September 8, 2010

here are some pics from the week. haha we got left in the mission

office alone so we had to take a pic with presidents big board of

transfers! joice is the the girl that was baptized. and those are my

new scripture cases. she also sent a tie that is pretty cool looking.

i like it. oh and that is the only pic i have of elder ficklin haha

hey guys!!!! how are you all doing this fine day?! everything is going
great here. it sounds like you all had fun in reno this last week. i
am glad that you liked it! i hope olivia and annie have started to
like school a little better now...i still am happy that i am not
starting school now haha. but live it up! the elementary and high
school days are awesome haha. but i guess i will let you know about my
week.
well first off, we were blessed with another baptism. i will send you
a picture. joice was baptized. she is ariani's friend. it was a good
experience. now we need to help her boyfriend. her boyfriend has
already been to church a lot. he is friends with our ward mission
leader. but he is to much into the things of the world, which makes me
a little worried about joice!! but hopefully we can help him out too.
this week we will probably have just one baptism. we could have 4
though. there is a girl named tainá that has been investigating the
church for about 3 years. she really likes the church and wants to be
baptized. she hasnt been baptized because of the slacker missionaries
that started teaching her 3 years ago. they went with her cousin(that
is also a teenage girl that was also investigating the church) to
teach tainá. tainá was the only one home. so the missionaries went in
anyways with the two young girls. her dad got home and walked in as
they were teaching. he didnt like that they were in there alone with
her, which is totally understandable. but now he doesnt allow the
missionaries to teach her (which is also understandable). so this
baptism is up to the branch president. but on sunday, tainá bore
testimony at church. investigators dont usually do that. she said that
she will bring her whole family to the church. and all her brothers
and the sisters want to be baptized too. that leaves just her parents.
so we will see how it all goes! but i will let you know next week
then!!!
this week we had our meeting in campinas. that means a few days of
waking up at 4:30 to catch the bus and a lot of money!!!! it was
pretty difficult!!! but the meeting was really good. it got a lot
better since the last zone leader meeting we had where we just talked
about things that we can resolve ourselves like teaching with members
and these things and getting people to do their street contacts. (oh
speaking of contacts; our small zone of 12 missionaries did 1025
street contacts this week. i think that is like a record in this zone.
we also had the best week of any of the zones with baptisms!!
yeah!!!!). we learned quite a bit though. the rules changed. i am
pretty excited about that. all the rules that we used to have that
werent in the missionary handbook were taking out. it is a good chance
for me to make my own restrictions. he just said that we have to ask
ourselves some questions to know if we should do something. we should
ask ourselves if it will harm us spiritualy, if it will give christ
and his church a bad name/reputation, andif we will end up getting
ourselves hurt. all the missionaries are excited about drinking coke
haha. i dont even like coke. probably because it is used as medicine
in our family haha. but i ended up staying in campinas for the night.
i stayed at elder guilherme's house. i have only talked to him two
times but i really like talking to him. the two times, we stayed up
really late talking about how we can get better as missionaries.
luckily, i had a 4 hour bus ride to catch up on my sleep after getting
up at 4:30 again ha.
yesterday, we taught the second of the new lessons to the
missionaries. it is about the role of the holy ghost in the
conversion. we didnt have as much time to prepare and it went pretty
well except that it started really late so we couldnt really work in
our area yesterday cuz we got home so late.
i went on another exchange with elder nothum. he is a great
missionary. there has only been one transfer in his mission where i
wasnt in his zone. he is a great friend, probably my best friend from
the mission so far. we have learned lots together. but our day
together was completely terrible becuase we got here so late and
werent able to teach. but i learned a lot. we just talked about things
we need to accomplish in the mission and things we have learned and
how we are so much different now. he told me he has learned lots from
me. i have never felt like the best zone leader but at least i have
helped someone huh? that mad me happy.
but that was pretty much my week. it was a good one! this week will be
good too. thanks for everything. love you all
love,
elder long

ps mom wanted to hear more about my comp. his name is elder ficklin
and he is a great missionary. he is from north ogden. it is really
easy to work with him. we are learning a lot together. we get along
great. haha i know, i know, my descriptions are great haha. i am
better with the answering question type thing haha. so if you want to
ask questions about him, i could probably answer hah. tchau!

September 1, 2010

well i hope you guys are doing great! i sure am! i really enjoyed the
last week. we learned so much in the training meeting. that will
probably move my mission quite a bit! it was also pretty fun seeing
all my friends from the mission everyday for a week. that pretty much
never happens. the only bad thing is that our cell phone doesnt work
in campinas so we couldnt call the investigators or any of the
missionaries from our zone. there was only one missionary that can
call us and for some reason he never called even though i asked him
too!!! that was frustrating. the missionaries did pretty well
considering they didnt have a zone leader or a district leader telling
them to get going ha. we learned tons about following the spirit and
teaching people and not lessons. president castro deus was a little
ahead of his time i think. because we learned alot of this stuff with
him. it was great to discuss with the best missionaries of the mission
though to get new ideas. i learned tons. we got home at 10 friday
night. on saturday, i went to go to baptismal interviews. so i still
didnt work in my area. elder ficklin worked in our area for about 4
hours. i interviewed a family. it was a special experience. i used
some of the new tecniques that i learned in the training meeting
during the interviews. i also was able to work with elder mangelson
that day. he is from ohio. he is the most obedient missionary in the
world!!!!!!!!!!!!! he is at least 150% obedient. ya that is possible
because he makes more rules for himself. haha but he is a good
missionary. he just needs to learn that it is better to use your head
and not your legs in this work. we walked quite a bit. it was fun
though. the interviews went great. there was a teenage girl that i
interviewed that acted a lot like olivia. she was pretty funny. but
that just left sunday to work in our area. we werent able to visit
anyone in our area!!!! so we pretty much thought that our sunday would
have a crappy turnout!!!! it was one of the best turnouts in my
mission!!! there were tons of people there! we were also blessed with
a baptism today. her name is ariani. i will send a pic. her boyfriend
is our ward (well it is actually a branch) mission leader. that was
great. the best part is that she is halfway through the miracle of
forgiveness!!! she was still baptized after that huge burn and without
our help this whole week haha. her friend joice will be baptized this
next sunday along with some other people most likely. we were blessed
greatly!!! i dont know how but with one and a half days work in our
area, we had the best numbers in the whole mission!!! sunday was full
of miracles!!!!!!!!
but yesterday was a special day too. we had our district meeting and
we taught the lessons that the assistants taught us last week in the
training meeting. i learned way more teaching my zone then with all
the leaders in the whole mission. i was happy about that. i really
liked the comments the missionaries gave. elder nothum and elder
ficklin also taught. it was pretty much a great lesson about the
doctrine of christ and the principal of love. i learned tons. i think
the practices could be better though. but we will keep getting better.
we will be teaching these 8 lessons to the missionaries for a while.
the next one is about how to follow the spirit. i have already started
studying for next week ha.
well sounds like you guys are good. sorry school started haha. that
stinks!!! now you have to wake up early again like me ha. that stinks
that football is going so terrible. i think they made the wrong choice
in coach. and it is crazy to think that hillcrest got their coach at
the same time. look at the difference haha. hopefully things get
better. haha and at least i dont have to watch.
well i hope you guys have a good week. have a good time in reno too!!!
love you guys
love,
elder long

p.s. can you believe it is september already!!! just one more month
until conference!!!

August 25, 2010

hey everyone!! how are you all doing?! i hope you are doing great!!!
this week we have training meetings. it almost feels like a basketball
tournament or something or a road game where we have to stay in a
hotel. i feel bad about that. it isnt how i was hoping, but lots of
missionaries are using this time as an oportunity to hang out with
friends. it feels like we are on vacation or something. i guess that
it is just a different part of the work that the church has started.
it is definitely different than normal. we start our meetings at 9 and
it goes until 4. we eat lunch together too. so we all just sit there,
listening and discussing different ideas about everything. it is
pretty interesting. i dont know how it could be better than practicing
and receiving feedback though. i hope it helps out in the long run. we
have been putting it into practice as we work at night. it is helping
i think. i barely worked with elder ficklin this week though because
of this training meeting. i have been with elder pezzin this whole
time. he was in my zone in jundiai but his name was elder cardoso
then. it is pretty fun. we have been staying at a house just outside
campinas in a city called paulinia. it is the smallst house in the
mission ha. that is fine but not with five missionaries. one elder
slept on the tile floor and three of us without blankets or anything.
it got a little cold. tonight we got moved to a house with about 6
other missionaries. they are all the crazy missionaries in the mission
too ha. i think it will be pretty crazy. it will probably be pretty
fun but its not like i am in the mission. i just want to start working
again. the worst thing is that there is no way to talk with the
missionaries in my zone because we are out of minutes. we can only
call them when we are in the same area code. i hope they are doing
well too ha.
i really am liking my new area. there is a young man in the ward that
is always with us. luis eduardo bacarin is his name. he is really
cool. the branch is great and the members work tons!!! things are
going well. we always have tons of people at church. it is great! i
think we are going to baptize quite a bit! elder ficklin teaches well.
but i am excited to learn the area so that we can get things
progressing more quickly!! that was about all that has happened
though!! sorry i dont have much time to write this week!!
love you guys!! thanks for everything!!
love,
elder long

August 18, 2010

well sounds like you all had a pretty busy week with sadies wedding
and everything. i am glad that there was a good turnout there even
withthe wind. i am sure they are happy together. where are they going
to be living now? is sadie or her new husband going to college? tell
them congrats.
tell jacoby happy bday for me missy. sorry i am telling him
late...hopefully he forgives me! tell eden and johnny happy birthday
too. and happy bday missy! there ar tons of bdays the next couple
weeks. i will just tell you now because next week i will go to the
temple and dont know if i will be able to use the computer to much.
well i guess i will tell you about my week!!! it was a pretty crazy
week! it was pretty rough to keep elder ribeiro working in his last
week. he didnt really want to and he just talked about home for the
whole week. he even had a little party with the members while i was
working with the bishop in a split ha. but i kept him pretty busy. we
didnt have that much of success on sunday with people at church. there
were only two. but i think i did a good job getting elder ribeiro to
work the whole day. he just wanted to go home and pack his bags. we
caught a ride home from perdões with a member. the member asked where
we were going and he said to our house. then when we got there i gave
him a lesson of faith ha. it worked pretty well. i told him what we
needed to reach our goals in HIS LAST WEEK. ha i gave him the keys and
told him to decide. haha he turned around and we went to work. we
found three new investigators including one athiest. that was pretty
dang hard!!! he had an excuse for everything!!! even if god didnt
exist, i will still believe in Him. life is so much happier that way.
if there wasnt a god, why are we here? teaching him just made me
happier to know the truth.
i guess i will tell you all about the transfers now...:( well, elder
ribeiro started packing his stuff and i got all the numbers from
everyone and passed them to the assistants. to my surprise, i was
transfered! i couldnt believe it, but they closed atibaia and put two
new missionaries there. elder mendes is one of them. he is pretty lost
and has called to ask me questions a few times ha. but i was
transfered to Botucatu. it is the zone that is the longest from
campinas. my area is about a 4 hour ride from campinas(i have already
made that trip three times in the last 3 days by the way!! this area
is awesome. it is a better area then atibaia. my new companion is
elder ficklin. he is a zone leader too. i was called to be zone leader
A but i told elder ficklin that i want to work together with him
without a zone leader A. he has been out for about a year and 7
months. so he knows what he is doing too. he is from Orem, Utah, and
so that makes him my first american companion since i left the CTM!!!!
i was pretty excited about that. i am liking him pretty much so far.
botucatu is a branch. and it is probably the best branch in the
mission if not the whole world!!!:) i am pretty happy about the area
and the missionaries that are here. are two district leaders are both
from my zone in jundiaí and they like me a lot already haha. elder
nothum was called as district leader and is very happy to be in my
zone again. there was only one transfer in his mission that he wasnt
in my zone. he basically loves me tons and even wants me to marry his
cousin haha. he is crazy!
well that was pretty much all that happened this week. oh and to
answer the question that dad makes in every letter :) no i havent got
my package yet, but i will next week. and yes i pick up the letters
and packages of the other missionaries but only when we have meetings
which happens every 2-4 weeks.
next week we have a 4 day meeting!!! it will start in the morning and
will go until about6 on mon, tues, thurs, and fri. on wed, we are
goingto go to the temple again!! i am pretty excited!!! but that was
about all that happened.love you all!
love,
elder long

The Mission Call

Here is a scrapbook page I did about Thomas' mission call. I cut the picture from a photo that Thomas sent home from his mission and typed up his mission call letter.

August 11, 2010

well sorry i dont have much time to use the internet right now. we
went to the temple today so i have to catch the bus pretty soon. and
who knows when i will get back to atibaia. it will probably be time to
work already! this week was pretty good. elder ribeiro hasnt
completely died yet. that is good. we got along a lot better this week
so that was nice. i never understood why he didnt like me. i tried
really hard and he was the first comp that i have ever had that didnt
like me much! that doesnt make sense but it was probably my fault for
some reason and maybe i will find out why someday!
this week was awesome. we had emerson's baptism on thursday night! it
was a pretty good meeting. he was super happy. we have had quite a bit
of success this week and found some elect people that will be baptized
on the 22nd. their names are rebeca(the mom), natalia (12), and
nicolas(8). they have family members that are members in sao paulo. i
have no idea why they havent been baptized yet. but maybe you could
offer some special prayers for them!!! on sunday, we had two more
baptisms in perdões. lucas and tamires were baptized. that was great
to see! the branch there is so united!! i cant believe that they dont
have their own set of missionaries there! but maybe they will receive
some in the next couple transfers. i will try my best to get
missionaries for them there!!! but the rest of the week went pretty
good. we dont have anyone to baptize this week. i will have to wait
til next week. it is the last week of transfers so we are trying to
keep our zone from getting lazy. there will probably be quite a few
changes in the zone. i am about ready for that. next week, i will let
you know who my new comp will be!!! well i gotta write about the zone
for president! love you all! thanks for the prayers. and maybe i can
talk to you guys a little later today! when i get home in atibaia!
love,
elder long

Augusts 4, 2010

this is a pic of our bball team! haha.it was pretty fun last week

hey family,
how is everyone doing this fine day? the week was pretty good. i am
glad to hear that everything is going great in idaho, arizona and
nevada. i guess i will tell you about my week.
well my week was pretty good. maybe it wasnt as exciting as usual. we
havent been able to work as much because of meetings. last week though
was alright. emerson wasnt baptized on sunday because his wife haad to
work. his baptism will be tomorrow. it is about time he is baptized
already ha. we also had another miracle on saturday. there has been a
family that has been going to church in perdoes ever since i got here.
i thought they were members. on saturday, we were at lunch and this
family was there. they said today you need to teach a lesson to my
kids because they want to be baptized. haha. i just said we could
probably do that. they have already been taught everything and our
keeping all the commandments. the mom is a member. they lived in
perdoes and then moved to a city that doesnt have the church. so they
became inactive. now they returned and are going to church again. i
wwanted to just interview and baptize them the next day since they
already know everything but we decided to wait until this week. it has
been hard to visit them this week though because of meetings. that was
a huge blessing though! on monday, we had our monthly meeting with
president tanner. it was awesome because all the zone leaders got to
go to his house for lunch and we had the meeting there too. then we
played some ping pong and went swimming in his pool and stuff...haha
just kidding. it wsa all business there. i learned tons. it was more
of a conversation/counsel with all the zone leaders and president. it
was really good and i learned tons. i need to start working with the
members more! elder mendes and his comp had 51 LESSONS WITH MEMBERS
PRESENT! they also had 11 BAPTISMS! the only reason they were able to
do that is because of the members. so i will try to get better at
that! the meetings with pres are going to be really long now and on
the 23rd we will start our 4 day meeting. monday-friday with a temple
visit on pday. it will be awesome. i hope we can still have baptisms
that week though!!! yesterday we had our district meeting in bragança.
it was a good meeting considering the fact that we didnt plan very
well because of the meeting the day before. we got home very late
though because there was a wreck on the highway. but it was still a
good week! i still feel like we should be doing a lot better than we
are doing. i feel like this area is just about to be blessed!! i will
keep working hard!!
i was very happy to hear about clint's mission call!! i am so glad he
is going. it is the best! he will never regret it and he will learn
tons of stuff that he would never learn otherwise. there is no other
place that is better for him!! when is sadies wedding? is it coming up
soon? is darens yard coming together real well now?
well that is about all that happened this week. i still havent
received my scripture cases. i dont know why. i dont know how much
time it takes to make them. but i did ask for them about a year ago!!!
oh well. they will get here soon!!! love you guys! hope you all have a
great week!
love,
elder long