Great Scott!

Year Two, Last Letter

2011-07-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

It is my last P-day. The internet deal is quite easy to explain. But

it is all good. This is the last time that i will be able to email you

while in Brazil and the last email as a missionary that i will send to

you all.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 4: 6 - 7, 16 - 18

Wow. I don´t know where to start. I want to tell you all that I love

you so much. There really isn´t any amount of words that i can use to

describe how much i love you all. I want to thank you all so much for

everything. The support and the love that you have shown during these

last two years was and is crucial to my success.

Thank you all for the happy birthday wishes. My birthday was entirely

too lame here. But I got that little package. It was good.

This last transfer has been so full of...everything you can imagine

concerning difficulties with a companion. But I will be able to

explain better in a few days. The good thing? Me and my comp are

solid. We are friends. Although you would never imagine it possible.

We have found some AMAZING people. People that I won´t ever forget. It

sucks that I will have to leave before seeing their progress. But I

know that this is how God needs it to happen.

Sounds like life at home is just as louca as ever. But what can ya do?

I am psyched.

I have no idea what is on the to-do list when i get home. Lots of

stuff. That is all i know.

I have my interview with President tomorrow and then we will be

getting the plane on wednesday.

I know that this is Jesus Christ´s true church. I know it. I know that

the Book of Mormon is true. Jesus Christ is our Savior. I love Him and

I know he sacrificed Himself for all of us. These two years have been

some of the best and worst, happiest and saddest years of my life. The

mission has been amazing. I loved it. I know that I have lots to do in

this work even after being released.

I am so psyched to see you all. It still hasn´t hit me that I am going

home. But i am sure that, before showing up in sky harbor, i will be

able to feel it a little more. I want you all to know that i love you

guys. thank you for EVERYTHING. Never give up on the gospel. Never

give up on Jesus Christ. He never quit on us, so we can´t quit on Him.

We MUST endure to the end. I will see you guys in a couple days.

Seja a diferença que você deseja ver no mundo. Amo vocês.

Elder Scott Ghormley

Missão Brasil Londrina

2009 - 2011

"Retornar com Honra"

Year Two, Letter Forty

2011-06-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

hey there!

scripture: Moroni 10: 3 - 7 A promise from a prophet of God that has,
quite literally, changed my life. And it has changed the lives of
millions and millions of people who wanted to know one thing - the
truth. I love the Book of Mormon. Through experiences that I will hold
sacred throughout my life, I can bear my testimony that the Book of
Mormon is true. If anyone honestly seeks a testimony of its divine
nature, with faith in Christ, they will know that it is true.

alright so things are going good here in Vivi Xavier - Londrina. as
good as they can go i guess. my comp and i are getting along a little
better. what elseeee. so we have an iron. solid. and we got our
washing machine fixed. even tighter. and now everything seems to be
going well in the house. the neighborhood isn´t the best, but it isn´t
the worst. we live on a fairly busy street. we found out at our ward
counsel that we are working the most populated area in Londrina. The
city has more than 500,000 registered habitants. Our area, which is
one of 12 areas in the city, has nearly 20 percent of the population
of the city. so one area - Vivi Xavier - that has one companionship is
responsible for nearly 200,000 people. talk about nuts. but it is
cool. we are basically excited and that is that. we announced
yesterday that we will have the Domingo do Amigo (Sunday for Friends)
in our ward on the 19th of June. so we are letting everyone prepare
friends and family to come to church and have a ton of people here.
the bishop loves us. i bore my testimony in sacrament meeting
yesterday and i talked about repentance. I indirectly directed my
testimony to the members and told them that if they didn´t stop
worrying about things that had already happened, and didn´t forgive
one another, they would continue living in sin. i explained that those
who didn´t repent and forgive others had no part in the atonement of
jesus christ. and then i realized how complicated repentance can
really be, but how worth it it is.

interesting comment: the chapel is right between two evangelical
churches. they play rock music, scream "hallelujah," and try to take
away the spirit from the sacrament meeting. lol

as for me? well Lauren, my shoes are...destroyed. but i am good. my
feet are holdin up. and my nails aren´t becoming ingrown for now. so i
am goin with it.

Aline, Jessica, Renato, and a few other investigators came to church
this week. Aline and Jefferson are married officially, and Robson and
Jessica are married now, as well. Renato is going to be the next on
the list. I have learned to love people more on the mission. I have
already grown to love these families a lot. Aline and Jefferson are
such an awesome family. Now we are just working to prepare them for
baptism and to have an eternal family one day.

i hope mom is feelin better. did the virus go away? that must have
been nasty. i am so grateful that God has blessed me so much with
health during these last couple years. i can´t believe how good my
health has actually been.

i hope that the internship goes well for you, blake. what exactly does
the job include? what do you have to do?

i hope that the bench works out well for ya, dad. :) i hope you don´t
hurt yourself. i can´t even imagine how many projects you end up
having per week. and i hope that you are able to have an awesome trip
and meeting in florida. humidity really does suck. lol. as for your
new missionary comp...Rud Hefner is such a great name. I want to give
this guy a high five just for having that name. But even though he
isn´t as good looking as your last comp (aka - your wife), look at the
bright side...i have NEVER had a comp that i found attractive.

mom, i know it must suck when no one is at home to chill with. but
look at it this way...in a few weeks, you will be sitting there
thinking to yourself, "wow...life was so much more chill when this kid
was in brazil."

yo moe and stu - how is the new house?! do you guys feel old? i feel
super old. i am gunna be 21 this month (as Lauren was so kind to
remind me). and as morgan so lovingly told me, i will make everything
go all wacky with the kids of our family. you guys are all even
numbers and i am an odd one. it isn´t my fault that mom and dad
decided to have me a year early. lol. i am excited to go visit you
guys one day. is jack liking the new place?

guess what! i ate subway for lunch today. such a blessing of Londrina.
big cities = american restaurants.

anywho. i am not sure what else to say. i think i am good. i am still
not trunky. i love you all a ton. i hope that you all have an awesome
week. and that everyone is healthy. you are always in my prayers.
SEMPRE. love you all. tchau.

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Thirty-nine

2011-06-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

e ai família

scripture: 3 Nephi 21: 25 - 29, 22: 13 - 17

so to answer some questions:

the house is a mess. disgusting. we went to town on it. probably the
first time in about 2 years. the iron doesn´t work. so i just put my
shirt in the bathroom and take hot showers and let the steam help a
little bit. the laundry machine doesn´t work. we have been waiting for
a tech support to come to our house since thursday. clean clothes?
difficult. but i am washing by hand. the two bathrooms had drainage
problems. so they smelled like a sewer. but i called a plumber and the
house owner and got it taken care of. now we just need an iron and a
washing machine.

for my homecoming talk (WOW, TRUNKY) i don´t really know when the best
time would be to give it. how long are we gunna be in montana? did you
say that we are going to leave the week after i get home?

i have received some info from friends and stuff. i am gunna be so far
behind all of them in school and stuff lol. but whatev. the majority
are just wanting to know what day i come home and stuff. it will be
weird to see what group i fall into when i get home. a bunch of my
friends from before the mission are still psyched for me to get home.
as for girls? eu não sei de nada.

the ward is incredibly dispirited. like...super discouraged. the bishop
is nearing the end of his service. he is already bishop for 5 years or
something. he is even more discouraged because the leadership is not
supporting him. yeah. we visited him on saturday and basically said
alright well we are here to strengthen this ward and make it grow. so
what do you want us to do, bishop? he was super psyched. i gave him a
big hug and just said that we would do our part and if he needed
anything to count on us. his wife gave us some strawberry pie to thank
us. the bishop was super happy. so let´s see what we can get to happen
this transfer.

mom...pretty soon it won´t be so quiet alright? i will be able to make
some noise and make sure you guys know that i am there. :) then when i
start dating (if that ever happens), there will be people at the house
fairly constantly. but i don´t know who i could date.

hey stuart...yeah i liked the letter. is thor seriously a movie? was
it retarded? or was it good? or was it good in the Fast & Furious
meaning? you and moe excited to leave? and chill in gilbert? but
opening is alright. i will get to the one little problem in a sec.
dude...i have hardly bought anything to bring home. like seriously
nada. SO THIS IS FOR EVERYONE: is there a certain cool thing from
Brasil that you would like me to get for you? stuff is pretty freaking
expensive here. so i dunno. but if anyone wants something, tell me
soon! i am pretty psyched to meet my nephew. but he can´t scream at
me. lol

as for other stuff:

the d-backs are tearing it up?! sick!!

the one little problem that i was talking about is my comp. i guess i
judged early. he seemed cool. he still is okay. but he is what i call
an ´´EU´´ missionary. ´´eu´´ means ´´I´´ in english. so what makes him
an eu missionary? he LOVES to talk about himself. he is very prideful.
he is the guy that says that he did everything to make a baptism
happen. or the guy that talks constantly about how his life was before
the mish and how every girl wanted him for his body and stuff....only
he is serious when he says that. i pretend to be interested for about
30 seconds and then i just start nodding my head and saying
´´yeah...hmmm...cool´´ at certain periods of the conversation. but
whatev.

so we have found some cool people. we have three members who are
dating non-members. yep. so this last saturday we were able to have
one of the weddings :) Jefferson and Aline were married! Aline isn´t a
member. But she is way cool. We obviously don´t know them very well.
But they seem promising. We also found Robson and Jessica. Jessica
isn´t a member. She came to church yesterday. We have their marriage
marked for this Saturday. We just need to help her build a testimony
before being baptized. We also have Renato and Anelise. Renato isn´t a
member but he seems really cool and sincere. We still need to mark
their marriage. Anelise´s mom hates Renato because he has had a
sketchy past; but we are teaching him. Good stuff. We are also
teaching this 16-year-old named Mateus. He is cool, but he has some
big problems with word of wisdom and law of chastity. but we are
preparing him for baptism, as well. He went to church already, too. So
this is what we are working with after one week. Let´s see what kind
of progress happens.

ummmm that is really all i got for you guys. let me know the answers
to the questions i asked. especially if you want me to bring something
brazilian home. lol

i love you all. i still have lots of time on the mission. so don´t
start any countdowns yet. i hope you are all great and that the gospel
is constantly the center of your lives. gotta go. peace! tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Thirty-eight

2011-06-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone.

Scripture: Alma 31: 31 - 35. We need to trust in God. In EVERYTHING.
there is no other option. That is how we overcome.

So i can´t fully or honestly describe how I am feeling right now. As
we say in portuguese, "A ficha não caiu." Or in English, "It hasn´t
hit me yet." The last transfer has started. It is official. And not in
the way that we all hoped.

I was transferred. I said bye to everyone in Cascavel. Elder Griner
will receive an elder who has been out for 7 or 8 months. As for me?
Well, what do you all think happened? Judging by the past? I have
never worked in Londrina as one of my areas on the mission. My last
transfer will be in Londrina. A poorer area of Londrina. And it looks
like God isn´t letting me off the hook either. The name of the area is
Vivi Xavier. It was closed. Guess who gets to open it? I guess that
seems to be a talent that God blessed me with. So I arrived on Monday
night and picked my comp up on Tuesday before lunch. His name is Elder
Prado. He is from Goiás. He is pretty tight. And he saw a picture of
Lauren. And fell in love. He says that my sisters are "princessas." I
told him that both are off limits, but he seems to think that only Moe
is because she is the only one who is sealed in the temple. He already
tried to convince me to give him a picture of Lauren. We are opening
Vivi Xavier and the house is a mess here. Pretty nasty. But whatev.

ADDRESS:
Salim Sahao, 660
Londrina - PR, 86083-050

We didn´t get to have our interviews with President, so that sucked.
No one got to explain anything to him. But whatev. Now we just gotta
work our tails off here. Our area seems okay. We have nothing to work
with. We are starting from ZERO. So let´s see what we´ll get.

I said bye to Raulino and Elaine. I told them that i better be at the
top of the list of people to receive pics from their baptism. Marcos
and Gisa - the family that gave us the reference - said that they want
to come visit me in arizona in about 5 years because they want to meet
the people who raised "such a great missionary like [me]." hope i can
make you guys proud :)

I bet your class on sunday was bomb mom :) I love teaching about
baptism. I just don´t like shoving it down people´s throats like some
missionaries. i hope that connor can start thinking seriously about
the next few steps in his life and why a mission is essential to be
spiritually prepared for those moments. i know that dad, blake, and
stuart wouldn´t be who they are today if it wasn´t for their missions.
and i know that who i am has completely changed. i wonder if you all
will see a difference. lol

sorry that i was late to get the email to you. i love you guys a ton
and thank you SO much for all the support and advice. you guys are an
inspiration every day for me. everything that i am and everything that
people respect me for is all because of the gospel and the example
that you guys gave me in living it. i know that the gospel is true and
that Christ is our Savior. if it weren´t for that knowledge, i don´t
know where i would be in life right now. but i know that it wouldn´t
be as good as where i am now. i love you all. have an awesome week.
tchau!

elder scott ghormley

p.s. i hope that i don´t get lost here!

Year Two, Letter Thirty-seven

2011-06-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

heyyyy

kinda in a hurry. my time is running out.

scripture: matthew 25: 34 - 40

so this is the last week of the transfer. which blows. everyone is
saying that i am gunna be gone. i hope not. we have interviews with
president on friday. i guess i will have one chance to show him why i
need to stay. the assistants are retarded though. you remember how
when they came here, i told them that they couldn´t just force our
investigators into baptism? yeah, well, they went and told President
that i wasn´t dedicated to our purpose as missionaries to baptize and
said that i am not a very good example to elder griner because he
needs to get it into his head that we need to baptize. and apparently,
i don´t give him that motivation. while they were here, they got home
way late. they got home at 10:45 one night. so we knew they were
going to come back to our apartment, but we didn´t have our cell
phone because i left it with the other elders, so i couldn´t call to see
where they were. so we waited for them to get home. they told us that
we were breaking rules. so they told president that i am not keeping
the rules because we weren´t in bed before 10:30. so they basically
are trying to screw me over. i really dislike missionaries like them to
be honest. so i don´t know what is going to happen.

me and griner are good. he is kinda scared about the possibility of me
leaving. kinda sad, too. he said that he is afraid that the assistants
screwed both of us over because now president is going to want to make
him companions with "a missionary like one of them (assistants)." so i
am praying to stay. a lot. and i will directly ask president on
friday. i am so sick of drama. i thought the mission was supposed to
be to serve Christ, not to be a tattle-tale and try and screw other
missionaries over. Trunky comment? If there is ONE thing that i am SO
excited to not deal with, it is the constant crap from assistants. i
am so ready to not have to look into a little white book for
everything.

but i am happy. and healthy. i am good. don´t worry about me.

we had a family home evening with raulino and elaine and we watched
"Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" with them. SO GOOD. It
was the first time in forever that i have cried while bearing my
testimony during a lesson. Yeah...talk about emotional wreck right? i
am going to be that person who always cries while bearing testimony at
home. jk. but it was way solid.

i can´t believe matt and preston are home. nuts. i can´t believe that
david hamblin and david peifer are gunna get married already. holy
crap. don´t worry mom, you have my promise. i won´t get married quick
at all. i have lots of stuff on the to-do list first. and that is
crazy that i will be at TJ´s homecoming.

jack is crawling? great. moe and stu are moving? sad.

well i gotta run. the time is outtt.

love you guys. i hope i am writing from cascavel next week...

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Thirty-six

2011-05-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

yesterday was so bomb!

hey lauren! HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK :)

I loved the phone call. so great. i loved hearing everyone again.
including jackson for the first time! i miss you all so much! but i
still have some work to do out here! Elder Griner loved you guys. He
said that he already knows you guys are "so tight."

SCRIPTURE:

1 - Ether 12: 4, 6 - 9 Our faith is our anchor. And that gives us hope
for a better world. So bomb.

2 - Ether 12: 26 - 28 We don´t always know the purposes of God. We
don´t wholly understand our weaknesses. But with our faith (our
anchor), we come unto God. Then, He makes us powerful in our weakness,
even unto the confounding of men. Faith, hope, and charity brings us
unto God, which brings us eternal life.

I forgot to mention that i had one more ingrown toenail torn out last
week. It felt great. It almost tickled. Not. I wanted to die in that
chair. I can´t wait to get the surgery done to remove this ingrown
nail forever. But at least the doctor really likes me. She is pretty
cool. She is a member´s aunt.

Ummmm what else. So the phone call was bomb. Better than skype i bet.
Because we continued the tradition. I don´t ever remember talking to
blake via skype. so the tradition had to continue.

dad - sports in AZ suck huh? oh well. Life goes on. We need to golf
soonish. And fly fishing will be an adventure. trunky? i think not. i
am so glad the lakers got swept. SO GLAD.

mom - it was one of my best mother´s days ever. :) the book of mormon
reading is awesome. you pick up so much stuff that you never saw
before.

moe and stu - jackson is already swimming?! nuts. he will be so big
when i see him.

i am so happy that i got to talk to everyone. it was so fun. keep
praying so that i can stay in cascavel if it is God´s will. And pray
so that our investigators can progress. especially elaine. pray for
her to feel more secure and have the desire to be baptized, as well.

i love you all! i don´t have much to say today! have an AWESOME week.
i know i will have a high goin for me from the phone call. tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Thirty-five

2011-05-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

wow. well lots of news from the home front. osama was assasinated
finally? great. Presidente told us today. we have received new
commands in all areas that have muslim colonies - meaning, my city,
Foz do Iguaçu, and other muslim cultural regions. we need to have an
emergency pack ready and a local member aware that at any time, we
could show up at their doorstep to spend the night to avoid our homes.
we need to take different routes home at all times. we need to avoid
any large area that could bring unwanted attention. we can´t speak
english commonly in public. we have to be ready for any revengeful act
from muslims against americans. good thing the majority of our mission
doesn´t have muslims. just cascavel and foz do iguaçu.

we had stake conference this weekend. super amazing. guess who
presided...PRESIDENT MONSON! and Elder Holland spoke as well! The
catch? it was just through satellite. but still...so tight. i loved
the talks. amazing. we had a spiritual feast. lol

raulino and elaine are good. they are set up for saturday. but the
baptism could be sunday. we visited them yesterday and elaine was
resting because she hurt her back really bad.

me and griner are bomb. like...seriously so legit. we are working our
butts off. pretty difficult. but we are doing well. we are pretty bomb
friends already. i am really helping him with portuguese.

i love the book of mormon. i started over and finished first nephi
today. why was nephi such a baller? to those who don´t understand
"baller," why was nephi such an absolutely amazing person? is there
ever a moment where he isn´t the best example ever? i want to be like
nephi.

dad - the t-minus was completely unnecessary. haha. i hope jake starts
to get back in gear. i will get on his case when i get home. wow...i
can actually say that? "when i get home?" weird. i hope you kill it
in the golf tourney. i bet i will need some lessons.

mom - griner is good. he teaches well. very basic. but well. i love
being his trainer. thank you ALL for your prayers and your support. i
know God is blessing us. i hope everything went alright with you and
dad in the photo shoot. i wanna sleep at 7:00 sometimes. lol but it
doesn´t work out.

stu - i am so not skeletor. and i don´t know why i haven´t sent photos
home. my camera is back getting fixed. which blows. and don´t try and
make me trunky. it is impossible. literally. i bet the fast and
furious was just as epic as the others right? amazing acting? hot
girls? lol but i don´t work very much in the favellas morgan. just
sometimes. griner needs to get a little scared. lol but i will get
home soon-ish. but i don´t know if i will be able to make fun of
people. i am gunna be weird bro.

moe - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!! Stuart, too. You guys are old. lol. 3
years?? long time. but it is awesome huh? is jack really gunna eat
sand? that would blow. haha but he can get his stomach pumped :)

lauren - you are going to move again?! wow. and tell me some stories :)

blake - conte algumas histórias também. como tá indo as coisas com....a vida? :)

MOTHER´S DAY CALL! i will inform you later this week. we need to
confirm it still.

i love you guys. a ton. i miss you all too. have a bomb week for me. i
will need to get the info from the secretaries about coming home. they
haven´t sent it yet. tchau. amor.

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Thirty-four

2011-04-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

hey everybody. so for the first time in three weeks, i have p-day.
normal. great.

scripture: psalms 23

news:

Elder Griner and I are great. We had his first baptism of the mission
this week. Eduardo was baptized on Friday and Confirmed on Easter
Sunday. Sweet. He was super happy. He is way mature for his age. Johny
was interviewed and will receive the priesthood the Sunday after Stake
conference. We are working hard with lots of people, but there is one
family that is at the front of the list. Raulino and Elaine. We taught
about the Plan of Salvation. Such an amazing lesson. We marked their
baptism for the 7th and they accepted. Now it is just work, work and
more work. I love this family.

Elder Griner is still struggling with the language - and i just keep
helping him realize that that is how it is. He speaks well for a
greenie. I will continue helping him with his Portuguese. It is so
easy to just speak English sometimes, but Portuguese is essential. We
are already great friends. We work a lot and he is definitely keeping
up. I am the one who is dying. His shoes are still in perfect shape.
haha. But we are working a lot. And he is really excited to be in the
mission that he was called to. I would love to finish my mission with
him. There is a possibility for that to happen. Dad, he is from the
Granite South ward in Sandy.

Um President Tavares was serious with the 100 baptisms per week - 5200
per year. My math might have been a little off the first time. lol.
But this week, we achieved 38 baptisms. The most that this mission has
ever achieved in a week. On average, an awesome month would be more
than 100 baptisms. We had a goal in our mission to get 125 in a month.
So i guess i need to look at this from another point of view. It is
possible. I believe in miracles. I know that God wants us to be able
to do this. So I guess we just have to believe that it is possible. So
i ask for each one of you to pray. Ask God to help our mission reach
this goal. I don´t know what we can do, but i know that God will
prepare a way. Pray so that this week, we can have more miracles.

Easter was good. I taught our Gospel Principles class. Quality. Um the
meetings were good. Catholics don´t really know why they celebrate
Easter here, but they do. Getting drunk. Having cookouts. Inviting the
family over. Sometimes, if they are able to arrange their schedules,
they find time to go to mass for an hour. And then get drunk again.

I want my mission to be a moment that i will never forget or regret in
my life. I just want to give my all.

I will get to talk with you guys in a couple weeks huh? it will be the
last time that people will be excited to talk to me on the phone.
haha! no one will ever gather around to call scott again.

I hope Jackson gets around to crawling soon. And that he says hi to me
when we talk on mom´s day. I hope he liked his easter basket morgan.
lol

Say hi to everyone for me i guess. Thanks to colleen for trying to
send me a package. too bad brasil sucks with mail. i hope everything
is going great with everybody. hey blake...você aproveitou o dia do
beijo? acho que vc nunca teve essa oportunidade em Brasil...haha

LOVE YOU GUYS! HAPPY EASTER FROM BRASIL!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Thirty-three

2011-04-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

This is gunna be super quick.

HEY everyone! what is uppp? so i have had lots of stuff goin on. i had
to go to londrina last monday. on tuesday, i had training all day long
and then we found out who our comps are. my comp is bomb. his name is
Elder GRINER. do not pronounce like "green." all the brazilians
pronounce it like "green." He is my first utah companion. He is from
Sandy, Utah. Yep. he is from the missionary factory.

We got back on tuesday at midnight. We worked on Wednesday. Griner
served for a couple weeks in texas because he was waiting for his
visa. apparently he worked in the biggest slacker mission of all time.
the stories that he told me were...awful. but he is super stoked to be
working with me. i am giving him the rundown on things. he is speaking
well for a newbie, but he still has lots to learn.

We are super good friends already. We are teaching quite a few good
people. Eduardo has taken some big steps and his baptism is marked on
friday at 6:00. i hope it all works out well. raulino and elaine are
also doing great. they are progressing a lot. their son asked to go to
church even though they weren´t going to go on sunday. their son...is
6 years old. yeah. that was a big step.

we had a fireside in cascavel with president tavares. it was about
missionary work. and that was cool. raulino went. then we went to foz
do iguaçu yesterday for a zone conference. which is why i didn´t get
to use internet. president told us that we would have to sacrifice a
p-day. which makes two in a row for me. but we get a couple minutes to
send emails home.

president wants us to baptize 100 people this weekend. he said that
the mission is supposed to have 100 in one week. and that after, he
wants us to baptize 100 people weekly. that means that in one
year...our mission would baptize 52,000 people. so of the average
300,000 converts per year, our mission is supposed to handle one-sixth
of them. i have faith.....i guess i need LOTS of faith......

i guess me and griner are doing good. we are becoming closer friends
every day. i hope we have a super good transfer and that i can be an
awesome example of a missionary to start his mission off.

i love you guys a ton. florida sounds like it was pretty fun. you were
running how i have been running lately to get buses and taxis and all
kinds of stuff. i am super psyched to see morgan and stuart´s new
house...and their new pet turtles. i bet they will go emo because you
are leaving morgan.

anywho. i hope everyone has an AWESOME day. and week. love you all. peace!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Thirty-two

2011-04-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

FIRST! MOM, i sent the scan to your email at work and home. i could
only open the word version. so i signed it and scanned it. i hope that
it will do..

alright. i am literally going to fly here.

scripture: 3 Nephi 12: 43 - 48

alright so we arrived at the end of one more transfer. i am flying
because our bus to Londrina leaves at 12:00 today. we didn´t know
about transfers, but i was just preparing myself to be transferred
because we all know how my luck is with transfers. so i was saying bye
to everyone that i love here in Cascavel. Johny and Moira were super
sad this weekend because the Bishop told them that unfortunately, I
would probably be heading out. On sunday, we got the phone call. I
will need to go to Londrina today with Elder Piano. And we will both
be taking our bags. Only thing is...he will be taking all of his. I
will be taking a bag for the night. And then I will have a training on
Tuesday. And then I will return to Cascavel with my "son." Greenie. I
am training again. I don´t know who my comp will be. But I know that
Elder Piano will be headed to Presidente Prudente.

Johny and Moira were confirmed yesterday. That was great. Johny had
his first interview with Bishop about the priesthood. They are so
awesome. When we were saying bye, still not knowing who would stay or
who would go, he just said that he and his family will never forget
what we did for them.

This week was crazy. Just running all over the place. The last week of
the transfer is always nuts. But i am good. And healthy. I am walking
fine now. I don´t know if I will be able to keep up with the newbie.
He is gunna get here with rocket-boosters in his shoes. I have my
camera back. That was an expensive little fix. But the camera is in
great shape. Is it possible for a camera to have a software update?
because there are all kinds of new things on this camera that weren´t
there before. but they are definitely good things.

i am interested at the fact that sports seem so odd to me now. the
masters sounds like a let down. and the diamondbacks are definitely
needing a change for the better. and football might not even happen?!
i am so out of it.

morgan! where is your new house going to be? and why are you already
saying that there is room for one more baby?? I HAVEN´T MET THE FIRST
ONE! please, take your time. lol.

alright, well i am already running. i love you guys. a ton. pray so
that the missionaries that are showing up in Cascavel can be ready to
work. and that my comp can be super excited for the work :) and
mom...i think you were thinking of elder hardyman. from idaho. and
yes, that will be me. i go until the end. you can be sure of that.
love you all. tchau

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Thirty-one

2011-04-07T17:10:00.000-07:00

Wowzers. Very, VERY busy week.

scripture: 2 Nephi 27:23

Where to start. Hmmmm....

Health:
Alright, well I definitely wouldn´t be able to walk the entire day
with that boot on. It just wouldn´t work out. Thank you for the
thought, but you don´t need to send the boot. I will finish
physiotherapy this week. Then, i will just continue doing exercises and
stretches. I will have to continue working, so I guess that isn´t much
of a choice.

April/Conference:
I can´t believe it is already April. But at the same time, I can. haha
that makes sense. April has been great so far. We will get to the why.
Conference was spectacular. I didn´t get to watch anything in English.
I understood everything, but it is annoying to listen to the
translator´s voice and not the person who is actually talking. It
isn´t as good. For example, when President Dieter F. Uchtdorf cracks a
joke about people sending text messages saying, "It has been 10
minutes...why hasn´t he said something about aviation?!" everyone who
is hearing him understands the joke. But then there are those people
watching and hearing in Portuguese...and they don´t understand why
there is a 20-year old American missionary cracking up in the middle
of the chapel with an investigator next to him. Good stuff, good
stuff. How do people not understand these jokes?! Just a side thought.
Anyway. So I didn´t get to watch all of conference. I didn´t get to
watch the Priesthood Session :(. I was present at all of the general
sessions, but I didn´t get to watch all of conference. I loved a talk
on Sunday from Elder Paul V. Johnson. But a lot of the time, i was
running all over the place trying to organize some other stuff.

Wedding/Wedding Party
What other stuff you might ask? Well. We had a wedding on Saturday
morning. :) We went to the cartório with Johny and Moira. Everything
went smoothly I guess. They showed up late. haha but other than that,
we had the wedding! Johny was hilarious. When people started asking
how it all went, he said, "I guess it is like a shot....once you look
to see what happened, it is already done." Haha it was hilarious. it
was so fast that it seems pointless. but we all know that it is a lot
more important than the 15 minutes that we spent in the cartório. the
bishop was like, "don´t worry, this wedding is only to follow the laws
of the country. what really matters is what will happen in one year
when you and moira enter the temple of God to be sealed for time and
eternity. you can be sure that it will be a lot longer and more
important than 15 minutes." and then the difficult stuff happened.
they decided to have their party on Saturday night and the bishop had
promised them a little party in the chapel. the problem? we didn´t
know about the party until Thursday. Yeah...there was LOTS of running.
we had all the responsibility of a party for them on our shoulders. We
talked with organizations (relief society, quorum, ward mission
leader, etc.) but even so, we didn´t have many results. But we had
lots of faith. We kept going and preparing and talking with people and
we pulled off a little party for them. Johny told me right at the end:
"As if you hadn´t already done enough for us, you guys put this
together for us. It was so much better than I though it would be.
Thank you for everything." Yeah...we are super heroes. We just don´t
use capes and funny masks. I don´t have that many pictures. Because I
didn´t have my camera. One of my favorite parts about the party was
something I heard Johny say. He was talking with an uncle of his about
the wedding and he said they got married so they could be baptized.
Then his uncle asked why he would do so much just to be baptized. And
Johny responded, "We need to do this. We spend our whole lives looking
for something better, searching for the truth. If you found the truth,
what would you do?" And when his uncle looked a little confused, he
said, "I found the truth. We found the truth that everyone looks for.
How could we not follow that?" good stuff. we got a few addresses from
his family. Oh and Dad...you kinda got me with your April Fool´s Joke.
Like, 65%.

White Clothes:
So on Sunday, I didn´t get to watch all the sessions because I was
running all over the place (including to the other chapel) to get
everything prepared for something more important than a wedding - a
baptism!! So we got everything set up and I went with a guy from the
ward to get baptismal clothes from the other ward. SO great. I missed
conference, but i got to participate in something unforgettable to
Johny and Moira...and to me. I got to baptize Johny and Moira on
Sunday night after the last conference session. Amazing. Moira was
scared...even Johny was way nervous...but everything went smoothly.
Several members stayed after the conference to help with the baptism.
Great.

Other Stuff:

So, what is the story with tyson now? and what about connor? what
happened with him when he went up to utah? that must have been rough
to hear the stuff about mission service.

I wanted to know my blood type just to know. Who knows....someone will
need O+ blood one day in Brazil.

I want to go to Florida with you guys and play golf. Why didn´t I get
the invite? I guess the Waterfalls were pretty great...but that
doesn´t mean that I can´t desire more. We went because we baptized
more in our district than any other zone or district. So we went and
Foz went with us. We soaked people in the waters of baptism...and the
waterfalls drenched us. That was fun. good thing I didn´t have to use
my camera to take pics. it woulda got way wet.

I definitely miss those waffles on conference morning. dang...trunkyyy

so i don´t know what day i will go home. i will call the secretaries today.

how did things go at ASU? what will my new major and stuff be? were
you able to talk with the people there?? need to know.

so i love you all a ton. this email is way long. i hope i covered
everything. have an awesome week. let the spirit of conference stay
with you at all times. when the choir sang "the spirit of God," i felt
the spirit so strong. i remembered the first time that i ever went to
priesthood session with dad and blake as a deacon. everyone sang that
song standing up. that was one of the most spiritual moments of my
life. i felt that same spirit this last Sunday. it was an experience
that i can say that i was overcome and full of the spirit. the feeling
was indescribable. i love conference and i love the gospel.

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Thirty

2011-04-01T15:59:00.000-07:00

Don´t worry. I am okay. Everyone take a deep breath.

Yeah. so okay. what is goin on with everyone? is everyone happy? healthy?

Scripture: Moroni 7. good stuff.

So I had physiotherapy all last week and it will continue this week.
Based on the X-rays, a stress fracture that happened when i was still
at home (one of the many times that i came home with a rolled ankle
that i never let heal) became inflamed and irritated. It happened
because of the impact combined with weight and a shoe that isn´t built
to walk thousands and thousands of miles. So, the stress fracture that
had partially healed before the mission was going to fracture again.
Thankfully, it wasn´t able to fracture because I noticed the pain. So
all of this adds up to what?
1. I am currently doing physiotherapy.
2. I am not supposed to walk, but I kinda just laughed and told my doctor
that this wouldn´t be possible.
3. I took medicine last week and I am
currently using two machines to decrease the inflammation and pain.
4. I am still wondering why this happened after a year
and a half of my mission.
5. No one needs to worry...I am taking care of business.
So, I will continue working and I will probably finish my pyhsiotherapy
next week. I brought my ankle braces that i used to play basketball
with me. So if there is any necessity, I will use them.

Dad-

So that is awesome to hear about your project, Dad. I hope that you
are able to rock it in Florida. Maybe the humidity will help you to
feel a little closer to your son in Brazil.

Is Scott excited to go to the temple? Why has it taken so long? Was he
doing the preparatory class? Has Katy gotten better?

I am super sad that i wasn´t able to help pull weeds. I bet Lauren
would have helped pull at least 79 of them. I have gotten used to
Brazilian weeds and service projects...meaning that Arizona weeds
won´t even compare.

I am gunna be honest. That was a blow to the gut when you said that
Tyson came home. WHAT HAPPENED?? How did he give up after so long?
Hasn´t it been 6 months already? Did he come home because his friends
were giving up? I need to write Jack. And Hyrum.

Mom-

Hey Mom, how was that conference? Did everything go well? As for
dinner reservations...i can mark my reservations right now. I will be
eating dinner frequently in your kitchen...in a while.

I will not give my opinion publicly about that thing that you said
about that one thing. If you understand my meaning. But i think i will
agree with you. Whatever is best is what i am rooting for. So i hope
that everyone can be happy.

What is Clear Channel? Why does Stuart want to work there?

I AM SO PSYCHED FOR THE WEDDING!!! Johny and Moira were getting kinda
nervous but I got Johny on Sunday and took him into the bishop´s
office to get everything settled. We are gunna have the wedding on
saturday at 10:00 AM. and then we are going to have conference on
saturday and sunday and so they are going to push the baptism to a day
during the week. and then we will have a little party for them and
invite everyone from the ward. it will be good. unfortunately i will
not be able to dance with anyone. maybe i can do that one chicken
dance from all the church dances from back in the day?

This nonsense in Libya is definitely annoying. I hope that they get it
under control quick. Because the USA doesn´t have enough money for
more wars.

Moe-

So jackson got his first taste of a milkshake huh? boa sorte. já era.
he will only want chocolate now. that is why i blame dad for my sweet
tooth. i am 100% certain that it was him who gave me a taste of
chocolate or ice cream when i was 6 or 7 months old.
but what can you do?

If you think your legs are white....what would you call mine? that was
just a rude comment. all around rude. and just so you know...i am the
only person you know that LOVES mondays. because it is p-day.
missionaries are the only race of people that like mondays. woohoo!!!

Lauren-

i hope you get the email i sent to you.

Blake-

eu acho que você precisa tomar cuidado. e o elder piano quer falar
para você que você precisa tomar cuidado com suas danças da pizza. se
vc conseguir entender, pode me falar. porque eu tô por fora agora. mas
eu amo vc. e seja feliz.

so i am super psyched for conference. last one of the mish. but that
means that it will be the best. and i will be able to be more
spiritually prepared.

oh yeah...i forgot to explain why we are using internet today and not
yesterday. so it goes like this. yesterday, we had to leave at 4:00 AM
to get a bus at 5:30 AM to Foz do Iguaçu. Right around 8:00 AM we were
at the terminal and getting another bus. Right around 8:40 AM I was
changing clothes and putting on some comfortable walking shoes. And
right around 9:30 AM I was on the trail of one of the natural wonders
of the world. If you weren´t able to understand, I saw the biggest
waterfalls of my life yesterday. :) It took a year and seven months,
but i went to the Falls. And holy crap....they were AMAZING. Like,
WOW. Email definitely doesn´t do them justice. I had so much fun. We
saw the biggest waterfalls on Earth. And there were lots of people
from other countries. An elderly gentleman from England didn´t
understand all the other missionaries speaking in portuguese but then
when i asked if he needed help in english he looked at me and was
like, "Why don´t you speak English ALL the time??" And I really just
wanted to tell him that he had a weird accent. I figure that is what
people told me for the first 6 months in Brazil. He deserved the same
thing. But instead, i just took a picture for him. And there were 3
girls from Canada - a set of twins - that really liked talking with me
and an elder from California. So we just told them to have fun in
brazil and we booked it...President was watching. haha but we weren´t
flirting. it is very difficult to talk about the gospel in english
now, though.

but anyway. i took lots of pictures even though i didn´t have my
camera. i will get all those pics don´t worry. i gotta go. i love you
all. have an awesome week. peace out :)

elder scott ghormley

P.S. I need to know my blood type. thank you :)

Year Two, Letter Twenty-nine

2011-03-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

hey there.

scripture: Ether 4: 17 - 19

so that is bomb that BYU got back into basketball. it has been a while
since they have been active there. i hope they do well.

the doctor took some x-rays and said that there is a possible stress
fracture in my left ankle. i am taking some medicine called celebra. i
don´t know what it is in english. today i have physical therapy
(physiotherapy) in a clinic. i don´t know if it is actually fractured.
on wednesday, i will go to the university here and i will go to the
physiotherapy center. i think that i will be fine. don´t worry about
it for now. i think that if it was fractured, i would know. for now we
are working.

johny and moira went to church this last sunday. raulino and elaine
went as well. i am super psyched for them. keep praying for them.
they need to stay strong.

me and pianoman are good. we are working well together. he is way
timid. he doesn´t take the initiative. so i have to do everything when
it comes to planning. in the lessons, he doesn´t do much to break the
ice or to get friendly with the people. he just teaches the part that
he needs to teach and stays super quiet. but we are good friends. he
doesn´t cause problems or anything.

my camera broke. something happened with the zoom or something. so i
left it in a shop to get looked at. they are going to give me a quote
today. is that the right way to use the word "quote?" haha but i hope
that it is something cheap to fix.

that is cool that you got your project done dad. how are the results so far?

what is going on in Libya? what is the purpose? why are there forces
from the States and Europe going against them?

morgan, i liked jack´s pictures. does he use a tie already? he could
teach a few kids in the ward here. the majority of the kids don´t even
know how to behave. it is kinda annoying. lol but what can ya do? we
have one of the biggest attendance rates in the mission. i think it is
the biggest. so we have lots of kids running around causing
distractions.

ummm well that is all for now. i am trying to stay focused. i am
tired. and hurting. but i hope my ankle will be better. and i hope
that i will be able to sleep better. i think i am going to make
brownies today. everyone deserves something tasty.

i love you all. i hope you all have an awesome week. peaceeee

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Twenty-eight

2011-03-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

hey everyone.

so this week is gunna be super quick.

scripture: Mormon 9. The whole chapter is bomb. I loved it.

so the new guy is Elder Miranda. He is Cavalcanti´s comp. He is a
little odd. in some ways. but he is alright so far. he has some odd
tendencies. but we are all chill. me and piano are still tight.

ummmm this week was great. on friday we went to the cartório with
Johny and Moira. we marked their marriage for the 2nd of April. we
taught them about temples, eternal marriage, and eternal families last
night. the president of the quorum and his wife went with us. great
lesson. especially since this last weekend was the temple weekend for
the stake. so they were both excited to talk about their experiences
and stuff. good stuff. johny and moira are awesome. their two
daughters are 4 and 2.

we had to travel to londrina on friday night because on saturday, we
had a meeting with an area seventy. his name is really odd and i
forgot it at the moment. but it was a good conference. sister tavares
gave my favorite talk to be honest. it was about faith. it was a great
talk. she was talking about the fruits of our missions and how they
depend on faith. good stuff.

i had the worst haircut up until this point in brazil on
thursday. i had to cut my hair for the conference. but now i am just
sad that lauren can´t buy a ticket to brazil and back to cut my hair.
lauren! don´t lose your hair cutting abilities. i will need them.

my ankle starting hurting really bad outta nowhere last week. along
with my ingrown toenails, that means bad news. the fungus/disease in
my toes is micose. meaning that it is slowly eating away at my nails.
i bought some medicine, but i don´t know how long it takes to get
better.

i don´t really have a lot of new news this week. we taught an awesome
lesson last night. this guy named Luciano had prayed to know how to
change his life and what he needed to do to become better on saturday.
and on sunday we showed up. he was crying as we taught him about the
restoration. he told us that he knew it was a miracle and that God
wanted him to do this. He has problems with alcohol for sure. that
much is a fact because he told us last night. the guy has had an
incredibly difficult life. like, he was a drug-dealer, he was already
in prison. he has already used lots of drugs. but he was an awesome
guy. so we will see where that can take us.

but i am good. i am jealous that Dad gets to play golf. i am glad that
Dave got my letter. i hope that he can come back to church. i'm glad
that you are getting that project done dad. i bet it will be
spectacular when it is finished. what is it exactly? haha

i am glad that people are getting over that cold. sounds nasty. i saw
little Jackson´s nose in that picture and it looks like he was
suffering with a very, very runny nose. i hope that you can lose your
3 pounds Morgan. We had an arm wrestling tournament on our way home
from Londrina. It was like a 8 hour trip, so people decided to have
fun and arm wrestling was our resort. i lost one time. My final
record was 17 and 1. My loss came at the very end. after i had beaten
EVERYBODY, who comes to the plate? the idaho boy. he reminds me a lot
of TJ. but my arms are still tight. i guess that means the gym will
destroy me at home.

megan is back on the radar eh? hey blake...cuidado com [essa moça]
menino....sua alma está em jogo. If you can tell me from what movie
that phrase comes, i will have to buy you ice cream when i get back.
lol

well...being the only american has definitely showed me one
thing....my portuguese is bomb. like, spectacular. people don´t ask me
if i am american anymore. they know i am a foreigner. but they
generally ask if i am from some other south american country. i just
tell them that i am from rio grande do sul. and that i am a gaúcho.

soooooo i guess that is all i have to say for now. i really want to
play golf. or any other sport really. basketball. or football (the
REAL football). baseball. fishing. i hope that the PGA is interesting
this year. i am curious to know what it will end up like. does tiger
woods still exist? what happened with him? is he going to be a threat
at any other point in his career?

well i love you guys. i thank you for all of your prayers and for your
support and for everything that you do to help me. i hope you have a
tubular week. say "oi!" to people there. love you all. peace!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Twenty-seven

2011-03-03T12:06:00.000-08:00

hey there everybodyyyy.

alright so scripture is: D & C 123: 7 - 14 talking about the
persecution that the saints suffered in the beginning of the
restoration

so we had transfers today. elder fellows left. there will be one more
brazilian getting here tomorrow. elder cavalcanti is pretty concerned
because everyone says that this elder that will be getting here is a
little feminine. as in..way gay. i dunno. i never met the kid so i
have no clue. but whatever. me and elder piano are gunna be here for
one more transfer at least! i will be in the house as the lone
american. oh well.

i had to go to the podiatrist again this afternoon. my nails are just
bleh. she said that when i get home i will have to do that same
surgery that dr. shockey did on my toe. i guess it would make
things a lot easier. she said that he did the treatment perfectly. so
i guess i will do that when i get home.

i guess the final decision for school will have to be a transfer
early. i will tell the secretaries that i will be going a home a
transfer early. so mom, that is my answer. i will be coming home in
the beginning of july.

i am sorry that you guys had so many problems with all the rain and
gutters and stuff. i hope that you both get better. i hope EVERYONE
gets better! everyone has colds. so mom, dad, morgan, stuart, jackson,
and everyone else with colds....GET BETTER! :)

i hope that denver, jackson, and tyson are all good. jackson sent me a
message this week. he is alright. he is a great missionary. i will
need to get in touch with tyson. i hope that their family is okay. i
hope that they can all find strength in the gospel.

joão´s baptism was great. he didn´t like the cold water. haha but it
was great. the whole family went. the ward fell through. they didn´t
help very much with the baptism. the bishop is doing so much stuff all
by himself and both of his counselors and our ward mission leader
all dropped out. but we are going to have a family home evening
tonight with joão and the family.

we are still working with johny and moira, but this transfer, we will
probably handle everything with the marriage and baptism. pretty great
huh?

we taught raulino and elaine and elaine said that she wants to take
things slowly. i guess she got scared when anatholy (our elders quorum
president) started telling them that they needed to be baptized that
weekend that he met them. yeah forcing baptism on someone is pretty
ridiculous.

i hit 1 year and 6 months this last weekend on saturday. dang. i guess
it has been a while huh?

stuart...i am not skeletor. it just isn´t the right word choice. but
thanks for the info about wonder woman. that will be an excellent tv
show. big crowds.

blake...freak man. i haven´t been getting your emails then. i wasn´t
saying that you weren´t writing. i just figured you were busy or
something. but this is the first email i have got from you in a while.
do you send them to this email all the time? dude...i was thinking
about an email that you sent me a long time ago. i think i was in the
ctm still. but you were talking about having fun and being excited on
the mission. dude...people just aren´t excited. i don´t know why. but
it is so annoying. i mean people worry so much about sucking up to
president that they are afraid to tell him that we aren´t out here to
NOT have fun. we are supposed to have fun. that is a necessity. but
anything you can imagine to do for "fun" is prohibited. i dunno man.
but what can ya do? i just keep going. and i will keep working. it
isn´t like we can change much about that. anyway. how is school going
man? what are you studying to be now?

lauren...i was super happy with the news that you sent me :) keep
doing your best and working hard. i guess i will be coming home in
july. thanks for reminding me of harry potter. that will be nuts. lol.
i don´t really maintain contact with the guys. it has been a long time
since i have heard from them. but i hope they are all doing great. how
is work goin for ya now? and friends and dating and such?

well i am good. i mean i am tired. and it is hot. but i am healthy.
and me and piano man are doin alright. i hope that i can have some
more success this transfer. i guess i am gunna head out for now. i
love you all. thanks for everything and the support and stuff. i hope
you have an awesome week and you all get better!! tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Twenty-six

2011-02-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

wow...well this is gunna be quick.

scripture: Luke 10: 2 - 3, 9 - 12

i can´t believe that Grant died. How is Denver? any news about him?
and what about Jackson and Tyson?

So this last week was busy. We had a flood in our house. We had to
call the plumber to fix it. The one drain in our apartment clogged and
so the kitchen and laundry area were under water.

So i was thinking a lot about school. I still don´t have an answer. I
have talked with lots of people. President was here for interviews. My
interview was fine. This was the biggest topic. He let me talk with
you guys about school to resolve everything. it still is in the
process. I don´t know what to do.
elder yuma wants me to stay till the end. but his school doesn´t start
until september. i have been studying my patriarchal blessing. based
on certain things that i read and felt, i believe that i need to
follow those feelings. i am planning on coming home a transfer early.
it is definitely not what i want to do, so it is still subject to
change. but my preliminary decision is that. i will be coming home one
early. otherwise, i wouldn´t even be able to breathe between school
and mission. so i think that is the best option.

my toes are okay. i went to the podiatrist. i have a fungus on the two
big toes and an ingrown nail on the right one. it was ugly. good thing
the podiatrist was super cute. it dulled the pain a little bit. i am
sure it was because of that. but don´t worry. i didn´t flirt or do
anything. i figured that the moment wasn´t right. i mean...she was
cutting and it was hurting so bad.

we have joão set for baptism this weekend. the bishop almost cried
when we announced it in sacrament meeting. he never imagined that this
would happen, but we reactivated João, his mom Roberta, and his
grandma Genesí. Bomb. we are super psyched about that. Bishop called
president to ask him to leave us all here for this next transfer. he
loves the 2 companionships here.

johny and moira are great. we just need to finish the things with the
marriage and then we are set. i am super happy for them.

indianara got rid of that dude who she was dating. so we have a potential there.

me and pianoman are good.

i hope that you guys aren't working too much in the yard now. sounds
pretty busy. golf season is under way! woohoo! i am going to miss my
last masters :) and the NBA all star game sounds nuts.

well i gotta run. sorry for the short email. MORGAN! yes, i liked the
valentine´s day email. especially since it was my last valentine´s day
without a kiss :) haha but i am glad that you are doing well! will you
take me to that steakhouse? i am also going to cut my hair! all 6 mm
of it.

alright i love you guys. i think that my decision with school is the
right one. every one is free to send me advice. this week i will
probably have permission to check my email one more time. i will ask
president. so everyone can give me their bit of advice. i love you
all. thank you for everything and for the support. have an AWESOME
week. peace out! tchau

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Twenty-five

2011-02-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

heyyyyyyy

scripture: Ether 4: 11 -12

this has to be quick. i took a long time reading stuff.

i am good. my ingrown toenail is so retarded. literally. i think that
is a part of my body that was cursed with a lack of normalness. toes.
NO ONE LIKES TOES. Don´t tell me you like them, because you would be
lying. It is a fact. TOES ARE NOT LIKEABLE. Particularly toe NAILS.
They suck.

alright so it has been raining for 16 days straight. it is a fact. you
can read my journal. rain. rain. rain. Result? Lots of work needing to
be done that never gets done.

People:

Johny and Moira. Spectacular. Love them. We taught about fasting. They
are going to fast with us. Then Moira asked how she can give her
tithing in church because she said that when she was "talking with
God" she told Him that she would pay her tithing if she could just get
some kind of job. She got a job. She wants to keep her promise. BOMB!

Raulino and Elaine. They didn´t go to church. I don´t know why. We
have not been able to talk with them since Friday. Their schedules are
way rough.

Wesley. He cut us. His aunt and uncle suck. They were saying a bunch
of crap to him behind our backs. So he backed out. That was way sad to
me. He believes everything we said but they started saying crap. The
sin will be on their heads.

João. Also didn´t go to church. I don´t know why. I imagine that it
was because of the rain. That is a fairly normal excuse.

Our p-day sucks. we can´t do ANYTHING. we are living under hundreds of
rules. we can´t play any kind of sport, including soccer. we can´t
watch any movies if they don´t have the name of the church. we used to
be able to watch disney animation movies. We can´t anymore. We can´t
go to members´ houses and participate in activities with them. We
can´t do anything. We had the highest baptism average in cascavel and
president promised that each month, the zone or district with the
highest average wins a p-day with him. so we get to do some kind of
fun activity. he decided to forget about that, so we haven´t got to
have a zone p-day. i didn´t realize that p-day meant: study, use
internet, eat lunch, clean house, study and sleep.

IT IS MY LAST VALENTINE´S DAY IN BRAZIL! hey dad and mom...next
valentine´s day...i am going to kiss someone. :) but for now...happy
single awareness day.

I really liked both of your talks. And thinking of a yard with a
putting green and a driving range and golf lab made me trunky. I like
the idea of encouraging older couples to serve missions. There are
certain people that would feel a lot more comfortable with letting an
older couple into their house to talk about the gospel instead of two
young men. i would say that the most important thing that exists to
us, as missionaries, is member missionary work. when we receive a member
reference (referral) we have a much higher chance of helping that
person become converted. they have a friend - a foundation - to help
them into the church. it is so much more effective than tracting.

work was tough, but elder piano and i are good.

schoooool. alright i believe that the scholarship can be deferred
until january of 2012 strictly for missionaries. 5 semesters is
allowable for missionaries. i think that my option now would be to
wait because there is a lot of stuff that i would have to do to start
in august. and it is an entire transfer - 6 weeks - that i would need
to go home early. that would put me in the house right in the first
week of july. i need to talk with counselors and all that stuff.
there is lots of stuff that i would need to do and i don´t know if i
would be able to accomplish it all in a few weeks...

alright my time is up. i gotta run. i love you guys a ton. thank you
for everything! i hope this weeks is better. and that you all have an
awesome week! tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Twenty-four

2011-02-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

hey everyone. this is probably gunna be quick. we´ll see.

scripture: Luke 9: 23 - 27

alright so we did a mission-wide fast for 4 things. 1: to show our
gratitude to Heavenly Father for helping us to reach our goal last
month. 2: to pray that the huge amount of american missionaries that
haven´t gotten their visas can pass through. 3: to do something that
most people thought was impossible...reach 125 baptisms this month.
that means that in Cascavel, we have to help at least 13 people enter
into the waters of baptism. we are busting our butts in my area to
help at least 5 people this month. 4: to help the missionaries with
health problems. and my personal motive: repentance. i don´t know
everything that happened with Ferreira, but he went to another area.
he didn´t get sent home. i was fasting so that i could repent, move
on, and forget about how our companionship ended.

my new comp is Elder Piano. no, he doesn´t play the piano. he has been
on the mish for 10 + months. i love this kid already. i don´t know if
it is just because i had to go 7 weeks without smiling, laughing,
having fun, enjoying myself, enjoying the work, etc. or if it is
because this kid is awesome that i am having so much fun. we laugh a
ton. we work and we actually enjoy it. we were completely rejected
yesterday by some dude from the adventista church and we brushed it
off and laughed and had fun for the rest of the day. basically, this
kid fits perfectly in our house. he is from the same city as elder
cavalcanti. they knew each other before the mission. he is from feira
de santana.

elder cavalcanti didn´t get burned about elder ferreira. president
just doesn´t let anyone travel alone. and cavalcanti had to go to
londrina anyway. so they just took advantage of the opportunity.
ferreira has been causing problems ever since the beginning of the
mish. if he acts up again, i think he will get sent home. but the
shortage of missionaries could cause problems.

João Victor was confirmed this week. he is 10. we are trying to
complete the family. his aunt is already a member. we taught him about
fasting this week. he told his "mom" that if she wanted to stop
drinking coffee and quit smoking, she would have to fast and ask God
to help her. he is going to fast so that he can take a book of mormon
to the prison and bear his testimony to his real mom and give her the
book. she is in prison for burglary and drug use. so his "mom" and
aunt take care of him. his aunt was baptized a few months ago.

Johny and Moira are progressing. I might buy a cake or something for
them for their marriage :). the Bishop told them not to worry about a
party, because the ward would handle it :) Raulino and Elaine are also
great. Raulino went to church yesterday, but their son got sick, so
Elaine stayed home. She is going to be more difficult. She is very,
VERY catholic. But, she went to church already and saw the difference.
They are awesome, among others that we are teaching.

I am sorry that things didn´t go very well with the lesson with Suzy.
Something that the general authorities are implementing in missionary
work is the baptismal invite right at the beginning in the first
lesson. But we are still supposed to follow the Spirit. So i hope that
the sisters can understand that. it is true that there are lots of
things that we simply accept and don´t really question why others
wouldn´t understand. the sisters need to focus on a very
straightforward and simple teaching tactic. tell them that they
wouldn´t survive 2 minutes against that guy from adventista. i am
kidding....don´t tell them that. they would get sad. but i was
impressed with how much knowledge we can gain when the spirit just
teaches you and shows you what to say and do.

We are trying to divide the ward here and we are in the
process of organizing neighborhood family home evenings. you guys
could try that for more union between members and also the opportunity
for investigators to get to know members in a less-formal way.

I have a fun fact: that "Extra: Polar Ice" gum that i got for
Christmas of 2009 finished this week. Wowzers. I like to take my time,
huh?

mom, i wanted to ask: did you say that you sent 2 packages for
christmas? because i don´t know if i read incorrectly. so was it 2
that you sent? i was curious. did grandpa and grandma get my letter
yet?

okay...here is some important stuff. School.

FIRST. This thing of going home a couple weeks early doesn´t happen.
If you go home early, you go home a transfer early. we can´t just ask
for a couple weeks anymore. i will call the mission president and talk
with him and ask.
SECOND. i do not want to continue with biochemistry i don´t think.
i need another outlet or route towards medical school.

THIRD. THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT. for my scholarship, it gives me up to
5 semesters. meaning that i can miss 2 and a half years. so i NEED
your help. PLEASE call ASU and ask if my scholarship can be moved up
until the next semester. if it is possible, perfect. that time between
getting home and starting school could be dedicated to some basic
courses to get my brain back into school mode. i think that if i were
to go home and immediately start school, i would have a meltdown in my
brain.

i think another important note is that i really want to finish my
mission. thank you all for your support and your love. i hope that you
have an awesome week.

elder scott ghormley

p.s. please get back to me on the scholarship info and stuff. i will
try and get the info from president this week.

Year Two, Letter Twenty-three

2011-02-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

hey. dang. lots and lots....and lots of stuff to report.

scripture: D&C 63: 57 - 60

so the start of the transfer was odd. ferreira and cavalcanti had
their blow-up. but things were going alright. then we had our weekly
planning on friday. and that just wasn´t good. during planning i was
doing everything alone and i told ferreira that it wasn´t just my
responsibility and that he needed to pay attention and help and then
when i looked up again he was just sitting there messing around with
some stuff on his desk that had nothing to do with our planning. so i
lost my patience. i grabbed the honking cow (it is about 5 inches
long) and threw it on his desk to get his attention and he started
crying and whining and told me that he wouldn´t continue because he
couldn´t feel the spirit.

so i took a few deep breaths and then apologized and asked if we could
do our comp inventory in the other room to not distract the other
elders. so he started whining again and saying that he wouldn´t leave
and that he wouldn´t do comp inventory with me. so after more deep,
deep breaths i told him that we would be doing the inventory in the
other room and i wasn´t asking or inviting. so then when we go to the
other room he called president tavares. he started telling president
that i was very rude and that i offended him and that i was calling
him names (he said that i called him "black" and a "robber" which
isn´t true at all). he said i was trying to force him physically
because of my size. so i talked with president and explained that i
lost my patience during weekly planning and that was my fault and the
other stuff that was going on. but then we had a conference call with
all of us and when i said that i never called ferreira any names and i
never threatened him physically, president asked ferreira why he had
said that and ferreira didn´t have an answer. i just explained what
actually happened and the mistakes on both sides.

then, ferreira just said, "I won´t work in Cascavel anymore." So
president started explaining that on the mission, we don´t handle
situations in this way. then ferreira said, "President, you will
either transfer me or give me a new comp or else i won´t work in
cascavel." And then President just started the burning. He basically
said, "I am the President of this mission, and I act under direct
revelation from our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I don´t act or
make decisions based on the complaints of a missionary who is trying
to avoid his responsibilities and duties. I will not change everything
in the transfer that just occurred through revelation just for one
missionary´s desire to run away from his problems." so then he asked
me what i had done as senior to try and fix the problem and i
explained that i tried to do the comp inventory but ferreira didn´t
listen to me. so then i asked president what we could do about our
appointments that day because we had some very important ones. and
pres asked if ferreira had some idea or suggestion and he just kept
complaining. so pres was like, "i am not asking for your complaints, i
want an idea of what you can do to teach these people." and ferreira
just retorted, "i won´t work in cascavel." so president just said,
"okay, then. wait for a couple minutes while i get a hold of your
stake president." this is the third time that ferreira has caused
problems with comps. so after a long conversation, president called
back and we said prayers together. then president just said for me to
keep working and trying to do everything i could to help prepare our
investigators for baptism and that he would call that night. so we
taught a few lessons and then president called me and explained that
my comp would be traveling on monday (today). so ferreira is
currently on a bus on his way to Londrina with his bags. signs point
to one thing: he is giving up. i don´t know why this kid is the way he
is. i talked a lot with him about the importance of enduring and he
just didn´t care.

so now i am with elder fellows and ferreira and cavalcanti are
traveling to londrina. i guess some prayers were answered in one way
or another. i really feel bad about everything that happened. i mean i
know it isn´t my fault, but i don´t feel good about it. talk about an
interesting first week. but that isn´t all!

yesterday, we had a double baptism in our ward! we had João Victor´s
baptism and the other elders had Cristian´s baptism. that was awesome.
João´s family went and he was super excited and all kinds of stuff. i
was the one who performed the baptism and that was cool. some people
didn´t show up who said they would, but it was an awesome meeting.

we also found an amazing family. their names are Raulino and Elaine.
they are amazing. they live across the street from our ward mission
leader. i made a contact with her in front of the house one day and
then we finally went back and it was an awesome lesson. they went to
church yesterday and they loved it. so now we are working with them
and with a large group of others. we are working with Johny and Moira,
as well. they are great. we talked a little about the gospel of Jesus
Christ with them and when we got to baptism, i asked what it would be
that would hold them back from being baptized and they recognized the
need for marriage. i told them we want to help them with any
necessity. great lesson.

ummmm what else?? WE GOT OUR RECORD/GOAL! it has been over a year that
our mission hasn´t been able to baptize more than 100 in a month. so
we started January with a fast and fervent prayer to be able to reach
this goal. last night after closing our numbers, we had a mission
conference via cell phones. President was so psyched when he told us
that we acheived our goal!!!! We were able to help 106 children of God
enter into the waters of baptism!!!! our district, cascavel, had the
highest average! we have 3 companionships, but we were able to baptize
with a higher average than any other zone or district. this is the
first time since november of 2009!

morgan...i really am jealous that i can´t meet my nephew. i wanna play
with him. but i don´t want to eat his cheeks - i still don´t
understand why everyone says they want to eat and chew on baby cheeks.
that is just rude.

mom and dad...the whole thing with school is nuts. i might have to
miss that semester. i might have to just start in the spring semester
of 2012. i can´t imagine being prepared for school without 2 seconds
to breathe after finishing the mission.

mom...i know you were praying for me to be patient, but i guess what
happened had to happen. i will probably be receiving a new companion
soon. i don´t know if i should feel guilty or if i did something
wrong?? like, i don´t know if it is my fault that ferreira is like
this or if i could have done something more to help him?

i can´t believe that you cut your finger dad. i mean...if it was
someone who didn´t know how to work with tools, i could understand.
but this is something that should never happen. and then you slammed
it in the door?!?! yikes. i hope it doesn´t damage the golf game. is
the finger feeling better? did you get it stitched up??

that is so cool that you found out about Wade´s girlfriend, suzy! i
hope she can accept the missionaries and that she can have the desire
to follow the spirit. i bet you guys will really enjoy the lessons. i
hope jake can participate as well! how is he doing? tell him to write
me an email! is he still staying strong in the church and such?? i am
way glad to hear that you guys are searching out mission
opportunities. it makes me feel like the blessings from missionary
work are going both ways!

so our ward baptism goal is three? that is good to see that the church
is strong in arizona. our goal in cascavel is to divide the ward
before june. or at least be eligible for division. as you can
imagine, that falls on the missionaries. so we have got the attendance
rate here from 140 - 145 to a fairly constant 165 - 170. our goal
before june? 210. we have a lot of potential here. Isaías received the
priesthood yesterday and started doing family home teaching! so
awesome!

i am glad that you guys are busy at work! me, too! i hope that the
work in the house doesn´t increase too much! don´t do too much demo
work dad :)

alright, well i am gunna head out. i need some advice with respect to
school. i don´t know what i should do. i need to finish my mission and go
home with my group. what is the advice for school? and how will i be
able to worry about registering classes and stuff? because i am
thinking of changing my major from biochemistry. i need to know a game
plan...

i love you guys a ton. thank you for everything you do for me. thanks
for the love and support. i am praying for you guys always. hope you
guys have a tubular week. peace out from brazil! tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Twenty-two

2011-01-25T08:25:00.000-08:00

hey everyone. so how´s it goin? news...

scripture: D&C 132: 20 - 25

wow so where to start?

first email i read this week was from morgan. and yes, morgan, i got
the email and the pics.

second was from mom.

it has definitely been a while since i have seen brad. and i don´t
think i have ever met his girlfriend. but i still exist in arizona. i
am not there. but people still talk about me. i guess i am super
popular :)

Isaías was awesome. unfortunately some stuff happened with wesley and eduardo
and they didn´t want to be baptized anymore. but then i figured we had
to at least try and rescue wesley because he is older and more firm in
his decisions. so we went there and talked with them and then Wesley´s
mom got there and started telling us that everything we were teaching
made such perfect sense. the things that wesley and eduardo weren´t
sure about were things that she believed and now she wants to go to
church. meaning that she will be able to help wesley. the problem?
they travelled this weekend i think so they didn´t go to church. :(

Johny and Moira are spectacular. seriously. Johny went to church for
the 2nd time yesterday and said that he wasn´t even able to describe
what he felt but it was so different from any other church he visited.
when he was leaving he was like, "See ya next Sunday, Bishop." and so
bishop elizeu that went there with us one time already was way happy.
Johny is awesome. they still need to get married, but i have a little
experience with this so we are gunna help them.

yes, cascavel is hilly. and huge. it is a gigantic city. my shoes are
still protecting my feet. i think at least. haha

i love teaching about the scriptures. we taught Isaías about daily
scripture study this last week. we are probably gunna go to his house
tonight, as well.

andddd TRANSFERS. yeah...everyone can exhale. i am staying in
cascavel. and everyone can continue praying. because ferreira is gunna
stay here with me. president wants to see if i can help him be happier
and more excited. which will be more difficult after last night. there
was a blow up in our house last night. one elder from the other
companionship was talking with me and ferreira said something
sarcastically or something like that and they started arguing and then
yelling and i think there was some kind of name-calling (you never
know with some of these missionaries from up north - some of their
name-calling is pretty weird). so ferreira got the cell and called
president and was crying and whining that he felt really offended and
that he wouldn´t be able to feel the spirit. i don´t blame the other
elder. ferreira is impossible. i don´t know how i have lasted so long.
blessings i guess. but after 6 weeks of holding in, the other elder
exploded. but i mean...i guess it will be okay? i guess i can try a
wet willy on ferreira, dad. we will see where it gets us.

anddd dad.

alright first off, i can´t believe that the number is 75. holy cow.

i am glad sports have stopped mattering to me. lol. but i am sorry
that our family members' teams fail. dad...i don´t know if it was
supposed to be funny, but when you said "but i do have a Green Bay
helmet downstairs..." i laughed for like 5 minutes. good stuff.

i wish i coulda been there for the birthday festivities. vacuum huh?
dang blake...do you feel old yet? remember when that present used to
be legos?

dad...i am sorry that the yard got dirty again. imagine the apartment
here. 4 guys. 20-years-old. yikes. i clean the bathroom and 2 days
later it looks like it never had been touched. imagine what it would
look like if it really hadn´t been touched!!!!

i can´t wait to play golf again with you dad. if i shoot below 100,
will you buy lunch?

morgan. again. lol

i am reading the ensign as well. i love the talks. i read "Safety for
the Soul" by Jeffrey R. Holland. Oh wow. read it. i dare you. it is
spectacular.

when i start going to a gym again...i can´t even imagine what i'll feel
like. that is all i can say about that. but i am sure you aren´t fat.
i mean...i can´t be certain. but i think you will survive.

i can´t believe Jackson is already almost 5 months old. i love the
pictures you send of him. it makes me feel like i am actually an
uncle. i hope the clothes work for more than 3 weeks. and tell him to
roll over for me. :)

Lauren! i got your email, too :)

and yes, i am using listerine total care. which is the purple one. my
teeth are feeling a little better. they are still sensitive. but what
can ya do?

the investigators are...coming along. we are preparing quite a few for
baptism. a lot of people we are teaching are part of families that
were baptized but then went inactive. so we have reactivated this girl
named anelise. she is way cool. and cute. but that doesn´t matter. she
is twenty-something so obviously that isn´t going to cause problems.
but anywho. she was way strong in the church but then her family
started becoming inactive and she was the last to leave 3 years ago.
so we found her and she has gone to church the last 2 sundays and now
we are teaching members of the family that weren´t ever baptized. so
that is cool.

i hope everything works out at work! and that you can get a new car. i
think i will try and get a new car one day, too. what car are you
thinking of getting?

thank you for the trunky comments, as well. i mean i definitely have
more than 6 months left on the mission. so don´t be cutting my time
short young lady! i have lots of time left and i will be in cascavel
until at least march. lots of stuff to do still.

i hope that everyone is doing great! i hope that the super bowl is
thrilling. i know it will be for me. i love you all. times a lot.
anywho. lots of people want to visit arizona one day and meet you
guys. i am offering free room and board. but i will start telling them
that they will have to make their own beds. and laundry isn´t
included. sound good?

LOVE YOU GUYS! tchau

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Twenty-one

2011-01-20T14:08:00.000-08:00

hey everyone. what's going on?

my scripture can be Alma 29. the whole chapter. it is way bomb. it is
about missionary work. it kinda helped me to remember some things.

um so this week was tiring. we were running all over the place to
teach and get people prepared for stuff. the end result? ISAÍAS WAS
BAPTIZED! On saturday night, we had an awesome baptismal service.
Isaías was way psyched. He was so happy after his baptism. It was
awesome getting to see that. He is such a humble, great guy. He was
confirmed on Sunday. That was also awesome. He has a firm testimony
that this is the true church. we are going to continue teaching and
strengthening him.

we were also running all over the place to teach wesley and eduardo.
they are being prepared for this week. at least that is our goal. we
want to end this transfer with their baptism. the only problem is that
wesley will be traveling to foz do iguaçu this week. so we won´t be
able to accompany or teach him. :(

we also went to Foz this week. we had a zone conference there.
president asked me to give a talk in the conference about courage and
why we need courage in this work and what we need to do to develop
this attribute of Jesus Christ. It was a good experience. the
conference was good. when we got there, i had this huge flashback of
when i was getting to brazil for the first time. like my first area in
Foz and all that stuff. It was a crazy moment. we ate at a restaurant
that i ate at so much when i was in foz. it was crazzzzy. but that
made work even more difficult.

ummm legal issues are all taken care of. You guys don´t need to worry
about that.

mom, don´t worry about sending me toothpaste. i mean packages are
already way expensive ya know? i haven´t gotten a card from grandma
arlene. but i got the package that grandpa bruce and grandma jackie
sent. it was so nice of them! can you do me a favor and tell them that
i will be sending them a letter this week? i don´t know when it will
get there, but tell them that i will send it this week!

sounds like the dating world is just spectacular. blake and lauren are
thriving huh? i have a close relationship with my journal. i bet that
is the closest thing to a girlfriend i have. i share my deepest
concerns and thoughts with her. sometimes we like to joke around with
each other. my journal really understands my sense of humor. what a
blessing.

ummm i don´t know what else happened. my comp is still a little bleh.
i went on divisions this week just because i couldn´t handle the
negative attitude. i have talked with him several times about it but
he doesn´t change. so i just try to forget about it.

i am way tired. my body is just tired. i mean a year and however many
months of proselyting has really broken my body. but we are gunna keep
going. i love this work. i love investigators who actually have the
desire to progress.

yo blake! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO! i won´t have the opportunity this week
to say anything. so happy birthday. i am sure that megan will give you
your birthday kisses, so i won´t need to. mas espero que seja legal e
que vc não cause muitos problemas :) te amo mano e é provável que eu
vá estar no seu próximo aniversário ;)

we killed the cockroaches this week. it was gross. we have already
found like 50 dead ones. gross.

well i guess i am gunna go. love you guys. i hope you have an awesome
week. lauren...that earthquake business is no good. be prepared. and
pray. LOVE YOU GUYS! tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Twenty

2011-01-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. This email is probably gunna be really quick.

Scripture: 3 Nephi 11: 32 - 41

okay so this week was hectic. on wednesday night i was told that i
would be travelling to Londrina. so on thursday around 11:00, I was on
a bus headed to Londrina. after a 9 hour bus ride, we got there. i had
some legal problems. i had to go with the secretaries to the federal
police station for visa issues. i didn´t have an official protocol.
yikes. so i went to get a protocol and to renew my visa but they told
me i couldn´t without a record of the old protocol. so i had to go to
the civil police station to make a report and then return to the
federal to get a new protocol. lots of running. but that was okay. on
friday night, we were back on a bus around 22:30 and on our way home.
we got back around 5:00 in the morning on saturday and we had to work
the whole day after.

but i am totally chill with that. because i am just loving this area
and our investigators. we have a guy named Isaías. That would be
Isaiah in english. He is a prophet. lol but anywho. he is tight. he
went to church twice. he is marked for baptism this saturday. we
taught him the word of wisdom and last night, we showed up at his
house and he gave me a big bottle of whiskey. i was like uhhh?? but he
goes, "I am not drinking it. I just wanted you to see me throwing this
crap out." So that was great. He watched Eliane´s baptism last night
and is way psyched for his now. we are also teaching 3 young men
(rapazes?) named Wesley, Eduardo, and Lucas. they have all gone to
church and wesley said he wants to go every sunday and Lucas did too.
they are both right around mission-prep age. their brother-in-law is
the young men´s 1st counsellor. awesome. we are teaching quite a few
people that are just way tight. i am loving the work in this area. we
only have a district in cascavel. that means that we only have 3
companionships and we don´t have anything to do with a zone. but we
have already baptized more in our district than the zones, which have
around 9 - 12 companionships. president is thinking about opening up a
zone here.

HEY! DAD, MORGAN, AND STUART! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! save some birthday
cake for me :) it has been a while since i have had cheesecake. :)

i have talked with president about e. ferreira and he just told me to
fight it out and that he is my comp because i can help him. i know
that i can handle it. we gotta work. we have to get these people
prepared for baptism. so he doesn´t have any other choice. i guess
that is one plus of being the senior comp huh? just go and he has to
follow if you are doing the right thing.

dad...thanks for thinking of me on the first tee. i will think of you
the next time i play golf, as well. that will probably only be in my
dreams for a while though. let me know how alta mesa was.

as for my teeth...i am just using regular colgate toothpaste and a
toothbrush from oral b. i floss and use listerine, as well.

blake has a new girly?! oh wowzers. that is cool. i hope
that he doesn´t get too owned when it comes
to sports. that was a joke.

lauren, if you win the biggest loser, will you split the 2 grand with
me? for being your inspiration?? cool thanks!

morgan...i still have trouble rolling over. don´t give jackson a hard
time. but i think i have trouble because of the bed i sleep on. and if
i roll over, i will fall off. so all in all it just wouldn´t be a good
idea for me.

who got the coolest present for the birthday? i prefer the one dad
will get. but that is because no one has told me about other presents.

anywho. i gotta take off. i love you all.

sounds like mom and dad give a killer lesson at church. i wanna see
this class. anywho. so that is all for this week. love you all! stay
classy, san diego! man...too bad no one lives in san diego! stay
classy, mesa and provo! tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Nineteen

2011-01-06T12:48:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Happy 2011! Dang...2010 is over? louco.

so i am just sayin...that blog that morgan made has a picture of the
house that i lived in when i was in Foz do Iguaçu. that means that
since 2009, that picture has been there. i don´t live in Foz anymore.
you can put a picture on Cascavel in there :) haha

scripture: D&C 11: 20 - 21, 24 - 25, 28 - 30. that is all one
scripture of the week.

So this week has been interesting. With Christmas and New Year´s,
missionary work becomes nearly impossible. but we were working still
and there were some blessings. On New Year´s, we were walking to a
neighborhood and some lady called us over and was like, "wow...you
guys work on NEW YEAR´S, too??" so we started talking and it turns out
she has already gone to church several times and even had a nephew or
something like that serve a mission. she didn´t want the missionaries
to come over ever to teach because she didn´t want to involve herself
in the church; but when we started talking i asked if we could write
her address down and teach her about how the church was restored and
how she could follow Christ being baptized like He was and she
accepted. she doesn´t live in our area, but the other elders said that
she was way cool.

we were fasting this last sunday to find people who we could teach who
would hear our message and have a true desire to follow the answer to
their prayers. well...we received quite a few blessings for our fast.
we now have quite a few people to teach, some of which have some
serious potential. we were contacting a reference one day and the guy
i talked with didn´t want anything to do with us. but when we were
leaving, i looked up and saw a lady outside the house on the other
side of the street. i just felt like we needed to talk with her. turns
out that a few months ago, they heard the missionaries and the
missionaries taught a few times and the family even went to church.
but then the missionaries just never went back. they just disappeared.
the family probably needs to be married. but that is okay. the guy -
Juhny - already prayed and received an answer. he even read a few
parts of the Book of Mormon and believes it is true. they are a young
family. yesterday, after lunch, we went there. We met with Moira (the
wife) in the street and she said he was sick. so we went there and he
let us in anyway. he was WAY sick. stomach virus. but we left a
message and explained about priesthood authority to give blessings. he
asked for a blessing and when we were leaving, Moira was like, "hey
wait! are you guys going to come back?" and i just laughed and said, "
well of course we wanna come back!" and she goes, "well the other
times, the missionaries would write it down in that little agenda (our
planners) the time and day that they would return. but one time, they
didn´t mark anything and they never came back. so when will you guys
come back??" so that was pretty cool. i like their family.

we are doin okay here. president is happy with the work and the
attitude that i have but not so much with E. Ferreira. ferreira just
isn´t excited or happy about anything. president and E. Cavalcanti
just keep saying that it is just how he is. but i dunno. it sucks to
work the entire day with someone who doesn´t talk or laugh or smile or
anything. when he teaches, the people are dying. he teaches in the
same, monotonous tone and the people are in some other world when he
teaches. he doesn´t include the people in the lessons and doesn´t
listen to me when i try and help him. he just keeps saying that 2
years of this is going to suck. so i am just trying to do my best to
stay happy.

i am way psyched about this area. it is a huge area, but there is a
lot of hope and potential. my legs are gunna kill me at the end of
each day, but i know that we are going to find a lot of awesome
people. maybe that will get things going for my comp.

my only health problem is that the gums of my teeth are going up if
that makes sense. they are receding. so the nerves of several teeth
are exposed. 2 in particular are hurting a lot. whenever i brush my
teeth, it hurts. the two that hurt a lot are the ones on each side of
the two front teeth. the two that are sharper ya know? so it kinda
sucks but i don´t know what to do.

i love you guys. i loved the pictures, too. jackson is kinda
ridiculous in a good way. he makes me laugh just seeing pics.

morgan - i need a gym a lot more than you :) haha

mom - i really hope that you are feeling better!

dad - i will win in golf. i am just saying it now. i don´t know when i
will have time to get back in form....but i will win :)

blake - do you still use the same email address, criatura??

love you all! happy new year!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Eighteen

2010-12-27T15:34:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-26T22:19:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-14T10:27:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-07T08:01:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-01T13:46:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-22T10:52:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-22T10:49:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-02T09:35:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-22T07:46:00.001-07:00

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.

Year Two, Letter Seven

2010-10-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

hey everyone.

scripture: D&C 68: 2 - 6

umm so how are you all doing? it looks like you have been keeping
pretty busy. sorry that i am sending email so late. let me explain. we
received a phone call this morning from the Assistants. we were
informed that there would be an emergency transfer. one more. everyone
can take a deep breath...because i wasn´t involved in this transfer. i
am still in the same area with elder fernandes. but elder loftus and
almeida were split. almeida is going back to foz do iguaçu. so we were
busy getting everything packed up and going to the bus station with
him and such. so that is why this email is so late. now we have
another american getting here tomorrow.

so let´s get started.

FIRST ITEM OF IMPORTANCE! MEANING "VERY IMPORTANT:" P-DAY WAS CHANGED
AGAIN!!!!!! today is the last p-day that i will have on wednesday. As
of now, MONDAY is our P-DAY. it was changed BACK to monday. so! on
Sunday night, or early morning on monday, you need to send emails.
understood? P-DAY IS MONDAY. this monday will be the first, so you can
write on sunday night!

Jonathan was not baptized :( it is pretty difficult. but Alex and
Jonathan are ready. we did the pre-interview for both of them and they
are ready. Alex is stronger. the problem? we need to get permission
from their parents. so we will be working hard on that. but they are
really special. I feel like they are my younger brothers or something.
I feel like I need to help them to take these steps.

Sérgio is ready for baptism and chose this Saturday for his baptism
date. But, unfortunately, we aren´t COMPLETELY sure if he is keeping
the law of chastity with Sandra. it is just kinda an awkward question,
ya know? but we will be teaching them tonight.

Lillian is doing well, too. she is still working on keeping the law of
chastity, but she wants to go to be baptized, too. we are doing
everything we can to help, but it is delaying a little bit because
this last week was way busy.

Fernandes had a bit of a breakdown last night. We had a meeting with
the Branch President here and Fernandes wasn´t expecting such a
resolutely negative attitude from President Mario. Pres Mario
complained about every single investigator. We were explaining about
Alex and Jonathan and he just looked at us and was like, "You really
think any of these kids have a chance of being firm members?" in a
really rude way. Then with Lillian, he just laughed and said, "You
think that this girl is actually interested in the church? You sure
she isn´t just interested in one of you?" And with Sérgio, he just
goes, "There is no way that he is going to keep the Law of Chastity
with Sandra." I was used to it because Mario has never been supportive
of us in the time that I have been here. But Fernandes was SO ticked
and was almost crying from anger after the meeting. President Tavares
said that this area is going to close if we can´t get the attendance
at church to increase. It is at an average of about 50 or 55 people.

We have interviews with President on Saturday. I think he is going to
talk A LOT with me about the area and what i think the potential is. I
am praying to know what to say and what to do. I know this area and
our investigators have potential, but without the support of the
Branch, there is not much i can do for these people. everyone is just
so dispirited and disheartened. I don´t know how to get them excited.

We have a new curriculum for our teaching methods. we are changing the
way we teach and the way we help the people on their way to
conversion. it is a much more simplified method and it has been quite
good in the lessons that i have taught so far. how are the church
callings going? it was kinda weird the first time that i taught Gospel
Essentials. I wasn´t prepared or anything, but we were able to get an
awesome lesson. i guess Heavenly Father was like, "Oh wow...he is
going to make a fool of himself. Holy Ghost...help him, please..." Oh
yeah, I had a great experience this last Sunday. I got to church and
was informed that i was to give a 10 minute talk about missionary
work. zero preparation. how cool, huh? i talked about President
Brigham Young´s quote in chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel. apparently, it
was a very good talk. I didn´t seem to follow all my plans. I ended up
talking about that quote and how the Christ-like attributes are
essencial to do missionary work as members and such. it was a great
talk. and i actually passed on my time limit. how cool, right?

You guys work so much. But i am so glad for the example you guys have
given me. It is because of you guys that i can work hard here. because
you guys taught me. the family reunion seems like it will be...a
BLAST! but the house will be amazing as always.

I hope Wendy is able to cope with the changes that naturally happen in
our lives. I hope she can find comfort in the gospel.

That is awesome that the Cardinals won with Max Hall starting. talk
about tight. I love my weekly sports updates. I feel really involved
in the sport world. lol.

Um other little things...

In whatever package happens to be sent to me, can it have a tie clip
in it? like a cool tie clip that prevents my tie from flying around
and hitting people´s faces (by "people´s faces," i mean my face) when
the spring breezes blow all over the place. but a cool tie clip would
be splendid.

anyway. so DON`T FORGET! P-DAY IS MONDAY NOW. i guess that is all for now...

I LOVE YOU GUYS! Morgan...people might have thought i was weird for
looking at pictures of a naked baby, but thank you for the pictures of
my nephew :) i hope work is going better for you and that you can get
back into the swing of things. :)

that is all for now. until MONDAY! i love you guys and i hope you all
have a splendid week!!!

Year Two, Letter Six

2010-10-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

hey everyone!

so this week has been different. Like I said, fernandes was gone for

the conference, so we didn´t get to work in my area too often.

unfortunately, that means some things have changed. for example, i

have NO CLUE whatsoever where José Roberto is. I have called and gone

to his house repeatedly, and the guy isn´t ever there. Ever. I don´t

know what I can do for him. I wonder if his break-up with Rosa (the

member he was dating) has been an element in the things that have been

going on. i am not sure if he wants to be baptized or if he was trying

to do something to show Rosa that he changed or something like that.

the guy just disppeared.

Conference was AMAZING. as always. but i am pretty sure that is the

first time in like 8 years that i didn´t watch the priesthood

session...odd. i really wish i had been there, but apparently watching

the prophet and apostles speak directly to the priesthood holders of

the church isn´t a good enough reason to show up a tiny bit later in

the house. but the talks were amazing. i watched the saturday and

sunday sessions. all 4. it was so bomb. the only things missing??

WAFFLES. BACON AND EGGS. OUR FAMILY ROOM. lol but elder loftus and i

were able to work some magic and watch in english again :) i feel

pretty special. i felt the spirit incredibly strong. i feel like the

bigger topics that i was able to pick up were: the importance of our

PERSONAL testimony of the truth (kinda like what you were telling me

in your email mom); the importance of a testimony of the prophets in

our days; and the importance of fortifying the family from the

darkness of the world. it was a great experience.

Lillian and Jennifer went to the conference. They liked it a lot...and

then the member of the Young Women Presidency started talking about

modesty and morality and they felt really awkward. they aren´t exactly

practicing either. Lillian is much more mature and has a bigger desire

to follow the gospel. When we taught the Word of Wisdom and the Law of

Chastity, she was willing to try her best. The other people we were

teaching (including Jennifer) said that it will be too hard. Their

goal? they are going to try and reduce the sexual relationships to

once every 5 days. yes, that is serious. I can wait while you read it

again...

Sergio also went to conference. He loved it. He doesn´t feel prepared

to be baptized yet, and he won´t be in the city this week. But we are

going to work super hard to help him get there soon. He has potential.

He just has to see it.

Alex and "Light" (Jonathan) are doing good. They are progressing. The

Assistants got to our area yesterday. They are here to...I really

don´t know what they are here for. But they worked with us last night.

I went with Elder Galdino. He was with me in Marília. He is tight. So

we already work very well together. We taught Light about baptism and

he wasn´t sure because he was baptized already in the Catholic church.

But we taught a bomb lesson and he said that he will prepare himself

to be interviewed this saturday. He said that if he does well in the

baptismal interview and if he feels good about it, he will be baptized

on saturday. we´ll see. Alex can´t be baptized yet. We are working

with him. But he is awesome. He is reading the Book of Mormon and

praying sincerely. And he and his family love us. Well...me. Because

the first time I went there was with Miller. Then he left and I went

there with Almeida and Loftus. And they don´t work in this area. Then

i went there with Galdino. So they just see me with a bunch of other

missionaries. So they already think i will stay here forever. But we

are working with these two.

We received new material from the first presidency for missionary

work. it is the new curriculum (spelling?) for missionaries. We have

new focuses. We have several things to change and put into practice

and then we will have to report on the changes in the mission and in

our work. it is pretty good. i will be giving a training tomorrow

about the importance of prayer with our investigators. it should be

cool.

THAT IS SICK THAT THE MORMONS BEAT THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS! I am kinda

psyched about that. Is it wrong if i use that as one more testimony

that the church is true? i bet so. blasphemous. but parabéns para

vocês! and i didn´t know that we lost the ryder cup. people don´t

mention golf down here as you can imagine.

as for my comp? he is odd. and he focuses way too much on numbers. but

i am not gunna let him get to me. if i have learned one thing on the

mish, it is that you just need to work and forget about the annoying

stuff. and now i have learned that "tronky" is, in fact, spelled

"trunky." desculpe aí, mom. blake, you can laugh at that. haha :)

the rain here was nuts. i can´t remember when it started. it went for

a while. all i know is that it stopped on monday. imagine how

difficult it was to dry clothes!

morgan and stuart, i am really happy that stuart was able to get that

job! but what do you mean "rock" handshake? stuart can´t possibly have

one of those :) and i hope you can get back on track with work, too,

moe.

dad...i hope that you are able to handle the schedule changes with

your new calling. I just think of it this way...God called you. He

knows you are capable just like I know you are capable. You are the

right person for the calling. God will bless you. I think it is far

easier to say this when you aren´t involved in the situation. haha

mom...what do you mean you will have to bronze our shoes? lol OH! The

package info. Alright so if it is above 50 dollars, it gets taxed. and

i didn´t want a buzzer like the one to actually cut hair. just the one

that blake got with the various attatchments AFTER his mission. I

don´t want to shave my head. it was more for the little maintenance on

sideburns and at the back and stuff. not to actually shave my head

lol. for Christmas?! dang. that is a crazy thought. um my socks are

holding up very well actually. crazy. shirts? no, i will just keep on

with the ones i am using. I saved 3 short-sleeved shirts until my one

year mark. so i think i am good. my shoes? yikes. they have been

through a lot. but i am going to keep going with these shoes. i don´t

know. what were you thinking of sending? just to give me some ideas.

lol.

alright well i am good. other than my elbow which i just hit on the

desk directly on the funny bone. and holy crap, it ISN`T funny.

whoever gave it that name needs to be swiftly kicked in the rear end.

but i am good. and healthy. and just going. i love you all a ton and

never get sick of letting you know that. i miss you all and hope that

you guys have a splendid week. :)

till next week. tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Five

2010-09-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

HEY EVERYONE!!!

sorry for the delay! we started using email and then we had to leave because the lan house decided that it would stop working and all the computers went out. but let´s go.

alright so this week was difficult, but productive in some ways.

it has been raining nonstop since friday night/saturday morning. so that was kinda annoying. we had a bunch of people ready to go to church, and they didn´t go because of the rain. i can´t handle that excuse. but we had a couple girls - Lillian and Jennifer - that went with us. that was cool. Lillian is a great investigator. She has some great questions and she is a lot more mature.

elder fernandes is a lot different. we don´t laugh nearly as much as miller and i. actually, we rarely laugh. ummm we had a conversation a few nights ago that really hit me the wrong way.
he flat out told me that he is a missionary that just worries about numbers. whether or not a person stays strong in the church isn´t his priority. he just wants to have a ton of numbers and that is the only concern he has. he wants to baptize anyone...whether or not they are ready to be baptized. so i kinda burned him a little bit...not too harshly or anything. but i will NOT be a numbers missionary. that isn´t me.

but fernandes is currently in Marília for a conference so i am just staying with elders loftus and almeida. we are going to have so much work to do with our investigators when he gets back. josé roberto is still doing well and sérgio, but they have zero support from the branch here. the branch president was trying to tell us what we were allowed to do and stuff and i basically just said that we have the priesthood keys to teach and baptize the people and that the branch was responsible for retaining the people. he doesn´t like missionaries because of certain missionaries that came through here.

but whatever. we just work...and work...and work. and that is what we gotta do. if people don´t like us, that is their problem. we have some good people that we are teaching, but i hope that they will still be interested after a delay of not teaching them. that is the problem with not being able to go there and teach frequently...the enemy is always working. just pray that our investigators will stay interested!

ummmm what other updates do i have...

congratulations on the successful baptism!!! scott springer will be forever grateful for the love and help that you are giving him. and his family, as well, will never forget it.

i am SO excited for conference. I am psyched. but we won´t be allowed to watch the priesthood session. there is the 9:00 to 11:00 transmission on saturday night, so we can´t watch. and then the re-transmission is at 6:00 AM on sunday, so we can´t watch that one either. but i will watch the other sessions...i hope.

the office looks AMAZING! you guys did an amazing job.

i hope Wendy is doing okay. is Bob still alive? is he in the hospital still? that is a really rough situation. i hope she is okay.

my nephew looks excellent. is his cold better? i wonder if his cheeks can get any bigger? do you think it is possible? i bet i was chubbier than him when i was a baby!

i hope that sports start getting more interesting. hey dad, i hope you beat everyone in the catholic golf tournament again. that would be excellent.

ummm i was thinking...if it would be possible to send a package soonish, i have a few requests. good, quality toothbrushes because a quality toothbrush here is way expensive. i hate import taxes. and then one of those buzzers that blake got after the mission with the various attachments. that would be splendid if it were possible.

alright well i saved my big time trunky comment until the very end.
here it goes....

you guys will never again receive an email from me as a missionary in the month of september. ever.

i was going to say this at the end of august...but i don´t know if i will still be here in august or not. i might have to come home early for school and i haven´t really thought a lot about that, so i don´t know what will happen there. so i decided that i would say it at the end of september :) don´t get too trunky!!

i love you guys and i hope that you guys avoid the cold :) keep being awesome like always. i miss you guys and love you guys :) untillll next week. peace. tchau

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Four

2010-09-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

hi there.

maybe you guys are getting as sick of this as i am....but more changes. this last transfer ended on sunday, and once again, i don´t even have time to get used to a comp. elder miller was transferred. i am going on to my 10th companion now. everyone says that our mission is really weird about transfers. rather than stay with a comp for a couple transfers, the president just makes a ton of changes. a few returned missionaries in our district just said that when they were on their missions, they would stay for at least a couple transfers with the same comp in the same area. it just doesn´t make a lot of sense...i mean you barely have time to get used to one form of teaching with one comp, and then when you can actually start working on improving and mastering, you have to get a different comp. elder miller and i were way good friends and this transfer flew by so dang quick...but now i have to get one more comp...

his name is elder fernandes. he is from Amapá and he is 25. he was elder yuma´s comp. yuma told me a lot of stories about their time as comps. from what i have heard, he is quite immature and he complains about like...everything. but i better not judge. i gotta give the kid a chance. i really just want to have a fun transfer and work. i guess i gotta just trust in God as always.

ummm i wish i was there to see my nephew. i am glad you are recovering morgan. i am sure you are gunna be an awesome mom :) and when he gets all fussy and stuff, just remember...umm...it will only last for a few years? just keep truckin :)

it sounds like this Scott Springer guy is pretty cool. So his whole family are members, but he wasn´t baptized yet? that is great that he is finally making that choice. how are you two (Dad and Mom) liking the mission callings?? are the two sisters for our entire stake? or just our ward? we don´t have any help whatsoever for our missionary work. our ward mission leader hasn´t showed up for the last 2 weeks for our meeting and when i talk to him about it he just whines and complains that he is too busy. but i guess we gotta just keep fighting and teaching the people here. when it comes down to it, the most important thing we can do is teach people about Christ. i guess we gotta just endure and be happy in our moments of difficulty so that we can grow and become stronger. i wish i was working with you guys and our ward´s mission crew haha. who teaches the gospel principles class?

as for our investigators:

José Roberto: he didn´t get baptized. i guess he was too busy this last week and never had time to remember the 3 appointments that we had with him. but he wants to get baptized this saturday. the problem?
we have to allow some time to make sure he won´t fall back into old habits. but he broke up with rosa (the member from our branch) and she was way pissed because of that. so i don´t know how this will work out in our branch....

Sérgio: this is Sandra´s boyfriend. she is also a member. they aren´t living together. but we still had to be careful teaching the law of chastity. he has gone to church several times and i believe that i will have to set up an appointment with him tonight or tomorrow and i think we will challenge him to be baptized next saturday. he lives outside city limits, so it is tough to teach him. but he is a very quiet, chill guy.

Cambucí Crew: Jonathan (Light), Alex, and Leandro didn´t go to church.
the first two have more potential. we gotta get them to keep going to church and we gotta get them to build some friendship in the branch...with all of the members that are so eager to...not help.but we have some cool young men here who will help us out. I don´t know how well elder fernandes will mesh with them though. me and elder miller just fit together and worked really well together and they thought we were really cool missionaries but, more importantly, friends. but fernandes seems a little timid...or nerdy. lol. but he is my new comp. i gotta learn to love him. maybe he has a special something that these kids need to
see or learn and that is why he is here?

Hélio and Nalva: They still need to get married. And they need to keep the word of wisdom. And we just received some crazy info...Hélio had an interesting job choice about 14 years ago. A job choice that forced him to leave the state where he used to live for fear of death. He used to be a hitman. SO ummm....we have got a LONG road before their baptism. president tavares will have to approve an interview and he will have to do it personally. but that is a ways away.

Roberta´s Family: we will see what to do there. they didn´t go to church.
so now we will have to see.

Now, we just have to start working more and more to find new investigators and such. i am gunna have to take control and get our references organized and just start doing what i was doing in Marília.
And we are gunna have to pray a lot.

did you guys finish the office? is it cool?

hey blake...what is the email address that you are sending your letters to? because i don´t know if i am getting all of them that you are sending.

everyone can go on a scripture hunt this week. read matthew 5:48 and then read 3 Nephi 12:48 and 27:27 and tell me how that is another testimony that the book of mormon is true. you can look at the example of Christ´s baptism in Matthew as well and compare it to 2 Nephi 31: 3
- 9 to get a hint. whoever gets it right will win a high five via internet.

so i guess that is all i have for interesting stuff. ummm thanks everyone for your support. i know i don´t say it enough...but you guys are so important to me. thank you for everything and for your examples. i love you guys! keep seeking a deeper, more important relationship with Christ in your lives. till next week. TCHAUZÃO!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter Three

2010-09-15T20:34:00.000-07:00

I am an uncle!!!!!!!! And yes, i know that you all received new

titles, as well. soooo congratulations to you guys, too. BUT I AM AN

UNCLE!!! i feel pretty left out right about now. butttt

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!! jackson scott...9 lbs and 13 oz!! how

tight. sorry big guy, but i was still bigger (you can show him this

email when he learns to read). but that is great that morgan still

loves her first child. i mean it might have hurt a tid bit, but it was

worth it, right? lol but seriously...congrats. i am so happy that he

came early. now moe doesn´t have suffer so much :) i loved the

pictures. every one seems to have these really surprised faces like,

"hey...so you are the reason that morgan has been hurting so much

lately." i am way happy for you guys. it is gunna be pretty exciting

to be PARENTS!!!! and more exciting to be an uncle. because i won´t be

changing the diapers ;)

soooo um we got some more good news for this week. Jonathan "Light"

went to church again this last sunday and we brought one of his

friends, Alex. butttt even though they are liking everything, one of

their friends is definitely getting in the way. Leandro (who we were

teaching, as well) was causing some problems and saying that Jonathan

shouldn´t be baptized. definitely annoying. so we are just focusing on

getting him to read the book of mormon and pray so that he doesn´t

need to have any doubts. there is a lot of work ahead, but we

are...working on it.

we are also getting Roberto prepared for baptism. it could be this

saturday, but it isn´t for sure. it might delay a little more. we will

see. Hélio and Nalva are great. Hélio has to travel a lot for work

though. and now he stays outside the city for like 5 days straight.

and then comes back for only one day. so it is tough. they gotta get

married, too :(

ummmm we are also teaching a girl and her cousin. their names are

Graziele and Barbara. they went to church and loved it. but then some

lady from another branch starting asking a bunch of questions about

where they live and was like, "Hey, you live in our branch boundaries,

so you have to come with me right now to the other church." So

Graziele and Barbara got all upset because they already liked all the

girls in young women and relief society and they were really friendly,

so they didn´t wanna leave. they live right on our boundary lines as

missionaries, so it doesn´t matter about the branch boundaries to us.

we just wanna help them follow the gospel, but everyone else just

freaks out about location and numbers in their chapels and stuff. they

need to worry about helping these two girls like the church and

understand it. but no. they just complain. way stupid. but they are

way cool.

we also have this lady in our ward named Roberta. she is SO tight. she

took us to visit two of her aunts and one of her nieces yesterday and

they all wanna be baptized, they just have to make some changes in

their lives. it was crazy though, because roberta said that these

family members have had so many opportunities and the missionaries

have already tried to teach, but her family didn´t want anything to do

with anything. now, they are listening to us and they wanna start

following the gospel. she said that it is a miracle because she

doesn´t know why this sudden change happened. maybe that is just one

more reason that i am here. maybe it was because of this moment as

well? i dunno. but we will get working on it.

ummmm we played soccer this morning. i am actually getting lots

better. but my right shin hurts. but it was fun. i need to get a

little more practice in. and when we play, we play with guys our age

or right around that age. the neighborhood soccer team that we are

teaching (we call them the Cambucí Crew) are all between 16 and 22. it

is really fun to play with them. we set up a game with them today. we

are gunna play soccer, get some pizza, and then teach them all. the

group is: Jonathan (Light), Raphael, Leandro, Alex, Vinicius (deaf and

mute), and the occasional random friend of theirs. It is gunna be fun.

but we can only play with them on p-day, or at the friday night church

activity if they go, or randomly for a couple minutes in the street

haha

sooooo i don´t know what else i have to say. nothing as exciting as,

"I AM AN UNCLE!" yeah, it still has a cool sound to it. thanks for

giving me this opportunity morgan and stuart. :) ummmm things are

good. i am healthy. me and elder miller are still tight. is it weird

if i feel like Brazil is my home? i mean obviously it isn´t my REAL

home. but it feels like my home. it is hard for me to imagine what my

life would be like if i weren´t a missionary. sorry. i am just

rambling now. i love you guys!!!! i miss you a ton (including

little...or big...Jackson Scott). morgan...keep recovering. :)

love you all and tchau!!

elder scott ghormley

P.S. Dad! how is the new calling going?? i bet you are a kick butt LMA

(líder da missão da ala) WARD MISSION LEADER! ours doesn´t help at

all. he got back from the mish a while ago and he just focuses on

girls. literally. and he has a strange giggle. but let me know how

things are going with the calling!!!

Year Two, Letter Two

2010-09-08T11:18:00.001-07:00

hiiiii everybody.

what is up? so this week has been okay. i am doing good. my feet seem
to be getting better. i am walking. and i played soccer. and actually
did quite well. we played with a bunch of kids that actually play. and
i scored 3 times. yeah. what up brazil?!

we played because we took a bunch of investigators to play with us. we
are teaching a neighborhood team. seriously. Jonathan, Leandro, Alex,
Rafael, and another Jonathan. They all play soccer together and we
started teaching Leandro and Jonathan (Light) and now we are teaching
all of them. Jonathan went to church on his own this last Sunday. his
mom and sister couldn´t. but they are gunna go next week. it has been
pretty cool to teach all of these kids.

we also found a family that is absolutely amazing. their names are
Hélio and Nalva. their son and his girlfriend are investigators in
another branch in Prudente. and they are getting married so they can
be baptized. they invited us all over last night for a churrasco.
their names are Jorgeness and Marcele. they have been helping with
Hélio and Nalva. unfortunately, Hélio and Nalva need to get married,
too. they have been together for 29 years, but aren´t married. they
wanna get baptized, too. but they need to get married and keep the
word of wisdom. but jorgeness asked me to give Hélio a blessing to
help him understand the importance of all of this and Hélio told us
yesterday that they are planning on following the gospel. he said that
the minute we left, two people showed up at their gate. one was from a
catholic church and the other was from some evangelical church. they
started saying so much crap about us and lying and stuff. kinda funny
how the enemy never sleeps. the second we leave, he is attacking. but
Hélio just looked at these two people and said, "you follow what you
want to follow. i will follow the truth." and then he just pointed at
the book of mormon. oh yeah! take it! i gave him a metaphorical (or
hypothetical) fist pound for that. jorgeness also asked me to give his
son a blessing for health. so it has been cool to see the priesthood
working in this family.

we also got a wonderful piece of news. we were eating lunch at a
sister´s house that lives with her boyfriend but they aren´t married
either. so we went to eat lunch and she just looked at us and said, "
I have some excellent news for you two! Roberto wants to be baptized!"
so we were way psyched but still thinking, "Great...so when is the
wedding date??" and then she said that he had moved out and that they
weren´t living together anymore! so we are teaching him and he is set
to have a baptism date on the 18th!!! bombbbb.com. who wants to give
me a virtual high five and a chest bump??

ummmm so i don´t know what to really say. we had rain for the first
time in 2 months here. it rained for like 10 minutes yesterday
morning. and it was also independence day in brazil yesterday. so
there were parades and stuff going all through the center of the city.
that was splendid.

sorry. it seems like nothing very interesting is going on in my life
to share with you guys. we are working. we are kinda looking for more
ways to involve the investigators with fun stuff that involve
principles of the gospel. mainly the younger ones (the rapazes).

dad you are the gospel principles teacher and the ward mission
leader?! that is so tight! i am the gospel principles teacher, too!
and a full time missionary! we would be pretty good friends i bet.and
congrats on the golfing. i will have to go to a chiropractor before
doing anything with golf lol.

R. Dr. Gurgel, 226
Pres. Prudente - São Paulo, 19015-140

that is our apartment, dad. and mom...the roof is sturdy. there is a
bunch of tile and stuff up there and there is like this altar looking
thing that we used for our burn party. speaking of burning...yes, this
city is an oven. it has cooled off for a couple days. but overall, it
is hot. everyone says that summer is ridiculous and that you fry here.
i am not psyched for that. and congrats on the sunday school calling.
just show them who is boss. that is the key. that is why blake and i
were always such angels, right? ....right??

moe!!!! you are gunna have a baby any day now! i am so excited for you
and stu. and yes, i knew that you have to use special detergent for
baby clothes. how is it that i knew that?? that is wonderful to me.
that means i will be not only a great uncle, but a great father. my
wife will love me. and i think i need to have some cool pictures sent
to me from the new professional photographer. :) my pictures are all
nuts. i should probably sent some home.

well that is basically what i got for ya this week. i am missing you
guys a lot lately...but i think that is what it is supposed to be
like. it is to teach you how much you need your family. and yeah, i
need you guys :) i love you all. until next week...have an AWESOME
week!!!!

tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year Two, Letter One

2010-09-02T09:38:00.001-07:00

HEY! what is up everyone?? so let´s get started with the second year of emails.

IT IS SEPTEMBER. talk about crazy. time works in crazy ways on the
mission. i mean it seems to go slow and fast and then august is
suddenly over and we are in september. so let´s see what happened this
week...

scripture first! Moroni 10: 32 - 33

um so let´s see. the burn fest was spectacular. we had a burn party on
top of our apartment. i am sure that would be illegal in the States.
but we are in Brazil. but i fried a shirt that was pretty worn. the
pictures are goood. elder almeida and elder miller recently hit a year
and 6 months, so they burned a pair of pants, as well. and a while ago
elder miller wrote off his girlfriend and now we found out that she
got married. so he burned all the letters and stuff that he got from
her. meaning like, 40 or 45 letters. as you can imagine, it was a
great bonding moment watching all of our stuff burn. we even gave each
other "high fives" afterwards.

oh and i kinda took elder miller and myself out to celebrate on a day
that we didn´t have lunch with a member :) we went to this
churrascaria called Guaiba. wow. AMAZING. dad, at my next birthday ask
me about the best meal i have eaten in the last year. it was here. i
used my credit card just to keep you advised. but wow. i have been to
other churrascarias, but this one was different. you could call one of
the guys walking around with the meats and just ask if they had a
certain type of meat. i did this several times. the guy looked around,
and if there was someone walking around with that cut of meat, he
would call him over. and if there wasn´t someone who had that meat
already, he would go back to the grill and get it and bring it
directly to me. i almost felt really important. if i was to think of a
comparison for it, i would have felt like the friend of some really
rich, powerful guy. but yeah...that was the celebration for the one
year and the late celebration for my birthday.

and one more lunch story. we ate lunch with a lady from another branch
with the other elders. she went to the united states and lived there
for 20 years and studied at LDS business college. so she is fluent in
english. she met and married a guy named...Guy. she met him there and
4 years ago they moved back to Brazil. but it was hilarious. Guy is
from Idaho...and he is VERY american. he worked with a lumber company
in the states and he is loaded, so he has an incredibly americanized
house. he imported all of the appliances from the states, and somehow
got away without a single import fee. luckyyyy. but he had like....a
dryer WITH his washer. and a toaster. and a refrigerator that has the
ice/water ejector IN the door. like...you can grab a cup, click that
button, and you can have a refreshing glass of water, all within a
convenient 15 seconds. he had a table-top stove. they had one of those
hooks where you can conveniently hang a bunch of bananas and stuff.
and they had a pool! and a grill! but yeah, i was amazed. we prayed
and talked in english, because Guy doesn´t speak portuguese yet. he
sounds like a greenie american coming into the field for the first
week. i never realized how difficult it is to pray in english. but
lunch was delish.

alright so let´s move on to the more "serious" stuff. we are teaching
some great people. first off, Arthur is very difficult. we taught him
everything, but he is so dang lazy and doesn´t wake up to go to
church. and his mom doesn´t like us. we call him to remind him or
something and she doesn´t give him the message. or when we want to
teach him, she just says that he has chores and that he is in trouble.
she is way annoying. mas...fazer o que?? we are teaching some other
really cool people though. there is one member who is dating a
non-member. his name is sérgio. he is 25. he is way timid, but he went
to church twice already. he is alright, but it is hard to teach him,
because he lives outside the city limits in a farm area. so when he
comes to his girlfriend´s house, we can teach him. we are also
teaching a few kids who have crushes on the young women haha! one is
leandro. he is actually way cool. he is 18. but he came to church when
we weren´t expecting it at all. he is progressing a lot actually. and
we are also teaching a family who lost the husband/father a year ago.
The wife is Luzia, the son is Jonathas "Light," and the daughter is
Bruna. they are way cool. they said that they will prepare to be
baptized on the 18th. they are a special family. we are also teaching
some other great people, but these are the ones that come to mind
right now. we are working. and it is SO hot.

did i mention that this city is just all uphills and downhills?? no?
oh. THIS CITY IS JUST HILLS! ridiculous. and now it is getting way
hotter here. Spring is supposed to start on september 23rd. but summer
already started. and we said peace out to winter like 2 weeks ago.
everyone says that this city in summer is worse than hell. they tell
me that foz do iguaçu was a nice preparation, but it will be worse.
HOW?? foz is the hottest city in southern brazil!!! but whatev. i am
cool.

my nails are getting better?? i think. i mean, it hurts sometimes but
i haven´t lost any proselyting time because of the nails yet. even
before i had them treated, i just kept working. that is probably why
they got so bad. but they seem to be okay now.

morgan...about this whole baby thing. i think you should just start
poking him a lot. maybe it will annoy him and he will just come out so
that he can start crying and screaming and keeping you awake at night.
:) i believe that mom was just too nice to me, so i preferred to stay.
you should try it out. :) and how was the take at the baby shower??
are you gunna be taking a lot of stuff to the exchange counter?? lol
and i am glad that stuart is liking ASU. i mean it is my school. so it
is obviously the better choice. :) oh and stuart...i love you...but
your fantasy football team vai perder.

dad and mom...I CAN`T BELIEVE TYSON IS GOING TO MOSCOW!!!! that is so
amazing. him and jack will be a lot closer then i thought. i wonder if
they will be able to understand one another language-wise. and Laura
is going to Cambodia?? that is amazing. congrats to both of them! i
would ask you to tell them that for me, but i don´t know if that will
be possible with the ward divisons. which i am very sad about by the
way. citrus heights no longer exists?? so what young men basketball
team will destroy everyone else now?? and now so many cool families
are gone! yeah. sad day. Dad, i am very jealous that you will be
playing at Pine Canyon. definitely. but...i am preaching the gospel.
yeah! i know you are jealous. the city here is different for sure. the
people aren´t so friendly. or maybe i still left a part of me back in
palmital. because i didn´t want to leave at all. maybe it is just
because a part of me wants to go back that i haven´t seen the full
potential that pres prudente has. we are working, but the branch
doesn´t help at all. they actually complained a lot about
missionaries. i haven´t seen that so much since i got here, but it is
obivous that they don´t really involve themselves in the missionary
work. but what can ya do? work. and try and gain their trust. and yes,
dad, i remember what STWTLAPO means :) and i work on that every day.

lauren...keep your chin up and keep working :) just do your part.
everyone complains and everyone tries to use some other person as a
scape goat. but just do what you know is right and work like you
always do - THE RIGHT WAY :) if cassie wants to complain, just tell
her that your little brother in Brazil sends her a swift kick in the
butt. and as for halloween...i don´t know what you should be. what do
you think i should be??

well. i hope that was enough updating. this email is long. and i gotta
go. i love you all. i am glad that everyone is gooood. and healthy. i
hope that you all are LOVING the heat. because i am definitely feelin
it here. we are gunna go play volleyball. i love you guys! have an
awesomely spectacular week! peace!

tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Fifty-Two

2010-08-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

hey everyone.

scripture: D&C 99: 2 - 4

so yeah this is kinda nuts. i have been gone for one year. it is
official. i left exactly one year ago. that means it has been one year
that i have been gone. like, outside of the united states. in brazil.
are you following me? oh mom, it is, in fact, called "HUMP DAY." today
i have hit my hump. and the tradition is burning a shirt. at 6 months
you burn a tie. i burned some tie that i found in ourinhos. but today
or tomorrow we will have a burn fest. i will burn a shirt! it will be
a special moment, believe me.

um so yeah it is crazy how much i have changed and learned. everyone
says i haven´t really changed, but from what i feel, i have changed. i
have learned so much and done so much more than what i ever thought i
would be able to do. it has been pretty cool to push my limits a
little bit.

ummm so the health situation. calm down everyone. haha i called sister
tavares and advised about the situation and i went to a podiatrist
this week. she took out the ingrown toenail. it is feeling much
better. on the other toe, i did a self-surgery to take out the
infected part of the nail but then she cleaned up the job i did and i
am using this medicine on the toe. but you don´t have to worry about
talking with president and all that stuff. i am keeping him updated
and he told me that this is my priority right now. he told me that i
need to get this taken care of asap. so i have gone to the podiatrist
2 times and i have an appointment on monday to go back. so i am taking
care of it. if any problems arise, i will keep you informed and i will
keep president informed.

the boundaries are getting re-organized?? so i will have my homecoming
with a different ward? dang. but i guess it has got to happen.

dad, you can tell Rod hi for me and that there are several
missionaries who are very jealous of me for being able to have that
experience haha. i have told some guys who like golf about that and
they all wished it had been them :)

so the work here is tough. but elder miller and i are working. we have
found some great people. we are still waiting a little for the water,
but these people are progressing very well. arthur needs to go to
church more...so we are waiting a little.

um we got our washing machine today!!!!! but we don´t have laundromats
in brazil. so we were...ummm...suffering a little bit with clothes.
but i was making it work without any bad smells. the only thing that
was difficult was having to use the same pair of socks for two days or
something. but for the most part, we are good. that gold bond foot
powder saved me. unfortunately some of the other missionaries were
suffering with some serious B.O. but we are good now.

MORGAN! you are huge!! but i am super psyched for you guys :)

i don´t have much to report on this week. it is crazy that i have been
here for a year. we might get something to eat to celebrate. but we
are gunna play volleyball with the youth today and we gotta eat first.
so i gotta run.

i love you guys! thank you for the emails as always! i love them. if i
forgot something, let me know and i will remember next week. have a
bomb week...and i will have a spectacular hump day. lol love you!

tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Fifty-One

2010-08-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

hey everyone. how are you guys doin??

Scripture: Matthew 26 : 36 - 45 how many times are we sleeping when
Christ needs us? Is His sacrifice for us in vain? i taught about this
last week.

alright. well presidente prudente is...big. and has lots of hills. the
people are...very closed. they don´t really like talking with us. but
it is a cool city. we live in centro. our house is safe. it is a
decent house. it has the best shower that i have seen yet on the
mission. yes, that matters. our washing machine broke last week. so
um...yeah that isn´t good. two ladies in the branch washed our shirts
for us. but socks are running low...and garments, too. yikes.

our address is:

Doutor Gurgel 226, Apt 302
Centro
Presidente Prudente, São Paulo
19010 - 020

we don´t make part of a zone. our district is 3 companionships. and it
is just us. me and elder miller. elder almeida and elder loftus. elder
finato and elder ribeiro. 6 missionaries. so we are district
presidente prudente.

the members here are cool. it is the first branch that i have come to
on the mission. there were like 50 people there on sunday. we had a
baptism on saturday. that was cool. the guy was kinda weird about
being baptized, but we taught him one time and set up an interview and
he was baptized and confirmed. he is pretty cool. so my first sunday
was great...in Gospel Principles, there were like 7 people and elder
miller had left really quick with a member. so i showed up and had to
teach. that was great. i taught about honesty. that was the chapter
that we were going to learn about in palmital. so i just went with it.
i was surprised at how well i taught. i wanted to get a high five from
someone. after, we showed up in sacrament and i was just sitting with
Ivanildo (the guy we baptized) and the Branch President was like, "Now
we will hear a talk from our new missionary,
Elder....G...Gorlm...uhhh...Elder G." So I showed up and had to give a
5 to 8 minute impromptu (is that spelled right) talk. i was once again
surprised by the success. but that was the first sunday.

ummm what else? elder miller and i are tight. we are good friends
after one week. we are teaching some cool people. one is a kid named
Arthur. we started teaching him my first day here. he is way cool. he
wants to be baptized. he has smoked since he was 11 years old. but it
has been one week now that he hasn´t smoked. we took some of the young
men and young women to teach him. it was hilarious. arthur´s best
friend is a recent convert and really likes a girl in the young women.
now arthur likes that girl´s best friend. arthur and bruno were
giggling like little school girls when we said that we would bring
those girls back with the young adults when we went back to teach. did
you follow that? if not, just laugh. it was funny.

ummm yeah so that is what we are working with. i am still having
problems in my toes. my left big toe had some kind of infection in the
nail. i cut that part of the nail out. now i am missing about 30
percent of my nail on that toe. and my right big toe is ingrown again.
hurts. bad. but even so, we played soccer today with the young men.
that was fun. we are also going to go bowling. i will take some
pictures. well that is my big report for the week.

any questions??

morgan! your baby boy is going to be big. and you aren´t very big. so
um...how does that work?? do you think they will have to do like a c
section or something??

mom and dad! you guys are going to finish one more project!! wowzers.
i am excited to see how the office looks! you guys are such good
examples.

dad....these sport updates are so sad. arizona is about to disappear
from the sports world again. and golf reports are depressing. mainly
because i can´t play :( how is your game doing dad?? has blake been
playing with you or anything?? where is your handicap right now??

lauren...you are tronky. haha. i can´t believe that you are talking
about the one year mark. i haven´t got there yet!! but i hope
everything goes good with the redecorating and i hope that you like
your new roommates :)

ummmm that is me this week. i love you guys!!! i hope that you guys
are all just loving summer. i bet it isn´t hot at all. but anywho.
miss you all. you are all spectacular. :)

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Fifty

2010-08-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

hey everyone. well. let´s find out what happened.

scripture: Matthew 10: 16 - 22

i wrote jake a letter and an email. i don´t know if he got either. i
have been praying for him and deanna and the wayne´s every moment. i
hope they are coping well. they are strong.

the baby experiences just make me laugh. the baby stuff today is just
outta control. but whatev. i am glad that is going well. it sounds
like moe and stu are having fun with the classes on how to have a baby
and what they need to do to prepare. good stuff. i hope that they
really enjoy the breathing practices. i am sorry about the bugs and
scorpions, moe. that is no good. and the DMV sounds fun. at least you
can drive. lol. i can´t.

i am glad to hear that lauren is doing well again. that scares me to
hear about that kinda stuff. but i believe in god´s promise that our
families are protected when we are serving.

i am sad that i am officially moved out of my room that i have lived
in since i was 5 years old. but what can ya do. it was necessary.

sounds like the fireplace and the glass block wall are keeping you
guys quite busy. you guys are always working. you guys definitely
taught a principle to all of us - work. don´t worry dad...you aren´t
SUCH a bone-head. i mean it is a very common mistake to forget to
clean the crap out of blocks. i do that all the time. we still love
you.

i am glad to hear that tyson will be getting his call soon. i hope he
gets to go to some place cool. of course he will go to where he needs
to be.

speaking of going to where we need to be...we have arrived at the bad
news. i guess sometimes we have to just take steps in the dark. we
don´t always understand why, we just have to have faith. that is what
i did today. elder hardyman left yesterday. and i was transferred.
today. palmital B was going nuts. investigators, lessons, everything.
and now president took me out and put elder barros back with another
missionary. i was sent to presidente prudente. it was where barros
was. he just traded our places. i don´t understand it AT ALL. we had
SO many people ready for baptism. junior and mariele? joão, edna, and
mateus? Antonia and fernanda? Cassia and Renato? Bianca? Soraya?
EVERYONE. i guess i am just meant to prepare people or something along
those lines and then another missionary will come and collect the
fruits. i mean i can´t understand why president tavares would take me
out and leave it to two other elders. barros doesn´t know any of our
investigators. he just knows where some of the lunches are. so i don´t
get it. i am lost. literally. i have taken the step into the dark and
the light hasn´t come on. if anyone can explain this to me, i would
like to know. but i just have to trust in the Lord. he knows. i prayed
and prayed and the only thing i felt was that it was necessary to stay
here. i talked with president and he said he didn´t know why i was
being sent out either. he said he prayed and fasted but he just felt
that it was necessary because he needed changes. i don´t get it. i am
sad because now i don´t know what will happen with our investigators.
the entire district stayed. just me and H-man left. and we were
putting up the best numbers by a long shot. i know numbers aren´t the
important thing. but we were blowing the other companionships away
number-wise.

now i am with elder miller. he is from texas. i don´t know much about
him. i like him so far. he seems cool and funny. we will see. he is at
1 year and a half.

well. that is my news.

i gotta run already. my p-day was cut short because of the 4 hour bus
ride. i love you guys. i will pray for you all. and i hope you pray
not only for me, but for all of the investigators in Palmital B. they
need it. they need to keep learning and following the gospel. i love
you all. thank you so much. summer is ending there! meaning summer
will start here. i don´t think winter ever showed up.

till next week. tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Forty-Nine

2010-08-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

hey everyone. thanks for the emails. it was splendid to hear from you all. splendid. what a good word choice.

anywho. so this week was a little more...chill. at least there weren´t any guns in our faces or anything like that.

scripture: D&C 88: 124 - 126 i don´t agree with the parts about sleeping. i follow it, because it is scripture and all. but i don´t like it.

MOM!!!!!!! i am so sorry. i wrote in my planner and in my journal about your birthday, but i forgot to write it in the email. i felt horrible. i wanted to wish you a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! it is late, but i sang horribly just so you know. I LOVE YOU!!!

that was really rough to hear about David Wayne. it was something that i wasn´t expecting or wanting to hear. jake´s letter said that david was improving greatly. maybe after their family reunion, it was just his time. maybe that was just something that the family needed...those last memories of him. but i am glad to hear that his testimony was strong. i am going to miss him. give the family my best and i will pray for them.

my interview with president was good. he is a good guy. he gave me a blessing and that was way powerful.

i got the USB drive. but it will be a while before i see Barros probably. and i am not going to send it before he pays. lol

i have been rotating the two pairs of shoes and i will be conditioning them soon. i think i will let you know if and when i need a new pair.
but for now, i will keep going with these ones.

that sounds like the storms are really tearing it up there. are you guys okay? anything bad happening to the house?? it sounds like mom has been busy with the remodeling. do i really have to move out of my room?? i am already used to the blistering heat when i am sleeping.
maybe i can just stay there and it won´t be too rough to get used to?
i like my room...it is a special room. haha

i was way concerned about lauren. is everything okay? has she gone to the hospital?? are you okay lauren?! you can´t just tell me that there was a bad car accident and leave me hanging! that scares me.

sounds like morgan and stu are doing good. and morgan...you are much more important than strangers, potted plants, or chopped liver. :) but how am i supposed to end an email?! i thought that was a loving and encouraging way to get you pumped to have a good summer and be awesome. jackson scott is a tight name. i am proud of your choice. i was gunna name my kid jackson or jaxon. but now i don´t know. and i am glad that the missionaries helped with the move. we have a service project tomorrow. super excited. and don´t worry...you are going to be amazing parents. :)

it sounds like blake and dad had a blast with the fishing...and that the monsoons are hitting all of the good ole USA. tempe dam burst?
crazy/gross.

well some great news this week. carol was baptized. she asked me if i could baptize her on saturday, so we had the interview and she was ready. so on sunday we had her baptism. it was way special. we had 4 investigators there, too. her parents - Renato and Cassia - and Antonia and Fernanda. they all have baptism dates, as well. and at least 3 are firm investigators. we had 13 investigators at church.
elders crosbie and sorenson had 8. overall, we had 21 in church on sunday. that was a record since this ward has been opened. the members were so psyched. especially the gospel principles teacher. of the 13, Soraya, Cassia, Renato, Antonia, Fernanda, Luiz (our jehovah´s witness investigator), Elton, Fabio, and Claudia have potential baptism dates.
Carol was the first of her family. We will see what this weekend brings. but we also have Junior and Mariele that are preparing as well, but that will delay a little more. overall, great week. tons of work.

this transfer went so quick. it is the last week of the transfer.
h-man will be heading home. i am way sad. the first time that i am legitimately sad for losing a comp. now i will have to see who the newbie will be. he got his last brazilian haircut today! what a lucky guy. i am counting the haircuts down until i can have lauren cut my hair. today wasn´t SO awful. but lauren can definitely do better.

um well we are working lots. and i am loving it. i am tired. but we are seeing some results. we are teaching some very intelligent people.
we are just hoping that they will receive answers and recognize the answers that God is giving them.

well we are gunna head to a churrascaria. we gotta eat good for h-man´s last p-day lunch. love you guys!! stay safe...and stay away from storms. i will stay away from guys with guns. love you all. till next week!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Forty-Eight

2010-07-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

lots to report on.

hi family. love you guys. just wanna toss that in there. don´t worry.
i will write more. calm down mom...i will write more. i just wanted to say love you all.

let´s get started.

scripture: D&C 101: 32 - 36 such a tight scripture

alright. just to answer the questions.

mom -

1. we got our power back. i still laugh a little about it. i mean there was no warning! just a shout and a cut. hilarious.

2. you can send the CD. i don´t have a CD player, but some missionaries have CD players. we have elder sorenson´s in the house.
so we will see if we all stay here after this transfer. elder hardyman won´t.
but maybe the rest of us will.

3. i haven´t received the USB drive yet. we have interviews with the president today, so maybe i will get it today.

4. yes, new shoes would be spectacular. i mean these shoes are good.
they have held up really well. do you think i should just try and stick with them for one more year??

5. so you guys are just kinda taking the girls´ rooms back to zero??
just taking them back to a basic, empty room??
what are your ideas with the rooms that are now empty??

6. yes, the mission is the best education i could have right now. i mean i will forget all the school stuff, but this is better. i have learned a lot. i loved that video you sent.

7. the investigators are great. our jehovah´s witness investigator went to church. a bunch didn´t because of...excuses. but some of them
- the investigators that are progressing more -
had legitimate reasons so i understood. junior and mariele are amazing. unfortunately, he is doing some kind of class that goes for 6 weeks and it only happens once a year. it happens on sundays. so i will have to wait for him to be able to go to church, but he said he
already received an answer.
spectacular. anesia was sick, so she couldn´t get baptized this last week.
but we have some great investigators.

we have been working so much, i am loving it. the time has been flying. i am way sad because h-man is going to be going home in the beginning of august. in a couple weeks, i will have one more comp.
h-man and i were working so great together. it is tough to have to deal with so many changes and different comps. you get into one mode of teaching that is going great, and then everything changes. kinda annoying. but it is just part of the mish. gotta adapt.

dad/blake -

you guys are in montana!?! at least you were. that is awesome. how was the fishing?? did blake snag that big one on the last day?? that must have been so much fun. i am kinda jealous. i am fishing too...in a manner of speaking. the problem is, we don´t get to just wait for the fish to bite. haha i would like to get away from the heat, too. it is heating up quite a bit here. but maybe it will rain today. but i hope that you guys are enjoying your opportunity to be the big fishers...as soon as i get back, you guys will have to go back to second and third place.

blake, acho muito engraçado que voce e um groomsman por jim. ri muito...ela é feia mesmo?? jim tava caçando por uma princessa mas pegou uma cachorra?? que triste. eu sinto muito por ele. lol. cara, eu tava sentindo mutio ciúmes por voce estar em montana com paizao. e voce?!?! o que voce esta fazendo?? voce vai voltar para escola logo?
cade sua namorada meu mano?? lol tou brincando. mas voce nao ta procurando por enquanto?? voce ta trabalhando em infusionsoft ainda??
como ta indo? cara, eu tava pensando...seria tao legal trabalhar alguns dias com voce e paizao. seria algumas das melhores liçoes em minha missao cara. mas fique firme aí cara...talvez um dia voce vai ensinar uma liçao comigo. tou trabalhando ate o po aqui meu amigo...tou esperando alguns resultados tambem. mas tudo bem. tenho que terminar cara...mas te amo. continue escrevendo viu?? desculpa algum erro aqui...tava indo com presso.

moe and stu -

you guys almost done moving?! that is so crazy that you will be in AZ again. maybe you will still be there when i get home??

morgan...you are definitely a pack rat. it is much better than a real rat. but yeah...your pack rattyness is evident. but i still love you.
i am also a pack rat.

i definitely miss you guys. it will be nice to be able to chill in the good ole AZ with you guys. i mean...it will be a while...but still. it will be tight. how is the baby?? WHAT IS HIS NAME GOING TO BE?! why don´t i know this yet?? is he going to be a big boy?? think he will be bigger than me?? when i told mariele - our investigator - that i was
5.17 kilos when i was born, she just looked at me and goes, "your poor mother..."
yeah...sorry mom. i love you :)

anywho. so everything is good here. we are still running all over the place, teaching a ton,
and working our buns off.

we had a crazy experience the other day. we had left with a couple young men in the ward to teach some young men (investigators). when we finished, we started walking toward the church for our sunday night meetings. we were on one of the main streets on the sidewalk and as we are walking, we hear these noises like a motorcycle backfiring (very common here) and then this dude comes running around the corner towards us.
there was this motorcycle taxi place between us and him.
he ran into the moto taxi, grabbed a helmet, and ran out. we just kept walking and then julio cesar (one of the young men) was like, "hey...hey hold on...wait, stop!" in my ear and we realized that this guy was stealing a motorcycle and that we were right between him and the owners. the guy pulls a revolver out of his pocket and starts screaming and yelling at us and pointing this gun directly in our faces and the other owners. then he jumps on the bike and takes off.
we were a little weirded out. then we turn the corner and keep going to church and there was a big group of people on the sidewalk with a guy on the ground. his shirt was completely red.
he was shot 6 times.
that was spooky. but we had to take off. that was an odd experience.
but we are all safe. god protects us. that is my belief.

has tyson sent his mission papers in yet?? i was just wondering.

i also got kissed by a drunk guy while doing a street contact. pretty great experience. he kissed me on the cheek. i hope i never have to experience that again. now i know why the girls probably prefer the shaven faces to kiss and not the hairy, prickly ones.
this guy was in need of a good shave.

anyway, that was my week. lots happened. sorry if i forgot stuff.

love you all a ton. you keep me going every day!
i hope you are all awesome and having a great summer!

love and tchau till next week!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Forty-Seven

2010-07-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

well, hello there! how are you, family? i am...about to explain what is going on here.

scripture: D&C 43: 15 - 21

alright well this week has been a week of...miracles. i don´t know exactly when it started or what we did different, but dang. elder hardyman and i are just working our tails off and
tearing it up out here.

anésia is still on track and excited beyond belief about her baptism.
she just keeps telling us that the time isn´t passing quickly enough and she just wishes
that she had found out about the church years ago.
there is an old lady in the ward that sat with her at church that has been a member for 37 years and anésia just said that she was so sad that that could have been her. but she is happy because she said that God has his time for everything. we used one of those testimony gloves with her to help her understand. she thought it was really sweet. haha i guess it can work with primary children and nice, old ladies?? we did the activity in primary again with the extra gloves. the kids in ourinhos were little angels. the kids (well, 3 kids) in Palmital wouldn´t shut up and sit down. i almost pulled a mom...i wanted to just grab the kids and force them into a chair and tell them not to move again. but i can´t. i don´t think my future calling will be in the primary.
that just wouldn´t be good for my health.

and now for the miracles that just decided to start showing up. we have found some amazing families. we are teaching a member´s mom and sister. she was baptized a year ago and now her mom and sister are going to church and are preparing to be baptized on the 7th of august.
we are teaching a reference from a brother in the ward. the family is Renato, Cassia, Sará, Renan, Carol, and the cousin, Bianca. so far, cassia, carol, and bianca are preparing to be baptized on the 1st of august. carol and bianca have already said that they want to. cassia said that she wants to, but wants to learn more about the church. how great that we happen to be missionaries, huh?? we found a family Adilson, Andreia, and Alysson who have already gone to church several times a long time ago but stopped because the missionaries left. they are way cool and they are going to church this sunday. we found another family named Rogério, Silvanna, and Bianca who accepted a baptismal date for the 8th of August. they are way cool. the daughter, Bianca, is incredibly bright. when we went there, she said that she had prayed and that god told her in her heart that what we said was true. we also found a family of a mom and 2 sons - Ilma, Gabriel, and Leonardo. Maicon - the rapaz that was baptized - is Gabriel´s friend and already talked a bunch about the church and we didn´t even know.
he said that he received an answer about our message and that he will prepare to be baptized on the 1st of august. we also found an interesting family. the son - Gustavo - is only 7 years old. but he was with us when we taught gabriel and ilma, so he asked us to go to his house. his dad is Jehovah´s Witness and his mom is Catholic.
ummm....yeah that can´t be good. but we taught them and they loved it and told us that we were welcome back at any time. we are going back tomorow. and just two more that i am remembering right now. we found a lady named livia and she was way cool. she reminds me SO MUCH of eva from ourinhos. i am hoping she will be just as elect. and to finish us off...we went on a divison with some brothers from the ward and i went to a reference from the president of the young men. his name is junior. his wife is mariele and her parents are noemia and antônio.
his wife is due in september right around the same time as morgan. oh.
my. gosh. i was teaching the whole lesson, and when i got to the part about the restoration, i don´t know what happened but i just kinda stopped talking for a second after i explained the first vision and almost started crying but i don´t know why. it was just completely silent and then mariele said, "I feel really different. Do you feel that?" and junior just said, "it is different. it is good. but it is different." i explained about the holy ghost and then started talking about church and baptism and without even finishing my question about baptism, junior and mariele said that they will go to church this sunday and that they will prepare to be baptized on the 7th of august as soon as they get an answer about their prayer. and then junior said that he already had an answer. miracles. i am literally seeing miracles every day.

it started when h-man (hardyman) and i started focusing more about getting people to go to church. we started making that a priority and when we started explaining the important role of going to church to receive an answer, things started changing. i mean we are working until the last minute and it is just giving some crazy results.

i almost forgot. on that same divison, i went with one of the brothers to a friend of his who went to his baptism. her name is priscila. she was awesome, too. she said that she will go to church this sunday because she already had been and wants to get to know it better.

h-man and i gave a training in the district meeting about how we can help our investigators get to church and how we need to do that better, because it is the most difficult part. all of these people can receive an answer and want to be baptized, but without going to church, they can´t be prepared for baptism. so that is why we gave the training, and now their are a lot of people who are saying that they want to go to church. seriously a miracle.

sorry if that was confusing to follow. but that is what we are working with. it has been lots of work, but it is worth it. i will need to get some new shoes soon. but i don´t know
where i can buy good shoes like the ones i have.

lauren - i haven´t bought "warm clothes." we froze our tails off in 4 days or more of rain,
but now it is burning up again.

we are once again taking showers in cold water. but this time it is better...and funnier. so the elders moved to this house like 4 months ago. and since that time, they have never paid the water or electric bills. we weren´t aware that we had to. so this guy shows up at our gate on tuesday morning and yells at me before i can say a word, "ELECTRIC BILL!!!!!" then he gives me a piece of paper and takes off.
so we were like, "oh ok well we better pay this" thinking that we would have a few days to get everything situated and paid. NOPE! he cut our electricty at that moment! it was way funny because we were just chilling and then we hear a yelp from the shower because elder crosbie´s hot shower had suddenly gone ice cold. so we were planning and doing everything by candle light. it was really quite romantic as you can imagine.
but taking a shower by flashlight is quite difficult.
especially when the batteries die halfway through the shower. wanna know how i know?
cuz it happened to me!!

i am sad to hear that the era of american golf domination has ended.
that is quite upsetting. too bad tiger had to screw up huh?

well. the mish is the mish and it is crazy! we are working our butts off. we are seeing some great things and finding some great people. i am hoping that next week will have some great updates. thank you all for your support and know that i love you all so much.

we are going to play ultimate frisbee today and we are going to have an american cook-out. we are gunna make some real hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. 4 americans in one house? our district of 8 missionaries has 7 americans. so come on. what can you expect?!

i love you all! tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Forty-Six

2010-07-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

hi there. i am cold.

hey everyone. so it has been a long, short, sad, happy, awesome, and awful week.
meaning that it has been one more week in the mission field.
let´s get started...

favorite scripture: 2 Nephi 32:9 i love the book of mormon

alright so what happened this week. this last monday we had our first zone conference
with the new president. president and sister tavares.
they are pretty cool. i liked the conference a lot. he is way excited and he is running fresh out of the gates from the CTM. he learned some new techniques to put into place in the mission. so we are learning a lot and changing a lot. he put a lot of focus on overcoming our pride and becoming humble and meek before god. it is definitely something that i need to do. it is crazy, we are all prideful. no one realizes it, but we are all very prideful. so we have to become better.

elder hardyman and i had the record last week for lessons. we had 41 lessons last week. we were busting butt. i am hoping to see some results. the good and the bad now... we are teaching a couple - Osvaldo and Benedita - and they were progressing amazingly, but now they are way full of doubt and scared and stuff. they are older, so it is tough for them to get to
church and one won´t go without the other. it is sad. we are trying so hard to help them,
but we can´t force anyone to do anything. so we are doing our best, but they have to choose to walk the path. we are teaching this 85-year-old lady and her less-active son, as well. her name is Anézia. she is hilarious. she is way excited and she went to church with her son. she loved it. she said she is looking for a house closer to the church just so she can live closer. she is crazy, but we love her. she wants to get baptized on the 23rd of this month. so we will have to help her out haha. we are also teaching a lady named Antônia. her daughter is a member but she isn´t and her other daughter isn´t either. so we are helping them, as well. she went to church and said that it was the first time in a church that she actually felt like she belonged there and that she liked it. amazing. we are teaching several great people who are really wanting to learn a lot and go to church. there are 2 Antônio's that we are teaching. they are both way cool and are reading a lot in the Book of Mormon. they have lots of questions, but they want to go to church this sunday even though they work until 6 or 7 AM on sunday morning.

the 4 Americans in one house has been quite an experience. it has been so much fun. we are all very dedicated to be completely honest, so you would think it would be kinda boring.
and a lot of the time it is because we don´t have lots of time to mess around. but we laugh a lot and we are all good friends. we have all started working out in the mornings. so we don´t have lots of things to use. but i bought a jump rope in foz do iguaçu. and elder sorenson has these resistance bands.
and elder hardyman likes to run in place. so it has been quite an experience. we wanted to do something cool for P-day, but elders crosbie and sorenson have to go to londrina to do an exam for elder sorenson. i paid out of pocket the first time because the mission will reimburse me.
i just have to send the letter. i was going to give it to the assistants at zone conference but they weren´t there. but we are praying for him and he will be able to find out what is going on tomorrow probably. elder hardyman and i are just working our butts off.

i haven´t had lots of contact with the other elders in the world. we don´t have lots of time. but i have talked with a few of them. i did send a letter back to jake. and i sent one to the house. have you got it?? i don´t know why it has to take so long. i didn´t get any of my letters or my package at this last zone conference. so it will probably be 3 and a half weeks before i get it.
unless we have interviews or something. how annoying.

it has rained for 3 days and it is cold. for the first time here, i really needed my jacket to go work. mom, i don´t think you will ever need to worry about me moving here.

dad, i have given a few priesthood blessings to comps and a couple to members and to an investigator. they were all good. we had one kid who had a disease in his leg, so we gave him a blessing and he went to the doctor and the doctor told him that the disease was receding (if this is spelled right?) and that he had a medicine that could probably heal it perfectly. that was cool. it was in ourinhos. so far here, i have only annointed with the oil.

so how is everything else at home?? who is blake dating? who is lauren dating? where are they working? morgan and stuart found a house yet?
is the baby getting fatter? i bet. lol. i love you guys.
i will be using internet right about 10:30 here which is 6:30 your time i think.
so i would advise you all to write on tuesday night. thank you for the support and the letters. keep reading the Book of Mormon. i love it. i love 3 nephi. we read that so much with investigators. and 2 nephi, too. love those books.

anywho. time to go. any other advice that any one has for me? i am pretty healthy i think. so that is good news. i think i am good overall. love you guys all so much. hope you are loving summer!

tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Forty-Five

2010-07-08T10:31:00.001-07:00

hey there everyone. what up?

favorite scripture? D&C 90:11 because i like the concept and the
principle. everyone will get to hear the gospel or have the
opportunity in their own language. i can´t count how many times the
people have had this opportunity and chosen to reject it. other
examples are kinda rough...yesterday, we went to contact a reference,
but the mom started screaming at us and telling us that she would
never let us inside her house to talk with her son who asked us to go
there. it was so hard not to just tell her - very politely, of course
- to shut the heck up. but whatever. this is my scripture.

i sent a letter home this last week. you should be getting it rather
soon. it is just because you only hear from brazil on wednesday. so i
decided to send some love on another day of the week.

morgan is getting...pleasantly plump to avoid the use of another word
:P lol but seriously, do you think your baby is going to be bigger
than i was?? 11 pounds? and 4 ounces right? i was a fatty. have you
decided on a name yet? any ideas?

i hope i don´t have cooties. this is the 8th comp and i will have my
9th in august. elder hardyman is in his last transfer and goes home on
august 11th or something like that. so i will be with my 9th companion
when i hit the 1 year mark. but only my 3rd area. talk about
ridiculous. elder hardyman is finishing his mission and has only had
12 comps. but elder barros should still be in this zone. so i can give
the package to him on monday at zone conference.

that will be my first opportunity to see and talk with the new
president. president tavares will be here on monday for his first zone
conference. and he will be here for a few days after, as well. i think
sister tavares wants to look at all the mission houses and see what
kind of shape they are in. and she will want to talk with elder
sorenson as well. he has had a headache for a month now. he was in the
hospital for 3 days and they didn´t do jack. he went last monday to
have an "exam" done by a neurologist. the guy talked with him for 25
minutes, looked in his eyes and ears, tapped his knee, and that was
it. elder sorenson didn´t have money to pay for the consult, so i
paid. $200. to talk with some dude who didn´t do a thing. he just told
us that sorenson has to take another exam. for $750. ridiculous. i
didn´t pay for the second part lol. and i will be getting reimbursed
(i hope) for the first part. but they will want to talk with him, as
well. so far, i have heard that the president is cool and that he has
a great knowledge of the scriptures.

our investigators are doing ok. we have osvaldo and benedita ready for
baptism this sunday. they are doing good. osvaldo works a lot, so it
is tough for him to go to church. but they are set for this sunday.
last sunday it was a young man named Maicon. he was baptized and will
be confirmed this sunday. he was baptized for both companionships
because we taught him several times while sorenson was in the
hospital, so i was really happy for him, as well. vauldete and soraya
are doing great. vauldete needs to get married :( and soraya needs to
stop fighting with her mom because vauldete doesn´t want soraya to get
baptized if she fights and lies and such. so it has been a fight with
them but they have testimonies and they know that it is true. they
just need to change a few things. but we will see. we have some good
people that we are teaching, but it is just difficult to help them
progress because we aren´t there 24 hours a day ya know??

living with 4 americans has been a change. but i like it. we all get
along great and elder hardyman and i are good friends. everyone is
good about rules too, so it isn´t like there are any problems there.
we even cleaned the house today, so it is even better.

that is cool that you were able to go to california and relax a bit
and get fried a little. how was golf?? did blake and stu get the
squirrel? how are things going with the move? that is awesome that stu
got into ASU. maybe he can give me a ride to school now. lol. but that
shouldn´t be such a problem now that the 202 is FINALLY finished.
about time huh?? i am glad that Beema is going great. and mom, i am
pretty sure that wendy could hold her own against me, blake, and
stuart. it would be a brawl of words that would have a lot of those
dangerous looks from you.

i am glad that lauren had fun at lake powellll! i wanna go too! it is
already on the to do list that yuma and i have been creating since the
CTM. lots of stuff to do. 4th of july was pretty bomb here, as well. 4
americans in the house. what did we do? we got home, planned, then
someone goes, "hey! today is independence day!" and everyone else
goes, "oh yeah that is true. do you guys wanna sing the national
anthem?" long pause. "no, i am tired. boa noite." that was our
celebration. but i lit a match to celebrate. it was the closest thing
to a firework that i had.

brazil is no longer in the hunt. they are long gone. half of brazil
was crying when they got eliminated. but how great for us. no more
days where the place looks like a ghost town for 3 hours during the
game. i like soccer though. it is kinda cool.

so i don´t know who said that winter got here. it is burning up here
still. i am quite sure that it hasn´t cooled off at all. chato demais.
i bet moe and stu are way psyched to leave the san diego summer for
the arizona one. it should be a nice, cool change. right? lol

well, that is what i have to report here. i hope everything is going
great at home. i hope that everyone is healthy and enjoying the sun.
mom, you don´t have to worry, i am the only american of the 4 in the
house that uses sunscreen. and i am still white. so i think i am good
so far. i hope that i covered everything. next week you will know my
thoughts on president tavares. i love you all so much and hope
everything is going great. you should receive a letter fairly soon.

tchau!!

elder scott ghormley

p.s. stuart smells.

Year One, Letter Forty-four

2010-07-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

the first email from the 20 year old kid in Brazil

heyyyyy everybody

so i gotta get this email out pretty quick. more changes. lots to report on.

first of all. favorite scripture. it has to be about perseverance.
let´s go with...2 nephi 31:20. that is a good one.

alright so this week. more changes. i am in my third area and going on my 8th companion i believe. elder barros was transferred to presidente prudente. and elder galdino went to foz do iguaçu. so elder sorenson got a new companion - Elder Crossbie. he has been on the mission one more transfer than me. and Elder Hardyman from Rigbie, Idaho is my new companion. he has been on the mission....a lot more time than me. he is finishing the mission this transfer. it is his last. he was the zone leader in foz. now we are both senior in this area. i already met him in my third transfer in foz. he is pretty cool. he isn´t too trunky. he is ready and excited to work and wants to finish strong. we have gotten along pretty well so far. it is the first time that i have taught someone with another american without them saying, "where are you guys from? because you talk different." he speaks really well and
- based on what people have told us - we don´t have horrible accents.
so that is good news. i am really psyched because now i have a comp who is able to help and give ideas and such. elder barros didn´t ever help because he just said that he didn´t have
ideas or he didn´t know.
but elder hardyman is a good missionary. it is one more change, but not such a bad thing.

investigators are going good. osvaldo, benedita, and daniele are marked for baptism this sunday. but i don´t know if all will go as planned because osvaldo works from 6:00 PM on saturday until 6:00 AM on sunday. so he might not be able to go to church. but still they are amazing. they are progessing incredibly. vauldete and soraya as well.
it is crazy how well they are progressing. we taught the word of wisdom and vauldete has gone from 2 packs a day to 2 cigarettes yesterday. she said she doesn´t know why, but this time she is not having nearly as much difficulty to stop smoking. she said normally she would be really ticked off without a cigarette or she couldn´t stay still. now, she went to church on sunday and said she didn´t feel the desire a single time to smoke. we had 8 people in church on sunday. the first time in this area that there have been more than 2 investigators in church. we are working and praying. roberta is having some difficulties, but we are going there tonight to see what exactly is going on and what she is really wanting to do here. what her real desires are ya know?? work is going well.

weather is better than your situation. i haven´t needed a sweater or a jacket really. it is pretty warm during the day. so there haven´t been any problems there. i have only used my jacket a few times. i really really really wanna swim though.

for my birthday, i made brownies. elder barros´s birthday is on the 24th. so i made brownies for the two of us. unfortunately, transfers just happened to be on the 27th and 28th. so we didn´t have time to do anything really. but today is elder crossbie´s birthday. so i will make some pancakes and some brownies and he is going to make a cake and elder hardyman is going to make a cake to celebrate our birthdays.
haha i am going to get fat. but i am not sure if i heard you guys singing. our cell phone lost reception. do you think the sound waves from your singing were interfering?

president tavares is brazilian. i hope he won´t try and move everything too drastically. it would be tough to re-adapt to a new schedule and new habits ya know?? he should be getting here today or tomorrow. he has been in the CTM with the prophet and the apostles for like 6 months now. talk about ridiculous. i wouldn´t be able to do that.

ummmm my life is about right there. i am healthy for the most part. i am working. i am trying to get accustomed to one more comp. can you believe that we have 4 americans living in one house?? we still speak portuguese because elder sorenson needs to learn. but that is crazy.
people think we are spies or something. anyway. that is about it.

i am glad that you guys are all well. i hope you all enjoy the family visits. morgan...you need to clean EVERYTHING. mom and dad are very talented when it comes to finding the dirtyness in a house. i mean...they lived with our brother, ya know? i am kidding blake. don´t hurt me. i still love you. eu sei que voce é enorme...mas voce não precisa me bater, tá? eu não quero apanhar, não. te amo :) moe and stu
- i am incredibly sorry for the unfortunate experience that you had teaching the primary kids. that is how i feel when we try and teach a family with kids. they never shut up! it is tough...but i know that you guys can handle it. with or without an iron fist. lauren...you are going to lake powell?! how tight. i am way jealous. we don´t know what we are going to do for the 4th of july. it is a fast sunday. so i guess we will see if someone wants to have a barbeque for us? haha

thank you all for the happy birthdays. the birthday was good. i liked it. i am old now. 20 years old? jeez. but whatever. life is going.

i love you all! i hope you all have an awesome week. love you! tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Forty Three

2010-06-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

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!

Year One, Letter Forty Two

2010-06-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

unfortunately this will be a short email.

BUT HI!!!!

favorite scripture: 1 Peter 4: 13 - 19 tight. i like it a lot.

alright everyone hi. i missed you all this past week. it seems like it
has been....6 days since the last time i wrote.

so this business with elder barros. yes, he actually has a fiancée. i
don´t know if he informed president, but yes, they are engaged. he
isn´t the only one that i know of that is engaged. it is weird. but
yeah i was getting way sick of him talking about her all the time, so
whenever he starts, i just tell him that i don´t need ot want to hear
about his fiancée. or i just start talking about our investigators or
what we are going to teach and i just cut him off. but yeah it was
getting annoying. i have never met anyone who talks as much as he
does. he also wants to learn english, but he doesn´t study in his
head. he studies by talking out loud and asking a million questions
while i am trying to study. yes, we have companionship inventory, so i
have already talked about that and set a few ground rules. he likes
me, and i like him, he just doesn´t understand that focusing on the
work doesn´t mean just while we are teaching lessons. but i will talk
to him about what you guys suggested.

we are still getting this area going. the chapel is 45 minutes away
from our area, so it is tough to get people to church without cars. no
one wants to do so much to visit a church and see what it is like just
for the first time. after baptism, it is different. they have a
testimony. but before, it is tough. we had 12 people lined up to go to
church, but a guy in our ward died, so everyone went to the funeral on
sunday because the family aren´t members, so the funeral was on sunday
and everyone member with a car was there and couldn´t help us. but we
are working. we have found some pretty great people with real desire,
we just need to get them to church because lots work or don´t have any
way to get there.

the world cup is nuts. the whole city shut down yesterday for the
brazil game. and then everyone was drunk after, so it was pointless to
work, but we worked anyway. tough luck for us. but whatev. such is
life.

i am not aware of a city camera, and we don´t work in centro. so it
would be tough. we have to take a bus to get to centro. but that is
way cool. i will see if i can find something out.

sounds like you guys are all doing wellllll. how was the PGA event?
and how are things going with the house?? and morgan....you are VERY
PREGNANT. lol i can´t believe that in 3 months you and stu will be
parents. that is so crazy. and those pictures definitely made me
jealous. i wanted to go to mexcio when i saw them. but whatevvv. i
will in a while. and everyone is telling me about the new harry potter
trailers and such. oh my jealous.

alright well i gotta run. i love you guys a ton. i hope you are all
well. til next week.

tchau!!

elder scott ghormley

p.s. HAPPY FATHER´S DAY!!!!!!!!!! (this part is to dad and stuart.)
sorry i won´t be there to take you golfing and beat you dad :)