Week 36 - Update

Short letter - tons of pictures.

Well this week has been a pretty crazy week. I am going to be leaving Alvarenga tomorrow, which is pretty sad. But that is definitely what the Lord wants me to do and it will be good for me. 

And also this week has been pretty crazy because yesterday, we had a girl show up to church and she says that she thought today was her baptism day. But the thing is, her dad wouldn't sign the papers so she couldn't be baptized. We tried a lot of things, but it ended up not working out. And her dad said that us missionaries couldn't come to her house anymore. So, we had to leave it to the members. Hopefully they will do their part and she can get baptized.

But other than that, the week has been pretty slow. Not much has happened. Just our usual teaching and things, but nothing too amazing and over the top. There was a hilarious story. There was this drunk guy that we ran into and it was funny because my comp was telling me that he was an elect. And I was like no, dude, he is totally drunk. That's why he was telling us everything that we wanted to hear. I could like smell the alcohol on him and all of that stuff. Then when we went to his house for his appointment, he was drunk, but in the mindset to just not deal with anyone. It was super funny. Here in Brasil, there are a million churches and a million bars. All of the time you see people walking from the bar to the church and then out of the church back to the bar. Ha ha. The mind set that these people have here is so dang funny.

But anyways, I hope y'all have a good week. Y'all are amazing.

Love y'all.

Tchau,
Elder Blake

Let it rain!

Getting stuck in the rain

Having some fun - boys will be boys

Portuguese/English class

Saying goodbye

Week 35 - Minha Semana‏ (My Week)

Hey, so sorry I didn't write you yesterday (Monday). Ha ha. I was in the middle of emailing you and the power went out, and then it went back on. So I started to write to you again and it went out again. Ha ha.

So to start off, pretty much I've been sick as crap - just sick all week long - for the whole week. But, I'm starting to feel a little better now.
 
Anyways, we have been low on our investigator pool which means a lot of talking to people on the streets. We found some pretty good investigators. It was awesome. But we have been just talking to people like crazy and walking miles and miles and that's really what our day consists of. Ha ha. We walk fast like from one end of our area to the other. It takes a good hour and ten minutes, which means like 5 miles. Ha ha. And we have to walk to one end to lunch and then back right after for appointments. It's so awesome. I think that is why I'm staying in such good shape.
 
My area is like the biggest one in the mission and I've been here for almost 6 months now. It's awesome. I think I have a good chance at staying here next transfer too because the area is finally going to split and so I might just stay. So I am going to have a good attitude about it.
 
But anyways, the miracle for the week is probably this. So this person has been mad at me for who knows why and it's been going on for the whole transfer and he won't tell me what is going on. So I'm just like, whatever and just trying not to be around him because I don't want to be mad. So I've just been trying to keep my space from him. So then this last week I had my very last division with my zone leader, Elder Doggett, before he heads home on the 25th of this month. So I was talking to him about it and this is when the miracle happened. He just tells me to pray about it and everything will be fine. So I did. And the huge miracle is that the Lord softened the hard-headed Elder Blake's heart and got me to go and say sorry for whatever it was that I did and just leave it behind. So I did. And he called me later on that night and said sorry too and he forgives me and all that good stuff. So ya, that is the miracle of the week. (By the way, I'm not that hard-headed, but I was sick all week and kind of a little grumpy, so that probably didn't help any. Ha ha.)

 

Yesterday was also my 8 month mark and I will be heading home a year and four months from now. Pretty crazy, right? Crazy how fast time goes by when you're doing what is right and losing yourself in the work (and having a little fun, too :))! My mission is so awesome and I really do love it. It's so amazing all that the Lord has done for us and keeps doing for us. He must love us so, so, so much because he just loves and loves and loves. It really is amazing. He really does love us.
 
Elder David A. Bednar said this, "To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else." This is now one of my favorite quotes. It is so amazing how true it is. So now is the time to forgive someone that has once offended y'all and leave it in the past and look forward, not regretting anything.

Eu amo voces.. Voces sao maravilhosas. Eu sei que igreja e verdadeira. eu sei que nos somos fracos sem jesus cristo mas atreveis dele e expiacao dele nos podemos ser fortes. disse em Eter capitulo 12 versiculo 27 "E se os homens vierem a mim, mostrar-lhes-ei sua fraqueze. E dou a fraqueza aos homens a fim de que sejam humildes; e minha graca basta a todos os que se humilham perante mim; porque caso se humilhem perante mim e tenham fe em mim, entao farei com que as coisas fracas se tornem fortes para eles." Este escritura e verdade de mais. nos sol precisamos fe e nos podemos fazer qualquer coisa eu amo todos os voces e espera que voces ter uma boa semana.

(This is the best translation I have come up with. I love you. You are all wonderful. I know the church is true. I know we are weak without Jesus Christ, but through Him and His Atonement, we can be strong. Said in Ether 12:27: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." This scripture is true. if we have faith in Jesus, we can do anything. I love you all and hope you have a good week.)

Tchau,
Elder Blake

Week 34 - Update

Dear Family:

Well this week has been awesome. So my companion has been sick and guess what? Now I'm sick. Ha ha. That's awesome right?? Anyways, it's just like a sore throat and a fever so nothing too bad. But with a fever and it already being a million degrees here, it kinda stinks. Ha ha. But it's cool because it doesn't stop me from working. Ha ha. I'm the type that always has to be doing something and always has to be talking, no matter what language. Ha ha. I'm just not the type that can stay in the house all day. I've just got to be doing something. And I'm pretty such that I got that from Grandpa Balch. I love that man.

But anyways, my week. We were supposed to have a baptism this week, but it ended up falling through because the dad wouldn't sign the papers because he is of a different faith. But, I talked to him and all. Y'all know that I can get pretty fired up right. Ha ha. Ya, well I just shot the true gospel fire all over him and he accepted to let her be baptized this Sunday. Ha ha. So hopefully it will go through. And other than that, we taught some people that are really progressing. Like Kelly, she is an amazing girl that gives me a class in Portuguese like 2 times a week and I started to teach her. Then this last week. we taught her the Plan of Salvation, and she told us she was feeling the spirit. She prayed and started crying and it was so awesome that the spirit was so strong. She also accepted to be baptized, but we haven't set a date yet. Ha ha, but we will!!

But, anyways something crazy that happened this week is we were walking down the street and there were these guys on a motorcycle just going super fast. Then like police cars right behind them and all of the police men except the ones driving were hanging out the windows with their guns. Ha ha. It was crazy. And it was also Carnival here these last few weeks, and I have seen a lot of weird things I shouldn't have seen. It was pretty crazy.

 

But pretty much, Brasil is awesome and my mission is awesome. I love it and I hope that y'all are doing good. I'm really praying for Blanding and hope that we can get some rain down there. That would be nice, right? Ha ha. But anyways, I love y'all and have y'all a good week. May God be with y'all.

 

Tchau,

Elder Blake

 

P.S. Ha ha, I know that my grammar and writing stinks and gets worse week after week, but oh well. Ha ha.  (Luckily he has a mom that fixes his grammar and writing for him! Ha ha.)

 

Not sure what this is about.

Doing laundry

Holes in his new pair of shoes.

 

Week 33 - Technical Difficulties

So sorry. I was writing like the big email to send home and the computer turned off and didn't save anything. But anyways, I'm doing amazing and I sent some pictures. I love you all.

Tchau,
Elder Blake


Ugh - really. So this is what I pieced together from his short email to me:

That is crazy that everyone is getting their mission calls. I'm so pumped for them. It makes me excited to be here on my mission. Everything down here is going awesome. I understand completely everything! I just need to get my speech better. But other than that, everything is awesome.

I get really home sick like one time every two months or so. This last week it hit me again, and it was kind of hard, but now I'm doing awesome.

Love,
Elder Blake


Here are his pictures for the week. I think the first three pictures are from last week, and they just didn't download until now. He's becoming quite the artist!

Looks exactly like him.