April 27, 2015

Well this week was kind of frustrating on the missionary front. We taught lots of people but no one who wanted to go to church or at least did not feel like waking up as they always will say they will go to church but do not really mean it. But the positive note is that our family of five was at church and they like it a lot and they only have to stop drinking coffee to be baptized which should not be to rough because they do not drink much. I remember being in Washington and thinking that lots of people drink coffee there, but here is ridiculous. I would say that 75 percent of people drink coffee. And parents give their kids coffee starting at the age of 5..... It is really quite ridiculous. But so normal here. 

I was thinking this morning about the people here and have concluded that it is hard to find good hard working people here who have commitment because there are really are very few. There are many more in the United States the only problem is that the culture in the States is different and people do not want any change in their life because they have everything. And that makes missionary work very hard. So in the end, missionary work is better here, but you just have to sort through all the "bad" people to find the good. 

No, there is no leaving early. I will be home Sept. 1. We played basketball a couple weeks ago but the only problem is it is really hot and makes my legs tired for the week so I am not a huge fan. I think today we might walk to mcdonalds in our area and buy ice cream. Rainy season should end I think at the end of May, it rained literally all day Friday. Don't need to buy anything other than batteries. No progress on Temple. Hope you have a good week in Des Moines. Give the dogs some love for me. 

Will

The Birthday Package Arrived

It only took 6 weeks.

Oh yeah, sorry My pacote arrived on Tuesday which was really awesome!!!! Sorry I forgot because it was almost a week ago. YEah the other guys were really impressed with how you guys folded all those 20s... haha that is a lot of money here so I should be fine until the end of my mission, no need to send any more money. But thank you so much. I will buy pizza for the guys and take a picture next time I do a division in there house. Oh and President said it is okay that I do the skype thing monday, but what time here in Fortaleza would be good for you guys? 

Loved the package and the origami, very classy. 

W

The End of April

I hope I will end my mission in this ward because it is annoying to be transferred in all honesty and 6 months in one ward really is not too bad. Also there are lots of good things about being in a ward with more money and our area is nice and large. It also touches the beach but it is a really long ways away so maybe in the future I will go close and take a picture. President was good and the interview was very normal, he is a very different man than any other guy I have met. Luckily the airplanes do not pass directly over our house but they always pass over a part of the area when they are taking off so yes they always pass very low. You have to be careful from eating from people on the street but if we grab a snack we usually go to the bakery. Zone conference is next transfer. Have not sung lately. I will have to think about Danielle's offer but yes she was always a really nice person, That whole family is. 

As far as the week goes nothing very different happened. The only thing different was we helped the other Elders who live in our ward move houses. They lived in a way crappy house with termites and doors that did not shut so they moved houses. Unfortunatly it was a lot of work and the moving truck was literally a dump truck.... not exactly a uhaul. But it worked out. I will try to take some more pictures but here are some pictures I took on the walk here before my camera died. Tomorrow morning  Elder Christofferson visits so that should be interesting. The last time an apostle visited was when I was in Washington in November of 2013... long time ago.

Have a good week.

W

04/20/15

Something that I have been thinking about is that really we are selling something to people in the fact that we are selling them the oppurtunity to try out all these things we tell them. And the better salesman we are the more people who will try and will feel the spirit and be baptized. There really is an art to it. And yes, I have been trying to put myself in other people's shoes to try to understand why they do not do things. Mom told me the Pence daughter came back from Cuiba, which is a long ways from where I am. 

As for sports I would be happy with Golden State winning but I will still root for the cavaliers. I think my second favorite player in the nba to watch was Stephen Curry. Maybe this is the year for the cubs? I sent some pictures of are apartment to Mom's email if you want to look at them. 

As for missionary work we have successfully found a family of 5 who are really good who will get baptized in the middle of May. We will baptize the mother and father and one of the kids who is 8 but the other two are younger than 8. We just have to marry them which now only takes 2 weeks so we just have to wait for them to have enough money.(180 reals) So at the end of the month we will take them to the place to marry. But other than them at church on Sunday we had no one which was a little bit of a disappointment due to the number of people who said they would go saturday night... but that is a problem here in Brazil, and in the world, commitment. Maybe that is why God makes us make so many commitments with him? Whether is be marriage or baptism people have lots of fear and little faith when it comes to commiting to things for a long time. But that is life. 

But other than that life is good, I really like my companion and apartment and the other missionaries in the ward. The lunches in this ward are amazing due to the fact people have more money. We ate lunch on the 19th floor of a apartment builidng that was really nice on tuesday with a family who has 2 kids who live in Phoenix and the other is married to a guy who is becoming a doctor at UCLA. They have lots of money. They have also visited more places in the U.S. than I have and visit every 6 months. So that was a cool experience. Thats is about all the news here, Elder CHristofferson of the 12 is coming to visit the 28th of APril but I think I already told you that.

Glad you got your letter,

W

The Airport Apartment

Good Times in Fortaleza

Well I am glad that my letter got there. Do not worry about the package as long as you put the right address it will get here. From what I have learned from other Americans all packages take from 1-3 months to get here so do not worry. We are off to the office Wednesday to have interviews with President so I will see if it there. 

No I never knew who the Pence girl was. Wierd to think she left after me and is already back. I am pretty sure Cuiba gets pretty hot. Really all of Brazil is really hot. The difference in the middle where Jared is and the area of sao paulo and Rio is there it gets really hot during the summer, like a lot hotter than here, around 100 during the day, but during the winter it cools off. Here it is very temperate staying within 75-85 the whole year. The only thing that is a bummer here is, unlike arizona, it does not cool down here when the sun goes down. It stays a little warm. Luckily since we are close to the beach there is tons of wind during the day. 

Yes there is a basketball here and we are off to play with our zone leaders this afternoon. I think I am all through playing baseball but when I get to BYU I think I will play pick-up basketball at the arenas they have there. The pictures of the flowers at home were very pretty though i miss that cherry tree where the basketball rim is.  Do not know anything about Mothers' day and calling but I am guessing that it will be in a members home. The good thing about this ward it there are some rich members so it will not be difficult to find a good computer. But, the earliest I could call you guys would be 2:00 in the afternoon... so I could do the google chat thing with kate like I did last year and try Sunday maybe later but I know you guys will be tired from driving...So yeah that is tough. If you think it would be best I can ask permission to do it Monday night. So let me know what will be best. We will work it out. Here our some pictures of our apartment. Its is really good, one of the best for two people. 

Lots of Love,

Will

April 13, 2015

Well this week was a little frustrating because I was sick with what I think was a virus. But at this point I have almost completly recovered so things are better. The missionary work  has been a little rough here so far in my new area. We only had one person at church who was a girl 2 days younger than I am. She liked the church which was good but she was the only one there. The problem is just finding people with real interest and commitment. But we did find this week a family of 5 people who I am almost sure will get baptized they just have to get married. Also a girl that Elder Olievera and I found in my old area got baptized Saturday which was good to hear. 

Glad to hear you got to go to the temple, I wish I got to go. The closest temple is Recife which is 12 hours away by bus. Thanks for the sports update. I am guessing by the lack of you telling me who won the basketball I will guess that Duke won which is a shame. I would almost rathar have Kentucky. 

The weather has been the same, with rain in the morning and sun the rest of the day. The drainage here is very bad so water tends to pool in many areas which makes it hard to walk. Other than that it was a normal week. My companion and I continue to always comment on the cool cars that pass by. No ferraris but lots of nice new bmws mercedes and range rovers. It is interesting to see which car companies are big here in Brazil. Have a good week at work,

Love, 

Will

April 9, 2015

No.... No package, No this apartment is not super long and narrow, it is more like apartments in the USA which is nice. I will take some pictures today and send to you next week of the apartment. We are closer to the Mission office but not by much, still takes 40 minutes by bus to get their depending on the buses. The store here is much bigger which is nice but still has the same food as all the other stores. They just do not compare to the US...maybe something like a Walmart. We get fed every day or we get money to eat, we do not have enough money to pay for lunches everyday. 

What mission in Sao Paulo is the Morrison boy assigned to? There are like 9 haha!  My companion lives in the Sao Paulo Santos mission. My companion was baptized with his family when he was 14. Since then they have always been firm in the church. They are kind of poor so they just email him. Most missionaries from countries in South America do not have money like Americans just because these countries are very poor in comparison. He likes to  tease me about being a rich American even though we are not rich, but in comparison to people here we are. No we have 4 missionaries in our ward here but the other 2 live with the zone leaders. I will take some pictures this week and send them to next week. Sorry. This is outside of our apartment. 

Wait..... Wells Fargo charges 2 dollars everytime I check online??? It that because I am in Brazil?? I took out 100 dollars to use here this week for the rest of my mission so I should not have any more activity with my home card for the rest of my mission. Our next mission meeting will be with the apostle April 28th. 

Lots of love,

Will

April 6 2015

I wondered why President Monson did not give more of a talk and maybe that would explain it. So we ended up watching on a member's laptop at the church in a different room in English which was great. I watched with three other American missionaries, two of who waited the same amount of time in the States for their visas as I did. I only watched the priesthood session in Portuguese so this general conference was much better than the last. I am glad Kate is liking the temple. It feels like a long time since I was there in the Sao Paulo Temple. Those are some very strange but cool places for new temples. Sorry to hear about Peter. I cannot remember ever meeting him but I am sure I saw him once.

I did a division with my zone leader who told me he attended a going away party for a sister missionary here in Fortaleza and saw her come back when he was still on his mission here and he said the same thing about the length of sister missionary missions. I completed my sister missionary mission on April 2nd as that was my 1 year and 6 months mark. I bet my birthday envelope will be there in the mission office tomorrow when we go and get materials for the week. Sorry that Romeo and Juliet are breaking up but Kate should marry a member of the church and not him so all is well though that is a lot of money he will get.

So last thing while on that division with my zone leader I talked a lot about BYU as he attended there. Turns out it is not that hard to get a scholarship so you should look that up for when I officially attend there in the winter if you can apply for one. I also found out if you get like a 3.8 or higher your first year you can automatically get a full scholarship for the next year and attend school for free.... which is pretty cool. Also make sure you set all this up that I will attend in Winter of 2016 and not Fall. Can I still use the campus stuff as a online student like the basketball courts and school events? I really do not know much about college but I have talked to lots of people on the mission who have gone to byu so I know a little. Last question did you ever get those credits from Dmacc worked out?

The Airport Apartment

Old....then New

The Final Four

Really I do not want any of those teams to win but oh well. The transfer has been hard as they always are but I am adjusting a little faster this time. The area here is huge which is nice because a very small area means you are trapped inside a invisible box all day. The area where I am is very different as there are giant apartment buildings around us. It is a little cooler here than Jatoba and the roads are paved which is nice. We also have a chapel building which is nice.

The sad part of the apartment is I live alone with my companion which is always a little lonely but luckily he likes to talk and we joke around. The good part of the apartment is there are no bugs, it has lots of space and is very clean which is more than I can say for some of the other missionary apartments. Something I have learned in life here on the mission is there are always lots of pros and cons with change and you just have to hope their are more pros than cons.

 The hard thing here is they have like no one good to teach and I had lots in Jatoba so we have to do lots of finding here. The problem with finding good people here is everyone says you can talk to them but most people do not do change anything and are lazy to it is tough to know who is good and who will not progress. A problem much different than the United States. And yes I am glad I came to Brazil but there are some things that are more difficult here. Our Ward Mission Leader is a really cool guy which is nice. He is from Bolivia which as it sounds when he explains it is a poorer country than Brazil. The United States is really a very rich country. Due to the fact the Reail is so weak to the dollar everyone calls Americans rich so I am buying Pizza on Thursday for our Ward mission leader meeting. Haha

 I said I would to celebrate my 1 year and 6 months mark on Thursday. 1 pizza is about 20 reals which is expensive for people here but just 6.50$. It would have been 9$ when I got here in September but the Dollar is very strong now. Yes it is still raining but it is dying down. Here are some pictures from my going away in Jatoba and of Elder Robinson.   He is a funny kid. I think that is about it. Let me know when your Birthday letter gets there and I told you happy birthday when I was walking in the road. So Happy Birthday! Last thing we learned that an apostle is coming to visit the mission April 28th and they are going to combine both missions here in Fortaleza to listen to him speak which should be cool.

Lots of Love,

Will

the guy with Yarrington and me is the bishop, he has been my favorite bishop of my mission so far

March 30, 2015

Well I am sorry you were  stressed but glad it all worked out. Thank you for helping me with all that stuff with the apartments for college I was kind of stressing out about that last week. I would say that all food on Fast Sunday tastes good but in Jatoba we had the same lunch every fast Sunday with a women in the ward and it was really bad, like every time. But American food is always good so I am sure it was fine. Good job helping out the recent converts in the ward. That is like the missionaries dream when they baptize someone that the ward will help them have friends so that they can continue going and grow their testimonies. 

It does sound nice to live at Aunt Anne's because I remember their house that is was nice and I would save money but I am glad I am doing this now living with Robinson and will leave that option for the future. Birthday envelope still has not arrived but should this week. I feel good about the college plan. Let me know if I need to plan anything else. 

I will send an email to dad about the area and the week so you can read it there. 

Love,

Will

March 16, 2015

Sorry I am rushing so I will give you the a brief summary of the week.
This week was Stake Conference so we had church at the stake center which is a beautiful chapel. We had the oppurtunity to listen to Marcus Aidukitis of the Seventy which was awesome. He came and talked about the need for young men to serve missions and how people need to me self sufficient. It was so good as he was a great speaker. We had 5 investigators who listened to him talk. This is my last week with my companion as he goes home in a week and transfers are next Monday. I will most likely stay but I am ok with it because we are teaching some cool people.
Bought a new towel today and a new pan to cook in today. You should tell me more details about your new job. You worked at Corporate image for a lot of years so I am sure it has been strange to switch. I also sent you a Birthday letter today so I hope that gets there on time. Let me know if Bon Bon ever got her letter.
I will let you know about transfers next week and send me some photos of the island.
Will

March 23, 2015

I am glad that you guys had a good time in Antigua. Hard not too but either way it looked like it was fun. I will be transferred tomorrow to a new area which will be my first transfer here in Brazil. Hopefully this place has a chapel. There will be lots of things I will miss about this ward and lots of people but I guess it is time to move on. I have lots of things to do today with packing and arranging stuff. We brought a mom and her 4 kids to church this weekend along with a girl who is 12 who we found. Her mom in a less-active and does not want to go to church but she wants her daughter to which is cool. Both me and my companion left the area which leaves me lots of notes to leave for the two new elders who arrive here. My companion left Sunday to return to Sao Paulo. 

The good part is I know who my new companion is and he is cool. He is Brazilian and from Sao Paulo. I left some people in this area who I think will be baptized so I hope all goes through and the elders who take our place are good. 

The good part about sports as well is that there will always be the playoffs for NBA and March Madness next year so I look forward to watching with you. Lots of love and I will let you know how my new area is. I will miss the guys here but it should be a nice change I hope. That is funny Jane is still doing the same thing. Let me know how your new job is going and if you have started. I am sure you are glad it is much closer to where we live.

Lots of love,

W

March 16, 2015

The sun is soooo hot here, it is ridiculous. Yeah there is tons of American culture here. Music, movies, sports, everything, even espn. No Dad never told me about the painting ( Grandma Moses painting that Bon Bon sent to auction), that is too bad, I always liked that painting. Let me know how much it goes for. Send me some pictures when you have some. 

Hey let me know more about where we are living and you did not get me the email for Will Thomas. You cant just tell me she signed us up to live somewhere without telling us anything about it. So you need to give us more information like as soon as you can. 

Tell Anne to take a video and send it to me. 

Will