Letter 12-28-12

Hello family,

We have pretty much the same things going on.. not a whole lot of new things. Just the repetition of daily activities, but the things we study are always different, which is good!

Christmas was so amazing! I don't know that it was the BEST that I have ever had, But definitely the most spiritual! Not a moment passed when the spirit wasn't with us at some point or another during the day!

We are going to sing the EFY medley in sacrament meeting. Nephi's courage, sung by the Elders and Sisters in? of? Zion.. Forgot the name! oops sorry. But it is only my district.. For about 68 members in our branch. I am super excited. I think it's my two favorite songs put together!!

Okay! so today for our P-day we got to go to the temple and help clean it, with the renovations. It was awesome. We helped for about three and a half hours! I had a blast. We cleaned the whole kitchen pretty much! Loved it. But afterwards, the Temple security took us on a tour! We got to go up to the fourth floor, and see what was up there. And we got to see the bridal room, where the brides get dressed and what not for their weddings. It was so cool to see some of the things in the temple that people wouldn't normally see! :)

For one of our personal study times, we went onto lds.org or mormon.com of one of those.. I cant remember, but we watched some of the "mormon messages' there is one called sanctify yourselves about a football team. Watch it! It goes along with a scripture we read yesterday. Alma 26:12. Anything is possible through Faith and Prayer. I love it. Read Alma 26 for family time or something! I love it. I definitely feel that it is one of the most powerful chapters in the scriptures.

I'm late writing because we cleaned the Temple.. If I have time later or something, maybe during the week I will write some thoughts down. In more detail. It is hard to put all my thoughts into an E-mail in a way that is organized!

anyways.. love you all! hope everything is well!

Love, Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Email 12-25-12

Hello family!!

So far, Christmas was so awesome. Elder Russel M. Nelson, and his wife came and spoke with us today. Their talks were amazing, They spoke of the gifts of Christmas, and how important they all are for us today. We, as missionaries, full time or not can have the opportunity to share these wonderful gifts with people everywhere. And once we have received these gifts for ourselves ( the gift of the holy ghost) we then can share them with people everywhere. "WE MUST USE THEM EAGERLY AND PERSISTENTLY." And if we don't have them with us, we can pray to know. Seek them. 1cor chapters 12-14, Moroni 10, and D&C 46.

Thank you so much for the package. I didn't know what to do after I opened all of the presents! Having things from home that I've gone without (even though it hasn't been very long.) is awesome. I don't even want to eat any of it, I just want to keep it on my shelf and look at it everyday. I have a stack of letters that people have sent me, And every card I have received so far, on the shelf in my room.. Thanks so much!! I was wondering if I was ever going to have dried mangos again! The probably just have fresh ones in Brazil. :)

At lunch today we had turkey, mashed potatoes and what not, but I was missing the cranberry ice cubes! So I got cranberry juice and mixed it with some sprite! almost the same..

We did a white elephant gift exchange earlier, and I ended up with a giant bag of rubber bands!! :) So a bunch of us started making rubber band balls. That will be my entertainment for the next few days during free time. (not that we have all that much free time!) Basically none really.. But free time is boring. whenever we have free time I just think, "I have so much to do! why am I just sitting here!"

I love the time we have to study. It just makes all of closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And the time we have to learn Portuguese just makes that personal study time more meaningful. Knowing that we get to give people the opportunity to accept the gospel, in other parts of the world!! =)

I hope every ones Christmas is going amazing-ly! I hope you are having as much fun as I am!! But I doubt it!! just kidding! I'm sure you are having fun too!

I know you probably don't believe it, but I sang in the choir today. We sang for Elder Nelson!

We sang Where angels lately knelt-Craig Courtney.. And The First Noel-Gregory Lawrence

Love you! cant wait to hear from you on Friday! :)

Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Email 12-22-12

My Family!

Today (P-day) (preparation day) was awesome, choir practice this morning, laundry time, my comp got his Patriarchal blessing, and we took a nap! Tonight, we had TRC, where members of surrounding wards volunteer to come and listen to the missionaries. We get to know them ,then teach them a small lesson. The lesson part is easy! The hard part is getting to know the person. We know so much of the gospel language, it is weird to think that we don't know very much conversational. looks like I have some things to study during additional study time!

I still enjoy it here! I just feel tired all the time. I'm still used to sleeping from 2 AM to noon!! This 10:30 - 6:30 Am is getting to me! That's why I love P-days, we get to take naps! I can't wait until I am closer to fluency! I have so much to work on to get there, but it is certainly coming closer and closer every day!

Helping people come closer to the gospel is the best thing I could ask for at this time! There is nothing I would rather be doing with my time. I owe it to the Lord!

Even member, or non-active members have the capacity to grow individually, and spiritually! It starts with the small things, then grows from there.

I testify that is 100% true! I am seeing it happen to everyone around me! Myself included!

Do what you can, every day to grow!

Eu amo voce!
O evangelho e verdadeiro
Eu Sou grato por minha missao!
Love Elder Kyler Blane Farr

I miss everyone so much! Love to all! :)

Letter 12-21-12

This week has been pretty awesome. I can't remember if I already wrote about this, but we finished teaching our investigator. It was a great learning opportunity, to try to teach someone you can't understand! :) am so grateful for the gift of tongues! There is no way we would have been able to understand what he was saying, or for him to understand us, if we hadn't prayed for the ability to understand him before.

Because of the holidays, our teachers are going home so we have several substitutes that we are teaching instead. But, we are only teaching them once, so that means we get to teach the first lesson several times! We are getting pretty good at it. We were able to teach our last two investigators while using relatively no notes. It is a wonderful feeling being able to understood!

My companion is very musically talented, and he drug me along to choir practice with him. It was actually pretty amazing! Almost our whole district goes, it is so much fun. There are probably about 80-100 missionaries in it. I know you'll be surprised that I'm singing in the choir. But I pretty much just sit in the bass section with my district and mouth the words! :)

Aside from classroom instruction, and language study, we have been doing some scripture study after our lessons. I don't think I have ever felt the spirit so strongly in my life. The 12 members of my district, and our teacher. Reading from a different chapter from the Book of Mormon every day, it is amazing. There are chapters I have read several times in my life, but he always seems to point out something new! Something I would have never thought of. It is great to get every one's opinions/different points of view. The spirit is so strong!

You asked if I have been writing in my journal - of course I have. I haven't missed a day!

Love you, Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Email 12-14-12

Minha Familia!

Tudo Bem means all is well. You use it as a greeting All is Well? and respond the same way All is well!

Tudo bem?

Tudo bem! (pronounced Too-doo Bang - you say it like 'bang' but DON'T emphasize the 'g')

And, obrigado is used the same way we were saying it, but instead of an 'oh' sound, it is an 'oo' sound at the end!

I agree, being here is the best Christmas present I could ask for too! :)

I was sad when I read about the Christmas lights! That was my thing :( JUST KIDDING... sorry but this is better!

You said, I'm your hero? NO! You're my heroes. I wouldn't be here without you guys guiding me every step of my life. Even though I didn't make it easy for you to help guide me, I enjoy that you did! I was pretty horrible to you! I'm sorry! I hope you can forgive me. I love you so much - everyone!

The Temple today was amazing! The spirit follows us everywhere! at the MTC! In the Temple! Everyone lit up when they saw us! Talking about how much they love it when we go there!

We ate breakfast at the Temple too.

Eu Sou grato por o Evangelha! (I am so grateful for the Gospel)
Eu Sei que o evengelho de Jesus Cristo e vendadiers! (I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true!)
(If there are errors in spelling - it is because I'm trying to transfer words I don't know from his handwriting!!! forgive me!)

There's my 2 cents! :) Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Email 12-8-12 and dearelder.com info

Dear family,

Ola!! I hope you guys got my first letter! I haven't done this much studying ever in my life. But it is essential to be able to teach our investigator about the gospel in a way that he understands us. Most of our sentence structures are like..."If you to pray you to know truth." He seems to understand! We only get baout 3 hours every other day of time with an acutal teacher. Most of it is all on our own. Pretty much, we write out lesson plans in English, then do our best to translate them into Portuguese. Our first lesson was not good! We got shut down! He told us he didn't believe in God, he didn't want to pray, and he didn't have any questions. What a great first teaching experience....right? Today we were a little bit more prepared. We started with questions like, "If there was a God, would you want a relationship with him?" He said, "Well, I guess, if he did exist." We challenged him to try to know for himself through faith and prayer. He accepted our challenge to pray tonight! We will see if he actually did...probably not, but it is a start! :) All of the Elders in our district are so awesome. Our roommates are great!

I'm going to bed now (Saturday). I'll write tomorrow how Sundays go. Is there anything you would like to know? TCHAU!! :)

I miss you guys so much! This is hard, but worth it!! "I can sacrifice 2 years of my life, to help others for an eternity!" I wish I could write forever!

Sunday (the 9th) Sundays are the best!! Preisthood meeting, all of which is in Portuguese! I wish I understood all of it, but I can pick out some! Sacrament meeting too. I love singing in Portuguese! it is so soft and peaceful! I saw Kevin again at the fireside! (Elder Bednar's talk on character of Christ) It is so great to be able to talk to him. Our 'cookie appointment' is tomorrow with Sister Johnson. She'll get a picture wotj Kevin, me and our companions.

I'm not homsick, because I know I'm doing the right thing. But I miss everyone so much! Doctrine and Covenants 16:6 - That is why I'm here, to be the example to everyone! Love to all! :)

look up dearelder.com you can send letters on line and they come to me in a hard copy. P-day is Fridays!

From Shannon - if you sign up to send him letters via dearelder.com, it is free while he is in the Provo MTC and he will get the letter the same day if you send it in before noon. The information you need to send a letter to him this way is :

After you register for the site, on the right hand side of the page, under and to the right of the picture of the missionary, from the drop down menu you click on which mission you are sending it to - DO NOT CLICK ON FORTALEZA BRAZIL - CLICK ON PROVO MTC -FREE because that is where he is!!! We will also be able to send letters to Brazil this way when he gets over there but they are not free in that mission!

Then click on (right underneath the mission drop down menu) write a letter

The following is the information you will need to get it to Elder Kyler

Elder Kyler Farr
MTC mailbox - 230
mission code - BRA-FOR
estimated departure date - 0205
Type your letter in the box and send it. They print it off and deliver it to the MTC. A window will come up asking if you want to donate to keep this site running - you don't have to - your choice!

MTC Letter 12-14-12

Well, I love it here at the MTC. We study for about 8 hours every day... in the same classroom! It gets old so we have to do some things to keep ourselves normal without going crazy! We just try to come up with games and what not.

Umm me and my companion are getting along pretty well. we just finished teaching our first 'investigator', his name was V____ from Portugal. Portugal Portuguese is very different from Brazilian. It is hard enough to understand what people are saying in Portuguese as it is. But having the words pronounced differently makes it almost impossible. We relied on the spirit most of the time to help us understand what he was saying, and to help him to be able to understand us. Before the first lesson we didn't pray before :( ha ha we forgot, and it went horribly wrong. So we took that as a learning experience and decided to pray before every lesson after that. We always pray for the gift of tongues before every lesson, and it really helps! I didn't pick up most of what he was saying! it is such a good feeling to be able to communicate with people in a different language.

We have devotionals on Tuesday and firesides on Sundays. The spirit is so strong during those meetings, having so many people willing to serve the Lord in one room. It is truly amazing.

The language is coming more and more every day; we are able to pray now without looking at paper. They are simple prayers but we do know them! :) I don't know how many people in our district can, but my companion and I can bear our testimonies without help too. It is just one of those things that help bring the spirit while we are teaching. They are so impressed that after one week we can share our thoughts on the gospel in a different language!

(when dropping him off at the MTC) I didn't know what to think when we were walking away. I was kind of in shock. I got into the classroom and our teachers were talking in Portuguese only. I didn't have time to think what was happening. That night it all set in. I was thinking, "What am I doing here? Two years is too long!" ha ha What a stupid thought that was! I couldn't be happier anywhere else! This is the best! I am so happy to be apart of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Brazil. Even though I'm not in Brazil yet, I am so glad to be here. I know we are where we are supposed to be at this time. There are 9 people in my district that are going to Fortaleza!! Sister missionaries included.

And by the way, as soon as our VISAs come through we will be leaving a few days after. They usually come in one Fridays and you leave by the following Tuesday. That being said, I am hoping I am here for Christmas. I have heard that the Prophet and his counselors are coming but I don't know how true that is. I hope it's true! But I'm not sure if it is.

Every day I think about what Dad told me, about if he could switch me places, he would. That helps me stay focused. It helps me want to be the best I can be. This will be the best 2 years of my life!

I miss you guys! I love you all! Elder Kyler Blane Farr

First letter

This is Elder Farr's first letter to home!

Shannon said: Hi! I'm so sorry I haven't gotten his letters out sooner. I'll send them one at a time in the order that they came. Some of them are emails and some are sent snail mail. Some are edited for personal reasons but you're getting the meat of his experiences. This one was the day after he entered the MTC - Dec. 6th.

The MTC is great! I don't feel too homesick....yet!! The first day we got here, we got our name tags, then we went to our classroom and began learning Portuguese. They sure do rush us into things here! :) Most of the words we looked up before I left, we were pronouncing all wrong. But that's okay because I have the next 6 weeks to learn how to pronounce them correctly! There are about 12 members in our district and all but 3 of them are all going to Fortaleza. So chances are, I will definitely be seeing more of these people, even out in the field! (if my VISA ever comes, that is)

My companion, Elder P____, is pretty awesome! We are similar in the way we act and communicate with others. Our senses of humor are very similar as well. Tomorrow (Friday) we get to teach "V____" our first investigator. All in Portuguese. I think they set you up to fail! But, it will help us learn it faster! I AM OKAY! :) Everything is all good! Tudo Bem!! :) Look that up!

I saw Elder F____again at breakfast! It was pretty awesome to see a familiar face! He seems so much more mature than most of us that got here yesterday. It was great to see him! Sister J____ got a picture with me and Elder P____ and said she would try to get K____ and I there for 'cookie time' and get pictures with us and our companions.

I just want to keep writing but I have things to do! I love all of you guys. I love the MTC. I love this Gospel and I pray daily for the Spirit to help us all learn the language! Love, Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Cookie Date with Elder Fisher

Elder Farr having a Cookie Date with Elder Fisher!

Provo MTC Mailing Address

If you would like to send some snail mail to Elder Farr here is his address at the Provo MTC.

Elder Kyler Blane Farr
MTC Mailbox #230
BRA-FOR 0205
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

First Companion

Elder Farr on his first day in the MTC with his first companion, Elder Packard from Florida.

Off to the MTC

I am entering the Provo MTC December 5, 2012 at 12:30 PM instead of San Paulo CTM due to lack of VISA.

Can't wait to get started!!