Monday, July 1, 2013

Last Email 7/1/13

3 John 1:13-14, 
 13 I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and penawrite unto thee:
 14 But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.

Surreal 6/24/13

hey good morning:) it sounds like all is well. im so happy to hear all of that good news about babys being born and people getting engaged. Life is great here. im down to my last week and it still hasnt really sunk in. It doesnt seem real that im already going home. we had a really good week this last week. It passed bby super fast but we had a lot of fun. we worked hard and we are having good results this month is gonna be even better then the last month so were pretty pumped. on saturday we got a train to another city and it was super fun we had never gone by train before so it was a good little trip. we went to a churrascaria with prest and it was amazing. pres really spoiles us alot. 
    so ya as im sure youve heard about the protests here, they are real ha ha. last thursday vitoria had the 2nd biggest protest in all of brasil. it was pretty crazy, we were super close to where it was. we were in the office and it happened write in front of the office. they closed this big old bridge and jsut caused touble but what do you do. we just stayed in the office until it died down and then ran home. if was a good time. i took some pictures. 
      Yesterday they had that transmission that they past about the missionary work and i loved it so much. it is so great to learn from the example of others. we were a little sad because there were very few members that watched it but we as missionaries got excited and it got me excited to do missionary work as a member. there is no greater expirience. There was one part that got to me though. They made that little music video of "i hope the call me on a mission" and it really got me good. i remebered back to the primary when i would sing that song and i never thought that the day would come that i would go on a misison. and now that its coming to an end it seems like i blinked my eyes and it passed. Im so greatful for the great things that i have learned on my mission. I have gained a testimony so strong about this work and about our Savior Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and we depend on him so greatly. I have gotten a testimony of the importance of obidience. it is one of the most important concepts that i have learned on my mission. these last few weeks i have been helping some missionaries move there vision about the mission and i was bearing my testimony to them and i realized how much i have learned and the certanty that i have of the principle of this gospel. i know that our leaders are inspired men and that as we heed their counsils that we will be blessed imensly. 
         Thank you so much for your love and support during the best two years of my life. I love you so much. I look forward to seeing you shortly
Elder Furrows

6/17/13

hey mom,
this week was really good, we had a lot of baptisms:) it was great. im a little stressed right now because im trying to do my registration and i had a hold on there cause i hadnt completed a grad plan thing, but i did it real fast and now im just waiting them to take of the hold so i can get it done. 
         this week were gonna have a lot of baptism also. we got a report from salt lake about the last month and we broke the record of the mission. we had 107 baptisms and president was super excited. this month were gonna have even more for sure. were excited. im having a great time. soory this is short i love you so much thanks for everything. 
elder furrows

Hanging with President 6/10/13

so this week was super good we are working hard and having alot of fun. president is super chill he is always just like wanting to do stuff with us so he just like comes to the office and chills and talks to us. we have been talking to him about going to outback steakhouse since like one year ago when me and dom were in the office together and we havnt been because it is in the mall and we cant go to the mall but this week he was all like hey do you guys wanna go to the outback steakhouse and we were like heck ya and so we went and it was so dang good. it was a good time this week. today we have a zone party that we are going to that should be pretty fun. we have our last coucil that we will do on my mission and that is tomorow im super excited because i prepared some super cool trainings. 
      for sure i would like to see them in salt lake i will try to find them. just let me know what gate that they will be waiting at and i will go find them. it wiill all work out fine. 
         that is so nice of grandma and grandpa holm. tell them thanks so much from me. that is good that rustens party went well and there wasnt to many people that showed up, im sure that was a releif. well hope all is well and thatyou week goes super well. im excited to see youall to:) dont worry mom! love you 
elder furrows
hey so here are some pics of outback and one is of a trip that we did with pres and he got super tired so he pulled over and he was all im gonna take a nap, and so he pulled over and he just started talking to us alot and we were having a convo and all the sudden he just sttarted snoring and then like ten minutes later and we took off. he is so funny. 

1 Month Left 6/3/13

 man time really does fly. and this last month i can already tell you that it is going to go by so dang fast. im not sure how i feel about that but whatever im just gonna work my but off and try to forget that in a month im going home ha ha. man im sure that the yard is looking in tip top conditions now. oh how i remember those long days spent working in the yard. good times:) im sure that doug and rusten are working hard. 
        ha ha rusten is gonna throw a big party this weekend? im sure that will be a good time. man i remember those good ole days ha ha.im sure it will be a blast. let me know how it goes. man sheena sent me the picture of all the cousins at the funeral wow everyone looks so much older jo, rens son is so dang tall! how old is he now? 
 well this week went very good. it was the week of the mission conferences so we travled alot. i was so dang tired when saturday night showed up that i was waiting for one of my zone leaders to call me and i fell asleep and he called like 3 time and i just slept right threw it. i woke up sunday morning at 6:30 and realized that i had passed out and that i hadnt prayed personaly and not even with my comp. i forgot to brush  my teeth and i slept on top of all my papers that i was using to follow up with. it was pretty funny domaredzky was making fun of me cause he know that i normally am the one who doesnt like to sleep. and this night i konked out and he tried to wake me up and i didnt even budge ha ha. it was a long week that passed by in the blink of an eye. ha ha.
       it was kind of sad this week we had to send 2 sisters home and 2 elders for disobidience. you can imagine what happened. i fealt way bad cause you could see that it started out as something so small and it just got out of controle. and that was just one more head ache to take care of this week. talking with stake presidents in english. wow it is gonna be wierd having to speak only english when i get home. but ya that is about all that happend this week. were having alot of fun. im loving my mission more then ever. hope you have a great week love Elder Furrows

Baptism Record 5/27/13

hey mom, this week went very well. im sorry to hear about uncle wayne that is super terrible. you and our whole family are in my prayers. i hope that the funeral is super special tomorow. im gonna miss him he was a very great guy that i loved and respected with all of my heart. 
    so the transferes were this last week and me and dom are stilll together but we moved to a diferent house that is closer to everything that we do ever day. it is  a super fun house there are 7 of us that live there so it is always a big party ha ha. this week i didnt even seem like it was transferes we mantained the focus of the missionaries and we broke the record of baptism in the month and we were just under our goal by 7 baptisms. i was super stressed yesterday becuase i am seeing that the devil is getting more and more dirty every week. this week you wouldnt believe some of the things that happened that prevented baptisms from happening. i was frustrated but what do you do. for sure this next month we will do very well. i dont even feel like it is close to the end of my mission. me and domaredzky dont even talk about anything but the mission and so we are super focussed. this week we will travel alot because we are doing all the zone conferences so that will be fun. here are some pics of my birthday, a little party that the members threw for me and the other is in the restraunt with pres. and the last one is of this dog that was in my last area that looks just like good ole beesly. ha ha lvoe you have a great week
elder furrows

ps. so this week the liahona showed up and i have been reading the talks because i only got to watch to sessions. im loveing it so much. the first couple talks made me reflect alot. i especially like the talke of elder packer and the part where he said "I have come to know that faith is a real power, not just an expression of belief. There are few things more powerful than the faithful prayers of a righteous mother." thanks mom for being a righteous mother cause i have seen the power in your prayers

Brazil Vitoria Mission 5/22/13

Dear friends,
 
“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God… And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!”
 
Congratulations to Elder Furrows. He is a great  missionary and showed that this last week by bringing souls unto Christ. Continue supporting and praying for him.
 
Sincerely,
 
Brazil Vitoria Mission

Birthday 5/20/13

hey my birthday was super good. i dont think it could have been any better. we worked hard and the mission had a vrey good week. i ate my cake for sure it was amazing and i also won like 4 other cakes to. i had 2 suprise partys that the members threw for me. my comp said that it was hard to get me to get me to go because i was running so much this week but he managed to get me there haha. on saturday we went to presidente house and it was so good. we cut out a poster saying happy birthday to him and he live on the 12th floor in the front of the beach so we stood down on the beach and held them up and he came to the window haha it was funny. and then he took us out to a churrasco here in vitoria. ya it is also presidents bithday on the 18th so we celebrated together. and also there was a member of the 70 that ate with us Elder Granja so it was way cool. this last week we worked so hard and the baptism were so good. this week is the transfer and me and domaredky will continue  together. but we will move to a house that is closer for us. but it will be good. i cant beleive that im the oldest missionary on the mission now. im the next group that will go home. man that is crazy. 
    Hey tell carl hi for me and im sure alex did super good. im excited to see him.  well have  a good week sorry that this is so short but i love you all
Elder furrows

5/6/13

well this week was super good. im a little frustrated with the mission. i feel like me and my comp our on one page and the mission is on an other. we want to get better we do everything we can to get the missionaries excited to have sucess but it just seems like there is something that is stopping some from beleiving. it is sad to me when i see missionaries that have such great potential to do well and they dont do their best. or we missionaries dont realize the power and authority that we have been entrusted with. i feel like some missionaries believe that miracles have stoped in our days and they dont trust in their calling as representitaves of the Lord. it is hard to work with people ha ha:) but its all good. there is somthing that my president always says and its that each day is a new mission. so even if we didnt do out best in that day we need to forget about yesterday and serve out best today. so its a good thing that we got a whole new week to work with. 
    i cant believe that travis is home now! that is so nuts. when does alex get home? is it this week or the next? man im so proud of all of my friends they are such great examples to me.  
    ha ha rustens littles kittens im sure are getting the best treatment ever.
  that is great that grandma will be there when i call i love her so much.
wow so all of us will be getting home around the same time that is cool. ha ha the ward willl have a lot of movment going on . man i cant believe that im already finishing my mission it is a sad thought. ya i already received my flight plans. it will all work out good. i will be getting into IF at 12:30 in the afternoon on the 3rd. it is wierd to think that i will be entering into the united states againg, this place has become my home and im not to sure how i feel about leaving here. i love the people i love the culture i love the language i feel like i know the things i know about the chruch and the gospel in portuguese im gonna have to learn it all again in english. the other day we prayed in english and it was the first time that i had done it since i have gotten here. i made a goal in the mtc that i would only pray in the mission language but the other day we prayed in english and i said alot of words in portugues so im gonaa have to practice a little more ha ha.
well i hope you have a great week. love you
Elder Furrows

Rio De Janeiro 4/29/13

so this week was super goood. as you already heard i went back to linhares and so rose and alex and the fam. it was so great. i wanted to cry i was so happy they have a goal to go to the temple in june:) im so happy for them. their littlest girl ana caroline is so flippen cute she still remembers my name until this day and she wa so happy when she saw me. she was making fun of me and talking about how i talked when i was there the first time ha ha it was super fun. it was a great lunch. she fed 10 missionaries it was crazy. i have a testimony that the Lord blesses these wonderfull sisters because for one sister to make food for ten missionaries and have enough food the Lord for sure had to do some multiplying thereç ha ha. 
       ya so this week was also my first time in the state of Rio de Janeiro it was so cool. we went there to visit the zone conference and divide with some other missionaries there. it was super fun. the people there are so funny the way they talk the acsent is different ha ah. after we just came back to vitoria and went to the office we have a goal of 140 baptisms for the mission in this month of may so we prepared some cool things that we will send to all the missionaries. it will be a good month for sure. 
    yesterday we baptised one of the other sons of Sergio. he is doing super good. he received the preisthood yesterday and that was really cool. he is very excited about the chruch. yesterday was a great day at church cause there was two member that brought a whole bunch of people to the church to vistit and we visited all these people yesterday it was amazing. 
          so ya i didnt know that sheena was going out east that will be cool for her. what are they gonna do there. that is sad that she wont be there when i get home but that is her loss right:) ha ah just kidding. 
        wow there are alot of people getting married. that is crazy that brenan is getting married. wow that is crazy i will be home for that wedding that is wierd.fabian is going on his mission that is so cool tell hiim congrats. that will be super great. when does he leave? 
well have a good week love you all .
elder furrows

I Love Brazil 4/22/13

how are you doing this week? im doing super good. so ya this last week i got a new junior and it is elder marlette, ya the one you met on christmas. presidente just wants us to get them ready so that they can be leaders the next transfer, those poor suckers ha ha, we just call them like every hour to see what they have done to see how many baptismal invites they have done and dates they have marked it is pretty fun with them ha ha. they will be good and ready at the end of this transfer. 
         ya so you forgot that i know the people at the fedral police so i got the hook ups:) i just have to tell them the date that i want a visa till and they will get it for me ha ha. no just kidding your right i only got till july but i wish i could stay longer but as you said i will be starting a new mission that will be for my good. it is just weird to think about because all i know is this. i dont know if i know how todo anything else anymore ha ha. but i know that it will all work out for sure. 
   so that tv thing was like the day of the church here in espirito santo and we just had to be there to talk with the people and answer the questions. it was super chill ha ha. 
 dont worry the package got here and my comp got his ring. its all safe and sound. the cake is in the fridge and im just waithing till my bday to make it:) my comp is super pumped about it. 
so this past week we travled so much. we just started travling to the north part of the mission visiting pretty much every area till we got to the boudries of our mission. it was super fun cause we went with presidente and sister. so we just talked the whole time and it was great. they are so amazing. they crack me up. pres he cant stand to wait to eat noon hits and he is pullin over to eat or stoping what ever he has going on to eat so we ate very well this last week. they gave us alot of tips and we talked about our lifes goals and everything it was good. we got up to Teófilo Otoni and we had to get a bus to come back to vitoria for a meeting on saturday morning. it was a rough bus ride i didnt sleep at all and so im good and tired. Sergio is doing so good. he was confirmed this week and it was so good. i have never seen a confirmation so spiritual in my mission. he is a very great man. he has a spirit so strong and he has so much faith that  it blows my mind. 
  it was also fun this week we got 23 new missionaries and they are all so excited. i love the new missinoaries because they dont know what is going on they just want to work. they dont care about the bad areas of the mission or bad comps for them it is all the same and they are amazing. this week we are also going to travle alot but it will be good. 
          ha ha good ole Wes, tell him hi for me and that im looking forward to his visits when i get home. 
man i have just realized so much latley how much i love the brazilian culture they are so happy and it is so different. i think about not being around brazilians and it makes me sad. but what do you do. so im writing this email and this song just came on the chruches radio station its called: Give It all to him, by Tel Dyer, wow  it was rough listining to it ha ha if you know me well you know that im a softy ah ha. but i love you and hope that all is well. have a great week. 
Elder Furrows

Attitudes 4/15/13

hey so this week was super good. we had alot of sucess and we are super super happpy with all of the results that are happening. we are seeing the miracles happening in front of us. the missionaries are starting to move their attitudes more and more and they are seeing that attitude is everything and that sucess comes through how our attitude is and acording to our faith. this last week we broke the record for baptisms in one week for the mission so we are super excited for that and we are always telling this missionaries that there is no going back we cannot do less than ur potential. this week will be the transferes and me and my comp are going to get juniors so that they can stay in the area and we can travle. it is gonna be fun i was already comps with my new comp and domaredzky also was already comps with his new comp. it is gonna be super fun for sure. this transfer is only 5 weeks so it is gonna pass by faster that heck. im not to happy that the mission is passing by so fast. i think i willl extend? ha ha what do you think mom? 
 wow tha tis cool that everyone is growing up so much graduating and getting baptised that is so good. wow i remember Ellie being like 4 years old that is nuts that she was baptised. and amador to that is so cool im sure that was a great day for his father.  im so happy that you guys are creating that tradition of going to the temple every wednesday you will be so blessed for that . man i wish that i was as strong as rusten and had a testimony like him when i was his age. he will grow so much as he continues on this same path. he is gonna be a way better man than i am. well this week we are gonna be super busy we have to travle alot but it will be good im excited for it. hope all is well. sorry that this email is so short but i love you all
Elder Furrows

Great Surprises 4/8/13

man this last week has just been full of great suprises. we worked hard and our efforts are starting to pay off. the mission is starting to change for the better and we are recognizing that the missionaries are changing their attitudes. we are happy that is for sure. 
          can you beleive it? a temple in Rio what a great blessing for the people of rio and for the people of my mission. rio is only 6 hours from where im at and the people are extatic. this is an answer to so many peoples prayers and it was so great to see the reaction and the emotions that the people had when President monson announced it. i know that the lord is hastening his work he is calling all of us to the field. it is white and ready to harvest and after the conference i fealt that more than ever. i only got to watch the preisthood session but it was so great. man all of the deacon presidents in the world are workin their butts off now if they werent before ha ha. it was super good. i hope that we can all study and meditate on the words that were said and aply them in our lives. 
       so that family that we found last week him and his son were baptised yesterday and it was a miracle. this last week we really worked super hard but we didnt work in our area. we visited a ton of missionaries and we called and we passed things to the zone leaders every single day. we were always calling the zone leader passing new ideas to them and those that applied it in their zones had so much sucess.we started this week with 9 baptismal dates in the whole mission and we finnished this week with 17 baptisms which isnt a ton but we are happy because the missionaries are moving. on friday we sent all of the missionaries to the church and had them fill up the baptismal fonts. we told all of the missionaries that they would baptise this week. we promissied them that if they did everything in their reach and didnt ever stop looking during this week that they would find the elects. and those who took the challenge and did it all baptized. we told everyone to take their investigators to the font and invite them to be baptised right after the conference. and there were so many that baptised. it was so amazing the zone leader were calling us like every 5 minutes passing new informations. it was a miracle.
    so our baptism that we had this week was also a miracle. we didnt get to visit him one time this week. we saw him on the road on saturday and we told him to come to the conference and he said he would. so sunday afternoon he was all dressed up and ready to go and his wife said that he couldnt go anymore. so he didnt want to fight so he went to his room and prayed. at the same time we were at the chruch with is like an hour from his house and me and my comp were just like, lets go get Sergio. so we showed up and he was all i dont think it is gonna work. he went back into his house and when he came out he was all in his nice clothes and ready to go. so we got to the church watched conference and after we took him to the font and bore our testimonies and invited him to be baptised him and his son right then and there. he didnt even hesitate, and said yes. we interviewed them and baptized them both. it was such a miracle. i know that the Lord has big plans for this man. i must confess there was   a moment when i doubted. when he said yes that he would be baptised i didnt beleive and them i remembered the scripture in 1 corinthians 2:
 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s awisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost bteacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
 14 But the anatural man breceiveth not the things of the cSpirit of God: for they are dfoolishness unto him: neither can he eknow them, because they are fspirituallygdiscerned.
 15 But he that is spiritual ajudgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
i though that it was crazy but it was the Lords will. it was also cool cause this same thing happened to a whole bunch of other missionaries so i know that at the begining of this week me and my comp we prayed and we fealt aas if we needed to do this and i can say with surity that it was the Lords will. im so greatful for the testimony that im building everyday.
       this week was also cool because we went on the camera tv thingy and it was super cool. it was for the state and it was like the day of the chruch hear in espirito santo. 
well love you have a great week
elder furrows

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Great Messages 4/1/13

ha ha mom you got me good, but if they moved it to 3 years i would be down for the challenge. we played a trick on all the missionaries this moring we told them that p day was moved to wednesday and that they had to work just like it was any other day today. it was super funny everyone was like are you serious ha ha. so im glad you all had a great easter and that the family got together im sure it was a good time. our easter was good. my comp got a whole bunch of chocolate sent to him so we have been eating choclate for the last couple days like mad men. so ya i got your letter this week of the book of mormon challenge. i will try my best. these last 4 weeks my  study pattern has been real messed up. normallywe leave are house before 8 in the morning so i never have time to study. we are either in meetings or traveling to visit missionaries or following up with this goals of the missionaries, but i will try to read a whole bunch on pdays and we will see if i can get it done ha ha. 
         thankyou so much for the advise mother dear, you always say somthing that burns me alittle bit but that i need to do. i know i need to be alot more sensative to the missionaries in that aspect of dates falling. im trying my best to show everyone alot of love. this last week we started visiting all the missionaries in their houses and we talked to them and praised them and helped them with their problems and we really feel as if this will help alot. we have been receiving so much help from up above. we learned this week that we recieve acording to our desires.   12 And it came to pass that after I had aprayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy bdesires, because of thy faith. (Enos 1:12) 
  we really saw this scripture in action this past week as we put all of our selfesh desires aside and we focussed of that which is important. we had so many ideas that were put into our minds and we are passing all of this to the mission and it is starting to move the mission. the faith of the elders is growing and our faith is two. we wanted to pass a goal for the mission of baptisms for the month of abril, so we prayed alot and fasted and we trusted in the Lord and passed the goal and the missionaries are excited we passed some ideas that they can do and we know that as they do it they will reach their potential. we told them that they have to focus on baptizing families. that they need to tell the members and the leaders of the church what there goal is and what this missions goal is. that they must ask the members to pray and fast so that they may accomplish the goal, and that all the missionaries must fast once a week. we promissed them that as they do these 4 things that they will reach their goal. 
  this week is the general conferance and we are going to take advantage of the 4 sessions and take investigators. we told th elders that they cant watch conference if they dont have investigators there. we also are going to tell the elderes that all the chaple where conference will be displayed the baptismal font needs to be cleaned and filled because we need to show our faith in the Lord that we will have baptisms. we are super excited about the work. we feel as if we have started to find a little solution. we are working hard. we found a great family yesterday and they were prepared bythe Lord for sure. this last saturday we moved to a new house and im beat! we lived on the fourth floor and we had totake everything out of the house ha ha it was a good time. im super pumped for conference i know that we will recieve the answers that we are looking for this weekend. i found some cool video clips that i wanted to pass to you this first one is called missionary work and the atonement. i watched this and it helped me alot. the other one i liked alot and i thought of Rusten and all other young men when i watched it. the time to prepare is now. the advisary is strong and getting stronger. we must be stronger. im trying my best to become the man the Lord wants me to be. i know that this time that i have spent on the mission has helped me so much to become this man. im so greatful for my Savior and Redeemer. i know that threw Him i will recieve the forgivness that my heart so long desires. i learned that the Lord grants us acording to the desires of our hearts weather it be for eternal salvation or damnation. the desires of my heart our starting to show themselves and im very pleased with it. i love the Lord and His gospel. have a great week love you all. 
elder furrows

Focus on the Good 3/25/13

how are you doing today? it sounds like all is well. this last week was a great week. as you saw it rained alot. and no mom i didnt see any men peeing in  the roads but it didnt matter because the sewer is like a canal in the middle of the street here and it is open, so it rained and all the water goes into the sewer and then it floods and all that water is just mixed with rain and pee and poop. ha ha so it is pretty nasty but what do you do. you just got to walk threw it and not think about it to much. but this last week we worked alot. we are having a problem on the mission and it has been the same problem ever since the begining of the transfer. the elders are not worried about the results. there are alot of baptism that are fallin at the last minute and the missionaries are not even worried and they are having problems in getting people to come to chruch. we have tried so many different things to help them but the situation still has not moved. if you have any ideas please let me know and that goes for anyone who reads this.
     this last week we went to nanuque, which is a city that is like an 8 hour bus ride away from here and so thursday we got the bus at like 10 at night and we tried sleeping but that was a failure and we got to nanuque and just went to work, that same day at 11 at night we got another bus to come back vitoria, we tried sleeping again, that was one more failed atempt ha ha and when we got to vitoria we had to got to a meeting that started and 8:30 and we had to walk for like an hour at like 5 in the morning to get there ha ha so today we are going to get in some good nap time ha ha. but it was a very fun week we are loving our area so much. we left with this old man this week, his name is pedro and he has 80 years, he is such a stud, we went with him to visit a reference by his house and the reference wasnt home but he didnt even care he was all well now that were already out lets work and he just started contacting people on the street. the two people that he contatcted he prety much did i bible bash with them but it was so awesome. we knocked some doors and taught some lessons with him and every house that we went in he presented us so well. you can really tell when somone is converted to the gospel, this man knows the difference that the gospel will make in the lives of the´people and so he is not affraid to talk to everyone. he was an example to me. he was determined to convert every person that he talked to and he never left a shadow of a doubt. he is a great man and he taught me a lesson or two about missionary work. it was a good time.
             good work on making that lady feel good im sure that she appreciated it alot. and that is so true that people dont care how much you know until they know how much you care. that was exactly what i needed to hear from you. thanks. no i dont know about the challenge of reading the book of mormon yet. i think its been about a little over a month that i havnt gotten mail ha ha. but i will try to read it to. well hope that all is well back home love you all have a great week.
elder furrows

The Work 3/19/13

hey how is it going this week. sounds like all is going very well. wow rusten went to the stake dance and danced? when i was his age we just stayed on the sides and everyone just sat there looking at one another waiting for the other to ask them to dance ha ha. ya i heard that casey was getting married that is good. im sure they will be happy. so this last week we had a good week. we got Elias all good and confirmed. this week we had conferences all week in all the zones and it was super good president  showed a film and it was so good. it is called Billy Peck and the blue vase, it was so good and it is very good to get the missionaries all excited. so ya me and domaredzky go home the same time and he is from curitiba, paraná. he is such a stud. him and his family are going to the states at the end of this year and so you will get to know them. sorry that this week my email is a little lame but it will be better next week i love you so much have a good one. 

elder furrows

Elder....... 3/11/13

how are you doing this week? sounds like all is well back home. that is sad to hear that grandma fell again but she is tough she wont let it get her down. im always praying for the health of everyone in our family. i know that the Lord will protect everyone. that is super cool that you guys got to hold the bears that would be super legit im sure. im sure that the talk that patriarch gave was super good. he is such a great man. it is interesting because satan is stronger than ever and he is coming with all his force. but on the other hand the Lord is hastening his work and He came back by calling more missionarys. we are getting alot of missinoarys these next couple transfers and yes alot are sisters. i love being on the mission at this time. that is crazy that emily called off the wedding but she wont regret it for sure.
  well the transfers were this week and it went super good. you will never guess who is my comp? Elder....... ........................................................Domaredzky:) yup me and dom again. it will be super good. we were called to be the assistents of president so now we have a lot of work to do. im pretty sure that this was the busiest week of my mission. we are serving in an awesome area called andre carloni. it is the best ward in the mission and we baptised this last weekend. we got here and the other elderes had left this guy that was still smoking and they werent really firm with him so we got here and we were super firm and he excepted and was baptised he is a stud he is mineiro.we have lost alot of sleep this week,late nights preparing trainings and keeping tabs on all the missionaries and the dates and baptisms. it is pretty crazy but we are seeing that the Lord is really showing us the things that we can do to have more sucess as a mission. so we are trying to be humble and follow that what the Lord would have us do. it is a very great expirience and im happy to be here.
  last week when i was talking about how it is alot harder to send someone home in the end of the mission than at the begining was because at the begining of the mission i was full of energy and at the i have been walking in the hot sun for more than a year in a half. and so when your comp is not excited it is harder for you to stay excited but now it is all good, im with domaredzky  my main man and it will be só sucesso!
   this week i had a dream that i got home and it was the weirdest feeling i have ever fealt i didnt like it to much, so i decided that im not coming home:) just kidding. well i love you so much. hope that you have a great week and that all goes well for you. pray for me!
love elder furrows

Wow 3/4/13

boy let me tell you what when i sent my first two companions home at the beginging of my mission it was alot easier than it was now that im at the end of the mission. but it is all good we worked our butts off. i had to wait for my comp a little bit here and there and walk super slow with him but its all good. so i was transfered i only stayed this one transfer in this area but you wont here me complain that im leaving ha ha. just kidding it was a good area i leaned alot. i also leaned a ton with my comp. tomorow is the transfer and so i will get a new comp and a new area:) it will be a good time. 
    this last week i had some cool expiriences that i had never had before on the mission that was super cool. we were teaching this lady and we invited her to pray and read the book of mormon. so the next day we meet up with her to chat and i asked her how was her pray and she was like it was reallly good i fealt somithing different and i know that it is true, my jaw dropped to the ground because normally we have to draw it out for the invetigators how they will get an answer and she was all i know i fealt it. i was like heck ya that is sick. and in that same lesson i was giving her a warning that the devil would be there to temp her now that she is preparing for the baptism and i said that people would come up and offer you things that you have never been offered before. and out of nowhere this man shows up and offered us some weed. i was like you cant say i didnt tell you so ha ha. it was super cool. in the moment i couldnt help but laugh it was so perfect. but it was a good week. im really trying to learn how to controle my thoughts. i want to only think in one thing and that is Christ i know that as i think about him and only him that i will have the apirit with me and will have sucess. im learning alot. i love my mission so much. it is so amazing. 
sorry my emails are so short latley. i will try to get better at remembering the cool things that happen durning the week. well have a good week i love you all so much. thanks for everything
love elder furrows

Help Others 2/25/13

OOOOOOOOpPPPPPPáááá´a
so this week was super good. we are working hard and were staring to see some of the fruits of our labor. my comp is doing good. this is his last week and he woke me up this morning dancing and screaming that it is just one more week ha ha so he is pretty trunky but he is still working super hard. this next transfer there are 20 missionaries that are going to show up and the are about 15 that are going home so the transfer is gonna be super big and  im sure it will be fun. there is alot that im trying to get better at and im fasting alot latley. im know that it will help. im already recognizing some of the little changes that are happening in my life. 
    this week we were at the chruch calling some people to mark our compromises and when we walked out there was these 2 women that were there and asked if we could help them out because the were starving and there kids were at home hungry and so we went and asked the patriarch if he could help them out and he was all no just give them some eggs that are in the fridge at the chruch, well i could see that they werent just trying to rob us so we went and baught them some groceries. it is always good to help when you can. alot of the times people in brasil and in the whole world they are always thinking that people are just out to get them and that if you help someone out that you are not doing any good. i dont like that vision. i think that we need to help everyone. we need to go to whatever extent that may be necessary to help our brothers and sisters. i see it here alot the members of the chruch are not willing to help the other members of the chruch let alone a complete stranger and it makes me sad. money is a thing that can be good and used for good but also satan has taken it and is using it to his advantage alot. we will not be judged according to the money that we make here on this earth but of what we did to help otheres and our good actions. 
     well this week will be super good im sure i hope that all is well. have a good wekk i know that i will. 
elder furrows

me desculpe ha ha ‏ 2/18/13

so sorry about the whole not emailing last week. this last week it was carnaval( it is that holiday were they party hard and the girls dance samba pretty much naked in the roads) so everything was closed and we didnt have anyway to send email, but no worries im doing great. holy cow when you miss a week of email you miss a lot of information ha ha. but it sounds like everyone it doing super good and that rusten is a champ swimmer tell him that he is a boss. you are in utah right now? does rusten not have schoool right now? 
 well as i told you that im back in jd da penha. the work is going great it is a little slower that im used to but we are trying to get things up to speed. we are working hard. this last week i got a little frustrated with the work, i was compaining alot that we werent having success and we really werent. and so i was down on my self it seemed like every person that we had that was progressing just stopped wanting to now about what we had to offer. and i was just getting more and more fed up. it is wierd because we are having so many good ideas and helping so many missionaries but it is like our area is not progressing. well yesterday we went to a meeting with our ward mission leader and he could tell that i was pretty down and so he started talking about his mission and how that everything that happened on his mission served to bless him in his life. he said that the hardest times that he had in his mission and the things that he learned in those times are the most useful things in his life. so we left the meeting and we had to do a couple more contacts to make our goal and so we are doing street contacts and it was about 8;45 and we were right by the church and there was this young man on his bike and we went up to him and invited him to come see the church so he came and we sat down and taught him a super fast lesson( we call them 5 minute lessons, we teach the restoration and the book of mormon and invite to be baptised)  and he was super excited and fealt the spirit and we invited him to be baptised this next sunday and he was like for sure. im not sure if he will be baptised or no but one thing that i learned is that success is all about attitude. my attitude was bad the whole weeek and the Lord was not blessing me and the minute that i changed my attitude last night the change was from night to day. the mission is so great. im loving it so much. it is passing by so fast it is crazy. well i love you all and hope that you have a great week. im sure that i will in as much as i look for the little blessing in my life and am happy. i will strive to do that. 
love Elder Furrows

Dang Computers 2/4/13

so i had a big ole email written to you and the the internet fell and i lossed it all and now i dont have to much time before p day ends but i just wanted to say that i love you im doing good. we are seeing miracles happening in our area and im trying super hard to become a missionary that testifys and invites with the power of the Holy Ghost. the transfers went good. im back here in the same ward that i was in before i went to cachoeiro. im in jardim da penha but this time im in the actual bairro of jd da penha. my area is the richest area in all of vitoria so the work is pretty hard. my new comp is elder aguaysol he is from argentina and he is a stud. this is his last transfer so it will be the 3rd person that i send home on the mission it will be super good. well have a good week tell rusten good luck in the swim meet. love you 
Elder Furrows

Monday, June 24, 2013

Flying By... 1/28/13

one more transfer has past and gone. holy cow the transfers are flying by so fast. i am being transfered, to know i dont know, but i have faith that the lord will bless me with an area that is less hot!!!!!:) ha ha, it is impossible to have an area in our mission that is more hot than this one so it is all goood.
   well it sounds like all is going well back home! that is good. ya i saw sheen that looks pretty rough but im glad that she is ok. ya i heard about all those people that died that is super sad. oh real fast the pics are one of me and the bottom of my old shoes and the other is this last week i hit the 1 1/2 year mark so i burnt me a pair of pants ha ha it was a good time. 
      this last week was super good. atila is kind of struggling, he doesnt want to be a trouble for anyone so he just says no. we cant get him to commit to anything so that was kind of frustrating. he prayed this week and received a confirmation but he is scared to follow it. Graciani has gotten super mole on us. she is doing everything we ask her to do but she is doing it all for the wrong reasons so she is not getting answers to her prayers. it was kind of frustrating with her this last week. so i have learned alot in this ward. it has been a pretty tough area as far as the ward goes. but it was good for me. last night we had a cood thing happen. we where walking in front of this huge nice house and out of no where we hear elders. and i look back and it is these two members. well it turns out that that is her dads house and that he hasnt let any missionaries enter into his house ever. he barley lets his son in law into the house. and he invited us in there last night and it was super cool. i fealt like i was in the united states. the house was huge with a pool and everything, it was really cool but the coolest part was is that when we left, the member, she was like in shock. she couldnot believe that we had gotten in there. and that he liked us alot. he invited us to come back whenever we wanted so it was very cool. the Lord is working hard that is for sure.
    tell rusten congrats on the calling and that i will be praying for him so that he will be able to magnify his calling. he has been given the authority to fufill his calling now he just needs to find and exercise the power in his authority. im sure that he blessing was super good. and yes i feel his hand in my work. 
  well i hope that all is well i love you all have a great week. enjoy the super bowl for me:)
love elder furrows

Successes 1/21/13

so this week was super good we had a lot of sucess in finding new people and families to teach so that has been very good. the devil is working hard to bring down our investigators but we are also working hard against him. yesterday we got gracyany to church and she loved it. and also we got atila to chruch he is paralized so he came in a wheel chair it was legit. i dont know if you had the same class yesterday from the teachings of president snow but if you had the 2nd lesson taught then that was an amazing lesson. it really helped our investigators out. this is the last week of the transfer we will see if i will stay or not. im loving this area. this last week it has rained a little so i t is nice. o ya i got my shoes redone. now i have airplane tires for the soles :) but all is well here. im glad you had a great bithday. it looks like it was a good time. have a good week and i love you all.
love Elder Furrows

ps tell rusten that he will have to make me something cool on his lathe when i get home

FELIZ ANIVERSARIO PARA A MELHOR MÃE DO MUNDO 1/14/13

hey hey mother dear. i hope that your birthday this sunday will be the best one yet. i know that you are getting old but you are still that same old active mother to me that would chase me down the hall way and trip me flat on my face when i would fight with rusten. ha ha ( i remember that till this day ha ha) but thank you so much mom for the great example that you are to me and for love that you have always shown me through out my life. you are the best mother that any one could dream of and i love you so much. thank you for helping me to follow the example of our Lord Jesus Cristo. you are the greatest example to me of a rightous women. i tell people evertime the conversation comes up that if i find a girl that is just like my mother i know that there will not be a better one for me. thank you for everything and happy birthday. 
     it sounds like everything is super busy there at home. the cold doesnt stop you. you should see this city. it rained this week and it stayed a little bit cold and everyone was like dying. people got sick. and it only got down to like 85. ha ha it is funny though cause i even fealt a little cold. im super done for when i get home. tell rusten to keep up the good work in the swiming and that the race is on.that is good to hear that ther are more young men in the ward getting ready to go out to serve. have there been alot of young women leaving? 
    well this week was super good. saturday we left with some members and got some sweet refernces from them. it was awesome. we have this investigator that is a adventist and she is being super stubborn. but i have fealt the spirit with her so strong that i cant give up on her. this week i have studdied alot to try to help our investigators with their doubts and it has been a neat expirience because i learn so much when i search for the answers for the people im serving and it helps them also. this week i was thinking alot about my weakneses that i have and how i can get better. i thought of the sacrement prayer and the part that says we will always remember him and take his name upon us. i thought to myself that alot of the times when i am faced with a situation the first thing that i think is not, what whould Jesus do, so i realized that in order for me to remember him i must always be thinking about him and his life and his teachings and his example. i have been putting it to the test and it really has been helping me to better myself. 
      well i hope that all is going super well at home and that you have a great bithday. love you all. 
love Elder Furrows

Baptism 1/7/13

hey hey,
so the deed is done. she is good and married? well that is good i hope that she is happy and has a good time:) as for me and my house we will serve the lord ha ha. we are doing super good here. the baptisms happened yesterday and it all worked out just like we had planned. i fasted because during the week the mom of the twins kind of got a little sketchy on us so i fasted the the baptims would work out and i thought that my fast was in vain cause sunday morning shows up and i tried calling her she didnt answer, we showed up at the chruch and they werent there. and i was like wow that sucks. but boy was i wrong. my faith was super week and then when i saw them walking in with their big smiling faces i knew that the lord had blessed my fast. it was really one of the first times that i had seen the automatic blessing from fasting. 
    this week has been good. we stayed up tilll midnight to welcome in the new years and then we suffered the next day ha ha. but it was all good. it is still just as hot as ever and will continue being just as hot for aonther 2 months or so ha ha. our investigators are doing super good. were having alot of sucsess. it is going great. 
      this morning we got up super early to climb up this peak with some members. it is the highest peak here in cachoeiro and it was super legit. we had a dang good time and i took some really good pictures. 
   tell rusten congrats on the swimming and that our race is still on when i get home. i think i will still be able to beat him ha ha. 
well hope all is well back home, love you all
Elder Furrows

Feliz Ano Novo!!! 1/2/13

sorry that i didnt get to write you till just now. everything was closed the past couple of days and there was no where to send emails from until today. but im doing fine. so it was so good to be able to talk to you and say hi to everyone and see how huge rusten is that is so crazy he is a monster. 
      so im glad that everything is going well back home that makes me happy to know that everyone had a good christmas and i would imagine that you had a good new year also. our new year was good we got home and we just played monopoly deal until midnight ate some ice cream and then went to bed. i thought i was gonna die the next day. a year and a half of the same sleeping patterns and then you mess with that it gets you good that is for sure. but it all worked out well. man you should see this city. these last couple of days i fealt like i had gone back to roberts because there was not a single person in sight. seriously everyone goes to the beach and there is no one in the roads. and the people that are in the roads are on there way to the beach so they dont stop and talk to you at all ha ha. the dogs in the street were not even stopping to talk to us ha ha but it is all good were having a good time. this new year will be super good. it is so weird to think that form the begining to the end of last year i was on the mission. it was super good. i have learned so much. 
 well this last sunday we were suposed to baptise but it didnt work out so that was sad but it isall good causse we remarked it for this sunday so we will see what happens. yesterday was a very cool day. besides the fact that there was no one in sight we still got some great lessons in. an elder got transfered so his comp had to come stay with us and he had already served in out area that were in now and i was talking to him to see if he remembered any one he had taught and he said that he never taught on our side of the river. well as were walking he was like hold up we taught one person right here closse so we go to the house and it didnt have anyone living there anymore. we were like shoot well what ever and then i asked this man if he knew were the kid moved to and he showed us were he lived and we taught him and he is a stud. it was so great to be able to be an instrument in the hands of the lord like we were. and through this kid we got like 5 references and found a whole bunch of new people it was a great way to start the new year i will tell you what. but ya so that is about all that is happening on my parts. hope that all is well over there. have a great week and make this year a good one by setting good goals.
love Elder Furrows

Feliz Natal!! 12/24/12

hey hey how is it going for you all back home. it is going very well here. this week was super great we had a lot of sucess and we did a sweet service project up in the mountains it was nice and cool up there. we also had transfers this week and we have two new elders living with us now so that is nice. we also had a fun christmas party it was a good time.so i will call tomorow at about 3 your time. sheena said that it would work out for you guys i hope. 
     i love christmas so much it is such a wonderful spirit that is in the air. i got the package from the ward adn i love those stories that were in ther so much. i cried as i read every single one of them. im really striving to serve and to help more people. well i love you so much sorry this is so short but i will chat with you tomorow:) love you so much. have a great party tonight and a great christmas morning. i willl im sure. 
Elder Furrows

12/17/12

well how are you doing this week? is all well back home im  sure that it is. it sounds like you had a good time with the christmas party and all. and that you are busy and what not. that is super crazy about Caden Robison i bet he is pretty pumped up to get out of there. and that is super crazy about abby! hey speaking of which get the adress of her mission for me please? man i bet that makes Brenan super happy to know that he baptised someone and that they are on a mission now i bet that is amazing. 
     so this last week we have been melting in the sun. it is so hot here it is hard to believe. but were working still. i realized this last week that my prayers were getting kind of week and as a result i was getting unexcited with the work so i have started praying in a seperate room, and outload and it really is a cool expirience. were trying are best here this area is pretty rough but were moving that. we have transferes and a christmas party this week so that will be fun im pretty pumped up for that. we will go to vitoria tomorow and party it up. i didnt get transfered yet cause im still training my comp. 
    this week during our studdies we heard a knock at our door and we go out an we see some Jehovas Whitnesses and they saw us and three of them just walked off and left the guy to fend for himself. poor sucker ha ha it was a good conversation if you know what i mean. ha ha. no we didnt burn him we made him feel very good so it was all good. 
 well i hope that all is well back home. i made a new commitment this week to forget myself and go to work. i need to start working harder and start thinking more about the lords kingdom in the city so that it will grow here. well i love you all have a good one and we will talk to you next week
Elder Furrows

Outer Darkness? 12/10/12

man i will tell you what if outer darkness is anything like cachoeiro then im gonna do my best to not go there cause it is so flippen hot in this area! i have never had the urge to just melt until this last week ha ha. it was about an average of 115 degrees and it is just straight up hills here. we were dying this week. it started raining right now and i have never been so greatful ha ha. but i will tell you what im gonna suffer when i get home from the mission. i think i will probaly freaze to death haha. 
   wow that is so nuts that clint is home and that you saw him already. try to do all you can to be there at his homecoming. i love that kid so much. he is such a good example to me. so it is the field fam party this weekend that should be good. and it sounds like everything else is going very well there. i hope that everyone is well
     so this week besides it being super crazy hot, it was a great week. our trip to hawaii went very well. we got alot of people out to it and it was a blast. it was super basilian style the party but it was good ha ha. you got to love brasilians. well we have really been being blessed with good people to teach this week. now what we need to to is just find an appartment full of elects of the Lord so that we dont have to go outside to get to our other appointments ha ha. that would be a dream. we did a super fun activity this week with the young men. we gave a training on contacts in the streets for mutual and then we went out with them and we did contacts. it was super fun to see them trying their hardest to talk to the people and seeing them get shut down sometimes but they jsut kept going. me and my comp are doing super good. elder marlette is such a stud. we are working super hard and trying to be worthy of the blessing that we are recieving.
  this sunday we went to pick up some investigators and we got to there house and they had left and it just was a rough morning. we got to church and i was a little upset. and then during the sacrament meeting i started to look around and i realized that we had alot of sucess this last week. we had a couple investigators there and we had invited a less active family of like 10 years to come back to chruch and they were there. and so i just sat back and i realized that i need to be so much more greatfull for the blessings that i have and that i need to be willing to open my eyes to recognize that im so blessed. well i hope that you all have a great week. i love you so much. have a great party and we will have a super hot but great week for sure
Elder Furrows