Year One, Letter Twenty Two

HEY EVERYONE!

what up?? how is everyone doing? i only heard from morgan and mom today, so i don´t know how everyone else is doing at this moment. dad. i didn´t get your email yet. blake is probably pretty busy getting situated in a new house. and lauren as well. but it is cool.

alright, so favorite scripture. Alma 57: 19 - 21, 25 - 27. 2,000 stripling warriors. i used it in a message at lunch and that was pretty cool.

so some cool stuff happened this week. weslei and weslei were baptized and received the holy ghost on saturday and sunday, respectively. that was pretty awesome. they are both 9 and look very similar. they were both afraid of water, but we were there with them the whole time so they were okay.

we also had a meeting with our bishop this week. we have a pretty huge responsibility right now. we have another area called Três Lagoas and it is really far away from a church. so we are going to open a new ward there. so we will be having our whole zone going on divisions with a member or return missionary in the first week of february to have a huge teaching day there. the goal is 40 baptisms before the end of next transfer. but i am probably going to be transferred before i see those results. so i will be teaching a ton, but won´t see all the baptisms because this is my third transfer. so that should be cool.

our family - acildes, nilsi, patricia, and aline - were all marked for baptism. but they aren´t married legally. so that sucks. so those two and sandra (because she isn´t married, either) have to wait at least a month for the marriage papers to be ready. but that family lives in a different area. so we had to pass that reference to other elders. so we are just kinda starting over in centro and now in três lagoas, too. so it will be a long road.

elder guerrette is cool. he definitely isn´t used to the heat in foz do iguaçu. so that is kinda sad. he is cool. he is a good missionary. but he is very quiet. he doesn´t talk very much. so he doesn´t really help with language or anything. but it is ok. it will still be a good transfer. we are going to go play futebol de sabão today with our zone. it is soap soccer. lol kinda weird. basically a ton of soap and water are put into this big blow up thing like those things at the halloween parties for our ward. and you play a mix of soccer, dodgeball, handball, football, and slipping all over the place. it is pretty fun.

that sucks about the olympics. i forgot it was winter olympics right now. it seems too hot! but that sounds pretty tough. i hope those guys get better.

and it was really scary to hear about daryl hatch. it made me get chills because i can´t remember what day it was but it was just during the day one day last week or something and i was thinking about our ward and just how things were going to change and be so different when i get home and i was thinking about brother and sister hatch and i just had a feeling that i needed to say a prayer for them. so i will keep praying for them.

i am glad that you finally got yuma´s letter. lol we both said we were going to write each other´s family back in the ctm. so that is cool haha. i still haven´t received the other package, mom. and no i don´t need more face wash. you guys sent me two orders in the christmas package. so i have lots.

it is so great that hyrum is finally getting out in the field. he must be so thrilled. and i will be writing to connor i think. i will just send a letter home and you can give it to mendi or doug or connor at church.

yeah the mission is definitely life-changing. it is so great to find someone who actually accepts the truth and is ready for the message. especially in our world today where so many people try to disprove anything religious. but it is so great to be able to help someone change.

oh blake, my friend is serving in Porto Alegre Norte. He said that he is in São Leopoldo. do you know that area? he asked some older missionaries about you and there are a bunch that still remember you. pretty cool to leave a legacy neh? haha but i bet that if you haven´t been wearing a helmet while snowboarding, you will have another concussion and won´t remember.

oh yeah. i sent home a letter with my memory card in it a few weeks ago. you still haven´t got it? or did you receive it? i am praying that you did. that was a lot of pictures...

anyway. so this week was pretty good so far. hit 5 months. that was weird. but the 6 month mark is more of a milestone. so i don´t think i will celebrate or do anything till then haha.

love you guys! i hope everyone is doing well! better than our sports teams anyway.

love you! tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Twenty One

well anyway. HELLO EVERYONE!!!

lots of news today.

first, favorite scripture: 2 nephi 33:6

second some very important imformation:::: for everyone!

ok so if you are going to send a package, always send to the mission home. the package morgan sent arrived but morgan, you sent it to the house in Morumbi, and i don´t live in Morumbi anymore. so it arrived a while ago, but i just barely met with the elders that live there today. so always send packages to the mission home.

if you are going to send a letter, you can send them directly to the house i am living at, but it has to be at the beginning of the transfer. for example, the third transfer started today. so you could send a letter today. but in 4 or 5 weeks, the transfer will be nearing a close, so you need to send it to the mission home. so ALWAYS ask me before you send a letter or package so that i know to expect it and i can tell you where to send it.

but i received the package from morgan, and grandma´s letter with the giftcard, but i didn´t receive the package or those gloves that you sent, mom. those are either still in transit or someone forgot to bring them with all the stuff that was coming to the missionaries in my zone. so i will let you know if those show up at next transfer.

but always let me know before you send letters to my house or packages in general. thank you :)

third!

elder vander was transferred. he was transferred to Londrina...he is assistant to president now. so my new companion is Elder Guerrette. He is from Brunswick, Maine...my first american comp in the field. and i am his first american comp in the field. he is senior comp, but i have to teach him all about our investigators, our references, and our area. which is huge. he is pretty cool. he got here this morning at 8:00 after 17 hours of bus rides. he has just a little more than one year...he passed the one year mark on december 27th. so far, we are pretty cool and he isn´t weird lol.

ummmmm so awesome story. we are baptizing two kids named Wesley this saturday. and maybe the two daughters and wife of Brother Acildes. but this girl in my ward just called me...like literally JUST NOW...and told me that Wesley´s mom, Sandra, wants to be baptized with him, the same day. this saturday!!! so that is awesome! the problem is that i don´t know if she has all the requirements (marriage, all the lessons, etc.) so i need to see. so right now, i am kinda having to be the senior companion because elder gurrette doesn´t know enough about the area. so that will be tough. but we will figure it out! PRAY PLEASE!!

um everything is going great. more or less. i am going to work on doing that thing to get rid of the bugs and i am still just...being a missionary! anyway. so i am going to try and teach elder guerrette about our area today. this should be...interesting.

i love you guys!!!

lol love you all

elder scott ghormley!

Year One, Letter Twenty

E AI!!!

what up everyone?? holy crap the whole world at home is changing. blake moved out?! what is his new address?! and who is he living with? and is it a house or an apartment? and lauren?! how is provo?? i already got an email saying it was going great. i hope you are enjoying yourself IMMENSELY. elder vander was determined to marry you...but when i said you were moving to provo he nearly cried. actually, i am pretty sure he cried. but i am glad you are having fun :) and don´t worry about the job and the math and stuff. just think...when i get home i won´t know a thing :) but what is her address?! and morgan and stuart are 25?? so young. calm down morgan....you are still young. it is ok. and mom and dad...empty nesters. but it is ok. you guys will be saving lots of money. i am sending a letter home ASAP with a letter in portuguese to blake and a letter to mom and dad explaining why it is actually a good thing that you are the only two at home, and my memory card. everything is already ready to send, but the post office is forever away. and we never pass it because it isn´t in our area.

OK! so my new address is:

Rio de Janeiro 686

Jardim Maracana

Foz do Iguaçu, PR

85852 - 050

BRAZIL

and my scripture for the week is Jacob 3: 1-2. talks about how we need to focus ETERNALLY and not just on the things of the world that are, in all reality, not very important. oh and everyone read 1 Nephi 17. it is pretty cool. i passed it during my study and thought it was legit...2 legit...2 legit 2 quit!! yeah...i stole that from brie. it is from HOT ROD. hilarious movie. you should watch it some time.

ummmm so what happened this week?? pretty cool stuff. josé received the holy ghost on sunday. he was quiet during the whole blessing - surprisingly. he has a habit of telling...whoever is teaching...to talk LOUDER. but he just kinda walks up to the person in the middle of the lesson and shouts it. lol hilarious. but caroline was baptized. that was awesome. her mom was a little against it but we promised that we would continue visiting her to make sure everything was fine, so she is good. and caroline was so happy. she was beaming when she came up out of the water. um we were working in a different neighborhood the other day and we found this lady that let us come in but was very tentative and kinda scared of us so it was tough to teach. but then we had a little miracle. there is this guy that lives next to us. i already taught him before elder vander got here. but he showed up at this house because he is friends with the lady and her husband. he isn´t a member, but when he saw me he was like, "ELDER Ghjasdtjknvapasif!!!! (< ---- that was as close as he could get) That American is cool...listen to their message it is awesome!" that is the translation anyway. it makes more sense and sounds...not so weird...when you hear it in portuguese. but yeah that was awesome. now she is a new investigator and she was WAY interested in the lesson. so we will see how that goes. we also have a family of 4 that moved here. and we are teaching them already because of another miracle...they moved here from Elder Vander´s last area and he already taught them once. they already said they wanna be baptized. yeah miracle. so pray that elder vander and I stay companions and stay in this area for one more transfer. because we have some serious potential here. the name of the lady is lia. and the family is acildes, patricia, aline, and juliane. pray for them too :)

anyway, so things at home are nuts. based on the letters haha. I CAN`T BELIEVE I MISSED THE CARDINALS GAME!!!! holy crap that sounds nuts! yeah, i already read the story that dad sent. i can´t believe that. they better work their butts off this week if they wanna be ready for the saints. that would be so cool if my prediction actually comes true. i will cross my fingers. whether or not i am in the country, i want them to win the super bowl.

morgan sounds like she is having a ball. haha stuart is back to the grindstone and morgan lacks projects. maybe you can ask mom and dad? they are always good at discovering projects... :)

ok so i am running out of time...

but hawaii for mom and dad for a week?! yeah jealous again.

and a new stake presidency and elder oaks is coming?? crazy cool again. elder neil a anderson is coming to my ward this week. talk about nuts. i will talk with him in portuguese too. how cool is that?? yeah the portuguese is coming. it is getting lots better cuz i can only talk with e vander in portuguese.

i have two videos that i need to send you from our ward activity and from a lunch elder vander and i made. they are hilarious but i will probably be sending them a little later this week.

um we don´t have air conditiong! just two fans. but whatever. we deal with it. for the most part lol. and the rashes and bug bites...well they are still there. haha the bug bites just get continuously worse. but what can you do? that is Brazil. i am positive it is bed bugs, but i can´t put my mattress outside because then it could be stolen. yikes!

but anyway! i gotta go! i love you all so much! happy birthday to blake on the 19th! i love you guys!

tchau

e scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Nineteen

Alright, so i have close to no time here!

I was reading everyone´s emails from the past week!! and there were lots. not that i am complaining!! but i am going to fly through this email.

OK FIRST OFF!!! My p day was moved to wednesday. same time, but now wednesday!! just letting you know..

we moved houses! finally. now the address is Rua Rio de Janeiro Mario Dutra 686, Jardim Maracana, Foz do Iguaçu. I don´t know the full address, but i will find it. anyway. i made a video of the house and stuff on New Year´s Eve. it was the last thing that i did on that 2 GB memory card. and now i will be sending that home to you guys. it will probably take two weeks to arrive. maybe a little more maybe a little less. but the house is small as...i don´t even know what. but we cleaned hardcore today. all of our stuff was still there, packed because we haven´t had time to unpack. we have been working hard.

favorite scripture: Mosiah 4: 5-10. yeah King Benjamin was just a baller. He told it how it was. I love that scripture.

ummmm so this is ridiculous. kinda funny, kinda ridiculous. in the Rio de Janeiro mission, the mission president said that if a missionary kisses a girl, he needs to be transferred. just transferred, nothing more. but then he goes, "but if a missionary breaks the law of chastity on the mission, they will, unfortunately, have to go home." WHAT?! lol is that not just implied as a missionary? lol i thought so at least.

ummm HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STUART, MORGAN, AND DAD!! Stuart, for some reason i wrote that your birthday was the 3rd. so sorry i didn´t say happy b day last week.

OK so here is the news for investigators!! we found this guy in our area book a week or so ago. his name is josé. we were just looking through the book and his name caught my eye and i looked at e. vander and he was like "did you feel that, too?" so i was like i think we need to teach him. so we did. and he was baptized last sunday. lol he is 75 years old, nearly deaf, and totally ready. when he was being baptized, he walked into the font and laughed and then gave everyone a thumbs up before getting dunked. he was hilarious. but he already knew so much. he had read the BoM and already knew it was true. so nuts!

and now this sunday we have a girl named Caroline that is getting baptized. she is 12 and very smart. her family was inactive but we are reactivating them and baptizing her this sunday.

we have a list of fairly good investigators, so i hope i will have more to report next week. and MORE TIME! sorry but i spent most of my time reading today!!

but i loved all your letters!! i hope everything keeps going well!!

love you all and until next WEDNESDAY!!!

elder ghormley