Week 57 ~ The Dengue Bug Bites Hard: VWU

Here is Elder Vester's email, he has been sick but sounds like he is on the mend. He seems to really like his companion and the area where he is at. I received a letter from him and he said that his apartment is small and when they arrived it was a mess, but they dug in and cleaned it up. He is doing a lot of walking, that is how he is able to keep his weight off. - Enjoy!

****************************************************************

This week has been a good one. First off, I'm very grateful for the chance I had to watch all sessions of general conference. There were many inspiring talks given that helped strengthen my testimony, as well as my missionary resolve. I hope to more fully work with the members, seeing as now I have an area where the members are willing to work.
Also the president realized how stupid it was, to not let the missionaries watch conference.So, double score. :D I also might have caught dengue. I've been super weak, and I hope to get over that, sooooo, yeah. Not the best, but whatever; The best way to enter the summer if you ask my opinion.
This week in way of companionship has been very good. I could never ask for a more Christ-like and perfect companion. Elder Hidalgo is so kind, and humble, and always finding ways to serve me. I am really grateful to have both a good area, and a good companion at the same time. After training my son, I was pretty burnt out. But, I'm all ready and excited to go.  We've got a family of elects we are going to baptize. Their names are Marco, and Mariana.
Marco we found about a week ago. He was already taught by the missionaries for more then 3 weeks, and got cut for some reason. He was referred to us by a member in the same day we arrived. We visited, and he had a few questions about the law of chastity, and the word of wisdom, but after answering all his questions, he said he wanted to be baptized. He said that he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet, and he just need to get time off from work to go to church.
His Daughter, Mariana, is who surprised us. We visited with her quickly on Thursday night, and invited her to read the Book of Mormon, and to pray about it. Then, on Saturday, my companion, and district leader were doing contacts in between the conference sessions, and found Mariana. They asked if she had read. She said that she was 7 pages away from finishing the book.
This girl of 12 years old, felt the converting power of the spirit, as she read the entirety of the Book of Mormon, in less then 48 hours.
She asked to be baptized this Sunday.
And, lastly we have Deogo. He's a 13 year old boy, who has a lot of desire to join the church. His mother is against the church, and step-dad is an ex-member, now pastor for the Assembly of God, Bethlehem ministry.
We're working with them to soften their hearts, and we'll baptize Deogo, I'm sure of it.
So, that's all we have going this week.
I love you all, and wish you well, <3333
CHECK THE BLOG FOR PHOTOS. CUZ i'M OUT OF TIMEEEEE
Elder Vester

This road sign says "The good end", its at the farthest point in my area, up a mountain, more then a 2 hour walk. 2 hours momma. Up hill. I thought if fitting to take a tired photo.

We had a zone meeting in Nanuke

Mina Gerais, and I took advantage of the pretty scenery.

This is the Branch meets for Church.

Week 56 ~ The New Venetia VWU

Sorry I didn't get this out earlier. Elder Vester seems to like his new area and his new companion - hooray! Sometimes change is good!
Here is his email and pictures.

***************************************************

Anywho!

I'm in Nova Venécia, in Espirito Santo.

It's a quaint little city, and I rather enjoy it. It's pretty hot during the day, and it has lots of hills. So, I feel like I'm back in Cachoiero de Itapimirim. It's great. :D

So, Monday, I just spent getting packed and whatnot. We had a barbeque at the house, and we had about 9 missionaries there. It was great.

Tuesday morning at 8 I took a bus to Vitória, and got to see Elder Christensen again. <3 I missed that guy. He'll be going home at the end of this transfer, and being all normal and whatnot. And Blackwelder. Miss that guy tooooo~ I got put with elder Hidalgo, from Peru. He's a pretty great guy if I do say so myself. And then we took another 7 hours of bus from Vitória to here. We're working in a branch of about 20 people. The president here is also in the police force, and the first lunch we had with him, he walked in the house armed and everything. lol It was slightly terrifying at first sight. He's really a great guy, and I'll enjoy this area.

So, we're working our best to find new people, and we're challenging everyone we see to be baptized. We've got to find the people who are ready to join the church, and because we can't tell who are and not at first glance, we're covering all our bases.

So, I'll have more to report next week.

Love you all, and hope all are well!

Elder Vester

Behold my new companion. Elder Hidalgo

Welcome to the new Venetian. (I guess it's a providence in Italy?)
Check out my view~

I show unto you the sadness of our 2 fallen baptisms. Take it in.

we had  baptisms fall Saturday night. sadness

MY POKEMANS. LET ME SHOW YOU THEMZ.

There is a bike impound in the area, and has literally thousands of bikes in it.

Dora will be jealous!

We had a macaroni dinner with a member here last night. :D It's great.

This guy is a trooper. His name is Claudio, he showed us around the first day.

Week 55 ~ Goodbye Rats, Cockroaches, and Rio! :VWU

Elder Vester is being transferred today. Won't know where until next Monday. I think he was looking forward to a change. He seems to be doing good and we have a few pictures. Enjoy!

********************************************************

Look at how much weight I've lost. It's frightening. (I'm currently at 62 quilos.)

So, if you guys have yet to guess, I've been transferred.  I've already got pretty much all my stuffed packed up and ready to go. I can't really complain too much. It'll be nice for a change in scenery;  I do quite enjoy Campos though. I'll miss it.

I'll also miss Elder Mendonça; He's been a good companion. We've had our ups and downs, just like every other trainer has, but It's been good. I've learned a lot, and I hope to apply the things I've learned more fully. You can learn all the things in the world, but if you don't apply them, they are useless. And when we don't use them, we forget them. Like, Driving; I'm terrified to have to re-learn how to drive. That'll be cute.

But. I'm pretty much just ranting now. 

Did I mention that I found rats in my suitcase last week? Yeah; They are attracted by the smell of peanut butter. Thankfully they did not ruin anything. I'll be so glad to leave this house. xD It's horrible.

My district

Opp, and someone on a bicycle just got hit by a truck outside the lanhouse we're at right now.

Wonderful.

I wish everyone lots of loves and hugs. <3

I'll see you next week, in a new area, with a new companion.

Èlder Vester

the family that'll be throwin' us a party today.

Looks like girls to me - his momma!

Weel 54 - The Family: VWU

Here is Elder Vester's email for this week. He forgot to take pictures for this week, bad boy! He is thinking that next Tuesday he will be transferred, maybe to Victoria, we will have to wait until the following week to know f he did or not. I copied a picture that someone posted on Facebook.
Enjoy!

 *****************************************

So, this week I was kinda horrible, and I forgot to take pictures. Sorry guys. ;3;

I've had a wonderful week. It's the lazy week of training for Elder Mendonça, so that means he had to be senior for the week. My goodness I forgot how nice it is to be junior. I miss being junior. But! Transfers are a week from tomorrow, so maybe I'll get my wish. :P

 This week, we celebrated the anniversary of "The Family: A proclamation to the world."

And let me tell you. It's powerful. 

We had a integration activity this last week, and we showed the video from the conference when President Gorden b. Hinkley had announced the proclamation, and the spirit was so strong. 

And, I felt so grateful. 

I have taught for the last year that Families are ordained of God, but it hit me really hard this week. Maybe because I was missing them this week, or something else.

The Brazilians call them "The Golden boys"

But, The part that goes something like this "Children have a right to be born into a father and mother in the bonds of matrimony, who are loyal to one another, and honor the covenants made in the temple." (It was in Portuguese, so I have no idea how close this is.)

It was really very clear just how Heavenly Father feels about the sanctity of marriage, and just how hard Satan is working these days to tare down something so important;

And with that in mind, I'll be able to talk to my family here in about 3 months. <3333

I love you all, and I wish you a good week!

Com amor

Élder Vester

Week 53 ~ Guess Who Got Sick Again:WVU

Elder Vester was under the weather this past week, but seems to be doing a bit better.  He seems to be doing pretty good. Here is his email & some pictures.

 

**********************************************************************

 

 

So, yup. I managed to get sick, again. I caught it somewhere on Tuesday, and it hit me pretty hard Wednesday. we returned early Wednesday, and I stayed home all day Thursday, and a part of Friday. So, needless to say I have very little to report for this week. Sorry yall!

So, apparently Lady Gaga  has a new song? I believe it is called applause or something of the sorts. It's been played quite loudly for the last week in cars passing by. I'm not sure what that's all about, because Lady Gaga is not that popular here. (More rap and whatnot is popular here.) but I'm not complaining. :D

Anywho. I know this church is true. That's been confirmed to me a lot this week. I'm so grateful for the church, and the chance I have to change and become better every day. <3 Jesus loves us, and that's all that matters.

Until next week!

Elder Vester

 

 

Brazilian crunchbars are superior to American ones. Hands down

We went and saw the catholic sanctuary this week. :D It's very pretty, but utterly void of the holey ghost.

We visited the catholic sanctuary here. It's super old, and very pretty.

We went to pizza rodizio again! :D Yes

This is Gilsara. I love her to no end. Behold how skinny and tan I am.

These animals are called Capibara, they live near lakes and rivers, much like beavers. They are HUGE.

 

Week 52 ~Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes: VWU

It has been 1 year (left on Sept 4 and entered the CTM on Sept 5th) since Elder Vester went in to the CTM (MTC)! I can't believe we made it. I think I can make it until he comes home now. I hope that the second year goes by as fast as the first!
Here is his email for this week.

**************************************************************************************

That's right.

I've waited more then 9 months to use this title in an email. I'm crazy. :D

But, that's nothing new. <3

So, hey all, it's been a year, I had this huge list of all the things I've done in the last year, (Like how many baptisms, how many lessons, and such and so forth) but I forgot to bring it with me, and it's better that this number remains a mystery~ oh hohoho.

So, this last year has been crazy. Only my journal has a full account of everything that has gone down; I do believe I have developed a memory problem, cuz I forget ridiculous amounts of information. I hope I get my brain back when I get back to the states, and everything goes back to English. English is such an easier language to speak. <3

I even heard that Japanese is easier then Portuguese. (In spoken form, written form, not so much,) So, I might hit that up when I get home. Who knows. lol

So, lets have a little insider with Elder Vester.

(I'm just going to talk about me for this email, because I'm beautiful like that, so, put up with it, ok?)

I'm very happy; I just am. <3 The mission has given me a new perspective on a lot of things. I'm growing and learning so much. I'm doing my best to correct the things I do wrong, and to be a more palatable person. xD Sadly, I still shove my foot in my mouth, like a lot. oops.

I've done a lot of changing in the last year. I've really come to understand just how important families are, and how grateful I am to be sealed to my family for all of time and eternity; Even if we are all crazy. <3

I've lots about 50 pounds, and managed to keep it off. :D I'm not sure where it came from, or where it went, but, I'm skinny and happy. :D

I've also grown to love coconut.

It's beautiful. :D

I've also grown to love this country, and its people. They are amazing, and I'm so grateful for the chance I had to get to know everyone I have. <3

Te-amo, todos!

And now a count down has began.

Lets make this last year go out with a bang.

HYAAAAAAAAAAAAA~

Also, someone should tell me how Catching Fire is. I'm super excited for that to come out, so I can buy a copy in Portuguese.

Yes

Com Amor

Élder Vester

This is little Brazilian Barbeque; Personally I love it. (This was R$10)

It rained pretty bad this week, and I came home like this a lot. lol (#1)

#2 - all wet!

And look! I've actually learned to clean up after myself. MILAGRE~

An abstract photo of me. :D

Making Coxinhas at Laíza's house. It was her birthday~

Directly after the other ward's baptism, there was a wedding. - cake and bonbons.

These little strange yellow things are a sweet local to Campos; It's nothing but egg and sugar. :D It was terrible.

Look at me~Not a lot has changed in the last year. lol

Week 51 ~ No news is OK news - VWU

Well I didn't post last week because Elder Vester was a bit under the weather, in more ways than one. He sent me a copy of the email he sent his Mission President so I will post part of it. He did manage to send me some pictures of the baptism. He computer connection was terrible and was having trouble sending pictures.

*******************************************************

This week has been a good one. We managed to baptize 1 of our dates, the other had to be cut. I'll tell you about the one we cut first.

His name is Felípe. He is (or was) the boyfriend of our recent convert, Laíza. They were all on track for marrage, and everything more. Felípe was our strongest date we had this week, and on tuesday night, we saw Laíza, and she began to tell us how she was not happy with Felipe, and wanted to go back to her ex-fiancé, Carlos. She told us that Felipe was "o leder da boca na penha." I believe that means he was a drug lord; And, Laíza told us he has killed people. So, sadly we had to cut him, totally. We then later saw Laíza on the back of Carlos's motorcycle on friday night. So, there's that.

I think this might be Valdir

Our other date, Valdir, was a hand-full.  Sunday, he told a member that he wanted to get baptitzed. We went there on sunday, and challenged him to be baptized. beleza. We went there on tuesday, had him unterviewed. Beleza. We then had 2 days we went there trying to visit him, both marked. and no luck. The next day, Elder Andreazza came to our area, we had lunch, and then stalked Valdir. We managed to get him into a lesson. We tried literally everything. We called the  zone leaders, and had them talk to him, we called the assistants, and had them talk to him. In the end, I don't know exactly what convinced him. But, he went to take a shower, and when he started getting dressed, he said "I need to be beautiful for my baptizim, what clothes should I use?" And so, we got him ready, took him to the church, and he baptized the same day. And was then confirmed on sunday.