Many Adventures 10/10/11

Wow! That is so crazy about the doctor thing. That is such a miracle for sure! We are so blessed by the lord each and every day, and we do so much to not deserve the blessings, but yet he still sends them. It amazes me; the Lords love for us. 

Well we had to move it back because he didn't come to church yesterday, but it is still coming along. His whole family is all members, so we're not ganging up on him. 

That Rusten, I can't believe him. That is the funniest thing I have ever heard in my life. I was just laughing so hard just barley {What he's talking about here is this story (Told by my mom):Wednesday I came home from spud harvest late and there was a nice 4-wheeler in our driveway.  Rusten was asleep so I couldn't ask him about it but the next morning when I asked him he said he found it.  "Oh" I said, "and where did you find it?"  He said, "In the field behind us."  I said, "Rusten that belongs to someone. The farmer was probably discing and didn't have a ride home"  He said, "No, mom it has been there for over a week and never moved. I've watched it everyday so now it is mine." He was so happy about it.  When I insisted that was stealing and that he had to take it back he was so surprised.  He really thought he was entitled to it since no one had been on it for a week.  He was pretty ticked off at me that I would make him take it back until I told him about Angie Robison's 20 year old nephew that is serving jail time because the cops just wouldn't believe that he found the 4 wheeler. 12 year olds are not capable of being home alone after school.  As much as he thinks he is.}. I can't believe that it snowed that much to build a snowman. That is awesome. It's definitely only getting hotter here every day ha ha. Ya I can listen to that CD. The rules in our mission is that on P-days we can listen to anything, as long as it doesn't drive the spirit away, so it should be good, and you can sure send me mo-tab or Disney or any other thing that you would like that is good like that. When you send the package, I forgot to tell you but make sure you send it through USPS cause that is the only one that really works well they say, and the other ones sometimes make the mission home pay charges once they deliver them, and just make sure you write the address correct and they won't tamper with anything. They say you don't really need all the pictures of Jesus and all that stuff like people say you do, but you can do whatever you feel like ha ha. 

Yes I know. I thought that I would never get a Facebook and I'm getting one. It's crazy to me to but I won't have anything to do with it for 2 years still, so it's still like I don't even have one ha ha. I can't believe you're still slaving away out to spud harvest. I'm sure you're loving it though. It sounds like you are at least ha. 

Well everything back here has been really great. So earlier this week Elder Swanson and I were going out to knock doors in this bairro and we saw these lakes so we're like, "lets go check those out real fast." So we're walking over to them and all the sudden this snake jumps out and was almost about to bite me. I was so scared, but then after we went to this lady's house and she is super legit. It was the first time we taught her that day and she was already willing to keep all of the commitments and everything, and I invited her to be baptized on the 29th of this month. It was a little scary. It was the first person I have invited on my mission and I'm pretty sure she will be baptized. I'm hoping, but that was way cool, and then yesterday was the first Fast Sunday and I bore my testimony. I was dang scared and they said that I was beet red the whole time, but I did it anyways, so that was really cool. It's been a really good week this week. We're hoping to find a lot more new people to teach so we can get our teaching pool a lot bigger, but everything is going great. I'm loving the work and loving the people. 

Yesterday we ate lunch at this member's house that was like a ten by ten foot hut. All it had was four walls and we sat on the floor and it so amazing that these people sacrifice so much to just give us one meal. They are truly great people here. Oh ya one last thing, so we have this coconut tree in our back yard and the guy that owns our house said that they are ready, so we asked a kid in our ramo how to get the water out of them, so here is our adventure with that. It was fun, but I do not like coconut water at all ha ha. Well have a great week.  I love you all!

Love Elder Furrows

General Conference and adventures. 10/3/11

Well hello! Everything is going sweet here. I'm loving it. The language is alright.   It's a lot tougher than anticipated, but it is coming along for sure. Donna Swanson is his mom's name, and she has a Facebook. 

Well funny thing about conference. We only got about half of it in English, so that 
was kinda a bummer, but the half that we did get was so amazing. Man conference is a whole different experience on a mission. I loved it so much. Ya that is way cool. I figured you would be pretty excited about that whole temple in Wyoming ha ha. How did Rusten like priesthood? Has he passed the sacrament yet? Still working away at spud harvest huh? that's cool. 

Oh yes, maple syrup extract. I was honestly going to ask for you to send me some this week, so that's funny you asked ha. But yes, I actually have a list of stuff that I would love for you to put in this package ha: deodorant and shaving cream (but those aren't the things I really need), peanut butter, maple extract and recipe, and possibly my hair clippers if you could? Well I love all candy so anything you wanna throw in there that fits just go for it ha. Oh ya you should try to put some CDs of the band Vocal Point, those guys from BYU, in there too.

Well I work out all day. All the weight that I gained in the ctm, I lose in sweat everyday ha ha. The members feed us lunch everyday. That is the big meal. They don't really eat dinner over here, so you eat a little breakfast, a massive lunch, and then work all day, and at like 10, when you get home and all showered and planned, you can eat another little snack. 

Ya it is only soccer down here and that's all that matters. People will get in fights all the time over it. It's pretty funny, but it's cool. Nothing too crazy has happened this week. Just saw this one old man pooping in the street. ha ha It was pretty nasty. I tried to get a picture, but I couldn't in time. We have a man with a date of the 15th of this month, so we're really working with him, but the devil is strong so we make sure we see him a lot. Besides that, everything is going amazing. 

I loved conference. It is like the best boost ever. I loved the talk that Sister Elaine S Dalton gave on being a father. It was so dang good, and of course so was every other talk also. Well I love you guys. Have a great week.

Love Elder Furrows

Here are some pictures. The one of my feet is the first rain storm we had and my feet got stained black from my shoes. Our house is only the bottom level of this. There is one in there of us watching conference.

First week in the Field. 9/26/11

Hey hey family. How is everything going? It sounds like your are all having a great time. Potato harvest huh? That sounds pretty intense. I bet that is fun and of course you didn't see Aubree. She stays hidden as much as possible ha ha {By the way... Andy is lying here.. haha. I don't stay hidden. ha.}. I'm glad that Rusten had a good birthday and that he was made a deacon. That is such a blessing. Tell him congrats 
for me. 

Well it has been an eventful week. We went proceliting, that's not how you spell it but whatever ha. So we went to Paulista and we gave out all of our copies of the Book of Mormon, so that was legit. The street was so crazy and so huge. It blew my mind. So then we finished up our last couple of days at the ctm, and we headed out at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, so that was pretty dang cool. We got to Vitoria at about 10 and met up with the AP's and they took us to the chapel to meet with president and have lunch and everything. So we get there and have this meeting with all of the trainers and with the pres but we still don't know who our trainers are yet. President is really nice. So we got done with everything at the church and headed off to the bus station because that is where they do the transfers. 

So we get there and I'm expecting this quiet little meeting, but heck no! It was so dang fun. Everyone was just talking having a good time and then they called all of the new missionaries and the trainers up, so we headed up there and they start   announcing the names and my trainer is Elder Swanson. He is way legit. He is from Las Vegas and I'm his last comp that he will have on his mission, so that is pretty cool. So my first area that we're assigned to is called Linhares. It is about a 3 hour bus ride North of Vitoria and it's a smaller little town. It's pretty legit though. There are 3 duplas in our area including us, and Elder Swanson and I are in charge of the biggest area of Linhares, but it is really cool. So we got off the bus at about 9 and we didn't have a way to get home or even know where our house was for that matter, but we got a member to come get us and take us home. So we get to the house and Elder Swanson tells me that this is a really nice house and we got there and I was freaking out because it wasn't very nice, but the next day when we went to lunch at the members house, I realized that it really is and I'm very greatful to have what we have. So we have just been tracting and kinda teaching lessons and just doing the normal stuff.

It is really cool to actually be out here. The language is still pretty rough, but it is coming along good. My first Sunday was cool. Straight Portuguese except this one kid that I talked to that could speak English that is going to BYU-I. He was cool. General Conference is next weekend and we will just watch it at the church. We have a branch of about 100 members and they are all really nice, so that is awesome. So last night we had to catch a bus and take off to this other city to go do some baptismal interviews. The city is São Mateus and it was about an hour away and it was so cool. It's right by the ocean and there is this river that goes through it and it has a slave trading port and everything. It was nuts. So that was way cool except the only 
bus that came back last night was at 2 in the morning, so we got back this morning at about 3:45 and then had to walk an hour to get to our house from the bus station, so that was a good time ha ha. 

I love it here and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I hope everything is going 
well back home. Being out here has made me realize how thankful I need to be for what I have because the people here do not have much. Some of the houses are so horrible, so I'm thankful for what I have. Well have a great week. I love you guys. 

So the pictures I'm not sure what the order is of them. but the big one is my two teachers and my district at the ctm. Then there is one in Sao Mateus, and then there is one of me and Elder Brown at the ctm. He is the one who is taller. Then me and Swanson at the transfers, and then the on with all the green, and that lake looking thing is in Linhares. Love ya!

Last e-mail in the MTC! 9/14/11

Yes, the time sure does fly. Everything here is going very well. I'm loving it more and more each day, and getting more anxious every day too. I can't wait to get out in the field. ha ha Don't worry about the no email last week. No one got one except like 2 kids ha ha. 

We will fly out on Tuesday morning. We have meetings all day Monday and then we're off. 

The rice is just regular white rice. It's the beans that are so good ha. My allergies are fine. I don't have them at all, and yes please. I would love that CD. I'm sure I could find a way to play. Just wait a little bit on that and I will figure out what to do in the field. 

Ya I heard about Zack. That really sucks. Tell him I'm sorry, but that he needs to get back out there. That is cool that Krissy got married. I'm sure that was beautiful. Wayne's backyard was looking so good that last time we were there. I bet it was amazing. ha ha That is funny about Rusten's little friend. That poor kid, but I bet they had fun. Tell Rusten and JoDee happy birthday for me and that I love them so much. 

K so this week has been a pretty good week. we baptized our fake investigator on Saturday and taught some more members that same day. It's always intense doing that. Then Sunday I had to give a talk in church, so that was cool and then at the fireside that night it was really good. I got some really cool quotes that i liked. They said that "Your mission won't be successful if you don't bring at least one soul unto the gospel, and that soul is your own." So that was good, and then Monday was such a good day. We went out on the streets to place Book of Mormons and it was such a neat experience. We got out and me and Elder Brown said a prayer and we headed out and we were trying to talk to people as we walked by, but no one was really stopping and talking to us. Mainly because every Monday the Americans go out and go tracting and they know this. So we walked up to this guy sitting on the curb and started talking to him and he said he didn't like the church, so we're like "whatever" and then we went up to this lady sitting in front of the bank and started talking with her and she said she is evangelic and loves her church, but we kept being  persistent and at first she was just like laughing at us kinda, but then we bore our testimonies of it and she completely changed and she took it and seemed like she would read it. Then we talked to a couple more people and they weren't interested  until this one guy and we talked to him and the spirit was definitely talking through me because I was talking and understanding everything that he said, and then I gave it to him and it was just really cool. He seemed very interested, and then the last guy we gave one to it was just kinda the same as the first lady. So we were out there for an hour and a half and it was way cool. 

I'm so excited for Friday when we get to go for 3 hours to the down town where no one knows anything about the gospel or very few. So that's cool. I leave and I will be in Vitoria the next time you get an email from me, crazy huh? Today was a good day we went out and had lunch with our instructor and went to the temple for the last time for 22 months. I'm gonna miss it. I love this temple. It is so beautiful. 

Well I love you so much. Hope you're having a great week. Talk to you next week.

Practice for the Field. 9/6/11

Well this is kinda awkward. I get in here and no email. ha ha just kidding. It is the Brazilian Independence Day tomorrow, so they changed our P-Day to today. This week we were back to the Sao Paulo Temple and it was sweet. I was able to do initiatory today in Portuguese and it was so awesome. The Sao Paulo Temple is definitely my favorite. It is SO pretty, so that was very good and then it has just been a normal day besides that. 

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to teach members that were playing investigators, and that was so intense. It was pretty cool. As long as they were talking about gospel stuff, I could understand a lot of what they would say and then I could get my point across to them when I was teaching, so that has been a very cool thing. Then on Saturday night we got to practice doing street contacts just in the gym with the different instructors, and that was very helpful because this next Monday we're going tracting outside the ctm and then Friday of next week we get to go to Paulista, which is like the main street of Sao Paulo, and go tracting for like 3 hours, so I'm super pumped about that, but super nervous at the same time for sure. Then I will be out in the real field the next week! I have two weeks from today. 

So that was a good practice and then Sunday was a fast and testimony meeting and that was awesome. The testimonies that are born are so powerful. I love it, and then later that day the branch pres came up to Elder Pellegrini and told him to tell me that I'm the new assistant to the president so that happened also on Sunday. Pretty crazy day. Besides that nothing too crazy has happened. We challenged a district to a sweet game of volleyball tomorrow. Winner takes our teacher because they have the same night teacher that teaches us during the day so that will be intense ha ha. 

Well that's really about all. The weeks are flying by and I am pretty sure that they are only gonna start going faster. I'm loving it here. I am so happy to serve the Lord and for the opportunity that he has given me to serve in such a beautiful place as Brazil. Well hope all is well back home the next email will be better hopefully because i will have some good tracting stories to share. Love you. Thanks for everything. Here is my mission home address. You will probably want to just send all letters there from now on cause they will take too long to get here unless you send them within the next 2 or 3 days so here it is:

Avenida João Baptista Parra, 633
Salas 1501/1502
Edificio Enseada Office
Praia do Suá, Vitoria, ES
29052-123 (And I add Brazil at the bottom :D)

{So If you want to send him a letter or package, now you can if you didn't know his address :) haha.}