The Plague

So this week was great!

haha unfortunately I was sick for 2 days and a little. I did nothing but sleep Thursday. I dont remember anything that happened except sleeping. Wow I'm really glad to be feeling better. Also I'm thankful for the armada of Medicine that dad sent me with. Especially one in particular. I forgot what one of the capsuls is for, I'll find out the name and ask next week. but Thank you dad!

Other than that we walked a lot. wow. I've seen the outskirts of our area, which is saying something, Aragarças is really long and gets wider the farther you go. Barra is pretty long too. One day we had lunch in this house where we had to scale these rocks to get to it. I was pretty out of breath, and wondering how the old lady that lived there could do this everyday! But it was really cool they built a pool around a spring and there were trees and lots of Acerola, a really tasty fruit.

Love you guys lots and I'm looking forward to talking with you Mother's day, though I try not to think about it during the day. haha. Thanks for everything and much love!

One more thing. I never realized how much truth we have. You get out here talking to all the different people and igrejas... Wow where do they get off? They get their minds fixed on something, even if it's just an idea or phrase without scriptural base. 

We have the truth. Wow we have all of it, even the simplest things that other people don't know. and all of it agrees with the scriptures. All the prophets words agree with all the truth we have. I can't believe how people confuse things. We dont realize what we have. It's Awesome.

Love,

Elder Wallace

BARRA DO GARÇAS!!!

Hello!

From Barra Do Garcas, the best area in the mission.

Yep I was told the night before that I was going to be transferred, but I didn't know where. When we were all in the chapel President gave an awesome talk about teaching DOUTRINA! So for transfers he had all the bus tickets in a pile, and everyone seemed to want two that were different from the rest. I was the last one to get called, I would be going to Barra do Garcas (baha do garsas) with Elder Winkel! (From Colorado)

Just a little about Barra do Garcas

It's an Eight hour bus ride from Goiania and is the farthest area from the rest of the mission. It's also the farthest north and the hottest (oh man it is toasty here). When we got here I was thinking, "wow this place is pretty cool.) and I just got more and more excited as the day went on.

Goainia is pretty flat, but Barra has hills, and two big Rivers, wow it is beautiful. The hills are covered in jungle and the tallest has a statue of the Redeemer, very cool. We hiked up there this morning and had our District meeting "district meeting" because it's just the four of us, elders Falcao, Cain, and Elder Winkel. Man it was crazy! they have a flight of stairs going up this hill/mountain... Straight stairs for 30 minutes. Wow our legs were spaghetti when we got back.

So there are 3 cities: Aragarças, Pontal, and Barra do Garças. We live in Aragarças, and elder Winkel and I will work there and Pontal.

Pontal is inbetween the two rivers, So cool and way pretty! and Barra is across the two bridges. Barra isn't in the state of Goias, it's in Mato Grosso, another state in Brasil.

The church has been here quite some time, but the Branch has about 30 members that are active. We're finding out there are a bunch of people that don't come but were baptized.

We have sacrament meeting in this house-church deal, with tons of fans... haha. It is way cool, when we have 80 members we will get a chapel. I want to see that happen before I leave Brazil. 

The Saturday (third day I was here) Elder Cain had an activity with the Branch, and we had some investigators come!!! We watched the Testiments, and I made everybody French Toast.

(an american food, haha.) 

Wow I am so excited to be here and super pumped to be with Elder Winkel. I've never walked so much and slept so well. 

I've noticed all the miraculous things happen when we COULD go home, or call it a day, but we knock just ONE more door, talk to ONE more person... awesome. 

Also this week we knocked a door and there was this parrot that was telling us "shooh!" (andar logo!) haha. The guy said dont worry he says that to everyone.

Love love!

Elder Wallace.

Happy Birthday!! (Parabens, Parabens!)

Holy smokes, I only have 6 minutes to email, I was reading letters from friends!

Parabens Dad! If I knew it I would sing you the birthday song of Brazil, with a bunch of clapping and such.

Today I was fasting to be able to have the spirit more, and making a list of things that distance me from the spirit that I will avoid all next transfer. (Word on the street is I will be transfered this week). 

Tanner sorry about the dedo. Hope it heals fast. Isn't there a song about the first cut is the most painful or something? maybe not. 

Oh! miracle story time!

I was with the assistants and we knocked on this door and found a guy who was super receptive. I assumed he knew the assistants somehow, because he told them that since they had met he had stopped drinking. (2 months ago!!!)

Apparently they had found him drunk in his car one night, calling to them to help. he was depressed and they helped him get to his house.  We didn't know it was his house we knocked on.  When we asked him how an answer from God (about the truth of these things) would change his life, he said. I will follow that answer and never step out of the path.

Very cool.

Love you all and next week I will tell you some language slip ups I've had here....

Love! Elder Wallace.

Conference!!!

Hey!

I guess I'll start with the bad news... It's not the display. if it was I should be able to take pictures still. You don't happen to have the first camera I broke still do you?

We can't use any other sites, so I can't purchase or watch videos. 

Maybe you could send that camera to me for my christmas or something? I'm really sorry, maybe I'm meant to teach you how to deal with frustration... haha, remember the talk in conference about how we are all imperfect? Then he said, 'all God has to work with is Imperfect people, that must be immensely frustrating, but he deals with it...

Well this week was really exciting what with Conference. I was able to watch the first in English on an ipad a member had. The second I got English Subtitles, Priesthood session was Portuguese (D'oh!) and Sunday 7 of us crammed into the Clerks office to watch in English. 

It

Was

Awesome.

Where to start... Throughout the whole thing I was just calmed and got a feeling of peace. There were two really good talks (they're all really good!) on Forgivness and Repentance. Also two more that talked about peace. I had all the questions I had written about what I need to change or do answered. One of them I prayed about and it was answered in the talk right after that. I'm really looking forward to reading the Liahona when it comes.

There were a lot of great talks about missionary work as well!!! I hope we all take the opportunities that God gives us, no matter how quiet. Quickly I bear testimony that if we seize even the smallest opportunity, even if it's out of our way or Uncomfortable, God will bless us and the other person immensely. He will also start trusting us with more. 

I also bear testimony that if we let the opportunity pass us by, we will feel bad. God will not give you those opportunities because you didn't show you could be trusted. 

But always we can repent!!!

It feels so wonderful when you choose to do the right thing.

It seems weird at first, even to others, when we go out of the way or do something unusual. For example asking if you can help bag groceries or help set the table. I learned pretty quickly that I can either hide behind not knowing the language or I can try try try to use it anyway. Even if people have no idea what this american is trying to do or say, haha. 

We can either hide behind our weaknesses or we can plow through them.

We have lot of potential investigators, but a lot of them are flakey. Spencer, if you have any advice for how to get ahold of people or get back for another lesson, any tips are welcome. I'm still learning here but I'll use my ''phone a friend'' lifeline.

Love you, and here are some pics.

That was the good news. 

Love,

Elder Wallace

Futebol???!!!

We just got back from playing 2 hours of Futebol!!! Oh man it was so so so so SOO good. We can NEVER play but we baptized a LOT this month so the President (blessed be his name) liberated 2 hours for futebol today. I'm just super glad I was able to play soccer in Brasil. wooh.

Anyway, I'm loving the work here, it's great. (Yeah I found the apostrophe key on this keyboard!) here's a story.

So I was working with the other zone leader that doesn't speak English. We were knocking doors (actually you clap doors here) and we got to the end of our area and headed back. Right when we turned around I thought, ''I should try that house there''. But we kept walking. I started feeling stronger about it, but part of my mind was thinking we had another apointment, I can't speak portuguese to my companion to explain. 2 blocks later I realized I was going to feel horrible if we didn't turn around, and I had definitely been prompted by the spirit.

I told my companion more or less what I wanted to do, and we walked 2 blocks back. I knocked and waited. This middle-aged guy poked his head around the window and asked we wanted.. This was the first time I tried to talk when we were knocking doors. I told him we were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Cristo of Later day Saints and had a very special message about Christ to share.

He said, ''No, Thanks.''

:) 

But when we were walking BACK a car pulled up to us with the passenger saying ''stop stop!!!''

Favio served in the Marines and lived in Logan for a while. He was in the car with his sister, who he is visiting in Brazil. He recognized who we were and told his sister to stop. 

We went to her store and taught, Her, Him, Her daughter, and her Friend!

It was an awesome lesson and we are going back this thursday. She was really focused on what we were saying and said this could make a difference in her life. We couldn't agree more.

Let's see... Obedience is important. One time I sprinted with Elder Lindsey to make it back to the house before 9:30. 

I think another thing I've learned is that if you just do you duty, don't worry about the rest. Two things I can control are my desire to work and my effort.

Oh man... I thought I knew what a hamburger was until I got here. The other day we went to a Lanchonette, or burger shop. It had a pattie, an egg, sausage, hotdog, tomatoe, cheese, lettuce, crunchy potatoe things, and a few things I don't know. SO good.

I also got a Creme (really good) they said what flavor and I threw out ''Morango!'' Because I knew that was a fruit.... Morango is strawberry. haha.

The milk here is kind of strange. I can't tell when it goes bad by the smell, because it always smells kind of weird. It doesn't have to be refrigerated. I think next monday I will buy the refrigerated kind to try. I like buying the yogurt (comes in a bag and is drinkable) and freezing it.

Anyway, all is well. We have a baptism tomorrow.

I don't think I've ever been so excited for General Conference in my life!!!.

Much love, thanks for the Emails, I've read Jessica's and I'm going to read the rest now.

Love you all very very much, 

Elder Wallace

Love you!

Yeah we have lunch, big lunches, at members houses.

It's not polite to not eat a lot. The goal everytime is to empty the pans. One time I didn't think I was every going to finish what I had dished myself (on the third trip) I felt like I was going to throw up every bite. I was sweating, haha. But my prayers were answered.

Easter here is Pascoa, or Passover. They give chocolate and such. It's not quite the same as american chocolate. Tastes a bit waxy. When we fasted I was craving Snickers and Reeses. The Catholic church had a big parade about a week ago. Nobody works on the Passover.

Love!

Elder Wallace

The display on my camera is broken. I didn't do anything with it. ahhhh.

Out of time,

Love you!

Elder Wallace.

BRASIL!!!

 We flew from Billings to Minneapolis to Atlanta, Sao Paulo to Goiana. I didn`t sleep at all during the flight to Sao Paulo! Haha. We were able to sleep a bit on the flight to Goiana, and after dinner with the president we slept in a little hotel for a couple hours. President Prieto is really great, maybe next time I meet him I will be able to understand what he is saying. haha. 

Ah, the language! I love learning it, though sometimes my brain is fried at the end of the day. I am constantly trying to speak it with Edler Benatti and Elder Macedo. (from Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre) both Brasileiros. 

Elder Benatti can speak some english but he told me he isn]t going to in order to help me learn. 

The food. Haha, it is good! Yep always rice and beans, usually with a salad that is mostly tomatoes. The other day we had a fruit salad that was really good, and let me know that I am not allergic to any of those fruits. Yeah sometimes we get a feijoada that has all sorts of things in it... Now I understand where Spencer was coming from when he said chicken part soup. Except ours was pork. The food hasnt fazed me yet, you just take out the toe nails and vertebre and ears and organs, or you try to avoid getting it when you dish your plate. Or just eat and dont look! 

My companions are fantastic, they`re always joking to stay sane because they work really hard. My first day working we had some fantastic lessons, and people accepted batismal dates! 

Lets see. I was going to say something about the drivers.. There`s no cruising speed, they are either accelerating or stomping on the breaks! haha. I m pretty sure to film [fast five] they told 5 brazilians to get from point a to point b and then filmed them. People do the craziest things. (I just realized I forgot my camera... But I am taking photos... forgive me mom.) Anyway, its like there is a vin Deisel behind the wheel of every fiat.

Holy cow! the other it rained and their were just rivers in some places. The cars just get a little speed and then plow through them. We were caught in it after a lunch with a member.

Our Area is Parque Amazonia. The water is ok to drink here. Our house is... well I will send pictures, but it is nice. We have two bedrooms but we all sleep in one with the fan on. It is pretty hot and humid. Humid enough that it affects the hold of Duct tape on things (of which I brought a roll) anyway, six of us sleep in the one room. 

I had this huge bag of chocolate chips Amber Carr sent me and they all love them. Elder Benatti and Macedo were dissapointed I didnt bring any Beef Jerky or Peanut Butter. haha. 

Ah man, So one of them only knows certain phrases that he throws out at random teams, very funny. like: Dont touch me. Kiss Girls. Repent quickly. I love you. 

Alright. I cannot email friends nor read their emails. I will try to write some letters today. Sorry It is hard to type on this dang keyboard! Ç is in the way, and I cannot make contractions...

I love you all very much. The Lord helps us so much and I am already seeing miracles. I have everything I need and life is good. It is hard to believe that I am here, but I am very greatful. It is kind of weird typing in english already. Thanks for everything!

Love you much,

Elder Wallace.

An E-mail To Jessica

Aaaaaaah man, thanks for the e-mail!

Wow. You are so great! You can really make an impact in those younger kids lives, as you well know, by being an example.

You're letter made me think of a few things.

The most important thing is people, and loving them.

Sharing the gospel isn't hard, satan just tries to bind our tongues like with Joseph Smith. Why should sharing something so important and precious with a friend be hard?

President Uchtdorf said (I think), and you reminded me of it, When It comes to gossip.  "Assume the good, doubt the bad." Love that. Like you said the only person who really knows everything they're going through is Christ.

Holy cow you have such awesome scriptures you are finding. I really liked the 2 Corinthians 4:6. Here's one I use with prayer, 3 Nephi 18:20"Whatsoever you shall ask the father in my name, if it be right and believing ye shall recieve, it shall be given you" . If you read 18 and 19 and underline everytime the Savior says prayer, it's a lot! It must have been really important for him to teach that.

Yeah, I miss you too. you should go ahead and send those pictures, mom has my address there. I loved the last ones.  haha, we always ask people, "Well, is there anything else we can do for you today?" and I was about to ask you that. Seriously, if there's something I can do for you let me know. I hope there's something I can do for you, I guess I can share spiritual thoughts and such...

gotta run. I send you some cool stuff I've learned. Take Luck.

Like BD Prayer and Conversion.

Love you tons!

Elder Wallace