Rain every day at 2

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:)

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

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....

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