Year Two, Letter Thirty-three

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

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

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

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

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

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

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