Tough Week

All right, the pictures are just a joke nothing funny is going on I promise. haha, Ya I thought that they would make you guys laugh.


Well this week.......pfffeewww this week... This week was by far the most draining week of my mission. Spiritually I have made a lot of changes in how I teach and really focusing on getting my investigators to feel this Spirit. It was so strange, I had no clue that your spirit could get tired. Man I was wiped out.
A lot of crazy stuffed happened this week too. I saw a rapist running down the street naked, and a gang of men behind him with broom sticks beating the pulp out of him. Down here the people that do that stuff aren't forgiven. I found out later that they had killed the guy and set him on fire in the middle of the town soccer field! All the women just said "Now we can live in peace." I was just like "What peace?" But nothing happened to us, so don't worry. Then just last night I had a member call me crying and asking for help, he sounded like he was going to kill himself. So ya, this week has been a draining week. We cut almost every one that we were teaching. They just went cold turkey. Except Alessandro, he is still going strong, he has a firm testimony about the Book of Mormon. It's so crazy to see how the book answers so many of the soul's questions.

I am sooo looking forward to this weekend. Sooo looking forward to hearing the words of the Prophets. I love them so much, it seems like yesterday it was October and I was watching them during conference.
This time I'm not going to let anyone miss it. I got my district all lined up and we are all going to watch it in English and everything. It's going to be so great I can't wait.

Ya mom, that crazy lady is nete. She is cool and wants to have me talk to you by Skype on Mother's Day so give me your Skype number and stuff.

I love you guys, but I made a big decision this week. You guys will have to let me know what you think. I'm not sure if I want a blog any more. I'm getting tired of my work getting compared to other missionaries. Numbers don't mean anything in missionary work. I can't tell you guys how hard I am working and it's not like some other missions where you can show up and baptize the world.
Or I can keep the blog but I'm not going to talk about the numbers I had this week or the numbers of baptisms and stuff just I'll just talk more about the spiritual stuff that is helping me become a better me and making me love my Lord more and more every day.

Let me know.

Love you,

Elder Manis

PS Hannah, no I'm good on the journal, just send me a really cool action figure of Iron Man. OK

:) love ya

Zack: It's not family that is looking on my blog and giving me these emails, its other missionaries, in my mission and outside, people I went to school with and stuff.
Mom: Hey, do you want me to change the blog address, so that only family can see it. I can make it more secure so that you won't have random people on it. I don't want you to get messages that make you upset. You rock Elder, don't worry. Love Mom
Zack: No it's OK I just don't like it when others get down on me for not baptizing.

More pics

A house in the ghetto.
Happy Birthday to Me!

We are planning Joseph Smith style, by candlelight. haha

Two dorks out to find souls to save.

BAM

Yes, all Elders carry a light saber.

WHOA!

Just another poo filled stream to cross.

A Brazilian midget flute player. haha

Hey Familia,

Well to start answering the questions. Here in Brazil they have Easter and even an Easter Bunny but it's nothing like it is in America. Its funny, but it's all good. I'm more looking forward to General Conference than anything else. It's always so amazing to hear the words of the Prophet.

Last week I had my birthday and yup, like I said, I bought myself some cereal and put some candles in it. Yup that was my birthday. Everyone wanted to party but I was just wanting to find people to get to go to church.

This week we found some amazing people starting with a woman named Vildete. She quit smoking this week so that was a great breakthrough for her. Then we found Alissandro who is going to be the next bishop. I swear. The man is amazing and is loving everything about us and the Church.

Elder Croshaw and I are getting along just great. I love this kid to death. He is so funny, I don't know how to explain it. He is just a funny guy. He plays the cello, so ya he is all into that classical stuff, which is way cool. We get along great.

Mom, to start talking about if I have changed the way I teach. The answer is yes. It's now a bunch easier for me to understand and find people's problems and find out how to resolve them. When they see that you are helping them, that is when they really open up and feel the Spirit. But like I have said before, the Spirit can be there and burning strong but that person has to let it in. Then the answers to their questions come. I love to use the Book of Mormon to help people feel the Spirit. I just about have 100 scriptures memorized in the Book of Mormon that when a person is having a problem... BAM I got a scripture. The words of God to help them and they love it.

I love this work and I love you,

Elder Manis

Heavenly Father, let's keep fighting

Hi Familia tufo bem com vocês,

Well first off I just completely forgot it was my birthday. I knew it was coming up, but this past week we have been working our tails off and it just slipped my mind. Mom, about the food. Ya, they have that stuff where the dude comes to your table and cuts the meet off. Its called churrasco (chuhhasco in English). It's pretty much the mark of Brazil but I have never had it because its costs a bunch of money. But ya, I'm sure it's good.

It's crazy to think that it's Spring Break. I remember Spring Break and then coming to Sao Paulo, it passes by so fast. It's kinda sad :(

But this week was a good week. Just one of my first weeks where I completely trusted in the Lord, that everything would turn out good. And yup, we was blessed.

Last week we found a lot of new people and marked a lot of dates for baptism. But almost all of them found us in the street and just said; "Ya, I have been thinking about this and I'm not going to be baptized this week." So that's what the beginning of the week was like. Just a little rough. But then I basically said; "Pai celestial, vamos contuniar lutando" [Heavenly Father, lets keep fighting.] and we were blessed in the latter end of the week. We found some great people that are really smart but they have an open heart. This is the best because they are wanting to learn and progress. They feel that this stuff is important and maybe they should listen. We brought them to church and there was just big smiles all around. They participated in everything and they said; "This church is amazing, you guys actually explain the doctrine... you don't yell it." ( I wish you could see some of the churches down here and what they do in the name of Christ.) They really felt the Spirit, it was amazing.

Well I'm doing fine, and looking forward to a big cup of chocolate milk for my birthday or maybe I'll go crazy and buy a box of cereal. :)

Love you guys,

Elder Manis

Rain, Rain Go Away

Oi Familia,
To answer the questions;
Ya it's hot here today and really humid, but last week was all rain. It rained about 2.5 feet here in the past week. I'm talking hard hard rain for the whole week. There were tons of crazy landslides that took out some houses and buildings. A lot of people's houses got flooded. This also leads me to my question to you mom. I have pretty much trashed all of my shoes. Just with the rain and all the mud, walking and the sun and the humidity they are basically falling off my feet. I'm wondering if you guys could send some new ones because I don't trust the Brazilian shoes down here.
My companion has an amazing pair of eccos called (ecco hydromax). I'm not sure how much they are and I'm not sure if you guys can get them because I know money is tight but just let me know.
Seattle sounded great, I have some mission buds from Seattle.
Hannah this part is for you:
In my last area there is this sports compound that pretty much has everything you could imagine there. My companion and I would go there and run on the track in the morning on P-day. We went with a member and played on the tramps. There were some synchro girls that were there. I talked to some and I guess that they are some of the best of Brazil. They are twins, I think their names are Bia and Bianca something or other. I can't remember their last name but they were cool and wished you luck. You should look them up just type in Bia and Bianca synchro and I'm sure something will come up. But be careful because they where kinda skanky and kept flirting with me. So I'm not sure what will come up when you look. But ya, they wished you luck.
Well, this week was challenging because of the rain. You do all you can to stay dry and you still get soaked. So it was a little hard to get into some houses. We had to cut some of our baptisms...Brazilians are so lazy, its sad sometimes. They just don't want to exert any energy for salvation. This next week should be great, we are meeting up with the references of families that we have gotten from ward members. So things should get picking up now that the rain has stopped and that we are working with some members.
Elder Croshaw and I are getting along great, and the whole ward loves us. It's great.
Yes, Mom I have made it passed 9 months. Its honestly not really hitting me how fast its passing by. I make 20 years here (will have my 20th birthday) in little and next transfer I'll pass the one year mark on my mission. It's crazy and yes I have learned a crazy lot. I have grown to learn and love the scriptures. I'm going on my third time reading the Book of Mormon in Portuguese and I love it. I learn something new every time. I do feel different, I feel like I have become a better person here in Brazil. It's an amazing feeling when you ditch yourself and focus on helping others. It's amazing. I feel like I have become a better person in Portuguese. Its hard to explain that one, but I just feel the Spirit talk to me in Portuguese and make me a better person in Portuguese.
I love you all,

Elder Manis

Lightsabers

Sup Family,
Yup, change again. I'm now in Andre Carlone (Serra) with my new companion Elder Crowshaw. This kid is so funny he has a little less time than me on the mission, and I love this kid. haha He is a mix between a Randy Carlson and a JT Fuller. He is just the funniest kid just because he says the randomest stuff. I have a little notebook I bought and carry around to write down all the crazy stuff he says. haha Here is one; we were just walking down the street and out of nowhere he says, "Wouldn't it be cool if every Elder had their very own personal lightsaber?" This kid is crazy. In the house [at home] we basically talk about Zelda and Star Wars. He is from Mapletown, Utah and has a huge family. They all sing and play crazy instruments. He has a CD of them singing and everything, like the Partridge Family. PS(send me a CD of Paco's music)
The Elder that was with him before [me] no one [in the ward] liked him, so they basically didn't help at all with the work. But when I got here, they where all happy and we got about 12 references for families that are just waiting to hear messages, so nos vamos ver [we'll see what happens].
It's been crazy in this area. I have had a lot of trust and responsibility on my back and its a little weird walking and working with it. But it is a good thing, I always love the experiences where I can feel and know that I'm growing and becoming a better Elder. We have been teaching a lot of lessons lately and finding some good people. We have a few dates of Baptism marked for the 13th. So pray that everything can be OK and progress.
Things here are going great like I said. My American accent is gone now so I'm not calling attention [to myself] that way. I had to practice really hard. Its funny telling all the members that I'm from Arizona and they don't believe me. haha They think I'm from the south of Brazil.

Hannah you look like your flippin' 20 years old! Geeze girl, take it easy. Wyatt your just not tan. haha Maybe you'll come here on your mission and finally get tan.
Mas todos as kosas aqui são indo bem, tô orando por vocês cada noite, fice fiel e fice come o espirito porque ele vai te-guiarte.
Amo vocês,
Elder Manis (but all things here are going well, I'm praying for you every night, be faithful to the spirit because it will lead -love you)

This is a statue of Zeus that is used on Carnival floats.

"You too can be a preacher and make lot's of money"

I always feel like, somebody's watchin me!

Hey Family,

How's it going? Carnival is finally over and PHEW! That's all I got to say about that. haha

That picture of that Zeus looking thing is a huge float that they use in the Carnival parades. Its so huge. That huge statue is just a small part.

Well, as for us and our investigators. This week we took a nose dive, just a not so good week. You run into them sometimes ya know. The baptisms we had all fell through, so ya.

I'll talk a little about one of them, Sylvia. She went out of town for Carnival and when she came home and we went to visit her and teacher some more she just said¨.. Well I hope this doesn't hurt your feelings, but I don't want to be baptized anymore." It was just a fault of desire. It was really hard to see that happen in front of me. Someone that was progressing so well just say; "Nope I don't want anything anymore." I took that pretty hard and was really mad, and I just said; "Look you have salvation right in front of you, do you want it or not?" And she said "No" So I said; "Well thanks, maybe we will see each other in the future." Then we left. Its just a bad week I guess. But it's all good, you just gotta bounce right back and keep working.

I have a feeling that I'm being transferred and stuff, so that's going to be another big adventure. All signs point that I will be going. So I will let you guys know what's up with that next week.

This week after I had had a few rough days I was reading in the Book of Mormon and I opened to Alma Chapter 8, and started to read. That chapter is about Alma and when he was having a few difficulties in his mission, and how he was able to come back and teach the same people and pegar fogo. I'll let you guys read that on your own.
Things are going OK for me personally. I hope it's going good for you guys. Wyatt and Hannah, make good choices and be a good example OK?

Love,

Elder Manis