Welcome to Elder Briggs: Brazil São Paulo North Mission Blog

Last blog post from Brazil

2010-09-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

us playing basketball for our morning exercise

Elder Gratil (Arizona) and I going for the pool...we didnt actually jump in but it shows our excitement to finish the mission!

Hey mom!

See ya on Thursday!

That’s weird...never thought that this would ever come.

Anyways, what do we have planned for that first Thursday?

I didn’t really want much planned, but I was thinking that I wanted some Longboard Louies or Parilla for lunch, and then some king, curry style, for dinner. Actually, one of these nights I will make a Brazi dish for us...Brazilian stroganofe.

I am very excited that all those people will be down for my talk at sacrament meeting. I am glad that they didn’t give me a topic for my talk, cuz I wasn’t going to follow it anyways. I wrote my talk the other day in one of my morning study sessions, hope it goes well!

I am super excited to ride home with Kelsey from SLC to Bend. It is going to be really weird for me to ride these airplanes...I think this is the longest I have ever gone without flying. Every time I see an airplane in the sky these days I get super excited ahah...that is trunkeza at its purest.

Anyways...onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week. This week has just FLOWN by. Elder Gratil and I call it the golf ball theory. When you make a long putt, the ball goes slowly, ever so slowly to the cup, kind of seems like it stops at the rim, then it just falls in super fast. That is what this last transfer was like. It was going slow, slow slow, and then all of a sudden we are just done.

Anyways, this week started off with our first transfer meeting, talk about who is going where on the mission this next transfer, trying to solve little problems, etc. Then, Tuesday was a day in Jaraguá. I went out with a Brazilian from my group, Elder T. da Silva. The whole day was basically a day for me to visit people, say goodbye, and visit recent converts of mine who have kind of started to fall away, and get them back. It went really well. It was super strange seeing some of these people for what may be the last time. I guess it won’t be the last time, cuz we will visit them when we come back this December. But yeah, just a super weird feeling.

It was Tuesday when I finally started to realize that I would be going home, that the mission was ending.The next day was my last mission council. It was a pretty fun day, where we taught about how to be Zone Leaders and how to help other missionaries become better, preparing the mission for the future. This council was just weird for me because I had to say goodbye to some people ... something that I just thought would never happen. I have made a lot of good friends here on the mission.

Of course, more than anything, I have learned and grown a lot. I have learned about God, Christ, myself, my family, etc. I know who I am. The mission has instilled a new sense of self worth and self confidence that wasn’t completely there before. I have strengthened weakness, and some strengths, as I, as Dad put it, went through extreme "stretching" experiences.The next couple of days were also spent in division, one out in Jaçanã, the other here next to the office. They were perfect examples to me of what I am going to miss, and what I won’t. I won’t miss leaving lunch into the scorching sun of the afternoon. I won’t miss the rude remarks and gestures that are usually directed towards the Mormon missionaries. However, I will miss the friendships, the people that automatically trust in the power and authority of the calling, and most of all, the lessons and opportunities every day to help people come closer to their Lord and Savior.

Thursday night in Jaçanã Elder Adamson and I found this really cool old couple, but they were having some difficulties in their life. The man had just suffered a stroke, and is struggling to regain is motor skills and forces to be able to walk and do everything that he used to do, although the mind is still perfectly intact. The woman is always hunched over by a bad walk and hobbling around on bad knees. We were able to teach about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, apply it to their lives and their family, teach about the restoration of the priesthood, and give them blessings of health. It was a super cool experience. I will definitely miss those everyday opportunities.

The mission was great. I have gone through some of the best, and hardest, times of my life here ... from depressed companions to awesome experiences that prove to me the love that God has for His children. I know that He lives, that God is literally our Heavenly Father, that there is a plan for us, and that He wants nothing more than our happiness on this earth and wants us to return to Him to receive eternal life. I know that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer for the sins of the world, to be the shining example for us all to follow. I know that He died for us, but that he also resurrected, that He lives, that He loves us, and that He is our friend at all times. I know that if we really have faith, if we really trust in God, and follow his commandments, and the gospel of Christ, that is our path to happiness. Everything is guaranteed in the gospel of Christ, happiness, salvation, etc. When we are outside, it is a dog eat dog world.

I am very grateful for the opportunity that God gave me to preach His gospel for the past two years, to be an instrument in His hands so that He could reach out to His children. I know that His kingdom has been restored to the earth, that we have a modern day prophet and 12 apostles as well. That the Book of Mormon is true. That the Bible is too. That we may all know for ourselves through humble prayer. God answered my prayers, He answers them daily, and this testimony of mine is strengthened and confirmed every moment.

This is my testimony, and I say it in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

One of the most tiring weeks of my entire life.

2010-09-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

Photos, Elder Briggs, Schoen, Calvert
Father, Son, Grandson

Mission Pres & Wife, & companion

Elder Calvert sleeping on the floor

So, before you start freaking out any more, the package got here yesterday. Thanks! It was awesome! Oreos, goldfish, mac and cheese, everything that I would ever need. It was awesome. The flying monkey toy has been especially popular here in the office haha. Definitely a hit. Also, congrats on those new paintings, they are great! I was definitely proud of my momma when I showed them off.

I got an email from Nathan Rau wondering what time that I would be rolling through the SLC airport. I guess you know already, but yeah, I will make an effort to leave security to be able to see some people real quick at the SLC airport for anyone who can make it. My plane arrives in SLC at 10:05 and leaves at 11:20, so I will stay only a few minutes outside of security before going back to the terminal. I feel like a little bit of a celebrity haha, everyone sending me emails trying to get just a little space of time to see me. Also, GO DAWGS!!! The huskies play the cougs today! I am so stoked for it. I really really wish I could walk it. It is going to be awesome. What has all the talk been about the game?

Onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week So, this past week was one of the most tiring weeks of my entire life. Sorry for the drama, but it really was. However, it was a good week as well, just draining. We had another week of four days straight of training, but this time it was out in Sorocaba, a city about an hour and a half out of São Paulo to the west (wow, I guess my mission really is small huh). Anyways, it was a week full of training, setting stuff up, sleeping in odd places, and doing normal missionary work after a full six hours of training in the morning. Totally worth it though, the training was a big hit and all the Elders are excited to be working with this stuff. I really wish that this stuff could have come earlier in my mission...would have made a cool difference.Anyways, the coolest things in this past week were these last two days, Thursday and Friday. Thursday, after the training, I went out to Salto de Pirapora for a day of work with my beloved son, Elder Schoen, and my awesome grandson, Elder Calvert. It was sweet. We were able to have some great lessons and found some great people together.

I was just super impressed with Elder Schoen, it is crazy seeing him now versus when I was training him, and Elder Calvert is a true stud. His portuguese is awesome already and he is already just an awesome teacher and missionary. I cant really describe how, but he is just awesome...you would have to be a missionary to know, it is just all the little things that he does. Anyways, the fun part of the night was sleeping on the makeshift mattress that Elder Calvert made for me (a blanket folded in half on the ground) and just talking at night. It was hard saying goodbye to them yesterday...I may not see either of them for a long time.The other cool thing was that MY dad, Elder Martins, visited the office yesterday. It was way cool seeing him again and talking to him again. His english has gotten really good and he is planning on being married next year with his Fiancé. Just was way cool. Anyways, today should be a fun pday. We are all (all is in us 6 in the office) going to the Taverna Gaucha in downtown São Paulo for some churrasco and pizza for lunch. Then, who knows, I just need some relaxing. Love ya mom! Love ya dad! Love ya kels!Bryan

Jacob 6:12

2010-08-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

Pics: Bry in Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo Temple at night

It's great to read all the talk about the upcoming UW BYU game next week...it is going to be pretty big. I really wish that I could be there with my family of cats and dawgs to watch it. I will hear about the end result.

Cool thing that Kelsey & Mom ran into Sean and Jonathan at BYU. BYU just has everyone there doesn't it? Anyways, I may try to leave the airport secured area in SLC just to say hi to some people during my layover.

About the flight update from Elder Hurst, you need to talk to President Rau about my release, and when it will be scheduled. Also, I have not received the package yet, but I'm sure I will soon, don't sweat it.

Onnnnnnnnnnn to the week.

Well, not a ton to report from this last week, as things didn't give way to much excitement. The main developement here on the mission is that I spent all week giving a 4 day leadership training about a new system that just came in from Salt Lake. They were four days of training, starting at 9 am and going til 3 pm, that involved doctrinal teaching and practices. We taught the missionaries about 8 key things...The Doctrine of Christ; The role of the Holy Ghost; How to help investigators receive revelation through church attendance, reading the Book of Mormon, and praying; Teach People, not lessons; We invite, they commit, we follow up; starting to teach. President Cooley did all the doctrinal teaching, whereas Elder Alves and I showed them how to use it and led all the practices. It was a pretty effective, but tiring, week. Everyone learned a lot and is really excited to get out into the field and work. I really wish actually that I could have gotten these trainings a lot earlier on my mission, they are really good and help us to be real teachers of the Gospel of Christ. It was a lot of fun and we are scheduled to give the training again next week, but in the far away part of the mission. Well, since I really dont have much more to write this week, I will put in some of my favorite scriptures:

Jacob 6:12 (Book of Mormon);

O be wise; what can I say more?

Moses 1:39 (Pearl of Great Price);

For behold, this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
Matthew 6:24 (Bible);

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Moroni 7:33-34 (Book of Mormon)

And Christ hath said; Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved./And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that these things are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you with power and great glory at the last day, that they are true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased?

One of the Craziest Weeks in the History of Ever

2010-08-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Pic - Division in Trujillo...the Stake where I started my mission.

Shout outs to: Sean Layton - Thanks for the email man! Can't wait to see ya.

Parker Beazer: You ain't no elder anymo', but I got your letter

Katrine: Got your letter, will send one out soon

Onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week.................

This was one of the craziest weeks in the history of ever. The mission is determined to not let me "rest in peace" as there are new issues coming up, huge new trainings (4 days long!), and this past week was a 4 day long division out in Sorocaba (Sorocaba is to Sao Paulo as Sacramento is to San Francisco). It was killer! Elder Alves and I left the office Monday afternoon and we just got back on Friday night. We did divisions with all four stakes in Sorocaba.

The best stories from the week come from the divisions with Elder Lopes (Zona Sorocaba) and Elder Payne (Zona Barcelona). The division with Elder Lopes was a lot of fun. The day started out with our lunch appointment falling, so I became the designated chef and made a Brazi style stroganoff. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm good. It actually turned out pretty well. After that, Elder Lopes and I left to begin our search for new people to teach in the area. All in all, we were able to mark two baptismal dates together during the day. The coolest lesson of all was with this girl named Camila. We were teaching her and her boyfriend in front of their house right at the end of the day. It was a great first lesson. While they didn't really have any religious background, they were able to understand concepts like Prophets, Apostles, Apostasy, Restorations, etc. There were both really interested and really wanting to know the truth, committing to pray to ask God if the things were true. Even better, when we went to go give the Book of Mormon, she said to Elder Lopes, "so, do you guys baptize?" Of course we do! We were able to make a baptismal date for her the next month.

The next day I went to Barcelona for a division with Elder Payne. We had a pretty good day together, but things didn't really pick up until that evening. We had made the goal in the beginning of the day to find two people that wanted to be baptized. Our ending time was going to be 6:30. At 5:45 we started teaching this pair of teenagers about the restoration. I used weird examples like a commandment against mowing lawns to help them understand that there is only one God, and that His commandments are the same for us all....so we need to find the church that teaches the right things. In the end, they were really excited and both accepted baptismal dates! Pretty exciting thing. There were super excited to be able to pray on their own to receive and answer from God, instead of having to have some indoctrination shoved down their throats. Go Power of Prayer.

ONE MONTH!

2010-08-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

Bryan is coming home on September 16 - if you are in Bend, Oregon he'd love to see you that weekend before he heads to UW for school. He will be speaking at church on September 19 at the 9am meeting - Bend, OR Stake Center. Save the dates.

Things have been pretty basic for the past 10 days. The biggest thing for me is that I am still getting used to and trying to find the right rhythm with my new companion, Elder Alves. He is a great guy, great missionary, but just is different after working for four months with Elder Parsons. We had a few divisions this week, mission council, and I got attacked by mosquitos for the first time in forever. They bit me four times in the face! How inconvenient.

The first division tht we did this week was out in Barueri, where I stayed with Elder Sena. There weren't really any big cool experiences, but it was fun talking with him for a day. Elder Sena is from a state in Brazil called Bahia, and he has a really strong accent from there, and is a really funny guy. The other two divisions were done in the northern zone of Sao Paulo, in areas called Pirituba and Santana. Santana was fun because we ate lunch at a member's house who had just gotten back from a vacation to Seattle! It was way trunky talking to them haha...made me miss the emerald city a lot. She looked at your website, Mom, and she really loved your paintings. The day in Pirituba went pretty well as I went out with Elder Warner from Orem, UT. We had some fun and taught a really cool person that is finally going to be baptized after years of investigation. Yes, Little & Fabian, Aslaine is going to get baptized in September.

The other big event of the week was mission council, where we have a meeting with all the Zone Leaders of the mission. We talked about some mission goals, problems, etc. Our training was about working with members in the missionary work, and igniting the missionary fire in the hearts of the members. Definitely something tough to do. I used the example of how I didn't really do any "missionary work" before the mission, mostly because I didn't realize how important missionary work is. Now that I am here, I know...but all the members are still in the same pickle. We talked a lot about preparing spiritual lessons for the members to help them feel the power of the Holy Ghost, taking members with us to teach investigators, etc. Went really well.

ONE MONTH!!!

I am a Grandfather

2010-08-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

Pics:

On a division. my companion is the one on the far right with Lion hair.

A dog named "Poopey" i guess it is "doll" in German.

Me and the washington kids that came in, one on right is elder schoen's son - Spencer Calvert, friend of my Sis from BYU - Small World.

Me trying to sneak into the van that took my old comps to the airport...gonna miss those guys

It has been way too long since my last pday. I am exhausted!!! Really definitely needing this day of rest. Super happy to be emailing yall as well. I am in my last transfer! We are in August as well...I can officially say that I am coming home next month.

Shout out to Krispy Kremer Supreme...got your letter!

Onnnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week

Well, things have been pretty crazy in the past ten-ish days. It is that whole bujumbled story of transfers, doing divisions, watching people go home, getting new companions, starting my last transfer on the mission, etc. To tell you the truth, I am not even really sure where to begin. I guess the main thing is that my companion Elder Parsons (now just Brent Parsons) went home! That was a sad parting. It was the longest time that I had ever spent with one companion. He was definitely one of the best, we had a lot of fun together and I feel like we had a lot of success as well here on the mission. He is gonna rock life back at home.

My new companion is Elder Alves from Fortaleza, Brazil. He is definitely a lot different from Elder Parsons, so I am getting used to it still, but he is a really hard worker and really wants to do things the right way. It is weird, since he has such a different way of doing things...I have been used to one thing for the past four and a half months. Well, it is going to be great though. Best of all....I GO HOME NEXT MONTH!!!!

As for the whole thing of transfers. We had some cool divisions to make sure that all the transfers things were correct and to see how some people were doing. The best division was in an area called Cerqueira César, which is the downtown area of the mission. This is the area that gets the Avenida Paulista, Faria Lima, Oscar Freire, etc...all the chique places. It was tons of fun out there. Actually, it was rough, as I walked SOOOO much, we didnt get into many homes to teach lessons. However, I did make a sweet contact with this lady as she was walking around with her fancy dog and pushing her baby in the stroller. She spoke perfect english (common for rich Brazilians). I don't really know what is going on with her, but she seemed super interested in the church.

The Elder that I went out with, Elder Schenatto, is a brazilian that also speaks decent english. He is now training an Idaho boy there...so funny...imagine a shy kid from the middle of nowhere...and now imagine him walking around Brazil's version of Wall Street and Time Square..big change. Transfers went pretty well. There were a couple last minute problems and we had to change some things around, but mostly it all went very smoothly. We have 8 new zone leaders, 15 trainers, 1 new assistant, and 10 new district leaders...basically a total change on the mission. Plus, we are having fun integrating this new program that we received from Salt Lake a little while ago. Going pretty well so far.

The coolest thing about the transfer is that Elder Schoen, my son on the mission, is training again. Im a grandfather! Again! Even cooler, he is training someone from Redmond, WA. Even better than that, he is training someone that has met my family - dated my sister's roommate at BYU. Small world, right? But the guy is legit, I bet him and Elder Schoen are going to have a great time together and lots of success. Well, that is about it for now. I have a new companion. My old companion is at home. I am a grandfather (That is when the person you first trained, is now training someone new, that person is your "grandson" - mission lingo). We are at the start of my last transfer. I am not trunky, but stoked.

Jaçanã

2010-07-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

(maybe reminding him of a dentist?)

Onnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week

This past week has been a lot longer...ten days. ten days between pdays is super rough on the missionary body. Anyways, totally was all worth it because we got to go out with President today to this sweet place called EMBU. It is a place with lots of souvenirs and crafts and arts and stuff like that. I bought an awesome BLOWDART. So cool, definitely going to put that up on the wall. also, i got some other souvenir type things. best of all, super fun pictures. The weird part though was that there were a lot of weird arts...by weird i mean naked and abstract. Strange, to say the least. Anyways, was good for laughter.

During this past time we have finished all of our zone conferences, started preparing for some way cool stuff, and did more divisions. This week our divisions were done all in the zona norte of sao paulo, in Jaçanã, Santana, and Jaraguá. The one in Jaraguá was definitely interesting because I went there for church as well last Sunday. Was cool seeing a bunch of people and such. When we came back a couple of days later to do the division, we visited some of the people that I had worked with and it was a lot of fun. It is always interesting going back there. It is a great area, but also way difficult as well. Please, just do your home teaching and fulfill your other callings.

The other days in Jaçanã were spent doing a lot, and alot of walking. I dont think I have walked so much since the beginning of my mission when i was a greenie just raring to get to work. Anyways, we walked a lot. When we got home on Thursday night i just about fell asleep right then and there. It reminded me of a missionary that said "I am so happy here on the mission. it is the best. I dont know why I am so happy, because I am so tired. just oh so very very tired" Yeah, ditto.

The fun story of this week comes from the division in Jaçanã. I went out with a Brazilian from my group, Elder Moraes, and we had a long fun day of door knocking. To tell the truth, the day was going pretty terribly from about 2-5ish. We were just walking around in the hot sun, knocking on lots of doors, without getting into a single home. So, we decided to say a prayer on the sidewalk asking for a couple of specific things. First, we were dang thirsty. Second, we needed someone to teach. My prayer went like this"heavenly father, thank you for this day, for this division, and for being here in Jaçanã today. Father, we haven't had any success yet, and we are really thirsty. Please bless us that we can find a cup of water, and an elect family for us to teach. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." Well, three doors later we found someone who did not want to be taught, but did kindly get us some water to drink. Hallelujah! First item in the prayer. About half an hour later we found a Bolivian family of three, in which all accepted baptismal dates! God answers prayers, no matter how insignificant they may seem. We got water, and our elect family. Go team go.

Love ya!

Bryan

(sorry, no description of pictures this week; posted by assistant bloggrandma, GJ)

Everything is Big in Itu

2010-07-17T07:36:00.001-07:00

Only 2 months to go......

Pics

Bry with "Big" phone in Itu

Bry with the Brazilian version of Steve Carrel

Shout outs to

Dale Everett...Got your birthday card! Love it! So...shiny?

Grandmother and Papa Jim....Got your birthday card and Thanks for the letter.

Sean Layton & Nathan Rau...WELCOME HOME! See you in a couple months (it sounds so far away when you put it that way...but it is such a short time in mission terms)

Onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week.

So, things have been great this past week. We had some awesome divisions out in the interior, and some good times preparing and giving the first of the three zone conferences. It has been a lot colder the past couple of days, with a good dose of rain as well. I was actually soaked today, and super cold. Nothing like a hot shower and sweat pants to make a cold day better.

Starting last Thursday, we had a division with Itu. Itu is this quirky town in the interior who's slogan is "Everything is big in Itu". They have got big street signs, big stop lights, big telephones, big everything. It is a fun place. Even better, there are lots of good Acai places to get your purple miracle berry fix. Awesome. Anyway, I spent the day out there with a Brazilian named Elder J. Silva. He is a great kid, in his own weird way. Actually, he looks remarkable like one of the monsters from Space Jam...but in a good way. I really like him, it was a fun day of mostly door knocking. What basically sums up the entire story was our first visit...we knocked on a door (actually it is more like clapping your hands outside the front gate) and a lady answered. We told her that we are true representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we were sent to leave a blessing in her home and bring more happiness to her life and the lives of her family. She just said "of course!" And then invited us in. Turn out that her husband has been in recovery for the past five months from surgery on a brain tumor. He hasn't been doing too well. Immediately we read in Lucas 10, where it talks a little about our mission, and we then gave to him a health blessing, and then we offered a kneeling prayer with everyone present. The Holy Ghost was super present and it was a very spiritual thing. We then let them know that were were sent by God and that the power that we did the blessing by, the Melchizedek Priesthood, was restored in our days, as Christ called a prophet again to lead His church. It was awesome, they told us that they really wanted us to come back, and even gave us a reference of someone else to teach! Was awesome!

The next day was equally as cool.I had a division in Sorocaba, in an area called Santana, with Elder Chaves, Elder Perry's (my ex comp) current companion. Their area was a little down and not having much success. Somehow, during the day, we were able to mark three baptismal dates! It was incredible. The best lesson of all was actually on Saturday morning, when we went to teach an investigator, but he wasn't there. So, we decided to look for someone right around there, and we found this 20 year old single mother. We taught a great first lesson, but then the coolest think of all was the baptismal invite. We invited using Moroni 7:33-34, and then I bore my testimony to her about Christ, His gospel, and the importance of baptism. We asked "will you follow the example of Christ, being baptized?" She said "well, sounds like it will really help me out, yes, I want to be baptized". MIRACLE

Since then, the coolest thing was our pday today, where I was able to play basketball for the first time since I left the Missionary Training Center. It was tons of fun. Unfortunately, it was kind of raining and wet, but we were still able to play for a while. I was definitely a little rusty in the beginning, but I was able to find my groove after about 15 minutes. I am really looking forward to getting back to school and doing intramural sports....mostly flag football and soccer. Can't wait!

Red, White & Blue

2010-07-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

It was a Happy Fourth of July here...we celebrated here by wearing red and blue ties, drawing an American Flag, singing the National Anthem, and just being proud of America on that Sunday. It was pretty fun. Elder Whitesides and I even sang the National Anthem at someone's house tht night. Unfortunately, there was nothing else of Americanness. I wish I could have seen some fun parade and more red, white and blue. Brazil does have a kind of Independance Day, but it isn't as widely celebrated...most people are just excited to have a day off of work. Not like it is a World Cup game or anything.
Speaking of the World Cup, Brazil is out of the World Cup! People were oh so sad here about it. The people on the streets were in terrible moods for the rest of the day...imagine being in the bad mood and hearing the Mormons knocking at your door. Oh well, we still had some success thought, marking a baptism date with an awesome couple that we were able to find out in Sorocaba on division.
Onnnnnn to the week.
Well, the past seven days have been full of roller coasters and unexpected things in the work. Elder Parsons and I have been getting our frequent-busrider miles as we constantly travel around doing our divisions. Last week we spent the weekend out in Sorocaba, in the Cerrado and Barcelona areas. The Cerrado day was very interesting, as that was the day the Brazil was lost and thrown out of the World Cup. It was nuts. During the game people were just screaming, loving life, so excited for Brazil to win and go on to the semis...however, those Dutch had another idea. That made the work extra fun, as I mentioned above, as people were extra irritable all day. When I would talk to people on the street they would just be like "look, today isn't a good day, just leave me alone" and would look at mee with a crazy look like they wanted to hit me just for looking like a Dutch person...stupid white skin! The next day was just a little bit better, but everyone was still in a general state of depression. The thing that got everybody happy again was that Argentina was CLOBBERED by Germany. Bazil hates Argentina like UW hates UO. Even worse...so much worse. It was a fun day though. I was able to go out with a Brazilian the first day, and an American the other.
During this week we also had our Mission Council, the time when all the Zone Leaders come to President's house and we have a meeting about the affairs of the mission, about where things are going, what needs to be changed, improved, etc. We talk a lot about teaching with the Holy Ghost through a few key things 1) Testifiying and sharing spiritiual experiences 2) Using the scriptures 3) Asking good questions and inviting people to participate in the lesson. 4) Help investigators make and keep commitments. All the zone leaders will be teaching about this at Zone Conference. The council was also lots of fun because Sister Cooley made cinamon rolls. and we took some fun pictures with the missionaries that are leaving the mission...OH TRUNKEZA!
In other news, I am fighting the trunky bug as most of my mission friends are going home, including two companions of mine (Elder Perry and Elder Parsons). The only companion of mine that is still going to be on the mission at that time will be Elder Schoen. Crazy.

Anyway, just trying to keep going hard at full tilt.

Talk About Intimidating

2010-07-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

Pics. 2 year countdown.

Mom sent me a box of Mac & Cheese with my birthday package - Yum.

Kickin up my heels with Elder Parsons.

Lunch at Outback Steakhouse.

Really nice neighborhood in Sao Paulo suburb.

Reading about my friend, Jonathan's homecoming is really making me trunky and ready to come home. To make matters worse, my companion is in his last transfer. We went to the mall today and saw some of the sweet new technology and new movie promotions, plus we ate at Outback. It's okay though, I will survive. I just got to make it through this pday and I will be back to normal. Kudo's to Jonathan and Kevin for giving awesome homecoming talks. It makes me super happy to read about it.

onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week.

We are getting ready for another transfer. My companion, Elder Parsons, has just entered into his last transfer on the mission! It is super trunky up in this joint. Don't worry, we still focus and we still work and all that...but our converstions tend to turn to going home more and more often. Even worse, I have been considered a part of his group ever since I got to the mission, since my group was very small, and it is going to hurt so bad to have to watch all of my best mission friends head to the airport on that van with me wtill waving goodby from the office. Oh well, still 5 weeks until that moment. It's nuts how fast time just goes by here on the mission though. Ridiculous!
This week we have been worrying most about the state of the mission and the impact of the World Cup. Luckily, the impact hasn't been super huge, yet, as most Brazilians are kind of down on the Brazilian tem this year. They always complain that the team doesn't have a couple of players that they wanted, so there was no way for Brazil to win the Cup. It is like us Americans saying that there is no way to win the Gold in the Olympics because Lebron James isn't playing...they forget that we still have all those other best players in the world. Anyways, work will probably start to get a little difficult as the cup winds down. Everyone here is super excited to see Germany vs Argentina game, and the Brazil vs. Holland game....definely HUUUUUGE games on the world stage.

Also we did a division this week in this place called Alphaville/Aldeia. I don't really know how to describe in words. Let's just say that I didn't feel like I was serving a mission in Brazil anymore....it was so different! The best way to explain the place was like a mix of Park City with SoCal. That area is where some of the richest people in Sao Paulo live. It was all gated community, but I felt like I was back in the states. Tons of people spoke English, there were no gates or barbed wire surrounding the houses, most houses had lawns, etc. People were out walking their dogs. I was just dumbfounded! It was a way cool division though. I spend the day with a guy from Orem, UT named Elder Warner. He is about the most American looking guy on the mission. Six foot flat, blond, blue eyes, strong jaw, normal name is Steve...there is no fooling anybody. Anyways, it was great fun.

The coolest lesson of the day was with an older couple that is a reference from a Seventy. Yes, a General Authority's reference, he is the second counselor in the are presidency. Talk about intimidating. Anyway, we were teaching about the Gospel of Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism by immmersion for the remission of sins, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands, Endure to the end) it was going awesome. The spirit was super strong, there were understanding the purpose of the gospel, what faith and repentence are, everything. However, without going too much into details, by the end the man said "Look, I feel indebted to you guys, all the help that you have given us, but I don't think I will ever be baptized." A definite smack that came out of left field. Anyway, he went on talking about how he hadn't felt his answer yet about the Book of Mormon, and how he felt that he was betraying his old faith, etc. I looked him and his wife in the eyes and I asked "Do you want to know the truth? Really?" They replied that they did want to receive the answer about the Book of Mormon. So I said "I know that if you kneel right now and ask God with real intent, with a pure heart, with faith in Christ , you will receive your answer this very night" We then proceeded to have a kneeling prayer which he offered, we sang "Que Manha Maravillhosa" (The First Prayer), we left Moroni Chapter 10 for them to read, and then we just left without much of a word. It was one of the craziest experiences of my mission. I don't know if I have ever felt the spirit so strong and such a stonge prompting from the Holy Ghost. The mission never ceases to amaze me sometimes.

Happy Briggsday!

2010-06-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Pics...Happy Briggsday! They couldn't figure out what all those letter meant, so instead of happy Bday Elder Briggs they wrote Happy Briggsdayt. Also some classic street decorations for the world cup.

So yes, I am 21 years old now. I told my president that I was going to be able to drink legally in the United States, and he just kind of rolled his eyes. Ha. Ha. Anyway, he and his wife bought me a can of soda as a joke. It was pretty funny. It was a pretty uneventful birthday other than that...the work must go on...right?

I am glad that my UW schedule has worked out. I am super stoked to have econ with Laura and physics with Hunter...it is going to help me out tons.

Big congrats to Kendyl...that is just crazy. She is married. And Kyle is getting married soon. And Lauren is going to have a baby? But, yes, give the biggest congrats to Marnie! Yes!!!! So awesome she is getting married. Hopefully there are some cute Seattle girls my age at the wedding.

I can't believe Jonathan is home already and can't wait to see pics. That is absolutely nuts! I want to hear all about the homecoming events. Nathan and Keven are home as well. And Sean gets back in a few weeks. Right? Just awesome.

Onnnnnnnn to the week.

Shout outs to all of you who wished me a happy birthday, especially to Amy Jones, Bre Aasland, and the Smiley Family that sent me big messages. Y'all Rock.

So, it has been a loooonnnnngggg time since my last email. We changed our pday to Saturday this week since Wednesday was transfers and is a day that we spend working and pretty busy. Everything went smoothly. So, all of last week was spent doing investigatory divisions to find out more stuff for transfers, and having the transfer meetings with the president to figure out what needed to be done on the mission. I will send a couple of pics.

The transfer meeting are pretty cool. We just start with a prayer and then we are off to the races. The process is different in almost every mission, according to every mission president. However, President Cooley has a pretty simple process...start at the top and work our way down. That means...replace the zone leaders, find your trainers, solf the problems, and then just go, filling in all the holes that were made. It sounds simple, but it can take foever. President usually asks for our advice, but always makes the final decision. It ended up pretty well. Definitely was a good transfer.

Since then, we have done just a couple more divisions, going to Pirituba and Osasco. It was pretty normal. Both days were spent in pure "finding" mode. That means that we didn't have a single appointment marked, and we had to find people to teach through our own creativity. So, we had fun just talking to everybody. It actually works out pretty well, and is a lot better than just knocking doors. We found a couple of really cool famiieis that are super interested in teh gospel . Both of the families were found in street contacts, where we just asked, could we go to your house now? And we did! Good good stuff. The also accepted baptismal dates and are now preparing to reach the waters of baptism.

I have alwas promised myself the entire mission that I couldn't start thinking much about going home until after my birthday...well, it passed! I am coming home in less thatn 3 months y'all! Just have an awesome summer vacation and then I am back in action!!!

(the y'all is coming from Bry's Texan companions...sorry for the delay in posting this, bry's p-day was delayed and we were in Seattle for his friend, Jonathan's "homecoming" from Brazil, and Kevin's homecoming from Florida- if it was a preview of what Bry's experience will be it was absolutely amazing...save the date for September 19 so you can see Bry when he returns - Bry's Mom)

World Cup & I'm Legal

2010-06-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

Elder & Sister Araujo, President Cooley & Wife, Myself & Elder Parsons
Elder Parsons & Bryan (Turning 21 in 2 days!)

Ping Pong Set that mom sent being put to good use

Action shot - Elder Parsons camera fell while we were waiting for the countdown, elder Parsons is there already and the other Elder is trying to help, While me and Elder Mason are just laughing

So this past week has been pretty crazy. I am absolutely exhausted right now. Yesterday was probably the most tiring day I have ever experienced in my entire life. I felt like I wanted my soul to leave my body so that it could just sleep for hundreds of years. The reason why is that we finally got called in by the Brazilian Government to renew our Visas this week. However, there was a catch...we had to get up at 3 am to do it. So, we woke up early, got a van over to the police headquarters, and we waited for 4 hours, standing, outside, in the fridgid cold, for the place to open. Once we got in, we waited for about another 4-5 hours for everyone to get their fingers printed and visas renewed, along with the other hundreds of foreigners doing the same thing. Even better, we didn't eat breakfast or lunch during this entire time. I was soooo tired! Even worse than when I get up at 4am for cold duck hunts...at least then you can dress for success with lots of long johns, mugs of cocoa and soup, and things to shoot. Anyway, it is all over now and I am offically legally allowed to stay in the country until September. Yee Haw!

The rest of the week has been pretty exciting. This week is the week of preparing for transfers. So, we have had more transfers meeting with the president and we will have another one on Monday. This transfer is especially stressful because we have tons of leaders leaving the mission. But, it will all work out fine. We will finish up the transfers the Monday after we go to the CTM to visit the new missionaries. I love that part.

We did some divisions this week too. The most exciting one was on Tuesday...the day of Brazil's first game in the World Cup. The World Cup has not been hintering missionary work too much so far. Usually, during all the other games, a lot of people are still on the street and going about their business. However, during the Brazil games, EVERYTHING STOPS. Work places are OBLIGATED to let their employees go home for the game. How is that for a crazy culture.

The day was spent with Elder Gratil, the only other American elder to go home with me in Septmeber. Ironically enough, this was the first time that I have ever worked with him on the mission. When we got to the mission field, it was the last time that we saw each other for NINE months. It was awesome. He has turned into an awesome leader and missionary. We taught some cool people, but during the game we had no other choice than to just go back to the mission office and wait out the game. Brazil won. We are all just hoping that Brazil never plays the USA, and then loses, cause then we will probably have to stay off the streets for a while.

U-S-A All the WAY.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

Every Day Has It's Own Story.

2010-06-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

Pics: Biggest box of Tic Tac's in the World!
World Cup Street Decorations

Bryan's birthday is June 22 - it's not too late to send a card and make his day - Bry's Mom

Got my birthday package, those homemade oreos are delicious and all the other stuff is a dream come true. So awesome that my packages arrive in 10 days instead of 2 months. I can't believe that everything is going so fast now.
As for the D&C tradition, yes, read D&C chapters backwards everyday counting down, I'm on section 99 now...hope you all can do it

Onnnnnnn to the week.
So the last week has been spent doing divisions. We did divisions with 3 zones in Sorocaba, and one companionship in a new area called Caieras. It went pretty well. Every day has its own story and all that. We went to Cerrado, Trujillo, and Santana. It was sweet! The best part of it all was that, in every division, we were able to mark baptismal dates. That's the funny thing about divisions, they require more faith...everything always seems to fall and we have to trust in the Lord and just keep going. This way, we usually find lots of really cool new people that want to be baptized. One of them, a 17 year old guy named Alisson (yes, "girl" name) was one of the most elect guys I have ever seen. He was invited by his girlfriend to her baptism, loved it, got some materials from the missionaries in that other neighborhood, and got in contact with the missionaries in Trujillo. When we got there, he told us about how he was changing his work hours so he didn't have to work Sunday, said he had read three chapters in the Book of Mormon already, and then asked us what he needed to do to prepare to be baptized. So incredible! I couldn't believe it. But yeah, definitely is already prepared...he just needs sto go to church a couple more times and then he is good to go. The other cool miracle was in Santan, where I was on division with my old companion Elder Perry. Everything fell, and we ended up just making contacts and following the spirit wherever it took us. Eventually, it took us over to this street where we just decided to knowck the doors of a really nice house. The people said they didn't have any time, but we asked them who they know that might want to hear about Christ. The little daughter (9 years oldish) said that we should go next door. So, we knocked, waited, and a 28 year old woman answered the door, came, opened the gate, and told us how she had found a Book of Mormon in the house, started to read it, and wanted to know what she needed to do to get another one to give to a friend. AWESOME. Another date marked.

Yesterday, we went to the new area of the mission, Caieiras. This place is fresh. No missionaries have ever worked there before. So, it was a cool experience. People were just staring us down in the street wondering who we were....made street contacts so much easier. I met lots of really cool people that were anxious for us to come over and talk to their families about Temple Sealings and Eternal Marraige. It was Way Cool. Plus, we were able to mark some baptismal dates out of nowhere. I love missionary work.

Well, I think that that's about it for the week. Right now I am in food high from the Iron Man Whopper from Burger King...It was the first time that I had onion rings since I came on the mission.

I Saw the Duck

2010-06-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

Pics - 4 of 5 missionaries from Washington serving in the Mission....Pic. Mission Councel...It was super cool this time because we have the goal in the mission of 30 baptisms a week. Last week we got it so we made some posters and bought chocalate for everyone. Pic. Elder holding a box of chocolate that we had modified (I did the design with words and paint)
I am super excited to get my birthday box, but I think my blog is broken. I am not getting many letters recently (except for the one from Makelle, thanks cuz!) O poor and lonesome me...I used to be the letter king on the mission! I guess that's what happens when you start getting close to the end and everyone will be home soon anyways. (PLEASE WRITE..., send a card, postcard...tell me what's happening out there in the US, I love any news from home)

Well, onnnnnnnnnn to the week.

This past week was pretty awesome. We had a couple of zone conferences with Elder Araujo of the Seventy. It was great! To tell the truth, we were kind of worried about the conference before hand because we had things that we thought the missionaries of the mission were really needing to learn and know, and we had no idea what Elder Araujo was going to talk about. However, God knows what he does. The conference was perfect! He hit every single topic that we wanted to hit...even in the minor details. He also taught everything in a way that was incredible, really, the best ways to teach obedience and missionary vision that I have ever heard. So yeah, it was sweeeeet.

The story of his that I liked best was about obedience and is called "Eu vi o pato" or "I saw the duck". Let me tell it.

So, two young children (you can imagine me and Kels when we were younger) were going to spend a couple of weeks out in the countryside with their Grandmother and Grandfather. It was going to be a splendid time. They got there and were greeted by the normal warm and welcoming arms of the Grandparents. Both Grandparents were especially excited to teach new skills to their future generation. On the first day, in the morning, Grandfather took his young grandson out to use a slingshot, while Grandmother taught her granddaughter how to make strawberry pie in the kitchen. Grandfather lined up a bunch of cans on a ledge and, showing his grandson the technique, shot each and every single one down. He then gave the slingshot to his grandson to try. But, try as he might, the grandson could not hit a single can. So his Grandfather encouraged him to keep on practicing until he got it right.

Throughout the entire morning her practice and, he got nothing. The afternoon, also nothing. Of course, the young child began to lose his patience and saw his grandmother's favorite duck waddling around and thought "I can't hit anything anyways", took aim, and BLAM! Hit the duck in the head, quickly killing it. The young child became petrified at the thought that he had killed his grandmother's favorite duck, so he quickly gathered it up and buried it under the nearby oak tree. At that moment, he heard everyone calling him for dinner, so, with sweaty palms, he took off and went to eat with everyone. It was a wonderful dinner, with everything that this younun like to eat. Hoever, in the middle of dinner, his grandma asked "has anyone seen my duck? I am quite worried and I haven't seen him for quite some time today."

Her grandson got nervous and said "Grandma, you know what ducks are like. They just start walking and walking and end up getting lost! That's probably what happened, he probably lost himself out in the fields. I bet he'll come back."

At that very moment, his little sister nudged him in the ribs and whispered into his ear "I saw the duck, and I know where it is now sleeping under the oak tree." You can just imagine the horror of the little boy at the thought of his loved grandmother finding out that he had killed her prized possession. They all quickly finished dinner and Grandfather said "Tonight, I will teach my grandson how to play chess."

Grandmother said "come help me wash the dishes my Granddaughter."

The little sister, with a gleam in her eye, said, "No, I want to play chess with Grandfather, my dear brother wants to wash the dishes." Her brother immediatly started to complain and then she whispered "I saw the duck." To his defeat, the brother dutifully went to wash dishes as his little sister went to play chess. This same event happend numerous times throughout the week as the little sister kept blackmailing her brother into doing stuff such as sweing, cleaning, etc.

Finally, at the end of the week, Grandfather was going to take the Grandson into town, when, again, the sister said "I saw the duck." However, the little boy was so sick of the week of blackmailing that he said "Enough! I don't care anymore! Grandma, I killed your duck. It was me! I was using the slingshot and I couldn't hit a single can. Then...first time, I killed your duck. Forgive me Grandma." His Grandmother replied, "Grandson, you know I love you much more than my duck. I know you killed him. I saw you kill him from the kitchen window and I watched as you buried him under the oak tree. I just wanted you to tell me and I wanted to see just how long you would let your little sister blackmail you throughout the week."

This happens in our own lives as we make mistakes, and naturally, we try to hide them right away. Satan, on the other hand, tries to take control of our lives by saying "I saw the duck" and blackmails us into doing his will. Heavenly Father, on the other hand, already knows and wants us to be free in our lives. Obedience is the first law in heaven. His commandments are not to restrict us, but to set us free. As we saw in the story, as soon as the boy confessed his mistake everything was forgiven, and he was able to have fun again.

Cool story huh? Obedience is something that I have really started to understand more as the mission went on and on....

We also did a division this past week in the Sao Paulo North Stake with Elder Pratt and Elder Viana. I stayed with Elder Pratt during the day and it was a lot of fun. We put our musical talents to use singing for people, playing the flute, etc. It brought some great spirit to our lessons and really helped us connect with people. However, the miracle of the day came at the end when we decided to get some acai (sound familiar?). There, I just started talking to the owner and his wife and things just went on from there. They were super impressed with the mission lifestyle and loved the message of the Restoration, even to the point of accepting baptismal dates! They are definitely an awesome couple.

After that, all our time was spent planning mission counsel. We had lots of material and we took a long time in our training. It actually ended up being awesome as all the zone leaders participated and spoke up and we got a great discussion going. We spent most of our time talking about finding people and how we need to open our mouths and speak to everyone, have faith to find, and work with the members. The coolest scripture that we shared was Doctrine & Covenants 35:12, which basically says that good people have been prepared by Heavenly Father to receive the "Fullness of (His) Gospel". It went super well. Everyone said it was the best ever. Even President Cooley gave us a congrats and said it was super good. There's nothing like a compliment from the President to make you feel good on the mission.

For some reason I have been singing a lot recently in my missionary work. It has really been working some miracles for us out here. You could even read Elder Parsons' blog (see link on my blog) for some of the other experiences. It's going great. The scar from last week is getting a lot better too. Now it is just to the level where you have to get pretty close to really see it. I'm thinking that I'm going to use it for dinner conversation during dates when I come home.

Please Send Birthday Letters

2010-05-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

Make his day....Bryan's 21st Birthday is June 22, please take a moment to send him a note, birthday card or post card, and better yet - include a photo. 98 cent postage. Send to:

Elder S. Bryan Briggs

Missao Brasil Sao Paulo Norte

R. Dr. Rui Batista Pereira

165 Jardim Caxingui

Sao Paulo - SP 05517

BRAZIL

These young women (including his sister, Kelsey on the upper left) are from his home ward in Bend, OR. Each girl wrote a note on the back and we are sending him the letters so he can put them up on his Birthday.

I got Clotheslined

2010-05-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

Pics:

Just call me Scar (from the Lion King) - story below

The chapel in Casa Verde with Sao Paulo looming behind

Acai...the miracle food that tastes oh so good.

Shout outs to: Elder Demeester....got your letter, sweet to see you are in training! Krispy Kreme Master...thanks for the email! Though yall had forgotten about me...just a friendly reminder, I get home on the 16th of September and I expect everyone to be at my welcome home talk on September 19th at the Church. Makelle....hey cuz! Got your letter! I will send one back asap. And don't worry, I will give you the inside scoop.

Side note...I don't know why I use yall so much these days. I think it's a variety of things

1)I had a Texan companion

2) My mission President is a retired farmer

3) there is no way for me to say voces (plural version of you in Portugese)

onnnnnnnnnnn to the week.

So there hasn't been a whole lot going on in the lasst week. Since we are going to host an area seventy for this zone conference, we haven't had to prepare any trainings to give. So, we have just been doing lots and lots of divisions. There have been some really successful ones too. For example, yesterday in casa verde (CTM) we were able to teach 15 lessons and mark 6 dates...and all before 7:30 pm! It was pretty sweet. A great division. Elder Nannanga and I went out and we knocked some doors on this weird random street. Our prior plan had actually fallen so we just went wandering until we found a street that just felt right. We taught some way cool people. The funniest lesson was with this old guy that was born into the Catholic church, but now has some really interesting views. When we first started talking he was like "well we all know that Christ was really quite a messmaker" we werre just dumbfounded. I said" actually, I have never heard that before. Prince of Peace is usually a more common term for him" but then he went on talking about how Christ was part of an anti-roman band and etc...ect...I thought it was funny because we know from the Bible that Christ even paid taxes to Caesar. Anyway, the lesson with him was sweet! When we got to the part about the restoration he was like "oh good, the earth really needed a prophet like the olden days" and then he went on to accept being baptized! Crazy. I wasn't expecting it at all. It started with us asking for a cup of water. Go Elders Go!

The other cool lesson was with a 15 year old that we met as he entered his house. We taught a super fast lesson about the gospel of Christ (Faith Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, Endure to the end) in about 45 seconds. We then invited him to be baptized and he was like, of course! So, we marked a date to come back and talk more with him and his family too. I didn't have any more Book of Mormons so I gave him one of our little books about the Law of Chastity. I figured his parents might dig that.

Today was temple day. It was awesome! There was a young couple going through so that they could be endowed and then receive eternal marraige! It is way cool that they can be together forever.

True love is like that.

Anyway, the temple was super spiritual today and I was able to receive some awesome answers to my prayers to know how to better help the mission. Plus I received some other spiritual confirmations.

God lives.

Jesus Christ is our Savior.

The Book of Mormon is true, and, accordingly, the Church is true too.

I already know that, but it is awesome having it reinforced every once and awhile by the Holy Ghost. I actually felt the described "burning in the bosom" today. Sweet.

However the story of the week.

I am going to take a note out of Dane Cook's book and say the basic end and go back through and tell the story.

I got clotheslined.

So, last week, on Wednesday night, a few elders came to the office to sleep over for the night to receive their new district leader training the following day. They came in from way out in Sorocaba (about a 2 hour bus ride). Wow, I just reallized how small my mission is. Anyways, they ended up getting in kind of late at about 10:25pm. So I just told them where they needed to go to sleep and then I went to bed (in the top bunk). There I was. Peaceful and snug as a clam in my top bunk bend in the 11pm darkness when I hear the piercing sound of an air horn. Yes, an AIR HORN. The type rednecks use at sporting events. I could not believe it. Immediatly I knew who it was...the younger companion of one of the new district leaders. Elder Alburquerque (yes, Bishop, his real name) yelled out the window "Elder ___ sotp it! Don't you realize what time it is? We have neighbors!" But, this Elder did not think of the noice or about the fancy neighborhood that we are in, and just kept honking away on that horn. Needless to say, I got angry. Both my comp and I jumped out of bed (yes, literally kamikaze-jumped off the top bunk in the pitch dark) and rushed out to stop him. As we ran through the kitchen we got to the outside door, which we had to unlock and then found, to our dismay, that it was stuck. Meanwhile Elder ____ just kept making noice and my comp and I were just panicing and getting even madder. We finally got the door open and sprinted down the outsize hallway. My slightly shorter companion rounded the corner and kept going to the back room.

I got clotheslined.

Literally, I was clotheslined by an actually clothesline. My understanding of the word has a whole new meaning! The clothesline got me at about eye level. First off, don't worry Mom, I'm all right. I just have a little scar now. I look like Scar from the Lion King. It is cool. It will be great dinner conversation on dates after the mission. Anyways, I was hit hard but I was so angry that I just kept going. We threw open the window, scolded the elder, and confiscated that nasty little airhorn. Poor kid, he doesn't seem to have all the nuts and bolts up top. Fun story huh? Really don't worry about my eye, it is completely alright.

Love Bry,

Double Whopper

2010-05-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

Pics

Favella with Fancy Sao Paulo in the background

In Jd do Russo with Elder Barroso & Elder Maximiano

Pasta Primavera

FYI Bry's Birthday is coming up - this June 22nd. Please take a minute to send him a Birthday letter, card or postcard, it will make him so very happy (especially if you include a photo). Stamps are 98 cents. - Bry's Mom

Not a lot of things have been happening since last weeks transfers. Everything went pretty smoothly and the mission is up and running for the next 6 weeks.

The biggest changes happening is the weather - with it getting cooler and cooler and a lot more rain. Bad for working, awesome for sleeping. Unfortunately, the mission doesn't exactly give you the best sleeping opportunities. It rained a lot through the night and all morning. Right now the blue sky has broken out. Yippee!

So this past week has been, yep, you guessed it, more divisions. We are just chugging along, visiting the zone leaders and other missionaries. This past week we visited Jacana, Jardim do Russo and Pirituba. The first and the last are zone leader divisions, and they were good fun. I got to work with some good mission friends of mine and see who the work is going for them. We have recently really been emphasizing a special baptism invite (found in Preach My Gospel) and how to invite someone to baptism using the book of Mormon. (My favorite is Ether 4:17-19). It is awesome.

So we got to see how the zone leaders are incorporating these new things into their own teaching and within their zones. The other division in JD do Russo was a different one. We went there to see all of their 15 baptismal dates. And yes, they are all real. It was actually pretty impressive and we had a fun day. It was especially cool to be back in my zone (Jaragua) and see how those missionaries have progressed and made a difference in the area...because it wasn't going too well before.

I have learned how to make a couple of different dishes here in Brazile. They are as follows: Stroganofe (kind of like American, but I think it's better). Pasta Primavera (so good) and Frozne Lasagna...store bought. Whenever we happen to not have a lunch date, that is what we end up making...works out pretty well. Speaking of food, I just had an incredible experience today. There is a mall close to the office called the Shopping Eldorado. It is waaaaay nice. Best part, there are some American restaurants there (Applebees, Burger King, Pizza Hut, etc.) I had Burger King for the first time since I've left home. The double whopper was so good, it felt like a magical burst of celestial glory. Epic.

Then, we went and saw the theatre there. It is huge! And super nice. They don't just have the normal movie posters, but they have stands of movie posters with the trailer of that movie playing. This world has gotton so nuts since I've left home...I can't believe it. We ran into a member there and he said that this theater was nice, but that it wasn't anything like another one that was 20 minutes away. I think that should be on our list when our family comes back to visit.

Things are going great down here. Not much more to report.

Elder Bry

The work never stops...

2010-05-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

Pics

Newbies receiving their trainers

On Division in Barueri with Elder Mason & Elder Sena

Last weeks letter...(Mom blogger was out of town, sorry for the delay)
It was awsome calling home on Mother's Day, I love calling home (note, Bryan can only call home for 1 hour on Mother's Day and Christmas Day, so we have only talked to him 4 times during these 2 years) It is so weird to call home, it felt completely normal. I don't think I have completely realized that it is my last call home from Brazil before I home home. So strange. My life is that of a missionary now. That's it. It's is going to be awesome to come home, but I still have no idea how I am really going to react to returning. I'm stoked, it's going to be awesome. It is so wierd that I will be a 21 year old sophomore - just like my sister and her friends.

onnnnnnnnnnnto the week.

Things have been pretty hectic in the past week. Lot's of things happening every day. We did 3 divisions, had the call home on Sunday, visited the newbies (new missionaries) at the CTM (Mission training center), did some more trainings, emergency transfers, had transfers this morning, what a crazy week.

Our three divisions last week were in 3 places called Pirituba, Osasco, and Barueri. It went pretty welll. All Three nights we slept at the Pirituba house with Elder Fabian and Elder Little. It was fun, they are part of Elder Parsons' group. The days in the three areas all went pretty well. We spent most of the days contacting addresses gained from the street contacts and talking to people in the street. We had some success in all of them, finding some awesome new people that really want to know the truth of the Restored Gospel. It was fun. One really cool experience that we had was doing division with the zone leaders in Osasco. That stake has organized a cool english class system. Three times a week, the church has free english classes (and super well done) for anyone who would like to participate. There are over 400 students (from 8 years old to 80) going to the church regularly for these classes. The Elders take advantage of the opportunity and speak English with the students and also are able to get some addresses to visit and teach. Way cool. However the rest of the day was rough because of a sudden and torrential brazilian rainstorm that went into the night. The weather is starting to get colder here.

As for the newbies, it has been a lot of fun. It was so cool to go to the CTM to meet them all and bring them up to speed on the mission. We talked to theme about the mission rules, mission culture, and how to invite people to baptism. It was a great group with 5 American Elders, 3 Brazilian Elders, and one American Sister. We went there the next day to get them and they had an exciting day learning other rules and just waiting to meet their trainers this morning.

Also, another interesting thing that happened was planning transfers. The way it works is we have a couple meetings and use the Mission President's picture/area board to make the changes. Things are inspired by the President of changes to be made. He also wants our suggestions, and the suggestions offered by the zone leaders. Then, when it is all finished, we called Monday night to let everyone know if they are transferred or not and where they are going. Over the next day, however, a couple emergencies came up and we had to make a couple changes. One, which was good, was an elder that wanted to give up on the mission suddenly decided he wanted to stay after all. We then had to arrange things to find a spot for him. Then everyone arrived here at the office this morning at about nine am to meet their new companion and leave. Also at the same time, we had a new training that we made for the new trainers, and showed them the new missionaries and got them paired up. It's all very exciting and stressful. I am completely wiped out right now, just ready to sleep. However, we are leaving tonight to go out and do some more divisions. The work never stops.

Bry

Dia das maes is the greatest!

2010-05-05T22:18:00.000-07:00

Pics - not necessarily in the right order:) Jaragua with Rick, feijoada, complete with pig ears and feet...yum, Harley Davidson...just for Grandpa Chuck. Elder Bramwell and Elder Christenson...giving a sweet training in Baptismal suits. Batismo e nois!

You should read some funny stories on Elder Parsons' blog every week it is brentinbrazil.blogspot.com

Things have been pretty tiring this past week. We did two more zone conferences, two more divisions, and a day of transfers. I am wiped. At least we actually got a p-day this week. So nice. I got to get my hair cut too! It was fun. It was this crazy maxon guy who just started asking us tons of questions. There seem to be a lot of masons here in Sao Paulo...I've never met one before back home. Maybe it is more of an East Coast thing than a West Coast thing.

We had two really good zone conferences again. As a treat Presidente took us out for McDonalds shakes! It was awesome. It is supper funny driving around with them in the car, they really remind me of you and Dad...but Presidente hasn't made Sister Cooley sit in the back seat yet. Anyway, all those conferences went well and now we are on to a different phase, transfers.

Transfers happen every six week - each missionary may change area's and companionships. We were in a meeting together for about 6 hours on Monday doing this. Things aren't done yet. Our next meeting will be this Monday after we go to the CTM to meet the new missionaries and choose their trainers. It is way cool how it is all done. Definitely revelation.

Other than that, we have gone on a couple more divisions. Saturday was way fun because it was in Jaragua! Go old area! It was great seeing the progression of some of my old investigators and baptisms. Most of them are doing great. They will have two baptisms this Saturday. So stoked! They are way solid people. One of them, Rick, is a 23 year old who is their neighbor! Of couse, if I were God, I would definitely put the elect next to the missionaries as well. Anyway he is way excited to be baptized and serve a mission. Go team go.

Also yesterday was a fun division in a place called Santana. It is a very well-to-do community in the northern part of Sao Paulo. It was great being out there with one of my best mission buds Elder Pratt (yes, great great grandson of Orson). He is a great missionary. Actually, I think he is writing Kels. Ha. Ha.

Having a good time and trying to relax and hang back today. We will be doing 3 more divisions this week. I can't wait for Sunday. Dia das maes is the greatest!

Music to a Missionaries Ears....

2010-04-29T22:40:00.000-07:00

Pics: Me and Elder Borrego...he says "Hi Mom". Elder Albuquerque and Elder Whitesides in the office.

Shout out...Katrine, got the letter, will send one out. (Love to get letters!)

onnnn to the week

So, wow, my head is totally out of whack right now. The past week was spent in a few divisions out in the interior in Sorocaba again. Oh, coolest thing about that - there is an Elder Borrego in Rio Acima, Sorocaba whose Mom follows loyally the blog (Hi Mom Borrego). She even printed it out and sent it to him! It was funny. Anyway, he is a great Elder and I had fun on Division out there. I also did a division in my first zone....Trujillo. It was great to go back.

Best story was of a guy that just stopped us randomly on the street and asked us what we do. I went on explaining that we are representatives of Christ and that we hlep people become baptized, receive the Holy Ghost and endure to the end. He then started talking about his day of finding a new job and running into us and being happy. He said "I was already baptized, but I feel as if my baptism isn't worth anything...is there any way that I can be baptized again?" Music to missionary's ears. It was cool. We ran into a lot of other cool people the rest of the day. Great fun.

On Sunday, I was able to go out to lunch with Elder Schoen! It was super fun. We went to church with him (he baptized that week btw) and then went to lunch. Teh couple is young and super cool. The best part of all is that both of them speak english and they have family in the states and thusly, sweet hookups. Long story short, it was the first time I have eaten Ranch Dressing on the mission. Even better, it was Hidden Valley Ranch. Soooo good. Gosh, matou saudades.

Since then, we have been preparing pretty hard core our zone conferences here on the mission. We decided to do this sweet new thing where it is kind of a "workshop" instead of a powerpoint training. We set it up so that there would be 4 stations, each station being directed by the zone leaders, and that the missionaries would rotate. We had our first one yesterday and it went really well!

Some missionaries even commented about it being the best zone conference ever. So, hopefully we can duplicate the success tomorrow and friday with the other missionaries. That has been my life during the past week...preparing and giving conference, doing divisions, and meeting with the Prez.

Elder Bry

Divine Cheeseburgers.

2010-04-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

Pics. My Ballin new Watch & My Jaka (Big Brazilian Fruit) and my neat sticker (thank you Elder Spencer from the Minneapolis Mission)

Things are just peachy living next to the Temple. I love it! Every day I walk past the temple and it is just beautiful, even cooler is when it is lit up at night. I've tried taking pictures but I don't think I have steady enough hands for the night setting. It's super awesome. Anyway, things are at a different pace here. It is super cool seeing on the mission level and getting to know all the missionaries here better. We changed and gave a new district leader training last week (which Elder Schoen took part of...I'm such a proud Dad!) It went pretty well. After that, we went out to Sorocaba to do some divisions. It was cool. I was able to see some old stomping grounds and get to know some people better.

The coolest story from the interior division was in Barcelona. At the end of the day we had to make the most important decision of all...pizza or hamburgers. After a couple of minutes of indecision, we felt the urge in our bellies (all four of us are american) to eat a good bacon cheeseburger. When we got there, a woman randomly asked me what country we were from. I replied the States and then I started to talk about who we are, what we do, etc. It turns out that her husband, who was also there, is a member and has been inactive for twenty years. Also even cooler, they said they weren't even planning on coming to gt burgers, but that they felt the need and have been talking a lot lately about going to church. God works in mysterious ways...who'd a thunk...divine cheeseburgers. Anyway, they makred an appointment with the Elders and are excited to all get baptized and get the family sealed in the temple. YES.

The next day we went to a different part of Sorocaba and I was able to talk a little with the only other American that came to the mission with me, Elder Gratil from Mesa, AZ. It was fun, we reminisced a bit. It was actualy the very first time on the mission that we have been able to be in the same place at the same time. Only took 19 months right?

After we came back to Sao Paulo and yea! a normal weekend preparing our trainings for mission council. Long story short - it went super well and everyone is super excited about things. We talked a lot about consistency and inviting and taking care of your investigators. It was cool.

Bry...

PS...sorry for the delay in posting this week...the blog mom was traveling:)

Full Circle...back to the CTM

2010-04-14T20:58:00.000-07:00

Picture (Elder Schoen & Elder Duarte at the Sao Paulo Futebol Clube, Football Stadium)

Things are a little bit different these days in the office. My days are filled with trainings and divisions. Just yesterday we had an awesome division in Casa Verde. Yes, that Casa Verde, where I spent 2 months in the Sao Paulo MTC. It was super kool walking outside of the CTM and talking to people as an actual missionary. Even better, there were some newbies walking around too, who and noooooo idea whatsoever what was going on. It was a great day. I walked around with Elder Bramwell, from Hawaii. He is a super good elder - I learned a lot from him. We taught some cool investigators, and we were able to really help people understand the necessity of authority of the priesthood.

The coolest way to describe authority is to put it in terms that people understand. For example, everyone knows that a classroom without a teacher will just become a mess, that a country without a government goes to anarchy. The principle is exactly the same in the kingdom of God. We can see the pattern of authority since the very beginning, as God always had His kingdom on earth, buided by prophets and, later, apostles. The principle does not change, as God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Without the proper line of authority, the kingdom becomes a mess when all of us do just whatever we want. Interesting.

Anyway, it was a great day out there in Casa Verde. But, all this traveling is definitely taking its toll...I'm soooo tired! I did get a little bit of a cold, but, all is well.

The coolest thing today was that I was able to hang out with Elder Schoen! Remember him? My son! and my Grandson (Elder Duarte)! Super exciting. We went out for acai and then we went to the Sao Paulo football club stadium, O Estadio de Morumbi. It was cooooool. Everything there is so expensive! It was super funny, there was a huge asian tourist group there as well. I saw more Americans and Asians there than Brazilians.

Well, that's about it for these past few days. My pday will be Wednesday again next week.

Transferred to....

2010-04-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

TRANSFER Week...

First off...Shout out to Kati - got your email, I will write a letter soon. Thank you for the letters of recommendation from Dr. Kendrick & Melissa Jacot, and thanks Dale for getting info to my Mom for the internship application.

onnnn to the past ten days....

So things were going pretty normally, Elder Perry and I were talking to a lot of people, having some good success, getting really excited to baptize an excellent family, 30 year old man, and 19 year old girl. These people all have strong testimonies already of the church and are excited to become a part of it. They are just now putting some things in order to be able to enter the waters of baptism. But yeah, things were going super well. Monday, I had a division with Elder Avamolifua from San Jose, I love Samoans. They are GREAT. Such an awesome attitude.

Anyway, it was a great division, until about 7 at night, when I got a call from the assistants saying I was transferred! Man, I really wasn't expecting it! I thought that I was going to stay in Juaragua until June with Elder Perry! Oh well, I'll go where you want me to go.

So, the next day was filled with packing and saying goodbye to people that I had grown to love. What made it even more difficult though was that Elder Perry got sick and I wasn't able to go visit everyone I wanted to. Life happens sometimes. I'm really going to miss that place.

Anyway, on Wednesday we started our journey with the super heavy bag. Luckily, I was able to get a ride to the bus stop in Lapa...saving us from the horrible morning train ride! There would not have been any way that I was going to get the suitcase on that train. It all went well and I made the transfers safe and sound without much hassle.

My new companion is Elder Brent Parsons, from Orem, Utah. We are both now the Assistants to the President of the Mission. He will go home just 6 weeks before I do. I am actually super excited because he, like Elder Perry, has always been one of my better friends here on the mission! So, we live here at the mission office, which is just a three minute walk from the Sao Paulo temple. Even better news, I get letters and packages as soon as they come to Brazil now! No more waiting until meetings and such for a delivery which sometimes took weeks and weeks.

So this week we changed our pday (personal day or preparation day) from Wednesday to Saturday this week because of all the stuff that we had to do. So much to learn, moving, etc. I now don't really have an area of my own, instead, Elder Parsons and I travel around the mission doing divisions with the Zone Leaders, seeing how things are going. Just this week for example, we did two divisions, one close to the temple, the other out in a neighborhood called Jacana, It went pretty well. Lots of just talking to people, some knocking doors, all that good mission stuff. We really had some fun lessons with people too prideful to even want to pray to ask God, saying they didn't need to pray to know everything about Him. Oh well, better luck next time. Right?

It is a lot of fun living in the office. Right now we are here with four secretaries, two Americans and two Brazilians. One of the Americans is even from Oregon. So we have fun talking about the Good ol' Pacific Northwest. They are going to have an awesome baptism tonight of a family of four! It's all so cool. One of the best baptisms I've seen on the mission.

More next week....

You are invited to watch General Conference this weekend...BYU TV or www.LDS.org

2010-04-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

(pic - Bryan and Elder Perry from Texas)

Happy Easter Everyone...Happy Birthday to Lolly, hope it was an awesome day! You have always been an awesome Grandma and lots of fun to be around...keep itup! Love Ya....and Happy Birthday to my Mom...and my little sister - next week.

Thanks for the information from Amelia, via Dale. Which reference do you all think I should include in the resume? Any suggestions?

Awesome about Mike P's baptism.

Shout out to the Kinkades...thanks for the letter. I sent one back, but I sent it to my home address because I accidentally wripped yours.

David Cruz...thanks for the email man! YOur english is great! Except for a couple of mistakes...keep practicing! I sent you a letter today, actually, que coincidencia! Hope you get it soon. Keep up the good work, I need to visit you someday.

Onnnnnnto the week.

Well this past week was interesting. It started off with a division in an area called Morro Doce (sweet hill). Well, just so you all know, the hill isn't that sweet...the thing is hUUUUge! Super steep, super tiring. But, luckily, we didn't go to it that much. The coolest story though whas when we had some appointments fall and I decided to take Elder Barroso out for some acai (berry from the Amazon, eaten frozen). We went to this place and we started talking to the girl that runs the place. First off, the acai was awesome. Second of all, I was just talking to her and I asked her what she likes to do. She replied, I like reading a lot. I then asked if she like Jesus...she said yes, I said 'we have got the book for you'. So I was able to give her a Book of Mormon and she was super excited aobut it. She has already a lot of it, andis excited to go to church. Super cool.

In our own area, we also had a lot of success as we started to stray away a little from teaching the first lesson every time in the first encounter...instead we are teaching as we follow the spirit, teaching to the Book of Mormon. It has worked pretty well, with people going from not very interested to super wanting a compy of the Book of Mormon to read. We have gotten a few tears from people in the last few days. It is pretty cool. The best guy is a guy named julho, who is 28 and not doing much in life. We were able to testify tohim how he can change his life and, if he follows the restored gospel, he WILL be able to reach all his life goals. It was super cool. He dropped out of middle school basically, and has been doing manual labor since, but he is reading the Book of Mormon, and while he doesn't understand much, he says that it just feels right. Love it!

The other cool thing coming up is that General Conference is this Saturday and Sunday! I encourage all reading the blog to at least watch one session, if you can get to a chaple, even better, if not, watch it on digital cable (BYU Channel) or on the internet (http://www.lds.org/). It will be super cool. Go modern prophets and apostles.

We, love y'all...hope all is well! Miss y/all.

Bry

DA HORA

2010-03-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Yes! I'm offically back into the dub! Yee haw. I'm excited to get there. Re the recommendations for the internship - I need them in 2 weeks by email.
onnnnn to the week...Well, still more normal stuff going on. We are teaching some people and we are excited for them to be baptized soon. Our strongest investigators are Kleber (30 year old tech guy), and Lilian (18 year old girlfriend of a member), and that one family of three. They will all probably be baptized here in April. Excited! So thats going cool. The best lately was Kleber. He asked us soooo, just saying that I get baptized, what would happen if I move. Would I be able to go to that church over there in the other neighborhood?
I told Kleber...you could move anywhere in the world and you would automatically become a part of that other unit, with someone assigned to take care of you.
He said...da hora (that is way freaking cool) yea, he will be baptized soon. He is reading the Book of Mormon and loving it every time he goes to church. He is a great friend of ours too.
Lilian showed a lot of progress this week too. She has successfully stopped drinking coffee, committed to live the law of chastity, is reading the Book of Mormon, and has accepted the laws of the Sabbath and tithing. We were just like, look, we have invited you to baptism lots of times, and we know that you know that these things are true, and that you know that baptism is essential for your salvation....you will now choose your own baptismal date. She left pretty exited about things. Yes!
The biggest thing that we have been working on lately though is getting the ward running super well. Preach my Gospel was made for missionary work, which is central to the church's growth and Stake Leadership to get more effectively used in the Stake. Chapter 13 rocks! I am super excited to work with this and see the results. As one of the profets said, if the Ward grasped the spirit of helping in the mission and reactivation efforts, the Ward spirituality would increase and the Ward would improve in every way. Super fun!
Not a lot of other developments here. My companionship with the Texan is still going super well and we are hoping to stay here for a lot more time. Who knows?
The other big thing....GO DAWGS! SWEET SIXTEEN BABY!

All Tranquilo...6 months to go

2010-03-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

Shout out to Caryn, got your letter!

Onnn to the week

Things have been fairly low key here in the past week. Not a whole bunch of new things, but we are making some progress with some good people. We are preparing a great family to be baptized here in the next couple of weeks, they are all super excited and loving everything. The Mom in the family is super happy because she said it is the first time that they have ever gone to a church as a family. YES! Also, another guy that we are teaching, Cleber, is super excited too. He keeps going to church and is always like, man! it's everything that I have always thought! I love this place! It is super cool. Plus, he cooks pretty good too. Right now we are working on his girlfriend to try to get them married, baptized, and then sealed in the temple after a year. Hot Dog!

We had an awesome zone conference yesterday. I am a big fan of the President and of the leaders we have on the mission right now. When I got to the mission, it seemed like the leaders were just holding vacancies, but now they are thinking of new stuff and really getting this mission going. Super stoked.

I can't really remember too much of what else happened this past week. But, yeah, things are all good, all tranquilo. Oh! I almost forgot, I got my trunky letter yesterday! It is a letter that you get from the mission when you have size months to go specifying the day you go home and asking for information. Way exciting! Yes! I'm pumped.

Brazi's are an interesting people....

2010-03-11T22:46:00.000-08:00

Pic...Pouring Hard Liquer Down the Sink.

So thanks for the sweet update on Dayna. It's cool about testimony meeting and I can't wait to hear more about it. Definitely keep me updated. The Shoe box did finally make it (took 2 months to get here) I got it at mission counsel. Thanks for the shoes. They Rock! I was really needing them. Also thanks for all the sweets and stuff.

Shout out to Supreme Krispy Kreme, hey I got your letter and sent one back out to you.

Onnnnnnn to the week.

So the past week has been fairly laid back, with some interesting things happening. Everybody has been talking about the earthquakes in diverse places and all that stuff...the most common question we get is..."is the world going to end in 2012? It is kinda funny to me that everyone is concerned about the end of the world but nobody wants to do anything. Brazi's are an interesting people. Everyone always seems to be working or studying but I'm just not seeing much progress as a result.

Anyway, the coolest thing from this past week were the investigators that went to church this week. One is a family that is actually a reference from a young woman from another ward. The family went to church and really like it and has a baptismal date. They have been reading the Book of Mormon and doing what they need to do. It is cool. It will be just the second complete family that I baptize here. The first on being that family that I took to the temple last year. The other cool thing that is happening is a member from the center of Sao Paulo has been taking his girlfriend, lilian, to church. She is liking it a lot and is progressing a bunch. Super cool to see. Last night we taught about the plan of salvation and it was pretty sweet. The only problem is that, while she is reading the book of Mormon, and going the church, she still hasn't prayed to ask God if what we teach is true. Without this testimony from Heavenly Father she can only progress so much, and most likely won't get baptized. There are other people that w have been teaching as well that are super excited to get to know everything. Actually, we are going to go over to one of their houses tonight to eat dinner and reteach the restoration, as people have a hard time understanding this concept.

Also, the weather has gotton a heck of a lot better here the past couple days. I love sun, it is a lot better here than it was last year out in Boituva...man that place is hot. I guess they just had another baptism out there a few weeks ago. First one since I left. GH

Unfortunately, things are pretty tight here on the mission, with the area presidency putting in a heck of a lot more rules...it is pretty frustrating sometimes. The problem with it is that some in the church seems to see the missionaries as emotion-less robots that don't ever get stressed or anything. But I won't rant about it or anything...I will go and I will do.

Zone Rap

2010-03-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

Pics...Picco, Crazyness, Baptism...

...The shoes sent in January still have not made it, but the padded envelope with shirts did. I bet I will receive the shoes within the month. There are a few opportunities for me to get the package, with mission counsel next week, zone conference the next, and interviews in 4 weeks. Man time flies here. But still, I'm TRUNKEZA

Shout out to Lauren! Got your letter, am sending one back.

onnnn to the week!

BAPTISMO!!!WOOT! So Lucia got baptized this last week, and it was super cool. She is an incredible lady, she just does everything, never makes up excuses. She got to the baptism early, got everything ready, and it was great! Lots of people were there to support her. Hopefully we can start working on her family members one by one now. Her husband is showing some real interest, but he is currently working on Sundays. He says that he wants to get baptized in the future so that he can be sealed for time and all eternity to his family. Yeah!

Also, we have been blessed with some awesome new people as we've been forced to leave some people as they don't want to follow the commandments. The one that caught me most by surprise was a 50 year old mom that absolutely disagreed with the law of chastity! Didn't see that one coming. But, yeah I'm super excited for things here. Things in the zone are going awesomely as well...with great elders and everyone believing that we can do miracles...I love it.

Even better, we did a big zone activity today toing to the Picco de Jaragua. It was about a 2 hour trip, 45 minutes to get up, 30 minutes goofing around and 45 minutes getting back to home base. It was a cool hike through some jungle and over rocks...first time hiking in forever! Anyway, it was a lot of fun and a great way to get the Zone united and excited to work together. We even did a zone rap session at the very top (yes, I am an uh-oh oreo) Plus we went to the mission office today so that Elder Perry could sign something so he wouldn't be deported. Seems like everything is going pretty great right now.

Starving for Information

2010-02-26T23:07:00.000-08:00

...thanks for the messages from Jason and Bre. I cant wait to hear from them some more.

Thanks for all the family updates, I love hearing about it. I starve for information down here. It is pretty funny, Elder Perry was going through the pictures that you sent and is a big fan Kelsey and of Laura Goesling.

Also, yeah, Rosangela is awesome. Keep talking to her. My plan was for us to go to her house on our first day here when we come visit Brazil. I will send you the itinerary that I made next week, and we can kind of figure things out from there.

onnnnnnnnnnn to the week (FYI, Bry's emails are generally in lowercase...I think the keyboards there make it a challenge, but also, he's just writing as fast as he can as he only has 1 hour a week online. Sometimes I clean it up. Sometimes not - Bry's Mom) So, things are still going great here in jaraguá...i actually have a keyboard that works this week! anyways, all is well. it is the end of my second transfer here and i am looking forward to another six weeks here in the zone, with some new people. the biggest news in the zone is that one of the areas is splitting and we are getting two new elders for Franco da Rocha. Sweet. Also, the zone is still going super well growth wise, we are in our seventh consecutive week of baptisms! Wahooo. We just gotta keep it going.
It has been a lot of fun with Elder Perry here, we are becoming pretty good friends. He is one of the elders most like me, in terms of not being from the jello belt (idaho, utah, arizona), so we have a lot in common actually. But yeah, the work is just continuing. Big news, we had another baptism last week! It was that girl natasha that i talked about a couple of weeks ago. she wasnt baptized that week because she sprained her ankle and got a cast that couldnt get wet...but she got it off already and was already baptized! it was super cool, there were tons of people at the baptism and it was a super good experience.
Even better, we are going to have another baptism this week! her name is Lucia, and she is about 65ish years old. She has been the best example of someone just prepared by the Lord to be baptized. example, she was just living with her husband for about forty years and just got married a couple years ago, and then moved here. also, she quit smoking and drinking coffee within 10 days...without us teaching about the word of wisdom! it has been way cool with her. hopefully we will baptism her husband and grandchildren soon.

I think thats about it...we dont have any super cool stories from this week. oh yeah, one thing...so we were in a streetside biblebash the other day...kind of interesting. first off, i hate bible bashes...no matter what is said you can never get anywhere. i can not tell you how many times we can just totally pwn someone but they just ignore it and keep with their own opinion. but anyways, this particular one was fun because it was with a guy that has been a professor of theology for the past 10 years...yeah, he knows his bible. but, regardless of that, we were completely guided in the whole thing and there were many times when he just stood there dumbfounded. also, there was a moment where he said stuff that corihor (remember the anti christ in Alma?) said..word for word... anyways, we ended up giving him a book of mormon and ppromising him that if he read that night, he would get his answer. but yeah, bible bashes are stupid...no room for the holy ghost for work, cuz it is just contention.

miss yall and hope you are having a good day! love ya!

Sending people into OUR paths

2010-02-22T20:16:00.000-08:00

Pic Elder Parsons, Elder Perry, Me, Elder Vasconcelos
NEW EMAIL ADDRESS:
hey mom! this is my new email address! the whole system just changed and i had to get a new account, so get this on the blog asap. stewart.briggs@myldsmail.net
....onnnnnnnn to the week

So, things have been going pretty awesomely recently. we have really started to figure out what it means to be a representative to the Lord, what it means to call the people to repentance. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, to show them the way back to our Heavenly Father...and this is done only through the gospel of Christ, which is faith, repentance, BAPTISM, receive the gift of the holy ghost, and endure til the end. So, before I was already inviting people to be baptized in first lesson and whatnot, but now we have started to invite people to be baptized even in street contacts, testifying that every man must be baptized to enter the kingdom of God (John 3;5). it is CRAZY how inviting just brings the spirit. We do really need to be bold to do the Lord's work. Because of this new realization, we have been having a lot more success and feeling a lot more the presence of the Holy Ghost. It is sweet. Also, because of this, the Lord has been sending people into OUR paths. Literally, we have been stopped in the street tons recently by people asking for us to go by their homes to learn more. sooo cool.

We are still having a super good companionship. yesterday was cool too, as we did a division with the assistents to the president. Just lots of good stuff happened.We found some awesome new families to teach that are interested in knowing for themselves whether the gospel is true or not. Also, a lady that we have been reactivating has been able to quit smoking! Huge miracle. It is just what all the elders say...you just start figuring out how to do missionary work once you are already getting ready to go home.

Bryan

A am a big lumbering American

2010-02-11T22:04:00.000-08:00

first pic, three gringos at the playground

second pic, me perry and natasha, the girl that will get baptized, at her house. in the background is a good view of our area

other pics from mission

shout outs to
Katrine! received a letter and sent one
Amy Jones! ditto to the above

onnnnnnnnn to the week
So, things are pretty interesting. There was a ward baptism last week - we had fun preparing for that and we combined it with a baptism from another area, good event, lots of people. Also, we have been able to close in on another baptism for this week. Her name is Natasha, she is 12, and she is Igor´s sister. Even cooler was that their mom came back to church this week! Super awesome. Since I've gotten here, there has been just 70ish members every week in the sacrament meeting, but this past Sunday it got up to about 115! It was awesome! A super good testimony meeting that everyone loved and left our investigators going away impressed. Hopefully there are some more good things coming in the next weeks.

In other interesting news, the sun is finally starting to come out, but there was a huuuuge thunderstorm today that knocked out the power in the entire area! So, we had to get a bus to go to another area and find a lanhouse to send the emails. Actually, this place is a heck of a lot better than the lanhouse we use...I'm kind of contemplating using it every week.

Also, today was a sweet soccer day. We played sand soccer with a bunch of kids in Taipas. I am continually realizing that i am too much of a big lumbering American to play attack, but I am definitely BA in the goal. It was going pretty well haha.

Ive started doing this fun thing recently by just inviting people to be baptized when I talk to them in the street. It isnt as forward as you imagine, and I've actually had some success doing it. I am carrying around a picture of Christ´s baptism and I stop people and say "have you been baptized like Christ was?" and then I invite to be baptized and write down the address. Fun.

Well, I cant think of other stuff to write right now, other than that I am totally bummed that I am missing out on the Winter Olympics...I sooo wanted to go to those in Vancouver! oh well, I guess I will just have to return to Brasil for the olympics in Rio.

Love ya

Bryan

New Pics from the Baptism

2010-02-06T21:17:00.000-08:00

New Companion from Texas!!!

2010-02-04T21:31:00.000-08:00

This past week was CRAZY!!!! so, now you guys can see why I was so stressed. Elder Mosiah was already pretty depressed and then got dearjohned by his fiance. Then he got even more depressed, hardly would do anything, and then Friday night asked to be transferred and brought down to junior. soooooo Saturday was a day full of packing and traveling and all that stuff, getting things hectic. However, my new comp is awesome! His name is Elder Bryce Perry, from Austin, TX...yes, `the land of chuck norris` as one of our investigators said. Elder Perry has always been one of my best friends here on the mission and we are having a great time together. plus, he works hard and has taught me a lot of things as well. But yeah, it is fun, there are a lot of times when we just stop look at each other and were like...I cant believe you're my companion! it is pretty sweet.

The ice cream on the cake is that we got a baptism on Saturday! woo hoo! His name is Igor and he is 16 years old. The guy is huge and is super cool. It was a battle with him, as he really had to change a few things and some of his attitudes on life. Even better, we are now teaching his sister and trying to reactivate his mom and grandma! lets get them back!

Other than that, not a whole lot going on. I'm just chilling in Jaragua hoping to get some miracles and get the work of the Lord rolling.

love ya...

bryan

Rain every day at 2

2010-01-28T15:18:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom...
Glad to hear that things are going well, and that Heavenly Father answered your prayer! You have more answered prayers to find lost stuff than anyone I know. It reminds me of a time when our keys werent unlocking the chapel here, and we REALLY had to get in. I decided to pray, I felt prompted to go try the back door. it didnt work. then, when we came back to the front door, and the keys suddenly worked! I think Heavenly Father sent an angel to touch the chapel and that's why we had to go to the back haha. who knows.

onnnnnnnnn to the week

Well, things were just going pretty flatly recently. Here in the zone we received some missionaries that are in their very last month on the mission, and, as you can guess, they are pretty pooped. Soo, the zone has lost a bit of energy, but things are still going well. as for my own area, things have been starting to look up. as a matter of fact, a guy (16, igor) that weve been teaching took a huuuuuge step this week. we had marked a date with him a few weeks ago to be baptized last saturday. However, he was unsure and there were still a few things to teach and improve. Also, he was having troubles getting an anser to his prayers about the book of mormon. buuuuuuttttt, this Sunday, he took me aside to talk to me and told me that he has been feeling more and more everyday that the church is true and that it is where he needs to be!Hhe invited himself to be baptized this Saturday...all he needs is to pass the interview tomorrow night. PRAY. but yeah, it was pretty exciting.

Also, there were some other people that went to church this week and loved it! Including the girl that had the dreams. It was pretty cool. hopefully we are going to have some good progress here in February in the area!

The weather here is crazy recently. Almost every day I wake up to blue skies and heat...but then it is over by noon. As soon as it hits 2 oclock there is a huge rainstorm that comes in and doesn't end until the night. So, it has been a little complicated to work recently. Soooo much water comes down here, it is nuts! Plus, the drainage systems arent as good as they should be. As a result, the streets get kind of flooded on a daily basis. Luckily, today wasn't one of those days. Yesterday however was nuts! It took me 5 hours to get home from mission counsel on the other side of the city, a journey that usually just takes 1.5.
Bry

Someone dreamt about me:)

2010-01-21T15:46:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the help Mom! And I'm happy that the person received the Christmas card that I sent haha.

Also, I did receive Grandmothers package. As for the shoes, I think you can send them in one box...everyone says there really is no need to send separated. in the next box I need some soap, frosted mini wheats, mint oreos, and thats it.

Yes, it was always my intention to room with Dean at UW, so hopefully it works out. he has always wanted to do more apartments, whereas I am a lot more into the dorms...the people there cook for ya haha. Anyone out there with advice for Mom, please send a message via my facebook or her email.

onnnnnnnnn to the week

Actually, this past week was rather uneventful. Elder Mosiah and I are really trying hard to find a new golden family to teach, but it is going sort of slowish. Man, Knocking on doors is rough! But, we are teaching some cool people that will hopefully enter the waters in february. We had some good people in january, but everything fell as people didn't want to follow either the word of wisdom or law of chastity.
buuuuutttt, iI do have one cool story from this past week. so, we have been teaching a less active family for the past couple of weeks. they have been out of the church for about 7 years, but are wanting to come back. also, they have one 16 year old daughter (Mayara) that wasn't baptized, and we are teaching her. So, the cool part. the day before we went to their house for the first time she had a dream. In her dream, two tall angels, one with green/blue eyes (Me) and the other with brown eyes (Elder Payne), were walking towards her. Another time, without us telling her when we were going to stop by, she dreamed about me again, and we stopped by! Way cool! Someone dreamt about me! End of story.

Thats about it for the week!

Love ya
Bryan

nbatatpatatabatapatapatbatata

2010-01-14T19:44:00.000-08:00

hey mom!
...Im glad people seem to be following my mission ...always love to hear what people think...i can use as much support and third party compliments as possible.

anyways...as for the college thing (BYU vs. UW)
drumroll
nbatatpatatabatapatapatbatata

Yeah, you knew it. The same as it has been. I will keep bleeding purple. So, lets get all gears going so that i can have everything set up at UW. I have no idea what classes to take, but Jason Olmstead and Daniel Stewart and all the other UW peeps will help. Im still not sure about the whole Temple experience. I think I was just wanting an excuse to get home early from the mission. Getting answers to prayers is still one of my weak points. Anyway, I will finish what I started, build Zion outside of Utah, and paint outside the lines.

onnnnnnnnnnn to the week

So, the week has been a pretty decent one. The biggest news of all was that another transfer has finished, and I will stay with Elder Mosiah in Jaragua for another six weeks. yaa! Things have been going pretty well. our zone has really improved recently and I am excited to try to keep things going for everybody. the other big news is that one of my best mission friends is the new assistant to the president! Elder Parsons, he has a blog as well, actually. but yeah, I am pretty excited.

We had interviews with the president last week, and it all went pretty well. it was actually kind of funny. the president came in and was actually pretty serious with us. Talked to us about how we needed to do better in certain things and such. Talked about some of the issues in the other areas. But then, with everyone else, he just complimented! Oh well, it is just President Cooley, he realizes our zone is doing super well and doesnt want us to get comfortable. We gotta keep those eyes fixed on the glory of god!

Afterwards, the zone had a lot of baptisms over the weekend and E. Mosiah and I have been able to reconnect with some people that had kind of wandered over the holidays and everything. Everything short, things are going great. The days are hot, the evenings are wet, and the mornings are wayyyyyy too early. But, it is all worth it. Now i really have to endure to the end...it realy is the hardest part of the gospel ahaha.

Today was fun, we went to downtown Sao Paulo on the Avenida Paulista. It is the Wall St slash Times Square of Sao Paulo. There are lots of cool big buildings, super nice stuff, and yeah, it is a fun place.

I am still trying to figure out our plan for Brazil for next December! I am thinking flying down on the 18, spending the first two nights in Sao Roque, and then going to Sao Paulo to finish out the week and have Christmas, and then fly home the 25 at night or the 26.

well, Thanks for everything!

bryan

The secret is....

2010-01-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

Pics are New Years Eve Party, Zone Lunch, and from a recent baptism. Still waiting for my camera to get fixed. Anyway...yes, the new youth theme this year is awesome, "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whitersoever thou goest"....it is suuuuper important to go forth in life unafraid, that is what faith is all about.

Onnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week

So, HAPPY 2010!!! I cant believe that it is finally here! So relieving...but at the same time it makes me realize that i have to wait until SEPTEMBER....yeesh, still a long long road ahead. Anyways, new years was fun here, we had to be at home at 7 oclock because things get kind of messy here in Sao Paulo. ANyways, we watched fireworks from our house and then we went straight back to work on new years day. Cool thing about that day was that we did a division with the assistants...it rained, and rained, and rained, and rained. Seriously, I felt likeI had gotten baptized all over again...so wet!! We knocked doors all day long, but we found a couple cool people. Even better, since that day, things have just exploded here in the area. All of a sudden we have a bunch more baptismal dates, a lot of good solid investigators, and a good number of people at church. Sweet!

Well, other news, transfers are coming next week. Our zone has had a pretty good time together, but unfortunately a lot of them will probably be transferred to other areas. I really hope that i get to stay here with ELder Mosiah, we have been having a great time together and the zone has really been growing in the past couple weeks, thanks to the Programma So Batiza. Yeha, its been fun. Today we had a fun zone activity going to the center of Sao Paulo and eating at a churrascaria (brazilian bbq buffet). So good! But now I am completely tired and ready for a nap.

I asked Bry for suggestions for our local missionaries: I have a few, but im not sure how they will like it. Of course, the secret is optimism! Faith! Knowing that you can baptize every month. It is hard for missionaries here to even understand it. The great secret is thinking positively and then acting on it. What we do here, for example, is that we invite people to baptism ALWAYS on the first lesson. Always. Seems a little unorthodox to americans, but thats the gig here. If you are always inviting, then you will have more percentage of someone accepting a baptism. They need to remember that they are the only people on the PLANET that can teach and baptize in their area, so they just gotta do it. You dont see results in two weeks, in three weeks, even four...it can take a whole transfer to see a difference. The other secret is to be yourselves with everyone, im a goofball, but i get serious when the moment demands it. Maybe it will help them, maybe not. They can try out our own motto for the zone `just baptize`...stop making excuses, worrying about procedure, members, etc., just go out and do your work. We are divine creatures, with the potential to be Gods...we are gods, as a matter of fact, gods in training. Think positively, have faith, and it shall be so.

As for girls who flirt with missionaries...yeah, we call them snakes around here. I think its perfect. Fortunately I havent had any snakes on the misssion really. As for letters, they are coming slow...who knows, i have interviews tomorrow, maybe i will get some more. Please keep sending letters & pictures & postcards everyone...they really are appreciated.

Love ya

Happy New Year! Woot!!!!

2009-12-31T17:07:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Woot! ALLLMOST 2010...almost.

(Sorry no pictures, Bryan's camera is in the shop) Thats sweet that the Sansburns are at the house now. Give them a shout out for me. I really miss cold and skiing and stuff. Get on their case to send me an email or a letter or something, with pics. In fact...I always love to get mail!!!

As for my ward, it is rough. But, im working on getting it better.

Onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week

Well, this was the awesome week of christmas! So, lots of cool stuff happened. There were christmas parties and food and calling home and all that. Definitely lots of fun. Unfortunately, it did get distracting and not tons of stuff happened in the work. However, there was one good thing that DID happen....

BAPTISM! Woot! So, her name is Fatima, she is 55 years old and lives with her youngest daughter (Stefani, 17) and her grandaughter (Gabi, 8, NOT stefani`s). So, it was pretty cool. The whole ward went out to a big church campground for the xmas party. Unfortunately, Elder Mosiah and I couldnt go as it is outside of mission boundaries. So, we waited in town, got everything ready for the baptism, and then we got it all done! It was pretty sweet. She was very happy and her daughter is seeming pretty interested too...maybe we will be able to mark a date with her sometime soon.

Also, we have still been doing lots of divisions to get to know everyone better and increase the zone friendship. It has been going pretty well. Also, we had another zone activity today doing soccer out in Francisco Morato. I am still amazed by brazilian chapels....theyre huge and so nice! But yeah, it was a bunch of fun. Like I mentioned in the phone call, it is crazy how agile with their feet these Brazis are! my gosh! Oh well

As for new years, we don't have any plans. Actually, we have to be at our house at 7 pm...I've heard that New Years gets pretty messy here. Good news is that there is a big firework show that is set up right near our house...so we will be able to watch the whole thing. Yipee

Well, miss you all and wish everyone a Happy 2010~! GET HAPPY! IM COMING HOME THIS YEAR!

Bryan

Feliz Natal

2009-12-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

Feliz Natal...
Planning to call home for Christmas, (only 1 of 2 calls all year)...as for the Christmas phone call, I will confirm Thursday night. Right now is a little difficult because I am on a division and I cant talk to my comp about it...Im in Franco da Rocha today with Elder Ávila. Anyway, Friday I should be calling after lunch...my time. sooooo, it could be at like 9 in the morning...but like I said, I will confirm Thursday night, my time...man, this six hour time difference sure is annoying!

Oh, I got the advent calendar box! Thanks Mom! I already opened a lot of the presents, but I left some for Elder Mosiah and I to open on Christmas morning. Did you know that Christmas Eve is bigger than Christmas??? Most all the presents are opened on Christmas Eve here, and they stay up til midnight having a party...we have to be home at 10 oclock hah.

Anyways....onnnnnnnnnnnn to the week
This past week has been a strange and a rough one. Elder Mosiah and I have been doing lots of divisions to be able to get to know the areas and all the other areas around here. It is pretty cool, because we get to make more friendships with the other Elders of the stake. However, it also makes working in our own area a little weird, when you always have someone different. However, it is working out. For example, we are going to have an AWESOME Christmas present this saturday! Yep, you guessed it....batismo (baptism)! Her name is Fatima and she is in her mid 50s. The missionaries have been teaching her for a long time, but she has gotten a lot stronger in the past few weeks, and is super excited to be baptized. Also, her 17 year old daughter stefanie will probably be baptized in the coming weeks as well...exciting. As far as the area, we are still knocking lots and lots of doors. Plus, it is starting to get suuuuper hot outside. Hellloooooooooooooooooo suntan. Serious, my watch tan is getting pretty impressive....

Also, we had our Christmas zone conference yesterday. It was awesome. We watched the same movie as last year though, ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE. I like the movie a lot, I think you guys should rent it and check it out. It has James Stewart and Donna Reed. Also, we did a little game where i won a bag of peanut m&ms...oh so good.

Well, I'm gonna get going for now. Life is good in the hood of Sao Paulo.

Tchau!
Feliz Natal!!!
Bryan

Merry Christmas from Brazil

2009-12-18T09:38:00.000-08:00

Pics: Christmas Card with Elder Schoen, and Going Away Party in Sao Roque

Also, general news and excitement for all...MONTLAKE JAKE is coming back to UW! Woot. THat is all.
Thank bishop garrick for the awesome email, it really is awesome being able to hear from him. Let him know that he has been a great help for me in my life.

Letters being sent out today
Dale, Kaelene Schoen, Jason, Lauren

Onnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week
So, i am getting more and more used to my new area. It is still different than sao roque, but yeah, getting used to it. Unfortunately, we havent been having a whole lot of success recently in finding new families to teach...just a lot of knocking doors (bleh) and having a hard time finding people interested in the gospel. However, there are lots of good things happening in the other areas of the zone. We have lots of good elders that are starting to see success after some hard droughts.
However, we are teaching some good people, one person in particular (Fatima) is super excited for her baptismal date on the 26th. It is going to be super cool...there is going to be a ward xmas party out at a church campground and the baptism might happen there! Unfortunately Elder MOsiah and I cant go since the place is outside of mission boundaries.

Also, one of the other cool things is that we had a zone activity today playing soccer in one of the local squares. A bunch of the local kids came and played with us too. So, yeah, im not terrible at soccer, but ive figured that my strength is on the back half, defensive part of the field...it is crazy how agile these brasilians are with the ball! It is nutty....oh well, no matter how agile you are it doesnt mean you can win a collision with a six foot two American...haha
I am super excited for Christmas next week....just so excited! I just cant stop thinking about it.

other funny story
so....last week I went to downtown sao paulo and I bought a soccer jersey and a camera case to protect my camera. Well, that night I was digging around in my bag to be able to put my camera in the protective case, and the camera fell out of the bag onto the hard concrete...and isnt working right now. But, a member is taking it to a fixing shop this week so there shouldn't be any problem...if there is, i will go back next week and buy a new camera. I just thought it was ironic..I broke the camera in the moment that i was trying to protect it.
love ya!

Miss you all and love ya!

Bryan

In the Concrete Jungle

2009-12-11T15:35:00.000-08:00

Photos: Elder Mosiah and I in the Vanespa Building in the middle of the city of Sao Paulo..what a concrete jungle.

Well, I will try to do a lott better this time in the email, I've got a lot more time. Last week was rushed as I had just been transfered to the area.

I have some shout outs for some people....
David Cruz e ai safado! Te amo e tenho muitas saudades de ti! Eu finalmente fui no centro de sao paulo hoje....demorou ne. INfelizmente esse teclado nao da muito pra escrever em portugues...os accentes nao funcionam...nem o question mark! hey, voce tem que procurar meu amigo que esta emTrindade...Elder Beazer...vai la algum domingo e da um abraco pra ele! Mas sim, ta sendo otimo com mosiah..ele e gente boa demais. me mande uma carta com foto da menina que beijar!

Katrine...thanks for the email! I cant wait to get the xmas card, good luck on your final project

Lauren...thanks for the letter! WIll respond next week. Good luck with finals!

Dale...also got your letter! FOND FTW

Onnnnnnnnnnn to the weeek
So, the week was definitely a bit interesting. Right when I got in I had to go do a two day division in another area so that we could get a baptismal interview done. Was pretty sweet, I got to know one of the other elders, but it was super weird, as I knew another area better than my own! But, I got back to Jaragua and have been liking it. The place is technically part of Sao Paulo, but it is as interior as it gets. We are a ways out of the center, and there are lots of hills and green and stuff all around. The area is a heck of a lot smaller than Sao Roque though, so that is good. No more buses! Plus, I won't have to spend so much personal money anymore..yes! Only problem is that I have yet to find a good ice cream place.

It is fun being the Zone Leader with Elder Mosiah. Elder Mo

Hey, anyone out there...please send me Christmas Cards...I don't care if they are late, I'd just love to hear from you.

Transfered to Jaragua

2009-12-04T07:34:00.000-08:00

(Picture is from Elder Schoen's Blog, Thanksgiving Day. Bryan will really miss him - so glad they were companions for awhile)

Shout outs to Daniel! I love you dude! <3 haha thanks for using your email. and yes, BDOGS is the correct term

Jason got your letter today! I will respond next week...be aware in the mail for another surprise coming your way!

Gj, got the shirt

Kaelene Schoen, got your letter! Thanks!

Onnnnn to the week
Basically, biggest things were
1) Baptism of Antonio, Josefa e Felipe
2) I was transferred! I am now in jaraguá with Elder Mosiah (from Fortaleza, Brazil) as my new companion. I am LZ (Zone Leader) now. (He is in charge of all the Missionaries in his area).

Sorry, no time to write, i will fill in more next week, gotta run!

Oh yeah, Thanksgiving was awesome! I love Sao Roque. They even through me a going away party last night!

Tchau!
Bryan

Happy Thankgiving from Brazil

2009-11-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving from Bryan in Brazil.
Pics...End of a long day. Lucky. Elder Schoen eating Chu chu.

First things first, i gotta give shout outs to várias pessoas...
Elder Walton: Received your letter...will send one next week
Katrine: Got your email! will send a recap of that other letter in the next
Jason Olmstead: heart
Daniel Stewart: Yeah boyyyyyyyyyyy (i forgot the secret code, so i hope you get this)

So, mom, im glad you are getting all ready for thanksgiving. I really wish i could be there. However, Elder Schoen and I will be celebrating at Rosangelas house with her family...has two benefits..we get food and they arent members, so more friendship! It should be way fun.

I dont know what is going on with the emails...you know that i am not the biggest fan of myldsmail.net.

Dont worry about me, my health is perfect right now and things are going great..im just suuuuper tired as it has been a long day and i havent been able to have sufficient sleep for a few days.

And the dogs seem like it would be all right...i liked the first one...but it is hard to know without seeing their personalities.

Onnnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week

So, this past week has a few big highlights. The first...sweet new people. We have found a couple awesome families this past week that seem super excited..one even accepted baptismal dates. I just want to be able to stock the cupboard of awesome investigators as transfers are next week, and the chances arent the greatest for me to stay...but there is hope! The bishop asked me to give him the presidents phone number so that he could call him to request that i stay longer in Sao Roque...so that is super cool! A huge compliment. Means that he thinks that we are doing great work and wants me to stay...just cool. Also, i heard that all the members have been peskering him recently to do something so that i stay for a little bit longer as well. But...who knows, i have been here for almost 7 months (5 transfers), i have 2 transfers with E. Schoen, and who knows.

Second big thing....Baptismal interviews! So, we did a division this week so that Antonio, Josefa, and Filipe could have their interviews for their baptism this weekend. Long story short, they passed! They are super excited for it and super motivated to be baptized, stay strong in the gospel, and enter the temple. They will be baptized on sunday right after the sacrament meeting. This family has come a long long way...and it all started with patience, perserverance, and a trip to the temple.

Third thing....speaking of temple, we went today! It was awesome, as usual. To do it we went to Sorocaba last night to sleep at the zone leaders hosue. We ended up getting super wet as it was pouring cats and dogs, and things were just nuts. We got to the temple and we had a very spiritual experience. I went in fasting and i received the answer to a question that i have been wrestling with over the past few weeks. The full account is in another email, as i already sent it and i am too lazy to type it out again (I think I need permission from Bryan before I put this in the blog - pretty interesting news!). Anyways, we ended up taking the bus back to sorocaba, waiting there for our bus to sao roque, and we got here in the area at 630 pm...super late. But, we are able to write
Love ya

Please send Christmas Cards:)

2009-11-19T21:04:00.000-08:00

First photo is with Elder Richard G. Scott

Second photo is me playing at the local fountain

Give Jesse a high five and a congrats for me! Crazy that he is coming home! Well, another 10 months for me!

Thanks Bishop Garrick for the updates!

Anyways, thanks for the update on the Mommom's Memorial service. I'm glad that it all went so well and would have liked to have been there too. I can't believe my cousin, Adam is about to graduate college. Just crazy! But I am happy that it was such a good experience. It made me extra happy to read about the family, and also that no one is going to get married until I get home!

Oh, and remember, I am getting on a different time (according to you guys). Now, instead of it being 12 when i get on, it is 10 (because of daylight savings). Oh well. (Lately Bry's emails are taking up to 9 hours to get here)

Thanks for the email from Bishop Garrick, I like him a lot. He was always a great leader to me, and I am very happy that he is following the blog so closely.

Also, a quick shot out to David Cruz!
E aÍ cara! Nao acredito que ta ficando gordo! Tem que fazer acadamia mesmo....como que voce vai arranjar as moças de disney pra mim quando eu for pra sua casa ano que vem! Lol, just kidding dawg. Mas sim, fiquei feliz por ter recebido sua email. Acredita que ainda estou em Sao Roque?! Acho que vou morrer aqui no interiorzâo! Mas, eu gosto muito daqui e tambem do meu filho, a obra ta bom demais.
Tchau!

Also, to Bethanie...Thanks for the email! I can't wait to get your letter!

Onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week

So, this past week has been pretty rushed. We had zone conference, and service projects, and traveling, and new people, and just tons of work. The most eventful thing this week was that i got to go to a foot doctor! I have been diagnosed with a bad case of trench foot....
just kidding.
Actually, i just had a light case of an ingrowned toenail. The lady fixed it up pretty quick, and then continued to give me a pretty good foot treatment...I think I might just pretend to have a bad toenail again just so I can go back. But yeah, it was fun. Also, In the past week we have talked in english schools, helped people move their house, painted walls, washed dishes, all sorts of good service projects.
As far as the work goes, we have found some sweet people recently. I am most excited about one family in particular. They are super open about everything, very accepting, plus they are the owners of the Lanhouse that we use! Maybe the mishies will get free internet if we baptize them! Haha, wouldn't that be cool.

Also, we are using this week really to get people ready for their baptismal interviews next week. I am super excited for some of these people, especially one family in particular (that went to the temple with us). Basically all is going pretty awesomely here. One thing that is especially cool, the people in the ward like me! Since I already have been here for 5 transfers, it hasnt been looking good for me to stay here one more with Elder Schoen. However, a lot of members have been begging the bishop to call the Mission President to request that I stay for a bit longer! How cool is that? Hopefully it works out, it would be super annoying to be transferred out of here right before Christmas. Super Annoying.

Well, thats about all the news that I can come up with for now. I guess the other interesting side to the experience is just that this ward is so full of drama...seriously, its like Days of our Lives...soap opera city. Everybody is connected to somebody else and weird love tales slash work stuff slash just randomness. But, I love it here.

Miss ya tons!

Increase the Peace

Made My Mission Worth It...

2009-11-12T07:11:00.000-08:00

Terceiro: story book sky
Primeiro: Alexandre and his family at the baptism. Mom is active member, dad is a recent convert who refuses to stop smoking, brother and sister arent members.
Segundo: The five of us, the three baptizees and Elder Schoen and I

Well, glad to hear that the art workshop in Seattle went well! So the Goeslings are all doing great? Tell Talia that I say hi too. I hope you had a fun and safe drive home! I am completely forgetting that things are starting to get icey up there, as the sun is really starting to bake. Go Brasil!

Super cool that you are getting in touch with some of your old friends.

Anyways, onnnnnnnnnn to the week.

So, this week has been pretty awesome. To start things off, we had an amazing baptism on saturday, of three rapazes. It was a super cool event with lots of people there and lots of good feelings. I am super excited about all three, more priesthood for the ward! Woot! Can you believe that there are some missionaries go their entire missions without baptizing priesthood? It just is tougher, women have more open hearts i guess. Anyways, about them...their names are Lucas, Rodrigo and Alexandre. Lucas and Rodrigo are brothers, they are 12 and 13 years old, and live in pretty poor conditions. Their dad is a recent convert/less active, but they have been getting super excited about the church recently. I really think the main difference with them was leaving The Other Side of Heaven with them to watch. Now they are stoked to be missionaries...already they teach people how to pray whenever we go over there. It was cool. Now we need to get their mom. Also, the other baptism is the one that i am most excited for. His name is Alexandre, is 26 years old, is divorced, and has one son (but is living with his ex wife down in Floripa). So, this guy has changed a ton...when i started teaching him about 6 months ago, he had problems with everything, chastity, word of wisdom, you name it. However, it just goes to chow the miraculous power of Christ. He has stopped all of these things, and is super excited to stay strong in the church. His primary motivation is to be able to be the type of father that his son needs, to be worthy to take care of his son. It has been super cool to see his change. This guy has basically made my mission worth it.

After that, we had an awesome sunday, with tons of people at church. We got some of our other investigators to go, and we had another miracle! Almost forgot. So, remember that family that we took to São Paulo to see the temple? Well, they have all been pretty excited to get into the church. The husband (Antonio) and the son (Felipe) have been coming every week since. However, the wife (Josefa) was working every sunday. So, without 2 sundays at church, people cant be baptized, so she has been working super hard to try to change her schedule, to trade with people, to make stuff happen so that the family could get baptized. Just when it looked like we were going to have to move their baptism date to december, her employer randomly offered her a different schedule! HALLELUJAH! It was awesome. She went to church, loved it, and is going to be able to come every week now. Another family that has basically made my mission worth it.

We found some other cool new people, and we went to sorocaba to play soccer and eat churrasco (brazi bbq) today. Gosh, my neck is pretty burned haha. But, all is well.

Elder Bry

ps. :) i am starving for some home news/gossip, everyone please send me some via my Mom at cbriggsdesigns@yahoo.com and she'll forward it to me.

Moon Lit Favela

2009-11-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

pics...moon lit favela
Halloween (E. Schoen and I celebrated halloween by going out as each other! I wore his nametag and he wore mine. Unfortunately, we didnt get to pig out on candy as we were fasting :( first time in his life haha. This kid is ruining me, im actually developing a sweet tooth.)

Some shout outs to
Paige sent you a letter today!
Grandmother sent you a letter today!

Onnnnnn to the week
Well, this past week has been AWESOMe...but super tiring. We having been walking and working like bandits. It all started last thursday when we had a service project with a less active. We got to carry buckets of sand up a huge set of stairs so that they could do some house stuff. It was fun, but definitely rough.

Since then, we have been teaching lots of the awesome people, and seeing the individual miracles in peoples lives. For example, one person, Heloise, is making HUGE progress. She should get baptized next week. She has stopped smoking, drinking, drinking coffee, and went to church this week and said that she had never felt so good in her life! Then, when the opposition started throwing stuff at her for her to give up, she held on, said her prayers, and received amazing answers from the book of mormon. Then, she used her new found strength and faith to help her ex hsuband also receive answers to his prayers and reconstruct his broken trust in the Lord. She rocks.

Also, if all goes well, we should have a few dunkings this weekend. The coolest thing happened sunday. Tons of people went to church, but even better, the younger brother of another kid that we were preparing for baptism. At the end of the church meeting, he came up and asked "can i be baptized with my brother this saturday?" Elder Schoen and I exchanged glances and shouted Of course! It was sick.

Miracles just keep happening. Thats all i can really say. I love the mission, i love the gospel, and i love Brasil. keep praying for me! it is working.

glad to hear that caryn is doing so well, make sure she knows that a letter is coming her way! I sent it recently.

Happy Halloweeeeeen

2009-10-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

Pics: Bryan and Innes (recent baptism) and Bry & another missionary:)

So, first off, alaina broke her arm?? How did that happen? Is she having a good time at the dub? I hope so. I miss purple.

So, for Halloween, there aren't any treats or activities planned. Halloween is basically an american tradition. I had even forgotten that it was going to happen this Saturday. Sometimes there are parties over in Sao Paulo, since everything is just crazy there, but I havent seen much here in Sao Roque. One club is going to throw a halloween dance party, but that is as much as I've heard from anyone.

Since you asked...I always feel bad asking for money for Christmas, but the next things that I'll need are all big purchases when I get home, like a computer, cell, ski stuff, etc. So from my family that's really what I need...I'm in pretty good shape here except for the basic supplies you send every month. Man, yeah, i heard about Mykenzie. I hope all gets better there. She is such a nice person.

Thanks for the email from Elder Laytons blog! I cant believe he is a trainer and a District Leader now! Thats sweet! I wish he could send me a letter, but he doesn't really have the funds for that. Just, if his dad ends up sending this, let me give him a SHOUT OUT and a CONGRATS for all the good work he is doing.

Also, some shout outs too
Lauren Lytle...received your letter and sent one back today! I loved the card!
Grandmother...Received your letter and articles, thanks! I will reply next week!
Paige Hasenoehrl...Thanks for the letter! I will send one back asap

Onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week
Well, things are just SO awesome here right now. I am super super stoked with the baptism that we just had on saturday! Her name is Ines and she is 38 years old. She has one daughter, Claudia (17), but the daughter is a little bit more stubborn. Ines is a huge landmark for me here in Sao Roque, because she is the first baptism for me here that was not a member reference, jsut a result of good ol hard mish work. She is super excited about the church and loving it all.

Also, we are having some awesome progress with some of our other investigators. One, Heloise (28), is a single mother and has been super excited about the church. However, she still hasnt gotten to the chapel. The cool part is that, without us even teaching the Word of Wisdom, she has cut down her smoking habits from 40 cigs a day to 10, just cuz she felt that she needed to! Love it!

I dont know, there is just the normal good stuff going on here. We are teaching tons, seeing miracles, giving priesthood blessings, listening to people tell us how God has answered their prayers and that they KNOW that the church is true. I sometimes lose sight of it, but this is the best part of mish work, the day to day miracles that are always happening and that the normal world doesnt here anything about.

The other super cool thing this week was that Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came and held a conference with our mission! It was super cool. He truly is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. We did practice lessons with him, talked about doctrine, and took pictures with him. I even got to talk to him for a little bit personally during one of the intermissions. I went up, basically started crying already. He told me to just be a good example, write home about good stories, and have faith. Plus, he talked to us a lot about marriage and making it our first priority when we get home to find an eternal companion. He didn't put a time limit, jsut said that it needs to be our priority to find the right one.

Well, thats about it for this week. It was super fun. Plus, we got a couple of wacky quotes from drunk people this week. My personal favorites are
"Its a tough life without water and a wife"
and
"Do you worship God, the Eternal Father, the Creator, the Owner of the Toy Company, etc."

Love ya

2 Weeks of Posting & Theodore

2009-10-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

Somehow I missed posting a week...so sorry, I was traveling...Mom, the bloggedrmaster. Here we go...So, yeah, transfers came and went and i am still here in Sao Roque with Elder Schoen!!!! YESS Things are going pretty good. But yeah, sorry about not sending pics last week, we both didnt send them because the computer was being stupid. oH WELL, it happens.
This weeks pics include a Brazilian sunset and Theodore, our pet cactus. There was another picture but had problems downloading it...

As for a christmas list...im not sure i really have one. My biggest thing is that i am gonna need some stuff when i get back, and i am already thinking about that...like money to build a computer. Other than that, i guess something that Maybe a new SD memory card for my camera...starting to run out of space, would be nice to just start over with a new card. Maybe the Showtime and Xmas cds by MOTAB would be good too. Thanks!

Oh, quick shout out to David Cruz!
E ai cara, obrigado pelo email! Parece que as coisas tao indo bem ai. Nao acredito que quase atrapalou uma mulher! Tome cuidadooO! Mas ainda bem que voce vai para um baille, infelizmente nao vou poder ir contigo por algum tempo ainda. Tou treinando e aindo tou na minha segunda area! è chique aqui...espero ficar ate janeiro, mas duvido que vai acontecer. E Parsons e meu novo LZ! Caraca ne!
te amo

but yeah, so, here we goooo to the week

so, this week has been super weird. Im not sure what to feel about it. There was a three day stretch there, from Thursday to Sunday, that was the longest three day stretch of my life! We walked a ton and had all of our appointments fall, was rough. But, we ended the week with a bang on sunday and since then everything has been awesome.

I am super excited for the baptism that we should have on Saturday. I have been teaching this lady (Ines) since August with her daughter and it has been quite the fight. I think the difference maker with this lady was that she took the effort and went to General Conference. She is super awesome. Her daughter (Claudia) probably will get baptized someday. I can tell that she knows the gospel is true, but it seems like she is having some social pressure and stuff like that. Anyway, she will be going to the baptism on saturday and probably church on Sunday so I have big hopes for the future.

Also, good things just keep happening all the time. Elder Schoen and I made some awesome goals to help us be better missionaries for the next transfer. Already it is making a difference.

But, the best thing of the week is that Elder Schoen and I celebrated our sticking together by buying a cactus for the apartment! Yeha, his name is Theodore and he is awesome. Picture will be included in separate email.

Last weeks email...

Thanks for letting me know about mommom (Bryan's Great Grandmother passed away last week). Im glad that she was able to go away peacefully. I am especially glad that you got to see her. She was a special lady.

Onnnnnnnnnnn to the week
Well, things are still going excellently here in Sao Roque. However, we are definitely starting to hit our road bumps...nothing can be so perfect forever. I think it is just heavenly father reminding us that we cant be on cruise control and that we have to really fight for the people that we are teaching. Especially our new investigators who dont really have a pattern of studying or praying or going to church yet.

In other good news, we had a baptism! The drought is over in Sao Roque haha. Gabriela was baptized by her older brother Elvis and confirmed by the bishop the next day...it was awesome. She was super happy. Now, all we need to do with her is keep following up with her and make sure that everything is still going good.

In other news, that family that we took to the temple is now super into the church. They want to be baptized as soon as possible. Everything is just clicking for them now..it is super exciting. The coolest thing about it was that Antonio, the dad, told us that the difference maker wasnt just the temple, but that we didnt stop visiting them or giving them support when they said that they werent interested in getting baptized, that we were the ones that stuck with them giving them support when they most needed it. Super cool.

I think that is just about it for this week. We are talking to people and really trying to help people out gaining their own testimonies of the church and everything. Plus, things seem to be going pretty well in the district. Im as happy as ever with the work and excited to be here in Sao Roque.

Also...super stoked that the Dawgs pulled out a win! WOOF!

Once again, Mom Mom, i will miss you tons.

Love you all, Bry

Special Letter

2009-10-11T20:50:00.001-07:00

Last week we received a letter from Bryan's previous companion, Elder Gouveia. It was all in Portugese. I tried translating it in Google, and got the general message, but fortunately a Returned Missionary visited our ward today, he just returned from Brazil a month ago. Thank you to Brother Musle for a very quick translation. I shared this with our ward in Testimony meeting, written to the Young Women and myself as a thank you for sending Elder Gouveia a Birthday card. Bry's Mom

Hi.
Frankly I don't know how to speak or write English.
Thank you so much Sister Briggs for the letter and thank the Ward girls as well for wanting a Happy Birthday for me. I rarely recieve any letters. I would like to note 10 things I learned with your son.
1. Friendship.
2. Have a just purpose in life.
3. Toilet Paper - double is better
4. Dance just like Michael Jackson
5. To sing "Strangers in the Night" like Frank Sinatra
6. It doesn't matter where we serve but that we always serve him.
7. Have a lot of patience.
8. That I have to read Harry Potter after the mission.
9. That God has a path prepared for us, we just need to follow without fear.
10. And the Dawgs are better than the Ducks.
Clearly I have learned more than 10 things with your son. I learned the most important things, about the gospel, life, etc.
Elder Briggs is my best friend. Always be strong and happy!
Elder Gouveia

Pic's from JD

2009-10-11T20:48:00.000-07:00

These images are from Elder JD's blog...Bry didn't send any last week.

Ping Pong

2009-10-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

So, first off, Rosangela is a sister here in the ward that takes very good care of us mishies. She's great, yes... go ahead and be her facebook friend.

The 179th Conference was awesome. There is always a room here for English, so I watched the entire Conference in English. The entire Sunday afternoon session and the priesthood sessions were awesome. Elder Holland's talk is especially awesome. It's on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld0_7fKGdRM

And yes! I did get the box you shipped. Haha, it was awesome. I can't believe you sent me a ping pong kit. E. Schoen especially loved it haha...here's his note:

Dear Mama Briggs,
I would just like to start off by saying that you are bomb.com and that I love you! The ping pong set was genius and we are most definitely going to make use of it! Thank you so much!
With all my love,
Elder Schoen

Yeah, as you can see, he thought it was pretty awesome

But doesn't having a study journal (writing about the scriptures as you read them) help so much! I have learned so much more since I started keeping it here on the mission. My scriptures have more highlights than a college textbook! Serial. Glad that you liked the Gouveia letter (to be added to the blog soon). I'm glad that I was able to help him out a little bit...

Oh, received Makelles letter, and thanks for the ties! They were awesome. Actually, I am using the gold one that cuz sent me. You reading this cuz? Hope all is going well! Sent you a letter back today

Also, received mailing from
Paul! Thanks! I sent you a letter today!
Grandmother! Thanks for the stufff, also wrote to you.

Onnnnnnnn to the week
Well, the main things of the week were kind of tough since its been not only two days of General Conference, but we lost another day of work because of zone conference as well. however, it has all been going amazingly well still. The lord just keeps blessing us with more and more of the elect. Even better, the other awesome people that we are teaching have started introducing us to their friends for us to teach as well! Just goes to show, the Lord blesses you when you follow the rules and you do things for amor (love) instead of dor (pain).

For example, one lady that we found (and committed to baptism) first knew the missionaries 10 years ago when they lived right next to her! They used to go there all the time, eat with her, help her paint her house, and even got her to church once! However, the area was closed and since then she never got into contact with the church again, until monday. Then she was super happy to see us and to get another book of mormon and find out that she could still enter the church. Talk about planting seeds, right.

Also, the big story this week is what happened yesterday. You remember the family that I've been teaching for a while whose son committed suicide earlier this year? Well, we organized a trip and we took them to the temple in Sao Paulo. It was incredible. We were able to show them the temple grounds and then even enter into the waiting room inside the temple to teach them about the purposes of the temple, the sealing of the family, and baptism for the dead, basically how they can still have their son together forever. It was hugely spiritual. We even had a temple worker come in and talk to them, it was perfect! Afterwards, they were all happy and smiley, and even laughing! It was the first time that i have ever seen the mom laughing and happy. Just goes to show how the temple can feed people's spirits.

Also, we had a baptismal interview and the girl passed! All should be well for my first dunking since the end of June. Its gonna be awesome.

Also, whoever is following the blog you are awesome!

Elder Briggs

Tie Roasting

2009-10-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

Two pics from last week...one on the railroad tracks...the other of our breakdancing recent convert

I forgot to tell some other stories this week, but i think Elder Schoen got them covered on his blog. Long stories short, one night we returned home to gallons of water in the middle of our floor...crop circle style, not coming from anywhere. Also, we got our hands kissed by a drunk guy yesterday when i bought him some food. Yeah...go mission!
This weeks pics...well, one is of me and e schoen learning how to cook and the other is my roasting a tie in celebration of being on the mission for a whole year!

Hi from Brazil....One of the members of the ward wanted me to ask if there were any familes willing to host his 18 year old daughter on an exchange thing. She wants to go into graphic design. Maybe you could ask Dr. Baker or something about how the exchange program works? Who knows.

Onnnnnnn to the week

Well, things just keep going amazingly well here in Sao Roque with E. Schoen. People are progressing, we have got baptisms coming up, and things just keep happening. Sure, we have had some difficulties as well with some investigators, but as we just show our obedience and our diligence and how much we love the people, God does miracles for us.

One thing that is going on that is pretty cool is that we were able to find a couple new families this week. They are awesome! One family lives in Sao roque and the other lives over in Mairinque. They are both just the golden investigators. Basically its that one way where they are..."well, im looking for a church right now, just want to find the place that feels right to me" yeah...its awesome. Both families accepted baptism dates. Im very stoked to keep teaching them. One family even is going to give us lunch tomorrow! Yee haw

Another girl that we just found (the one that lives in Mairinque) is awesome as well. she is 23 years old, has 4 kids, and is a widow. Yeah, i know, hardcore right? But yeah, she is super excited to learn about the church and is even going to go to General Conference this weekend. Score!

I dont know, its weird, there is so much good stuff going on that i dont even really know what stories to tell! Just let it rest that things are still going amazingly well here right now, that the Lord really is blessing us a lot. I dont think I have ever had so much sucess or been so happy here on the mission..things are awesome.

Oh! Fun story. Today, we went to Irma Rosangelas house to learn how to make brazilian stroganofe. It was super good. I got to make it and learn, and then I will be able to make it for everyone when I get home! It is my favorite dish so far that I have eaten here. So good!

Elder Bry

Absolutely Incredible

2009-09-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

Pics will be downloaded when Mom gets back home...she's on the road.
So, before anythings else
GO DAWGS!!!! WOOF WOOF WOOF!!! WE BEAT USC!!!!!!!
It is super funny because i found out about it right when it happened...Sister Cooley called me! haha, I love her

Alright, so yea, the pants and shoes are perfect. If you could include one thing in the box, could you already send some more hair stuff? I just like having a back up. Other than that, i think that it is all pretty good.

Shout outs to
Daniel Stewart! i miss ya man! wish i could have been at the game! Write me a letter sua fubeca!
Katrine! Cant believe the letter hasnt gotten there yet...but it should be going. And yes, you can keep writing

Onnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week
So, things are going absolutely INCREDIBLY well here in Sao Roque. I am seriously having more happiness and success than i have ever had on the mission! LIke, we still have some difficulties with people, but we have been teaching a ton and we were able to mark some more dates and we got a lot of people to go to church!

So, to start off, we invited a family to go to baptism over the weekend, and they accepted. Unfortunately, their story is a super sad one. A few months ago, their oldest son passed away. They have been having a super hard time with this. Saturday, we watched Together Forever with them and talked about how they can be together forever with their son, if they follow Christ. It was a super spiritual experience, and they all accepted to be baptized next month.

Also, we have been teaching another family, but the problem in this other family is alcohol. We finally got to teach the Word of Wisdom to them...and we had to teach it three times for the drinking husband to understand haha. After the first time, the guy literally said in our next visit "mas, uma cervejinha uma vez em quando nâo machuca ninguem" basically, a little beer every once in a while doesnt hurt anyone...the only problem is that he drinks a lot and gets pretty drunk. However, i think he is understanding better these days.

Like I said, we have been ahving a ton of success. The Lord is just opening up the heavens and just blessing us with happy, progressing investigators. The entire district is actually doing a lot better. But yeah, im way happy right now. Actually, Elder Schoen and I just went out and we bought fake watches! What Bling! I bought a Montblanc and he bought a Emporio Armani...both for 12 bucks. I love fake brazilian gear.

But yeah, hope things are going great back home!! Elder Bry

2009-09-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

Fighting the Dementors

2009-09-18T19:12:00.001-07:00

epic rock shot
our first pizza of the companionship..celebrating one week

oh, and shout out to David cruz!
E ai maluco! Espero que tenha um otimo baile! mesmo ela sendo feiazinha hahah. Fala pras pessoas de boituva que tenho saudades de la, mas que tudo ta indo otimo aqui in sao roque. O meu novo companheiro é the shizz haha, acho que nao tem isto em portuguese. nossa, ele é americano e meu portugues ja ta ficando ruim!
te amo cara!
oh, ps, qual é a sua escritura preferida??
Im glad that you are reading E. Schoen's blog and all. Hopefully he doesn't bag on me too hard! haha, just kidding. Have you gotten in touch with his mom yet? That would be kinda funny. But yeah, as a matter of fact, ...i think we are both a lot alike...just with some more minor tweakings...like him being good at extreme sports and me no. I still haven't seen any E. Caldwell or E. Walsh.

Onnnnnnnnnnnn to the week
Well, things have been kicking it ever since last Wednesday! seriuosly, it's like the area just got on fire or something. I broke my record, hard core, for most lessons taught in a week. Also, tons of our investigators that werent doing anything are now making progress. I think it was the Lord waiting for Elder Schoen to get here. He may still be struggling a little with the portuguese, but he is a powerful missionary. We have an awesome companionship and the Lord is just blessing us tons! My other theory is that the Lord wasnt guiding us to some people before when I was with E. Gouveia because he just wasnt ready to teach...

'you cant teach someone past your own point of conversion' -some general authority

Anyways, we have been able to make quite a bit of progress with Irene (we went to her house again on sunday, and she came) and yesterday she and all her family committed to follow the word of wisdom! All the fight that she gave up was 'yeah, i like my coffee and tea' but then when she saw that it was a commandment she was just all out and committed. She is a great lady. She hasnt been baptized and she is already wanting to get in contact with the Relief Society President to be able to schedule a lunch with us!

Also, we were able to make even more progress with Alexandre. He is just tearing through the addiction book that we gave him. Last time that we went to teach him he was different than i had ever seen him! There was just a new hope, a new light in his eyes. He was joking about being able to find his "Happy thought" to be able to conjure the patronus (yay harry potter) to fight away the dementors (alcohol, drugs, tobacco). Yeah, he rocks. Seriuosly, if i am able to get his life around and get him strong in the church, my mission was worth it...no matter if i dont baptize a single other person until the end.
Like i said earlier, things are going awesome with my new companion. We are very similar in a lot of ways, but a little bit different in others. All in all, i am a very happy missionary right now, very proud of my "Son".

Well, love ya mom! good luck in Colorado! Give Mommom a hug for me! Tell Anna to respond to my letter! Or at least to write to my companion
Bry

SOU PAPAI!!!

2009-09-10T21:06:00.000-07:00

pics
Three generation pic
elder martins (my trainer) Me Elder Schoen
elder schoen is the one with the purple tie.

HEY FAMILIA!!!!!
Well, things are going EXCELLENT here in Sao Roque right now. I am very happy. First things first, thanks for the awesome pictures and the info about the other two mishies. Still havent seen elder walsh from texas. We had a bunch of newbies come into the mission today, but they said that they dont know who he his..we shall see.
So, as for things that i am needing...i would like another pair of gray pants. The ones that i got last year just ripped today! However, i am going to go try to find someone to fix it. Other than that, i am doing pretty good with missionary supplies. My only other request is an english hymnal...yeah. I think thats it.
Also, shout outs to:
KATRINE i got your other letter today!
ONNNNNNNNN TO THE WEEK
Well, the first big news is that I HAVE A NEW COMPANION!!! Second bit
I'M A DADDY!!!! SOU PAPAI!!!
haha, i am the proud new father of a bouncing six foot two elder from Mesa, AZ. His name is Elder J.D. Schoen and so far things are going pretty awesome. I am definitely excited to have the chance to train! It is going to be great fun, and we get along pretty well. Sao Roque is going to grow like never before, i can feel it. Of course, he is still struggling a little with the language, but before long i bet he will be speaking like a pro. The most important part is his attitude and readiness to work! hallelujah
This past week has gone pretty well over all. A lot of things have happened. We were able to get 4 new people to go to church...finally. they liked it alot. However, we still ahve a battle with them to keep them reading and really accept a baptism date. It is one of those situations where they like it, but they still havent PRAYED, so they dont have a testimony. It is so interesting, the easiest part is to pray, but it is almost as if people are scared to get the answer from heavenly father.
Also, we were able to see some interesting things happen with some other investigators of ours. If you remember Alexandre, he is the son of members, but has problems with the word of wisdom. He used to tell us that he just had problems with alcohol and smoking, but he had been hiding his other addictions. Sunday, when he went there, i guess he had decided that he wasnt going to do it anymore and was going through some pretty rough moments. It seems like withdrawals were tearing him apart. However, he asked us to give him a blessing, and it was an incredible experience. It calmed him down a lot. Even cooler, the other people there in the room said that a different feeling came and that it didnt seem like I was speaking, but as if Heavenly Father was speaking through me. Was super cool. The priesthood is real.
Also, funny thing, i heard that the huskies had lost on monday! Sister Cooley, the mission presidents wife, told me when i gave her a call about some of my comps health issues. it was pretty funny. even though we lost, seems like we put up a good fight! Go Dawgs!
And, congrats to BYU for the Oklahoma defeat! Sweet!
Love you all. Bryan

Some Rough Days

2009-09-03T11:58:00.001-07:00

Pics...Brazilian Flag, Riding the Bus, and Bry in front of a pretty amazing Stake Center in Brazil.
Thanks for the awesome email. Just to start off, i received the letter of yours with Kelseys talk, and a postcard from bend. Also, we got Elder Gouveia´s card, and mine as well! Elder Gouveia wrote back, but all in portuguese, so i hope you guys have some fun with the google translator when it arrives.
Thanks for all the kelsey updates and everything! Side note - people are ALWAYS watching the missionaries, so don't be too hard on them if they aren't always "on" ...although at times people need to understand that being 100% serious 24/7 kills 20 year olds. True story.
As for things that i need...right now it is just some AAA bateries and a cheap massager and/or backscratcher. I think that is about it. Oh, and scotch tape. Eccos size 45 (we are going to attempt to send another pair of shoes before it gets so bad again)
As for Bre, thanks for letting me know mom. Bre, yes, i did get your letter this week, but i didnt write a letter back yet because i was unsure of the address! I will write back pronto next wednesday, so hopefully you should have your letter by the end of the month. Oh, and, before i forget...CONGRATS! I am over the moon happy for ya.
I am sending letters to
Katrine
Elder Walton
Elder Rau
Elder Demeester
Dale
Today, so hopethose letters get to their destination soon!
To Elder Cruz
Obrigado pelo email cara! Parece que tudo esta indo otimo agora! Vai comprar um carro, e tudo! E ai ricão haha. Tou brincando. Espero que tudo esteja bem contigo e que voce ta gostando de estar em casa! Recebeu a carta que eu mandei pra seu anniversario? Tchau pegador!
Oh, and those three missionaries are headed to Sao Paulo North...have them write me a note to the mission address.
Onnn to the week
Well, we have had an interesting ride since last wednesday. The main thing is that we have had a few rough days in the work. Thursday, there were a lot of people, recent converts and investigators, deciding to turn their backs to the church. It was pretty sad. It is really rough when you love people, know that the know the truth, and simply turn their backs because of some people that offended them. Stupid small fights can ruin the lives of some people...its not something i understand very well, but there you go. Remember always that the church is the church of christ, it is perfect, the teachings are perfect, but the members and the leaders are human just like the rest of us.
We had stake conference this weekend, and there was a change in the presidency! The old stake president had been serving for 10 years! Whoo, he deserved a break...but poor President Rau...how much time does he have serving in the stake now? Back to the conference. The general authority was one of the Area Presidents...President Ellis. The interesting side note with President Ellis is that i entered the Provo MTC with his son and saw him, ate with him, excercised, studied with him every day for a week! It was pretty cool. Anways, it was a great conference and we were even able to get a couple of our investigators to go. They loved it, even though President Ellis played some hard ball with the stake. 'The plan of the world is ______, but the LORD´S plan is _____'. It was great haha
Also, this week we have been seeing a lot of the affects of alcohol on the family. It is super tragic. It is terrible how people, especially fathers/husbands let alcohol become more important to them than their families. It just rips everything apart, and gives us quite a fight. Just another testament to me of the veracidade (in port, not sure of the word in english) of the word of wisdom.
The other big news...IT IS SEPTEMBER!!!!! WOW!!!! Super Exciting.
Yeah

Well, love ya
Bry

Sporty Occulos

2009-08-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

Pictures: First is Elder Gouveia and I using my sporty occulos (sunglasses)
Second is o templo de sao paulo

Olá ! Seu filho é muito chique !Ele é um garnde amigo . Ele está muito feliz por me conhecer . Um grande abraço !
Elder gouveia wanted to write a little message to you. he said
HeyYour son is way awesome. He is a great friend. He is happier and a better person because he has me as a friend (not directly translated, but that was the feeling)

A big hug!

Hey Fam!

Glad that kelsey got all moved in and everything! How is the dorm? She liking everything so far? Is there just tons of excitement and everything in the air? Im sure there is...i bet kels is having too much fun.

Thanks for all the little infos that i was looking for. Ok, so, some shout outs to
KATRINE. Got your letter! Well, the second one..i guess. I still havent gotten the bigger one that you said you sent..this one got here in about a week! Will reply asap
LAUREN. Got your letter! Thanks! Hope everything is going well! Will reply asap
Sarah and Dale! HOLY CRAP! You guys rock! Thanks for the awesome envelope and pics and stuff. I missed camp this year! Glad to hear the kids asked about me.
Amy. Yes, ditto. I echo the sentiment. It is definitely the day the earth stood still. look forward to the letter.

Onnnnn to the week

The week went pretty well, actually. We have been able to see some huge progress in some of our investigators. First off, we were able to mark a date with Claudia, Inês's daughter. We have been teaching them for a few weeks and already marked a date with Ines, but Claudia was a lot more unsure. However, last week we were able to teach about the gospel of christ (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of holy ghost, endrure til the end) and she felt the spirit strongly and committed to baptism! Yahoo! Also, we were able to get another new person to church. remember last week that story that we woke up early and walked to bring a family to church, but only got 2 of the 5? Well, this week, same family, but different person went...the father. He said he liked chruch a lot. Even cooler is that the entire family committed to go with us to Stake Conference this weekend! It will be pretty cool, especially since the presidency is changing and President Ellis (area president) will come to run the biz.

Also, this week was temple week. Ever three transfers (4.5 months) we get to go to the temple in sao paulo and do a session. So, to be abble to do this, Elder Gouveia and I had to get a late night bus yesterday to stay the night at the Zone Leader´s house. Then, we had to wake up way early to be able to get the bus that was going to the temple. It was great. The sun was shining, but it wasnt TOO hot. Also, i love the temple, i was able to receive a lot of answers to my prayers and my questions. Way cool. Also, i was able to see Dr. Wilson today! Not sure if he is reading this blog, but if so, HEY!
We gotta go!

Well, i hope all is well! Sorry this email is a little short but im a little scatter brained and tired. OH! Cool thing. When i was at the temple today i met a ton of the missionaries that are in the CTM! Was way cool. Unfortunately, i did not meet Elder the new elder from Texas...he must have gone to the campinas temple today, or yesterday...whenever his pday is. I did, however, meet some 12 elders that will be come to our mission in two weeks! Haha, they are so scared of the language...i remember those days....but i learned, am always learning, and the lord makes me always stronger for it!

Love you all...

Elder Bry

I finally have two shoes!

2009-08-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

Pictures: First, a little ironic. This is a food stand at the Sao Roque Festival that is run by nuns. If you look, you can see that the first item on the menu is beer. Pictures of my old worn out shoes, they've been like this for months. Also latest pic with my companion...

Hey...So first things first, the package arrived!!! I am now using 2 new shoes!!! Wahooooooo. (We had to send Bryan new shoes in 2 separate packages so they wouldn't get stolen. The first package took about 3 weeks to arrive, the second package took 2 months...so all he had was one new shoe) I will send some pictures of the old editons. My gosh, I didn't realize dress shoes could get so beat up. Thanks for everything in the package. (So we sent things like peanut butter, Axe toiletries, razer blades, beef jerkey, always pictures, batteries, cheezit's) Also, I did receive the package from Grandmother and I sent her a letter today! Glad that Grandfather had such a good birthday...loved the cat card...it was perfect. I can't believe Elder Clifford (from Bry's mission, now home), already has a date with my sister, that safado! Haha, let me know how he's doing, he was an awesome missionary.

One more shout out to Elder Cruz.....E ai cara! Obrigado pela email! E otimo que voce ta meecrevendo toda semana haha, mas da saudades de nosso companheirismo! Nao acredito que steven talvez vai ser famoso tambem! Mas, sempre lembra ele da missao! E, eu mandei uma carta pra voce hoje...para seu aniversario. Espero que cheque ja!

And Katrine, thanks for the email! Glad that the letter got there already. Must be a record this time...usually it takes like 2 months.

onnnnnnnto the week

Well the week started off with a division. It was pretty good. I went to Votorantim, a city just on the outskirts of Sorocaba, the big city out there in the interior. I stayed with Elder Cipriano, a recent convert who is just finishing his mission. He will be going home September 9th. But he isn't that trunky and is working harder than ever. It was pretty cool, I went there to be able to do my first interview! The kids name is Igor, and was way freaking smart. I couldn't believe how much that 12 year old knew! He was baptized over the weekend.

After this, it was back to the normal work. The coolest story this week comes from Sunday...as we were able to finally get a couple of our investigators to church. Elder Gouveia and I woke up at 5:30 to be able to make the hike out to their house which is in a neighborhood very far out of town. Unfortunately, only the Mom and one son came with us as the other family members had some excuses. But, we got them finally! They loved the church. Especially Jilson, the son. He had a fun time in Primary. We were able to go to church again with them this Sunday! Wahoo!.

In other stories, Alexandre, that guy was making a lot of progress, fell off the boat. He was going so strong keeping away from cigs and beer! But, you can only be so strong until you put yourself in the line of fire. His brother convinced him to go out with him and his friends, and Alexandre was able to resist alcohol and cigarettes for the first two offers, but on hte third he fell. But, he was feeling pretty bad about it and wants to give it another shot. This time, his date is for the end of September.

Good luck to everyone, I love ya and miss ya! (and you grandparents!, can't give me hard time this time Grandfather!)

Ate Mais!

Bry

Holy Muffins....

2009-08-14T06:23:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GRANDFATHER
Still waiting for that box with the other shoe to come....it will get here and all will be ok. Right now it's been fairly sunny and warm recently, without rain and other conditions, so my old worn out shoes work out fine for this. But cool deal you will be giving an update in about a month about the mission, I can't believe that I am a month away from a year! What is this? Pinch me please, somebody!

As for letters, I received letters from Paul Herber, thanks for the awesome articles. Mary Goodrich, where did you learn such good portuguese? I sent letters to both of you today. Also, to respond to Cruz...E ai cara! Tudo mundo ta pergunando o que eu estou escrevendo pro voce aqui no blog! Word e google so conseque traduzir tanto, Ne?! Que chique que as coisas stao indo tao bem...mais ou menos haha. Mas, continue na fe! Nao fique desanimado no final de semana! Voce e pimp cara, noa esqueca disso! Tou te apoiando. Hey, voce ja saiu com aquelas do disney?? Te amo cara! Boa sorte na prova Go Broncos!

And Katrine, thanks for the email! Hope all is going well, you should have 2 letters waiting for you in your mailbox within a couple of weeks! Hope you are enjoying your summer!

and onnnnnnnnnn to the week

So, this week has had some ups, and some downs. Basically, started off thursday with a trip to the mission office to get a training on how to do interviews and trainings and other things like that. That was fun, it is always great to see the other missionaries and the office mishies. We had a lot of fun talking and learning and all that stuff.

After that, however things took a bit of a nose dive. Elder Gouveia got really sick, and was hardly able to walk for a couple days. So, friday and saturday we basically stayed at home while he recovered. However, by Sunday he was pretty much all the way better. Church was awesome, there was a sweet party for Father's Day (Father's Day here was Sunday) with tons of people and food. Believe it or not, but we had some 15 investigators in church on Sunday! Holy Muffins! I will send some pics of the party.

Also, we have been having some HUGE progress with one of our investigators...Alexandre. I think I have already talked about him, but just for some background he is about 24 years old and is the son of a very active sister, and less active dad. He has been going to church for a while, but has never wanted to get baptized because that would mean giving up his parties, beer, and cigs. However, Sunday he told us that he had quit drinking and that he was going to smoke his last cig that night! He will hopefully be baptized next saturday, so pray with us! He is a way good guy, but unfortunately is in a custody battle over his 3 year old son...and the Mom definitely isn't very nice. He said his reason for wanting to be baptized would be to be able to be a better dad, and have the Lord bless him with his son!

Also, we have been able to touch bases with some other investigators, and they are making some great progress. I have never had so many different investigators ACTIVELY reading the Book of Mormon! It is incredible, amazing the difference that reading personally makes in the understanding (of the gospel) and the lives of the people. Hopefully we will be able to get these people into the church soon! Only problem is that they all live pretty far away and aren't in the best of conditions to pay bus passes for the entire family every Sunday, but we shall see here as well.

Today was pretty sweet. Elder Gouveia (it is his Birthday BTW) and I went to Irma Rosangelas house to make some cookies and brownies according the the recipes that GJ sent me. The brownies turned out great....but I kind of messed up on the cookies. They were still good, but they ended up tasting more like sugar cookies instead of good ol chocolate chip cookies....quem sabe.

Everyone/Anyone....if you can, send Elder Gouveia a birthday card....he would realllllly appreciate it, even if he can't read english!

Miss you...Bry

Bulls on Parade

2009-08-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

Bulls on Parade!

So, actually I am pretty excited that I have been here 10 months, starting to creep up on 11...getting close to the top of the mountain.

Onnnn to the week. So, as you all know, last week was transfers. It was a lot more interesting trying to get information about the transfers and everything this week as we don't have a cell phone (broke when fell out of shirt pocket) and I have to find the member's house with a landline. So, it took a few days to find out who the new people in the district and zone are, and the other changes. Anyway, turns out that I get to be a District Leader now....basically the same thing as I was doing in the MTC, but now I get to give trainings to the other mishionaries during the district meeting, call every night to follow up on the day, and do more divisions so that I can perform interviews. Pretty routine.

Also the crazy stuff this week is more about the awesome party for Sao Roque. The streets are full of stands of food and souvenirs and other fun goodies to buy. Also, there are tons of interesting events going on. For example, there was something I had never seen before on Sunday...you ever heard the song Bulls on Parade by Rage Against the Machine? Well they must have been in Sao Roque because there was a parade of bulls going through the streets.

Also, one really cool thing is that we have found a few new families! Hallelujah! Was awesome, we have even been able to mark a baptism date with one new investigator. She is a mother living in Mairinque, and is having some troubles with the family. It is yet another case

that I have seen of a mother and family that do a tone to be perfect, but the husband/father drinks a lot and always comes home mean. It is incredibly sad how often this happens,. However, I have tons of hope that we will be able to help this family get back on track! It is going to be excellent. Bry

Shout outs to: Katrine for the awesome bday card and letter! Sent one in return.

Aunt Alane for the bday letter

GJ & GRandfather

Makelle aka half baked, got your letter and sent one back

Braydon, glad things are going well. As for school advise, go to class and do your homework. 90% of the test questions will be something almost copied from the homework...or at least it was in my situation.

Shout out to David Cruz.

e ai cara! fiquei feliz por receber sua emial! Ta otimo que as coisas no trabalho estao indo bem...alem daquele accidente yeeesh!! fique firme na fe! o senhor te abencoara com certeza! ela ja esta! te amo!

Mud Everywhere...

2009-07-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no pictures this week...Quick shout outs to:Katrine, i still havent gotten your letter, but i sent one to you today. Elder Rau, hope you get the letter. Grandfather!

onnnnnn to the weeek So, this week was transfers! That is the biggest news. However, neither Elder Gouveia nor I was transferred. Another six weeks hooorah! But its all good, hopefully this transfer we will really be able to make some progress in the area.

We have been working really hard to find some good new, strong investigators, and we havent made a ton of progress, but we are seeing other progress with some of the investigators that we have. For example, with one pair of boys who are the sons of a less active member, when we started the lesson with them they didnt want to go to church or read the BoM, but by the end of the lesson they had felt the spirit and had experienced a change of heart, commiting to go! Was pretty cool.

Also, it has been raining like cats and dogs here lately! Seriously, wet feet are the worst! The other shoe hasnt arrived yet, (2 shoes sent in separate boxes) so i still am using my older shoes, and in classic mish style, they have some very excellent holes. The other thing is that there are still a few unpaved roads around here, and it is absolutely ridiculous how much mud i have been in. That darn mud just gets everywhere!!!!

Family? Home Evening

2009-07-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

This is the picture from the HUGE family home evening that we had...and yes, the guy in the white DOES look like Jason Statham.

Well, hi y’all!!

First off, shout outs to Elder DeMeester and Amy Jones, you guys sent me letters and will get letters of your own soon!

Also, shout out to the infamous Elder Cruz!!! Hope Balneario is treating you well! Masserio, ainda nao acredito que terminou! Mas, tudo bem, se lembra de nossas conversas e tudo vai ser ok. Serio, voce e david cruz! As meninas te ama, e voce vai achar a sua eleita...talvez no disney kkkk

Onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week ...

Well, things have gone pretty interesting this week. First off were interviews with President Cooley on Thursday. It all went smoothly. I really enjoy talking with Presidente and his wife...they are great people and love the missionaries.

After this, the week has been pretty normal. We have been finding some cool new people to teach, and have had some adventures as well. For example, We have had to walk a TON!!!! I am dead tired today haha. We have been hitting up some neighborhoods that are way far away recently.... "I'll go where you want me to go, dear lord, over mountains..."etc. But yeah, its good. We have been able to see some good progress in a few of our investigators. I get soooo happy when people actually follow through on their commitments to us, like praying, or reading, or anything. It really shows who WANTS to know, as opposed to who is just being polite.

Monday, we had an AWESOME FHE with some members, recent converts, and investigators. There were 24 people in attendance! I dont know how everyone fit in the house! I got to give a sweet spiritual thought about the Armor of God (Ephesians 6). It is basically about how we are all in the midst of a war, and how the opposition is always trying to tear us down, but that we have tools, weapons, and armor at our disposal! It is definitely way cool, and has some sweet doctrinal stuff if you look in deeper.

Yesterday I had a fun little ´bible bash´ with a member of another church. They were trying to prove to me that God has stopped being a God of miracles...of course, I did what I have been taught to do...bear your testimony and leave. For those reading, I KNOW that God exists, and that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that he worked with the children of men anciently and that he still does. I testify that miracles are real, that the gifts of the spirit are true and that there are many great and wonderful things happening around us that we dont even perceive. As I like to teach my investigators, God is not a God of confusion, but a God of love, a God with a pattern, a God that worries actively for our happiness and works in our lives to helps us. I know Christ lives. This is my brief testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Well, I miss you all and hope everything is going well! Get back to health Grandfather! Stay safe Mom and Kels! Study hard Dad (never thought I would get to say that back to you...haha)!

Elder BRiggs

Let's fix Mexican food!!

2009-07-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

Me teaching the Brasileiro how to make Mexican food! YAYYYY QUESEDILLAS!!!!!

It is a little strange, the foods that I miss most are

A) Dads cooking of course! yummmmmm flank steak, salmon, etc.

B) Mexican food...oh burrito, where art thou

C) Asian foods...all i want is ONE POTSTICKER

D) American Desserts...aka Cheesecake, Pie, Cookies, Brownies, etc.

HELLOOOOO EVERYOnE!!!!

First things first, I have to give a shout out to THE TRIPLE A!!! AKA Amanda Krulish ... CONGRATULATIONS! However, if you do not send me an invite (even though I will not be able to make it) I will be a little upset...but yes, I am anxiously waiting that letter with all the details!

CONGRATS KAIT!!!! Glad the weather was perfect and the guy was tall, dark and handsome (according to my spies). Much happiness to you!

Chelsea Caldwell’s wedding invite? Ask her if she has sent me one ... you can tell her that I am over the moon happy for her, sincerely, but will be angry if I’m not invited!! Haha

Gosh, so many people getting married! The life of a mishie I guess, right?

Congratulations to grandfather for staying alive! Haha, I’m glad that it is all going great. Ex-Elder Anderson said that Grandfather was as ornery and mean as ever, so I’m glad that he is coming to a full recovery!

Thanks for the address from Bethanie! I was wondering where she had gone...she sent me an email at the very beginning of the mission, but forgot to include an address...

Also, shout out to the traveling bunches of the family and friends! STAY SAFE

ONNNNNNNNN TO THE WEEK

So, this week wasn’t alll that eventful, but it had its interesting parts. Thursday was zone conference, and the rest of the week was dedicated to finding some people. We have finally been able to get back into contact with an investigator name Fernanda....she is definitely the story. So, it has been over a year that she is investigating the church. She has gotten close to baptism more than a few times, and then pulled back at the last moment. Just recently, she was going to be baptized again, but pulled out, again. We discovered that it was because she is now pregnant! Over the course of the last month, she hasnt gone back to church, and has had lots of long talks with the bishop, lots of stuff. But, Saturday, we were able to get in and start talking to her again! She is a head case, but doing better. She will be getting married to the father (a recent convert) here in two months, with baptism (cross your fingers) soon after.

Also, we had ward conference this Sunday...it was great! Best of all was that there were 13 investigators in attendance! I was blown right out of the water..it was great! There are some really cool stories too.

One investigator of ours, Marriete, has really been having some tough times. For the past year she has been trying to investigate the church, but she lives WAY far away and lives in pretty humbling conditions. However, just recently we were able to finally get into contact with her through some members. Now, she finally got to church! She went to the member´s house at 1 in the morning Saturday night, no one heard her knocking on the door, and ended up NOT giving up and instead sleeping in the entrance way. She went to church with the members and ended up seeing miracles in her life. Namely, she has been able to find a place to live, and the bishop helped her get her daughter back! She has now accepted a date for baptism...how exciting.

Other than this, the other investigators are all pretty normal. We have got some good ones that are reading the Book of Mormon, going to church, and really progressing. It is so rewarding to see people take what you teach, implement in their lives, and then see God bless them with what they have been waiting for...I LOVE THE MISSION

Hope all is well at home!

miss ya guys!

Bryan

July 8, 2009 - Best Division

2009-07-08T20:42:00.001-07:00

(Lots of editorial comments this week from your guest blograma!)

This picture was taken on the slide at a playground. Hey! We all have to play sometime!

First off, I am sooo glad that Grandfather is doing well! Gosh, when I was reading about the sudden surgery and everything I was like, why didnt you guys tell me? But, Im glad that everything got resolved. I loved the part where grandfather was just ready to cuss you out for not being there sooner, lol, I miss you guys a ton. (Grandfather Jim Bean had heart surgery on Monday; we hadn’t told Bry until it was successfully over & done with; they wouldn't let me in to ICU the morning after until 8:30 - GF didn't know the rules!)

Also, before other stuff I want to give a shout out to Braydon for the pics and the awesome email! Thanks for the advice bud!

Also, shout outs to Grandmother for the awesome letter! I am sending one back to you stat.

I sent grandfather a letter about a week or two ago...so you guys can look forward to that sometime soon

Gosh, you must be feeling all technological and stuff! Doing my blog!!! WOOOAHA! You are probably one of the only grandmas in the world that knows how to do that! Haha, but thanks a ton GJ, really helps me a lot! I love getting your emails every week. Grandfather sent a ton! I will have to respond to one or two today haha. (Yes, Grandma Jeanie, aka GJ, is temporarily the blog guru, and I left his comments in hoping his other friends and fans would smile.)

Anyways.........the week!!!!!!!

So, there arent a lot of new things going on. It was actually a pretty normal week here in Sao Roque. The only waayy new thing was that i had a three day division with Elder Romero, my zone leader. We christened it the best division ever. It was pretty epic. We ate the fourth best pizza of Brazil (a place called Port alfba.....sooooo good). Also we had some good lessons, took some pics, and we went to the center of Sao Paulo! Was definitely an exciting couple of days. After that, Sunday was pretty normal and yeah, good good stuff.

The good news this week is that my comp, Elder Gouveia, has been doing pretty good. We have been able to really get to talking and make a good friendship! He has also been able to teach me some way cool stuff, that I will have to share in person when I get home.

Monday and Tuesday we walked, a lot! Like, seriously, i dont know how my legs are still alive! Definitely one more point to the Word of Wisdom! But seriously, it was pretty nuts. What was crazier is that the distance that usually takes us about an hour took only like twenty minutes....crazy things happen when you are on the Lords errand. We have been able to find some cool new people recently, some people that really need help to get their lives back on track. I really look forward to being able to help them..this is the best part, to see people change, to watch them grow in knowledge, in confidence, in faith, and in power. We all have it in our hands to do what we want with our lives, so sometimes we seem to forget that.

Everything is possible with the Lord on our side. Our duty is to remember that He is there, that He is by our side, and that we are His friends. Temos que conhecÃª-lo, pessoalmente. Ã‰ possÃvel, realmente. (My translation is something like "We have the best division. Really. Positively.")

I love you GJ! Thanks for the help! Give Grandfather a kick in the shins or something
like that - hahah.

Your favorite PERSON south of the equator ;)
(I usually call him my favorite grandson over 6 feet tall)

July1 2009 Carol

2009-07-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

First picture, that my friends, is a SMALL brazilian avocado...WHAT?? If the first thing that came into your head was "What the Heck??" you are correct .... the seed of the avocados here are the size of the avocados in the states, same great taste though.
Second picture, baptism of Carol!

July 1, 2009

Shout outs to Brayden and Daniel Stewart (i loved the vocab refresh)! I got your letters this week and I will send you letters tomorrow! Thanks guys! Thanks for the info from Sean´s blog! I am still waiting for a reply from him though, maybe email or maybe a letter....just taking forever...six months since I wrote him!

Onnnnnnnnnnnnn to the week. Well, things went pretty well this week actually. Let me see.... We spent a LOT of time in the other city of our area, Mairinque. We just have more investigators there than we do here in Sao Roque. Actually, it was all going pretty well. We have been able to see some real progress with one of our most difficult investigators, Alexandre. I think I described his case last week, but it has been a long time that he knows the church, as his parents are both members. However, he has problems with everything....Law of Chastity, Drinking, Smoking, Drugs. yeah, fun. But, now he is really committed to being baptized and changing his life. I think the turning point was the baptism that we had last week, it was a great experience. He has even gone as far to seek out the bishop on his own and everything! It has been really really cool to see.

As I just mentioned, we had a BAPTISM this week! Woot!! Carol is now officially a member! Like I said above, it was a great baptism. There were tons of people there to support, just everything went beautifully. I was very excited and happy. Now, we have Benedita´s other zilliion relatives to work with haha.

As for the rest of the week, things were pretty normal. We were able to find a couple cool new investigators. One was way cool that happened yesterday. After lunch we just decided to knock doors in the neighborhood. We ended up teaching this lady a five minute lesson on the street, then she gushed her life story to us, telling us things that she said even her family doesn’t know...always a fun bit. Then we did some fun random service for her. We basically cleaned her entryway and driveway. Was cool. She was way excited and way happy. I think there is a lot of potential in that family, especially since her daughter is going to have a baby soon! yay plan of salvation.

Elder Gouveia has been doing a lot better. The only problem is that he has gotten a bit sick the past few days. However, he is a lot better today, and a lot happier now! I am actually amazed by the progress that has been made. Keep praying for us and for his cause!

Oh, the other announcement, Harry Potter 6 is coming out in two weeks and I won’t be able to watch it! OH THE AGONY hahah, oh well, I will see it in 14 months.

Squig

...felt like Jim Carey from the Mask

2009-06-29T18:48:00.000-07:00

Surprise birthday parties for Bry

Thanks to everyone to who sent me birthday wishes! made for a pretty good birthday. As i start, want to give shout outs to Braydon Anderson and Amanda Krulish for the awesome birthday emails! Thanks guys! Also to Grandma Jeanie! And i guess shout out to lauren for sending my sister a letter with some sweet advice in it about byu...yeah

Also, today, i am pretty darn tired cuz i spent the ENTIRE day trying to catch up on writing letters. I wrote eight! So, here we go Elder Kevin Walton Elder Jonathan Fischer Elder Dean Spencer Elder Josh Coleman Triple ACuz!Dale and Sarah Grandfather You guys will have letters in the mail soon! I will send them out tomorrow or friday, so you can expect something in the mailbox in two to three weeks!

So, this week was pretty intense. Went by suuuuuuuuper slow. I dont know what it is, but the first week of the transfer always seems to take forever! Or maybe its just cuz i was getting used to the new companion or something...not really sure what the whole deal is. But anyways, the week has gone by, with some interesting new developements. First things first, we have been able to find a couple of cool new people. One is named Fabio, and he is 18 years old. He is a great guy and pretty intelligent, but the only problem with him is that he really likes to play the bible bashing game. However, things are going pretty well. He actually has a desire to know the truth, and so he is reading and praying, so i know that he will get his answer.Also, We had a pretty cool fireside on sunday about family history work. I guess that the church has a NEW site to do all the geneology work. However, it is still in beta testing stage. For example, brazilians have access to it but people from provo dont...go figure! Who knows if it will work for everyone back home.

The big news of the week, I AM TWENTY YEARS OLD!!! How i managed to survive for twenty years is beyoooond me haha. But no, it is pretty exciting, but i must admit that i am feeling pretty darn old. The day went pretty well though. We started out with an awesome district meeting in which our DL talked about the meaning of our missions, success as a missionary, etc...basically was a good missionary pep talk. After that, we ate lunch at home, made some contacts in the street, and then started going to our appointments. Long story short, three different families threw me mini birthday parties! It was awesome! Although i think i am in some severe danger of diabetes...i ate sooo much cake hahaha. But yeah, it was awesome. The coolest one was when i received a surprise party from some of my recent converts! I must admit, i was pretty touched. I felt like Jim Carey from the Mask...YOU LOVE ME<>

Oh, the funny story of the week. We were going to have a baptism on saturday. We had a division friday, so that Elder Mosiah, the DL, could come to the baptism interview. Just as we were arriving to Carol´s house, we saw her sister. The sister was like, so, carol still can be interviewed today, but she cant be baptized tomorrow.. Of course, i got a little bit scared, and i was like, why not? She nervous? The sister: no no no, everything is good, just she had a litle accident and yeah, cant tomorrow, but next week eveyrthing is fine. I got concerned again, and asked if carol got hurt and if everything was all right. So, we entered, carol was interviewed and passed with flying colors. But yeah, it was just funny, cuz as we were talking to carol´s mom she said, yeah, carol is having a little problem right now, a CYCLICAL problem, if you catch my drift. So i started laughing and yeah, thats the story. If you didnt get it, you werent supposed to. Anyways, now carol will be baptized Friday night! Woot! I cant wait.

PS. Mom is gone for a few weeks so Grandma Jeanie will be the master blogger. Sorry this was a few days late due to Mom going to Girls Camp.

Birthday Week

2009-06-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

(No pic's yet, hope they come through soon) I can't believe it, next pday i will officially have to use a 2 in the beginning of my age!!!! What is this?!?! I already have some people calling me grandpa and stufff, but i guess i had that coming cuz i already made fun of them for being 20 years old haha...i did use the words grandma, extremely old, and toothless, well, not toothless, but that would have been funny. Thanks for getting me claire´s address! I will write her and others pretty soon. Gosh, things are bad for me for letter writing recently. I was going to do some hardcore writing today, but today was transfer day.
ELDER MATOS WAS TRANSFERRED!! So i got to do the fun trip to Sao Paulo again to get my new comp, Elder Gouveia, but more about him later.
Here are some shout outs to AAA, got your letter, and thanks for the pic! I will write you next weekMiss Lytle, thanks for the letter, will also write you next week!Elder Spencer from Minnesota missionSarah, thanks for the awesome drawn berfday card! Was friggin sick! I will write you and Dale soon and will write to the iD Tech location at UW.Also, MAKELLE! Thanks cuz! Though sheesh, demorou né? Will write you soon. Keep pwning it up. Thanks YW for the card that you sent! Oh gosh, even more, how could i forget, thanks for the awesome birthday stuff papa jim! I loved the information about the country and everything!Was great! Hope you are doing well!
So, also, is there a Mrs. Ninninga from Portland, OR reading right now? I met your son, Elder Ninninga, at the transfers meeting today. Cool, he said that he was following the blog before the mission mom, and that he had been looking for me for a bit (he got to the field April 1ish). Anyways, Mrs. Ninninga, your son is doing great.
Ok, onnnnnnnnnn to the week. Well, things really werent that intense this week. We had a division, found some cool people. Oh yeah! I forgot, i finally got some good sickness! But dont worry, i am totally fine, you dont need to call the ambulance to come take care of me. But, needless to say, i got way sick saturday night and stayed pretty sick through the day sunday. Shout out to irma Rosangela for helping me get better! That was pretty fun.
Also, an Elder Rogers was touring the mission with his mom, as he is going home now. Wow, i got pretty trunky with that one. makes me think of when we will return after i get home in 2010! Woot!So, the other stuff that went on this week was that on monday, was transfers call day. The entire day you just stay worried about if you are going to stay or if you are going to go. So, story time. Elder Matos and I were walking to an appointment, and he was just like, im sorry dude, i cant concentrate, the call should be here in five minutes, we just gotta wait...so we waited, and we waited, and we waited. The call was over an hour and a half late! But dont worry, we went to a lesson and taught and had a good family home evening with some recem conversos. Was sweet.
But yeah, matos was NOT very happy to be transferred. Yesterday we spent the day going to different people so that he could give his farewell and everything. Always an interesting time. He only stayed here in Sao Roque for 3 months....we shall see how long i stay here now. He left to go turn into a Zone Leader in Barueri.
So, today, i got my new companion. His name is Elder Gouveia, from teresópolis, Rio de Janeiro. We are from the same group, aka, we got here on the mission at the same time. Interestingly enough, i am now a senior companion, whoa?!?! But it should be good. I think Elder Gouveia and I will be able to work some miracles here in Sao Roque. Will be great. Believe it or not, but he reminds me a little bit of Nathan Sansburn....go figure.

Absolutely Ballin Sliding Tackle...

2009-06-10T21:46:00.000-07:00

Photos, see below too: Making Peanut Butter Cookies, Zone Conference, and playing Soccer.

thanks for helping me out with the addresses mom! keep working on claire costa, also could you find bre aasland and bethanie nettleton? Maybe even Tad´s mission address. Thanks!

So, yeah, i was just walking around on friday, and it hitt, kelsey is graduated!!!! Congratulations!!!! I feel so old right now haha. I am glad that the week went so well. Kelsey really is quite the all star isnt she. I am glad she was able to have such a special time, wish i could have been there. Well, at leasst you guys can still photo shop me into a picture or two!
Give kelsey and extra hug for me.
Also, the package arrived!!!! Thnaks mom! THnaks dad! tHANKS Grandparents! So, i got it, and i opened it, devoured those oh so delicious wheat thins, and then stared at the presents for five minutes with the intention of waiting til my birthday to open them....yeah, you know how the story finishes...i opened them all haha. Thanks for the dvds and the cds! They were great! Also, thanks to jacot for the letter and the cds as well! Traz saudades.
Some shout outs to the awesome people that sent me letters! I didnt have any time to write reply letters today, but that is another story....
To the king of FOND, keep doing what you do, i will try to write back next week
To Elder Walton, sounds like you are doing great bud! Dont let the office corrupt you!
To Grandfather, thanks for everything! I will write as soon as i can....i especially liked that favorite line of yours that you like to say to me....
OKKKKKKK ON TO THE WEEKIt was a pretty normal week. We baked some bomb peanut butter cookies last pday. Then, thursday was pretty normal. Friday was a very good zone conference, president talked a lot about some cool doctrinal stuff.
Saturday was a great day. Elder Matos and I walked a TON, but we found some awesome new investigators. We were in a neighborhood called paisagem colonial, trying to contact a reference that we had received. First off, the reference went all right, it was the son of a pastor of a small church there in the neighborhood. But, he was fairly non agressive (the son was worse, but more on that later). As we were walking, i felt the need to talk with a man that was seated on the side of the road. to our surprise, he invited us in and we taught his family. His name is Miguel, and he has a wife, Marlienne, and three kids. We were able to commit all three of them to baptism! It was awesome. They are a family not in the best of conditions, financially, but they have hearts of gold. I hope that we can help them out.
Sunday was an intresting day, just because we walked a ton. My goodness, i was sooooo tired at the end of that day. Fortunately, we were able to find some cool new investigators as well and have a great time at church.Monday and tuesday as pretty much been all dedicated to our current investigators. we had a good family home evening on monday with Carol, one of our baptism dates, where we watched with them The Legacy and talked about how we can also leave our own legacies of faith for our families. Was pretty awesome.
However, the story of the week is alllll about today. We had an awesome bi-zone activity today. Elder Matos and I slept over at the Zone Leader´s house (some CRAZY uno went down) and then went to a members house to play soccer and eat churrasco (brazillian barbecue). The only problem was that it has been raining pretty intensley all day. BUT, that made the soccer even better. Gosh, i dont think that i had played soccer since elementary school! But yeah, it was a lot of fun, especially in the pouring rain. I scored two goals today and had an absolutely ballin sliding tackle to steal the ball from one of the brazilians. Yeah, i felt pretty cool.
Love you all, Elder Bry

Chicken Feet for Dinner

2009-06-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

First picture is of all of us at the baptism. Second is of the amazing stewed chicken feet. Third is of, yes, APPLE PIE! I love this lady, she made actual american style apple pie. I almost died of happiness. Fourth is of a sweet Family Home Evening that we had with our ward mission leader and an investigator family. Fifth is me and my baptism, Christianne.

Well, first off, i gotta just send my best to Gabe. I really hope that he gets better. As Gabe has also been a great example to me, also to Sean and Nathan I am pretty sure. I had a lot of good times with him, I hope he gets through this.

First things first, hello to Grandmother and Papa Jim. I hope you are enjoying your visit to Central Oregon. Grandmother, I am going to send you a letter tomorrow, but I am sending it to Anacortes...I already addressed the envelope and everything. That is so cool that there are going to be so many people there for Kelseys graduation. Way cool indeed. Hello to Brayden, when you arrrive, and also to Grandpa Chuck!

Also, I am glad that the missionaries were able to come over and do such a good job. I have been playing like a madman for a while. I know that something good will happen, just look to Mosiah 27:10ish...there it is the father praying for the son, but I am doing a dosido and switching it around. Dad said that he has been gradually feeling better.

Onnnnnn to the week.So, the big news of the week was that we had another two baptisms! YEE HAW. So, the week started out with a division (I went to sorocaba to spend a couple days with Elder Romero) so that one of the zone leaders could do the baptismal intreviews. Of the three candidates, two passed. The third, Carol, didnt pass just because we think she should go to church a little bit more before baptism...her new date is june 20th.

So, the division was a lot of fun, I joked around with Elder Romero quite a bit, he is a pretty cool guy. And then saturday i returned to Sao Roque for the baptisms. First, there was an integration activity for the youth at the church. We had a film going, called challenging giants, or something like that. It is a christian film about a football team. Was pretty bomb. Afterwards, we had a very successful scavenger hunt/scripture chase there at the church. Was awesoem!

The baptisms went very well. Elder Matos baptized the mom, Benedita, and I baptized her daughter, Christianne. Was awesome. Christianne was scared that i was going to let her drown for some reason...so i made the whole thing as quick and relaxed as i could. Overall, everything went very smoothly. After the baptism, we went to a members house to celebrate.

ANNOUNCEMENT!!! I Finally ate some really weird food. You would not believe how excited i got when i saw what the family had prepared...a big ol pot of chicken feet! haha, it was actually pretty good. They are a bit annoying to eat though, cuz they are absolutely chock full of bones. But yeah, it was a lot of fun.

The rest of the week has been pretty normal and has gone pretty well, except for one really funny story about the bathroom...but i dont need to tell that one. However, today will be pretty exciting. We have an awesome irmâo in our ward, her name is Rosangela. She makes ammmmaaaaaaaazzzzzzing food, and really loves to take care of the missionaries. So, since her birthday is tomorrow, Elder Matos and I are going to her house to make some peanut butter cookies. I literally cannot wait. SOOOO GOODGood luck with everything Kelsey! This is going to be one of the funnest times of your life! Enjoy it! Sing well and don't trip when you go up to get your diploma! Elder Briggs

Waiting for letters....

2009-05-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

Any new big updates from the gang? I have been waiting for letters from them forever. Please have everyone write me.

So, i guess the first thing off this week is congrats to Kelsey! I heard that she rocked the solo and just everything. So, congrats kelsey! I cant believe you are in the last week of high school! My goodness, how time flies. Perseverar até o fim!!!!Also, congrats to Jim Sansburn on the big day! That is just awesome! Wish I could have been there.Shout out to the Goeslings! Hope all is going well with you all! Alaina, you are going to UW, right? Keep the purple and gold in the blood! BTW, Theresa, thanks so much for that tie that you gave me...it has pretty much been my official chique tie. I use it for the special occasions on the mish.Well, i received a bunch of letters this week! Thanks to Lauren, Caryn, Katrine, Mom, Grandma Jeanie, and a few other Elders!I wrote letters today to Katrine (hope it gets there before July! ps, good luck with the driving lessons!), Caryn (i sent it to Mike and Paula´s house), and some other mishies.

As to the week...it was pretty full.Lets start last thursday. We had our regular transferly interview with the mission president. That was all pretty sweet. it is always good to be able to talk to Presidente Cooley and see how we can improve as missionaries. Plus, found out some interesting stuff about the mission as a whole. After the interviews, i went on a division with Elder Romero from Taylorsville, UT (our LZ) so that the other zone leader could come and interview our baptismal candidates. It was a good division, it is always good going on splits with other elders, always learn a lot.

Saturday was the highlight of the week, as we had a baptism!!! Silmara, 32, was baptized into the church of jesus christ of latter day saints!!! Wahooooooo. It was a great baptism too. The bishop performed it and there were quite a few people there. She was crying afterwards, and also on sunday when she received the holy ghost. It was a very spiritual, uplifting couple of days. It was very cool to see how happy she was. Monday and Tuesday were both a couple of grunt work days. Elder Matos and i knocked a lot of doors, without a ton of results. But, we did find some really chique new families to teach. They are great. One wouldnt even let us leave until we ate dinner with them! Was a freaking awesome dinner as well. I have good hopes for them.

Other than that, we have had to work out a few problems within the ward, some basic disagreements between members. it is funny, people here in Brazil tell the missionaries EVERYTHING. Just the other day, we were talking to another lady, first time we had ever met with her, and she was like, i have never told anybody this before, not even my husband or my parents....etc etc. Crazy stuff.

other good news, this friday we are having zone conference, and also another division! Elder Moura will be coming to Sao Roque to interview some more people for baptism! This is a family of three, mom and three daughters. The son was baptized two months ago, and they have really been amazed by the change in him and in their family. they should all be baptized on Saturday. Benedita, the mom, 62 years old. Christianne, 16, and Carol, 15. Should be an awesome experience. If there is one thing that i know, it is that the lord answers our prayers. i have seen some amazing things so far here on the mission. Elder Boo

So, three of the pictures are from the baptism. the bishop was the one who baptized Silmara. The other is a picture from the division with elder romero.

Lasagna & Dessert!

2009-05-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

First picture, Silmara. She is going to be baptized on Saturday!Second picture, me teaching the brazilians how to play finger chess. I hope the king of fond is please with my valiant service. Third, me rocking out on a member´s drumset. Four, the trunky calendar...one tower finished!

HAPPY WEDNESDAY EVERYBODY!!!!!! (My P-Day) Gosh, dont you all just love the holiday that comes in every week? I know I do! Quarta-Feira é o melhor dia que tem! I just bought a sweater....its starting to actually get cold here in São Roque! Well, it is still hot during the day but mornings and nights are definitely a bit chilly. Soon i will probably buy a jacket, probably around the fourth of july or something. But first off, thanks to Jack & Carol and Uncle Dick! Question, did jack and carol ever get my letter?...As for the next letter, can you put in some $1 bills? It is just a fun souvenir to give to brazilians.

And here is a shout out to the sister from Texas!! What is your son´s name? You are going to have to tell me when he gets here on the mission so i can greet him and show him the ropes! Lol, as if i know anything special. But yeah, that it way cool that there are other people following along out of the regular social circle. A missão São Paulo Norte é a missão mais forte! AKA this is the best mission there is. Just to help get your son excited. But seriously, even here in Brazil this mission has the best reputation as the mission that really gets people to be the best missionaries/grow the most...Anyways.............on to the work!!

So, São Roque is going pretty well. It is pretty exciting, we are going to have at least one baptism this saturday! The other baptism interview is tomorrow night, but i am confident that everything is going to go through. But yeah, it is pretty cool here. It is hard to really be an effective worker here, because everything is so spaced out. Like I said, we have four cities in our area and we are going regularly to three of them. Gosh, I sure know how to ride the ônibus now haha. Even tonight we will be taking some buses to one of the other cities, Mairinque.

The ward is still pretty awesome. My goodness, some of the sisters here in the ward make some INCREDIBLE food. I had some lasagna the other day, oh wow. Its not that I dont like rice and beans, i do, just it is amazing to get a change up. Also, they are following the classic mormon trend in being masters of the sugary world. How wonderful. I hope i dont gain too much weight here haha.

But yeah, basically what i have been doing here is working a lot with the investigators that they had before in this area, we teach a lot of recent members and less actives, and then they help us get to know people who are investigating the church. It is a pretty good system, because as we strengthen the member families it almost automitically strengthens the investigators that are either friends or related. It is a fun way to work. Every once in a while we end up knocking doors (actually standing outside the gate and clapping hands) and that works out all right. Unfortunately we dont get a lot of real strong investigators like this, but the the thing about the Lord is that He leads you to the people needing the gospel. It is pretty cool, I ran into a guy the other day that has been really needing some help. We have helped him get back onto the path of turning his life around and saving his family. Rewarding.

The other news is that tomorrow are the regular every transfer interviews with the president. Should be good to get to talk to him and his wife in person.

Elder Bry

Eating Currasco in Sao Roque, Brazil

2009-05-13T16:58:00.001-07:00

So the first photo is me in front of an actual Ford F250! Man! I never thought i would see one of these here! The member who owns it is pretty cool, yeah, was from his house that i called home on sunday! Next is a picture at the activity, and the last is of the activity.

Oi FAMILIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Gosh, talking to you Sunday was just over the top amazing! To actually be able to hear your voices and talk to you all in real time was just good beyond belief. I am such a sap these days though, haah. It was all i could do to not bawl when you guys were talking about how proud you are of me and man, when you all sang happy birthday (June 22)....Im sure all the brazilians in that family were just laughing at me haha...water works! But yeah, it was AWESOME!! Only seven months until we get to talk again! If you think about it, it really isnt that long...there are a lot of milestones to be made in between to keep the mind off of christmas. 1, my birthday. 2, 1 year in Brazil. 3, general conference. 4, 1 year in the field. 5, Christmas! How crazy will that be! Imagine, at christmas time i will only have 8 more months! Whoa, i am trunky right now haha...

So, São Roque is going pretty well. We have some awesome investigators and some great baptisms coming up. Actually, on sunday, it was crazy! We got a gift baptism. A lady whose kids have all been baptized (she hasnt because of some side problems) approached us and asked us to schedule a baptismal interview! She has fixed those other things in her life and will be baptized here in two weeks! How cool. Oh yeah, i am loving the ward here. It is amazing how much energy there is here with these people, with an actual amount of people. On saturday there was a mothers day activity. Oh my gosh! Was crazy! We had 8 investigators there, and it was probably the most energy at a ward activity that I have ever seen! The youth were all dancing and the parents watching and laughing and eating churrasco. (see photos) Gosh, was a ton of fun.

Ok, so a normal day in Sao Roque. Do the normal wake up and study routine. We leave the house at 11 to go to lunch. Then afterwards we start to work. Unfortunately we lose a bit of time waiting for the bus, cuz we have four cities under our stewardship and we have to travel a lot to get to our investigators and our meetings with the bishop and the ward mission leader. So, we do this, taking buses and teacfhing, until night time, then we go back to the house, plan, go to bed. Basically it is the same as in Boituva, just with a lot of time lost on the bus.

I am still getting used to Elder matos. He does things a bit different than Im used to, but it will be a good transfer with him. His full name is Amon de Tarso Matos Santos, and he is from Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. The funny thing about him is that he kind of looks and talks like someone from our past....Mr. Matthew Fuller.

Quick shout out to Katrine! Sorry! I have not received your letter yet! But I am confident that i either will next thursday or friday in the week after next! Hope all is going well with you!Also, sent letters today to the Amester, Miss Lytle, The now legal adult jamaican dinosaur formally known as my Baby Sister, waaaaah hah. Hope they get to you guys soon! Amy, sent yours to your bend address, cuz i dont know how much longer you will be at school. Thanks... Bry

Hello from Sao Roque...

2009-05-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

I WAS TRANSFERRED!!!!!!!

So, goood bye Boituva, hello São Roque.

My new companion is Elder Matos, although i dont know where he is from very well, I will have to do some investigating. But yeah, so, I am very far away from everything again. But, even better, i know have the largest area in the mission! Four, count em, Four cities are part of my area. My goodness, lots of buses.

So, bad news, i will have to call on Mother's Day probably when you will be at church...because the member lives far away and yeah, at night won't work because we have to get back to the house at a certain time. Sorry!

But, I am very happy, this new area is Beautiful! Seriously, an incredible city...i cant wait to get exploring here.

The last week in Boituva was fairly interesting, lots and lots of stuff went down, needless to say, i was not expecting a lot of it. But, all we need is to keep on pushing forward and we will reach our goals. There are always setbacks, always problems in life. One of the secrets is learning how to roll with the punches and then return your own to win the fight. I will miss Boituva though...of course, i was born there! Plus i stayed there for almost six months putting my heart and soul into the area. As a result, i am very happy with how i spent my time. The area is lights years ahead of where it was when i got there with Elder Martins...proof that if you put your shoulder to the wheel and just keepon pushing, the Lord will do His part and bless you with the success you need.

Oh! Also, i forgot to say thanks for all the awesome seattle postcards! Give Boo a shoutout for me, cuz i cant email her. Alright, sorry, not much more extra time. This email isnt incredible detailed cuz of the frazzledness that occurrs because of the transfers.

Shout outs to Lauren Lytle, Amy Jones, Kelsey, Mom, Grandma Jeanie for the awesome letters! Thanks! I will write next week!

May is going to be a wet month!

2009-04-29T22:08:00.000-07:00

Here we goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ok, so, to start out, gotta say thanks to grandma jeanie for the information about nathan and sean! SOunds like they are doing great...although i still havent received a letter from them yet. Gosh, i dont even know if they even received my letters...isnt south american postal service fun!Secondly, thanks grandfather for the awesome email, and all the information. Sounds like a winner! I cant wait to hear more. Braydon, glad you are having fun in the good ol OR, and good luck with the socal adventure.... Alright, i did receive the package with the rubiks cube last week, thanks mom! Its been great, and yeah, the peanut butter and gatorade has been awesome. Also thanks for all the great pictures and everything! As for what i want for my birthday, still just church DVDs CDs of MOTAB, Classical music, maybe Jacot could hook us up with some good CDs. Other than that, just more pictures and letters. Also, i am kind of missing cheezits and wheat thins. Some good old american food would be great. That would be cool.

Onnnnnnnnnn to the week. Last week wasnt that eventful. Thursday was zone conference in Sorocaba, and over the weekend we taught a lot. Oh, some cool stuff is that we have been getting a few less actives to come back to church. Sunday was a miracle day. Elder Cruz and I just didnt stop teaching! Usually what happens out here is you go to an appointment, its good, go to another, it falls, go to another, it falls, go to another, teach, others fall, etc. But, on sunday, everything held up, it was AWESOME! We have some awesome new investigators, and we have gotten a few more people committed to baptism! May is going to be a very wet month for the branch of Boituva. Very wet indeed. Monday was a division so that our zone leader Elder Pereira could come out to Boituva to give the baptism interview to Carlos. First off, that day was pretty exciting. I was working in Sorocaba with Elder Krugman from socal. It was a great day, we commited three people to baptism and taught some awesome other lessons. Plus, Elder Krugman is an incredible leader and I was able to learn a lot from him about being a missionary. Great experience. Anyways, Carlos passed the baptism interview with flying colors and will be baptized this saturday! WAHOOOO! Even the stake president is going to come out for the baptism and sing a song with his wife. Going to be pretty spectabulous.

Yesterday was just an awesome day also. I taught one of the most spiritual lessons of my life with Felipe, son of Carlos. He is 17 years old and has been going to church for a few weeks, but he is worried that if he enters the church he wont have time to continue with his studies and everything. However, last night the holy ghost was incredibly strong and just gave me word after word after word, truly filling my mouth and telling me what to say. Long story short, the promise in 2 Nephi 33:1 came to pass. What a lesson! Just for all of you to remember as well, you are a unique and special child of God, chosen to come forth at this day to fulfill your truly limitless potential.

Miss you tons. Give all a hug for me! Elder Squig

April 21 update - no pics this week

2009-04-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom!!!

Sorry, today is coming in a little late because of some things that went down today. First off though, glad that you all ahd fun in San Francisco! Sounds like it was a blast....and no, i have never been to alcatraz...i did watch the movie The Rock though....so that ALMOST counts. HAha
And yes, i just got a package today!!!! With shorts peanut butter candy flash drive, it was awesome. Thanks mom! Saved my life haha. Gosh, it is kind of funny how obsessed i am with peanut butter these days....probably when i get home i am going to be obsessed with eating rice and beans (but dont count on it...ugh. rice and beans are alright, but seriously, every day does get a little bit tiring)

and for me to write anna i need her address...or should i just write home? is she still going to be staying with you guys this summer? glad to hear she was alright though.

just a quick shout out to caryn!!!! HI CUZ!!! HOPE YOU ARE DOING GREAT!!!

Ok, on to the semana.

This week was actually pretty awesome, to tell the truth. Elder Cruz and I taught like bandits (that is to say a lot...not illegally or anything) and we had a ton of spirtitual experiences. The best one was probably with a 18 year old girl that we are teaching named juliana. She is the friend of a member and has been going through tons of stuff recently. She already has a son and just split up with her boyfriend cuz of some other stuff, and she is between a rock and a hard place right now. But, we taught an incredibly spiritual lesson about the atonement on sunday, talking about how Christ did it for HER, and was thinking of HER specifically during those painful hours. Just the same as it applies to everyone, but i dunno why i said it, it was a true testament of the spirit filling my mouth and speaking through me. Then we invited her to baptism at the end of the lesson and she was like ´baptism?´ we said,´úh huh´ she said ´claro que eu aceito!´ being translated means of course i will be baptized! Pretty awesome. We have also been able to find some awesome new families and mark some other baptisms with people, plus it has been great really being able to talk to people this week, and start the healing process in whatever problems they may have...whether it is drug addiction, bad marriage, etc. It has been an awesome week.

Then, to cap it all off, we all went to sao paulo to the temple today! It was a great experience. It is always a lot of fun when you get a lot of missionaries together. Tons of great guys. And then yah, the temple is just an incredible experience. It is amazing the power of the spirit that you feel there...i was able to receive some answers to my prayers that i have been waiting for for a while, it was way wayyyy cool.

Elder Bry

2009-04-15T16:17:00.001-07:00

Here are some kickin pictures from this week Obviously, one is of my with Evandro before he got wet Another is of me and the coolest little kid ever...Matheus. My goodness, he is a two year old with the vocabulary of a high schooler...some really funny stuff comes out of his mouth haha another is elder cruz and i celebrating with some awesome pizzaand the last is us both with evandro...but take a special notice at my hair...im turning blond! haha, pretty interesting.love you mom! glad that you liked my testimony this week and the story of evandro.

(Not necessarily in the right order)

Oh, I received an awesome set of drawings and a kickin letter from Sarbear! Thanks sarah! Hope the drawing keeps going well and keep me updated on that project of yours! And of course you can name that character Briggs! Wouldnt have it any other way. Oh, btw, sending a letter in return today Plus, thanks to the grandparents for the letter that I received from them and the good information about whats going on at home! It was great! Hope you two are doing great in Anacortes! Miss you guys. Also, I received all of those postcards that you guys sent from palm springs. There is a socal guy in my zone, and he was pretty excited to see all those pictures of places close to his house. Elder Krugman, what a silly b.Yah, Mothers day is going to be awesome! But, I have no way to be able to plan it like i was able to plan the christmas phone call. It is the sunday after transfers...so i might be in a completely different part of the mission! Honestly, i kind of hope so. I love Boituva, and I have some awesome investigators here and lots of people making the baptism commitment and accepting the gospel, but i have spent a lot of time here...and if i stay for the next transfer, odds are that i would stay for at least two more because of mission math (i dont know why i am trying to guess what is going to happen, cuz it is impossible to get it right).

Plus, for the birthday package, if you are starting to get it ready, I would love to receive some church dvds that i can share with investigators...of course it has to have a portuguese language option...all in a cd book instead of their regular cases for easier transportability.

But anyways, on to the week!!!!!So, this week was awesome...pretty crazy actually. It was the week of Evandro´s baptism!!! So exciting. You want to know the even better part? I performed my first baptism ever! So soooo cool. Evandro is going to be such a stud in the gospel. He is dead set on serving a mission and being a strong example in the church, especially in hoping that he gets his family into the gospel as well. But yeah, it was a great week. We ahve also been able to find some awesome new investigators this week and mark some more baptisms! Lets just say that there are going to be a lot of wet brazilians here in Boituva in May... soooo awesomeBut anyways, on to the story of evandros baptism. He was interviewed last week, and passed with flying colors. However, the difficult part was going to be getting the signature from the parents, has they are both from different religions that dont think too kindly about The Church.

Anyways, we went there last thursday night to talk with them about Evandros choice and what he really wants. It was a bit scary. At first they were talkinga bout how he is too young to know what he really wans, how it is a committment too large for him to take on at the age of 15. Luckily, Evandro was persistent the entire time saying that he KNOWS this is what he wants for his life and that he will stay consistent with the churhc. But, things didnt really change for the better until Elder Cruz and I both felt that we needed to teach the message of the restauration to the parents. My goodness, one of our best first lessons yet. The spirit was so strong. the mom was washing dishes, and at the part about joseph smith she stopped, and was just looking at us, listening intently. And then, when we got to the part of Moroni´s promise, she came over to the table to read the scripture promising that those who read the Book of Mormon and pray about it will receive the truth. Right after, the parents took Evandros baptismal papers and signed them, and promised that they would all go to the baptism on saturday. Was amazing. And then, the baptism went excellently. Such a spiritual experience for everyone. I am very very excited right now.

Once again, i will just bear my testimony about this work, that this is truly the work of the Lord, that ´marvelous work and a wonder´ spoken of in the scriptures. I have seen so many miracles in the lives of people it is incredible. I can say without any doubt that I know that this church is true, that it is His church on the earth, that Jesus Christ is our Savior, the Redeemer of Mankind. I am supremely grateful for my opportunity to dedicate this time of my life to the lord. I have really been able to come to an understanding of the scripture that says that those who lose their life for the saviors sake will find it. I testify that the gospel of christ has been restored to the earth and that we have a living prophet, a man with the power and authority and station of Moses, of Noah, of Adam, of Abraham, of Jacob, of Isaiah, of Peter. There is a plan for our lives, there is always hope. I love you moM! Miss you tons! Miss you dad! Miss you kels! Also, everyone else that is following the blog, i miss you too! Hope everything is going well with you guys and remember that you are all in my prayers. Elder Boo.

Kelsey's Birthday

2009-04-09T21:15:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSEY!!!!

So, seriously, the first thing that ran through my mind this morning was `holy crap, my younger sister is a legal adult....Im getting old, you are 18, going to college, all that fun stuff. Doesn't time just fly. Man, I just barely graduated Summit, and Kelsey is already there as well.

Shout outs to Bishop Garrick, Bishop Sanborn, Mom, Grandma Jeanie, and assorted missionaries. Thanks for the awesome letters, I will try to get letters back to you soon.

And grandfather, thanks for the awesome emails and the advice. of course I will write you a letter...but I thought that I already did just recently...but who knows. And man, we got a STEAL for Cutler. Two first round draft picks, a third, and another QB?!?!? AWESOME

Ok, I definitely and trying to get personal and connect with people. Following the rules is great...but you don't have to be a stranger. Some missionaries lose this aspect of the mission, that people trust you more and you become a better missionary and a better teacher when you become integrated into the peoples lives...not just a wierd stiff that visits every couple days to talk about religion.

THIS WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK
The highlight was definitely general conference. It was pretty sweet. We made the good trip to Sorocaba to the capela de Trujilo to watch conference on Saturday and sunday. What was even better, was that they set up a room for us english speaking missionaries! WAHOO! Sure, it was broken for the first session of Saturday conference, (portuguese is cool, but just doesnt have the same feeling as english...there is only so much translators can do). But yeah, after it was fixed and I was able to watch the rest of the sessions in english. L. Tom Perry´s talk was definitely very good for all the members. REMEMBER HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO GIVE REFERENCES. I think here in my mission, about 70% of the baptisms are from member references...and the rest are finds of the missionaries. Pretty crazy. It just helps a lot.

But, personally, my favorite talks were those by Jeffrey R. Holland, and the priesthood session talk by President Uchtdorf. But Elder Holland´s was amazing. The spirit that he gave talking about the last week of Christ´s mortal life was incredible. Everybody here had eyes glued to the tv, pens set down, and mouths hanging open. It was an incredible talk...and I learned a lot about missionary service and the inconceivable power at our dispense through prayer and faith. Amazing.

We had two investigators go to conference this past weekend. yep, you guessed it...Carlos and Evandro. Was great. Evandro was interviewed Monday for baptism and he will se batizar this saturday at 7 pm....if any of you can make it haha. But yeah, he is a very special kid and is going to be a great addition to the Lords Kingdom. He has already committed himself to serving a mission of his own in the future..what a stud. I think he will really help the branch here in Boituva. And Carlos, he will be baptized next month, 2nd of May. He is very excited and is an amazing person. Elder Cruz was just talking with me about this last night...Carlos and his family arent investigators anymore...they are like are grandparents and cousins...its incredible how much love they have for everybody. Truly a good example of what it means to be charitable.

Elder Bry

2009-04-02T04:50:00.000-07:00

Allright, so, here we go on the photos...in backwards order....one of them is elder cruz and I eating my first chinese food here in brazil! We ate a a chain called China In A Box, it was pretty good..but a little bit pricey for missionaries. Another is just of Cruz and I in the house before church. Another is cruz and I in a bunch of trees, Another is me taking a classic sacred grove pictureand another is me and my zone right before transfers. Yee haw!

Ok, Im still in Boituva with Elder Cruz. I was scared that I was going to get transferred, but the Stake President likes us a lot and I am pretty sure put in a good word with President Cooley haha. Goodness, our stake president is hilarious. But yeah, I am still here in glorious Boituva, at least until May 6. I am pretty happy about it too. Elder Cruz and I have a great companionship going, and we ahve a lot of people we are hoping to get wet this month. I* will go more into detail about them in a bit.

So this week has been pretty interesting. Has a few highlights. First, I got to give another sacrament meeting talk. And not jsut a normal talk, but I was the 3rd speaker, meaning that I got to have fun making my talk longer than I prepared for haha. Anyways, my topic was amor ao próximo, aka love thy neighbor. Went really well, of course talked about the good samaritan, talked about Mosiah 2, talked about sermon on the mount, lots of good things. B Ut yeah, was pretty fun. Woot.

Another highlight is that we have another excellent investigator right now who I am pretty confident we will be able to baptize either this transfer or the next. Her name is Juliana. She is 18 years old and has a kid and isnt married, so that complicates matters a bit. BUT, she has been reading the book of mormon and praying and she has told us that she received the answers to her prayers and that she KNOWS that this church is true. Cool stuff. She is the friend of one of our members and yeah, its been good. (Hint Hint Kelsey, introduce your friends to the mishies) She has even committed to make the journey to Sorocaba with us this sunday to watch general conference! She is one of like 12 people that have said that they will go with us. Wahoooo.

Next, Evandro. I think i have already talked about him, our 14 year old investigator that wants to serve a mission and always calls me Bryan instead of Elder Briggs. I dont get it, he calls Elder Cruz Elder Cruz, but me, I told him my first name and he just wont let go of it haha. But yeah, he is a stud. We have a date marked for him next weekend, and even better, he is already committed in his mind to serving a mission. Plus, he is trying to learn english and i have had some fun teaching him things like Dude, whats up, and kowabunga.

Finally, Carlos and family. These guys are a golden family. It is very rare to find people as open and loving as they are. I am still way excited that we found them and that we are able to teach them and help them come unto christ. However, We have decided to push back their baptismal date a bit because the mom, Marli, still hasnt gone to church and we feel she needs to ´conhecer a igreja e desenvolver o testemunho dela um pouco mais.´ But, it is still great. This entire family also will be going to general conference with us, not just sunday but maybe saturday as well! yAHOO! I am soo excited for general conference.

The opportunity to hear the prophet and apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ is definitely something special. For some reason, it takes special impact for me now that I am on the mission. Sure, before the mission it was cool, but now it is one of my most awaited events! It is going to be awesome. It is an especially good mish opportunity, people can not help but feel the spirit when the prophet is speaking, and they understand really what the church is like, what it is all about. Also, its good for us in Boituva because we get to take our investigators to see a real chapel, and Brazilian chapels are amazing.

So, my invitation this week is for everybody to watch general conference this weekend...and to make the effort to not just watch at home but to go to the church and watch it there (at least for one of the sunday sessions), and perhaps take notes. Gosh, I cant wait.

H Ope everything is going great! Oh, could you ask grandma jeanie to send me a copy of my priesthood line of authority??

Oh, shout outs to Elder Kevin Walton...congrats on the success there in Tampa! Will try to get a letter out to you soon.

Also a shout out to Katrine, thanks for the heads up on the letter and have fun in Spain!

FOND FTW

Glad Kelsey has gotten those letters and that she is writing back and everything...it seriously makes a big difference in the lives of the missionaries... it is one of the only things that is a 100% guaranteed good day when you receive a letter from a girl haha....Goodness, just passed 6 months and I am already thinking about 1 year haha, need to control myself. Of course, tell Dale that I say hi, and to not mess up your computer too bad. Plus, I wanna know what games he is playing right now........Elder Bry

Pics from week of March 28, 2009

2009-03-29T21:12:00.000-07:00

picture time! the first is just of me and elder cruz in the Boituva wilderness...not really we were walking next to the train tracks in the middle of town.

The second is my shout out to FOND...yes dale, you are notorious in South America as well. Cant wait to get that letter

Third was my great accomplishment...i figured out how to solve the rubiks cube....btw, could you send me a rubiks cube in a package? That rubiks cube does not belong to me.

And the last picture is of me and elder anderson. roflcopterz

6 MONTHS already

2009-03-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

Pics to come, my blogmom is in the desert and will update when she gets back.
A quick thanks to Brother Walton...and a quick favor...could you send me Elder Walton´s mission address?? Thanks
Ok, onnnnnn to the week This week had some cool things that happened. We have started going to Wizard language institute to talk with the people learning english and everything. Wizard is pretty cool, it is the biggest language learning school in Brazil, and was started by a member of the church. Actually, i have heard that the method that they use is pretty similar to the teaching method of the MTC...but yeah, seems to work. Also, what is really cool, every book that you get at Wizard has a pass along card in it and information about BYU. Actually, was because of this that our elect family called and we are now teaching them and getting them ready for baptism on the 11th of April. How cool. but yeah, so we have gone there a couple times, and we enter each class and just talk to the people there. It is really funny how shy the people are to talk with an actual american hahah...but its fun. It has been a great way for us to get the news about the church out there, to show that we are great guys, and to put a little bit in about our message. But yeah, they love us there.
FUnny story, we were there last night going through classes...and right after i finished talking with the last class I got a MAJOR nose bleed. Man, it was funny. I was talking to some brazilian kids and all of the sudden went the red waterfall out of my nose. The owner got all concerned and started taking care of me...it was really humorous, to me. But yeah, it is going to continue being a great source of references.
BTW, for the people that are reading the blog...references are amazing. Give them to the missionaries..it helps a ton! You dont even have to do anything special. Just write down the person´s name, address on a piece of paper and give it to the missionaries. Woot!
Ok, back to the week. On monday I went on splits with my district leader over in his area. Parque São Bento, a bairro on the outskirts of Sorocaba. But yeah, it was a lot of fun. Elder Anderson is a pretty goofy kid. He is from Ogden, UT and has been on the mission for 17 months. But yeah, was cool teaching with him. One of the great things about the divisions is seeing how other people teach and interact with the people, and integrating some of those things into your own teaching style and method. Way cool. But yeah, will send some photos of our exerience there. Fun fun fun.The other stuff that happened this week was all pretty routine. We are walking and teaching alot. We have found some pretty amazing people, and it is so cool being able to teach them. Like I have always said, I never tire of seeing that new form of light in the people´s eyes...it is just wayyy too cool.
OH YEAH! HOW CO ULD I FORGET? I REACHED THE SIX MONTH MARK TODAY WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!!Yes, i have officially reached 25% of the mission. It is a big day. I think that tonight I am going to buy a big pizza or something. Maybe some cake. Or just eat those oh so delicious reeses peices...yummmmm
Well, hope that every that is reading is having an amazing week! If you are already a steady reader, keep up the good work! If you are just beginning, keep on reading! If you fall in some other category, it doesnt matter, just remember that i expect you to continue checking the blog every week.

6 months already!

2009-03-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

Picture is Bryan with Elder Costa...Presidency of the Seventy
see story below.

Surprise, surprise, I received a package from Cindy Rae! Let her know that I am sending them a letter today. But it was a great package. Received letters from grandma jeanie, grandfather, caryn, heidi this week, and am sending letters to caryn, heidi, caryn, and cindy rae. hope they all get to you soon!And krispy kremer (aka amy), i forgive you, just get those letters in the mail!
Congrats to the choir! Yeah, i miss those trips...did you say hi to Boo for me? And did Jack and Carol receive my letter? Sending a postcard to Elder Anderson...hope it get's there before he's homebound.

Love that you are doing all the stuff with the missionaries...i am sure that they are really loving it too. It helps when the members help teach investigators. Especially since you are studying PMG and really working hard with this. Kudos. BUt isnt it interesting, as soon as you start really studying gospel stuff, you just get hungry for more and more knowledge. There are so many books out there that I need to read now..like the great apostasy, miracle of forgiveness, etc. etc.

Alright...the week. Started out pretty cool with Elder Costa from the Presidency of the Seventy giving the talk and everything. He is an amazing leader. He talked about the gospel, about missionary work, and about some other doctrine stuff that was wayyyy cool. The coolest thing of all is that Elder Costa was a convert to the church when he was around 20 here in Brazil. Gosh, imagine, it would be so cool to see one of my converts raise to such a high leadership position. That is probably one of the coolest things about missionary work, 30 years after the fact seeing that your convert not only stayed active, but is a valiant member of the church. How cool.Also, Elder Costa stayed that night to give a fireside for the members of the city (sorocaba). The place was packed. Elder Cruz and I decided to stay because one of our golden investigators (Carlos) made the hour drive from Boituva to watch! He loved it. Man, it was just perfect, plus we got to show him around an actual chapel and show him more about the church. Our stake president here (who is oddly similar to President Rau) called our investigator up and introduced him to Elder Costa, Elder Cooper of the seventy, our mission president, and other leaders of the church. Was an amazing night.

The whole week has really been about this family, the family of Carlos. Sunday, we committed all four of them to baptism for easter weekend. It is going to be an amazing day. We also have another rapaz (Evandro) who is going to be baptized on that day. Things are just going pretty well here in Boituva right now. Elder Cruz and I are getting along pretty well, the members are working with us, our investigators are amazing, and we found an AMAZING pizza place here in Boituva.

We are having miracles here in our area. Like I said before, things are just moving now. Carlos and family are so great, just golden. They are reading the scriptures, praying personally, and are just hungry to go to church, to commit, to LEARN the gospel of christ. They have been searching for the true church for a long time, but always before they said that they just didnt feel complete. Carlos said that the first time he entered church last sunday, it just all felt right. Plus, they are all getting answers to their prayers and everything! It is very very exciting with them.

Can you believe I've been out 6 months already? Thanks to you all for all of your support! Thanks for the letters, the packages, the pictures! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful day, and that you send me a letter with a picture soon ;) Love you...Elder Briggs

...oh the Mormons!

2009-03-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

The first picture is at the home of a member family after lunch.

Second...Basically weeding on steriods. Goodness, out in the hot sun using a strange tool and yeah, weeding. Third is just me when i get bored.

Quick shout out for me to Lauren! Thanks for all the support Lauren, hope everything at BYU is going awesome. I cant wait to receive kelseys talk and announcement and some of those pictures. Really, when i receive pictures it is awesome. I love letters, but everyone knows that a picture speaks a thousand words right?? Pictures are great. Congrats Kelsey for all the hard work you are doing, and succeeding! Goodness, sounds like busy times. Give everybody a HEY for me on the choir trip to Seattle this weekend, especially Bue...Hi to Hannah Castor - still waiting for a letter.

Goodness, that was a weird sentence. That is awesome that you guys are working with the missionaries so much. My my how my life has changed. It is strange sometimes to think that I am living the church, 100% of the time. Seriously, wake up, pray, shower, pray, study scriptures, pray, study with comp, pray, lunch, work, home, pray, plan, pray, eat, pray bed. Goodness. I pray a lot haha. BUt it is amazing, seriously, I have developed such a strong testimony of the power of prayer. The simplicity of its power is beautiful. Absolutely amazing the strengh, comfort, guidance, revelation that you can receive.

So, this week. Lets see. So, first things first, miracles are happening in Boituva. It is amazing how much the Lord has been preparing this city for the gospel. Things have been kind of going slow, but all of a sudden we changed chapels, and people just started popping up out of nowhere for us to teach! Seriously, it is way cool!

We found one family last friday that is the definition of elect. We clapped our hands (knocking the doors here) and the guy rushed out ´oh the MORMONS! i am so excited you guys came! We have been waiting forever for you guys, i was starting to get worried that you werent going to be able to come´ it was crazy. This family is amazing. Carlos is the dad, Marli is the mom, then there are two sons..philipe (17) and daniel(9). They are awesome, reading the scriptures, praying, going to church, treating us like family. It really is incredible. They have been prepared a long time to receive the gospel, about 20 years ago their friend joined the church and turned her life around, and the life of her children. SInce then they have always been impressed and this christmas, they received a pass along card in a different city, and they called to receive the DVD. They are great. Also, there were tons of investigators in the chapel...6! The most that we have had up to now was 2. Plus, 73 people showed up for church, incredible for a branch that usually averages 40 people.

Miracles are happening. We keep running into more and more people that just want to be taught, that want to receive the lessons. It is such a blessing. It is one of the interesting things about the mission. At times you may not have a ton of success...not because you are a bad missionary, or because there arent people ready to be taught, but because the area itself, the branch itself isnt ready for more people. Now, the branch has changed so much and improved so much. The people are starting to just roll. Hopefully, within a year, we will be able to get Boituva prepared to receive an actual church building. How cool would that be.

The other stuff that has happened hasnt been huge. Elder Cruz and I did a service project (pictures to come). We ALMOST went to the zoo in sorocaba. Yeah, and tomorrow is going to be our Zone Conference with Elder Claudio M. Costa, of the Presidency of the Seventy. This is going to be wayyyy cool. Will tell you guys about it next week. Love ya!Elder Squig

Oh, and btw, i have been wanting to try something new here. Like i said way back when, when i email i dont really have time to read a ton of emails from a ton of people, take notes, and respond with a letter. But, i have been thinking it would be awesome if people would send me an email when they get a letter of mine, and when they send me a letter...would help me know when to expect letters and also how long my letters are taking through the south american postal service system. Thanks! My email is sbryanbriggs@myldsmail.net

I think my shoes are melting...

2009-03-06T06:06:00.000-08:00

almost forgot to send pictures!one is just me and elder cruz at the edge of boituva...kind of looks like the midwest doesnt it. The other is just to show everyone that i still bleed purple and am dooing my best to support them from brasil. Another is us in front of the old chapel and the last is a picture of some food for ya, finally. its called pastel, and its basically like hold able chicken pot pie...or those mcdonalds apple pies except with meat and stuff in them..yumm

Haha, Elder Cruz sure got a kick out of seeing a picture of his brother (Morini Cruz - the Zach Ephron of Brazil - you can see him singing on You-Tube, Mom googled him and sent a picture to Bry) in my email haha.. But yeah, Moroni is one year younger than Elder Cruz, and they have always been members, their dad served in Manaus or Belem I think...not sure. But yeah, he has already helped in the missionary work (Moroni). It is pretty funny, Elder Cruz just mentions his brother and we are instant friends with everybody, sure helps to break the ice and continue teaching, become friends with out investigators and members.

But thats awesome about the Seattle trip! Glad that it was a hit there at Daniel Smith, and next time it will be even better. Gosh mom, you are becoming the regular Artstar...in place of rockstar, get it? But yeah, thats awesome that you were able to see all those people (in our Sammamish Ward), of course tell them all that I say hi, and tell Theresa that I have been putting her tie to good use. BTW, packages still havent arrived yet...Sister Cooley told me that she just got a pair of packages from her daughter that took six weeks to arrive. Hopefully will get them next week at Zone COnference. Should be pretty cool, Elder Costa of the Seventy is going to be there! Wahooo

But, this past week, I was mail king again. Gosh, it felt good. Big big thank yous to Grandma Jeanie, Grandmother (thanks for the Obama stuff), Uncle Paul (thanks for the dawg news), Cascade Crest Young Womens, Kelsey (loved it), Julia Briggs (cuz...most amazing tie ever) Lauren Lytle (pictures rock), and Chelsea Caldwell. You guys all rock, thank you so much! BTW, for those writing letters now or in the future, please follow Lauren Lytle´s example and send me some pictures...I appreciate them oh so much.Today I am sending letters to Chelsea, Lauren, Kelsey, and Julia. Hope that they get to you within two months!

Woo hoooTooooooo the week. So, there wasnt a ton that went down this week out here in Boituva, in terms of adventures that is. I think the biggest thing is that it has been stinking hotttt. Seriously, 38 degrees celsius during the day and 27 at night. Wowza, i think my shoes are melting. Strangely enough, I have completely stopped to tan. I dont burn, but I dont get darker...i just exist now. BUt its cool, my missionary tan is already way chiquezão.

Oh, plus, newsflash, I have hit a huuuuge milestone on the mission....I received my first wedding invitation of a friend! Whoa... But a big congratulations to Lisa! Wish I could be there, but happy for ya! Our ´chapel´ is moving to a different location this week. We will be able to fit 80 people now in the sacrament hall instead of the barely 40 that it was. Keep praying for us to be able to make up the 40 person difference! We are working pretty hard at it. We have some great investigators right now. We found a couple new ones recently, three brothers from 10-14 years old. THey are hilarious, but also they are great. Evandro (the oldest) has already gone to church and a baptismal service. It was pretty funny, in talking to him, we asked `hey evandro, have you read and said that prayer that we asked´ he replied ´no, i dont need to, i already know that what you guys are saying is truth´ pretty cool, although we keep telling him that he really needs to say that prayer, and receive that answer from Heavenly Father that we promised him. But cool huh.

My portuguese is getting better and better daily. It is actually really cool. I cant believe it, I am speaking portuguese almost all day, every day. My only english break is when district leader Elder Anderson (ogden, ut) gives us the nightly call. But seriously, I am amazed daily by the progress that I have made, by the amount of the gift of tongues that Heavenly Father has blessed me with.

I have been thinking a lot this week about spiritual gifts, the gifts of the spirit. As it says in the bible, or Moroni 10, or D&C 46, etc. there are a lot of them out there, a lot of abilities that we can develop. The interesting part, though, is our need to actively seek the gifts of the spirit, activiely work and pray, and also our need to be worthy. For example, why would Heavenly Father gift me with the spirit of prophecy if my goal was to know the result of the future super bowls. Really, we need to always work for the gifts of the spirit, show Heavenly Father that we will use them ´for the edification of the church´ for the blessing of others. Its always something for me to remember that I need to use my time here on the mission responsibly, to allow the Lord to shape me into His perfect tool for whatever situation He needs me in. How amazingI know this work is true, that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I am so grateful for this gift to be able to be here, devoting my time to the service of others. As Lauren said in her last letter, there really is nothing better than service, nothing that helps us feel closer to our Heavenly Father. As King Benjamin says, when ye are in the service of your fellow being, ye are only in the service of your God.

So, I have a challenge this week for everybody that is reading the blog. Look for one small thing that you can do for someone, and do it randomly, without their foreknowledge. I promise it will be worth it.

Splash Mountain...

2009-02-26T21:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, first picture is part of the path through the field between Novo Mundo and Boituva. In fact, you can see Novo Mundo there in the background. Second picture, just before my adventure Spash Mountain style. Third and Fourth, Elder Cruz and I were just having fun during our little party for first week of the transfer. We got icecream, ordered pizza, and talked about disney movies and home alone haha. Gosh, i really want to watch home alone again. And Lion King is amazing.

Well, my whole email just got deleted halfway through..darn it ok, start over. ...say hi to caryn for me! Ask her if she ever got my letter...cuz i sent one a while ago. And sorry GJ, i didnt get your email..not sure what happened there.

Ok, so, it is going great with my new comp. We are already pretty good friends, which is great. Getting to know him better has been a lot of fun, especially since its all been in portuguese and i have been talking and understanding pretty well (thank you gift of tongues). Anyways, Elder Cruz is from Balneario Camboriu, Santa Catarina, Brasil. He has lived there for a while, but before then, he lived in Ogden, Utah for three years. The kid is about as american as it gets for being a brazillian. Plus, his namorada is going to school at BYU. Found out some fun things about the family too. Turns out his brother is a Disney star. Go ahead and google Moroni Cruz, and you will find that his younger brother has been in quite a few disney shows, High School Musical, and will star in High School Musical: Brasil. Pretty exciting huh. But yeah, things are going great, we are teaching well together and have had quite a few adventures already.

First adventure...Splash Mountain. So, this happened on saturday. We started out in Novo Mundo (a neighborhood about 30 min walk out of Boituva) and we were coming back through a field and forest and all that fun stuff. IN fact, same path that we took when i took that picture of me in front of those trees that you liked so much. Anyways, there is a good little stream that we have to cross right at the very end. Only thing is, it is just big enough to make trying to jump over it not a very wise option. Usually, there are some wood boards there to kind of serve as a make shift bridge. However, of course, they were not present at this time. So, using my keen intellect, we decided to hike up about 100 yards to cross at a dam (picture included). I have crossed once before, and was pretty confident. How you go about it is walk across while holding firmly to the metal fence on the top, thereby seeing you safely to the other side. Long story shirt, i didnt hold firmly enough, slipped, and fell. Yeah. Fun stuff. I got pretty wet and dirty and a little banged up. But, luckily, a member lives real nearby so i was able to get all fixed up and everything. Dont worry mom, everything is great right now, totally healed and clean and safe :) But it was pretty funny haha...

Adventure 2. The Lord of the Keys. So, this happened a lot more recently. Was Monday night, and Elder Cruz and I were returning home from Novo Mundo. It was late, we were tired, and definitely pretty hungry. So, we got home to the apartment, put the key in the door, and it snapped. Yes, you read right, we broke our key in the apartment door, effectively locking us out at night...during Carnaval no less. So, a lot more things happened, called our leaders, figured out Plans A, B, and C...and ended up having to go with Plan C, which was spend the night at a members house. Whoa, that was weird. I mean, would have been completely normal and pretty cool if i wasnt a missionary. But yeah, interesting experience sleeping on the floor in dress pants haha. but, everything turned out all right, we got up in the morning and searched out a key maker and he got everything fixed up for us.

So, another funny story. This next story is more inspiring. We had an amazing sunday. Elder Cruz and I marked five baptism dates. Two families and one funny old man named Vicente. But yeah, it is amazing seeing the strength and testemonies that they have been developing. This really is the best part of mish work, seeing that you are making a positive difference in the lives of others...how cool.

Well, i think that is about it for now... I love you all! Miss you guys a ton, especially the last couple days for a reason...i was really `trunky` go figure...but, I know that i am in the right place. Gosh, i just cant ever say enough about how grateful i am for the mission. really is an amazing experience unlike any other. The Church is True. Love you...Keep up the awesome work! Glad that you guys are writing Jonathan, i just wrote a letter to him today, but i will include a little line saying that you received his letter and are writing back.

btw, quick shout out to Bishop Sansborn, I sent a letter to you today, so you can expect one whenever it gets there from here