Let's fix Mexican food!!

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

(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 conhecê-lo, pessoalmente. É possível, 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

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

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

(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...

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

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