I love this work

Oi Familia, como voces estão?

Well, this week has gotten a lot better.  I'm just getting over being sick, so I'm feeling a lot better now that I have some food in my stomach.  It stopped raining too.  It has been raining for the past 2 weeks.  Now the sun is out and its really humid.  But I don't mind it, we are right next to the ocean so we get a good ocean breeze every once in a while so its not too bad.  I'm not sure if it's the water that made me sick.  I'm past the point of caring and I just drink the water that they give me.  

Well you wanted to know what I do all day, so here we go.

We wake up and exercise at 6:30a I usually just do push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups so its nothing amazing.  Then at 7:30a we make breakfast, which is usually just chocolate milk...because we is poor :) ... Then its personal scripture study at 8:00a, then companion scripture study at 9:00a.  Then language study at 10:00a.  Then at 11:00a we walk to lunch which is about an hour's walk everyday.  Lunch goes to about 2:00p, then we go to work.  Clapping (knocking) doors and teaching people 'till 9:00p.  Then we come home and plan for the next day. 

So ya, that's about it.  Hard work and tons of walking. Ha Ha.

This week has been a good week for us.  We have found a lot of new investigators and we had 6 of them in the Capela este Semana.  It was good to have everyone there.  One of the guys we brought was Daniel, we contacted him and just invited him to church, and sure enough he came.  He knew the Bible really well and was into all the lessons.  Later that night we went to his house to just follow up on how he thought church went.  When we showed up all he said was, "Let's go. We are going to my church tonight."  So out of respect, we went with him to the Quadrangular Church which is one of the many Apostasies around here.  I walked in not knowing what to expect, and when we got there I saw 800 people.  800 people is 2 stakes worth in the LDS church [down here], my heart sunk. Here are 800 people in this building that are so blinded by the works of man.  It was so sad to see their pastor screaming and everyone saying ..SIM JESUS.. they are so blind.  It made me realize how cunning the adversary is.  He will stop at nothing to get people to fall away in his traps.  It also made my testimony grow.  Even in our ward building with a billion crying babies and kids running around, our meetings still have the quiet Spirit of the Lord present.  Being in this meeting with 800 people without the Spirit made me so grateful for what we are blessed with.  I know this Church is true.  I have no divide in my heart.  This is the restored Church of Jesus Christ and I am so grateful to put this name tag on everyday that has His name on it, and to represent Him.  I love every second of it.  I love getting rejected, I feed off of it because, it makes the one person that is willing to listen that much more important to me.  I love this work, missionary work isn't easy because salvation isn't a cheap experience.

I love you guys and I pray for ya every night,
Elda Manis

Gripe

Hey Family,

Funny thing that you start your e-mail to me with "Have you been eating good?"...... This week has been the hardest week on the mission yet.  It started out last week that I got ..."Gripe"... What they [the Brazilians] call the flu.  Then it turned into the stomach flu.  Everything I eat I throw up, EVERYTHING.. even if its just a cracker, it comes up.  So I basically haven't eaten anything this week..just within the week I think have lost about 12 pounds.  It has just been a hard week spiritually, mentally and physically.  I feel so weak walking up the hills, like I'm going to die. Ha Ha  That's all our area is is hills, its been hard.  It is offensive to the people if you don't eat [the food they provide] so I eat hoping that it will stay down.  But 20 min. later walking down the street, I yack.  My companion tells me I should just take a day off to relax and give my body some rest.  I say, "Heck No, I can't rest.  I only have 2 years here, and if it keeps going as fast as it is now, one day of rest will be a big waist." I just suck it up and keep moving.  

Elder Hale is so cool.  He is really like a brother.  We like all the same things.  So Mom, to answer your question about  Elder Hale he is basically me but about 3 inches shorter.  HaHa

This week has been a hard week spiritually like I said before.  Our investigators that have been progressing, just decided to not work this week.  We had to cut this family that I thought we where going to baptize for sure.  It was so depressing, they know the Church is true, they have a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  They just don't want to give up watching soccer on Sunday to go to church.  It's just hard because I have worked as hard as i can, with my crappy Portuguese, and spiritually drained myself for these people but they just don't want to change.  But what can you do sometimes you've got to cut an elect.  It's hard to do but sometimes it's what you gotta do.
Well family, everything is going great.  Besides being so sick in the gut,  I'm still working hard don't worry.
As for sending packages, I'm not to sure what the easiest way is.  I don't even get mail every week. I get it about every 4 weeks.
But put stickers of Jesus on the package so people won't open it.

Love ya guys,

POSO USAR SUA BANHERO?

Oi rapaz,
Its good to hear all about home and how you guys are having fun. Ha Ha.

Well, this week has been a really hard week for us.  A lot of our prime investigators that we had lessons marked (scheduled) with, fell through.  They were either at work or just didn't have time [to see us] so that was really hard on us for the first couple of days.  On Tuesday I went on splits with some other missionaries.  (The AP's) [Assistant to the President] It was fun and a humbling too.  I went on splits with Elder Crapo, funny name I know, but even funnier is that we went to school together.  He lives in Brock Perry's old neighborhood, and we were in the same Seminary class, but he graduated in '07 so he only has 4 months left of his mission.  It was fun but it was also humbling because I had to be the senior companion for that day and I didn't realize how much I lean on Elder Hale for stuff, like directions.  We got lost a couple of times but we made it fun.  

Another thing we have been doing this week is getting people to promise God in their prayers that they will come to church with us.  Because when they promise the missionaries.....random guys that they just met, they probably won't keep the promise.  So we started them promising the Lord, and I'll be... it worked.... they showed up to church.  

This week's church was kinda crazy 3 people in the ward died and they all had their funeral after the Sacrament Meeting. So it was kinda crazy. One of the guy's who died was attending his mom's viewing and afterwards he was crossing the street in front of the church and got hit by a car.  So...Ya... you  can still see the blood splats on the ground.  Its nasty.

OK so are you ready for some funny stuff.....

This week on Thursday we ate lunch at this Irmas house and she had half a foot.  It was nasty.  It looked like a horses hoof. Ha Ha. Anyway, after we ate there we went to work clapping doors and I was talking to this one lady that wouldn't let us in.  Randomly Elder Hale said "POSO USAR SUA BANHERO?", meaning "Can I use your bathroom?"  I looked at him, he was all sweaty and doing a pee dance.  She said  "No."  He looked at me and said, 'Dude I gotta poo!!"  I started laughing and I said, "OK, lets go to a store."  But he wanted to go home which was a 5 minute walk.  So we started to walk and we got to about a block from the house and he starts walking all crazy and I asked him, "Hale, you OK?"  He said, "It hurts." I asked,  "What?" and he said... "My rectum."  I was trying so hard not to laugh, so I ran ahead and unlocked the door for him.  He sprinted up the stairs and ran to the bathroom.  I walked in laughing soooo hard because I heard the shower going. Ha Ha! When he came out all he said was, "I didn't make it."  So yes, meu companiero fez um cocõ no calsas dele. (He pooped his pants) I felt so bad for him but I was laughing so hard. It's probably going to happen to me someday.
Well I hope next week will go better for us.
Love you all 

Flying Poo

Oì Familia tudo bem??
This week has gone by so fast, I can't believe it.  My companion just says to get used to it because it doesn't slow down.  It was good to hear about your trip to California, and Hannah suck it up and talk to your mom, haha she loves ya haha. 

Well, this week we have been greatly blessed for our work.  I'm not dreaming in Portuguese yet, I'm so tired at the end of the day I pass out.  We walk about 30 miles a day and its all hills.  I don't mind the walking, but my knees do. Ha Ha But back to what I said. We have been greatly blessed this week, we have taught some awesome lessons and I starting to break out of my shy shell... just starting to talk to people and all that I figured, the only way I'm going to learn is by messing up. 

But any way, we are teaching this man named Iraner and his daughter Jessica.  The first lesson we taught was The Restoration and this past lesson was just a follow up to see how his studies and prayers went, when we asked him [how it went] he started to cry and said that he new in his heart and in his mind that this is the true Gospel and that he needs to be baptized.  I couldn't really understand everything he said the accents down here are so hard to pick up.  But I could feel it.  So I asked him, "So will you be baptized on the 29th of August?" and he said "Concerteza" meaning "Certainly".  It's such a good feeling when you bring someone to Christ it's worth a thousand doors being slammed in your face.

Also, another thing that happened was we had an appointment that didn't follow through...you can't really count on Brazilians so I decided to clap the next door (we clap instead of knock down here) and an older man let us in.  We gave him the first lesson, and he basically said "Sweet when can I be baptized?"  One thing I have found out is that the Lord works in mysterious ways, and He puts you in places for a reason.  

Another random thing, every one says I look like the actor Christian Bale, Ha Ha.  I have even given a few autographs, Ha Ha  The people down here are crazy, if you are American you're famous. Also, a funny story.  We where walking in a rural street in a ghetto area and we clapped this door.  We heard a flush sound and poo flew out the side of the house. Luckily we weren't in the way! Ha Ha  I was laughing sooo hard!  All Elder Hale said was"Welcome to Brazil".  Last P-day was so fun, I got to go to Vitoria and play soccer on the beach with my sone.  It's so cool I'll send some pictures, and we just walk around to all the little vendors it's so fun I'm starting to gain a bigger love for this work and it grows every day.
I love you guys.
Stay safe, I pray for you every night and morning.
Peace,
Elder Manis

My first area

Hey family!!
Well, I'm out of the CTM now. It was kind of like being slapped in the face with the real world.  The people here talk so different, like instead of ..luz.. they say  lushh.. everything is so slurred together.  The first day or 2 was really hard but now I'm starting to catch along. My area is called Cariasica, its a little port town outside of Vitoria just like Apache Junction is to Mesa.  The people here are way relaxed, they are always in there swim suits and flip-flops.  I haven't seen one dressed person yet.  The people being lax is a good thing because they will always listen to you, but it is also a bad thing because no one really takes your message seriously, and to top that within 5 blocks of our house there are about 12-20 different churches.  So its hard to contact people that aren't so involved with one of the many churches.  But we work hard, my comp. is Elder Hale he is from Salt Lake.  He is a really cool guy and we get along great.  He has been serving for a little over a year, so he always asks about home and whats going on, which makes him kinda home sick which in turn makes me homesick. 

This week has been a roller coaster of ups and downs.  But it's just now starting to smooth out.  The food with members is amazing.  It's seriously better than anything back in AZ.  I love it, but for some reason I always get the neck of the chicken when we have chicken.  It's all bony and just weird.  

Church yesterday was kinda crazy. Let's just say a lot of breast feeding going on and a lot of babies crying.  I bore my testimony and afterwards everyone told me that if I needed anything they would help my out.  The members here are really loving.  The members think I look like a soldier from the movies.  I have no clue why, but its funny. 

Well, now for the good news through all this hard work and ups and downs we did have some success.  My first day in the field we contacted this family and we invited them to church, and they came.  Then just yesterday we taught them another lesson and asked them to be baptized, and they said yes!  It's so amazing, a million rejections is worth one baptism.  We are also going to baptize one of the Bishop's daughter's friend so that will be cool.  Well, I got to go. I have to go shopping.

:( Miss you, Love you all

In Vitoria

No letter this week as P-day was spent in transit to Vitoria 

We are very grateful to have Elder Manis with us in the Brazil Vitória Mission.  He arrived on Tuesday from the CTM in São Paulo.  Although a little tired due to an early plane flight, he was anxious to begin his service in the mission field.  After a session of training, we met in our home for lunch and an afternoon interview.  Attached is a picture taken in the mission home.  Once again, it was a pleasure getting to know your son and we look forward to serving with him as we invite others to come unto Christ and enjoy the blessings of the gospel. If in the future you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

President and Sister Pickett