Email 7-21-14

Hello Everybody!

 

So, I guess I´ll start out by talking about my new ``son``. His name is Elder Pinheiro.   He´s from Manaus!!   Did I ever tell you that I always wanted a companion from Manaus!?   He´s so legit.   He´s 21 and came to the mission SUPER prepared!   He´s getting used to the mission life and what not but he´s doing very well so far.   Elder Monteiro from Cape Verde, Africa lives with us too and is training a missionary from Bolivia.   Four different nacionalities and four different accents at home. It´s been pretty fun so far.

 

We´ve gotten to know alot about the ward and it´s awesome.  This is the first ward that I have been in during my time here that talks about doing things, then actually does it.  They work!  It´s awesome.  We already have marked for this next week two people to leave and teach with us.  One in the afternoon, and one at night, for every day except for Saturday, due to a ward activity.

 

We had a ward activity, a ``festa junina`` Saturday with like 300 people there.  There were TONS!  Because it with both wards that go to the chapel that we frequent.  Out of nowhere, they asked me to give the message like five minutes before it started. That´s the first time I gave a message in front of so many people.  There were members, non members, inactives, recent converts, and investigators..   It was nuts, but it worked out.  It went well.

 

We met a 17 year old kid that uses drugs and does absolutely nothing in life.. He cried as he told us that he wants to change.  He´s waiting to turn 18 to be able to get his card to be able to get a job.  But in the meanwhile he just hangs out with his friends that are a terrible influence.  We set some goals with him and we´ll help him to have a better life.  It depends very little on us, and alot on him.  We´ll see though.  With faith, everything is possible!!  He understood the Restoration, and accepted baptism.  We left, visited his neighbor and as we passed his house again he was inside smoking weed......... We´ll teach the word of wisdom and it´ll work out! Ha ha ha

 

Everyone in the ward was telling me and my companion that we are the ``nice`` companionship, just based on the way we look.  It´s funny.  They all walk up and say.. ``olha aí, são os Èlderes simpaticos!``  It´s funny.  This ward is great!  We´re all enjoying it a bunch! 

 

I´m hoping I finish the mission here, but I won’t get my hopes up just in case it doesn’t happen! Ha ha..

 

Love you all!!

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

 

Also:   

He gave his message about keeping the commandments, and the blessings we receive.. using Mosiah 2:41.. and said they were going to do an awesome game thing but there were no knives there…

 

He loves the Manaus accent!!  (Manaus is in the Northern Brasil, in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest and also the area where Sam Poulton and Trent Palmer served their missions)

 

He wasn’t sure how the card works but will let me know next week.

 

Google translation says that ``olha aí, são os Èlderes simpaticos!`` means “looking around, the elders are friendly”   

 

He reminds us to “Have fun, and remember to smile.. :) <---like this!”

Email 7-14-14

Okay.. so transfers was today!!

But before talking about that..

 

We were walking to lunch this last week and Elder E shut his eyes and said, ``you will have to guide me to lunch`` And it was pretty far too. S o I told him when to go up, down, to turn, to duck and all that good stuff.  At one point he could hear people talking and got embarrassed cause his eyes were shut, but I told him that he just had to keep going until the end.   At another point a motorcycle was coming passed us and he got scared but I assured him that he was in a safe place, (on the side of the road!) ha ha ha.. we finally got to lunch and we said, ``wow that was awesome..`` We ended up sharing that as our lunch message and related it to how I was acting as the spirit.  Sometimes the spirit tells us to do something and we get embarrassed..but we have to keep on going, because the spirit knows better than we do. Sometimes we get scared, but the spirit is there to comfort us! It was a cool real life experience that we related to the Gospel.  The Sister that we shared it with liked it so much she gave us a high five.. so it must have been pretty dang good! ha ha..

 

So speaking of transfers.............I left.. Elder E stayed there.  I was kind of mad after only staying there for six weeks during the world cup.  It didnt even give enough time to do hardly anything.. I would tell you more about my new companion, but I don't know who it is!   He´ll get into the mission field tomorrow!   I´m district leader too.  So I spent 6 months of my mission as a Zone leader, and when I'm done training this missionary I will have spent 9 months training. I´ll get another ``son`` tomorrow!  ha ha. Tomorrow will get here 2 missionaries from Bolívia, 1 from colombia, 2 brazillians, and 1 from Cape Verde, África!   I´ll let you know next week which one I get.

 

I´m back in Caucaia too. My área is Parque Albano. It´s in the same Zone and Stake that I was already in. Our area has basically nothing.. we have to go out of our área for basically everything..but that´s okay.   I know I'm here for a reason.

 

I can´t believe it happened how it did... I think I'll probably end my mission here.. Training is 2 transfers and then I'll have one more.. crazy.. I don't even believe it..

 

I´m well! And I heard we have some good investigators too!!   Love you lots,

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Email 7-7-14

That was fun!

 

We just got home from going to the mission office to pick up materials for our zona for the week.. There was alot.. like alot alot.  So we took a taxi to get home. The taxi driver started asking questions about the church, and what we do and how much money we make.   (ha ha ha ha ha) and things like that.  We explained everything to him and he likes everything we said.  He said he was sitting in the (I forgot how you call the Catholic Church service) and he said he felt like something was missing.  He went on to talk about how he didn’t know his purpose in life and  he wanted to know where we go when we die, and why so many churches spend half of the meeting talking about money..  The car ride was about an hour and we taught him the restoration, the plan of salvation, and tithing.  It was awesome because my companion was in the front and I was in the back seat and we were switching off talking, and reading scriptures and what not.   He said, `` I know you guys work in Conjunto Ceará, but I want you to give my phone number to the missionaries where I live so I can go visit your church.``  We got his info.. ;) and he´ll be a great member of the church some say!

 

He started out the conversation bearing his testimony about how God exists, and how he loves us and he talked about the experiences that have happened in his life that are proofs that we have a loving Heavenly Father that just wants us to be happy. We spent quite a bit of time at home again this week.  But I was thinking…. There´s a sketchy taxi system here in Fortaleza that are normal people with normal cars that take people around and charge like half the price. My companion said, ``let’s just call taxi amigo``.   But I felt that we needed to go in the road and flag down an official one.. It´s more expensive, but.. oh well..   So we did, and we met this awesome man with a desire to learn the truth.

 

It´s funny how The Lord puts people in our paths that we can share the truth with.

We met a boy this week also that has been to church a ton and his mom didn't let him get baptized,  now she´ll let him.  He wants to wait a bit, but we told him to pray about getting baptized this week.   We’ll go there this week and talk with him.   He´s awesome.

That was the highlight of this week!!

 

I made a year and seven months yesterday! That´s NUTS!! Time is moving and moving..  it´s crazy!

 

I love this Gospel. Don’t be afraid to live it, and share it with your friends, and family, and enemies!   And everyone!  Okay??  Okay!

 

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

 

PS -- his parting message to me that I'd like to share:)

Have fun at work!!

Remember who you are and what you stand for!   Be obedient okay!?   and always wear your seatbelt! ha ha ;) love you guys!

Email 6-30-14

This week was good!

 

We were actually able to go out and work quite a bit this week, besides the Brasil games, because it´s so crazy in our area during.. During the next game I’ll send some pics of how our street gets so you all can see it. ;)

 

I was able to meet some investigators here for the first time this week. There are some really good people with alot of potential with just some little problems that are easily fixable with a little bit of faith!  We had combined with a bunch of people to go to church, but only a few went.. I´ve noticed a huge lack of faith even within the members of the church.

 

Our church in our area is getting reformed so we have to go to the other church like 30 minutes away walking. SOOO many people don´t go.. just because it´s a little bit further away.  They think it´s a sacrifice to go..  I can´t really think of very many things that would make me not want to renew my baptismal covenants with my Heavenly Father. 

 

We have been talking alot about Faith recently, me and my companion.. One thing I learned from a previous companion is this.. but it makes more sense in Portuguese. 

 

Faith..(Fé) has two letters.. F and E.. F is for ``fazer``-TO DO and E is for ``ESPERAR``- to wait.. so we do something.. then we wait for the blessings to come.. for example, I want to find a new job.. I’m not going to sit at home and wait for someone to contact me.. I am going to go looking for a new job.. There are so many examples that exist.. Like, if we want a better life, (who doesn’t want a better life??)  We need to do the things that will help us to make that happen.. We need to LIVE the gospel!   Mosiah 2:41..   It´s so simple!   We can be happy because we get blessed, because we keep the commandments.. Material blessings.. and spiritual blessings.. Just do it..   It´s so annoying to me when people complain about things, when they aren’t doing what they´re supposed to!   Ha ha.. I’m kind of ranting on.. just putting my thoughts onto paper!

 

Anyways.. our old mission president left!   He´s home.. and the new one (Presidente Bonini) is here!   I haven´t met him yet though.. we´ll have a mission conference this Wednesday with him and it´s like a ``meet your mission president`` conference. It´ll be cool!

 

I´m about to make a year and seven months here in like 5 days or so! That´s scary... but I’ll do what I have to do while I’m here!!

 

Loves!

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

:)     I’m not trunky or anything.. I’m just SSOOO excited to see all you again,.....