July 29, 2013

How to be bored...I could write a book.....

you can probably guess that this week wasn´t super eventful.

 

WELL as usual i hope that all is well. i´m kinda jealous about missing the first cornwall arial firework... jerks. you do all the fun things without me. haha Brincadeira. i´m super exited to hear how utah state and byu do this year. too. keep me posted on that. also the hard copy thing is not necessary. i always take care of family first on P-Day by reading and responding to you guys first. then whatever time i have left i talk with friends. dont worry i have my priorites straight. =)

 

so now time to describe one of the most boring weeks ever. so my companion is the district leader. (fun fact: every single one of my comps has been a district leader. i´ve had 5 comps now.) anyway, the beginning of the week was great. we were doing just the normal missionary preaching thing, and then we get a call that we have a baptism interview we need to do that only the District leader can do. so we go do that and had a little complication to it ended up taking the rest of that day.

 

so then we wake up the next day and get a call about half way through study the LZ´s tell us that one of them is sick and they need someone else to do their baptismal interview. well the town we need to go to is about an hour and a half bus ride away. so we have to take a bus and they have about 10 people that need interviews. it took forever and we go home and its time to call it quits for that day too.

 

THEN!!! one of the other companionships in our district is having their ward split. so... we have to go help them find every single one of the Less actives of their ward. NO ONE was home. so we spent the day knocking on doors and getting told that whomever we were looking for has moved away... supposedly... well that took just about the entire day too.

 

so yep. we´ve been working in just about every area but our own... kinda interesting... but hey you may be hearing news of my first baptism soon. we have a couple people who are super close to steping in the waters of baptism. perhaps this week. =) i´m secretly really excited. OH and one more fun fact of the week. i saw the beach, (cant step on the sand) and i bought a cocunut and had them cut it open for me so i could litterally drink the water out of it. kinda cool... =)

 

well thats about all i have to say for this week. hope all is well at home and that you guys are happy to be alive. be grateful for everything you have and be sure to take the time to tell the people you love that you really do love them. love you all! BYE!!!!

Elder Cornwall

July 22, 2013

Will You Marry Me???

Yep it really happened.

 

Oi Tudo Mundo!!!!

 

So lets just say that this week i felt kinda cool this week... but what happened was so distracting...

 

FIRST!!! Here in brazil, people are not very ashamed of their opinions. so i went on a division with the LZ´s and as we were going through out the day there was this old woman. Elder mullins was doing most of the talking. i wasn´t paying all that much attention to the conversation until i hear the word, bonitinho. i look up and she´s looking at me. yep, an old woman, about 60 years old, said i was cute... i didnt think much of it...

 

UNTIL the next day we got a referral to go talk to one of our investigators friends. so we did. and when we stepped into the house, we get to know everyone in the house, (its really hard to remember portugues names so i cant remember her name right at the moment. but its in my journal.) but after i introduced my self. she kept smilling a lot and said the same word as the old woman, HOWEVER WITH AN ADJECTIVE!!!! MUITO bonitinho. =)

 

AND NOW TIME FOR THE GRAND FINALLY. that same day that the 28 year old lady said i was muito bonitinho, we had a lady named rosa schedualed for the day. so we went to go see here and her daughter was there. their was a lot of people talking and then so it was really hard to understand, her daughter started talking with me and i cant hear or understand a word she is saying. my companion speaks a little english and translated for me, he said that she was a snake and then said, uh... wants marry... wants childrens with you,

 

needless to say it kinda freaked me out. so i had to explain in my very broken portugeuse that i´m a missionary and that i cant marry while i´m doing the work of the lord. yep. OH and one more thing before i´m done

 

we had a ward talent show this week and while we were watching the criançes (children) do their thing they suddenly anounced that the missionaries will be going next. i´m completely lost, then elder leonon explains that he signed me up to sing ´´i want jesus to walk with me´´ so out of no where i basically get shoved onto the stage and explain that i dont know songs in portuguese and so i´ll be singing in english... yep it was weird... and i learned sorta how to beat box in montana so i did a beat while elder leonon sang, love is spoken here in portugeuse... yea it was strange...

 

well i think thats all the big things that happened this week. thanks for all you love and concern. i love reading all the emails. thanks so much! tchau!!!

 

oh and one more thing! the name change is official. we had interviews with president and i told him the situation. and i asked him if i should change my name. he said yes. i told him elder drew or elder alexander. he told me that elder Alexander would be best. so yep. i´m now elder Alex. wierd... i know... haha

 

Happy birthday daddy!!!!! not sure what you guys are going to be doing for your birthday but know that i´ll be there in spirit. Way to be old!!! haha! yep i´m still your son. I hope you know that i love you. i love it when you write emails. they make me feel good. thanks so much for everything!

Elder Alex... weird....

July 15, 2013

For an American.....

yep i have a pretty funny story to tell. BUT FIRST, i need to answer all the questions you had, starting from the top.

 

i´m in a little place called Alvorada. its close to a place called trapiche.

 

yes in maceio

 

im in the suburbs... if you can call them a suburb. its more of a concrete jungle... people dont live in the best of conditions down here.

 

no tent and no van... sorry... haha

 

the work is going well. no baptisms but lots on date.

yes my companion is elder leonon.

 

yes he is from brazil

 

yes the other two elders are from brazil also. which means i dont speak english... EVER.

yes to both. We cook for our selves and get fed by members. its really cool meeting all the members because they all love the missionaries cause they are all converts.

 

president and sister gonzaga are really cool. president is really really quiet and doesnt speak english so... i dont really know what kind of person he is. cause most of the time when he speaks i dont really understand what he´s saying... haha

 

i dont remember if the took a picture with me in all honesty. when i first got here i was slightly in culture shock... so... forgive me. haha

 

yep i flew by myself from sao paulo to brazil... it kinda freaked me out... they had someone help us get to our correct plane when we arrived to sao paulo but i flew on my lonesome...

 

hooray. i answered all the questions for once haha.

 

now its story time. we had almoço with one of the members down here and they decided to take us out to some place. i honestly dont remember the name of the place because everywhere serves the exact same food... rice, beans, some kind of noodles, and meat... haha every day. and just so you guys know. i can make some killer rice now. ANYWAY. we start have lunch and return back to their house to share a message. after we are done with that they start telling me and elder leonon that we are some of the best missionaries that they had ever met. i start feeling pretty proud of my self. and then rosá looks straight at me and says, ``pelo Americano, não esta muito chato´´ which means ´´for an american, youre not really annoying´´

 

i took it as a compliment. haha. aperently other american missionaries that she has had over have been muito chato, or really annoying/boring. woo hoo. haha.

 

also i might just be changing my name from Elder Cornwall to Elder Drew. for two reasons. FIRST no one down here can pronounce Cornwall. Second: many times, people think i´m saying Elder Corno... which... is not a very nice word to say the least... its not a cuss word but its not good.. haha people usually get a pretty good laugh when they they think i say my name is elder... yea... haha

 

anyway hope all is well in the states. i´m doing well. i´m still happy and healthy. love you all and remember too smile at the little things.

Elder Drew

July 8, 2013

Slowly... Ever so Slowly

Hahaha... yep i´m getting better with the language but its still kicking my butt... haha

 

HEY EVERY BODY! so you had the fourth of july party without me... show´s how much you love me... oh sorry i cant make it to mow the lawn. i´m slightly busy... hahaha! oh! if you want to mail me anything just send it to the mission home address. the mailing system down here is kinda... non existant... haha! so yea just send it to the mission home and i´ll get it... eventually...

 

Well this week has definately been interesting... we have gotten a ton of people to listen to us, (when i say us i mean elder Leonon) and we´ve even set a couple baptismal dates. but it all seems pretty unsteady at the moment as to whether or not a lot of the people we have on date are really going to go through with it.

 

So its really been a culture shock down here. I kinda had to take a step back and breath for a little while because i was kinda freaking out for a little. just because its so much different down here. and i tell you what its been a test of my faith for this whole language thing. it really gave my mind a new perspective about things. life is so much different when you take away something that just seems so basic. meaning an easy way to communicate. its kinda funny that you mention gestures because thats what i´ve been doing all week to talk to people. its been a little frustrating at times, espesially cause i´m the only english speaker in my apartment, (we have 2 companionships where i live) so when we do lunch together and every one is laughing i sit there in a stuper... but i know i´ve only been here for two weeks. I have faith that it will eventually come. through christ, all things are possible

 

so funny story time. me and the other elders were sitting in the apartment at the end of the night and Elder Souza pulls out a nerf gun. then we get the idea of playing russian roulette with it. haha! it sounds terrible but we got it on video and its so funny watching eachother just about die while were waiting for the gun to be shot. haha! oh missionaries are ridiculous...

 

Anyway! all is well! i´m still happy healthy and clean. =) hope the parties and stuff have been going well and know that i´m always praying for you guys. Love you all and talk to you later!!!

Elder Cornwall

July 1

O Que? Repita. en nao entende...

 

Thats pretty much what ive been saying all week. If you want to guess what it means i´m sure that you can figure it out... i have litterally no clue what people are saying to me... haha! but hey its cool. i´ll get it eventually...

SO HEY!!! hopefully everyone is well. I must say that its been a total culture shock down here... yes i have beans and rice for every meal if anyone was wondering... but i´ve got to tell you guys how awesome it is down here.

I pretty much live in a concrete box surrounded by other concrete shacks. thats kinda what people live in down here. the sidwalks are completly uneven because every one designed the front of their house the way the want it to be. every one has cars with MASSIVE sound systems installed in the back and they all play them really loud so that the intire neighborhood can here whats being played. every one is really loud and obnoxious ESPESSIALLY when there is a soccer game on. every one has fireworks and when brazil scores... its the fourth of july times 10.... haha!

so thats the culture. its kind of a poorer place. people dont have much here. but the have lots of people to talk to. everyone is really open about talking about anything and they really like the gospel here. me and my companion, elder leonan got doubled in and are starting form nothing in our area and we already have 3 baptismal dates. its been awesome!!!

The tempurature down here sucks... its aperently the winter months down here and i´ve barely survived... haha! good grief... yes its humid too. if you have anything get wet it will NEVER dry.. it just gets slightly less wet... haha! my companion here is awsome too. he´s really good at talking with people and knows the doctrine so well that it amazes me... (At least i´m assuming this cause he never stops talking and the people never stop nodding their heads in agreement. haha)

anyway theirs lots more i want to say but i need to get to writing my president. I LOVE YOU ALL TONS!!! i hope that everything is going well. its been great here and i´ll talk later! até logo!!!