It's pretty exciting to be here during the World Cup

June 30, 2014

So this week was pretty tough to work cuz Monday was a Brazil game at night...

Fortaleza soccer stadium under the lights

so we didn't even leave the house.. after that we had our last meeting with President Souza all day on Wednesday, and Saturday was the other Brazil game... so after the Brazil game everyone went crazy... there was a group of people that ran up to our roof and were shooting off fireworks, so that was kinda cool. Pretty much everyone was shooting off fireworks after the game. It's pretty exciting to be here during the World Cup, even if we can't watch the games. However, usually we know what's going on by the amount of fireworks and swear words from our neighbors. When you start to hear hundreds of fireworks outside you know Brazil scored. 

So that guy that sent you the video was the missionary that baptized President Souza´s wife, Sister Souza. She invited him to show to us the difference that one baptism can make. She said that when she and her family were baptized by this missionary, she was 11 years old. Years later, she took part in converting her boyfriend who was soon baptized. Soon after, they got married in the temple, and much later were called to be President of the Fortaleza mission. Also, with their kids and grandkids their family has 38 members, many which have married in the temple and served missions as well. So after she explained all this, she invited this older returned missionary to talk to us. He said to us, you don't know who you're baptizing or what they will become or the difference they will make. He had no idea that the little 11 year old girl that he baptized would later lead an entire mission and they'd have kids who would all either be Bishops, Stake Presidents, or members of the Stake Presidency. It was inspirational to see the difference that one baptism makes.

So anyways, things are pretty much crazy as ever here... all the back roads are decorated with Brazil flags and paint and banners and what not. Hope everything's going well there.. Yesterday we picked some coconuts off the tree, and Elder Carmo was hacking it with a little knife trying to open it.. it was almost like they do in the movie "The Other Side of Heaven"... but we only had a little knife we borrowed from our neighbor. Anyways I'll send some pictures this week. Love you guys :)  Elder Udy

Cutting open coconut

Preparing for BBQ

Grilling the meat

Rooftop ambience, Viva Brazil!

Fortaleza sunset

Everyone is watching the soccer games all the time

June 23, 2014

O Cole, haha I can’t believe you let him drive home from Pittsburgh. Looks like he enjoys driving. I can’t believe Dan is gonna get married :0 that’s pretty crazy. I never thought I’d see the day that one of my friends from the basketball team got married. I heard that Obama was at the Brazil game too... that’s what someone here told me at least... I took a bunch of pictures of our barbeque and of the soccer stadium "under the lights".. but I forgot my adapter this week so it’ll have to wait until next week. So I’m pretty excited to get the package.. it’s been a while since I got any mail *hint* *hint* :) O I think I forgot to ask you again, but did you send that book in the package "Cuiabatizar"? 

So here pretty much everyone is watching the soccer games all the time, haha. One of our investigators even has a tv built into his car so when he’s driving he can watch the games. And about 70% of the cars have some sort of Brazil flag or paint or something haha. 

So this week is the last week of President Souza. He leaves on the 27th at night and our new President, President Bonini I think it is... will get here shortly after... everyone’s anxious to see what will change with the new mission president. I hope he allows us to play basketball with the members on p-day because right now we can’t... but in this stake there are some young men and leaders that always play on the court here... they have a full size outdoor court here... and they wanted to play with us, but first we have to see if we're allowed. O the life of a missionary. 

  So today will be another Brazil game. So we’ll be staying in our house tonight... maybe we’ll watch a church movie on our portable dvd player. So during the last soccer game I read "Our Heritage" and after I read about our family history... I thought it was pretty cool that one of my great great.... great grandpas talked about Elder Savage (the main character in 17 Miracles) in his journal and about the experiences they went through pulling handcarts across the plains... and one of my other great... great grandpas from the other side of the family was baptized by Brigham Young and was part of the Original Quorum of the 70 and married Brigham Young’s first cousin. 

So hopefully Cole is enjoying summer at home alone without a job... and Jackson’s enjoying the married life and his internship. Eu espero que vocês tem um ótima semana que vem. 2 more years and you and dad won’t even have any more kids in the house. :0 Have a a good week! Enjoy the World Cup for me haha. Tchau!

Com Amor, Élder Udy

The World Cup this week was pretty wild

June 16, 2014

Mission conference with Elder Anderson. (Elder Udy is in the center about 5 or 6 rows back)

The World Cup this week was pretty wild... everyone goes nuts here during the Brazil games... and it should be even crazier tomorrow when Brazil plays in Fortaleza... we will be in our house during the game because everyone goes crazy during the games. So we stay inside one hour before and one hour after the game. A total of 4 hours. So on the roof of our apartment building there's this big grill. I think we're going to barbeque on the roof during the game... to do something fun because we can't watch the game... and we can't even watch church movies on our portable dvd player that we have in the house because Élder Dorneles broke it... or at least that's what Élder Savaryn says (Argentinian) haha. I don't know what the real story is. 

This is what we did during the Brazil soccer game, haha.

So this week was pretty rough on the missionary work because everyone always wants to watch all the games... and seeing as there is a game every hour or every day starting around noon... its kinda rough... but things are still progressing. This week we hope to have a baptism. Hopefully it all works out.. He was already interviewed and everything, he just wanted to wait a little more.. but in church he was really excited and he went to an activity last week with 2 of his kids and was meeting new people and having fun, so we hope that this will be the week of his baptism :) 

Sounds like the missionaries there are pretty good. Better buy them a pizza or something.. or invite them over for more dinners. I find it interesting how here the members give a lot more importance to the missionaries meals. The members here feed missionaries every lunch except P-day... but in the US its like 3 or 4 meals a week (I think)... or at least in our ward.. but then again in the US sometimes you have Chinese food or Mexican or Italian... here its rice and beans or nothin, haha, but the members know how to cook pretty well, so it's always tasty.. but anyways. I hope you guys have a good week. Enjoy watching the World Cup. Amo vocês.

Élder Udy

World Cup Festivities begin Thursday

June 9, 2014

So I’m trying to send pictures right now, but when I plug in my adapter it says the memory card is empty... but when I put the memory card back into the camera it says it’s full.... it’s pretty annoying... maybe I’ll figure it out or maybe I’ll just take more pictures on the other memory card that actually works... 

Happy Birthday!! ... I wrote down in my planner to tell you happy birthday last week... but then I forgot :) haha but sounds like it was fun... seems like dad still gets carried away when he cooks too... in the good old days he would supervise me, Jackson and Cole and we would do everything while he watched... or at least it seems like that in my memory haha.  Sounds like you have some work to do in your new calling. Better get everyone excited and inviting their friends to the activities... if everyone brought a friend imagine all the people you’d have coming. 

So this Thursday I’m pretty sure the World Cup festivities will begin... in the favelas in our area they have green and yellow everywhere.. banners and flags and they painted the ground and their houses and its like a party 24/7... its pretty wild haha. If Brazil wins it’ll be pretty nuts... but I think Germany is going to win. I’m going to look for shirts to send you guys... I’m sure there will be tons here in a week or so when all the tourists have arrived... so I guess there’s supposed to be a 3rd bus strike this week and a police strike Saturday... so on Thursday we’re going to have to stay in our house until 7 o'clock... and if there’s a police strike we’ll be staying inside Saturday too... so we are hoping to baptize 2 investigators this week... hopefully it all works out with the hype of the World Cup. There’s supposed to be riots and all kinds of crazy things. We´ll see what happens. 

So Elder Carmo arrived in Fortaleza with me. I just have 4 more weeks than him on the mission cuz he’s Brazilian and wasn’t in the MTC as long as I was. Hopefully we have more success this transfer. Elder Carmo is 26 years old and is from Para (a state in Brazil) and he’s about as tall as May. But he’s a really good worker and missionary. He’s the only member of the church in his family. His accent is hard to understand sometimes, but he’s a good guy. I’ll try to send a photo of us next week because I have to use the other memory card. 

Sounds like everything’s going good... good to hear that everyone’s still playing basketball in our driveway haha. Hopefully they pass by more to play basketball with Cole or he’ll be really bored all summer haha.  O and all those things you said you're going to send in the package sound great :) I’m not really needing anything so anything you see that I like, you can send haha...o and more peanut butter cuz Elder Dorneles ate all of mine, haha então, eu espero que vocês têm uma boa semana. Até próxima! 

Com Amor, Élder Tyler

Bus Strike

June 2, 2014

Sounds like the party was quite a success, looks like a lot of good food that I’m missing out on, haha. I really want some good food these days, a person can only handle so much rice and beans ya know, haha. Looks like Sean’s about doubled in size since I left, haha. That’s cool that my friends came to the party, I hope everyone liked it... I was hoping dad would buy lots of drinks for the party so that there would be some left over gatorade in the basement when I get back in a year and a half, haha. Sounds like Cole is really quite the enterpenuer these days... I’m pretty sure I spelled that wrong but its been a while since I’ve spoken English haha. 

So we had transfers today... when I was at the transfer meeting I talked to Elder Chaves and Elder Moroni and Elder Granville who were in my old area... they were telling me all kinds of crazy stories about the area and members. So Elder Dorneles (my companion) was transferred to Bom Jargim.. and my new companion is Élder Carmo... who is Brazillian as well... I don’t think I’ll ever be companions with an American. 

     This week we had a bus strike here in Fortaleza... all the bus drivers didn’t work... so basically everything stopped in Fortaleza because everyone..everyone uses the bus... so we had to walk like an hour and a half to get to our lunch appointment and another hour and a half to get back, haha our area is pretty big so we always use the bus to go to lunch or to church... because the church building isn’t in our area. This week there’s supposed to be another strike as well... and a police strike too... so things are getting pretty crazy... if there's a police strike, as you could imagine, we’ll stay inside because things would get pretty crazy here without police. 

So our mission president is leaving after this month... and we have a goal as a mission to baptize 317 this month. Until now the mission baptized about 70 so we’ll see how it goes. I hope that all goes well with our investigators and we have a lot of success this month. But anyways, Looks like everyone at home is happy... Cole is rich, the party is over so you can rest, and Jackson is married so I’m sure he’s happy, and dad has lots of good left over food for you to pack in his lunches so he should be happy too, haha. Anyways, I hope you have a good week and get to sleep a lot. Love you guys. Áte mais, 

Élder Tyler