More August 2013 emails

August 26th email;

So we had 2 baptisms this week. We baptized this kid whos 13 and a girl thats the sister of a member. The 13 year old kid is awesome. His name is Marcos, he stopped us in the street  a few weeks ago and hes been going to church and hangs out with us on P Days. But of course we spent 3 days without water in the whole city. And i got all excited cuz we got authorized to baptize in the ocean that close by. I almost cried cuz all I want to do is baptize in a river or something cool and I thought it was finally gonna happen but water came back right before the baptism so it didnt happen. :( but the baptism was still awesome. So my first week in Parnaíba a lady stopped us and said that shes a less active member that wanted to start going to church again. Shes 29 and has 3 little girls and they are so adorable. We go teach them and they listen and they fight over whos gonna pray and whos gonna sit next to who and when I went to that other branch they said that they didnt like the other Elder that visited them in my place. Basically I love these little girls and so they went to church on Sunday and I went and watched Primary with them, so we were coloring pictures and the youngest one (who is my favorite) asked me which soccer team I root for and i told her which team and she got mad cuz its not the same team that she roots for and she stopped talking to me. she spent 3 days not talking to me until I "switched" teams. They are super funny. Shes also mad cuz shes 7 and cant get baptized yet. Her sisters are getting baptized next week and she cant so shes a little upset. 

oh and today we went to play volleyball and I had to climb a tree to cut a branch that was in the way of the game and I got attacked by bees. I didnt see the bee hive like 10 feet away and they got mad. We were gonna go pirana fishing today with a member but my comp didnt want to so we are going next week. Its gonna be awesome.

Im glad that everybody is good. I miss everybody tons. I love all of you until next week byeeeeee

August 19th email

this week was awesome. The church opened a group in a city not to far from parnaiba but its in Maranhão the other and still like isolated from the mission but is part of my district. They dont leave their area for anything though, so we have to go there to help them out every once in awhile. So me and my district leader left on friday and spent saturday and sunday in another city. It was cool seeing everything there, the church has been there for about 5 months and the missionaries house is the chapel and doesnt have beds so the 4 of us slept in hammocks. its also the neighbor of a bar/farm so all during the meeting there was like pigs squeeling and cows and farm animals making noises. and they have to baptize in a river. But the church is growing really quickly. They already have about 50 members active going to church. But the missionaries have to do everything. Sunday morning we woke up and cleaned the house/chapel and then after church we had to clean it again. The 2 elders talk every week in sacrament meeting and everything is done by the missionaries. They loved having 2 more elders cuz we got alot more done. So i stayed with the primary and helped out the 2 sisters there. Its crazy cuz the lady thats in charge of the primary got baptized like 2 months ago and is in charge of teaching the kids everything. Theres things i didnt even think about before watching the primary like all of the songs we learned growing up are completely new to these people. shes did a really good job though. it was pretty neat seeing the church start up and seeing all these people learning new things. Its funny cuz the missionaries have only been there for about 5 months and already the other churches are nervous. The other churches started giving anti mormon classes. 

oh and my president is the man. I love my president. We had interviews with him this week. I always try to get him to let me play soccer but he hasnt budged yet, I almost had him but it didnt work out. I also tried to watch the Motherland play Brasil in soccer (the motherland won by the way) with the President....he also shot that down but he said that next time they play i can watch it. Its cool cuz we are closer to Teresina so the President comes here more. I saw the President twice in São Luís, but thats cuz its really far away.

Well thats all I have for you guys this week. Hope everything is well at home. Ill try to send some pictures home next week. Im to scared to put my memory card in the computers here but ill see what I can do. Love you all byeeeeee

August emails

This was a very special email that Kyle sent to his Dad.  Kevin had asked him what he was studying in his scriptures and these were his answers, what foods he likes/dislikes etc.  Here are his responses:

i hate chicken. we eat chicken like everyday. and its chicken where they like pull all the feathers off cut the head off and throw it in a pan and its super gross. well its good but everyday it gets old. They make a really good lasagna though. It doesnt have tomato sauce and i think its my favorite thing to eat here. We have eaten fish 3 times since I got here. I denied all three times and opted to eat eggs rice and beans instead, I hate fish,

I read the book of mormon twice last year so i decided to read alot in preach my gospel. I read everything, theres alot of like side activities and scriptures to read and I read it all so im chugging along slowly. It took me forever to read chapter one about our purpose as missionaries. I really liked it. I already knew the missionary purpose that we recite everyday before we leave but more stuff like in a whole city of people we are the only ones that have to bring people to heaven. God lost his power to bring us back when we were born, its one of the few things he cant do because of the principle of free agency. So we are the only ones that can save people. Its a lot of hard work in a district but its fun. We redid the boundaries of the areas and within a week we found like 5 people to be baptized. Its hard cuz what the church needs is priesthood holders but men are really lazy and prideful. Its hard to find a really good man that will help the church. Its super easy to find women and children but women and children without men dont usually stay active for very long. We focus on men but its super hard.

how are the angels doing? last time I checked up on them they were getting destroyed by everybody. Did they trade anybody at the deadline? oh and a family from the ward sent me a package....I think the bennets? I cant remember. I have the letter they sent me at home. Im gonna send them a letter to thank them. It was awesome. They must have talked to mom about what i liked cuz they nailed everything. Well I miss you dad, its up to you guys if you want to come here, you just have to let the mission know and get your visas. thats all I have for you this week. Love you father byeeeeee

August 12th email

Dont send any more candy please! I love the love that you send me but remember that I dont eat candy. I like sharing it with Brazilians but it just sits there, I eat it but I still have a ton and its so hard to store candy here. Gum melts and if I leave it open and dont eat all of it ants eat it. Little candies like jolley ranchers and frooties melt too. Im pretty much set on stuff, the mission is almost over there isnt much more that I need, I cant think of anything. Skittle and Cherry Pepsi is awesome and any snack food you want. Cheese its and stuff like that I crave. they dont really have food like that and the stuff they do have is really exspensive. Like a normal bag of doritoes is like 8 reais here.

So as much as I dont like living with just Brazilians it really helps with the portuguese. It makes me speak it. I dream alot more in portuguese now, I think its cuz I dont talk to people in english anymore. I have also realized how much english ive forgotten. People ask me how to say stuff like fruits and i cant remember. It took me forever to remember passion fruit and guava. And i talk to my American zone leader in english and theres times that I forget how to say things. But its cool cuz I think prtuguese is funny now. Its a different sense of humor but they can be super funny. We teach with a member like everyday and all we do is joke around the whole day. My comp doesnt like it very much but its hilarious.

Karch goes home tomorrow too. Almost everybody is back home already. I think Kyle Siddoway already went home. Its weird cuz I only have 2 more transfers, Im hoping to stay here until the end of my mission. I really like the Branch and all. I have to give a talk on sunday. Its on whatever I want and only 10 minutes so it shouldnt be that hard. the President is coming this week for a meeting which means we will have interviews. Parnaíba is alot closer to Teresina than São Luís so he comes more frequently which is cool. I passed about 5 months without seeing the President last time. but thats about all Ive got for you guys this week. I love you all and miss everyone byeeeeeeee

August 5, 2013 email

anyways my new comp is named Elder Beraldi, hes from Rio. Hes really cool. Hes quiet and just wants to work. We get along well. We have to learn alot from each other. Hes really serious and doesnt like to joke around and I on the other hand cant stop messing with everybody. I really like him tho, Im happy to be his comp. Our area is hard but Im enjoying it. We have to get creative to get people to go to church and baptizing is even harder. We sat down today and looked at what we have and we literally have nothing. So we have to start finding people to teach. Theres alot of less actives here. our plans are to spend this whole week hunting them down. 

I really like the members in my area. Theres some really fun people here. Its alot more fun in a branch but its also alot harder. It isnt a very big area but we are walking alot. we dont have very much work so we have to find it and its not fun walking on cobblestone streets everyday.

oh and some food for thought. seeing as you guys want to come get me I will tell some facts. My 4 cities ive passed in cover 2 states so you will have to rent a car. I dont know how to get from city to city i went by bus and usually I slept the whole way. Gas stations dont exsist. Like going in and buying snackage for road trips (Imperatriz is about 8 hours away from Teresina and São Luís is about 6 and Parnaíba is about 4) Fast food is also a little bit weak. theres not that many mcdonalds or anything like that and I dont know about hotel situations. São luís has hotels Imperatriz has eliana but Parnaíba has nothing that ive seen so far. And you would have to call the President to let him know. alright well thats about all ive got for you guys love you and miss you all. byeeeeeeeeee