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