Manaus...Week 13!

Big Things Happening!!!

Well, so, I got transferred.... To a place not even in the same state as Manaus. I am currently in a town called Vilhena. And don´t ask me what state it is in because I have no idea. All I know is that I am southwest of manaus, in the middle of nowhere. Find a city called Porto Velho and then go even more south. So here is my transfer story. Get the call Sunday afternoon at 2 o clock. They tell me I will need to be at the office at 5. The same day. I got transfered on a Sunday. Craziest thing ever. So, got a ride from a member to the office, got my passport, and then headed off to the airport with 5 other missionaries. Got on the plane at 8:30. Landed at 9:30 and then went to the house of some missionaries there in Porto Velho. Stayed there until 2 AM. Then caught a bus to my area that I was on for 13 hours!!!!! We left at 2 in the morning and pulled in to my area at 3:40 or something like that! It was so long! And here is the best part. So there were 2 other elders on the bus with me, but they were going to another area. So they got off after 4 or 5 hours. And they said, just chill on the bus till I get to my area. And if I miss my area, here are some numbers to call. Good luck! So yea, I sat on a bus for 13 hours and most of the time I didn´t even know if I was heading towards my area. Luckily I made a friend on the bus who lives in this area so he was able to help me out. The bus ride is so long that we even stopped for a 30 minute lunch break. And I ate with the guy that was helping me. It was pretty sweet cause it was all Portuguese. And only after 3 months. So I´m feeling pretty good about myself, even if I am exhausted. 

And I´m sorry but I haven´t had time to take pictures. I literally stepped off the bus, got my bags, dropped them off in an apartment of some elders (which I´m gonna have to move again because it isn´t even our apartment, so more travel. Yay!), then walked here because the other 3 elders have been waiting for me so they could email their families. So nothing this week, but next week, I promise. 

But so let me now do a recap of the rest of the week. We had another baptism! A little 10 year old girl named Lilian. She is the younger sister of a recent convert, so hopefully she will stay strong. But so yea, then some teaching and some meetings and I´m super tired so I´m gonna go ahead and end this email cause I 

can´t stop thinking about sleep. 

So my tip of the week is make sure you get enough sleep. There is a reason there is a rule about going to bed at 10:30, and that is so your body is able to function during the day and you are not drop dead tired, because you have a work to do and it requires you to be at your best. So get some sleep, like I am going to here shortly. Love you mom!!!!!

Oh and I got my packages! And then rapidly packed them into my suitcase and checked them into the airport not even 1 hour after opening. Perfect timing? I think so!!! Haha

(Mom)  What an adventure

(Elder Link)  Oh trust me, I know!

(Mom)  Really excited for you though.....how cool...and scary...and cool. Ya doing o.k.?

(Elder Link) Yea, I'm fine.

  (So we looked it up and it's kind of like an island....He is about 50-75 miles from the border of Bolivia.  Vilhena is a city of about 70,000 people in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by jungle.)

So here is my rigging. There was water leaking from our roof for some reason and no way to stop it. So I just taped a bag to the ceiling to catch the water...Because it was directly over my bed....Dripping on me. Totally lame. But my rigging saves the day.  

This is my new favorite fruit. The mango. Just rip it open and eat right off the tree. Awesomeness. 

And it has taken over 30 minutes to load these photos....

So here is a member being crazy with his child. Pretty cool though and the kid loves it.

 But so here we have the girl who was baptized, Lilian, and then me and some other missionaries waiting in the airport on Sunday night

So this is all I got. More next week. Promise.

Manaus....Week 12!

So, this week was super good as far as teaching and finding goes. A huge amount. More than 75 lessons and more than 25 new investigators. Pretty boss. So yea, we are doing really well. 

But so there is an announcement I have to make. So next week is transfers and they are differente here because of how big the mission is. So if I go to a far away área I will be on a plane all of Monday. So I would probably be taking my pday Tuesday. I don't know how it works here, but thats what I have been told. So I guess we will see what happens. Ive been in the same área for 2 and a half transfers so I'll probably get transferred soon. But who knows, could end up staying, don't really know.

 But so, I bought new shoes. When I got my money, there was 177 dollars, which is 300 reals, more or less. And the shoes were 160 reals. So yea, kinda needed that money. Thanks everyone who contributed. 

But so if you guys get a dog, please get a big one. I like big dogs, little ones are kinda annoying. But I guess you guys pick and I don't really have a choice because I'm halfway across the world. 

But so lets see, lets finish telling about this week. So had another baptism, his name is Eric. Didn't get a picture because I still didn't have battery. But I was finally able to buy some today so I will have some pics next week. It'll be pretty sweet but you will have to wait until next week. Sorry. But so lets talk about the baptism a bit, it was super cool but kinda wierd. So we had him on date to be baptized saturday with the baptisimal interview earlier on saturday. But on Friday was an activity and he was there and our zone leaders were there, and did the interview on Friday. Then they said why not just do the baptism now, so we paused the activity and baptized him right then and there. So yea, that about sums up my week, super good but I feel like we rushed some things but there is always next week. 

Only problem, super tired, as Always haha. Love you guys, have fun with the new dog. Stay cool everyone. Tip of the week is going to have to be keep working no matter what. No matter if you are about to drop, or you are dissapointed in something, or if you get ´dear johned´ you have to keep working. Working will distract you from all your problems, so literally lose yourself in the work. Don't lose your personality, just your problems. Work with everything you are and all the strength you have so when you come home and finish planning, you collapse. That's when you know you did some good working that day. 

Allright, so until next week. Love you Family. Love you mom! Sorry this is a little short....

Manaus...Week 11!

So, this was a crazy, crazy week. (This is Elder Links Mom)  I hadn't had time to write him, and by the time I got my letter to him, the computers where he was started crashing....so this week is short and sweet.

Switched lanhouses. So I am now back.  So about skyping... what will happen is that we will get a laptop from a member and then head to the church. One of us will use the church computer with a borrowed camera and the other will use the laptop. I don't think we will have a problem with time. So we should be pretty good. As for what name it will be under, I have no idea. That one will probably be figured out day of. But, we will be emailing during that time too, so we should be able to figure it out. 

So I don't have too much time, so I can't write too much. Sorry but switching lanhouses and waiting for your email took away a lot of my time. I'll catch you up on my week next week. Just know this week was super good and this upcoming week will be pretty awesome too. No baptisms, but we will have them next week. I hope. 

I love you guys a lot. I'll try to send some pics too. Pretty sure I can here. Love you guys. 

Tip of the week real quick. Be happy in your work. If I have already done this, I will do it again. Be happy in your work... and find ways to have fun while walking or with your investigators. If it isn't fun, you won't wanna do it. So find a way to make it fun.

Love you all!

Manaus....Week 10!

 

So lets answer some questions!!!  The companion business is goin pretty well.  We are getting a lot of teaching done.  Over 40 lessons a week. We are kickin some serious butt here.  My portuguese is doing pretty well and no one can believe that I can speak as well as I can after only two months. I´m doin allright I guess.  So about the Christmas Devotional I did not get to watch it...lame sauce.  But I´m sure eventually I will be able to see it.  Maybe. Who knows.  We will just have to wait and see.  So this week had some fun stuff. We just had transfers and I´m with my hispanic companion again, but a sister from my mtc district is now in my district and my district leader is an American as well. Pretty cool.  But so this week had a pretty awesome baptism, wasn´t sure if it was gonna happen but it did.  All thanks to the fact that my new district leader had a good talk with him during the interview.  Pretty sweet.  His name is Gabriel, and he´s 15 years old...pretty chill kid.  Took a while to get this point, like the whole time I´ve been here.  But we were supposed to have more but the guy was drinking until 7 in the morning...yeah.   But so, that´s what has happened.

Walked right through the middle of a drug deal, that was pretty funny. ...In a back alley that´s a shortcut to our house.   Right after lunch on a Sunday.   So it was like 2 in the afternoon. And the best part is at first they tried to hide it by covering the scene with an umbrela that they tilted into our line of sight. It was pretty funny to be honest.  So that about sums up my week. Oh, apparently I also am now an english tutor for kids who are taking english in school.  That´s pretty fun.  Kinda silly sometimes when they really just don´t get it.  But I´m trying.  And I guess it helps them.  Their teachers are suprised they do so well anyways. 

So, I have not yet gotten my box.  If all else fails I´m pretty sure we will pass by the place that it will be sometime for the mission Christmas reunion.  I hear all the missionaries in the entire city will gather.  So I´ll be able to get it then if I don´t get it anytime soon. So yeah, don´t have my box yet but I´m sure it´ll come soon. So I would really love to have that scripture set I asked for...Only Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. Thanks!

So, I´m glad to hear that everyone is doing pretty well.  Hope that Caden gets his grades up.  NO MORE 0´S!!!!  Keep up the work in the cold!  LOve you guys a bunch! Hopefully pics to follow!

Advice for the week! Remember to thank everyone who gives you food and do it with real intente. The members will provide many dinners for you (here it´s lunch but same concept). They go out of their way to help you out so Always have ready for them a message and a prayer and thank them. Very importante.  You need the members to like you cause when they like you they trust you with their friends and your teaching pool will grow exponentially. Allright!  

Love you all!  Until next week!

(No pics this week....it totally just depends on which computer he gets)

Manaus Week 9!

Welcome to the rainy Amazona!!

Well, glad to know that everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I however had no Thanksgiving. It was kinda sad. Got a bit trunky for a minute. But yea I took some time to be grateful. So my Portuguese has definately improved a ton. I could go off on my own if I wanted and be just fine. But I'm always with my companion of course. So this week has been a fun one. Had exchanges 2 times in one week. One was with the zone leaders because I´m technically being retrained, and then another one with the district leader to do interviews for our baptisms. Only one this week, but we have another one set up for next week too, and that´s at the minimum. So this week we baptized a guy named Tiago, he was baptized by a recentish convert which is super sweet. Tiago believe it or not is 20. He doesn´t look it at all. But so here is his story. Elder Colgrove and I were teaching him and his Family but he never did anything. We baptized his cousins, mom, basically everyone that lives in one of the 2 houses he stays at. But he never did anything. Then Elder Diaz came in. While I was on exchanges, Elder Diaz spoke with Tiago..... And he was baptized. Strange how it Works, but pretty sweet to see him finally moving somewhere. So I don´t really have too much this week, but I do have something you´ve been waiting for for quite some time now. Pictures!!!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

 

 

 Pictures of Tiago!  He's on the right and the recente convert is on the left.

Opa! Right, I almost forgot. But now I am reminded and am ready to give my weekly advice. Be sure to pass all of my weekly advices on to Bro. Cook for his mission prep. class. Should be able to help. At least a little. So this weeks advice is work with your leaders. All of them. Whether they be other missionaries in leadership positions or Ward leaders or the mission presidente. All are there to help you in your work and if you dont use them and the knowledge and experience they have you are wasting a lot of valuable resources. Learn how to listen to and work well with these people and the work will accelerate. So that is my weekly advice. Oh and for Bro. Cook especially. In the mission prep. class, watch `the district´ vídeos. They will do a lot of teaching. allright, until next week!

This is Lucas!  He's awesome!

 

 

 



 

So we have a young man leaving on his mission soon and the ward had a party for him.  Super Cool!

 

 

 

 

These are the young men that are awesome in our ward.

 

 

 

Two Baptisms....Emmerson and Erivielton.  They are brothers.  Super Sweet!

 

 

 

 

 

My Companion Elder Diaz....From Chili!

 

 

 

 

This is Guilherme...baptism that we had last month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A picture of how bad my shoes are getting.....

 

 

 

My shirt that I ripped while we were walking home...one of the long sleeve ones.  I wasn't vey happy.

 

 

 

Here is the dirt I swept up on our floor after 1 week....7 Days!!!

 

And...I continue my tradition of a new car every transfer....2012 Mustang.  It's pretty.

Manaus Week 8

Size 32?  Because I've lost weight.  Actually quite a bit.  That belt I've got...I can pull it to the last hole without really a problem. And I used to have 2 empty holes. I'm skinny again and not fat!  And I'm keeping most of my muscle because I'm working out pretty hard again. I can go into a handstand and do 2 to 3 handstand pushups against the wall. I'm gonna come home looking awesome.  Actually, I'm gonna come home and live at home because I'm still my moms little boy.  I'll magically turn back into a 4 year old. But yea, I'm not worried about any of that.
But so, I love the fact that you guys got to see an apostle. Super cool... especially for Caden.  They just look you in the eyes and they can read you're soul. Super cool. But yea, sorry about the freezingness of the states, but I understand the rain entirely.  Every day!  My planner is destroyed because it has gotten drenched so many times. But the transfer is almost over.  Speaking of which, I have had basically the hardest week I have ever had.  Its just all the worse because I know the language and can speak but I can't because my new comp spoke the whole week every lesson. I literally was basically his personal escort to each of our investigators and he taught while I sat there. It was super hard. I got super frustrated. But I'm over it and we are gonna figure it out. But I'm pretty lucky. I've got the language pretty well now.  People understand me and I understand them.... and it's only gonna keep getting better.  But I'm not frustrated anymore because I can't speak.  I can.  It's crazy, I speak Portuguese!  I took how many years of spanish and can't speak it at all?  And here I am, at basically 3 months of time, and I can speak with anyone.  There is still some stuff  I don't get but I'm getting it.
So yea, that's basically it.  That was my week.  Nothing much else happened.  My comp taught and I said maybe a few words.  We found a new family and we are teaching them.  Hopefully I will be able to talk more. We shall see. But things will get better.  We had a talk.  I get why he's here now.  He talked to the mission president.  His reason to be here is to teach me the language to where I have no doubts and am ready to be a leader in the mission.  I'd much rather just stay a normal missionary and just work.  But yea, that's what my comp told me.  Gonna be a fun one.  So yea it's all portuguese from here on out.  He speaks some english but he basically said he has orders from president to only do portuguese unless english is necessary.  Woohoo!  But yea, I can speak well enough to get by. Which brings me to my missionary tip of the week. 1 Nephi 3:7. No matter what, whether it be language or lack of confidence or no investigators, God's got a plan. He will provide a way. So have confidence.... And the Spirit will speak for you.
Thats it for this week. Thanks to everyone from family and friends, to President Kimball from Dallas East stake. Thank you guys so much. Love you all. Love you mom!

(No pics again this week....he's really trying)

Manaus....Week 7!



(Before the mission)

Allright here we go. The letter for this week. And I'm trying super hard to do capitilization right for you guys. So let's see, what do we have. Well first off, I still haven´t found a computer that allows me to send pics. So i´m sorry mom, but still nothing. I´m working on it, I promise. So let´s recap this past week. We had 2 more baptisms! They are 2 Young men, named Emmerson and Erivielton. Super awesome, way huge miracle. So that´s basically it. We were working super hard with a select group of people to move them towards baptism. So this upcoming week we will be spending most of our time looking for new investigators. With my new comp! So, allow me to shed a little light on the situation. There were some elders that weren´t getting along so they took my comp and one of the elders and switched them. So I now have a new comp from Chile. Goodbye english! Only Portuguese now. This is gonna be a lot of fun. But so yea that basically sums up my week. Not very interesting. I have a new comp who I met last night at around 8:30. So I don't really know him but luckily it´s a p-day so we have plenty of time. But so yea, that´s about all my new news. And since mom hasn´t sent me a big update I have no idea how to respond to how you all are doing. So I will go with what I know. Which is nothing. So I will now give the missionary tip of the week. And this week is have fun. You can get super tired during the week and the work is hard so find a way to keep it fun. Don´t fall into a pattern because then you are giving scripted lessons. And that won´t help people very much. Have fun, otherwise you won´t want to be out on your mission. So that´s all for this week folks. Until next week! Love you all!

A little back and forth....

 

Mom-How long has your companion been out?  That'll be interesting for you.  I guess it forces you to learn Portuguese.  How do you get your mail?  Do you get it once a month at zone conference?

 

Elder Link-It's zone conference and he speaks Spanish.  He's been out for about 7 months so we basically came out around the same time.  And yes, I will have to learn Portuguese.

 

Mom-You crack me up...

 

Elder Link-I'm glad that I do.

 

Mom-When are your zone conferences?  Just to make sure that we get your Christmas there in time.

 

Elder Link-Like once a month.

 

Mom-I know they're once a month...but when?  Like the first week of the month or the last week?

 

Elder Link-I don't know, they are mostly random.  They switch.  It just really depends on the month.

 

Mom-Is there a calendar?

 

Elder Link-No.  We get told the week before in an email.

 

Mom-K...Love you son.  Have a great week.

 

Elder Link-I will definitely try.  Love you mom.

 

 

(The Brasil Manaus Temple)