His inbox was flooded with emails!!

Thank you to everyone who took time to write to Kyle for his one year mark.  I loved that he wrote to me saying that his inbox was flooded with emails!  I'm so happy that he's loving his area.  The last few months have been a little rough and I sense he's feeling excited about the work again!


These pictures are from the activity that he talked about in last weeks email:

well half the mission is over. my  inbox got flooded with emails so people that didnt get a response just wait until next week. It was pretty cool like thinking about everything that has gone on and everything that ive been through in one year. I found my notebook from the MTC and realized that a year ago I spoke nothing in portuguese and now Im the one that answers the phone and talks to everybody. The Brazilians in my ward have adopted me as a Brazilian. They say I have more Brazilian tendencies than the other Americans, I dont know what that means or if its a good thing but they have accepted me which is pretty cool.

This week was pretty good. We went to church thinking that we wouldnt have any investigators there and 3 people were like hey we brought our friend talk to him. it good cuz we need to baptize more people to split our ward in March. and we got a bunch of less actives to go to church, a few of which are in the status of returning. the members are starting to see our work. the knocking doors excitement has worn off.

I dont want to knock any more doors. its sucks. the worst part is Brazilians dont like to say no, they just make up excuses and say that we can go back and talk to them but really they dont want to. fazer o que?

my ward is awesome. I love the members here, they are so cool and funny. The ward is really like a giant family. they all know the story of the other and like they all hang out together. I like being here. I feel like they like me. Its also a lot better now that I speak everything in portuguese and can joke with them when they joke with me. Ive finally figured out their sense of humor.

welp im out of time but I love all yall, only one more year! its funny how you count up to one year and after you count down. My countdown hasnt started yet. but I finally got another memory card so i will start sending pictures again. Ruv you byeeeeeeee

Eliana

I believe this picture is on Christmas eve.  Eliana was baptized by Kyle in his first area.  She was visiting her daughter who lives in Kyle's new area and took Kyle and his companion out to eat several times while she was there.  She also brought Kyle a ton of food as a Christmas present.  She is an amazing lady and Kyle thinks the world of her.  He calls her his "Brazilian Mommy!"

Hump day

We've been emailing Kyle about all our adjustments here in Arizona.  This week marks his one year of serving.  I gave up caffeine a year ago when he left on his mission...only to find out they drank it all the time in Brazil.  Now the mission President has changed that.  Kind of strange since the church has come out with a statement saying that caffeine isn't banned...it's a personal thing.

thats cool that you guys are adjusting. I really like my area and everything. we had an activity this passed week that me and my companion planned. It was a question and answer game and the person that didnt know the answer got a shaving cream pie in the face. It got hilarious cuz everybody got really into it. people were joking and having fun it was really cool.

it was a really sad week in the Brasil Teresina Mission. The president made it official that we can no longer drink Coke. We all knew it was coming but it came faster than we had previously anticipated. I dont know what im gonna do now to celebrate special occasions like the one year mark, birthdays, or P Day. Just one more rule that has been added to the giant book of rules.

We had interviews with the president this passed week. it was my first real interview with him. all of the other ones were like 5 minutes, these ones lasted until 2 in the morning....and unfortunately all of the buses stopped working at like 11 so we had to wait in the chapel until the last interview to get a ride home from the president. But I got to sleep in the next day so it was fine. This week was more getting this activity going than working. but we got a reference of a family that has 15 people in it. It would be super cool to baptize a family that big. WE also found out that half of our area has never been worked in. Our area is so big and so far from the chapel that the other elders never worked there. So we decided to give it a shot this next week and see what we can find.

I hope everybody is well, I love you guys. Only 1 more year! byeeee

Brazilians need to get married!

A common theme I've heard for the past year in Kyle's emails is that there are lots of people ready to be baptized...but it is expensive and a difficult process in Brazil.  So most people just end up living together.  They can't be baptized until they get married.  He runs into this problem over and over again.  I know it's frustrating for him!

So we are still knocking doors. Its actually kind of fun. We found this super cool lady who keeps giving me food. She says Im too skinny and that I need to eat more fruit. So she gave me guava, açaí, apples, and various other fruits. She loves me. She says when I go home shes gonna send me all these things that I cant buy in the US. too bad shes not married. Basically its way easier here to just live together and call yourselves married than to actually get married. So we have like

5 families that need to get married to be baptized. And marriages here take like 20 days to process everything so its just a mess. Its unfortunate but what can you do.

Thats all I have for you guys this week. I love you all and hope everythings going well. Tell Rora that if she dies before I get back I wont talk to her ever again. And there wont be room in my spiritual mansion for her. byeeeeee

He has an American companion

 He has his first American companion.  His last Brazilian companion was the hardest one he'd had to date so this is a welcome change. 

yeah its gotten alot better. Its kinda cool having an american comp.

we attract more attention. but the work has gotten alot better, we are knocking on alot more doors and making more contacts. its been cool meeting new people and talking to them. Ive really noticed how im understanding everything now. Its crazy how much of a difference just

3 months makes. We had a division with the zone leaders and all we did was knock doors. It was good cuz I had never really knocked doors before. I never did it cuz I dont like it but its actually kind of fun. It stinks when we get rejected but usually everybody is really nice about it.

Oh yeah last night while we were on the bus some kids threw a rock through the window. Glass went everywhere and covered me and elder Bird. Im not sure why they threw it, they were either trying to rob the bus or they were just being punks. Im more in favor of the latter.

It was a good week, we got alot done and put up good lessons and met alot of new families. The only problem is they need to get married to be baptized.

ruv you guys byeeeeeeeee