A New Area and Baptized an Atheist

April 28, 2014

OOOiii...So I got transferred to the neighborhood Montese today.... I don’t exactly know the name of our area, but I’ll figure it out soon. Hopefully all goes well here... O and I became senior companion as well #Hype.. Our new house is really small, like really small, haha. It’s a little apartment on the 4th floor of a building here. This area is pretty different... the grocery store is gigantic here... or maybe its just normal... I was used to the one in my old area that was the size of our living room and kitchen haha... but things are a little bit more expensive here... anyways.. I’m excited to work in a new area. 

Sounds like Brother Withers is similar to Elder Granville’s dad... Elder Granville said that his family went house hunting in the United States and they passed by Vegas... and while they were there his Dad took pictures with Will Smith...I guess he knows him, haha

So last week we had another "super P-day" with the youth in our ward... it was a really good activity.. everyone’s crazy so it makes for a good time... and ya we can’t play soccer... just watch... sometimes we juggle the soccer ball... but the Brazillians always really want to play and we never can haha... maybe the next president will let us. He gets here June 30th. 

Sounds like BYU basketball is going down hill.. they lost their best player (Matt Carlino)! I don’t know why the coach didn’t like him... maybe he always talks back to Coach Rose like Dan used to do with Coach Bushre, haha.

O so this week we had a baptism. We baptized an athiest! It was pretty cool.. He didn’t believe in God in the beginning... and he still has difficulty expressing his testimony.. but he always keeps our invitations to read and go to church and keep the commandments. So that was pretty cool. (I’m turning into Jackson)... so anyways thats about all I got for this week... I hope everyone is doing good. And I hope the wedding is coming along :) 

Com Amor, Elder Udy

p.s Sounds like everything will work our to have Skpye on the Monday after Mother’s Day... I’ll let you know more next week. Tell Cole that I want to see his juggling on Skype :) até mais ! 

I gave my 4th talk...

April 21, 2014

Hahaha as I was reading your email, I was thinking to myself ... wow this is a long email, haha and then you said Cole learned to juggle in the time that you were writing the email, haha. It made me laugh... 

Anyways, sounds like everyone liked the youth conference... sounds like fun.. and sounds like Slippery Rock had a decent turn out. Sounds like everyone from Slippery Rock is growing up these days. I can't believe Cole is dancin' with all the girls. Sounds like there were some good classes too. I miss listening to President Carter speak... he was always one of my favorite people to listen to give a talk or a class or something. 

So here in Ceará I don't think Easter is really that big a deal... most people don't even remember it's Easter... In the United States Easter is one of the two days of the year that generally everyone goes to church, but here it's the week that everyone goes on vacation and misses church haha. Our ward was really small this week... like 70 people. 

So this week I gave my 4th talk while on my mission. Our bishop has the missionaries talk every second Sunday... he's kinda crazy.. but in a good way... it used to be the 4 missionaries and the Ward Mission leader would speak... but our bishop released our ward mission leader and now we don't have one... so it was just the 4 missionaries that talked haha... 

So this week it was kinda complicated to bring people to church because everyone went on vacation.... but one of our investigators was in church this week, and he committed to live the Word of Wisdom so that's a good sign. 

O and I'll try to send a letter again... sometimes letters get lost.. u know how it goes.. we'll see what happens. O and next Monday is transfers, so maybe I'll be in another area for Mothers Day and I might not have Skype, so I'll let you know. Tenha um bom dia! Diga pra Cole que eu mandei um abraço pra ele. Tchau!

Eu amo vocês, Elder Udy

So I'm trying to send photos but I'm using a computer that seems like it was built during World War one so I accidentally set a photo of me and Elder Granville as the background, and then after trying to remove the photo as the background on the computer I gave up sending photos this week.... so I'm just gonna send the photos next week, haha. Have a good week!

We should be thankful for commandments...

April 14, 2014

OOiiiii e aí... 

Is Cole going to go get his permit on his birthday???  All my friends would be proud of Cole and his friends playing slam ball... he’s living the dream, haha. Basketball is one of the things I miss the most... and your food... we have a lot of rice, beans, and noodles here. Every day haha.... so I’ve been getting more creative with the things I make at night for dinner/snack. 

Sounds like Jackson’s pretty much healed.. when is the wedding again, I forget? May sent me a letter a few months ago and I was gonna send her one back but I was scared it would never get there until summer... and she wouldn’t live there anymore... the mail is not to be trusted in Brazil.... I sent a letter back to Peyton too.. and I don’t think she ever got it... so maybe I’ll try sending a few more... it’s kinda hard though cuz we don’t have a post office in our area, haha. 

So this week was pretty good we usually teach 30ish lessons in a week... and we were teaching some families that were way receptive this week, and we were hoping to have lots of people in church, but only a couple of our investigators came to church. We keep learning more and more about the principle of free agency... but it’ll all work out. 

This week our mission president taught us about how we should be thankful for commandments. He explained how God loves us just how parents love their kids. And the same way parents set rules with their kids to protect them, God sets rules with us to protect us. And our president explained how God wants to bless us, but he can’t give us everything he wants to unless we obey all the commandments. The same way that parents have more experience than their kids... God knows better than us, and he knows what will make us most happy. 

I hope you guys have a good week :) I think I’ll be able to Skype on the day after Mother’s Day, or call on Mother’s Day... whatever works better for you guys. Tenha uma boa semana! Até próxima, Elder Udy

I'm seeing so many new things here

Stuffed bear we found on the bus during Carnaval

April 7, 2014

Nooosssaa, Jordan lost 50 pounds?!?! (A boy that was serving in Brazil from our area) Every lunch the members feed us they don’t let us stop eating, haha. I have to do all kinds of things so I don’t get fat.. sit ups, running, praying, fasting, haha. I don’t think I’ve really gained weight though, we’ll see in a year and a half I guess. 

So conference was way good... we didn’t get to watch the Saturday sessions though... only Priesthood session, but it was really good. I liked all the talks by the first presidency and Pres. Uchtdorf's talk about not sleeping during the restoration... ("Pres. Uchtdorf asked, Are you sleeping through the restoration?  The restoration is an ongoing process.  The exciting events of today will culminate in the Second Coming.  Will we be able to say we rolled up our sleeves and worked with all our might, mind, and strength? Those who serve others will not sleep through the restoration.") and I liked the talk about being an example to others as a priesthood holder. I liked all those talks that you said too. There were so many good talks. I think you slept through the most important one for you. Elder Ballard invited all the members of the church to start reading Preach my Gospel and studying it... We watched the Sunday session of conference in English, but priesthood session was in Português.. but it’s all good... 

So this week we didn’t have the baptism... I’m not sure if she was going to decide to be baptized already or not, but we had the interview marked for 7 o’clock Saturday night and the zone leaders never showed up, so hopefully next week it will work out better. 

So this week we found a worm in our bathroom.. the kind that sends missionaries home... it looked like a red piece of hair... but it was moving like a worm does on the floor in the bathroom... so that was interesting, haha. I’m seeing so many new things here.. like the other day we were walking down the road and I saw a motorcycle pass by us with 6 people on it! O and after conference yesterday the gears or clutch or something in the bus we were riding exploded or broke, and we had to get out and start pushing the bus up a hill with cars flying by, haha. It was pretty nuts. But alright, that’s about all I got this week. Hope you guys are doing good. Tell Cole to brush his teeth, eat his vegetables, and read his Book of Mormon (just like Elder Anderson used to) ... and tell Dad, Jackson, and May I said hi too :) 1 month till the phone call/ skype #hype

Love you guys -Elder Udy

Brazilian pizza

We find these in our apartment all the time

The winged beasts that always appear in our apartment