Waiting for letters....

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!

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

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...

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!