Laranjeiras

Well, this was a good week. Yesterday was our Christmas conference and it was way fun. We went to the Manaus temple, took some pics, and had a little testimony meeting. It was so much fun to see some old friends and comps again. And the temple is really coming along! It's always a motivation booster to see the temple coming along. After that, we went to a churrascaria. It was so good! It's all you can eat meat, if you guys don't know. They come along with meat and cut it off for you at your table. I ate SO much. I even brought the Red Robin Seasoning, just to add a little America to the meal. After that we watched a Christian football movie. Defeating the giants, or something like that. It was ok....Kinda cheesy, but it's always fun to watch football, and it had a good message. Pres then talked with us and we had a really spiritual meeting. Oh, yeah. And we had a little talent show. We did a remake of the 12 days of Christmas to some mission/Manaus things, and it turned out well. I played guitar, Sister Jayme had a guest appearance, and we got some pretty good laughs. And Pres said he liked it and it was perfectly appropriate (unlike some of the other acts...). It was a good time.



I got to see Elder Wolfe, the first missionary that I trained, at the conference. He shared something with the mission that I had told him. (I had no clue that he even remembered.) He quoted me and said, "Every transfer for a missionary is a new start. You get to be a new person every transfer. You can decide how you want the new "you" to be. Just look back, see the good things and apply them. Leave the bad things behind. If you do that, you'll grow, learn, and be happy." None of us are defined, we can make ourselves into who we want to be...

On football and America, we had a pretty fun day this week. We have a member of our ward who served his mission in Provo, and since he knows English, he now makes bank down here. So, he had us over for lunch this week and made us Baby back ribs and BBQ chicken. It was so good. American food is just so flavorful....But that same day we were walking past a college in our area that has a field where we play football and frisbee. We saw a game, so we walked past just to see what was going on. Turns out it was the Manaus Amateur football championship game. We ended up watching a little while. It was pretty funny. Only half the guys had football pads and you could tell they really didn't know what they were doing. But, some of the guys and coaches saw us watching and came over to us wanting to talk about football. So, we chatted for a little while and we invited them to church and everything. They want to mark a time to play with us..so, who knows. Maybe one P-day we'll play with them. But, it was nice to have an American day...


The work is still going well. We still have some baptismal dates for next month for men and families, and we helped the ward make a ward mission plan this week. So, we are hoping for some good success over the next few months.


Well, I gotta go. I'll quickly just bear my testimony that I know that Christ lives! I'm eternally grateful for Him and for His loving sacrifice. I know that through Him and our faith, nothing is impossible, and that we can see miracles in our lives. I'm grateful for His example, humility, and sacrifice for me, and I'm striving to become more and more like Him everyday. I know that He lives, and that He loves all of us more than we can imagine. I know that He restored His church, and has prepared a way so that we can live with our families for all eternity. I'm so grateful for Him and all He has done for me. I love my Savior, and I leave this testimony in His name, the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.


Love you guys!!!!!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!


-Elder Eric Stapley

Laranjeiras

Well, this week went well. We had a wedding last week and the baptism of a cool lady, who was living with a less active man. They are now going to church every week and the baptism and wedding both went really well. While we were filling up the baptismal font, I found a manual about eternal marriage and studied it- just to get in the Spirit for the wedding. The service was simple and personal, but at the same time, more special because of that. The baptism went well and I was asked to perform the ordinance. After the baptism, the husband came up to me, thanked me and then said he would be honored if I participated in their recently born baby's blessing next month. I've not done that yet, so should be fun. I was just honored he invited me to stand in.



The work still goes on and we are preparing for some more baptisms next month and possibly another one this month, if all goes as planned.

This Sunday was the regional Stake conference and we heard talks from Elder Ellis, Elder Anderson, Elder Ucthdorf, and Sister Dalton (I think that's who she was at least...) It was cool, but it was funny to hear the accents of the ones that actually spoke in Portuguese, and didn't have their talks translated. Let's just say I made a few goals to try my best to keep up my accent as best as I can after the mission. Not like I'll be an apostle or something, but just to keep my Portuguese sounding like....well....Portuguese...It was funny. Even Elder Lewis noticed. During Elder Anderson's talk he looked at me and asked, "he doesn't have a good accent, does he?" But, their talks all had good messages and it went well.

We also watched the First Presidency Christmas message. I love Christmas music, especially in English

We just got done playing frisbee today. BYU frisbee season will be coming up before I know it, so I need to get ready.

Speaking of.....as of yesterday, I only have 6 more months on the mission!! It has gone by so fast. I called up the other American going home with me and we talked about how it still seems like yesterday that we were in the MTC. But, I'm now on the home stretch....

We'll be having our Christmas conference next week, but it doesn't look like we'll be going to the meeting of the waters this year, and we'll have a talent show. Our district has prepared the "12 days of Christmas" with some changed lyrics, including a letter from a girlfriend, 5 large packages, 3 pacu (a fish from here..) and other random stuff. Should be pretty funny.

Merry Christmas for all who are reading this! And Happy New Year! Best wishes

-Elder Eric C. Stapley

Laranjeiras

Hey guys,


Well, this week went pretty well. Running around ans getting everything ready for the wedding and baptism this week. Everything is looking good and we are setting up more baptisms for this month and next. So, the work is going really well...We are finally having some good success in this area. It took awhile and a lot of work, but now we are getting the rewards for it. Tomorrow we are going to do the wedding for a couple where the man is already a member, and the wife isn't. Her name is Michelle and has been going to church for a few months now, and is really prepared for baptism. She pretty much got a testimony early on and then just accepted the rest, so it was fun to teach her. But, we already have some good baptisms set up for next month too. If all goes well, we'll get this ward baptizing every month....



We had zone conference on Monday. I always love hearing from Pres and Sister Jayme. They really are the best! We talked a lot about obedience, loyalty, and the purpose of the Holy Ghost in conversion. It was really good, and I took a bunch of notes. It's always fun to see some friends and old comps, so it was a good day.


Elder Lewis is cool. We are becoming good friends, and he's already getting better at Portuguese. He's a stud.



I'm excited for Christmas! Just another 17 days. I'm sure Erynn is counting as well. Next week, I'll try to get the number for you guys to call. Oh, I also got the "Feliz Navidad" singing card from you guys. Thanks! Only thing is- I think Callen's handwriting is better than Megan's.....speaking of...


Happy Birthday Megan! Parabéns!


Well, I know that this really isn't the longest email ever, but other than that it was pretty much just a normal week in the life. We'll probably be buying a Christmas tree this week and putting it up in the house. But hope all is well and I'll talk with you next week (well, I guess REALLY talk in 3 weeks!)


Love you!


-Elder Eric Stapley

Laranjeiras

Hey guys,

Well this was a good week. We baptized Alexandre on Saturday, and it went really well. He had origionally asked for Bishop to preform the baptism, but Bishop didn't bring clothes to change. We decided that since it was Elder Lewis' first week, we'd let him perform the baptism. I think he would have appreciated more notice, as he had no idea what the baptismal prayer was in Portuguese, but he did just fine and the baptism went really well. We are looking forward to the wedding/baptism in 2 weeks from now.

Elder Lewis is way cool. He's from Spring City, which is close to Manti, and we are becoming good friends. I've been blessed with some cool comps on my mish.

Thanksgiving went well....we honestly really didn't do anything. We just celebrated by buying some milkshakes at night. Exciting huh...? And lunch was...rich and beans. Of course.

It's December! I got the Christmas package. Thanks for everything! We've already started listening to some Christmas music, in honor of you Erynn..But I'm stoked for Christmas. It marks the beginning of the end... Just 3 more weeks!

So, we had the Primary Program on Sunday. It went well, and fortunately I didn't mess up in front of the entire ward as I was playing the organ. It turned out well, and the ward was appreciative that I helped out.

Today we played some American football and frisbee. We later had a district party, and ate pumpkin pie and brownies. It felt like Thanksgiving. I just wish I had more time to take a nap now....But oh well. Im going to sleep so well tonight.

But yeah. Life is going well. Im enjoying training again. I need to take a picture with my 2 filhos (sons) soon. Everyone keeps saying I need to train one more to tie with my trainer, Elder Christensen -who trained 3 times. We'll see what happens I guess. But anyways, I hope all is well with you guys. Have a great week!

Love,
-Elder Eric Stapley