June 16, 2011

Oi família!          

I'm glad you liked getting a real letter. I thought you would like that back there at HQ! There is an awesome little candy store by the CTM where we get some snacks so I like to send the wrappers to make you all jealous! :) Mom, don't you worry about sending a real letter, it is fine!  I love your e-mail's.  

It is hard to address everything in your letter here at the CTM because I only have 30 minutes for the mail, but the letters should pick back up in a little bit! And getting real letters is awesome from everyone else! I have gotten a few just in the last week. That was nice of you to sign up for a Mr. Cheneys but I'm not sure how well I could use it, I don't have any email addresses, besides, snail mail is fun with my cool Brazilian envelopes!      

I am doing great! Thank you! I will give Elder Sroka a hug from you for sure, the only reason it would be awkward is because he is 6'6' tall. Ha, so we are the super companionship. He looks for red hair, and I look for the head above all the others! District leader responsibilities are just fine! It really is just a calling to help me grow, I can't think of a better way to gain more love for the others than doing what I'm doing,. Plus,  I have a new goal that every time I pray I must say something that I am honestly grateful for about each one of them. I love this, it is hard when I'm in a hurry sometimes, but it is great. It does cut into language study a little bit, but then I just get to sit by Brazilians at meal time and chat it up! So its all good, besides, right now I am known as the 'walking dictionary' ha.

I do not know my travel plans yet, but I do know that I will be leaving on Tuesday! Sio cool! Legal! I should be able to call I guess. I really don't know until I get there.  We did go to the plicia federal yesterday to tell them that we are 'officially' and 'legally' in the country. I felt like I was in the Ministry of Magic (nerd i know) until we went into the back room and I felt like I was in the underground black market.

That is awesome to hear about your surgery mom.  The blessings of the Lord have truly been poured out upon you.  I am so grateful for this. The Lord promise me that everything would be okay before I left :) It turns out that Sister ------  issue was figured out too, and she is being treated. 

Ashley, sounds like you are really busy, and having a lot of fun!  But I'm having more fun!

I have some quick stories with little time, sorry i didn't get to address the rest, but tell everyone, including the Lundbergs...except for Torr..no Bjorn...that I love them!  I kid, I love them too, someone has got too! piada sem graca!    So we went to downtown Sao Paulo to proselyte last Friday and it was crazy!  It reminded me of New York City, it was just really crazy. We were able to place 7 Book of Mormons and this is just one awesome story.  We stopped to talk to this guy taking a smoke break outside, and got to finding out that he was an agnostic, believed that God isn't really knowable.  He said that he had tried a whole bunch of churches but didn't find the truth. I asked him if he had looked into our church, but he hadn't! So we talked to him about the restoration and atonement for a little bit and he was way happy.  I told him how it was no coincidence that we talked to him today and that he might have given up looking for God, but God had not given up looking for him. Boom! Sold! He is going to investigate since we can't teach him, but he has a number to call.  Another lady... it was our last one and we went to talk to this nice lady at the bus stop. Because we had 5 minutes to get on the bus. Cut to the chase, AS soon as I mentioned the restoration she was a deer in headlights, she was so happy. I told her about the first vision in Portuguese and the spirit was definitely there. I watched her reading and turning a page when we turned the street corner on the bus. :)

I love this work and I love you!

Com Amor 

Elder Dawson

June 8, 2011

Well boa tarde!

Thank you for all the details, I thought I would have to pry them from you. I am glad everything went so well and mom is recovering. I was praying for mom a lot and I knew that the Lord would take care of her. That sounds like a killer diet plan though. Are there going to be any repercussions from the scars or anything else?  But it is good that Ashley will be home from school and will be able to take care of mom.

That HOBY experience sounds fun, sounds like Ashley had a great time too. I m glad it was a great experience. That will help her a lot with prom planning coming up. Ashley has EFY coming up soon right? 

I got the pizza party announcement. Thank you! I still have to schedule it when I go out in a minute though. You don’t have to do Mr. Cheney’s, I only sent that email because you got a free cookie if you did. I like snail mail, it is fun! And that way I get awesome pictures from Miley, Anya, and Zander!

Oh and I do not know my departure date yet, sorry! It should be in 2 weeks from yesterday though. We will see. 

So things are amazing here! Continually learning and having fun! We went to the temple this morning and it was way good! The Sao Paulo temple is my favorite I think, well it is hard between that and Mesa. They are just different. But I took some good pictures! Oh and we are not allowed to take our cameras out during p-day, they are too worried that we will be targeted and they don’t want us looking like a bunch of tourists. But I am on the top floor and will get some awesome pictures! The weather has been perfect, short sleeve white shirt and I’m good. Yesterday we were out during our gym time and Elder Sroka and I were working out when it started POURING! It was awesome! I felt like I was in a marine commercial or something, it felt so good. And something I learned from some Brazilians from Porto Alegre; it gets freezing, like -6 Celsius and then super hot in the summer! (Winter for you – weird). I have started sending home little candy wrappers with my letters, they are way good! I love the food here! There were no beans today on the rice and beans bar and I was actually really disappointed. I think I was supposed to be born Brazilian, except for the whole freckles, red hair, and I have to have sunscreen on to walk to the mailbox thing. Oh and Elder Lambrechsten, Claudio, and Perkes just got here from Provo. They were in our old district, so that is exciting!

Love you all and I am doing great.

Quick suggestion for everyone: Try reading Christ’s story from Gethsemane through the resurrection in each of the 4 gospels. First read day Gethsemane, then judging, then atonement, then resurrection, then Holland’s talk on the Atonement.  It is way fun and way good.

Love you all,

Elder Dawson

June 1, 2011

Dear Home,

I received a lot of emails from family but I really don’t have time to do anything with them unfortunately; that and they don’t have a printer here. But the mail from the US takes about a week from what I hear. I got a postcard from Disneyland!  Thanks Daniel and Liz!

It is really sad to hear about Toby.  I was praying for him and all of you that you would be comforted, including this morning too, wow. My district was pretty sad to hear that he was going too. But I am glad that he is no longer suffering.  Lucy will just get even more spoiled now. Just promise me that she won't get my room. Well I just better not come back with bones and paw prints on the walls and a 2x3 bed in the middle of the floor. I tried looking at a picture attachment that Daniel sent me and the computer here blocked it. Oh well. I will be able to see it in a few
weeks I guess.

I haven’t yet received any travel arrangements to Porto Allegre.  I have to go to the police headquarters to get my arrival cleared or something and that will take somewhere around 8 hours. Oh joy!   Well I will have lots of time to talk to people. I will be leaving in 2 or 3 weeks, but I am not sure yet. I am way excited!

I actually do go to do some street contacting! Part of the MTC experience here is street contacting and going to Sao Paulo downtown where there are about 2 million people walking around at any given time. Woo!  We will do that next week again I believe. They tell us a few days in advance when we will do it for sure. Last Friday we did go outside the MTC and place Livro de Mormons and contact people. Elder Sroka and I placed 5 Livro de Mormons and made a lot of contacts. It was way fun! I did a lot of talking and explaining but it was really good practice...and I have some good stories! I saw this group of homeless people down the street and I thought, "Why not!? They need the gospel too!" so I went over there and was miraculously able to understand them despite their dazed demeanor! They mainly just kept telling me that they couldn't eat a book and they needed food and wine. Haha! Well, I took that as a “Well you can feast on the words of Christ” opportunity and let's just say that they were too out of it to continue the conversation if it wasn't about wine. I did get to talk a lot with some other people out and about the city! One lady was very interested. And many people are so excited about the restored church of Christ!  Bus stops are the best place to talk to people! So nice! I would not worry about Mr. Cheney’s, I just signed up so I could get a free cookie. Honestly, just plain mail would be the best. Well I just saw that mom's email arrived, so I am going to check that out really quick. 

I know this church is true and that God loves us. God gives us trials to test us, help us grow stronger, help us become like him. But God will never abandon us, ever. How hard it must have been, sending all of his children to a foreign place where He knew they would suffer and feel so alone and scared. And then send His only begotten Son to suffer and bleed beyond our comprehension. I love Them for this; I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Bye! Oh and Sroka is Polish.

Bom Dia!
Elder Dawson

First Letter From Brazil May 25, 2011

Dear Family,

Wow! I don't know where to start. First off, the keyboard is a little weird so this will look a little weird and not make a lot of sense probably.  To answer questions, yes, I am exhausted! We got in really early that morning we flew in and we didn't get to sleep. We had free time but I didn't want to sleep because so we would continue to have jet lag. The two districts that reported to Provo on April 20 combined into one.  It is a total of 11 Elders and 3 Sister.  I love having the Sisters in our district...they are frankly just more mature that the rest.  Kind of funny news, I am the district leader. I thought this kind of weird because I am also training my new companion.  Yes, I am new too.  He was in my district in Provo too. I love the kid; he has got a sweet spirit.

So I don't know how to change paragraphs or anything, so i will just space it out. We got into Sao Paulo around 7:15 in the morning last week and just continued the whole day.  There were missionaries coming in from all over the United States.  Missionaries who were waiting for visas. There are about 150 missionaries here right now and it is about half Brazilian. (in a MTC able to handle 6500)  I love talking to all the Brazilians and I am getting better! One of them asked if I was from Brazil the other day. It is awesome. And if I ever want to tease one of the other Elders I just say something pretty fast to a Brasileiro and they don't know what I am saying! So fun!  Like I am writing Elder Dossena's girlfriend...pretty funny. The MTC here is awesome! I love it! It is a lot more relaxed, so I am glad I went to Provo first because I got the work down and now I get to apply that schedule here.  But it is amazing!

So in Provo there is a myth that the food here in Brazil MTC is horrible. NOT SO! I love it!  It is actual food, not cafeteria food. I crave rice and beans at meal time now, it is awesome. They have a few main dishes, a ton of fresh fruit and pretty much anything else you can think of.  Today I had shishkabobs-pork chicken and beef- with fresh fruit salad, some random fruit, rice, and guarana (Brazilian soda) of course! Love it!

Sao Paulo is crazy. We are on the 6th floor, highest, and it is nuts.  Huge building and little favelas as far as the eye can see in every direction.   Oh and we went to the temple this morning, that was way cool.  It looked beautiful!  It is in the middle of this massive city jungle place and it is just awesome.  Our Branch President works there too so we got to see him and his wife.  On the way back we saw some big favela and a lot of jungle and a lot-a lot of city.  It is about an hour drive.     

So the Portuguese is coming along better but I don't have the time to study words and grammar like I want to.  But that is because I am talking with a bunch of Brazilians who teach me new words and correct me!  And they all want to learn English so it is a win-win situation.  Especially at meal time, you pick some Brasileiros, sit down, and enjoy!

Sounds like everything is crazy there! Like always!  I can't believe Ashley is finished with school tomorrow, weird.  She will be graduating when I return!  And your calling sounds awesome mom!  You might have to come down and teach in Relief Society here!  I could translate if you would like.  Which reminds me, the one thing I miss about Provo is the devotionals.  We watched a DVD here, still good, but not the same.    

I am glad everyone enjoyed their phone calls last week!  It was hard keeping everyone together in the airport and calling everyone, but it was fun and well worth it. That sounds like a good project for Ashley, we will all like that!  I wish there was something that could be done for Tobias.  Poor little guy, he will be missed.  Can you send me a picture of him per chance?  I have one with Lucy in the background but that is it.

Well I am about to go wander the city  for p-day, you know, go to the post office, get some food, buy shampoo and some other things. All so awesome!  Another thing I love, they have everything over here! Could you look something up called Mr. Cheney's Cookies?  People get mail and stuff through that.  I am sorry I don't have more time! There was a lot to read and little time to write!

Love you all, don't worry about me, and watch out for each other.  I am being obedient; I just have to patient with the Lord's work and language now.

Love you all!

Bradley's Arrival in Sao Paulo

Bradley flew to the MTC in Sao Paulo on Wednesday May 18.  First he flew to the Detroit, Michigan airport where he had a couple hours to wait till he headed down to Brazil. Bradley arrived in Brazil at about 6:30 am (Brazil time) on Thursday. We don't have much more information on what happened from there but we know he made it safely to the MTC. Bradley's Mission President sent over a picture of all the missionaries (including Bradley). We think Bradley's p-day will be Tuesday or Wednesday and we cannot wait to hear from him! Of course his mailing address has changed so please send all letters to Bradley's address below. The cost to send a regular letter to Brazil is 98 cents. We will get more information on where to send packages and bigger items soon.

Elder Bradley J. Dawson

Brazil Porto Alegre South Mission

Brazil Missionary Training Center

Rua Padre Antonio D'Angelo, 121

Casa Verde

02516-040 Sao Paulo - SP

Brazil

May 16, 2011

Haha,

You mean,

Oi Elder Dawson,

Yes, I am still an elder! I'm glad my little prank worked, but you almost hung up on me when I called with flight information! I am SO excited to fly out! I have a bunch of pass along cards and a Book of Mormon ready! And when we get to Sao Paulo I am totally making contacts left and right. Ha, I guess I might be able to call from both airports, we will see. And I do not have Ashley’s cell phone number but that would be fun to call her too.  Please talk to Brother Merrell to make sure it is alright!! About Dad's letter, I never got it through 'dear elder’; it was like an email confirmation thing on my email. Oh well.

I am sick of correcting spelling and grammatical errors so from here on out, I’m sorry.

I will be sending home a lot of pics soon! They are missing some funny moments from the past few days, but they are still good. Thank you for giving my new address to everyone. I don't even know what my address will be! But, yes my schedule has changed with my leaving Wednesday. Today was supposed to be p-day but they have a whole in-field orientation thing today...all day. It is slow moving, but good. It is mostly telling the Elders and Sisters not to do anything stupid and how to make contacts so far. Tomorrow will be my new p-day, but that doesn’t mean a second letter ;). I don't know how I am going to fit everything back into my luggage! And do a 24 hour flight! Haha!  I have a plan for not watching the movie, so it will be okay. Besides, there is plenty of Portuguese for me to learn still, and we are never done learning about the gospel.  The second we think that we have got it, is the second that we give up.

So I guess 30 something Elders got their visas this week. There will be 19 of us flying out Wednesday morning. I am a travel leader so we will see how that goes. There are only 3 elders not leaving from my district, Elder Lambrachsten (companino), Elder Claudio, and Elder Perkes. They are awesome guys but I guess there is something for us to learn wherever we are. There are about 8 Elders at the MTC here that will be in my mission. I am pretty sure I am the only one not from Utah.  It is ridiculous how many are from here.

About Sister -----, she is still having some problems; it looks like she will have to go home. She has trigerminal neuralgia. What can you tell me about that? It was the SADDEST thing this Sunday. We were in a going away fireside and I was sitting next to her, all of a sudden she started having a lot of pain to the point of tears. I was so close to bawling my eyes out, I practically did. I know God has a plan for her and this may be a trial. I trust in His plan, but that doesn't mean we can't pray and fast. I started a fast immediately. It is just crazy. She was so nice and sweet after too. She was smiling ear to ear and acting like nothing happened. I told her that she needs to do whatever it takes to get better, after all, she has the life after and the millennium to do all the missionary work she can. She really liked that. I hope she gets better.

Oh man, books books books. I don't know how I am going to pack it all! My backpack is going to be filled to the brim. I have grammatical books, conjugational books, pronunciation and then a copy of everything I have in English in Portuguese! Ah! We will see though. I guess we actually get more weight than we thought, like 70 lbs or something.

Sounds like the whole Stugo situation is going well! Let me know how everything goes and Ashley’s decisions about prom.

I am starting to run out of time because I had to read your emails so this will be short.

Tell Ashley that if she wants I have several elders that would enjoy letters ;).  I haven't found anybody worthy yet...or if I ever will, I don't know. Torrin's letter was great! I enjoyed it! Keep 'em coming!

I will have to address things later on the phone, but it was good getting your emails/ letters and thank you!

Really quick, give this to Kyle:

I would prepare by reading the Book of Mormon and focusing on charity: the pure love of Christ. Focus on His values and principles.

Effective missionaries need to work work work. It is not your two years, it is the Lord’s.

My life is infinitely better because of serving. All decisions are made by the spirit and who knows what is better for us more that God.

I love you all

I know that God listens to our prayers and that Christ has felt everything we feel. Everything. Keep up the prayers and fasting for the people of Brazil and sister ------ and talk to ya Wednesday!

Ciao voces amo,

Elder Dawson

May 9, 2011

Boa Tarde!!

Sorry it is so late!! I have been writing letters all day! I just hope they "stay up to par". Things are going great here! We got to go to the temple this morning and did a 6:50 session...early, but good! It has been raining all day here. Utah is bi-polar! It snowed last week...everywhere, it was gone by the end of the day; it was hot a few days ago (by hot I mean nice), and now it is raining all day! Make up your mind!

 But things are great, really. I am learning so much and we have an appointment with our "investigator" Helena and her daughter Paloma tonight...in an hour actually. We are going to finish the first lesson and I have got the first vision down in Portuguese so this will be fun. You just can't let fear be a factor. Fear does not allow the spirit to teach through you. So, I know what I know, and that's all I need to know for now and the spirit will do the rest. If you could pray for Helena and Paloma that would be great, tonight we are asking her to pray about Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, and if the spirit directs, baptism too. I feel like we might have a date tonight.

As far as my visa goes...no news yet, keep up the prayers though! Try praying for Brazil and their consulate? Elder Bennett and Johnston will be leaving tomorrow morning with 3 elders from another district. The lord can do what he wants with his missionaries, if I need to be in a holding mission in St. George for 6 months, fine by me. I could fly to Sao Paulo though, after a week maybe. We will see.

I have gotten to see Parker a few times actually! We got a picture together in front of that giant map yesterday too. On his camera though, we will grab another. Everyone is doing fabulous! The language comes hard for some. Please pray for them to get past this trial!  As for my Portuguese, Irmao Jones told me I was the best in the class yesterday! Jones got back from his mission in Joaa Passoa 7 months ago and before that he lived in Brazil for 3 years because his dad was a mission president there. I love that guy, Irma Halverson too. He is actually from Ahwatukee...or however you spell it. He is there right now. Please keep them in your prayers; they are great guys and the reason we learn Portuguese so fast (them and the Lord of course).

Elder Baldree is gone??  But I am glad that they are all doing well, they were great examples to me before I left. Make sure you get that to them please.

Amanda gave you a mother's day card?! Wow! She really is trying to take my place in the family huh!? Haha! That is awesome though. I know she will be reading this so here it is: Go for it Amanda! I dare you! But just remember, I still have that little eraser monkey and bad things will happen to him if things don't go my way... Just kidding! But I do still have it.

I am glad everyone likes their letters, I know I love mine! Sorry if there are a lot of misspellings in them...I don't know how to spell in English anymore, just Portuguese! Awesome! And I just want everyone to know this... Mom just wrote me and said that I am "the best letter writer!" Boom! And you can't go back out, so I will retire as champion! I am glad you liked my mother's day card Mom, meant every word. And I knew it was a birthday card! I just liked it so much....

Happy mother's day to all those females in the family! Sorry if I didn't put that in my letters! 

Tell Uncle Ron “Hi” if he is still there! Ron, Pablo, Dad, and I will have to go scuba diving right when I get back! Tell Pablo that I am deeply sorry for him. This is the Lord's plan for him and anything is possible. He will be in my prayers continually.

Daniel told me about going to Disneyland, that is crazy! That is awesome though. D-land was my favorite. Everyone is way jealous of my Mickey Mouse apron too! They all want it soo bad. Tell Daniel to come to our garage and look for the magical boot; I think you know what I mean. 

Parabéns Kyle!! Legal! (lay-gow, it means cool) It won't be too long before he is out here! Quit your crying Aunt Stacy ;)!

I'm glad she enjoyed the letter (Ashley). Tell her to be expecting about 5 more from some new missionary buddies of mine! I joke, I joke!....maybe.

I heard about Sam, that is awesome! I am jealous! I actually got a small note-letter thing from him in the mail the other day. Can you get me his address??

All the little things are going great! Laundry is a piece of cake...when all the machines are working. And we shined our shoes yesterday!

And Dad, my room was always clean!...before Ashley would come in and mess it up every morning! But we actually got "exalted" on our room last week! So no need to worry about me, all is well here. I dominate 4-square, just for the record. The Polies grip the ball, so do the Orientals, but I give it right back. I think I actually beat Daniel's record, but I didn't count. But the field just opened up so we have started playing sand V-ball!! I love it!

The language is going great and the church is still true :)

Thank you everyone for the letters! I love them! Oh and pictures! I love love love pictures!

I don't remember if I said this last week but: I know our Savior loves us. He didn't just experience our sins but sorrow, anxiety, and heartbreak too. I like to believe that he was able to feel our good experiences too, those of joy and conversion. My goal is to bring His Brothers and Sisters to the truth and limit His suffering. This is my work. He does not till the vineyard alone, not anymore. He has a divine love I wish to acquire.

 Love you all,

Elder Dawson

May 2, 2011

Hey there!

Wow, I don't know where to begin even. I have 30 minutes to talk about so much. Could you please send your emails through "dearjohn.com" while I am still in the MTC? That way I will be able to have them in front of me then start writing instead of reading and thinking then writing in 30 minutes.

I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well! Things are very exciting and busy here as well. I got to see Parker the other day actually, it's great seeing guys that I grew up with doing this too! We were lucky to have each other to look after. I thought you would like the schedule. It doesn’t sound like a lot...but it is. Haha, And I am still working on coming up with a name for my chair and desk.

Thank you so much for the fast and all of your prayers! I can feel them and they are such a big help. I had a fast too. It was for the well being of the people of Brazil- that their hearts may be softened and prepared, and for Elder -----, he has been having an extra hard time with the language and it is bringing his morale down. I decided that I have lived an exceptionally blessed life and others need the blessings more than I do, If you could, next time please include the people of Brazil in your fast...as for the visa, keep fasting and praying for that everyday :).

Mom that is the coolest calling ever!! You are helping in a marvelous work, we are the Lord's arm and mouth; He utilizes us as much as we let him. I am so excited that you get to be doing some missionary work too!! There is no greater thing.

Tell the kids (Miley, Alexander and Anya) to start saying "voce amo" I love you.

Wow!! That is crazy news about Bin Laden! And very awesome! I also heard about the crazy mile wide tornadoes in the south? Is that right? It's funny, we live in such a secure place that we forget about the outside world. And that is fine by me; I only need one thing to focus on right now.

Oh how fun the Father and Sons outing sounded!! The restoration of the priesthood has been a topic around here as well. That and Christ, with Easter and everything. And guess who came and talked to us Tuesday night?!?! Elder Dallin H. Oaks came and addressed us, him and his wife. It was so amazing. An actual apostle came to speak to us. That's how magnificent and wonderful this work is. He discussed many things, I wish I could just send you all of my notes and journal entries, I can't remember anything! He spoke on being an effective missionary and the MTC president spoke on repentance, both amazing talks.

As for needing anything, I am fine! I went and got some chips and salsa today to eat while I wrote, but if there is anything I could have, it would be a visa and caffeinated coca cola! This stuff just doesn't cut it, haha. Joking!..kinda.

So there is so much I could write about, but again I only have 30 minutes. So there is just one thing I would like to mention, this has been on my mind a lot lately. Divine Love: In John 3:16 we learn of the God's love for us and His Only Begotten. He knew of the Atonement and what His son must endure and suffer, but He loves us and the Son so much that He let it be. I have been focusing on being more charitable, which is having the pure love of Christ, sounds impossible, I know. But in John 17:21 and 22 we learn that we may become one in spirit and purpose with God our Father and Jesus Christ, our Brother. We must continually pray for the desire of this Love and pretend as if the Savior is walking into every room with us. It is important to note that the Atonement was a very personal thing between us and our Savior. He not only felt our sins, but every moment of anxiety, fear, and sorrow. By having unyielding love towards our brothers and sisters we may gain charity, I want to say so much more but I've got to answer a few questions in less than 2 minutes. So I know that God loves all of us and we can return to Him, through the Atonement of our Savior and Brother. I love this gospel.

So to answer a few Q's: My comp Elder Lambrechsten is from Riverside Utah, He is a great guy!

We have 9 elders in our district, no sisters. We are all visa waiters. 3 just got theirs though. Keep praying for that!

About to be kicked off, Love you bye!

Another Letter from Bradley!

So our schedule got switched around and we now have p-day on Mondays! So here I go with my second letter in a few days. Oh and I had to get a TDAP shot because although the outside world says they are good for 10 years, the MTC says they are good for 5. So I paid for that and am going to be sending you an order form to bill the insurance company.

Let's see, I last wrote you Saturday...So yesterday was amazing, I could not wait for sacrament meeting, it already feels like I have been here for an eternity and I just wanted to take the sacrament! I felt like I was missing something. It was so awesome, I love being able to act in Christ's name and take upon myself the responsibility and blessing of representing Him. But sacrament meeting is a little strange too...everyone is a little worried because everyone has to write a talk and they will call two random missionaries to speak that week! But after Sacrament meeting we had some study time and a temple walk. It was amazing! It was such a nice day, cool, the sun was out, you could feel the spirit, and the grounds were flooded with missionaries! Nothing better! I took some pictures, just don't be surprised if there are about 100 Polynesians in the back of every picture, they have a fascination with hopping it peoples pics...we have something in common, I jumped in a lot too haha. For dinner that night we had, no chicken cordon bleu, but ham with mashed potatoes and gravy, SO good! I guess they only do the famous chicken cordon bleu once a month. But after some more studying we had a fireside where Irmao Allen spoke, head of missionary something. He is also in charge of all of those funny LDS commercials you see. He showed us some for way back in the day and it's funny because at the end it just says "THE MORMONS" hah! But he gave a great talk on loving your companion and the 4 steps to doing something. 1: the honeymoon 2: the hostile 3: the grin and bear it and 4: the acceptance and re-adjustment. It is so true; I think just about every missionary went through this. But after that we had film night and we got to watch the Joseph Smith movie which is my favorite, No man, except Christ himself, has done as much for the Lord's gospel as him. I look at my challenge ahead, and this can apply to anyone, and think "This is the least I can do, Look at Brother Joseph". He was such an inspiring man, not once did he waver or take any credit for himself; he put God first in all things. I hope to be like him with my teaching, him and Christ.

So this morning we got to go to the temple! First of all- the Provo temple is gigantic, it is crazy how much bigger it is than the mesa temple. Anyways, the session was pretty much all missionaries and it was amazing, as always. You can feel the spirit so strong there, it truly is the house of the Lord, you can feel his presence there constantly, like he is sitting there with you, constantly pulling you into His embrace, I can't wait for next Monday when we get to go again. When we were leaving the temple it was raining pretty hard, we would have got drenched for sure, but elder Claudio, Lambrechsten, Perkes and I said a prayer asking that we would be safe running back, because we thought we had to run and didn't want to die running down the hill in the rain. As soon as we opened our eyes from the prayer, the rain had stopped; there was a light mist and nothing else. The Lord truly does answer our prayers, we just asked for safety, but He brought us complete protection. It's funny, we are completely surrounded by the spirit every day and we watch ourselves progress in the language miraculously, but it is something else to watch the Lord work a miracle right in front of you like that. After that we went to the copy room and got some things- irregular verb chart with all the different tenses, hymn book reference from English to Portuguese, and I got my schedule copied so I could send that home to you. I know you will love that, mom. I dare you to try and follow my schedule for one day!

So we have been exhausted and I have got a cold now. I think I have figured out why. When Joseph Smith came back from seeing the Lord and His Son, he fell on his bed and passed out, we read about this happening all the time to different prophets, look at Amon. The same thing happens to us, our enthusiasm keeps us going, but we are in constant connection with the Holy Ghost and our Father's spirit, this fatigues the body greatly. But we must have faith and go on. Mexico sounds super fun, Mom I know you told Brandon not to brag about it in his letter but let's be honest, that was never going to stop him, tell me all about it!

I am about to be kicked out so a quick story. The first night Elder Lamb and I were teaching this really rough guy about God's love and hope. Well he said "now I’m ballin and fallin!" Look that up in the book of Ebonics chapter 47. Elder Lamb then pulls out his bible and says, “What book was that again??" We all loved it.

I love you all, and I love the Lord. I know that Christ Atoned for all of our sins and that through him anything is possible. Remember that he felt all of our troubles, anxiety, stress and all, I love you all so much, don't worry I am safe.

Ciao

Elder Dawson

Bradley's First Letter!

Today Bradley sent his first letter home! 

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Dear Family and Friends,

Wow! Where to begin?? Well I only have 30 minutes to do this so don't stress if it isn't "up to par".

I loved everything that you sent me! The letters were inspiring. Once Bentz dropped me off, I went into the main office and they gave me everything I needed. I was then taken to my room to drop everything off, and no Mom, we did not get to unpack and hang everything up then, ha. The rest of the day we spent getting introduced to Portuguese and missionary work. That night we had different role playing situations in which there were 3 rooms and in each room it was a different setting. We were told to get to know the investigator to realize how far he was on his spiritual journey and then teach him what we felt prompted to. The last room had the roughest and toughest guy, he actually cursed...that's when I was beginning to worry. Elder Lambrechsten, my companion, and I were the ones who knocked on his door and taught him and it was easy talking to him, but he was ignorant. But we got through to him! Ever since then we have been learning the language and doctrine, intermixed, 24/7.

The first day we were told to make sure we write home before Sunday...I'm sorry I haven't done that but I have literally had no time, EVEryTHING is planned out. By the first night we were praying in Portuguese. Because of the Spanish that I do know I am able to understand a lot, but things are still different so I don't dare say any of it out loud, Spanish plagues Portuguese. I will come up blank and know the word in Spanish but I dare not say it. Yesterday, as my companion and I were writing our talks for Sunday, some Spanish sisters, or Irmaos, came up to us and began teaching us a lesson. They have been here for 3 weeks and I was correcting their Spanish and reading all of the scriptures they wanted me to...I have since decided to not accept a lesson from any Spanish missionaries, it is too conflicting to try and learn Portuguese and have Spanish on the tip of my tongue. Portuguese is similar to Spanish in some ways, but completely different in others. For instance, a "di or de" makes a "gee" sound. It is really a beast of its own. There is a lot of accent. Oh and "m's" are never pronounced hardly, instead you never close your mouth and make a kind of nasal sound. It is hard to explain.

The food is pretty good too. And the cookies are TO DIE FOR! Especially the sugar cookies, we get as much as we want. Today, for lunch, we had burgers, fries, chocolate milk, a banana, cookies (of course), and something else that I can't remember. But you don't have to worry Mom, I’m being well fed. We met our branch presidency last night...or 2 nights ago, it is hard to remember. But they were great, I love them. They really are inspired. We have to have a talk prepared for every Sunday; they will call 2 missionaries at random...yikes. Since we are new, our talks can be in English for 1 to 2 weeks, and then it's all Portuguese!

My teachers are Irmao Halverson e Irmao Jones. Irmao Jones lived in Brazil for 3 years with his family, his dad was a mission president, and then served in Brazil. So he speaks the best Portuguese, we are lucky to have him. We will be in class for 3 to 4 hours at a time and it feels like 30 minutes. This is the big mystery of the MTC. You feel like the day takes weeks but the days go by so fast (credit to Daniel). It really is crazy.

We just got back from gym time and now we have a half p-day. So I figured this would be a great time to right! In gym time I played volleyball the first day then lifted some the next day. The workout equipment is terrible...that’s what pushups are for I guess. Today we played 4 square and it is easily the best!! It is a rivalry between the "espanmal" elders and the Portuguese elders. They have experience on us but I am confident we will beat them.

So we were challenged to memorize our purpose in English by Sunday but my companion and I have got it down in Portuguese and English!! Now the First vision...that is a daunting thought. Well I am running out of time so_

I love you all so much and I know that I am doing the Lord's will. He has so many children out there that are so lost. That is why I am here. To contain the fullness of his Gospel and show the people of Brazil that God loves them. If I have charity, the pure love of Christ, I can understand them and feel the Savior's love for them. In that moment the spirit will testify to me what I must teach them. I love you all so much and Am grateful that you were given to me. Please keep up the prayer's I need them and Feel them.

Ciao Ciao

Elder Dawson

Reporting to the MTC in Utah

Bradley left for the MTC early this morning and was sent on his way with lots of tears, hugs and love. We will miss him very much but we know he will be a great missionary.

Here are some pictures we took this morning to mark this journey in his life. 

Elder Dawson off to preach the gospel.