September 12, 2011

Dear Fam,

Wow! That is awesome for Torrin! He will absolutely love it. And I kind of know that you all were over at his house...he sent me a video of him opening his call. Haha. But that is so exciting. It really is something special to here of another friend going on a mission. I will be getting some snail mail off to him soon, that is for sure. Now Torrin, Bentz, Kurt, maybe Erik?, and Parker will be speaking Spanish...and I will be able to understand them! Ha! All the people here say that they can understand Spanish pretty easily...but they can´t understand them. Ha! And Jordan, well we will see. I asked a member and they said they get about 50% of French. It will be neat hearing all of us go off. Thank you for all of those addresses too. It will be way cool to have a little contact with them.

Family dinner sounds like it was quite the party! Something interesting, dinner here is not the big meal; it is nothing more than some bread or cake with a few little things. Really, a tea time. Occasionally we will have dinner with a member but it is rare and usually for a family night. Our meal schedule in the ward is all for lunch. Cool huh! It is official; Amanda is stealing my life, Family dinner again! Ha, joking. I´m glad you all are having fun. 

Ha, I was thinking about you all while I was doing yard work too! We helped Irmão Alfonso and Teresa do a bunch of yard work the other day. And you would be proud Dad; Irmão Alfonso wants me to tell you PARABEMS. Because my section of the yard was better than Elder Araújo´s and he wants me to come back in a week to cut the lawn de novo. Also, Mom, Irmã Teresa wants me to tell you PARABEMS because you raised me well. She is being silly, but I promised I would tell you congrats. And Alfonso, not a member...for now, told us that Elder Johnston, baptized his wife and daughter, and some sisters have found a place in his heart, but we have gained a place there too. He is really close to us now and even talks to us about the church now, we have a family night scheduled for tonight with them. And it is true...we had 2 baptisms Saturday! Woo! Ronaldo and Isaías were baptized by Bruno, the shorter one on the left, and Michael, the taller one on the right. They are young men in our ward and Michael is preparing for his mission.

You nailed it Dad, I am being transferred tomorrow. It is actually really sad! I love the people and ward here. I feel like I know it inside and out and will be strange meeting a new ward, but the Lord knows best! I still don´t know where I will be going, but I find out right before I get in the taxi, bus, or shuttle. Elder Araúju and I traded ties and he gave me his Corinthians jersey, it is way cool! I am wearing it in one of the pictures. I told him that he has something to come.... He is a great comp and most importantly he is caring for these people here now. Oh and Sister Michael is being transferred now so we will see if an American gets transferred here to teach English...yikes.

Thanks for getting that package off! It will be a nice surprise and treat to get that. Can´t wait! I have been getting allot of mail...I feel overwhelmed. Ha.

9-11, it has been 10 years already...strange. We saw one thing about 9-11 on the news in the house of a member, they were asking me about it during lunch. All of those poor people. But reflecting on this day, I am so glad I am an American, it really was saved by the hand of God. Possibly the only land with freedom of religion where Joseph Smith could bring forth the restored Gospel. If this had happened in Brasil, the government of the time would have executed him, the government was interrelated with Catholicism then.

Everyone is super busy still?! Good! Just one day at a time and remember to laugh :) every trial is given to us because God knows we are ready and is giving us the opportunity to become more like Him.

Mexico sounds like it was awesome. It sounds like everyone is moving a hundred miles an hour there. Good luck with school and everything over there!

Oh mom, are you still going to open up that restaurant!?  Amanda is in the eternal marriage class?! Whoa! Haha, that is awesome. I better be the first to get that invite :) and a resume from the guy.

Ana Paula, 18, Yuri, 19, and João Vitor the baby of 4 months- Yuri is inactive and the brother of Irmã Julianna in our ward. They are not married and we are in the process of getting that moving :) Ana Paula has been reading like crazy and has received her answer; she knows the truth of our message! Yuri still really respects the church and wants to return and raise his son in the church, still has a whole library of books and everything.  We will see! Unfortunately I cannot teach them more.

Kevin- He is still loving the messages and now we are moving in on his family. His dad likes that Kevin is doing this and his sister Camille went to church with Kevin Sunday. They loved it! We are teaching him again tomorrow morning...my last lesson before I leave!

Ronaldo and Isaías- They were baptized and confirmed this weekend! Their families were there and loved it; we will be teaching them soon enough I believe...well not me, but other elders.

Laís- We were pretty upfront with her yesterday, she is starting to date Bruno in our ward, and asked her if she was doing this for Bruno or if she is real about this. She laughed because her 2 other friends in our ward ask her the same thing every day. But she really has been reading and praying and received her answer. Her mom is starting to warm up to the idea of her attending our church, but is still pretty stiff.

Vladimir, Karina- We visited them with a recently married couple in our ward-Augusto and Andressa. They are both returned missionaries and it was awesome. Karina has been receiving the lessons from the Jehovah’s Witnesses for a year now and had a paper with scriptures and explanations waiting for us. It was pretty humorous actually. We weren´t contentious and didn´t even look at the paper, Elder Wirthlin´s mom put it best when she said `Come away and love`. But she thought (thought implanted into her by the Jehovah’s Witnesses) that the world was ruled by the devil because he tempts people and even tempted Jesus and brought him to the top of the temple. I showed her that it was not a temptation for food or saving angels at all. But Satan, the great snake, was trying to place doubt in the relationship of the Father and The Son by saying IF you can do this, IF he will save you. IF IF IF. It was great and the spirit was strong. But it is clear to see that Karina is just trying to go back and forth and gain knowledge, not a real desire, So we told her we don´t want to confuse her and com certeza this will just keep going back and forth. We challenged Vladimir to read and pray and try these things...knowing that Karina will not be able to resist. But it was all in all a great lesson and I am going to miss teaching them.

The picture with that big family is Irmão Pedro and his family. Daniele is who he is holding and drew that little picture for me.

Hope you enjoy all the pics! Love you all and love what I am doing.

Elder Bradley J. Dawson

September 5. 2011

Querida Família!

Sounds like it is really burning up there. We had a nice day of heat and humidity yesterday, but it is back to rain and cold today! But I got a scarf from Brandon and Alyssa this week! Well Alyssa anyways...unless Brandon is learning how to knit, hehe. But that is crazy that it is getting so hot, and that I am in winter and you are in summer! All the Brazilians can´t believe how hot it is in AZ too. But what is weird...Rio Grande do Sul is one of the hottest places in Brazil! All the missionaries from all over Brazil in our mission say it is worse here, it is a (different kind of heat). You supposedly leave the shower sweating....yaaaa..

Mexico sounds pretty awesome! Especially that the dolphins are being so playful. I´ve never seen the dolphins throwing food around or anything like that, snap some pictures? Speaking of pictures...where are the pictures from Amanda´s baptism! How are Diego and Maria and fam doing? Pretty excited to hear that Bentz is serving in their hometown! Way cool! Testimony meeting sounds very animated there; did you really have someone waving their cane in the air?? Our testimony meetings are great; we always have a good number of people waiting on the stand and a lot of youth! There is a huge group of youth here. They are all really excited to share testimony...some stories, but testimonies too :).

I´m glad you enjoyed the baptismal picture! It was so awesome being there and helping with the baptism. You should be getting some more pictures next week...!

The talent show had a lot of non member youth and some non member parents to watch their youth sing in English, so it was a success! And this Sunday we gained 3 new investigators during church alone. Laís is one of those 3. She is a friend of one of the youth and we taught her in the capela this Sunday and she has a baptismal date :) The other 2 are really promising too!

Torrin is getting his call this week!! WOOO! Wow we are going to have a lot of missionaries out.

Mom my stomach is fine! I am a big boy and managing my diet :) I had a close call a few weeks ago but that is because I didn´t use our filtered water bottle at the house of a member and I am not accustomed to the water. But I was fine, didn´t get sick or anything.

 Wow, cookies and coke at 11:30 at night in Mexico? You all are having too much fun without me. All the members want me to make American cookies for them hah. Your lips are swollen?? What? Haha perfect, huge lips and huge queen Latifa glasses. Ha! Joking!

Haha mom I am already struggling, majorly, to respond to all of the letters! But I appreciate the lookout :) But if you would like to do send an address, go ahead! I am making a collection. I already got an email from a friend of Chelsey Merrell. Ha. Oh and she is in Moscow right now teaching English?? What?

The shirt gun and mascots sound awesome! Send some pics when you get them.

We went to the Porto Alegre temple Friday! It was amazing! They are all so different but each is really something special and different. There is a different spirit there. I am sending plenty of pics for you all :)

General conference is coming up!!! WOOO! I am so excited! It really is Christmas for missionaries! You all better listen up, I will be quizzing you the following Monday...

So our (Mom) here, Irmã Teresa, has a nonmember husband that we are getting pretty close too...He likes us to call him dad. Ha! But we helped them do yard work Thursday and we are gaining a lot of confidence! We will be teaching him soon :) But Irmã Teresa always says that I need to be a fan of the Corinthians, a soccer team in Sao Paulo. One time I had to say that I love them to sit at her table haha. But her son lives there, São Paulo. It was going to be a surprise, but she spilled the beans! Her son is bringing with him a professional Corinthians jersey for me in October. WOO! But let’s see how transfers go next week...yikes. But she is always looking out for us and com certeza, feeding us.

Paulo, we can´t get find Paulo or family in house, even though we planned. Left a not over there so we will see how this goes.

Ronaldo & Isaías- They are getting ready for their baptism this Saturday at 4 in the afternoon! :) They have nothing that would prevent them from being baptized and they are ready.

Laís- Her mom is just really uneasy about the church right now, she is espirita. So she wants to be baptized the first week end of November. She is a friend of Lauren, a member in the ward.

Kevin- Kevin has 16 years and is on line dating a member in São Paulo. She said he had to go to church and he really likes it. He is a cool kid! We are meeting with him this week and see how it goes.

Maria and Vitor- they both know they need to read and pray but won´t. We are trying to accompany them as best we can but they are not progressing and we will leave them in the area book for the future.

Maria-Another Maria with a son, William that just gained 16 years and a daughter, Stephaney, with 10 years. They are new as of this week and we will check back with them. But they are really receptive and open. I really think they are going to give this a chance, to test God.

Vlademir- He was a street contact and his fiancée Karina is receiving the Jehovah’s Witnesses for visits...but she can decide for herself :) we cleared a few things up for her. She has a little girl, Náthalyi that is 4 or 5. They want to get married in our capela too so we are going to bring bispo over there to talk to them. Lucia who is a neighbor, I think, was there too; she is elderly and pretty stuck on her catholic traditions, not religion, traditions.

Things are going great! The work here is improving and I am hoping that I don´t get transferred next week!

Love you all and loving the work! Thank you for all the prayers and thoughts. Stay safe and have fun! :)

Elder Bradley J. Dawson