Oi familia como voces estao, disculpa sobre a semana pasada ue tina problemas com esta site,
Well, what I just said was - sorry about no e-mail last week. I was having problems with this site. I didn't even get to e-mail President Pickett.
Anyway, this week I had my first baptism. Lets just say it was one I'll never forget. I will tell you about it. Yes, it was Ilizete, she has been progressing so well and she finally got baptized. I bought a cake for after the baptism to [make it special] and because its almost Christmas the store wrapped it in red wrapping paper. OK, so now Elder Adriano and I are walking to the church which is about a one hour walk(it's a good 10 to 15 miles). It's about 110 degrees out and 100% humidity, and between me sweating and the humidity the red ink of the bag went all over my pretty nice baptism shirt. But Elder Adriano and I traded shirts for the baptism, ta bom.
Now we are at the church and its time to fill up the font. So I followed all the rules and filled it up, but because it had been raining like crazy the week before, the church's water well was all dirty and the water that filled the font was.....GREEN! I'm talking like lake water, it was horrible. It got to the point where I asked her, "Look, the water's green. Do you still want to be baptized in this water?" I was so lucky, because she said "Yes". Then when we are in the water and I'm about to baptize her, I said the baptism prayer and put her under the water. But I messed up the prayer - I forgot one little word. [Since this is an ordinance of God I needed to do it right] so I had to baptize her again. Ha Ha All in all, it was the day I have been waiting for for a long time. :) It was amazing to hear her testimony afterword. The first thing she said was "Us so grato prá mue dois anjos." (I'm grateful for my 2 angels) It's so amazing, I can't describe to you how I felt. That scripture in Doctrine and Covenants is so true.. how great will your joy be if you bring one soul to Christ.. I think that's how it goes.. I just translated it.
[15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!]
I got bit by the bug now. I feel like a new missionary. It's crazy, now I'm ready to go.
The first thing Ilizete said when I knocked her door was, "I already have my religion." And look at her now. She is a member of the true Church :)))) I'm so happy!
Well, other than that this week has been just another week in the book, working hard and seeing results. :) Elder Adriano and I are getting a long great, so nothing to worry about there. :D
For your Christmas presents, what are your shoe sizes in Brazil (don't say "I don't know" you have the Internet use it haha) and sent me a cd walkman that plays mp3 cds
Love you all,
Elder Manis
Monday, November 9, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Baptism
Hey Guys,
Well, this week has been great. A lot of hard work is starting to pay off. Elizete will be baptized this week!! Finally we are getting results. Well, I shouldn't say finally but you know what I mean. Things are going great with her. She is a little scared about leaving her church but she is really confident in her decision, which is great. She is really excited to start her genealogy and all that stuff for her family. Sunday we learned about baptism for the dead and it gave her a bunch of questions and doubts and stuff. I was freaking out, but everything smoothed out and she is growing in the faith which is amazing to see But I also saw how powerful Satan is. The day before the interview of her baptism Elizete had the worst craving for café. She was getting the shakes and all that stuff. She looked like she was on drugs. It was crazy to see how much Satan doesn’t want to see people get baptized. But she worked through it and everything smoothed out in the end. So I'm really excited to get a baptism this week :). Thanks for the prayers.
Its good to hear that everything is going great there. I'm glad you finally got the pictures. PS - I don’t say the N-word... Elder Hale said it.
Well, everything is going great just working hard.
HAPPY B DAY WYATT!
O grandõna 17 mané sempre faz bem e concivar tua rota.
Te Amo,
Elder Manis
Oops - I need every ones shoe size in Brazil sizes.
Don’t ask why just do it.
Well, this week has been great. A lot of hard work is starting to pay off. Elizete will be baptized this week!! Finally we are getting results. Well, I shouldn't say finally but you know what I mean. Things are going great with her. She is a little scared about leaving her church but she is really confident in her decision, which is great. She is really excited to start her genealogy and all that stuff for her family. Sunday we learned about baptism for the dead and it gave her a bunch of questions and doubts and stuff. I was freaking out, but everything smoothed out and she is growing in the faith which is amazing to see But I also saw how powerful Satan is. The day before the interview of her baptism Elizete had the worst craving for café. She was getting the shakes and all that stuff. She looked like she was on drugs. It was crazy to see how much Satan doesn’t want to see people get baptized. But she worked through it and everything smoothed out in the end. So I'm really excited to get a baptism this week :). Thanks for the prayers.
Well, as for Halloween everything was crazy. It has been raining here for the past 5 days and by raining - I mean RAINING. Its like a tropical storm or something. At times it was hard to walk against the wind because it was so strong. The little dinky umbrella I had broke in like 5 minutes. So I wasted all my money on a beach umbrella. I'm talking like the ones that Nana has in her backyard. The big huge umbrellas that you have to wind up and down, that weigh like 20 pounds. Ha Ha, yup I has walking around the streets with that, its huge. I did manage to buy a watermelon that weighed 20 pounds. It's pretty big, and we made a jack o' lantern out of that. It worked pretty good. The Brazilians that I live with were freaking out, but they thought it was cool. Ha, the first jack o' lantern in Brazil. They do have a day for the dead here but its not all crazy like Mexico. It's today actually [Nov 2].
Its good to hear that everything is going great there. I'm glad you finally got the pictures. PS - I don’t say the N-word... Elder Hale said it.
Well, everything is going great just working hard.
HAPPY B DAY WYATT!
O grandõna 17 mané sempre faz bem e concivar tua rota.
Te Amo,
Elder Manis
Oops - I need every ones shoe size in Brazil sizes.
Don’t ask why just do it.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Many Blessings
Hi,
How is everything going guys? Things here are really going great, and a lot of hard work.
Well, to answer your food question from last week, a still eat rice and beans every day without fail. About a month ago on P-day I went to Burger King, got a burger and it still came with rice and beans. Ha Ha funny huh?
Wyatt - Ya, Elder Crapo has a little brother that goes to Red Mountain but I don't know his name.
Mom - I'm sorry about the memory chip :( it makes me really sad that you haven't seen the pictures. Don't worry, next time I'll just send them to you. I'm sorry :(.
Its funny to hear how things are starting to cool down there. Because it's just getting hotter and hotter here. When I left AZ it was summer and when I got here it was winter, but it still felt like summer. 2 years of summer isn't a bad thing. I'm all tan now and my arm hairs are blond. Ha Ha, back to the summer Elder Manis.
OK now for mission work. Well, this week we have been blessed like crazy. We still have 2 dates marked for baptism [with investigators]. Both for the 7th of Novembro, and they are progressing amazingly. Ilizete stopped with café [coffee] which is like impossible to do down here, and she found work so we are crazy excited for her to progress. This week we also found some really promising investigators. One of them is Renata (say Hanata). We were having a slow day of work and I really wanted to teach so I just decided to knock some doors and after getting rejected a few times we finally got into Renata's house. We taught her and at the end I asked her if she would pray to know if what we had taught her was true. She just said, "I don't need to. I prayed last night for something good to happen in my life and you bringing me this gospel is it. You're an answer to my prayers." So that was amazing.
Then another night, we were walking home and in front of our house was a guy 20ish years old. He just said, "I want to know more about your Church. But my Mom can't know, because she is the founder of the Maranata Church (the biggest apostasy ever). It was amazing. He is really open to the gospel. Then Sunday he came to church and played the hymns for us on the piano, so he really felt welcome. We have just been so blessed.
Also, this transfer we got a Brazilian in the house and now I'm the only American in our house and in our district. It's kinda lonely at times, but it makes me get really good at the language.
Well, that's about it. Just been working really hard. The language is easy now and I speak almost without error. Just hangin' in there. I have been having some problems with sleep lately. So if you guys need something to pray about, pray that I can get some sleep at night. :)
Thanks guys.
Love ya,
Elder Manis
How is everything going guys? Things here are really going great, and a lot of hard work.
Well, to answer your food question from last week, a still eat rice and beans every day without fail. About a month ago on P-day I went to Burger King, got a burger and it still came with rice and beans. Ha Ha funny huh?
Wyatt - Ya, Elder Crapo has a little brother that goes to Red Mountain but I don't know his name.
Mom - I'm sorry about the memory chip :( it makes me really sad that you haven't seen the pictures. Don't worry, next time I'll just send them to you. I'm sorry :(.
Its funny to hear how things are starting to cool down there. Because it's just getting hotter and hotter here. When I left AZ it was summer and when I got here it was winter, but it still felt like summer. 2 years of summer isn't a bad thing. I'm all tan now and my arm hairs are blond. Ha Ha, back to the summer Elder Manis.
OK now for mission work. Well, this week we have been blessed like crazy. We still have 2 dates marked for baptism [with investigators]. Both for the 7th of Novembro, and they are progressing amazingly. Ilizete stopped with café [coffee] which is like impossible to do down here, and she found work so we are crazy excited for her to progress. This week we also found some really promising investigators. One of them is Renata (say Hanata). We were having a slow day of work and I really wanted to teach so I just decided to knock some doors and after getting rejected a few times we finally got into Renata's house. We taught her and at the end I asked her if she would pray to know if what we had taught her was true. She just said, "I don't need to. I prayed last night for something good to happen in my life and you bringing me this gospel is it. You're an answer to my prayers." So that was amazing.
Then another night, we were walking home and in front of our house was a guy 20ish years old. He just said, "I want to know more about your Church. But my Mom can't know, because she is the founder of the Maranata Church (the biggest apostasy ever). It was amazing. He is really open to the gospel. Then Sunday he came to church and played the hymns for us on the piano, so he really felt welcome. We have just been so blessed.
Also, this transfer we got a Brazilian in the house and now I'm the only American in our house and in our district. It's kinda lonely at times, but it makes me get really good at the language.
Well, that's about it. Just been working really hard. The language is easy now and I speak almost without error. Just hangin' in there. I have been having some problems with sleep lately. So if you guys need something to pray about, pray that I can get some sleep at night. :)
Thanks guys.
Love ya,
Elder Manis
Monday, October 19, 2009
Christmas List
Oi Familia,
Como voces estão? Things are going great here, I'm going to start out with my Christmas list so I don't forget it.
OK here we go:
I love you guys,
Elder Manis
PS - It's raining :)
Como voces estão? Things are going great here, I'm going to start out with my Christmas list so I don't forget it.
OK here we go:
- Chlorine scented candle (I miss the pool)
- EZ- Mac
- Pictures (a lot of them, from anyone)
- yo-yo (Bumble Bee)
- Nerf basket ball hoop
- Hacky Sack
- AMERICAN CANDY!
- 2 ties
- some Zebra pens (just black and red)
- Red Mountain shirt
- beef jerky
- "Portuguese for Dummies"
- lyrics to Jack Johnson
- Tylenol PM
- books about Joseph Smith
- Hannah's old mp3 player, with Mo' Tab' and not just hymns, other calm music.
As for my Christmas presents for you guys. I got lucky. My AP Elder Crapo, he is finishing up his mission and will be home before Christmas. Lucky for me, his family are neighbors with the Zimmerman's. Small world huh? He lives less than 2 miles from us. So I'm going to send some stuff home with him.
OK, now for this week. It has been another down to the grind week, we have been teaching all over the place. It's good because we have been teaching and finding new investigators.
Remember that guy that came up to us at Church and said that he wanted to be baptized? Well, we went to his house and found out that there was a little more baggage to him. He is wanting to get baptized because his wife said "Straighten up or get out". He smokes crack and likes that weed. It's sad to see how his family is suffering because of his stupid past. It makes me want to become the best dad that I possibly can. But we are working with him. He knows he is going to suffer for a while before things start to get better, so we are doing everything we can for him and his family.
OK, now for this week. It has been another down to the grind week, we have been teaching all over the place. It's good because we have been teaching and finding new investigators.
Remember that guy that came up to us at Church and said that he wanted to be baptized? Well, we went to his house and found out that there was a little more baggage to him. He is wanting to get baptized because his wife said "Straighten up or get out". He smokes crack and likes that weed. It's sad to see how his family is suffering because of his stupid past. It makes me want to become the best dad that I possibly can. But we are working with him. He knows he is going to suffer for a while before things start to get better, so we are doing everything we can for him and his family.
Illezete we taught her some really good lessons this week. I think the best was the Plan of Salvation. She had some doubts when we talked about the Spirit World. But when we pulled out that scripture in Peter, that talks about Jesus ministering [to the souls] there before he was resurrected [1Peter 4:6]. It's good to know that our Father in Heaven has a plan for us, and no matter what we do we can almost always repent. We also brought back Bernidette. We just decided to go and talk to her, and she said that she misses our Church and that she wants to come back. So we are really happy about that. Things are going great. I just want you guys to know that I'm working hard every day, and I don't want you guys to think because I haven't gotten a baptism yet, that I'm slacking off. I promise, I'm working hard.
In other news, Brazil has daylight savings time...retarded. I don't get it.
Well, my time is running out.
I love you guys,
Elder Manis
PS - It's raining :)
Monday, October 12, 2009
Burning in your bosom
Hey,
I want to thank you for all the prayers and all the support. It means a lot to me that you would do that. But I also want to apologize for my e-mail last week. I guess I just had a venting moment, and maybe it went a little to far. But that night me and Elder Adriano got into it pretty bad. We weren't screaming at each other or anything, but you could say it was a fight. I sat him down and just said.. "Ollio no nao podemos contuniar com isso, que e aconticendo, nos estamos brigando sobre nada." Basically, said "Look, this can't go on anymore, something needs to change." So we had a good talking session, and we both figured out that we need to melorar (I can't remember the word in English).
So this week we started over and tried to do our best to "ficamos animado e trablhar" diligently and we had some good fruits this week. But we both agreed that this talk should have happened the first weeks of the transfer not the last. (I think I'm going to stay here com [with] him for one more transfer)
But anyway, we taught a good lesson this week with a lady named Ilizete. Durante [during] that lesson for some reason I started to get all nervous and my heart was beating all crazy and I had no clue why, and then it hit me... "MARK A DATA FOR BAPTISM WITH HER". So I did it, and she accepted. It was crazy because I have marked dates with other people and it was just a regular thing, but for some reason this one was different. Now I know what a burning in your bosom feels like. It feels like your going to throw up and poo your pants at the same time. But if you tried to throw up or poo your pants, nothing would happen. HaHa. And come Domingo [Sunday] she was in the church. In the Doctrine Class we were learning about temple marriage. She had a lot of questions that where good, but we kinda got into some deep doctrine. and one guy said "I'm sealed to 3 people... after this life I will have 3 women".... so that kinda killed us. Ha Ha. But it's good she loves the Church and said that she wants to frequently attend.
Also, we had a family that came. The same family that I used our family photo [to teach a lesson to] and they too loved it. So it looks like your prayers are paying off. I can see the fruits and we just have to let them ripen before we harvest.
Also, a part member family like our family came up to us, and the Dad said that he wants to get baptized. So we are going to work with him and maybe get a baptism this week.
Thanks a lot every one, really.
And Mom about [your friend], I can't sit on your shoulder and whisper in your ear and tell you what to say. Just because you don't have a name tag, doesn't mean your not a missionary. You have a testimony, use it and don't show fear. People attack on fear, just relax and let the Spirit take you for a ride. See what happens and don't fell sorry if things get a little crazy. Ha Ha The Spirit works in crazy ways, let me tell you. You can do it, I know you can.
As for my house and stuff. I live with Elder Adriano, Elder Silva and Elder Hernandez. Our house is 2 stories and is pretty big. It's a nice house, Elder Silva is from Fortoleza, he actually went on a division [split] before his mission with Clint Lawler. Small world huh? Elder Hernandez is from California and he has the same amount of time [out in the field] as Preston but he is pure Mexican and so he speaks Spanish too. Ha Ha, he is a cheater.
Well I gots to go. I'm so sorry but my time is running out, I only have enough time to write a few people.
Christmas list next week. I promise.
Love you guys,
Elder Manis
PS - Wyatt do you think you could get the home addresses of some of my friends like Kelvin and stuff. Thanks
I want to thank you for all the prayers and all the support. It means a lot to me that you would do that. But I also want to apologize for my e-mail last week. I guess I just had a venting moment, and maybe it went a little to far. But that night me and Elder Adriano got into it pretty bad. We weren't screaming at each other or anything, but you could say it was a fight. I sat him down and just said.. "Ollio no nao podemos contuniar com isso, que e aconticendo, nos estamos brigando sobre nada." Basically, said "Look, this can't go on anymore, something needs to change." So we had a good talking session, and we both figured out that we need to melorar (I can't remember the word in English).
So this week we started over and tried to do our best to "ficamos animado e trablhar" diligently and we had some good fruits this week. But we both agreed that this talk should have happened the first weeks of the transfer not the last. (I think I'm going to stay here com [with] him for one more transfer)
But anyway, we taught a good lesson this week with a lady named Ilizete. Durante [during] that lesson for some reason I started to get all nervous and my heart was beating all crazy and I had no clue why, and then it hit me... "MARK A DATA FOR BAPTISM WITH HER". So I did it, and she accepted. It was crazy because I have marked dates with other people and it was just a regular thing, but for some reason this one was different. Now I know what a burning in your bosom feels like. It feels like your going to throw up and poo your pants at the same time. But if you tried to throw up or poo your pants, nothing would happen. HaHa. And come Domingo [Sunday] she was in the church. In the Doctrine Class we were learning about temple marriage. She had a lot of questions that where good, but we kinda got into some deep doctrine. and one guy said "I'm sealed to 3 people... after this life I will have 3 women".... so that kinda killed us. Ha Ha. But it's good she loves the Church and said that she wants to frequently attend.
Also, we had a family that came. The same family that I used our family photo [to teach a lesson to] and they too loved it. So it looks like your prayers are paying off. I can see the fruits and we just have to let them ripen before we harvest.
Also, a part member family like our family came up to us, and the Dad said that he wants to get baptized. So we are going to work with him and maybe get a baptism this week.
Thanks a lot every one, really.
And Mom about [your friend], I can't sit on your shoulder and whisper in your ear and tell you what to say. Just because you don't have a name tag, doesn't mean your not a missionary. You have a testimony, use it and don't show fear. People attack on fear, just relax and let the Spirit take you for a ride. See what happens and don't fell sorry if things get a little crazy. Ha Ha The Spirit works in crazy ways, let me tell you. You can do it, I know you can.
As for my house and stuff. I live with Elder Adriano, Elder Silva and Elder Hernandez. Our house is 2 stories and is pretty big. It's a nice house, Elder Silva is from Fortoleza, he actually went on a division [split] before his mission with Clint Lawler. Small world huh? Elder Hernandez is from California and he has the same amount of time [out in the field] as Preston but he is pure Mexican and so he speaks Spanish too. Ha Ha, he is a cheater.
Well I gots to go. I'm so sorry but my time is running out, I only have enough time to write a few people.
Christmas list next week. I promise.
Love you guys,
Elder Manis
PS - Wyatt do you think you could get the home addresses of some of my friends like Kelvin and stuff. Thanks
Monday, October 5, 2009
My heart is hurting
Guys,
Well, this week has been..... well, a rough one (Mom you don't have to put this one on the blog) Things have been going pretty hard as work goes... We work work work work and nothing comes of it, and it's so hard to stay positive when your [companion's] heart has a heart of coal.
This week he decided to cut Bernadette because she had too many questions. Questions are a good thing. They are about the Church...HELLO?? Aghhh! This week has been so hard, he is always so negative about everything. When we teach a great lesson, all he has to say after is... "She didn't want anything to do with us."... "She isn't an elect." My area hasn't had a baptism in about 7 to 8 months. Things are moving pretty slow, we are trying to make friends with the members, but they can't get around my comp'. I'm sorry, I'm just kinda venting. I dunno what to do anymore. My prayers have moved from "[help us to have more] success to - "please help my companion be a little bit nicer." For example, I got all dressed up for the Priesthood Session [of General Conference] and he just decided to stay home. "Na I don't wanna go, it will just be in the Liahona in a month." AGGGHHHH! My heart is hurting just trying to get along with this guy.
But as for Conference, I missed both first sessions and Priesthood, so if you can mail them to me that would be amazing. But I did get to hear Elder Holland's talk. Powerful huh? It's so true, any other man wouldn't have gone to the grave with for a book. It was a big testimony builder. It was amazing. Another thing was one of the songs that we sang. "Come ye Children of the Lord, let us sing with one accord. I got goose bumps when I thought how many people are singing with us. Like, if you pushed pause on the world and just let us sing, you could hear it all around the world. I'm so thankful to be a part of this amazing Church.
Give Nana and Paco a big hug thanks for me.
I don't remember any numbers for America, I don't even remember my house phone. So I don't have a number for Cara. My Portuguese is coming fast. When I stop and realize how fast I'm learning, it's crazy.
I love you guys,
Elder Manis
PS - Christmas list next week
Well, this week has been..... well, a rough one (Mom you don't have to put this one on the blog) Things have been going pretty hard as work goes... We work work work work and nothing comes of it, and it's so hard to stay positive when your [companion's] heart has a heart of coal.
This week he decided to cut Bernadette because she had too many questions. Questions are a good thing. They are about the Church...HELLO?? Aghhh! This week has been so hard, he is always so negative about everything. When we teach a great lesson, all he has to say after is... "She didn't want anything to do with us."... "She isn't an elect." My area hasn't had a baptism in about 7 to 8 months. Things are moving pretty slow, we are trying to make friends with the members, but they can't get around my comp'. I'm sorry, I'm just kinda venting. I dunno what to do anymore. My prayers have moved from "[help us to have more] success to - "please help my companion be a little bit nicer." For example, I got all dressed up for the Priesthood Session [of General Conference] and he just decided to stay home. "Na I don't wanna go, it will just be in the Liahona in a month." AGGGHHHH! My heart is hurting just trying to get along with this guy.
But as for Conference, I missed both first sessions and Priesthood, so if you can mail them to me that would be amazing. But I did get to hear Elder Holland's talk. Powerful huh? It's so true, any other man wouldn't have gone to the grave with for a book. It was a big testimony builder. It was amazing. Another thing was one of the songs that we sang. "Come ye Children of the Lord, let us sing with one accord. I got goose bumps when I thought how many people are singing with us. Like, if you pushed pause on the world and just let us sing, you could hear it all around the world. I'm so thankful to be a part of this amazing Church.
Give Nana and Paco a big hug thanks for me.
I don't remember any numbers for America, I don't even remember my house phone. So I don't have a number for Cara. My Portuguese is coming fast. When I stop and realize how fast I'm learning, it's crazy.
I love you guys,
Elder Manis
PS - Christmas list next week
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