hey yall

So, this week was good.  Excellent actually.  We had another baptism :D  Woohoooo!!!!! Irmã Selma was baptized yesterday.  I had the wonderful privilege to baptize her.   Here's her story:

21 years ago, her father died, and in search for consolation, her mother got baptized in the Jehovah Witness...  and Selma studied with them and went to church, but something "just wasn't right."   Well, after a long discussion with the last JW missionaries that passed there, she told them to not come back.  That night, her and her son kneeled in prayer to ask God to find the truth.  About 3 minutes later, she found a tinny pamphlet that an Elder had left at her house about 2 years beforehand.  There was our telephone number behind it.  She didn't have credits to call anybody, but she gave it a chance anyways, so she called, and Elder Holmes answered!  She gave us her address (which doesn't exist on any map) and asked if we could pass by.  Well, 4 days passed, we went looking for her house.  At about 7:30 that night, we found it.  As we walked down the road looking for her house, she called out to us.  She was sitting on her porch drinking Chemarrão with her daughter and son and 3 grandkids.  The moment that we showed up, she started crying and told us that we could litterally tell her anything and that she would believe... We were the answer to her prayer.   Cool huh!!!!! Well, we gave her a book of mormon, and told her to read the introduction as her homework and then pray to ask if it were true.   Well, that night, at about 2 am, she couldn't go to sleep, so she went to the kitchen, fixed herself a cup of Cidreira tea (lemon grass?) and began to read.  She didn't read the introduction, she just opened the book and began to read.  2 Nephi 33- It is the declaration of Jacob about the purpose of the book and how it must be esteemed.  She knelt and prayed.  Answers.  We passed by 2 days later and she asked us what she needs to do to follow this path.  Well..........................We baptized her :D  and she's super happy.  She also only has 1/3 of 1 lung that works.... She smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day for about 40 years.  She also suffers from depression because her husband died 7 years ago.  She quit smoking 5 years ago, and now told us that she doesn't feel any of the depression any more- every time that she feels sad, she picks up the Book of Mormon and begins to read.   I love her.   

I also had an invigorating conversation with her son, Avener, who is 22.  He is incredibly inteligent, and is famishing for the truth.  He is completely disgusted with organized religion (mainly because of the corruption and lack of answers).  I sat and talked to him, and answered all of his questions.  He sat there in silence for about 4 minutes afterwards, while I waited for him to speak, he tried several times, but then stopped.  He teared up and told us that we were the first people that actually answered his questions, and that he wanted to be baptized and learn everything we have to offer.  WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO he also told us that he wants to be a missionary like us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  When you talk to him, he's one of those guys that you can feel the power and influence coming from his person.  He is extremely powerful and influential in his presence.  Unfortunately he is on vacation right now out in Torres (the beach), but he's coming back this week.  Unfortunately, I just found out that I've been transfered, so ............ Looks like the other missionaries will have to take care of him :)

I hope everybody has a fantastic week, 

Elder Eliason

everybody......everybody.....everybody.....

So, first of all, Mom, of all of the photos that you sent me, my favorite BY FAR was that of Tanner's prom dinner.  With Preston as their waiter.  HAHAHAHAHAHA, okay.  

So this week was awesome.  Plain, old AWESOME.  We set some goals that were a bit higher this week that normally we don't come even close to hitting, but as we worked our butts off, we hit them all.

Last Sunday, not yesterday but the one beforehand, we went on splits with a young man from the ward and the Ward mission leader, Osmar.  As I went out with Gabriel, Elder Holmes headed out with Osmar, and went straight to a recent converts house.  It is the family of Lídiamar.  She is a single working mom of 6 kids, who the oldest is 12.  Talk about a little stressed out.  Well, all of the kids who are able are members, but she is not, her parents are and her sister is, but she was not.  They get there, and what does my companion do?  After 5 minutes of talking, he just slams it off the spoon onto her face, "Why haven't you been baptized yet!?"  She just looked at him for a minute and then quietly replied, I don't know.  He then challenged her to be baptized on the 20th.  She accepted to everybodys astonishment.  Well, she starts work at 1300hrs every day, so she had to be baptized before church, at 7:30. Woooohoooo!!!!!!!!!!   Well, she went home after Relief Society to everybodys astonishment.  Why? Well.....her brother died, the very hour that she was being baptized. Her Brother passed away 3 blocks down from the church in the local hospital.  Talk about a crazy day.  Well the funeral was last night (here in Brazil they do that, the funeral is normally the same day or the day after the death) and guess who was stuck playing the slow mourning Hymns during the 3 hour viewing, yup, the ONLY PERSON WHO KNEW HOW TO READ MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Elder Eliason, is now a PRO right hand hymn player, and all of the easy songs that I could sight-read, left hand too.   Yesterday was nuts.  Oh, and they have this crazy tradition of handing out chocolate eggs here, but they're the size of large coconuts usually, so what did the elderes get? EGGS! and lots of other chocolates and candies and stuff, I'll send a photo. Also, We got chocolate covered spiced-bread from Germany. There's traces of peanut-oil in the bread, so my companion, who is deathly allergic to peanuts can't touch them.  YUM! MORE FOR ME :D

Anyways, Happy Birthday Brandon Blake Eliason, you're turning 12 and recieving the Aaronic Priesthood. I'm bummed that I'm not there to see it, but I'll be thinking of you :)  oh, and Happy anniversary mom and dad. You've been married 22 years now :)

Weird- The owner of this Lan House, just left and took off in a motorcycle. he left the computer house completely open and whatever..... I don't think I'll ever understand Brazilians XD

 Everybody have a most fantastic week :)

Elder Eliason

woohooo!!!!!! semana de EXCELÊNCIA!!!!

so, this week we had 2 baptisms, Cida, our eternal investigator was baptized Saturday, and on Sunday, we baptised the baptism that fell through last week :D  Larissa.  Larissas brother is an return-missionary and only member in the family, we were asking the members who are the part-member families and the recomended his family, his parents aren't members and his sister isnt either, so we got on that boat and sailed it away :D 

Besides that, not much happened, I went on a division with the Elderes from Elizabeth, here in Porto Alegre to do their interviews....VERY CRAZY interviews again.  They're a ton of fun.  They live in 4, and for the last 6 month's Ive been living only my companion and I, so, it was a fun experience again, but I'm glad to only live in 2, it can get hectic with more.

Last night Internacional (my soccer team) played Gremio (our in-state rival) in the final of the Gauchão, or the Cowboy cup...... and Inter beat Gremio 4-1 so last night we had to take a LOT of care not to mix with anybody wearing blue, for our own safety.......it was nuts!  oh- home-made mortar-fireworks exploding everywhere of Red and White..... but because they are home-made, about half of them explode about 5 feet off the ground.  We had to run out of a neighborhood lastnight because it was getting WAY rowdy.  But it was fun :D

have a fantastic Pascoa,

Elder Eliason

Um irmão after grenial

Yup

So...... This week was SUPER SLOW except for general conference that flew by.  I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE.  Weird right? That anybody would enjoy sitting on a wooden bench listening to old gentlemen talk for 10 hours?  I always get super sad when it ends, I always want more.  Seriously, this time, we were able to open the stake secretary's office and watch it in English on the computer!!!! WOOO HOOO!!!!! This was good because my companion still doesn't understand much Portuguese when people talk fast, like translators.  There was also a greenie sisiter that was with us, so she needed it too.  Funny huh?  My first time watching conference in English is my last conference on the mission??? hahaha, anyways.... LOVED Elder Oak's talk, Loved Boyd K Packer's farewell testimony, and of course I love the Bednar and Holland talks, they always put fire in my bones!!!!!  I don't think I've ever heard that in English, but we say it a lot in Portuguese..

Our baptism this week fell through, unfortunately. We were preparing to give the final check-mate lesson when the other Elderes called needing interviews, so we did a division, and the other elder didn't finish her off.  She'll be baptised this week along with this week's baptism.  This week's baptism has been investigating the church for 17 years now, and this week, we will finally get her baptised.  She's 68. Her son is serving a mission in Brazilia. yeah.

funny story, so last night, we were doing contacts at the giant park of iniquity- every Sunday night, all of the rebels, hooligans, pot-heads, stoners, Daisy-dukes, and Preps all come out to the giant park 3 blocks from our house to dance, eat, smoke, and drink (eh....be merry, for on the morrow they will die...)  etc.... It's a bunch of nonsense, but lots of people go just because it's a city-wide activity.  There are tons of cotton-candy, popcorn, kabob sellers that walk around with carts, or have bbqs going so they can earn some money.  We were doing some contacts, and I got a bunch of addresses to visit, when one of the candied popcorn salesman called me over.  His popcorn stand is one that you set up and stay there untill you take it home...  He called me over and asked me what I am doing (I was doing contacts in front of his stand, I thought he would ask me to do them somewhere else, a typpical thing for these aggressive entrepreneurs....) I told him that I was an official representative of Jesus Christ here to help everybody repent and be baptized.  He chuckled, and then almost in panic, he asked me to watch his stand for a minute while he goes to the bathroom...he had been needing to go for the last 3 hours, but couldn't leave the stand alone for fear of people robbing or stealing the stand....  I agreed, and when he came back, he gave me some free chocolate popcorn.  Unfortunately he wasn't interessted in the church, but he told me that I was an answer to a slight plea unto the Lord.  Funny stuff.

anyways,

stay in there everybody,

Elder Eliason