Terra Nova

What's up, guys?

Well, another week in the mish. It's gone well and been crazy. Being with a companion that doesn't speak Portuguese can be a little draining, but it's fun. Elder Wolfe is a good guy and already my friend, and he's learning a lot. Switching back and forth between English and Portuguese can be a little hard. It's kinda confusing.

Everything is all good for the weddings on the 22nd. 2 of our investigators need to delay their baptisms for family reasons. But we are still working hard and all of our couples have been interviewed for baptism. Now we're just helping the ward with the finishing touches. It's a lot of running around but it should be good. The baptisms will be on the 23rd. I'll baptize 2, Elder Wolfe will baptize one, and a ward member will baptize one. Should be good.

Last night, we were walking in one of the poorer parts of our area and almost stepped on a massive snake. I think this snake took the record for the biggest one I've seen on the mish. It was crazy big. I doubt it was poisonous. It looked more like some kind of constrictor. I almost got a picture, but it got away. I think my companion thought it was pretty cool.

So, the Sounders are going to play Argentina, huh? I hate to say it, but the Sounders are going to get smashed. Messi is amazing. That man is crazy. He's the nightmare of all Brazilians.... We'll be able to watch some of the Brazilian games of the world cup. I'm stoked. I bought my Robinho jersey, so I'm all set and ready to go. I also have a Messi jersey. (The Brazilians usually aren't big fans of it.)

Let's see. What else went down. Last week, an Area 70 came to the mish and spoke. President Linhares. It was cool. I spent the entire time translating though. I forgot my comp doesn't speak so I didn't translate for the first 10 minutes. President Jayme came down off the stand and told me- if I wanted to, I could feel free to translate...I took the hint...Switching language all the time can throw me off....
Friends in Lagoa Verde

So, today, (P-day) I visited my first area. Lagoa Verde. Some other friends passed there, and one even made BBQ chicken. I'm not sure how he made BBQ in this country, but he did and it turned out good. It was so weird though...to see people that I couldn't understand (very well) the last time I saw them. Talking with some of my first baptisms that now can understand all the things I say . It was a fun experience. One of my baptisms pretty much started crying when I showed up. They all started talking about how different I am. Apparently, I'm more skinny, more tan, my shirts are yellow, and my Portuguese has gotten a lot better. It's been about 6 months since I left there. But it was way fun. I enjoyed being able to understand every word that they were saying- instead of just the general idea (...or nothing at all...)

(Dad and Mom, I'm eating enough. I'm just skinny from walking around in the sun all day long. Can you send American snacks in my package, though?)

That's pretty much what's been going on these past few days. Just trying to help Elder Wolfe as much as I can. It can be kind of hard to teach Portuguese. I think I forgot a little bit about how hard it was when I showed up. But, I'm praying and trying to do my best. Anyway, hope you have a great week.

Love you!
-Elder Eric C. Stapley

Terra Nova

Hey guys!

Well, this week was crazy. These last few days have been insane...On Monday, we got a call from the Assistants and they told Elder Lopez that he was being transferred and there was going to be a few emergency transfers. Then, they asked to talk to me. I was told that I was staying and turning senior. Cool. After that, they told me that I'd be training a new missionary and that he'd be showing up the next day.... I asked if they were being serious...just because I couldn't believe it. He's an American. Whoo! It was a weird feeling. A mix of excitment, but also a wave of nervousness...I went from being a junior to a senior and a trainer in one day. No prep.

So, yesterday, I went to mission HQ early in the morning. Elder Lopez went away and I ended up visiting with President for a little more than an hour. Just us. We talked about what I need to do to be a good trainer and how I can help my new comp. After a while, I asked President if he honestly thought I was ready to train an American. He looked at me and said, "Elder Stapley, I don't think, I know. You are ready and I got an answer from the Lord that you need to train." ...No pressure or anything! I always wanted to train, but more at the end of my mish! It's pretty much unheard of in our mission, for an American to train another American when he only has 10 months on the mish. But, it was a really good meeting with President and got me ready.


We went to the airport, the assistants, President and I. My companion is the only one that showed up, so it was kinda cool. Elder Wolfe is from Tennesse and said he knew Shannon in the CTM. Kinda cool. He's got a southern accent, is a cool guy and seems like he really wants to go to work. We then visited the temple grounds and went to eat lunch with President and Sister. Lunch was so good! Mashed potatoes. Chicken. Ice cream. American food!!! It's been such a long time. When we got done eating, Sister gave Elder Wolfe a training about health and stuff.


Remember- the temple sight was a pile of dirt just last June?!


My area isn't the prettiest of areas. I'm on the edge of the city, next to jungle. (I finally saw a map of where I am). So my shoes get dirty, but I don't shine them 'cuz they get dirty every day. So, I just went to pick up my new comp with my work shoes. The assistants joked around with me about not polishing my shoes, but I didn't think much of it. When we were at President's house, he asked me to take off my shoes. He went back in his house while Sister was giving a training and came back with my shoes. All polished and clean!! President Jayme polished my shoes. In some ways I felt like I was Peter after the Lord washed his feet. Obviously, not that extreme, but still. I love Pres! He's so cool. He just came up, gave me my shoes and said, "you're welcome, Elder Stapley." Pres and Sister are so cool!

After that we went to mission HQ, my new comp went through more trainings and then, we finally got to our area. I sorted out some things with the weddings that are set for the 22nd. Today, we went to the center (downtown district of Manaus) with some other missionaries and I showed my comp around.

I'm excited for the chance to train. Other than Christensen telling me in all my emails that I need to train an American, I've wanted that. But it was still a big surprise for me, especially 'cuz it's in the middle of transfers. I'm excited but a little bit nervous. We've got a lot of Portuguese work to do. But I'm going to do my best and be as patient and helping as I can be. I think I owe that to my trainer too, who was extremely patient with me. So, it'll be fun. Pray for me!! This is the first time I'm the better Portuguese speaker in the companionship.

Anyway, hope you guys are doing well. Miss you. It was nice to talk with ya'll (as my comp says....) on Sunday! Hope all is going well! Love you guys! Tchau!

-Elder Eric C. Stapley

Terra Nova

Hey guys,

Well, sorry about sending an email a day late...we have 1 lan house in the area, and it was without internet yesterday. But, I'm allowed to send one today. Our lunch appointment is late, so we are waiting for them.

I'm glad to hear things are going well back home. Yesterday was P-day, so we played volleyball at the stake center with our district. Then, soccer of course...It just wouldn't be a P-day for the Brazilians without soccer...

This week is going well. It's kind of hectic- making sure everything is good for our weddings and baptisms. The 22nd should be the biggest baptism meeting I've done so far. 7 people. We are trying to find baptism jumpsuits for everybody. I'm very excited. One of the weddings will be in the morning, and the other at night, due to conflicting work schedules, (making it even more complicated.) But, it's fun and keeps me really busy. Other than that, we're trying to find new people to teach and get ready for June. I'm really impressed with one of our couples that will get married. Fernando and Alicione. They are such studs. Ever since our first visit they haven't missed a week of church. Alcione has given us more references than any other person here, including the members. They go to church in church standard clothing, pay tithing already, and have signed up to give us lunch every Tuesday. They're really progressing and learning a lot and are such a happy little family. It's been a real blessing to teach them.

In 2 weeks we're getting a real church building. I'm impressed. It's nice and big and one of the best chapels I've seen here in Brazil. It even has 2 pianos. Speaking of pianos, I was recruited by the bishop's wife to help prepare a choir for the upcoming dedication of the chapel, by playing piano. Too bad I don't know how to play piano that well. But she just has me training one voice at a time. I can do that. The Brazilians were impressed by my playing of the Pink Panther theme and some Coldplay songs. They now think I'm some kind of piano genius or something....

I went to my first ward council meeting on Sunday. It was the first time I was really invited to go. I enjoyed it actually. It was one of the first times that the members really thanked us for the work that we're doing and congratulated us. It was nice to get thanks from the members and bishop. I was able to talk a bit about references. I told them that of all my baptisms, I found less than 10% of them by my own forces. Then I opened up my planner and told them that in the last month we've gotten 5 references and only 1 of them was from a member in the ward. I tried not to throw down too much, but I think they got the idea. They set some goals to give us 12 references every month. It's nice to have a ward that really appreciates the work that we're doing and wants to help us and the ward grow....

My ankle is getting better. I told Sister Jayme, the mission president's wife, about it when I messed it up, so she calls me up every once in a while to see how I'm doing. Sister Jayme is so cool. Sometimes I randomly call her to just say 'hi' and she sometimes calls me just to see how I'm doing.

Dad... I have to do a lot of things before getting married. Like jumping out of an airplane, shark cage, road trips with friends. Not to mention buying a Les Paul....and maybe coming back to Brazil...so yeah. Don't plan on me getting married any time soon!

Anyway, I better run now. I'll talk to you on Sunday! I'm most likely going to call during the night here. About 7 or 7:30, I think. So, I think that makes it about 4ish there. Not really sure. But I'll call you- then you can call me back. Same thing as Christmas. But anyway, hope that you have a great week and I'll talk to you on Sunday! Love you!

-Elder Eric C. Stapley

Terra Nova

Hey guys!

Well, it's official. I'm now 20... My companion went to sleep at 9:30 on Tuesday night (my birthday), so I had an hour where I just stayed up eating American food and thinking about life. I started thinking....I'm 20 years old. I don't have a job. I'm not studying. I'm not planning on studying or working for more than another year. I live off the food that others give me....I don't have a girlfriend, or anything close to a girlfriend. In fact, it's been almost a year since I've even hugged a girl. Not to mention that I live with another guy that I've known for about 5 weeks....I have 7 shirts, 4 or 5 pairs of pants, and a few socks (all of which have lots of holes in them...) Talk about successful! If I wasn't a missionary- my life would sound pitiful. But, the birthday went pretty well. We had a massive lunch! So good! And last night we had a little party with my district (10 missionaries). We bought 8 pizzas and 10 2-liter bottles of pop, and we went to town! It was way fun. Especially becaue my last comp, Elder Paredes, was transferred to our district. I'm really enjoying this district and have a lot of friends here. So, it was a fun birthday! I still feel like a kid...

As far as transfers went down, I'm still here with Elder Lopes. I pretty much knew this would happen though. He's a good guy and I just remember what Pres told us, that we're here to make this the highest baptizing area in the mission... I have a lot of friends in my district, so it's fun.

As far as baptisms go, we're going to mark at least 2 more this week. If everything goes well, next month we should do pretty well....I'm feeling at least 7. We might have to re-mark a few of our others for later, but I'm excited for next month. It should go well. One "eternal investigator" family that lives in my area decided after about 3 years that they finally want to get married. Only problem is that they marked the date in July, which is still a while away...But we then talked to them about baptism. The wife seems like she really wants to get baptized. The husband is kinda....not there yet. He told us he had doubts. So, I said, "what are they? Let's get rid of them right now." So, he went to his room, pulled out a dictionary and looked up "mormonism". The dictionary defined it as (more or less), "A religious cult, founded in th 1800's by Joseph Smith, that practices polygamy." I almost took the dictionary and beat him across the head with it! But, then decided that wasn't a good idea. So, first I asked him if he'd seen anyone in the years he's been going to church with more than one wife, to which he responded- no. I then told him that polygamy doesn't exist in the church, and you can't have more than one wife. I then took his dictionary and told him to read the definition of cult, which happens to be, "A minority religious group who fervently adore together." So, according to the definition, sure, we can be called a "cult." But that doesn't mean anything. We then responded to some other questions he had, but still didn't mark his baptism. Gotta love the eternal investigators...

Other than that, this week was kinda normal. Starting to get a little busy getting everything ready for our weddings....Just trying to work hard and have a good time. Today we played basketball and soccer at the church building. I'm stoked. Next month we are going to have a new chapel dedicated. We went to see it, and it's way nice (at least for our Brazilian/Manaus standards). I'll be excited to leave the little house where we usually meet...

But anyway, yeah. That's pretty much what went down this week. Thanks for wishing me a happy birthday. Hey, in about 2 weeks I'll talk to you guys. We'll see how much English I remember...But hope all is well. Have a great week. Love you guys!

-Elder Eric Stapley

Terra Nova

Hey guys!

Well, today was a pretty sweet day. We woke up at 6:00 and headed to mission HQ. We were able to hear Elder Jeffery R. Holland, Bishop Edley (first counselor in the presiding bishopric), and President Godroy (70). Rapaz. It was good! When he came in he let all of us go through and shake his hand. I could honestly really tell that he was an apostle. He talked a lot about how good President and Sister Jayme are and gave a really good talk. He talked for about an hour, and the others for a pretty decent amount of time too. It was way good, and way spiritual. I think I was in the 4th row. Way close...It was cool being able to see and shake a hand of an apostle. It was so personal that he even called out a missionary who wasn’t paying a lot of attention...kinda embarrassing. But I really enjoyed hearing all of their talks and really felt the Spirit. He did mention however, that ever sister missionary is worth at least 5 Elders. I thought about Shannon when he said that. But Elder Holland talked a lot about his mission, teaching with power and authority, Preach My Gospel, and missionaries who go inactive after the mish. I can honestly say that I’m personally frightened if I now ever go inactive after the mission...But I really know that that man is an apostle. One time he even said, "I’ve seen things that I can’t tell you. I’ve had experiences so great and sacred I can’t share them with you that you can’t even imagine." Whoo intense. But it was way good...

This week I’ve really been trying to live up to the expectation of Pres and of the Lord. I marked another wedding, and 3 more baptisms for next month. So, if everything goes well next month (which I pray it does...) we'll have 3 weddings and 7 baptisms. All families. I just hope everything goes well. We still have a few probs to sort out with 2 of the families, but I have faith that everything will go well. One of the things I learned with Paredes (my last comp) is that you ant be afraid to invite anyone and EVERYONE to be baptized…so, I’m trying to go to work and really invite everyone to be baptized....

Transfers go down this week. Next P-day I could be with a new comp. I’m almost positive that I’ll stay in this area and with Elder Lopes.

Let’s see...what else went down this week....we are really gaining the respect of the members here, and they seem really excited to help in missionary work. I’ve been impressed with the amount of visit that they've been doing and how they've embraced some of our investigators. I think they are also a little surprised with us. When we tell people there will be 3 weddings next month they usually are pretty impressed. But I’m really grateful for their help. It makes my life a little easier.

By the way, thanks for the package! I got it today and was way stoked. Good stuff....

No new pics this week, I need to take some more. But this area is kinda dangerous, so I usually don’t carry my camera with me. This really isn’t the safest of all my areas. Drugs. Murders. Robberies. Yeah. I'll try to take some this week though.

Well, that’s pretty much what went down this week. Weird. I turn 20 this week....But anyways. I love you guys! Hope that all is going well! Tchau!

Terra Nova

Hey guys,

Well, it's been an interesting week. We're really trying to prepare for the upcoming weddings and baptisms. One family is awesome and were really prepared by the Lord. They even went to church in (pretty much) church-standard clothes! The other couple is having a few difficulties. The husband drinks the occasional beer....But we are working with them and it looks like everything should go well for next month. We visited one family and took the bishopric with us. When we were leaving, the bishop's counselor complimented us and said he'd do anything for us and that the ward will do anything we ask concerning people we're teaching and member visits. So, it looks like we have ward support, which is always nice.

Yesterday was an interesting day. We had interviews with President. This week he had to send 2 missionaries away because of disobedience to some commandments. So, he drilled us on obedience and talked about being a strong companionship. I was expecting the interview to just be me and Pres, but it was with the companionship. I was impressed by some of the things he said. He told us that our current area had been the highest baptizing in the mission. But, when we showed up there wasn't even a baptismal date marked. He then went on to say that he felt strongly that we needed to be in this area and we, are what he considers to be, one of the strongest companionships in the mission. He told us that he has faith that we are the right companionship to be in this area, and he felt we have the potential to turn this area back into the highest baptizing in the mission....Then, he looked at me and said that either one of us are capable of being senior...I guess I was a little surprised by that comment. It sounds like there is a purpose for me here, and President expects a lot out of us....Interesting.

Today was a pretty fun day. We played soccer starting at like 7:30am. In the first game, I twisted my ankle pretty bad. It's pretty ugly right now....I was wearing an Argentina jersey, maybe all the Brazilians wanted to beat me up or something. Brazilians don't really like Argentina.... After that we had a churraso and just messed around for a little bit. It was fun, but hurts a little to walk. But it happens...

On Saturday, a family in the ward had a little birthday party for me. It was pretty low key, just 4 missionaries and the family, but it was pretty fun. The sister made a big lasagna and bought a bunch of pop and cake. So, that was fun. I still can't really believe I'm almost 20 though...Weird...

That was pretty much this week. Just trying to work hard and find some good families to teach. But hope all is going well at home. Love you guys!

-Elder Eric Stapley

Terra Nova

Hey guys,

Well, another week passed by. It actually seemed to go by really fast. We watched general conference and had zone conference on Monday. Lots of sitting....But I really enjoyed conference. It seems like it was just Oct. general conference yesterday. I went from being the newest Portuguese speaker in a room of Americans to the oldest...It's weird to see how much has changed in 6 months....But, general conference was so good. I really enjoyed it. One problem was that priesthood session was sent without audio to a lot of the chapels here in Manaus. They got it fixed and we watched it Sunday night, in Portuguese (which isn't as good) but I still really enjoyed it. On Monday, we had zone conference and a lot of the trainings were about making sure that our investigators are really converted. I enjoyed it. They also talked a lot about the "elevator effect." It involves always looking for new investigators and preparing them while others are near baptism. When it functions right, it'll mean baptisms every week. We just gotta get it going in this area. But zone conference was cool. I have a lot of friends in the 2 zones here and I've got a pretty cool district.

We really went to work this week trying to find a lot of new ppl to teach. One thing I learned in Porto Velho, that I'm trying here, is to find at least 2 new people or 1 family every day. It usually gives a good teaching pool and helps find the people that are really interested. We had some good success this week. We marked 2 weddings and baptisms for May. One of the families went with us to general conference and really were prepared for the Lord. They read the Book of Mormon, got a response it was true, and WANT to get married. We didn't even have to convince them! The other family is related to members in our ward. The husband is the man that we took back to his house (from the bar) to teach him the Word of Wisdom. Since that day, he hasn't gone drinking. I guess something went well. So, now we just have to find some people to baptize this month. But we're getting this area going again....


Today we went to McDonalds! Good stuff! It's kinda expensive here....But so good! And next week- I've planned soccer and a churrasco with my zone and district! The week after that- Elder Holland is going to come! Gotta have fun on P-days!

Let's see...what else has gone down recently....It's kinda weird. I'll be 20 in 3 weeks. That just seems weird....

I went on a division this week. He's a good missionary and I got to know him better, which was good. He's got a really good work ethic and we worked really hard. But, he insisted that he could "prove" that the Book of Mormon is true to some people that expressed they had no interest. After about an hour and a half, I honestly just got embarrassed. I undestand the need to respond to doubts, but I always like to say that I'm not here to convince anybody about the church and the things that we teach. I'm just here to invite them to pray and know for themselves. I tried a few times to cut them off and just leave an invite, but finally I just gave up. I can't say that I enjoyed it. I tried to leave the best invite I could with them to honestly read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. The investigators weren't annoyed, and said they "enjoyed the discussion", but I left apologizing to them for what had happened... I guess it's just a reminder to me that I can't convince anybody about the church and what I know is true. I just like to invite them to know for themselves..

Well, that's pretty much what went down this week. Just trying to work hard. We eat lunch, everyday, with 2 other really cool missionaries. I'm trying to be patient when things are hard.

To respond to Dad's question- Easter is celebrated like any other holiday in Brazil. DRINKING!!! The missionary handbook says that "holidays are some of the best times to find and teach families." That's not true here....here it means that you won't find anybody to teach...

But, anyways, hope all is going well with you guys. Have a great week. Love you!

-Elder Eric Stapley