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

Laranjeiras

Hey guys,

I'm getting used to the fact that I'm still in Laranjeiras. I'm doing my best to enjoy it. I really have grown to love this ward and some of the members. I told the Bishop that my home ward will be sending my paperwork down and that I'm going to be a new permanent member of the ward. I really am doing my best to work hard and love the area and the ward.

I'm stoked for a baptism that we have marked for this week. His name is Joarez and he's way cool. He's a 30 year old man that is really progressing in the gospel. Everything we leave with him to read, he reads. The first time we asked him to pray about the church, he did and got an answer. He's been going to church ever week (except this one because he was sick...) But, I really enjoy teaching him. He asks good questions and Elder Lewis and I are able to teach him a lot of things. So, it's going really well and the baptism will happen Saturday. I'm excited.

I'm really proud of my district. We are baptizing more than pretty much the rest of the zone. I'm starting to realize that it's actually fun sometimes to be a district leader. I'm able to have more of an influence on the others and have a closer relationship. We had a great meeting on Monday. I gave a training on miracles, that by our faith plus our works we can see miracles in our areas and in the work. The training went really well and everyone participated. I even got a few compliments on it....but this district rocks. We're having success. Our zone only baptized 5 people this month, but 3 were from my district and we have 2 men to baptize this week. We are baptizing the only men in the entire zone. We are tearing it up.

Elder Lewis and I still get along great. We've become really good friends. It's always good to be with a comp who likes to have fun. We are able to laugh and joke around as we walk around and it helps the day go by faster.

Well, that's pretty much it for this week. Not too much else. Tell Erynn that Provo won't be boring when I'm back. We'll have a great time next year. haha

But, I hope that you are all doing well and have a great week. Love you guys!

-Elder Eric Stapley

Laranjeiras

Hey guys,
Transfers went down and it's official, I'll be staying here in Laranjeiras with Elder Lewis. It'll be my 5th transfer here and my 3rd with him. Making it the longest time I've been in one area and the longest time I'll have been with a companion. This week I made 6 months in the area, so it's been awhile. At first I wasn't excited to stay, but it's now starting to grow on me more. When I told some members I'd be staying, they were all way happy and gave me hugs and stuff. So, at least someone is excited that I'm staying. It'll be nice to stay with Elder Lewis some more time. He's a good guy and we still have a lot of fun. That's good.

The work continues. We've got at least one more baptism lined up for the end of the month and we're working hard.

We just got done playing some American football today. Even though transfers went down we still have a good group to play football with. After that, I showed the guys the rope swing in the video from last week. We saw 2 young boys when we were leaving and they asked us if we saw the alligator....! Apparently there are some alligators in the pond. So, I went on a rope swing over a pond with alligators...I love my mission.....

This week I taught Principles of the Gospel class about the Holy Ghost. I tried to prepare more for my class this week and it went well. The only thing I don't like is that there isn't a lot of class participation. I ask questions and do my best to get people to respond and to have a comfortable setting to talk, but there are only like 3 people that respond to my questions. Afterwards, I got some compliments on the class. So, hopefully I'm doing a good job. I've really grown to love teaching, and I'm actually kinda hoping to have a calling where I get to teach a lot when I get back to BYU.

That was pretty much this week. I now have a pretty cool pattern though.....2 transfers in my 1st area, 3 in my 2nd, 4 in my 3rd, and now 5 in my 4th.....Hopefully, I get at least one more area before going home.

Anyway, hope that you guys are doing well! Have a great week!

Love,
-Elder Eric Stapley

Laranjeiras

Oi! We had a baptism on Saturday. His name is Jhonata and he's a 15 year old that we've been teaching. He received a testimony of the church and the Book of Mormon. His baptism was really well attended and all went well. We marked a baptismal date for a man that we've been teaching. He's gone to church the past 2 weeks and has already received a great testimony of the Book of Mormon and the church. He's excited and it'll be a good baptism. I'm not sure if I'll be here for it, but even if I'm not, I'm happy to leave a good baptism for a new Elder who could show up in the area. We find out on Saturday about transfers. My guess is that I'll be leaving. I've been in this area for 6 months and I've really grown to love it. About 23 missionaries are going home this transfer and only a few are showing up. A lot of areas will have to close down. I see a lot of changes coming. But, I'll let you know. It's kinda rough.

I went on a division this week with a guy named Elder Keicher. He's a cool guy and it turns out we were in the same psychology class at BYU. He heads home right after I do and we've become pretty good friends. But on our division, we got absolutely soaked by rain, and lunch was 2 hours late...and not really that filling. Needless to say we weren't having tons of fun. So, on the way to our next appointment, we took some pretty cool pictures. Some roads were completely washed out and we passed a little pond that had a rope swing. We ended up having a pretty fun time and were in a much better spirits when we arrived to teach.

That's pretty much what's going on down here. Just working, getting rained on every day and doing our best. I hope that all is well and that you have a great week. Anyways, até mais. Love you! -Elder Eric Stapley