Hey guys,
Well, it's been another week in the life. Nothing too exciting really. I've been sick for the last week and had to rest a little bit... My voice is finally starting to come back. I feel like I've been coughing up a lung for a full week. But, we are still trying to work and find more people to teach and to baptize.
We are working with a couple that one of my friends found when he was here a few months ago. They seem way cool and are excited to get married and baptized. Now we are just trying to finish everything with the papers and get them baptized as soon as possible. It seems like this wedding should have happened a long time ago, but some of the last Elders were kind of lazy on the whole wedding process... So, that's what we're working with right now. Other than that, we don't have too many investigators. The last missionary that passed in this area "died" (meaning he finished his 2 years...) and didn't necessarily leave too much for me to work with. I've realized in every single one of my areas (other than my first) I follow up in the place of someone who just went home. Fun... hmm... But we are working hard and trying to find more good people to teach. We have a few references, so hopefully one of those turns out well.
This area is very rich. Everyone has a big gate in front of their house. A lot of members have air-conditioning and even maids...uuhhh....I miss my little poor areas with humble people. I get annoyed when memebrs try to show off how much money they have during their lunches for us. But, oh well. It happens. If anything, it just makes me more grateful for my poor areas where you could just walk up to a humble family sitting outside the front of their houses....
Yesterday I had leadership meetings pretty much all day. With the new mission program, we have a decent amount of leadership meetings. It was fun to see a bunch of old friends and get some trainings from President Jayme. We talked a lot about the purpose of the Spirit in conversion and how to start teaching investigators. I really like President's trainings. We studied the scriptures a lot and talked about how to pass the new trainings on to other missionaries.
I also ran into one of my old comps, Elder De Jesus. We were having a discussion after the trainings about which type of comp is better. American or Brazilian. But, Elder De Jesus said that his best 2 comps so far have been Americans, and I was one of them. It was a nice little moment...I spent a while talking to one of my old friends who is in Porto Velho right now and said that Teles and Lucimar (a family that I taught when I was there) are now married, baptized, and Teles has the priesthood and blesses the sacrament. Good work. And Marcizo, another one of my baptisms, now has a stake calling and is way involved in the stake. I was happy to hear that my old investigators and baptisms are doing well and are strong in the church.
Monday morning we helped two other missionaries move to a new house. I'm still a little sore....
Elder Woolf is cool. He's way laid back and we are pretty good friends.
Other than that, not really anything else is going on. Just the usual life. Hope all is going well with you guys at home. Love you
-Elder Eric Stapley
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Laranjeiras
Hey guys,
Well, here’s what’s up. transfers went down, and I’m now in a new area. Laranjeiras. It’s pretty close to my old area actually. But richer....Get transferred was bitter-sweet in many ways. I almost felt like I had become a member of the ward after 6 months. My last day was hectic! Everyone wanted me to visit them, eat food, and have family nights.....I ate so much! After I found out I was getting transferred I just ended up eating with members who wanted to give us food. Good stuff. I was able to visit everyone I needed to though, and in a lot of ways it was actually kind of sad leaving the area. On Sunday I bore my testimony in front of the ward. I only cried a little bit though. I even ended up crying saying goodbye to a few ppl. I hate that....But one of the coolest things was our Amazon hunter friend Nirol, made me a sweet berimbau. Rapaz.
The berimbau part of it (its kinda like a shaved out coconut looking thing) was tight. He told me that he made it for his grandson when he was born, but that he wanted me to have it...It was legit. I kind of miss Santa Marta now. It was time to leave, but it was time for me to leave...my last lunch was with Gelcimar and Russellyce, the last couple that I baptized here...Also to top things off, Fernando, one of the other men I baptized/married in my last area got the Melchesidek (sp..? help me out..it’s different in Portuguese) this weekend and was sustained at stake priesthood meeting. All in all, it was a great weekend, but in many ways bitter-sweet...Even leaving Elder Wolfe. He’s a good guy and good missionary...
So, my new comp is Elder Woolf. My last comp was Elder Wolfe. I almost thought it was a joke when I found out. He’s a cool guy though .Really chill and laid back. He’s from Spokane and has about as much time as Elder Wolfe on the mission. About 6 months or so. Washington power....Good work.
But, what’s nice about my new area is that it’s closer to where we play our weekly soccer than my last ward. And it’s not even in the same stake. Instead of having to take a bus, I just walked here this morning. I was stoked when I found out. So, I still get my weekly soccer in! I’m still a DL, and my district seems to be geographically large. Unfortunately....But oh well. I’m stoked.
As far as the work goes, it looks like we have potential for a wedding. It’s not marked yet, but it sounds like the ppl are interested and have been going to church for a while. We even have all the papers. I’m not really sure why the wedding hasn’t happened yet, it seems like everything is all set. We just gotta finish it. So, that’s my goal for this week. Get this wedding all sorted out. I love weddings....
My only problem is that I lost my voice. I can barely even talk....Its kind of frustrating actually. But oh well...I don’t think I’m sick, I just can’t talk....
Well, hope all is going well with you guys and that you all have a great week. Love and miss you guys!
-Eric
Well, here’s what’s up. transfers went down, and I’m now in a new area. Laranjeiras. It’s pretty close to my old area actually. But richer....Get transferred was bitter-sweet in many ways. I almost felt like I had become a member of the ward after 6 months. My last day was hectic! Everyone wanted me to visit them, eat food, and have family nights.....I ate so much! After I found out I was getting transferred I just ended up eating with members who wanted to give us food. Good stuff. I was able to visit everyone I needed to though, and in a lot of ways it was actually kind of sad leaving the area. On Sunday I bore my testimony in front of the ward. I only cried a little bit though. I even ended up crying saying goodbye to a few ppl. I hate that....But one of the coolest things was our Amazon hunter friend Nirol, made me a sweet berimbau. Rapaz.
The berimbau part of it (its kinda like a shaved out coconut looking thing) was tight. He told me that he made it for his grandson when he was born, but that he wanted me to have it...It was legit. I kind of miss Santa Marta now. It was time to leave, but it was time for me to leave...my last lunch was with Gelcimar and Russellyce, the last couple that I baptized here...Also to top things off, Fernando, one of the other men I baptized/married in my last area got the Melchesidek (sp..? help me out..it’s different in Portuguese) this weekend and was sustained at stake priesthood meeting. All in all, it was a great weekend, but in many ways bitter-sweet...Even leaving Elder Wolfe. He’s a good guy and good missionary...So, my new comp is Elder Woolf. My last comp was Elder Wolfe. I almost thought it was a joke when I found out. He’s a cool guy though .Really chill and laid back. He’s from Spokane and has about as much time as Elder Wolfe on the mission. About 6 months or so. Washington power....Good work.
But, what’s nice about my new area is that it’s closer to where we play our weekly soccer than my last ward. And it’s not even in the same stake. Instead of having to take a bus, I just walked here this morning. I was stoked when I found out. So, I still get my weekly soccer in! I’m still a DL, and my district seems to be geographically large. Unfortunately....But oh well. I’m stoked.
As far as the work goes, it looks like we have potential for a wedding. It’s not marked yet, but it sounds like the ppl are interested and have been going to church for a while. We even have all the papers. I’m not really sure why the wedding hasn’t happened yet, it seems like everything is all set. We just gotta finish it. So, that’s my goal for this week. Get this wedding all sorted out. I love weddings....
My only problem is that I lost my voice. I can barely even talk....Its kind of frustrating actually. But oh well...I don’t think I’m sick, I just can’t talk....
Well, hope all is going well with you guys and that you all have a great week. Love and miss you guys!
-Eric
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Terra Nova
August 25, 2010
Things have been going well for the most part. Gelcimar/Russellyce (the couple we married and baptized) were confirmed on Sunday. It went really well, and they are looking like good members that will stay active. We are now just doing our best to find more families to teach and baptize.
This week Elder Wolfe has been having some health problems, so we haven’t been able to work as much as either of us would like. He ended up throwing up at lunch on Saturday and has been having some stomach problems. But he’s been getting better, so we are hoping to finish out the week well....He’s a good guy though. I’ve really grown to like Elder Wolfe. He’s a good worker and missionary. I’ll miss him after transfers...
Speaking of transfers, I found out on Saturday if I go or stay. Some members are worried I’ll get transferred, and everyone is trying to give us lunch on Monday, just in case I go....so yeah. Might be a little interesting. I honestly don’t know if I’m going to be transferred. Something tells me I’m going to leave. But I also kind of want to stay, just because I've become such good friends with the ward members and my baptisms. And when you want to stay in an area, you always get transferred. But I also have been here for such a long time....I’m not really sure what I want. I guess whatever the Lord wants....whatever the outcome is, hopefully I’ll be happy. So, next week I might be sending an email from Tefé....legit...I just hope my berimbau and bow and arrow get done in time. If not, I’m making Elder Wolfe send them to me.
So, before I forget, I’ll tell one of the more interesting stories of the week. After church and meetings we were heading to talk to an investigator when one of my old investigators stopped me on the road. He was drunk out of his mind (not too surprising....) and really wanted to talk with us. He pronounces my name Heypley. So I heard him call me from down the road and came running. He greeted me with a drunk hug that lasted about 20 seconds. I love drunk people. I know you all are jealous. He then started telling me how mad he was. I started telling him he needed to calm down, but it didn’t do much. He almost resembles The Hulk. He would randomly scream and make noises saying, "I’m ANGRY" then would jump up and down. I asked him what was wrong. He told me his wife was drunk, and he was mad at her. I resisted saying, "well yeah you idiot. Look at yourself..." he then got really serious and said, "Heypley, I have a gun. I’m going to kill my wife." I flipped, and responded, "you can’t kill your wife!" he said, "I’m mad and I’m going to kill my wife, you want to see my gun?" Oh gosh....I spent about 30 minutes talking to him, telling him he couldn’t kill his wife. He wanted to walk with us, so we went for a little walk. For a while I tried to convince him to give me his gun (by the way, its illegal to own a gun in this country...) but he wouldn’t give it to me. So, I tried reasoning with him. Not like its easy reasoning with a drunk person. I said, "Look, if you kill your wife you'll end up in jail." He responded, "I don’t care." Ok....that didn’t work. then I tried, Well, what about your kids....? You want them to grow up on the streets, fatherless and motherless, left to fend for themselves?" That got to him. He stopped for a second and said, "yeah...what about my kids..?" So I jumped on the answer and started elaborating on how his children would grow up without parents. without food. maybe even using drugs and selling who knows what to get money. It seemed to work. He walked with us, with his arm around my comp (Which Elder Wolfe really enjoyed by the way...) and said that he would bury his gun, not kill his wife and thanked us for the help. I saw the newspaper the next day and didn’t see anything about a dead woman killed by her drunk husband....so, I'm assuming he didn’t kill her. One more life saved. Moral of the story, give references to the missionaries so they don’t have to teach drunk idiots on the road. I was only scared for my life a few times in that 30 minutes....
So, yeah. Lets see. what else is new....Oh yeah. So, since I’ve been here almost 6 months, I’ve been running out of lunch messages. So, I’ve started telling stories. This week I’ve been telling one of Grandpa’s Hawaiian folklore stories about the 2 brothers that found the pearls on the beach, and then tie it into the gospel and missionary work. Its been going pretty well actually. I’m digging it. It also scores points with the kids. So, yeah. thanks Grandpa! If you guys at home (dad...) remember any of the others hit me up with an email or something, cuz now everyone is wanting stories for their lunch message...
Well, that’s pretty much what has been going on this week. Just another week in the life. Today we played soccer and made tacos. Legit. Hope all you guys have a great week. Love you!
August 18, 2010
Well its been another good week on the mish. The wedding turned out great! It was well attended, and the bride did a good job making everything really nice. Only prob is that it started like an hour late, but that’s pretty much normal for here. But, I took some good pics. I’ll send some to you guys.
The baptism went down on Sunday. Everything went pretty well. Only prob is that the bride’s brother (the Elders Quorum President of our ward) was supposed to baptize her, but he got called in last second to work. So, they asked me to baptize them instead. I always like performing the baptismal ordinance, and it went really well, but I think it would have been more special if it was the bride’s brother that baptized her. The baptism was also really well attended and some good testimonies were borne about baptism. Everything turned out great.
For dealing with such problems with the papers for this wedding and working with this couple (I’ve been working with them since I pretty much got here...) everything turned out really well. Only prob is that Bishop didn’t go to the baptism, and was just sitting in his office during the baptism. But the counselors went and were really supportive. I love baptizing families and doing weddings. It makes the baptismal meeting that much more special. I was happy with the way things went down
This Monday we had zone conference and reviewed one of the trainings that Pres gave to the leaders 2 weeks ago. It went well, and its always nice to get to see a bunch of old friends...
Transfers go down in 2 weeks, and I’m pretty much ready to leave. I’m kinda banking on it actually. I found myself even making a list of members, converts, and investigators that I need to say goodbye to. I just hope that its not bad karma and I’ll end up staying. I guess I wouldn’t mind the area for another transfers, but this is the longest time I’ve been with a comp and its always nice to just get a little switch. We'll see what goes down though. Whatever the Lords will is...
I’m trying to think what else is new. Not really too much. Just trying to find more good families to teach and baptize. Our mission is doing fairly well. Over the past years the mission was baptizing a lot, but not too many men and families. These past few months our mission has been baptizing more than 25% men which is pretty legit. President is really trying to have us work with men and families. So, I’m looking for another wedding to mark...
Well, that’s pretty much all that I can think of...A lot of the week we were just getting ready for the wedding and everything. Dad, happy birthday! Mom, thanks for the package on the way. Erynn, have a last good week at home. Have a good week guys.
Love,
Elder Eric Stapley
Things have been going well for the most part. Gelcimar/Russellyce (the couple we married and baptized) were confirmed on Sunday. It went really well, and they are looking like good members that will stay active. We are now just doing our best to find more families to teach and baptize.
This week Elder Wolfe has been having some health problems, so we haven’t been able to work as much as either of us would like. He ended up throwing up at lunch on Saturday and has been having some stomach problems. But he’s been getting better, so we are hoping to finish out the week well....He’s a good guy though. I’ve really grown to like Elder Wolfe. He’s a good worker and missionary. I’ll miss him after transfers...
Speaking of transfers, I found out on Saturday if I go or stay. Some members are worried I’ll get transferred, and everyone is trying to give us lunch on Monday, just in case I go....so yeah. Might be a little interesting. I honestly don’t know if I’m going to be transferred. Something tells me I’m going to leave. But I also kind of want to stay, just because I've become such good friends with the ward members and my baptisms. And when you want to stay in an area, you always get transferred. But I also have been here for such a long time....I’m not really sure what I want. I guess whatever the Lord wants....whatever the outcome is, hopefully I’ll be happy. So, next week I might be sending an email from Tefé....legit...I just hope my berimbau and bow and arrow get done in time. If not, I’m making Elder Wolfe send them to me.
So, before I forget, I’ll tell one of the more interesting stories of the week. After church and meetings we were heading to talk to an investigator when one of my old investigators stopped me on the road. He was drunk out of his mind (not too surprising....) and really wanted to talk with us. He pronounces my name Heypley. So I heard him call me from down the road and came running. He greeted me with a drunk hug that lasted about 20 seconds. I love drunk people. I know you all are jealous. He then started telling me how mad he was. I started telling him he needed to calm down, but it didn’t do much. He almost resembles The Hulk. He would randomly scream and make noises saying, "I’m ANGRY" then would jump up and down. I asked him what was wrong. He told me his wife was drunk, and he was mad at her. I resisted saying, "well yeah you idiot. Look at yourself..." he then got really serious and said, "Heypley, I have a gun. I’m going to kill my wife." I flipped, and responded, "you can’t kill your wife!" he said, "I’m mad and I’m going to kill my wife, you want to see my gun?" Oh gosh....I spent about 30 minutes talking to him, telling him he couldn’t kill his wife. He wanted to walk with us, so we went for a little walk. For a while I tried to convince him to give me his gun (by the way, its illegal to own a gun in this country...) but he wouldn’t give it to me. So, I tried reasoning with him. Not like its easy reasoning with a drunk person. I said, "Look, if you kill your wife you'll end up in jail." He responded, "I don’t care." Ok....that didn’t work. then I tried, Well, what about your kids....? You want them to grow up on the streets, fatherless and motherless, left to fend for themselves?" That got to him. He stopped for a second and said, "yeah...what about my kids..?" So I jumped on the answer and started elaborating on how his children would grow up without parents. without food. maybe even using drugs and selling who knows what to get money. It seemed to work. He walked with us, with his arm around my comp (Which Elder Wolfe really enjoyed by the way...) and said that he would bury his gun, not kill his wife and thanked us for the help. I saw the newspaper the next day and didn’t see anything about a dead woman killed by her drunk husband....so, I'm assuming he didn’t kill her. One more life saved. Moral of the story, give references to the missionaries so they don’t have to teach drunk idiots on the road. I was only scared for my life a few times in that 30 minutes....
So, yeah. Lets see. what else is new....Oh yeah. So, since I’ve been here almost 6 months, I’ve been running out of lunch messages. So, I’ve started telling stories. This week I’ve been telling one of Grandpa’s Hawaiian folklore stories about the 2 brothers that found the pearls on the beach, and then tie it into the gospel and missionary work. Its been going pretty well actually. I’m digging it. It also scores points with the kids. So, yeah. thanks Grandpa! If you guys at home (dad...) remember any of the others hit me up with an email or something, cuz now everyone is wanting stories for their lunch message...
Well, that’s pretty much what has been going on this week. Just another week in the life. Today we played soccer and made tacos. Legit. Hope all you guys have a great week. Love you!
August 18, 2010
Well its been another good week on the mish. The wedding turned out great! It was well attended, and the bride did a good job making everything really nice. Only prob is that it started like an hour late, but that’s pretty much normal for here. But, I took some good pics. I’ll send some to you guys.
The baptism went down on Sunday. Everything went pretty well. Only prob is that the bride’s brother (the Elders Quorum President of our ward) was supposed to baptize her, but he got called in last second to work. So, they asked me to baptize them instead. I always like performing the baptismal ordinance, and it went really well, but I think it would have been more special if it was the bride’s brother that baptized her. The baptism was also really well attended and some good testimonies were borne about baptism. Everything turned out great.
For dealing with such problems with the papers for this wedding and working with this couple (I’ve been working with them since I pretty much got here...) everything turned out really well. Only prob is that Bishop didn’t go to the baptism, and was just sitting in his office during the baptism. But the counselors went and were really supportive. I love baptizing families and doing weddings. It makes the baptismal meeting that much more special. I was happy with the way things went down
This Monday we had zone conference and reviewed one of the trainings that Pres gave to the leaders 2 weeks ago. It went well, and its always nice to get to see a bunch of old friends...
Transfers go down in 2 weeks, and I’m pretty much ready to leave. I’m kinda banking on it actually. I found myself even making a list of members, converts, and investigators that I need to say goodbye to. I just hope that its not bad karma and I’ll end up staying. I guess I wouldn’t mind the area for another transfers, but this is the longest time I’ve been with a comp and its always nice to just get a little switch. We'll see what goes down though. Whatever the Lords will is...
I’m trying to think what else is new. Not really too much. Just trying to find more good families to teach and baptize. Our mission is doing fairly well. Over the past years the mission was baptizing a lot, but not too many men and families. These past few months our mission has been baptizing more than 25% men which is pretty legit. President is really trying to have us work with men and families. So, I’m looking for another wedding to mark...
Well, that’s pretty much all that I can think of...A lot of the week we were just getting ready for the wedding and everything. Dad, happy birthday! Mom, thanks for the package on the way. Erynn, have a last good week at home. Have a good week guys.
Love,
Elder Eric Stapley
Monday, August 16, 2010
Terra Nova
Hey guys,
Well, sorry, but I don't have too much time. Today, we had a churrasco and played some soccer with the zone. I'm digging the zone. Cool Zone leaders, a lot of friends. It's fun....
So, this week has gone pretty well. It looks like we are finally going to have the (recently postponed) wedding this Saturday and the baptisms on Sunday. They just need to pass the interviews tomorrow, which I'm hoping won't be a problem. We marked 2 more baptism dates, and if everything goes as plans, we should have a strong transfer--it's best to leave some unfinished work for the new elders coming into the area. We marked the baptism date of a man named Moses. He needs to stop smoking, so we'll see if he's ready to get baptised this month. I hope so, just so it can be said that I baptised Moses...
I've been pretty proud of my district too lately. Right now we have enough baptismal dates to baptize 15 people between our 3 duplas this month. With each of us baptizing at least 1 man and a family. Legit. We'll see how it goes, but things are looking pretty good....
Transfers go down at the end of this month. I think I'm ready to leave. Of course I'll miss the people, but sometimes it's nice to just get a new area and a fresh start. I guess we'll see what goes down though. Sounds like there are some openings in Tefé....some city in the middle of nowhere.
This week, I've been trying to put everything I learned in last weeks' trainings with Pres into action and it's been paying off. I shared one of the trainings with my district and really tried to prepare a good training and it looks like it worked. I've gotten compliments from the entire district and one Elder even said it helped him to mark a baptismal date with someone he's been working with for a long time. We spent a lot more time studying the scriptures during the training and I tried to have the people in the district talking at least half the time with stories, feedback, ideas and all that good stuff. I'm excited and the work is going strong.
My entire zone sends their love. We'll just say the Red Robin seasoning is getting famous...
Anyway, that's pretty much what went down since I emailed last. Hope everything is going well at home. Have a great week! tcahu
Love,
Elder Eric Stapley
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Terra Nova
Hey guys,
Well, sorry for not writing on Wednesday. I've been in meetings this entire week with all the District and Zone Leaders. So, I'm taking off a little bit of time for my P-day today. I didn't even have time to let you guys know. So sorry about the delay.
Things have been going well. The trainings were a lot of fun...It was nice to see some old friends and get some great trainings from Pres. I've been spending the entire week with Elder Soares, another DL who is way cool. It's been a fun time. The trainings really didn't present any new material, but just reminded us of things we already knew or that we need to apply better, such as teaching more of the "investigator" than the "lesson." And teaching by using a lot of questions. I learned some good things that I'm going to apply and pass for the district. We even got Subway for lunch. We'd show up each day and have breakfast (made for us!), get some trainings, do practices, and we really studied the scriptures. It was a good time. Pres even gave us an extra lesson....eternal marriage and how to find your future wife. It was a hit....
The wedding situation (I referred to last week) turned out better than I thought it would. The family was pretty upset that the wedding didn't happen on July 31st and there were some tears shed. But, overall I guess it turned out ok. The wedding should now happen on Aug. 14th and the baptisms on the 15th....I'm just hoping everything still ends up going well....
Transfers are going down in 3 weeks or so. I'm ready to go. I love this ward. I love my baptisms. I love the people. I'd like to hit up an interior area in the middle of nowhere. Like Tefé or something. Just to work with a little branch or something. I feel like it'd be a fun time. I guess I'll find out soon though.
I've been busy doing baptism interviews and it's been a while since I've even been in my area. It was all good. But hope you guys have a great week.
Love,
Elder Eric C. Stapley
Well, sorry for not writing on Wednesday. I've been in meetings this entire week with all the District and Zone Leaders. So, I'm taking off a little bit of time for my P-day today. I didn't even have time to let you guys know. So sorry about the delay.
Things have been going well. The trainings were a lot of fun...It was nice to see some old friends and get some great trainings from Pres. I've been spending the entire week with Elder Soares, another DL who is way cool. It's been a fun time. The trainings really didn't present any new material, but just reminded us of things we already knew or that we need to apply better, such as teaching more of the "investigator" than the "lesson." And teaching by using a lot of questions. I learned some good things that I'm going to apply and pass for the district. We even got Subway for lunch. We'd show up each day and have breakfast (made for us!), get some trainings, do practices, and we really studied the scriptures. It was a good time. Pres even gave us an extra lesson....eternal marriage and how to find your future wife. It was a hit....
The wedding situation (I referred to last week) turned out better than I thought it would. The family was pretty upset that the wedding didn't happen on July 31st and there were some tears shed. But, overall I guess it turned out ok. The wedding should now happen on Aug. 14th and the baptisms on the 15th....I'm just hoping everything still ends up going well....
Transfers are going down in 3 weeks or so. I'm ready to go. I love this ward. I love my baptisms. I love the people. I'd like to hit up an interior area in the middle of nowhere. Like Tefé or something. Just to work with a little branch or something. I feel like it'd be a fun time. I guess I'll find out soon though.
I've been busy doing baptism interviews and it's been a while since I've even been in my area. It was all good. But hope you guys have a great week.
Love,
Elder Eric C. Stapley
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Terra Nova
Hey guys!
Well, this week's been....a little hectic. First off, the wedding. There were some problems going down with the papers and now the wedding will be postponed for 3 weeks or so. It's been kinda rough, especially since the family has invited relatives from the middle of nowhere in the Amazon to come see the wedding. I still don't know what's going on, but I'm trying my best to keep all the parties happy. After I told Bishop, he got very upset...it reminded me of a child actually, but I'm trying to work through everything and keep everyone happy. I actually got frustrated these past couple days because of it. Lots of phone calls and nervous people. I like doing weddings and baptizing full families, but weddings are tons of work...and it's kinda killing me. So, I have no idea what will happen, but please just pray for my sanity...it would be appreciated.
Life as DL is kinda fun, a little more hectic though. Especially now that the missonary dept is making world-wide changes in the training of new missionaries. So, now as a DL, next week I'll have meetings for 4 days in a row. Even p-day. I just hope my area doesn't get burned while I'm in meetings all week long. But, we had a fun district meeting on Monday. We started with a little game and had breakfast. I have a pretty fun district, which is nice. I've alrady done 2 baptismal interviews and it looks like I'll have another one or 2 this week. Fun stuff.
On Saturday we helped the stake in a service project,"Helping Hands..." and we planted some açai tress. It was pretty chill. A lot of people went and there weren't tons of tools, but we ended up planting 5 or 6 trees and had a pretty good time. Throw in the free breakfast and it was perfect...
So, in addition to my Berimbau training, our friend Nirol (the less active who is a capoeira master and crazy Amazon hunter) made me a sweet blow dart gun. It's pretty legit actually. He even taught me how to make the poison that the Indians use in the Amazon. I don't really know when I'd actually make it, but at least I know how. He also told us some crazy amazon hunting stories, like him killing a jaguar with a bow and arrow. We asked him about some crazy looking spider that we saw in our house this week and he informed us that the little spider we saw, is one of the most dangerous in the region and can actually kill a man. Pretty sweet huh? This weeks activity with Nirol, we'll be making bows and arrows...this guy is so legit!
That's pretty much what's going on though....trying to work hard and find another family to baptize. Or set up another wedding. I hope that everything is well with you guys. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Eric C. Stapley
Well, this week's been....a little hectic. First off, the wedding. There were some problems going down with the papers and now the wedding will be postponed for 3 weeks or so. It's been kinda rough, especially since the family has invited relatives from the middle of nowhere in the Amazon to come see the wedding. I still don't know what's going on, but I'm trying my best to keep all the parties happy. After I told Bishop, he got very upset...it reminded me of a child actually, but I'm trying to work through everything and keep everyone happy. I actually got frustrated these past couple days because of it. Lots of phone calls and nervous people. I like doing weddings and baptizing full families, but weddings are tons of work...and it's kinda killing me. So, I have no idea what will happen, but please just pray for my sanity...it would be appreciated.
Life as DL is kinda fun, a little more hectic though. Especially now that the missonary dept is making world-wide changes in the training of new missionaries. So, now as a DL, next week I'll have meetings for 4 days in a row. Even p-day. I just hope my area doesn't get burned while I'm in meetings all week long. But, we had a fun district meeting on Monday. We started with a little game and had breakfast. I have a pretty fun district, which is nice. I've alrady done 2 baptismal interviews and it looks like I'll have another one or 2 this week. Fun stuff.
On Saturday we helped the stake in a service project,"Helping Hands..." and we planted some açai tress. It was pretty chill. A lot of people went and there weren't tons of tools, but we ended up planting 5 or 6 trees and had a pretty good time. Throw in the free breakfast and it was perfect...
So, in addition to my Berimbau training, our friend Nirol (the less active who is a capoeira master and crazy Amazon hunter) made me a sweet blow dart gun. It's pretty legit actually. He even taught me how to make the poison that the Indians use in the Amazon. I don't really know when I'd actually make it, but at least I know how. He also told us some crazy amazon hunting stories, like him killing a jaguar with a bow and arrow. We asked him about some crazy looking spider that we saw in our house this week and he informed us that the little spider we saw, is one of the most dangerous in the region and can actually kill a man. Pretty sweet huh? This weeks activity with Nirol, we'll be making bows and arrows...this guy is so legit!
That's pretty much what's going on though....trying to work hard and find another family to baptize. Or set up another wedding. I hope that everything is well with you guys. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Eric C. Stapley
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Terra Nova
Hey guys,
Well, it's P-day again. The work is still going well and I'm enjoying life. We are still firm for a wedding next week and have another young man that we're working with that went to church on Sunday. The work is still going on and it looks like we should have some success over the next few weeks.
So, transfers went down this week. Here's the update. I stayed and so did Elder Wolfe. This is the longest that I've stayed in an area, and now will be the most time that I've spent with one companion. I'm happy with it though. Elder Wolfe is a good guy and the ward is really good. I'm starting to really become good friends with a lot of the ward members. The biggest update with transfers though is that our district split. Pres realized that our district was bigger than some of the other zones....So, our district divided and I'm now district leader over 6 missionaries. It's a good group of guys and should be fun. I was a little surprised to be called... Tomorrow, I have to do my first baptismal interview. Not sure how I feel about that.... But, should be fun.
It's funny that you say that it's getting warm at home. "Into the 70s", you say? Ironically, this week got into the 70s. But the difference is that here, 70 degrees is really cold. I've seen people wearing sweaters and bundled up in blankets. I think I'm getting used to the heat though, because even I wore a long sleeve shirt this week. It's some random phenomenom. The natives are freaking out, but I'm enjoying it....
Friday night, we had a little mini-party for the Elders that were being transfered or going home. We made burgers. Again, everyone thanks you for the ranch dressing, BBQ sauce, and the Red Robin Seasoning. Even the Brazilians are addicted. Today, we made Mexican food again. So, your package is really appreciated. The spagetti stuff was good, the paste and seasoning. I'm not as big into the BBQ sauce, but the others love it. And there is a brazilian that would actually love you forever if you sent more Red Robin Seasoning. He's been trying to buy mine off of me, but I just can't let it go. Candy is good too...Starbursts are always a hit. Next time- Starburst fruit snacks and more glow sticks (we used them all at a ward party.)
Today we played soccer, like usual. I bought myself some new shoes to play in. It was legit. Last week, we stopped by the church at night to drink some water. The Bishop and a few young men were playing soccer and invited us to play for a minute. So, I took off my shoes and played with my shirt and tie. I don't think they were expecting much of 2 American missionaries. But, one of the first times I got the ball, I pulled a sweet juke on Bishop and then one on a young man and made a pretty impressive goal....it was fun. I'm not sure if I'll be invited to play soccer again after embarassing a bunch of Brazilians....
I've been learning a new instrument. Berimbau. Doubt you've ever heard of it. But there is a sweet less active man that we visit every week. He's a master of capeoira. One day I asked if he would teach me and he got really excited. He said he's even going to make one for me that I can take home. But, last night we had a pretty sweet jam session with a congo, berimbau, and a tamborine. You should google it and check it out...
Well, that was pretty much it for this week. Just enjoying the cold 75 degree weather...So nice. but, hope all is well with you and have a great week!
Love,
-Elder Eric Stapley
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