gonna move into the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches...

dearest family, friends, fred, and karl, spelt with a k...

this week has been insane.

 

let me start off by thanking everybody who participated in the service out in Nova York...as people here call it... all y'all are incredible. truly inspiring...i'll be sharing this experience that my mother recounted to me this week at district meeting. this week has been more than we expected. yes, I was slightly down last week...feet were starting to drag, and lots and lots of rejection....our investigators were not progressing really well...

well....we prayed, fasted, prayed, studied, prayed, fasted, and prayed again...and you know what!?!?! the Lord provides when you do what he commands....

 

this friday we are proud to announce the baptism of Fernanda (13), daughter of Luis, who was baptized the third of this month, and Andreo (also 13), son of Glade, an inactive member that we got a reference to from an active member she met her at work..... they are fantastic. incredible. and a blessing. we have been working our hind-quarters off on them, and it's finally paying off.... this week the members were fantastic too, we recieved 6 references...of whom we visited, 2 have a decent amount of potential...so the numbers run like this normally..

in every 1000 doors we clap, we get 1 baptism

in every 10 references we get from members... we get 1 baptism

 

seeing a trend?????

well, we also encountered Elisandro a couple of weeks ago, he is a family friend of our next door neighbors (bishop, and the family that lives above him)... he is a bible scholar and extremely intelligent...absurdley intelligent.....he did a stint a couple of years ago where he spent three months fasting off and on and studying the bible all day...that's all he did....he's a musician by trade. well he moved in a couple of weeks ago with the family that lives above bispo, and we ran into him one day when we were looking for one of the young men who lives in that house...we were going to go out and teach a lesson with him...but as we walked through the door, Elisandro got up and told us to sit down so he could talk with us...find out who we are and what we believe...he was extremeley cynical.....what could these couple of dweebey white kids from the united states tell me about the bible that I don't already know....well, we taught him twice...a little about the gosple and a bit about the restoration...and he read 3 Nefi 11....and took notes, and got out of it more than most members get out of it...but it was all out of satire and to make a mockery right...well, we stopped visiting him because he wasn't sincere....well, we marked Mosiah 8 with him which talks about the spirit incurring a change of heart....and three weeks later (last week) we visited him again...this time. he went to church the next day, and was quite a bit more sincere and honest.... he has a biblical comprehention level of a genious, but he is realizing that there is more than just the biblical interpretaitons to the world...that the Book of Mormon is true and that we can realize this by reading from its pages and praying...because God never lies, and when we pray with faith, with real intent to know...we will recieve an answer.... well.... we had splits on thursday...and elder Nelson and I visited him....and he accepted baptism and to stop smoking. He is hoping to be baptized on the 22nd of december. :) wonderous miracles from the heavens. He's also been to church twice...and we have a new gospel principles teacher who is brilliant and very strong...I had an objection to what she said (I missunderstood a point that she made...elisandro had the same objection) and she took a shotgun and shot us out of the sky....doctrinally....very humbling and slightly humiliating... but she works very well with Elisandro... I'm excited!

so the title of my email is about peaches...and that has been a general theme this week....peaches, peaches, peaches

so on tuesday, we were visiting a lady that we had taught once, and as we left her house and were walking down the adjacent street, a peach truck (large flatbed farm produce truck) was parked on the corner and a lady was selling her fresh-picked peaches out of it. as we passed her, she was in deep conversation, but told the guy to hold on and she called out to us, we came over, and she handed us a bag (probably 3kg) of fresh picked peaches...we tried to pay her but she woulde have nothing of it. Sweet!!! peaches!!!! so we eat a bunch...they are hard and green, but so very succulantly sweet...very much like an apple almost.....delicious....well, the next day, we run into her again...once again she is in deep conversation, so we can't talk with her, but she hands us another bag full of peaches....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ........ so we have about 5 kg of peaches, we are on the other side of the city, about an hour away the next day....and low and behold who do we run into, the same lady (we can easily identify her by her "thoroughly modern Millie" style hat....) but she is carrying a bunch of crates of peaches into a warehouse and didn't have time to talk to us.... I get the feeling that Heavenly Father is trying to tell us something....next time we see her, we're getting her address, and baptizing her... XD

so I have been eating peaches for every meal....breakfast and dinner and snacks...sooo good, we only have 1 left now i think...skin them and eat them with milk and sugar (or instead, I eat them with amaixa yogurt. (i think that translates to a mini-plumb?)) very very delicious

 

pictures are on the way, they are going to tell the story of the last 2 weeks :) ta?

 

te amo

Elder Tyler Eliason

This goes against everything they ever taught me in medical schooollleee..........

name that movie...tanner

alright, so your description of cheese-cake factory pumpkin cheescake w/ pecan pie makes me just want to melt right now.....(i'm fasting.... and theres nothing even near that here...) well, the news about israel really doesn't suprise me.... and the fact that egypt is trying to broker an agreement is absolutely hillarious to me...seeing as how Egypt is currently run by the Muslim Brotherhood, the same organization that funds Hamas and the Taliban...

sorry...missionary thoughts...

bum pu dum pu...

 

well....this week has been rough in a short sence of the word....

we have spent the last five days going through the ward directory (the only one that has ever been produced, and is only updated by a single secretary whenever somebody gets baptized...they just enter the name and address) well there are about 300 members here in Bento that we know about...we have about 120 active... so we have been going around trying to find the inactives....and teach them and their families...this is a very effective way to help the ward...usually the inactives have families who are not members... so we teach a lesson to the family, the inactive is the member...and some times they start going to church again...its happened several times recently so we decided to try and do it some more...well, the problem is when the records have never been updated, and so for example we were looking for a family yesterday...we found the address, asked the lady who was living there if she knew of the people....and she said yes. success right!?!?! well, turns out that she bought the house from them 16 years ago. yeah. 16 years ago! I was three when they moved out. :/ okay... our number of lessons have been suffering this week because of the search, but we feel like the lessons we are teaching are much more effective, meaningful, and powerful....actually to be honest, our numbers are at about half of what they were last transfer....but like I said, its getting better :)

you asked me about the music we listen to here... well, elder bryant likes the EFY music.... so whenever he puts that on on Pday, I usually go into the bedroom and take a nap. we do have a random few songs that a member put on a DVD for us...a couple of alex boye, amy grant, Hillary weeks, jericho road...etc, lds music..

what music would i like? on a dvd, because we dont have cd players, but we all have a small dvd player....motab, motab, motab....and calm classical....george winston style?

 

oh, so I have been reading cousin Danie'ls emails....and it blows me away how different the missionary lifestyle is here from there.... starting with just the schedule...here's ours:

 

0630 wakeup and exercise

0700 shower/bathroom/getdressed

0730 breakfast/write in journal

0800 personal study

0900 companionship study

1000 trainer-junior missionary program

1030 language study

1100 free-study time until necessary to leave for lunch, which could be at 11 or 1155

1200 lunch w/ member

1300 proselyting

2100 end last lesson and be within half hour walk of home

2130 planning

2200 food/prep for bed/LDM chapter read

2230 lights out

this can be slightly obnoxious at times, zero change in the schedule...but hey, it's good, we get 8 hours of straight proselyting every day. no, we dont eat dinner... and we don't have bikes or cars...we either walk everywhere, or if by some miracle we have cash, we take the bus...

oh well, the computer i'm using is different than any other type i've ever used, and there are no usb inputs that i can see...so pictures will have to wait until next week... sorry.

i laughed when i heard that hostess applied for bankrupcy... oh, speaking of bread, one of our recent converts gave us a huge loaf of home-made bread fresh out of the oven....yeah, I ate my entire half within 20 minutes of getting home...somethings don't change ... especially cinnamon and sugar and butter on fresh bread.... :))))))

 

anyways, thank you for all of the letters, I actually got 2 more this week when we went to a leadership meeting in Caxias do Sul...thanks everybody :)

mom, you asked for a recipe for brazilian beans...well, youre going to laugh...

 

black beans

diced onion

couple of crushed cloves of garlic

random chunks of any type of meat

water

cook it all together for a while in a pot of water (we use pressure cookers here, awesome, scary but awesome, they are aluminum pans with a pressure lid, that once it's sealed, doesn't open until you let out all of the steam...also makes it nice because you never have to add more water...) also, don't drain the beans, cook it until the beans are super tender and the water is black and soupy...then serve over rice along with some random other style of a. pasta, b. meat, or c. polenta...jelified corn meal :P or plain. yummy....lots of people here eat it with crushed potato chips over top...very delicious

anyway, don't set off the smoke-detectors, love you mom XD

Elder Eliason

ps. my hair has once again become the color of snow....

well....tr​ansfers? bah! I'm staying here!!!

WoOOOOOTTT...we found out this morning that we are not getting transfered....Elder Bryant and I will stay here for the next four and a half weeks :D yes, i said four and a half weeks because the next transfer will take place the week before Christmas...if we didn't cut it short, the transfer day would fall on Christmas day, and that's not happening.

by the way, Bah! is a word of excitement and joy here...it's a fantastic exclamation...up there with Nossa! (wow) and Cheiquezou (pronounced sheekeezow and literally means "very fancy", but really means on the street AWESOME!!!)

 

então...

 

this week was absolutely nuts! the best way to describe it was an overload of all 5 senses...as follows:

 

Touch-

-This week went from 36 degrees to 11 yesterday...fantastic :D

-I have blisters on all of my toes

-We have bedbugs...ouch

-mosquitos have come to drain me of blood

 

Hear-

-Funk. thats all I need to say. they have trucks here whose entire bed of the truck is a single speaker......and they play the most obnoxious music..FUNK....kind of like Brandon Blake (lil brother) smashing his head on Brittanys synthesizer keyboard and every key is a different noise...coupled with a dozen three year olds with wooden spoons banging on mom's pots and pans. youtube that janx and you'll know what i'm talking about...

-also, we had an interesting experience..we were walking to an investigator's house when a car parked on the side of the road started playing music....pretty common, except the music was just a voice...deep and dark and sinister it said "I am the darkness.....bahahahahahaha..... no...... I AM the DEVIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" followed by crazy screamo- i turned to Elder Bryant and said, well, the oposition has never been more clear has it.....we kind of just chuckled and kept on walking

 

Taste-

-beans, beans, beans, and yup, you guessed it, beans!!!!!!! yay :D I love beans... well, mom you were right, beans here are very simple...a little garlic, a little onion, usually some random chuncks of leftover meat. (any type works, pork is most common here though), and tons and tons of blackbeans....but they make them different than you do mom, they cook them until they are super super squishy-soft, until you could mash them with a fork and they would be smooth....only blackbeans here though.. so good though....every single meal every day... :)

-I bought a long stick of salami...fantastic decision...super cheap and super full of flavor

-Tererei (I have no idea how to spell it, but thats how it sounds, just say it as fast as possible and thats how it is said)...basically its Matte/Chemarrou with ice and sprite/lemonade/juice sucked through a bomba...same as chemarrou....very very desirable and delicious when it is hot outside

 

Sight

-well, there have been billboards going up all around town about the new mammogram center that has opened up....and instructions on how to conduct a self-mammogram...that has been a wonderful addition to the city >:/

-the volume of clothing people wear here is inversely proportional to the temperature, not much unlike the USA, but in a more openly fashion... we just have to be careful....very careful.....

-because of the heat earlier this week...the gilla monsters have come out of the forests and have been chilling on the unused roads...they're HUGE!!!! i'll include a picture

Smell-

-Well, we tried to take a shortcut between two of our investigators...they live a stone's throw away from each other, but between their houses is a gorge...where a river runs down through the bottom...smaller than the stream behind our house, and it hadn't rained in over 2 weeks so it was really low...we figured we could save our legs and a ton of time by crossing it rather than going around, over a very large hill, down it, and back up another....yeah, it was and it worked...but the stream was sewage.............yeah, that was absolutely fantastic by the time we made it to our investigator's house....well, we had decided to never do that again.

-we were clapping doors and we ran into a member....she is chair-ridden, and very.....interesting..... but she's a member none the less, so we visited her and her grandmother (pushing 95?) as we were explaining the importance of prayer...her son ran into the kitchen (where we were) and lit up the stove....swooped his head down and lit up the biggest joint I have ever seen in my LIFE....it was well over 4 inches long...we would have just figured that it was a homemade cigarette..the people here grow their own tobbacco and roll their own...but within 2 minutes, he was singing in his bedroom, and the entire house was filled with weed-smoke....she seemed oblivious....we left shortly thereafter

 

well, after that inspirational note...one that is a bit more spiritual....on a slightly political note

please read Mosiah 29.... but concentrate on verses 16, 21, 22, 23, and 27

we were teaching Irmão Luiz's family last week and ran down the road afterward to visit a member to see if they wanted to do a FHE with him, later that week...well, they did, and they also gave us a reference (LOVE LOVE LOVE references)....we visited them that night...and holy smokes!!!!!! so...she was baptized 12 years ago, but has since then left the church....she lived 18 miles away from it...that's difficult for someone who doesn't have much money for bus tickets or a car...., but they moved to Bento Gonçalves last year....she has a 13 year old son, who is literally the most humble, meek, and willing to learn kid in the entire universe....she also lives with her husband and an 8 year old son....also very kind meek and humble....along with her 2 sisters and 1 brother...all in the basement of a house.....LOVE THIS FAMILY!!!!! they have nothing but love and happiness there....they are the type of home I want to have when I start my own family...there is zero contention and tons of laughter and smiles... they listen intently to the lessons, and she helps because as we talk, she remembers....so, we have visited them twice...and the two sisters and the two sons all want to be baptized....yeah, they're awesome awesome awesome....

 

anyways, I have to go, my time on the computer is dwindling.... thank you so much for the emails mom, dad, and blake...they were fantastic and made my week...

 

BY THE WAY... I GOT MAIL!!!!! everybody who sent mail in the months of September or October I got your letters :D thank you so much!!!! I will respond as time allows...sorry, no promises on promptness... and mother, thank you so much for those awesome pictures, they are truly a blessing here in Brazil

I'll finish with a quote from my bishop here....

"three, three-thirty....same thing right?"

in reality...when we say do you have 5 minutes that we can share a message...it means 30...if we say ten, it means 40 (max. lesson length)

its brazil, everybody is always late, and everything goes over, and nobody cares.

 

much love from the richest city in Brazil.....(true story...)

Elder Eliason

 

P.S. Christmas wish list?

-Small English Hymn book

-love

letters (w/ pictures)

letters (w/ emoticons)

letters (w/ drawings)

letters (w/ food stains from sitting on the table waiting to be written)

letters.......X infinity :)

 

 

Gilla Monster

 

 

Giant Moths

 

 

Go International!!!!!!!!!!!!! woot woot Futebol Brazil!!!!

soo....this week we will have p-day tomorrow, and transfers will be on wednesday....since President Wright is in São Paulo.... the email of the week will come tomorrow... :S keep smiling

Elder Eliason

Area where we work



 Purple church (aka a Igreja do Rei Jesus) or the Church of the King Jesus, purple is the color of royalty


Vinyard one of the members owns


Our district


the cemetary after Dia dos Mortos....their version of halloween, except they have mass in the graveyard, which is fine except we woke up to gregorian chants...which I love by the way...but kind of weird, and my allergies have been haywire since then...so much pollen...


Baptism of Luiz


Elders and Luiz

it's monday, monday...p-day is so monday

and thus I shall write unto whoever cares....and if you wrote me a letter within the last 2 months, I still have yet to recieve it....

woohoo, another week has passed here in bento Gonçalves...more and more miracles are happening all over the place...

this week I had the privilage to baptize Irmão Luiz. He is an amazing individual...quite the character too...he works in construction, is missing his middle finger, and loves to do everything himself...but he also has the soul of a saint. Elder Bryant and Elder Christaldo (the elder before me) ran into him by clapping doors (yes, we really do stand outside and clap until somebody answers, its illigal to enter a yard/porch without permission but it's easy since none of the houses are insulated, most of them are either brick or concrete, or if they're poor, particleboard... all of the houses here have large gates and fences and usually barbed wire or razor wire, or broken glass above a cement wall to keep us out too...) and he let them in and accepted the first lesson...well, elder Christaldo felt something with him, and asked elder Bryant to go back, even though he reacted the same way that most of the people who are uninterested act...kind of say cool, thanks for the story type deal...and it came up that he smoked, heavily, chain smoker...but then when they arrived to teach the second time..they asked him to stop smoking, and said that it'll help him spiritually.... he said he'd stop. he hasn't touched a pack of cigarettes since...we tried teaching him when I got here, for two and a half weeks we tried and nobody answered the door, we had all but cut him when we knocked one last time (note: he has gone to church every week since the elders met him) and he answered with having read all of third Nefi and wanting to be baptized....miracles.....well, we talked to him about the word of Wisdom, and turns out, alcohol played a huge part in his life....well, he stopped in one day. talk about intestinal fortitude.... His family is planned to be baptized in two weeks, seeing as how transfers are next monday, I really hope that I get to stay here and be a part of it....

we walked over 12 miles on wednesday....with the hills, we basically killed ourselves, and we got absolutely nowhere because of it...except 4 lessons...only one of which was productive...during the companionship inventory, we reviewed the week and decided how we could improve our abilities in teaching, how we teach, and how we can be more obedient. President Wright, our current mission president has only been here for 4 months, and Elder Bryant said that when he arrived, he made a promise to us that if we start working with our heads and not with our legs, this mission could double the number of baptisms....so we took that to heart, and have started planning better the areas where we teach, and keep all of our appointements relatively close to one another...and let me tell you, I can already see improvement...

I have been working really hard to understand and comprehend the language here...and it is coming along very well, I can follow any conversation now for the most part, as long as the person is speaking in my general direction...for some reason, the words sound different when the're speaking to somebody else... something that I definitely could improve on is how I ask questions... here in Brazil, you ask questions the same way you would say a statement, you just use tone inflection at the end of a sentance....but when your accent is thick, that becomes nearly impossible...

I just tried to send a picture, bot for some reason, the computer is not allowing me to upload any photos, so I'll try on another computer in just a second....thanks for the patience...

Let me tell you, I have discovered the best panini-sandwich thing yet....cinnamon, bananas, sugar and dulce de leite between two slices of buttered bread in the grilled-cheese sandwhich maker that we somehow obtained....AMAZING....banana pies...basically, theyre delicious.....

Sorry to hear that you're bummed brittany, you know, most of the sister missionaries that were here at the CTM that I made friends with had boyfriends back home.... you dont have to be solzinho para servir um missão.....

anyways, tanner, you are nuts for loving winter track...i loved running out in the cold, not the circles part...

Preston, I can't wait to see your facebook account

blake, I mean Brandon......you're just awesome, I thought of you this week...the gummy-bear song has gone insane here, everybody loves it, in PORTUGUESE!!!! ugh.....

Best of luck,

com amor

te amo

Elder Tyler Eliason

p.s. that photo of the changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is absolutely fantastic....makes me get shivers inside...

prayers out to NY.....