Sunday, April 25, 2010
Im back Im back
Querido Minha Família,
Well I am glad to report that one more week happened, man time is flying. It's weird to think I get to talk to you guys in just like 3 weeks....weird and exciting. Well, p-day last week was kinda boring. We did not really do a whole lot which was nice. I wrote some letters and coisas assim. =).
Tuesday, after district meeting I did a division with Elder Erick. He is way cool. He is in the other ward in our building. He came to our area, so I had to go senior for a day. I was slightly nervous but the day went so well. We taught like 8 lessons together and found like 10 new which was sweet. Oh yeah, he is a Brazilian so português all day long.
The rest of the week was a little bit of a downer. I got in a weird funk Like i was going through the motions but I was not all there. Very chato (annoying) but I am glad to report that I am back to 100% now.
Saturday, Denise and Taleson were interviewed for baptism. They both passed. Denise had to give up coffee this week and she had some major withdrawals...like seriously...you would think that she was a druggie. But, she has kicked it which is good. They will be baptized on Saturday.
Funny story...so we were at the bus station waiting for a bus and we were speaking english to each other and this girl behind us in perfect english said, "excuse me can I ask you a question? You are from America right, why would you come here?" It caught us off guard. Then we started speaking portugues to her...haha. She lived in Florida for most of her life. We explained how were called by a profeta of god. She really wants to go back to the U.S. She likes but does not love Brazil...really funny.
I ask that you will pray for me this week especially that my teaching will improve. This is one thing I feel is lacking right now...so pray for it please.
Yesterday, we went with Edson's mom to her church. One thing about Brazil is there is at least 20 churches on every corner...no joke. It was a assemblia de deus (assembly of god). It was really loud and weird but a good experience. They focused a lot on the cross at calvary. I gained an apprecation for other christian churches, because even though they do not have a fullness of the truth they are still trying to teach and worship Jesus in the way they know best. It was fun.
I am getting another haircut today. Is smallville on its last season (Mom you can email Mandy this question for me?) We have zone conference this week so we get letters whoa.
One more funny thing for dad. The brazilains that have bikes really dont have brakes so they used there feet (flipflops) to stop. We watched a kid go down big hill and stop with his feet. It was really funny!!
Well all for now.
Give my love to TJ and the rest of the family. I love you all!!!
Elder Athão (Big Athans)
Well I am glad to report that one more week happened, man time is flying. It's weird to think I get to talk to you guys in just like 3 weeks....weird and exciting. Well, p-day last week was kinda boring. We did not really do a whole lot which was nice. I wrote some letters and coisas assim. =).
Tuesday, after district meeting I did a division with Elder Erick. He is way cool. He is in the other ward in our building. He came to our area, so I had to go senior for a day. I was slightly nervous but the day went so well. We taught like 8 lessons together and found like 10 new which was sweet. Oh yeah, he is a Brazilian so português all day long.
The rest of the week was a little bit of a downer. I got in a weird funk Like i was going through the motions but I was not all there. Very chato (annoying) but I am glad to report that I am back to 100% now.
Saturday, Denise and Taleson were interviewed for baptism. They both passed. Denise had to give up coffee this week and she had some major withdrawals...like seriously...you would think that she was a druggie. But, she has kicked it which is good. They will be baptized on Saturday.
Funny story...so we were at the bus station waiting for a bus and we were speaking english to each other and this girl behind us in perfect english said, "excuse me can I ask you a question? You are from America right, why would you come here?" It caught us off guard. Then we started speaking portugues to her...haha. She lived in Florida for most of her life. We explained how were called by a profeta of god. She really wants to go back to the U.S. She likes but does not love Brazil...really funny.
I ask that you will pray for me this week especially that my teaching will improve. This is one thing I feel is lacking right now...so pray for it please.
Yesterday, we went with Edson's mom to her church. One thing about Brazil is there is at least 20 churches on every corner...no joke. It was a assemblia de deus (assembly of god). It was really loud and weird but a good experience. They focused a lot on the cross at calvary. I gained an apprecation for other christian churches, because even though they do not have a fullness of the truth they are still trying to teach and worship Jesus in the way they know best. It was fun.
I am getting another haircut today. Is smallville on its last season (Mom you can email Mandy this question for me?) We have zone conference this week so we get letters whoa.
One more funny thing for dad. The brazilains that have bikes really dont have brakes so they used there feet (flipflops) to stop. We watched a kid go down big hill and stop with his feet. It was really funny!!
Well all for now.
Give my love to TJ and the rest of the family. I love you all!!!
Elder Athão (Big Athans)
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Pizzaria Novo Horizonte
Wow this week in all reality flew by really fast. So I am sure you all want to know about transfers. So, here is what went down. Elder Ekstrom and I stayed together yet again. Which is good because we work very well together. We know each other very well too well at times but all is well. Elder Johnson that lived in our apartment, he had been there 4 transfers still his greenie area and Elder Croshaw in our district was transferred too. We got Elder Bastos from São Paulo in our apartment. He is pretty cool, so our district is now equal 3 Americans and 3 Brasileiros. This is a short transfer only 5 weeks instead of the normal 6 weeks this is because of Americans and visas or something. Only 1 5 week transfer a year here.
The weather has been amazing this week. Like usually I sweat jemais (too much) but I have rarely sweated this week. It’s really pretty nice. Ekstrom has been freezing its kinda funny. I heard Duke won the tournament. Is that correct? Send me a copy of the brackets. Elder Ekstrom had a major cold this week but he still went on awesome great example to me.
We have 2 investigators that we are working with this week on baptism to be baptized on the 24th. Whoa. We found an awesome family of 6 yesterday all above age 8. They are really sweet. I will be praying for them a lot this week.
Geovanne, a recent convert, his godfather passed away. So we and another companionship sang at the graveside service and Elder Ekstrom offered a prayer. It was good. I was really glad to be there for him.
Edson got confirmed yesterday. It was neat. I love him so much. I cannot go over to his house without laughing like crazy. He is just a really funny person. I sealed the anointing on 2 blessings this week. One for a little kid and the other for Ekstrom. It’s really weird because in blessings you have to use a different form the Tu form. It was good. The priesthood is real. I know it and it is the only thing that makes our church valid.
Oh yeah I got a package and a letter this week. It was awesome. Mom thank you so much for the package. It was so amazing. I loved it. The letter was from Gillian Voigt. Nice surprise.
Oh yeah a tragedy happened. So, we live four stories up right. I was emptying my hair from my electric razor out the window like always and the head fell off (the white part). It was very sad. I picked up all the pieces but yeah, the body of it is still good just the head is not good. So it’s back to a normal Razor for Elder Athans for the time being.
The gospel is true the work carries on. I love you all. Happy 58,000000 birthday mom (by the way the period and the comma are switched here.)
Elder Athans
The weather has been amazing this week. Like usually I sweat jemais (too much) but I have rarely sweated this week. It’s really pretty nice. Ekstrom has been freezing its kinda funny. I heard Duke won the tournament. Is that correct? Send me a copy of the brackets. Elder Ekstrom had a major cold this week but he still went on awesome great example to me.
We have 2 investigators that we are working with this week on baptism to be baptized on the 24th. Whoa. We found an awesome family of 6 yesterday all above age 8. They are really sweet. I will be praying for them a lot this week.
Geovanne, a recent convert, his godfather passed away. So we and another companionship sang at the graveside service and Elder Ekstrom offered a prayer. It was good. I was really glad to be there for him.
Edson got confirmed yesterday. It was neat. I love him so much. I cannot go over to his house without laughing like crazy. He is just a really funny person. I sealed the anointing on 2 blessings this week. One for a little kid and the other for Ekstrom. It’s really weird because in blessings you have to use a different form the Tu form. It was good. The priesthood is real. I know it and it is the only thing that makes our church valid.
Oh yeah I got a package and a letter this week. It was awesome. Mom thank you so much for the package. It was so amazing. I loved it. The letter was from Gillian Voigt. Nice surprise.
Oh yeah a tragedy happened. So, we live four stories up right. I was emptying my hair from my electric razor out the window like always and the head fell off (the white part). It was very sad. I picked up all the pieces but yeah, the body of it is still good just the head is not good. So it’s back to a normal Razor for Elder Athans for the time being.
The gospel is true the work carries on. I love you all. Happy 58,000000 birthday mom (by the way the period and the comma are switched here.)
Elder Athans
Monday, April 5, 2010
Conferência General
Ola Minha Familia,
Well, this weekend was pretty awesome. I hope one and all soaked up the joy that is and was general conference. I hope you noticed the theme as I did and that was about families. Families are one the most important things in this life. I have a testimony that the family is indeed ordained of God. I am glad for the temple sealing which unites families on both sides of the veil. The hours for the sessions here are 1 to 3 and 5 to 7 and priesthood at 830 Sunday morning. They record priesthood and reshow it. The first session they did not have English set up for us so I had to watch it in Portuguese. It is not the same without the voices. I did not get all that I wanted from the first session probably because I had a bad attitude for listening to it in Portuguese. The second session was my favorite, especially Elder Holland. He is my favorite. Priesthood we had to watch in Portuguese but a truly miraculous thing occurred, I understood without much thinking. It was amazing, one special prompting when all the members of the first presidency spoke I could feel the spirit bear testimony to me that they are called of God. I know they are.
I hope everyone had a good Easter. We really did not do much for Easter. It’s funny here even though people are members of the church they still carry some catholic traditions such as only fish and chicken on Friday and on Friday being quiet from 3 to 6. My testimony is this of the risen lord. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the holy one is real, that he leads this his church the only true church on the earth. This is a bold but true statement, the only true church on the earth. I know without doubt in my mind.
Last p-day me and Elder Ekstrom went and played golf here in Brazil…crazy right? I played golf before I played soccer. We took a bus about an hour away. The owner of the course was not there when we were there so we had to wait. They did not accept credit cards luckily we had enough cash to save us. Green fees were 60 reais each, clubs for rent which we shared 20 and 10 balls another 20, so between us it cost 160…haha. It’s more comforting in you think about it in dollars. It was fun. Ekstrom lost like 4 balls on the first 2 holes. We were running out of ball by like hole 3, but through prayer and miracles we found some balls and got through to play all 9 holes. I will send some pictures. First time I had played in 3 years. I was pretty bad, but it was fun. It was a party for Ekstrom’s birthday.
I did divisions with Elder Johnson this week, him and Elder Carvalho work on the other side of the ward. It was good to be on that side, we did a lot of walking that day. It was good. I will send pictures from the division.
The theme for this transfer was charity Moroni 7:47. Transfers are tomorrow. I think Ekstrom might be going and Johnson. I have a feeling it will be me and 3 Brazilians in the apartment…whoa. The theme for this transfer is D&C 103:36.
I received 5 letters on Monday because an elder in our district went to the mission office and grabbed them..3 from mom on missionties.com,1 from a kid in my district in the MTC, and the other from Michelle. Thanks keep them coming. They really help and I enjoy them lots.
All for now pray for me and I for you
Elder Athans
Shall we not go in so great a cause forward not backward avante avante pra Vitoria.--Joseph Smith
Well, this weekend was pretty awesome. I hope one and all soaked up the joy that is and was general conference. I hope you noticed the theme as I did and that was about families. Families are one the most important things in this life. I have a testimony that the family is indeed ordained of God. I am glad for the temple sealing which unites families on both sides of the veil. The hours for the sessions here are 1 to 3 and 5 to 7 and priesthood at 830 Sunday morning. They record priesthood and reshow it. The first session they did not have English set up for us so I had to watch it in Portuguese. It is not the same without the voices. I did not get all that I wanted from the first session probably because I had a bad attitude for listening to it in Portuguese. The second session was my favorite, especially Elder Holland. He is my favorite. Priesthood we had to watch in Portuguese but a truly miraculous thing occurred, I understood without much thinking. It was amazing, one special prompting when all the members of the first presidency spoke I could feel the spirit bear testimony to me that they are called of God. I know they are.
I hope everyone had a good Easter. We really did not do much for Easter. It’s funny here even though people are members of the church they still carry some catholic traditions such as only fish and chicken on Friday and on Friday being quiet from 3 to 6. My testimony is this of the risen lord. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the holy one is real, that he leads this his church the only true church on the earth. This is a bold but true statement, the only true church on the earth. I know without doubt in my mind.
Last p-day me and Elder Ekstrom went and played golf here in Brazil…crazy right? I played golf before I played soccer. We took a bus about an hour away. The owner of the course was not there when we were there so we had to wait. They did not accept credit cards luckily we had enough cash to save us. Green fees were 60 reais each, clubs for rent which we shared 20 and 10 balls another 20, so between us it cost 160…haha. It’s more comforting in you think about it in dollars. It was fun. Ekstrom lost like 4 balls on the first 2 holes. We were running out of ball by like hole 3, but through prayer and miracles we found some balls and got through to play all 9 holes. I will send some pictures. First time I had played in 3 years. I was pretty bad, but it was fun. It was a party for Ekstrom’s birthday.
I did divisions with Elder Johnson this week, him and Elder Carvalho work on the other side of the ward. It was good to be on that side, we did a lot of walking that day. It was good. I will send pictures from the division.
The theme for this transfer was charity Moroni 7:47. Transfers are tomorrow. I think Ekstrom might be going and Johnson. I have a feeling it will be me and 3 Brazilians in the apartment…whoa. The theme for this transfer is D&C 103:36.
I received 5 letters on Monday because an elder in our district went to the mission office and grabbed them..3 from mom on missionties.com,1 from a kid in my district in the MTC, and the other from Michelle. Thanks keep them coming. They really help and I enjoy them lots.
All for now pray for me and I for you
Elder Athans
Shall we not go in so great a cause forward not backward avante avante pra Vitoria.--Joseph Smith
Muito Legal
Oí e tudo bem todos. This week is very good. I am pleased to report that the mission is still going very well. Well let’s see Tuesday I was sick. I woke up with diarrhea, não bom. Ekstrom had a meeting at Presidents so Elder Carvalho went with him. He brought back my temporary companion and we just stayed in. I did not feel well. You are supposed to get permission from Sister Pickett but I could not get a hold of her till later but she agreed I could stay in. It was kinda lame; I wanted to work and show the area to the other Elder. He is Brazilian, we got along well. For lunch Elders Carvalho and Johnson ate at the Relief Society Presidents and she sent us food. She sent like directions and medicine. It was nice. I love her so much. One thing that she sent was this juice stuff from a bark of a tree, it was so nasty I only could have like an ounce. Gross, but I am better now, just sick that one day.
Well, we have seen some sorrows this week. Our baptism Silvia was really down this week. She did not want to talk about it and yeah, she left yesterday going to the Bahia other part of Brazil, kinda sad, I hope she still stays strong.
Poliana was a baptism we had scheduled for yesterday. She told us on Saturday she did not want to be baptized. That was really sad.
Enough sad...yesterday we had yet another baptism. It was Edson, the seven toed man I found. I found him during a morning while we were doing what is called bhag (big hairy audacious goal). President has us do this to make sure we work in the morning before lunch. He is hilarious. He was late to church, and after the sacrament was passed they opened the door and the entire chapel could hear him say that he was late. Then when he was changing into the jumpsuit, there were bathroom had stalls but he did not use them. Then when was walking down into the font, we was saying oh Gloria oh dues (god). Then he forget to plug his nose…oh my gosh. I am still laughing. He is awesome. I love him so much.
I did another division this week. This time it was with Elder Brito, he is one of the zone leaders. I worked in his area. His area is still in Vitoria, but more towards the city so that was cool. It was a long day though. His area had hills or mountains so it was a lot of up and down. It was good though.
Well Easter is drawing closer...remember the Master this season. During my studies this week I will be studying about those final days of the master. I would encourage all to do the same; any letters to the dear Elder Athans would be appreciated.
Funny story, here in Brazil everyone gets drunk on the weekends. I got my first drunk guy hug on Saturday. He smelled awful. Ekstrom was laughing the entire time. General conference is this weekend whoa. I love it. we are trying to get a room for English we should be able to but pray for it because as much as I love Portuguese and I do....I would rather watch in English. Ekstrom turned 20 this week so that was fun.
Transfers are next week so we will see. Hey mail me a copy of the final bracket.
I am excited today because to celebrate Ekstrom’s birth we are going golfing you will find out more next week.
I love you all pray for me as I do for you.
Elder Athans
Well, we have seen some sorrows this week. Our baptism Silvia was really down this week. She did not want to talk about it and yeah, she left yesterday going to the Bahia other part of Brazil, kinda sad, I hope she still stays strong.
Poliana was a baptism we had scheduled for yesterday. She told us on Saturday she did not want to be baptized. That was really sad.
Enough sad...yesterday we had yet another baptism. It was Edson, the seven toed man I found. I found him during a morning while we were doing what is called bhag (big hairy audacious goal). President has us do this to make sure we work in the morning before lunch. He is hilarious. He was late to church, and after the sacrament was passed they opened the door and the entire chapel could hear him say that he was late. Then when he was changing into the jumpsuit, there were bathroom had stalls but he did not use them. Then when was walking down into the font, we was saying oh Gloria oh dues (god). Then he forget to plug his nose…oh my gosh. I am still laughing. He is awesome. I love him so much.
I did another division this week. This time it was with Elder Brito, he is one of the zone leaders. I worked in his area. His area is still in Vitoria, but more towards the city so that was cool. It was a long day though. His area had hills or mountains so it was a lot of up and down. It was good though.
Well Easter is drawing closer...remember the Master this season. During my studies this week I will be studying about those final days of the master. I would encourage all to do the same; any letters to the dear Elder Athans would be appreciated.
Funny story, here in Brazil everyone gets drunk on the weekends. I got my first drunk guy hug on Saturday. He smelled awful. Ekstrom was laughing the entire time. General conference is this weekend whoa. I love it. we are trying to get a room for English we should be able to but pray for it because as much as I love Portuguese and I do....I would rather watch in English. Ekstrom turned 20 this week so that was fun.
Transfers are next week so we will see. Hey mail me a copy of the final bracket.
I am excited today because to celebrate Ekstrom’s birth we are going golfing you will find out more next week.
I love you all pray for me as I do for you.
Elder Athans
Muito Legal
Oí e tudo bem todos. This week is very good. I am pleased to report that the mission is still going very well. Well let’s see Tuesday I was sick. I woke up with diarrhea, não bom. Ekstrom had a meeting at Presidents so Elder Carvalho went with him. He brought back my temporary companion and we just stayed in. I did not feel well. You are supposed to get permission from Sister Pickett but I could not get a hold of her till later but she agreed I could stay in. It was kinda lame; I wanted to work and show the area to the other Elder. He is Brazilian, we got along well. For lunch Elders Carvalho and Johnson ate at the Relief Society Presidents and she sent us food. She sent like directions and medicine. It was nice. I love her so much. One thing that she sent was this juice stuff from a bark of a tree, it was so nasty I only could have like an ounce. Gross, but I am better now, just sick that one day.
Well, we have seen some sorrows this week. Our baptism Silvia was really down this week. She did not want to talk about it and yeah, she left yesterday going to the Bahia other part of Brazil, kinda sad, I hope she still stays strong.
Poliana was a baptism we had scheduled for yesterday. She told us on Saturday she did not want to be baptized. That was really sad.
Enough sad...yesterday we had yet another baptism. It was Edson, the seven toed man I found. I found him during a morning while we were doing what is called bhag (big hairy audacious goal). President has us do this to make sure we work in the morning before lunch. He is hilarious. He was late to church, and after the sacrament was passed they opened the door and the entire chapel could hear him say that he was late. Then when he was changing into the jumpsuit, there were bathroom had stalls but he did not use them. Then when was walking down into the font, we was saying oh Gloria oh dues (god). Then he forget to plug his nose…oh my gosh. I am still laughing. He is awesome. I love him so much.
I did another division this week. This time it was with Elder Brito, he is one of the zone leaders. I worked in his area. His area is still in Vitoria, but more towards the city so that was cool. It was a long day though. His area had hills or mountains so it was a lot of up and down. It was good though.
Well Easter is drawing closer...remember the Master this season. During my studies this week I will be studying about those final days of the master. I would encourage all to do the same; any letters to the dear Elder Athans would be appreciated.
Funny story, here in Brazil everyone gets drunk on the weekends. I got my first drunk guy hug on Saturday. He smelled awful. Ekstrom was laughing the entire time. General conference is this weekend whoa. I love it. we are trying to get a room for English we should be able to but pray for it because as much as I love Portuguese and I do....I would rather watch in English. Ekstrom turned 20 this week so that was fun.
Transfers are next week so we will see. Hey mail me a copy of the final bracket.
I am excited today because to celebrate Ekstrom’s birth we are going golfing you will find out more next week.
I love you all pray for me as I do for you.
Elder Athans
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