Year One, Letter Thirty-one

heyyyy, everyone

alright let´s see

favorite scripture: John 11: 25 - 26 Hymn: I know that My Redeemer Lives

alright so just to respond to a few things

dad i read alma 42. yeah it is amazing. i don´t know how someone could

deny the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon. one chapter alone

can prove it. the chapter is teeming with spiritual and literal

complexity. but an unlearned 14-year-old kid just decided to create it

one day? come on.

um my interview was good. president leal said that my language is

"extraordinário" and that i am a great missionary. apparently he

really trusts me? don´t know how cuz i didn´t know that he knew me so

well. he told me that ourinhos is almost the size of all of foz do

iguaçu. foz had 14 missionaries in the city. ourinhos has 2. he said

that the Lord would only put me there because i am capable of handling

it. so that was cool.

i will not be able to watch all of conference. i think we have to work

on saturday. and i will not be able to watch in english. i have to

call president to authorize it. ourinhos only has it in portuguese and

i would have to go to marília to watch in english. so i am praying

that he will let me. that would be so dumb if i couldn´t. elder

richard scott said that we need to watch conference in our native

language. so i might pull that quote out on him if i need to.

that golf trip sounds amazing. congrats on the 74. it might make it a

little tough to beat you if you keep playing like that. and i wanna

play pebble beach. i don´t know what to think about tiger. if he wins,

everyone will love him again. he is still the most exciting player in

the game, regardless of what he does in his personal life. so that is

that. and let´s see if the suns can make something in their run in the

playoffs this year. are the cavs just destroying everyone with the

lebron and shaq combo?

blake´s car? any news? that sucks that everything was trashed. i hope

that he can find a way to replace everything.

um lauren...that scripture is pretty bomb. i may or may not have used

that as a favorite scripture. i am not sure. but yeah. it is way cool.

ummmmmmmmmm what else is new?? just working my butt off. OH! i got the

package that you sent. with the FIVE itch creams? lol that should keep

me covered for a while. and the oreos :) and the other candy. yeah. i

was happy. lol and i should be getting fat again.

ummmm that is cool that jessica got baptized. bummer about her

parents. that is so annoying when parents do that. they can´t just let

their kid be happy? is it really that difficult? way annoying. but she

will stay strong as long as she has a support system. so blake can

play a big part in that.

um not much to report here. we might have a few baptisms soonish. a

family (mom and 3 kids) and a few others. eva is way strong. she is

the assistant in the young women´s. she is asking me about patriarchal

blessings because she wants one. she is way cool. just keep praying. i

will let you know about any progression. love you guys lots! thanks

for everything you all do for me. enjoy conference!!!!!!

tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Thirty

yo what up everyone

alright favorite scripture D&C 6: 29 - 34

um alright well i got lots of news from you guys today

blake got his car stolen?? that blows so bad. dude, i am sorry. if i
see anyone rolling around in a black honda civic with an arizona
license plate i will be sure to stop them. but for real...any news
yet? or is it just done? cuz that sucks way hard. just stay calm.
should you find the person who stole it, remember...WWJD!! well...i
don´t know what he would do. just don´t kill anyone. that would be bad
from an ETERNAL perspective blake...love ya man :)

um mom and dad...why are you always SO ridiculously busy?? i mean you
guys are always doing projects. and then you go to work to escape the
physical labor?? noooossssssa. that means "wow" just in case you were
wondering. um so congratulations on being amazing? superhero status?
oh and it has been raining here too. imagine that. who was surprised??

OH GOOD NEWS!!!!! i received a package and some letters on March
22nd!!! guess which package...the one with the testimony gloves and
candied pretzels from christmas. mom remember when you sent that? if
you said December 16, you would be correct!!!! just 3 months to
receive it is all. i dunno when i will receive other things. MOM i
will NEVER need chapstick again. ever. lol.

um dad i have an interview with president leal on friday. i have to go
to marília to interview with him. my companion said that only i will
be going. i think he is wrong. i am pretty sure my whole zone will be
going. so that is when i will know all your questions. but no, i won´t
be a trainer anytime soon...i hope. lol senior companion maybe in may
when elder da silva goes home. but trainer? i doubt it.

i heard from hyrum today. he seems to be doing great in australia. he
sent me a package, too. i receieved it when i got yours! lol i didn´t
even know. please say thank you to sister allen, too. i sent hyrum an
email. can i get jackson´s email?? i think you already gave it to me.
could you find it in one of your older emails?? because i can´t find
it.

my toes and butt are alright. my right toe is still ingrown...but on
the other side of the nail now?? i don´t even know what that is about.
i need to have a talk with my feet. maybe they can tell me what i am
doing wrong? my shoes are still...in one piece to say the least. i
have already told myself that 2 pairs of shoes will last my entire
mission. so that is that.

no i have not received grandma´s card yet.

morgan, i hope that everything is going spectacularly with the baby.
it is actually moving and such?? talk about WEIRD. i loved stuart´s
email. hahaha " i even called Skyler and talked for like 15 minutes
about how bellybuttons move." i was laughing so hard in the lan house.
people probably just thought that i was that crazy american guy that
they see walking around the city. your life really isn´t boring you
know. i mean...you are pregnant. how...crazy is that. and odd from the
perspective of your little brother who just realized that he really
isn´t that young afterall.

dad and mom...enjoy the vacation and the golf. i will be jealous, as
always. lol.

lauren it is good to know you are keeping busy at work and learning
quickly. i mean you blew me away there with some technical terms. and
i am glad to see your testimony is growing :)

ummm as for the work?? stagnant. we teach and teach and teach and no
one goes to church. one of our best investigators that was progressing
incredibly was dropped. we went to her house and her mom came out
yelling to never come back, to take our "stupid book" with us, and
that she would not allow her daughter to participate with this church.
that is awesome huh? we are teaching a lady named Maria and she is
pretty firm. she wants to be baptized, but she needs to go to church.
so we are waiting. we are also waiting on Lucianna to go to church.
and everyone else. i don´t know. maybe my job here is just to plant
the seeds. maybe i won´t be here to watch them grow?? we are working
hard. so i can only assume that the reason nothing is changing is
because the people are just being prepared for other missionaries. but
we will keep doing work. maybe the results are just a few days away?
just have faith i guess. keep doing our part and helping people build
a relationship with christ. most people that are baptized go through 7
sets of missionaries beforehand. so i guess i will just keep that in
mind.

well i love all of you. i miss you all a bunch. i hope everything is
going well at home. i better get going. my companion is getting his
panties in a twist. he might start causing a scene if i don´t leave
now...i mean it has been an hour and 3 minutes. what in the world
would happen if i stayed a little longer?!?!?!

i love you all. till next week. tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Twenty Nine

hey what´s up everybodyyyy?!

hmm ok favorite scripture. Romans 8: 18, 24 - 25, 31 - 39. it is pretty cool. just found it sometime during personal study. liked it.

alright so not much to report on investigator-wise. we had like 16 or so people promise to go to church on sunday. it sprinkled from 6 till 8:30. church starts at 9. já feito. we had 1 investigator come. and that was because we went to her house to pick her up. so much for all the work we did during the week. oh well. we´ll see what will happen this week. i think we have one lady who is going to be baptized next week. maybe. but other than that, basically everyone else fell through.

ummm so we went on a trade with another companionship in our district. elder gibbons from my ctm district and his comp. so i was senior comp for a day because gibbons and i stayed in my area. yeah. that was great. two americans who have been in brasil for 6 months. lol but i managed to guide us through the maze of streets and crap here and we taught a bunch. the highlight was this guy that we ended up teaching at the end of the day. we were trying to contact a reference but she wasn´t in her apartment so when we were about to leave, the guy was like hey...so what is it that you guys preach? so i kinda explained the 30 second restoration. and then he said that he had just separated with his wife and that he was having a really tough time. so the two 19 year old americans who have been in brasil for 6 months became therapists? or something along that line. basically, we taught the atonement of jesus christ to him and all kinds of jazz. he ended up crying and giving me a big hug and thanking us. we gave him a book of mormon and he said that he would read it all and that he would see us in church on sunday. to me, it would be great if he went to church. awesome. but in all reality, i am just gald i was there to help him. but if something more comes from it, how great.

um let me see. it isn´t cooling down, no. the toes are hurting. but no big. i am using neosporin. i am hoping you enjoyed that irish dinner. it sounded splendid. i am looking forward to some more rice and beans! yeah, who is luckier? i hope wendy and bob will have the chance to hear more about this gospel now. that would be so great. i will be looking for bug bombs now. i will see if they have any here. i haven´t heard from jackson, connor, or hyrum. i dunno if they have my email address. i included it in my letter to connor i think. have you gotten that yet?

we are working our butts off to reactivate members but most of them know that we are wanting to do that, so they just lie and say they don´t have time when we go to their houses. i went to an inactive lady´s house on sunday with a priest in the ward. we taught her and her son. it was good, but i need to see them in church to believe that it made any kind of effect. we also taught two other inactive ladies who stopped going to church because their visiting teacher told them the bible wasn´t true. GREAT! we have visiting teachers that aren´t aware that we believe the bible. how cool!

yes, i know brian hatfield! haha they live in our ward now?? how cool. we had seminary together. we were way tight. he told me that he got his call a few days before i left. that is awesome. and no. i am still waiting on packages and letters. they are supposed to bring them every transfer AT LEAST. and then generally in the middle of transfers at interviews with president or zone conferences. but they just don´t do it because...well i dunno. they work in the office. so they get their packages and letters the day they arrive. they don´t really care if the other missionaries get their stuff on time. so they "forgot" this transfer and now a bunch of stuff is in Marília in the zone leaders´ house.

i am looking forward to those packages and letters...if they ever get here. i am not quite sure if they will. but i will keep my hopes up and let you guys know. thank you all for the love and support and updates and such. who is super psyched for conference?! i am! even though i will probably be forced to watch in portuguese. i think i will go to a different zone or something to watch it in english. because you learn so much more and feel the spirit so much more if you hear it in your own native language. otherwise, you have to struggle to understand some big words or some examples and such. so i will have to find a way to watch in english.

anywho. love you guys so much! till next week!

tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Twenty Eight

HEYYY! lots to report.

favorite scripture - D&C 1: 19 - 23 and 28 i started doctrine and covenants this week.

ummmmm ok. good news. Elder Webb stayed. i was just misinformed by an elder in his zone. but yeah. elder webb is currently in my zone now. so that is cool.

other good news. we baptized Eva this last saturday and she received the holy ghost on sunday. basically awesome :) she is amazing. she is a teacher in the brazilian equivalent to preschool. she is way firm already in the church. nothing more i can say about that. she is just the perfect convert at this point. lol

not so good news. i got to visit our local podiatrist this last week. i had a fungus in the big toenail on my left foot. and an ingrown toenail in the big toe on my right foot. gross. and yikes. so she did some brazilian toe surgery. which means she didn´t use any type of pain killer. which was probably for my benefit in reality. because a shot here would probably give me some new kind of AIDS. but anyway. so she took some "scissors" and cut about a quarter of the nail off on my left foot. which apparently was the infected part? and then she gave me some medicine to put on in twice a day. so if all is well, i do not have a fungus in the toenail in my left foot. then she went to work on the ingrown nail. she took some scissors again and cut off some of the skin next to the edge and then (keep in mind this is without pain killer) cut from the front of the nail to the back to "remove" the ingrown portion. i was squeezing the chair harder then...something that squeezes really hard. and then she told me that was all i needed. i guess the fact that it still hurts ridiculously bad is normal?? so that was a fun experience.

um as for the work right now...we are the first companionship in 5 months to baptize in this area. and we have a few more people who are pretty firm possibilities. so keep praying. the members in the ward are pretty psyched though. i guess the last few sets of missionaries were big time slackers. so when we baptized eva they were pretty psyched. now if we can have a few more this month that would be spectacular. i gave a talk about the difference between baptizing someone and converting someone. i am hoping it hit home. because the members are a big part of the conversion. we need their help. i will keep you guys updated. president leal said that he wants 150 baptisms this month. between 2 and 3 per companionship. that is tough. but we will see.

ummmm i sent a letter to connor via our house because i don´t have the address. i am hoping it gets there before he gets back out into the field. that would be great. i am so psyched that he is going to get back out here. that is so awesome. how is hyrum doing? and any news about jackson? TJ seems to be doing great. he is gunna be the assistant to the president. just watch. i called it. when he hits the year mark he will become assistant lol.

so what else is there to report?? um OH YEAH! i have exactly 14 bug bites on my right butt cheek. just the right one! i guess spiders like...american butt cheeks? but yeah he got me good when i was asleep. i wish i had filmed it. i wonder how i reacted when he bit me the first time?? i must have freaked out to make him go nuts and bite me 13 more times. and then i guess a few of his friends were watching too? because i got bit in lots of other places too. most of which i can´t take pictures.

i am way jealous that i missed elder oaks. i am so psyched for general conference. president leal said that if we do our best and give our best effort, that we would receive revelations in the conference that we had never received before. i am way psyched. i have been preparing big time. i have the ensigns from the last 5 conferences. i have been studying them each morning in preparation for the conference. it is crazy how much i have learned just reading old talks.

anyway. time to go! love you all! i hope that you all have great weeks. i pray for you constantly, and i know you are all praying for me. so thank you :) hope to hear from everyone next week. tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Twenty Seven

HI EVERYONE.

favorite scripture - D&C 115:5. Relate to Matthew 5: 14 - 16.

so not a lot to report this week. just getting tired of the same old thing over and over again. Here is the pattern: 1 - we teach, 2 - investigator says they will do something, 3 - they don´t. Repeat. For two years. I will stop there. I don´t want to be a pessimistic peter over here. but it is just annoying. I have some good news, but i will get to that in a minute. Anyway. So. Ourinhos. Ourinhos has 550 members. We have an attendance rate of 65 people. Like 12%. 12 PERCENT. I guess that is what can be expected in a country with an INactivity rate of 86%. So it looks like we are above average! Alright. Forget it. Lucianna, Yasmin, Edna, Daiane, Márcia, and Alander all had baptism dates marked. Márcia´s daughter started the catholic version of seminary. so Márcia said she will get baptized when her daughter finishes that. Next year. The other 5 didn´t go to church and aren´t showing any signs of progression. So we just told them that we would go back when they can come to church. but whateverrr.

good news. Eva is progressing. Perfectly. She is probably going to be baptized this saturday. if she can stop drinking coffee. She is probably the best investigator i have seen up to this point in the mission. she is great. so keep the prayers coming :)

um on the slightly dangerous side, we live in the second most dangerous neighborhood in ourinhos. we have prostitutes and drug dealers on basically every corner. several prostitutes follow us home several nights per week. it is...nothing good. we had a homicide/suicide in our neighborhood last week. cops everywhere. whatev. um what else. we were trying to contact some less active and inactive members on Sunday and we found ourselves in this favelle type area. silva wanted to turn around but i just said we needed to keep going. we found this inactive lady and she said she was waiting for a sign that she was supposed to go back to the church. she was definitely doing her part, right? but anyway. we talked with her and we are going to try to re-activate her and baptize her husband. the second she turned around, i got a feeling and a voice in my head that said, "turn around and get out of here right now." yeah, we booked it outta there. but i am still safe. no reason to fret.

um on the slightly sad side, we lost one more elder from the 35A district. we have lost 3 out of 13 by the 6 month point. Elder Webb went home a couple weeks ago. way sad.

ummm what else? things are going ok. i am getting along better with silva. i still don´t like his way of working, but he is senior comp and i am still learning the area. so i gotta just follow him. but whatever. ummm i have been pretty sick with diarrhea and headaches lately. probably just dehydration. no big.

testimony?? never been stronger. i have learned so much and grown so much spiritually. i don´t know about intellectually. i have forgotten a lot of things from the academic point of view. but spiritually, i am all good.

sorry that this email isn´t very long. i didn´t get a lot of questions or anything, lol. but my p day is NOT changing. it is still wednesdays. it was changed today. anyway. i gotta go. i love you all so much! tchau!

elder scott ghormley

Year One, Letter Twenty-six

EEEEE AI! what up everyone????

scripture: D&C 100: 5 - 8
favorite hymn of the week (this isn´t a weekly thing - just a this week thing i think): I Believe in Christ

wooooooooowzers. so this week was...just nuts.

alright so i got everything worked out with my protocol. i just went to the international police department and got a paper that says i can travel without that authorized paper. i also had the secretaries send me a copy of my passport that had been certified again. so it is all good. at least until the one year mark. after that, i dunno what i will do. so anyway. i left that night and enjoyed 14 hours of buses. i got to my new area. dad...I GOT THE ADDRESS THE FIRST TIME. i am a quick-learner. so my new address is:

Para 316
Centro
19911 - 700
OURINHOS, SÃO PAULO

so, my new area is ourinhos. meaning "little gold city." it is far from little. my feet are sure of that. and it is not golden. it is so dirty compared to Foz. it is kinda a health hazard. you see, there was or is some big fire close by. so we have ash floating around all day every day. i don´t exactly know what we need to do about that. the house is bigger, but kinda disgusting. like most other mission houses, it has an infestation of ants. but i do have a closet for clothes this time. so there is a plus. um the washing machine broke, so it fails at washing clothes. someone broke one of the water lines, so you have to put the water in to start and at the rinse cycles. but it doesn´t wash clothes very well. this place isn´t as hot as Foz, but it is humid and still very warm. we only have one fan, so that sucks for sleeping. but no big deal. just mission life. but i will probably be here until some time in june. let´s discover why!!! you see, my comp is elder josé marcos da silva. i prefer SILVA. it is easier. anywho. so he is going home May 18th. but odds are, i will be here one more transfer after him. this area is ridiculously confusing. SO MANY STREETS. he has only been here for one month. so he doesn´t know the area very well yet. and i definitely don´t know the area. but anyway. he is FAR from trunky. we have been working our tails off. for example, on P-day, you are supposed to rest and prepare and stuff and then at 6:00 you are supposed to start working. but he marked an appointment at 8:00 this morning and then another one...at 9:00. so much for P-day. but whateverrrr.

we are doing work in this area. we are kinda just white washing. we have a bunch of crap from other elders that we are going through to see what is good and what isn´t. but for the most part, we are starting over. we marked 9 baptisms this last week. one - Márcia - for this sunday. 6 - Eva, Lucianna, Yasmin, Edna, Daiane, and Alander - for next sunday. and two teenagers - Sergio and Fabio - for the week after. the first 7 are pretty strong. Sergio and Fabio...well we will see. they have a good friend that is a member, but she is moving so she won´t be there to help. but we will see. We found most of these people the day that i got here and the day after. Lucianna has had a pretty tough life. she has some money problems, but we have members of the ward that are helping her with some relief. when we went there the first time, she said she recognized me from somewhere and that we got there about 15 minutes after she had prayed to god to let her know that she wasn´t alone and that someone actually loved her. we taught the plan of salvation. and because of you guys, i started crying. you see, i was bearing my testimony about my family and my future family and how i can live with my family forever and i cried. yeah, first time on the mission. but whatever. at least it was because of the spirit and not because of like, home-sickness or some wussy type thing. i am still way manly...

anywho. well i am still getting used to the new comp. it has been tough. he is way...different. but i am doing my best.

i gotta go. time is up. but thank you all for your support and for your testimonies. i know i don´t always get to write specifically to each and everyone of you. but i love when i get to read about what everyone is up to and what is going on in everyone´s lives. so even if i don´t write back to you specifically, i love reading your emails and i am interested :) so thank you for writing. i hope you all enjoy your week.

love you all so much!! you all are in my prayers constantly :)

tchau!

elder scott ghormley

p.s. mom - when you send that memory card, a little english hymn book would be cool. and um...m&ms (peanut butter, plain)? lol that would be excellent. um but i think i am good. OH! more Anti - Itch cream. i can´t find any cheap kind here. it is all like prescription type. way expensive. but that would be great.

P.P.S i sent grandpa and grandma bruce and jackie a letter. can you tell them?? and is it true that girls can serve missions at 18-years-old now? just wondering! someone in the ward said so.

OK! love you all!! have an awesome week!

Year One, Letter Twenty Five

Opa.

Favorite Scripture: D&C 19: 15 - 24

Ok so i have got some bad news and some worse news. And some good news. And probably some great news. In all reality, I have no idea what kind of news i have. But here we go...

So Elder Guerrette and I were eating lunch yesterday and our Secretaries called wanting to talk to me about my protocol. The protocol is like the little legal paper that allows you to be in the country because our passports are at the mission home. It is also the thing that allows you to travel and such. So I lost my protocol in my first transfer and i told the secretaries, and they said they would send an email with instructions on what i needed to do. But they never did. And then the Secretaries were switched and a new secretary came in and told me that we didn´t have to worry about it. Great. SO anyway they called and were talking about what i needed to do to get a new one. But yesterday was carnaval, so all the police stations were closed and stuff. So he calls me back and says that he would find one and i could go there today or tomorrow. So all was good. Then after 2 more minutes he calls back and says i don´t need to worry about it. Why? Because i would be emergency transferred to Marilea last night. We have a bunch of new missionaries coming in that just got there visas from provo. so now they are showing up in week 4 of this transfer. so elder miller (the secretary) tells me to go home, pack my bags, and be on the bus to Marílea, São Paulo at 9:30. Great. So i was wanting so bad to stay one more transfer after this one. Instead, i get transferred without even getting to finish this transfer!! But now it gets interesting. We went to the Bus Station at 8:30 to figure everything out and guess what...Elder Ghormley can´t travel without a protocol. Awesome. So, we had the ticket reserved for tonight and I have to go to the Federal and International Police Station to get my protocol or to get a paper that allows me to travel without protocol. But now it gets better. Since Carnaval was yesterday, everywhere is closed until 2:00 PM at the earliest. Some places won´t open today at all. So now we will be praying that it won´t take like 2 days or something to get this worked out. Awesome. But yeah, I am being transferred. To a ridiculously small city in Marílea. I don´t know who my comp is going to be. But I don´t know why. Elder Guerrette and I were just killing it in Três Lagoas. We led the mission in lessons taught last week and we have 8 baptisms marked before the end of February. And I won´t be here for any of it. But that is mission life, I guess.

But I guess this is good news for you guys. For one, I will not be living in an apartment with that girl above us. So mom and dad, take a deep breath. Two, maybe my next area won´t be so ridiculously hot. Maybe it will. I don´t know. But I will probably have to wear my suit to church now. How sad. But yeah, we will see what my next area is like. I am already missing the people in this area. But the new Greenie that gets here will be blown away. He will see a ton of lessons and a ton of baptisms before his first month in the field is over. Haha lucky him.

Um what elseeeee

PLEASE GET ME CONNOR´S EMAIL ADDRESS. Or the address to the Knoles´ house.

I am sorry that I wasn´t there to help with the strip down of the yard. that sounds pretty rough. and i hope dad doesn´t have any problems with his back...that would be bad. have you figured out anything about it yet?? as for the movie you were thinking about...it is called "Failure to Launch." But PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make blake´s room be your naked fish room. Not mine. :-D

Mom, thank you for your testimony. it was awesome. i love to hear everyone´s testimonies. it always strengthens mine to know what it is that my family thinks and feels about this gospel.

Dad, as always thank you for all the advice and help. I know that you are always helping me to be a better missionary. So thank you.

Ok i am running out of time! I don´t have a lot of baptisms or investigators to report seeing as how i don´t know how my new area is. But, here in Foz and Três Lagoas is going to be awesome. Keep praying for elder guerrette and his new comp.

I love you all so much! thank you for all your support and help! keep strong. trust in the Lord. He always does His part when we do ours. love you guys, tchau!

Elder Scott Ghormley