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

Several weeks of Posts!

We finally bought a house in Arizona and I have been super busy.  I realized today that I'm several weeks behind on Kyle's blog.  I've attached bits and pieces from the past few weeks.  These were weeks with lots of change.  His area was closed down...he was transferred...another new companion.  Always a little stressful for Kyle.  But he loves the area now and is finding success.

So this week the second counselor of the area presidency came to talk to us and picked me to have an interview with him. It was cool to talk to him, hes Brazilian but he lived in New Jersey so he speaks fluent English, it was my first interview in english since I left São Paulo kind of strange.

São Luís is like 8 hours away from Teresina. Its in the same state as Imperatriz just way North, Imperatriz is more in the south. Its super hot here too. Its always hot. There are rumors that our mission is amongst the hottest in the world. I wouldnt doubt it. Its freaking hot. Luckily theres a nice ocean breeze that makes it bearable and not nearly as bad as Teresina. But unfortunately our house doesnt have a washing machine. Ive been hand washing my clothes for 3 weeks now, the washer should be arriving sometime this week hopefully. The new area is good, theres alot of really good members that want to help. I spent all week organizing FHE groups in different parts of the area to help reactivate the large number of less actives and help the members. We work mainly with less actives. Oh yeah when I was in Cohatrac the bishop had a car accident and his wife went into a coma and she died this week after about a month. It was crazy, I had lunch in her house like a month ago and she was like ok and now shes gone. Its crazy how things like that happen, the bishop is pretty upset, hes not doing so well.

Well I love you guys, im excited to talk to you guys next week. Eliana is gonna take us to dinner at some fancy restaurant on Christmas. Shes awesome, the highlight of my mission for sure. And we have 4 baptisms this week. 3 little kids whose parents are members and a guy whose family is active and he just never got baptized. ill see you guys next week byeeeeeeeeee

I spent alot of time thinking back to the beginning of my mission cuz I hit 10 months yesterday and I thought some things were really funny.

I remember my first bus ride here on the bus with no AC It is so crammed full of people that the doors usually close on somebodies arm and all the dirt roads hitting cars that are parked badly and just driving away I remember being terrified like what have I gotten myself into and now its all just normal. part of the mission. Or getting flagged down by drunk girls to talk about the US and how they will go there one day and I have to let them stay at my house is always amusing. It was a good time looking back and seeing how all the crazyness of Brasil is now just normal. I remember wondering why arent these people freaking out and its cuz its just part of the culture here. Its funny, Brasil is a funny place. Im hoping for some better things to come in my new area.

São Luís is awesome. Its an island. My mission is the poorest states in Brasil but where we live is incredible. There are apartments that value over

4 million and they are building massive buildings everywhere. its growing really quick. The only downside is its an island so theres only so much space. My area is the ghetto of the city but the people are really humble and the members want to work. they have been in limbo trying to split the ward and get a chapel for about

10 years. The sent the papers to split and they got denied because out of 34 men in the ward 9 of them arent paying tithing, they missed the cut by 3 men. Crazy how something so small wrecked a ward. So we have to baptize reactivate or motivate 3 people to pay tithing to split the ward. I havent been this excited since I left Imperatriz. I cant take pictures very much cuz of thefts so I dont pack my camera anymore. but I bought a book of pictures from a member to send you guys. Tell Colin and Nathan to keep doing work and tell Rora to stay away from the coyotes. Love you byeeeeeeeeeee

 

So this week was crazy i got transfered to another part of são luís. but elder leite got transfered too, the zone leader didnt tell us and he almost missed his bus. so i was with elder batista, but later that day elder batista got transfered again and now im with elder G.Silva. hes from my group we arrived on the same day. oh and we live in a mansion. its nothing really just 3 rooms 5 bathrooms a front yard backyard giant living room with 4 couches. its the greatest thing ever. and the area is awesome. oh and its on the beach. if     only i wasnt a missionary..... the problem is the area is massive and doesnt have a chapel so the members have to take 2 buses for almost an hour to get to church so getting people to go is hard. but its awesome what ive seen so far I really like. the members want to work and help the missionaries we already talked to some members and they want to take us to their friends family everybody. the area has alot of potencial. its poor, my run of better off areas ended but i really like the feel of this area. 

I liked my area though. It was an area that got split to make 2 and shouldnt have been split. There wasnt enough work or anything and only the other area here was having real success. But I met some really cool people here that I love. There was on guy named James. I dont know what I did but that man loves me. He doesnt talk to my comp just me. He calls me over and talks about his life and everything and how hes going to get 4 million reals in the next year and when he does hes going to visit the US and that I have to be his translator. Hes a good guy I really liked him. But im out of time so ill talk to you guys next week and its only a few weeks til Christmas and we will be able to talk then! byeeeeee

But anyways, we are getting taken out of the area. The President is closing the area. Its dumb cuz I really dont want to be transfered again and leave Elder Leite but I have no desire to stay here so its kinda weird. But last night I Bible Bashed with this lady. We stopped to help her with some yard stuff and we started talking to her about the church and she kept saying stuff like we dont need prophets and there doesnt exist any churches cuz we are the church and that only the Bible exists. So I tore her apart using the Bible and she still didnt accept anything. She started it....