December 29, 2014



Florianopolis Bridge -taken at the mission office during the "Toe Repair Trip"

Well the week after is certainly not as exciting. OR IS IT!?

 

So interesting story for the week is this. On Christmas, I discovered and ingrown toenail developing. Didn't think much of it 'til the next day when it was FLAMING red and hurt like crazy! We called Sister Silva (The President's wife)  to get an appointement with the doctor in Florianopolis and we went the next day. When we got to the mission office, waiting for me were 4 letters and a package! I wouldn't have recieved it for another 2 weeks had that toe not freaked out on me. Blessing in disguise? I THINK SO! So that was fun. Kinda.

 

 

Soda Habit

 

As far as lessons that were interesting, we are teaching a 22 year old named Andre. He smokes 2 packs a day, and knows he shouldn't. We teach him every week usually and he wants to be baptized but knows he has to quit smoking first. He understands the gospel, has a testimony and comes to church. During one lesson we offered to give him a blessing and he said that we could after we all fasted together last saturday. We meet with him tomorrow to see how he is doing.

 

On Christmas eve we went to the Branch Presidents house to have lunch. They invited us to stay and watch movies with them and you know how disrespectful it is to turn someone down here so we agreed. We ended up watching 5 movies! So that was different! Especially since all of them were in Portuguese! They fed us like we never had been fed before also. I felt like I would explode because of Lunch, Lanche, Dinner, and Desert! It was so much food! So that was awesome!

 

 

Talking to our families this week was good as well! Really good to actually talk to them! Good to catch up and it was way more efficient then typing out all these emails. So that was nice as well.

 

Spiritual experiences were great this week! The most was actually with my family! Before now I had never shed a tear during a testimony! Now its like I can't NOT shed one during a testimony! ITs ridiculous! I've turned into my mother! ;) Not that that's a bad thing! ;)

 

Well everyone, Its about time to wrap it up this week. I'm grateful for your prayers, support, and letters/cards. They mean a lot to me. Love you guys.

Elder George

 

The Week of Christmas - December 22, 2014

 

Well everyone, this is it! Finally the season we wait all year for. The day of the birth of the most important person ever is almost here. This week, I'd like everyone to remember him everyday and do things how he would have done them. Really give all your effort to do this. Don't let the passing of this season stop you either! Think of ways to be like Christ all year long. Love others as he did.

As for this week, the work is just as hard as it was last week. We are staying a little busier so that makes time pass faster. We have the same investigators as last week and we are trying to prepare them for baptism but thats a slow process. So thats what we are doing right now.

We had some parties for Christmas this week and that was fun. Different, but fun since it's summer here. 

 

Other then that, Christmas is this week and everyone is super pumped in the district. Should be really good.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and fasting on my behalf. I feel their power in my life and so I am grateful for that.

One more interesting thing this week. Shortening, like for cooking, is different here then it is in the US. It is WAY more concentrated then it is there-so making cookies with the same amount kinda makes them weird.... Fun fact!

Love everyone there! Hope you all have a great holiday!

Elder George



Thanksgiving Day-November 27, 2014

"Abridged" from a letter written to "Mom:"


Today was my first real holiday away from home. I missed the family and the food SO MUCH! Thanksgiving was one of my favorite holidays and now I don't have it. But I have that stuffing (you sent) that will try and make tomorrow! That'll be sooo good. The elders in our district celebrated though. We went to a rodizio of pizza last night! A rodizio is like a pizza buffet if you don't know. So that was fun. That pizza was good. Way different than the U. S. but everything is.

New stuff? We had a conf. with the area Pres. this week, Elder Costa. From what I could understand it was good. Didn't get much from it. Mostly I read my scriptures for the majority of the time. So, that was the spiritual highlight this week.

Weird thing I've eaten? Today for lunch we had fish. Like the whole fish. I saw fried fish head on the serving plate. Kinda gross....So I ate the middle pieces..... :-)

Other then that, it's getting hotter her as it gets colder there. I miss snow! And carpet. They don't have that here! It doesn't exist! Never thought I'd miss carpet. But I do! Oh well, I'll get used to it......

And now to close mine epistle. I am Elder George. I have embarked on this journey to testify that Jesus is the Christ, that God lives, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I testify that these things are true. I now pass these writings to my mother who will "abridge" them into a book for my posterity. And now I end my writings....

God knows our struggles. He helps with them every day.
Deven

December 15, 2014

Beautiful View of Imarui coastline

This week was one of the longer ones. When you´re in a place with only 8000 people it makes contacts rather difficult. So that was hard this week. But lets see what was good this week shall we!

We had our Christmas conference this week so that was a good time. I think all the missionaries went in thinking it would be a day of Spiritual meetings but what we found was very different.

They had a whole bunch of games set up for us!!! It was a very big surprise! They even had 2 xboxs with kinect games going! That was insane. AND Pres. Silva was pretty good! It was funny.

Teaching was slow this week. We only had 2 lessons with actual investigators. So that was a bummer. But all we can do is soldier on. We are teaching a 20 year old guy that wants to be baptized but he knows he has to stop smoking first. So we are working with him on that.

As for interesting experience, we were out with our branch mission leader and we were talking to this guy and 2 girls walk along the road and the mission leader calls to them.(Disclaimer everyone in this city is out of their ever loving minds.) And he says to them,"Hey! Have you recieved a present today?!" SERIOUSLY?! Me and elder badger were like OH NO..... They probably thought they were gonna be kidnapped.... That was bad. Why he said that is we are handing out cards with "HE is the Gift" meaning Christ.So that was awkward....

As for weather here. ITS GETTING HOTTER. We die practically everyday! WE go through so much water and refri. Its rediculous! But it is Brazil so I knew it would be hot! So that will be something yet to get used to. Michael, what did you do for that? Any advice? Steve? Sarah? How'd you guys beat the heat?

I guess thats it. Love everyone there!

Take Care!

Elder George

December 8, 2014

This week was good. Definately a trial for faith though. We didnt get into many houses this week. We stil have 2 investigators, one of which with a baptism date, but we didnt get to teach either of them this week... Really disappointing. I realized last week that I never mentioned thier names! They are David and Raquel. Raquel's is pronounced Hakell. They aren't any different. We're trying to get them ready to be baptized but its not going teribly well.

 

Also there is a different thing going on is this mission. We are not allowed to do service unless we get it approved by the President. So that method of trying to get to know the branch is out the window...

Christmas isn't as hyped as it is in the US. Kinda really disappointing. But oh well. Me and Elder Badger will find something to do. Our transfer ends on friday so he may not even be here.... We'll find out.

 

So one thing about my area is we have spiders. They are huge!!! They are about the size of half a dollar bill. HUGE. So everytime we find one and kill it we have "a burnt offering to the spider gods" for it ;) haha-Kinda fun.

 

Not much spiritual this week. Just the everyday study, walk, get sunburnt, and get turned away. I finished 3 Nephi this week and that was good. I loved seeing the teachings of Christ in the americas. But that was really it.

 

Well everyone, thats it this week! Stay safe everyone! And you boys, keep preparing! Never Stop!

I have one bit of advice for you boys, especially you Justin and Joseph. You are the closest to the mission field in the George family. Prepare spiritually definitely, but also prepare emotionally. Missions are very difficult. Its not fun all the time. And you WILL be homesick. SO think of things here to do for your family that you can remember when times get tough. Make sure you make your relatonship last. Cause  you wont be there for much longer! 

 

Love you guys. Stay safe everyone.

Elder George

 

December 1, 2014

 

This week was a lot better! We had quite a ball! I missed my first Thanksgiving though..... Didn´t like that too much. BUT, we went to a Pizza Rodizio on Thursday! Mike probably knows what that is. ;) But its basically a buffet of Brazilian pizza. SO GOOD. 

Today We are in A city called Laguna, which is where we come to email. With some other elders in our district. Super! COOL! I speak English with them. One is from UTAH! The other is from Brasilia. He speaks English really well though. Laguna is pretty much a bigger Imarui.

 

I spend 4 hours a day studying... 1 hour-esh of BOM, 2 hours of PMG and 1 hour of language.... its not terribly fun.... but I gotta do it to get better. Understanding the language is good. Getting better everyday.

We had a REALLY good lesson this week. And because of it we have a baptism scheduled for the 13th of this month!!!! Her name is Raquel and she is not very young her husband just died and she is very interested in the Plan of Salvation. So we are teaching her 2 times a week until then!

We finally met one of our referrals that we got from the assistants to the pres! He is like mid 20´s and he is NOT suffering for money. He lives in like a freaking stronghold! Huge house. He´s super interested but really busy as well. we think we´ll convert him though ;)

The weather here is getting very hot! Everyday while walking feels like death..... But it´s also windy so that’s okay... It makes it bearable.

We are right next to a lake and so seafood would be common you´d think! We´ve had it once and they literally deep fried a fish! A whole fish! It was very strange..... Definitely different then the US.

There’s little markets in Imarui. Like BILo. We don't even have a supermarket...So we can get food there, but there really isn't much of anything else. Groceries are more money then I thought it was.... :/

The People here are WAY different then the states. They have no filter! They just say whatever. AND Because I look American Everyone tries to speak English with me! The people in our area are Brazilian. I´m pretty far south. They are more German north in the state. All Brazilians here.

Well everybody, That’s all the interesting stuff this week! Love everybody there! Stay safe! And you boys out there, NUNCA PÁRA PREPERANDO!!!! Esta é muito importante. Nunca pára. Eu sei que esta igreja é veirdadeira.

 (Translation: Never stop preparing!!!! This is very important. Never stop. I know this church is true.)

Elder George

Elder George at Sao Paulo Brazil Temple