QUE SUSTO

A Briazilian sunset

This is a statue of a monk who watches over the surfers. haha

sup

The field isn't the only thing that's white -the beach is too.

Oi,

That's friggin' amazing about Brighton's call. I don't know why, but I'm jealous. Brighton is going to have so much fun. I have a friend serving in that same mission [London, England]. That's going to be so cool for him. Man, I think I'm jealous just because I want to feel some cold weather. haha But that's crazy, he is gonna do so great there.

Well, things on the beach are pretty chill. Elder Campos and I are getting along just great. In this area I finally am able to be myself. I don't know, if that makes any sense but, I'm being myself but speaking Brazilian. Before I felt I was just an American Elder. The Elder who says "Hi I'm this guy, I wanna baptize you"... (extra credits on Orange County - just ask Rob about that) But now I'm Elder Manis and its great.
Well yes, we are having success and good success too. The people we baptized last week, well their parents want to be baptized as well. So we are doing everything possible to help them. They need to get married but don't have the money to pay for the marriage. They are praying and fasting and so are we. I think you might be a big blessing to them too, send your prayers this way. :)
Well, this past week that family has been pretty much our focus, it's so amazing to see someone gain a testimony before your eyes. It's something I can't explain really, its just amazing,
I love that family.
The dad's name is Wallace and his wife's name is Angela. They are straight up converted. Wallace was a bit of a rebel but he's turned for the better. Oitavlho, he is the little brother of the family, he is off the hook! He calls me tio (uncle) and I call him my macaquinho (my little monkey haha)
It's ligit.
I'm going to try and send some pictures.
chão chão
Elder Manis

Gnarly

A Bom Familia,
Well I have a lot to say and I don't have much time to say it but I'll try.
I got transferred again, now I'm back in Espirito Santo, it's the city of Villia Velha, in the area of Terra Vermelha. It's pretty much the bomb! My new companion is Elder Campos, a skinny, shy kid from Brazilia. We are co-seniors, he was companions with Elder Adriano before I was and now I'm companions with him, he is cool.

Well, our area is basically beach houses and little ghettos, not to mention that our house is on the beach. haha I didn't think that President would buy a house for the missionaries on the beach, but it's cool. It's always breezy and you can always hear the waves crashing, it's great. This morning we went out on the rocks and caught crabs and slugs and all kinds of crazy Brazilian fish, it was cool. I'll e-mail some photos next week.

Our area is pretty gnarly though. In one day I saw more dead bodies in the street than I taught lessons. But don't worry, they don't mess with the missionaries. It's cool, the gangsters sent a messenger out on the streets before a shootout, telling all the kids to get in their houses and they tell us too. We are just like, "Well, thanks." But it's all good.

We had 3 baptisms this past week. It was a family that the missionaries before us were teaching, so we just showed up and baptized them. We have, I think 4 or 5 more coming up.
This area is cool, it's really relaxed, everyone likes you and wants to help you. The funny thing is that everyone just walks around in their swimsuits all day. I'm talking everyone is in Speedo's and ya, it's funny. But the branch here is really focused on missionary work and wanting to help with everything in whatever way they can. It's amazing to have a branch like this. It just makes work so much easier. Well, lately I have been thinking how crazy a mission is. Like for reals, I eat at random peoples houses, I talk to everyone in the street about Jesus Christ, I study the scriptures everyday and I feel the Spirit everyday. It's crazy, but I love it and I wouldn't change it for the world. :)
That's about it for my new area. We just got here so I don't have any big big news yet, but I'm working on it.
PS- Look it up on Google maps
Villia Velha (Terra Vermelha)
Love Ya,
Elder Manis

Get up it's time to go

Hey Family how's it going?
Well I got some crazy news. I'm being transferred again. I have no clue why, i just got here in Rio [Campos]. I'm not sure what's going on with the mission, but I have heard that the President is making a lot of changes. So things here
are going to change pretty quick. Like some Elders are training and they themselves are having a hard time with the
language and stuff. So it's going to be interesting. Maybe I'll be senior or something, who knows besides the Lord. I have no clue what to expect. It was really random the Zone Leader called me and just said, "Hey, you guys
have been transferred so start packing." So ya, it was kind of a drag too, because we have some pretty promising investigators, and it is hard to say goodbye and to hope that they will progress the same with you gone. Like Wilson,
he stopped smoking completely and is determined to be baptized. It just hurts to say goodbye to investigators.
Samili our baptism started to cry when we told her. So ya, change is hard, a lot of Elders love
to be transferred because they want a change, but it stinks for me when I connect to all the members and
all of the investigators and they say that I'm family now, it just makes it harder to say good bye.
That's how work is going, haha, and now it's all going to change. New area, new
companion, new investigators, everything.
I hope that everything is going great with you guys.

Love ya,

Elder Manis

Happy New Year

Hey Guys,
Feliz Ano Novo!
Well, my new year here wasn't anything amazing. Just another day of work, and at midnight it was pouring rain, so no one let fireworks off. So ya, ha ha, it was just another day of work.
Things here are going great. The branch here is asleep, so we have some activities planned to wake some people up and get this work going.
This morning I played basketball with 2 professional street basketball players. And his name is Alan, he is a Member but is inactive and his friend Antonio. Dang, they were amazing! They can play ball. Alan balled up, mesmo [on the same level] with Liandro Barbosa so that's saying something. This Saturday they are playing street basketball against an American team in Rio and he said it's going to be on TV so if your home Saturday night, maybe you'll see him.
Well, as for the work. We have taught some amazing lessons these past few days. We have been teaching a man named Wilson that we contacted the first couple days I was here. At first we didn't know if we wanted to continue with him because he smoked. And by smoking, I mean smoke! One lesson and he already smoked 4 or 5 cigarettes. It was bad, but we gave him a Book of Mormon and just told him to read it when he gets the urge to smoke. He has been going to church the past few weeks and he is really enjoying it. Then just yesterday we taught him and it was amazing. When we showed up he was already reading the Book of Mormon. He said, "I already read what you marked for me, so I started to read it from the beginning, I hope that's alright." We were like, haha "That's perfect!" So we were teaching and he said again, "Everything just makes sense, I don't know why I didn't think this way before." It was amazing. We marked a date for baptism, the 17th of this month. We asked him how that will be with smoking and everything, and he said I stopped yesterday, and took up reading this Book of Mormon. Guys, I can't tell you how powerful the Book of Mormon is. I'm not converting this guy, the Book is. It's amazing. I want you to read the Book of Mormon and really think about what is going on and it too will change your life.
I love you all,
Elder Manis

Moonwalk for the Lord

Well, what can I say, another Christmas has come and gone.
My Christmas was great. It was great to talk to you guys and hear that everything is going great. Thanks to all that sent me a package. I loved them all.
Well 12/26/09 I had another baptism. It was a girl named Samiley. She is 15 and her cousins are members. We had been teaching her and she was progressing so well that we decided to baptize her a week early. She was so nervous to be baptized though. She thought that she would have to change her life and stop listening to Michael Jackson music and all that. ha ha When she said that, I just stood up in the living room and started to bust out my MJ moves, and do the "moonwalk." It was so powerful it just about melted her face off. And I said, "Look, I like Michael Jackson and I'm a member of the true Church of Jesus Cristo, so what do you say lets be baptized?" And she said, "Yes."
So I'd like to thank Rob Haynes and Jason Carpenter and all of their friends for teaching me how to "Moonwalk" when I was little. :) It's funny how people think that baptism will change their life too drastically like they can't play basketball or can't wear jeans and stuff. But it's sad at the same time because there are many churches down here that do this, they don't allow anything. So sometimes just at the word "baptism" people get scared and run away. But I love teaching them about true baptism and how the Church of Jesus Cristo [Christ] has this atoritade [authority] to do this work, I know that this church is true and that only through this Church and atoridade [authority] one can be saved.
Happy New Year to Everyone,
Love,
Elder Manis

Short Man

Eai Familia,
To answer your questions; ya Campos is pretty far away from the coast and ya, it's a big city. Lots and lots of people. It's about the same size as San Diego. My new companion is Elder A. Silva, this week I got to know him a lot better and he is a crack up. Remember "50 First Dates", the little dude that wants to be a body builder? haha Well that's A. Silva. haha In the mornings he always does push ups and stuff, and I always ask him how many push ups he did. He is always like, "I did 37." But he says it in a big tough guy voice. He is funny, he bearly comes up to my shoulder. Let's just say he has "short man syndrome" haha its so funny.
Here in Campos it has been storming a lot lately. There is a huge river that has been overflowing and wrecking houses and stuff, its sad to see. :( And when I say storm in Brazil, I'm talking 500 times crazier than a monsoon in Arizona. It's crazy to the max.
As far as work, its going great. It's so amazing to have members that actually love you and want to help you in any way possible. It's amazing, it's heaven in comparison to Cariasica. The lessons are coming along great. We have found some really good people that I feel that the Lord has prepared for us. It's so amazing to teach someone that actually pays attention. Not only with their ears but with their heart. I can't explain how much less stressed I am here. haha But of course with all the good there is bad as well. We still find the people that don't want anything to do with us. But like I said before, the ones that listen make it more worth while.
As for Christmas. It doesn't feel like Christmas at all. It's still hot here and there is nothing going on Christmas wise, like Christmas trees and stuff. But its all good. I'm looking forward to calling home and talking to all of you. Just a warning, its been a good couple of months that I haven't spoken English so it's probably gonna be a little backwards when I speak to you. But it's gonna be great. I will call home Christmas Eve and give you all the details and stuff, for calling. I'll call about mid-day there, OK?
Thanks guys.
Love ya,
Elder Manis

Campos

Hey Guys,
Well, yup I got transferred. I'm now it the city of Campos in Rio de Janeiro. It's pretty cool down here. My area is on the outskirts of the big city and is the smallest of the mission. I have no clue why. Missionaries haven't been in this area for about 6 months. The area is known for making missionaries depressed and making them skinny too. Ha Ha Or you could say the food sucks.
Well, to tell you the truth, I don't see any of that. This is almost the best Christmas present ever. The branch is great, the members leave [church] with you and teach lessons. The branch president has about 160 references for us, so now all we have to do is get to work. Ha Ha It's going to be great. I think we are going to have a lot of success here in this city. President said he was holding this area out for 2 missionaries whom he could trust to work hard day in and day out. So I got a lot of motivation from him. He is the best, I love him.
My new companion is Elder A. Silva from Fortaleza. He is cool, he is really short and stocky and is a hard worker. We have been out for the same amount of time in the mission field, so we are both senior companions. Ha Ha I live with 3 other Brazilians again. :) It's great, I never speak English. It's the best.
Well as for the Christmas phone call. I'll call you a week before Christmas to talk to you all about what's going to happen, what number you will use to talk to me and all that. Sorry guys, no Skype ;(
I gotta go. I have a lot of stuff to do to get this new area on a roll. (haha P-day.. relax, haha ya right, hahah)
Love you guys,
Elder Manis