hey everyone hows it going? today so far has been crazy and i dont have much time to write. this morning i went to the temple. elder miranda had a leader meeting so i had to wait for him to finish up. it is about 5 now and we have a bus at 5:30 to fnally go home to itatiba. so i will just get right to things. today at the temple i didnt do endowment. they had me go do sealings. it was cool doing something diff but things move very slow when they say the same thing over and over again. after the temple i bought a bible. a nice leather one.
but i better quickly tell you about the people here before i gotta get off. Pedro, the dad to leandro comitted to be baptized on the 9th. also we found an awesome family that accepted the 9th as well, João, rosamea and christiana. the gate to their apartment complex was locked so i said a quick prayer and someone came and opened the door it was awesome! then during the lesson i felt the spirit more than any oither lesson here. and joão answered the invite for baptism with concerteza or most certainly and one other girl named nita said yes to the 9th as well. she really liked church! that makes 5 for that day alone! and we could still have more! it should be an awesome last week for my comp.
but i gotta go! i got a bus in a bit. thanks for the emails. no letters this week from anyone. but dont worry about it. loe you all! the church is true!
love
elder long
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
July 22, 2009
opa! hey everyone how is it going? things are going good here! this morning i woke up fluent. i can say everything i want and i thik in portuguese now. it is quite awesome! i thought it would be like 5 more months at least!!! ok i lied i still dont know what is going on. i still understand during the lesson but not anything besides that. my comp has actually let me studied the language a couple days this week. it is pretty annoying cuz lately he is like getting mad at me for not being ready on time when he gets out of the shower at about 7:45. there isnt anything else to do before he gets out. i shave, make food, iron, study before he is done. then i am ready about 8:05. he doesnt let me study the language at ten like i am supposed to. we just practice the lessons occassionaly but usually we leave at about 10. i am supposed to study for another hour. it is kind of frustrating.
haha ya i wish i woke up fluent. like that would happen already. i had two experiences this week of people laughing at me while i was teaching. i started talking and this girl abut 15 years old busted up. she was laughing so hard. and then yesterday the member that was with us teaching started laughing at me too. i felt awesome! ha but nope i havent got it yet obviously. this one lady started yelling at me this week too. it was funny cuz i didnt know what she was saying. but i guess she was on a bus that i talked on. i stood up and invited everyone to church. she lives by pedro and iresema. she started yelling at me and telling me to not come to her house. i didnt even say anything haha.
thanks everyone for the package! i like it a lot. i am trying to not eat all the candy fast and spread it out a little bit. i dunno why but at home i always saved my candy forever and ended úp throwing it away. here i eat it so fast. i have already eaten all my fast breaks, gummy bears, and half my nuggets! fast breaks are so underrated! they rock! but thanks for the pictures and letters too!
so i guess i will hurry and write about the investigators cuz it seems like thats what you guys wanna know about. ok well are main investigators right now are pedro and iresema. they are the parents of leandro. they both committed to be baptized this sunday. iresema is really excited about it. pedro decided on sunday that he wont be baptized now. he went to church on sunday and didnt like it one bit. he got there at like 745 cuz he thought it was at 8 (i dunno why, we told him it was at 9 at least 20 times) and then he didnt really like it there. he thought the hymn in sacrament sounded satanic haha. it probably did. they didnt have a piano player and they didnt tell us which verses. we did like first third fourth and seventh so everyone was singing different and offtune too with no piano haha. then after that we went to present him to the bishop and the bishop said it would be 5 minutes. we went to our meeting with the ward missionaries and turns out pedro was waiting for like an hour. so he was at church from 7:45 to about 1 and didnt have a good experience. so we need a miracle for him to be baptized this sunday. also we started teaching a few other people that are looking promising. one guy started crying durning his prayer. it was cool that he felt the spirit like that. but he is really active in his church so i dunno.
speaking of music...steph was asking me if i enjoyed my music. and yes i do. it is really good. unfortunately i cant listen to it all now. i can only listen to like classical music and mo tab. so not like the efy stuff. and i only have like maybe 20 mo tab songs. i wish i could listen to it more.
but ya i guess i better get going. love you all!
Love,
Elder Long
haha ya i wish i woke up fluent. like that would happen already. i had two experiences this week of people laughing at me while i was teaching. i started talking and this girl abut 15 years old busted up. she was laughing so hard. and then yesterday the member that was with us teaching started laughing at me too. i felt awesome! ha but nope i havent got it yet obviously. this one lady started yelling at me this week too. it was funny cuz i didnt know what she was saying. but i guess she was on a bus that i talked on. i stood up and invited everyone to church. she lives by pedro and iresema. she started yelling at me and telling me to not come to her house. i didnt even say anything haha.
thanks everyone for the package! i like it a lot. i am trying to not eat all the candy fast and spread it out a little bit. i dunno why but at home i always saved my candy forever and ended úp throwing it away. here i eat it so fast. i have already eaten all my fast breaks, gummy bears, and half my nuggets! fast breaks are so underrated! they rock! but thanks for the pictures and letters too!
so i guess i will hurry and write about the investigators cuz it seems like thats what you guys wanna know about. ok well are main investigators right now are pedro and iresema. they are the parents of leandro. they both committed to be baptized this sunday. iresema is really excited about it. pedro decided on sunday that he wont be baptized now. he went to church on sunday and didnt like it one bit. he got there at like 745 cuz he thought it was at 8 (i dunno why, we told him it was at 9 at least 20 times) and then he didnt really like it there. he thought the hymn in sacrament sounded satanic haha. it probably did. they didnt have a piano player and they didnt tell us which verses. we did like first third fourth and seventh so everyone was singing different and offtune too with no piano haha. then after that we went to present him to the bishop and the bishop said it would be 5 minutes. we went to our meeting with the ward missionaries and turns out pedro was waiting for like an hour. so he was at church from 7:45 to about 1 and didnt have a good experience. so we need a miracle for him to be baptized this sunday. also we started teaching a few other people that are looking promising. one guy started crying durning his prayer. it was cool that he felt the spirit like that. but he is really active in his church so i dunno.
speaking of music...steph was asking me if i enjoyed my music. and yes i do. it is really good. unfortunately i cant listen to it all now. i can only listen to like classical music and mo tab. so not like the efy stuff. and i only have like maybe 20 mo tab songs. i wish i could listen to it more.
but ya i guess i better get going. love you all!
Love,
Elder Long
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
July 15, 2009
things are gtting a little bit better for me. i still dont understand much but i do understand what my companion is saying during the lessons. which is a good thing!
we had a baptism this week. his name is leandro bueno. it was my first as you know(besides annie). i was able to baptize him. i cant get this computer to recognize my camera though so i cant sendhome pictures.
we have been teaching a few families that are progressing but a couple of them have problems with the word of wisdom. and i dont know what is going to happen with the other one. they acted like they didnt want us to come anymore so hopefully they will go to churh this week! the other two, we are going to comitt to being baptized on the 26th later tonight. so hopefully they accept and quit smoking and drinking coffee. i really wish i could help teach them more though. i feel a little stupid not talking and sounding dumb when i do talk. oh well though.
well i have better get going pretty soon so have a good week everybody. Love you!!!
Love,
Elder Long
D&C 88:119
we had a baptism this week. his name is leandro bueno. it was my first as you know(besides annie). i was able to baptize him. i cant get this computer to recognize my camera though so i cant sendhome pictures.
we have been teaching a few families that are progressing but a couple of them have problems with the word of wisdom. and i dont know what is going to happen with the other one. they acted like they didnt want us to come anymore so hopefully they will go to churh this week! the other two, we are going to comitt to being baptized on the 26th later tonight. so hopefully they accept and quit smoking and drinking coffee. i really wish i could help teach them more though. i feel a little stupid not talking and sounding dumb when i do talk. oh well though.
well i have better get going pretty soon so have a good week everybody. Love you!!!
Love,
Elder Long
D&C 88:119
Thursday, July 9, 2009
July 8, 2009
opa everyone! how are things going? thinks are still going fine here. this was a pretty tough week. it is pretty crazy with the change from using english so much to only portuguese all day 24/7. we are pretty busy, but not impossible like i had imagined it would be. in the mornings, we wake up and do a little work out and then my comp will shower and i will eat and study. then i will go take a shower like 45 mins later haha. he takes the longest showers. after we shower and get ready we study til 11 then we go eat lunch at a members house. that is a huge meal. which is good cuz we only have toast in the morning and when we get home at nights. then at about 1 we start teaching lessons. we never really go tracking cuz there is always someone that said we could come visit which is pretty cool. we get back at about 9:30 and i just study some while he plans. then i eat and get ready for bed. then i try sleeping and wake up trying to think of a word in portuguese or there is a car outside my window. we are above a pretty busy street.
i have learned more and understand more every day. the first day i had no idea what was going on. it was so weird to be in lessons not teaching. i felt like i was with dad home teaching again haha. i understand a little more everyday. well i understand most the stuff but it is so hard to speak. that is way harder. i cant translate fast enough to speak.
so i am glad the fourth was good for you. that is the day leandro committed to be baptized so that was an alright way to celebrate. i also wore my red, white, and blue tie. that was about all. oh...i got to pray in english as well. they didnt understand anything but they asked if i could.
i went on a split yesterday with elder alves. i didnt know until last minute. so i grabbed a towel, some garmets(turns out i got two tops), and some shorts. i tried brazillian pizza outside the ctm. it was alright. it is really weird though. they put like string cheese on the pizza as the topping cheese. for a little bit i wished i was working at papa murphys again. oh and while we were there i saw that michael jacksons funeral was yesterday. i am so sick of hearing about him! it is on the news in every house we go in. i cant even watch tv and i am sick of seeing him on the tv. we taught a man and i asked him to be baptized and he said he would. then all the sudden he was like i have already been baptized in the name of christ so i dont need to. and he told us not to come back. i didnt understand that at all. he said he believed heavenly father and christ appeared to joseph smith and he doesnt think his pastor has the authority of god but he still doesnt need to be baptized again. i dont understand. i felt bad though cuz i could tell him anything cuz i suck at talking.
thanks for the advice becca. i would like alot more advice though ha. i can see how people like there missions so much. i think i will once i can talk to people with no problems. well i guess i will talk to you all next week. have fun. choose the right! love you
COM AMOR,
Elder Long
i have learned more and understand more every day. the first day i had no idea what was going on. it was so weird to be in lessons not teaching. i felt like i was with dad home teaching again haha. i understand a little more everyday. well i understand most the stuff but it is so hard to speak. that is way harder. i cant translate fast enough to speak.
so i am glad the fourth was good for you. that is the day leandro committed to be baptized so that was an alright way to celebrate. i also wore my red, white, and blue tie. that was about all. oh...i got to pray in english as well. they didnt understand anything but they asked if i could.
i went on a split yesterday with elder alves. i didnt know until last minute. so i grabbed a towel, some garmets(turns out i got two tops), and some shorts. i tried brazillian pizza outside the ctm. it was alright. it is really weird though. they put like string cheese on the pizza as the topping cheese. for a little bit i wished i was working at papa murphys again. oh and while we were there i saw that michael jacksons funeral was yesterday. i am so sick of hearing about him! it is on the news in every house we go in. i cant even watch tv and i am sick of seeing him on the tv. we taught a man and i asked him to be baptized and he said he would. then all the sudden he was like i have already been baptized in the name of christ so i dont need to. and he told us not to come back. i didnt understand that at all. he said he believed heavenly father and christ appeared to joseph smith and he doesnt think his pastor has the authority of god but he still doesnt need to be baptized again. i dont understand. i felt bad though cuz i could tell him anything cuz i suck at talking.
thanks for the advice becca. i would like alot more advice though ha. i can see how people like there missions so much. i think i will once i can talk to people with no problems. well i guess i will talk to you all next week. have fun. choose the right! love you
COM AMOR,
Elder Long
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
July 1, 2009
Well today is my first day in the field. yesterday i left for campinas. i arrived at the mission home at about 10 or 11. i was really tired still from packing and stuff. we met with the president and practiced some different things. then i had an interview with the president in portuguese. i am surprised i even could do that. after that we drove to the chapel and met our new companions and trainers. Sister Palmer and i were the only americans that came to campinas so they didnt really translate anything for us. it was pretty tough. i met my trainer. his name is elder mirando. he is brazillian and cannot speak and english at all! that makes it pretty tough but hopefully i learn the language quicker that way. after we got our companions and some more instruction, we started walking home. we walked for about 30 or 40 minutes to a bus station that is bigger than the idaho falls airport. we rode on the bus for about an hour and then had to walk for another twenty or thirty minutes. we got home at about 9. so i just unpacked and did a little studying. i couldnt eat anything. i was kinda sick but this morning i was feeling better. we live alone in the apartment so i cant talk to anyone in english there either. our apartment is the front room, our room, kitchen and bathroom.
i cant receive emails or send emails to anyone but my immediate family
well we are gonna teach 4 or 5 lessons tonight after p day is over. i dont think we will ever be low on investigators, which is awesome! the mission is baptizing more now than ever before which is also awesome. we get lunch from members ever day except p days so that will be way nice. lunch is really big here too. so hopefully the food is good. i dont think it will be to extreme.
oh ya. i get all my letters on tuesday so i dunno if that will affect how you send them. and you need to send all my letters to the mission home. well i love you all. have a good week this week. i will try to as well.
> Love,
> Elder Long
i cant receive emails or send emails to anyone but my immediate family
well we are gonna teach 4 or 5 lessons tonight after p day is over. i dont think we will ever be low on investigators, which is awesome! the mission is baptizing more now than ever before which is also awesome. we get lunch from members ever day except p days so that will be way nice. lunch is really big here too. so hopefully the food is good. i dont think it will be to extreme.
oh ya. i get all my letters on tuesday so i dunno if that will affect how you send them. and you need to send all my letters to the mission home. well i love you all. have a good week this week. i will try to as well.
> Love,
> Elder Long
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
June 24, 2009
so it is my last week before i go to the field. i am a little nervous. i dunno the language the greatest. there are a lot of others in my district that know a lot more than i do. I will work hard though and catch up soon. I am nervous about my trainer but i know things will work out. i am really excited to get out into the field though and start doing missionary work. I really have liked the CTM though. I have learned a ton. I finished Jesus the Christ this week. It is an awesome book. You should all read it! It goes right along with the 4 gospels (Matt, marc, luke, and john) and has some book of mormon references. It taught me a ton about the Savior that i didnt know. I wish i knew all the scripture that go along with it though. I am gonna finish up the new testament in the beginning of my study in the field. And i think i am going to read our heritage on sunday and monday. I have done a lot of gospel study and not language study so i think that might be the reason i dont feel ready to go to the field yet with my language skills. I hope that everything turns out well though.
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