Year Two, Letter Eighteen

HEY EVERYBODY! wow...i can´t believe Christmas has come and gone. and

that New Year´s is right around the corner. i can hardly believe that

2011 is here. a decade is over. holy crap.

scripture: 3 Nephi 11: 10, 11, 14 our Savior, Jesus, the Christ

alright...welllll first off. what a lame ending to that phone call!

haha i am glad i got to hear everyone´s goodbyes and "i love you´s,"

but it just ended way quick! i feel like I talked way too much during

the phone call. i didn´t get to hear you guys very much. like...at

all. i think i heard very little from your lives. this makes me sad.

when i said, "Just to close...." and it cut out, i wanted to bear my

testimony to close the phone call. basically, i wanted you all to know

that even though I was super excited to talk to you all and that it

was awesome, now isn´t the time to get all trunky. like dad was

telling me in his email, i still have plenty of time out here and i

have a lot more ability to teach the gospel now. so the time that i

still have will be some of the best missionary work that i will be

able to do and i need to stay focused for that.

i know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that he performed an

absolutely perfect Antonement for each and every one of us. Even

though it was the most difficult thing emotionally, mentally, or

physically that has ever been done or ever will be done, Christ did it

because of the perfect love that He has for us. The pain was enough

that it made Him, the King of kings, the firstborn of our Father,

tremble and shake and plead that the burden could be removed. But as

always, He performed the will of the Father and He completed His task.

This single act is the most important principle of the Gospel. This is

why I am here. Jesus Christ is the reason for EVERYTHING that we do.

He came to Earth in humility and left the Earth in humility. He will

come again. He will come in glory and everyone will know who He is. We

are here because we are Christ´s disciples and representatives. We

have to spread the message of the restored gospel to every corner of

the earth. everyone needs to know of the gospel. it is the only path

that can bring true happiness and peace in this world. i am so

grateful that we, as a family, have the opportunity to be part of this

great work in this last dispensation. i am so grateful for the example

that each of you has given me.

it sounds like the christmas eve party was pretty hectic. we ended up

going to a member´s house on christmas after the phone call. i decided

that knocking doors just wouldn´t do. so we called up the other elders

and they were at Carmen´s house, so we went there and ate and ate and

chilled a little bit and ate. twas good. i did a little service

project there, too. good christmas night.

i really wanna meet my nephew. don´t let him get too sick alright?

ummmm what is new? so i think opening an area for the third time is

just great. NOT. it is pretty tough. but this is the worst time of the

year for missionaries when it comes to teaching and stuff. we are not

going to be able to go back to several investigators until like

january 10th or 15th. yikes. my comp is way weird. yuma sent me an

email and was like, "who´s your comp now, mercy on your soul if it is

elder ferreira, he left my zone and went to cascavel, i was praying he

wouldn´t be your comp, but if so, i´m still praying." great. haha.

does anyone know what facebook pics are? like the people who just take

pictures of themselves doing weird poses and stuff? yeah that is my

comp. he doesn´t talk. he just complains a lot and stuff. i dunno. so

i will just...work? i think that would be the answer.

so i don´t have a lot of new news. i am convinced that i do not have

an accent. i talk completely normal. but i loved the phone call. and i

am thouroughly enjoying some christmas goodies.

i cleaned the bathroom in our apartment. today. gross. i have never

been in a bathroom that bad since i got here in cascavel.

so it was nasty. i was working for a solid hour and a half

with bleach and stuff.

i am gunna go eat lunch. i love you all! thank you for everything! i

didn´t get to say thank you enough for the christmas packages! they

are wonderful! thank you so much! i loved the card, too. hilarious.

and the pics of jackson are good! well i am gunna head out. i love you

all! until next year! happy new year´s!!!! tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Seventeen

CHRISTMAS!

Hey there!

okay...scripture: it has to be Luke 2.

um more news? i don´t think anyone will be able to handle this. so

lauren...that whole thing about how you didn´t want more transfers?

yeah that wasn´t a wish that was granted. i wasn´t transferred! but

elder standard was. yeah. president took the pleasure of informing me

that i would be opening an area. so standard went to marília or

something. and me? i received the new missionary. his name is elder

ferreira. he is from pernambuco. he is 20 and has been on the mission

for 4 months. he is...i dunno. he is short. like way short. but i

basically said alright man we are opening an area. we don´t have a

thing to start with. we are gunna have to work. a lot. ok? and that

was that. so we are gunna work. a lot. kinda interesting. president

has really thrown me for a spin quite a few times.

thank you for those that participated and provided their scriptures. i

will study those this week. alright for some other little updates. i

got one package from mom and dad on saturday when

elders ferreira and calvacanti got here.

i don´t know when i will get letters or anything else.

i don´t know why i haven´t send pictures home. it takes forever on the

computers and i am afraid to send the memory card home

like i did last time.

i LOVED the Christmas letter. it was hilarious. as always. you guys

are not empty nesters. not at all. you guys are spectacular.

Lizzie got to the CTM this week?! or to chile? why did it take so

long? i thought she left several months ago??

mom the christmas conference was difficult. the sleeping conditions

and such were...crazy. but we managed. certain people slept on the

floor...others slept outside. lol

the work here is still rough. we are working with a few people. i

think i finally was able to get through Indianara´s head. we basically

told her that now that she knows what commandments she needs to keep,

if she doesn´t keep them, she doesn´t have the right to receive

revelation from the holy ghost. so i told her that she needs to talk

with her boyfriend about marriage seeing that they are living together

for 4 years now. i felt the spirit. i know he guided me as to what i

needed to say.

other than that...we are just trying to find people to teach. we will

have more updates soon but this time of the year is TOUGH as nails to

teach. the people don´t really listen ya know?

and now for the important info....the phone call!

okay. so you will be calling to the chapel here! the number is:

45 3223 5065

you will have to do the country code and such. you guys can call

around 4:15 here. so i think there is a 5 hour difference between our

times right now. so you would call at 11:15 AM in arizona. it will be

on saturday. i hope that is all the info we need.

we are working with a few families here, but the majority are all

catholic. we will see what happens. generally they don´t like the idea

of commitment. the catholic church is so lenient so it is tough

sometimes. but we are working.

i am super psyched to talk to you guys this weekend. it is gunna be so

cool to hear your voices. i wonder if Jackson will speak to me? haha i

hope that everything goes well with the phone call. thank you for your

letters. i love hearing about everything going on at home. i hope you

are all super psyched for christmas!

oh yeah! i got electrocuted this week! it was crazy. this electric

fence had some crazy freak-out session and it ended up hitting me.

some houses have some protective electric fences and one of them

popped and hit me when we clapped at a door. talk about crazy. i went

kinda numb for a few hours and had a way bad headache and i was way

tired/weak. but i am good now.

i am super psyched for this weekend. love you all! peace!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Sixteen

hey everyone.

scripture: matthew 7: 7 - 8 patience and seeking the Lord

alright everyone. let´s just go ahead and get going with one more week.

so to answer a couple questions first:

mom, i travelled with E. Fernandes to Londrina and then with E. Shaw
to Cascavel. no one is allowed to travel alone now because there are
some idiots who do stupid stuff while being transferred. i am sure you
can imagine what idiots would do on a bus without a comp when there
are cute girls around. a kid that i met in Foz do Iguaçu was at almost
20 months on the mission and he went home because he was an idiot and
couldn´t forget about girls for 2 years. so that is why.

E. Standard and I are getting along well! He is a great guy and
yeah...he had patience beyond his own with Alves. What I don´t
understand is that Alves is still here on the mission. I don´t
understand at all. He punched E. Standard MORE THAN ONE TIME. but
instead of going home, he just took my place in Presidente Prudente.
E. Standard and I have a lot of the same goals and we have the same
thought process with a lot of things.

mom to be honest, i don´t even know which way is north, east, south,
or west here. i know how to get to investigators´ houses. that is my
biggest concern right now. lol. but i think we are in one of those
buildings :)

we are going to teach indinara the plan of salvation tonight maybe.
she has heard all of the discussions, so we need to do something
different. i think your ideas will help though, mom.

I have traveled so much lately. on Wednesday night, we got a bus
around 11:45 PM to go to the Mission Tour on the 9th in Londrina. we
got there at about 6:30 in the morning on Thursday. Elder Araujo from
the Seventy came to our mission and he spoke. he talked a lot about
certain parts of our purpose and such. some of the stuff he said
wasn´t very clear, but i understood the point. i learned - or, in
reality - remembered several things as he was talking. i remembered
how important it is to accept the will of God and not our own. i also
was able to strengthen my faith and courage as a missionary. so that
was the 9th! then we worked in Londrina, stayed in a NASTY house, and
went to the Christmas Conference the next day. we had to be at the
chapel at 8:30 AM on Friday, but there were 14 missionaries in that
house. so you can imagine 14 missionaries showering and getting ready.
it was havoc. but we got out. so the Christmas conference was great. i
saw yuma, burt, titus, miller, vogeler, rodrigues, and the whole crew.
you guys probably won´t remember all those names. but it was way fun.
we did a white elephant. i won a broken clock which i traded for a
honking cow. in a while, you will know what my honking cow does. :) we
also had a cake-building contest and a scripture candy hunt. it was
also way spritual. i loved it. then we got on the bus around 8:00 PM
to go back and we got home at 3:00 AM on Saturday.

at the conference, i got Lauren´s package and I got an envelope
package. i think it was the one from the ward, because it has a card
from Relief Society...with a bunch of people that I don´t know. SO
yeah. i was super psyched. i don´t know if i will be able to wait till
Christmas to open this present...

dad...have you taken advantage of the 370Z yet? i can´t imagine you
saying no. haha. congrats mom! you totally deserved the employee of the
month title! probably of the year as well.

dad, the first couple sundays here have been good. the people have
welcomed me with open arms. they are great people. the ward is a lot
bigger than Planalto.

OH! speaking of Planalto! Sérgio was married and baptized! And Wanda
was also married and baptized! And Guilherme and Barbara were also
baptized! E. Loftus informed me today! And they were all confirmed and
received the Holy Ghost. so that was great to hear.

how was the trip to Dallas? and mom, please don´t move :) the house is
a chore...but i will help when i get home. as long as i don´t have to
pay rent and stuff ya know? haha cuz i will probably be broke fast.

morgan...i miss christmas movies. christmas music is still okay
though. can you believe that my nephew...aka your filho...is 3 months
old!?! talk about....young. that means i still have a while before
meeting him. lol.

tell stuart to study hard and do good on his test because if he
doesn´t do that...he will be a failure. :)

i have ZERO information about the christmas phone call. i know that it
will happen. but i don´t know when or where or what number. i will
inform you guys ASAP.

cascavel has STILL rained EVERY single day since i got here. it is
quite nice right now though. pretty chilly. i love it.

i don´t know when the next option will be to receive mail or anything.
so i dunno when i will get the other stuff that y´all sent (wow, my
Texas comp is gettin´ to me).

can i ask a favor from each one of you? i would like you all to find
and read one of your favorite chapters in the scriptures and send it
to me so that i can read and study it as well. and when you send me
that email with that info, tell me what the principle is that you
learned! Everyone understand? so 1 - find and read a favorite chapter
of scripture; 2 - send it to me with the principle that you learned;
and 3 - i read it. OKAY? great.

and to finish up? the work here is still tough. but we reactivated a
family last week. at least part of a family. Genoveva wasn´t going to
church for the last 3 or 4 months, but she went yesterday. now we just
need to get her nephew. we found 3 familes this last week that all
accepted all the commitments (even a baptismal date). in one of these
families, the name of the dad is João Batista (John the Baptist) lol.
Márcia is good, but it is tough to find her in her house. and with the
conference, we lost a few days of work. but we are workin our butts
off to make up for lost time. we will see what happens here soon.

that is my report for the week. i love you all so much. i hope that
you are all able to have missionary experiences especially during this
holiday season. LOVE YOU! have a great week! tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Fifteen

Hey everyone. What´s up? sounds like everyone has been pretty busy.

scripture: 2 Corinthians 12: 9 - 10.

so i was transferred on monday night. we missed our bus. i guess
presidente prudente wanted me to stay as much as i wanted to stay. we
got a bus at 11:05 PM. we arrived in Londrina around 2:00 AM on
tuesday morning. i worked there for the day and then i was on another
bus at 11:05 PM that night and i arrived in Cascavel at 5:00 AM on
wednesday morning. that gave me about enough time to think about
sleeping and then i had to start getting ready for the day. i was
destroyed. so tired.

so what are we dealing with? i am in a ward called Ala (Ward) 1A. It
is a ward with an attendance of 160 - 165. the city has 300,000 people
and 3 sets of missionaries. the work is...bad. right now, anyway. the
weather? there hasn´t been one day since i got here that hasn´t
rained. yeah. but at least it isn´t too hot. i mean we get some nice
breezes and such.

no i did not get to stay for the wedding or any of the baptisms.
president just said no when i called and asked. he said that it would
be too difficult. so i am here. I am living with 4 americans. again.
the names are: elder shaw and elder fellows (one companionship) and
elder standard and I. does anyone remember elder standard? i met him
when i was in ourinhos. so what happened? standard was here with elder
alves. elder alves is quite possibly the most disliked missionary in
this mission. he was also in my district when i was in ourinhos. i
don´t like him. simple as that. so standard and alves were together.
alves doesn´t like americans. he knew that standard´s knee was
hurting, so he tried to walk as fast as he could from one side of the
area to the other (this area is enormous). elder standard stopped
trying to keep up. elder alves then proceeded to give him a kidney
shot (punch in the side). standard didn´t do anything. then a few days
later, alves got all pissy and punched standard in the face. standard
just said do it again. alves punched again. and then standard said do
it again. and alves the idiot did it again. and then standard was like
what do you think president will say when he finds out that you
punched me 3 times? and alves goes let´s make it 4, and punched him
again. the fact that alves is still alive is a miracle. because i
would have killed him. but that goes to show the patience that my new
comp has. but me and standard are pretty tight. we already met and so
when i showed up at 5:00 AM on wednesday, standard was there with a
big smile and a hug. that week that alves punched him, he had been
praying that something would happen to change this area. yesterday,
after working our tails off, he told me that i was the answer to his
prayers. i hope so.

as for the area? alves didn´t leave a thing. it is worse than when i
got to marília. i organized the area book here and we have a grand
total of 0 progressing investigators, 0 investigators, 0 references,
etc. the only references we have? the people that we have made
contacts with since i got here. once again, i am opening an area.
yikes.

so who are we teaching? we found this lady named Márcia and her son.
her husband travels. a lot. but we taught her and she seems pretty
cool. she said she was gunna go to church, but she ended up not going.
we also found this lady named Indianara. actually, she is a member´s
sister. she has gone to church for like 2 years. everyone thought she
was a member. but she wasn´t. up until now, she has not been able to
believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet. or that the Book of Mormon is
true. but she does something that i could hardly believe...she fasts
once per week begging God to give her an answer and to remove the
doubts that she has. how amazing. there are members who wouldn´t be
able to do that. but she pays tithing and everything. she is great. so
we are starting from scratch here.

the apartment is gross. there is a roach infestation. i have already
killed three. on the kitchen sink. gross. i am gunna buy some roach
killer.

the address is:
Pio XII 1701, Apartamento 19, Bloco C
85802 - 170
Cascavel, Paraná

we have christmas conference and a general authority visiting us this
weekend. so if i receive the packages, i will get them this weekend.
it will be the first time since ourinhos that i see yuma. for our
christmas conference, it will be one conference for each state. so all
of paraná will have the conferences together and then all of são paulo
will have it together.

dad, i didn´t talk to jake on a day other than p-day. the only day i
can talk to people outside of Brazil is P-day. and i only talk with
him through email. i don´t really get to talk to him though. i just
say hey and ask how it is going because the hour difference doesn´t
really connect.

so anyway. we just have a lot of work to do to get things going in
this area. i hope i get the stuff at this christmas conference that
you guys sent. because the conference is happening early. so if i
don´t get it now...i don´t know when i will get it. so i just hope
that it gets through customs and to londrina way quick.

i gotta go unfortunately. my time is up. i am hoping to have some
success this week. oh by the way....it is EXCELLENT that jackson likes
football. he is already learning to walk in the right paths. anywho. i
shall be going now. love you all. have a spectacular week. tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Fourteen

hey everyone. how´s it going on that side of the equator? i bet it is
great. we have broken 100s. it was 43 celsius the other day which is
like 110. yeah. hot. sunscreen is great, but it isn´t a shield against
heat. vamos...

scripture: Ezekiel 3: 17 - 21 yeah, old testament. but it is bomb.

so let´s start with the good news! thanksgiving was...not completely
american. but it was way better than last year! i love talking with
bia and guy! especially guy. he has the best american portuguese i
have ever heard. he probably says the word "reais" just like all of
you, with the exception of blake :) it is spectacular. but they made a
chicken for us because bia didn´t find any good turkey. but we still
have mashed potatoes! and gravy! and...lasagne? and we ended with ice
cream and fruit...instead of pie and pie. but like i said...it was way
good. i loved it.

i am so jealous of your thanksgiving. and of the harry potter movie.
yes, i am 200% jealous of you guys going to harry potter. there is no
hiding it. and that is spectacular that Lauren got to fly down and
participate. maybe i can fly in real quick and participate for
christmas? what do you guys think? haha

that is crazy that zack is already home. i have already met a couple
of his comps here. a dude from ourinhos and marília knew him way well
and we talked about it all the time.

that is awesome that jackson got his blessing. i am sure stuart did
great. it is crazy how old everyone looks in the picture morgan sent
me. chelsea and tyler look like...old. haha

i can´t believe that 2010 is already coming into the last month.
unfortunately, that means that the most difficult month as a
missionary has arrived. december until february (christmas until
carnaval) is ridiculous. but i am going to do my best to stay focused
and stuff.

i really hope chuck buckhannon gets better. i will keep him in my prayers.

thank you for your testimonies. they strengthen me. especially in
difficult moments.

and this would be a difficult moment. i really don´t understand
certain things that happen. i mean all this crap with my comp was
annoying, but i kept going and teaching and things started picking up.
this last week, the number in church went up again. we had 78 people
there and 8 investigators. Of these investigators, Sérgio will be
getting married and baptized this Friday. Then there is Guilherme and
Barbara, two siblings that came to church as a member reference. we
have them completely prepared and this saturday, they will be
baptized. then there is Wanda, who can´t hardly wait to be married and
baptized. then there are all the other people that we have found and
taught and prepared and the Lord has used us as his instruments. We
have literally been his hands in this work. As for the part that i
don´t understand? This transfer ends on the 14th of December. but some
other missionary in cascavél was fighting with his comp and is being
transferred. and he is being emergency transferred to presidente
prudente. and elder ghormley is being transferred out. i have worked
my butt off to get people perpared and now that they are prepared, i
am leaving. i am getting transferred out tonight. so i won´t be here
for...anything. none of the baptisms or the weddings. is this
seriously happening again? is that the purpose or something? i get
people completely ready and then i don´t get to see them take a huge
step in their lives? i have been here with Sérgio for over 3 months
and now that they did everything to get married and he asked me to
baptize him, i have to say sorry i am leaving tonight? i don´t know. i
am going to ask president to let me stay here for the baptism and
wedding. and then i will leave. i will ask today.

i hate saying goodbye. i hate it. i love the people here. i haven´t
seen this many tears since...i left marília.

i know that the important thing is them taking the step. it doesn´t
matter who takes credit to me. i just want to be here WITH them.

i gotta go. i will be headed to cascavél it looks like. i am going
back to paraná. close to foz do iguaçu. i will let you know what is
going on. i love you guys. i love the support that you give me. i need
it. thank you for your examples and your faith. always stay strong.
love you all! be careful and have an awesome week! tchau para
vocês...e talvez para Presidente Prudente.

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Thirteen

Hey everyone! What´s up?? how is everyone doing?? i hope you are all
doin great. it seems from the emails that everyone is chillin and
enjoying jackson´s ability to be amused at very little things. i am
good. mais ou menos. this week will mark my second and last
thanksgiving in Brazil. wowzers. next time will be my first
thanksgiving back at home! but i have so much to be grateful for.

Scripture: Mosiah 28: 1 - 3 the importance of spreading the gospel..

this week was another roller coaster. turns out that how i was saying
last week that it was kinda annoying to have fernandes as my comp was
more serious than i thought. he got all pissed because on Sunday night
(last week) we got home and i was talking with loftus and van orden a
little bit instead of going directly to our study room to close out
the week and plan for the next day. so then when we were closing the
numbers for the week, he said the wrong number and i told him the
right number without thinking anything of it and he stormed out of the
room all pissed off. turns out that because of this, he called
President Tavares and complained for about 10 minutes. he was
complaining and saying he wanted to leave. yeah....freaking weird. so
he was all pissed last p-day and on tuesday and then on wednesday,
President called and wanted to talk to us both. so that was great. we
talked with him and he asked what it was that we needed to change and
stuff and i just said well...i guess i can not talk with the other
elders until after planning? and President was happy with that and
then Fernandes was like well...i can try and love my comp more. and
President asked him what he could improve on more specifically and he
couldn´t think of anything so President told him to stop being so
prideful. then i explained how confused i was at the situation and how
i really had no clue what the deal was and President kinda started
burning Fernandes for not having spoken with me about anything. talk
about weird. but President just said everything was good and told me
sorry for having to deal with all that. he also told me that i have
been here for 3 transfers...and to not let the fire burn out because i
can still help this area. i think he is saying that i might get
transferred. i dunno. but now i had a long conversation with Fernandes
and we are okay. i am just focusing on the work and the results right
now. i won´t lose time thinking about his complaints.

but the fire is still going. we have sérgio lined up for baptism on
the 3rd after the marriage :) we got 72 people to our branch
yesterday. 9 of them were our investigators. it is pretty crazy to
think that when i got here, the average was right around 40. we are
teaching some great families. we are teaching Cicero, Angela, Mônia,
and Ana Maria. and they just got a pair of twins. it is funny to keep
the girl twin amused with a car mirror. kinda like with jackson. but
Cicero and the two daughters went to church yesterday and the young
women totally won the daughters over. they loved the girls in our
branch. Robson and Wanda are great. they need to get married. but they
are asking me to be the godfather (i think it is godfather? padrinho?
it is the one who can be responsible if anything were to happen.) i
can´t accept, i don´t think. but it was cool. they went back because
Wanda kept saying that she wanted to go to church and if he wouldn´t
go with her, she would go alone. and they are about to have their
first child. so he was like, "alright, well then we are going to the
true church." talk about tight. we are also teaching Adilson and
Andreia. they are not married. their two daughters are already members
and are firm. they are waiting for the divorce to be finalized for
Adilson and then they will get married and baptized. they are way
cool. they need to start going to church again. we are teaching a
bunch of amazing people.

José has gone to church 4 times, but he still needs to stop smoking.
it is difficult for him. but we are helping as much as possible. we
are also teaching a kid named Guilherme and his 2 brothers and 1
sister. He and his sister went to church yesterday. they are cool but
they don´t have a 3 hour attention span. lol

Dad, i am sorry to hear about Mickey. I didn´t know him, but that is
very unfortunate. Did he have a family? i hope that you are doing okay
and that his friends and family can cope with the changes. what do you
think will happen with the project?

i am sorry to hear about sports as well. haha it is awful. but whatev.
i guess it is nice to not have to focus so much. i wish i could go
golf with you again. that is something that me and van orden miss a
lot and end up talking about all the time.

i am definitely gunna miss you guys at thanksgiving this year. we are
gunna eat with Bia and Guy!! but that just won´t compare to GHORMLEY
Thanksgiving. i am gunna miss it a lot.

the english idea was...a huge hit. there are several english schools
(professional schools) that have already showed interest.. the owner
of one is a lady that has already gone to utah, has already seen the
temple, has already gone to church, and LOVES that we are LDS and
from the States. she wants to set up a class, we are just waiting for
her to confirm. i will keep you updated.

I AM SO JEALOUS. i had forced myself to forget about Harry Potter. but
then i heard some people talking about the midnight showing. i don´t
wanna say anything else.

i am going to keep focusing. i am good. i am healthy. goiaba juice
gives people bad gas. that is a fun fact. i didn´t have to suffer the
side effects yet, but certain other missionaries have.

I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR THIS GOSPEL. I LOVE IT.
I KNOW THAT JESUS CHRIST IS OUR SAVIOR.
HIS IS THE ONLY TRUE GOSPEL, AND THIS GOSPEL WAS
RESTORED THROUGH A PROPHET, JOSPEH SMITH.
I KNOW THIS IS TRUE. I FEEL IT.
EVERY TIME I TEACH IT, I FEEL IT.
I KNOW GOD LOVES US.
I THANK HIM EVERYDAY FOR THE FAMILY HE GAVE ME.
I LOVE YOU GUYS AND I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR EACH ONE OF YOU.
HAPPY THANSKGIVING TO YOU ALL!!!!

blake, eat TWO pieces of pie for me. :)

peace and tchau! have a great week! love you all!!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Twelve

hey again

what´s up everyone? how is everyone liking the nice, cool weather in
Arizona? and the snow storms in Utah? are those fun lauren?? :) it is
kinda hot here. thank goodness i still have gold bond powders and
stuff like that. it is such an amazing invention. i still have plenty,
too. it might last me until the end of the mish. we´ll see. i will
keep you informed if there should be any necessity.

hey morgan...that is kinda crazy that Jackson is 2 months old. i would
like to see this smile that you are talking about. you need a picture
before he starts smiling in a normal way. you have to get him in his
cheesy stage so that i can see it :)

the stake conference that you guys had seems like a great one. that is
the biggest concern that i have right now. the attendance at our
branch is dangerously low. we have been busting our butts to bump the
average up. when we started counting, we had an average of 45 people
in total on sunday. yesterday, we had 61. we have been doing
everything in our power, but 2 people isn´t the best ratio against
however many are in our area. but we all have to do our part to bring
back the people who have wandered and strayed.

sérgio and sandra are way excited! we went with them last week to sign
everything. the marriage will be the 3rd :) it will be cool. i am way
psyched for them. Hélio and Nalva are difficult to get at home now and
they kinda cut us. they said that it wasn´t their time right now. i
was way sad. Diogines cried when he told me that his parents were
giving up. their time will still come. we found this great family last
night. they went to church yesterday and the wife isn´t a member. the
husband had left the church and now he came back and we are teaching
his wife now. their names are Robson and Wanda. they are awesome.

that is awesome that Tyson was announced. where is he going again?
Russia? that will be NUTS. he is gunna love it.

are the sister missionaries just for our ward? or for the stake? how
are they progressing? are they asking for help with certain things?
are they teaching any other people who are interested?

your thanksgiving will be quiet?? haha imagine the thanksgiving in the
country that it doesn´t exist. we are actually talking with bia and
guy and maybe we will have a thanksgiving lunch at their house!! that
would be spectacular. oh and i am super psyched for that package to
get here! thank you so much for helping me to feel a little bit of
home in Brazil lol

i think i might start teaching an english class with the other two
americans here or i might teach alone. it depends on how our schedules
work out.

me and fernandes are...bleh. it is kinda annoying to be his comp right
now. but i am just working and being his friend.

i dunno what is going on in my mind right now. i am tired. and fried.
i don´t know what else to say. lol this area is killin me. but we will
be able to see some fruits here...soonish.

hey lauren! what is your address in Utah??

ummmm yeah anywho. so i guess that is all for the week. i love all you
guys so much. i hope that you all have an EXCELLENT week!! beijinhos e
abraçinhos to all of you. TCHAU

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Eleven

hey everyone. what´s up? there have been some changes lately in the mission.

scripture: James 4: 6 - 10 i think the translation in Portuguese is better.

so anywho. how is everyone doin? it has been a long week. elder
fernandes and I weren´t getting along very well the last transfer,
especially towards the end. it was just getting way annoying and i
wasn´t sure if i wanted to stay here or go to a different area. i love the people and certain
members; but at the same time, it is way difficult to have a companion
who doesn´t concern himself with the most important aspects of
missionary work. but i ended up staying one more transfer here with him. i had
a long conversation with him and talked about certain problems in our
companionship and changes that had to be made and we've had a good
start....so far. at least i have been forcing myself to stay a little
happier.

we both got sick this week, so that was interesting, as well. he got
the flu. he was stuck in bed for a good amount of time with a headache
and way bad sinuses. he was pretty sick for sure. i have just been
suffering since last Tuesday night with diarrhea. it has been pretty
bad. i don´t feel the necessity to explain the sensations to you guys.
but i mean whatever i eat is just on a one-way ticket on that one
bullet train in Japan. we can call it the "Porcelain Pony." but we
still worked as much as possible. we worked every day.

so last night, on the way home, we didn´t have time to go to Sandra
and Sérgio´s to teach them. so i called them to let them know and
Sérgio is doing great. then Sandra wanted to talk to me. i asked if
there was something that they were needing or if there was something
we could do to help them out and Sandra was like, "Yeah, Elder
Ghormley, we need your help with something on Thursday." So obviously
I was like, "okay cool, what do you guys need?" And she was like,
"well now that we found out that you are going to be here one more
transfer, Sérgio and I were talking today and we decided to move the
wedding forward so you can still be here. So on thursday we need you
and your comp to come to the cartório (notary´s office? that is the
translation) and be witnesses for our marriage." SO AWESOME. it will
still delay a little bit. they will sign the papers and they will have
to be approved. so in like 20 or 30 days, the marriage will be legal
:) i was so psyched. i believe that when i hung up and literally
shouted for joy, some people got scared. but that is great.

other investigators...well. we are still working, but it looks like
there isn´t very much progress. several started giving up. they didn´t
want to make certain changes in their lives or certain sacrifices. we
are still finding some great people, but at the same time it is sad to
see others giving up. i really want Alex and Jonathan to progress but
it is tough. we´ll see what happens there.

as for the house...alright. the house i found was great. loftus and
van orden liked it a lot and were saying there was no way we could get
it because missionary houses in Brazil can´t be that good. it is just
an unwritten law. but after talking with president, we proceeded with
all the documents. we did EVERYTHING in our power and then passed it
to the mission secretaries. i called about 4 or 5 times reminding them
that they needed to send the documents to the real estate office. they
just said, "we are working on it." every call, same reponse. we only
had a 2 day reserve. the secretaries didn´t send any of the documents.
they took 5 days and still hadn´t sent anything. the lady from the
real estate called me and told me that she needed something to be able
to hold the house. i called the secretaries and told them to send the
documents immediately. the lady called me that same day and told me
that the proprietor had taken the house of the market because she
didn´t have any documents to hold the house on reserve. i was so
ticked with the secretaries. after calling and lightly chewing them
out, we have decided that we will no longer look for other houses. we
will continue living in this apartment. we talked with the landlord
and explained and he said we can continue living here if we behave
ourselves. and he likes us now. so whatev.

other news? we have received a missionary daily checklist. meaning
that every single day we have to check off rules that we are keeping.
so when i wake up at 6:30 (which i still hate) i mark that i woke up
on time. then i do my personal study and my comp study and mark each
one of those. we have to eat in less than 1 hour and if we do, we mark
that off. i am doing the stuff, obviously. but it is
so dumb. you can´t have any form of peace or tranquility. your life
has to literally be an open book for the president. any little thing
that you do, he has to know. i am really sick of this kinda stuff. it
is just so lame to me.

mom, we don´t have a good branch mission leader. he is a recent return
missionary and he has 3 things on his mind. girlfriend, relax, and
girlfriend. and he works on the side and will start studying soon. but
i am glad that you guys are being great examples of missionaries. the
Lord knows everyone´s needs and will be able to use us in the ways
that He needs to fulfill His designs. i really do like the basic
principles of the gospel. it is so important to always remember those
simple, basic feelings when the spirit testifies of simple truths. it´s
like what you were saying, dad, about faith. faith is the first
principle of the gospel. without faith, we don´t have any destination.
we just remain confused and lost in an increasingly dangerous world.
we lose ourselves in what the world calls happiness. we become
addicted to the short-lived moments and falsifed joys of the natural
man.

that is great that Scott S is progressing so well. the spirit that he
feels will help him stay strong, but his wife will be desperately
needing that spirit soon.

dad, i don´t really hear much from...anyone. it has been a while since
i have heard from any other missionaries. TJ, Jackson, Hyrum, Sam, and
the other friends who are serving missions have kinda fallen off the
radar. As for friends at home? Well I occasionally get an email or a
letter every now and again.

morgan - i hate money, too :) i just want a lot. and halloween kinda
sucked. and i bet jackson looks like a baller in that suns jersey. i
am gunna play with him one day alright?

funny story! elder loftus locked himself in the bathroom this morning.
that little piece that clicks in place to keep the door shut was held
open by a little cardboard piece and the GENIUS (he is my friend,
don´t worry) took it out. so the door closed and that piece clicked in
place and couldn´t open again. so, he got locked in for 35 minutes. we
were trying to open it and everything, but it wouldn´t give. we ended
up throwing him a hammer and a screwdriver from one balcony to the
bathroom window (we live on the 4th floor) and he popped the pins out
of the hinges. then i had to slam on the door about 25 times to get it
busted out of place. we called the landlord to inform him that there
would be lots of noise....but anyway. that was our p-day morning
experience. you can all laugh in unison now. :)

um if it is possible, can you send me some deodorant in a package?

i don´t know what else i have to report. love you guys a ton. i hope
you are all doing great and have an awesome week. tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Ten

hey guys...what´s up?

alright everyone? i am doin alright. it has been an interesting
transfer with fernandes. it officially ended last night. seemed to go
by pretty quick, huh? now we are gunna find out about transfers
soonish. i don´t have any idea what will happen. i don´t know what i
really thought of this transfer. i did my part and i know i did what i
could to help people. fernandes and i ended up arguing again though.
he is SO concerned about numbers. our ward mission leader (for our
branch) told me that he wanted fernandes to get transferred because it
is annoying to have the "just-numbers" missionary. we´ll find out
soon.

APARTMENT: we have found a new house and i talked with president and
he approved the house. it is a fairly nice house for missionaries. it
was the one that he didn´t approve but then i talked with the realtor
(is this right?) and got a discount! woohoo! so president is gunna let
us move there. we are just waiting for the contract to pass. and we
got kicked out because of certain things that the owner of the
apartment didn´t like. for example, playing soccer at midnight, noise,
etc. it happened when i wasn´t here. but they decided to kick us out
now. i think they just wanted to increase the monthly payments and so
we need to move.

that is really cool how involved you guys are able to be with the
mission work. are the porters not members?! i thought they were. and i
am glad the halloween party was a success. we didn´t celebrate at all.
lol we are kinda boring because we are in brazil. are the missionaries
teaching anyone that lives close? and that is cool that you had a
missionary meeting with the seventies!! that would be so great to have
that here. i think we might have a conference with a seventy on
like...the 10th?? maybe. i dunno.

that is awesome that dad and jake are home teaching comps now! that
would be a lot of fun. i bet you guys will be able to help a lot of
people.

the sports updates are great. well...kinda. i can´t see anything. but
that is good that the giants will probably win. and that the suns
aren´t being destroyed without amare...yet. that is sad that golf is
basically done. i want to golf SO bad.

i hope the house stays as beautiful as it is now so that you guys
don´t have to continue working your butts off non-stop. but i am glad
that the reunion was a success.

i am firmly convinced that everyone believes in God. deep down
sometimes...but it is there. people have the desire to have something
more in life. that is why they need God. they are just confused. that
is why we are here. that is what we help people understand before
anything else.

as for our branch and investigators. President Mario is
still...himself. annoying and pessimistic. he isn´t helping. but
whatever. our investigators...hmmm. alex and jonathan told me that
they don´t know if they will be able to continue going to church and
stuff if i leave because they haven´t created any kind of friendship
with elder fernandes. they basically just said, "no offense man, but
if he leaves i won´t really have any reason to go to church." that
hurt. i don´t know what to do to help them if i were to get
transferred. sérgio won´t be baptized....until december. he proposed
to sandra. they will be getting married in december. yep :) i am happy
with that. fernandes is just pissed because now another set of
missionaries might get to baptize Sérgio instead of us. I am just
happy because he is progressing :)

i can´t believe that David Hamblin is already home. Daniel Forrest
will be getting home pretty soon, too, right? dang.

i am sorry that i can´t stay long, i am hurrying. but morgan...jackson
can totally protect you. but you have a good point...that book is
creepy. and lauren...it is definitely not time for christmas music
yet! come on!! morgan, thank you for the pictures :) i wish i had
those krispy kremes!! lauren, keep being a good example to your
friend. maybe she won´t change instantly, but she will remember you.
always try and take her away from the bad influences. and no...we find
the apartments. lol. blake...stop getting bigger. i am going to look
ridiculous compared to you when i get home. and i like your
sunglasses. you should send me a pair. not that i could use them. but
just hypothetical, ya know? cara...meu companheiro (biscoitinho) tá me
deixando louco com os números. eu quuaaase bati na cara dele quando
ele falou que a transferência foi estragado porque nao teve um
batismo. chatão cara.

anyway. sorry i am running this week. amo vocês. you guys are
spectacular. i miss you guys a ton and i love you all. have a
spectacular week. keep being missionaries. let the miracle of the
gospel bless everyone´s lives. até maisss.

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Nine

HEY EVERYONE! what´s up? i am alright over here. my feet are hurting.
but i think that just has something to do with the amount that we
walk. at least that makes a little sense. just one more week ya know?

scripture! Mosiah 4: 26 - 30

family reunion! it looks like you guys really did an amazing job for
the family reunion. i love how that family reunion banner was
perfectly measured and it just looked perfect on that wall. i mean
oviously i wouldn´t expect anything else. it is just so typical of you
guys. :) but i am kinda jealous. i saw that picture with Dad, Mom,
Morgan, Stuart, Blake, Lauren, and Jackson. I was kinda sad to not be
there. haha but what can ya do? but i am glad that it was a success
and that you guys had fun. and i am sad that i am the only member of
the family who hasn´t even said "hi" to jackson.

morgan, your hand infection makes me laugh. a tiny bit. who gets hand
infections for washing their hands too much? you deserve a high five.
that is spectacular that my first nephew is well-behaved. i can give
him a high five, too. but he needs to do more stuff...other than eat,
sleep, and poop. but i loved the pictures. he looked hilarious in a
couple pics. is stuart able to deal with the job, the school, and the
baby all at the same time? that requires talent.

the Marília investigators are spectacular. i love that they are strong
members of the church now :) i am going to write a letter to cassia
and renato and carol and bia.

we had another meeting at 7:30 AM on sunday with pres. mario. he
didn´t change his negative perspective. he basically told us that we
are "too charitable as missionaries" and that "everyone just wants
everything on a silver platter and we aren´t capable of doing that, so
stop trying with certain people." elder fernandes is determined on
getting a new president for our branch. he is going to tell president
tavares about everything.

sérgio was interviewed, but didn´t pass. we are working with him. i
think we will mark again for this weekend. lillian and her family are
very interested and i think we will try and mark their baptism this
weekend. lillian wants to be baptized and she has a testimony of the
church. i don´t know if the branch will help. they haven´t done jack
to help with the other converts and investigators.

alex is great. he wants to get baptized and jonathan was kinda iffy
about baptism but then alex talked with him and asked him if they
could get baptized on the same day and they both are psyched for it
now. we are gunna go to their houses tonight to ask authorization from
their parents. at least i hope so...

i don´t know why we are getting kicked out. i have an idea. but we
haven´t found another house or apartment. we have to find a house for
4 missionaries that is safe, in good condition, and is in centro (the
most expensive area to live) so that we have access to both areas. we
have to find this house for R$ 550, meaning like $280. the closest we
have found? R$700. and President told us to find another one. all the
other ones that we have looked at are above R$ 1,000. yeah. good luck.

elder van orden was elder yuma´s kid. he is kinda cocky, but we get
along alright. he is way young on the mission and tries to act like
the senior comp. he tries to act like he is the example that we need
to follow.

oh man i am jealous! HALLOWEEN! what should i be for halloween? we
thought about just being members of the church. meaning...take the
name tag off and like have a party or something. lol. halloween in
português is Dia das Bruxas. it isn´t an official holiday.

mom, about the christmas package...if there is space, you could send
syrup again. that was tasty. do you think you could send a good
cologne, too? because unlike Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo and Paraná
are hot as heck. so could i get some cologne so that while i sweat my
eyes out this summer, i can smell good? lol

mom and lauren...thank you for the two trunkiest comments of the
month. haha now i am aware that in two months i will be talking with
you guys again...and that in 10 months i will be going home. thanks
for that last one especially, lauren! :P oh and lauren...keep being
the example. like you said, when people see the truth of the gospel
(espesically in our examples) they can´t forget that. just keep
helping your friends to see the blessings of the gospel through your
example. it is tough there because a lot of people are so numbed to
the gospel because they have been around it their whole lives, but
keep strong.

one last experience to share. last night, we were just walking down in
this park area talking with people and these two guys over by this
soccer court called us over to talk. when we went and explained some
stuff, a group had started to gather of like 6 or 7 guys. then when we
asked if we could share a message with them, they all got quiet (keep
in mind, this is a group of like 25 to 30-year-old guys playing
soccer). we started talking and people kept gethering around. by the
time i had finished teaching about prophets and the church of jesus
christ in primitive times, there was a group of 15 guys around us all
listening. when fernandes talked about the restoration, everyone was
quiet just listening. it was crazy. we now have 15 addresses of people
who asked us to go to their houses. lol crazy.

anyway that was my week. i am doin good and just workin. this is the
last week of the transfer. i hope everything is going good at home.
lauren...hold off on the christmas music...it is still october :) love
you guys and miss you guys a ton! have an awesome week!

tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Eight

scripture: Mosiah 7:33


updates on my old investigators from Marília:

Carol was the one I baptized. her parents, Renato and Cassia were
married and baptized! they are way strong.
Soraya was baptized the week after i left and is strong.
Junior and Marcele were baptized a week after I left.
Antônia and Fernanda were baptized.

I am so happy. They are all strong.

hey everyone. i gotta be quick today. we found out that we have been
kicked out of our apartment because...well we don´t know why. the guy
just doesn´t like us i guess. so we have to go and try and find
another house or apartment asap.

alright well it sounds like dad and mom should be the new mascot for
the energizer commercials. you guys just don´t stop. but I bet the
house is going to be AMAZING as always for the family reunion. i guess
i will send my RSVP right now...THANKS FOR THE INVITE!! But I won´t be
able to make it this year. Sounds like it will be really fun, but I
already have a previous commitment. But i am sorry that you guys had
to work a TON. you are pretty amazing examples.

it sounds like you guys are doing great with the new callings. That
lesson about a change of heart must have been great. it really is a
miracle to see how people´s hearts can change because of the gospel of
jesus christ. my favorite example lately is Hélio and Nalva. They have
a son named Diogines (say it like Jorgeness...good luck) and a
soon-to-be daughter-in-law that started hearing the missionaries a few
months ago. At first, Diogines was a rock. He didn´t like the
missionaries and every time he got home and saw them teaching his wife
(even though they asked permission), he just got pissed. But she
insisted and they insisted and he finally went to church and started
listening. Now, they are getting the marriage set up and they will be
married in the next few weeks and baptized. The best part is that now,
Diogines and his "wife," Marcele, are my really good friends and love
us, as well. So, Diogines wanted us to teach his parents. In the first
lesson, I felt the spirit so strong. Diogines bore his testimony and
his parents were so amazed at how he changed and they felt the spirit,
too. When we went back, they had prayed about what we said and Nalva
just said that she knew that what we had told her was true. Now the
crazy part. Hélio is the ex-hitman who lived in Pernambucu (i think
that is spelled right), but moved because people wanted to kill him.
He has smoked since he was 11. He never wanted to hear anything about
Christ or the Gospel. But now, he is listening. He is reading the Book
of Mormon. When we went there to teach him last week on his day off,
he said the closing prayer and started crying in the middle of the
prayer. When he finished, he looked at me and said, "Only you guys can
do this." And I just said, "No, it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that
can do this. We are just here to let you know that." Now, he and Nalva
are wanting to get married before the end of the year so that they can
be baptized. And he has started trying to stop smoking. he has gone
from 2 or 3 packs a day to 2 or 3 cigarettes a day. yes, the church is
true.

I don´t understand why President Mario (our Branch President) doesn´t
support us. He was also interviewed by President Tavares this last
weekend and it looks like President Tavares was very firm with him.
But after the meetings on Sunday, we have pushed forward some ideas
and goals and he has committed to do everything he can to help us. We
had District Conference this last weekend with President and Sister
Tavares. They talked about what we need to do to be true disciples of
Christ and how the Book of Mormon is the keystone to our religion,
respectively. Great talks. We also had a Leadership Training after
lunch. The 3 branches in Presidente Prudente were supposed to have the
leaderships there. Everest Branch and Aviação Branch had about 15
people each. Planalto Branch (my branch) had Elder Ferandes, Me,
Presidente Mario, and the Branch Mission Leader. 4 people. Yeah, looks
like this branch is real psyched to get to work. But, we worked
together with President Tavares to make some goals. It looks like we
have potential.

Sérgio went to the conference. He liked it. He was interviewed on
saturday for baptism. Elder Loftus interviewed. The branch president
doesn´t have the keys. Sérgio didn´t pass. He has a couple things in
his past that caused some problems. President Tavares interviewed him
on Sunday after church and made some goals and Sérgio will be able to
be interviewed again on Friday or Saturday and baptized this next
weekend. He is still pretty strong. We will continue doing everything
to strengthen and prepare him.

Lillian is doing great. We are now teaching her little sister and her
boyfriend as well. She is bringing other people to church...and
President Mario just said she was a snake (that is what we call the
girls who just listen to the missionaries because they like them). But
when we taught the Law of Chastity, Lillian´s 12-year-old sister said
she wasn´t sure if she would be able to keep it. So sad. She is
12...and she has already done several things that I won´t even say.
But we were VERY, VERY direct with her and explained why she needed to
keep the Law of Chastity and she understood. I think she got a little
scared actually. But it was necessary. Lillian is 14 I think.

Alex and Jonathan are 16. And they are doing well. But we gotta try
and make them (Jonathan) understand and stop being lazy. I dunno. We
will see what potential is still there.

The new missionary is Elder Van Orden. He is cool. He is from St.
George, Utah. He was Elder Yuma´s comp. He plays golf. He is
dedicated. Thus and therefore, we are getting along quite well. I
think he thinks I am a little crazy. But that is just because he is
young on the mission. But he plays golf, so we are good.

My interview with President Tavares was...good. He told me that I
might be getting transferred at the next transfer. I think he is
unsure because he wants to see what i can do with this area with Elder
Fernandes, but at the same time, he said he might want me to get a new
start in another area. The Assistants were here a few weeks ago and it
turns out that they lied a ton about this area. One of them that was
teaching Alex with me said that Alex´s mom grabbed his butt. No, I am
not kidding. I was there the whole time and Alex´s mom didn´t even
like this kid and then in my interview, President was asking if that
was the truth. Oh, I got mad. I explained everything that happened and
it turns out that that was just one of the several lies that this
Assistant was telling. So President was kinda confused but said that
he believed me. I dunno.

I was studying in Preach My Gospel about how we need to learn to
recognize the whispers of the spirit. It was good. Something that
people don´t realize is that when we just look at the negative side of
everything, we can´t feel the spirit. i said that to President Mario.
we have to have the right attitude to feel him guiding us. we have to
seek him and always do our best to follow him. if we lose ourselves in
the world, we can´t follow the Spirit. I think that is why so many
people leave the church. they lose themselves in things that aren´t
really important. ya know?

mom, for the package, i think you know some good, cool things. last
year was spectacular. haha a few ties would be good. ummm i don´t
really know. you guys are the geniuses here. haha. pictures are always
good. what do you think would be a good idea?! toss some of your ideas
out there. i am good on like sunscreen and chapstick and repellent and
powders and stuff. i don´t need those. what would be some good ideas?
and i don´t know if we will have a mission conference again. maybe,
maybe not.

Alright well I think that is all for this week. I love you guys so
much. Thank you for everything you do for me. don´t forget to send
some christmas ideas. :)

tchau!

Elder Scott Ghormley

i forgot

Carol´s cousin, Bia, was also baptized :)

thasall

love you guys.