"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