Ward?

Love you

Joseph

Elder Parrott and Webb, from my district in the MTC

A child, Eduardo Moroni

"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

"That is the Holy Ghost testifying, suckas!"

My friend Miguel

Londrina

Hey family how is it going? Everything is going well here, we have had a really good week and received a lot of help.
We started teaching this really solid family the other day. Their names are Floriswaldo (weird name), Eva (Eve), Luis Henrique, and Felipe. They are Catholic, which is pretty rare in Londrina.
I will go off the subject real quick and note that in Medianeira, EVERYONE was a practicing Catholic, but here it is probably 1 in 17 that belong to that church. Everyone else goes to Evangelical churches, the strongest being the Assembly of God, followed probably by the Universal Church, then God is Love. This makes our work a little bit easier, because really these Evangelical churches contrast more with the truth we teach.
LeGrand Richards said that really the only churches who can claim, logically, in any way to be true are the Roman Catholic Church and the C.J.C.L.D.S. I would add to the list Judaism, Islam and other non-christian churches, as they don't use the New Testament and therefore don't know that priesthood authority even exists. All Evangelical and Protestant churches are reforms of Catholicism, and have absolutely no just claim to Priesthood. So yeah, when we teach them, they see the need, whereas Catholics believe they have authority. Well, their doctrine says they do, but here few actually know anything about anything.
Anyway, back on topic. Floriswaldo and family are super bomb, they really liked the Restoration and all prayed, all receiving a desire to know more. That is the Holy Ghost testifying, suckas! They will probably go to church on Sunday and we will work like crazy with them.
Also we taught João and his family, who are super solid. They asked a lot of questions (What is the name of Jesus, why can't you kiss girls, what do we need to know before being baptized, and other less important stuff. We watched the movie of the Restoration with them, and it was really spiritual.
Celia said she became friends with all of you on Facebook, that's pretty cool, she was pretty excited when I told her that I had a page. She is a pretty fun woman, and likes to make us food and stuff.
People here get the impression that I am some kind of superstar soccer player because of the photos I have of me playing with long hair. They are probably right.
I think I am getting better at soccer even though I haven't played in almost a year. Speaking of which, I will hit the one year mark next week, that's pretty weird, but whatever.
We went to this nature park last P-day and we saw Capybara there. Yes, those huge rat-pigs that me and all of my friends swore to defeat. It's safe to say I chased them back into the forest. This email ended up being mostly just a history of religions in Londrina, sorry! Thanks for your emails. Dad, did you delete your email account or something? The Postmaster sent me an email saying that the family email to you didn't go through.
I'll add an interesting pick-up line that was yelled at me this week. "It's ("It" being me) not margarine, but it is Delicious!" There is this margarine brand here called Delicious. Apparently it is a very classless thing to say to a person, but I take it as a compliment just the same.
Love you all
Joseph

A nice waterfall


CAPIBARA


Feeding some animal

"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"
- K'NAAN

"We talked to him in a bar, and our first visit with him was excellent."

Me e Elder Lopes eating this weird fruit

Well transfers happened the other day, and luckily nothing changed here in my area, Elder Miranda and I will both stay here. VERY luckily, the other elders did change, Elder ____ will stay and train a new Brasilian, so that should be a lot less terrible.
This is the second time I will be in a district as the only American, but the first time was my first transfer and I didn't get a lot of jokes. But now I know (like how Bill Nye used to say "NOW YOU KNOW!!!" Bill Nye is the man...) I can now make jokes, which is nice.
Anyway, things have been going well here. We are planning a fireside on missionary work to try to get the members more involved in things so that this ward can prosper. Hopefully we can get President Tavares in on it, that way people will take it seriously.
Some of the members are good, and give out friendship cards (that can't possibly be the real name of them, but those cards that you give to non-members, they call a number, and missionaries deliver a DVD or something. what is the name in English?) and talk about the gospel with people.
One member brought his son and daughter-in-law to church on Sunday, and they really liked it. Hopefully we can get things crackin big time with them pretty soon.
We have had a lot of success with Getulio and Lurdes and their grandson Gabriel. They are really getting to know the members, and are liking the gospel. Hopefully that will give good fruits soon.
Something that is giving us a hard time is that most of our investigators are unfindable after the first visit! We teach a lot of good people and mark a lot of baptismal dates, but people have the tendency to get nervous with any sign of commitment.
But one of the coolest people we found lately is Donizetti. He is a Tae-Kwon-Do master and has this little gym that he manages. We talked to him in a bar, and our first visit with him was excellent. He has a couple of kids but no wife. Well, he has a wife, but she lives in Spain.
I finally received a Missionary Health Guide, and have started using the elastic band to exercise. Everyone that has served a mission since this manual was created will tell you that this band is incredibly dangerous because it has a tendency to snap while being used, and often times that means getting hit in the face with the giant rubber band.
The United States and Brasil faced off last night in New york I think, how did that go? It started here at about 9:15, so I was not able to hear updates from anyone. Brasil sent all of their younglings (Neymar, Ganso, André, Ramires), and it was the first game of their new coach. Also, is Bob Bradley still in charge? I hope so, or if not him, Jurgen Klinssman. Enough soccer talk. We are still not allowed to play under President Tavares :(
Well, everything is going very well, thank you for the emails, LOVE YOU ALL!!
Joseph


"But look how they treat us
Make us believers
We fight their battles
Then they deceive us
Tried to control us
They couldn't hold us
Cause we just move forward
Like Buffalo Soldiers"

Exercise

AMERICAN MILK!!!! YESSS!!!