Absolutely Incredible

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

Fighting the Dementors

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!!!

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

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