Year One, Letter Forty Three

hey there. yeah so this week has been RIDICULOUS. I gotta get this out
way quick.

scripture: D&C 88: 63 - 64

alright so this week has been way nuts. i am sorry, but i probably
won´t respond to a lot of questions. first off, we had our last zone
conference with president and sister leal on friday. they told me to
tell you guys thank you and that they love you for making me who i am.
i am quite certain that they said this to basically all the
missionaries, but they wanted to make me feel special for the moment.
it was such a spiritual but sad conference. we sang "till we meet
again" at the end and they both were up on the stand, breaking down in
tears. i will miss them. to be COMPLETELY honest, they reminded me A
LOT of mom and dad. no wonder everyone said that president leal was
incredibly strict :D please don´t hurt me...but it was seriously
awesome. i loved it. now we just have to know who president and sister
tavares are and how they will run the mission.

ummmm our investigators. we have a good group that we are working
with, unfortunately we have several that need to get married. one is
named roberta and her husband is claudio. that is way difficult. three
kids, but doesn´t wanna marry the guy. she said she only stays because
of the kids. it is sad. she said that at one point, she really liked
him. but she never loved him. so it is pretty tough to teach them. but
that is okay. we are going to teach them a lesson about the importance
of marriage with the proclamation to the world paper. we are working
with Luciano and Marcia and they have major problems with the word of
wisdom. they are big coffee lovers. i used an example from the family
(my mom and her parents) to help them understand that it is completely
possible to overcome the addiction. they accepted our help and the
commitments we made and Luciano said the closing prayer, which was way
spiritual asking for help from God to be able to follow the Word of
Wisdom. one of my favorite investigators right now is Vauldete and her
daughter Soraya. they are amazing. elder barros and elder dos santos
taught them twice before i got here, and when we went there the first
time, barros told me that dos santos didn´t want to teach there
anymore because she didn´t want to hear anything about our church our
anything. kinda sad. we went there. and we are still going there. we
taught her the first lesson about the restoration and she told us the
next time we went there that she knew it was true, but she was afraid
to follow that answer. then we taught the book of mormon. and she said
she had no doubt that it was true. then we taught the gospel of jesus
christ and she said she didn´t even need to pray because she knew
already. on tuesday, we taught the plan of salvation. this is probably
a moment that has completely changed my mission. as i am finishing the
lesson, talking about the kingdoms of glory, she looks me righ tin the
eye and asks, "Do you really believe that this is true?" the only
thing i said was "yes." She looked at me for 15 more seconds without
saying another word, and then asked, "How can I get to the Celestial
Kingdom?" that was amazing to me. as we were leaving, she shook my
hand and said, "thank God that you are American....because you are
very persistent." I was kinda confused, so she said, "the other elder
was going to give up on me. I could tell. He didn´t want to keep
coming back." That was kinda sad...and then she looked at me again and
asked, "Why didn´t you give up?" that was something that basically
changed how i thought. it made me think. before i really knew what i
was saying, i just answered, "we can´t give up on a child of God."
that was all. but it made me really understand the importance of all
this even more.

ummm so we were robbed this week, too. on the 21st of June, we came
home to a house that was completely destroyed. we showed up late with
the other elders and when we walked in, the back door was open and
everything was destroyed. literally everything. the kitchen, our study
rooms, our bedroom, everything. the package that i received on friday
was taken, the study tables were destroyed, my bags (all 3) were
stolen, the boxes that i had, as well. everything. money, clothes,
journals, everything.

everyone can take a deep breath. it was an early birthday joke that
the other elders played on me. they couldn´t wait until the 27th. so
elders galdino and sorenson went home early, destroyed the house, hid
all of my stuff, and left to wait for us. oh my gosh. the best played
prank i have ever seen. they called a sister in the ward to act like
they were reporting to the police. and that they were calling
president leal. oh my gosh. i have never been more terrified. it
lasted for a solid 30 minutes and i was just lost. i had no idea what
i was going to do. elder sorenson was secretly filming some parts.
kinda funny. way funny. i was terrified. they got me so good. we spent
a solid hour and a half getting everything in the house fixed and
organized again. but they got me so good.

as a great side note, i got crapped on again by a bird. that was
disgusting. shirt, hair, backpack, pants, tie, etc. gross. we were in
the terminal waiting to go to the hospital because elder sorenson is
there with a horrible headache, and the bird nailed me. but that is
why the email has been so difficult. elder sorenson is in the hospital
and we have been running all over the place teaching our investigators
and their investigators. so it has been nuts. but he is getting
better. he will be leaving this week i hope. they will be doing a
neuro exam tomorrow or tonight.

me and elder barros are friends. we are doing great and teaching well.
he is a good companion and he is focusing more and more. i am trying
to help him understand the importance of focusing on the mission so
that after the mission, he will be able to use what he learned in his
relationship with his wife. he is still young and learning, but he is
cool. i think that is kinda an important thing to note based on the
situation...it is necessary...absolutely essential...to serve a
mission to me. i know that dad is who he is to us because of his
mission and i know that blake is who he is and who he will be based on
his mission. i know that my mission will make me who i will be in the
future. i don´t know where i would be if dad didn´t serve a mission
and i don´t know where blake would be if dad didn´t serve or if he
didn´t serve. i am so glad that i can serve. i know that i have to
give my all, and that it is tough, but my mission has changed me so
much. it definitely helped me to fix some things and to find who i am
and who i want to be. it has created a bigger vision to me. i think
that is why all the girls are so focused on marrying that return
missionary. he has a greater understanding and a greater vision. it is
definitely something that i will need in my life. i just hope that i
can pass that importance on to my family. know what i mean? cool.
enough of the...whatever type of talk that is.

well sorry the email is short on answers. i love you guys and i read
all the emails and thank you all for the happy brithdays that you all
sent and the songs that you all sung (in horrible voices i am sure).
but i gotta go. i only had time to send a quick email today. i love
you all and hope that everything is going well. elder barros says
thank you for the USB drive mom! he is awaiting anxiously haha. but
anyway. i will keep working my butt off. we might have a baptism this
weekend! a kid whose name is Maycom. we are teaching him with galdino
and sorenson. but that is my news. i love you all! have an awesome
week!

tchau!

elder scott ghormley

p.s. the USA game was BOMB. we watched parts of it in the hospital. so tight!