because I want to

I don't feel like writing a whole ton today, so i think I'll send some photos with some captions..... We had a miracle happen yesterday, 3 baptisms....., actually, 3 baptismal meetings, 6 baptisms, but 3 were of the sisters in the ward....but still, it was a VERY VERY white christmas :D

Christmas here they celebrate with large portions of meat, fireworks, and lots of beer.  being the fact that we are LDS missionaries, we have to make use of the 1 thing that we can do during those hours, the meat.........so we got together with some members and had a churrasco :) it was excelent.  Yes, sister costa and Sister Röpke were together with us....they're a lot of fun.

Baptism of Leonardo (18 anos, former Jehova's Wittness)

Baptisms of the 2 young women- 

 ------ Rubianie (17 years old, former evangelical)

------Vaneusa (15, irmã de rubianie, former non-denominational)

Baptisms of the sisters---the 3 kids.

Passo Fundo de novo!!!!!!!

So, I've been transfered to the zone Passo Fundo, (about a year ago, I was transfered here too, Erechim is part of Passo Fundo) 

I am serving in the ward: Planaltinha, 

area: Planaltinha A.

Zona: Passo Fundo

Companheiro: Elder Spadari

He is from: Long beach (Praia grande), São Paulo

We are the LZs of 23 missionaries, the biggest zone in the mission.

We share the ward with 2 crazy-as-Murdock sisters.  Sister Röpke, de Recife, e Sister Costa, from a city on the outskirts of  São Paulo.   (If you got the A-team reference, you are awesome)

We baptised a young man this week, his name is Maikon.  He is 13, and loves the church, the elders found him knocking doors last week, and he went to church 2 days latter, and yesterday, Elder Spadari and I baptized him.  He is AWESOME and  super funny. He also wants a Temple marriage (yes, he has already chosen the young woman hahahahaha) and to serve a mission.

His sister (age), probably will be baptized here in 2 or 3 weeks, she has a lot more work to do to get ready, he was super elect, she will have to change several habits..he he he....  

anyways, I have spent some time this week thinking about personal revelation.  I have come to the following census. (I wrote this to a friend who asked...)_   

So, if we were to live before the birth of Jesus, you would probably see an angel.  Because of the fact that we live in this modern age, revelation comes through the whisperings of the Holy Spirit.  (B/c of iniquity, revelation has decended from the terrestrial level to the telestial level)   the first rule to recieve revelation, is to be obeying ALL of the commandments, if not, repent, and ask for forgiveness....talk to your bishop etc.... If there is something wrong, it will impede your revelation, (refer to the excelent discourse given by Pres. Eyering, "Where Is The Pavilion?") RE> http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/where-is-the-pavilion?lang=eng   your response can come in 1 of 3 ways.  

Type 1- the most probable and sure way.  Galatas.  The fruits of the Spirit are: Love, tenderness, peace, etc..... (I know the words in portuguese, but not in english...)   Also, there is that scripture in D&C where the lord rebukes Oliver Cowdary and says "Did I not already give you peace unto your soul? With what more of an answer dost thou need?" more or less....hehehe....   allright, so what you need to do, is unplug yourself from the world.  cell phone, computer, ipod...etc...the world, go to somewhere where you can be alone and is very very quiet.  I would suggest doing this at the end of a fast.   After much prayer and study of the scriptures, Ask a question VERY VERY specific.  Invoking the name of our Savior, ask a yes or no question.  Confirm or not. etc... if you can feel peace or a burning in your chest, it's the right thing to do.  If you have difficulty focusing or anything like that, it is the wrong thing to do.  If you feel that you have not recieved an answer, try again, pray, study more scripture, pray, study, pray study, ask....etc... continue.   My mother always taught me that as litteral descendants of our Father in Heaven, we have the Right to recieve an answer to any question, but first we must study it out in our minds, (introduction to the Book of Mormon, or Moroni 10:4)  and then ask with faith.  If we do not recieve an answer, try again, if not, try again, UNTIL YOU RECIEVE AN ANSWER.  I have a testimony about this one.

2.  Dream, you ask the question in rightousness, and a little bit afterwards, you will have a dream where you recieve your answer.  (you must be very rightous and have LOTS of faith, or the answer needs to be made know VERY abruptly)  rarely happens.

3.  Make a decision, and pray that the Lord helps you whatever the decision may be.  This is frequent also.  What it means? The two options are good.  Just choose one and pray for the strenght of the Lord to uphold you in your decision.  

Thanks for everything, Mom, because Brittany has not sent info about the Skype, lets plan on 4 oclock chistmas afternoon :)  thanks :)

EE.

Photos-1. Baptism of Francisco last week,

2- Maicon. Yesterday.  Só batiza!!!!!!!

fun stuff.

So, Ive been transferred, yeah. 

This week we had two baptisms, Julia e Francisco.

Julia is the sister of a less active member, William.  He is 20, was using all sorts of heavy chemical substances, decided to return to the church, he will serve a mon here in a little bit, but told us that before he serves a mission, he wants to see his whole family baptized.  well, we have the start... :)

Francisco was a contact that the (incredible) Sister (Erin) Young did in her area.  She contacted him on the road, and then the next day, he was talking with his cousin (who lives down the street from us and him) and turns out that she is a recent convert.  Sparked interest, he just got out of a messy divorce, and is looking to change his life around (aka, heavy smoking, drinking, and drug usage).  Well, after 4 weeks of working with him, he was baptized yesterday.

I've been transferred, Sister Eliason will arrive in Brazil tonight.  I'm so excited.

I love everybody, 

thank you so much.

please, avoid Babylon.

Elder eliason

 

 

p.s.  I played the piano yesterday for sacrament meeting.....yeah.  I know that God helps us in times of lots of prayer and need.....

yeah.....

EE

so FYI, I lost all of my photos....

Really, my flash drive is clean, it got a virus and boom, couldn't open any photo.........or so I thought, I put it in the computer, and only showed some scans that I took before the mission of my Dive Course certificate that I had to scan and send to the Army Office out in Provo..... I took a look at the properties and everything, but there was something wrong, 3 gb used and only 56 mb shown in all of the files?  the photos were still there, but the computer wouldnt read them.  Change computer. still no.  Change computer again. again no.  Problem in the chip.  hook the camera up with the memory card in it and pass all of the photos to a DVD, and then reformat the memory card.  So I lost the videos that I took on that card. But......I still have all the photos on a DVD.  Same deal with my other memory card, so- to this point, my 4 gb of photos are safe on my DVD.  

SAFE.  yes mom, you can breath now.....hehehe.

Anyways,  First of all.  Mother. Breathe.  That last email sounded VERY agitated.  Between the terse sentance structure and diction choice I would say that you need a good walk in the park and a dinner at Café Rio (there's one in Provo).  I'm glad that everybody's healthy and happy.   I got the package (THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!  Everybody, my mom sent me socks from the other side of the world :)    also twizzlers, which don't exist here ;) so good :D:D:D:D  I also got the 4 packages of letters from my cousins.  

concerning the cousins----  Parker, your training out in West Virginia will be destroyed when you arrive in Rio.  The difference in the teaching is incredible.  You will go from teaching 2 or 3 lessons a day of high quality, worrying about everything and preparing everything, to 8-12 lessons a day and doing everything on the fly.  Relying LOTS on the spirit, because you have NO idea what is lying await for you in each appointment.

Sarah--- A sister in my zone wants to know which mission you are in, norte ou sul?  she's from Guyaquil sul.  Sister Martinez.  there's got to be a billion of the from there, but just a heads up.  

Elder Bennett----- You guys are going DOOWWWWNNNNNN in the World Cup.  yeah, that's all I have to say about Argentina.

Bennett Elder---- The difference between our missions is incredible. 

Also, to ALL OF MY COUSINS AND FRIENDS ON MISSONS: PLEASE. STOP WHINING ABOUT HOW CRAPPY YOUR BIKES ARE AND HOW FEW MILES YOU HAVE TO USE IN YOUR CARS!  

 ( count your many blessings, name them one by one...........)

Anyways, ahem, I love you all.  

Carla was not baptized, Turns out that she is legally married.  Like we asked.  But that's not the problem.  We weren't specific enough.  She is legally married to another man, who is not her husband.......  yeah, problems.  Her baptism will be delayed probably for anther 2 months unfortunately.  

Mom, you asked about conferences as ZLs.... we hav 1 conference every month at the Mission office.  It lasts 6 hours, and includes (as of recently ahem....) calling Elder Eliason at the last second with 2 minutes beforehand to play hymns on the violin.  * I just want to clarify that it's been about 3 years since I stopped playing the violin. It was rough, but I helped a friend in a tight crunch, so whatever.  Thanks Elder Nelson and Anastacio............ :P

Its getting hot in here.... wait a minute, it really is getting hot in here.  But I bought a fan, so It doesn't matter, I can finally sleep now :)

I'm out of time, love you all, have the most fantastic exelent week ever.

Elder Eliason

Weekly miracles.

Well, This week was hot, sweaty, and very very good. 

Miracles:

1- Tuesday, we decided to fast because Marcos was being influenced by the "other side" to try and not let his daughter, Victoria be baptized with his wife, Anna, on the 21st of December, as planned.  The argument: She's only 8 years old and doesn't know what she is doing.  He has yet to gain a testimony that the modern day prophets recieve revelation, as such the age for baptism is included.  We fasted and prayed for a miracle.  Well, that night, Marcos had a dream.  He drempt that he strangled his daughter, Victoria, to death, and then afterwards heard the voice of the Lord saying "Stop killing your daughter Spiritually."  Well, he woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.  The next night, he went to sleep and had the same dream.  The next morning, he had Anna call us and tell us that Victoria has to be baptized this Sunday.  So, yesterday, we baptized Victoria.  She's one of the sweetest dearest little children that I have ever met. Elder Lima baptized her.

2- Carla, who had been carrying the pass-along-card for 10 years and cried when we knocked at her door because "Jesus finally came" Went to Stake Conference with us Sunday.  yeah.  Her family are all Satanists.  Devil worshipers.  The type that call upon evil spirits and invite them to dwell within them for a spiritual experience....  Well, the family was doing their rituals and crazy things all night saturday until Sunday morning, but Carla hid in the kitchen, and when they tried to get her, she told them that they are wrong, and that she has a date with Jesus the next day.  She is legally married and when we knocked at her door, her husband tried to prohibit her from leaving, she pushed him out of the way, and told him that Christ is more powerfull than any devil he could bring.  She came to church, cried the entire time and told us (not asking, but telling us) that she will be baptized next Sunday.  I'm so proud of her :)

---End of miracles---

This week we did 2 divisions, 1 with the Elders from Neópolis and the other with the Elders from Parque dos Anjos.  I stayed with Elder Gonçalves (Parque dos anjos) here in Ala do Vale Wednesday, and we taught some awesome lessons, he is REALLY funny, but he knows how to teach and bring the spirit.  Really awesome- we were teaching a young man about Joseph Smith, and Elder Gonçalves pulled the Restoration flashdrive out of his pocket and asked if we could watch it with the investigator, who loved the idea (he's a 24 year old college student)  As soon as Joseph began to describe the first vision, (I saw a pillar of light, directly above my head, more brilliant.....)  the DVD player exploded internally, causing a large BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Gonçalves looked at me and then muttered, "the enemy doesn't want him to hear the first vision" so we counted everything to the investigator by ourselves, withought the use of technology.  It was really good, we marked a baptismal date with him (first visit!) for the 22 de december.  I'm excited.

Our Nigerian friend (Francisco) Is progressing a LOT- he is preparing to be baptized on december 15th, but still has to stop smoking.  He has diminished to 3 or 4 cigarettes per day, but has fear of a relapse, and has yet to cut the last couple of cigarettes.  We will work hard with him this week.

I'm excited for almost everything.... we had a change of our Elders Quorum presidency last week, the new Quorum president has been a member for 1 year and 3 months.  He recieved his endowment last weekend.  The young womans president has been a member for 5 years and now is 21.  The young men's president has been a member for 2 years.  Fun stuff.  We have work to do.  

oh, during the Stake conference, we had the stake Relief Society president as the first speaker.  She burnt the living tar out of everybody.  Abinidai style.  She said that she had failed in her calling, as everybody else had during the year as Visiting Teachers.  The entire leadership sitting on the stand was alert with eyes the size of saucers.  Pretty awesome. Complimeted everybody, lulled them into a dull comfortable pleasing discourse, and then picked up the branding iron to say, and beat the living poo out of everybody listening. 

anyways, Love you all- I tried a new food this week.  Greek Yogurt with chunks of Coconut meat.  SO GOOD.  Also we ate supper at Churrascaria Pizza restaurant.  Where like Tucanos, the servers walk around serving you, but instead of meat, it was pizza.  I ate 24 slices and 2 plates full of french fries.  It was rough, but was worth it.  The best that made me laugh was the Butter and Garlic pizza (which by the way was DELICIOUS)  and the Jeremy Pizza (yes, that was the real name of it, the waitress told me).  it was about 4 inches thick of toppings.  I would call it "leftoverwhateverisinthekitchenattheendofthenight pizza"

amo vocês,

EE

aqui achamos o resto de nossa aventura....

well, here we go, here we go again, I surely know, surley know again.... treadmills and all....

well, this week has been hot. very hot.  so hot in fact, that it's hard for me to sleep (pushing 90º some times) we don't have a fan in our house, and so I lay at night sweating, wishing it were winter.  Good news! It's going to storm tonight, which should drop the temperature to a comfortable 60....something, I hope.. :)  Lots of sun screen, water, getting sick after every lunch because of the heat, etc....... life is good.  I remember every day that my blood is Sweedish and English, 2 places where it doesn't get to rediculously hot.  I also miss the air conditioned mission office, where I passed last summer :D   anyways, I'll stop complaining about the heat, and be greatful that the world didn't end in 2012.... 

My companion is AWESOME, after cleaning the bathroom, today I layed down to try and sleep, what did he do? he put on some hymns on my little mp3/flashdrive music player that I bought, and did a super deep-clean of our kitchen, when I finally decided to take a cold shower to try and cool off, 20 minutes later, he was intricately scrubbing the inside of the blender with a toothbrush.

We teach so incredibly well together, it's like we've been companions for a long time.  We found the most elect family EVER this week.  They live in the 1 rich neighborhood in our area, and are christians, but their church that they frequent is very general, doesn't require anything, just a good word to listen to every weekend, but they are SUPER intelligent and SUPER AWESOME!!!!!! they're legally married, which for us just is a signal from God that they are elects.  They LOVE the scriptures, and are super excited to learn with us.  I'm super excited to teach them tomorrow!!!!! 

awwww, our investigator, Anna, just called, she's overloaded at work, so we can't have family home evening at her house tonight as planned :( oh well, Plan B, C, and D put action.....

anyways- a member grabbed us yesterday at church and introduced a man to us, his name is Francisco, I wanted to say it slowly about 30 times (ahem, Elf is a common quoted movie at my house.) He's white, but from Nigeria, Africa.  He speaks english, and LOVED church yesterday and we hope that he can be baptized sunday.  I'm excited.

Anna and her husband, Marcos, have decided that the neighboring kids are bad influences, so they have started having wholesome activities in their house every night for the neighborhood kids to learn positive things, usually involving games and gospel topics. we are waiting for their marrige (dia 21 de dezembro) for them to be baptized.  Yesterday they took 4 of the neighboring kids to church with them, not including 3 of their daughters that will be baptized with them. I'm super excited :D  anyways, I have to go

amo vocês,

elder eliason

Hey now.....

então.........

Zona Gravataí!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have in total... 10 elders and 8 sisters!  Woooohoooo!!!!!!!!!

I am now serving in : Ala do Vale  (trad: Ward of the valley)  

My new companion is: Elder LIMA, e is from João Pessoa, Paraiba, Brazil!!! He's AWESOME, about 5'1'' very very brown, and has a personality very similar to mine.....we're going to get along just swell.  Our zone had 6 baptism this last week!!!! I'm so sure that we'll hit our goal of 12 baptisms this month!  

The ward is so sweet!   They give us pizza, cookies, bread, eggs, hamburgers, etc.......  a huge box of food EVERY week!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also we have lunch every day, and sometimes on P-day even! How awesome is that!  The lady who keeps track of who is going to give lunch to the elders has the calendar prepared until December of 2014!  she's incredible.  She's also heading up a fundraiser to buy us presents for christmas. It's AWESOME here!!!!!!!   

 For the last 10 years, there have only been LZs here, and normally they like to show off and baptize a ton so...there are over 600 members in our ward... our ward consists of 4 neighborhoods (almost like utah...hehehehe)  but almost all of them are inactive, we have about 150 active, so ward frequency is normally about 100.  The bishop has asked us to go out and reactivate and visit ALL of the members, and see if the ward list is still acurate by way of their adresses.  We have started, but I am realizing that the greater part of the members have moved.... so yeah.  Yesterday was pretty cool, Elder Lima decided to clap a house close to the church, and who attended just said "hey, the Elders, come on in, its been about 15 years since Ive been to church, but very rarely do the elders pass here" she's got a son who is 17 now and didn't even know that his mom was baptized.  We're going to reactivate her and baptize her son.  It'll be pretty awesome.  

Brittany-Your companion is going to POA Norte?!?!?!?!?!? woohoooo!!!!!! best mission in the WORLD! ahem. disculpe. :)

Really cool story- 2 weeks ago we had recieved some DVD's to deliver, that people had asked for from the internet or called.... Well.... We delivered one of them and as soon as we apresented the DVD, the woman's eyes got HUGE and started BAWLING!!!!!!  We entered and talked to her and her family.  She reached out to her purse and pulled out from inside of her wallet inside the purse a card.  A Passalong card with a photo of a VERY OLD VHS tape.  It was the same film that we had delivered. She had been given that card some 13 years ago and she loved the photo so much (Jesus coming out of the tomb) that she had Laminated it and kept it with her so that one day she will be able to show it to "Jesus" when he knocks at her door.  Well....we showed up and told her that we are representatives of Jesus (without her saying anything) and that we had something to give her.  Yeah, blew her mind. The only thing- she can't read, she did not call the number on the back of the card.  The number is VERY old and no longer works.... how the DVD  and address got to us? NO IDEA!  Turns out that the entire family is Umbandista. A common religion/practice, it involves demon worship and heavenly worship, They've even got the little red sacrifice houses out in front, so....yeah it's going to be a really big fight, but we'll win.  I'm excited.  anyways, 

Eu amo vocês, 

se você está lendo esta carta, você é o cara.

Elder Eliason

Hey you, I just met you, and this is crazy, here's the water, be baptized maybe?

Monday morning and it's cold, dreary,and raining. Again.  The man dressed in black looks at his counterpart, also dressed in black.  A raincoat over an auto-startched white oxford shirt.  Blue tie to match the mood.  Monotonously tapping away at the old broken keyboard.  clack clack tap. clack clack tap. Six months on the same mission.  Same city.  He knows everybody.  He's talked to everybody.  It's always the same, reluctant forced pleasantries.  'No, thank you, your time is not valued to me.'    'Where are you from?'  'How are you?'  Various times a day. over and over.  The cellphone rings.  Generic ring, it's not permited to have a special tone in this town. Riing riing riing... 

"Alo Presidente"

"Tudo bem Elder?"

"Tudo excelente presidente"

"Muito bem Elder. To ligando ao te-dizer que você vai tornar Líder da Zona numa otra area com otro companheiro. Confio em você."

"Nossa! Muito obrigado Presidente."

"De nada Elder, ter um ótimo p-day."

"Obrigado Presidente. Tião."

"Tião"

*Click*

The Quero-queros start chirping. Still no sun, but the rain makes the plants greener.  The damp pants don't seem nearly as damp, the cuts on the hands (from the stupid cat yesterday) stop stinging.  An idea passes through his mind-- The idea of buying a cheeseburger to celebrate for lunch sounds like a fantastic idea.  Maybe a cup of sugar-cane juice too, if it were the purple cane of course, the green is not nearly as sweet. There is a lighter atmosphere  - the counterpartner is joking that the new Líder will be sent to the zone with 14 sisters and 6 elders.  Absolute chaos trying to make sure that everybody is safe and healthy as they embark on their newest adventures in the smog filled city of "Forno Alegre" as the locals call it. "Forno" having meant "oven."  It's getting hotter and hotter every day here in the incredible country of Brazil, getting closer and closer to Christmas as the days pass. Rumors of fresh watermellon, panatones, and peaches fill the air.  Today will be a good day, one of packing bags and a tear-filled family-home-evening with hotdogs.  It will be a fantastic day.  

---------------------------------

wow...its been a while since I've had to write a story....like 3 years.  That first paragraph was really dark... This week wasn't that dark, but I liked the descriptive nature of the words.  We taught a deaf dumb kid.  I signed (thank you to 3rd grade sign language, I still am very fluent in the alphabet, and several months ago, a deaf woman was selling cards that had the portuguese alphabet in signals, so I had been practicing that ever since...it was cool.  He wants to be baptized.  The only problem is that I have been transfered, and tomorrow, I will leave Osorio and Santo Antônio da Patrulha.  

We also were trying to find a contact that Elder Souza did last week on Thursday, and I noted that a woman was following us, so we doubled in some alleys and she still followed us. Finally in the center of the major highway, I did a 180º turn and asked her how can I help her. She was panting from trying to keep up with us.  Turns out that her husband had sent her to follow us so that when we have the opportunity, we can pass in their house and teach them.  Her husband is a member baptized some 14 years before, but moved to Santo Antônio and lost contact with the church. He saw us walking and got super excited and sent his wife to get us.  They walked to church yesterday.  His daughter will be baptized next week and the wife here in less than 1 month.  I'm super pumped for them.  I thank the Lord every day for these little miracles that happen.  

Mom- you became friends with Jully? hehehehe, give her a facebook hug, she gave me a box of chocolates and an "Inter" key-chain thingy as good-bye presents.  mmmm....Biss......

anyways, thank you for everything everybody

Squeetzers- te amo, A Igreja é verdadeira. Focus on the grammer, not the vocabulary nor the fluency.  Memorize and practice all day every day the rules.

amo vocês

Elder Eliason

caracas

Dear world, 

This week was slow.  Again.  Almost as slow as knocking doors.... yeah.  

So, turns out that one of our investigators is a conn artist! We learned that when one saw the other one, and she ran away.... turns out that she had already conned one of our other investigators.  Crazy huh!?!?!  Anyways.  

hmm.... anything else interesting?  I got a couple of gagues (ear piercings that are huge and have holes in them..... I did an interview out in Tramandaí and the investigator gave them to me :)  I'll put them on a necklace or something. 

I went on splits with Elder Pontes on Friday.  He's really funny, in a Mr. Bean type of way. We ate lunch at their Ward mission leader's house.  He's a recent convert of 2 years, and a Master Mason 3* degree (I think..) Way cool.  He had all sorts of symbols all over the house...and he made churrasco of cow heart.  It was a really cool experience.  He also offered to give us a tour of the masonic temple that he's in charge of...its neon pink and ...on P-day if we wanted....too bad that it's not my area.

I'm running out of time, I had too much fun writing to the other people this week. Sorry...

Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I almost forgot! 

I had the maravilous experience of passing the priesthood for the first time.  My recent convert, Ismael-  I passed him the Aaronic priesthood Sunday. It was awesome.

Anyways, Halloween was a huge letdown.  We knocked doors, but nobody was giving out candy :(

amo vocês

Elder Eliason

P.S.  You know what my grandfather said!?!?!?!?! GET BACK TO WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hehehehehehe

This week....on the price is right.....

Well, this week was absolutely monotonous.  My companion had an absolutely terrible case of Chicken-pox, He was prohibited from leaving the house, and the other 3 were prohibited too, until we found out that another young girl in the ward was the one that passed it to him.  After that the other two elders were freed, but I had to stay with him.  I stuck with him for 2 days, and then deciding that I was going stirr crazy, went on divisions.  Elder Souza (my companion) slept for 4 days straight, except for 3 or 4 intervals where he would wake up, use the bathroom, go to the kitchen, drink water, eat some beans and rice, and then lay down again. Usually a grand total of 5 minutes per interval. It was rough on him and it was rough on the patience of the house.  Instead of going crazy and fighting, we decided to make the goal of just going nuts.  We learned how to make chickens out of towels (photo included) and opened up our own butchers shop with all of the towls and blankets in the house folded into chickens.  He also taught us how to spin a toy top with string so fast that you can put it into your hand and it'll keep spinning for over 3 minutes.... until the neighbors underneath our appartment beat the floor with a broom and stuck their heads outside of the windows and yelled at us to knock it off. REALLY FUNNY.

Sunday we had the incredible opportunity to watch the Osório District Conference.  President Wright (the mission president) had his son with him, who just returned from his mission in Florida, and was visiting his parents here in Brazil for 2 weeks.  Well, the problem was that he didn't speak a word of Portuguese, other than Obrigado and Tudo bem.  So guess who got to translate the entire conference! Yours truley. It was my first time translating for an American - Usually I have to translate for new american missionaries, but they've got a base of the vocabulary and grammer.  It was quite the experience.  Also-We got to sing in the District Choir, "Faith in every footstep" Which is an incredible song, Absolutely love it. 

Anyways, that's about it... The chicken-´pox is going away, so hopefully we can get out soon.  

I don't think much else happened this week, anyways, I hope that all yall are living it up out wherever you are.

seja incrível,

Elder Eliason

well.

October 21, 2013

Eh, We baptized this week!!!!! Woohoooo Henrique.  He comes from a VERY complicated family. Dad prison, mom in the Hospital type stuff..  It's very complicated. anyways,

He's 13, and SUPER intelligent.  And just plain out Awesome. 

Biggest thing that happened this week besides this- We got a 5lb boxof chocolate milk mix :D Ive got chocolate milk and sugar flowing in my veins now >:)

okay, sorry, um, I had to go do some interviews for the Elders out in Imbé, a beach city where there are about 40 members now.  Well, I got to visit the beach, Language study on the beach was probably the best :)  The water there is the color of chocolate milk.  its great to be on the beach, but water is kind of nasty.  

My companion has chicken-pox. Yesterday we got back from the baptism, ate lunch at a members house, and afterwards, he told me that he didn't feel so well, so he layed down and slept.  Woke up at 9 to close our weekly numbers, layed down again, and woke up at 630 like normal.  He woke up covered in chicken-pox.  Poor guy. 

We had an Elder return to our ward tuesday, Elder Maciel.  He is very strange.  VERY strange.  He stopped in the middle of the road when we went onsplits, and jumped with his arms in a huge Y fistsclentched and yelled "woo hooo for Baptism!!!!!!!!"  I don't want to be like him when I get back.. I think the funniest moment was when he seduced a young woman on the street to go to church.  He started with a contact normal shaking hands, asking name, religion, etc... but then moved close (IE 2book of mormons distance of her) putting his hand on her shoulder asking if she would like to go to church with him on Sunday.  she moved a bit closer and told him that she would, he moved a bit closer and asked where she lived and her phone number, in a very very smoothe soft sexy voice.  He told me to take note as she gave him the number and adress and moved evermore closer to him.  She then tried to put her arms around him--- I wanted to die.  There was about a Book of mormon on a Flash-drive distance between them when I said, well thank you, Lets go.  and took off.  pretty rediculous? absolutely. hillarious? with certanty.

       I am gratefull though, where he was serving, the temperature usually hits about 120 every day and at night 100.  that would be absolutely terrible.  I'm very gratefull for an All-knowing God that knows where we need to serve and not suffer. 

Its raining sideways again, but I don't care because its P-day.  better to sleep in.  

I bought a hammock.  Ive been sleeping in it recently, its way more comfortable than the bed-bug ridden mattress on which Ive been sleeping.  :)  If anybody is going tothe northeast of brazil, they don't even bother with beds, everybody sleeps in a hammock. its so much better.

my time is ending, but I'll try to send some photos

amo cada um de vocês.  

Elder Eliason

hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but I'm an Elder, Be baptized maybe?.....

October 14, 2013

So, this week was REALLY SLOW..... The weather improved!!!!!!! woohooo sunny, and 80 degrees. Except for yesterday morning, when it was POURING rain, so hard that I couldn't even see my companion who was by my side.  The branch frequency dropped significantly because of the rain. That's what happens when half of the branch walks to church, and the other half rides their bikes. Oh well. 

Me- well this week, I renewed my visa! wooohoooo I was reading the fine print, and if I the mission had waited 2 more weeks, I would have been deported, talk about cutting it close...  I also found out that my return date will be July 22, 2014.  Almost 9 MONTHS! Wah! cadeu missão?!?!?!?  oh well.  

A car passed really close to my companion yesterday and splashed him with a really huge puddle- he got drentched from head to toe. bahahaha, Luckily, We were on division with a couple of members, and I was in Santo Antônio.

We had to cut a ton of our investigators that stopped progressing, so unfortunately, we have almost nobody to teach again.... and I've knocked the majority of the doors in our area (we have 3 neighborhoods here in Osório...) so we decided to focus more in Santo Antônio again.  We figured out how we can double our working hours there, and are going to work better with the members that are living there. Vamos lá!

This last week, we had a really huge let-down, that we are still kind of bummed out about.  We  had an investigator, Jovelina decide that she wants to be baptized.  That was until Saturday night, when her son came over from his house in Viamão, where he was living.... He was able to convince her that she is not ready and that she doesn't know if she really wants to be part of the church.  He got inside of her head and mixed her up so much that she doesn't even remember half of our lessons any more.  I was so extremely bummed, and we tried all that we could but unfortunately, she told us that after what her son had told her, she had no idea if she realy wants what the church has to offer (eternal salvation through holy ordanances?) Well, We were really bummed.   REALLY Bummed.  Anyways, that was the highlight of the week.  

Have an excelent week everybody.  Love helping your Elders.

Elder Eliason

esta semana

October 6, 2013

Well, this week was slow, really slow, but we have an excelent new investigator named Gladdis (yeah, like Gladys Knight) but she's excelent! She has so much faith! She works in beauty salon, doing women's hair, nails, feet, and other hair-things.... the beauty salon is below the Wizard, the member owned English-School/chapel here in Santo Antônio da Patrulha.  She smoked about 2 packs of cigarretts every day, but when we passed for the first time, we were talking about our lives...and she commented that she wanted to stop smoking, so I told her to stop, and to be baptized, she needs to stop.  Well, I call her every day at 9 hrs the night, and ask her how was her day (not a danger, she is like 50) and if she smoked.  To this day, she has not touched another cigarette. :) wooohooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE PEOPLE WHO HAVE FAITH SUFFICIENT TO SHOW THE LORD THEIR WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tanner, (not mincing words here...but in the most lovingly condoning older brother type tone....) you are an idiot.  I love you, but you are an idiot.  To be frank, I would have done the same thing.... Poison Ivy is definitely worth not getting tagged in XC tag.  

Preston, that little brown trout looks like 5 inches, you ate him??????? Please tell me no....

****************************CRAZY STORY************************** 

MOM= Prepare yourself, sit down and drink a cup of water before reading........ and take a couple of deep breaths...

I am fine. I am safe.

Those  sentances are the result of a very very very big miracle, thanks to the work of the Lord.

Wednesday, we were teaching in the beauty salon, downtown SAP. Well, we hear a huge ruckus happen out side, and looked out to see what was happening.  As we looked out, a dude ran past us as fast as he possibly could. Without realizing what was happening, we keept looking on.  The man pulled out a revolver and started shooting back, in our direction.  Three policemen with M-16s and 9mms started shooting back at him.  

Us in the middle. 

We hit the deck, and crawled back inside of the cement-walled salão de beleza, and waited for the shooting to stop.   What happened: The man had hijacked a semi-truck full of fresh leather hides out in Canoas (city close to SAP)  and was diving it in our direction, he was passing through SAP when a policeman saw him *(they had put out an APB on the missing semi)  Well, the hijacker saw the policeman, and because of the fact that he was stopped at a stoplight inbetween cars, he couldn't escape, so he ditched the semi, still running.  Well, the first policeman ditched his own car, and jumped into the semi as it started rolling into the oncoming traffic, and stopped it, while another policeman started to run after the man.  Shots were fired, and finally the policemen wounded him in the leg after he jumped the fence on the side of the beauty salon.

Miracle:  he did not enter the beauty salon to escape, the door was open, and it was probably a more realistic escape route for him.  

May I just say that I feel blessed and protected by the Lord.

I loved general conference.  We didn't have the opportunity to watch the priesthood session, but Ill listen to it here in a little bit.  Obrigado :)

Amo vocês 

Elder Eliason

well........ the real letter

September 30, 2013

hahahaha, 

well...... Carine was baptized!

The 2 were Confirmed!

to this day, I have had 19 baptisms here in Osório.  All are active except for a man and his wife, that decided to be offended from one of the lessons in the Gosple Principles class, which is a personal problem, that they have to work out with the Lord.  

I will stay here in Osório and Santo Antônio da Patrulha for atleast 6 more weeks.  that makes now 6 months in total.  1/4 of my mission.  

I'm excited because one of our inactive friends that we were trying to reactivate over the last 4 years.... (yeah, its been a long process, they give lunch to us every month, but they are not married, so he can't be baptized, and she feels guilty for breaking the law of Chastity) he finally proposed yesterday!!!!!!!! we were there, it was at her birthday party..... sooooooo gooooood!!!!!!! woohoooo!

I realized something the other day- It has been a really really really long time since I have written any letter.   I'm sorry for anybody who wrote me, letters have really lost my interest, I love reading them and all, but Ill be home here in 10 months, so if you have something important, send a letter, if its just an update, send an email (teliason@myldsmail.net) or if you want to marry me, well, send a package or a Will-Ferril, Elf-like, singing christmas-gram.

okay, I hope that my sarcasm has not become too prevelant.-Im out of time, this transferencia has created a chaotic mess of my inbox.

te amo, todo mundo, te amo

Elder Eliason

wooooooooooooohooooooooooo it's raining again :)

So, for the last 4 days it has been non-stop rain again.  A sure sign that it is spring now here in southern Brazil.

  Well.... We had another baptism this weekend, the brother of Cassianie:  It has been quite a deal working with them, they are SUPER POOR, I mean, REALLY poor, they are in 7 brothers and sisters, and their mom and stepfather.... Well, the stepfather went to work this week and never returned home, so .... yeah, they are suffering a lot of problems right now, and in her hysterical state the mother told her sons that she doesn't think that they are prepared to be baptized, MUCH to our chagrin.  They got it stuck in their heads about it (they were super excited to be baptized last week, but now they were super resistant) I insisted that they atleast have the baptismal interviews and see if they are ready.  Luiz was the first (he is 11) he went into the interview, and after 30 seconds our DL got up and called the mom to the room.  Well, I don't know how, but after 5 minutes she returned with a huge smile on her face, and the kid passed the interview and she signed the permission slip.  Miracles.  Luiz Henrique was baptised at 1o'clock yesterday.

Mother, you asked me about my companion- Well, for the first 2 transfers I was with Elder R. Santos, he is from São Paulo, and worked as a parking ticketer for the government.  Yeah.   Well, he got transfered 5 weeks ago, and Elder Araujo de Souza arrived.  He is from Caucaia, close to Fortaleza.  Speaks with a REALLY thick accent, and uses a lot of really strange jargin and slang.  He has 7 months on the mission.

I forgot to say, I am eating a Panatone right now, its like a giant chocolate-chip muffin, the size of my head.  VERY delicious, it is also the only thing that I have found here that has chocolate chips.  

This Friday, we will have the baptism of Carine, it is her birthday, she is turning 12, and so she wants to enter directly into the young womans program.  Wooohooo!!!! Pray that everything goes right.

Saturday we will have a pizza competition as the ward activity. (my idea, thank you)   Only the men are allowed to cook (again, because if the women were allowed, their egos would be destroyed, and we would lose about 80% of our ward frequency).

I just remembered that next week we have transfers. wooohoooo..... Transferencias are better than Christmas here!  seriously!

fique firme! 

te amo,

Elder Eliason

This week, on the district...

Sept. 13, 2013

Well, it has been fun, this week was crazy.

We started off with a family home evening on monday, where the brother, Irmão Carlos Martins, asked us about the little girl with the afro that went to church.  My companion looked at him, and asked, What girl?  He tried to describe her, but we had never seen her before.  He told us that the family of Edélcio (our recent converts) had brought her, she is their neighbor.  Well, he told us that he would be willing to take us to their house the following day.  We went, Mateus, the son of Edélcio took us to her house.  Her name is Cassianie, she is 14, and has absolutely embraced the precepts of the gosple.  We taught her and her 6 brothers and sisters and her parents.  Yeah all 9.  We baptised her yesterday.  Carlos Martins took us to visit her every night last week.   EVERY NIGHT.    Yesterday at the baptism, all of her brothers told us that they all want to be baptised too.  WOOOOOOHOOOOOO its a dream.  The parents are very suportive, but the only problem is that they are not married..... rarely anybody here is married, it's expensive, and very labor-intensive.  We will have fun this week again :)

We also were teaching Rafael, the young man of 15 who smokes.  He decided that he wanted nothing to do with the church, but his mother, who went to church the week before loved it, absolutely adored it.  He lost interest, but his mom and sister gained interest.  We taught them every night last week too, just after Cassianie (thanks to Carlos Martins)  They too were baptised yesterday.  I am so extremely excited for them.   They brought ALL of their neighbors to watch the baptism, and so....yeah, we are going to teach EVERYBODY.... 

We also had a young woman appear yesterday in the church for the first time...her name is Carine (which means tender loving care) and is the sister of our miracle baptism last month, Carol.   Well, she declared to the young womans program yesterday that she will be baptized on her birthday.  yeah, um...thanks for telling the Elderes...... (we had no idea)  well... This will be awesome :) she was an ex-investigator, that we cut (she never progressed) but now she has decided that the time has come.  WOOOOHOOOO  We will have a family home evening tonight with her, her sister, her mom, and Carlos Martins and his wife, Sandra.  

 I absolutely love that family (Carlos and Sandra), they have recently become active in the church, decided to serve a mission as a senior couple, but decided to stay in their own branch to help it.  Well, they are willing to do ANYTHING for us.  I love them.  They are hillarious, Carlos hates americans, not because of us, but because of our international oil domination (it's really funny to hear him rant about it) Sandra is an angel who puts up with the absolute rediculousness of Carlos.  He declared the other day that he will buy the first coppy of the Liahona in Portuguese....for over 300 reals, which is completely absurd.  She just looked at him, looked at the computer, and looked at him again and asked: How do you know that that person actually will send it and not just take your money? He began to speak, and then stopped and thought and said Your right! Well, Ill buy a whole bunch of other junk with that money (*he is a retired justice enforcer worker, as they say in Portuguese, like judicial security I think...)  Kind of funny.

Funny thing- this lan house where we use the computers is playing some music in english...the brazlians have no idea what it means.... really funny.

I love you all....

Elder Eliason