Carnival is starting here this week

February 24, 2014

       Noooossaa I can’t believe Jackson broke his leg! I showed my companion the pictures haha. That’s pretty crazy. Sounds like it was pretty intense haha. I still haven’t read Jackson’s email haha. I’m pretty excited though. I’m sure he´ll be back to the jumps eventually... that’s pretty crazy though. I liked the picture of the rod in his leg haha. Hopefully it gets better soon. Sounds like he’s been having fun haha. 

       The chapel we had our zone conference in was gigantic... I’m pretty sure it’s bigger than most temples... It’s 6 floors.. it’s like a sky scraper haha. I’ll try to take a picture next time.. but they should really think about building a bigger chapel in Conjunto Ceará haha, the gospel principles class can’t fit anymore people. I think the missionaries are gonna have to start sitting in the hall haha... 

       So this week we baptized "H", who is the grandson of my first baptism, and this week we had 9 investigators in sacrament meeting! If everything goes well we´ll have 5 baptisms this week, I’ll let you know how it goes next week. Everyone we’re finding is really receptive and they’re understanding the importance of reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it’s true because when they receive an answer they’ll know that the church is true and Joseph Smith was a true prophet. It’s really not complicated and people are seeing that. God is working hard in our area. That’s cool that Ariel is still being a missionary. I want to be the same way... one day... when I return home haha. 

       So "carnival" is starting here this week. It’s nuts. People are blasting music all the time and its already a party... the members are telling us which areas to avoid because I guess in some areas people have egg wars. Like they all throw eggs at each other haha.. and pour bags of flour on each other too. It’s pretty wild here. 

       So BYU might make the tournament this year? I really wanna play basketball, but I’m learning to accept that I won’t play real basketball for a long time haha. I’m in downtown Fortaleza right now. Elder Granville has to do something with his drivers license here, so I'll try to take some pictures and send them next week. Até mais!

Elder Udy 

I ended up eating like 2 pounds of corn pudding

Feb. 17, 2014

      Haha o Cole wearing those snow pants. They’re huge! haha but it’s all about lookin’ good when you’re skiing.  Sounds like he had fun skiing too. Listening to all these skiing stories makes me miss snowboading. 

      So we were in the house of one of our investigators this week and they were all watching super pipe... before this I didn’t even know the olympics was happening right now. But they were watching the run where the guy was coming down from the air back into the pipe and he hit his leg on the corner of the pipe. i think it was Shaun White... but ya before that I didn’t even know the olympics were happening.. Pretty much all we think about are scriptures and baptisms, haha. 

      Sounds like you had a good week and it sounds like the young mens program is getting softer and softer.. for now its just winter camp out in a heated cabin with fine dinning.... before you know it they’ll be playin xbox and drinking chocolate milk for winter campout, haha. So I never got the present from grandpa but maybe this week.. or next week... cuz we have a big meeting for the mission this week... idk but I hope it gets here. O and also idk where my patriarchal blessing is 0_0... I think the guy at the airport must´ve stolen it 0_o... so if u could send me another copy that´d be nice :) 

      So this week when we were in the house of this less active she asked us if we wanted some food (some name of food in Portuguese that I don’t remember). And naturally, I said yes.. not knowing what it was... I asked the little 7 year old girl if it was good and she said no its gross.. and then I asked the 11 year old and he said its gross too... So I asked to just have a little so I could taste it.... but people here are really generous.. so I ended up eating like 2 pounds of corn flavored pudding with corn chunks in it... And another day we stopped on the side of the road to eat meat on a stick. So while we were eating we saw the guy that was grilling drop meat on the ground... looked at it for a second.. picked it up.. looked around.. and put it back on the grill haha. I think this is how people get worms here haha. But our week was really good this week. We had 10 investigators in church! 4 of them had to leave before sacrament meeting but still we were pretty pumped. We’re hoping to have lots of baptisms in these weeks coming up :) So that’s all for this week. Don´t forget to give references to the missionaries :) Até mais, com amor, Elder Udy 

We baptized the guy who does karate

Feb. 10, 2014

Noossaa I can´t believe you guys finally sold the truck. Good thing Dad figured out that the wheels weren’t locked in right, haha. And Cole went to a dance with 5 stakes! Did he dance? They had a dance here in Fortaleza this week with every stake in Fortazela.. which is like 2 missions worth of wards... that’s alot of people haha. Idk how it worked, but all the teanagers were goin’ nuts... so sounds like the (high school) basketball team is pretty much the same as last year... I’m sure Coach had a rough time staying in a chair the rest of the game after the technical. I want to play basketball.... but it’s not really an option here... I don’t even know where I would find a basketball. 

So my new companion is Elder Granville. He knows like everything in the Bible haha.. like seriously everything. I’m learning alot about scriptures with him. This week we baptized the guy that does karate, and I got to baptize him. Everyone in the ward loves him. He comes to church and all the people in the elders quorum treat him like they’re his best friend.  That helps alot. I’ll send you some pictures of the baptism.. 

So Elder Granville is from Porto Alegre.. Rio Grande do Sul... I’m not sure if I spelled that right, but it’s something like that... he said its way different were he lives... it’s like a different country... he said where he lives it seems more like America than here. He’s been to America more than 10 times because he has family that lives there....and his dad has a good job. 

So this week we were at this apartment complex.. and they have this guy that is always at the gate, and you need to tell him where you’re going before you can enter.. So I told him that we were going to block Q.. or at least thats what I thought I said... but I guess I swore at him, haha, and you can imagine how that went.. So I’m still learning some things, haha, but I can converse with people and understand almost everyone.. Elder Chaves and Elder Rick are still living with me too. The only person that was transferred from our house was Elder Lima. Então.. tell Peyton I’m excited for the letter #hype.. and keep enjoying seminary :) I’ll send some pictures.. Até mais!  

Elder Udy

I have a new companion

Feb. 3, 2014

All I wanted to do was pet the dog, and he wanted to kill me, haha.

OOppa.. so funny that you mention you got a letter with my companion’s name from the mission president and it said I’d be with him for 12 weeks. Elder Lima was just transferred to be Zone leader and now I have a new companion.. Elder Granville.. I think that's right.. He’s Brazillian as well. I don’t really remember much about him though cuz we just got back from the transfer meeting and haven’t talked much yet, but he seams like a beast.

This week me and elder Lima started inviting everyone to be baptized in the first lesson, and it was pretty wild how well it worked. The spirit is way strong when we invite for baptism in the first lesson, and one day we invited 4 people to be baptized and they all said yes... But at the end of the week we only had 3 dates because people struggle going to church.. but that’s life as a missionary.. We’re planning on having a baptism this Saturday of this guy that teaches jujitsu. He gave a class on jujitsu one day in the parking lot of the church. Everyone here in Brazil likes karate. 

O and we killed the rat this week.. we put out some rat poison, and a few days later we smelled him when we got home at night, and he was lying dead under our oven... I’ll send some photos... I think :) ... Sounds like the Superbowl wasn’t too intense this year.. no one watches it here.. It’s soccer or nothing here, haha. But I think everyone will be going nuts during the World Cup.. actually I know everyone will be going nuts, haha. 

Those snow rolls are strange.. but whatever it takes to cancel school, haha. 

So here we get some references but most the time we are teaching people that we contact ourselves. Either talking in the street or some other way. However, lessons with members teaching friends of the members are always way more spiritual. O ya. I forgot to tell you I gave a talk my 3rd week here..or maybe it was my 4th I can't remember... but it wasn’t bad. It was only 5 minutes so it was fine.. or at least I think it was fine... the members told me I was already speaking well, so that’s a good sign.  Tell Dad I said happy birthday.. 48 sounds pretty old haha, but he still looks young ;)  Have a good week. Help the missionaries :) até mais! Com Amor, Seu Filho -Elder Udy