Email 12-2-13

This week was one of the best and worse at the same time.

So, my companion got sick and couldn’t do our baptismal interview so I called the Zone leaders, we did an emergency exchange and we got it done.   She ended up choosing me to baptize her, which is always awesome.   We marked the baptism last Sunday, let the bishop and his counselors know.  In the middle of the week we went by to remind them again.   Saturday arrived and we called the bishop to confirm that he would be there.   He straight up said. ``Saturday is my day to rest, I don’t think I’ll go.``   We hung up the phone and went straight to his house.   He was literally doing NOTHING at home.   He just did not want to go.   I kind of feel bad, but I laid into him.    I didn't even know I knew Portuguese well enough to be able to talk to him like that.   He got annoyed that we were telling him how a bishop should act about baptisms and went inside.   With a little bit of hope we went to the chapel and called one of the counselors.   He had forgotten and went to play soccer.   And the other counselor was at his class.   We called the assistants and they said without a member of the bishopric there, you can’t perform the ordinance but to call the mission President to make sure. We called him.   I have never heard him sound so sad about anything in my life.   Not with us, but with the leaders in our ward.   He authorized the baptism only because we have been working with her for two months straight and we did our part.  We won’t be punished for others not doing their part. Almost no one was going to be at the baptism without the leaders so we scrambled to go to a recent converts house. She said she remembered the baptism but couldn't go because she was getting lunch ready and both her kids were naked running around.   We explained the situation and she said two words that changed my life.   EU VOU (I will go)   She said, ``give me five minutes to put some clothes on my kids and we’ll be there.``   It is amazing to me that a member for 8 months is more firm in the gospel than some others in our ward.   We ended up with like 10 people at the baptism and it was actually a really good meeting. Thanks to the people that showed up with a minutes notice.

I didn't tell this story for any other reason but to ask everyone that reads this letter to be a better member missionary.   Support the missionaries, and the leaders of the church, and don’t stay at home with nothing to do when people really need your help. Another experience really quick..

My companion was on exchanges this week walking in the street and a man called out.. ``ELDER`` They walked over, got to know the man and found he has been inactive for years. But when he was active he held callings in the priesthood and what not.   My companion said, ``We need men in our ward with the priesthood. We need you at the church.``   He said those same words.   EU VOU.   And he was there on Sunday with plans to be there every single week for the rest of forever.

My testimony grew more this week than any other week on my mission.

I love being here. I love the work. I love helping the people we come in contact with.

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

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

Kyler       Shannon (most of mine is deleted - what Kyler has to say is so much more interesting!!)

I’m here

How are you?

I’m good!!   After all of the drama of yesterday and Saturday,  I’m good!!   I got some pics of the baptism but my computer isn’t working very well.   I’ll see if it’ll work on my companion’s computer. :)  And you!?

I’m sweating in an air-conditioned room!   so........... yeah..   but it’s okay! :)   (I was cold this morning and hesitantly told him so!!)  Last week we watched Kung Fu Panda.   Ha ha   my companion had never seen it. 

I forgot to tell you that I had a meeting with the stake president about the bishopric and he’ll make it all good. :)

The problem is, there it literally NO ONE to replace him bishop).   There are four men in the ward that are active and worthy to hold a calling like that.   One is the bishop.   The other one is moving and the other two have been divorced recently  (from a temple sealing)  and have to wait 10 years to be bishop.   One man moved into the ward two weeks ago and I think he will be the new bishop.   I hope so.   It’s so sad to see a ward lacking men with the priesthood.

Yeah.. when we got here there were 40 people going every week.   Now we have a constant 60.   We’ll be going in like ten minutes but I love you guys!   Have a wonderful week! :)

I love you and we’re out of here for reals now.  love you

That's a beautiful name!!!   But as far as pronunciation goes, you're looking at it as a Portuguese talking Brazilian, not an American!!!  LOL   

Toy story, and if we have time, we’ll watch epic in English to understand it better!!   The translation and the voices are really weird in Portuguese!!   But we’re outta here!!     Love you mommy!!!  

Email 11-25-13

Okay! Remember when I got into this area and were only left with like three investigators!?!?   There was one girl.  We went to her house like two months ago when we got here and she told us straight up that she didn’t want anything to do with us!  :(   But we continued to have faith and passed by there once a week inviting her to church and making small talk and stuff. But we did a division like three weeks ago with our zone leaders and I felt the need to pass by there, so we did!   She said the night before she prayed one last time to know if the church is true or not and that day we passed by!   She was amazed.   We then were able to re-teach her everything and she went to church every week since then and will be baptized Saturday! This is all a miracle because last week my companion had the idea of fasting and praying specifically for her. She accepted the date and is really excited. She even gave us a reference;  we have started teaching her best friend!

There was a new family that moved into the ward.   They are awesome!   We met them a few weeks ago and they told us to keep an eye out for a house for them to live in!   Every time we passed by a house with a for sale sigh or a to rent sign we called them.   Luckily we finally found one that would work for them.  They moved in Saturday night.

The bishop in our ward has been in there for seven years and is SO tired.   He basically does not even want to be Bishop anymore.  I have a feeling that this new man in the ward will be the new bishop here in a month or so, and he will be the one that really helps the ward the way they are needing.  We went by last night just to see if they needed any help putting furniture and stuff up, they didn’t but we ended up sitting there for about an hour just talking, and she made us dinner and gave us juice!  It is people like them that make the difference. The small and simple things.

We have met some other really awesome people.  We have only taught the first lesson to them and we don’t know who will progress and who will get cut.   Hopefully next week I’ll be able to tell you more and more miracles that are about to happen in our area!

I’m so glad I’m here.   It’s never easy but it’s so worth it.   This Gospel is true.

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

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Elder Kyler in blue    Shannon in purple           11-25-2103

I’m good!   I’m getting my hair cut today, so I’m here in normal clothes...I feel so unprotected!   And out of place! Ha ha

We never wear our suits.  Just at conferences and special meetings.  But a white shirt and tie, yes!!  (on P-day)  I think we would literally die if we wore our suits here in the street!   I feel like I’m dying in normal clothes! Ha ha   In this area there’s a member that owns a barbershop that we go to.

I’m not sure what (movie) we’ll watch today, we watched Epic last week. I think that’s what it’s called in English.. Sometimes they change the names and they have nothing to do with the real name.

OH MY GOSH IT´S SNOWING HERE TOO!!!!!!!!!!!

just kidding....it’s HOT!!! :)

Warm up to 41!?!?   (in Flagstaff) I can’t even imagine that!   I was thinking, I’ll get home in November probably..  It’s going to be COLD.. I’m going to die!

You're so funny!!    When I read that it was snowing there I was like... "Huh!"    HA HA HA     Someone recently told us that their son got home to flagstaff from a hot mission in the summer and wore jackets and coats because he was so cold!!!    We'll get some arctic gear for you!  LOL

We watched it (the movies) in Portuguese, and I think some of the jokes get translated weird.. it was good, but I’m sure its better in English!   We also watched the croods!   We had time to watch two!!   Ha ha ha   the croods was way way funny!

That’s so amazing about the girl and also that you're teaching her friend now.  Dad and I were just talking about how when someone really gets it - the gospel message - they are so strong... and so dedicated and it’s amazing. 

That’s incredible!   It’s way cool to see the change in people like that.   When they pick it up, they never let it go. 

We’ll be leaving in like 10 minutes!   Just so you know.

Be sure and make some snowballs for me!!!:)

I showed those pics (of the snow) to my comp and he just laughed at me.  He knows how bad I’m missing the cold!!! Ha ha

Has he ever been in snow or the cold before?

Where he lives it gets pretty cold too, but he’s never seen a lot of snow like that.

Thank you so much, you guys are amazing!   Seriously!!   :)   I’m doing my best!   Remember that!

Be sure and tell dad that we never let our investigators go more than a week without a visit!!   He always reminds me of that and I always forget to thank him and let him know that it really makes the difference!

Dad says thank you for telling him that -- it was really important to him and also made a difference for him and it took him most of his mission to figure it out.   Thanks for writing in Portuguese -- I recognized one word -- obrigado - thank you!  I'll get it to google translator and enjoy reading what you said, but first - I just like to look at the letters!!  It's so amazing to me that my son is speaking that!!!   So cool!     Love you so much!

Eu amo vocês. Vocês são os melhores.  Obrigado por tudo que fizeram, fazem, e vão fazer! Sem vocês eu seria nada.

Tenha uma boa semana e se-diverti muito. Sou grato por estar aqui servindo meu senhor e ajudando todas as pessoas no meu redor! Lembre-se para sempre dar referências para os missionários. Eles precisam de vocês no crescimento do reino do senhor aqui na terra! Amo todos vocês! 

(I love you. You are the best. Thanks for all you have done, do, and will do!   Without you I am nothing.

Have a good week-and had a great time.  I am grateful to be here serving my Lord and helping people in all around me!   Remember to always give referrals for the missionaries.  They need you in the Lord's kingdom here on earth!   Love you all!)

Email 11-18-13

This week was pretty normal.

We taught a bunch of lessons. The best part was, we taught more lessons with members, then other lessons. All of our goals have been increased as of this transfer, and we´re reaching them.   It´s great what faith and hard work can do.

We are teaching a lady but she used to play a big role in her other church.   Every time we bring up a topic, she combats it with something from her church.   We pretty much just told her that we’re not there to compare every little detail of the gospel, but we are here to teach the things that we know to be true.   We ended up watching the Joseph Smith video, the long one.   Afterwards she said, ``from what I understood from that, Joseph Smith was one of Jesus´ original apóstolos.``   wow.. I didn’t think that was possible.   We explained everything to her.  She understands a little bit more every time we pass.   If she doesn’t go to church this week I’m afraid we’re going to have to cut her.   People that don’t go to church, can’t be baptized, obviously.. ha ha

There’s a 17 year old boy,   We reactivated him.  He’s going every week.  This Sunday he was called to be a Priest.  (it’s been like 5 years since he’s gone to church)   And he received a calling.   He’s a new missionary of the ward.   We have been making sure that he gets as much out of this calling as possible.   He leaves to teach with us every day of the week.   It’s pretty awesome. 

We are teaching a bunch of people right now, But it seems like everyone we teach is addicted to crack or is an alcoholic.   I didn’t think it was possible!   One night we did three contacts in the street and all three of them told us they used crack.. 

We pray for the spirit to be able to know what to do to help these people.

We also pray to find people ready to hear the gospel.

I’m so glad I’m here.   I love you all!   Have a wonderful week!

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Yeah - happy Christmas!   And it’s actually mu companions hammock.. it was closer to the window so I used his!   We put on normal clothes too ha ha ha :)   this month will be a trunky one!

I think on Thanksgiving we will walk in the road... like ten miles or so… talking to everyone on the way, teaching them about Jesus!

Last week we watched Kung Fu Panda 2!!  It was okay.. they let us watch it in English with Portuguese subtitles which was cool!   Today we’ll probably just watch it in Portuguese. Ha ha I don’t know which one we’ll watch today

Ha ha they don’t have any Christmas traditions here!!!!!    It’s so lame!    They put a tiny tree in the corner and that’s it!   An Elder told me all about it.  I hope he’s wrong, but we’ll see

I can’t believe it!!    Ha ha    that’s so sweet.

This guy is closing up shop!   We’re outa here in a sec!    love you!

PS -- from Shannon -- I kept looking at the picture of him in the hammock with the Christmas lights, wondering why it looked "off".  Then I realized I haven't seen him in a t-shirt, or anything other than a white shirt for almost a year!!!   :)    made me laugh!

Email 11-11-13

yesss!

This was the most successful week of my mission!

We worked out butts off.. It was great!

Our mission president raised all of our goals to meet, by like double. 

That means we get to work harder, faster, and smarter!

We were teaching these two guys that are addicted to crack, we kept passing by there and they were definitely interested but the crack won. They have the desire to stop, but the addiction is huge. I know everything is possible through faith but at this time, they’re not ready. :(

We are destroying our area though! We made 40 new investigators this week, and taught 34 lessons. 

We did an exchange this week and I stayed in my area and I spent the day with my companion from the MTC.  We had a good day, but my favorite lesson we taught was a woman and her six kids. They all love soccer so we related finding out if the church is true to finding out if a soccer jersey is an original. We asked them how we would find out if the jersey was original or not. They said we might need to ask an expert. Or compare it to another that we know for sure is original. They were the best answers I could have hoped for. 

Asking an expert would be asking God, in prayer.

Comparing it to one that we know is an original=comparing it to the Bible!

They liked the example and everything but I was thinking, there has to be more we can work out of this example to introduce baptism! SO I asked, so when we know for sure that the jersey is real, what do we do with it?   You´re going to use it, keep it safe right!?   Ha ha Using the jersey is like being baptized, When we know for sure that the church is true, we are baptized. 

That´s how we explained prayer, and the book of Mormon to a 9,12,13,15,16 year old. And their mom! Ha ha ha Then we marked a baptismal date. ;)

I had an idea, after they get baptized how we can use the jersey example again. When we know it´s real we´re going to want to show it to our friends. (MISSIONARY WORK!!)

We were teaching a less active family, after eating dinner with them. And we decided to talk about the commandments. They aren't keeping all of them and are noticing the unhappiness that’s coming from it.  It got me thinking.  We spend what.. like 85 years?  or however long on this earth.   Are we going to waste our time here not keeping the commandments and not returning to the presence of God after this life... Or are we going to use our time wisely and keep the commandments so that we have everlasting happiness??   I think the answer is clear!

We watched the Restoration video with a member, and his nonmember girlfriend. She’s awesome.  He has to get divorced, then married, so that she can be baptized.   It’ll be a long process, but worth it! ;)   The spirit was so strong after the film ended and we just kind of sat there in silence until they looked at me waiting for me to say something.  I said, ´´I’m not going to say a lot because I want us to be able to focus on the spirit we are all feeling right now``  then I invited her to say a prayer, we knelt down on the concrete floor and we left afterwards.  There is no greater feeling than leaving a home with that feeling inside, and knowing that through you, the lord has touched the lives of many!

Have a wonderful week!

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

 Part of my e-chat with Elder Kyler

I have gotten all of them (pictures).   I got the one from grandpa also.   I put them in my album so when we teach our investigators I can show them all of the awesome people in my family.. It’s a really big thing here.   All of the members love seeing the pictures of the missionaries, so all of us have albums. :)

I love getting pictures!!  Don’t ever worry about sending too many.  Pictures are my favorite!

(I lamented that I haven’t had time to learn any Portuguese like I had planned to do)  He replied - I’ll be sure and help you guys when I get home.   I mean….I´ll have to teach you guys the words in Portuguese, that I forgot in English!   Ha ha

(I asked him if he thought he would still eat rice and beans every day when he got home and what kind of milk he was drinking)    He replied -To be 100% honest.. I am so sick of eating beans.. except for black beans, like in feijoada.  But I love the rice. Even if I had a choice, I think I would still enjoy eating it every day.   The milk.. I don’t even know.  It goes bad in like 3 days in the fridge. The pasteurização  (forgot how to spell this in English..) process is just different I guess.

I loved talking to you! And I can’t wait to get the pictures.

I love you mom!! Have a wonderful week and tell everyone hi for me!

love you tons!!

TCHAU!

te-amo muito.  Tenha uma boa semana.

a gente vai para casa agora a fazer almoço. Não sei o que vamos comer, talvez macarrão nada! :) haha  

Love you mom! And dad!

until next week!!!!! :)

Email 11-4-13

This week was pretty good! Last week the mom of a member (who's is not a member) asked us to come over to lunch on Saturday. She would not accept no for an answer... ha ha So our plan was to eat at our normal lunch at the normal time then go to her house and eat a little bit and teach her a lesson. We ended up getting to our real lunch appointment with the sister in the ward but she had forgotten! We explained everything to her and she didn't feel so bad, because we already had somewhere else to eat!  So we got to the other house with the nonmember lady and she had invited her friend there to eat with us.  We had our books of Mormon in our hands when we walked in and she was looking at it the whole time.   She finally asked about it and we explained.  Then she asked us who the founder of our church was.  We responded with the truth.  Jesus Christ is the one who started our church.  She got confused and asked again, we responded the same way.  She sat forward and said,``now you have my attention.``  We taught her the first lesson right there, but during the lesson this super loud annoying fan was on, but when I got to the first vision, the member who lives there turned the fan off. The room got so quiet and when I finished the first vision she asked what happened next.  We explained, and invited her to be baptized.   She accepted.   I have never gotten a reference like this from a nonmember before.

After church a man received the priesthood and they asked us to sit in.   Right before, I took off my bag and set it down on the floor.   We got done and I left the bishops office without it. We were about to leave when I finally realized I didn't have it.   I went back to look for it and it wasn’t there.   I figured someone had taken it accidentally because all of the missionaries here have the same style of bag, even the return missionaries.   So we went to our lunch appointment with out it, with the plan to get it later, to see if anyone had returned it.  So we went back to the church for our meeting and a member walked in with my bag!   He said, ``before I give this back I have to tell you a story``.   He said when he was walking to the chapel a lady stopped him in the street asking about the church and stuff.   He explained a little bit and she liked what she heard.  She asked him if he had any kind of pamphlets or anything to give to her.  He looked down at his bag, thinking it was his and said no.   He opened it to see if he had a pass along card or anything, to his surprise he had my bag, full of pamphlets!   He gave her one and took down her address. 

Pretty much the coolest story ever.

This church is the only true church on the face of this earth. 

Things don't happen like that on accident.

Have a wonderful week!!

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

  

Portion of our e-chat:  Elder Kyler in blue:

We’re here... was cooking breakfast.... HOW ARE YOU!!!

I’m so good!!   We came early today because we’re going to watch a movie at the chapel after this! :)       What did you make for breakfast!? Ah ha

Usually dad and I have a v8 and a banana but we're doing bacon, eggs and country potatoes for company.         

What movie are you going to watch?

I’m not sure what movie.   I’m mostly just excited to sit in air conditioning for two hours! 

I chuckled when you wrote that the movie didn't matter.. .just the air conditioning!!!

I loved both of your stories!!  Amazing!!!!   Totally amazing!!!

Brazil doesn't have tortillas, right?

Yeah the only tortillas I found were in a huge supermarket in the center. A pack of like 5 is R$20   ten dollars!      It’s so sad!!

It’s interesting to find what we really miss when we just get down to the basics!!   You grew up on a lot of burritos!!   Do you still make pancakes sometimes?

(pic of him after helping a member move – dirty and very sweaty but still very handsome!)

Holy cow!!!!    You worked hard!!!   Are you used to the heat now?

No! No one is used to the heat.  Every day is hotter than the day before!

Ha ha like today... it’s ridiculous!

ha ha....  I guess people just put up with it!   We’re supposed to get snow today - but only 30 % chance.    Do they make tamales there?   What is their "Specialty" food that people make a lot - besides rice and beans?   Does your comp speak English?

He’s learning, we do language study together, but as of right now.. almost nothing.,

Specialty food….Literally every single day the people make Rice, beans, noodles and some kind of meat. Literally every single day!!!!

At the ward parties they make churrasco; Brazilian barbecue; slow cooked thin slices of meat over coals. But with the churrasco they have rice and beans! Ha ha..

Sometimes the people make lasanha for our lunches…. forgot how to spell it in English…..lasagna???    But it’s always with rice and beans too on the side.

We don’t really make pancakes, but I remember how.

But the recipe for tortillas would be cool!

Hey, this place is about to close...we should have like twenty minutes left but he’s about to kick us out!   lame, but that’s the way it is.    Love you though,  I’m glad we got talk!!

Have a great week

oh....stink....okay --  I'm so glad we got to talk too.... WE LOVE YOU!!!   LOVE YOU AND KEEP THE FAITH AND KEEP WORKING SMART

you’re the best!! 

LUV UUUUUUUUUU

Later that day :

Hey since we got cut twenty minutes this morning we decided to come now when we have a little bit of extra time so my comp could write his fam, he didn’t have time earlier. I don’t know if you’ll see it when I’m on, but I just wanted to say that I LOVE YOU!!   You guys are seriously the best ever! :)

Email 10-28-13

OH HEY!

This week was great! A man was baptized. We stopped by his house like thirty minutes before the baptism just to make sure he was ready then we walked together. He said he was kind of nervous and he didn't want us taking pictures! Haha.. We just went and knew he would give in when we got there. The others in the other ward had three baptisms and they were using the baptismal clothes. The only one left was a HUGE one that would have been big enough for two of me. But he put it on, and we tied it in the back. He was worried about how he would look and thought he looked ridiculous. We talked about how it doesn't matter how we look, because the baptism is the most important part. He agreed and then let us take some pics. The baptism was awesome! :) His cousin, who has been inactive for years, got so excited for helping us help his cousin come unto Christ. He is super excited about the church and is already talking about a mission! It´s great. 

It has been super hard to get in contact with our African friends. We talked to them only once this week and everything is super busy for them trying to find work and get settled in for real. They are all still excited about learning more about the Gospel and going to church but they had some family come into town and didn't want to leave them to go to church. It will work out this week and we´ll put em in the water eventually. 

This week teaching wise was pretty stressful. All of the appointments we had marked, fell. We got in kind of a routine of visiting all of the same people that are not really progressing. During one of our planning sessions we decided to cut the people that wont progress and go find new people. We made 10 new investigators on Sunday alone. And taught a bunch of lessons. I wish we would have thought of it much sooner, but we learn with experience, huh?

This week was really good. One of the other missionaries that live with us, was my companions companion in the MTC. Yesterday he came into the house and said." you´ve changed. You´re a different person than you were a month ago.`` That made me feel good that I got to be a part of his learning process. He hasn´t been a member for too long, but it´s good he´s here to grow in the gospel during this time of service.

We taught a lesson to a family with a lady that lives next door to them. We got done with the first lesson and the neighbor lady started yelling at us about how we don't watch T.V. and how we´re a cult. I always put on the innocent face and ask the person what the word ``cult`` means. I know what it means but i know the person doesn't know. They always throw the word around without knowing what it actually means.. Anyways, We explained all  about it, and how members of the church DO watch t.v. Then the best part happened. The man of the house stood up and ``invited`` the lady to leave his house! Then we finished the lesson for real. 

It was awesome. We´ll be inviting them to be married, then baptized next lesson without the crazy lady there. :)

Have a good week!

Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Picture!

Email 10-21-13

OH hey! 

This week was good.

We lost a day going to Aldeota for an appointment to get a refill on my meds. But other than that it was good! :)

I can’t remember if I said last week or not but we got a reference two weeks ago to go visit a less active member. We got there and started teaching him and he left to go get his cousin.  We have been teaching his cousin ever since and have his Baptism marked for Saturday.   He is super duper excited!

We were over at his house doing kind of a pre-interview lesson to make sure we taught him everything, and he started talking about his uncle and how he works next door, and above his work lives three Africans that speak English.  YES!  We finished the lesson and we went over to talk to them.  We knock on the door and this guy comes down with the biggest smile on his face.  We asked him if he spoke English and he said no. But there is someone there that does. We didn’t have a lot of time so we marked an appointment to pass by another day, and invited him to church.  He got so happy!  He told us to pass by Sunday morning to get him and he’d be ready!  This was on Saturday.  We went back to pick them up.  We stopped by our new friends house too see if he was ready to go!   He was!!   Ha ha ha it was so awesome.  He went to church and loved it and wants to learn everything.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read the part we marked.  He said he would read all of it and pray and go to church every week from now on. Turns out, he’s 30 and he’s been here in Brazil for three months.   He used to go to an Evangelical church in Africa, almost got baptized but decided to come here first.  He was looking for a church to go to and that’s when we showed up.

We stopped by Sunday afternoon to talk with the others that live there and they ate up every bit of information we gave them. We’ll go back on Sunday to actually teach the restoration and set some baptismal dates.

We were at a member’s house for lunch, and the people here are crazy about feeding the missionaries.  They always give the best of everything they have, and ALL of it.  We get there, just like any normal day and eat one plate, then another.  Just like every day  -  enough to make them happy but not enough to make you sick. Then the guy there said ``Elders, eat more.`` No, we’re full, we’re satisfied and he said ``ELDERS! EAT MORE!!``  And he took our plates and put a mountain on it.... I ate more at that house than I have ever eaten in one sitting in my lifetime..  My companion didn’t take it too well.   Right when we got home he threw up... a lot!    Ha ha ha

The Bishop texted us Saturday night ``inviting`` us to talk in church. Ha ha. That’s not a lot of time to prepare a talk in another language.  Good thing the gift of tongues exists.  I studied a little bit, got some topics written down and we went to church.  When I stood up for my turn, I felt the need to not talk about anything I wrote down and change it completely.  I don't know why, but I did.   It went really well though.   I hope it gets this ward excited about the work.

We also blessed the sacrament and everyone was giving me a hard time telling me I was going to mess up. Turns out my companion (Brazilian) messed up, and I didn't.   It was pretty funny afterwards when everyone told me congratulations.

I love this work and I’m so glad I’m here.   It is not easy.   But it’s great.

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

PS:

All of the missionaries have phones, but in our other area it had been stolen, and they are from São Paulo and it takes forever to get here! 

I talked about baptism and the requirements for it.  And how our church is perfect. Ha ha

I sent that picture because it looks like I’m in a favella, Ghetto. It marks where I’m at :) ha ha ha ha not that it’s dangerous.   It’s just super super poor.   But that means the people are more humble.

Email 10-14-13

Okay, this LAN house that I am at is so horrible. (the place where we’re sending our e-mails -- I blame it (any typos) on that!)

This week was awesome! We arrived in this area with TWO investigators..  We were literally left with nothing.   We had tons and tons of meetings and what not last week that didn’t give a lot of time to teach, but this week was the best!   We set our goals super ridiculously high and we even hit some of them!   We taught tons and tons of lessons and set an area record for new investigators in this area.

We have three people preparing for baptism already, and have a few more that will be getting to that point this next week.   It is so awesome to see the fruits of our labors.

Remember what I am always talking about, about members helping out!?   Well, me and my companion did over 50 street contacts this week, and we actually have some potentials from it.   But the best part is... Our ward mission leader (17 years old) gave us a reference, we didn’t have a lot of details, just his name and address.   We went to his house, not knowing what to expect and just started talking.   Turns out he was baptized years and years ago.   He’s 17 now and hasn’t been to church for a long time.   He told us he was just wanting a friend there at the church and he was nervous to go.   We got him all excited to go and what not and I asked him who he knows that we could teach.   Before responding the question he ran out of the room and went upstairs.   He came back with his cousin.   We talked for a bit and ended up teaching the first lesson and invited him to be baptized.   With no hesitation whatsoever he accepted.   We’re also going to start teaching his sister and two friends!

I can’t remember if I have already written about the lady where we did a street contact.   We talked to the lady for like a minute and she started crying.   She said she didn’t know why she was crying, just because she felt good.   We taught her this week and she cried during the entire lesson.   When we were talking about Joseph Smith I got to the first vision.   The spirit was so strong after I finished I looked at the lady, she was BAULING like a baby, my companion was in tears, as was I.   We both bore testimony and she said she knows it’s true.   The only problem is she owns a bar.   We taught the lesson there in the bar (with no one there).   The funny part is no one would enter until after we left.   There were like 25 people waiting to enter and finally did after we left.

The experiences we are witnessing are incredible.   My ``son`` is growing up so fast.   We’ve only been together for two weeks but it feels like forever. I love this place.

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

e-chat excerpts  --   Kyler is in blue

Oh. I can’t even imagine snow......... I have been sweating for 7 months straight!!! 

I know.. it's weird huh?!!   It reminds me of when I would talk to Lynelle in the winter when she lived in Florida, after shoveling and being so cold and she'd have her air conditioner on!  ha ha ha   The days are warm right now but the night's and early mornings are chilly - sweater weather.  I'm not ready for winter -- I don’t want to be cold!!!   Remember that apartment we did that we had to wade through knee deep snow and it took 1.5 hours to drive to each way?  It took 4 hours to do a 1 bd apt!   LOL    The only thing good about that was the time with you!

What is the name of the area you are in?  I want to find you on google maps!

  

What is horrible about the LAN you're at?

All of the letters are faded off the keyboard and it’s HHOOOTTT!!!

But look how fast the time is going -- it'll be, like, tomorrow when you see him next!!  

I decided I’m going to work with cars for sure when I get home. I don’t know what area but cars is my thing!!

Here in two months we will be able to skype!!!  :)   As long as president lets us again!

I KNOW  ----   WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THAT YESTERDAY!!     EVEYRONE’S SUPER EXCITED!!!!

YES!!!   Today will be awesome.   We have a family home evening with the stake president - with all of the missionaries from our zone! I don’t even know what we’ll be doing there, but it should be fun!

I’m pretty sure we’re be leaving here in just a little bit.

It was so great to talk to you!!

Love you mom!!!

I love you mom, ALOT!!!

Email 10-7-13

This week was pretty ..strange.. 

As we are opening an area, the other missionaries that were here left us nothing at all.   We went to the house of one of the two names they left us, of a girl that ``was ready for baptism`` and she cut us.   She told us she didn’t want anything to do with the church and asked us not to go by anymore.

The other name they gave us was of a guy that was baptized when he was eight years old, just like most kids that grew up in the church.   He told us he was forced to be baptized by his parents and didn’t really want to.   So, he wants to be re-baptized.   I called the mission president and the bishop and everything but they said there isn’t really anything we could do.   I understand where he is coming from but I think he should be grateful for the opportunity he had when he was young.   Ha ha   I don’t want to be the one to break the news to him. 

With all of that said.. We will have to start completely new.   It will be what we did in my other area,  Take an area that hasn’t had a baptism in months and make magic happen. 

I’m excited to be able to help my trainee.   He’ll be able to see the results of turning a dead ward into a baptizing ward.   I know that’s not what it’s all about, but that’s what will get the ward excited.   There are over 300 members in the ward with an average of 40 that go every week.   It’s ridiculous. 

We have been doing some studying about prayer and decided to make our prayers very very specific.   We prayed in the morning to find a couple, with two kids to teach.   We were doing contacts one day with that prayer in mind, looking for men that maybe we could talk to.   We were passing a market as a guy drove up on his motorcycle.   We kind of stood there awkwardly waiting for him go take his helmet off and we started talking to him  . We got done with the regular contact and I asked him who he lives with.   He said. `` with my wife and kids``   YES!   I asked how many kids he had and he said..... three. It was awesome.   We were hoping for two and got three.   It was a testimony builder in two ways.   We prayed for a family with two kids and got three.   But I also learned we need to be more specific in our prayers because it turns out, they don’t live in our area.   It was kinda funny, but it really helped alot. 

I don’t really have very many stories to tell right now, as we basically just did contacts this week in preparation for the weeks to come. 

I’m so glad I’m here and for the opportunity I have to serve.

This church is true. There is no doubt about that.

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

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

I hate the time difference!! Ha ha ha... I keep getting so mixed up..

It´s 4:30 my time here. I don’t think we’ll be able to talk today. I’m bummed but I know there’s always NEXT WEEK! ;)

And if not it’s okay too!    Because you know why???

I LOVE YOU

I hope everything is going as planned in life right now.

I am definitely noticing the blessings in my life for me being here right now and I hope you guys are noticing them too!

There are so many blessings in my life I don’t even have room to hold them. I love it.

I just passed the ten month mark two days ago.. WOW!!

I don’t know why the letters changed right now... but just know that I love you so much and I thank you for everything that you have done, are doing, and will do!!    You guys are literally the best ever!!!!!

But next week, I think we might come early.. we’ll either come at two our time or like ten our time.   It depends if we watch a movie or not.   So either SIX in the morning there or TEN in the morning YOUR TIME.     luvvv yuhhh

(from Shannon - I will gladly began my traditional "(when I'm home) Monday staring at the computer screen, continually clicking the 'get mail' button"  at 6 AM !!!    :)   It will be my pleasure!!! )   

leaving right now.

love you more than you can imagine.

until next week!!! ;)

Pictures!!

Church Building in Brazil

Email 9-30-13

I will right? wright? write? my big letter right now.   I’M ON

ooookkkaaayyyy!!!!

So,  first of all. Remember how we were taking care of two wards before?   I was hoping the wards would get split and I would stay in one and my companion in the other?   NOPE   They took me out of there..   We got the phone call.   I heard that I would be leaving.    Almost in tears I hung up.   I wanted more than anything to stay there!    I know it is part of the learning process and four and a half months is quite a bit.   So I’m out of there. I went around talking to all of the members of the ward at the chapel saying goodbye and stuff.   João Paulo that we just baptized was BROKEN!   He was all teary eyed as we said goodbye.   I went up to the Bishop and he made every bit of sweat dropped worth it. He said, ``this ward has been in a hole for months. You got here and completely changed it. You are the one who made the difference.``   That made every hardship worth it.

Anyways, we get to the transfer meeting this morning and I had no idea what to expect.   President goes on to announce the new leadership callings.   I’m going to train! :)   We will pick up our ``kids`` tomorrow afternoon.   Me and my comp from the MTC  live together and he will be training also .)  And another elder , also from the MTC district is in our district.   It’s like a reunion!   Since we are in the same zone, we are in a trio until tomorrow when we go to the mission office to get our greenies.

I think the hardest part of leaving the ward was (of course) the members.   They were awesome.   Especially the people I got to help come unto Christ and follow his example.   I’m opening this area but from what I’ve seen it’ll be pretty good.   It’s the richest area that I’ve been in so far.   I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.    I’ll let you know next week!! :)

But yeah the talent show we had Saturday night was AWESOME.   We ended up with like fifty people there. I had wished for more, but we had enough people performing to fill up all of the time slots.   Even we did something.   I took a video of the whole thing but it’s way way too long to send, and here in a year and two months you’ll see it. :)    I’ll send some pictures though.

As sad that I am, from leaving my old area, I am very grateful to have this opportunity to grow and learn with the new missionary I’ll be training.   I just hope for help from the ward.

Sou grato por estarmos aqui e pelas coises que a gente vai aprender juntos. Estavamos falando Inglês muito hoje e é muito difícil escrever em Português. Eu amo cada um de vocês muito! Tenha uma boa semana!

TCHAU!

-ELDER KYLER BLANE FARR!

From Shannon -- Google Translation – not always accurate but my only option right now!!!   Some of you who went to Brazil that are reading this letter -  please correct if you can – thank you!  “ I am grateful to be here and the Coises we will learn together. We were speaking English a lot today and it is very difficult to write in Portuguese. I love each of you very much! Have a good week! “  Actually, he could tell me that he ate a tuna sandwich or is wearing blue socks and I’d be almost as thrilled – I love hearing and reading his Portuguese -  It’s amazing!!!   It is a very deep, rich sounding, beautiful language.

You’re not on!!!   We’re about to leave.   It’s okay though.   Just so you know.. the package is.. AWESOME!!   How did you know I was wanting peanut butter!!!   My first mistake was showing hot cheetos to Brazilians..   They don’t have those here.   I loved it!!   Everything about it.   I’m even enjoying the books!   Imagine that.. me liking a book.    Ha ha ha   I love you guys and thank you so much!!!

(If you remember the pizza picture from last week )  One side of the pizza was ham and cheese and the other chicken!   We ate pizza for lunch today actually... the first place I’ve seen open at noon. Usually they only have it for dinner!!   It was cool though!

LUVV YUHH

Have a good week. :)

Love you lots and thanks so much for your support.   It means a ton to me.   WISH ME LUCK when we go to get our greenies!!    We pick them up at four.. 12 your time right!?!?    Until next week!!!   :)

PS from Shannon - Elder Kyler wrote me last week that transfers were Sunday (yesterday) and that he felt pretty sure he would be leaving this time -- he was write? wright?  right!!  ha ha ha  I couldn't resist!!!  :)  But what I wrote before the teasing is true!  And also it makes me smile and very happy when he has trouble writing or speaking in English!!!   I Love it!!!

More Pictures!!

Elder Farr being silly with some rice and Brazilian Ramen Noodles

 Favorite Meal

 Scorpion on his hand!

Eww.

Email 9-23-13

Okay, ha ha              I was reading my last letter and the one that BISHOP sent out, and I just wanted to clear it up.   We taught 38 lessons this last week - 12 in just one day.   Not to be ``that guy`` but we’re working our butts off!!   We have had this little competition going on in our Zone and I don’t have any doubt in my mind that we’re going to win.

Anyways, this week was great. We have been teaching a man for the past week and he has shown a desire to be baptized.   We went to his house and taught him everything necessary to be a member of the church.   One day we got there and he wasn’t there.   It was a perfect opportunity to talk to his mom though.   I asked her what she thought about him meeting with us, and if he had the desire to be baptized if she would accept it and let him be.   She is awesome, the most excited woman I have ever met in my life.   She said they would let him and that she maybe even would go and watch.   So, we set a date for his baptism to be Sunday (yesterday) and got everything ready, the Baptismal ``Ficha``(not sure what it’s called in English..) and the baptismal interview all done.   We have a meeting every Sunday at 7:45 with the Bishoprich and after the meeting we were going to go pick him up at his house for church at nine.   We get out of the meeting at like 8:20 and he was already at the church!    All of the other young men were setting up the sacrament and stuff and he was watching them do it, learning how and what not.   This kid is legit!

We have been trying to help reactivate this guy.   We went over and asked him what his name was.   (We had his full name but here they have like a hundred names.)   And he told us () which was none of the names on the list but is the name of a famous singer here.   I was kind of confused but he invited us in so we just went with it.   As we entered his house we then found out why he calls himself ().   His living room is full of pictures of this singer.   AND!  He has a room FULL of old records.   He is a fan to the max!   We will be having a talent show on Saturday and we invited him to sing there and he accepted!   I can’t wait!

Me and my companion were wondering how much we walk every day.   Luckily he has a pedometer!   He wore it one day and we looked that night.   Ten miles.   And we didn’t even walk as much as we do some of the other days.   Good luck....

This week was the most fun, and most rewarding week of my whole mission!

I love this place!

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

PS:

I think it would be easier to look up recipes of the food names I send home than on google translator.  My favorite is Baião with Banana!   Like in the picture.   It’s not really Baião though. 

(  he’s right, but google is funnier!!   J  )

Did you see the scorpião!?!?!?!?!?!?!?   I want to make sure you saw all of the pictures.  ESPECIALLY the one of the scorpion. :)   We went to the other elders house last night and found like 20 cockroaches (no joke) and the scorpion.  So we killed it and got some awesome pictures  :)

I Love you too!   I love what this experience is doing to me too! :)   It’s the best.

Have a wonderful week.   LUUVV YUUHHH

I CANT WAIT TO OPEN THE PACKAGE!   I´M GOING TO GO HOME AND OPEN IT RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!          love you more!!!

Email 9-16-13

Oookay!

Our Zone Leaders showed up this afternoon at our house wanting to watch a movie. So, we called the Bishop counselor to get the keys and went over. We had some difficulties getting it to work but everything ended working out. But, that´s why I´m on so late!!

This week was good and bad all at the same time.
I ended up with a super bad cold again. Which doesn´t make a lot of sense here in Brazil. I´m just with a sore throat and a cough. But none of that matters. We taught more lessons this week than any other week on my mission. On Friday alone we taught twelve lessons. Our average is like five or six. It was awesome. Two weeks ago we had a super good week, last week was pretty rough and the mission president wrote and said he was kind of worried about the numbers from last week. I wish I could see the look on his face when he sees how we worked our butts off this week.

I was thinking about all of the lessons we taught and which ones I wanted to tell you guys about. I wish I could just write about every single one.

But, we got a list from the Stake of people that's church records got lost for the past 10-15 years or so and they just magically popped up out of no where. Last Sunday we went out with some members and contacted all of them and set up appointments to go see what their situations are. So one guy, he was baptized in the eighty's and hasn´t had any contact with the church. But when we got to his house there was music playing so loud. I clapped my loudest and somehow he heard it. He came to the door with a huge smile on his face and welcomed us right in. He said ``will you guys please come in and pray with me.`` YES! We went in and taught him a part of the plan of salvation, left him wanting more and remarked another visit. There were also two families that we will be teaching this next week where one of the parents were baptized a long time ago and want to come back now with their kids. It was awesome.

We had a meeting with the bishop yesterday and we were asking for references from the people in the room. The Bishop was like.. ``this is lame, let me make some phone calls`` He gets on the phone and calls a recent convert and asked her if on Tuesday she would have two of her friends at her house for us to teach. She agreed. He called one boy and told him to take five of him friends to a Family Home Evening. He agreed. (we´ll be going by there today) And he asked (), one of the guys in the meeting if he had anyone we could teach. He said, ``yeah actually I do.`` Then he told a story of when he was at the church one night doing some paperwork and had the feeling to go out into the parking lot. He went out and saw a man just standing there looking up at the building. He went up and started talking to him and the guy had all kinds of questions about the church and wanted to know everything about it. He marked for us to teach him and his family at his house on Tuesday.

This week alone my testimony of member missionary work had grown so much. My companion and I did contacts in the street for a week straight, contacted them and not a lot of results came from it. We ask for some names of some people that the ward members know, and our week ends up being full of people to teach. People that are ready to hear and accept the message. We all know people and think.. oh they will never accept it. How can we judge that. We have to give them the opportunity!

I´m so grateful for the awesome members we have here in these wards.

I don't have a ton of time, but I just wanted to share these thought with you!
:)

Have a great week!!

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Brazillian Pizza

Wanna see a real Brazillian pizza!? :)

Email 9-9-13

YES!

Those pictures are awesome!

This week was one of the most difficult ones I’ve had on the mission.   I felt like I worked harder than ever before, but close to no results came from it.   We just need to keep working and working, and everything will go how the lord has planned.   It was good though.

There is a lady that has been taught everything and is basically a member of the church already, but she has super bad knee problems and can’t be baptized for now, and can’t go to church.   We make it a point to go by once a week just to show her that we’re still thinking about and praying for her.   We showed up with kind of a lesson plan, but with the idea of winging it.   She wanted to say the prayer to start and after, she said, ``I need my book``.   I wanted to go get it for her but she made me sit down.   She waddled over to her room and got her book of Mormon that is COMPLETELY marked up.   She started talking about how she was having a super hard day and she sat down with her book of Mormon and prayed.   She asked the lord to show her something to make her feel better.   She opened up to a scripture in Mosiah.   I forgot exactly which one, but it talks about how the lord visits people in their afflictions.   It was awesome.   She went on to bear her testimony in tears how she knows she isn’t a member yet, but she knows every bit of what the church teaches is true.   Afterwards I told her that when we first sat down I had the idea in my mind to teach her something. But she ended up teaching me a few life lessons.   She strengthened my testimony and reminded me why I am on a mission.

We got a reference from the mission office this week for a man.   Not knowing anything about him, we went there, he invited us in and we began talking.  In the house is him, his wife who is pregnant, and their son. The best part of the whole situation is that they’re MARRIED!   It’s a miracle to see two young people married in this country.  They always just live together, which is okay too, we just get to help them get married first. :)  He was talking about how they used to go to a different church but stopped 5 months ago. He felt like there was something more out there.  And then he started working with a member of the church that sent us his name.  He’s golden.  They accepted the message super well and agreed to ask God if it is true.  We tried going over Saturday to teach again but they weren’t home.   We’ll go by this week and everything will go as planned.

One of the young men that went to the temple this week came back so excited to help others. He invited his friend to church, who then invited his other friend. They loved it, and they want to learn more.  Plus, all of their friends are members too! :)   I’m sure I’ll have more news on them next week.

My birthday was good.   I got a box of chocolates from some girl I don’t even really know who isn’t even in my ward.   It was cool though.   Some members wrote me letters and what not.   They’re awesome.   We bought a cake, and I made ``mousse de goiaba``.   It was a pretty normal day other than that.   We had church and tons and tons of meetings.   And we divided with a member (Idarlan) and taught a ton of less active members.   It was a good birthday.

Have a good week! Love you all.

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Other news:

Sometimes the mail is weird, so one time I got like 5 letters one week and none the week before. But basically every week I do. Everyone hates me and says I’m the first American to get something every week of my mission. :)

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha 

Feijoada is I think what we made before the mission, Black beans, sausage, pig fat..

Baião is just beans and rice mixed, usually with cheese.

And panelada basically has everything inside of a cow. In like a stew.

Thank you for all of the pictures, and all of the letters from family. And I got (I mean Bishop) letter also, from him.   So he must have gotten my real e-mail put back on.   Thanks for everything you do!   I have the best family EVER!

I didn’t get to e-chat but I love you!!    Have a wonderful week. !!!!!!

:) loves