I actually was thinking that was probably what happened. I knew there was no way that you would have forgotten. Oh and by the way, we went to the temple today so that is why I am emailing a day late. P-day got traded.
It was a great experience as always at the temple. This time I really noticed how much my Português has improved because they use a really old form of Português and this time there was absolutely no problem to understand. It really made the whole experience a little cooler. But now I'm exhausted, I don't know why but to ride the train and metro is very tiring. No idea why, you either just stand or sit around for basically an hour and a half, but when I have to walk all day it isn't so tiring.
We went to a Subway that they have nearby the temple for lunch. I told Elder Simpson that my parents wouldn't believe what I was eating. You know when you go through the line and tell them what you want on it? Nowadays I actually ask for stuff. Haha. Very different, I have grown to love Subway quite a bit.
Then after Subway we stopped by the Wal Mart that is across the street from the Temple. Wal-Mart just isn't the same here. First off, they're a lot rarer, and then you go in expecting to find American things but there was nothing American at all. But good news a member showed me a new supermarket that currently is selling Milky Ways and Snickers for 1.50 reais!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited, because normally if you find anything American the prices are through the roof, but this is the same price as the US, needless to say I bought a few......10.......... you never know when they will run out or jack up the prices.
The work is going well, we had the Baptism on Thursday, everything went as planned. Unfortunately the baptisms for Sunday didn't go through. We are trying everything to help Milton's children make this decision but it seems like they just don't want too. I'm not sureif there is much more we can do to help them.
But we do have a few other people that we have marked for this Sunday that I feel are a little more solid. We'll pass by this week and make sure everything is good to go.
So as far as pictures, I'm currently trying to find the best way to send home the next load of photos. I am thinking about sending another package home with some more stuff. We'll see about that.
That fireside sounds like it was really special. I am a little bummed I didn't get to see it. I really do love live performances like that. And especially "Come thou Fount" - such a great song.
Glad to hear that people remember who I am still. Always nice to be remembered.
Question: Who is President Weaver?
Well that's all I have for this week. Até mais. Tchau
Com amor,
Elder Cameron Bruce
Sao Paulo
My Home For the Next Two Years
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
September 17, 2012
So mom didn't send a full email. That leaves me a little worried. ( PS from Mom: I sent the email to his old address, arrghh!!! He only got a link to an Ensign article from me. I re-sent the email and was hoping to hear he got it. But I have not heard from him. Rats! )
So everything went well last week. I burned an old shirt that I found in the house. I burnt it at a members house, and we just hung out there for a little while telling mission stories. Nothing too special. No injuries or anything. Nothing to be worried about. And no more burning for me for another 6 months.
This week we baptized Julia, who is a daughter of a in active member that is returning to activity. Her brother who is a very active member but in a neighboring stake performed the baptism. It was really great. I think this family will really turn into one of the strong members of the ward.
On Thursday we will be having another baptism. A little strange but it is because her daughter-in-law works and travels a lot and that is the only day for a month that really works. She is an older lady, but is very firm. She is already asking how she pays her tithing. Always a good sign for someone to stay active.
Milton is blessing the sacrament every week now. It's really awesome to see. And also there was a stake activity for the men, which the missionaries were invited to. CHURRASO!! or Brazilian BBQ. It was very delicious. Milton helped prepare the food since our ward was in charge of the BBQ. He was singing serteneja (brazilian country) the whole time with the stake president. He is going to be a leader here in the near future. But while we were there it just so happened to be that the Zone Leaders were in division (or doing splits) with the Assistants. So I grabbed the assistant and had him talk with Milton's son, Guilherme. Before I knew it they had dissapeared. Little did I know that Elder Torres (the assistant from Peru) had taken him into the chapel to do an impromtu interview. So now Guilherme will be baptized next Sunday. The assistants are assistants for a reason. He also went with us to do some other interviews and it was kind of amazing to see how he talked to people and everything. He really knows how to talk to people.
Well that's about all for this week. Tell mom to hurry up and send an email. Until next week.
com amor,
Elder Cameron Bruce
Friday, September 14, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
September 10, 2012
Answer to MOM:
So I'm doing great. Nothing too special happened this last week. We didn't have any baptisms but this next weekend we have one for sure, maybe two, and then during the week we will have another one. So the work is still going well and I'm enjoying working with Elder Simpson.
As far as health goes I am doing great. I'm just really tired because the last few days it has really heated up and it has been harder to get to sleep recently.
So the package got here, thank you very much. The rain jacket is perfect and all the candy is deliciously trunky. Also all of the 1 year supplies will be used on Friday. I plan on going to a member's house at night to commemorate a little. Nothing to much. Just so you know, burning a shirt. I found an old one in our house to burn.
I'm really excited for conference too. I hope that we can watch it in English like last time. It's just better hearing it in your own language.
Wow, I think I'm really tired so I'm not remembering anything that I wanted to say. Well I guess that is all that I got for this week. Tchau tchau.
com amor,
Elder Cameron Bruce
As far as health goes I am doing great. I'm just really tired because the last few days it has really heated up and it has been harder to get to sleep recently.
So the package got here, thank you very much. The rain jacket is perfect and all the candy is deliciously trunky. Also all of the 1 year supplies will be used on Friday. I plan on going to a member's house at night to commemorate a little. Nothing to much. Just so you know, burning a shirt. I found an old one in our house to burn.
I'm really excited for conference too. I hope that we can watch it in English like last time. It's just better hearing it in your own language.
Wow, I think I'm really tired so I'm not remembering anything that I wanted to say. Well I guess that is all that I got for this week. Tchau tchau.
com amor,
Elder Cameron Bruce
Answer to DAD:
So I'm pretty sure that I am actually going to get transferred next time, which will be october 9th. I don't know why I think that, just a feeling and guessing based on how much time I already have here and such.
We have district meeting every week, but since our zone is so small we actually meet together with the whole zone, but it is not a zone conference. Zone conference is usually a few zones together and President comes, we only have those every three months or so. Also in December we will have a special Christmas Meeting with President. Those are all the regular meetings.
Sounds like Tiger will just finish in the top 5 for the rest of his career. Oh well.
So yup, that's all.
Com amor,
Elder Cameron Bruce
We have district meeting every week, but since our zone is so small we actually meet together with the whole zone, but it is not a zone conference. Zone conference is usually a few zones together and President comes, we only have those every three months or so. Also in December we will have a special Christmas Meeting with President. Those are all the regular meetings.
Sounds like Tiger will just finish in the top 5 for the rest of his career. Oh well.
So yup, that's all.
Com amor,
Elder Cameron Bruce
Saturday, September 8, 2012
September 3, 2012
Oh yeah, Labor day. Forgot that holiday existed. But happy labor day!
I'm doing great. Only Val, Milton's wife, was baptized. This is a very strange situation for pretty much any one that has heard about it. You almost never hear about a father getting baptized first then the wife, and then the children later. It's almost always the opposite, if the father even gets baptized. The baptism went really well though. The whole family was there. Lots of ward members came, and then she was confirmed on Sunday. We still are working with the kids, but honestly I don't even know what more to do. I have asked for advice from EVERYONE, we have taken people to visit them, we have had family nights in member's houses, they have tons of friends in the church already, Guilherme already goes to institute with a bunch of the guys from the ward, and we recently discovered that one of Carol's best friends is a very active member. I don't know what more to do. They are what we call membros em pó (literally, members in dust, but that's what they call cake mix, you know, where you just have to add water).
Also we are working with some other families that are part member. Turns out that our ward is actually the closest to dividing, because we are the only ward that is even close to having enough active priesthood holders to divide. So what we are trying to do is focus on getting some men to either come back to church or get baptized so that there will be enough men to divide the ward in a year or so. We marked a baptism with someone for this next Sunday, he is actually the son-in-law of our ward mission leader, he has already gone to church a bunch and his wife has been a member basically her whole life, she just went a little inactive for a while.
Oh and sweet news, if Milton and Val keep progressing in the church and everything, they will be able to go to the temple to be sealed on September 1st, which would be the LAST Sunday on my mission. I don't know if there would be a more perfect ending to a mission than to go to the temple with someone you baptized. I already told the bishop, home teachers, and visiting teachers that I am putting my trust in them now to make sure that they get to the temple in a year.
The weather has been warmer lately yes. But I'm not liking it. It's going to be HOT again, which is not so much fun. I haven't gotten the package yet, but this week we should be getting mail so hopefully it's already in the office waiting for someone to just bring it here. And actually it hasn't rained in a while and everyone is complaining, because obviously they need it for plants and such, but also because the rain cleans the air up a little, it's VERY polluted here. When you look at the horizon you can see very clearly all the pollution.
The sun sets about the same times as in the US. I don't think I'm technically in the tropics.
Our study isn't scheduled. Just the time when we need to study is scheduled. At zone conference President did challenge us to try and finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. Since I'm almost done in English I'm taking the challenge for o Livro de Mormon, where I'm still in Alma. I always study both and currently I'm also studying the Old Testament. I'm only in Joshua, with so much to read it seems like progress is really slow. Also I am reading the institute manuals for all the standard works, they are VERY useful and really make things a lot easier to understand and give a whole other level of understanding. And of course we are always studying Preach My Gospel, but I usually use that more in companionship study than in Personal study. And the only memorization that I do is just a consequence of reading the same scriptures in lessons and stuff. I don't spend much dedicated time to memorizing scriptures.
Bem, foi tudo que eu pudia dizer por essa semana, até semana que vem. Tchau tchau.
Com amor,
Elder Cameron Bruce
I'm doing great. Only Val, Milton's wife, was baptized. This is a very strange situation for pretty much any one that has heard about it. You almost never hear about a father getting baptized first then the wife, and then the children later. It's almost always the opposite, if the father even gets baptized. The baptism went really well though. The whole family was there. Lots of ward members came, and then she was confirmed on Sunday. We still are working with the kids, but honestly I don't even know what more to do. I have asked for advice from EVERYONE, we have taken people to visit them, we have had family nights in member's houses, they have tons of friends in the church already, Guilherme already goes to institute with a bunch of the guys from the ward, and we recently discovered that one of Carol's best friends is a very active member. I don't know what more to do. They are what we call membros em pó (literally, members in dust, but that's what they call cake mix, you know, where you just have to add water).
Also we are working with some other families that are part member. Turns out that our ward is actually the closest to dividing, because we are the only ward that is even close to having enough active priesthood holders to divide. So what we are trying to do is focus on getting some men to either come back to church or get baptized so that there will be enough men to divide the ward in a year or so. We marked a baptism with someone for this next Sunday, he is actually the son-in-law of our ward mission leader, he has already gone to church a bunch and his wife has been a member basically her whole life, she just went a little inactive for a while.
Oh and sweet news, if Milton and Val keep progressing in the church and everything, they will be able to go to the temple to be sealed on September 1st, which would be the LAST Sunday on my mission. I don't know if there would be a more perfect ending to a mission than to go to the temple with someone you baptized. I already told the bishop, home teachers, and visiting teachers that I am putting my trust in them now to make sure that they get to the temple in a year.
The weather has been warmer lately yes. But I'm not liking it. It's going to be HOT again, which is not so much fun. I haven't gotten the package yet, but this week we should be getting mail so hopefully it's already in the office waiting for someone to just bring it here. And actually it hasn't rained in a while and everyone is complaining, because obviously they need it for plants and such, but also because the rain cleans the air up a little, it's VERY polluted here. When you look at the horizon you can see very clearly all the pollution.
The sun sets about the same times as in the US. I don't think I'm technically in the tropics.
Our study isn't scheduled. Just the time when we need to study is scheduled. At zone conference President did challenge us to try and finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. Since I'm almost done in English I'm taking the challenge for o Livro de Mormon, where I'm still in Alma. I always study both and currently I'm also studying the Old Testament. I'm only in Joshua, with so much to read it seems like progress is really slow. Also I am reading the institute manuals for all the standard works, they are VERY useful and really make things a lot easier to understand and give a whole other level of understanding. And of course we are always studying Preach My Gospel, but I usually use that more in companionship study than in Personal study. And the only memorization that I do is just a consequence of reading the same scriptures in lessons and stuff. I don't spend much dedicated time to memorizing scriptures.
Bem, foi tudo que eu pudia dizer por essa semana, até semana que vem. Tchau tchau.
Com amor,
Elder Cameron Bruce
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)