Nova Esperanca

Sup guys?
We had a baptism on Saturday and it went well for the most part. Not too many people attended, which is always really frustrating, but the ordinance is the most important part. The work is going well. We're teaching some good people and Elder A. Soares and I teach really well together....


I've been going on a lot of divisions with the district leaders this week. It's fun, but at the same time kinda annoying because I travel around and sleep at the district leader's houses. Sometimes, I just want to be in my own house. But, our zone is doing really well and baptizing well. All the companionships have at least 1 baptismal date mark, so it's all good.


We played some basketball today. It was a blast. I really look forward to my P-day sports. I think it's what keeps me going during the week. We topped it off with some tacos at my house....Good times!


Our ward has been having a few problems lately. The entire ward has a different feel than any other I've been in. I think I've only eaten lunch at 5 different peoples houses. Lunch appointments fall or they call the relief society president and we eat at her house. It's a weird situation. But, we talked with President this week and he really trusts in us. I'll probably be here until the end of my mission, so I gotta learn to love it.


Anyways, life goes on. Just enjoying the work, working hard, and having a good time. Talk to you guys next week. Tchau!


Love,
-Elder Eric Stapley

Nova Esperanca

This is our zone. Elder Soares (my comp) is the second from the left.


Elder A. Soares and I are really excited. We're working hard and will probably have a baptism this week. We've marked to have 2 more this month and hopefully it all goes well. The work is going well, our zone is tearing it up and we're having a great time!

I really liked General Conference this week. I think instead of waiting until I'm 25 to get married so I can travel all over the globe first, I'll cut off a year and get married at 24. I'll just work (and goof around....) for one less year. That'll be my plan. But, I really enjoyed general conference. It seems like every year I watch that it goes by faster than the last.

We had the zone leaders council yesterday. It was way fun and I always enjoy getting trainings from President. We talked a lot about the importance of a good companionship and what we can do as leaders to help the others have better companionships. It went well and we ate at a churrascaria! Gotta love meat! I think my comp and I ate the most. President was wanting to leave and we were still asking for more meat. Gotta take advantage of it!

I was talking to one of my friends this week, and he said, "Dude, you're lucky. You're getting near the end of your mission, working hard, in a good area, getting fed a lot, a leader, and have a great comp". It made me think that yeah, I do have it pretty good right now. I'm loving the mission and it's weeks like this one that I'll miss....I'm in a great area, we're working hard, and I can honestly say that I'm
enjoying my mission....I'm gonna miss it when it's all over.

We played some basketball this morning. It was fun. I love having a group of Americans that I can play sports with every week. By the end, I even started playing decently well. I love getting my sport fixes in every week and we had a fun time.


Anyway, I hope that you guys are doing great and enjoying Maui. I'm just jealous that you guys are able to go swimming and snorkeling and all that, but, I'm sure we'll go in the next few years....So, love you guys!

Until later
-Elder Eric Stapley

Nova Esperanca

Hey guys,

Life here with Elder Soares is fun. He's from Curitiba and is way cool! You guys haven't seen pics of him, but I'll see if i can send one. We played football and took a group pic. He's way chill and goes home in August. He's animated and we are working really hard.

So, this area is really rich. I'm just being blown away. Just an idea, my lunch yesterday was at a house worth more than R$2 million....and that's not even the richest member of the ward. There are a lot of members who have been in the church for a long time. Mom, I'm not as "needed" here as in my last area. I didn't play the piano, I didn't give a talk or teach the principles of the gospel class this week. And, we actually have a nice chapel. It was nice being in the chapel again. There is even a Brazilian who plays the piano. It's weird to go from doing everything to doing nothing....

We had a ward activity this week. "Crazy dish (food) night." Everyone had to make some weird kind of food and there was a little competition to see who could make something weird that still tasted good. Being poor missionaries, we just bought sardines, mayo, and bread We uncrusted the bread, mixed the sardines and the mayo, and made a tower of the sandwiches with toothpicks. Appetizing huh? Even I didn't eat it. But, the members thought we were hilarious....so I guess it went well....

We are working hard and having a good time. It's weird living with a Brazilian again. It's been a full year! We teach well together and it's nice not having to worry about the language. I'm enjoying the mish.

Anyways, hope that you guys are all doing well! Have a great week! Love you!
-Elder Eric Stapley

Only 10 more emails!

Nova Esperanca

This has been an eventful week. I got transferred. I stayed in my same zone and I'm now in Nova Esperança. It's probably the richest area in the mission. The temple is in my area, as well as the nicest hotel in the city. My area goes right up to the river, it's pretty cool. Just a huge area. My companion is Elder A. Soares and we're the Zone Leaders. I'm glad to have stayed in my same zone. We've already got some cool people to teach and we'll work to have some good success this transfer.

It was a little sad saying 'goodbye' to everyone in Laranjeiras. On Sunday, I showed up and Bishop's councilor told me that one of the speakers wasn't going to show up. He asked me to talk on faith. People told me that it went well. I then took a minute to say goodbye to everyone and to bear my testimony. And of course, I played piano for the meeting and taught the Principles of the Gospel class. It was a busy Sunday, but it was fun.

On Monday, I said goodbye to the rest of the ward. We had a family night with the family that I lived with and a few other members. I think we got fed more food in the 2 days after I said I was going to get transferred than the rest of the 5 transfers...

I'm stoked for this transfer. It's been a year since I've had a Brazilian companion and Elder A. Soares is tight. We already get along great. So, I'm excited for this time.

Anyway, that's pretty much what went down this week. I feel like my emails keep getting shorter, but I feel like I'm running outta things to talk about. It's weird, I'm on my 2nd to last transfer. That means just 12 more weeks. It's gone by really fast! Crazy! But, have a great week! Love you guys!


-Elder Eric Stapley

Laranjeiras

Hey guys,

We are going to have a baptism this weekend for a girl that's friends with a member of the ward. She's actually pretty cool, her name is Mariana. She reads the Book of Mormon every day, goes to seminary, and has gone to church for over a month. So, it should go really well. I'm stoked.

My district was kind of sick this week. Two of the Elders got dengue fever and one of them also has a pretty ugly cough. So, Elder Lewis and I went over one day this week and tried to help them out. I'm so glad that I'm healthy though....Dengue doesn't sound too fun.

So, last week I was able to hang out with my trainer, Christensen. It was so much fun! We went out to lunch and just sat and talked for a while. He said I should work with him at the MTC in Provo after the mish. We also might take a volleyball class together or something. But, it was way fun to catch up and stuff. He still speaks really well. It was a good time and a fun P-day.

Today we played soccer. It's been a while since I had played. I'm a little sunburned now, but it happens....


Well, transfers go down this week. I'm curious to see what's going to happen. I'm almost positive I'm going to leave this time....but, I dont know. At this point, I don't want to leave the city. I'd really like to end my mission in Manaus, so even if I do get transferred, I want to stay here in the city. I'll let you know what happens. All of the brush areas are pretty much closed. We only have elders in the capitals of the 4 states. Oh, I met an RM that knew Sister Hart. He just returned home to Manaus last week. Little connection...

Well, that's pretty much my week. Sorry for the short email. I just really can't think of too much exciting or different that happened. Hope you guys have a great week. Love you!

-Eric

Larnajeiras

Hey guys,
We are working really hard and are having some good success. We've only got one baptismal date marked right now, but we've got some good people with potential that we are teaching. So, I'm hoping that things go really well over the next few months in the area. I'm enjoying the ward, the area, and the work. And Elder Lewis and I are having a blast.

This week we had a great district meeting. We finished last week with relatively great numbers, especially for this zone, but I felt it just wasn't our best. Our ZLs were way happy with us and said we did a lot better that almost all the zone, but I still felt it wasn't our "best..." So, this week in district meeting, we talked about 2 things. First, the importance of our desire and how we can better it. I then came up with a new idea. Every night, I talk personally to every member of the district and I ask one question. "Did you do your best today?" I then have another missionary ask me if I did my best. It's been fun and it motivates me a lot during the day, knowing that at night I'm going to have to say if I really did the best that I could do. But, it's been going well with the district and we've been tearing it up. I'm pretty happy about it.

So, "Vaughn" Christensen is in town. My trainer. I saw him for a little bit last night and I ate breakfast with him and some members this morning. After this, we're going out to lunch somewhere. It's been fun to kick it with him. His Portuguese is still really good. My accent still doesn't beat his....Not even close. But, it's fun to hang out with him and stuff. When the family comes down here next year,' Ill have to take Elder Lewis out to lunch. He'll still be here....

Well, I don't really have to much to talk about this week. We're just working hard and I'm having a good time. I really love the mission. Sorry, I don't have any pics this week, cuz I'm not in my area, but I'll send some next week. So, anyway, have a great week. Love you guys! Tchau!
Elder Stapley

Laranjeiras

Hey guys,

What's up?! So, great week! We had our baptism on Saturday. It was well-attended and the Spirit was great during the meeting. We're working really hard and seeing some good success. We have at least one baptism already set up for this month and we're working hard and trying to find more. My district is tearing it up and we baptized the only men in our zone during the month of February.

Elder Lewis is a way cool guy and we're really good friends. His Portuguese is really coming along and I feel we are teaching better together.

Sounds like my pai (trainer) will be in Manaus next week. Elder Christensen. I talked with Pres and it sounds like he'll let us hang out next P-day, so I'm stoked. I'm going on an English fast for a week to get my Portuguese accent up....


We had zone conference this week and it went well. We talked a lot about planning and goals. I realized that I only have one more zone conference left! It's flying by....But it was fun to see President and Sister Jayme and some other friends. The mish is so much fun.

Yesterday, I had a good experience at lunch. The Irmã (sister) was telling us about a difficult situation with one of her sons. He used to love going to church and has since been influenced by other family and friends to not go to church. The Irmã was pretty upset about it and I felt prompted to share the story of Alma the Younger with her. When I shared the part about the angel telling him that he (the angel) showed up to fullfill the righteous prayers of Alma's father to convince him of the truthfullness of the church, the Spirit hit. The Irmã started crying and saying that she had prayed and asked the Lord for help with her son. She didnt know if her prayers were doing anything or if she should just give up and that the message I shared was an answer to her prayer...I love it when that happens! It was a great experience, one of those moments when I felt that I was really being an instrument in Gods hands.

Well, props to my BYU bball!!!!! Jimmer is the man! I'm so sad I'm missing this season. Win over SDSU....going in with a #1 seed. That's my team! Rise and Shout! We are celebrating by going and playing some bball right now with some other Americans....

Anyways, hope you guys are all doing well! I'm glad to hear about baby Grant, my new cousin! Hope he's doing well! Miss you guys, love you, and have a great week!

-Elder Eric C. Stapley