another crazy week

So this week was pretty crazy. 

 

From Chapecó (where I am right now) to Florianopolis. (Where I need to go to the mission meetings) is 11 hours on a bus. On tuesday i went to Florianopolis. On Thursday i came back. haha and both the buses were at night which means that i didn~t sleep this week because monday was the transfer and I was getting elders at the bus station all night. But it was a great meeting with Presidente Fernandes and this area is really special. 

 

We have marked 3 baptisms this week. That is crazy. How many baptisms did I mark in 8 months in Sao Fransisco? .... 2. haha it is really strange to have people accepting us and accepting baptism. I actually don~t really know what to do. hahaha

 

My new companion is a really good Elder. He is a little hard in his leadership style but he is a great leader and wants to help the missionaries. He teaches well and is obedient. I think he is the best zone leader that I have seen all in all. I was a little offended by that at first because I am a prideful jerk who wanted to be better than him.I was a little rebelious in the beginning but then Heavenly Father gave me a little inspiration. He told me that This might be the last time on my mission that I have a chance to sit back and learn from someone. It has been 9 months since I have had a companion with more time than me on the mission and might be the last. So I should enjoy the time and the chance to learn. After I learned that I started having better feelings for him. 

 

Yesterday we had an incredible experience here. The branch President asked us to do a presentation called Project: Chapecó Temple. That is a little strange because here only has a district and hasn~t even turned stake but he asked us to do this. Then He moved back to Sao Paulo. My companion who was planning it all with me was transfered and one of the sisters who had a significant part was also transfered. All one week before the fireside. Leaving ME with all the responsibilty of something that I had recieved second hand. haha I prayed and fasted for help and we worked a lot to practice and perform well. 

 

We borrowed computers from members and a projector from another area (4 hours away another story and another miracle) and we got ready. We prayed and it turned out great. 

 

My companion was fantastic in envolving the crowd and the members got into the practices we did with them and the fireside had an incredible spirit that you could see in the eyes of the members as they left. I am so excited to see what happens here. I know that one day there will be a temple here. We just need to work more. 

 

It was such a strong testimony of the power of grace. We did all we could and Heavenly Father made up the rest. We couldn~t have done that fireside as well as we did alone. It just ins~t possible. we don~t have the skills or the resources but the members helped and Heavenly Father sent a special spirit to the meeting that was incredible. 

 

I love being a missionary. It is something so special. 

 

 

Just a little comment here. Our district is great. We have 4 great elders and 2 great sisters that are all hard workers and very spiritual. It is so fun to be part of a district like that. They are funny and we can laugh and learn and have a great time together. They were fantastic in the presentation and afterward we had a little party with cinnamon rolls (made by me) and there was just a special feeling when 6 righteous people are together to do something good. 

 

Well thank you all for everything that you do. For your prayers and for your thoughts. 

 

Love you all,

 

Wright

October 22, 2012

Well I just got a call from the President telling me that I will be going to Chapeco.

 

So this week was kind of crazy with lots of made plans and fallen trough plans lots of contacts and some bright spots of progress with investigators. The highlight of the week was making cinnamon rolls with My companion and then making them bymyself  the next day for a family night. It was so cool to have members like them and things like that. I love cooking! haha unfortunately all the things I bought to help myself out here will have to be packed up because I was transfered.....

 

When the General Authority Elder Godoy came here he talked to us about two side of missionaries. The attributes side and the tactics side. That every missionary has these two sides the attributes to be like Christ and the Tactics to teach. I have thought a lot about that. As I read the book of Mormon I see that Moroni was so impressive because he understood the two sides. He had the attributes, but more importantly he understood that attributes are more impórtant than tactics. The lord rewards us based on our attributes. As moroni Prespared for war he put the attributes first. But he was also tactically brillant. He worked on the tactics and with inspiration he used tactics never before used. He was amazing.

 

I want to be like that. I want to have the Christ like attributes to see and help people and have the tactics to get things done.

 

I love you lots. I am so greatful for the prayers that you say for me. I am greateful that I have such a wonderful family that is truly faithful. I see so many problems here with kids because the parents don~t love each other or because the parents are more interested in themselves than the welfare of the family. I am so greatful for you two.

 

Thank you so much for everything.

 

Wright

 

Hey so I tried to make bread this morning lets see how it works out:)

So for the first time I will be leaving the Brazilian Coast. I was transfered to a small town in another state (Rio Grande do sul) called vacaria. So we will see how it goes. I know my companion already. He is from my group and has had a hard time so far on the mission. SO pray that I will be able to help the branch and also be able to help the missionary as well.

It is so odd to leave an area. I only had 6 weeks here but I love these people already. It is so great to be a missionary because you feel a love for everyone. But the hard part is that you are always coming and going. I guess life is kind of like that but that doesn~e make it any easier.

We had the stake dance festival here in our ward and had 3 investigators and 1 less active member that came to watch which was super fun. The youth did a great job and it was super fun to see everyone just excited about being in the church. Especially when it was competely modest and appropriate. It was so great.

I never know what to say in these emails.... haha sorry but it is so true.

I am glad that someone came to look at the truck. I hope it all went well. I have been a little stressed about everything this week. Mostly due to the fact that my life is completey blank after june of 2013. haha I have so many loose ends and sometimes they all come back to stress me out. But that is part of faith right. Knowing nothing more than God will help and moving forward.

My companion(who is just trained) will go back to San Fransisco  (where I just left) so he wil get to teach all the people that I taught there and will get to help in the growth of the church. He will be great there.

Well I love you all. I feel like time is passing really quickly right now. I hope we all make the best of it:)

Love Elder Noel

9-17-2012

Hey mom/dad so this week was a good week. 

 We had the chance to talk to a lot of people in their houses which is kind of rare here. haha and Heavenly Father opened doors for us that I never thought we would be able to get into. Please pray that we might be able to help these people as they grow in the Church. 

 The highlight of the week was that we had the chance to sit next to Leandro in church. Leandro is a man who two years ago was involved pretty deeply in international drug trafficking. He left and started going to churches but was a little confused as to why there are so many churchs and why so many talk about money so much. He saw us taking a break outside his house and asked if we wanted water. we said no and then he asked if we wanted an orange, you know me mom I never accept food from other people but I said sure and he cut up some oranges and told us his story. we marked a lesson and visited him with a member. 

 That was two weeks ago. This week he came to church for the first time. As the choir sung (As sisters in zion and Well bring the world his truth,) he told his story to the member and his wife as tears rolled down his face. He cried for the whole church meeting. It was something so powerful that reminded me that there is so much more than us. We as missionaries are pretty much nothing. We cant speak well. we are uneducated and we are immature. But as Heavenly Father helps us we can see miracles in the lives of his children. 

 I am increasinlgy horrified but the focus that the mission puts on Baptism. It worries me alot. I know we need to baptise people but is that really our Goal? Peter invited people to be baptized only after they had gained a testimony that Christ was the Messiah. Christ and his apostles baptised those who wanted to follow him. John baptised those who believed his words. Shouldn~t that be the first step? Testimony? Baptism comes after testimony. I dont know how to see this focus on baptism. It scares me but at the same time I see it as almost a necessary evil. Are we as missionaries ready to recieve the doutrine of teach for testimony and baptise the repentant? I don~t know. But that is how I teach and how I work.

 I love you guys I pray for you and for all that you do to help other people and to help me. 

 

 

 

Well this week we found some cool people to teach. The work is starting up here which is cool to see and fun to watch the members get excited about the work. I always have fear to invite members to our lessons because sometimes they think they know better than us how to teach. Wchich ends up being a head ache.... but it is fun to see how exctied they get afterward. 

The bishop told us about his missino and how he didn~t get up at 630 ever. That he always got up´ before to study or read. That is a pretty interesting thought. I am thinking about starting my day a little earlier.... 

 

Recently I have had several members tell us about reading the BOM and how fast they read it. Or how many times they read it on the Mission. Do you know how many times I will read the BOM before the end of my mission. NOT ONCE. I am in Alma 30 and started in the MTC reading slowly and studying the book Marking who is speaking and where and why drawing maps and things. I have started to understand so much more. I learn things as I understand WHO is talking to who and why. I have gained a new appreciation for Mormon. It is mostly his insights that we have in the book or mormon. I love his perspective. The way he talks about events and the way things happen. Little words here and there show how he understood and knew our Heavenly Father. 

 

As of late my understanding of study has changed. We dont study to read the BOM or the BIble. We read to know GOD (John 17:3) I get so frustrated with people (members non members and missionaries a like) who know the scriptures but don~t know God. IT is so sad. They have gained a telestial knowlege through telestial study. As we study and write with the intent to use the books not as manuals for obediance but rather as sources of knowlege designed to change behavior we start to understand and apply in a celestial way.

 

But enough preaching. This week was good. I am tired and ready to rest. haha There are a ton of hills here and I need to change my eating because my waist is smaller now than when I left home. haha

 

Love you guys

 

 

 

 

What a week filled with tears.

Monday in the branch We had a family home evening/ say goodbye to Elder Noel where the branch President asked everyone to write a little note to me. It is these little things that really give us rewards. Those pieces of paper don~t have value to me. They are literally invaluable. I love these people so much.

There was one girl who lives in a family all alone. I believe she is the only sane person in her house. And the note she wrote about finding strength was so touching that it changed the way I looked at myself.

Tuesday I left in the morning and half the brach came to the bus station to say goodbye again and the sang a song. I cried and hugged everyone.

So tuesday I got here and Wednesday I met my companion. He is from São Paulo. He is cool and is well prepared and ready to work. We are going to do miracles here I know it. The Ward Mission Leader here is so good and the bishop is great. I have no doubt that the ward here is going to start to grow.

This week since we know nothing about the area or the members or the work we just started working. We talked to 202 people from wednesday to yesterday and were able to teach 2 lessons. But one of them was with an amazing man. His name is Fabio and he accepted our message because he is doing his doctorate in English and wanted to speak english. So I taught him in English. He is gay. He said that he wants to change but he doesn~t know how. He wants to have a family but he just doesn~t feel attracted to women. He asked why he was made so wrong why God would deny him that privelege here on earth. It was so eye opening to me. That this man saw homosexuality as a burden. We invited him to stake conference and he came. He liked it and he said he would start reading the book of mormon. He is amazing and I am so excited to help him change his life.


He asked me what sucess for me would be with him. If he started frequenting would that be sucess or if he was reading or what? It was such a deep question. What is sucess to me?  Where am I taking my investigators? Why am I working with them? It was pretty introspective.

This was a hard week for me. To show up in an area all alone in a small area divided in 2 smaller areas and just having to work. At having 4 missionaries and having less of a chance to impress members. I felt a little overwhelmed a little cramped and a little mad at President for doing this. I had some talks with my Heavenly Father about this. I got such a new perspective. I was actually kind of slapped in the face. I felt this `where is your faith, do you  think that President just put you there because he wanted to?`  I was a little taken aback. Then I just thought ok lets go. Started singing Gosple rock and reading my Book of Mormoin. I love that book. It helps so much.

I am going to start to try working in a different manner here. Not to please anyone but to work to find the right people. Not to make numbers but to find the people prepared to hear us. I dont want to waste anymore time with people who don~t want to listen. I am going to try and start working in a more celestial manner. It will be so hard to let go of that Pride factor of hey I teach lots of lesson and just have my work between me and my Heavenly Father.

I love you guys so much.


Wright

So my companion was emergency transfered out of the area after he had 2 little mini seizures on the street. Pretty interesting. Luckily we had 2 other missionaries with us so we were able to keep him from falling down but still a little interesting. 

My new companion is also a short term missionary who is living in the state and waiting to go on his full time mission. He is cool and we will get a long well. These last three weeks in the area will go fast. 

This week we had a little miracle with Kelly and Valdo (the family from my time with Elder Grondel) she cooled off and then recently has started wanting more. After a few lessons we made some promesses about things that we would each do (her, me my companion and her husband) to help her get a testimony. After little progess we had a lesson with her on saturday night where i felt impressed to stress the importance of quiet prayer with the book of Mormon. I told her to go into her room and read and pray quietly to get a testimony. 

The next morning before church we stopped by and talked to her and she told us that she had done what we asked and that she just opened the book randomly to Alma 5 (haha) and started to read. She read vs 40 That says that everything good comes from God and everything bad comes from the Devil. She took that to mean that she needs to follow a church. She just needs to have a stronger confirmation that THIS church is the church that she needs to follow. Pray for her she is so close!!!

Ademar and Adainane got all their papers ready and are going to start the marriage papers today!!! I hope I am still her for the wedding!!!  

Next week we will get a new branch presidente I think i know who it will be (he was the only one called to the stake offices yesterday... hmmmm) and he will be great. We will do miracles with him. 

The work here is going great:)

This week I read in alma 17 about the mission of the sons of Mosiah. They were told by the Lord to go a preach the word of God.And after the lord said be patient in your suffering to give a good example of me to the lamanites. How important is a good example? we remember that in alma 24 the anit-nephi-lehites were examples of suffering even unto death and they just from the example converted thousands of their bretheren. I want to be a better example of Christ this next year. 

Love you all hope all is well,

Wright

Ok so this week was exciting. 

Wednesday we went to eat lunch at the house of Roberto. He made some french fries for us and we were eating a delicious lunch when his wife asked him to make some more fries for the daugter who was coming to eat lunch. She put the pan of oil on the stove and told him about it. 

We were eating and talking and he (we, but really him because it is his house) forgot about it. Then he remembered and went in to find the oil on fire. So we were opening the windows and clearing the house as he put a lid on the pan and the fire went out. I went into the kitchen to see how it was and he took the lid off the pan. The pan started to smoke and he grabbed it to take it outside. As he was walking to the door it caught fire again and as he moved the oil spilled onto his hand and arm. As he let the pan go the oil (now spread out in the air) caught fire in a big fire ball.

At this point Elder Noel is in disbelief that this is happening right before his eyes and doesn~t really know what to do. 

The brother was more worried about his autistic son who had followed him into the kitchen and was right by his side when the pan caught fire. I grabbed the boy and carried him out of the kitchen as the sister called the ambulance. The brother went into the bathroom and was about to put water on his arm when I remembered that oil burns shoudn~t be put directly under water (or thats what I thought I couldn~t quite remember my first aid merit badge) Anyways I yelled Não água!!! (Water no! ) and ran into the bathroom and wrapped a towel around his arm. Then we soaked the towel in water and wrapped it around his arm. 

Anyways he is fine now with 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his hand and arm but he is recovering well. His autistic son was only burned by 3 drops of oil that fell on his hand. That is it. Only 3 drops of oil. Heavenly Father was watching. I saw that pan explode. It was like a movie his whole body was covered in fire and the son that was right next to him was unharmed. 

So I with 2 bus accidents, 1 severe burning and various epileptic seizures from my companion (5 and counting) this area is hands down the most exciting area on the mission. haha

Oh Kelly and Valdo, who I talked about when I was here with Elder Grondel decided to start investigating the church again!! We made some goals yesterday with her so that she could get a testimony. (Just as a side note her husband said he had a dream with `the prophet` where I and the prophet walked in and knelt down and started praying for Kelly. I thought he dream about president monson because he had seen a picture of him in the church. But i grabbed the gosple principles book and showed him a picture of the Prophets and said was it one of them? He looked and said it was this one and pointed to a picture of Presidente Hinkley!! He said but he was younger and didn~t have glasses. He had never seen a picture of him before and had no Idea who he was. But in the dream I and my companion (President Hinkley) walked in knelt next to Kelly who was laying on the bed and started praying for her. Cool huh! Pray that we can help her get a testemony. 

Well thanks for the love and the support. I love you all. It is great to be out here. 

Love,

Wright

P.S. this week our class of gosple principles with new members and in actives was bigger than the gosple doutrines class. people kept telling me congratulations but I felt bad because I feel like I havn~t really done a lot. More like I just received blessings from Heavenly Father. But either way the branch is growing!!! 

Attatched is a picture of my leg.....

To answer your question mom I have vitamins but I haven~t been taking them. I guess I should. I eat really healthy in general. I have lost weight since my first area and my body fat is down (bigger muscles I guess). I eat only whole wheat bread and have recently been buying chicken breasts and cooking them on Pday to eat during the week. I don~t really eat at night because we work from 1 in the afternoon until 9 at night and when I eat at night I get stomach aches so I just eat breakfast and lunch. Just letting you know that I am feeding myself and taking care of myself (exept for that little leg thing but that really wasn~t my fault)

Well not a whole lot of news this week. We started teaching some new people who have interest to get to know the church which is always good. We really have been guided to good people here. The people have more interest to know the church and to know what we are doing as missionaries.

I think this comes from a desire to be different from other churches. When we act just like other churches people dont~have a whole lot of interest to see our church. but when we explain our beliefs as a restored church we have more interest from people. That was hard for me. To look people in the eye and say that this church is THE restored Church of Jesus Christ. But when I got over that hump we started having more interest from people. 

It is really cool to see people who are getting to know this church as something different. 

I asked to stay another transfer here (that would make it from 28/1 until 15/8 that I stayed here. I hope president lets me stay. I love it here and the people are helping a lot. We are going to change branch Presidents here so I want to avoid loss of information. Everytime a switch happens we lose a little of the information and I want to avoid that with a transfer and a swap in presidents at the same time.

So pray that our president will be inspired in whatever he decides to do. 

I love you guys. Crazy to think that only 11 months and I will be home. Time goes so fast!

I love you!!!

Wright

A visit to the Dr.

So this week we went to Joinville (the biggest city in the state) that is about 1 hour away from our area. We had a zone meeting and then I was off to the hospital as the apparent bug bite on my leg continued to get worse. By wednesday my inner thigh was swollen from the knee to about 3/4 of the way up the leg and the bite opened and started to ooze blood. 

On the way to the hospital we got a call from the assitant that Elder Welling would be transfered to the other side of the state. 

I entered the hospital and was treated by a doctor who said that it really was an ingrown hair that got infected. He injected it with      some anestetic and used a pair of medical scissors to open it up and clean it out. Then he grabbed my leg and squeezed out the blood and whatever else was in there. 

So right now I have about a 2cm deep hole in my leg that oozes dries on my clothes and opens again when I move my legs. But i am on antibiotics and am doing great. Friday I stayed home and rested while my new companion unpacked his bags and rested from the 13 hour bus ride. I felt like a bad missionary but I got over it. haha

My new companion is Elder Aguiar from the state of Santa Catarina. He has Epilepsy and tried to go on a mission but wasn~t allowed to because of the medical situation and is doing a short term mission of 9 months here in the state. 

Our time together will be good for me. He has an interesting personality so my pacience will be growing. I am working with him now to get him to have more confidence in his abilities. These short term missionaries aren~t really trained by other missionaries and it shows that he doesn~t feel the same as other misionaries. We are working together to get him teaching and excited to work. He has a great spirit and we will do miracles here. 

Yesterday was the dedication of the Manaus Brazil temple. So we didn~t have sacrament meeting and got to watch the dedication. It was fantastic. It was really cool to see Elder Cook and President Uchtdorf outside of General Conference. They looked so Human. It was really cool to see that and understand that they are people too. They are great people but still people and they have their weaknesses and trials and feel uncomfortable too. I am so grateful for the chance I had to watch the dedication.

I am doing well. This new companion brings new challenges and opportunities. Chances for me to teach alone which I like a lot better than working with others and chances for me to show him his potential as a missionary.

I read a book about an LDS boy who did some crime and the victim of the crime was helping him to understand his worth with the phrase Eagles don~t eat worms. Reminding us that a majestic eagle doesn~t stoop to eat worms. Just like we shouldn~t settle for less in our lives. We are children of our Heavenly Father. It is something I hope that we can come to understand better together.

Remember Eagles Don~t eat worms.

Love,

Wright Noel

1/2 way point

This coming week will make one year since I left!!! Crazy how fast things move. Seems like not too much has changed there... lol.

Today I am a little sick. I think this comes from a bug bite that I have on my inner thigh. I got it friday night I think but yesterday It started hurting a lot and I noticed a red line leaving the circle of red around the bite. I called Sister Fernandes and explained (in portuguese) about this thing on my leg. She said it could be a parasite of some kind. A worm that enters your body and starts eating its way through your veins.... interesting huh? haha So today I will be talking to some kind of medical professional about this.

Hey have you guys ever heard of a film called Charly? It is made by a guy who is a member of the church and is a story about a girl who joins the church. Elder Welling and I watched it this week. It was good. If you guys can get your hands on it it is a good family film.

This week passed quickly. We found some new people to start teaching which is always a good thing. People with real promise. So we will be praying for them that we can help their families join the church.

Our branch president will move this month so it looks like we will be here for a branch presidency change. Which will be interesting because there are limited men who are qualified (by requirements) for the position and most of them have already served. There are lots of men here who recently returned to activity so the number of qualified priesthood holders is beginning to grow and this branch will be really strong soon.

Well I love you lots. Sorry this email wasn~t very interesting I am a little out of it today.

Love you,

Elder Noel

May 21st, 2012

Well I will be staying in São Fransisco for another transfer and my Companion will be..... Elder.... Welling. haha Two boys for the same state who arrived in Brazil on the same day staying 4.5 months together in the same area. haha Crazy

This week was a good week. Went by really fast and we survived another bus wreck. This one not nearly as bad but caused by another drunk driver driving the wrong way on the road. This time we were on a city bus so it is a good thing that we didn~t lose control or you would probably be getting this email from the mission office haha.

About 3 weeks ago Elder Welling and I prayed about which members we should visit to do a program with us like Elder Aiken did with our Family. We both felt like we should visit this family that is really weird and that is super uncomfortable to be around so we went to another family with plans to pass by this family one day. Yesterday we passed by this family and spent the first 15 minutes in the most awkward conversation with pauses pregnant with oitoplets. Finally we were able to break the ice and started talking to them. They hadn~t been to church in 3 weeks and expressed to us how happy they were that we had come. We were the first people to visit them in the three weeks that we had been away from the church. Isn~t it funny how the Lord knows who needs a visit? We didn~t even do the missionary program with them. Just shared a message and left. It was a really good experience. 

This next week we have the baptism of Vitoria. The family that Heavenly Father Showed us is progressing really well and despite a few hiccups in the logistical side of things we are really excited with them. We are trying to reactivate all 6 of his children and we need all the prayers and all the faith we can get to help us do this.

Oh in other news this week Elder Welling got a phone call that a package with his name on it got taxed.... he was waiting for one from his family so lets hope it wasn~t his from you guys that got taxed and sent back. haha Or else he will have one shoe... lol

Anyways love you guys lots the work is progressing here,

Love 

Elder Noel

May 14th, 2012

It was so good to talk to you guys!!

I miss you.I am convinced that talking to the family makes it worse more than it helps. haha but oh well.

So you worried me about my truck.... if the seat is torn now and the seatbelt doesn~t work anymore I am a little worried that it wont~get the value it wouldn have gotten when I was there. If that is the case take the brush guard off (hamilton knows how) and sell the truck for a lower value and I will use the brush guard to spruce up my next truck (or my honda civic as the case may be haha)

It was good to see everyone. Blonde hair on the boys was a little wierd but it looked pretty cool so I liked it. The girls seemed quiet and shy by maybe that is because I couldnt hear very well. haha

Kindles and I pads and Yoga and Garmins.... the blessings of having a missionary are coming in pretty well huh? haha It was cool to see how much is changing and hear that you guys are doing well.

My companion and I had a little fight last night. I brought up something that bugged me. I was just going to let it go but I figure this is all good practice for marriage right? So i said it. He comes from a family where the mom and dad didn~t sleep in the same bed for about 4 years so his way of dealing with relationships is completely different than mine and so we had a little discussion. But no tears or yelling so it is all good.

Oh in this email from President he informed us of a new program they are doing. It is called the winter coat program. They have asked all American misisonaries to ask for a coat from their families. It can be used or new or anything but the coats here are really expensive and the mission doesn~t have enough money to buy them for missionaries that don~t have them. some of the brazilians from the north have never needed a coat and don~t have so they are asking this now. If you guys don~t have the money to buy a coat please use the money from my account to buy one and send it to the mission office. Just address it to President Fernandes or something like that and specify that it is a coat and it will all work out well.

Love you guys! Thank you so much for all the support,

Wright

May 7, 2012

So I am assuming that my time to call you guys is good? 7 o´clock here which is 2 o´clock in the afternoon there. Should be fine right? If not reply before sunday because at 7 o´clock sunday I will open up my email to make sure it will all work out. So good luck! haha

I thought Elder Aiken was transfered a while ago? I sent him a letter about 4 months ago but he never replied..... oh well if you see him give him a hug for me.

This week I am a little frustrated with the branch here. That family we found is waiting on an interview so that the dad can baptize his daughter. I have been waiting for 3 weeks to get this interview done. It is frustrating but oh well. This área is diffucult because people don~t really stay here. It is a tourist town and people move in and out. We are working right now with 5 potencial Priesthood holders of the Melquesideque priesthood that have firm roots here so if we can get the branch excited about that it is five new families that could help change this branch. We need lots of prayers.

This week we visited Andrei. His baptism is marked for the 26th of May. The transfer is on the 22nd so we will see who is here and who is not haha. He wears earings. We had never talked about Earrings with him before and I was pretty hesitant to say anything about them. But yesterday we decided that we would talk about it. When we said it he got this weird look on his face and said wow I was just about to say something about that. As of tomorrow I won~t be using them anymore.

It is amazing how the Gosple acts on people. It is making changes in the lives of so many people. If people are just willing to live it then they will see miracles in their lives. Jonathan who is an intelligent but hard headed man has completely changed because of the Gosple. He was pretty against baptism because of some things that he was uncomfortable with but after 4 months in church reading the Book of Mormon and reading other books of the church he is ready to be baptized. He is just waiting on a marriage that can~t be done because his wife is 17 but she will turn 18 in july and we will have a baptism for them as well. Pray for them because they will move to another area here in a little and I hope that the missionaries there can be patient enough with him to help him be baptised. It is probably good he is moving because he has offended about every male member here. hahahaha

This week we also taught Alda. A less active member that we found through a miracle. She had a friend over and the friend was from a different church. Alda, with all the energy of a young missionary began to explain how Joseph Smith compiled the plates and burried them and that Moroni discovered them. After we fixed that little point of doctrine she explained how just like God talks to this ladies preacher he also talks to the Prophet...... It is a good thing that Preach My Gosple says that we should work with members or else I would not work with them at all hahaha but we love Sister Alda she is an amazing lady who has suffered a lot. Her activity in the church is the result of sacrifices that she makes. She is amazing.

Well this week was another good one. Give everyone my love and in 6 days we will see eachother on the SKYPE!

love you,

Wright

Thank you so much for sending the shoes. I hope they get here. 

I am sorry but I don~t really understand the two box shoe logic. Wouldn~t it be better to get 0 shoes than 1 shoe...but the Lord works in misterious ways so I will be praying that they get here. Oh to ease your mind your second package got here. I loved the valentines. Mckaye is so funny. Her hannah comics make me laugh everytime. haha

So this week we had a huge miracle here. 

Here in Brazil they have a huge problem with unkown people. With the address system and the records system there are a lot of things that get dropped through holes. 

So as missionaries we are working with the lists of members to find people and update addresses and things. It is a great way to find people because it shows a more professional side of our work rather than just knocking doors. 

Because of this we were trying to find a woman named Mariana. We went to her house but she had moved. So we went to the new address not really knowing where she was but having a rough explanation in a foreign language. Naturally we felt comfortable enough to go looking for her. So we found the street and started walking down it knocking on doors every 100 yards and asking for Mariana. Eventually we found her. She was a little cold but she accepted a visit from us on a different day. She told us that her Dad lived 2 houses down and was also a member. (His name was not on the list) we visited him and walked into his front room (which was layed out like a church....) he told us that he was baptized 30 years ago in another city and moved her 25 years ago. At that time there was not church here and he didn~t have the money to ride the bus to Joinville so he stopped. He went to other churches but was discouraged by embezelment and lack of doctrine. He was frequenting the 4-square church and was having meetings in his house but eventually stopped. His wife told us firmly that they had decided not to go to church anymore just stay home and read the bible and pray. They had been disgusted by religion in general. That was about 2 months before we showed up. 

We, being led completely by the spirit found his home. We set up an appointment with him the next tuesday. That tuesday we gave the first lesson. Thinking that it would remind them why THIS church is different. Oh my goodness. The spirit was so strong. It was so easy to talk and the thought pattern just flowed. I usually don~t talk a lot about the priesthood and more about the Gosple of Jesus Christ but this time I felt like we should talk about the priesthood. (We had planned a different focus but it was strange because I completely forgot what it was during the lesson. Like I could n~t remember where the scriptures were and Elder Welling had the same feelings so we just didn~t teach that part) After we finished and invited them back to church the mom started crying and told us how she remembered the blessings here husband used to give her children with the priesthood. It was without doubt the most powerful moment on my mission. 

That night during planning Elder Welling and I just sat and talked about it. We just started crying because it was something that we never thought we would have. In the MTC you have all these stories and ideas and philosophies about how the mission is and you arrive in the field to find out that it is way different and that you lose some of that faith that those experiences happen. But we had one. And it wasn~t from us. It was just because the spirit was with us and he told us what to say. It was an experience unforgetable. 

He is a melquezedque (sp) holder and has 5 kids that live in the city and are married. Another with 15 years that lives with them. They got to other churches but they have positive contact with the church already. He has 17 grandchildren. He is a response to our prayers. They were never sealed so we are working with them to get to the temple. 

Heavenly Father loves us. And he is responding to our prayers. There are alot of people praying in the branch for this and we are working hard for it. He loves us. 

Love you lots,

Elder Noel

( wright still loves his truck...here's his instructions to someone who is borrowing it right now)

But I am assuming you got it working for now? (And is this a you break it you pay for it thing?)

I hope he knows some things
1) the electric fuel pump under the cab has a fuel filter infront of it, if you don~t change that fuel filter every month you could burn out the injection pump because the fuel pressure goes down
2) Keep checking the oil and water
3) Make sure he turns off the manual glow plug switch. You won~t burn out glow plugs but you will burn out that big relay
4) Add some fuel additive every couple tanks it will help the injection pump last longer.
5)Tell him to enjoy that bench seat, most comfortable truck I have ever ridden in.

Anyways this week,

Had that family of Kelly say they don~t want anymore. I wanted to cry. It is frustrating not becasue they said no to me but because they refused Christ. They had the spirit so strong in their house and she wants to stay Catholic.

Our new Family, Aldemar e Adianiae are progressing well and we had a lessson with Sandro this week which went really well.

We had more inactive members come to church this week which was wonderful! The work with inactives here is really strengthening the branch and the number of people frequenting the church is really growing. When I got here it was about 30-40 and now it is about 60. And all because the members decided to start working with inactive people. The members are so key. We can~t do anything without them.

I am starting to realize that as missionaries we really can~t do a whole lot. We are just supposed to teach with the spirit work hard and let God work through us and help the members do misionary work. We are pretty much cheerleaders haha. It is a good perspective to have. I have stopped worrying so much about what I will do and more about how I will accept the counsel and the help that comes from Heavenly Father. I love it.


This was a great week. Learned alot. I was thinking about how sad I felt when Kelly and Valdo rejected the gospel. And was like man I can~t wait until the mission is over so I can~t feel this anymore and then I thought about how Sandro´s daughter rejected the church and I thought this is life and then I thought about Heavenly Father and I thought this is Eternity... hahaha

We really have to respect free agency,

Love you Guys,

Elder Noel


PS Tell that guy to love that truck. I miss her. And please tell Scott Hi for me. He is a great guy and I learned a lot from him. Though I feel like I gave him a lot of problems :/ oh well

Ok Family,

This week was a lot less exciting. Gave a flawless baptismal interview (ok well not flawless but a lot more flawless than my last one) and had a much more boring bus ride home afterward (but you better believe that this time we wore our seatbelts)

This week Kelly whose husband wants to be baptized and who has been progressing so much sat us down and told us that she doesn~t think that she will get a testimony and that she wants to go back to the Catholic church.

So we explained to her that there is only one church that teaches the path of Christ. And that there is no possible way for this Church to be a good church. either it is the church that Christ established and restored or it is a lie. We taught that to her and promessed that she would get a testimony if she read and prayed this week everyday. Thursday we go back to see how her week went.

But we Found another amazing couple! Aldemar and Adiainae. They came to church by themselves this week and liked it!! It was so good to see them come in and see the light in their eyes afterwards. The saturday before we taught about celestial marriage and this week we will teach about celestial families and how they can have a celestial family.

It is amazing here. We had another good week. We are doing divisions with the members every friday (which here in this mission is as miracle!!!) and the Elders Quroum president is doing miracles here working with family budget and home teaching. he is amazing please pray for him his name is Sandro.

Also please pray for my companion. Elder Welling (from spokane) he has been scarred by what happened early in the mission with disobedient companions and has lost some of his desire. I know him from the MTC and he has so much potential. We need to excite him again.

Love you all so much,


Elder Noel

2 car 1 bus Fatality accident which involved 2 elders in Florianopolis brazil

So by reading the title you can see that this week was pretty exicting.

We went to Jaragua do Sul to do a baptisimal interview. In this interview the man responded to the question with some slang. I understood the significance but not the details. As I was thinking about it later I started thinking oh my goodness maybe he has had a problem and I didn~t ask about it. He said, It was resolved (or so I thought) what he really said was I am very resolved (which means I don~t play for that team) So I had to call him and ask him the question again and ask details and it was very embarassing and stressful for me and my phone was running out of batery and he wasn~t answering the phone so i was kind of freaking out it was pretty interesting and a little rough. That was thursday,

So after I calmed down from that we got on our bus...

Friday Night we had a church activity. Because of some problems on the bus we actually didn~t make it home until Friday morning. We ended up sleeping with the Zone leaders in Joinville until friday when we caught our bus. Friday we spent the day getting the stuff ready for the activity that we planned and were organizing. That was all of friday. The activity started at 700. At seven we just had our investigator there..... So I got stressed again and kind of started freaking out again but it turned out to be a great activity and the members loved it.

Saturday we started working in our area. Because my companion and I have the same amount of time on the mission I was scared that he would be judging me for the work I do. It was an unwarranted concern but it was still something that I worried about. So saturday I got all stressed again about how we would work together and if we would be able to teach well or anything. It was a little rough. And I was stressed again. Sunday he told me he wished we could work two transfers together so I calmed down from that.

Sunday I had a talk in church. I was expecting a 15 minute talk followed by the concluding speaker. Well as I was sitting in sacrament meeting the 1st conselor announced a youth speaker. I quickly connected the fact that if there was a youth speaker that means that I am... the concluding speaker..... uh oh. So I quickly re wrote my talk and got up and basically talked by the spirit. It was amazing. I just had bullet points and things I wanted to say. And it just flowed. My portuguese was really good, from what I could tell, and I just felt calm infront of the branch. It was a good experience but stressful too.

So basically this was a really stressful week but I learned alot and am looking forward to another week in the Lord´s vineyard.

I love you all so much,

Love,

Elder Noel

PS oh yeah thursday night... so we leave the bus station. About fifteen minutes after we leave the station (we are on a huge grey hound bus) we heard what sounded like the bus hitting a car (it was infact the bus hitting a car) Then the bus swayed and we heard another similar sound (it was the bus hitting another car) then we felt what felt like the bus jumping over a 2 foot brick wall (it was infact the bus jumping over a two foot brick wall) and then it felt like we were stopped by a brick wall ( as it turns out we were stopped by a brick wall). (In all reallity it felt like the bus lost controle of the breaks and ran up and over the little wall until it was quickly stopped by the big one)

The lady who had just walked past our seats to go to the bathroom was thrown forward onto the ground but wasn~t hurt. We got up and started waiting for people to get out of the bus. Well the front door of the bus was smashed in so we were just kind of standing there. Elder wellling hestitantly grabbed the emergency hammer and started to break the window on our side. I was busy kicking glass out of the other window on the other side. ( I know heroic right) We grabbed our back packs and jumped out of the bus (Which is like 7 feet high! And a seven foot jump from a bus window onto broken glass and twisted Iron (there WAS a fence there) is a little scary) But we jumped ok. Elder Welling put a hand down and got his hand cut but it was ok. He washed his hand in the broken water main and we used our first aid kits to bandage it up (Eagle scouts:) )
I called the zone leaders and let them know and then got a call from President, remember how I had a low battery? Yeah my battery died as he was asking about us, I am sure he loved that:)

Turns out there was a car driving the wrong way on the road. The driver of the bus tried to avoid him and nicked ( and by nicked I mean destroyed) the front corner of that car. The bus then lost control. Hit another car and ran over a lady who was waiting for the city bus. (She died, or in missionary slang we gave a reference to the missionaries in the Spirit World) No one on the bus was hurt but I think that lady who was walking will be pretty sore.

But we are ok. Heavenly Father was watching over us:) Unforunately my camera didn~t have batteries so I didn~t get to take a picture. I am a little upset. If you google search this you should find it: accidente do onibus catarinese joinville 8/3/2012

Anyways happy to be alive :)

Oi Família!

So we just spent 2:30 hours cleaning our apartment today. President said that we should do a deep clean on the first p-day of every month so our house is finally maggot free. And we have put a dent in the ant population. So today was a good day.

My companion was transfered. My new companion will be Elder Trevor Welling from Spokane Washington. He was in my MTC group so that will be fun to work together. Apparently he is having some problems so pray that I will be able to help him feel the spirit more in his life on the mission. Pray that I will have patience to help him. He is a really good Elder and I was a little surprised that Presidente told me about that so we will see if we can work together to help him.

Oh I was called as district leader two weeks ago so these last two weeks have been a little different. I will be going to do a baptisimal interview in another area this week so lets pray that I don~t mess that up;) haha I love this I am just flying by the seat of my pants a lot and love it:)

(We are serving here in São Francisco do sul mom look it up super pretty too. It is super historical and the 3rd oldest town in brazil so it is pretty neat to see the old churches and houses. We haven~t gone to the museum yet but we will try:) )

This week not alot of new things. We are just trying to help people grow in the church. A lot of less active members. This area is really catholic and the people who aren~t catholic are evangelicals so it is hard to get in doors but the doors we get in are people who really want to know about us so we don~t really waste time teaching people who aren~t interested. It is so funny to me that people respond to our invite with, No I already know it all. It is so funny that someone could think that they know everything about the Bible. It really shows that pride is the fundamental sin.

Anyways, this week we ate lunch with an investigator family. It was really nice just to sit and talk with them. Get to know them better. It was wonderful.

My companion and I had a little fight this week. I love him and we get along great but I said that he needed to work on his Pride and Charity (nicely of course) and apparently that was something that he had been working on so he felt like I was telling him he hadn~t progressed. It was an eye opening opportunity to me to see that even if I am right about something I can just keep my mouth shut or find better ways to convey my information to the people I am trying to help.

We spent 2 days up until 12 talking about our feelings (super fun!!) I actually enjoyed it becauase I felt like our companionship was way stronger afterwards. (great marriage training huh?) haha good thing that we speak the same languanges (by that I mean english and man-speak) so it went well and we are friends again.

Anyways good week,


I love you all and miss you. But this is amazing. I can~t imagine doing anything else right now. Somedays are hard but it really is a great privilege to serve and i just love it. This would be so boring in the states (sorry dad:)) but I love the challenges and adventures of Brasil. And it is good for my humility and my gratitude to know a different culture and lifestyle.

Love,

Elder Noel

Hello hello hello,What another amazing week. Our two families that we are teaching are progressing a lot. They one lady is trying to stop smoking and we are helping her. (I never want to smoke, it is so sad to see what is happening to her) It is interesting how the addictions I have had in my life help my to help her. Help me to be patient and to just love her. To show her that we are here to support and to hold her hand (not literally obviously, oh by the way did you know that the no hugging rule is nowhere in the missionary handbook? Funny how tradition takes over doctrine sometimes). Kelly, the ex-smoker, is trying to get a testimony. Her heart knows it is true but her head doesn~t. She always talks about the peace we bring to her house (best part of the missionary work) and she prays and thanks Heavenly Father for us. She is very attracted by the temple and the sealing power there. I have faith that we can help this family enter the temple here in a little bit :) We need to marry them which is super hard and complicated and takes about a month from when you get the papers (which takes about another month) So I hope that I am here to see them be baptized. Her husband Waldenei (valdenei) has a strong testimony and he loves the Church. He stopped drinking coffee (so did she) and they are working to get married. It is so wonderful to teach them. IT is great because we get to take our time. We can teach slowly and make sure we are making converts and building testimonies rather than just getting baptisms. I think that is one of the biggest problems with the missions of the world. The perception that we have is that baptisms are the goal. Especially here in Brazil. I hate it. Because like Nephi said baptism is just the gate. And we have to make sure that people are prepared to stay on the path after they get through the gate or the gate doesn~t mean anything. So teaching these two families is wonderful becasue we are really building testimonies and helping people progress. We are able to trust the spirit and just teach to their questions and doubts. It is amazing. Oh hey mom and dad can you guys pay some tithing for me. I got a 25 dollar credit card from gram so if you could throw a five in an envelope for me I would appreciate it. Thanks!I don~t know if I told you about the packages but I know that at least one of them got taxed for 450 reals so that one should be coming back. But I will know tommorrow about it. I love you guys so much. This work is amazing. There are discouraging days but the Lord always gives us a great day or a great lesson after the rough ones. Just one last experience,I followed some advice that Elder Aiken gave me before he left he said that I shoul get down on my knees and pray to know where to track. So we did last week. We felt like we should go to this one area and we did. We found no one. The people were not interested and they were rich. We were walking back to a nother area to teach when I felt like we should knock this house. It was a huge house a rich persons house and I did not want to knock. But I did. And this lady came to the door. She worked at the house as a cleaning lady and was an inactive member we taught her one day, got to know her and she was in church this week. God loves us:)Love you all,Elder Noel

This week was amazing again!!!

Thank you for the prayers about Kelly and Valdo!! They want to be baptized and want to be married in the temple!! We are working on the marriage papers and on the word of wisdom to get them ready to be baptized and start this journey. The spirit is so strong with them.

I love this. They are really the mativation for the work. haha When we see them I just get so excited to help other people. They told us that they can feel a difference in their home when we are there and I got so happy I wanted to just cry and scream. haha

We also went on exchanges with the Elderes quroum presidency this week to find and teach inactive members. They have so much more power than just us! They know people and have relationships with them that we don~t. And I am super excited about what this branch is doing.

The best part is that people recognize our service. They recognize our desire and will to work. It is so great to see them open up. So many missionaries think that we are better than members but when you ask them for advice and ask them for ideas they are more willing to help. And generally they know more than we do. (funny how they know more than 2 foreigners who have little to no education)

But we are doing well. I am glad Dad got a chance to talk to Coach Prentice. Bryson really loves him . I can~t believe Cody didn~t win state! It was our chance to have a state champ in the club :( oh well. haha


A few random things.

Got your package! But it is going to cost me almost 500 Reais (brazilian dollars) to get it becase of some tax or something so that should be coming back to you guys haha. I found out how to get stains out of my white shirts to they have more life now haha.

My friend Elder Robinson got sent home because of knee problems. He should call you guys he is from Spokane and he is going to try to make a visit to the west side. His name is Royce Thomas Robinson maybe he is on facebook? Anyways it would be cool if you guys could give him some support he was pretty hurt about it.

We made homemade alfredo sauce here. Soooo good! haha

I have been studying a lot about the relationship between the words the angel said to king Benjamin and the way the angel explained about the tree of life to Nephi. I am learning so much:)

I love you guys so much! Sorry this weekend was a little rough.

Wright

Oh wow what a wonderful week.Besides getting the news that Hamilton Became a 4 time Regional Champ this week was great:)We are teaching two families right now. Jonathan and Jessica, and Valdo and Kelly. They both need to be married and Kelly and Valdo have word of wisdom problems (nothing too serious but enough to keep them out of the font)We have been working hard with them. We made a marriage proposal to Jonathan and he accepted.(it was adorable :) So pray that we can get those two married. Jessica loves the church and she would be baptized right now but Jonathan is a little more stubborn and he pretty much rules the relationship. He has had a rough life and likes to feel more intelligent than people. Which is really easy to do with two foreigners who don~t have any education. So teaching him is an exercise in humility and patience. He won~t do anything that isn~t his idea so the trick is getting him to think that getting baptized and married is something he wants to do. It is a little tricky sometimes but with the spirit we are helping him progress. We need prayers that he can get the documents he needs to get married and that Jessicas desires can help him know that this is something he wants to do. Valdo and Kelly are progressing so much! She went to church without him this week becasue he was working which is huge! She really likes the church but she has some doubts. They need to be married too and we are working with them on that. We invited them to be baptized this week and she thought about it for a long time but said no. I think he would be if we pushed it but everyone needs their own time so we are just helping them progress. He had a brother die about a year ago and the spirit world is so powerful to him. We taught them about baptisms for the Dead which we were pretty scared of because it is some pretty deep douctrine but we felt like that is something we needed to do. The next sunday she came to church and 3 youth bore their testimonies on the powerful experiences they had in the temple that week. One girl talked about doing baptisms for people she knew and how powerful it was. It was so powerful! The Lord really does tell us what we need to teach. When we are flexble and humble enough to listen. Also this week, We ate lunch with a family and then asked them to help us plan a lesson with a lady that night. We explained our doubts to them and asked for their conversion story to help us plan. She looked at us and said, you guys are really special do you know that? She then asked for email addresses of our families so she could email. So mom you should be getting an email this week from her. Then we went to that lesson at a members house. And he had been calling us (boys) since we arrived here. But yesterday for the first time he called us Elders. And he told us how much he appreciated the work we were doing. It is amazing how much peope recognize your service. We have been trying not to worry about numbers but rather about people and it is so rewarding to see that the members recognize our work. I am not writting this to be prideful just to show how much the lord helps us when we need it. When we need a boost he gives it too us. I am learning so much. I spent today studying the difference between the angel that talked to king Benjamin in Mosiah 3 and the Angel that talked to Nephi in 1 Nephi 11 and how they both used the words Great Joy to describe the wonderful news of the attonement. That is why we should teach. The lessons are not about Joseph Smith or the true Church but rather about the wonderful news that the way to fully access the atonement has been restored. The full knowlege of its ´power is here again. That is why we are here. That is why I am here. Love you guys!!Wright

Ok so another great week.We have been asking people how we can help them have missionary experiences in their homes and then responding with suggestions when they don~t know how to answer. Our principle suggestion is to have a family prayer about who to ask to a family night or to church. Monday we had a family night as a result of this. The couple was really nice. Not super interessed in the church but super nice to us and receptive to our message. We ended up teaching them a little more on saturday and left a Book of Mormon and a challenge to read it. We have another appointment this Saturday. (Adam and Ana Paula)Wednesday we met with this couple Valdo and Kelly. When we taught the Plan of Salvation to them we really helped him to undestand the spirit world and he then told us about his brother that died so we applied the plan to his family and it was amazing. He really opened up. When we met wednesday he had already read all of 1st Nephi and was wanting to read more. He asked how it was fair that only some people knew about this so we explained the spirit world again to him and applied his brother. It was amazing! Heavenly Father really does love us and when we teach people He gives us guidance to teach them and not the lessons. It is marvolous how the Lord opens up my mind when I am interested in teaching the person and not the lesson. Sunday we had this family come to church and they loved it. I was usally upset because our meetings are loud because of the kids but they loved that. They said it felt like a family in the church. It was amazing (i know I use that word a lot but my english vocabulary is a little limited now haha) to see the light that they had and the excitement that they have to know more. We need your prayers to know how to teach them. We also had a family night last night with a member and a woman named Juraci. She expressed some doubts in the lesson and the brother and sister responded to her doubts!! We didn~t have to say anything. I just sat back and watched as the Lord used one of His children to answer the prayers of another. It was so powerful. The work is progressing here. I can feel the members getting excited and the branch is ready to grow. Pray for us that we can keep working hard and recognize the lord in our work. I love this so much. I have missed having people progressing and having people that we can help. I love this!!!Miss you guys a lot,Congrats on the wrestling win. Tell Nate congrats for me that is awesome that he is there that young :) And shane!! Good work Shane!!Love you guys!Wright

Ok so just as a snap shot at what I am doing right now...

I am working with a Washington State Placer in Wrestling who comes from a close knit family of 10 or 12, not sure on that note. Who has a great desire to serve Heavenly Father and is new enough to accept advice and change what he is doing to try and be more in line with Preach My Gosple. It is amazing.

This is my first time working in a branch. We meet in a house and have about 30 people in Church. Yesterday we had 4 investigators there and the members are super excited about the work so they are willing to help. (But my companion has yet to see the Branch President at church... yeah....) We are challenging members to pray about who to invite to a family home evening or to a lunch with the Elders and it is fun to see them get excited and to see them express their ideas. A bishop in my last ward told the missionaries to stop asking what they could do for members but rather what they can do to help the members do missionary work. The question is Golden! I love it and love to really help the people and see where the members have doubts or worries about sharing their testimonies. I am so much more excited now that I was last transfer. Last transfer gave me the confidence to be a senior companion but I was sick of not having my ward and my area and my assignments.

We are changing the way we teach people. The mission has it´s lessons. The trainers all teach how to teach the lessons but they don~t follow PMG generally and it is more like a system for baptisms and less like a way to build testimonies. We are trying to work together to teach people and not lessons. And it is amazing to see the way it changes lessons.

We taught a couple last week, Valdo and Kelly, and we taugh the second lesson. I felt really weird about explaining the spirit world so I just kind of explained the attonement more and more talked about Christ and a little about death. Then Valdo shared an experience about his brother who died 1 year ago and some feelings and worries he had. It opened up the lesson completely. We didn~t even talk about ressurrection or judgement of the kingdoms but we really helped him understand the love that Heavenly Father has for him. Because we were less worried about the lesson and more worried about him we were able to help him in an area that he needed. They couldn~t come to Church this week but next week the said they will come. Pray that we can keep teaching with that same spirit and help them come to Christ.

We also taught another couple, Renato and Silvia and we didn~t even teach a PMG lesson. It actually turned into a testimony meeting. It was so much fun to just direct the lesson. We talked a lot less and they just talked and talked to us. It was wonderful.

So many missionaries are worried about saythings but Jeffery R. Holland says that we should just realax and listen because we love them and something they say will highlight a gosple principle about which we can bear testimony.

I love this. I can talk to my companion about stuff I used to do and about the future and just casually enjoying the mission. I feel a lot less pressure now and am just enjoying this time.

Anyways,

It is amazing here. I love it. I am so excited the spirit is so strong in our companionship. It is amazing how much of a difference it makes. We plan for people because we love them and then we walk in ready to leave the plan if necessary and teach the person what they need to hear. We are showing people how much Heavenly Father loves them and I love it.

Hope all is well. Keep me updated on everything.

Thank you for the compliments Dad. I appreciate it. But in all reality Hamilton was reading much more in depth than I was and long before I was too. haha And Romney is a much better example of Charity that I will ever be. Oh and I loved sharing a room. I miss that enviorment and will keep those memories forever.

Love you all so much,

Elder Noel

Well this week was interesting,Tuesday we went to lunch that was at the top of what I think had to be the biggest hill on the Island, if not the greater south American Contintent. In Brasil the poor people generally live on the hills. They have what are called favelas here and that means just houses on top of houses on top of houses on the hill. We were walking up this hill (not a favela we really don~t go into those areas) and a motor cycle came screaming up the hill behind us. Because we were in 4 half of us went to one side of the street and half of us to the other side. The crazy brazilian on the motorcycle basically hit my companion (who was on the other side of the street) and then told him that because he moved out of the way he didn~t have any faith. (funny how logic and faith seem to have an inability co-exist)He then screamed up the hill. As we were climbing and thinking about this we arrived at his driveway where he was waiting for us.... He pointed a finger at my companion and started lecturing him about how he was weak and how he could smell the fear in him. He then grabbed his hand, put his pointer finger in wrist of my companion (because he was a mason or so he said and wanted to show this symbol) and went chest to chest with him. My companion backed up and said nothing and this guy just went on a on and on. Finally he kissed my companion on the cheek and said Judas did that remember? and left. At this point we were all a little rattled and we continued walked (this hill was huge) (so was the guy by the way forgot to mention that part very tall and athletically built) and we heard the motor cycle again.... he came flying up the hill and he stopped said some gibberish and pulled out a beer. Popped the top and drank it while saying, cool and refreshing. If any of you have seen Bishop Gordon´s (sunny delight cool and refreshing video it was basically that) (ask Hamilton he Remembers).As we arrived at the house I asked my companion to bear his testimony to me to try and firm him up a little. He seemed strong but he left the table twice durring lunch to pray in the bathroom. He was pretty shaken up. It was a very interesting day. Later we talked a lot about it and he is better now but he was pretty bad. It was interesting that he was with me and Elder Robinson. Both of us played contact sports and are a little hot headed but neither of us went after this guy when he was persecuting our friend. I was thinking about that a lot and I think that it was probably better. We were in a dangerous area with a drunk crazy guy in highly recognizable outfits. Probably a good thing we just kind of suffered, by we I mean my companion. But I still felt a little weak by the whole thing because we didn~t do anything. But its ok I think we acted the right way. Who knows haha. It is time for me to leave Florianópolis! I will complete the second part of the two part training for new misionaries in São Fransisco do Sul (Joinville). My new companion is called Elder Grondel. He is the ex boyfriend of Chloe Snethen. Crazy how life works out huh? He is a wrestler (greco and free style state champ and 2a 3rd placer.) I am really excited. We should be able to drill or something. Or atleast work out in the morning. It should be fun. The scary part is that he only has 6 weeks here so he doesn~t speak really well.... haha So I will be doing a lot of talking. It will be really good for me to learn and just kind of be on my own. Should be fun! Pray for me:)So the girls want somethings about Brasil.....Lets see. (Pare) means stop in portuguese. It is also the word on the stop signs.When you read this word in a book or in on a piece of paper it means stop. But if you put this word on a big red sign it means slow down if you want or not if you don~t want to. Be careful crossing the street. Milk here comes in boxes that don~t have to be refrigerated. Until after you open them and then it is only good for 2 days. Learned that this week.... sad after 6 months here someone tells you that about the milk...You can find passion fruit growing on trees and the juice is super good when your companion makes it. It hit 95 degrees this week with about 60-70 percent humidity. I think I ruined a shirt because my sunscreen dripped on my colar and now its just yellow and done for. Not happy about that.....(oh and my new area is hotter....)I saw a bee like thing the size of my thumb and a little fatter.... kind of freaked me out a little.I think that is about it. Absolutely love it here. Super hot and hard to work but always great. Love you all hope all is well,Wright