Finally Here in the Real World of Brasil!

Hey Family! 

Thanks for the letter Mom, it is so nice to hear from you all! It has been crazy getting here to my area, I left yesterday morning and had two plane rides, then we met the Mission President and His wife and had an orientation thing at the chapel. Then we went to the Presdient's apartment and had dinner and açai and a brief testimony meeting and took some pictures. I slept over at the AP's apartment with some other missionaries and we left this morning on a bus to Natal, that's the name of the city! My area is called Nova Republica and my trainer's name is Elder Jensen. He is from draper Utah and he's an awesome guy, everyone keeps telling, me how lucky I am. We live with two other missionaries, one is American and the other Brazilian. The American's name is Elder Stutz and he is from Puyallup. I guess he knows Jo Jo and I think he knows Uncle Al aswell. 


So I am finally here in the real world of Brasil! I definitely feel like I am in a different country now. So much Portuguese. It doesn't feel so much like a movie set like it did before when I would walk around the CTM in São Paulo. I don't know much about my area because all I've done so far is arrive, eat lunch, unpack a little, went to a store and came here to e-mail. Today is our P-day but I think the rest of the day I will unpack more, meet the bishop and maybe some other people in the ward, and go tracting. It is crazy to believe it is finally  starting. I will be able to tell you more about the area next week. 


Sounds like everything is going great! I'm sad I missed Easter! Some of the wifes of the branch presidency's at the CTM made us cupcakes so that was pretty awesome. My district leader also made some paper eggs with candy and we did a little Easter egg hunt sunday night. I missed all you alot though! 


We went Proseliding monday in downtown São Paulo! It was way fun, at first I was hesitant to open my mouth and also to bring up religion, but I was able to do both and after a whille I was really enjoying it! Alot of the people we talked to were very open and willing to listen to us. Since we aren't the actual missionaries in the area we just gave them a Book of Mormon with the number for the missionaries there. I hope they call! It feels so cool to share your beleifs with others. It is hard sometimes for me to just randomly talk to people father than oi or boa tarde, but I know if they accept this message it will bless their lives so much as it has mine. And that part of my testimony helps me to share what I know! 


Well I love you! I hope to have some more stories to share with you next week! I will let you know how my first week in my first area goes! I am excited and ready to start getting in the swing of things. It will be nice! I love you all and miss you so much! Please send pictures when you can! You are the best!


Love, Elder Smith

A Visit To The Temple

Dear Family,

We are pleased to be able to send you a picture of your missionary´s recent visit to the temple.  The morning they enter as a group is a very sacred experience for them, and it is an experience that is always anticipated with much excitement. We know they will treasure this remembrance. 

It is a great honor to serve with each of these fine young people and to watch their growth as they learn more about their sacred calling of a missionary.  We have a great love and respect for each one of them.

Thank you for your support for them.  They love to receive emails and letters from you, and feel of your love.  We know that your family will feel the blessings of their service.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Degn

''Churraskaria''

Date: Tue, Apr 3, 2012 

Thanks Dad!

Ya Brasil is a cool place! That's crazy everyone is out of town, how are you keeping up? How is Charlotte doing? Is Laurel coming home for the Summer?

Conference was great here. They packed a bunch of us North Americans into a room and we got to watch it in English. I can't even choose a favorite talk, I thought they were all so good! It seems they were focusing alot on families which is great! I could really tell how important families are to the Lord. I am so blessed to have such an awesome family and parents! I think back on the most common advice I got before leaving. The three things I was told alot were be perfectly obedient, love the people and the Lord, and work hard! I am grateful for the examples my family is to me. Dad, although you and my mom carry both love and hard work, I think from you I have definitely learned the value of hard work. And from Mom, lots of love for people! I couldn't ask for a better combination. And everyone else in our family is awesome too, but time will limit such expounding!

Well I leave next Tuesday for the feild! My language is definitely not up to par but I know it will all work out! I was talking to some South Americans at a meal the other day and I felt pretty good. The only problem is there are alot of different accents and speed of speech, so it really justs depends on who I am talking to at the moment. I have met alot of people going to Maceió, I tell them all to look for my cousin Sister Johnson! Could you find out her address for me? I really want to write here! And mail goes pretty fast here in Brasil I heard so it will be nice to get a reply sooner than like 3 weeks!

So what did you do at the convention Dad? I feel very detached from the world down here, I think it will begin to come back a little more by next week! What's new? How is America? I think it is beginning to sink in more that I am actually in a foreign country. We proselide next Monday so that will be awesome, the real test of what I have learned thus far!

Last week we went to lunch on our P-Day at a joint called ''Churraskaria'' (Sp?). It is so good! They have all you can eat meat which includes chicken, steak, and some other stuff... I stick with the chicken and steak! Also they have rice and beans and fruit and veggies all you can eat. Anyway it's only 14 reais! That doesn't include drink but still.. and the food is awesome. We are going there again today with our instructor (Irmão Leo). Last week we went with Irmão Vander (our other instructor).

Well thanks for the e-mail! Hearing from people is seriously so nice! I never realized it could be but that was because I guess I always took it for granted! I miss you all very much! Another awesome thing I learned from conference this week is not judging others. I love the bumper sticker President Utchdorf quoted that said, ''Don't judge me because I sin differently than you''. We are all children of God and we all have perfections. We cannot judge unrighteously. If we always have the Spirit with us, and follow the promptings we receive, we will be lead on the path back to our Heavenly Father. I am beginning to see more about just how clear the Gospel really is! It's amazing that something so simple can have so much power in our lives. I know this Gospel is true and my conviction continues to grow.

I love you all! and Miss you! Please send pictures when you get the chance! I will start sending some when I can as well, and when I take a few.. I haven't taken many yet!

How is Grandma? How is everything going with her? I will write her today so tell her to be watching for a letter!

Thanks for all the support! I pray for you all everyday!

Elder Smith

Bizik's Solo

Date: Tue, Mar 27, 2012

Hey Family!

 

Thanks for the letter mom, it is always nice to get updates from home! I hope you have an awesome time going to see baby Charlotte! So how do you spell it? You, Dad, and Mel have now spelled it three different ways! Natalie I'm way happy you got to go to the Temple and do baptisms, that's awesome! Also about your MRI, I probably have done about 4 or 5 of them in the last couple years and don't worry about it! At first you may think it is scary but just close your eyes and imagine you are in a space ship or something! You'll feel like your at disneyland! And the dye is weird I admit, but it feels cool. Trust me you will be okay! Hope the YW broadcast went well and Dad I hope your delegate meeting went good! I'll miss being with you at the Preisthood Session this week! We get to watch conference this weekend so I'm pretty pumped for that!

 

So this week has flown by! One funny thing that happened was I got a note asking me to see the Choir Director for like a men`s sextet. I thought oh ya I can do this if there are six of us. Well when I got there she started reading out the plan for the song and who was assigned to sing a solo for verse 2? Elder Smith! I was freaking out because I have never sang a solo in front of people in that kind of setting ever! So I asked if we could get a few guys to sing with me so it wasn't so bad and they agreed. About halfway through the run through of the song, the director stopped playing piano and realized she had summoned the wrong Elder Smith! So that was awesome and the whole situation has been resolved!

 

Some other fun things that have happened thus far, on the way to the temple last week we saw a barge being propelled by a CAT (like landscape machine) through the canal between the highway which was pretty cool. Also today I saw how they pick up trash, the truck kind of just drives and there are two workers running along side grabbing the bags and tossing them in, pretty cool! One night this week when we were studying outside (which is awesome here by the way, around 7 or 8 in the evening with the humid Brazil air and soft breeze, sitting next to a mango tree, hope I'm not making too many of you jealous!) there was like a street party going on. We could smell the BBQ and hear the music. The culture here is just way awesome!

 

Sunday was great. We had an awesome testimony meeting and it was just nice to see all the guys I have been with these past few weeks really share what they believe. I have to say thanks alot family for being so great (sarcastic tone), you pretty much made me cry while I was talking about you! And also Sunday night the President of the São Paulo North Mission came to speak. He was the first black member of the church to serve a mission! He had so much power and it was way inspiring.

 

This week I have learned many important things. One is don't judge others for doing things different or being different. We are all different and we have different strentghs and weaknesses. Be true to yourself and who you are. KorrUPted Crew sang it best when they said, ``It doesn`t take much just to be real, you don`t have to try hard just do what you feel``(for the whole song contact Bryce). We all have special talents and skills and God will use us in our own capacities to fulfill his work here on this Earth. I am learning more and more each day and the language is beginning to be easier and easier each day slowly! I know the Lord is helping me and will continue to help me as I strive do fulfill his work. I am so grateful to serve a mission and I am excited to help others! The Lord has given me so much and so I`m blessed for this chance to serve him with all my time and effort.

 

I love you and miss you so much family! Just two more weeks in the MTC! Thanks for all your support and being so awesome! I sent a few letters to you guys (Hanes, Hudsons, Laurel). I hope you get them soon! Tchau!

 

Elder Smith

Eu bailei

 Hello Everyone! 

 How is America? That is so awesome Andrea had her baby! Have her give Sharlet a big hug and kiss for me! She looks so cute, just like her uncle! If you could I would love for you to send me a hard copy picture of her in the mail and some pictures in general, I have more room in my photo album so maybe just as cool new things happen you could send me pictures! Thanks for your letter Nat, I got it like a week and two days after you sent it I think so that's pretty good! Letters here is like Christmas morning, everyone goes crazy for mail time. 


Ya my companion was on the same flight as me so you probably met his parents. Dad I see your picking up some portuguese? It's an awesome language! My portuguese is getting better and my english seems to be getting a little worse. But that is okay, I have the rest of my life to speak english. I am still far from being fluent but I am noticing improvement so that is good! I know if I will work hard and do my best the Lord will help me out. 


So this week a few funny things happened. One I got my haircut so now the Brazilians say I don't look like Joseph Smith anymore which is kind of a bummer. Also, I was trying to tell a Brazilian at lunch that I used to dance and I thought the verb to dance was bailar so I used like ''Eu bailei" because I thought that was good but it turns out the most common used verb to dance is dancar so I really said in very broken portuguese I used to do ballet. So i'm not sure if he could understand that I meant I used to dance or did ballet but whatever. 


The weeks are starting to fly by here! I leave here in like three weeks so my CTM time is half up! I am enjoying it well but I am excited to get out in the feild and work with some real investigators! I love missionary work and I don't think there is any better place for me right now in my life than here. 


Alright Dad, I picked a scripture for the plaque. It's Alma 26:11. I'm pretty sure that's the one, it should start out something like, ''I know I am nothing without the Lord...''. And tell Nat I wrote her back so she should be getting a letter soon! 


Well I hope everything is going great! I miss you all so much! I am going to finish off my P-Day around town getting some soap and some cookies and other goodies. Someone told us about a place that sells chocolate croissants so I will definitely be looking for those aswell. Time is going by quickly here and I know I will be in the feild sooner than I know it. Thanks for all your support and love! I'm am so lucky to have the family I have, you guys are awesome and I am indeed grateful for you all! Tell everyone hi for me and hug and kiss the sobrinhas e sobrinho! Tell Nolan I feel for him, languages are tough! 


I will send more pictures as soon as I get them developed or get into the feild, I haven't taken many yet but there are a few I can send you. 


I miss you all very much and love you! I am so grateful to be serving here on a mission and to devote my time for two years to the Lord. I owe him so much more but I know serving a mission is what he wants for me. Thank you family for your wonderful examples to me. They have helped me so much in life and also here on the Mish! 


 Tchau! I hope your week goes great! 


 Love, 


 Elder Isaac Smith 

Elder Smith Wants Your Address

Isaac unfortunately didn't take any addresses with him when he left for his mission. 

He stated in his letter (below) that he would like everyone to post their addresses on this blog so we can get them sent to him. 

But, seeing as this blog is "public" I think it would be a better idea if everyone sent their mailing address to my personal e-mail...

Andrea.hudson5@gmail.com 

Thanks! 

Headed to Brazil!

Isaac flew into Brazil today (Tuesday the 6th) and was able to talk with my mom during a layover in Georgia.
Here is the e-mail he sent just before he left...


Oi!

Tudo bem? Well this will be my first and last week at the Provo MTC, I leave for Brasil tomorrow morning at around 11 AM and I have a layover in Georgia, Mom and Dad and Nat you should be home when I get there so I can give you a call! The MTC has been great, the first day we did some orientation and check in and then started our classes, in Portuguese! My companions name is Elder Kaden Bond, he is a great guy and we work well together! My teacher is Irma Jacobs, she is brazilian and has been here for only 10 months I think. She doesn't speak much english to us but it helps learning the language very quickly! The elders in my district are great, one of them really reminds me of Chad our cousin (his humor and laugh) and another reminds me of Zac Efron. I have pictures to send but it won't let me attach them so I will send them when I can!


We taught our first lesson in all portuguese Friday evening! We also had a follow up saturday and they both went pretty well considering the amount of portuguese training we have received. We also have another lesson tonight. Our schedule isn't so much class after class but rather we spend 3-5 hours a day with teachers and the rest is personal study. You really have to be willing to work and be self-motivated. I am already starting to better understand the miracles of missionary work and am beginning to see a greater purpose to teach others than I had perviously experienced. 


 I had my first dream in portuguese friday night! It wasn't anything crazy but it was pretty cool. I am starting to think in portuguese already aswell, only a few words though. On sunday we had an awesome mission conference, our MTC President gave a talk on the Atonement and it was really great! Sunday night Alex Boye came and spoke at a fireside and it was amazing. At first he was telling his conversion story and it was like Sunday Night Live, he was hilarious! But he took sometime and spoke about how great of purpose we have as missionaries and the power we can have if we remain optimistic. He told us that we become what we think we are in many cases. Afterwards we sang Called to Serve with all the missionaries and that was a little icing on the cake! (Sorry if that was cheesy, but a wise man, Bryce Woodhouse, once told me, every cracker needs a little cheese!) 

I am very excited to be here and I know this is where I should be. I don't know exactly how to explain but I know the mission will be awesome and I am so grateful for the oppurtunity to serve. It has already been an awesome time and I know there is much more ahead! If we could get everyone to post there addresses on the blog and send them to me that would be awesome! I didn't bring any with me! Well next time this week I will be in Brasil, but we will keep in touch! Hope to talk to you family tomorrow, I hope everyone is doing awesome! I love you and miss you all so much! 


 P.S. Grandma, thanks for the awesome highlighters! The elders in my district are very jealous!


Eu sei que este e o trabalho da Deus.


Can't wait to here from you soon!