Last Email 7/1/13

3 John 1:13-14, 

 13 I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen^awrite 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 ^fspiritually^gdiscerned.

 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