So many adjustments with being a District Leader...a new companion and trying to keep the ward together. It is humbling to hear about all his efforts. I couldn't be more proud!
This week was a crazy one. I dont like being a district leader and not
being
able to speak Portuguese. The sister missionaries get annoyed
with me when I
dont understand what they say but really its cuz they
broke their cell phone
and it cuts out every other word making it
almost impossible for me to catch
anything. But yeah its super fun. I'm
now in charge of 7 other missionaries, 2
sisters and 2 americans. Its
crazy Elder Embree is like best friends with
Kyle Brown and a bunch of
people from Spokane. He was showing me pictures of
them down at BYU
and they're all going back to live together once they all
return. Such
a small world. The life of a trainer is really fun. Now we do
what I
say and that's awful cuz I'm bad at plans, but its funny how the
Lord
works sometimes. We make a "wrong turn" or something and we run
into
somebody. For example we took a taxi from another area back to
our
area and I gave him the address of our church as like a
reference
point not that we needed to go there. And he made a wrong turn
and
missed our chapel by one road and he was like let me drive you to
the
church but we got out just cuz we were gonna go walk around
anyways
like not a big deal. But we ran into a girl that we only would
have
found if that taxi driver had made a wrong turn. There's little
things
like that that happen everyday. But our biggest challenge now is
our
ward. Our ward is like dead. We have over 300 inactives and we
have
about 30 more that are on the cusp of leaving. Bad news bears
cuz
that's our whole Ward. We spent a majority of our time this week
with
members cuz nobody in the bispado goes to there houses anymore
and
everybody is feeling spiritually weak. And we cant bring
investigators
to the church when the members are all down and stuff so now
its more
of a save the ward thing. Its gonna be tough and we probably
aren't
going to baptize many people but with the current condition of
our
ward we aren't going to baptize anyways. But this week I ran into
an
English teacher and he had me come talk to his class about the US
and
English and what not. It was awesome and hilarious. The first
class
was mostly teenagers and so a lot of the questions were like are
you
married do you have a girlfriend have you thought about
dating
Brazilians that kind of thing but the second class was more of
like
how the people are in the US the cultural differences it was
really
cool. And it was all in English which was even better. It was a
long
week, and I feel like this transfer is going to be a long one.
The
good news is I'm teaching 80% of the lessons. Elder Lieds
biggest
problem is that he's smart, sometimes too smart. His examples and
stuff
goes right over peoples heads. They have no idea what hes
talking
about. Our goal is to keep things as simple as possible and for
me
thats easy cuz I have a very simplistic vocabulary in Portuguese.
But
the whole world loves Elder Lied, hes a really friendly
outgoing
person which is what I needed cuz I still dont like conversing
in
Portugese, I stink really bad at it. So he talks, I teach, problem
solved.
He's fine I don't have any real problems with him. The only one is
that
he touches me a little more than I would like. He´ll like walk
down
the street with his arm around me or like hug me at random times
its
weird and a little creepy. But that's an easy fix. Oh and Tang
release
rasPberry juice down here. you know you're a missionary when
new
flavors of powdered juice get you excited but Tang is oh so
delicious
and has oh so many flavors its awesome. Well love you guys, ill
talk
to you next week!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
He's a District Leader and Trainer!
Kyle told his Dad in a separate letter that when he went to Teresina this past week to train and pick up his companion that President Dias pulled him aside and told him that "He's left the area of Imperatriz in my hands and to not let him down." I am grateful for the faith and trust that our Heavenly Father has in Kyle. I know he is committed to the work and loves the Brazilian people. He's told me so! In case you missed some of the past posts, Kyle is going by Elder Hal (after one of his Grandpa's) he had to come up with a name that the Brazilians could understand. Rindlisbacher and Kyle don't work in Portuguese!
Well the news is in on my transfer. who has two thumbs and
is trainer\district leader? Elder Hal. I now have my own district and
a trainee, Elder Lied. I saw his name and I wanted to cry cuz I
thought he was American and I was scared out of my mind but he's
brazilian so its all good. I had to travel to Teresina, 13 hours by
bus....not cool, to pick him up and bring him back. So I left tuesday
at 8 in the morning got to Teresina at 11ish woke up at 6 30 the next
day went to 3 hours of training to train, got my comp and left teresina
at 5. We got to Imperatriz at like 6 in the morning the next day, worst
3 days of my life. Brazilian buses stink I hate them. But Hes from Rio
Grande Do Sul which happens to be the rich smart area of Brasil. He
definately different than Elder Azevedo. Hes...interesting. Hes gonna
work alot which Im happy about, the only problem is hes a little
intense and odd. I was asking him stuff he liked to do before the mish
and all he did was study and work for the goverment. so like hes super
smart but hes kind of a jerk about it, especially with people that
arent nearly as intelligent as him here. But like we are fine. I like
living with him cuz hes educated has to have things super clean and
can cook just about anything. Im just gonna try to call him down. He
was bearing his testimony like 3 inches from an 84 year old mans face
for like 15 minutes and stuff like that but I mean hes new he'll figure
it out. I have no doubt. oh and my district has 2 sisters in it. I
havent really talked to them all that much yet but the transfer was a
disaster. We had 2 Elders stuck in our house without keys to their
house and without a cell phone. When I got back to Imperatriz I met
the Sisters stranded alone in the bus station without a cell phone
keys or knowing where they were going. Lucky I knew where they were
going and had their keys but my cell and their cell phone I brought
was dead. It was a mess but we got it all figured out and everything
went fine. But the work here is still a little rough. We had another
person pass a baptismal interview but say they didnt want to be
baptized. We have like 4 people that can be baptized at any time if
they wanted. Obnoxious. But it is what it is. They good thing is I
hate talking to people in the street just cuz Im shy in English im
worse in Portuguese but Elder Lied loves talking to people so we meet
tons of new people cuz he loves making contacts. Its kinda weird tho,
I was coasting off Elder Azevedo for teaching and stuff and now 12
weeks later Elder Lied is coasting off me. Now I have to take the lead
in teaching people and everything now. Its kinda cool and has shown me
how much I really know. With Elder Azevedo I never said a whole lot,
it was more of just me being there. Now I almost have to talk and
figure out what to teach. But the funniesy thing happened. I do
baptismal interviews for my district now and I think Elder Vitor is
getting a little desperate for baptisms, so I interviewed this guy and
it was going awesome until question 4 about homosexual relationships.
So I asked him if hes had a problem with that before and his response
was thats between me and God....I didnt know what to do so I asked if
he wanted to explain a little bit for me and his response was only God
knows. Basically he didnt pass, kind of humorous. My first baptismal
interview, good times in Imperatriz Brasil. But thats how things are
here, Im gonna be here for at least another 12 weeks it looks like.
Which is good I really wanted to stay here but I do miss Elder
Azevedo. He was a bum but I loved that man well thats all ive got from
here love you all!
Well the news is in on my transfer. who has two thumbs and
is trainer\district leader? Elder Hal. I now have my own district and
a trainee, Elder Lied. I saw his name and I wanted to cry cuz I
thought he was American and I was scared out of my mind but he's
brazilian so its all good. I had to travel to Teresina, 13 hours by
bus....not cool, to pick him up and bring him back. So I left tuesday
at 8 in the morning got to Teresina at 11ish woke up at 6 30 the next
day went to 3 hours of training to train, got my comp and left teresina
at 5. We got to Imperatriz at like 6 in the morning the next day, worst
3 days of my life. Brazilian buses stink I hate them. But Hes from Rio
Grande Do Sul which happens to be the rich smart area of Brasil. He
definately different than Elder Azevedo. Hes...interesting. Hes gonna
work alot which Im happy about, the only problem is hes a little
intense and odd. I was asking him stuff he liked to do before the mish
and all he did was study and work for the goverment. so like hes super
smart but hes kind of a jerk about it, especially with people that
arent nearly as intelligent as him here. But like we are fine. I like
living with him cuz hes educated has to have things super clean and
can cook just about anything. Im just gonna try to call him down. He
was bearing his testimony like 3 inches from an 84 year old mans face
for like 15 minutes and stuff like that but I mean hes new he'll figure
it out. I have no doubt. oh and my district has 2 sisters in it. I
havent really talked to them all that much yet but the transfer was a
disaster. We had 2 Elders stuck in our house without keys to their
house and without a cell phone. When I got back to Imperatriz I met
the Sisters stranded alone in the bus station without a cell phone
keys or knowing where they were going. Lucky I knew where they were
going and had their keys but my cell and their cell phone I brought
was dead. It was a mess but we got it all figured out and everything
went fine. But the work here is still a little rough. We had another
person pass a baptismal interview but say they didnt want to be
baptized. We have like 4 people that can be baptized at any time if
they wanted. Obnoxious. But it is what it is. They good thing is I
hate talking to people in the street just cuz Im shy in English im
worse in Portuguese but Elder Lied loves talking to people so we meet
tons of new people cuz he loves making contacts. Its kinda weird tho,
I was coasting off Elder Azevedo for teaching and stuff and now 12
weeks later Elder Lied is coasting off me. Now I have to take the lead
in teaching people and everything now. Its kinda cool and has shown me
how much I really know. With Elder Azevedo I never said a whole lot,
it was more of just me being there. Now I almost have to talk and
figure out what to teach. But the funniesy thing happened. I do
baptismal interviews for my district now and I think Elder Vitor is
getting a little desperate for baptisms, so I interviewed this guy and
it was going awesome until question 4 about homosexual relationships.
So I asked him if hes had a problem with that before and his response
was thats between me and God....I didnt know what to do so I asked if
he wanted to explain a little bit for me and his response was only God
knows. Basically he didnt pass, kind of humorous. My first baptismal
interview, good times in Imperatriz Brasil. But thats how things are
here, Im gonna be here for at least another 12 weeks it looks like.
Which is good I really wanted to stay here but I do miss Elder
Azevedo. He was a bum but I loved that man well thats all ive got from
here love you all!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Will he be transferred?
So much unknowing...will he be transferred? I just got back one of the packages that I mailed to him on March 29th. It took until June 13th to be returned to me. I will use the different address that he has given me to re-mail it. I feel so sad that he hasn't gotten any of the packages and he isn't getting a lot of hand written letters. I am in repentance mode! I love this young man!
Still nothing with the packages and I havent gotten any letters from
anybody except Karch. I dont know if you guys have sent anything yet
or not but if you have nothing is getting through. But life goes on. I
dont know if I got transfered yet. Elder Azevedo just got the call
that transfers are in so now we wait until the Zone Leaders call. Im
practically wetting myself in anticipation. I think Im going. But I
want to stay. Weve met some incredible people here in such a short
time already. One of them last night, Dr Rogério, bought us pizza and
gave me sunscreen and when we were leaving he gave us each 100 reais
and was like in case you guys get transfered here and when we refused
he said if we didnt take it the missionaries cant talk to his family
anymore. So we took it, I guess theres rules that we cant accept money
from people but we didnt really have a choice. oh well, money for
soccer jerseys :D but hes awesome and everybody feeds us. We ate so
much food yesterday it was ridiculous. We had lunch with the bishop
and then had a BBQ with Paulo Thiago then another investogator made us
grilled cheese and then we had pizza. it was awesome. Unfortuanetly
tho our missionary work is rough. 2 weeks ago we had 10 baptisms that
I thought for sure were going to happen and now we will be lucky to
get one. Paulo Thiago needs to get married cuz he lives with his
girlfriend, Valdacir decided to return to his old church, Vinicio I
have no idea what happened with him, Evelin decided that she wants to
get baptized on her birthday in July (which I think is a scape goat),
and one girl passed her interview and just straight up said I dont
want to be baptized. So we will see how it goes. I love Elder Azevedo
and im gonna miss him but its definately time for one of us to move
on. And the odds point to him which in the mission means Im gonna get
moved. I love my area, the members are awesome and everybody loves me.
I have no idea why. I dont say a whole lot ever but people give me
stuff all the time. Ive gotten a portugese to English dictionary and a
Portuguese dictionary, some weird tea thing, a keychain, 100 reais,
and a bunch of little knick knack things. Elder Azevedo said hes never
seen a missionary get so many things in such a short time. Its
awesome. Oh and the dedication of the Manaus Temple was yesterday.
That was super cool. We got to watch it live. One thing I never knew
was that President Uchtdorf is hilarious. The things he says are so
funny. I was laughing so hard and I was the only one cuz the
translator didnt translate like the nonsense jokes that he made so I
was the only one in the room that understood it was awkward. But ive
only heard him talk in conference so it was way different seeing like
the normal person side of him. Super cool hes still the man. But thats
it from Imperatriz, Ill try to email you guys later if I get
transfered and let you guys know where im going. Love you guys!
Still nothing with the packages and I havent gotten any letters from
anybody except Karch. I dont know if you guys have sent anything yet
or not but if you have nothing is getting through. But life goes on. I
dont know if I got transfered yet. Elder Azevedo just got the call
that transfers are in so now we wait until the Zone Leaders call. Im
practically wetting myself in anticipation. I think Im going. But I
want to stay. Weve met some incredible people here in such a short
time already. One of them last night, Dr Rogério, bought us pizza and
gave me sunscreen and when we were leaving he gave us each 100 reais
and was like in case you guys get transfered here and when we refused
he said if we didnt take it the missionaries cant talk to his family
anymore. So we took it, I guess theres rules that we cant accept money
from people but we didnt really have a choice. oh well, money for
soccer jerseys :D but hes awesome and everybody feeds us. We ate so
much food yesterday it was ridiculous. We had lunch with the bishop
and then had a BBQ with Paulo Thiago then another investogator made us
grilled cheese and then we had pizza. it was awesome. Unfortuanetly
tho our missionary work is rough. 2 weeks ago we had 10 baptisms that
I thought for sure were going to happen and now we will be lucky to
get one. Paulo Thiago needs to get married cuz he lives with his
girlfriend, Valdacir decided to return to his old church, Vinicio I
have no idea what happened with him, Evelin decided that she wants to
get baptized on her birthday in July (which I think is a scape goat),
and one girl passed her interview and just straight up said I dont
want to be baptized. So we will see how it goes. I love Elder Azevedo
and im gonna miss him but its definately time for one of us to move
on. And the odds point to him which in the mission means Im gonna get
moved. I love my area, the members are awesome and everybody loves me.
I have no idea why. I dont say a whole lot ever but people give me
stuff all the time. Ive gotten a portugese to English dictionary and a
Portuguese dictionary, some weird tea thing, a keychain, 100 reais,
and a bunch of little knick knack things. Elder Azevedo said hes never
seen a missionary get so many things in such a short time. Its
awesome. Oh and the dedication of the Manaus Temple was yesterday.
That was super cool. We got to watch it live. One thing I never knew
was that President Uchtdorf is hilarious. The things he says are so
funny. I was laughing so hard and I was the only one cuz the
translator didnt translate like the nonsense jokes that he made so I
was the only one in the room that understood it was awkward. But ive
only heard him talk in conference so it was way different seeing like
the normal person side of him. Super cool hes still the man. But thats
it from Imperatriz, Ill try to email you guys later if I get
transfered and let you guys know where im going. Love you guys!
Monday, June 4, 2012
Letters!
Obviously he isn't getting enough letters mailed to him! Let's all step it up! If you need the address for letters I posted it about a month ago on this blog! I have a tendency to email him and not think about letters. I have been told that missionaries love to get letters in the mail. My new commitment for the rest of his mission is to send him at least 2 hand written letters a month! Who's with me!!!
I think the A\C is the same thing cuz Im not there to pick it up. Im
getting letters from people, I get ones from Karch and I got one from
Samanfa buts thats it for now. The Zone Leaders are in Teresina
picking up mail so I'll let you know next week if I got anything. I'm
sending that package today, I got the present for you from the Bishop,
you're gonna love it. I forgot to talk about the food last week, I was
a little pressed for time. But I'm eating great now. We have 2
investigators that are doctors and super rich so everytime we teach
them they are forcing food down our throats it's awesome. We ran out of
money last week and had no food in our house but luckily we had other
people to feed us. This week was bad. We had an endless supply of
blessing the passed 2 weeks and that hit a wall. We had the font full
for one guy and he decided that he didn't want to get baptized, another
wants to wait for her birthday in a month but i have a feeling that
its not gonna work out cuz its like the 3rd time shes pushed it back.
The other is 14 and his mom wont authorize his baptism cuz she
hates our church. Thats one thing that has really made me mad the
passed month is how many people hate our church but they know nothing
about it. Our church is hated and all we do is help people, its
obnoxious and we lose investigators because of it. It would be really
hard to be a member here I decided. I'm hoping Alex gets out here. I
talk to him about every other week, he's gonna love it. I don't know a
whole lot about his mission other that its super hot but thats
basically the story of Brasil. I think Its my last week with Elder
Azevedo, Im not sure if its this week or next week. Im gonna miss him.
He drives me nuts 90% of the time but he's a good guy. He's tired I know
that but when I push him he works. And he's also alot like me with alot
of the rules. Im scared about getting a hardcore companion, I am
excited to get a new comp tho. I think it'll be fun. Thats about all
from Imperatriz. I love you guys. Oh and the US lost to Brasil.....not
cool!
oh yeah so funny story to include in the blog. So that girl I baptized
bought a puppy last week. What did she name him? Kyle. I then learned
today whilst at their house that he was born on.....March 10th. What
are the odds seriously!
I think the A\C is the same thing cuz Im not there to pick it up. Im
getting letters from people, I get ones from Karch and I got one from
Samanfa buts thats it for now. The Zone Leaders are in Teresina
picking up mail so I'll let you know next week if I got anything. I'm
sending that package today, I got the present for you from the Bishop,
you're gonna love it. I forgot to talk about the food last week, I was
a little pressed for time. But I'm eating great now. We have 2
investigators that are doctors and super rich so everytime we teach
them they are forcing food down our throats it's awesome. We ran out of
money last week and had no food in our house but luckily we had other
people to feed us. This week was bad. We had an endless supply of
blessing the passed 2 weeks and that hit a wall. We had the font full
for one guy and he decided that he didn't want to get baptized, another
wants to wait for her birthday in a month but i have a feeling that
its not gonna work out cuz its like the 3rd time shes pushed it back.
The other is 14 and his mom wont authorize his baptism cuz she
hates our church. Thats one thing that has really made me mad the
passed month is how many people hate our church but they know nothing
about it. Our church is hated and all we do is help people, its
obnoxious and we lose investigators because of it. It would be really
hard to be a member here I decided. I'm hoping Alex gets out here. I
talk to him about every other week, he's gonna love it. I don't know a
whole lot about his mission other that its super hot but thats
basically the story of Brasil. I think Its my last week with Elder
Azevedo, Im not sure if its this week or next week. Im gonna miss him.
He drives me nuts 90% of the time but he's a good guy. He's tired I know
that but when I push him he works. And he's also alot like me with alot
of the rules. Im scared about getting a hardcore companion, I am
excited to get a new comp tho. I think it'll be fun. Thats about all
from Imperatriz. I love you guys. Oh and the US lost to Brasil.....not
cool!
oh yeah so funny story to include in the blog. So that girl I baptized
bought a puppy last week. What did she name him? Kyle. I then learned
today whilst at their house that he was born on.....March 10th. What
are the odds seriously!
Friday, June 1, 2012
Will they ever arrive?
I feel so frustrated that he hasn't received any of my packages! I am ready to send another one and I'm unsure because he hasn't received a single one yet. Hopefully this new address will work!
Presidente Mario Dias A/C
Elder Kyle Hal Rindlisbacher
Brazil Teresina Mission
Caixa Postal: 2321
64001-973 Teresina-PI
Brazil
Thats the right address, im really worried that the packages are gonna
get sent home. if they do take out all the snacks and what not and just
send the stuff i need in one. and it turns out presidente dias doesnt
leave until july not june. He'll be back in my zone before he leaves.
I feel like I'm gonna be transfered in 2 weeks. We are working finally
and actually doing stuff. Our numbers are way way way better and we
have awesome investigators. we have one thats the coolest guy ive ever
met. His name is Paulo, hes 28 and he moved to Imperatriz in January.
Him and his wife live literally next door to the church and he's
awesome. He loves gospel douctrines class and he finished the
principles of the gospel book in a day and wants to be baptized. hes
the first investigator ive had that remembers names and events and
stuff. I told him the first lesson is to never forget Joseph Smiths name
and he hasnt. He even remembered Sammies name and I only told him
once. I gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read Joseph Smiths
testimony and he did and then continued to read pretty much
everything. We give him DVDs and he watches them hes lovin everything
hes so cool. He gave me a cup thats for this special drink here and
hes gonna buy us lunch one day. oh and he marked his own baptismal
date, basically we havent done anything, if he could baptize himself
he would. his only problem is.....his favorite soccer team is the
rival of my team. But I am willing to look passed that. And we have
Vinicio. Hes 14 and loves the church and all the members love him. Hes
the funniest kid Ive ever met. Hes kinda like Paulo, everything we
give him he reads. His only problem was he drank alot of coffee but
when I went and picked him up for church he was drinking juice and he
informed me that it was because he doesnt drink coffee anymore. hes
awesome. Weve gotten really lucky and we are gonna have alot of
baptisms coming up. So i feel like now that things have turned around
im gonna get transfered. But things are going good. I still dont speak
portuguese. But now its to the point where intelligent people
understand my accent and its only like uneducated people or people
that are distracted by my blue eyes that dont understand me. so it
gets really frustrating sometimes but its whatever. oh and one of my
soccer jerseys ripped but i fixed that by myself. other than that
things have been good I hope everything is going well back home. I
love you guys byeeeee
Presidente Mario Dias A/C
Elder Kyle Hal Rindlisbacher
Brazil Teresina Mission
Caixa Postal: 2321
64001-973 Teresina-PI
Brazil
Thats the right address, im really worried that the packages are gonna
get sent home. if they do take out all the snacks and what not and just
send the stuff i need in one. and it turns out presidente dias doesnt
leave until july not june. He'll be back in my zone before he leaves.
I feel like I'm gonna be transfered in 2 weeks. We are working finally
and actually doing stuff. Our numbers are way way way better and we
have awesome investigators. we have one thats the coolest guy ive ever
met. His name is Paulo, hes 28 and he moved to Imperatriz in January.
Him and his wife live literally next door to the church and he's
awesome. He loves gospel douctrines class and he finished the
principles of the gospel book in a day and wants to be baptized. hes
the first investigator ive had that remembers names and events and
stuff. I told him the first lesson is to never forget Joseph Smiths name
and he hasnt. He even remembered Sammies name and I only told him
once. I gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read Joseph Smiths
testimony and he did and then continued to read pretty much
everything. We give him DVDs and he watches them hes lovin everything
hes so cool. He gave me a cup thats for this special drink here and
hes gonna buy us lunch one day. oh and he marked his own baptismal
date, basically we havent done anything, if he could baptize himself
he would. his only problem is.....his favorite soccer team is the
rival of my team. But I am willing to look passed that. And we have
Vinicio. Hes 14 and loves the church and all the members love him. Hes
the funniest kid Ive ever met. Hes kinda like Paulo, everything we
give him he reads. His only problem was he drank alot of coffee but
when I went and picked him up for church he was drinking juice and he
informed me that it was because he doesnt drink coffee anymore. hes
awesome. Weve gotten really lucky and we are gonna have alot of
baptisms coming up. So i feel like now that things have turned around
im gonna get transfered. But things are going good. I still dont speak
portuguese. But now its to the point where intelligent people
understand my accent and its only like uneducated people or people
that are distracted by my blue eyes that dont understand me. so it
gets really frustrating sometimes but its whatever. oh and one of my
soccer jerseys ripped but i fixed that by myself. other than that
things have been good I hope everything is going well back home. I
love you guys byeeeee
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