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