Week 13 Letter

May 23, 2011
Hey, you were right. It is fermento em pó, I just looked it up today. (I, mom, was trying to help him find baking pdwr for pancakes) Thanks for the tips, although I am not sure if they have mushroom soup, although I doubt it, and if they do, it is probably really expensive. I was actually wondering if you could send me instuctions for banana drink for the mornings. Yeah, dad told my that Sarah passed away. I could not even imagine what that would be for her family. I have been praying for them, as well as for all of you to be safe and healthy.

hey family, how are all of you doing? I am doing well. Dad, I think that you are right to have the bishops decide. Sorry that I do not have a ton of insight, but if I think of something, I will let you know. I just read the same scripture story last week about Paul, and how he baptized the jailer. I did not think of me, but I thought of what kind of missionary that I wanted to be. We had a great week this week. We were running into a lot of trouble baptizing. We have 4 investigators that are ready and want to be baptized, but they are living with their boyfriend/girlfriend, and so we are working on them all getting married. This is challenging. Things are a little different here. People do not get married, although they sign their own contract so to speak. They call each other husband and wife, and treat each other as such, and think of each other as such, and others think of them as such, but because of money, family schedules, inconvenience, and other reasons, nobody is married!!! It has been frustrating, so Elder Wanderley and I decided to try something new this week. We made a list of all of the inactive members and visited with them all this week. We did not have a baptism this sunday, but we did have 4 investigators at church and 11 inactive members, and we are working with about 6 other families right now who are not members of our faith, or who are part member families but are inactive.

Sunday, 1/3 of the congregation was people that we had brought, and I taught the gospel principle class, because Elder Wanderly needed to teach the youth this week, so I taught the next lesson (baptism, perfect) all by myself in Portuguese for the designated hour. it was unreal. The gift of tongues is so real. Anyways, we have set a goal of 5 baptisms, so we will be working hard this next week. I have been studying in the doctrine and covenants, which has been all about missionary work and the blessings that are promised. It has been awesome. I love the scriptures. In the last month and one half, I have read the Book of Mormon, New Testament, and half D&C. I could read the scriptures all day, but that would be selfish to not share with others, so I only read an hour and a half each day, and sometimes if I have time at night. I love the scriptures. So, Becca, here are some pics of beetles. Mom will show them to you.

I forgot to tell you guys something about Sinop. We have huge bats and a lot of them. I have seen some that are the size of a smaller crow. They are huge, and they a loud. At night when you are walking, they are as load as crickets in the woods, but it is high pitched chirps. it is fun. Also, mom, I cannot find my patriarchal blessing, so if you could send that to me, that would be awesome. Oh yeah, I did purchase my fist machete, although it is not huge. I sent you a pics of that as well.

Well, I gotta run, but I love you all and I cannot wait to hear from you again.
Love Elder Lee
PS The little boy is the sun of one of our investigators (the mom is a member, and the dad is ready to be baptized but he need to get married first). No worries Levi, you will always be my favorite little man.

here are some pics. The stuff in the bowl is rice mixed in with roman noodles for more food and flavor. Yeah, I ate it all, and yeah, I am gonna be fat. Life I guess. hahaha. It is not actually top roman, it is some other brand, but it is okay (they do not have beef and it is about 10 times more money, although it is 1/2 the price of cup of noodle). It was pretty good though.

Week 12 1/4 Letter

May 11, 2011
Shane was at the mission office in Cuiaba longer than he thought he would be because of some paperwork. They told him to go ahead and e-mail us since he didn't get to talk to us on Sunday for Mother's Day. He and I were able to e-mail back and forth for a while and this is his one-sided conversation.

Hey, I am sending more or less an emergency email to you. I am still in Cuiabá trying to become legal here because the MTC in São Paulo messed up some paper work. No worries, I think that everything will be fine, justa head ache, but the problem is that I do not know when I will be able to call you. I thought that I was going to get back to Sinop at about 4 in the morning, but it turns out that we have no idea if we will be leaving today or tomorrow. If we leave tomorrow, I could probably have you call me tonight here in Cuiabá, but I think that odds are I will be in the bus heading to Sinop. We have a cell phone, but there is no way that we would have service in the middle of nowhere, and I probably would not arrive into Sinop until after 10 or 11:00 pm, so calling you will not work. If you are there, shoot me an email and we will figure all of this out. As a last resort, we can settle on a time on this coming Sunday, and I would call anytime that is most convinent for you. Sorry about all of the confusion. I know that you are all really busy, and I hate being an inconvinence even from the bottom of the planet. Shoot me an email as soon as you get this and we will try to figure stuff out. Thanks mommy, with love, your missionary Elder Lee
Hey, I am here now. I am at the office on and off trying to figure everything out. Are you there?
Okay, so 7 to 8 on Sunday morning would be 10 to 11 my time in Sinop. Okay, I will call you when I get the chance. Sorry about all of the confusion.
Probably, but I traveled from one to the other, and there is no time difference. I am right now looking at the blog. It is a lot of fun, but so wierd to think that life is going on over there just like normal lol. I for some reason was thinking that you were all trying to learn a new language, and time seems to have stopped being relevent lol. P.S. until now, I totally forgot what carpet looked like hahaha. Yeah, the little things that you miss like carpet, cereal, two knobs at the sink and shower (one for hot and one for cold), and pizza.
Wow, tony looks good in a suit. Is that the suit that I sent home? It fits him well, doesn´t it?
Here are some more pics. Again, I hope that they work for you. Let me know...

Here is a pic of a member. He is 15 years old. I am not short down here. In fact, everybody thinks that I am older then I am because of my build. I can take everyone on in arm wrestling lol. I seriously have a bigger build than most of the adults, and and I taller than half of them as well.

Here is a pic of a member. he is 15 years old. I am not short down here. In fact, everybody thinks that I am older then I am because of my build. I can take everyone on in arm wrestling lol. I seriously have a bigger build than most of the adults, and  I am taller than half of them as well.

yeah, I looked at it and she sent me an email that I recieved this las monday. it is so unreal, she is going to be a mom! weird beyond belief! Am I really going to be a dad one day?...
Hey levi lee!!! What is up buddy?
Wow, all good questions. I am teaching a bunch of people right now, Junior, Eva, Alina, Audrela, and others. With the guy on the plane, a missionary has his information and he is in the Campo Grande area, but I have not heard anything, and yeah, people are really approachable, less in Cuiabá, but really easy to talk to in Sinop. But this is sometimes a problem because people will always invite you back and they may not ever be interested in the church. I think that I have thought of a new way to approach people. Teach the first lesson on the initial contact in about 5 minutes, and ask them if they will be baptized when they find out that they church is true. If they say yes, we will return. Right now, we do have people on date to be baptized, but you never know if they are going to go through until the day of. That is just how the people are down here. Really chill, and time is not important to them. I just made a goal with the mission pres to have 12 people baptized in the next 12 weeks, but I am hoping that I will be able to do more than that. Everybody is always asking me to sing in English. Here, the best music and movies are from America. They have the movies translated, but the music, they are content not understanding because they just like the sound. I may be a pop star down here some day.
Thanks mom. I really am trying, and the langauge is coming, although sometimes I forget how important patience is in the gift of tongues. It really is amazing though. I wake up every morning, and think, wow, I know a different langauge! It is cool. I met a missionary leaving, who can understand everything, but he does not speak it very well, and the Brazilians say that it is because he speaks in English whenever he can, and he simply tried to get by with mostly a missionary vocab. I am dedicated to becoming Brazilian in 2 years. I have not had a conversation in English for so long! Only Portugues for the last 3 weeks. Wow! Sometimes, my head feels close to exploding, but other times, I am thinking in Portuguese!!! It is really wierd though, because my thought process plumets.  lol
I am at the office, and it might be the mission home too, but I do not think so. I do not really know to be honest. Learning a new langauge is awesome. Maybe when I get home, I will learn, and then I will know 3 langauges!
Alright, I am going to go and study, but I love you and I cannot wait to talk to you on the phone (probably Sunday). Talk to you later mom. Love you!  Love you Josh.

PS: Don´t worry about that site, it is not going to work anyway. I will try to mail the sd card to you. Tchau!

Week 12 Letter

May 9, 2011
Hey mom, are you there. I only have 20 minutes today because I am in Cuiaba right now.
Happy mother´s day mommy! I love you so much. Sorry that I missed you on Sunday, but I think that we were off on our time. From what I hear, we are only 3 hours apart and not five, because you were at church and I called at about 3 30 my time, so maybe that is right. Right now it is 10:50 am were I am at, so you can check your clock and see what time it is there. I am in Cuiaba for a zone conference so I cannot call for a few days, but I will call at 3:30 your time on wed when everyone is home. I think that that is going to be 6:30 my time, and not 8:30. Anyways, I have a favor to ask of you. Can you email me the recipe for rice pudding and for pancakes? That would be awesome. I am the missionary doing the cooking for the household, which is kinda a scary thought, right? Well, so far so good. it is rather simple, rice everyday for every meal lol. Well, mommy, I only have a very limited time today, but I wanted to let you know that I love you and that I was thinking about you a lot yesterday, and everything that you have done for me, and the role that you played and are continuing to play in my life. Every life that I change here is because of you, and you deserve a majority of the credit. I love you mom, and I cannot wait to hear your vioce on Wed. Let me know if that will work. I might be able to check my email again today, but I am not sure. Right now, I am not sure about anything and how everything is going to work, but I thought that I would drop a note that said that I love you and was wishng you a happy mother´s day. Love you a ton mom. Your son, Elder Lee

PS - hey, I saw my first croc aout 20 feet from me and also my first monkeys and parrots. Interesting story with the croc, but no worries mom, all is well. I will catch you up on wed, but I only have about a min left so I have to hurry and get this sent to you. I love you all, and wish you the best. Até logo

com amor

Elder Lee

Hey mom, are you online right now?

Thank you for the recipes. I am way excited, and my companion is as well. Alright, I think that I have the times thing all figured out so it will be wed at about 3:30 your time, and all is well. Thank you for everything. I also recieved both of the letters that you had sent earlier today because I am in Cuiába. They were great. Tell everyone that I said hi and that I wish them the best. I will talk to you all wed. oh yeah, Elder Nielson´s mom wanted you to know about a website called ldsmissionarymoms.com Elder Nielson is the missionary from Utah that is companions with Elder Melo who live in the same house as us but have the other side of Sinop. Alright, I think that that is everything that I needed to say. I am right now sending in my reports to the mission president and I will be called in for an interview anytime, so I have to go, but if you have any questions, give me an email, and maybe I will be able to see it later today. I love you all, and I cannot wait to give you a call. Tchau

 

Week 11 Letter

May 2, 2011
Hey family!
Another week has run by. Time is so weird. So, where to start with this email… Maybe some questions. Snakes, first of all. Yeah, I forgot how long I said that this thing was, but it turns out that it was 26.25 feet! Huge. Also, the birds were a kind of vulture, and so they are huge, probably close to an eagle, I am not sure, but I am sure that you can look it up on the internet. The food is good, but no, nothing like mom’s food. It is rice and beans for every meal. The culture is so different, but I did not realize it was different until I thought about home because it is normal here. Everybody really thinks that it is normal so you follow along and it becomes normal to you as well, and then you think about the way things were at home and you realize it is completely different. It is really warm, especially with the humidity. I am sweating 24 hours a day, and I mean sweating. We carry around towels with us so that we can wipe the sweet off our faces before we teach. It is ridiculous. My shirts need some serious attention lol. So, what else? I so not even know how to send my SD card to you, but I will try to figure that out. Mail takes at least a month or more, so I will let you know when those letters arrive. I am glad that you got the suit Tony; I was hoping that it might fit you. It was small in the arms for me, and hearing the way that you were growing, I was not sure. Hey, did I accidentally mail you my Pat, Blessing with all of those letters that I sent home? I cannot find it anywhere, so maybe you could send it to me, or type it up and email it or something. Anyways, yeah, the mission is great. Yesterday we had the coolest first lesson with Merala. We met her at a member’s house and taught her the first lesson. I taught about God, families, and prophets, my companion continued with Christ and the apostasy, and then I talked about Joseph Smith. I asked her to pay close attention to the words that I was going to say, and also her feelings, and I promised that if she did this, she would receive an answer that what we were saying is true. She agreed, and I quoted the first vision, and bore testimony. Then my companion bore testimony. Then I asked her how she had felt when I described what happened to this young boy who prayed to God, and she said that she felt very strong and good feeling. I told her that I did as well, and I asked her who was giving her these feelings, and she started to answer, but then she broke into tears. We allowed silence and she quietly wept for 5 minutes (which is forever). I could feel the Spirit working on her. After the 5 minutes, she was able to answer that the feelings were coming from Heavenly Father. I then asked her if she was willing to follow these feelings and be baptized with the same power and authority that Jusus was baptized with, and she said yes and that she would prepare herself to be baptized in 2 weeks. Sadly, she lives in the other side of Sinop, so I will probably not teach her again, although we do a lot of splits, so who knows, but it was awesome. The life of a missionary is amazing. It is so hard sometimes with the language and having this incredible desire to help people when you can only understand them 1/2 the time, but so incredible worth everything. The language is coming faster and faster, and I can feel the gift of tongues. It is truly a strange feeling. There is no way that I should remember of these rules and words that I am studying. It is unreal, and the understanding is becoming better and better as well. Yesterday during the church meetings, I could understand everything that what said. It was unreal. Portuguese is becoming more and more normal to me. Anyways, we are also teaching a guy named Junior, and he came to church with us yesterday, and I talked with him afterwards about what he thought and he liked it and he felt that it was word of God, and so told him that he was receiving an answer that this is Christ’s church on the earth again, and that he needs to follow these answers and promptings. Anyways, about mother’s day. I think that I will be calling from 1pm my time to 4pm my time, although we are not sure. It all depends on our lessons. I have church at 5pm as well, which is pretty awesome. We are taking the sacrament at about the same time even though we miles and miles apart. Yeah, so I am not sure when, but it will be from about 12pm-4pm. It all depends. Anyways, Tony and Shauna, it would be awesome being in the same classes with both of you. Man, tell everyone there that I know that I said hi. Saturday, we were at the church with some investigators for a branch activity and everybody was kindly teasing me that Americans can not play soccer. I could not so them that I was okay because we have a rule against soccer unless you had a baptism that week, but they were having a contest of who could throw a soccer ball the furthest (following the inbound throw rules) and I did a front handspring throw and won by a long shot, and I could have thrown it further, but I did not want it to go over the fence. It was really funny. Dad, did Tony really beat you three series in a row??? I have no more words on this subject. lol. Tell Elder Kilma that I said hi. Happy B-day Becca! It is a little early, but I will not write or call until after! You are all growing up so fast! You will only have 2 birthdays until I come home and you already are using up one of them! PS Tony and dad, I wore my tie yesterday! So, you will have to write me all about it Rebecca! I am so excited for you. Well, it was so great hearing from all of you! I loved reading your emails! Well, I am going to try and see if I can send you some pics, so this will not be the only email for the day, I will send you others in a minute, but until then, Tchau!
Actually, it is 3 reais here, so I think that it is about 2 dollars in American money. I do not think that there is a way to send you pics over email, so I will have to figure out the best way to send you the SD card. Also here is some information of how to call me. I can call you or you can call me. The number is this for you to call me. The first number is to call from the US to Brazil which you will need to look up. It starts with 00 I think. The number for me to call US is 0021 (for example). Next Sunday you can call me at the branch building by dialing this number, followed by 66 (state number) and then 3531-1290 (number of the building). So it will look like this (international code)-66-3531-1290. I can also call you. I do not know which they prefer. Actually, I think that I am suppose to call you and then have you call me right back. Sorry that this is soo confusing. I still have your calling card number so no worries. What is the address to my blog?
Well, I am about out of time, so I thought that I would send you a quick note before I left. I love you so much mom! Thank you for everything that you do. I cannot wait to call you, but at the same time it is sad that I am already calling you because the next time will not be until Christmas. I do want you to know that I am being the kind of missionary that you would want me to be. I am working hard, teaching people, learning the language and the culture, and I am trying to bring everyone to the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power unto salvation. I love you mom, and I am so excited to hear from you again. I love you mom, and an early Happy Mother’s day from a loving and most thankful son.
Elder Shane B. Lee