Email 9-8-14

Here I am!   This week was good.

 As we are opening the city of Itapajé, we had an Elder of the couple missionary, (Elder S) come and work with us for the day that we went there.   It was fun.  He´s kind of an older fellow so we had to slow down everything a bit for him to keep up with us. He has a super great testimony that helped us with our work.

So we go there in the morning, and our plan was to get back to the bus station at 6 to be able to catch the last one to home. It was funny because at like 3 he was asking if we could start heading back. We just encouraged him and he had a really good attitude about everything. 

Working there is way cool because literally no one knows about the church there, and we´re looking for men to teach and baptize so the group can become a ward and so on. We went the most fancy neighborhood and just started knocking doors and it was actually very productive. We met some people that were super interested in the message that we will follow up with this Thursday when we go back.

We´ll be marrying (not literally – helping them get married ) a couple this week so the wife can be baptized, (here in Itapipoca) but the husband is kind of upset with the branch President and doesn’t want to get baptized YET!   But we´ll keep working with him and it´ll all work out. 

There´s one man here too that has been going to church for like 2 years that has to get divorced to get married to be baptized and he´ll go to Rio de Janeiro to divorce, because that´s where he was married, so we can marry them (help them) here pretty soon too, and baptize them too. 

Working in a group and a branch, the work is a little slower because there are very little members, and the areas are larger so we have to walk more and we don’t get references.. but the Lord´s work will always continue.

We met a really good man this week that we were really excited about but we went to his house to meet with him again and his Aunt answered the door.... and her husband is the Pastor of a little church.. ha ha ha ha so they talked bad about us..

We´re doing our part, and the Lord will always do his part!

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes..

In my last ward they were all planning my Birthday party with cake and all that good stuff.. but then I got transferred to the middle of nowhere.. and …. ha ha ha this birthday was just like last years, but that´s okay..     We took snacks to the church and watched a movie, then got milk shakes so it was all good. 

Have a wonderful week! ;)                

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Oh yeah!   and we were passing in the street and a member wished me happy birthday where he works, in a watch repair shop and his boss heard and wished me happy birthday too... then told me I could pick out any watch I wanted ha ha!   It was cool.   I had bought one from there like two weeks ago.. so now I have two super awesome watches. :)

Email 9-1-14

OOOKAAAYYYY!!

So, what I didn’t realize is that we take care of this city ( Itapipoca ) but we also have another area. We are opening a CITY (Itapajé) a place where the church has never been in the history of forever. It´s nuts! So last year when I passed in the area Cidade Oeste, there was our ward mission leader, I don’t even remember if I ever said anything about him, but anyways, he moved to this little city along with another family and they are the ones that are running the group. There are 8 active members, and we had a family of 5 there on Sunday.

So here´s how it works. We work here in Itapipoca during the week, except on Thursday and almost all Sundays in Itapajé. President wants to put a companionship there right now, just to stay there but the ward can’t support them yet, they wouldn´t have any references nor lunch appointments.

This city is so legit, I wish I could have started my mission here and been left until the final. Since the whole city is our area, we can go wherever we want to shop, there´s the bank and everything!  I love it here, it´s awesome.

Itapipoca is only a branch that had like 40 members, but it´s growing fast!!

My companion is Elder D from São Paulo and he´s the man!!

OKAY!!     So, yesterday we went to the sacrament meeting of Itapajé ( two and a half hours by bus) and we went there, worked normal and everything was great. We took the 4:00 bus which is the last one to go back to Itapipoca and we told the man that we were going to Umurim..   because to get to Itapajé we gave to go to Umurim, then to there.. but when we got to Umurim the bus driver passed right by, and didn’t warn us, and it was already dark and we aren’t familiar with the area yet and by the time we realized it, we were literally in the middle of nowhere and he wanted us to get off the bus and try to hitchhike back to Umurim.. logically we wouldn´t have done that so we decided to stay on the bus and just ride it three hours to Fortaleza.. So we slept at the Zone leaders house there, (luckily they had an extra bed for my comp, and a hammock for me!) And we took a bus back here to Itapipoca this morning.. BUT the bus we were going to take was full so we ended up waiting there in the bus station for two hours, then came back.. We just got back..   Our p-day was super wasted!

That was our crazy week........................................ I’m exhausted.. but.. yeah.. ha ha

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Yeah we’re here at a LAN house, he´s (my comp) been out almost a year, and the pics were awesome!!   I didn’t realize how much I miss bowling until I saw those pictures.. ha ha ha

I’m glad I’m here and I’m loving my comp!!   Everyone has their strong points and their weak points, but he´s super awesome!! :)     

Email 8-25-14

UUhhhhhhh..................................

Right when things start going well, and I think everything is going to be okay, my dream gets shut down. HARD.. our transfer system is different now.  We now get an e-mail on Monday saying where we will go, then on Tuesday we go to our new area.

I just received the e-mail and I’ll be going to Itapipoca.   A city 3 hours away from Fortaleza, 4.5 hours from city center.  I don’t even think they have a ward or a branch there, I’m pretty sure it´s just a group... I thought for sure I would finish my mission here.   I don’t know what to think, or what to do.

  

We took a super awesome family to church and they loved it.   They had only planned on staying for sacrament meeting but liked it so much they stayed for the second hour too but had to run home because they left her dad there alone and he has Alzheimer's.

There were a few other people too.

Next week I’ll let you know more about the ward, my companion, and what not.. if I’m alive! Ha ha...

I know I’m here to work…. I’ll just go there and work…..

Oh man,  I almost forgot!!!!!    Remember one of the garage churches???   One of them was ran by a man who was baptized in the church of Jesus Christ a few years ago..   he went inactive and started a very successful church, then left it and started another that was very successful also, then got greedy and started another.. and that one is in our area, and didn’t grow very well..   We stopped by every once in a while and made friendship..   Two nights ago we passed by and he called us over and started talking about how he wanted to talk to the prophet about how our church grows and his didn’t..    We told him straight up that our church is true and his was incomplete..   We bore our testimonies of the truthfulness of the restored gospel and as tears rolled down his face he said he would return to church!    We walked by the next day and he painted the church. And ripped up all the papers.. And when we walked into church on Sunday he was there!!!!!!!!    He said, ``eu nunca mais vou sair desta Igreja!`` -  I will never leave this church again!

It was way cool!   One of the best experiences on the mission.    There were more details, but I’ll write them down and tell it better when I return.     Sad I won’t be able to help him more....     

Mom, thanks for everything you do!   It means alot to me!    Know that I love you guys too, ALOT!!!    I’ll give you more details next week of where I am and what not.
You are the best!!     Talk to you next week, have a good week!!!

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Email 8-18-14

OKAY!

So, I just read BISHOP Hatch´s letter that talked about how it didn’t matter that we had a hard week last week because we would have 4 people at church this week! Well, we had 5. so.. that was good.

Our ward had a meeting about that couple and their complications with the divorce and marriage and what not, and the ward came to the conclusion and everyone will help out a little bit.  Some people will help with money, some people will help with transportation, because he lives super far away, and one member is going to talk with his friend who is a... one of those people that work with that kind of stuff.. I forgot what  it´s called... and see if there´s a way around this huge process because it´s been 19 years since they have seen each other.

We redid our teaching pool!   We´re teaching like 5 families and some other single people.   We´vetaught a bunch of first lessons and we don’t know for sure who will actually progress, (hopefully all of them). Ha ha..

Our new mission president has changed a bunch of stuff!!   Nothing that will really affect me, because I think I’ll stay in this area until the end of my mission.  He changed how they will do the transfers and some other things.  He´s learning! Ha ha ha   we got some instructions from the Area Seventy that we are to work way more with inactives, so we were searching for some, and met a family that went inactive for little stupid reasons, just a misunderstanding.  We taught them and just started asking questions and they realized that they need the Gospel. It was a cool experience and they said that this Sunday they will be going to church. :)

Have a great week! ;)

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

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PS    we still don’t have an official ‘fly home’ date but it’ll be in mid November probably!

Yeah, we´ve found some good people and some like the ones that are dangerous.. but they´re all half my size, so I’m not worried. ;)

My Companion is the MAN!   I love this kid.   He´s excited and willing to work!   It´s cool..

WE CAN’T SLEEP DURING THE RESTORATION. :) ha ha ha

But it´s true... we have to suffer to be able to grow!!!   Not grow grow, but spiritually growth.. or mental growth.. you know??    It´s like I always say in Portuguese.. tem que sofrer para crescer!   (have to suffer to grow)

I forgot to say... we taught the pastor of that church yesterday.. SO MUCH APOSTASY. I am seeing the prophesies of the scriptures come to pass here.  I know more about his doctrine than he does... ha ha ha but it was fun.

Email 8-11-14

So, remember our super elect investigator??

Yeah….  so a while back he was trying to take a language course but it wasn´t available at the time.   And right when he starts talking to us, it comes OUT OF NO WHERE!!   And it´s only on Saturday and Sunday, for the next two years.   And it´s a required class for what he´s studying... He said that in two years when he finished, he´ll definitely come to church again and get baptized...   I always tell my companion, that God knows what he does, but Satan also knows what he does.  He makes things look so good, but that will really do us damage. We´re just trying to help everyone, but that this happens.  We´re positive though, but it´s rough because also this week…..

We were teaching some people that are members of another church that were actually interested in the message and agrees to pray and ask God if it´s true but guess what they did first!?   They asked their Pastor.  So Stupid.  That´s probably the worst decision you can make.  The Pastor started talking bad about us and said how we don´t believe in God and all of the other stuff.. I study my Bile every single day. I guarantee that I know more about the Bible than these Pastorzinhos.  (google translation is ‘shepherd’)  I’ll take pictures of some of the little churches that we have here in the neighborhood.  They use their garage in front of their house as their church.   By day it´s a church, by night it´s a garage.

Good News.. kind of!  This Family that the mom will get divorced, then married, then baptized.. she went to the interior where her soon to be ex-husband lived and he doesn’t live there anymore.  He lives super far away in a place that doesn´t even have electricity ... but we got a hold of his sister that´s willing to help us.   She called the town where he goes to receive his phone calls, so when he goes there, he´ll get the message then he´ll call his sister who will call the lady we´re helping, then they will mark a day to go the place to do the divorce.... but it´s going to be SUPER expensive... but we´ll figure something out...

It´ll work out.. I´m noticing at this point of my mission how much satan doesn´t want us to do our work.. It´s frustration but it´s part of the plan.

There´s a little church in front of our house and we marked with the pastorzinho to talk about religionand we´ll teach him about the restoration. I´m just tired of him yelling every night about how someone is possessed and how he´ll take the demon out...ha ha   I’ll show you the pics and stuff when I get home.. but we´ll do our part and we´ll see what happens. 

I´m good!  Kind of stressed, but good.. I know my purpose and I’m willing to fulfill it.  The time is running out, but there´s still enough to make miracles happen..  Thanks for everything you do!   And for the letters too.

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Email 8-4-14

This week started off pretty rough. Last week we made tons and tons of new investigators, so this week we started off just following up with all of them.. We spent like three days visiting the same people and teaching them, then we realized that none of them were really progressing.   This happens quite a bit here because the people are so sympathetic and want to be our best friends.  Sometimes they just want us to come back to have conversations instead of progressing in the Restored Gospel. 

We ended up contacting EVERYBODY and their dog towards the end of the week and we contacted an old woman sitting in the street, (like most old people do every night) and she told us about how her grandson wanted to learn more about the church, but that he was not at home at the moment.  We asked if we could pass by later that day and of course they said yes.   We went back that night with a member, the leader of the ward missionary work and we went there and just simply invited him to church, and he accepted and asked us to go by to walk with Him.   His name is Pedro and he has 17 years but looks like he has 25.   He´s quiet but super elect.   In the sacrament meeting the Bishop spent the first 20 minutes burning everyone about different things about keeping the ward building clean.  Then we had a class about the word of wisdom and all of the ridiculous members spent the whole time talking about how we can’t drink coke.......................I got kind of worried... but we went to his house afterwards and he said he loves church.   We haven’t formally taught him yet, but he seems super awesome.

Last week, I bought a bag,, remember how when I came here it broke??   I finally got a new one,,, and I got a new suit.;)    It´s super legit!

A família that we are working with that  the woman had to get divorced to be able to get married then baptized, finally went to the interior.....or the.. I don’t know..  out of town to get it all figured out.   Then we´ll hopefully be able to start the marriage process, then throw them four in the water!   They´re super anxious and ready for baptism and we´re excited to help them be able to get there. 

I know that God is our Heavenly Father, and that He loves us, and that he wants us to be happy, and that we gain that happiness keeping the commandments.   If you have any doubts about any part of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, put your knees on the floor and ask God in prayer... it´s as simple as that.

Be HAPPY!    And remember to smile. :)

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

Also:

He has been off his BP meds completely for around 6 months now and is feeling GREAT!   He checks it often and it's always perfect.

He and his companion are doing great!  He says his comp is awesome!  They share a house with another companionship,  one from Africa and one from Bolivia.

He can’t believe he hits a year and 8 tomorrow!  To quote him, ‘It is going by sssooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fast!!’   

He says he still has some weight he wants to lose but can’t focus on it right now – other things that are more important to do, plus he doesn’t have much control over what he eats or does so he’ll wait until home to finish that!

And ends with, “We’re out of here!!!    Love you a bunch.   Have a wonderful week!!    You´re the best! ;)”

Email 7-28-14

OOOHHH HHHEEEYYYY!!!

There’s not a ton to write about this week, just that we are working até o pó!!! That means ALOT! Ha ha...

I´m just trying to make sure that my ``kid`` has a good working habit and that he represents me well when I go home.. (not that I’m trunky or anything... )

There is a part of our area that is kind of far away from the church but that has not been worked by missionaries in a long long long time. We work there the whole entire week and met some people that were super promising and said they would go to church, but when Sunday came around, we went to pick up the people and it was like a ghost town at every one of the people’s houses. Even the members that live over there weren´t home. We still don’t know what happened, we’ll go there tonight to see what’s up!

We left our house one day specifically looking for a MAN to baptize, a future Priesthood holder. We went looking the whole day and nothing... until that night we taught a man that seems good and he accepted the baptismal invitation!! ;)

But even better! We stopped by the church at the end of the day and talked to the Bishop and he told us a story of a member that’s wife was baptized two months ago and they looked on the church’s system to be able to give him a calling but his information was not there. We looked and called church HQ and NOTHING!!  There was no proof that he was baptized.  So he needed to be re-baptized.  We went to his house and explained everything to him the following day (Friday) marked his baptismal interview forSaturday morning and baptized him Saturday night!   It was cool.. Kind of like a baptism fell from the sky!   Ha ha it was a fun experience he wasn’t mad either!   He was super happy!!   Ha ha

We asked him who was going to baptize him and he said, ``well that’s one thing that I never thought I’d be asked again!`` and he said one of us could do it. As it was Elder Pinheiro´s first baptism on the mission I left it up to him, and he performed the ordinance.   It was a super awesome meeting, and baptism.

Hope everyone is super well and happy!

I WAS going to add pix,  but we went to the center and I forgot my camera. MY BAD!. anyways, love ya!

-Elder Kyler Blane Farr

PS:  

So....olha aí, são os Èlderes simpaticos google translated to  "Looking around, the elders are friendly"    is that right?

Ha ha ha pretty much!

Yesterday I got THE trunky phone call..  they called to ask which airport I wanted to fly into.   Ha ha

hooleeyyy mmoolleeeyyy!!!!   That's just right around the corner!!!   it´s crazy!!!   (Elder Kevin coming home on Oct 1st)

We’re super good, just tired... going to the center is tiring.  We go by train so it doesn’t take very long but it just takes alot out of us.  

Tell everyone hi for me. :)

until next week!