Feliz Natal! December 27, 2010 Cambe
Feliz Natal!
I just can´t tell you how happy I was to talk to you on Christmas! I´m glad you liked the song so much too! I think I will try to send more stuff like that. It was so good to hear your voice and how you are doing and everything. It’s too bad MSN didn’t work that well, but I think we should try Skype on Mother’s day. Some other Elders had luck with Skype and I think it works better. But from what I saw you both are looking really well! You look really healthy and great momma! The lord really is blessing our family I just know it. I am so thankful to have you guys and also all the rest of our extended family so close by to take care of us! Family is really what it’s all about. Next week you will have to send pictures of Christmas and everything! My Christmas was really great. Firstly, like I said we had a baptism this week which was awesome! It’s really great to have success in the work because you know that you are really helping people! Christmas Eve was good too. It was really hard to teach because everyone was with family and having parties and such, but we visited a few people and spent the evening at a member’s house with some REALLY good food! Christmas day we got up and walked about an hour to get to lunch, but it was totally worth it. We taught a good lesson there, although unfortunately we may have to stop visiting that investigator because he doesn´t want to change :( darn agency. Then we walked back and got ready to call our parents! I was kind of freaking out because I thought you hadn´t received the email and my phone cards weren´t working and I thought I wouldn´t get to talk to you, but I said a little prayer and everything worked out just terrific! Christmas day was pretty rainy, but that was ok because it wasn´t too hot! Christmas night we passed with another member who we are really good friends with. They made super goo churrasca (BBQ) and some kind of powder stuff that was super good. Also Pasoca is my new favorite thing here. It’s like chewy peanut brittle. Also they about died when I told them that in America we don’t eat rice and beans with every meal! (A funny side note is that people here think that 80% of Americans are grossly obese because we only eat hamburgers. It’s pretty funny!) Elder De Souza got to talk video conference with his family and I got to talk to them too and it was really fun. They are doing really well. Elder De Souza was teasing his Dad because he couldn´t stop crying. Yesterday we had a great meeting with president and learned of a ward in Rio that baptized 140 people in 10 months! We are reevaluating how we are working and hope to see more and more success every week! Thank you for the photos of the moon too! I told President and he thought it was really really interesting. He said “better start working really fast elder!” hahaha. I know that we are living in the last days, but this is a time of hope, not fear. I know we have the true gospel to bring us through whatever trials may be awaiting us. I really admire your strength and your testimony mom. I know that not many people could have the strength to accomplish what you have. You have always been such a terrific mom and example and I am so thankful for everything that you have done for me. I can truly say I wouldn’t be here without you. I know without doubt that this gospel is true. I know we have a perfect Father-in-heaven cheering us on and helping us every way He can. I know Christ lives and he paid the price for us to become like Him. I know we have a living prophet, 12 apostles and the true priesthood. I know the Church is true and will bring us to complete happiness. Give Sharon a hug for me and tell her how great she is. Dad is here helping us; I know it right alongside the angels in heaven to carry us through. Keep on smiling and have a super good New Year! Thank you for everything and always remember how much I love you. I love you 1 katrillion times more than THIS much.
Happy Holidays!
-Elder Markham
I just can´t tell you how happy I was to talk to you on Christmas! I´m glad you liked the song so much too! I think I will try to send more stuff like that. It was so good to hear your voice and how you are doing and everything. It’s too bad MSN didn’t work that well, but I think we should try Skype on Mother’s day. Some other Elders had luck with Skype and I think it works better. But from what I saw you both are looking really well! You look really healthy and great momma! The lord really is blessing our family I just know it. I am so thankful to have you guys and also all the rest of our extended family so close by to take care of us! Family is really what it’s all about. Next week you will have to send pictures of Christmas and everything! My Christmas was really great. Firstly, like I said we had a baptism this week which was awesome! It’s really great to have success in the work because you know that you are really helping people! Christmas Eve was good too. It was really hard to teach because everyone was with family and having parties and such, but we visited a few people and spent the evening at a member’s house with some REALLY good food! Christmas day we got up and walked about an hour to get to lunch, but it was totally worth it. We taught a good lesson there, although unfortunately we may have to stop visiting that investigator because he doesn´t want to change :( darn agency. Then we walked back and got ready to call our parents! I was kind of freaking out because I thought you hadn´t received the email and my phone cards weren´t working and I thought I wouldn´t get to talk to you, but I said a little prayer and everything worked out just terrific! Christmas day was pretty rainy, but that was ok because it wasn´t too hot! Christmas night we passed with another member who we are really good friends with. They made super goo churrasca (BBQ) and some kind of powder stuff that was super good. Also Pasoca is my new favorite thing here. It’s like chewy peanut brittle. Also they about died when I told them that in America we don’t eat rice and beans with every meal! (A funny side note is that people here think that 80% of Americans are grossly obese because we only eat hamburgers. It’s pretty funny!) Elder De Souza got to talk video conference with his family and I got to talk to them too and it was really fun. They are doing really well. Elder De Souza was teasing his Dad because he couldn´t stop crying. Yesterday we had a great meeting with president and learned of a ward in Rio that baptized 140 people in 10 months! We are reevaluating how we are working and hope to see more and more success every week! Thank you for the photos of the moon too! I told President and he thought it was really really interesting. He said “better start working really fast elder!” hahaha. I know that we are living in the last days, but this is a time of hope, not fear. I know we have the true gospel to bring us through whatever trials may be awaiting us. I really admire your strength and your testimony mom. I know that not many people could have the strength to accomplish what you have. You have always been such a terrific mom and example and I am so thankful for everything that you have done for me. I can truly say I wouldn’t be here without you. I know without doubt that this gospel is true. I know we have a perfect Father-in-heaven cheering us on and helping us every way He can. I know Christ lives and he paid the price for us to become like Him. I know we have a living prophet, 12 apostles and the true priesthood. I know the Church is true and will bring us to complete happiness. Give Sharon a hug for me and tell her how great she is. Dad is here helping us; I know it right alongside the angels in heaven to carry us through. Keep on smiling and have a super good New Year! Thank you for everything and always remember how much I love you. I love you 1 katrillion times more than THIS much.
Happy Holidays!
-Elder Markham
Lyrics to Song
Lyrics to video
esou sonhando numa Natal branco,
mas em brasil só tem tem calor
Sm Londrina é bem quente
e de repente
Eu pego quemadura do sol
Mas Estou sonhando numa natal branco
com cada carta escrevo
Espero que seu Natal será ótimo
e mesom meu embora não temos ..... SNOW!
esou sonhando numa Natal branco,
mas em brasil só tem tem calor
Sm Londrina é bem quente
e de repente
Eu pego quemadura do sol
Mas Estou sonhando numa natal branco
com cada carta escrevo
Espero que seu Natal será ótimo
e mesom meu embora não temos ..... SNOW!
Cambe December 20, 2010
December 20, 2010
Oi from Cambé!
As the first bit of news, I was not transferred and neither was Elder De Souza. We will be here mais uma tranferencia! Actually I think this is awesome because Cambe is a great place and it will be my first time to stay somewhere more than a month! Ha! As for good ole Provo that is crazy that the tabernacle burned down! Crazy! That thing has always been there. Oh well, I guess life is full of changes and old things become new. I bet Grandpa was sad to hear about that. I hope they can rebuild it real nice...
I know the Lord is blessing us a whole ton with your health and such, but still winter can be a hard time I know. It’s cold and dark and gloomy, but at least it’s not 100 degrees and raining and humid! Christmas will be really weird here in the heat! As a matter of fact this inspired a song that I will send to you in another e-mail. Thank you for your advice. A lot of that stuff is in Preach MY Gospel, but I always need a reminder to keep on going! Thank you so much for your sensitivity and love. I can relate to Jesse, it is really hard to joke around in Portuguese and I am a bit of a robot. Also, Elder De Souza knows Jujitsu and so practical jokes are...... unwise :) My only defense is to sit on him because I´m like twice his size. A whole bunch of our old investigators unfortunately had to be dropped for a time because of that pesky agency thing, but we are working really hard to find new people to teach. We are going to have a baptism this Wednesday for a kid named Juan. He is way smart and although his parents aren´t members he goes to church every week with his Grandma and he is way excited about everything. Brazilian kids are pretty cool. This week we also found a new area of the city that we hadn´t been and found some good people to teach. One just recently lost her boyfriend in a car wreck and we had a really spiritual lesson about the plan of salvation. She knows lots of people in the church and we are going to work really hard to help her out and get baptized! Hurray for Israel! Tonight we have an appointment with a Jehovah Witness family who wants to hear our lesson and then give theirs. It should be pretty exciting! Ha-ha. (Disclaimer: Bible Bashing is bad and we will not do that.) It’s also been raining a TON this week which is nice for the sun, but rather.... wet. Yup. That about sums up my life. What between that chuva and the pia batismal..... :) Please tell Sis Gornichec and the rest of the ward thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have been so blessed with wonderful examples and I know it is thanks to all of them that I am here. We are getting pretty excited for Christmas too! Yea! Christmas! I will clearly want to hear all the updates next week about virtually everything. Thanks!
Elder Markham
Oi from Cambé!
As the first bit of news, I was not transferred and neither was Elder De Souza. We will be here mais uma tranferencia! Actually I think this is awesome because Cambe is a great place and it will be my first time to stay somewhere more than a month! Ha! As for good ole Provo that is crazy that the tabernacle burned down! Crazy! That thing has always been there. Oh well, I guess life is full of changes and old things become new. I bet Grandpa was sad to hear about that. I hope they can rebuild it real nice...
I know the Lord is blessing us a whole ton with your health and such, but still winter can be a hard time I know. It’s cold and dark and gloomy, but at least it’s not 100 degrees and raining and humid! Christmas will be really weird here in the heat! As a matter of fact this inspired a song that I will send to you in another e-mail. Thank you for your advice. A lot of that stuff is in Preach MY Gospel, but I always need a reminder to keep on going! Thank you so much for your sensitivity and love. I can relate to Jesse, it is really hard to joke around in Portuguese and I am a bit of a robot. Also, Elder De Souza knows Jujitsu and so practical jokes are...... unwise :) My only defense is to sit on him because I´m like twice his size. A whole bunch of our old investigators unfortunately had to be dropped for a time because of that pesky agency thing, but we are working really hard to find new people to teach. We are going to have a baptism this Wednesday for a kid named Juan. He is way smart and although his parents aren´t members he goes to church every week with his Grandma and he is way excited about everything. Brazilian kids are pretty cool. This week we also found a new area of the city that we hadn´t been and found some good people to teach. One just recently lost her boyfriend in a car wreck and we had a really spiritual lesson about the plan of salvation. She knows lots of people in the church and we are going to work really hard to help her out and get baptized! Hurray for Israel! Tonight we have an appointment with a Jehovah Witness family who wants to hear our lesson and then give theirs. It should be pretty exciting! Ha-ha. (Disclaimer: Bible Bashing is bad and we will not do that.) It’s also been raining a TON this week which is nice for the sun, but rather.... wet. Yup. That about sums up my life. What between that chuva and the pia batismal..... :) Please tell Sis Gornichec and the rest of the ward thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have been so blessed with wonderful examples and I know it is thanks to all of them that I am here. We are getting pretty excited for Christmas too! Yea! Christmas! I will clearly want to hear all the updates next week about virtually everything. Thanks!
Elder Markham
Cambe December 13, 2010
Oba! Bom dia de Brasil!
Thanks for sending the pictures of everybody. It’s so nice to see familiar faces and everybody seems to be doing great! I am way jealous that you get to enjoy the cooking of Kevin and Grandma and everybody. Mmmmmm. Food that isn´t rice or Raman noodles..... (Mouth water). So, there are some announcements to be made:
Primerio: Ryan got his mission call! Woo hoo!!! That is the coolest thing I´ve heard since the song “greatest man that ever lived” by Weezer! Congratulations demais! Brazil as well! Way to pick a good place to go. Maybe you can even stopover in Nebraska for a little bit too! Teasing of course. Get your visa. Now. Just do it. Baptize......
Also, there have been some birthdays of really awesome people. I would send birthday cards, but #1 it’s really expensive, and #2 you won’t get them until about half-way through the millennium, so please accept my humble e-shout out!
Happy birthday to Grandma Elaine! Thank you for always being such a wonderful example and a great missionary! I love you so much and you are a great example of diligent service family and the Lord. Parabem!
Also, Happy Birthday to my favorite Uncle Scott! May your days be ever full of Dollar Bills and Cafe Rio. Great work at the Tri-Plex!
Finally: Happy birthday War Machine. You know who you are with your birthday all this week and almost are as old as me. Keep being 2-legit-2-quit. Keep on saving the world and take luck!
This week has been full of stuff. I will start typing really fast and hope my fingers do not fall off.
This week has been really really hot! Today is great because we had a big thunderstorm to cool things down. This week Papai Noel arrived here in Cambé riding on the faithful Coca Cola truck. Since we live right in the center of town, he passed right in front of our house and there was a huge party and everything was all Christmassy! Our only problem is they built a huge stage in the square right in front of our house and they are having concerts every night until Christmas! Issh!!! It’s really loud and there are a ton of people, so it’s not always ideal for sleeping and planning and such. On the brightside, it looks like I´ll get to hear some Brazilian rock concerts! Did I say brightside..... haha.. ha... ? (It’s totally cool) We also want to go sit on Papai Noel´s lap and ask him for baptisms. I wonder what he would say. The same night that this happened we had a secret Santa party with the youth in our ward. Elder De Souza got a sweet tie and I got a new wallet of Brazilian leather which is cool. I drew one of our investigators (Gustavo) and gave him a hacky-sack (holly´s hacky sack actually, I hope you don’t mind!) He liked it a ton! The ward also gave us a free pizza which was better than gold! Well, maybe not because gold can buy pizza... Hmm. I´ll think about that one. It was way fun. We also had a zone conference with an area 70 for Brazil. It was a way spiritual meeting. He taught us a ton of good stuff about how to teach and work with members and he is also really funny. The biggest thing he said is that we need to be more courageous here in Brazil Londrina. Never be afraid to invite someone to action for fear that they will say no. Invite always! The three most effective ways to spread the gospel are 1. Abri a boca, 2. Abri a boca and last and possibly most important 3. Abri a boca. I definitely want to be less shy and share the gospel with lots more people. The next day we had a Christmas conference with our zone again. It was waaay fun. We had a white elephant swap (called amiga da onca. Go go Google!) And it was hilarious. I got a chess set and Elder De Souza got a fake rat. Somebody got a statue of a Catholic Saint. Haha! Too funny! We had a cake building competition and ate tons of candy and had a treasure hunt and I felt like I was 6 again and it was totally awesome!!! We got to eat lots of good food too. After, President Tavares gave an awesome talk about the Atonement of Christ. It needs to be the focus of everything that we do. I felt such a strong spirit there that because of Christ and His sacrifice, we can become exactly what God wants us to, It doesn´t matter what weaknesses or hardships we have. If we follow Christ we WILL reach our righteous goals. He was willing to die for murderers and liars and addicts. Are we willing to do the same? He gave everything to save the one. Do we reach out to those near us that we can lift? I know that Christ is our Savior and that he atoned for our sins. I know the gospel is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I have felt the spirit testify of these things and every person on the earth can receive the same answer if they open their hearts. At this time of Christmas I really want to learn to be more like Christ and love others more. I know the Church is true and I love my family so very much.
Ohh! One more exciting thing is that yesterday we marked another person to be baptized! He is the son of a part member family named Juan and he will be baptized this week or the following, depending on a few small things. How great is this work! Thank you for your support and love. I will be praying and thinking about you every day!
Love you so very much!
-Elder Markham
Thanks for sending the pictures of everybody. It’s so nice to see familiar faces and everybody seems to be doing great! I am way jealous that you get to enjoy the cooking of Kevin and Grandma and everybody. Mmmmmm. Food that isn´t rice or Raman noodles..... (Mouth water). So, there are some announcements to be made:
Primerio: Ryan got his mission call! Woo hoo!!! That is the coolest thing I´ve heard since the song “greatest man that ever lived” by Weezer! Congratulations demais! Brazil as well! Way to pick a good place to go. Maybe you can even stopover in Nebraska for a little bit too! Teasing of course. Get your visa. Now. Just do it. Baptize......
Also, there have been some birthdays of really awesome people. I would send birthday cards, but #1 it’s really expensive, and #2 you won’t get them until about half-way through the millennium, so please accept my humble e-shout out!
Happy birthday to Grandma Elaine! Thank you for always being such a wonderful example and a great missionary! I love you so much and you are a great example of diligent service family and the Lord. Parabem!
Also, Happy Birthday to my favorite Uncle Scott! May your days be ever full of Dollar Bills and Cafe Rio. Great work at the Tri-Plex!
Finally: Happy birthday War Machine. You know who you are with your birthday all this week and almost are as old as me. Keep being 2-legit-2-quit. Keep on saving the world and take luck!
This week has been full of stuff. I will start typing really fast and hope my fingers do not fall off.
This week has been really really hot! Today is great because we had a big thunderstorm to cool things down. This week Papai Noel arrived here in Cambé riding on the faithful Coca Cola truck. Since we live right in the center of town, he passed right in front of our house and there was a huge party and everything was all Christmassy! Our only problem is they built a huge stage in the square right in front of our house and they are having concerts every night until Christmas! Issh!!! It’s really loud and there are a ton of people, so it’s not always ideal for sleeping and planning and such. On the brightside, it looks like I´ll get to hear some Brazilian rock concerts! Did I say brightside..... haha.. ha... ? (It’s totally cool) We also want to go sit on Papai Noel´s lap and ask him for baptisms. I wonder what he would say. The same night that this happened we had a secret Santa party with the youth in our ward. Elder De Souza got a sweet tie and I got a new wallet of Brazilian leather which is cool. I drew one of our investigators (Gustavo) and gave him a hacky-sack (holly´s hacky sack actually, I hope you don’t mind!) He liked it a ton! The ward also gave us a free pizza which was better than gold! Well, maybe not because gold can buy pizza... Hmm. I´ll think about that one. It was way fun. We also had a zone conference with an area 70 for Brazil. It was a way spiritual meeting. He taught us a ton of good stuff about how to teach and work with members and he is also really funny. The biggest thing he said is that we need to be more courageous here in Brazil Londrina. Never be afraid to invite someone to action for fear that they will say no. Invite always! The three most effective ways to spread the gospel are 1. Abri a boca, 2. Abri a boca and last and possibly most important 3. Abri a boca. I definitely want to be less shy and share the gospel with lots more people. The next day we had a Christmas conference with our zone again. It was waaay fun. We had a white elephant swap (called amiga da onca. Go go Google!) And it was hilarious. I got a chess set and Elder De Souza got a fake rat. Somebody got a statue of a Catholic Saint. Haha! Too funny! We had a cake building competition and ate tons of candy and had a treasure hunt and I felt like I was 6 again and it was totally awesome!!! We got to eat lots of good food too. After, President Tavares gave an awesome talk about the Atonement of Christ. It needs to be the focus of everything that we do. I felt such a strong spirit there that because of Christ and His sacrifice, we can become exactly what God wants us to, It doesn´t matter what weaknesses or hardships we have. If we follow Christ we WILL reach our righteous goals. He was willing to die for murderers and liars and addicts. Are we willing to do the same? He gave everything to save the one. Do we reach out to those near us that we can lift? I know that Christ is our Savior and that he atoned for our sins. I know the gospel is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I have felt the spirit testify of these things and every person on the earth can receive the same answer if they open their hearts. At this time of Christmas I really want to learn to be more like Christ and love others more. I know the Church is true and I love my family so very much.
Ohh! One more exciting thing is that yesterday we marked another person to be baptized! He is the son of a part member family named Juan and he will be baptized this week or the following, depending on a few small things. How great is this work! Thank you for your support and love. I will be praying and thinking about you every day!
Love you so very much!
-Elder Markham
Happy Birthday Cambe December 6, 2010
Thank you so much for the letter! It is so exciting that Abbey and Dallin have a new son! The pictures are great too! Oh man, our family is cool. Que pena que ele não nasceu no Dec 3. haha! Please tell Abbey and Dallin congratulations! That’s sweet that BYU (especially basketball) is doing awesome. Brandon Davies too! That is pretty sweet. Go cougars for sure. I receive letters now and then from some of my friends at BYU and it’s good to hear Provo is still doing just fine! Thank you for the birthday wishes too! I got your package with Peanut butter and Hugs like 3 days before my birthday! It’s super good to have those things. Thank you so very very much. Things were alright on my birthday, but it is so nice to know I have a family at home thinking about me. I miss you guys a lot. I got cards from Sharon and you and Grandma. So, thank you for the happy birthday! I´m so glad too that you are having the opportunity to enjoy the season and get out and do stuff with Mary Anne and the family! The lights in Spanish Fork are super cool. I think I went there once on a date or something. Not really sure, but the lights are awesome.
As for here in Cambé, things are a bit slow. That ok though because it’s a great chance to practice finding and talk to lots of people. Guilherme is doing super well. He received the priesthood and he and another youth in the ward are going to submit their mission papers this coming year. He is a super great person. His Mom is really solid too. She loves the visits and has been to church every week for a month and is doing well. The only problem is that she is not married to Guilherme´s father and it is really a complicated situation from the legal standpoint. It’s really hard to get marriages and divorces approved here. I have faith that everything will turn out great though. We found another family this week too who are really neat. Their son Pedro is hilarious. In our first lesson with them he started saying stuff like, “I don’t understand the other religions, what with all the yelling non-sense and falling down on the floor and acting crazy.” It was really funny the way he said it, and of course we do not do that in our church. He also asked about the principle of eternal progression which was surprising because usually peoples questions are on the level of “why are both your names Elder?” really cool. This week will be sweet because we have a ward Christmas party, a mission tour with a general authority from the Area 70 for Brazil and also a Zone Christmas party. I´m really excited. Here in Cambé everybody is starting to get really excited about Christmas. Tomorrow Santa Clause will drive into town riding on the town Coca-Cola truck. Apparently it’s a tradition here. Anyhow, he will pass our house and I´m excited. The other problem is that we live in the square basically in the center of town and for Christmas they are building a huge stage to have concerts right in front of our house. Hmm. President may have to temporarily move us someplace. Although, it would be cool to get to see some Brazilian concerts..... teasing of course! This week has been really stormy. We had a huge lightning storm and it rained every day this week. I´m getting used to the weather but it’s still really hot. Speaking of Christmas, we need to set up a time to talk on Christmas. Assume you´ll use your cellular. Anyhow, let me know what time will work best with the time difference and where you will be and such. I´ll give more info soon. Anyhow, I´m still trucking and doing great. Thank you for your advice and love and support and all your prayers. I know that this Gospel is true and Christ loves us all very much. Life can be a super huge trial, but it will be worth it in the end. I think of you often and I know the Lord is watching over you. Have a great week and always keep on smiling! I´m sending your package today, so hopefully it will arrive eventually! Love you so very very very very much.
Love, Elder Markham
As for here in Cambé, things are a bit slow. That ok though because it’s a great chance to practice finding and talk to lots of people. Guilherme is doing super well. He received the priesthood and he and another youth in the ward are going to submit their mission papers this coming year. He is a super great person. His Mom is really solid too. She loves the visits and has been to church every week for a month and is doing well. The only problem is that she is not married to Guilherme´s father and it is really a complicated situation from the legal standpoint. It’s really hard to get marriages and divorces approved here. I have faith that everything will turn out great though. We found another family this week too who are really neat. Their son Pedro is hilarious. In our first lesson with them he started saying stuff like, “I don’t understand the other religions, what with all the yelling non-sense and falling down on the floor and acting crazy.” It was really funny the way he said it, and of course we do not do that in our church. He also asked about the principle of eternal progression which was surprising because usually peoples questions are on the level of “why are both your names Elder?” really cool. This week will be sweet because we have a ward Christmas party, a mission tour with a general authority from the Area 70 for Brazil and also a Zone Christmas party. I´m really excited. Here in Cambé everybody is starting to get really excited about Christmas. Tomorrow Santa Clause will drive into town riding on the town Coca-Cola truck. Apparently it’s a tradition here. Anyhow, he will pass our house and I´m excited. The other problem is that we live in the square basically in the center of town and for Christmas they are building a huge stage to have concerts right in front of our house. Hmm. President may have to temporarily move us someplace. Although, it would be cool to get to see some Brazilian concerts..... teasing of course! This week has been really stormy. We had a huge lightning storm and it rained every day this week. I´m getting used to the weather but it’s still really hot. Speaking of Christmas, we need to set up a time to talk on Christmas. Assume you´ll use your cellular. Anyhow, let me know what time will work best with the time difference and where you will be and such. I´ll give more info soon. Anyhow, I´m still trucking and doing great. Thank you for your advice and love and support and all your prayers. I know that this Gospel is true and Christ loves us all very much. Life can be a super huge trial, but it will be worth it in the end. I think of you often and I know the Lord is watching over you. Have a great week and always keep on smiling! I´m sending your package today, so hopefully it will arrive eventually! Love you so very very very very much.
Love, Elder Markham
Cambe November 29, 2010
Hiya Momma!
Thank you so very much for your letter! Please don´t appologize for it being long because I love long letters! It sounds like everything is going really great back at home for the holidays! There is only one thing I would like to correct about your e-mail. Yes it WOULD be fun to watch BYU win all the time! haha! Tell Grandpa I said that. So, this week I have some really exciting news, but I think I will build the suspense by answering your questions first and possible annexing several chapters of War and Peace for you to read first. That way you can appreciate it more ;)
As for the orthotics, I don’t know why they started having problems, but they just stopped fitting. They were fine before and in Nebraska, but I definitely walk more here and perhaps I have changed weight or my feet have grown a little bit more. Não sei. I did call Sister Tavares about my orthotics. we have to authorize all medical things with her before and she is the one who lined up the foot doctor. It was a nice hospital and had no problems. I think things are in general pretty nice here in Londrina. The doctor says that he has never seen a hard orthotic like the one I have and that here in Brazil they are all covered in foam. I am going today to get a mold to make a new one. Foam sounds really nice actually.
Since you saw Cambé on Google Earth you know how big it is. We cover the entire city, hence = building character and calluses. It’s all good though. Missionary work it totally worth it. Sorry if I sounded miffed or anything in the last letter. We were just in a bit of a hurry that is all. Yeah, it’s getting really hot and rainy, but hey, it’s brazil! What can you expect? I actually like the rain a lot because it cools things down. It gets really windy here too! Woo! It’s really exciting to be running down the roads trying to find cover with torrential rain and huge gusts of wind (like yesterday). Seriously, it’s really fun! Yes, they have tons of Guaraná here. tons. Hits awesome. Que pena que eles não vendem mais a Guaraná em Utah. That’s way cool that Cambé is named for Cambridge. It doesn’t seem like there are many English roots here... and everybody thinks I´m German. haha!
That’s sweet that Harry Potter turned out good. I do actually miss movies. Not movies for movies sake, but mainly just sitting and enjoying the company of family and friends. Snow would be awesome too! Tell Sharon we can switch weather if she wants! So, as for Thanksgiving, claro não existe aqui, mas estou muito feliz lembrando o alimento de Kevin! Family dinners are the best. The members here are pretty good about feeding us though. I actually like the food here a lot. Rice and beans haven’t gotten old yet! Yum. Food. That is so exciting to hear about Abbey and Jessica and Liz! When the baby is born you will have to send me some pictures! That is one thing I really like is pictures. The people here really like to see photos of family and friends and life in Utah.
Also, everybody (including Elder De Souza) wants to write letters to Sharon. Haha! Seriously, they all say she is really cute. The only problem is the whole Portguês thing... Thanks for the update on BYU sports. All I can say is: go cougs. I know nothing about soccer which is obviously VERY popular here. All of the Brasileiro Élderes estçao extrememente chatiado que nos não podemos jogar futebal durante a missão! One things is could you send me how to make Alfredo sauce? That´d be super swell. Everyone here is getting extremely excited for Christmas! We are having a conference with a general authority and also with our Zone on two different days for Christmas. We are excited because at the Zone conference we will be playing Amigo da Onca, which is exactly like the white elephant game we play at Markham’s house. It’s going to be sweet. We are also having a secret Santa in our ward here in Cambé. It’s really cool because I drew the name of a young man who is not baptized but always comes to young men’s. We have been working with him and he has lots of potencial! Maybe I´ll give him the gift of baptism for Christmas. Or maybe socks. hmm... (I actually think I´ll give him a hacky sack. All the Brazilians think I´m crazy and they love the hacky sack.)
So: Here is my awesome story for this week: With lots of colons: : :
: :
: ::: ;...:: : ¨¨ ¨¨¨,, <----(Braile)
So we have been working with an awesome man named Antonio for a while now. His wife is a member and he has been going to church for 21 YEARS and never baptized. He has had 3 different baptismal interviews and then backs out at the last minute every time. He recently moved here to Cambé and he has been having some really difficult times lately. One afternoon we visited him and he was having a really hard time. We talked about adversity with him and gave him a blessing. After we left, we felt like we needed to talk to the Bishop about helping him. The only problem is that Antonio told us not to tell anyone about the details of his problems. As luck (yeah right) had it we ran into the Bishop that very night and talked to him about the situation, being only very general, like this e-mail, to respect Antonio and suggested he talk with him. Two days later we passed his house again and nobody was there. We were kind of bummed, but it happens a lot on the mission. That night we got a phone call from his daughter who said that we needed to come talk with Antonio right now. Our initial reaction was: Oh no. Bishop talked to him and now he is really mad that we told somebody and he is calling us over to chew us out big time. The whole walk over there was really nervous and we were praying about what we could say to him to not lose an investigator. We finally got there and knocked on this fence. The seconds seemed to stretch forever as we waited for him to answer. We heard footsteps approaching and then someone opening the latch. Ever so slowly the large metal door slides opens to reveal Antonio standing there in the twilight. (good description eh?) When he answered there was something different about him. He was smiling really big and waved us in, more animated than we had seen him in weeks. inside his wife and daughter and wife’s sister were all there having a great time. We went in and talked with him and he said that after the blessing he felt a lot better and started to think about the blessings God had given him, and that the day after his wife had fasted to help their family. The moment she ended her fast she was offered a job, which was part of the problem and a huge relief for them! Then his wife´s sister came in unexpectedly from São Paulo and said, I´ve arrived for your baptism Antonio! Antonio thought about this and decided, yes, it is time! He called us over that night to ask “can I be baptized this Sunday, or do I need to wait a week”? We were stunned and so happy and everybody was crying and pretty much it was just really awesome beyond description. We had the baptism at 8 AM Sunday morning and I got to perform my first baptism in Português! He wanted me to do it because he was afraid Elder De Souza wasn´t tall enough to lift him out of the water again! This was a really great week and I have gained a huge testimony about the power of faith, fasting and good influences. I know God has a plan for each and every one of us and all things will work together for our good. The gospel is just really great. It truly was a miracle and everybody was so happy afterwards AND they gave us some candy bars. Yes! Other than that, things are going pretty well. We are a little low on investigators, but that is partially because we´ve had three baptisms already! No complaints here!
One more piece of news that is crazy and sort of scary is that we had interviews with President and he told Elder De Souza that the mission will be losing lots of experienced Elders and gaining even more brand new Elders. This means they will need lots of trainers and younger people will get called as leaders. President said “I want to train Elder Markham how to be senior companion.” Elder De Souza said it is very probable that he will be called trainer for someone else and I will get bumped up to senior after only 2 months in Brazil. Yikes demais!!!! If this actually happens I will need you to pray for me probably about 46789 times per day. I still only understand probably like 70% of what is said to me, but whatever the Lord wants will happen I suppose.
I love you so very much! Please give Sharon a hug for me too! Brother Merrell wrote me a really nice letter, and if you see him tell him thank you! I know that this Church is true and that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that we have a living prophet to guide us in these latter days. I love brazil and my mission and I know the Lord is watching over us always. Thank you so much for you prays and support. I will be praying for you every night! I love you so much mom. Happy Thanks giving and have a super great holiday break!
sempre amor,
Elder Markham
Thank you so very much for your letter! Please don´t appologize for it being long because I love long letters! It sounds like everything is going really great back at home for the holidays! There is only one thing I would like to correct about your e-mail. Yes it WOULD be fun to watch BYU win all the time! haha! Tell Grandpa I said that. So, this week I have some really exciting news, but I think I will build the suspense by answering your questions first and possible annexing several chapters of War and Peace for you to read first. That way you can appreciate it more ;)
As for the orthotics, I don’t know why they started having problems, but they just stopped fitting. They were fine before and in Nebraska, but I definitely walk more here and perhaps I have changed weight or my feet have grown a little bit more. Não sei. I did call Sister Tavares about my orthotics. we have to authorize all medical things with her before and she is the one who lined up the foot doctor. It was a nice hospital and had no problems. I think things are in general pretty nice here in Londrina. The doctor says that he has never seen a hard orthotic like the one I have and that here in Brazil they are all covered in foam. I am going today to get a mold to make a new one. Foam sounds really nice actually.
Since you saw Cambé on Google Earth you know how big it is. We cover the entire city, hence = building character and calluses. It’s all good though. Missionary work it totally worth it. Sorry if I sounded miffed or anything in the last letter. We were just in a bit of a hurry that is all. Yeah, it’s getting really hot and rainy, but hey, it’s brazil! What can you expect? I actually like the rain a lot because it cools things down. It gets really windy here too! Woo! It’s really exciting to be running down the roads trying to find cover with torrential rain and huge gusts of wind (like yesterday). Seriously, it’s really fun! Yes, they have tons of Guaraná here. tons. Hits awesome. Que pena que eles não vendem mais a Guaraná em Utah. That’s way cool that Cambé is named for Cambridge. It doesn’t seem like there are many English roots here... and everybody thinks I´m German. haha!
That’s sweet that Harry Potter turned out good. I do actually miss movies. Not movies for movies sake, but mainly just sitting and enjoying the company of family and friends. Snow would be awesome too! Tell Sharon we can switch weather if she wants! So, as for Thanksgiving, claro não existe aqui, mas estou muito feliz lembrando o alimento de Kevin! Family dinners are the best. The members here are pretty good about feeding us though. I actually like the food here a lot. Rice and beans haven’t gotten old yet! Yum. Food. That is so exciting to hear about Abbey and Jessica and Liz! When the baby is born you will have to send me some pictures! That is one thing I really like is pictures. The people here really like to see photos of family and friends and life in Utah.
Also, everybody (including Elder De Souza) wants to write letters to Sharon. Haha! Seriously, they all say she is really cute. The only problem is the whole Portguês thing... Thanks for the update on BYU sports. All I can say is: go cougs. I know nothing about soccer which is obviously VERY popular here. All of the Brasileiro Élderes estçao extrememente chatiado que nos não podemos jogar futebal durante a missão! One things is could you send me how to make Alfredo sauce? That´d be super swell. Everyone here is getting extremely excited for Christmas! We are having a conference with a general authority and also with our Zone on two different days for Christmas. We are excited because at the Zone conference we will be playing Amigo da Onca, which is exactly like the white elephant game we play at Markham’s house. It’s going to be sweet. We are also having a secret Santa in our ward here in Cambé. It’s really cool because I drew the name of a young man who is not baptized but always comes to young men’s. We have been working with him and he has lots of potencial! Maybe I´ll give him the gift of baptism for Christmas. Or maybe socks. hmm... (I actually think I´ll give him a hacky sack. All the Brazilians think I´m crazy and they love the hacky sack.)
So: Here is my awesome story for this week: With lots of colons: : :
: :
: ::: ;...:: : ¨¨ ¨¨¨,, <----(Braile)
So we have been working with an awesome man named Antonio for a while now. His wife is a member and he has been going to church for 21 YEARS and never baptized. He has had 3 different baptismal interviews and then backs out at the last minute every time. He recently moved here to Cambé and he has been having some really difficult times lately. One afternoon we visited him and he was having a really hard time. We talked about adversity with him and gave him a blessing. After we left, we felt like we needed to talk to the Bishop about helping him. The only problem is that Antonio told us not to tell anyone about the details of his problems. As luck (yeah right) had it we ran into the Bishop that very night and talked to him about the situation, being only very general, like this e-mail, to respect Antonio and suggested he talk with him. Two days later we passed his house again and nobody was there. We were kind of bummed, but it happens a lot on the mission. That night we got a phone call from his daughter who said that we needed to come talk with Antonio right now. Our initial reaction was: Oh no. Bishop talked to him and now he is really mad that we told somebody and he is calling us over to chew us out big time. The whole walk over there was really nervous and we were praying about what we could say to him to not lose an investigator. We finally got there and knocked on this fence. The seconds seemed to stretch forever as we waited for him to answer. We heard footsteps approaching and then someone opening the latch. Ever so slowly the large metal door slides opens to reveal Antonio standing there in the twilight. (good description eh?) When he answered there was something different about him. He was smiling really big and waved us in, more animated than we had seen him in weeks. inside his wife and daughter and wife’s sister were all there having a great time. We went in and talked with him and he said that after the blessing he felt a lot better and started to think about the blessings God had given him, and that the day after his wife had fasted to help their family. The moment she ended her fast she was offered a job, which was part of the problem and a huge relief for them! Then his wife´s sister came in unexpectedly from São Paulo and said, I´ve arrived for your baptism Antonio! Antonio thought about this and decided, yes, it is time! He called us over that night to ask “can I be baptized this Sunday, or do I need to wait a week”? We were stunned and so happy and everybody was crying and pretty much it was just really awesome beyond description. We had the baptism at 8 AM Sunday morning and I got to perform my first baptism in Português! He wanted me to do it because he was afraid Elder De Souza wasn´t tall enough to lift him out of the water again! This was a really great week and I have gained a huge testimony about the power of faith, fasting and good influences. I know God has a plan for each and every one of us and all things will work together for our good. The gospel is just really great. It truly was a miracle and everybody was so happy afterwards AND they gave us some candy bars. Yes! Other than that, things are going pretty well. We are a little low on investigators, but that is partially because we´ve had three baptisms already! No complaints here!
One more piece of news that is crazy and sort of scary is that we had interviews with President and he told Elder De Souza that the mission will be losing lots of experienced Elders and gaining even more brand new Elders. This means they will need lots of trainers and younger people will get called as leaders. President said “I want to train Elder Markham how to be senior companion.” Elder De Souza said it is very probable that he will be called trainer for someone else and I will get bumped up to senior after only 2 months in Brazil. Yikes demais!!!! If this actually happens I will need you to pray for me probably about 46789 times per day. I still only understand probably like 70% of what is said to me, but whatever the Lord wants will happen I suppose.
I love you so very much! Please give Sharon a hug for me too! Brother Merrell wrote me a really nice letter, and if you see him tell him thank you! I know that this Church is true and that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that we have a living prophet to guide us in these latter days. I love brazil and my mission and I know the Lord is watching over us always. Thank you so much for you prays and support. I will be praying for you every night! I love you so much mom. Happy Thanks giving and have a super great holiday break!
sempre amor,
Elder Markham
Cambe November 22, 2010
November 22, 2010
Bom dia!
Thank you for the letter and the pictures! Mom, you are looking so much better every time I see a picture of you! I´m so happy that the Lord is blessing our family so very much. That is great news that you can stop using cytoxin! Keep up the good work for sure. I actually kind of miss the snow. I prefer cold to really hot. It’s been bem quente aqui no Cambé. Mostly the humidity is killing me, but it’s all good. I love how here in Brazil they have tons of little family stores on every corner and you can just stop in and buy water or soda or ice cream or whatever. It’s very awesome. This will be my first Christmas that isn’t cold. How very strange. I was thinking about Thanksgiving too and how great it always is to spend with the family. I love watching those movies after dinner! How was the Harry Potter by the way? I´m vaguely interested. The one problem I am having right now is with my orthotics. They are giving my pretty bad blisters and today a visited a doctor here about it and he said that it is really strange that they are made of the really hard plastic that they are. We are going to try and get some new ones made out of this foam, but I hope that they aren´t really expensive... vamos ver. Hooray that BYU is sort of pulling out of their slump too! Go cougars. One thing I forgot to write last week is that was Joy’s birthday. I don´t know how often you and Sharon hear from any of them, but if you see her tell her happy birthday and that she should receive quite the letter from Elder De Souza! This week was pretty good. The sisters in our district had a super week with 3 baptisms! Our investigators are having some problems at the moment, but we found a really great new family this week and of course we are going to continue working with all of them. Keep praying for us! It’s been raining a lot lately which is nice because it keeps down the heat. Hmmm. Que mais? I can´t really think of too much more to relate and I´m also really hungry right now so the natural man might win out over a long letter..... I would however like to share my testimony that I know the church is true. I know that GOD knows and loves each one of us individually and He will do anything righteous to help us. I know we have a living Prophet and true scriptures and that the Atonement of Christ gives us the power to become everything we can possibly be. I love the gospel and I am thankful for this opportunity to be serving here. Keep praying for me and my companion!
Love you so very much Momma! I will try to think of a good story for next week. I´ll be praying for you!
Love,
Elder Markham
Bom dia!
Thank you for the letter and the pictures! Mom, you are looking so much better every time I see a picture of you! I´m so happy that the Lord is blessing our family so very much. That is great news that you can stop using cytoxin! Keep up the good work for sure. I actually kind of miss the snow. I prefer cold to really hot. It’s been bem quente aqui no Cambé. Mostly the humidity is killing me, but it’s all good. I love how here in Brazil they have tons of little family stores on every corner and you can just stop in and buy water or soda or ice cream or whatever. It’s very awesome. This will be my first Christmas that isn’t cold. How very strange. I was thinking about Thanksgiving too and how great it always is to spend with the family. I love watching those movies after dinner! How was the Harry Potter by the way? I´m vaguely interested. The one problem I am having right now is with my orthotics. They are giving my pretty bad blisters and today a visited a doctor here about it and he said that it is really strange that they are made of the really hard plastic that they are. We are going to try and get some new ones made out of this foam, but I hope that they aren´t really expensive... vamos ver. Hooray that BYU is sort of pulling out of their slump too! Go cougars. One thing I forgot to write last week is that was Joy’s birthday. I don´t know how often you and Sharon hear from any of them, but if you see her tell her happy birthday and that she should receive quite the letter from Elder De Souza! This week was pretty good. The sisters in our district had a super week with 3 baptisms! Our investigators are having some problems at the moment, but we found a really great new family this week and of course we are going to continue working with all of them. Keep praying for us! It’s been raining a lot lately which is nice because it keeps down the heat. Hmmm. Que mais? I can´t really think of too much more to relate and I´m also really hungry right now so the natural man might win out over a long letter..... I would however like to share my testimony that I know the church is true. I know that GOD knows and loves each one of us individually and He will do anything righteous to help us. I know we have a living Prophet and true scriptures and that the Atonement of Christ gives us the power to become everything we can possibly be. I love the gospel and I am thankful for this opportunity to be serving here. Keep praying for me and my companion!
Love you so very much Momma! I will try to think of a good story for next week. I´ll be praying for you!
Love,
Elder Markham
Cambe November 15, 2010
Hiya Momma!
As always, thank you a whole ton for the e-mail. I love hearing about home. So Stake conference was good. We definitely did not meet the kind of goals our Stake President set, but a lot of the responsibility fell on the members and stuff didn’t all happen. We did have 3 investigators there with us and it was a really great experience! Two of them were the parents of Guilherme . His Mom absolutely loved it. She wants to be baptized as soon as possible, but as it turns out their marriage situation is not completely legal at the moment and we are working with them to get married so they can be baptized. His father came too and had a really great experience. He has a lot of doubts about everything we are teaching because he doesn’t not believe in the
Bible or the Book of Mormon and although he really likes us, he thinks that all churches are just trying to get money from people and that it doesn’t really matter which one you go to. He is cool though and we´ll keep working with him for sure! It was way funny at the conference too because as it is customary here to kiss on the cheek when you say hello. Guilherme went up and tried to kiss the sister missionaries. It was so funny and afterwards we were joking about it and he said he was practicing being a scorpion.
That’s way cool that you had regional conference. Anyone cool or famous speak there? What was it about? Say hello to grandma and grandpa too! I’m glad they are still out and about looking at birds. Good old Markhams. That’s one thing I really do miss is dinner with the whole family over at grandma’s house. Sense of humor? I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s actually really hard to joke around in Portuguese still. That is pretty annoying.
Renan is having some troubles still, but he is a way good kid. Just having some peer pressure problems and his mom is having trouble getting to church with us every Sunday. The amazing news though is that his Mom, Claudia, is going to get married on the 25th of this month so when she does that we can baptize them both together! Awesome!
Way exciting that Abby will have her baby soon! Their baby should be born on Dec. 3. That would be cool. Wish her all the best for me! Tease Chad back a little bit too. It’s wonderful to hear that you are walking more and more and feeling a lot better! You and Sharon should send me some pictures every once in a while so I can see how you all are doing!
So, this week was a little bit slow, but still good. We are having difficulties finding new people who are really very interested, but we have some good investigators right now. We had a really big rain storm this week and it was a little difficult to get out and work because Elder De Souza didn’t have an umbrella and Sister Tavares advised us that it’s easy to get sick here, so often it’s better to wait out the storms. The problem here is afternoons. All the heads of households generally work during the afternoon, so it’s really hard to get in and teach people and we need the night time to visit all of our solid investigators. Right now we are going to try and plan some new ways to talk with more people and have a week of power! Also, sorvette is really good. We helped a family move out this week too which was pretty fun. While doing this we discovered that they have a grandson who isn’t baptized but his family is and we are going to start working with him which will be cool. It’s so weird because all around town now people are starting to put up Christmas decorations and trees and all that stuff but it’s still like 90 degrees outside! Que estranho! Sharon says it is snowing there? If you have a really good storm please send a picture. Elder De Souza has never seen actual snow and I want to show him what it’s like in Utah. Today is a holiday here in Brasil which means that everything is closed, so it was really hard to find a computer to write this e-mail, but I think that is about all for this week. Thank you so much for your prayers. I will be praying for Sister Rich too. Thank her again for the really nice letter! I know that God listens to each and every one of our prayers, and that the more we really on God, the more success we will have in life. This week I also realized the great importance of members in missionary work. I know that this church is true. I love the gospel and it is really a lot of fun to learn more and more about the doctrines and stuff. This week we got a copy of the teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith and they are way interesting. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and I know President Monson is too. I know that Christ lives and loves us and we have such a great opportunity to learn and follow His will here. Thank you so much for being a great family and for all the love you show me. I will pray for you every day and always remember that I love you! Até logo!
Elder Markham
As always, thank you a whole ton for the e-mail. I love hearing about home. So Stake conference was good. We definitely did not meet the kind of goals our Stake President set, but a lot of the responsibility fell on the members and stuff didn’t all happen. We did have 3 investigators there with us and it was a really great experience! Two of them were the parents of Guilherme . His Mom absolutely loved it. She wants to be baptized as soon as possible, but as it turns out their marriage situation is not completely legal at the moment and we are working with them to get married so they can be baptized. His father came too and had a really great experience. He has a lot of doubts about everything we are teaching because he doesn’t not believe in the
Bible or the Book of Mormon and although he really likes us, he thinks that all churches are just trying to get money from people and that it doesn’t really matter which one you go to. He is cool though and we´ll keep working with him for sure! It was way funny at the conference too because as it is customary here to kiss on the cheek when you say hello. Guilherme went up and tried to kiss the sister missionaries. It was so funny and afterwards we were joking about it and he said he was practicing being a scorpion.
That’s way cool that you had regional conference. Anyone cool or famous speak there? What was it about? Say hello to grandma and grandpa too! I’m glad they are still out and about looking at birds. Good old Markhams. That’s one thing I really do miss is dinner with the whole family over at grandma’s house. Sense of humor? I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s actually really hard to joke around in Portuguese still. That is pretty annoying.
Renan is having some troubles still, but he is a way good kid. Just having some peer pressure problems and his mom is having trouble getting to church with us every Sunday. The amazing news though is that his Mom, Claudia, is going to get married on the 25th of this month so when she does that we can baptize them both together! Awesome!
Way exciting that Abby will have her baby soon! Their baby should be born on Dec. 3. That would be cool. Wish her all the best for me! Tease Chad back a little bit too. It’s wonderful to hear that you are walking more and more and feeling a lot better! You and Sharon should send me some pictures every once in a while so I can see how you all are doing!
So, this week was a little bit slow, but still good. We are having difficulties finding new people who are really very interested, but we have some good investigators right now. We had a really big rain storm this week and it was a little difficult to get out and work because Elder De Souza didn’t have an umbrella and Sister Tavares advised us that it’s easy to get sick here, so often it’s better to wait out the storms. The problem here is afternoons. All the heads of households generally work during the afternoon, so it’s really hard to get in and teach people and we need the night time to visit all of our solid investigators. Right now we are going to try and plan some new ways to talk with more people and have a week of power! Also, sorvette is really good. We helped a family move out this week too which was pretty fun. While doing this we discovered that they have a grandson who isn’t baptized but his family is and we are going to start working with him which will be cool. It’s so weird because all around town now people are starting to put up Christmas decorations and trees and all that stuff but it’s still like 90 degrees outside! Que estranho! Sharon says it is snowing there? If you have a really good storm please send a picture. Elder De Souza has never seen actual snow and I want to show him what it’s like in Utah. Today is a holiday here in Brasil which means that everything is closed, so it was really hard to find a computer to write this e-mail, but I think that is about all for this week. Thank you so much for your prayers. I will be praying for Sister Rich too. Thank her again for the really nice letter! I know that God listens to each and every one of our prayers, and that the more we really on God, the more success we will have in life. This week I also realized the great importance of members in missionary work. I know that this church is true. I love the gospel and it is really a lot of fun to learn more and more about the doctrines and stuff. This week we got a copy of the teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith and they are way interesting. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and I know President Monson is too. I know that Christ lives and loves us and we have such a great opportunity to learn and follow His will here. Thank you so much for being a great family and for all the love you show me. I will pray for you every day and always remember that I love you! Até logo!
Elder Markham
Cambe November 8, 2010
Thank you so much for you letter! It’s always so great to hear from you. I´ll start off answering questions. Guilherme is actually a really common name here. We know like 3 of them and the sisters are teaching a Guilherme as well. That’s weird that it is a rare name. I´m pretty sure his whole family is Brazilian too. Hmm. We are far enough from the border that I don’t really see too much Spanish influence. Elder De Souza speaks a little and he likes to talk really fast so I can’t understand his Spanish. I can’t say I always understand his Portuguese either, but I’m trying. I´ll write these here real quick and then write a bigger e-mail in a minute there. Yes, we have an oven, but we´re having trouble figuring out how to start it. I don’t think we have a casserole dish. We have a few pans and no bowls. Most of the stuff is pretty beat up too. We need some new dishes, but I don´t really want to spend the money on new stuff!
The sisters in our district are Sisters Sorenson, Horne, and Felipe (two Americans and a Brazilian.) They are cool. Yes, Elder De Souza is our District leader. Our Stake Center is in Londrina, about 35 minutes by ônibus and a little walking. Not too bad.
Thank you for the questions! I love to answer so keep them coming!
As for the weather, where I am at really isn´t all that humid. It is humid, but not that bad. Londrina and the surrounding area is actually quite a moderate place. I like that a lot! I definitely don’t need a jacket in the morning though. It is Brazil... The showers are trippy. They don’t have water heaters here, but on the showers there is this electrical box that the water runs through to heat it up. It actually works really well except there are only 3 settings: Normal (really cold) lukewarm (not warm enough) and lava (way too hot!). Wakes you up for sure! The funny thing too is since they are electrical. If you don’t wear rubber sandals, sometimes I’ve heard they give you a little zap! Haha!
Kareni is doing super well! She was baptized yesterday and will be confirmed after Stake Conference! They have a great family and we are way excited. Renan is having a bit more trouble. He went and stayed with his Dad for a weekend and came back and little different and not as excited about baptism. He changed his mind and wants to be baptized with his mother who has to get married before she can be baptized. Definitely pray for him and we are going to work with him a lot. We are teaching the mother of Guilherme and she is way awesome. She loves the visits and yesterday we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Elder De Souza asked, so what do you need to do to follow Christ? And she just said “Be Baptized”. We were a bit stunned but it was awesome! Unfortunately she needs to get married too and it is a complicated situation, but we made her a promise that the Lord would provide a way and I know that she will be baptized. Our stake conference is this week in Londrina. It will be way cool. We’re going to try to have 8 investigators there so it should be exciting! I bet Elder De Souza becomes a stake president. He is way solid and awesome. He already knows tons about leadership and stuff. The only problem is that I feel dumb sometimes because I realize how much I don’t know how to do, but I will keep working really hard and everything will turn out alright I know.
The highlight of this week was definitely the baptism. Other than that is was a little bit slow, but we are teaching some really great people and this week we have recommitted to work extra hard and make miracles happen. We are actually about to close our fast right now and Elder De Souza is super hungry so I probably won’t write much more! Keep up all your good work Mom. You are sounding so much better health wise and I know the Lord is blessing us. Thank you for all the updates and stuff. I’m sure it’s a pain to write all that stuff, but I really enjoy reading it! I know without a doubt that the gospel is true. Right now I have complete faith that the Plan of Salvation is real and that we will see Dad again. I know Jesus loves us so much and God works miracles every day of our lives according to our faith. I love you so much and I miss you, but I know this is the right place for me. Remember always what a great Mother you are and how much I love you!
Ate´logo!
-Elder Markham
The sisters in our district are Sisters Sorenson, Horne, and Felipe (two Americans and a Brazilian.) They are cool. Yes, Elder De Souza is our District leader. Our Stake Center is in Londrina, about 35 minutes by ônibus and a little walking. Not too bad.
Thank you for the questions! I love to answer so keep them coming!
As for the weather, where I am at really isn´t all that humid. It is humid, but not that bad. Londrina and the surrounding area is actually quite a moderate place. I like that a lot! I definitely don’t need a jacket in the morning though. It is Brazil... The showers are trippy. They don’t have water heaters here, but on the showers there is this electrical box that the water runs through to heat it up. It actually works really well except there are only 3 settings: Normal (really cold) lukewarm (not warm enough) and lava (way too hot!). Wakes you up for sure! The funny thing too is since they are electrical. If you don’t wear rubber sandals, sometimes I’ve heard they give you a little zap! Haha!
Kareni is doing super well! She was baptized yesterday and will be confirmed after Stake Conference! They have a great family and we are way excited. Renan is having a bit more trouble. He went and stayed with his Dad for a weekend and came back and little different and not as excited about baptism. He changed his mind and wants to be baptized with his mother who has to get married before she can be baptized. Definitely pray for him and we are going to work with him a lot. We are teaching the mother of Guilherme and she is way awesome. She loves the visits and yesterday we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Elder De Souza asked, so what do you need to do to follow Christ? And she just said “Be Baptized”. We were a bit stunned but it was awesome! Unfortunately she needs to get married too and it is a complicated situation, but we made her a promise that the Lord would provide a way and I know that she will be baptized. Our stake conference is this week in Londrina. It will be way cool. We’re going to try to have 8 investigators there so it should be exciting! I bet Elder De Souza becomes a stake president. He is way solid and awesome. He already knows tons about leadership and stuff. The only problem is that I feel dumb sometimes because I realize how much I don’t know how to do, but I will keep working really hard and everything will turn out alright I know.
The highlight of this week was definitely the baptism. Other than that is was a little bit slow, but we are teaching some really great people and this week we have recommitted to work extra hard and make miracles happen. We are actually about to close our fast right now and Elder De Souza is super hungry so I probably won’t write much more! Keep up all your good work Mom. You are sounding so much better health wise and I know the Lord is blessing us. Thank you for all the updates and stuff. I’m sure it’s a pain to write all that stuff, but I really enjoy reading it! I know without a doubt that the gospel is true. Right now I have complete faith that the Plan of Salvation is real and that we will see Dad again. I know Jesus loves us so much and God works miracles every day of our lives according to our faith. I love you so much and I miss you, but I know this is the right place for me. Remember always what a great Mother you are and how much I love you!
Ate´logo!
-Elder Markham
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