hey everyone! how has the week gone? i will tell you a little about my week.
foi uma semana sem sucesso ou não muito. this week was pretty slow. it is the least amount of lessons that i have taught in a week. we also have the least amount of investigators like 0, and we didnt have a single person visit church. i have a hard time now thinking that it is because of me, and because i dont know how to plan. elder garcia doesnt know the area, so i was somewhat of a senior companion this week. i learned tons this week. probably more than any other week, but it was still a little difficult without many people to teach. this week will be better. we found a couple families to teach and they are doing pretty good. we also had noite familiar with a family last night and a friend of theirs. we taught the plano de salvação and it went really well! i think things will get better. i also went on a transfer with elder castleton of sandy, utah. he is best friends with elder barton, my companion in the ctm. it was pretty cool and i learned tons. he is my zone leader now. he helped teach me tons of ways to learn the language quicker and how to be a better missionary now even without the language. ha it was funny cuz during some of the lessons he would act like he was listening to the person and mumbling something to them but he was really telling me in english what to teach next. i almost started laughin right then cuz the person didnt even know haha. pretty cool. he was a pretty good example and he said we need leaders in the mission now and i need to be qualified to be a senior companion by the end of this transfer. i think i can probably do that. crazy huh?! haha i could train chad!!! haha jk they would put me with a brazillian a transfer behind me. once youre qualified doesnt automatically make you a senior companion either. luckily cuz i cant even teach half the lessons haah. but i think it is a pretty good goal. i will need to find some way to study more for that. but that was my week. oh i got some sweet pictures of monkeys that i will be able to send sometime ah. so that was cool as well. oh and we work a lot in an area called pedro costa(pedro, irasema, leandro, maria luiza, joão, rosamea, and christiani all live there). well i have a fan club there now haha. it is pretty annoying. there are always like 15 to 20 kids surrounding me asking me to say something. i cant even think of what to say in english haha. it is really weird to talk to them in english. none of them know what i am saying though and they think it is pretty cool. i dont like it that much. haha
oh and this week we are having a zone meeting with Elder Ellis. he is in the quorum of the 70 and is the first or second counselor over the area of brazil. that will be cool. well i think that was about it for my week. i hope you have an awesome week this week everyone. the church is true! love you!
love,
Elder Long
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
August 19, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
August 12, 2009
so this last sunday we had 3 baptisms!!! foi muito bom!! they were pedro, nita, and maria luiza. the son and daughter of maria luiza want to be baptized this next sunday too which is really good! unfourtanately we werent here to teach for two days because of transfers. it will most likely be hard to get joão rosamea and christiani baptized this next sunday. i really hope we will have some baptisms though!! it will be tough but we can do it!
so i will tell you all about transfers now! after the leadership meeting i went home with elder hillam(IF), elder Greener(burley) and elder griffen (california). it was different being with americans ha. so you guys thought it was crazy that i will do contacts to the entire bus? wait till you hear this haha. us three idaho boys sang hymns the whole way home!!! ha bet you didnt expect that! but it was pretty good. oh ya sidenote: i was doing a contact on the bus and my voice squeaked. i just hurried and sat down haha. it was funny cuz earlier that day i was thinking, i am a man now, i have to shave every single day! turns out i am just a child haha. but back to transfers...all these american missionaries were very good examples for me! especially e.hillam and e. greener! they love the work so much and are so animado! i dont know the word in english ha. so excited i guess. but they are always so excited about everything they do. the time with them just flew because i was trying to have fun like them hah it was awesome! they work pretty hard too. i went with elder griffen to teach (we didnt teach anyone just contacts cuz no one was home) and the other two went together. they ran home after they finished the lesson. how the crap do they do that!? i am pooped at the end of the day! but that night i didnt have a pillow! it was hard to sleep! but wouldnt you know that right when i woke up and went into the other room, there were 3 pillows not being used haha. that was dissapointing! but transfers were good. my new companion is named elder gomez. he is a native as well. native to Bagio, the same state as elder miranda. but he speaks english really well!!! what a blessing! he never speaks it except when we study the language in the morning or to help me. he is probably better at english than i am at portuguese! i am excited for this transfer. i am going to learn so much from him! he is the new district leader but only has 7 months in the mission. i have done like all the plannin so far and am kinda like the senior comp. it is kinda cool. but there are two, not really experienced 19-year-olds in itatiba teaching the gospel. pretty awesome. he is just a little guy ha. when we had lunch yesterday he couldnt finish one plate. i HAD to eat it all so i had 3 plates. i am not ever going to complain about that!! i am excited though. my goal is to be more animado like e hillam and e greener! luckily E. Gomez is like that as well. oh ya in case you were wondering, we missed the bus back from campinas yesterday by about 3 minutes again!! o we had to wait for 2 hours extra again. i swear they just wait til they see us coming then take off! but ya that was my week. did i tell you the son and daughter of maria luiza want to be baptized? i hope they will be!
well this week has been pretty good. we are gonna go to mcdonalds soon. i am excited for a hamburger. and really excited for my package haha. thanks for everything. love you guys! the church is true! families can be forever! Amo vocês!
Com amor,
Elder Long
so i will tell you all about transfers now! after the leadership meeting i went home with elder hillam(IF), elder Greener(burley) and elder griffen (california). it was different being with americans ha. so you guys thought it was crazy that i will do contacts to the entire bus? wait till you hear this haha. us three idaho boys sang hymns the whole way home!!! ha bet you didnt expect that! but it was pretty good. oh ya sidenote: i was doing a contact on the bus and my voice squeaked. i just hurried and sat down haha. it was funny cuz earlier that day i was thinking, i am a man now, i have to shave every single day! turns out i am just a child haha. but back to transfers...all these american missionaries were very good examples for me! especially e.hillam and e. greener! they love the work so much and are so animado! i dont know the word in english ha. so excited i guess. but they are always so excited about everything they do. the time with them just flew because i was trying to have fun like them hah it was awesome! they work pretty hard too. i went with elder griffen to teach (we didnt teach anyone just contacts cuz no one was home) and the other two went together. they ran home after they finished the lesson. how the crap do they do that!? i am pooped at the end of the day! but that night i didnt have a pillow! it was hard to sleep! but wouldnt you know that right when i woke up and went into the other room, there were 3 pillows not being used haha. that was dissapointing! but transfers were good. my new companion is named elder gomez. he is a native as well. native to Bagio, the same state as elder miranda. but he speaks english really well!!! what a blessing! he never speaks it except when we study the language in the morning or to help me. he is probably better at english than i am at portuguese! i am excited for this transfer. i am going to learn so much from him! he is the new district leader but only has 7 months in the mission. i have done like all the plannin so far and am kinda like the senior comp. it is kinda cool. but there are two, not really experienced 19-year-olds in itatiba teaching the gospel. pretty awesome. he is just a little guy ha. when we had lunch yesterday he couldnt finish one plate. i HAD to eat it all so i had 3 plates. i am not ever going to complain about that!! i am excited though. my goal is to be more animado like e hillam and e greener! luckily E. Gomez is like that as well. oh ya in case you were wondering, we missed the bus back from campinas yesterday by about 3 minutes again!! o we had to wait for 2 hours extra again. i swear they just wait til they see us coming then take off! but ya that was my week. did i tell you the son and daughter of maria luiza want to be baptized? i hope they will be!
well this week has been pretty good. we are gonna go to mcdonalds soon. i am excited for a hamburger. and really excited for my package haha. thanks for everything. love you guys! the church is true! families can be forever! Amo vocês!
Com amor,
Elder Long
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Help
I don't know who ever looks at this blog anyway. But if anyone does, maybe you could help. Thomas wants a few of his friends' addresses.
JayDee
Colby
Chad
Eric
Zach
If you don't want to post it on here, just email it to janet_long1962@msn.com
Thanks!
JayDee
Colby
Chad
Eric
Zach
If you don't want to post it on here, just email it to janet_long1962@msn.com
Thanks!
August 5, 2009
so the other day we were teaching a lesson, the 2nd lesson, and afterwards, elder miranda told me i did it without sotaque or accent ha. that was awesome. it is just with the words i dont really know and when i have to put sentences together. so hopefully that is a good sign haha. hopefully i just have to learn the words and i will sound like a brazillian haha i wish!! so have i told you guys that i have seen toucans and monkeys here? i dont think so. but the other day i saw a toucan on the steeple of the church. it was awesome. i didnt have my camera though. and i didnt have my camera for the monkeys either but there were like 10 of them playing in a tree. did you know that toucans eat other birds?!! that is so crazy but they eat fruit and small birds!!
we have been teaching this guy a little bit named raimundo. he is really lazy and wont read or go to church but he sounds exactly like the bad guy on italian job. it is kinda wierd haha. i think that every time i talk to him.
so there is this stuff called cevada. it is a substitute for coffee and we give it tto people to help them quit. the investigators always offer it to us now. it is disgusting!! i dont know how anyone could drink coffee. luckily they always give us somethin else like a piece of cake or something to get rid of the taste!! i gave a talk not thsi last sunday but the sunday before. i dont think it was gramatically correct. i didnt have my comp read it cuz he doesnt help me with the language anyways. but i dont think it was to bad. it was on amor e caridade (love and charity). i also bore my testimony last sunday. it was like 5 seconds long cuz we were already over on time.
i didnt tell you about irasema being baptized last week but she was baptized and it was really good. this week we have 3 marked baptisms and then most likely joão, rosamea and christiani too. so it would be awesome to have 6! we havent been able to teach joão and his family cuz they have been gone. but they still are excited about the church! the three that are ready are pedro, nita, and maria louisa. i have to give the spiritual thought so anyone have good ideas about a thought real quick about baptism?
well my week has been going well. i had a tough day on sunday but every other day has been good! i already have one transfer in the field done! thats crazy huh!? but i better get going i dont have much time left. love you guys!! well thanks for the support. the church is true!! have a good week! love you
love
elder long
we have been teaching this guy a little bit named raimundo. he is really lazy and wont read or go to church but he sounds exactly like the bad guy on italian job. it is kinda wierd haha. i think that every time i talk to him.
so there is this stuff called cevada. it is a substitute for coffee and we give it tto people to help them quit. the investigators always offer it to us now. it is disgusting!! i dont know how anyone could drink coffee. luckily they always give us somethin else like a piece of cake or something to get rid of the taste!! i gave a talk not thsi last sunday but the sunday before. i dont think it was gramatically correct. i didnt have my comp read it cuz he doesnt help me with the language anyways. but i dont think it was to bad. it was on amor e caridade (love and charity). i also bore my testimony last sunday. it was like 5 seconds long cuz we were already over on time.
i didnt tell you about irasema being baptized last week but she was baptized and it was really good. this week we have 3 marked baptisms and then most likely joão, rosamea and christiani too. so it would be awesome to have 6! we havent been able to teach joão and his family cuz they have been gone. but they still are excited about the church! the three that are ready are pedro, nita, and maria louisa. i have to give the spiritual thought so anyone have good ideas about a thought real quick about baptism?
well my week has been going well. i had a tough day on sunday but every other day has been good! i already have one transfer in the field done! thats crazy huh!? but i better get going i dont have much time left. love you guys!! well thanks for the support. the church is true!! have a good week! love you
love
elder long
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
July 29, 2009
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
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 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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)