Bruna

Eh Familia, FELIZ NATAL!

OK, I get to the chase, I'll call home 4:00 my time which should be 12:00 noon your time. Leave your Skype open because I'm going to try and call before Christmas just to get the kinks and stuff worked out, and to see if I can find you guys. I think I did my name as zack.manis. I looked for mom and I think I found her. But she didn't tell me in this email if she had found me or not. I hope everything will work out, but remember KEEP SKYPE OPEN SO I CAN SEE IF I CAN FIND YOU GUYS AND CONNECT WITH YOU GUYS. I don't want Saturday to come around and things get all screwed up.

This week was a good week. We had the baptism of Bruna, she was all pumped up to be baptised. She started jumping up and down as if she was a football player about to run into the game. haha It was so funny. But this baptism was probably one of the most frustraiting baptisms ever. Many things where just screwed up. First off, she forgot a towell and underware and she was always leaving the Church to go find her friends in the street. And then she got caught up in drama in the middle of sacrament meeting. Her phone was ringing off the hook. My blood was just boiling. I was not in a good mood because Saturday I got really really really sick and basically stayed home all day throwing up. So I was still feeling horrible and I was asked to preside the meeting. So I had to sit on the stand and our chaple doesn't have air, so I was all sweaty and nasty. But pffeeeww, she was baptised. (PS- I think I have dange... but oh well.)
Christmas is comming up. No, I haven't gotten the packages yet and I still have no idea if they are even here in Brazil yet. But I sure hope so. A lady gave us a broken Christmas tree this week. The lights where burnt out so I tried to re-wire it. But instead the wireing box exploded in my face and burnt me a little. haha This week was just a stressfull week, but I am glad today, I get to relax a little. Everyone here is starting to travel and starting to go to the beach for the holiday, so the work is getting a little harder because people just wanna get out.
Any way, I love being a missionary even the stressfull weeks are fun and all you get to do is smile it out. :) I love my mission. :)
Looking foward to Saturday.
Love ya,
Elder Manis

Serra

Hello Familia,
Well, my new area is Serra. It's really close to where Andre Carloni is, in fact, I can often see the area where I used to work. It's good to be back in Vitoria. I love the ocean breeze and the smell of fish markets and the salty air. haha It's the best.
My new comp' is Elder Costa, from Manus. Yupp, he is a Lamenite. haha He is really short and way funny. He is basically like the Brazilian version of my first companion Elder Hale my trainer.
This week was full of laughs and good times we already have a baptism coming up too. It's Bruna, she is an amazing lady. She has 24 years and is really looking forward to being baptised. But she doesn't have a lot of support. Like just this morning she called me telling me that she didn't want to be baptized because her friends are telling her that she is crazy. She basically is just getting confused about stuff because of her friends. But it's all good. We will go there tonight and sort things out. We also have Pamela. We found her knocking doors. She is really really depressed, like she has thought about killing herself and stuff. But our messages have really helped her out. It's amazing to see how simple the Gospel is, but how much it can effect the life of someone. So if everything goes right she will be baptised on Christmas.

I live in a house with another couple of missionaries. Elder F. Silva and Elder Ostermiller, they are pretty legit. Elder Ostermiller and Elder Costa both have only 5 months on the mission. Elder Ostermiller is sooo funny! I think he is so funny because he is so young on the mission. haha Like he has been saying slang stuff that I haven't heard in so long, so I just start cracking up. hahah It's so funny. My area is really good but really big, so we end up spending a lot of money on buses. But it's OK at least we have lunch.

I sent you guys a Christmas package last week. It will probably get there in January but oh well, I hope you guys like it. I threw some random stuff in it for all of you, and a random thing for Cara. I still haven't gotten my Christmas package. Being that it hasn't even arrived in Brazil yet, (they usually call and tell you if you got a package) but that's only happened to me 2 times on the mission, with Jel's package and my birthday package - that took 7 months to get here. We will see.

I hope all is well with you. If everything goes well, I'll see you on Christmas using Skype. I'm going to create my own account.

Love ya guys,
Elder Manis

ps- Preston got hitched??

Tell Wyatt to go to BYU or any Utah college, they will hold your scholarship.

Elect of the Lord

Minha nossa Hannah, realmente tem aquela altura?
(Oh my Hannah, has it really been that much time?)

Well, this week was an amazing week because we had the baptisms of Isabella and Valeria. Let's just say that she was the most elect person that I have ever met. :) We found her knocking doors, and at first she didn't want to let us in. But I insisted that we had a message that would change her life. So she said; "Fine, come on in." And from there, the ball went rolling down hill. Everything we wanted her to do, she did. She is one of the elect of the Lord, and it's an honor to be a part of this process of bringing her to the true Church of God. Here are some pictures.
Hey Mom, don't worry about what you hear. Some people are so afraid of what's going to happen in the last days. But the question we need to ask is, "What are you doing to prepare for the last days?" Many people just sit back and watch the things fall apart before them. But then there are others that say, "Nope this is not going to happen to me." or you can say that they put their faith to work and are blessed because of that. Those who suffer say, "I had faith, I did this and that. I went to church everyday, I paid my tithing, I did enough. But all God will say is ... "Well where are your works, that you gave through your faith." Ya, I know what you feel Mom, but don't worry they will get the big picture some day.

But in other news, I got transferred. I'm going back to Vitoria. I'm still a Zone Leader so we will see how things will play out.
I haven't much time, so I'll try to come back in the afternoon to write more.
I gotta send a package to you guys.

:)
Love,
Elder Manis

Crazy stuff

OK
Well, this week was a really stressful week. Just a hard on the body week, but it's all good.
With Elder Hall going home, we have to take care of his area and it's super far away. So we took turns doing divisions and taking care of his area. Before I realised it, I had spent 3 days out of my area and I had nobody progressing. So in 3 days we pulled 40ish lessons together and had 6 people in the church on Sunday.
We had an amazing thing happen to us this week. We took a mother and a daughter to church. Her name is Walerya, and her daughter's name is Isabela. They loved Church and during the sacrament meeting they basically said "Sooooo, if I wanted to be baptised next week... could I??" I was just like, "Yes, yes you can!" :) It was just another one of those "Thank you, God!" things. So that was a really great blessing. We are really looking forward to teaching her this week. I love Heavenly Father and how He is always looking after us. :)
Another thing that's happening here in Rio is civil war. Basically the bandits and taking over the state, burning buses and just doing some crazy stuff. So we have been on our toes the past few days. It's pretty sad and scary to see this happen. I'll attach a cool photo. But ya, it's basically a war and it's scary. But we are smart and we don't do stupid things or go into stupid places. Things are great and going well.
Christmas is coming up, so here is a picture you can put on the Christmas card. haha
Thanks for the support and I love you all. :)
Elder Manis

Mateus and Wesley

Ola Familia,
Dang, Thanksgiving already? It was just yesterday that I got last years e-mail talking about Thanksgiving. Dang, the time is flying by so fast.
Well, this week was good. I had to travel back to Vitoria for some trainings. While I was there I got some trunkie news. President told me that the last day of my mission is MAY 17, 2011. So ya, that means I'll probably be coming home on the 18th or the 19th. I can't remember how many days of traveling it takes. Enough about that, this week was an all right week. We had 2 baptisms. So I can't complain. They were Mateus and Wesley. It was really amazing to see their progress and I found out that Mateus´s dad is a pastor of another church. So haha yup, I baptised the son of a pastor. That's kinda cool.
Well, Maria didn't get baptised. Her stinkin' daughter got her all confused and she didn't end up getting baptised. I'm not one of the Elders that likes to burn people, but let me tell you, in that lesson "eu quemei a filha dela at o pó". Ya, I burned the living poo out of her. She was saying stuff like "You're saying that your church is the only true church is the biggeest lie I have ever heard." She said, this, that and the other thing. Ya, she bad talked the Book of Mormon and I just said; "Well, have you read it?" and she said "No" and so I basiccally just unloaded on her. I kinda felt bad afterwords. But oh well, she kinda deserved it. But ya, Mateus and Wesley are for sure going to serve a mission and be mega strong in the Church. I'm really looking foward to seeing them pass the sacrament. We are also teaching their mother's. They really love the Church as well, and are wanting to be baptised. So we can only go up from here. :)
That's about it for this week nothing too amazing happened, just 2 baptisms and really hard work. We are really exited to see the progress of these people.
I just want you to know that this Church is true, and it is really the Church of Jesus Christ and we can really be blessed from being members.
Love you guys,
HAPPY HOLLIDAYS FROM BRASIL
Love,
Elder Manis

Thanksgiving

OK Then,
Here are the things I'm grateful for:

1. the gift of tongues
2. the restored Gospel
3. being a missionary
4. toilets that you can flush the toilet paper instead of throwing it in a waste basket
5. worm medication (enough said)
6.letters... yupp so write more!!!!
7.P-DAY.. after a good week of work
8.rice and beans
9.Brazilian fruit
10. BRAZIL

That was 10 ten things from me as a missionary, now here are the normal ones from me:

1. my family and my friends
2. pictures to remember the good, and the bad times
3. discipline and respect taught to me by Dad
4. love (loving and being loved)
5. double stuffed oreos
6. swimming pools and the smell of sunscreen
7. trampolines (just because they are fun)
8. finding a dollar (or in my case some Real in a pair of pants that were washed)
9. a back yard
10. my awesome grandparents and the smell of their house

so there are some things that I'm grateful for.
This week was a crazy week full of doctor appointments and tears. It was probably one of the hardest weeks emotionally on my mission.
Last week after I passed out mail, we went and played Futsal. It's like soccer but on a basketball court. Well I did make some pretty cool goals and the Americans never lost against the Brazilians. But during all this Elder Hall twisted his knee and jacked himself up pretty bad. So I sent all of the other Elders home and me and Elder Hall went to the hospital that, to our luck, was right next to the chapel that we were playing at. They took some x-rays and everything seemed to be OK. But the pain didn't go away. So the next day he got a CT scan and we found out that he got pretty jacked up. So after some long phone calls with people in São Paulo an Salt Lake, we found out that he has to go home to get surgery. It's just so random. And he is one of the best Elders in my zone. I live with him and he is just an amazing guy and just loves the mission, and now he has to go home. Chances are that he isn't coming back either. So ya, we all took it pretty hard. He is sitting to my side right now and it's just crazy to think that I'll never see this kid in our mission again. It's just sad, because on the mission you have Elders that don't even deserve to be here and then you have an Elder that just loves missionary work and he has to go home now. It's just rough on all of us.
But it has made me realize that this time is so precious an that every second counts, and it can all end in a second. I only have 6 months left, so I really ought to step it up and make these last 6 months the best 6 months of my life.
This week we baptised Maria. It was amazing. 75 years of sin washed away. haha Elder Novello and I, we both baptized her. We both helped her into the water and all that jazz. But it was a really spiritual experience and she loved it. :) This week it has been killer hot during the day and I love it, because it's basically like Arizona sun and everyone thinks I'm crazy. It's cool because at night the monsoons roll in. Brazil's monsoons are crazy! Basically they are like a hurricane. They are so cool.

I love being a missionary and love helping people. Have a fun Thanksgiving for me cuz I'll be out working.
Love you guys,
Elder Manis