Todo mundo, agora tenho o opportunid​ade para fazer uma email para vocês

Hey!

So this week has been awesome!

Carlos is incredible-just like the Gretz family, he goes out with the missionaries every sunday evening and every tuesday afternoon, and is continually looking for people that he knows to visit with the missionaries...he told me that he was saving money to visit the united states for a month, but now he is using that fund to prepare to serve a mission...he has been baptized for just over a month now, he truly inspires me.

Anderson was baptized saturday, unforutnately and fortunately 95 percent of the people that would have been there were at the temple, actually, there were only 2 families there to see it, but its just the same, he has started on the path of eternal happiness. 

This month we have baptized 3 people here in Erechim (2 the week before I came) and so we have completed our goal and this next week we probably will have a p-day da zona! but this one will be AWESOME and we will do churrasco and play Uno, a classic (elder Dowden gave me a pack of uno cards before he left that he brought from the US but never used....we play uno like normal, but with a few twists that make it a lot more fun, fast, and entertaining...if you have a card of the same color and number, you can place it on the deck even if it isnt your turn, and if you do this, the round automatically starts over with the person on the right of you...so funny...and you can stack skips...and +2 and +4....its so fun!) we had an opportunity to play because our Zone leaders did a Lightning Blitz with us on thursday...we were doing companionship study when there was a knock at the door. Boom, LZs are at our appartment 2 hours via onibus long from their area.... Oi Elderes! vamos fazer Blitz hoje! okay....so, we divided, I went with Elder Warner and elder Lucas de Souza with Elder Figureiro, and visited almost all of our investigators and visited tons of contacts and people...just to accelerate the work in this area. It was hillarious, because as soon as they left the next day, our Leader de Distrito showed up with his companion to do the interview for Anderson, how awesome was that!

Well, one of the lessons we taught (Elder Warner and I) was a group of cousins (5 girls and 1 boy) who were just chilling drinking chemarrão in the garage, well we taught them the 1st lesson, they didn't seem too extremely excited but said that they would pray and if they recieved an answer, would be baptized, cool huh? well, we visited them yesterday, and only one of them was there (the most snakey of them all) but her entire family and was there....so we taught them, and although the snake didn't have too much interest, her mother was on the edge of her seat clinging onto every word that we said. everybody concorded that if it were true, they would join, but she really was the one that was interested....you never know who is listening and who will be there if you talk...to all of the future missionaries---talk to EVERYBODY and invite EVERYBODY in the house to hear the message, and invite EVERYBODY to pray and if they recieve an answer, be baptized. It really works!
Thank you so much for the emails from Dan and Sarah, I look forward to reading them when we return to the apartment. 

I love the gospel, and I know that it is true...just search, ponder, and pray :)

Te amo, e A Igreja é verdadeira

Elder Eliason

Hey!

So, I have forgotten how fast an hour blows by when reading emails, so next week, I will take photos of each email, ...this week's email will hav to be quite a bit shorter than the rest, I am sorry...mother and father, and all else, don't worry about sending shorter letters okay? This week they made me smile demais.

 

well...this week has been a whirlwind. the first 4 days were really really slow and bummer days, we had to cut almost all of our investigators, none of them were progressing, and we had already given them many opportunities to progress. Well, it just so happend that we were reading in Preach My Gospel about how to find new investigators and of course the best way is to use the members, every day we ask the members at lunch for references, and we usually get 1 or 2 that they have already given to the missionaries, but we try again and again. well, yesterday, one of our recent converts, Carlos, age 20, asked us if we could eat lunch with him and his family. Of course we said yes, his family are not members. We canceled our lunch yesterday and went to his house. He not only had invited his family, but 5 friends also, to all of which he had been talking about us and were all excited to meet us. Well, they all said that they will try and come to church next week! Knowing Carlos, he won't let them forget. We then had another lesson scheduled, so we had to leave, but then after the next lesson we got a call from Carlos telling us that he had a family that he wanted to visit with us, of course we were excited and left with him. He is kind of short and he walks slow, so it took a while to get across town, but it was so worth it. We get there, in a very poor neighborhood, and go to the back where there is a very well-constructed cement house. He clapped and a buddy of his came out, along with the other 6 members of his family. one left right away, she had to go to work, but the others stayed and we talked for over an hour about the church, they had a billion questions. We covered the restoration and invited all of them to pray about the truthfullness of it. It was quite incredible. Carlos is incredible.

 

Saturday was also a day for the best. One of the techniques that Preach my Gospel says to look for new investigators is by going through the old investigators of other missionaries, and of course we have boxes and boxes of old files, so we started. We selected a few and left for the afternoon. Well, three days later of no success...we came across a kid named Anderson. Anderson comes from a very poor family, the mother abandoned them when he was young, all of his brothers and sisters are crack-cocaine addicts and the father works 2 full time jobs to put food on the table for them and clothes on their backs. Well, he is 16, and is trying to decide what to do with his life. About a year and a half ago, some elders ran into him on the street and invited him to learn more about the gospel. He accepted, learned a ton and was totaly willing to learn more, but he had to run away from home because of his family. Well, things got resolved back home, and we came cross his file, passed in front of his house and he was sitting on the front door step talking to a very old Gaucho, his neighbor, and smiled when he saw us. He is going to be baptized this Saturday. He went to church yesterday and loved it. He went several times before, but had to stop when he left. He is also very good friends with a family in the ward, who over the last year has gone to church maybe 2 times, well, when we told them that he was going to come to church yesterday, they went to church too, and they all told us that they are going to start returning. It is incredible. Count the billions of blessings, including the blessings of your own family. Seriously. Anyways, a little piece of our gigantic puzzle down here in the south.

Dad- You are right, Here in Brazil, we baptize 1 person for every door they knock in Germany. It's really interesting, here in the South, it is not nearly as easy to get baptisms, but in the north, they baptize every weekend, families, they are very receptive to the church up north. It also is interesting because Elder De Souza is from Rio Grande do Norte, the nordeste- north east. Well, the way that the missionaries get converts and get people to be baptized is very different and he is still adjusting to the fact that people on the street don't imediately accept the fact that we have the gospel. It is very interesting, because the poorer areas are a lot easier to work in, so he feels inclined to work there, but the quality of the investigators and the duration of their perseverance in the church is usually VERY limited, so we have our little scuffles about where to work, but we are getting along very well. Mother, if you want to know what a gaucho is, google the following words:

Bombachas

Bomba de Chemarrão

Quia

Matte

Chemarrão

Faca de Gaucho

Garrafa termica

 

Little piece of the south

I love you all, the Church is true.

Elder Eliason

Erechim!

Hey!

well, this week has been a bit long, seeing as how its been almost 2 and a half weeks without p-day....Yes, we had the "pday da zona" but what happened? Everybody arived, the sisters arived and left for the hospital (one was very sick) and the majority of the Zone was working on the transfer (me included) so we blew the entire day making the transfer work. Note to self: Do not plan the pday da zona the day before transfers if you are in the office. Anyways, Yes mother, we are eating blackbeans and rice again every day, along with strogonof (the humble farmers extravagant meal) on a daily basis. The ward is awesome, there are few members (the majority are by far youth and they are all out at their version of youth conference out at the beach....bummer! My companion is Elder Lucas De Souza (that's what his name tag says, we have 5 Elder De Souzas so he had to put his name on it too). He is from Rio Grand de Norte, up near Forteleza, he speaks portuguese very very very fast, and with an extremely difficult accent to understand. He also uses a very different vocabulary than the people down here in the south, so a lot of the time the people here don't understand him also. It's really interesting to have a Brazilian companion, because now, I can't speak English at all. He speaks no English except for "Gootch Nitch" and "Ai love uuh" it is pretty funny. He actually is new, and I am training him also, If you don't know, missionarys here in the POA Norte Mission get trained for 2 trasfers, Elder Christaldo was his first trainer, I am his second. It is interesting because he picked up on a lot of things that Elder Christaldo did that are kind of strange to me, but he taught as normal stuff for missionarys. Not bad, but just different. It was a real eye opener to me to see how huge an influence that the trainers have on the new missionary. They litterally have the choice to make them a fantastic hard working baptizing missionary, or they can be lazy fubeccas. It's interesting.
 

Mother, I don't know if you realize this, but you said "I know you wish you could be in Caixa for the baptism..." Caixa means box in portugues...Porto Alegre is where the baptism will be, the mailing address says Caixa Postal, which is their way of saying P.O. Box. funny, you made me smile :) obrigado. Mother, I love you and thank you for sending new contacts, I have to ask though, what type are they? I got some new-ish ones right before I left, and it turns out that I am alergic to them, and if I wear them for more than 2 hours I get pink-eye. :) Just FYI. I remember Farenheit 451, it was an interesting book, but as an 8th grader when I read it, I don't think I percieved the significance of it or how well it was dictioned.

 

Elder Haddow's mission prep class sounds fantastic, he is a really pecuilier guy, and yes, Tanner would adore that class, along with yourself. Tanner is and will be an incredible missionary. I'm so proud of him.

This Saturday night was the first night of Carnival! Carnival is a lot of fun, but when in the larger cities, resembles a lot of 5 de Mayo, down in New Orleans, so the missionaries in the large cities have to stay indoors. We just have to be in our apartment before 8pm, not that much of a difference, but hey, we get a bit more time to study and sleep. Although it might be driven by the more carnal side, everybody here celebrates it in their own way-here in the smaller cities, they are a lot more happy, open, and energetic- everybody gets off work. We had to look long and hard to find a Lan House that was open to send an e-mail. It's a fun time, and there's tons of energy in the air all the time.

 

P-day is now Monday again, and I have to pay 3$R/Hr to use the computer, so the e-mails won't be as long as before, but know that I love you all the same and that Brazil is incredible, but the United States is my home.

Te amo, e A Igreja é verdaderia

EE

P.S. I have never drinken more Chimarrão in my life than I have here, it is incredible how much they drink, and that everybody drinks it here....today I will actually probably buy a quia so I can drink it on my own...I have developed a taste for it :/

I am going to Erechim, a farming area with a mini-center of high-rises...where we will live :) I will also be senior companion for the first time :D

T

well yeee-haw

E ai caras, como vocês estão?

well, its been a very office-oriented week....transfers are going down on tuesday, so we have (unfortunately but necessarily) been spending most of our days working out the transfers and what not. We have a new family that we go teach about every other day, they are incredible, the parents are a little bit fubecca-ish, but they have some of the most incredible kids ever! The parents were baptised several years ago, but fell away from the church, the kids were never baptised. They have a 16 year old, 12 year old, and a 9 year old, all of them are interested in the church, and the parents want to start coming back. The twelve year old is the sweetest little girl, and even though the mother has a really hard time understanding the scriptures (the older language really confuses her) the 12 year old is already in 1 Nefi 5, and we gave her a Book of Mormon on Wednesday. When I asked her what she thought of it so far, to see how well she was comprehending it, her response blew me away, and I directly quote/translate "Well, it would appear that the older brothers of Nefi were wrong in their motives and beliefs." BOOM! my head just exploded. SHE's 12! her mother didn't read with her, her brother didn't read with her, her dad goes to work at 5 in the afternoon until 2 am....She is incredible! I am super sad that I'm going to be transfered next week..I will not have the opportunity to see her or her brother be baptised on the 16th, but I know that they'll be in good hands. I will be leaving this super rich high-rise fast life style area, to go to a small farming community out in the Passo Fundo area (I can't tell where exactly it is right now because nobody else knows, just the Elders in the office) But I'm super excited, they are the real native cowboys and gauchos out there...I'm very excited.

It's really interesting to see how the church works down here because many times, it is so new that people don't know how the church is run some times. For example, there is a ward here where the bishop is new and he is actually a recent convert from Kenya. He relies on the other leadership of the ward for a lot of guidance, along with the manuals and the Spirit obviously. Interesting to think about, but seriously, the gospel is exploding here, there is so much potential, I would not be surprised if the number of LDS members here outnumber those in the states in a few years. It is incredible, and it is directed by The Lord, if it wasn't, it would fall to pieces. I have seen it here in the office, if it was not the true church, all of the missionaries would be having much bigger problems at the moment than worrying about investigators. We also had the opportunity yesterday to do companionship study with President and Sister Wright, what an incredible opportunity. They are incredible.

Besides that, lunch this week fell though all but 2 days, so we ate Xis-do Bruxo twice...bad idea, I always get the SuperBruxo, a 10 inch burger with a fried egg, grilled chicken strips, cheese, lettuce, tomato, peas, corn, bacon, pepperoni-like sausage, chicken hearts, and about a cup of mayo...all cooked together on a flat-top. SO deliciouis! All on a massive toasted bun. Costs about 7 USD, which for a Xis is pretty expensive, but it is so worth it. It is not the best of ideas afterwards to go walking for hours and hours in the 100 degree heat dressed in slacks and a white shirt and tie. But, hey we do it anyways. I have got to say the best thing to eat for breakfast is their "sonhos" or dreams.... Thick tough dougnuts filled with either Creme de leite or Dolce de Leite.

 

anyways....back to the spiritual side of the Mission....over the course of this month, we had 8 baptisms in our zone, with many more to come this coming month, but since 8 was our goal, we earned a P-day da Zona! or a Pday where everybody in the zone gets to spend p-day together, a rare opportunity to have fun with other elders and sisters we don't get to see very often. We are probably going to just chill here in the office, but the office also doubles as the institute buidling, and on the institute side, there is Billiards, ping-pong, air-hockey, and 3 tables of foos-ball. We also have a fenced in soccer and basketball court, so if any of us feels the desire to run around in the 100 degree sun, we can.

 

Mother, you would be proud of me, as I have been doing a lot of data entry for the office this week, I have been listening to Chopin and Rachmaninoff. I am feeling the pull to learn how to play piano again, but it'll have to wait until after the mission.

 

Thats all for now folks.

Do some good in the world today:

-A honey bee makes about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey every month, yet we can buy 5 gallon buckets of it- every little act of kindness counts

Elder Eliason

this week....

Well, this week was (not that) interesting to say the least.........

nothing happened. We have been cooked up here in the office forever since transfers will happen in less than 8 days, and so President Wright, the assistants, and the secretaries have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off to make sure that people are going to be going to where the Lord needs them, and that they will have housing, water, electricity, plumbing, transportation to get there, renewed visas, renewed drivers licenses (president and sister Wright). We will be receiving 31 new missionaries and losing 8 in March, this should be interesting :)

 

On the other hand, elder Loftgrin and I have been working on the 3000 references we came across last week... most of them are old, at least 2 years old...but many of them are just as valid.

Story... So one of the references I came across was from 2009, I passed it to the sisters that are working in the neighboring area of Elisabete, where the reference lived. Well, I passed it at about 8 in the morning, at 2 in the afternoon, I got a phone-call from them, they were crying. I asked to the reason why- they told me that the reference I had given them lived at that address and had been waiting for the missionaries to pass by for the last 20 years. She had been taught by the missionaries 20 years ago when she lived in Santa Catarina, but had moved down to Porto Alegre and had lost contact with the church. Well, that afternoon, they marked a baptismal date with her. She will be baptized next week. I am so excited to pass out the rest of them. There is one area where the ward members passed out a billion pass-along cards, so everybody who called in or went online to get the dvd or Book of Mormon, or whatever the pass-along card said, placed their address down and phone number, along with name, and have noted that they have some sort of interest in God and church. I have had to limit the number of references that I pass them every week. Nobody can contact 500 people and concentrate on the needs of each one. That just doesn't make sense.

 

The wolf bite didn't break too much skin, so I don't need the rabies shot, it's not necessary.

 

Mother- a chop shop is a place where people take used or stolen cars and chop them up into pieces and sell the pieces for other cars as replacements or improvements. It is a very lucrative industry, especially if your car is new and has lots of new shiny parts. This past Sunday, one of our recent converts, Marcel, was waiting for us in the parking-lot of a grocery store near where we were (he was going to give us a ride), when a black pick-up truck pulled up next to him, blocked him in his parking space, and three guys jumped out with shotguns and told him to get out of his (newly purchased 38,000 Real) car. He and his date (they were going to a fireside that evening after dropping us off) both got out of the car, the robbers told them to throw his wallet and her purse into the car and then stole the car, leaving them standing on the sidewalk. We were on the other side of the road about 200 meters down, but we saw and heard nothing. He luckily, while the robbers were talking, slipped his * Galaxy phone* into his back pocket, and was able to keep it with him. They ended up not being able to give us a ride or go to the devotional. They filed an incident report with the police, but the chances of them getting it back is slim to nill. A man saw everything happen, and he followed the guys and called the police while following them, but because there was nobody in the general vicinity at the time (police wise), the police told him to stop following them before he gets killed, and to just let it go. I am so grateful for the American police system. She came out of it a bit flustered and disturbed, he came out of it praising God that that was all that happened. He has an incredible testimony that has been growing ever since the missionaries found him.

 

About the ward boundaries, we figured out why, the map is about 3 years old, and a bunch of the branches have changed boundaries, that's why everything I was looking at was screwy. The carton of milk? Only one liter, but that's a ton here to drink in one sitting, but we put chocolate powder (similar to Nesquick, its actually made by Nestle, it's called Nescão 2.0) in the milk and it was incredibly delicious. No, we don't get the Ensign, we get the Liahona, which publishes all of the main messages in the Ensign, New Era, and Friend. Of course it is in Portuguese, but reading Portuguese is super easy, I can also read most texts in Spanish now, it's just a lot harder to speak. (I've been studying Preach my Gospel in both Portuguese and Spanish.)

 

Anyway, a couple of days ago, I went with Elder Rech to downtown Porto Alegre to get President's license renewed. The man who did the translation of the license into Portuguese is probably pushing 85 years old, and is incredible. His family fled Germany before WWII, and moved to Brazil. His mother taught him German, Portuguese, Spanish, and English. A couple of years ago, he got licensed to translate legal documents into Hebrew and French also. He has the most incredible rotating library in his office, he says that whoever comes through his office usually brings a book that they like, and trade one with him. He has over 400 books (thick Tom-Clancy style books) on his shelves and he has read them all. We will bring a Book of Mormon next time we come by, but it has to be in English, because he only reads books in English, German and Hebrew. Luckily we have a bunch of English Books of Mormon lying around that we use when we teach English Class every Thursday night. He's awesome. I'm excited.

 

Anyway, I love you all, the church is true.

Elder Eliason

I saw this in the shopping mall, and thought aunt Mandy might like it, it's a very fancy shoes/purses/leather/classy elegant clothes store...

 
I made a galon and a half of fresh juice from our tree out back...we drank about half of it....the rest is now fermenting in our fridge....


Canecas, what more need I say?


The Staff at Outback


Wolves


Tyler and the Wolves

Dear fam, friends, all who claim to know me or at least have an interest in finding this blog.....

well... this week has been interesting to say the least

I am completely sick, because once again, we have eaten at outback (it was Elder Rech's birthday)

and I drank my bodyweight in Guarana (closest thing to relate it is ginger ale?) whatever

Scharyannie was baptized sunday, she is incredible, unfortunately my camera died as soon as I turned it on to take a pic at her baptism, so a member took one with his phone, and will send it to me hopefully sometime soon. Schary is awesome. Marriage here takes atleast 20 days for everything to be authenticated and authorized, and will cost about 180 R$, so its going to be about a month before her grandma can be baptized, but its all still looking good. Juliano, one of our awesome incredible investigators (age 16) wants to be baptized the 27th, but his parents arent letting him for now, so we are praying earnestly for him. He lives behind the church, so it takes about 30 seconds for him to get to church. Anyways, things are good here in Rio Grande do Sul, it cooled off a bit last week, so its chilling at about the mid 80s as highs, but the AC is now fixed in the office, so we are enjoying the comfort :) This week I....

 

1. Kicked a cat (so rediculously funny)

2. Once again removed all of the hair on my hand making popcorn

3. Almost got hit by a members car who actually offered us a ride.

4. Found an area that nobody knew about here in Lindóia that is comprised only of chop-shops

5. Drank an entire carton of milk in 1 sitting (be proud of me)

6. Met a family that raises wolves.

7. Had my hand bitten by a wolf.

8. Discovered the incredible power of Google Earth (mom, you love maps, you should totally check this out)

9. Discovered that the official boundaries of many wards here are completely wrong, as in the Boundaries for the ward of Bento Gonçalves, does not actually include the city of Bento Gonçalves, where I was working, and where resides all of the ward members (including bishopric) and the chapel. hmmm.....

10. Killed a bajillion cockroaches

 

10.1 Did work in expanding the Kingdom of Heaven....

Which brings me to my next point...all you wonderful people who are considering going on missions. DO IT!!!! I can not explain how incredible the mission has already been, I've only been out for 5 months, and I can already see the blessings...

-Language- I understand almost everything that everybody says, and I can say anything that I need to. Some times the vocabulary is lacking, but I can describe it to the point where the people realize what I am trying to say and can help me from that point.

-Social skills- I can make small talk with anybody, and situations are no longer awkward, you just get used to it to the point where I don't recognize most awkward moments....they are just usually normal days.

-Body Weight- well, we shall see.....

-Health- Well, I ate 4 bowls of (yes i mean it) home-made chili yesterday :D :D :D so incredibly delicious...the people had gone to the US for a Judo-boxing tournament, and fell in love with Chili, so they brought back some Costco sized plastic canisters of Chili powder mix....so good goood gooooood :_) Also, before you leave on the mission, invest in the gigantor-sized bottles of vitamin- C and multi-vitamins, these two things keep me more healthy than anything else I am eating here.

-Studies- well, I have finally learned how to study intently without being distracted and/or falling asleep, although getting a GOOD night of sleep definitely does help (something of which I realize now I lacked this entire last year)

-Protection- Hahahahahahahahahaha, I am not dead. That means that I have been protected by a heaven-based force, there is no other explanation. We must do our part, but stuff inevitably will happen. The mission has been proof that the heavens want me here at this moment.

 

The mission has truly been a huge blessing in my life so far, and I know that if we are doing the things that we need to be doing, and trying our best to be in the right place at the right time, things will always work out.

 

All yall are awesome.... also remember your letters :D whether they be to me or anybody out in the field.

 

- "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It's our light, not our darkness that frightens us. As we liberate from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ---Marianne Williamson

 

Be awesome, be awesome beyond belief.

Elder Eliason

A non-real investigator playing a guitar??


Lunch Crew


Canecas

Boa tarde!

Howdy yall, here in the south, everybody talks really fast and with a clean crisp accent. Somehow this week, I have felt the gaucho culture more than ever here in Porto Alegre, although we have not been drinking nearly as much chemarrou and tererei as normal, everywhere we go, there are indications that the southern pride is still strong here- it's actually quite hilarious A while back, before I was born, there was a war, a war for independence of the Gauchos (cowboys) from the Paulistas (people from the north, mainly São Paulo). This was called the War of Farroupilha. Like the US Civil War, the south lost, but they did not lose their southern pride. They still wave the Rio Grande do Sul flag around as if it is the flag of their country, although they have come to accept the actual Brazilian flag as one of which is greater valor. Interesting huh? Well, this week has been very trying on the patience, but it has been a big learning week. I have learned:

1. I am not meant to be cooked up in an office

2. I will never accept an office position in any field of work

3. Data analysis is really cool, and can help a tremendous volume if applied correctly

4. I like the cold a lot more than the hot (Summer vs Winter)

5. Taxi drivers will run you over (if you don't have an incredible companion that pulls you out of the way at the last second)

6. The Lord is hastening his work (at an incredible speed- Missionary applications have shot up in number 471% since the announcement in October)

7. Outback Steakhouse is extremely expensive

8. Outback Steakhouse's food is slider food....

9. If you drink 17 canecas of Coca-Cola, you will inevitably get sick

10. It is okay to dress up a bit, just to go out in public...polos, slacks/dark jeans, sport coats/blazers- just look classy... that would be the typical male Brazilian style here. Women are sporting nothing but sun dresses now days, it's fun.

okay, so maybe I got a little off topic, but Scharyannie has her baptismal inerview here in half an hour, and she will hopefully be baptized tomorrow! I am so excited for her. Her grandma, who has sat in on all of the lessons has finally decided that she wants to be baptized too, but has to get legally married first, which we will take care of this week, so she will hopefully be baptized next weekend. We also have Gildo and Solande, who are ready to be baptized, but they have to wait for the judge to finalize her divorce and actually marry the two of them. I am so excited.

I think it is really funny reading Daniels letters, and he makes me laugh when he talks about his new DL responsibilities .. I live with the two APs, they are incredible, they're responsible for about 140 missionaries at the moment, and will grow to about 240 by the end of this year hopefully... its a work and a half, and to include all of that on top of anything that the President asks, and to work a normal area, they are truly masters of multi-thinking.

The person who works the most on the mission (and the least appreciated) here is definitely the financial secretary. He is incredible, He has to keep everything in order- houses, money, reimbersments, light, water, maintenance, anything financial goes to him, including bus tickets, plane tickets, train tickets, boat tickets...etc... this week was quite funny because one apartment of sisters didn't have their light bill payed, so they had their electricity cut off...well, in the 110 degree heat, a solid cement apartment without fans is not a fun place to be, let alone try to sleep in. He has been having nightmares and whatnot because prior financial secretaries have not been organized, and had just kept everything straight in their heads, well, he came in and there was no record of 4 houses, and a ton of bills had yet to be payed. He has been working extremely hard to get everything back in order. Along with all of this stuff, he has to open atleast 3 new houses/apartments, write contracts for them, and get everything approved for the new incoming missionaries. Parabens to him.

I am so glad that you (mother) are falling in love with Preach My Gospel, I love that book. There are so many things to be gained from it, and every time I read it, I gain some insight that i have never seen before. One thing that I would suggest doing for the new year and the year to come is go through the Attributes of Christ, and every week for family home evening, go over one aspect, read the characteristic, the scripture reference that goes along with it and make goals for the next week to improve in that aspect. Discuss it with the fam, and see how together you all can become better. This will inevitably bring you closer to your family and closer to Christ. On page 126 I believe is the Attributes of Christ self-evaluation, try listing in your journal 1-57 and evaluate yourself. See where you can personally improve, and where your strengths are. I have been doing this lately, and it has been a wonderful blessing to my life.

I have also begun reading Jesus the Christ again, and every time I read it, it blows me away. I feel like everything I read, I already knew somehow, but it wasn't presently aware of it. As I discussed this assessment with my companion this week, we came to the conclusion that due to the fact that everybody has the Light of Christ within them, which testifies of things that have already come to past, and the testification of things that happened in the antemortal existence but because of the veil of distance between us and the Savior, we don't all have the immediate recollection of these events. When we hear or read the things that are truths, the spirit testifies that we already knew this things were true, and is slightly pushing us into remembrance The same effect is happening with the investigators who have not hardened their hearts against the ideas of the Gospel, they are turned to the truthfulness of light wherein they have been prepared to receive the remembrance of the things that are really there. In conclusion, we all already knew this stuff, we just have to be reminded. If that made sense, smile. If not, send me an angry letter, at the address posted, and I will promptly throw it in the shredder after reading. Why? because I have free agency to do so. You do too. Isn't it great?

anyways, now that I have splurged my thoughts on to paper for the moment, I have to go to an interview.

Remember God loves you and that he wants you to do works of righteousness.

Elder Eliason