Bauru March 28, 2011
Momma! Bom dia!
As always, thank you very much for your letters! I´ll write in English again this week cuz it’s a lot easier! So anyhow, thank you for all the updates and stuff. I´m glad you are staying busy and keeping happy and it sounds like things are going well! To answer a few questions, ´legal´ basically means cool. I don’t remember if that high school (Westlake) was built yet. Yeah, I heard about the colors festival thing. Basically you just get lots of chalk in your eyes. I´m glad Sharon had fun there!
Man, time is really flying here. I still feel super new in Bauru, but we only have 2 weeks left in this transfer! I´ll probably stay, but that still means I´ve been here a month! So, yeah we spend a lot of time in divisions because Elder Crosbie gets to go help out other missionaries. Usually 2 days a week I am with other Elders and also if they have an interview to do or something. It’s cool to change things up, but sometimes it’s a little hard to remember everything! Our zone here is having a little bit of troubles right now, but I´m sure things will pick up. I just wanted to share a cool story that happened the other day. I was feeling pretty bummed out and frustrated (it happens). You know how I can be pretty hard on myself sometimes, but anyways we went to district meeting and I got a letter from one of my friends and at the end it just had a random last paragraph that said, “don’t ever waste time thinking negatively about yourself”. I really made me feel better and I thought it was really cool that God really cares for us. He inspired this person probably like a month ago to write something nice in a letter that took forever to pass through the Brazilian mail system to arrive on the very day that I was feeling down. Coincidence? I think not!
So, this week was cool, primarily because we had a BAPTISM! Yeah! The picture I sent is of a girl named Maria Eduarda. She had already been to church a few times and she has relatives that are members. She was so ready and excited to live the commandments and it was super super cool. She was baptized by the bishop of our ward and it was super spiritual. There is another girl named Jessica that will probably be baptized this coming week. We are trying a lot to work with the members here in the ward because it is really a much more effective way to find people, but it can get kind of complicated as well. Working with members always goes a lot slower than ideal. Do you have any good ideas about how to help them?
This week we found a really cool guy named Ricardo. I was in a division with Elder Neal and we got lost and missed our appointment and we were both pretty grumpy, but then we knocked on this door and found Ricardo. He had a weird thing where one day he just woke up almost completely blind and the doctors don’t know why. Anyway we taught him and he loved it and went to church and really liked it and agreed to be baptized! Wahoo! Way to go spirit. That day was great. The Zone leaders had left us to go to a meeting and accidentally took both cell phones AND both sets of keys to the house! Then they were late getting back and Elder Neal and I were sitting out in front of our house until like 10:30. IT was pretty funny and it would have been a cool story if we´d had to sleep out on the street. Haha! The other good thing is that we are all waking up invigorated and alert in the mornings now. This is because our shower heater broke and we have to brave the Antarctic flows to not smell bad. The mission is seriously just awesome. I know that this really is the work of the Lord. Thank you for all of the love and support and prayers. I really appreciate it. Tell the home teachers thank you too. I am so glad you are being cared for. I know God lives and Jesus is the Christ. Just think! Next week we will get to hear the prophet of the Lord! Yeah!
Até logo!
-Elder Markham
As always, thank you very much for your letters! I´ll write in English again this week cuz it’s a lot easier! So anyhow, thank you for all the updates and stuff. I´m glad you are staying busy and keeping happy and it sounds like things are going well! To answer a few questions, ´legal´ basically means cool. I don’t remember if that high school (Westlake) was built yet. Yeah, I heard about the colors festival thing. Basically you just get lots of chalk in your eyes. I´m glad Sharon had fun there!
Man, time is really flying here. I still feel super new in Bauru, but we only have 2 weeks left in this transfer! I´ll probably stay, but that still means I´ve been here a month! So, yeah we spend a lot of time in divisions because Elder Crosbie gets to go help out other missionaries. Usually 2 days a week I am with other Elders and also if they have an interview to do or something. It’s cool to change things up, but sometimes it’s a little hard to remember everything! Our zone here is having a little bit of troubles right now, but I´m sure things will pick up. I just wanted to share a cool story that happened the other day. I was feeling pretty bummed out and frustrated (it happens). You know how I can be pretty hard on myself sometimes, but anyways we went to district meeting and I got a letter from one of my friends and at the end it just had a random last paragraph that said, “don’t ever waste time thinking negatively about yourself”. I really made me feel better and I thought it was really cool that God really cares for us. He inspired this person probably like a month ago to write something nice in a letter that took forever to pass through the Brazilian mail system to arrive on the very day that I was feeling down. Coincidence? I think not!
So, this week was cool, primarily because we had a BAPTISM! Yeah! The picture I sent is of a girl named Maria Eduarda. She had already been to church a few times and she has relatives that are members. She was so ready and excited to live the commandments and it was super super cool. She was baptized by the bishop of our ward and it was super spiritual. There is another girl named Jessica that will probably be baptized this coming week. We are trying a lot to work with the members here in the ward because it is really a much more effective way to find people, but it can get kind of complicated as well. Working with members always goes a lot slower than ideal. Do you have any good ideas about how to help them?
This week we found a really cool guy named Ricardo. I was in a division with Elder Neal and we got lost and missed our appointment and we were both pretty grumpy, but then we knocked on this door and found Ricardo. He had a weird thing where one day he just woke up almost completely blind and the doctors don’t know why. Anyway we taught him and he loved it and went to church and really liked it and agreed to be baptized! Wahoo! Way to go spirit. That day was great. The Zone leaders had left us to go to a meeting and accidentally took both cell phones AND both sets of keys to the house! Then they were late getting back and Elder Neal and I were sitting out in front of our house until like 10:30. IT was pretty funny and it would have been a cool story if we´d had to sleep out on the street. Haha! The other good thing is that we are all waking up invigorated and alert in the mornings now. This is because our shower heater broke and we have to brave the Antarctic flows to not smell bad. The mission is seriously just awesome. I know that this really is the work of the Lord. Thank you for all of the love and support and prayers. I really appreciate it. Tell the home teachers thank you too. I am so glad you are being cared for. I know God lives and Jesus is the Christ. Just think! Next week we will get to hear the prophet of the Lord! Yeah!
Até logo!
-Elder Markham
Bauru, March 21, 2011
Bom dia! Então, se você quiser vou escrever em português! A carta talvez seja um pouco mais breve, mas tanta faz. Estou muito animado para ouvir que BYU está ganhando muito. Meu companheiro jogava basquete por Snow College e ele não gosta de BYU então é legal para chatiar ele com as noticias.
Eu ouvi bastante sobre a situação em Japâo. è muito triste. Sinto muito por as pessoas lá, mas como você falou, são os últimos dias. Eu li um discourso na liahona que falou que embora o mundo esta passando e vai passar por muitas difficuldades, tudo fica nas mãos do Senhor e devemos ter esperança em vez de medo.
Estou muito animado para conferência geral. Vai ser chique até o pó (good luck with that one :) )!
Cuitado zither! Fico triste a saber que meu gato morreu. Talvez ele vai voltar um dia. Não tenho sorte com meus animais.... Muito obrigado por todas as notícias. Gosto muito de ouvir o que está acontecendo lá, então por favor continue!
Essa semana foi legal. Estamos tendo muito difficuldade em encontrar novos pesquisadores. Estamos ensinando muito, mas é muito difficil para as pessoas a aceitar. Não entanto, tivemos varias milagres essas semana. Nos aprendemos como trabalhar mias com os membros, e eu acho que O Senhor tá tentando me ajudar nesse aspecto. Na igreja uma moça no abordou e falou que ela já frequentava a igreja no passado e agora ela sente que o tempo é certo e quer ser batizada. A semana que vem tem potencial para 3-4 batismos! Woo hoo!
Por que eu moro com os Lideres de Zona, nos fazemos muitas divisões. Essas semana trabalhei com Elder Moroni numa outra área e nos encontramos um homen eleito demais! Eu falou que ele sentiu uma paz no moment que ele viu os missionários e recebeu uma resposta que nossa mensagem é verdedeira antes de ouvir! Chique! Não sei mais sobre ele, mas espero que vai batizar logo. Tambem no pintamos a casa de um membro Sabido. Foi muito legal e gostozo para mudar a rotina de vez em quando. Tambem ele nos deu sorvette e guaraná. (note: Guarana floats do NOT work like root beer floats do.) Eu gostei muito de ajudar lá. hmm... que mais?
Ah! Sabe que significa Snakes and Scorpions? Então meu companheiro tem um scorpion. HAhaha! Fizemos um contato com um homen que aprendemos mais tarde foi gay demais quando Elder Crosbie ligou para marcar um compromisso. O homen foi creeeepy e convidou Elder Crosbie para jantar ábaixo as belas estrelas´ haha! We´ve been teasing him for the entire week.
Anywho, Mai, eu te amo muito. Sei que essa realmente é a igreja de Cristo aqui na terra. Vida é muito duro. Não tem jeito de mentir, mas quando confiarmos no Senhor ele no dá a capacidade a vencer. Eu estava lendo sobre como os nefitas prosperou quando guardou os mandementos e sofreu quando não. Sei que temos um profeta nestes dias que fala com Deus. Que consolo temos para ter as palavras de vida em nossos lars! Muito obrigado por tudo. Eu estou orando para vocês!
-Elder Markham
p.s. Pedir desculpas por tudo mundo que quer ler esse e-mail mas não fala Português! haha!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
( Rosemary’s Translation in English:)
Good morning! So if you want I will write in Portuguese! The letter is perhaps a little shorter, but here goes. I am very excited to hear that BYU is winning too. My companion played basketball for Snow College and he doesn't like BYU so it is cool to tease him with the news.
I've heard enough about the situation in Japan. It is very sad. I'm sorry for the people there, but like you said, are the last days. I read a discourse on liahona which said that although the world is undergoing and will undergo many difficulties, everything is in the hands of the Lord and we must hope instead of fear.
I'm very excited for general conference. It will be way cool??? (good luck with That One:))!
Poor zither! It saddens me to know that my cat died. Perhaps he will return one day. I have no luck with my pets .... Thank you for all the news. I love to hear what is happening there, so please continue!
This week was cool. We are having much difficulty in finding new investigators. We are teaching a lot, but it is very difficult for people to accept. Yet, these miracles had several weeks. We learn how to work with members, and I think the Lord has helped me in this regard. In church a woman approached and spoke in that she has attended church in the past and now she feels the time is right and wants to be baptized. The coming week has the potential for 3-4 baptisms! Woo hoo!
Because I live with the Zone Leaders, we do lots of splits. This week I worked with Elder Moroni in another area and we met a chosen man too! He said that he felt a peace in the moment he saw the missionaries and received a reply that our message is true before listening! Wow! I do not know more about it, but hopefully he will soon be baptized. Also we painted the house of a member on Saturday. It was very cool and I like changing the routine once in a while. Also he served us ice cream and guaraná. (note: Guarana floats do NOT work like root beer floats do.). I liked working there a lot.
hmm ... What else? Ah! Know it the signicance of Snakes and Scorpions? (note: Snakes & Scorpions are usually female and male prostitues) So my companion has a scorpion. Hahaha! We made a contact with a man who later learned was gay. When Elder Crosbie called to make an appointment. The man was creeeepy. He invited Elder Crosbie to dinner "under the beautiful stars" haha! We've been teasing him for the entire week.
Anywho, Mother, I love you very much. I know this really is the Church of Christ here on earth. Life is very hard. No way to lie, but when we trust in the Lord, he gives the ability to win. I was reading about how the Nephites prospered when the kept the commandments and sufferd when they didn’t. I know we have a prophet these days talking with God. What comfort we have the words of life in our lives! Thank you for everything. I am praying for you!
Elder-Markham
p.s. I apologize for all the world who want to read this email but does not speak Portuguese! haha!
Eu ouvi bastante sobre a situação em Japâo. è muito triste. Sinto muito por as pessoas lá, mas como você falou, são os últimos dias. Eu li um discourso na liahona que falou que embora o mundo esta passando e vai passar por muitas difficuldades, tudo fica nas mãos do Senhor e devemos ter esperança em vez de medo.
Estou muito animado para conferência geral. Vai ser chique até o pó (good luck with that one :) )!
Cuitado zither! Fico triste a saber que meu gato morreu. Talvez ele vai voltar um dia. Não tenho sorte com meus animais.... Muito obrigado por todas as notícias. Gosto muito de ouvir o que está acontecendo lá, então por favor continue!
Essa semana foi legal. Estamos tendo muito difficuldade em encontrar novos pesquisadores. Estamos ensinando muito, mas é muito difficil para as pessoas a aceitar. Não entanto, tivemos varias milagres essas semana. Nos aprendemos como trabalhar mias com os membros, e eu acho que O Senhor tá tentando me ajudar nesse aspecto. Na igreja uma moça no abordou e falou que ela já frequentava a igreja no passado e agora ela sente que o tempo é certo e quer ser batizada. A semana que vem tem potencial para 3-4 batismos! Woo hoo!
Por que eu moro com os Lideres de Zona, nos fazemos muitas divisões. Essas semana trabalhei com Elder Moroni numa outra área e nos encontramos um homen eleito demais! Eu falou que ele sentiu uma paz no moment que ele viu os missionários e recebeu uma resposta que nossa mensagem é verdedeira antes de ouvir! Chique! Não sei mais sobre ele, mas espero que vai batizar logo. Tambem no pintamos a casa de um membro Sabido. Foi muito legal e gostozo para mudar a rotina de vez em quando. Tambem ele nos deu sorvette e guaraná. (note: Guarana floats do NOT work like root beer floats do.) Eu gostei muito de ajudar lá. hmm... que mais?
Ah! Sabe que significa Snakes and Scorpions? Então meu companheiro tem um scorpion. HAhaha! Fizemos um contato com um homen que aprendemos mais tarde foi gay demais quando Elder Crosbie ligou para marcar um compromisso. O homen foi creeeepy e convidou Elder Crosbie para jantar ábaixo as belas estrelas´ haha! We´ve been teasing him for the entire week.
Anywho, Mai, eu te amo muito. Sei que essa realmente é a igreja de Cristo aqui na terra. Vida é muito duro. Não tem jeito de mentir, mas quando confiarmos no Senhor ele no dá a capacidade a vencer. Eu estava lendo sobre como os nefitas prosperou quando guardou os mandementos e sofreu quando não. Sei que temos um profeta nestes dias que fala com Deus. Que consolo temos para ter as palavras de vida em nossos lars! Muito obrigado por tudo. Eu estou orando para vocês!
-Elder Markham
p.s. Pedir desculpas por tudo mundo que quer ler esse e-mail mas não fala Português! haha!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
( Rosemary’s Translation in English:)
Good morning! So if you want I will write in Portuguese! The letter is perhaps a little shorter, but here goes. I am very excited to hear that BYU is winning too. My companion played basketball for Snow College and he doesn't like BYU so it is cool to tease him with the news.
I've heard enough about the situation in Japan. It is very sad. I'm sorry for the people there, but like you said, are the last days. I read a discourse on liahona which said that although the world is undergoing and will undergo many difficulties, everything is in the hands of the Lord and we must hope instead of fear.
I'm very excited for general conference. It will be way cool??? (good luck with That One:))!
Poor zither! It saddens me to know that my cat died. Perhaps he will return one day. I have no luck with my pets .... Thank you for all the news. I love to hear what is happening there, so please continue!
This week was cool. We are having much difficulty in finding new investigators. We are teaching a lot, but it is very difficult for people to accept. Yet, these miracles had several weeks. We learn how to work with members, and I think the Lord has helped me in this regard. In church a woman approached and spoke in that she has attended church in the past and now she feels the time is right and wants to be baptized. The coming week has the potential for 3-4 baptisms! Woo hoo!
Because I live with the Zone Leaders, we do lots of splits. This week I worked with Elder Moroni in another area and we met a chosen man too! He said that he felt a peace in the moment he saw the missionaries and received a reply that our message is true before listening! Wow! I do not know more about it, but hopefully he will soon be baptized. Also we painted the house of a member on Saturday. It was very cool and I like changing the routine once in a while. Also he served us ice cream and guaraná. (note: Guarana floats do NOT work like root beer floats do.). I liked working there a lot.
hmm ... What else? Ah! Know it the signicance of Snakes and Scorpions? (note: Snakes & Scorpions are usually female and male prostitues) So my companion has a scorpion. Hahaha! We made a contact with a man who later learned was gay. When Elder Crosbie called to make an appointment. The man was creeeepy. He invited Elder Crosbie to dinner "under the beautiful stars" haha! We've been teasing him for the entire week.
Anywho, Mother, I love you very much. I know this really is the Church of Christ here on earth. Life is very hard. No way to lie, but when we trust in the Lord, he gives the ability to win. I was reading about how the Nephites prospered when the kept the commandments and sufferd when they didn’t. I know we have a prophet these days talking with God. What comfort we have the words of life in our lives! Thank you for everything. I am praying for you!
Elder-Markham
p.s. I apologize for all the world who want to read this email but does not speak Portuguese! haha!
Bauru March 7, 2011
Hey Momma!
Thank you so much for your letters and updates. It’s great to hear what is going on with you and my friends. I am really so very grateful to have such a terrific family and momma like you. So yeah, Bauru is a pretty big old city. We have Estaca Bauru with 7-8 wards + algums ramos (We have Bauru Stake with 7-8 wards and some branches). Our companion situation is pretty similar to Nebraska. I am companions with Elder Crosbie, but he is gone a lot doing divisions and leadership trainings and meetings and stuff, so I spend a lot of time with Elder Neal. He is another American who is on his second transfer. I actually was in a couple of math classes with Elder Neal back at BYU. It’s kind of cool
This week has been pretty tough and hard work, but we are still excited and today will be nice to relax a little and chupar tereré! This week we are working with several good families. One lady named Yara we found just randomly knocking doors and within 3 days she has read until Mosiah in the Book of Mormon and decided to quit smoking! There are several other young people who are children of less-active members that we are working with. Sheesh, it’s getting harder to type in English every week!
To help with our zone’s baptisms each of us are making personal sacrifices for this entire month. One of mine is to not speak any English other than e-mails. we are teaching a couple other complete families too. It is really cool to teach whole families, but it is harder too because everybody has individual concerns and they are never all home at the same time etc. etc. Bauru is a pretty nice city. I miss Cambé, but I’m getting used to here. The ward is really great here. They like to fazer actividades e integração (make activities and integrations) for all the new members and pesquisadores (investigators). They are feeding us really well too which is awesome. They even like to send food home with us for the night. We just got a new ward mission leader, so we will need to work with him to get things moving, but I am excited and I hope we can have a lot of baptisms as soon as this week! Working with the members is a lot harder, but waaay more effective.
Anyhow, thank you so very much for everything that you do. I am grateful for the letters, packages, updates and everything. But even more than that I am forever grateful for the great example you left me. Thank you for your faith, prayers and dedication to the gospel. I know that this is the work of the lord and that we as missionaries are very protected by the Lord. Please don’t worry too much about me because I am great and will keep on working hard! I know that this church is true and has a living prophet. I know that Christ lives and loves us individually. I know the gospel leads to happiness. I love you so much momma and I will continue praying for you every single night.
até mais!
-Elder Markham
Thank you so much for your letters and updates. It’s great to hear what is going on with you and my friends. I am really so very grateful to have such a terrific family and momma like you. So yeah, Bauru is a pretty big old city. We have Estaca Bauru with 7-8 wards + algums ramos (We have Bauru Stake with 7-8 wards and some branches). Our companion situation is pretty similar to Nebraska. I am companions with Elder Crosbie, but he is gone a lot doing divisions and leadership trainings and meetings and stuff, so I spend a lot of time with Elder Neal. He is another American who is on his second transfer. I actually was in a couple of math classes with Elder Neal back at BYU. It’s kind of cool
This week has been pretty tough and hard work, but we are still excited and today will be nice to relax a little and chupar tereré! This week we are working with several good families. One lady named Yara we found just randomly knocking doors and within 3 days she has read until Mosiah in the Book of Mormon and decided to quit smoking! There are several other young people who are children of less-active members that we are working with. Sheesh, it’s getting harder to type in English every week!
To help with our zone’s baptisms each of us are making personal sacrifices for this entire month. One of mine is to not speak any English other than e-mails. we are teaching a couple other complete families too. It is really cool to teach whole families, but it is harder too because everybody has individual concerns and they are never all home at the same time etc. etc. Bauru is a pretty nice city. I miss Cambé, but I’m getting used to here. The ward is really great here. They like to fazer actividades e integração (make activities and integrations) for all the new members and pesquisadores (investigators). They are feeding us really well too which is awesome. They even like to send food home with us for the night. We just got a new ward mission leader, so we will need to work with him to get things moving, but I am excited and I hope we can have a lot of baptisms as soon as this week! Working with the members is a lot harder, but waaay more effective.
Anyhow, thank you so very much for everything that you do. I am grateful for the letters, packages, updates and everything. But even more than that I am forever grateful for the great example you left me. Thank you for your faith, prayers and dedication to the gospel. I know that this is the work of the lord and that we as missionaries are very protected by the Lord. Please don’t worry too much about me because I am great and will keep on working hard! I know that this church is true and has a living prophet. I know that Christ lives and loves us individually. I know the gospel leads to happiness. I love you so much momma and I will continue praying for you every single night.
até mais!
-Elder Markham
Bauru March 7, 2011
Momma!
Sorry this letter may be kind of short this week. We are running kind of behind today because we had a zone conference in another city called Marilia and we missed most of P-day. The transfer is going well. You were right that the city I am in is called Bauru. It is rather large, but it obviously split up into a bunch of different areas, and yes, there is a stake Bauru. Transfers are done by onibus, but they are not rickety old chicken buses like you had to use. They are nice rented tour buses like we would use on band tour or something. So, I was pretty sad to leave Cambé and Elder Lee and everything, but life goes on eh? So now I am in ala independência in Bauru. My companion is named Elder Crosbie. He is the Zone leader here in Bauru. He is a basketball player from Logan and he is pretty cool. In our house also lives two other Elders, The other Zone leader Elder Vilela and an American Elder Neal. Elder Vilela is from Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais and Elder Neal is from Oregon. They are doing an interesting thing here where each of the Zone Leaders has a junior companion (me and Elder Neal) instead of being together. The idea is to give training experience to younger missionaries. The ward here is really good. Last month they really did a number here and baptized like 25 people. The attendance is like 200 every Sunday and the people are pretty excited and active about the work. This week has been a little bit trying and tough because we had transfers and also it is the beginning of Carnival and everybody is going on vacation, but I am excited to get to work here and baptize até o pó! It has been raining all day for the last week here and all my clothes and shoes are soaked, but we´re still smiling and it´ll be a great week. I was thinking about how I am probably pretty close to Nils. I´d like to hear how the others are doing later for sure!
Please know I love you a whole ton and you will always be the best mom for me. Here is a digital hug too. I´ll send some pictures next week! I know that this is the true church of Christ. I know that God lives and loves us. I know we have living prophets today and that is awesome!
-Love Elder Markham
Sorry this letter may be kind of short this week. We are running kind of behind today because we had a zone conference in another city called Marilia and we missed most of P-day. The transfer is going well. You were right that the city I am in is called Bauru. It is rather large, but it obviously split up into a bunch of different areas, and yes, there is a stake Bauru. Transfers are done by onibus, but they are not rickety old chicken buses like you had to use. They are nice rented tour buses like we would use on band tour or something. So, I was pretty sad to leave Cambé and Elder Lee and everything, but life goes on eh? So now I am in ala independência in Bauru. My companion is named Elder Crosbie. He is the Zone leader here in Bauru. He is a basketball player from Logan and he is pretty cool. In our house also lives two other Elders, The other Zone leader Elder Vilela and an American Elder Neal. Elder Vilela is from Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais and Elder Neal is from Oregon. They are doing an interesting thing here where each of the Zone Leaders has a junior companion (me and Elder Neal) instead of being together. The idea is to give training experience to younger missionaries. The ward here is really good. Last month they really did a number here and baptized like 25 people. The attendance is like 200 every Sunday and the people are pretty excited and active about the work. This week has been a little bit trying and tough because we had transfers and also it is the beginning of Carnival and everybody is going on vacation, but I am excited to get to work here and baptize até o pó! It has been raining all day for the last week here and all my clothes and shoes are soaked, but we´re still smiling and it´ll be a great week. I was thinking about how I am probably pretty close to Nils. I´d like to hear how the others are doing later for sure!
Please know I love you a whole ton and you will always be the best mom for me. Here is a digital hug too. I´ll send some pictures next week! I know that this is the true church of Christ. I know that God lives and loves us. I know we have living prophets today and that is awesome!
-Love Elder Markham
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