Year One, Letter Eighteen

OI familia.

favorite scripture: 2 Nephi 33:1 - power in words...

So dad, you said that you were super worried about two things...cooking Christmas breakfast and being ready to call me on time. So, here is the important question...you didn´t burn christmas breakfast right?

It was SO much fun to talk to you all! Definitely the best christmas present! Especially to hear that everyone is doing so good and progressing so much with...life.

I am definitely going with blake´s and my theory...the harder you work, the more you walk, in the rain, and the more you work in the sun...the more blessings. it is just bound to be true :) it paid off for dad right? (dad this is where you turn to mom and say, "i love you and i am glad i walked around in so much rain in Ireland." and you have permission to give her a kiss...should the situation permit.) but yes, i am definitely glad that i was able to fulfill that desire that you have had for such a long time for me to go on a mission. it is definitely one of the best and hardest experiences that i have had thus far in my life. but it is amazing to see people change their lives based on faith. i know this is going to be such a huge blessing in my life and the lives of my family.

i am glad to hear the suns have decided to start failing. i never predicted that they would win the championship, lol. i predicted the cavaliers. are they doing well? and that is awesome that the cards are kicking butt. i am glad they decided to do that when i can´t watch them. super cool. lol. so i hope they can keep working hard.

Mom, yeah i guess it is good that i was born in June right? now the last call before i go home will be mother´s day, which is way before...whenever i go home. way to make your last phone call home weird blake. but yeah it was definitely awesome to talk with all of you. i was a little homesick afterwards, i am not gunna lie. i wanted to be there SO bad. it was definitely the fastest hour and 30 minutes of my life. without a doubt.

after the phone calls we worked. but guess what? there wasn´t anyone in the streets and no one wanted to talk to us. surprise surprise. lol. but we ended up just going home early and planning. and yes, i love the boxes. the cereal is gone. lol. but i still need to make pancakes. and i need to send the memory card home asap.

so our converts are strong. but the problem with jackeline is that she lives so far away from the church, so she needs a ride and can´t always get one. so we are officially going to be re-opening the work in that area. we are going to open a branch there in a member´s house, so on sunday, we will have our church in centro, and then we will go to that area (três lagoas) to have another meeting. i think we will be teaching jackeline´s whole family now. including the boyfriend. but other than that, we are working on getting them integrated into the ward and getting them callings and such. they are doing great. junior said he wants to serve a mission. he is only 17 right now. so that is prety exciting.

yeah the diseases are kinda weird. lol i don´t know if i should be worried or not...so i try to just not worry about it. the sores on my hands are just turning into scars right now, so i have just been putting neosporin on them hoping they won´t be very noticeable. and i try to drink lots of water, but we don´t have lots of mineral water. so i just carry a liter around with me of water from the church building. we are supposed to have purification water bottles that purify as you drink. but they ran out when we arrived. so we are still waiting on that. yes, i have repellant. but it sweats off a lot. which is annoying.

but i have good news. we are moving today. we have a house in centro now. and we are going to order mineral water. lots of mineral water. which will be perfect. because it is in our main working area, so we can return and refill our bottles when we need to. meaning the heat exhaustion will probably stop. i hope. lol.

that is great that lauren is getting ready to move. and lauren...it is definitely possible to fit your stuff in that car. we fit enough stuff for 4 guys to go to california. including a cooler. you can do it. lol. i am glad blake is making up boarding time. i will need to do that. i found out why Foz is so hot. we are in a huge valley that is surrounded by water on all sides. that is great, huh?

the language is coming. i feel myself getting better, but it is just a little annoying sometimes when you can´t describe yourself. it is way annoying when people don´t listen to you because you are american, too. but whatever. haha the good ones will listen. otherwise, it is´n´t worth the time.

oh and yeah, i need to make those new year´s resolutions. big time. but we make goals and stuff all the time. so i need to think of new year´s resolutions that are actually year long goals. ya know? i will think about that.

anyway. things are going good. the house we are moving into should be alright. i hope me and elder vander can still stay really cool and friends and such. and not wanna kill each other. because brazilians - not americans - can be really weird sometimes.

well i love you all! i wish i could be at home with you all, but i know this is more important right now. it is worth it. i love you all so much!

happy new year!!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Seventeen

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

oh hi everyone!

ok scripture of the week: ummm let´s go with John 3: 16 - 17. kinda a favorite especially when it is christmas and everyone needs to remember the real purpose of it. by the way mom...that thing about the wise men is awesome. i never knew that was what the presents represented. it was really cool to know that.

anywayyyyy. so i am pumped for this whole first christmas in brazil deal. i mean it is the first time in my entire life that i will be spending christmas away from my family, so that kinda sucks. but it is kinda cool to think that the reason is because i am a missionary in brazil. i am sure blake can relate. and dad. don´t worry, i remember that you did, in fact, serve a mission, too. but yeah. totally psyched to call you guys. you need to call before 6:00 PM our time. i think there is a 5 hour difference. so call at like 12:00 or 12:30 or something. sister gonzales will be using the phone at 6:00, so make sure you call before that. i am sorry if this calling schedule throws off the christmas movie. i wish i had more information, but none of the missionaries that i am with know anything. sorry. but i won´t be calling at all to let you know when to call. so here is how i think it is: you guys call at like 12:00 which is like 5:00 our time. then we talk. :) and we talk for however long you have those calling cards. i think that is right. ok??

anyway. sorry. ummm this week was great. isabel and jackeline were baptized. :) i am still sick, and it didn´t help that we were walking more and working more. elder vander is a hard worker. but he doesn´t always plan everything in a good way. so we walk a lot more than necessary sometimes. but i have taken over the mapping out of our references, so it is better now. anyway. despite the sickness, the baptism was amazing. it was so awesome. and don´t worry! i am getting lots of pictures, i just can´t send them all. i think i will just send the memory card home so you can take all the pictures off and then send it back, because i have an extra memory card, too. so should i do that?

um what else? oh i tried coffee for the first time ever. that was disgusting. lol it was something called cevada. it is just a coffee replacement for people who can´t drink coffee, but want the taste. i don´t know who would. oh heavens it was disgusting. but we bought it for isabel so she could live the word of wisdom. she liked it, too. and was amazed when i was like ummmm you can keep this. lol.

we have made around 15 new investigators this week, but the problem is everyone is going places for christmas. so we can´t teach them FOREVER. annoying. i have a funny story about a family we just taught. but i don´t have time right now. so when i call, ask me about the lesson where the kid got punched in the face. sound good? anna and gabriel are good, but always busy! so that is tough.

ummmm the english lessons are just great. we are having lunch with that family today, which is odd. because normally on P-day, we don´t have lunch with members. but i am psyched. the lady makes chocolate for her job. they have a business. the stuff is amazing. i love it. but it doesn´t compare to mom´s fudge. oh and fruitcake....bleh. we will discuss that on friday.

we have our christmas conference this wednesday in Londrina. we are going to take a bus at 10:00 tomorrow night and drive there for 9 hours. so psyched. seriously. i love night bus rides when the entire bus is just missionaries. president leal is going to give us a little party, because it is his last christmas here. i will be receiving the packages and letters at the conference. i will wait till christmas.

dad - it sounds like the sports world is good. cardinals might make a run at it again. i predicted that they would win the super bowl during one of the two years that i was in brazil. so i hope that comes true. how are the suns? and mark´s putting green just gave you an unfair advantage. anddd tiger/cheetah is the most disappointing story in the sports world for a while to me.

mom - i have yet to buy an umbrella. for some reason, 10 reais is just way too expensive. but we are going to wal mart today - well, BIG - but it is owned by wal mart. so they might have a good one for pretty cheap. ummm thank you for the vitamin K. i am super psyched to take one more pill. lol i forgot to mention sister leal made me go to the hospital this week!! because i have sores all over my body from bugs and stuff. the doctor gave me a bunch of pills. he told me i have to wear repellent when i go to bed at night. not excited for that. but whatever. and yes i am drinking more water.

andddd i am super jealous about the snowboarding experience for blake. haha i am glad that him and rob are having fun though. i will be one of those return brazil missionaries in a while and then me and yuma will be like blake and rob lol. we already planned out this kind of stuff in the CTM lol. but i am super psyched to see Yuma again at the christmas conference!

anyway i am running out of time! i love you all and am SO psyched to talk to you all on Christmas.

mom and lauren - mom i am sorry that you are losing your hang out buddy. but at least lauren gets to have a new start without all the drama from the salon. lauren don´t be scared. i love you and everyone there will love you too. :) just be yourself. you are amazing. and mom and dad will be empty nesters yikes. but i am sure they will find the upsides relatively soon lol

morgan - sorry i couldn´t write back! but i love you and i loved your letter. stuart - keep studying!! remember that your relationship is more important than anything else though. soooo love each other :) goodness i give such great advice.

dad - i will beat you in golf, don´t worry. lol i love you and i am psyched to talk to you about...whatever experiences you wanted to share.

blake - keep boarding...you need to be able to keep up with me when i get home. ;)

I LOVE YOU ALL!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! TALK TO YOU ALL ON FRIDAY!!

e. scott ghormley!

Year One, Letter Sixteen

OPA!

how is it going??

scripture: D&C 29: 4 - 7

hey can you please forward this to grandma?? i can´t find her email address. i wrote her a letter, too, but i didn´t have her address so i just sent that to the house and hope that it will make it to her via you guys :) but yes i got her letter a while back! i just was super busy so i never got to return a letter and i didn´t have her email.

ok so this week was definitely a busy one.

elizangela was confirmed and received the holy ghost yesterday. we also had a young women´s presentation in sacrament. even though they were singing in portuguese, it was so awesome. i didn´t understand everything, but it was amazing. i also helped translate the priesthood lesson for this guy from oregon who didn´t know any portuguese. kinda like me. lol but i was amazed at how much i could actually translate. it was weird.

Two of my favorite members in this ward decided that "they need a change," so they are going to be moving to Australia. Yeah, random. but they want me to help them learn english now. lol that should be fun.

ummmm who remembers the christmas letter of 2007? at least i think it was 2007. anyway. a member gave us a huge fruitcake on saturday. i refused to eat it. thank goodness it was a present to take home and not to eat right there. i probably would have thrown up all over the table.

on the 11th...i think that was friday? i dont remember. anyway it was the worst storm that i have yet experienced in Brazil. it was nuts. gates and houses were just being blown apart. we waited it out in this lady´s house and then taught the first lesson.

ummm on tuesday the first transfer ended. so elder cabral was transferred to Marilea and i stayed in Iguaçu. I also got my next companion. another brazilian. his name is elder vander. he is so tight. we have so much fun and we laugh so much during the day. he is determined to marry lauren and when i told him that she was moving to provo, he was devastated haha. but we are having a ton of fun. we marked 4 more baptisms. hopefully Isabel, Jackeline, Gabriel, and Anna will be baptized before the end of December. It will be tough, but i think that they are all ready and just have a few little things to get past. We also taught Junior´s sister, Aline. We will see how that goes. She said that she thought I was too serious during the lesson. Little did she know that it was because i am not at the stage of portuguese where i can understand jokes. lol but it was fine. but i think i am going to have a lot more fun with elder vander.

anyway. so we got word today that brazil is sucking right about now for visas for the missionaries. the church is giving them one more week to figure it out and if not, they are going to start re-assigning missionaries. so i hope connor´s comes through before that. they have over 300 missionaries who should be going to brazil missions that are still stuck in the provo MTC. so hopefully that gets worked out. jackson FINALLY gets to leave. that language must be nuts. but he will do great.

i hope that deal goes through for the company. it sounds incredibly big, so i will keep that in my prayers. i kinda thought it was random but i saw a ton of forever living products here. they are a pretty big deal here. kinda cool, i guess.

i loved the christmas letter draft that i got. it was hilarious. i can´t wait for it to arrive...in a month or so. i haven´t got any of the packages yet. they are in the secretaries´ office in Londrina because they forgot to send them at the end of the transfer. the secretaries kinda suck. they are the worst ones on the mission so far according to the guys i live with.

ummmm it is thinking a little far in advance, but i am alright with christmas in orlando in like 2011. lol i think that the harry potter world sounds great and that it will be going nuts seeing as how number 7 movie will be coming out around that time.

even though i had a good time with elder vander and i am psyched for the next couple transfers with him, the week was tough. i was really sick again. i had major headaches and a major cold/flu or something. the symptoms were bad. so i hope i get over it really soon. i am just using lots of advil and dayquil/nyquil right now. so i hope i can just walk it off. literally. lol.

Tiger sounds like he has screwed himself over bigtime. great. what an idiot. i wonder what would happen if he kept playing? i bet if he were to win a major, the people would just boo when he lifted the trophy. he will have to remove himself from the golf world for a long time. so much for breaking jack´s record.

and dad...as for that putting green in mark´s backyard...this totally throws the odds. i now get to have 3 months to get back into my groove before you get to play me in a competition. because that would just be totally unfair.

anyway. well i am sure you are all getting pretty psyched for christmas. when did lauren start the christmas music this year? october? lol i will miss that annual christmas breakfast. i will enjoy some cereal or something. and what is the christmas movie? sherlock holmes? it looked hilarious.

can´t wait to talk to you all! it is only a week or so away. pretty nuts. well i love you guys!

tchau!!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Fifteen

HEY EVERYONE! HAPPY DECEMBER!

ok mom, you forgot to say, "Scott, send us your favorite scripture!" But i am incredibly diligent and enjoy doing that. SO i remembered. It is Jacob 4: 6 - 8. I shared it this week in a message and i loved it. Thus and therefore, it is the favorite scripture of the week.

ok so you all seemed pretty upset that i waited till the last minute of my last letter to tell you about Junior´s baptism - oh, and yes, i got pictures with him - so i won´t wait this time. We baptized Elisangela yesterday right after church. :) it was amazing. i thought at the beginning of the day, that i would just be dragging because i had a headache and i was really sore from my bed, so i wasn´t too stoked about anything. but i love the members of this ward. they are all so amazing. as soon as i started talking to them and laughing and stuff, my whole day got so much better. during sacrament, junior received the holy ghost, and then right after church, elisangela was baptized. it was so amazing. she was so ready and her testimony is so strong. she is only 17 and she is married. her husband has been inactive for 9 years but now we have them going to church. i am glad i write in my journal every night, because the feeling was just incredible. when she came back into the chapel, she was glowing. like literally. elder cabral always messes around and covers his eyes and says, " ay! cara, muito gloriosa!" and normally i am like yeahhhhh so he is a nerd. but she was seriously glowing. i was just like, "Whoaaaa..."

so that was amazing. i got pictures with them too. she came up to me afterwards and tried to give me a hug and i was like NO i can´t! and she was like uhhhh yes you can! and then the relief society president came swooping out of no where and was like WAIT! he is NOT allowed to hug girls! i don´t know why i told you that story. it was really funny to me at the time.

anyway, so dad -

junior´s family is ok with it. they were pretty interested and we are waiting for the ok from junior to teach them. the mom has a problem though. she just had an abortion, and her and junior got in a big fight about it. he was pretty stressed and worried about that but we had a feeling to visit him that day and when we got there and talked with him and comforted him, he was better.

i can´t believe that about tiger. what an idiot. i wonder how that is going to affect his game. ay caracca. and it sounds like the rest of the sports world is pretty bland. but cardinals are winning the division?? crazy!! i hope they keep it up. and the suns need to pick it up. and i hope BYU trashes UoA. and finally...yeah you are going to destroy me. lol how did you do in the tournament with Gary and Tim??

the temple sounds great. did Mark really enjoy it?? was he kinda a little weirded out or what?? i can´t wait to be able to go to a temple again. i think the next time i will is when i am in the mesa temple again.

oh and i finally have an address!!!! it is Av. Mario Filho, 1814, Apt. 6. Morumbi II, Foz do Iguaçu, Parana 85859 - 000

I hope that works...

I will be keeping David in my prayers. i am currently writing a letter to jake. i hope he is doing well. i also wrote to Hyrum. i will be sending that today. how is everyone else doing? any info on Connor and Jackson??

and mom -

i think the camera had something to do with the rain and humidity. it is doing ok now. if it happens again, i will be sending it home. but as for now, it is doing ok.

thank you for all your fasting and prayers. they help so much. the language is picking up. still tough as heck. but picking up. we have another high potential to be baptized. it is jackeline. she was going to come to church yesterday, and if she had she would be marked for baptism next week. but she had...female troubles. she was dying yesterday from a pain that - being male and everything - i cannot give sufficient details. but she wants to come next week and be baptized next week. we will visit her a few more times this week to see how she is doing. she is awesome. we thought she was going to give it up after we taught law of chastity because she sleeps in the same room with her boyfriend...even though she is only 14. so we were like ok whatever this will probably be it. but instead, she tells her dad after the lesson that she needs a new room so that she can´t sleep in the same room with her bf. so, he starts building a new room in their house the next day. so she has her own room now. amazing? i thought so too.

i don´t really understand testimony gloves, but i am sure that i will when they arrive. your temple work sounds amazing. especially about your mom. :) that must be so exciting.

i am super psyched to talk to you guys in a few weeks. that will be awesome. and i am glad you are all enjoying the christmas holidays. haha i know it is always so fun to get everything set up, but it is always so worth it afterwards. you will have to send pictures of our christmas - decorated house.

oh and if i can play golf with president leal, that would be spectacular. i can´t even imagine how bad i would be though...and i will listen to sister leal about the water and such. i don´t want to deal with hospitals and doctors in brazil to be honest..

andddd lauren -

i know i very rarely have time to share my words of wisdom with you personally, and i know you always have such a strong desire to hear them, so here we go. lol.

thank you for your diagnosis of my camera. it doesn´t like wet, humid areas and it doesn´t like hot areas either. perfect. why didn´t i think of this?!

um assistants to the president have a ton of responsibility. they travel all over the mission to the different areas and they have a lot of work for the president, but they don´t usually get to teach a lot of people. and zone leaders travel a lot and do lots of baptismal interviews and go on lots of trades. i mean i wouldn´t complain if i got a calling, because i know that God is the one calling me. but i would prefer to just be a really good missionary lol.

my face is doing good. i have a few little break outs, but i am getting used to it. the food is good. but i have found several bugs in my food. you wouldn´t survive lol. but yeah there are certain things that i will NEVER eat again after the mission. i ate chicken heart and liver for the first time. you would have liked those...lol

i saw a commercial the other day for the movie Just Like Heaven and it reminded me of when we would watch it during my haircuts. lol yeah it made me miss you.

anddddd the news about the salon is great. i mean it can seem annoying to be in the law suit situation, but you are safe. sandy can´t do crap. she is just incredibly annoying. anddd this crap with you and...that girl that used to be a really good friend...is even more annoying. i would have slapped her. hard. but now you have a better job and you are happier :)

lauren, don´t be worried about utah. i know it can be scary to start over again with a bunch of girls and other people that you don´t know, but you are so tough and you have been through so much, but you still have one of the most amazing hearts out of anyone i know. everyone will love you if you just be you. and you have mom just a phone call away :) and you get to call her like....a lot. i only get to call twice a year lol.

i love you all so much. thank you for everything. i love being able to hear the updates every week. oh and i am super psyched for those packages to get here. i can´t wait to read dad´s christmas letter either.

love you all.

till next week

elder scott ghormley

oh and our christmas conference will be december 21st. that will be cool. i will see elder yuma again. lol and we will be able to speak...some more portuguese than the last time we saw each other.

love you all! peace.

Year One, Letter Fourteen

hey everyone!

sorry it is a lot later than normal. today has been busy as crap. e. cabral and i had to wake up at 5:30, be on the bus to the station by 6:15, pick up the assistants at 8, be back on a bus to the terminal at 8, meet president at the parque dos aves (bird park - basically, zoo) by 9, and then we went through the park and went to lunch with president. and it rained the whole time. but now that is all done and we have some valuable email time. :)

Favorite Scripture: Alma 7: 23 - 24 good scripture.

anyway. so here is the news -

first of all, we will no longer be going to the Falls. President withdrew that promise. now, he said that we will go IF every single companionship (65 duplas) baptizes in the same month. so, yeah that sucks.

next, my camera decided to stop working today. i was taking a picture at the bird park, and the screen started flickering and then just went dead. so that is great. it hasn´t gone back to normal. i might have to send it home so that you guys can use the warranty for it. and possibly send it back? i would send it back with the memory card so that you can see all the pictures i have since that cd i sent home. i will wait for the ok on that one though.

um if thanksgiving was quiet for you guys, i don´t know how i would describe mine. i mean the food here doesn´t quite compare to mom´s cooking. so i suppose i had the worst thanksgiving dinner thus far in my life lol. i am sorry that i wasn´t able to provide the comedic relief necessary during rook. i know how tense that game can get without the occasional ron white rendition (sp?). blindside does sound like a good movie, though. i will be thrilled to watch it...in two years when it isn´t popular anymore. lol.

for thanksgiving, i made a list in my journal of everything i am thankful for. like, everything. big and small. and during that time i had a kind of personal revelation to remember certain things because i had an impression that i would need to remember them in the upcoming months and also that i would be talking about them in my homecoming talk?? yeah, talk about weird. i wasn´t even thinking about my homecoming talk but i have already started writing a little bit about it based on the feelings i was getting. kinda cool. i guess i better follow that. but i really missed you all during thanksgiving. i was just remembering all of our family times and all the fun stuff we all did and i was getting a little down. buttttt it´s all good. i know that i am doing what the lord would have me do and that - even though it is hard to be away from all you guys - this is the right choice. every day i can always push forward because i know that this is the work that i am supposed to be a part of.

looks like the sports world is falling apart. are cardinals even in the hunt this year? are the suns still running? i hope byu keeps it up. but more importantly, dad i am sorry, but i will be totally ready to beat you when i return home. :) president leal told me that he wants to play golf with me some time and that he would send me to a really good area if i let him win lol. but that he had other plans for me if i won. lol

i had an interview with president leal on sunday morning. he told me that my language is progressing very quickly compared to the other newer missionaries so that was great. and he told me that based on the interview and what he has been told about me, he thought that i was going to an excellent missionary. cross your fingers, right? lol but do me a favor...pray that i don´t get called to be an assistant to the pres or a secretary or a zone leader or anything like that. haha

ummm i still have not received the address. but we are probably going to be moving to an apartment in centro. very soon. once the mission gets all the necessary supplies. that way i won´t be spending 40 reais per week on bus fees.

food is decent. lots of rice and beans. and chicken and beef. and spaghetti is big here. and then they love giving us guarnana. and we drink that because they don´t have mineral water. only water from the tap. and sister leal told me that if i keep drinking water from members houses that isn´t mineral water, she is going to call my mother. but i think she was kidding...maybe. occasionally, a member will just give us a little bit of money to go eat at some cheap buffet place for like 7 reais.

i do remember new york. and yes a lot of centro smells like that. a lot of areas smell worse, but some areas just smell normal. the area we work has some areas we avoid because they are nasty. going into the favelas and hostels is the worst. it is way dangerous and it smells awful lol.

my shoes are doing ok. yeah i think i will probably walk at least 7000 to 8000 miles on the mish. no joke. we walk between 10 and 15 miles on average. and then on days when we are super busy, it is a nightmare. sometimes my legs just go numb after a while. it is funny though because at night i get those muscle spasms all the time. but i conditioned and cleaned my shoes, so i am good for now.

so things are going pretty good with our investigators. we have a few that are progressing really well and want to be baptized either this upcoming sunday or the next one. so that is pretty cool. jackeline and anglea both want to be baptized this next sunday.

junior is doing pretty well. he went from smoking 20 cigarettes a day to zero and he no longer drinks coffee. he committed to living all the commandments and has heard all the lessons. he prayed about the book of mormon and woke up in the middle of the night and heard something tell him it was true.

oh and he is also another reason that i would like to send some pictures home. you see, he was baptized last night. and i baptized him. :) sorry, i almost forgot to mention that :P

anywho. yes we will be having a christmas conference, but i think i will be getting packages before that. the rest of this week was pretty good. lots of lessons and progressing investigators. maybe we will have some more baptisms this sunday. i hope so.

the news about all the temple work you guys are doing is great. that is so awesome that you are getting that all done.

i love you all so much. i am so thankful for all of you and all you do for me and the support you guys give me. thank you all for your examples. i can´t wait to talk to you guys in a few weeks. it will be great.

well i gotta run.

until next week!

love

e. scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Thirteen

hey everyone!!

favorite scripture: D&C 122. the whole section. i just read it as i was reading Our Legacy (or is it Our History?) and it was pretty powerful.

So Morumbi isn´t like that at all. It is quite busy. It is about 15 minutes from the Falls. It is next to the Ponte de Amizade. It is the bridge between Paraguay and Brazil and also Brazil and Argentina. I am very close to that area. And the tres marcos - the area where the river divides brazil, argentina, and paraguay. if you look at that area, you might be able to find it. just try looking up the city foz do iguaçu and you might be able to find it. but i am a LONG way from são paulo.

so thanksgiving isn´t celebrated in brazil, obviously. which means i have been seeing christmas since about two weeks ago. lol morgan, remember when you said it seems like christmas starts earlier and earlier in the states? imagine what it is like here! haha but it is more of a shock to have the hot christmas. i mean you see all the same pictures with santa in his big coat and all of the people in winter clothes, but then you realize that every other advertisement is someone drinking a freezing coca cola on a hot brazilian day - oh by the way, i am not allowed to drink coke. mission rule. lol. or chimarrão. blake - do you remember chimarrão? that weird green herb drink? yeah, i can´t drink that. anyway. we are probably going to be singing christmas hymns on the streets. which will be great. nothing like caroling in 125 degrees. lol

dad - i do remember those stories. it is so much different now, huh? i mean the entire mission has changed from the discussions to the rules and the areas and everything. it is amazing how much the church has spread in such a short time. we have a "history of the church in brazil" poster in our house and that is pretty cool. it shows all of the changes that have happened over the last century or so. it is crazy.

the suns are still surprising me, i hope mountain view finally wins another championship, YES for USC losing, and i never expected anything from ASU. lol

oh and when it rains, it does cool down considerably. i almost prefer the rain. my shirt is less wet at night on days when it rains then when i walk around in the heat all day. lol i guess brazil makes you sweat a lot. who knew?

morgan - your chairs and tables sound wonderful. i will sit in one of them in a while and tell you how great they are personally ok??

lauren - that guy sounds like a FREAK! you should have kicked him deliberately in the nuts before running away. that guy is a weirdo. are you still excited for utah? that will be fun. don´t be scared. starting over is tough, but you are always up for it. just be strong and have faith. everyone will love you. that is just how it is. :) oh and twilight...the second...sounds just as awful as the first :P

blake - i am writing you a letter in portuguese. just give it some time and i will have it sent to you. lol maybe a lot of time?

um personal well being updates?? my rash is still...a rash. it is getting better. i have been using cream for jock itch. i don´t even know if this is called jock itch. but it seemed like that general area. so i went with it. and that has been doing alright. ummmm so yesterday i was having an awful day. church was good. we had Junior come - i think he is really progressing. we taught him plan of salvation and word of wisdom. word of wisdom will be our biggest speed bump because he smokes, drinks, and all signs point to uses drugs. but he said he doesn´t so i will take his word for it. even though no one else believes him. i am hoping for a story like yours mom. kinda the "stop right now!" type of story. but i dunno if i will be that lucky. anyway. so church and lunch were fine. and then it started coming down in sheets outside. you could barely see across the street. so we left and i was feeling pretty sick and had a really bad headache. i tried to work and made it till about 7 or so and just couldn´t do it anymore. so we got home, but we don´t have a key to our "temporary house" so i had to wait outside. i took my temp and it was at 102. i had a pounding headache and the fever wasn´t that great either. i took some advil and prayed and prayed and then prayed again. and i woke up this morning with a temperature of 97. and no headache. how awesome is that? yeah, i thought so too.

hmm so the language is coming along. still tough. but i figured it kinda has to be. the temple must have been so amazing for you all. mom, did you cry? i bet you did huh? haha i am kidding. it must have been so amazing. did lauren and blake both love it too? that is so great that you all got to do that together.

i love you all!! I hope you have a great thanksgiving!

blake - eat my share of food, please. let me know just how excellent mom´s rolls are. and definitely use a word other than chique. because we both know that word is stupid.

love you all! happy thanksgiving and have a great week!

Elder Scott Ghormley

Scott Arrives at the Brazil Londrina Mission Home

Londrina, October 30^th 2009

Dear Family of Elder Ghormley,

We are writing to inform you that on October 30^th 2009, Elder Ghormley arrived very well in the Brazil Londrina Mission field. We were very happy to meet him and to know that from now on he is part of this great and wonderful army of the Savior. After a long wait and much preparation, he along with many other missionaries arrived at the mission home safely and very excited. They had lunch, and after a great testimony meeting he learned who would be his companion

The Brazil Londrina Mission is a blessed land where many people are hearing and accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ in such a joyous way. It is an honor for us to be able to receive your son in this area, and we know that this is possible only because you have so lovingly taught, guided and cared for him until he could arrive here. We want you to know that we will strive to fulfill all his needs, and will take care of him as if he were our own son. Thank you for trusting us with your son for this short yet fundamental period of time in his life!

We are at your disposal to help in any way during this time.

With gratefulness and love,

President and Sister Leal

Year One, Letter Twelve

HI!

So hello everyone. It doesn´t seem like it was too long ago that I was sending an email to you guys but this week went pretty quick. A few of the days drag, but the week went pretty quick.

So favorite scripture: D&C 121: 7 - 8. Patience, patience, patience. Yes, I need it. My journal tells me that every time I write at night. But everyone in my family - meaning...all of you guys - knows that if there is one thing I lack, it is patience. Goodness. Why does that have to be such a necessary attribute??

Dad: I am sorry but no one will give me or no one has my permanent address at the moment. I am living above this pharmacy in a city called Morumbi. We aren´t too far from the Falls. I have been informed that we will be going December 7th to the Falls. How sick is that?? But I am sorry that I don´t have a permanent address. When I get transferred, or finally move into the house that Elder Cabral and I are supposed to be in, I will know. But as of now, I am stuck in the same house. 6 elders in one room (because it is the only room with AC). It smells great. Believe me...

Mom: I will definitely get a picture with the falls in the background when we go. I have only seen pictures of them, but they are spectacular. they are going to be added to the wonders of the world when they get updated in 2013 i think.

Dad: I am glad that your hand is all better!! No surgery?? I would say an incredibly, incredibly painful shot directly into your thumb is a lot better than that...I think? But you better keep practicing...because two years without touching a golf club is just going to improve my game...Oh and I would suggest not using the gofl carts as bumper carts. I got in trouble for that when i worked at superstition :)

I am glad the Book of Mormon reading is going so well. Read it in Portuguese and English :) that is what I am doing. I am in Alma in English. And First Nephi in Portuguese. Lol. I never thought I would want more time just to read the Book of Mormon.

The suns are killing it huh?? That is surprising. Go figure all we needed to do was keep Marion. GREAT!! lol. but that is awesome to hear. I hope they keep doing well. That SUCKS that the yankees won the world series. who did they beat?

I decided that my email last week kinda sounded pathetic. I was complaining and I shouldn´t be. I mean yes, it is hotter and more humid than any other place in Southern Brazil (yes, that IS a fact), but I am a missionary. I am serving the Lord in a country 10,000 miles from home. I mean how awesome of a calling is that? I have found that I am almost becoming a little more accustomed to the weather. My feet don´t like it. Sweaty socks means blisters. Blisters the size of my thumb. 3 of them, if you were wondering. I haven´t had anything really bad growing like fungi or mold, but i will use that cream if i see anything fishy. But anyway. I know that this is the greatest work that I could ever be a part of. I love that I can help these people, I just want to be able to help them MORE than I am able to. Once I learn this language, I think I will be able to help SO many more people. But even when I do, it is still so hard to see these people who seem so interested fall through. Now i know why they told us that we will have the most joy and the most sorrow that we have ever felt in our lives on our missions. But when we have success, it is so cool. Right now, we have 5 people - Lucas, Tais, Charles, Jackeline, and Junior - all preparing for baptism either the 22nd or the 29th. We are praying that they will keep following through on their commitments and everything.

So elder cabral is a great missionary. he has his weird things and annoying things, but i am sure he gets annoyed at me constantly asking him to repeat stuff or if i get frustrated at some concept of the language. so we get along well. we are actually pretty good friends. i hope i get to stay with him for more than just this transfer, but this is his third transfer here, so he will probably be leaving after this one. But he is helping me learn the language and helping me get into the customs and culture. it wasn´t really that big of a culture shock for some reason. most of the people are incredibly nice, so it is easy to get along with them.

i am glad you reminded me of your story, mom. because that is something i will need to keep in mind. the lord prepares the people who are going to accept you, you just have to follow the spirit to them. our investigators right now are really great from what i can see and i think they would be willing to make changes, especially since a lot of them are my age or younger, so they haven´t really got into anything too bad yet. i hope we can help them to stay that way.

Lauren: that is so cool that you are going to be doing the baptisms for all of those names. remember to write in your journal about the feelings you have. the spirit can teach you when you remember the feelings when it is most strong. the other day we weren´t having any success at all, so elder cabral and i both said a prayer and then as i was walking down the street i started singing "the spirit of god" and the spirit was so strong. i felt such a change in everything. we ended up finding and teaching Lucas and Tais, who are now preparing for baptism. it is amazing what the spirit can do.

oh ok christmas package. this is spectacular. um these are kinda the necessities and wants and necessities.

"EXTRA" Gum. Lots of it. POLAR ICE please. :) Altoids? STICK DEODORANT!! AXE is the best here. Anything that is gel is bad. but the white stick deodorant is a necessity and they don´t sell it here. Uni-Ball black pens! I need good black pens and they are expensive here. Gold Bond Powder?? Candy? Eh, eh? like butterfingers and milky ways and stuff. Oreos?? Skittles? OH! M&Ms!! Peanut butter kind. or plain. or both. lol. A hacky sack? a racquet ball? a stress ball that you squeeze in your hands? Gatorade powder packs? Um a cool tie?

How is TJ doing? I don´t really have time to email anyone else other than the family. How are Jackson and Connor doing?? What about Hyrum?? Is he getting way excited?? Tell him Hi for me please and tell him that I am psyched for him to get out into the field and getting into this work!!

I am sorry but i just got a notice that my time is almost up!! I am sorry if i didn´t get to respond to everyone´s questions!! i love you all and you are all always in my thoughts!!

I love you!

Elder Scott Ghormley

Year One, Letter Eleven

That is about all i can say to this last week. Wow.

Hey everyone!

Quick Updates:

Favorite Scripture: 2 Nephi 32: 3,5

Health: I may or may not have heat rash. Or humidity rash. Or detergent rash...? Or new soap rash? Or maybe food allergies? Surprise, surprise here in Brazil, nobody knows!! So as of now I have a huge rash across my entire chest and stomach. How awesome is that, right?

Weather: Probably the reason I have a rash. It has rained for the last 3 days. And by rain, I don´t mean a light drizzle. I mean we got pounded for 11 to 12 hours a day for 3 days straight and then it just was normal rain for the other hours of those days. Who said not to bring an umbrella? So the weather is...Brazil. It was 43 to 45 degrees Celsius the days that it didn´t rain. Meaning it was around 110 to 114 degrees Farenheit. With humidity. LOTS of humidity. I will explain why when i get to the "area" portion. During December and January it is supposed to get to around 48 to 51 degrees Celsius. Meaning 118 to 123 Farenheit. WITH humidity. I am going to die. Hey mom, remember that day I was born?? Yeah, me neither. But anyway, I will die at the same temperature that i was born in. Only this time, there will be humidity. :) I am pretty sure I have never sweated or walked this much in my life. Gotta love it.

Trainer: Ok so my trainer is Elder Cabral. Surprise, he is Brazilian. He is from Santa Catarina (sp?). He speaks faster than most high school cheerleaders. The problem is...it is Portuguese. Thus and therefore, I cannot understand. I have to tell him probably 8 or 9 times per day to slow down. No joke. I have to have him repeat things about 3 times before I can finally understand. I believe that my brain is in a stage of confusion. It is registering Portuguese but not at the right speed. So i hear an entire sentence as one sound. Sometimes two. Oh and people from Santa Catarina don´t pronounce the entire word. Even people here can´t understand him sometimes. He says "est..." instead of "estAR" or "começ..." instead of "começAR". So it is way hard. One of his sentences sounds like one or two words. It is very frustrating. I have prayed for patience and understanding all the time. And that maybe if God wants, He can just make me fluent overnight. But I said that I would leave that one up to Him. But we get along ok. He has a strange sense of humor. But that is just how Brazilians are. He is friendly and we both try to understand each other. So for the most part, I just need to learn to speak portuguese at the speed of light and we can be good friends. No big, right?

Area: So this is the moment you have all been waiting for. My area. Ok so when they changed the boundaries to the Londrina mission, they cut about 55 percent of it out. They added a part of the Curitiba (sp?) mission, though. That part that they added included Iguaçu Falls. AKA the second largest set of waterfalls in the entire world. Guess what my area is? Hey you are right! Foz do Iguaçu. The Catarattas. Iguaçu Falls, Foz Centro. That is my zone/area combo. It is soooooo humid. And so hot. the area I am in is ridiculous. We have this street that is like the hardcore rich people street. i see incredibly nice cars in this one area and tons of nice stores and all kinds of stuff ( oh and as a side note - they have lingerie stores everywhere in the rich area. why is this important? it isn´t. it is just incredibly awkward, because they have actual models. like, live models. wearing the lingerie. in windows. talk about strange.) Anyway. SO yeah it is very rich. but then we walk about 2 miles or so to our area where we teach and there are so many poor people and we teach in the favelas and stuff and that is pretty tough.

It is hard because the people that we are teaching just don´t have potential. I mean you have as much faith as you can but the bottom line is that they don´t have the desire. I mean if they let you teach the first lesson, and then they pray and go to church and receive an answer, then you have lesson 2 and 3. meaning you have to commit them to baptism and the gospel. which most people have a ton of trouble with. then you get to lesson 4. law of chastity and word of wisdom and keeping sabbath day holy are dang near impossible. people don´t want to get married, they don´t want to stop drinking and smoking, and they don´t want to walk all the way to church. it is soooo hard and has been a big struggle for me. but i am praying. and i will keep praying.

when i can get this language out of the way and actually get to my permanent address (yeah, i am the only elder from my district without a permanent address yet because the house i was supposed to go to was given to the sisters so now i am in a house with 4 other elders and my comp) i think i will be able to deal with a lot more.

i know this is a struggle. missions aren´t supposed to be easy. but i know i am supposed to be here. i just have a lot that i still need to know. it has been hard, but i know that with the help of the Lord, i will be able to adapt.

anyway. sorry that i couldn´t respond to everyone. i only have an hour and i had a lot to catch everyone up on.

i love you all! thank you all for the emails this week. they were all awesome.

i should be emailing every p-day from 11 to 12 our time so like 6 to 7 your time?? pretty sure.

love you all!

E. Scott Ghormley

Year One, Letter Ten

Hello everyone!!!

NOTICE: My P-day is now MONDAY. That´s right. I will now be emailing on Mondays because...that´s just how it is.

Scripture: 2 Nephi 31: 18 - 20 (20 is most important)

It is most important because that is what my mission will take...lots and lots of perseverance. This language is ridiculous. I can barely understand a thing. I got really frustrated because it is so tough. Especially in the morning. I have trouble functioning normally in the morning, but now you have to toss in the fact that I have two guys speaking more Portuguese than I can register. Which leads me into the week...

Brazil just got crazier. We finally left the CTM. FINALLY...? Once we were out in the real world, i realized how much i loved the CTM. lots of food, lots of people who speak English, lots of time to do what we need, bathrooms, closets, beds, lol etc. butttt not anymore. We left at 3:45 in the morning and flew to Londrina. We met the mission President. President Leal is pretty cool. He seems to know what he is doing, anyway. So, we had lunch, interviewed with him, then we were told to pack up enough clothes for 3 days and were put in a bus. We had to leave all of our other things in the church by his apartment. I was not happy about that at all. We were dropped off in little groups. My friend from the district in the CTM, Elder Burt, and I were dropped off (literally, like tossed out of a van) onto a sidewalk and we waited for our new companions. They are both Brazilian. One is named Elder Costa and the other is Elder Filadélfia. It was ridiculous. They know very little English. We are in a place called Cambé and we were taken to the apartment for about 10 minutes and then we took off. We taught one lesson with all 4 of us about the plan of salvation and how we can be with our families forever and then we were split. I went with Elder Filadélfia and we taught for about 5 hours or so and then went home. it is nuts how tired i am at the end of the day. we teach and walk around and then teach some more. we walk like 10 or 15 miles per day. it is so crazy. but we are only going to be here (probably) for these 3 days. today around 5 we are going BACK to Londrina so that we can meet our real trainers and go to our real areas. I just don´t understand this nonsense. but hopefully everything will start going smoother and we can get going. so far, though, it has been a bit of a roller coaster. at least these guys are cool and they try to help.

we had a water balloon fight this morning. that was the beginning to our p-day lol. after personal and comp study we had a water balloon fight, got some ice cream, and went to the bank. very interesting, neh?

anyway. so normally i can answer all of your questions, but now i don´t have any to answer. i know i am here for a reason and that if i put my trust and faith in God that he will help me. i have been doing the best i can to do that. because i know that i will need help.

um the people are really cool. they are nice most of the time. they feed us a lot. on fast sunday, for lunch, we went to this lady´s house and she gave us - take a guess - rice and beans, spaghetti, guarana, salad, and carne. i think that was it. but it was delicious. i wonder how much time it will be before i can´t eat anymore rice and beans lol. but fast sunday was cool. i bore my testimony for the first time in a portuguese ward. and it was actually in portuguese. but that was awesome.

what elseeeeee.

blake - thanks a lot for your email last week. at least i think it was last week. it has been an incredibly long week. but thank you. i would try and respond in portuguese but there is no way i could do that in the time we are given. but it was exactly what i needed to hear. i read it this morning again and it helped because i was a little overwhelmed.

well i have run out of time. i love you all and i miss you all! hopefully i will have time to write next week instead of just reading 2 weeks worth of updates!

love you!

E. Scott Ghormley

Year One, Letter Nine

Hey everyone!!

I am glad I still have the ability and the touch to create an enjoyable letter. It is tough to get that emotion into it via email...ya know?

That is great that Troy won. 900K for one tournament? Yeah i would say that is pretty spectacular.

I didn´t see Connor today, meaning I won´t get to see him. That´s rough. I really wanted to see him before i took off. but he gets to enjoy a lot more cereal and real ice cream in provo. so i guess he can enjoy that while he gets the chance. Jackson must be pretty psyched...learning Estonian? are you kidding me? i couldn´t handle the CTM for more than 9 weeks, but he is there so much longer! Good Luck to him. I will have to send a few emails his way when i can get his address.

Yeahhhhh about the pictures. I didn´t really realize that I had that option for red eyes. I will have to set that up. I can´t believe that it got there that fast though. that is awesome. and i didn´t mark delievery confirmation. they just did that themselves. and the color swirls were semi on purpose. i just put my camera on a really high exposure rate and set the lens to stay open for 5 seconds. just night mode. so those were supposed to be there lol. and i guess i will have to actually look at the pictures i send home rather than just send every single one of them home haha. i am gunna get more pictures with my whole district tonight. and one with elder ruiz. oh and there is an irmão severo here who has a pic of blake and elder ameida or almeida? one of blake´s comps. anyway. he flipped when he saw me...i guess GHORMLEY isn´t a very common brazilian name....who woulda known?

Elder Scott´s fireside was great. Just talking about how we can make our missions the best we can and what it is that we need to do to make sure we give ourselves that chance. I did in fact shake his hand. I was a lot taller than him though. That was odd. I pictured all of the apostles looking like President Monson. But he had such a strong testimony. It was amazing to hear him speak. But yeah, his testimony was so strong and it just testified that to me. It was awesome.

That stake conference for you guys actually tied in with a talk i gave on Sunday. I spoke about how we can draw closer to God through the 9 attirbutes of christ and one that i added. it was pretty dang good surprisingly. You see, i prepared a talk every week and never had to give it. I just bore my testimony a couple times on fast sunday. so i was like ok i am not gunna prepare a talk this week because it is just pointless. and go figure, i get called. along with half of my district. so everyone talks about an attribute of Christ and i just went with the idea of the spirit guiding me. so i got up and talked about something that elder eyring said and went off of that. it went very well. but i know that as we follow those attributes, we will be able to forgive others and rid ourselves of the hate that is in our hearts. as we do this, we will hear the spirit so much stronger. President Monson said two things in conference that come to mind now. He said that the Spirit has never, and will never dwell in an environment of contention and hate. And he also said that anger doesn´t solve anything, it builds nothing, but it destroys everything. When i was thinking about that i realized how true it is. whenever i was really mad or annoyed at someone or something, it always coinicides with a time i didn´t have the spirit with me. and that led to rash and stupid decisions. so i know that as we do our best to follow those attributes and follow Christ´s example, we will be so much happier and successful in all we do.

I know that life won´t always be easy, especially here. I just heard that Londrina is one of the harder baptizing missions in Brazil because it is a lot more affluent and people don´t think they need humility so much. But I know that as i follow those attributes and have patience and love, everything works out. I heard a pretty cool quote this week. It said: "The Lord doesn´t require anything you don´t have - He just requires everything you´ve got. Give Him everything you have, and He will give you what you lack." So I know that even as I struggle, if I give Him my all, He will help me to overcome all. So if I get upset or if something bad happens during my mission, I can overcome it.

Thank you so much for all your love and support. I can´t wait to take off and get to Londrina. We leave at 4 AM on Friday morning. We will have a flight from 6:25 till 7:30. We will have all of our meetings and then lunch and then we might be meeting our trainers and teaching later that night. I am so psyched. Terrified. Absolutely scared out of my mind. But SO stoked.

I love you all so much! Next time you hear from me, I will be in Londrina. Pretty tight, huh?

Love you!
Elder Ghormley

Year One, Letter Eight

Hey!

I have used that scripture (2 Nephi 31:14) in a lot of practice lessons and also while proselyting and I love it.

I couldn´t believe that Wads and Yuma know each other. It was just crazy. It was so random! We were just talking in church and I mentioned Adam Wadsworth and Yuma was like WHAT?! It was nuts. I hope I can get a trainer like Wads. Him and Blake were such awesome comps! Buttttt I think Yuma and I are a little better :)

I have some bad news and some good news. Ok so the whole group that I arrived with leaves Friday Morning, the 23rd. Elder Scott gets here Friday afternoon. Therefore the group I got here with doesn´t get to see him. However, we aren´t part of that group. Every missionary that got here with us will leave, including two guys from our district going to Porto Alegre North. But the 10 of us that are going to Londrina have to stay till the 30th. They screwed up on the planning. So, even though we have to stay longer, we still get to see Elder Scott.

I got the package! Oh my goodness it was amazing. Those vitamins will save my life...oh and the oreos, peanut butter, twix, and butterfingers were nothing short of amazing. haha but i wouldn´t try milk duds again...you see they kinda just solidified and used the caramel as some kind of super glue. so now i have a huge chunk of milk dud instead of milk dudS. thanks for Jesus the Christ. I needed it. Unfortunately, i already had a missionary pal and a true to the faith. but i think i might give the missionary pal to elder yuma. he doesn´t have one. thank you so so so so much though. i love it. and so does yuma. he is rather fond of candy...who woulda known? oh and for future reference...tape a pass along card to the outside of the box or put jesus and mary stickers all over boxes...that way they won´t get searched. it says it was sent on the 15th of september and it got here the 19th of october. but if it doesn´t get searched, it can get here quicker.

the last few days yuma was pretty sick and i was getting a bit of a cold. i think it was something from when we went proselyting and shaking so many hands. we went to the doctor and he may need antibiotics. i spent most of saturday and monday just helping him out and he slept a lot. the doctor told me that the amoxicillin that i have been taking every day is probably what saved me from getting way sick. so, if it is at all possible to get a large prescription from doctor shockey of amoxicillin (500mg, twice a day) then that may be something that keeps me healthy for the time that i am here. otherwise, i will just keep taking vitamins. but i figure if it was at all possible to send that if you send another package, then that would be awesome.

i hope those pictures are good...i will send some better ones via email when i get to the field. and I AM technologically advanced. but you see, the technology has to BE advanced in order for that talent to be useful. when i am working with something that Benjamin Franklin designed it is kinda tough..

proselyting was amazing. i wish i had brought my journal so i could just give you a word for word copy of how i felt and everything that happened but i will do my best now. we went into the middle of Centro São Paulo. the city is HUGE! i guess it is the 3rd biggest city in the world, so that makes sense. anyway. they just dropped us off in this huge park in the middle of the city and said be back by 3:45. oh, and they forgot to mention that the day we were going proselyting happened to be "Dia da Universidade" or "University Day." This is apparently their equivalent of our thanksgiving day. oh, and i almost forgot to tell you...their University Day parade is bigger than our Thanksgiving day parade. so that was splendid. anyway. we were only given 2 books of mormon. we said a prayer in a pretty quiet part and then started. about 10 minutes in, i placed my BoM with this girl who was sitting on these big stone steps. i was a little cold on the portuguese, but she understood everything i said and that was what mattered. as we were walking away i looked back and she was just sitting on the steps reading. that was really tight. so then we go into the middle of this huge courtyard looking area. We sat down so Yuma could write his testimony in his BoM. this bum came up to us and started talking to me while yuma was writing. he smelled nothing short of disgusting. i was struggling not to cover my nose...or push him away. but he kept going on about something but we couldn´t understand him because he was mumbling a lot. i told him we had to go. on our way towards the other end of the courtyard, this skater shouted out to us. at first we were just gunna say hi and keep going, but we both had a feeling that we should keep talking to him. so i was talking to him about religion and just asking what kinda background he had and stuff and then we basically just headed into the first lesson. i was talking about how we believe that we are God´s children and that he loves all of us and how Christ died for us and he seemed really into it. then i went into prophets and i thought for a moment we were going to lose him because i was talking to him about prophets in the bible and taking it towards Joseph Smith and modern prophets and he told me he thought he was a prophet. so i was like ummmm uh oh. but i told him that we believe we can all receive revelation for our personal lives from God, normally through the Holy Ghost. and after i explained that, he agreed and he seemed to be back into it! so that was awesome. then we took it to the book of mormon. we had him read the first paragraph and then the eighth paragraph in the introduction. and he seemed way into it. then yuma bore his testimony and he was way excited. we told him to read in Moroni chapter 10 and then james 1:5 and to pray about what he read just like Joseph Smith did and he was writing it all down and saying how he was going to do it as soon as he could. after that, he told us how amazing we were. he said that he could see our peace and happiness as we were walking and that he could see and feel a spirit about us. he said that something told him that he needed to talk to us. it was so awesome. he said that he knew everyone had to hear what we had to say and that everyone needed to feel the spirit we had. it was way tight. after that, he rode over with his BoM and then just sat down with this lady in the courtyard and started talking to her about the BoM. it was so crazy. when we went back a little later, he was still talking to her about it but there was another kid on the ground just listening to him. we were so psyched! after that, we went and got another BoM because the people who gave out their books could come get one of the extra 3 we had. so we got one and went to work again. we saw this old guy who was walking really slow and off-balance, so we asked him if he needed help and he said yeah. he was kinda drunk. and by kinda i mean he couldn´t get one straight sentence out. so we helped him over to a bench and talked to him for a bit and i gave him a little card telling him about the church and that he could learn more about it if he followed the instructions. just as we were about to leave, two guys came up to us and asked us who we were and what we were doing. one of the guys was drunk. he was british and knew english. his name was kevin and, unfortuantely, he distracted yuma pretty bad. he wouldn´t shut up! he had gotten out of jail the day before because he had gotten caught dealing drugs. so he kept asking Yuma if he wanted to be rich and that he could make 50,000 dollars for delivering a kilo of cocaine for him. he kept telling him that he should want a ferrari, not a mission. so yuma was just kinda like uhhhh?? that was interesting. it didn´t help that the guy had mastered the use of some wonderfully awful language. it was pretty bad. but while yuma was being held up by this guy, i was talking to the other guy. his name was christiano. he had a pretty religious background and he was telling me about how he was christian and believed in God and Jesus Christ and that he read and believed the Bible. So that was just perfect for me. I took basically the same route as before. I explained that God loves us all and that because of that, he gave us prophets. i told him about the Bible prophets and he knew all about them. but then i went into Joseph Smith and modern prophets. he was really interested. I asked him if he ever heard of the Book of Mormon. He said no. So i described it and had him read the 1st, 8th, and 9th paragraphs of the Intro. he was way into it. i kept talking to him about it and then i asked him to read 3rd Nephi about Christ coming to the Americas. after that i didn´t really know what to say and so i just kinda had an impression to bear my testimony to him. even though his british friend kevin was over to the side cussing up a storm and going on about drug dealing, i could just feel something change. he just went quiet reading in 3rd nephi. after a minute or so i showed him Moroni´s promise in chapter 10. he told me that he would read the BoM and pray about it. it was such an awesome feeling and experience. I can´t believe that I was able to do that after only 7 weeks here. i was so blessed during proselyting, because now that i think back, i realize that i understood everything, even though i didn´t even really know some of the words and stuff. such an awesome experience.

after that we were just feeling awesome. this is when the whole parade thing came into play. we had finished proselyting and were waiting for the bus, but the bus passed us because apparently 12 missionaries on the sidewalk is a very common thing, so he didn´t see us. he drove around and got caught in the parade. while we were waiting for the bus to come back around, a 50 year old gay guy comes up to us. and this wasn´t something we could handle. you see, he kinda waddled up, throwing his butt in every direction that could be considered possible. oh, and he also didn´t have a shirt on; he was wearing skin tight, shiny silver pants; he was sporting a dennis rodman hair style; and he happened to be pulling his nipples out about 6 inches from his body. Do you have that image in your head yet? anyway, so he comes up and starts rubbing up on elder jensen. literally. like he rubbed his nipples on the back of elder jensen´s shirt. we all kinda freaked. then he did the same thing to Burt. i am pretty sure the only reason the guy isn´t in the hospital right now is because we all had our elder tags on and we aren´t supposed to become involved in legal matters. and i dunno what you guys thing, but attempting to kill this guy could have put a damper on our day/mission. but we kinda just ignored this...thing/person...as best as we could until he gave up. anyway. after waiting to see if the bus would make it through for about 30 minutes, we had to book it across the park to see if we could run into him. on our way, there were 4 girls (2 very cute ones, surprisingly) that stopped yuma and i and asked who we were and what we were doing. we told them that we were missionaries and that we were in the city to teach and stuff. they asked us why we weren´t joining in the party and the parade and then asked us if we wanted some of their beers. naturally, we accepted and got absolutely hammered...or maybe we just said we don´t drink alcohol because we believe we aren´t supposed to. you can draw your own conclusion on that one. after running through a lot more of the parade and seeing a lot of things that i would have preferred not to see, we ran into the other district´s van. so, we had to force 25 guys into this 15 person van. that was spectacular, believe me. we drove for about 10 or 15 minutes that way until we ran into our van that was just parked on the side of some random street. then we just went back to the CTM. basically, it was an awesome day. times a million.

When did Jackson report to Provo?! and why didn´t they send out an email or something to all the families?? oh and what about connors email? can you send that with jacksons? i think i got hyrums already. but i will need his myldsmail one. is connor so psyched to get here? it is seriously so awesome. if he gets to report on the 27th or 28th then i would probably get to see him before i left!! i hope his visa comes through! but if he gets stuck in provo for a week or two, at least he would get all the cereal he wanted...and ice cream...and extra name tags. haha. but i definitely hope he gets to come here! i am glad hyrum is having a great time at ASU. i hope he will be able to last all the way until january!! but he is going to australia...so he has something pretty tight to look forward to!

Thanks for the lesson about the atonement. i can add those to my missionary pal set. after teaching about the atonement so much, i realize how amazing and powerful it really is. it is something that we build our faith around, yet so many people don´t even know what it means and what it provides us with. it really is amazing what Christ did for us.

well thank you all so much. it is amazing here. i can hardly describe it. we went to the temple again today. a few pictures were sent home. i love being a missionary. i love you all and miss you!

Elder Ghormley

Year One, Letter Seven

Olá Familia,

Um favorite scripture...let´s go with 2 Nephi 30:8.

Yes, conference was amazing. thank you for reminding me of the wonderful hours of sleep that i used to enjoy. but i guess listening to the speakers was a fair substitute. lol

Mom, i think you are incredibly good at family history. and i´m not making fun of you. i admire that ability of yours. i am just saying that i may or may not have a time in my life where i am interested in it. but i probably won´t. haha but that is because you will have it all done by the time i get home from my mission. i don´t think i can trace anyway back beyond 20 AD. just sayin...

Oh and that Survivor Man is a personal favorite. they did it as a promotion for Will Ferrell´s movie Land of the Lost. and also to kinda make him seem real about it. but it was hilarious. i loved that one. he is quite possibly the least like Survivor Man out of anyone i will ever see.

Anyway. So I have just over one week left!! They are considering having us leave on the 21st now. If not, the 23rd. And if they decide to just totally fail at planning, the 27th. I am so psyched to finally get out into the field. I am going to just start pounding the Portuguese into my head here pretty soon. Maybe i won´t sleep and just study instead? We kinda accidentally had that situation in our room a few nights ago. Elder Ellis, Elder Yuma, and I ended up reading the Book of Mormon for like 3 hours. and none of us seemed to realize it. But it was pretty cool. I really hope i get a bomb trainer. that would be pretty splendid. Speaking of trainers...remember that one guy who trained Blake? I think his name was Adam Wadsworth? Yeah that seems right...guess where he is from? Roseburg, Oregon. Oh yeah that one kid who is my companion...also from Roseburg, Oregon. Elder Yuma was friends with Adam Wadsworth and his younger brother Clayton Wadsworth (who is on a mission in Germany). There is a little fun fact for you! I am pretty sure that there is a reason that Yuma and I are companions.

I can´t wait for the field. I know that it is going to be so hard and that it will probably be the hardest work of my life so far, but it will also be the most amazing two years of my life. I know that i haven´t really been met with many challenges growing up in our little bubble of Mesa, AZ. I mean when Organic Chemistry is on my top 5 list of hardest things ever, i think that is kinda lucky. So, i know that i have incredibly hard work ahead of me. but we did this thing in our district where we all told each other something we noticed about each person and something we learned or hoped to adopt into our lives. and i was told by about half of my district how hard of a worker i am and how i can be so powerful and spiritual but still have the ability to have fun and not be overwhelmed. which is something that i never really took the time to notice, but i am glad that they pointed it out to me. Irmão Ruiz told me that he sees so much of Blake in me and that is something that I really was proud of because he said what a powerful missionary Blake was and told me that Blake left a lasting effect on so many people here and that they will never forget him. If that is something that people see in me, then maybe i will be able to be that amazing missionary that can change the lives of so many people.

Anyway, so i went to this photo place today and got all of my pictures put onto a cd for 6 reais. i will be sending it home today. ummmm oh and also, Elder RIchard G. Scott will be coming to the CTM. he is going to give a devotional. here is the problem: he will probably come on either the 24th, or 25th. soooo if we leave early i don´t get to see him. how awful right? that is the only reason i kinda wanna stay. but whatever happens, happens. what else? um OH! we go proselyting in the middle of São Paulo this Friday. like, big city. kinda scared. but super stoked. it is going to be so bomb. The district that left this morning told us how tight it was. It sucked that they had to leave because they were the district that we were all really good friends with. They are going to João Pessoa. it is super hot there. they told us that the white shirts and garments don´t keep out the sun, so they still get tan but they will have a tan line from where their tie hangs. what lucky guys. lol at least it doesn´t get to -2 degrees Celsius in their area. Oh and along with that district were the other two remaining Mountain View guys. so i am the only one representing Mesa, AZ now. lol at least until Connor gets here. Could you PLEASE send me connor, jackson, and hyrum´s information? like emails and stuff like that. that would be awesome.

well i haven´t got my package yet, and i am really hoping it gets here soon. do you remember what day you sent it?? and as a reminder!!

DO NOT SEND LETTERS TO THE CTM ANYMORE

my mission home is:

Elder Scott Cleland Ghormley
Brazil Londrina Mission
Av. Higienópolis, 1100, Sala 61
Centro
86001-970 Londrina, PR
Brasil

Telephone # - 55 43 3324 9346

and for the return addresses of anything you send, put the mission home address. i will give you the address of the first place i stay asap.

i love you guys so much and i miss you! i can´t believe it has been 2 months. how crazy is that. and this is supposed to be the slow part of the mission. anyway! love you guys! tchau!

- Elder Ghormley

Year One, Letter Six

HEY EVERYONE!!

I have just finished reading First and Second Nephi again and I am probably going to finish

Jacob and Enos real quick tonight. Elder Yuma and I are going to be reading as much as possible in Portuguese so that we can learn faster.

I am glad that the family history is coming along and that you found some obscure

names from the 1400's and 1500's. haha

I guess I haven´t found the joy in that yet but maybe in time I will...

TRC was really cool. Yeah, the kids who we taught were all just members who volunteered to come to the CTM that day. The ages were just scattered. There were some that were probably only 12 or 13 and others that were getting ready for their own missions. It really helps to try and teach Brazilians instead of just the same kids in your district over and over again. Oh and for my Portguese scriptures...I got some cheap cases, and I am hoping to find someone out in the field that can make a set like Blake´s. There is a lady at the CTM that does it but it would be like 70 Reais or something so I think I will wait.

That story about Dusty was crazy!! I told you that house was haunted. I probably would have just kinda frozen there. Or maybe I would have tried to talk to him? I mean that might be an interesting convo right there. I am not surprised that he couldn´t sleep after that...talk about creepy!!

Anyway what are the updates...

My two brazilian roommates left today. I was teaching them english but I guess english is a little too hard to learn in the 19 days that they are here. one of them is getting on a 10 hour flight back to Mozambique where he will serve his mission. Talk about awful, but at least he will only be a few hours from home.

We went to the São Paulo temple again today. It was amazing. I absolutely loved it. That temple is so beautiful. The stained glass is amazing. The feeling there is awesome.

Conference weekend!! I can´t believe I never watched all 5 sessions before. I took 18 pages of notes and I still don´t think that was enough. It was amazing. The priesthood session was so awesome and I don´t think I have ever heard a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon like the one Elder Holland gave. I am pretty sure the entire auditorium went completely silent when he finished. The spirit was so ridiculously amazing after that. Well, before that, too. I thought my testimony was strong, but after his talk, I could never deny what it is that I know. It is unbelieveable how amazing conference was. I keep going over my notes and I am using them in lessons and stuff when I can.

We went proselyting for our first time on Friday. It was so crazy. Sorry, I use the word "crazy" a lot. But it was. I gave out the first Book of Mormon to this guy who was sitting on the sidewalk selling honey...or maybe alcohol? We aren´t really sure, but he was selling a golden substance in an un-labelled bottle. Erego, we decided that it was one of those two. And then we gave one to this lady at a bus stop. I never thought I would be able to communicate with these people after only...how many weeks? 6 or so? But we could. It was amazing. And we also gave one to this guy on his smoke break. I just really wish I could find out what ever will happen to those people. I already love the people here so much.

I can´t wait to get out into the field.

Elders Johnston, Jeffrey, Steadman, and Christensen left this morning.

We will be getting out of here pretty dang soon!

I am still loving it here. Not enjoying all of the rules....but we still follow them, so don´t worry. We have heard about some of the pretty big disasters lately...it is getting pretty crazy in the world.

I think I got a sense of a little more warning in this last conference.

Not so much about food storage as it was to get ready and buckle up...

Elder Yuma and I are still getting along great and the lessons and language are going great.

I love you guys all so much and thank you so much for the love and support.

I gotta go!!

Love,

Elder Ghormley