Oi!
Woah! I had no idea telling everyone that I had 1 bad day would cause so much havoc on the home-front. It makes me feel good to know how much I am loved, but I think I came off the wrong way. Yeah the first day sucked but it really did get better; and this week was really good too.
SO much happened this week. Only have time for a bit though. Like I said it was a good week. So there is this new chapel (did I tell you this?) that opened in the Center of São Paulo and in Brazil they do these Open Houses for each new chapel that is opened which pretty much means wasting the time of the missionaries in the surrounding area. So on Thursday we went there to do some contacts in front of the church and tried to get people to come in and see the chapel and go through this little tour that we actually ended up conducting in the end. The chapel is way nice though and I love being there it just takes an hour on a hot, crowded bus to get there. Anyway, so my companion and I were doing contacts in the street when this crazy dude that was probably 55 or 60 came up to us and started talking to us. I don't think he could swallow correctly because his saliva just gathered at the corners of his mouth. My journal entry:
"...this one crazy guy came up to us and I didn't understand much but I got some, and also later learned, that he had had 23 brain surgeries, saw and conversed with God and is really angry the he has not been able to do it again, and that he had had a really bad day because he ran out of Viagra. Oh and I thought he was going to hit me with his cain in the balls the whole time we were talking to him so I was covering them with my hands the whole time. Needless to say we were both 'contacted out' after that intriguing conversation (about 15 min), so we went inside and guided people around the church."
Yeah it was hilarious. L. Sousa and I laughed forever about it.
So I think I am losing weight. L. Sousa, Martinatto, and Chaves (the 3 Brazis I live with. Chaves is the ZL. Only Martinatto really speaks English and it's not much) say that I look like I have lost at least 5 kilos (11 pounds). I may have gained it all back in the past 3 days because I have eaten tons though. I had moved up 2 belt holes but now I am back to just 1 up. I'll update you all on the happenings of my body in later emails as well.
Oh L. Sousa and I had been walking for like 3 hours and not really found anyone to teach so we took a little break and sat in this "park" and watched some little hooligans play some soccer. When all of the sudden this homeless lady with a bunch of cardboard and newspaper walks up to a spot about 20 feet to our left (in the park still) and sets it down and then precedes to light it on fire. Then she walked across the street to a location that was undisclosed to us and brings another armful of paper products and added it to the fire. She continued to do this until she had a full-blown bonfire going. It was massive. She poked at it a little with a stick and then after about 3 minutes she just left and didn't return. Now it was like 93 degrees outside at the time so obviously it was not for warmth. We still do not understand but we walked by that spot yesterday and there is this massive black spot among the green grass and the wall next to it is black too. So confusing.
On Saturday we grabbed a juice at this tiny little café. Oh, side note, EVERYONE drinks juice with pretty much every meal here. Juice and guaraná (that drink that you were telling me about Dad, yeah it is delicious). Very rarely is water ordered at a restaurant. And there is only bottled water because it's not to safe to drink it from the tap, funny though because that's all I drink back at the house here. Oh well. Anyway, so we were leaving the café when this older guy came up to us, smoking and very very close to being drunk, and started talking to us. I was with 3 people who spoke Portuguese well so I just let them talk when all of the sudden he turned to me and said (and I actually understood) "You are the most handsome of the 4 of the missionaries there. So I said thank you and then we shook hands and he held on to my one hand with his two for like 35 seconds while looking in my eyes. It was extremely scary, yet oddly flattering.
I am always tired. I never remember my head hitting the pillow at night and I swear I had just closed my eyes when my alarm goes off. That part of the mission sucks. SO much walking and no time to rest your body. Oh well, it will be that way for another 22 months so I better get used to it.
The language is extremely difficult and I was laughed at yet again yesterday, but I can see that is starting to come so that makes me happy. It is coming very very slowly though but the American missionaries tell me to give it 2 more months and I will be fine. E. Martinatto said this morning after I had talked to him for a min that it was getting tons better. Hooray for the dumb American!
Today was P-day so we went to the Chapel with our zone and played soccer in the court that most every chapel in São Paulo has. Pretty much just a basketball court outside but it works good for soccer. I swear every Brazi is born being able to play soccer. I wasn't that bad but I definitely was not as pretty at playing as they are. It's crazy. Anyway that was fun then we just got done eating at a nice "Tucano´s" style restaurant which was delicious.
Thank you everyone for the emails and I am sorry my last letter came off so bad. I really do love it here and I am getting used to everything. The house is actually pretty nice and I usually can get the idea of what people are saying to me. I am grateful for all of you prayers and I miss all of you. Love you, talk to you next week. Oh, and letters are very much appreciated. Depending on when we have Zone Conf., Interviews, or Transfers it can take anywhere from 1 1/2 - 5 weeks for a letter to get to me so if I don't answer back quickly pleas be patient. See ya suckers!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
More Photos
Here are some more photos from Brent's MTC (CTM) experience as well as his first Apartment.
First Week out of the CTM
Hello!
So this letter probably won't be as long as some of my others because I want to send you all some pictures of my house and companion and stuff and it takes forever to download the pictures so I want to leave time to do that. I will try to write fast.
Before I start I want you to know, everyone but especially mother, that I am fine right now and that I am beginning to love the work...my first few days were pretty rough though. But don't get your panties all in a bunch over my first few paragraphs.
So after I emailed you last Wednesday we went to find the house we were going to stay at...but the funny thing was that we didn't have one. We were with another companionship, arrived at their house and they were like "OK well this is our house so as of right now you don't have one so you will be staying at the ZL's house until you guys find another." What? So we headed over to the ZL's house which I thought would be able to accommodate another companionship...but not really. It just had a bunk-bed in the what I thought was the "entry-way" but turned out to be our room.
So we just put our stuff on the floor and I would have unpacked but I had no dresser or closet or anything. Anyway, so then I decided to change into some comfortable clothes, so I opened up my suitcase to get some clothes out and found a bunch of red-goo stuff everywhere. In my hurry to pack I didn't strategically place my Axe body wash (of course it was red) and it somehow broke open and got everywhere! I almost added a few tears to the red mess right then and there.
Well, long story short it got on a bunch of my garments and a couple of my shirts along with some other stuff by fortunately I was able to get it all cleaned and my shirts and garments are fine. But at that time I didn't know that so I stuck my clothes in the washer and climbed up into my bed and wished my Mommy was there to clean up the mess instead of me :). Just kidding, but not really. My companion and I didn't really talk the entire day and I had never wanted to come home so bad. Yeah, one of the worst days of my life.
But remember! It got better! I can't really do a day by day thing but my companion and I actually opened up a new area called Limão that is right next to Casa Verde. So this week we got a bunch of contacts from the ZL and his companion and began teaching and contacting in the area.
Teaching is unbelievably hard for me because I now realize that I learned pretty much nothing in the CTM about the language. My companion is extremely patient with me though which is pretty sweet and the people usually are too. They pretty much just think I am a joke of some sort and laugh at me when I teach or talk to them. Two nights ago we were teaching this family about prayer and I explained a scripture then started bearing my testimony about prayer and a member that was there with us literally just burst out laughing during my testimony. Then of course everyone else started laughing and I sat there trying to cover up my soft-sobs underneath a smile. I feel kind of bad whenever I talk because I pretty much kill any spirit that happened to be there, but my companion pretty much makes me.
When it is just me and my companion together it is pretty cool because we both teach each other; I teach him English and he teaches me Portuguese. But when it is all 4 of us (my companion, ZL, and his companion) they all seem to have an attitude of "polite neglect" towards me. They all speak Portuguese together and after about 4 minutes of me trying to translate (which is literally physically exhausting) I zone off and think of something else...a life of English and a dresser to put my clothes in...
The ward here is awesome. They have a list of the entire ward and which days they have to feed us. So everyday my companion and I have a lunch scheduled with a member family, and usually it is delicious. Rice and beans of course, which I really like, then some meat and juice of some sort. Them Brazis love their juice. I have had a few questionable meals where I thought that I would be feeding the food to the toilet later that night, but I have not got sick yet. They cautioned us in the CTM to never drink water from the tap which for one is pretty much impossible with lunch everyday being at a member's house where of course they used the tap water to make their juice and food, and two it has not made me sick at all yet so I am not going to worry about it.
Oh so the mission rules are that I can only email my Mother, Father, Brother, and Sister. For now I will obey but that might change later. I can receive emails from anyone though so please keep writing and I hope my parents put the right address up on the blog to where any letters should be sent? Please do. Anyway, I'll be writing more hand-written letters and sending them off in the coming weeks.
OK I need to go download the pics, I hope they work. Sorry this letter has been pretty boring, hopefully the pics are interesting. I really miss you all so much you have no idea...it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. But I know that I am here doing the Lord's work and I have seen it bless family's lives already.
Oh yeah we have baptism dates for a family for November 15th, pretty sweet. They had been taught a little bit by another companionship and were passed off to us. Only the parents are old enough to get baptized, so we will baptize those two. Anyway, I love you all.
-Elder Brent Parsons
So this letter probably won't be as long as some of my others because I want to send you all some pictures of my house and companion and stuff and it takes forever to download the pictures so I want to leave time to do that. I will try to write fast.
Before I start I want you to know, everyone but especially mother, that I am fine right now and that I am beginning to love the work...my first few days were pretty rough though. But don't get your panties all in a bunch over my first few paragraphs.
So after I emailed you last Wednesday we went to find the house we were going to stay at...but the funny thing was that we didn't have one. We were with another companionship, arrived at their house and they were like "OK well this is our house so as of right now you don't have one so you will be staying at the ZL's house until you guys find another." What? So we headed over to the ZL's house which I thought would be able to accommodate another companionship...but not really. It just had a bunk-bed in the what I thought was the "entry-way" but turned out to be our room.
So we just put our stuff on the floor and I would have unpacked but I had no dresser or closet or anything. Anyway, so then I decided to change into some comfortable clothes, so I opened up my suitcase to get some clothes out and found a bunch of red-goo stuff everywhere. In my hurry to pack I didn't strategically place my Axe body wash (of course it was red) and it somehow broke open and got everywhere! I almost added a few tears to the red mess right then and there.
Well, long story short it got on a bunch of my garments and a couple of my shirts along with some other stuff by fortunately I was able to get it all cleaned and my shirts and garments are fine. But at that time I didn't know that so I stuck my clothes in the washer and climbed up into my bed and wished my Mommy was there to clean up the mess instead of me :). Just kidding, but not really. My companion and I didn't really talk the entire day and I had never wanted to come home so bad. Yeah, one of the worst days of my life.
But remember! It got better! I can't really do a day by day thing but my companion and I actually opened up a new area called Limão that is right next to Casa Verde. So this week we got a bunch of contacts from the ZL and his companion and began teaching and contacting in the area.
Teaching is unbelievably hard for me because I now realize that I learned pretty much nothing in the CTM about the language. My companion is extremely patient with me though which is pretty sweet and the people usually are too. They pretty much just think I am a joke of some sort and laugh at me when I teach or talk to them. Two nights ago we were teaching this family about prayer and I explained a scripture then started bearing my testimony about prayer and a member that was there with us literally just burst out laughing during my testimony. Then of course everyone else started laughing and I sat there trying to cover up my soft-sobs underneath a smile. I feel kind of bad whenever I talk because I pretty much kill any spirit that happened to be there, but my companion pretty much makes me.
When it is just me and my companion together it is pretty cool because we both teach each other; I teach him English and he teaches me Portuguese. But when it is all 4 of us (my companion, ZL, and his companion) they all seem to have an attitude of "polite neglect" towards me. They all speak Portuguese together and after about 4 minutes of me trying to translate (which is literally physically exhausting) I zone off and think of something else...a life of English and a dresser to put my clothes in...
The ward here is awesome. They have a list of the entire ward and which days they have to feed us. So everyday my companion and I have a lunch scheduled with a member family, and usually it is delicious. Rice and beans of course, which I really like, then some meat and juice of some sort. Them Brazis love their juice. I have had a few questionable meals where I thought that I would be feeding the food to the toilet later that night, but I have not got sick yet. They cautioned us in the CTM to never drink water from the tap which for one is pretty much impossible with lunch everyday being at a member's house where of course they used the tap water to make their juice and food, and two it has not made me sick at all yet so I am not going to worry about it.
Oh so the mission rules are that I can only email my Mother, Father, Brother, and Sister. For now I will obey but that might change later. I can receive emails from anyone though so please keep writing and I hope my parents put the right address up on the blog to where any letters should be sent? Please do. Anyway, I'll be writing more hand-written letters and sending them off in the coming weeks.
OK I need to go download the pics, I hope they work. Sorry this letter has been pretty boring, hopefully the pics are interesting. I really miss you all so much you have no idea...it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. But I know that I am here doing the Lord's work and I have seen it bless family's lives already.
Oh yeah we have baptism dates for a family for November 15th, pretty sweet. They had been taught a little bit by another companionship and were passed off to us. Only the parents are old enough to get baptized, so we will baptize those two. Anyway, I love you all.
-Elder Brent Parsons
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
From the comforts of Casa Verde
Hello,
Ok, so I have no idea what to write right now. I am so confused...I will try to remember what I need to tell you but I will probably forget some stuff.
I will write about my new companion and area and stuff but first I will leave off on my last email. Last week was pretty much useless until Sunday when I started packing. Packing without a mommy is no fun. But I started and was doing pretty good with it until Monday when my Mission President (President Cooley), his wife, and the 2 APs of the mission came to the CTM and while the APs talked to the group of 15 of us (8 Americans, 7 Brazilians) that are going to serve in São Paulo North, our Mission President interviewed all of us. My Mission President is so awesome. He is a farmer from Arizona and is way cool. He is pretty laid back and is really easy to talk to. I will let you know more about him when I find out more. Anyway, so the APs were talking to us and told us that we can only take 1 suitcase out to our mission...some news that I would have liked to know before I packed TWO suitcases worth of stuff down here. So all of us were going pretty crazy trying to decide things we could leave in the other bag that we don't take to our area that wouldn't totally screw us over for the next 6 weeks or so. It was pretty hectic, but I think I got everything that I needed but we will see.
So then Monday night we said goodbye to the 3 Elders in our district that are not going to São Paulo North with us and went to sleep. We woke up Tuesday morning and packed all our stuff into a van and then left at 8:30 am to go to our mission office that is about 40 minutes away by car (by the way I am omitting many details due to lack of time and patience). So we arrived there, eyes wide and urine running freely, and went inside and met the 2 APs again and the office missionaries. They were actually really cool and I kind of envy their job. Then they gave us a presentation on the rules of the mission, financial stuff, and a bunch of other stuff, then we went to lunch at this amazing "Tucanos" style restaraunt but it was like 5 times better, and then we just kind of hung out until 5 pm. But then at 5 pm each AP and office missionary and some other elders in the area took each one of us as his companion and went out proselyting.
My companion was one of the APs named Elder Pando. Elder Pando has been out somewhere between 1 year and 3 months and 1 year and 10 months; he is a very vague man. So we said a prayer (which he of course made me say in Portuguese) then headed out the door. We walked right past the São Paulo Temple and then...several more miles (contacting many of the people who were obviously trying to avoid us along the way) until he finally said "so are you ready to go into the Favela?" Now in the U.S. a Favela would probably be called a Slum, but there aren't slums in the U.S. like there are here. We were literally walking past what I thought were two connected building, but then he took a sharp right turn into a small opening that was used as an entrance to this Favela. It really was straight out of a movie. We walked in and it was just this really long, dark corridor that had a small stream of feces accompanying it along side so we wouldn't get lonely and the high open air overhead. There were half-dressed and naked children running around too (they call us 'believers'). Then we walked down and stopped at this door and knocked. After waiting5 or so min we were let in and taught this 14 year old boy about how important it was for him to read the Book of Mormon. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it was boiling-lava hot outside and this entire time, especially after walking the several miles of mountainous terrain, I was dripping. It probably looked pretty ridiculous to this 14 year old kid to watch this plus-size American bear his testimony about the Book of Mormon in broken Portuguese while having a constant sweat-drip from his nose. Oh well, I am sure I will be sweating off a few hundred pounds in the next few weeks and there wont be anything left to sweat.
So after that we went to the church (yet again...several miles away) and taught the 3 old people and English lesson for an hour, which was actually pretty cool. Then we went to this lady's house (had to dodge the dog feces on her stairs) and talked to her for a minute while we drank the juice she made us. Right before we left the CTM they gave us this huge lecture on how to stay healthy in the field. One of the things was to NEVER drink the tap-water. Yeah that rule went out the window last night because that juice was definitely not made from delicious mineral water.
After that we went back home and ate pizza then went to bed in the "hotel"...which is just a storage area in the back of the Mission Office that they threw a few cots in. Then woke up this morning and went to the chapel where everyone in the entire mission were, awaiting the announcement of their new companions and areas.
So my new companion is Elder L. Sousa (There are so many people with the last names Sousa, Silva, De Silva, and Nascimento that they have to add their first initial to distinguish). I literally have been with him for about 2 and half hours. He is from Rio De Janeiro and has been on his mission for 1 year and 3 months. He speaks only a tiny bit of English so it forces me to call upon every word I ever learned in the CTM. He seems really cool though and has to be a very good soccer player because he played one of the most well-know teams here in brazil, the Flamingos from Rio. Crazy. I'll tell you more about him next week.
Oh yeah so some crazy news. My area is Casa Verde (Green House) and it is the same area of the CTM! I am literally 200 yards from the CTM right now (not in Cheney's but at this other place). It is so weird. I have seen a bunch of the elders I knew walking around because it is there P-day too.
Ok, I only have an hour so I have to go. Packages and letters go straight to the mission office and then we can pick them up when we go there for interviews, zone conferences, and the like. It sucks but that is how it is. You can address letters as normal but if you send a package put the return address name as "Elder Parsons" and the name that you are sending it to as "President Jeffry Cooley" so that he can sign for it. I really have to go hope that made sense but I need to go. Love you all, pray for me, I'll write more next week.
Mission Office Address: (CHECK THIS TO MAKE SURE IT IS RIGHT)
Rua Dr. Rui Batista Pereira 165
Caxingui
05571-080 São Paulo - SP
-Elder Brent Parsons
Ok, so I have no idea what to write right now. I am so confused...I will try to remember what I need to tell you but I will probably forget some stuff.
I will write about my new companion and area and stuff but first I will leave off on my last email. Last week was pretty much useless until Sunday when I started packing. Packing without a mommy is no fun. But I started and was doing pretty good with it until Monday when my Mission President (President Cooley), his wife, and the 2 APs of the mission came to the CTM and while the APs talked to the group of 15 of us (8 Americans, 7 Brazilians) that are going to serve in São Paulo North, our Mission President interviewed all of us. My Mission President is so awesome. He is a farmer from Arizona and is way cool. He is pretty laid back and is really easy to talk to. I will let you know more about him when I find out more. Anyway, so the APs were talking to us and told us that we can only take 1 suitcase out to our mission...some news that I would have liked to know before I packed TWO suitcases worth of stuff down here. So all of us were going pretty crazy trying to decide things we could leave in the other bag that we don't take to our area that wouldn't totally screw us over for the next 6 weeks or so. It was pretty hectic, but I think I got everything that I needed but we will see.
So then Monday night we said goodbye to the 3 Elders in our district that are not going to São Paulo North with us and went to sleep. We woke up Tuesday morning and packed all our stuff into a van and then left at 8:30 am to go to our mission office that is about 40 minutes away by car (by the way I am omitting many details due to lack of time and patience). So we arrived there, eyes wide and urine running freely, and went inside and met the 2 APs again and the office missionaries. They were actually really cool and I kind of envy their job. Then they gave us a presentation on the rules of the mission, financial stuff, and a bunch of other stuff, then we went to lunch at this amazing "Tucanos" style restaraunt but it was like 5 times better, and then we just kind of hung out until 5 pm. But then at 5 pm each AP and office missionary and some other elders in the area took each one of us as his companion and went out proselyting.
My companion was one of the APs named Elder Pando. Elder Pando has been out somewhere between 1 year and 3 months and 1 year and 10 months; he is a very vague man. So we said a prayer (which he of course made me say in Portuguese) then headed out the door. We walked right past the São Paulo Temple and then...several more miles (contacting many of the people who were obviously trying to avoid us along the way) until he finally said "so are you ready to go into the Favela?" Now in the U.S. a Favela would probably be called a Slum, but there aren't slums in the U.S. like there are here. We were literally walking past what I thought were two connected building, but then he took a sharp right turn into a small opening that was used as an entrance to this Favela. It really was straight out of a movie. We walked in and it was just this really long, dark corridor that had a small stream of feces accompanying it along side so we wouldn't get lonely and the high open air overhead. There were half-dressed and naked children running around too (they call us 'believers'). Then we walked down and stopped at this door and knocked. After waiting5 or so min we were let in and taught this 14 year old boy about how important it was for him to read the Book of Mormon. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it was boiling-lava hot outside and this entire time, especially after walking the several miles of mountainous terrain, I was dripping. It probably looked pretty ridiculous to this 14 year old kid to watch this plus-size American bear his testimony about the Book of Mormon in broken Portuguese while having a constant sweat-drip from his nose. Oh well, I am sure I will be sweating off a few hundred pounds in the next few weeks and there wont be anything left to sweat.
So after that we went to the church (yet again...several miles away) and taught the 3 old people and English lesson for an hour, which was actually pretty cool. Then we went to this lady's house (had to dodge the dog feces on her stairs) and talked to her for a minute while we drank the juice she made us. Right before we left the CTM they gave us this huge lecture on how to stay healthy in the field. One of the things was to NEVER drink the tap-water. Yeah that rule went out the window last night because that juice was definitely not made from delicious mineral water.
After that we went back home and ate pizza then went to bed in the "hotel"...which is just a storage area in the back of the Mission Office that they threw a few cots in. Then woke up this morning and went to the chapel where everyone in the entire mission were, awaiting the announcement of their new companions and areas.
So my new companion is Elder L. Sousa (There are so many people with the last names Sousa, Silva, De Silva, and Nascimento that they have to add their first initial to distinguish). I literally have been with him for about 2 and half hours. He is from Rio De Janeiro and has been on his mission for 1 year and 3 months. He speaks only a tiny bit of English so it forces me to call upon every word I ever learned in the CTM. He seems really cool though and has to be a very good soccer player because he played one of the most well-know teams here in brazil, the Flamingos from Rio. Crazy. I'll tell you more about him next week.
Oh yeah so some crazy news. My area is Casa Verde (Green House) and it is the same area of the CTM! I am literally 200 yards from the CTM right now (not in Cheney's but at this other place). It is so weird. I have seen a bunch of the elders I knew walking around because it is there P-day too.
Ok, I only have an hour so I have to go. Packages and letters go straight to the mission office and then we can pick them up when we go there for interviews, zone conferences, and the like. It sucks but that is how it is. You can address letters as normal but if you send a package put the return address name as "Elder Parsons" and the name that you are sending it to as "President Jeffry Cooley" so that he can sign for it. I really have to go hope that made sense but I need to go. Love you all, pray for me, I'll write more next week.
Mission Office Address: (CHECK THIS TO MAKE SURE IT IS RIGHT)
Rua Dr. Rui Batista Pereira 165
Caxingui
05571-080 São Paulo - SP
-Elder Brent Parsons
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Last week in the CTM
Yet another enthusiastic greeting,
Chess... the Lord's answer to my prayer. This last week was starting to drag a bit because we are all so sick of trying to learn in the CTM and want to get out of the field so we end up just talking but then feeling guilty about not learning the language...but not enough to do much about it. So one day we were really bored and Elder Fabian had the brilliant idea to make a chess board out of paper. Sounded pretty stupid but it was literally better than any other idea that we could think of so we made it and started playing. It's freaking awesome. I have now played 11 matches in the past 5 days, all of which are usually around 40 min long...yep just thought I would let you know I am wasting time. Just kidding, we usually play at break time but I could still be doing something more productive...but it is too fun. And I am actually a lot better than I remember being and we all know winning is everything.
How about that Conference eh? We got to see all of it and it was so good. The talks were amazing and to top it all off we got to see the guy in the choir that looks like Peter Griffin from Family Guy every once in a while. I told my district about that and they all hated me cause they would just start laughing when it panned through everyone. Anyway, I loved all the talks. Every word the apostles and prophet say(s) are so much more meaningful when you are a missionary.
I especially loved Sister Allred's talk when she encouraged those at home to write the missionaries...it's funny how at home conference seemed SO long but here we are used to sitting in class for 3 and 1/2 hours in one sitting so it seemed like it flew by. Awesome. Oh yeah how about that temple in Rome? Pretty big news around these parts especially with my companion Elder Blackham because he LOVES architecture and says that he will never forgive the church if they don't use some sort of Greek influence in their design of it. I rarely understand what he is actually saying.
Glad you had a good time at SYTYCD Alysha and Karrissa. I am actually glad I was not there to be embarrassed by your 11-year-old screams.
The other night I woke up and was so confused to as why I was awake in the middle of the night because I never wake up in the middle of the night but then I heard this huge 'crash' outside and so I opened up the windows and I swear it was like a scene out of some crazy movie. It was literally the biggest lighting storm I had ever seen. It was awesome because there was like hardcore pollution going on so I could barely see anything except where the massive amounts of lightning were hitting. I watched a building about 200 yards away from us get hit, it was crazy.
Oh yeah we went proselyting again and it was pretty sweet, but prob the worst time of the 3. We went to this park that was really really quiet and very few people were there so within about half an hour the entire park had been beat to a pulp with the gospel from the 12 eager missionaries of my district. It was good though cause we just left the park and walked down some streets and made some pretty good contacts.
Some days I don't put gel in my hair because my district loves it because I look 12. Moving on.
The language actually is starting to make a little more sense. I went and got my haircut yesterday by the local barber that belongs in a pizzeria in Italy, and we actually had a pretty normal conversation in portuguese while he was cutting my hair. It was pretty cool and I am starting to think a little more in portuguese although most the time I have to think of the sentence in English and then translate it to portuguese out loud. It's funny because if a Brazilian talks to you and you understand their first sentence (which they say really slow as if to test out the waters of your understanding) then it's like they think 'oh i guess he must speak portuguese' so they take off into some elaborate story about who knows what and you just have to nod your head and say 'sim' periodically throughout. My Brazi roommates have a problem with this and I always have to ask them to slow down. They also enjoy turning on the lights at 5 in the morning…who knows why they get up that early. Oh and during our naps after lunch as well, it just makes us so so happy.
Speaking of roommates we had a tough goodbye last night. Elder Phillips, Elder Smith's companion who share a room with Elder Blackham and I unexpectedly was summoned to his mission this morning. Long story that I dont have time to explain but his visa came late so he stayed at home a week longer before he came and no one thought it important to tell him that he would be leaving a week early too. It was actually kind of funny to see him scrambling around to pack and stuff but I felt bad for him. He is really quiet but when he goes proselyting he talks to EVERYONE. He loves to share the gospel and has the best work ethic I have ever seen.
We went around saying goodbye to him last night and he started crying, which then obviously made me start crying because I am a blubbering baby now and, as the CTM doctor Elder Linford says, I cry at super-market openings. But the real story here came from after I started crying. I think I have a hormonal imbalance because I literally only cried out of my right eye. Like not just a little but multiple free-flowing tears. Completely dry in my left eye. This combined with one of my ears often being ice-cold and the other extremely hot (which my district finds hilarious and often grope my ears to find out if 'it is happening' right then) lead me to believe this hormonal imbalance proposition.
Anyway, this will be my last letter while here in the CTM. I leave next Tuesday at about 7:30 in the morning on a bus to the São Paulo North Mission Home. I will make sure to get my address and email as soon as possible. I love you all and I am so grateful for the support you have given me with your writing, remember I am going to need even more of that support for my first week out in the field I think, so keep the letters a flowing. Miss you all.
Love,
-Elder Brent Parsons
Chess... the Lord's answer to my prayer. This last week was starting to drag a bit because we are all so sick of trying to learn in the CTM and want to get out of the field so we end up just talking but then feeling guilty about not learning the language...but not enough to do much about it. So one day we were really bored and Elder Fabian had the brilliant idea to make a chess board out of paper. Sounded pretty stupid but it was literally better than any other idea that we could think of so we made it and started playing. It's freaking awesome. I have now played 11 matches in the past 5 days, all of which are usually around 40 min long...yep just thought I would let you know I am wasting time. Just kidding, we usually play at break time but I could still be doing something more productive...but it is too fun. And I am actually a lot better than I remember being and we all know winning is everything.
How about that Conference eh? We got to see all of it and it was so good. The talks were amazing and to top it all off we got to see the guy in the choir that looks like Peter Griffin from Family Guy every once in a while. I told my district about that and they all hated me cause they would just start laughing when it panned through everyone. Anyway, I loved all the talks. Every word the apostles and prophet say(s) are so much more meaningful when you are a missionary.
I especially loved Sister Allred's talk when she encouraged those at home to write the missionaries...it's funny how at home conference seemed SO long but here we are used to sitting in class for 3 and 1/2 hours in one sitting so it seemed like it flew by. Awesome. Oh yeah how about that temple in Rome? Pretty big news around these parts especially with my companion Elder Blackham because he LOVES architecture and says that he will never forgive the church if they don't use some sort of Greek influence in their design of it. I rarely understand what he is actually saying.
Glad you had a good time at SYTYCD Alysha and Karrissa. I am actually glad I was not there to be embarrassed by your 11-year-old screams.
The other night I woke up and was so confused to as why I was awake in the middle of the night because I never wake up in the middle of the night but then I heard this huge 'crash' outside and so I opened up the windows and I swear it was like a scene out of some crazy movie. It was literally the biggest lighting storm I had ever seen. It was awesome because there was like hardcore pollution going on so I could barely see anything except where the massive amounts of lightning were hitting. I watched a building about 200 yards away from us get hit, it was crazy.
Oh yeah we went proselyting again and it was pretty sweet, but prob the worst time of the 3. We went to this park that was really really quiet and very few people were there so within about half an hour the entire park had been beat to a pulp with the gospel from the 12 eager missionaries of my district. It was good though cause we just left the park and walked down some streets and made some pretty good contacts.
Some days I don't put gel in my hair because my district loves it because I look 12. Moving on.
The language actually is starting to make a little more sense. I went and got my haircut yesterday by the local barber that belongs in a pizzeria in Italy, and we actually had a pretty normal conversation in portuguese while he was cutting my hair. It was pretty cool and I am starting to think a little more in portuguese although most the time I have to think of the sentence in English and then translate it to portuguese out loud. It's funny because if a Brazilian talks to you and you understand their first sentence (which they say really slow as if to test out the waters of your understanding) then it's like they think 'oh i guess he must speak portuguese' so they take off into some elaborate story about who knows what and you just have to nod your head and say 'sim' periodically throughout. My Brazi roommates have a problem with this and I always have to ask them to slow down. They also enjoy turning on the lights at 5 in the morning…who knows why they get up that early. Oh and during our naps after lunch as well, it just makes us so so happy.
Speaking of roommates we had a tough goodbye last night. Elder Phillips, Elder Smith's companion who share a room with Elder Blackham and I unexpectedly was summoned to his mission this morning. Long story that I dont have time to explain but his visa came late so he stayed at home a week longer before he came and no one thought it important to tell him that he would be leaving a week early too. It was actually kind of funny to see him scrambling around to pack and stuff but I felt bad for him. He is really quiet but when he goes proselyting he talks to EVERYONE. He loves to share the gospel and has the best work ethic I have ever seen.
We went around saying goodbye to him last night and he started crying, which then obviously made me start crying because I am a blubbering baby now and, as the CTM doctor Elder Linford says, I cry at super-market openings. But the real story here came from after I started crying. I think I have a hormonal imbalance because I literally only cried out of my right eye. Like not just a little but multiple free-flowing tears. Completely dry in my left eye. This combined with one of my ears often being ice-cold and the other extremely hot (which my district finds hilarious and often grope my ears to find out if 'it is happening' right then) lead me to believe this hormonal imbalance proposition.
Anyway, this will be my last letter while here in the CTM. I leave next Tuesday at about 7:30 in the morning on a bus to the São Paulo North Mission Home. I will make sure to get my address and email as soon as possible. I love you all and I am so grateful for the support you have given me with your writing, remember I am going to need even more of that support for my first week out in the field I think, so keep the letters a flowing. Miss you all.
Love,
-Elder Brent Parsons
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