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

Picture!

Email 9-2-13

This week was a pretty good one.

One of the ladies that we have been teaching for two weeks or so, she plays a big part in her church actually (The Evangelical church)   Anyways, we have been focusing a lot on prayer, she really has the desire to know for herself it these things are true or not.   She has a super busy life though.   She just separated from her husband and has two kids at home.   But she’s awesome.   She is one of the first people that I have taught here that have real questions about the Gospel.    She is super intelligent.  Anyways, we took a member with us to teach because he just got home from his mission, and was an assistant.   He is on fire!!   He basically took over everything and she agrees to come to church with us.  One thing about the people in Brazil are, they are all super nice and they don’t want to offend us.  So they agree to do things and don’t have the intention of fulfilling it.  So, after she agreed I was hopeful that she would go, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much.  So, we went to her house Sunday morning, with faith!   We walked up to her door, which was open, and she was sitting there in a dress just waiting for us to arrive.  She gave us a hard time for being late and we left.  We got to the church and showed her the chapel. She sat down then me and my companion ran upstairs to tell the bishop we had an investigator there.  He told EVERYONE.   Everybody in that building welcomed her there.   And a sister from the ward sat by her and showed her how to use the hymn book.   It was one of the greatest feelings on my mission.   Knowing that we work our butts off, not for nothing.   I have been working for three months to get an investigator to go to church in this ward. (because we have two.)  And it paid off.  The members are so awesome!

() was confirmed and was feeling super nervous and when the Bishop announced his name he didn´t want to go. He just sat there and put his head down with embarrassment.   Three of the young men that were going to pass the sacrament came back and helped him get up there, giving him encouragement the whole way.  These are three young men that were baptized about a year ago.  They live in the favela, and out of their families, they are the only members. They go to church 45 minutes early to make sure the chapel is clean, get the sacrament ready, and welcome the members.  And today actually, they left for the Temple. They will ride a bus for 12 hours to get there, spend a week there, going every day. Then Saturday, they´ll ride 12 more hours to return. I remember when I was growing up, thinking it was sooo long to go to Snowflake to the Temple and how early we had to wake up.  That is nothing compared to what these people here do.  The faith they have is incredible.

This week we had a lack of water in our whole neighborhood.  The owner of our house has a well so they gave us a few buckets to shower with! Ha ha ha.  With the challenges we are given, they don´t even matter because of the blessings I am witnessing in my own life, and the lives of the people here.

I was looking in sacrament meeting yesterday at the people I had the opportunity of teaching and baptizing. They are all firm in the church. What a great feeling is it to have been able to help these wonderful people experience the joy that I have from this Gospel.  It wasn´t me that did it though.  We all know if was the Holy Ghost testifying of the truth.

I hope everyone had a wonderful week, and make the next one good too.

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

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

HA HA HA HA HA    it gets hotter here every day..   Cold literally does not exist.

And that pic is to show the pants that I came here with.   I was using the first belt loop when I came.. Now I’m on the fifth, almost the sixth. Ha ha ha

have a wonderful week.

I hope you have fun!

Love you guys

I´ll be sure to eat some extra baião for you. Ha ha.

and feijoada. You can look those up if you want, and panelada. That´s the best one.

(Portuguese must have a lot of slang in it or google is dumb because according to google , ‘he’s going to be eating a panful of ugly balloons, or a panful of balloon bean stew or a panful of bean stew while listening to a ballad!!!  ha ha ha  :)     Tune in next week to find out what he was really eating!!!)  Actually, this letter goes out to some former Brazilian missionaries…..  tell us -- what did he eat?

feijoada - ugly, bean stew

baiao - ballad, balloon

panelada – panful   

also -- how do you spell "happy birthday" and "we love you" in Portuguese?   I looked it up in google translate but after the above translations, I'm a little scared to trust it!!!   

Email 8-26-13

This week was pretty awesome!  One of the kids we have been teaching (2 years ago he was taught by another missionary, that is now my zone leader.)  Anyways, he was never baptized, but his family was.  We were able to teach all of the lessons and what not, refreshing his mind of everything, and started talking about the baptismal interview. He said he only wanted Elder () (the elder from 2 years ago.) to do it.   I talked to that Elder, and he said our district leader had to do it.   I talked with the kid,  and he got really nervous and didn't want to do it.   So, later that day I went over and talked to my district leader and we decided to just go over to the boy's house and see what he thought of him.   They ended up clicking right then and we asked him once again about the interview  . He looked up at our district leader and said, ``is it okay if we do it right now?``   Good thing I took the church keys with me just in case! :)   We went to the Chapel and he passed!! It was awesome.   So he was baptized after church yesterday.   Elder () was able to come and baptize him, which was super awesome.

We were walking by a house the other day and we heard this lady talking to her husband about the Book of Mormon.   I stopped, looked at her, and said, ``this book?`` and showed it to her.   She got super excited and invited us in.   She had been given the book weeks ago and didn’t know really anything about it.   She has already read about half of it.   She is very very active in the Evangelical church and invited to pray to know for herself, if the book of Mormon, and what we were teaching her is true.   But, she had so many questions about things that don’t even matter.   I tried explaining everything but she just interrupted me with more questions.   Tomorrow we’re going to take a member with us to help teach her.   Everything should go well.

My companion and I made History yesterday too!   It was the first time in two years that the missionaries had been at the executive committee meeting.   We had made some goals with the ward, and they loved it.   We will be having one member leave with us, every day this week.   This ward is super ready to help us and that makes me want to help them even more.

As we are taking care of two wards, later that day we tried presenting the same goals with the other ward. They pretty much just told us that they have their own goals, and they will stick with theirs.   It was super annoying.   We are hare to do missionary work to help THEIR ward grow and prosper.   And they don't want our help.   We’ll continue to do our work, but it was just pretty annoying..

We have some good people we’re teaching that we contacted in the street.   We will have to keep teaching them to know for sure if they are going to continue to progress or not though.   I’ll report on them next week!

  -Elder Kyler Blane Farr

LAN means local area network. It’s just a building with lots of computers and you pay by the hour to use them.   That’s where we e-mail, from a lan house.

(on wearing his suit – doesn’t he look so nice in it!  From what we were told before he left, we didn’t think he’d ever wear it while in Brazil!!)   yeah... it’s the worst!!!   It gets so hot.....

It was at the mission conference, with all of the missionaries in our mission there. They’re fun though so we can see all of our friends. :)

I’m not exactly training.   My comp just got done being trained.   He has 3 months but basically speaks nothing at all.   It’s hard, but I’m learning a ton.   It’s been interesting!

I’m glad the truck is done!   I bet dad is so happy!

(we asked him if he would like us to put some money in his account so he could take his comp for a special lunch on his birthday)   A special lunch doesn’t really exist here.. just rice and beans everywhere  ha ha,

Love you mom!   Have a wonderful week!   I am feeling well!!   Everything is great, I’m so glad I’m here.

Love you!!   Until next week...

If you would like to write him:

Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Brazil Fortaleza Mission

Av. Santos Dumont, 1789 - sala 1612

60150 - 160 Aldeota - Fortaleza - CE

BRAZIL

Email 8-19-13

Okay, you said something about me being in this area for 6 weeks already, but it’s been 12.   I’ve been here for 2 transfers already!   And I’m still here!   Ha ha.   Elder () left.   He went up to be a Zone Leader.   He’s super excited about that.   He’ll be good.    My new companion is Elder () from Colorado.   He just got done being trained, so he’s a newbie.  :)   Which means I’m the senior companion. It should be fun.   I don't really know anything about him yet, but you can tell he’s very obedient, and he should be keeping me in line! Ha ha just kidding. :)

It should be interesting for the first couple of days.   We’ll be making tons of new investigators.   I hope everything goes as planned and the members do their part.

This past week, () was baptized!   I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen, but she got her answer, and after that she was all ready to go.   She went to a sleepover activity with the other young women in the ward.   She loved it!   One of her relatives baptized her.   It was awesome.

We were at the church last night waiting for some kids to get there for a ward missionary training and this guy comes into the gate, entering the parking lot.   There were some young women sitting near the entrance and they all came running in, away from him.   I looked at Elder (), and we went to talk to him.   He wouldn't stop talking to one of the sisters, and she was super creeped out.   I grabbed him by the shoulders and helped him out, but on the way he said, ``I just want to know what they do here``.   We helped him stumble over to the sidewalk and talked to him about the church a little bit.   We taught him part of the Word Of Wisdom, and told him to go home, take a shower, take a nap, and then come back next Sunday.   It was an interesting experience.   He kept yelling his address at us, maybe we’ll pass by there sometime this next week.  ;)

() grandma, who is not a member of the church, went to her baptism.  We talked with her a little bit and she loved it!   Tonight we’ll go there and try to teach her, if not her, then we’ll try to teach their neighbor.   If everything goes as planned we should have that whole complex baptized by the time this transfer is over.

I really didn’t want to stay here in these areas, but there’s obviously a reason why I’m here.   I only have five months in this country and have tons to learn!   I just hope I can help my companion as much as possible on the way!

The drama is over.. I hope.   Everything should be good from now on.

I haven't received an e-mail from BISHOP  for the past two weeks!   What’s up!?   He’s probably just busy, huh?  (note:  Bishop () writes faithfully every week but somehow had the wrong address for Elder Kyler the last 2 weeks.  I let him know and forwarded the letters to Kyler.  Bless his heart – aside from his dad, he is the busiest man I know!!)

That’s funny about the transmission.  :)   Good luck!  (note:  After trying to fit fixing the transmission in between jobs for several weeks, Blane realized that in order to have time to put the new transmission in his truck, he would have to take a day off - so he finally did and got half way finished ...and then it started raining - hard - and rained hard for the rest of the day!)

I feel like I’m forgetting something but my mind is racing!   If I remember, I’ll get it to ya somehow!

Have a good week.
-Elder Kyler Blane Farr-

Happy Birthday to Dad too right!?    Coming pretty quick! :)

Love you much!   Hope you like the pics too! :)

Email 8-12-13

IT´S SO HOT!!
       Okay, so we just walked like 30 minutes to get here to the LAN house to e-mail.   We went to another area to have a barbecue with the Bishops family of that ward.   They invited us.   They’re so awesome.   There is a missionary that served here like 2 years ago and he’s back visiting for a while.   He’s from Salt Lake.   So, we got to visit with him for a while, eat a ton, and we played some games and what not.   That’s why I’m on here later too.    but anyways..
       This week was good!   There is a kid on the Favela.   His whole family was baptized like a year and a half ago, but he was too young to.   And the family is all inactive so they didn’t have a lot of contact with the missionaries and stuff.   So, we were walking in there earlier this week and they came up to us in the street. Turns out, he basically remembers everything about the church and wants to get baptized.   We put them to the test.   We told him if they went to church this week, all of them, and the next week, then we could see if he’s really serious, then can be baptized.   There are so many people in that favela that are inactive members. So, we are trying our best to decide, with help from the lord, who will actually stay active, and be serious about entering into the sacred covenant of baptism.   So, we went to their house Sunday morning to get them.  (like a 30 minute walk)  We were doubting they would go, but we had faith. :)   They were all ready, and they had even invited their two cousins to go  . It was awesome.   The kids are between like nine and twelve years old.   It’s so cool to see their determination.   So, if everything works out and they continue to keep doing the right things, he will be able to be baptized this next Sunday.
       We have also been working a ton with ().   She has some doubts still but everything is working out.   She just thinks she has to know every little thing about the church to be baptized.   That’s why we have the lessons.   To show people the importance of it, and to learn the basics.   And to pray about to know for themselves if it is true or not.   Then they enter make the covenant, or promise that they will do some things, and in return, God will do some things also.   Then they can keep learning week after week at church for the rest of their lives as they are enduring to the end! :)   We are praying that she will recognize the importance.
       Transfers are next week!   No one knows for sure, but I think I’ll be leaving these areas,   It’s not very likely to close an area, but I think both Elder Briggs and I will leave.   We don’t know anything for sure yet, it’s just what we’re thinking.   I think it would be best, there’s a little drama over here..   But whatever happens, it’s for the best.   We’ve tried to contact that other family, the reference from the Bishop, but they aren’t wanting ANYTHING.   We walked up the other day, as we were arriving we saw three people of the porch, they saw us, then went inside.   We went and clapped at the door, no one came.... we clapped again..  a boy comes out and tells us that he’s the only one there.   We got kind of irritated and left.   Then thought, why are we mad!?!?   Our job is to invite others to come unto Christ. That’s what we did, or tried to do.   But they rejected.   People don’t realize that we are trying to bring them the happiest thing that anyone could offer and they don’t want it.   I am just glad that I have it.   The Restored Gospel.   I’m so grateful for the happiness that it has brought to my life, and that I get the opportunity to share it with others.

The time feels like it’s passing fast!   Eight months already.   I just have to do that two more times then I’m home.   I just can’t wait to help as many people as possible, and ill let you know where I’m at next week.   If I get transferred or not.

And to answer your questions..
I don’t remember how much I had lost the last time I said.. But I’m down 48 pounds as of two weeks ago. Cool huh?
My blood pressure is fine, I’m still on half the amt. from when I left.   We’ll see if it gets low again with time.. I’m sure it will though.   But that’s a good thing.
And it was my hammock in the background of that picture you saw!
Have a great week!
-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Email 8-5-13

You’ll never guess!   It’s actually cold today!!

NOT!

It actually feels like every day is hotter than the day before.   It’s crazy.

But, this week was pretty good.   We went to () house to finalize everything for her baptism. 
We got there and this man was there that ``wanted to speak to us in respect to her baptism.``   Turns out it was her dad that doesn’t even live here.    He’s not even a big part of her life.   It’s sad, but that’s why she lives with her grandma next to all of her family members.   So, we sat down and start talking about how prayer was the biggest part of her decision to be baptized and how she prayed, and got an answer to do it.   He started talking about how when they were talking about (() and her dad) that she confessed everything about how she really wasn’t ready.   The whole time her dad was talking, she was looking at him rolling her eyes.   He made up a huge long story just because he doesn’t want her to be baptized yet.   We actually ended up teaching him all of the commandments, and about Baptism.   He said he has nothing against our church and he knows it is important to be Baptized, but she needs to wait a little bit.   We tried explaining to him that baptism is just the start.   It is a doorway that needs to be open to then experience all of the other wonderful things in the gospel.   He was pretty firm on his answer.   It is super discouraging!   There were three people in my last area that were prepared for baptism but their parents wouldn't let them.   And like two weeks ago the girl that is not even allowed to talk to us because of her dad.   We have done everything we can think of but nothing is working out!

The Bishop of one of our wards took us to lunch the other day, and while we were there he gave us a reference!   It was a miracle!!!   It was of a family where the parents are members but the kids are not.   They have been inactive for like five or six years.   Anyways, we stopped by there; we went in and just started talking.   We pretty much just wanted to set up a time to go back again because we had another appointment. We ended up talking for quite a while as they showed us all of their baptism pictures, all of their old church books and manuals.   It was really cool.  As we were getting ready to leave Elder () stood up to put on his backpack on and the dad freaked out!   He said ``sit down! We have to say a prayer before you go!``   (all in Portuguese though)  :)   It was awesome.   We tried contacting them during the end of the week but it never worked out  so we just decided to go Saturday night and re-invite them to church.   They said it would be okay if we stopped by Sunday morning to get them before Church.   So, we went there at 8:30 Sunday morning, for church that started at 9.   He said they were getting ready to go and they would be there in like fifteen minutes.   It was all working out perfectly until they didn’t go...........

I am learning patience! I really don't know what to do differently!   It was just one of those weeks.   One of the weeks where you learn a ton, but don't see the results of your work.   It happens though.   We just have to keep on keeping on and everything will work out for the best!

Have a good week!
-Elder Kyler Blane Farr