August 27, 2012

Answer to DAD:

The attendance in our ward has been the same for a few weeks now. Our goal is to get up to 170 to divide the ward at the end of next year. Milton's wife will be baptized this Saturday. She accepted the date and also we already marked the time of the baptism. WOOO finally. We have worked a lot with this family and I'm really excited for them.

Actually the weather here has been pretty good, today is the first day that it cooled down for us and is a little rainy. Do you look at the weather for Mauá or São Paulo?

I don't know if I would say that time passed quickly, but when you look back it seems fast. Looking back in retrospect always makes things seem quicker.

Sounds like a weird trade for the Red Sox to me. Interesting, very interesting.

Well I shall read mother's email now. Tchau tchau.

com amor,
Elder Cameron Bruce 

Answer to MOM:

I'm doing great. So we had transfers but Elder Simpson and I both stayed here. I'm happy with that. It means I'll get to baptized Milton's family still. Yay. And we have some other people to work with too. And I like the area, the ward, and the house. So all in all I'm happy.

Milton's family will be baptized on Saturday. Woot. And then the next week a less active family will be completed. They have come to church a couple of times and they are just waiting for an Uncle, who is active, to be able to come over and baptize the little girl.

American day went really well, we made hamburgers and corn dogs and brownies and cookies. Also we threw around a football, and just spoke a lot of English. People loved it. I personally wasn't all too satisfied. But next time we'll do way better. Except I probably won't be here for the next time, which will be in December or November, but oh well.

I got the package of letters. I enjoyed them immensely. Especially when Braxton wrote Cramren. Or something like that.

I'm doing great health-wise, no problems there. Just tired. But that's kind of the point out here.

Any more music would be happily received. No specific requests though.

Well I hope everyone starts feeling a little better. That's all for this week. Até semana que vem. Tchau tchau.

Com amor,
Elder Cameron Bruce

August 20, 2012

Answer to MOM:

The zone conference went really well. All the trainings were focused on using the Book of Mormon more effectively. I thought it was great, and something I really needed to work better on. Also at the conference I got a box of cereal because I had my birthday since the last conference. Sister Tanner gives you a box of Sucrilos (frosted flakes) and everyone sings parabens for you. It's cool. Also we did win the cleanest apartment!!! WOOOT!! Which means we get a free pizza. Yay!! The news was a little upsetting to my old companion Elder Perrell, he was sure that his apartment would win. 

No I didn't baptize her, it was her dad, and her name is Laís. (pronounced Lie-ees) Milton's family accepted this next Sunday for their baptism and we are accompanying them daily to make sure everything goes right. I'm really excited for them. Milton received the Priesthood and passed the sacrament yesterday. It was a really great thing to see. 

Sacrament meeting was good this week. Relatively similar amount of people. A little disappointed that some people that committed to going, didn't go. We'll stop by their houses this week and see what happened. For less actives to come back to church is difficult. I don't know why really, I have a lot of theories, but to me it seems like it should be so easy, JUST GO. But I have never passed through the situation so I don't know.

I have heard just a little bit about Romney, people ask every once and a while what I think about it. I usually say that I have no idea what is really going on. I would love to have the oppurtunity to research and learn more about what is going on, but oh well. Not too big of a deal to me, I have other things to do. 

Tell Kieli Martin Klingensmith parabens, if you can. (new baby girl) 

Well something that is kind of fun that is different with elder Simpson is that we cook a lot more stuff in the house. Like the other day we made anAmerican lunch, we made hamburgers, french fries, found some BBQ sauce and tabasco and such. It was really cool. Today we made Brazilian mousse (nothing like what you are thinking, it is basically just condensed milk and a little packet of juice powder) but it is suuuppper good. They use condensed milk in about everything here. Delicious. 

Oh and also this Saturday we will be having an American day, for our English class students, and the ward is invited too. It will include many little Americangames and American food. We will be barbecuing hamburgers, making french fries, and corn dogs. The games will include, tug-o-war, bobbing for apples, three legged races, sack races, and my favorite, a blind folded "English" obstacle course. We will teach them how to give directions in English, then they will have to guide their friends through a course only speaking English. It will be hilarious. Oh and also we will put on a demonstration of how to make cookies and brownies for everyone. mmmmmm yummy.

Needless to say we are excited. It's going to be a great day.

Well that's all for this week. Until next week. Tchau

Com amor, 
Elder Cameron Bruce

Answer to DAD:

I guess you'll just have to be Bishop when I get home too. So at the zone conference we had I was talking to two of my friends that are from my group (the people who showed up with me) and one of them said "yup my parents moved to Utah" and I said "bummer, mine might too, my dad is always threatening" then the other Elder said "well my parents moved to Abu-dahbi." Needless to say he won the competition of going home farthest away from where you left. It was quite a funny experience.

Howard a Laker? Strange. I guess we'll see how that goes.... or I mean, I guess you'll see how that goes.

I was worried you were going to say that Felix got hurt or left the Mariners or something, I guess I just naturally assumed that news about the Mariners can't be good. That is pretty awesome though. (Felix pitched a perfect game) Were you watching the game?

Well cool. Tchau meu pai.

Elder Cameron Bruce

August 6, 2012

Always good to hear that the US is doing well in the olympics. On the TV in the lan house is China vs Great Britain in basketball. Not so entertaining. I find myself rooting against China a lot. Also lots of Brazilians have a very bitter attitude with us now (because we have a lot of medals and they don't) it's never anything too serious, usually just joking around.

I feel like I do a pretty good job of keeping things clean and cooking cleanly. Don't worry mom, I was taught by the best, and possibly the cleanest. There is no rice sitting out on the stove.

Speaking of which, President and company, loved the apartment. They remember how it was the time before and realized the vast improvements we had made. In order to win the cleanest house you need to know a few things: first, a good smell goes a long way (investing in Pinha sol (pine sol) is worth it), second, the more pictures you have of the temple, prophets, and Christ, the better not only for the overall appearance but for a more spiritual apartment, and third, the organization of your desk. We create shelves out of old boxes, have more that just your scriptures on the table, all sorts of neat little things. They want a clean but also an apartment that is attractive. I feel like we have a pretty good shot of winning. Oh and also having fresh cookies waiting for them helps too.

The interview with President went really well. We mostly just talked about the work. He was really excited with how things seem to be going here in Parque das Américas. I am too. 

We have a few families that we are teaching that really only need to get married in order to be baptized. That is a huge problem here. Marriage costs about 300 reais or 150 dollars ( a LOT for most people here) and takes at least 30 days to get approved. It's a really annoying process, but we are going to help a few people with it. Hopefully they continue with us after the marriage too. Also we are teaching a little girl whose family was inactive for a while but now they are coming back and want their daughter to get baptized. She will be baptized on Sunday. 

The attendance at church was over 130. WOOT. Continuing strong.

The mini hymnal would be in English. It's for Elder Larusso. 

So I haven't been able to find a rainjacket here. They are all VERY expensive here. So I was just looking for a light black rain resistant jacket. Nothing that is too hot. If it's cold and rainy I'll just wear a sweater underneath.

Well that's all from Brasil for this week. Até mais, eu os amo.

Elder Cameron Bruce

August 13, 2012

Answer to DAD:

T.O. is a Seahawk? I laughed out loud when I read that. Getting old and a bad attitude=Seahawks.

Did Elder Baxter come just to visit, or did he shake up the stake a little? Here in Brazil everyone only thinks about dividing wards because everything is growing so fast, so when a general authority comes everyone thinks wards and stakes will be divided.

I'm amazed by the weather here in Brazil. I keep thinking that I'm in the US. Because it's August and it's hot. The last few weeks have pretty much all been perfectly sunny and warm. It's pretty sweet.

I'll report on the work in the email after reading mom's.

com amor,
Elder Cameron Bruce 

Answer to MOM:

HMMMMM Tucanos. We are going to have to go when I get back. Steve and I can speak in Brazilian meat. FYI Stephen, you DO NOT want to serve during the world cup here. IT WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO WORK OR LEAVE THE HOUSE. People went nuts for a tournament that was much less important and that wasn't even in the country. People tell me what I consider to be horror stories about how nuts this country is during the Copa (what they call the world cup). For sure most missionaries will stay inside during games. But after all that, I still want to come back as a normal person. I hope everyone is saving up.

Both Grandmas are definitely in my prayers. It's pretty worrying for me. 

President hasn't announced the winners of the cleanest apartment yet. I'm guessing he is waiting until the zone conference tomorrow. 

Sacrament meeting was 110. But it was Father's Day here in Brazil so I think a lot of people were visiting dads. People that are always there, weren't. But we did have the baptism, it went really well, except the little girl choked on the water when she came out. No real scare or anything, but it kind of detracts from the spirit when you come out of the water coughing a lot. 

Milton's family is still progressing. His son is definitely the next to be baptized. We will visit them a few times this week and try and mark for this Sunday with him. It might take a little while longer for the wife and daughter. We'll see.

The work is going really well. I have decided I am never going to knock another door. Instead we are visiting EVERYONE on the ward list. Trying to work with less actives and part member families. It seems to be much more effective. Also we are crossing lots of names off the list. As in they have moved or died. There are about 550 people on the list. So it'll take a while to visit all of them.

Just candy would be nice too. You know, Milkyways or peanut butter m&m's. Or anything that is American.

Well I'm doing great and feeling great. I'll talk to you in a week. Tchau tchau.

Elder Cameron Bruce