April 25, 2013

Email 4-22-13

oh hey! :)

So, I talked on the phone with our mission health guy, and he said I had a bacteria inside of me, (it could have been from anything) but I called President S____ and he said they had the meds I needed in the mission office. So, we took the bus (2 hours) to the mission office and the meds were expired! So, we walked to the nearest hospital to get a prescription slip. But I forgot my ID!!  We walked back to the mission office, got my passport and visa for an ID, walked back to the hospital, and we didn't have my health code!  Back to the mission office, then to the hospital for the last time.  We finally got my meds after waiting for almost 2 hours in the waiting room.  But, I talked with the doctor about my blood pressure too.  Because I'm losing so much weight, my blood pressure is dropping too.  It's not bad yet, but she is having me write down what it is every day at different times, then next week-ish we´ll set up a time to meet with another doctor to adjust my meds!  We left our appt. about 8 in the morning, and didn't return until 3-ish!  We missed our lunch appt!  But Elder P____ and I are expanding our foods. We make pancakes more now, and we always have bananas, guava, apples, mango, and cashew fruit.  It´s awesome.  The fruit is so cheap it's not even funny.  And most of the members in our ward have fruit trees and give us whatever we want, whenever.  It´s awesome to have so much access to so many fruits!  I am feeling so much better now though, ready to start working for real now, without sickness!

We´re still teaching D____and his family.  We are meeting with them tomorrow night, talking about baptism and marriage.  It should be good.  Elder p____ said I'm teaching this one by myself.  He´ll help me if I get stuck.  You know.. teaching in another language and stuff.. :)   It´s going to be great!

And, C____ and his family too. One of his 4 daughters went to church and loved it.  We taught Sunday school, with all of the youth, about the Book of Mormon.  It was awesome!   We had 8 investigators at church!

I'm not sure exactly how much time we have to skype on mothers day, but we need to set up a time.  So we know when to get everything set up.

I'm not sure if I told you or not, but our washing machine broke!! We´ve been washing clothes by hand for the past 2 weeks.  We´ve been waiting for someone to come fix it, but it's not happening!  It´s kind of fun though.  It makes the experience more memorable.

I´m still having fun! :)   everything is going so well.   I´m so blessed to have this opportunity.

Yesterday I talked in church.  It was about missionary work.  I incorporated it more of how we can all be good examples to the people around us, because we had investigators there and I know they didn't want to hear about what they can do when they're a member of the church, because they're not members!! YET! :)

The work is amazing here.  My comp. said this is one of the slowest areas.  But we're doing all we can to keep it up with the others!!  With Faith and fasting we will make it happen with help from the Lord!
You´re all great! :)

Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Email 4-15-13

Alright.. 

The beginning of this week was awesome! One of the members in our ward gave us the name of a family to go visit. We show up and everyone was there, so we taught them the first lesson. It was pretty much perfect!   We taught everything we wanted to go through. And we invited them to read and pray. It’s a family of four girls, and mom, and their dad. After we invited them to read and pray the mom laughed at us and said only one of them knows how to read. Ha ha I guess they will be having a bunch of scripture reading as a family with the one daughter reading it all. We showed up Sunday morning to remind them about church, but they had family coming into town so none of them wanted to go. But as we were about to leave one of the daughters said she wanted to go. We showed up at the chapel with her right as some of the other young women were arriving. It was perfect, they invited her to sit with them. We were preoccupied after church and didn't get a chance to talk to her again, but we’ll be stopping by again this week to see how it was!

D____ and his family went to church again too. They loved conference, and they loved sacrament meeting, Sunday school, and priesthood/relief society just the same! D____is already a member, and wants to come back into activity. His wife and kids loved church too, and as soon as they get married, they can all be baptized as a family!

M____ is sick too. So no one knows when her baptism will actually be. Ill just wait, and the next time I write about her will be after the baptism. Ha ha. I keep writing about her and nothing is actually happening. But, all is well. We have talked with her mom and she has expressed a desire to keep learning about the church too. And wants to come to church to see how it is. Hopefully we can help her be ready to enter in this sacred covenant with the lord along with her daughter.

We´re still working with L____ (17) too!  At the beginning of one of our visits he said he didn't have faith, and he didn't want to talk to us about God, or Jesus, or the church anymore.  We talked with him a little bit more and committed to meet with us again, and committed to pray about continuing to meet with us.  I know that if he really prays, he will have that desire to continue learning and growing!

That was pretty much the extent of our missionary work this week.  I’m not sure if its just a bug or what.  But, I've been tied to the bathroom for the past four days.  President S____ and his wife gave us the names of some meds to take, but nothing worked. Ha ha... And its not getting any better. We’re going to call them later today and see what they think we should do. It’s nothing to worry about though.  Other than that I'm great!!! :)

One of the members of our ward has tons and tons of coconut trees, and he gave us some coconut water that's supposed to help with stomach problems. It’s funny, all of the members of the ward are trying to give me all of these things they think will help me feel better. I’m not going to go take all of the medicines they give me, but I guess it’s the thought that counts? Ha ha ha

We just went to the Pharmacy to weigh ourselves, and I lost 8 pounds this week! It’s terrible.  That's what happens when everything you eat goes right through you!  In total I've lost 28 lbs... In 5 weeks!

By the way.. Brother H____ said to mention something in our letters about how we are receiving his letters. So, here it is! I’m getting them all.

Besides all of the bad things this week. it was great!! :)   But seriously, I'm learning a ton with Elder P____.   I’m understanding more and more every day.   OH, and yesterday during testimony meeting the bishop kept looking at me, just like Bishop B____ did,  so I got up and bore my testimony. The members loved it, ha ha because I know I don't talk very well still. But they love that I'm trying!
I just hope I'm ready for my talk in church next week!  We just got a new ward mission leader, and he is dedicated to the max!!   He’s trying to get the ward excited about missionary work, and I hope that with my talk, I’ll be able to contribute to helping everyone get excited about the work!  We have a great message that everyone needs to hear.  Nothing can bring more happiness to a person’s life than knowing they can return to the presence of our Heavenly father after this life! :)


love,
Elder Kyler Blane Farr!
Note from Mom/Shannon – So I spent a restless night last night dreaming over and over that I called the Mission Home to talk to President S____ about Kyler, to see how he was doing and to ask him if he’s given Kyler the medicine for parasites or worms and I couldn’t understand a thing they were saying, and no one there knew English and couldn’t understand me!!!   Finally, I decided to leave him in the Lord’s hands – He’s taken very good care of my son thus far – and then I was able to get some sleep!   It’s times like this that he feels so very far away but I know that Heavenly Father is watching over him and he will be fine.  And Kyler has such a happy, great attitude and he doesn’t want me to worry – so I’ll honor him in that way!
 
Also – I spent a lovely afternoon finally looking at the flash drive he sent home just before he left CA.  I haven’t looked at it before now because I was afraid it would make me too homesick for him but now I wish I had watched it sooner!  I laughed and laughed at the pictures and videos and LOVED hearing his voice and laugh in the videos of the Temple and MTC antics and I just stared at his face!!!  It was wonderful!  I’ll probably wear it out watching it over and over!

April 11, 2013

Email 4-8-2013

ITS ME!

This week was awesome, just like all the others. I was kind of getting down on myself for not being able to understand what's going on all of the time, with the whole language barrier and what not.. But we had to go to the mission office to take care of some visa stuff, and I saw some of the other missionaries that arrived with me. Let's just say it's a blessing having a native companion. The learning process is so much faster. With an American companion you have the opportunity to speak English. Without that opportunity, you either have to go all day every day not understanding anything, or learn super fast. I´m trying the second choice, of learning super fast! My companion thinks he's being annoying, doing extra practices all of the time, and making me teach more, and do more contacts in the street, but I thanked him today. He was surprised. I´m glad he's doing it. He says he's only doing it so I can be extra ready for when I'm in leadership. We´ll see about that!!   ha ha.

One of the families that we're working with, there´s 5 of them, went to conference. The ``husband`` is an inactive member of 15 years, but wants to get back into activity. After they´re married, we can definitely help them do that. We´ve taught the first 2 lessons and they loved conference. It´s looking pretty good! They didn't have a bible in their house, and we had an extra one in our apartment, so we gave it to them. And he had us sign his Book of Mormon!

So, M____ needs to be interviewed by a member of the mission presidency, because of some past issues. It couldn't happen least week, but this week for sure!! I keep saying that, but its difficult to set things up because we don't have a phone. All of the areas have cell phones except ours. Just because our area is super poor, and there have been problems with people stealing missionaries´ stuff. But this week for sure it should happen!

Conference was good!! I THINK... I understood almost none of it. Our chapel is a duplex. And no one near us speaks English, so they couldn't get it in English for me. One of the members tried using their laptop to get it, but he couldn't get it to work.. haha. I guess I'll just wait for it to come out in the church magazines. It was funny, because all of the music was in English. All of the people got a big kick out of me singing in English. We had 8 investigators at conference!! It was awesome.
I went on exchanges this week with a missionary from Argentina. Elder R____. He´s been out about 10 months. It was awesome. All of our appointments cancelled, but we still made it a good time. We street contacted for a bit, with no luck.. But at the end of the day, we ran into a family where all of them are members except the dad. No one knows why he's not a member. So, we asked him. He said he needs to pray about it. But he didn´t know how to pray! We taught him how and everything was all good! haha.

I´m pretty much accustomed to the fact that I´ll be wet my whole mission. OH! the water went out again.. haha. We went another day without water. It was awesome. That´s where the memories come from. ``Trials make the heart grow stronger``-the RM??

We have potentially 5 people that could be baptized in the next few weeks. If everything works out. It´s hard trying to catch everyone at home when we have time. It´s always a holiday, or people are sleeping. But, when they're ready, they're ready!!

My area is Jatobá by the way.  and.. when does M____ leave?? And J____, any news on his call??
But, I'm loving it here! I'm learning so much!! My companion is so awesome!   haha.   I have received I think 2 or 3 letters so far?  I´m not sure.. but I think it takes about 2 weeks to arrive.

I hope everyone is doing well!! 

(His neice Tawni asked if he mixes his rice and beans together)  and to Tawni. The way they do it, is they put a huge bed of rice down, beans on top, then whatever else they´re eating on top of that. Everything is all mixed together! The food is awesome!  most of the time. :)  

com amor!! :)
---Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Email 4-1-2013

This week was awesome!! This, guy.. I call him my ``friend`` he’s got some mental issues. But anyways, he continues to preach to me every time we see him. I can understand more or less of what he’s saying. It’s all mixed up. I think I probably talk like he does. Poorly. Ha Ha.. But, everyone is saying I'm learning super quickly. I'm not sure if they're just saying that to be nice or if its true. I am trying though!!

A few nights ago we were walking down the street and out of nowhere this lady asks us if we want some cake! Uhh duhh. We’re missionaries, of course we want cake! We said sure. She brought it out to us. While we were eating it a guy walks past and says, ``you’re American right?`` of course, I said yes. He brought me a CD that he had made in English to make sure all of the grammar was right. Ha ha ha ha. It made close to no sense at all. And the parts I did understand were kind of super inappropriate. But it was funny.

There is a member of the ward that knows a little bit of English and wants to learn more. Were going to stop by there today so I can help him learn English, and he will help me learn Português. It’ll be awesome. He’s super cool. He’s not baptized, but he’s basically a member of the church. He has been taught everything, but he’s separated from his wife, trying to make the divorce official. And living with a member. He goes to all of the activities, and he’s there every Sunday, he just needs to get married, then be baptized! :)

We were in priesthood meeting, and the bishop asked me if I could read something from the scriptures. I said I could but I don't think anyone will understand me. I was joking. But, he said ``its okay, I’ll ask you another time.`` After the meeting, he asked me to speak in church... it’ll be the fourth Sunday in April. I’ll be praying a lot between now and then. It’s about missionary work, so it’ll be pretty easy to do. =)

Our water went out this week. Some problem with the street water system.. I'm not sure. A member of the ward that lives across the street from us helped us go to a well down the road to get water. We had 4 buckets of water for the three days it was out. Luckily, I had washed all of my clothes the day before. So, I had clean clothes. But we have to take 2 showers a day, Morning and night. So, we showered out of buckets. It was pretty fun! Ha ha. It’s back now, and all is well.

All of the problems with M____ are all straightened out. Her baptism will be this Saturday. She´s so ready. She’s had a rough past, she’s 17 pretty much raising herself. Her mom is single, working always. We’ve taught her a few times. But, she lives with a man that doesn't want to get married, and doesn't want to learn the truth. But when they are ready, they will be ready. We’ll keep working on teaching the both of them.

We taught a man this week, and his wife.(or.. woman friend, they’re not married either) and he was a pastor for the Catholic church for 2 years, and felt it wasn’t right so left it. We taught him about the restoration and how in the Bible it talks about how there will be a restoration of the gospel in the fullness of times. He was amazed. They're trying to get married right now. They’re golden!!   I bore my testimony at the end and talked about how, we have the same exact Church on the earth today that Jesus Christ established when he was on the earth, with a Prophet, 12 Apostles, and Priesthood authority of God. I don't speak very well, but I know he felt the spirit the same way I did.

People always ask why our church is called what it is. We ask them, ``did you know Jesus Christ established his church when he was on the earth.`` they always say no. then we say ``that same church, was restored by a modern day prophet.`` It’s perfect for introducing the gospel. It gets them interested, then we teach them!! :)

I keep forgetting to tell you too. People call me Elder Fahh, or Elder Fahah. Because the double consonant doesn't exist here. It´s to funny. At the beginning, I tried to get them to say Farr.. It’s not worth it! They can’t say it. So, I’ll be Elder Fahh for the next 20 months
I love this! I love the mission. I know I'm here for a reason. I know the church that our Savior, Jesus Christ established, is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that our prophet was called of God. I know that we have the priesthood on the earth today, and with the Priesthood, we can perform miracles, we can perform sacred ordinances necessary to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. It’s a beautiful message, and we need to share it with the world. Everyone needs this happiness that I have.

com amor   (with love – I didn’t have to google translate this time!  Yea!)
-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

His responses to my (Mom) few minutes of emailing chatting with him

I’m on.. writing my letter now.

We have like 10 minutes left!! I’m trying to get pictures sent but everything is in Português!!     ahh.. but I’ll have elder P____ help me :)    HOW ARE YOU!?!?!?

We went to the center of Fortaleza. I hate it there. It’s a mad house!! So many people. But, were back now. We’re gonna go shopping. And do laundry. And I’m going to go teach a member English while he’s teaching me Português. I love it here. I love you so much!! I hope everything is well. I might go get a haircut too if we have time. But we probably won’t.. P-days are full of things to do!! love you

Leaving right now.. I love you!!!!!!