This will be Elder Lundy's last full week on his Mission

I didn't have a 4th of July. It passed by before I even realized...

Man that's gonna be rough on Oliver. 8 weeks? and right when I'm gonna get home. Ugh.

Those boys are looking so big now! (Our dog Oliver was injured in a Frisbee accident and may need surgery.)

Oh so this week we finally had the zone conference and it was with four zones! more or less 50 missionaries. 11 of the 18 that are going home this transfer were present so our testimony session took pretty much an hour like I thought it would haha. It was kinda funny because my arrival group has 5 elders,4 Americans and one Brazilian and all of us were present so the one Brazilian got to do something rare which is hear the ending testimonies of all the Americans from his group. I got to see a bunch of friends again including Elder EWERTON!!! YAY!! This was the first time in almost a year that I got to see him! I can honestly say I'm pretty proud of him!  I was his second companion and now he's my AP! He calls me Papai basically saying that I was his trainer. :) He gave a really good training session.

Elder Beatty also informed Webster, Kebker, and I that our MTC instructor Irmã Fuoco is going to be sealed this Friday morning and she invited us all to attend!! As for the temple, the missionaries who're ending their mission here all go one last time in their last days.

One more thing! One sister was joking a bit about her husband's large belly during lunch and at the same time giving us advice but it was actually pretty funny. "Girls want the cute little washboard abs, but a REAL woman wants the large 10kg washing machine because she knows it gets the work done!" haha (Dad's reply... SO THAT'S WHY Mom keeps the old washing machine fed!!  ;-)  She's really getting the work done now!  :D)

My throat's getting better. I'm pretty sure it's the house where we live. There's a leakage problem when it rains and it's always pretty cold in our house. And yes I did gargle with warm salt water. 2 times!

(I had a talk and lesson to give on Sunday almost an hour and a half of talking.) Mom, you've always had the gift of gab when it comes to gospel stuff :P (that's a good thing) I'm pretty sure my talk will take up a good amount of time just because I'll keep pausing to try to remember how to say English words haha :P I know them all very well but saying them is another matter.

This week apart from the sealing session I'll attend, I'll have self sufficiency training on Wednesday. Tuesday morning we have a district meeting but first we'll have a zone wide breakfast. Thursday there will be an integration activity for the ward at night. Next Monday I'll be going to the mission office and we'll have dinner with the President followed by another testimony meeting. Next Tuesday we're going to the temple, then we'll have our final interviews and Wednesday we're getting on the plane!!

Yeah the weather change won't be too big. It just won't get as chilly there haha.

Imma make dad exercise with me :3

I love you!!!

4th of July Week

Fireworks from home - small town USA

This week was slower than normal because I got sick last p-day and spent the majority of the week sick. My sore throat got worse when I got sick and is currently the only problem I've got.

This ward helps a bit more than others so I don't have much to complain about but the issue with converts' family is worldwide sadly. 

Wow... you guys got a lot of work done this week! That stinks about needing to put down the rooster. :/ And awesomeness about your new temple prep class!!

I'm a bit sad because our two investigators L... and C... have begun avoiding us. C... told her member friend P... that the church is very mysterious after watching Sunday. Ugh... we're here to take away the mystery. But no... ...ugh.

Oh so the zone conference didn't happen this past week for some reason so it's gonna be this Wednesday together with a total of 4 zones! that'll be cool. We're gonna spend at least an hour on the testimony session for everyone who's going home.

Anyways, I love you! 

Baptized this Saturday!!

So our new investigators C... and L... are pretty great! They accepted a baptismal date of July 9th and they went to church this Sunday so the date is still valid!!

G..., from the Lan-house, was baptized this Saturday!! Finally!! She was baptized in the neighboring ward Jundiapeba. While I was there some of the members remembered me from the three other times I visited a year ago! One even remembered my name which surprised me but of course made me happy. 

Well I woke up with a sore throat and a bit of a runny nose.

Mice are annoying. (Dad and I had some mice move into the work shop.) I haven't seen our rat anymore but I've still been hearing little noises that to me must be from him.

So this week we'll have zone conference again. It'll be my last one so there will be a part where all the people in the zone that are ending their missions share their testimony with the rest and I'll be participating this time.

I'm excited for this zone conference because there's a good chance that I'll get to see Elder Ewerton again!! 

Oh so we had interviews with the president this week and while we were waiting I chatted with Sister Silcox and she said that she was proud of me for my exercising and all that stuff. This was the only time that she didn't hit me on the head for drinking from the tap.

Anyways, that's all I can remember...

I love you!!!

Father's Day

Hi Mom and Dad,

Happy Late Father's day!!!! In Brazil it's august 13th so I got confused. Thanks for being my Dad!

There are only two elders in this ward including me, but we share a church building with another ward and that ward currently has a trio of elders. They live on the same road as us just a tiny bit closer to the church. I don't know if you remember Elder Friere, but I lived with him in São Mateus and Tiradentes and he's currently the "third man" in the other ward.

Our teaching is going alright. We got two new investigators that are really interested in learning more about the church. Hopefully it's not just an interest to learn more but an interest to act on the knowledge we'll pass to them.

I got an awesome invite this morning when I arrived in the LAN-House! G..., one of the girls that works here, has been taught all the lessons and visits the church every once in a while on Sundays. This started 3 years ago. This Sunday she decided that it was finally time for her to be baptized so she invited me to attend her baptism in a neighboring ward on Saturday!!! So that's the great news of the week!

Haha honestly I was planning on asking for that meal during my first week back! (I fixed Elder Lundy's favorite meal for our local elders this past week.)

Elder Nascimento doesn't cook for me too often. Every once in a while he makes a meal at night if he's hungry and stuff. What happens more is that the sisters in the ward buy the ingredients for dessert and ask him to teach them how to make it. His specialty is in desserts.

Oh those boys... they eat rabbits and catch birds? :( eww   (our 2 dogs have decided lately that catching rabbits and birds is fun.)

That's pretty awesome about Gunner! I email him when I've got the time but he hasn't mentioned that yet! (Another elder from home that is serving in Brazil and got a special assignment.)

Oh so this week we had a fight with a rat in our house at 12:30 at night until 2am. We didn't catch/kill the rat but once it was out of the house we sealed where it was entering.

(I'm still encouraging Elder Lundy not to be trunky. His response to that challenge is...)

One of the things that's motivating me to keep going is the family that took care of me when I was sick in Taubaté. They told me that they learned of the church through a contact that an elder made with them in the grocery store line two days before he ended his mission.

Anyways, I love you!!

Back in an old area...

(Back in an old area...Do they remember you?) It's AWESOME!!! Everybody remembers me and I was greeted by big smiles, happy handshakes, big hugs, and some sisters that said "if you weren't and elder I'd hug you" haha :)

My week here was pretty great! The best thing about this week is that I arrived just in time to see the baptism of R..., a boy that I taught a little with Ewerton and Soares.

My companion is Elder Nascimento he will be turning 21 this year.. He's gonna end his mission in August or October. He's only been here for one transfer so I know the area better than he does almost. Something cool about him: His family is pretty big. I believe he has 8 siblings. He and some of the other were adopted as babies. He ended high school early and has gone to college already and studied gastronomy!  So the eatin's good :) We're thinking that President Silcox wants to fatten me up a little before sending me home so he doesn't have to deal with angry parents haha. (Elder Lundy lost a lot of weight in Brazil)

Busy week for sure! Anyways, have a safe trip!! Love ya!  I'm glad you guys got to have this fun weekend together! (Mom and Dad spent a much needed weekend away with family friends)

I had to stop with the exercises because I got a bit sick but I started up again and boy is it difficult if I just stop for a week haha

Those boys still chew everything up huh? haha And Aunt Edie keeps supplying them with stuff hahaha (Our dogs get pampered by our Edie. They can chew thru anything and I do mean anything. lol Even the toys that say: indestructible.)

That's sad that an injury like that is enough to finish off a chicken :( (We had a chicken break her leg and she died before we could help her get healed.)

Bridget is awesome for sures! (Elder Lundy's sister is helping him with registration for College.)

Anyways, I don't have much more to say.

I love you!!

You have no idea where I am right now!!! :)

You have no idea where I am right now!!! Transfers were today, not tomorrow.

President closed Vila Ema (my area) and told me that I would be transferred to... BRAS CUBAS!!!!!! I'm back in Bras Cubas to end my mission!! I'm super super happy about this! 

My companion is Elder Nascimento, I already know him and I like him and all so it's all good.

Okay, my birthday was pretty good. The sisters in my district bought me a little cake, and at night Elder Puga and I bought one of the more expensive pizzas.

I'm pretty good already. My nose is still a little annoying. I got better after about 4 days.

Hahahahaha. You do scare me a bit with what you're able to do through social media.

I'm glad the week worked out for everyone. (I needed to get support for some important things happening in our ward so I hit social media kind of hard, and played the guilt card.)

OKay so the situation with Vila Ema... President Silcox closed the area to missionary work. The mission is getting really small lately. Our ward mission leader made that announcement during his testimony at the end of the sacrament meeting and the whole place went silent. So as for R... He started avoiding us so I've got no idea. I believe F... has managed to stop smoking again!

That's sad that your ward member are having problems with some of the commandments :( I'll be home in 6 weeks and I'm already planning my homecoming talk on repentance so let's see if I can help.

How's Elder M... (that's his name right?) He's got a hug arriving for him soon!

haha Haha those boys. (I taught our dogs to eat radishes) I'm getting much better with my eating habits. I'm not as picky anymore. But put some fish in front of me and see if I touch it hahaha :P

So imma finish my mission with a bang of course! Especially now that I'm back in my favorite ward! Imma do whatever I can to help these people out. Hopefully I'll be able to baptize someone here so I can say I baptized in all my areas haha.

I LOVE YOU TOO!!

 Yay for the Bang! (I challenged Elder Lundy to not go trunky!)

Happy Birthday Son!

Elder Lundy's the baby of the family :)

Thanks! :) (It's Elder Lundy's 22nd Birthday today!)

I'm getting old :P

My week was pretty good. The baptismal interview went well but it ended up being on Tuesday instead of Friday.

R. wasn't baptized because he still hasn't given up coffee... Our ward mission leader bought us cevada (Mormon coffee) to give to him to see if it helps.

(Cevada - A roasted grain beverage (also grain coffee) is a hot beverage made from one or more cereal grains roasted and commercially processed into crystal or powder form to be reconstituted later in hot water. The product is often marketed as a caffeine-free alternative to coffee and tea.)

Speaking of exercise, I had the goal to be able to do my work out plan within 10 minutes by the end of the transfer, and I already managed in 9! I also managed to do double my workout plan Saturday night (to make up for not doing it the following Sunday) and it took me 33 minutes, including a bit of rest time to not hurt myself.

I enjoyed the temple trip. I got to see a bunch of my friends from another zone. Sadly my stomach didn't let me focus too well while I was in the temple. Stomach problems stink :(

Zone conference went well too. During the lunch break some of the other missionaries had a small birthday surprise for four of us in the zone who'll be having or had a birthday this transfer.

That sounds frustrating about the baptism situation there (at home). Sadly you're both right. The goal is to baptize the investigator as soon as possible, so the third Sunday is ideal, but you're also correct in that if she can't wait one week she's very likely to end up on the less active list quickly. There are a lot of missionaries though that keep pushing because every week you wait is another week that Satan has to work in the mind of that person... it's a difficult and annoying situation for sure...

I got sick this week too. Saturday night going to Sunday and still to this moment. Just a cold though I think. I don't know if it's because of the flu vaccine, or my being stupid and going out back to check on my clothes in the washing machine after doing my exercises... probably the second because that happened right before I got sick.

Anyways, I love you!!

HUGS!!

This week will be a good one!

That's rough for M... But he can look on the bright side, the repentance process has already started, he's just gotta keep pushing forward. He's helping himself become better, and he has already become a great example for everyone. He's started down one of the most difficult but most fulfilling paths we can take in this life. It's SO much easier to just bury what's in the past instead of digging it up to throw it away once and for all like he's chosen to do. So if you tell him anything from me, let him know that he's getting a 100% sincere and proud "Congratulations and keep up the good work!" from me.

Congrats on the garden and good luck protecting it haha :P (We've got a lot of deer and rabbits around.)

Thanks for getting some of my supplies for school. As for things like bedding and towels I'm just gonna keep using my mission stuffs. I'll gladly accept a pot or two and some utensils. I'll probably end up eating a lot of rice I think.

So this week I had the opportunity to do two baptismal interviews! One for one companionship of sisters and one for our zone leaders. We had a short division where I went to the area of the ZLs and one came to our area. While I did the interview, R... was talking with the elders here and they set his baptismal date for Saturday! Hopefully he was sincere in accepting this time.

This week will be a good one! We're going to the temple Wednesday, zone conference Thursday, one more baptismal interview for the zone leaders Friday, and possibly R...'s interview Friday followed by his baptism Saturday, and confirmation Sunday!

Haha Lundy buff after all :P Oh! so I had the goal to be capable of completing the workout routine in

10 minutes by the end of the transfer... I managed in 9 minutes already at the beginning of the week!!

It took me a whole hour when I started three weeks ago.

That sounds like an awesome eagle scout project. Seriously... 

(One of our young men in our ward restored a run down cemetery.)

That sounds great about the new temple prep class! Hahahaha... if you were to teach the youth "just do it" you'd get numerous Shia LaBeouf references. If you don't know what I'm talking about just look him up quickly on youtube.

Anyways, I love you!!

Mother's Day Skyping

Sorry there isn't a letter to post this week.

WE WERE ABLE TO SKYPE WITH ELDER LUNDY!

He's doing great!

my new daily fitness plan

Hiya! 

I'm excited for the call as well! (We get to Skype for Mother's Day)

People tell me I'm pretty patient and stuff too, but it's that

A) I've learned how to pass large amounts of time without much thought, and

B) I'm similar to you in that I don't just blow up like others :P 

R... still hasn't given up coffee, but our ward mission leader and his wife (who teaches gospel principles) saw this week how close he's coming to baptism and they complimented him and gave him more support and told me that they'd fast specifically to help him with that.

F... We went to her this week and "confronted" her about smoking and yes she felt

ashamed but I believe she'll be alright. I'm just a bit nervous because she missed out on

church this Sunday too but this time her grandson M..., who attended, told us that she

woke up sick :( So first things first, make sure she's getting better, and hope she's not just

faking to not have to go (which is what my comp is thinking) then I'll tell her about grandma

 if she doesn't show signs of being able to give it up.

My week was pretty good. Elder Beatty (from my group that entered the mission) is the

mission secretary and he called Tuesday night to inform me that our flight plans had already

arrived! (But today I already received an email from him saying that Pres. Silcox has extended our missions... by two days... so we're all getting new flight plans. Stay tuned for more info on this point in a week or two...)

We had interviews with the president this week and that went well. I told him about my new

daily fitness plan :3 Last week Carl (Friend from home) reminded me of an anime character

who became the strongest man in the universe by doing 100 push-ups, sit-ups, and squats

and running 10k everyday for 3 years (and never used air conditioning) Well the character

also went bald afterwards. So I started doing 100 push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and jumping-jacks every day (minus Sunday) and a few more random things to fill in the 30 minute time slot for exercises. Not exercising Sunday will keep me from becoming the strongest man in

the universe but I also won't go bald due to the exercises haha. But seriously... I can already

SEE a difference in my muscles! :D

I also realized a little something due to getting fit and healthy while in the mission: Our

spiritual sensitivity is much stronger when we're healthier. (Well duh, the Lord told us that

through the Word of Wisdom... but now I'm actually seeing it in my life.)

Anyways, I love you! 

Each and every minute of the day...

I'm alright. A bit sore because I overdid it while exercising a couple days ago ha ha.

I don't think R... is really working to prepare to be baptized. But this Saturday the Zone Leaders are going to interview him to help show him that all he has to do is stop drinking coffee and he can be baptized. As for new investigators... yeah nope. Still nothing.

I got upset this week because when we arrived for our visit that F... forgot about we found her smoking and as soon as she realized that we were there she let it fall from her mouth to the floor behind her counter. I'm not mad or upset that she's smoking. Just that she's been hiding it from us instead of asking for support.

Oh Bishop... ha ha. Alrighty. (Our Bishop already scheduled Elder Lundy for his first talk at home.) That'll probably be one of the easiest talks I'll give in my life. I'll have had nearly 2 years to prepare it after all!

I'm really glad you're both getting better, but it is allergy season after all so I hope you're both able to avoid that as much as possible.

I'm glad that you had such a good visit to see Grandma! I'm just sad that she had to start feeling old and mortal for her to make these changes she's making. I wonder if Grandma remembers that I owe her some birthday hugs I promised :)

I'm also glad you were able to have that little family reunion with Nana. That knee-slapper from Uncle Gary reminded me of lunch yesterday. That's a lot going on on your side of the family. I don't remember hearing that Nana got sick but I'm glad she's getting better!

Lots of congrats and good luck for Dan and Lani and fam!

And I thought it was already a sure deal that Aunt Sharon and Uncle Ron would be serving in Nauvoo... oh well. Congrats for them too!

We had lunch with one of the most entertaining families in the ward yesterday. The family consists of mom, dad, and three little kids, 8 year old E..., 5 year old G..., and 3 year old M.... I feel like every time we go there it's uncle prep for me because the little kids use me as a jungle gym and the older always asks me and his dad to tell jokes and riddles. (Elder Lundy has 4 nieces and 4 nephews and he's only met 3 of them. A lot of them were born after he went on his mission.) Anyway, his dad told a joke that was this: Porque a traficante matou a faxineira? Por que ela tirou a pô da mesa... The translation: Why did the drug trafficker kill the cleaning lady? Because she took the dust (powder in Portuguese) off the table. We started laughing because the first thing that happened was E... asked "What's a trafficker?" And his dad replied quickly, "Oh... this joke's not for you" 

So on mother's day we'll be eating lunch there again and they said that we can Skype you from there! 

I love you!!

Still in Vila Ema . . . Yay :)

So it didn't work out too well. R... is still drinking a bit of coffee and the family wasn't able to get their neighbors to go to the FHE or church :/ but R... said he has a friend who's interested and another brother in the ward said he has an interested friend.

Wow, interesting week at work for sure. That stinks about the cold. I seem to always get sick when a conference of some type comes around during the mission. At least you were able to get some stuff done!

So transfers are this week. Elder Puga and I are staying together in Vila Ema. Two of the sisters in my district were transferred and it seems three will arrive. One companionship will be a trio. I think I might stay here until my mission ends. I honestly want to end in the Capital because everything is cheaper there, but I'll work where I'm called.

You know I'm not good at writing about real life stuff and that I never read non-fiction so the writer's block gets worse while writing about real stuff :P (I teased Elder Lundy, He's got a gift for writing except when it comes to letters)

I thought that might happen with the bishop haha. "Yay, they returned!" And of course you guys never take vacations! Our bishop came up with the quote of the week here during the "5 minute" rescue effort meeting that we have after church every week. "Se a gente não batisa, a gente faz filho." (Context: There was a birth in the ward and probably will be one more this week or the next.) What the phrase means: "If we don't baptize (converts) we'll have kids." Oh bishop... haha 

Sisters in my district baptized a woman this Sunday! I held an interview with her and it was a really cool experience. The coolest thing is that the brother That brought her to church and eventually baptized her is the father of A..., a young man I baptized while I was in Taubaté. Oh and speaking of Taubaté, Elder Moreira, one of my past companions, is there right now and he mentioned that I was his companion and there's a bunch of people that remember me and even two of the youth (the two that like anime and superheroes and stuff) said they remembered me and liked me a lot. I got all warm and fuzzy :3 Anyways, it looks like we might have some new investigators soon I hope.

And I LOVE YOU!

Easter Week 2017

Happy Easter to you too!

Happy Birthday!!!!! I hope you're able to get over your cold quickly so you can enjoy today!! I know I can't do enough to thank you for everything you've done for me. 

Our teaching pool might go up by one whole family tonight! We're going to have a FHE with a family in the ward and they invited their neighbors.

After there are various reasons that I wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for you. One thing I've learned is that I'm probably not going to be able to pay people back for the majority of what they've done for me so all that's left is to pay it forward instead. So that's what I'm trying to do.

We might be able to baptize R...this Sunday if he stops drinking coffee!

Zone conference was pretty good. It's basically just a series of training sessions with different topics. The most common was prayer. I contributed a fun little thing. What substance makes up 6/7 of our heart? Prayer. It only works in Portuguese. Coração =heart and Oração = prayer so cORAÇÃO! I think they all liked it. I got a bit of a round of applause after that haha :)

I don't know what you did differently with the videos this time but they finally worked!

They don't do much for Easter here. Just party and gatherings and stuff. The Easter candy is chocolate eggs. Really big hollow chocolate eggs. Elder Puga and I didn't roll eggs.

That stinks you couldn't visit the Grandmas :( Congrats for Dan and Mike and their families!

I'm glad you got to have a lot of fun with the little ones! :)

I was happy that Sister Silcox finally stopped worrying about my health haha. It only took my whole mission until now. I'll see where we'll be for Skype soon! Thanks for the help in getting me a place to live! 

Oh so I gave a talk this Sunday and the bishop had to give me the time-up note again! I'm getting a bit better at giving lengthy talks! 

It's getting a bit "chillier" here at night and early in the morning.

That's pretty cool of Bishop Huffaker. It makes me happy when the leaders take the initiative in that sort of thing.

That's about it for me too.Anyways, I love you and Happy Birthday again!

I love you!

Family, Reunions and Eternity

It really seems like you all were having a great time! (We had a family reunion this past week.) Of course I'm a bit jealous, but soon enough I'll be back there. Once I finish my work here that is.

Hahaha poor Shawn! (Dad snores so he  apologized to Shawn today. Shawn slept with ear plugs in last night. )

Tell Sommer and the Burtons hi for me!

My week was alright but kinda slow. This week that's starting up will be cool. We've got zone conference again! The presidency changed the plans a little while ago and said that it's now mandatory to have zone conference and interviews with the president every transfer.

I haven't heard much about how Bishop Samuel is doing but I'm sure he's well.

As it turns out there are a lot of people here in the ward that know people from my comp's home ward which is like 4 to 6 hours away. There's even one person who met him like 8 or 9 years ago and remembered him! (we were shocked and amazed by her memory especially because he was just turning 12 at that time and now he's 20) Small world for sure!

Yesterday we had lunch with one family, then more of their family showed up. lunch was churrasco (grilled stuffs) but later turned into a birthday party for the youngest member of the family who will turn 1 year old tomorrow.

I had a good moment while teaching R... He always seems to comment that we bring a feeling of peace when we visit and I finally got the chance to explain that peace is being brought by the Spirit and this time I think he finally understood!

I'm glad the flights were uneventful! (Sorry this post is late we were flying home this week)

Hooray for Chris!! (Elder Lundy's Older brother graduated from BYUI this week)

haha shooting day(target practice) :3 Aí sim! Congrats on the progress!

I'm glad you had a lot of fun and hope you'll still be able to have some more before going home!

anyways, I love you!

April 2017 General Conference week

Conference was pretty good :) 

We missed the first session on Saturday because of lunch... :( But we were able to see the rest without problem. I just still have some trouble because I can hear both English and Portuguese at the same time so I get a bit of a headache. I'm never able to remember what's talked about during conference so I've finally started up the habit of writing down notes. (I started at the beginning of the mission) The highlight of my week was seeing our investigator R... during the first Sunday session of conference. The coolest thing is that it wasn't even aired in our church building. We had to go to a different church building to watch because only 2 chapels in the stake streamed conference.

That money shirt is awesome! (We sent Elder Lundy a picture ...Our wonderful friends folded us an origami dress shirt with tie it's so cute)

Yup yup! Skyping will happen soon! (Mother's Day) I don't know if I'll still be in this area or if I'll be transferred yet. The transfer will end April 25th. If I stay, there will be absolutely no problem with arranging Skype here.

Thanks for the movie! (We bought Elder Lundy the DVD Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) I got pretty excited about that one for a while too. A bunch of members have told me about it.

Anyways, I love you!