6.30.08

Oí,

Well I am being transfer out of the wonderful Telegrafo. Where to, I don’t know of as of yet. I find out Wednesday at the transfer meeting.This week has been frustrating with the Language but its coming. And that’s all I can ask for.

There was a party at the church Friday night and Elder Wasden took a bunch pictures, that I will send to Lisa, some day, to put on the blog. It was fun to see all the little kids and some adults dressed in funny clothing.

So that pretty much all for the week. Had my interview with Presidente after pizza hut on Tuesday and it was awesome. He always pumps me up.Going to miss the people here in Telegrafo

Tchua and thank you for the all the support,

Ryan

6.23.08

Hello,
I have had a pretty good week. It´s been hot and muito chuve. Which is normal. The investigators are keeping up again which is what we want. Nobody is ready for baptism for a couple of weeks but we have people that want to learn about the gospel. Thanks to the help of the members. A couple of Sundays ago the ward called a new ward missionary leader. He is a convert of 2 years and he is 20 years old and preparing to serve a mission. His got a huge desire to fire up the members again. The staff want to move the staff house closer to the office so that means that I will have to move from here in a week or so. They want to move before the transfer is over in a week. So I will be changing houses in a week, regardless of being transferred out of Telegrafo. We will see what happens.
This morning I was reading in alma 32 sobre fé. The parable of a seed. I love the language that was used to describe how a good seed grows. A swelling of your soul. First we have to try out the gospel then it takes time for the seed to grow or not to grow. If it’s a good seed it will grow and your soul will swell. If it’s a bad seed then it wont grow. Anyway about the good seed. We need to nourish that seed in our soul so it will become a tree. And continue to nourish the tree that we can one day partake of the its fruit, eternal life. Matt 7 has a similar parable, with the same idea about faith. Developing faith is an ongoing process, just like the other principles of the gospel.
Take care all,
Ryan Spencer

The Weekly Report From Telegrafo

Hey family,

I had p day on Tuesday this week as you have probably already guess. We changed so we could go to the Bosque which is closed on Mondays. It was awesome and well worth the change. The Bosque is a Forest in the middle of Belém, that was set aside so that you could enjoy the rain forest in the big city.(just my guess) It was nice to walk around at a slow pace in shade and to enjoy the animals that where there. Mainly birds and moneys, and one manatee(?).

This past week was tough , i wasn´t able to work at full speed because I was a little sick. But I talked to Sister Hoggan and everything is going to be alright. Just a new American adjusting to the food here in Brazil. The ward is starting to die on us with the help in the work and we are trying to re jump start them. We have very few investigators right now and we are trying to help the ones we have out in every possible way we can.

Something one of the A.P.s stresses in his teaching, that i would like to share, is the reality of Satan. That he does exist. When we don't realize that he exists that's when we run into problems in your life and when He has the most control over us . But at the same time we must remember that there is a Savior and realize His reality and what he offers for us for us. We have a lot of investigators and even some recent converts that don't realize the reality of both beings. The work is not going as fast as it was in the first couple of weeks that I was here. We are getting into a cycle that we don't want to be in. This week one of our goals is to not do anything without a member. Simply because it is easy with the help from the members than spending all day knocking on doors.

Well, congrats Cody on graduating Thursday, I was thinking about you. Quinn the new born, welcome into the family, and parabéns to everyone on becoming a great grandparent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or a parent this week. Bridget went to Europe, Steele went to CA , Grandma to Hawaii and Becky stills has Toby that's awesome.

take care,

Ryan

6.9.2008

Hello,

This week I went on my first splits with a member for more than one lesson. it was from 4 in the afternoon to 9 at night. I loved it because it was easier to speak Portuguese knowing that the person you are with doesn’t know any English and i felt that teaching went a lot better being. I am trying to step up in teaching situations a lot more by trying to cut off my companion when I can. Doesn’t always work as smoothly I as I would hope. (when I ran out of words to describe my thoughts or when I know know whats being said) Well this week we have hit a point when we don’t have any one prepare for baptism in the near weeks. We were going to baptize Thallyson the son of a recent convert this next Saturday, but they weren’t able to make it to church last week. So we need to wait a while for him to be ready. We took one night to teach a couple that are progressing really well, the only problem is that we never can teach them, because of their job. Hourou owns a pastel stand down by the docks where the cruise liners drop of the passengers, apparently he is pretty successful. The night that we went to their home to teach them they were ready to go the work. So we went with them and got free food at The King of Pastels( but in Portuguese Rei de Pastels). The food was good. Anyway they been to church three times and are really excited about getting married and being baptized if Hourou can find his birth certificate and find more ways to teach them. It was awesome at church yesterday because a lady in the ward gave a talk about eternal marriage. It was perfect for them. We were able to teach them one other time during the week and while I was talking Hourou told me to stop and told me that I was speaking better and that he could understand what I was saying. That was a good moment. Then told me to carry on with what I had to said.Well I have included some pictures of eating açcí and not really eating sharky.(sharky is a gross meat(s) and I am pretty sure ill never try it )

Take care all and enjoy the beginning of summer

Ryan

June 2nd 2008

Hey,This week we had all the zone leaders at the house for the transfer meeting. 25+ missionaries makes for a pack house. I am still in telegrafo with my trainer. I went to the templo yesterday. Yes i did. I attend the dedication for the curitbia temple. I bore my testimony yesterday in sacrament mtg at church because their were few people there. all 8 missionaries in the ward bore their testimonies. This week we have found a lot of people to teach. A lot of men. But the biggest problem with the people here in Brazil is that no one is married . they will say they are married but that doesn't mean they are legally married. Its tough for a lot of the people to see the importance of marriage here. One it doesn't mean much to the government and people generally don't have the money to get marry. The women dream of a big wedding and all that stuff, but people generally don't have the means to get marry. This week i hear the reason why one person wouldn't get marry is( from a man) because my parents and my grandparents are not married why should i be married. (following the traditions of their fathers). Anyway everything is progressing here. This transfer is going to be really good and really fast. Only 5 weeks. I have started to go the gym this past week. We jog to the gym for about 2 to 3 minutes and my heart races. It was a tough jog. But it felt great.
Take Care,
Ryan Spencer