Saturday, January 30, 2010

Pictures




Here are the most recent pictures Elder Steele has sent us.




























Canela

Here is Jonathan's latest letter (and his first from the field!). Sorry it's late - I've been sick. It appears that his P-Day has changed to Tuesday, so send emails his way before then if possible. He will appreciate it. :)

Dear Family,

How is everyone doing? I am sure you all heard that I am now in the Mission Field. I arrived here last Tuesday and was transferred that day to a small city known as Canela. Canela means Cinnamon in Portuguese. The work is really progressing here. They are dedicating a new chapel for the branch this Sunday and we have 6 baptisms set for that date: five new member baptisms and one member baptism. It’s exciting.

Anyways, last Monday (the 18th) I went into the clinic with a couple of other American missionaries to get our Hepatitis A booster shots. We left around 1pm and got back at 5pm. When we arrived the front desk attendant told me that Irmão Paulo would like to see me. I thought maybe I was in trouble for something seeing as he sometimes takes care of these types of things, but when I arrived in his office he told me I would be leaving for the mission field the next morning. I was pretty shocked and excited. I grabbed some dinner at the cafeteria and then went upstairs to pack since I would have to get up at 4 the next morning. I had already missed all of the departure meetings that day, which was nice because I heard from all the other elders that were leaving and that had left in weeks previous how boring they were.

The next morning I got up at 4 and met all the other departing elders at the front gate. We ate a quick sack breakfast consisting of 2 dry ham and cheese sandwiches, a cup of grape juice, a banana, and a candy bar. Then we all hopped into the taxi and headed for the airport. When I saw 'we all' I mean all of the missionaries headed to the Porto Alegre Norte Mission (4 Brazilians and 1 American that had arrived the week previous). I didn’t really know the other American well because he wasn’t there for long and he wasn’t in my district. Anyways once we got the airport we waited for about an hour and half to check our bags and board the plane. The plane was 3 seats x 3 seats and had about 40 people on it (about ¼ full). So we all went toward the back and each grabbed a row to ourselves. It was pretty cool. The flight was really fast, about an hour and a half. When we landed President Pavan was waiting there with his assistants. We got in his Toyota Hi-Lux and headed to the mission home. The mission home was really nice. So nice that we all got to put on little white cloth booties over our shoes so we didn’t dirty the carpet. We got briefed there a little about the procedures in finance and health and the President talked to us about obedience. Then we all ate a nice lunch together prepared by the Maid, were told our new companions and headed off to the bus station.

At the bus station was about 60 Elders, and all of their luggage, meeting up with their new companions and then heading out to their areas. I met one of my companions, Elder Green, there. He has 2 transfers left and lives in Washington. I was put in a trio because President Pavan wasn’t expecting me either. We waited at the bus station until almost everyone was gone and then our bus arrived. It was a 5 star executive coach - nice, but not as nice as it sounds. The bus took 2 and a half hours including 2 other stops to get to Canela. In Canela we met up with Elder Barker. He is the other missionary completing our trio and is from Orem, Utah. He is starting his 3rd transfer and is a greeny also. His Portuguese is decent enough to get around which gives me hope knowing that after 2 short transfers I will be able to speak half decently. Elders Green’s Portuguese is really perfect. This is Elder Barker's 2nd transfer in the Canela area so he knows the area well and has shown us around this past week. We have been teaching a lot and preparing 5 investigators who will be baptized this Sunday for baptism. The new chapel is really beautiful. It’s 2 stories tall.

Canela is one of the most beautiful and rich cities in the mission. It’s a tourist city. My companion Elder Barker told me that it has the 2nd best chocolate in the world right next to Swiss chocolate. I don’t know if I believe him though. Maybe you could do some research online. The temperature has been between 60 and 80 here everyday the past week. It’s really nice. It doesn’t ever get very hot in the state of Rio Grande do Sul which is nice. In the winter months it doesn’t get cold either. It passes below 0 maybe once or twice the whole year. Anyways, 2 weeks ago on Wednesday I got those 3 letters you guys sent through Mission Ties. You can keep sending them to the CTM because the CTM will forward all the letters to the mission here. I got Bryn’s 5th letter as well. I never received any packages from Chuck or the ward or anyone for that matter. Maybe you guys have one coming to the mission field here. I hope you have my address. Send all the letters to the mission home and I will get them during transfers or zone conferences. Anyways I have to go now. Thanks for all the emails. I will talk with you all next week. I love you all. Tchau!

P.S. Every Brazil Mission has only 2 cars. One for the President and one for his wife. Wish Grandma a happy birthday for me please!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Off to Porto Alegre!

Apparently Elder Steele was shipped off to Porto Alegre yesterday... We received this email and accompanying picture today from his mission president:


Dear Steele Family,

After spending a few hours with your son, we sense his spirit, preparation and testimony. Our hearts are filled with gratitude to parents that sent us such a fine young man.

We thank you for your sacrifice and know that Heavenly Father will richly repay you and your missionary as he serves the Lord in this part of his vineyard.


We read in the Book of Samuel of Hannah, who promised, if she were granted a son, she would consecrate him to the Lord. Blessed with the son she asked for, she took him to the temple and “lent him to the Lord”. You have done something very similar to Hannah. What is marvelous is that, by offering our children to God, they become ours forever.


We are happy for the opportunity we have to be called with your son to serve in this mission. Rio Grande do Sul is a marvelous place with friendly people anxious to hear the gospel. Sometimes the work will be hard and your weekly letters will give him inspiration and encouragement.


Every young missionary, often through difficulties and challenges, grows a lot. He will have sacred experiences as he is obedient and dedicated. Great things are happening in the work of the Lord and it is marvelous that your son is playing a part.

We will most certainly take care of him and love him as if he were our own. We thank you one more time and pray that the blessings of the Lord be with you.

Sincerely,
President Edison Pavan
Sister Marcia Fajiolli Pavan

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Semana 6 and a photo

Olha familia!

The MTC is going great. Monday and Tuesday of this week I have only been speaking in Portuguese and it has helped a lot. The words are starting to connect in my brain easier and they also come a lot quicker. Is has been nice. The hardest part about learning a new language is the vocabulary and also tuning your ear into the native tongue. The latter I know will come once I get to the field. I will have to keep learning vocabulary every day if I want to become fluent fast. It’s been pretty hot the past week. It has also rained almost every day. The street on the west side of the CTM has about .4 meter of water running along it because it was raining so hard, and yesterday it was hot and sunny outside but it was raining really hard. It looked really weird out of our window. Anyway not much else is going on here. I guess that I will hear from you all next week.

Thanks for all the prayers! Love you. Tcau.

In Reply to your emails:

Grandma - I'm sorry that you are still having problems with your health; I hope that the doctors can find out the problem and get it fixed soon. That is exciting that they are going to split the DR country...or did you mean the mission? I suppose you meant the mission. That is very exciting how many new members are being brought unto the fold in Africa. Thanks for the E-mail. It’s really nice getting an update from you! I love you!

Mom - That's exciting about the snow and the new seminary teacher. I didn't know that you were working at the YMCA. Sounds legit. Elder Boudreaux is going to serve a 2 year mission - wow! Does he know where he is going yet? Tell him congratulations for me! How does the Mr. Cheney's cookies letter and photo sending work? I haven't tried it/don't know anything about it. Have fun with the pies.

Saváñha – That snow sounds exciting. The few elders that have made it here from the Provo MTC talk about how cold it was which makes me a little bit jealous but it's okay. I didn’t know Provo had such bad air. The whole time I was there I figured that I was breathing in clean, healthy mountain air. I guess it was all just a trick. That's good that your teaching career is going well. The answer to your prayers was given to me last week when some instructors were looking at the picture of my family I had in the class room. They all really liked Liz and keep calling me their brother-in-law (well, just 2 of them). They really like her black hair, so I think if you dyed your hair black you might score. Thanks for the email!

Mãte-ou – Thanks for the warning about the hot dog. I have seen those little chip fries at the cafeteria here. They taste just like chips so I don’t eat them. Nothing much new at the CTM. I am for sure leaving on the second with the rest of my district. Lately we have been practicing a lot of the lessons in Portuguese. Mainly lessons 1-4. I don’t even know much about lesson 5 except that it's more about the church today. My morning teacher served in the same mission that I am going to. He tells me all about it and it sounds exciting. My afternoon teacher served in Manaus and he always talks about the times he has committed people to baptism after 15 minutes of the first lesson. Manaus and Porto Alegre are a huge contrast in terms of wealth and baptisms though. Say hello to Ella for me.

Dad – Thanks for the email. Glad Chuck got another truck. How is the plowing going this winter for him? That's too bad Adam Jayme didn’t take the job. Not much let down for me seeing as I didn’t know he was offered one. The snow show booth sounds exciting. Try to do something unique and catchy so you can catch people's interests. That's exciting that Rem took Tori on another date. It’s good that he has finally had a change of heart. The time is going by very quickly here. Love you. Até próximo Semana

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Week 5

Hola familia!

In reply to all of your emails:

I am glad that Bryn could stop over to watch everyone open gifts. Thanks for all of the support you give to her. Tell her that I say hello and “I love you”. I am glad you got those pictures. I think it was my branch president's wife that sent them. I didn’t have a chance to look at all of them. The arm wrestling match ended in a tie.

I don’t know if the buck Adam found was mine. Where exactly was it found? I recall the deer that I shot at being either a small buck or a small doe. Thanks for holding off on the other buck you saw on Bailey Road; I hope it will still be around when I get back just in time for the hunting season.

I haven’t received any emails from Fritz but maybe one day I will. I hope he is doing great and is having a wonderful mission.

I think that the code reader is in the barn on the table to the left of the Harley Davidson tool cabinet. That is where I usually kept it. If it's not there it may be on the second rack down on my doll up cart.

The language is going great. I found out on Monday that what my district leader has told me was wrong about our departure dates. Those were just the dates that we were supposed to leave. My district is leaving all on the 2nd of February. Please start sending mail to my mission after this week because it took Bryn’s first letter 22 days to get here. I got it last Tuesday by the way (December 29th). I didn’t get one this Tuesday but maybe I will get the next one sometime this week. So I think I am leaving on the 2nd of February but the 2nd counselor to the President said they do let people out 1 week early if it's on their transfer date and sometimes they let people out 2 weeks early if the President approves it. I am pretty sure I will be here until the second though. I can’t wait to get out to the field, I heard the Portuguese comes much faster there.

Christmas was great. It was mostly just a free day until after lunch. We watched Life is Beautiful ( I think, or It’s a Wonderful Life, whichever one is about the guy who almost jumps from the bridge, not the one about WWII.) and then we played games and after dinner we watched The Other Side of Heaven. I got a really ugly tie from the CTM and a small bag of Brazillian candy (mostly chocolate) from the cafeteria (which is catered by the largest caterer in the world). The food here is okay. I can’t wait to get into the field though, I heard that it is like 100 times better there! That’s exciting about all of your presents; congratulations and I hope that you have fun with them. Zach and Sarah: Canada sounds cool. You should take a look at the job opportunities in Brazil if you don’t mind living with 2nd world health care. Good luck to you and your family though and I hope that you can find a job soon. If you have enough faith you will be blessed.

Matt: Here is my rough translation of your email using just my brain.
---------------------
Feliz Ano Novo!
Acredito que você tem aprendido suficiente para entender o meu e-mail escrito em português. Como tem passado esta semana? Quais são as coisas que você gosta de fazer no dia de preparação? Estou pensando que você tem apenas duas semanas ate você sairá do CTM. Que ótimo! Lembro-me que estava muito animado para entrar o campo missionário e começar os trabalhos. Você vai aprender mais rápido quando deixas de falar inglês. Lembra-se que todos os seus companheiros serão diferentes e que é muito importante de aprender a gostar deles.
Oramos por você todos os dias. Sabemos que o Senhor vai te abençoar na obra missionaria.
Abraços,
Mateus
-------------------
My translation:
Happy new year!

I believe that you have learned sufficiently to understand my email written in Portuguese. How has the past week been. Which type of things do you like to do on P-day. There are only 2 weeks until you leave the CTM. That’s Awesome! I remember that I was very excited when I entered the field and got to work. You will learn much faster when you stop speaking English. Remember that all your companions are different and that its very important that you learn to love them.

We pray for you every day. We know that you will be blessed by other missionaries.

--------Was that a good enough translation? It’s a lot harder when the Brazillians are speaking fast and in a Brazillian accent.

I am very sorry about not being to email you all last week. The Internet was down at the Internet café across the street and there are only 3 computers at the other café in our area so I let my companions use the free ones while I wrote a letter. The weeks are going by a lot faster now than they did in the beginning. Dad: we don’t memorize the discussions anymore. PMG seems to be a very effective tool for teaching investigators, but it is still hard for a lot of the missionaries here to realize that the whole purpose for PMG was so the missionaries can teach to the investigators' needs. Teaching is a difficult skill/technique to learn. I feel like I will only really learn how to teach once I have been in the field for at least a couple of months, if not more.

I have so far only received one letter from Bryn. I hope that Chuck's package gets here before I leave the MTC because if it doesn’t they do not forward packages to the mission.

Every Tuesday night we have a devotional. Yesterday night we watched Jeffery R. Holland's talk which he gave to all the missionaries in Provo 3 or 4 weeks ago. It was very good. On Christmas Eve, Claudia something (I forgot his last name) of the 70 presidency, who is also over the entire Brazil area, came to speak to us. It was a good talk.

Thanks for all of the emails family and Bryn. I love you all. I will update you more next week. Oh and last Wednesday we got I think 20 or so Americans. I think about half of them only had a week left and left for their missions yesterday. But there were a couple brand new kids and couple that are in the district ahead of us that are leaving on the 19th of January. One came into our district. So now we have 7 missionaries in our district (6 elders and a sister). I think there are 3 American districts total. Até Mais!

Love,

Elder Steele