Week 25...Mogi Mirum, Brazil

More from week 25, from continued conversation with him that morning

I am a lot better right now, I think it was just that pillow. It was a memory foam pillow and it rained a lot the night before so my pillow was a little humid. I traded it for a cotton pillow. I really don´t need anything right now. Tudo é tranquilo agora.(All is good) I am super excited for Christmas. We get to call for 15 minutes to get everything set up and after that we get to talk for an hour on Skype. Do you guys know how to do that? Also we are going to the temple on the 17th it will be the first time in almost 5 months. I am so excited and a much needed break. Does this time work better for you guys?

How is Will and Derek doing? Grandma told me that they plan on serving a mission and she will put her availability for after April. I told her that I think it will be some time before the Naylor family is all together again. Oh well, I think this will be a lot better for our family.

from mom to zac.....

Will's doing great. He turned 11 yesterday. He's excited to start going to Boy Scouts and really preparing for the priesthood. He is such an amazing young man. He is maturing so quickly and is really taking spiritual things seriously. Your exceptional example is making such a difference for him, and for Derek. I don't think you really realize what your serving a mission has done for them. You are able to do, what your dad and I couldn't. Thank you.

 

Love ya,

Mom

from zac to mom...
Oh my goodness I totally forgot about will´s birthday! I have a present that I will mail to him today. Don´t let him read this but I´ll give him my name tag that is magnetic till he has one of his own. I´m going to mail it today so it should arrive in 2-3 weeks. I really hope that it has helped them too, especially Derek. I really want him to serve a mission. I sent him a message last week but he didn´t respond. I really am so grateful for my mission and it really is the best thing I have done. I have felt some of the most challenging experiences in my life but I have also felt the spirit most strongly in my life on my mission too. Thank you so much for what you guys do for me too and helping me go on a mission. This is really the best gift you guys could give me.

Also it isn´t what I´m doing I love a promise in a talk by James E Faust, "Dear are the Sheep that Have Wandered" “The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God.



Week 25....Mogi Mirum, Brazil

Sorry that I wasn´t able to write you guys for a little bit, but we had tons of meetings to go to. It´s a little stressful here too with my companion being a leader and all.

I know that I am just a kid still but I feel like I have learned a ton about the exact same things that you are going through. I love a talk by president Eyring. He says that, "when my body begs for rest, I give myself this rallying cry, remember him!". I have used this phrase so much as my mission is a mission of spiritual, physical and emotional exhaustion. I have to remember that too. My advice is just to keep carrying on and the Lord will tell you what to do. I remember one time we missed a bus to an area and my companion and I were devastated because this meant we had to wait 2-3 more hours for the next one. We were sitting there and one person asked us what we do because of our name tags. We told her we are missionaries and ended up teaching her the first lesson. I´ll write more in just a little bit but I want you to know that my prayers are with you.

later the same morning Elder Zachary continued his email....with pictures

Wow, this week was definantly an interesting one. To start things off I woke up Tuesday morning and my eye was almost swollen shut. What made it even better was that we had District meeting that morning and our mission president and his wife were there. So since it´s almost Christmas time they took pictures of our district to show at our mission Christmas party. It was pretty funny though I made sure to tell my president that it was my companion that punched me. Sister Perroti was really good though. I think she was alot more worried than I was. She made me take some medicine which I took and literally passed out in 30 minutes. I then slept for 13 hours straight. After that I woke up and my eye was still the same and was actually spreading to the other. So I got to make the trip to Campinas to go to a hospital that was really sweet, get a shot and take more medicine. I think it was that I have an alergy to my pillow. It was a pretty funny experience but the sad thing is we lost 2 days of work becuase of this.

Other than that this week was pretty good. Since they don´t have Thanksgiving I had to make my own food. I made a good ole´ hamburger and fries just like we did at home. While it was definantly good it wasn´t the fried wild turkey that I would´ve had at home. Oh well, it´s a small price to pay for all I'm learning.

 

We had several conferences with President and learned a ton this week. We are changing the mission a lot now. President said that the general authorities are talking alot more about working with less actives. They said that the missions that are baptizing the most are working alot with less actives. Now we have a goal that we will work 15 hours every week just with less actives. The general authorites also said that we should only help with the missionary work and that the branch or ward should be the one that is actually working. I am really excited about this because this is exactly how I was feeling about Mogi Mirim. I am really excited to see how our mission will change.

 

This week I got the oppurtunity to serve with an American that has 2-3 weeks in the field. It was really cool to see how much I´ve grown as I watched him teach and try to talk. It is so cool to think that 6 months ago I didn´t know Portuguese. I also got to see an Elder that will leave in less than 3 weeks bear his testimony. I know this missionary pretty well after being my Zone leader for 3 transfers. I know that he really did work hard on his mission and he has so much power when he teaches and knowledge too. It really made me reflect and think if I´m doing all I can now, especially that my mission is 1/4 of the way over. Anyways, enough of the sob story. I love you guys tons and pray for yah. Take care

Love,

Elder Zachary

 

Week 24....Mogi Mirum, Brazil

This week was pretty awesome. First of all I got a box from home with all those American things that I have been missing so much. I want to thank you guys for that and also my companion and the other Brazilians want to say thank you too. It is different to think that they have never tried some of these things before. Peanut butter was a pretty funny thing. Only one likes it, the others think that it is glue with salt thrown in it. I got a good laugh out of that.

It is crazy to think that it will be Christmas in a couple weeks and it will be Thanksgiving this week. The only bad thing about that is they don´t have Thanksgiving down here so it will be just another day for me but I think I´ll make a little something for me. It is really strange to have Christmas and it being hot out. I am really excited for it though.

 

This week was insanely hard but I learned so much. My companion is a District Leader right now, so I go on splits alot with other missionaries. This week we went on splits with two different companionships. The first one was on Tuesday and it was in a City called Cosmópolis. It was with two other Elders. One is about to leave. This is his last transfer and the other is pretty new in the mission. It was cool to see how they worked and how I could learn from them. The other division was with Mogi Guaçu, the group we are living with. I was with an Elder that has less than three weeks on his mission. It was pretty stressful because I had to plan everything and had to teach pretty much all of the lessons. Also he has an accent that is pretty hard to understand. When he talks he likes to mumble and uses phrases that I have never heard before. My companion thinks that I will train the next transfer so it is probably good that I had this experience. 

 

I really don´t have too much to write this week but I love you guys soo much. Stay safe and take care.

Love,

Elder Saueressig

Week 23.....Mogi Mirum, Brazil

One thing that I have really noticed is the lack of animals like deer and turkeys. One thing they do have is a ton of dove here. It makes it hard to remember that back home I could´ve hunted them but here it is kind of illegal. I think it´s best that I don´t break laws here.

As for animals, I haven´t seen too many strange animals. It helps that we are living in a city and I think I always will be but we do see the occasional 2-3 ft. long lizard. I have seen toucans two times on my mission. Also our house has cockroaches that are literally 3 inches or bigger in the attic. Luckily, they don´t like to come down when we are in the house. The only time I saw them was I woke up to get something to drink and turned on the lights and saw 6-7 of them run and hide really fast. We are going to get some poison though to kill them soon. Also for pets they normally have just dogs, lots of birds, and the occasional cat. We do have one member that has pet tortoises.

As for this week, it went by super quick. I think I will be saying that probably every week here. I really learned alot this week about the importance of patience, how to be a leader, and the importance of choosing the right girl in the future. This week we have been working with the members alot but specifically the bishop. One day, we found him in the chapel with cleaning supplies out and on the telephone with another member. They were getting ready for an activity that our ward had. We heard him say, "If I leave to get the stuff, I will be here to 8 at night cleaning the chapel." So we offered to help him and we got the opportunity to talk with him a lot about our work and what he is doing too. It was really good because now he is really excited to help us. He also talked a lot about how his wife is so great and is taking care of the kids when he is at the church. He stressed the importance that we need to choose right. He said that we both will be bishops in the future and probably stake presidents. After this, my companion and I looked at each other and started laughing. The though of us being bishops is a little scary.

 

One thing I love about Brazil is that they have holidays literally every 2 weeks and sometimes every week. This week was a holiday that I guess was pretty big because we had a pretty good churrasco (BBQ) with a lot of members and investigators. It was really good for everyone because our investigators could see that we are normal and got to talk with the members, we got to play volleyball and eat a ton, and the members got to relax. I love how the people here cook. They had 8 kilos of just beef and lots more sausage to go with that. I think I put down one of those kilos(don´t worry I´ll walk it off.) I also have learned how to talk to the members here. It is nice that I can talk to someone without my companion right beside me. It is crazy to think that 6 months ago I literally didn´t know anything in Portuguese. In fact this week I have been working on my English. Luckily my companion is pretty good at English so I can practice with him. I can still speak English the only problem is I want to switch to Portuguese during the middle of the sentence. Everyone I talk to here can understand when I switch to Portuguese so it really is different to just speak only English.

 

This week we have been working with a family that just the grandma is a member. All of her grandchildren go to church but their moms won´t let them be baptized. So in turn, we have been working on the moms and teaching them. We are really excited because one of them is accepting the lessons and I think next week will go to church with us. I think once we baptize one, all of them will follow and their kids too. It is really cool watching how they respond change. When we begin they are always closed to our message but as we talk a little bit more they always open up. It is so cool watching the gospel work. I am so happy to be on a mission and so grateful also. I love you guys so much and stay safe.

 

I haven´t got my package because our zone leader has it right now. We are far away from the office so we couldn´t go get it but he lives closer so they made a trip. I will get it tomorrow at the next zone conference. I think where we are serving you don´t have to worry too much about packages being stolen. Our mission is the richest mission in Brazil (it helps that one of our members in Campinas has a Ferrari).

 

Love,

Elder Zachary

 

Week 22...Mogi Mirim, Brazil

Well, right now I am super excited. My companion and I will stay in Mogi Mirim for another 7 weeks. It is crazy to think that by the end of this transfer I will have almost 7 months on my mission. Time is literally flying by now. I feel comfortable with the language, the people, and teaching now.

I honestly love it here in Brazil and it will be tough leaving it. Luckily, I don´t have to worry about it for a little bit. The only sad news is one of the Brazilians that lives with me that is really good will leave but our zone has a joke that when you enter it you will never leave. President has been known to just move people around in this zone. Everyone says it´s because the zone that I am in is the toughest zone and President likes to put people in this zone to learn. I have done just that. I feel like I have learned so much and grown so much in the past 11 weeks.

As for this week, it was definitely a little crazy. To start things off, my companion is the District leader so that means that we go on splits with other Elders so he can learn how and who they are working with. My companion decided to do all the splits in the last week. So, 4 out of the 7 days I was in a different city or in my city with another Elder. In other words, it was super tiring but I learned a lot. I think my companion learned also that we should spread them out.

 

Also I decided to change my name a couple of weeks ago and this transfer I will have a new name. I was getting tired of everyone having problems with it and President kept saying that I should change it. (He went with Elder Zachary-Sarah).

 

The weather down here is crazy. The first part of the week it was raining like crazy and freezing(60-70 degrees), then the end of the week was really hot (90´s with humidity). I know it isn´t as bad as Kansas right now but when you are used to 70-80´s everyday it is a big difference. It is also weird to think that Christmas will be hot and my birthday will be cold. Oh well, I guess it´s just a Brazil thing.

 

We had daylight savings time recently so we moved an hour back and lost an hour of sleep. That is so great that Will is being a missionary. Since I changed my name I am thinking about sending my name tags to you guys and Will could use one on Sunday. I really am glad that I am serving in Mogi Mirim. It is really weird trying to help a Ward know how they should be working with in-actives and less actives. I have seen a lot of progress though recently. We re-activated 3 families and our recent convert is helping us so much teach others. As for translating you can help Will with this.

 

Eu quero começar que eu amo vocês e orar cada dia para você. Eu sou muito grato que você está servindo nosso senhor. Uma coisa que é muito engraçado é quando nos precisamos fazer cocô nos cantamos a musica, "knock, knock, knocking on heaven´s door." E agora a musica está tocando na Lan House. Eu amo vocês muito e estou muito animado por Natal.

 

Anyways love ya´ll and take care.

 

Love,

Elder Zachary

 

 

 

Week 21...Campinas, Brazil

This week flew by. It is crazy that it is almost to the next transfer already. This one is a little different because it is only 5 weeks because of some meetings that the president needs to go to in Salt Lake. I´m pretty sure I will be transferred after this transfer which is next Tuesday so I´m sure in two weeks I´ll have a lot more to say. The good news about this is I´ll finally be done training. I have been being trained for almost 6 months or 1/4 of my mission.

This week was really good. First off it was one Elder´s 1 year mark so we made him a cake and had a little party. It really is a blast here with 3 Brazilians. I am learning so much from them and their stories are so good. It is really cool seeing how much my Portuguese has improved and how much I can talk now. This week I had an interesting experience of teaching the rules to baseball and football to a group of Brazilians. It really is hard to explain what is common knowledge in the US. I´m not sure if I helped them or not but I told them to use Google/YouTube. Also this week President came to look at our house in Mogi Guaçu to see if we are slobs or not. We had a window that was broken and last time president was at our house he said that we need to fix it. So, us being missionaries, waited till the day before to repair it. Here, on the windows they use clay to seal the windows because they don´t have to worry about the clay freezing. We had a little left over so I made a sculpture of one of the Elders that I live with that we call Elder Gordinho. Then he stuck the little flag on the sculpture that says President Perrottão. When you put ão on a word in Portuguese it means big or large. So when President went into our house that was the first thing he saw. Luckily he loved it and now he wants to put it in his house. 

Also this week has been really good for our work too. Our first baptism in Mogi Mirim is rock solid. Her name is Cida and she had problems with smoking and drinking, the same problems as our other investigator. We asked if she would help us teach and she did just that. She taught perfectly and she was so happy afterwards.  That is just the beginning. Since we started working with members we have seen them help so much. They really do want to help they just didn´t know how. It is really cool seeing how people will change.

It is crazy that it is almost Christmas. They are starting to put Christmas stuff in the stores now and I´m sure Christmas music will start playing here soon. It really is weird thinking that we will have Christmas and it will be 90 degrees outside. I love you guys so much and pray for you. Stay safe

Love,

Elder Saueressig 

  

 

Week 20...Campinas, Brazil

Wow it is really week 20. It is crazy to think that I have been serving this long and next transfer will be 6 weeks and it will be Christmas. I really am grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow. I can honestly say that I have done just that. It is crazy to think that 6 months ago I didn´t know any Portuguese and now I can live in a house with three Brazilians and have a good ole´ time.

 

This week felt really long but it went by super fast if that makes any sense. We had one of the Seventy visit our mission. His name was Elder Snow and he is the church historian. He is an American and didn´t speak any Portuguese. It was funny because when he spoke to the president´s wife she didn´t understand anything and now she knows how we felt when we entered the mission. Luckily, we have some great missionaries that helped translate and he also had a translator. It was pretty cool to learn and grow during the conference. He talked a lot about having a vision for our area. He told the story of missionaries in Recifé. How the Elders had 2 months to go in there and see if the area was good. They baptized one person and 2 generations later there is a temple there and that one person was a sealer in the temple. 

 

This week we have been trying really hard to have a vision for our area. We have been working really hard in our area and we have had one baptism. The are several reasons why it could be hard. This zone is the hardest in the mission (it has never had the most baptisms in a month), we are opening an area, and I am being trained. We could use these as excuses but I know I´m here for a reason so I have been praying and thinking a lot. We asked the leader of our mission (forgot what it is in English) how many less actives and in-actives we have in this area. He said that we have 1,000 people. He said that this is how it is in almost every area of the mission. 1,000 people is a really good sized stake. So my companion and I feel like we need to work on less actives and in-actives right now. I feel like 100 of those people would come back with a little persuasion. We are getting some grief from our zone leader about this because our #´s won´t be the best but we called president about it and he agrees, so that kind of helped our case. Anyways I don´t have any really great stories now but I´m ready to get to work. I love you guys so much and look forward to Christmas. Stay safe.

 

Elder Saueressig

 

P.S. I knew about the arapima. I want to see one here so bad but they are really rare. Yeah, I learned that from River Monsters. My companion is Elder Lukas but Umpa Lumpa or gnome will work too. He is about 5-5 or 5-6 so we make lots of jokes about that. It is nice not being the shortest one. Seriously though he is pretty awesome and it will be tough leaving him.

 

Elder Saueressig's mailing address

If you wanted to write to Elder Saueressig or send a package, it should be sent to:

Brazil, Campina Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Elder Zachary Saueressig
Rua Dez de Setembro, 38, Center
Campinas-Sao Paulo
13010-215

Please note that it taked about 6 weeks before he gets mail.

Week 19...Campinas, Brazil

This week was really tough but ended pretty good. This week it literally rained for 5 days of it so it is really tough to work when the water is knee deep in the streets. It literally was knee deep in some parts but was pretty cool. It is funny because it doesn´t rain even close like it does at home. It is just that it is alot more hilly here and the streets aren´t designed very well. Also when it rains it´ll rain for 20 minutes then rest for 2 hours then rain again so you can´t tell when it will pour. Anyways it was kind of tough but we had alot of fun.

I feel like all I talk about is my Portuguese but literally that is my life right now. It has been developing like crazy lately. It may help that I live with only 3 other Brazilians. It is really weird because ocasionally we will come across a Brazilian who knows a little English and wants to speak English with me. I can´t tell the difference right now between English and Portuguese. I can understand both and it takes me a little bit to switch to English again. So when Christmas comes expect there to be a little delay while my brain flops back to English. Also I have learned piano on my mission to. It is crazy how the Lord has blessed me. I play piano sometimes in sacrement meeting. I can play almost any song out of the simplified version of the hymnal.

 

Time is really starting to fly. I think I am finally getting used to the missionary life and starting to get used to Brazil. I think I will probably be transfered to another area because it seems when I get comfortable is when I have to move. Anyways love you and pray for you guys. Stay safe.

 

Also on a side note if you haven´t sent my package yet I would appreciate it if you sent stick deoderant and lots of it. They don´t have it down here. They only have aerosol (which is expensive) and the kind with the metal ball. Do you have a picture of the fish? (I'd told Zac about the newly discovered moster sized arapiama fish found in the Amazon And we know Zac loves fishing!!!!) I saw two guys fishing the other day and one had a fish on his pole and it about killed me when we had to keep walking but right now I´m fishing for other things.(clever eh?)

 

Love,

Elder Saueressig

 

Week 18...Campinas, Brazil

This week has definantly been even better. For one thing, I think my Portuguese has made leaps and bounds. My companion is now a district leader so that means that both him and I have a lot more responsibility. One of these responsibilities is we go on splits with the other missionaries to learn from them and teach them.

Well this last week I was on splits with an American Elder that had literally 2-3 days in the mission and knew no Portuguese. I was really nervous because I still have problems understanding when they use words I don´t know but, we had lunch with a family and I could talk with the members. Yeah there was awkward moments, but, it really helped my confidence with the langauge. I am starting to be able to joke with the people and gaining a sense of humor again. I feel like by the time this transfer is over, I will be able to talk and understand without any problems.

I am starting to really love Brazil. I love the weather most of the time. It is normally 80-90 during the day and 60-70 at nights with rain thrown in there every now and then. The bad news is the weather is opposite in Brazil. During December it is the hottest part of the year. So it is only getting hotter from here on. Also air conditioning is super rare here. It is normally found only in stores with expensive clothes. I am also learning to love the food. I haven´t had to eat too many strange things yet. I had some food that was questionable at the beginning but I decided it was best not to ask what it was.

 

They are missing some foods that I crave every now and then. For example, they don´t have peanut butter, maple syrup, and don´t use alot of cinnamon. They have foods though that make up for it. For example last week we were walking and we found a mango tree. I actually got to pick a mango off the tree and eat it. It was pretty awesome.

 

This week has also been alot better for our work too. We are starting to creat a pool of investigators. It has been really hard to find people in the past but my companion has been using my Portuguese to get people to talk to us. I am really excited for this transfer and I think we will have lots of success. Anyways love you all and know that I´m praying for you.

Love,

Elder Saueressig

 

Week 17...Campinas, Brazil

This week was a lot better for sure. I can say this now that it is over but before money was really tight. We receive 110 reals every 2 weeks which is fine but we had to pay for the bus everyday as I mentioned earlier. So by the time the 2 weeks were over we used 90 reals for just the bus. So we had 20 reals to pay for everything. This was impossible because just to eat lunch was 10 reals. So there were lots of nights we were going to bed hungry. This last week was really tough because my companion and I both only had money to pay for the bus for 1 more week. Then we decided we would look at the bank to see if we had anything. We looked at our bank and we had 200 reals in it. We called our president and asked why and he said that he felt like we needed it and he said that he will change it so we receive for every 2 weeks. It really was a blessing.

 

Also one night in the last week we were especially hungry. I´ll just say that lunch wasn´t the best. Then a member from another branch stopped us and paid for food for us. It was these giant hamburgers that I think I could live a week on. I put a clothes pin next to it in the picture so you can see how big it was. This week I really learned to trust in the Lord and he will protect and nurture us.

That promise of Moroni is really true. (Blessings often come after a trial of our faith). During that day that we saw our bank accounts we saw many miracles. One was a tucan sitting in a tree, which is really rare this far south. We also found two new investigators and one crazy man stopped us to talk to me in English and just where we would´ve been there was a car that flew around a corner not looking at all. I don´t mean for you to feel sorry at all. I just want you guys to know how much the Lord is blessing my life right now.

 

As for the stories I have some new ones now. I have come to love the dogs anymore as I think those are the only things we see. Finding people is really tough. One house that we went to there was this dog, well I wouldn´t even call it a dog. It was more like a large hamster but, it was trying to bark at us. It was pretty funny because I think it was sick. It would bark (which sounded more like a smoker´s wheeze) then sneeze twice and repeat. I didn´t have my camera so I couldn´t make a video of it but it was probably a good thing because he probably would´ve killed himself trying to "get us." 

This transfer is over and it flew by. It is crazy to think that I started 4 months ago. It has gone by so fast but I feel like I´ve grown so much. I can now read Portuguese plainly and I can understand a lot more. Only when I hear words I don´t know is what messes me up.

 

I am excited for these next 6 weeks. I feel like we will get a lot of work done and I plan on being fluent at the end of these 6 weeks. Ok, maybe not fluent but close to it. Thank you for your love and support. I appreciate the prayers and know that they are returned every night. I love you guys so much.

 

Love,

Elder Saueressig

 

Picture from TN

An additional picture sent by his former Mission President from the Knoxville, Tennessee Mission.

Week 16...Campinas, Brazil

It is amazing how the Lord blesses us. One thing I have noticed is when I am exactly obedient here in the mission, I receive the greatest blessings. That is something that I have been working on recently because it is a lot harder in Brazil. Also for General Conference they only have it here in Portuguese, so it is going to be tough for me to understand but I believe in the gift of tongues and the blessings are real. I am super stoked for it and just know that I am praying for you guys.

As for this week, it was really tough. Right now we are having problems with our area. We opened the area so we don´t have a house there and we have to ride the bus everyday. This makes it so we have to leave the area early and return early too. So we can´t work like we want to and we can´t study like we want to also. This makes it really tough because we have received referals except we can only contact them at night but we have to leave early. We have been waiting 5 weeks for a house now and all we can do is wait for the office to process the paperwork. It is really a test to stay positive but I have to remember how far I´ve come and how hard I´ve worked to be here.

Now that I´m done with that part I can talk about all the good things that I´ve experienced. Yesterday (actual P-day), we went to Campinas for my I.D. While we were waiting to receive the paperwork, I noticed that a couple infront of me was speaking English. So I asked him where he was from. He said he was from Georgia, his wife was from Brazil, and that he was going to be living here permantely. It was crazy though because as I was talking to him it was actually difficult to talk in English. Also I was trying to tell my companion about the foods that we have in America and I still can´t remember the name of the food that I love. It has a fried tortilla, beans, hambuerger, lettuce, and cheese. Anyways, I have been able to see how much my language is improving everyday. (Elder Saueressig is referring to a Montery - his favorite dinner that he asked for regularly when living at home. It is a Grandma Diane creation.) 

Brazil is starting to grow on me. The things that were strange are now starting to become normal. I am actually liking rice and beans every meal. It was nice this week though because we didn´t have lunch with a family one day this week and we got to have pizza and we made orange juice. Let´s just say it was super good to have it again. Even though it was a "cardboard" pizza and not from a resturant. The other picture are of salgados which I talked about last week. I don´t really have any crazy stories this week. I think it´s because I´m used to all the "crazy" things now. Anyways love you guys and pray for you guys everynight. Take care

Love

Elder Saueressig

Week 15...Campinas, Brazil

This week flew by. It is really crazy to look back and see how much I´ve grown since I´ve started. I started with not being able to speak Portuguesse at all and now I can talk with native people. It is still obvious that I´m American but hey we all have to start somewhere. Which brings me to another point. When you greet someone in Portuguesse you say Opa and after that you normally say Tudo Bom or Bom. I figured out you can say opa and whatever sound you want and people will mimic the sound. I remember one time this week I said "opa" and after that made the most ridiculous sound I could and the man repeated the same sound. Let´s just say I was dying laughing. Oh and to sound like a native you only have to say cada after every sentence. It literally means face but it means dude too.
 

This week was really tough to find people. My companion was really sick and we couldn´t leave the house one day. He is alot better now though. In the cities here they have a Centro where all the businesses are and then houses around that with bars spread throughout the areas with houses. Which is pretty cool because the bars are literally in peoples´ garages. I think though on weekends the people just dissapear because they aren´t in the houses and they aren´t in the centro. I am loving Brazil though. The people are very nice and patient with me. I know that I am butchering their language but I don´t think they mind. They are feeding me well and I have grown to love rice and beans with every meal. There is one food that I love here called salgados. They are a bread with cheese and normally some meat in them. They are super cheap so I can buy a bunch of them, eat them all, and not feel like moving for three days. Also the orange soda is AMAZING here. They use actual orange juice in it and it tastes completely different.
 

I also love one thing alot here in Brazil. Almost all the houses here have fences or wall around them. So when they have giant killer dogs you don´t have to worry about them because there is a 6" thick concrete wall in between you and the dog. There are dogs in the streets too but they are scared of us. I also love the drunk people here too. We were walking home and one drunk man stopped us and said to me something in Portuguesse then said Oh can you not understand me? I told him I could understand him and he asked where I was from. I said America because most of the people here don´t know where Kansas is, especially the drunks. Then he started in Spanish, "Yo hablo Espanol tambiem" in a really bad accent. Things like these just make me laugh. Oh also another story about drunks. We have a neighbor that loves to get drunk. When he gets drunk he starts singing really loud. I have a video but I can´t send it over e-mail. I asked my brazilian friend what he was singing about but he didn´t know either. I have so many stories I want to tell but I´d be here all day typing and sorry if my letters don´t make sense my mind is jumping all over the place. I love ya´ll. My prayers are with you.

Com muito Amo

Elder Saueressig

Week 14...Campinas, Brazil

This week was pretty awesome and I don´t know even where to start. I guess I can start with the most awesome part. We had a baptism yesterday. It was pretty cool because she is the first person that I have taught from the beginning all the way to the baptism. It was really cool because a lot of other missionaries have tried but no success.

 

Also we found a family knocking doors and we found 7 new investigators in one lesson. It was pretty funny because I said that I have a family in the US and they freaked out because they figured out I was from the US. Then they started asking me questions like how we say their names in English.

 

I also found two other things since I´ve been here. One is the annoying bird that sits right outside our house and makes tons of noise. Unfortunately guns are illegal and I´m not allowed to have a paintball gun or else it would have not been making noise along time ago.

 

The other is cows. Strangely enough I have not seen cows in Brazil till yesterday. We were walking home and they just came walking from a side road. It was strange because nobody was with them. Then they started following us. I don´t know why but it made it really funny because my companion is scared of them. All I heard was, "Oh fetch, Oh fetch, Elder Saueressig Corre." (corre means "run). Then I saw him take off as I just casually walked with a herd of cows behind me.

 

Oh other good news. Since it is getting hotter here it means that our showers are getting hotter too. No more cold showers! Well, till next year at least.

 

Ah Sim Hein! I´m hoping there will be three more Elder Saueressig´s at least, after me (that means Derek, Will and Dad).  I really hope that he (Derek) does serve a mission. It is definitely tough though. I have had days already where I feel like Satan is just laughing at me but when we have good days it makes all the bad days go away. Sometimes you are only faced with two options, laugh or cry. Sometimes you do the first so much that you end up doing both but a positive attitude is really what makes a good missionary.

 

I´m pretty jealous of Abby getting the opportunity to have Elder Holland come (I don´t know if that makes sense).  Oh well, we´ll all get to hear from him in a little bit (with General Conference coming up in October). Love ya´ll so much and pray for you guys.

 

Com muito Amo

Elder Saueressig

 

Week 13....Campinas, Brazil

This was one of those tough weeks for sure. I think it is actually harder to find people here in Brazil to teach than in Tenn. Maybe it is just because we are opening a new area. We have been working really hard making contacts with people but no success. I´m am really excited for this week because we are going to get a lot of referrals from the members this week.

 

This week was tough both spiritually and physically. Two days in a row we walked and hour straight for lunch. Then we knocked doors for 2-3 hours and then walked an hour back to the church. Also included is the 30 minute walk to get to the bus every morning and night. Which is normally where all the stories happen. Nevertheless my feet have seen better days. They are a lot better now but I had five blisters on my feet for most of the last 2 weeks. Also I have an amazing farmers tan now. I am actually darker than some of the natives. Also where I live there is another set of missionaries. So every night we play Monopoly deal and drink sugo de limea or lime juice except it´s not super sour just a little bit. I think this is what keeps me sane with the language and all. Last night we had pancakes which was amazing because they don´t have maple syrup here and pancakes at all. Luckily, the other American that is with me, his parents sent extract of maple or something like that and we had maple syrup and pancakes.

 

The members here are pretty awesome too. We have one member name Thiago and he loves us. We are teaching his mom and I´m pretty sure she will be baptized soon. He gave me a Brazilian jersey last week and this week he gave me a little Darth Vader statue. I think it´s pretty cool. At this rate my suitcases will only be things from Brazil when I return. How they eat in Brazil is very different too. We have lunch with members here instead of dinner. Lunch is a huge meal and dinner is just a snack. I think the first words I recognized and learned was, eat more and I´m full. I am starting to understand the language a lot better and I have been talking with the kids a lot here. The members are super nice though and really try to help so I don´t feel too bad. Right now I can understand when one person is talking to me but when more start my brain just kind of stops working. I notice progress every day though.

 

I love you all so much and sorry if my letters stop making sense. I have been trying to only speak Port. and I have noticed that my English already is getting worse. Also the keyboards here are messed up too.

 

Com Muito Amo

Elder Saueressig(I am going to keep this name)

 

P.S.(from a follow-up email between Elder Saueressig and his mom)  I told the assistants that I want to keep my last name because I think I am the first Elder Saueressig and I don´t want to change it. Oh and I read that talk it (a talk in the September Liahona/Ensign by Elder Holland) was pretty amazing. I have a deep respect for that man. I´m pretty sure if I met him I would pull a King Lamoni and pass out because of the spirit.

Week 12...Campinas, Brazil

So I finally made it to Brazil! It is definitely different down here. Most of the people are pretty nice. They understand that I can´t understand them at all which I think it is good. Also, if they know any English they try to use that with me. I do notice though that I can understand more and more every day. For example, I can now understand when they ask me questions personally. It is actually starting to be weird though because I tried to teach English and all I could think was Port. I am also happy because my trainer is a native. I like it because he speaks English to me and I speak Port. back to him. He is really patient with me which is probably a good thing.

 

As for our area, we are serving in Mogi Mirim which was shut down almost over a year ago because sisters were serving there and they were dating and doing other bad stuff. So we get to open the area. It is really tough because we almost spent an entire day trying to find a map to get there. Also we have to ride a bus for 30 minutes to get there every and back again. Which brings me to another point. DON´T DRIVE IN BRAZIL! It is insane. The people will swerve right in front of you maybe 2 inches off of your bumper and motorcycles are flying in between the cars constantly. Also cars don´t stop for people here but when the people aren´t driving they are nice. I have gotten two jerseys in under a week here.

 

Also the buildings here are very different. They use materials that will last a long time. There is no such thing as carpet here and everything is brick or concrete. Right now we are sharing a house with another set of Elders while they find a house for us. I think our house is pretty nice in general. Although there are ants and other insects. Also they don´t have hot water heaters here. So they have this thing that attaches to the shower head and heats up the water. I think it makes the water just warm enough so you don´t have hypothermia. It is definitely different down here but I don´t think that I´d want it another way. Ants and all.

 

I love you all so much and pray for you guys every night. Try not to be jealous of the paradise that I´m living in. The mangos here make up for any bad thing. I know that God is watching over me.

Com muito Amo

Elder Saueressig

 

Ps My president want me to change my name on the name tag to Elder Grant (Elder Saueressig's middle name - a family name from Sarah's family). I don´t really want to and I told him that I wanted to think about it. Just giving you guys a heads up in case my name tag says that.

Mid-week 11...Heading to Brazil, finally!!!

I got my visa! I leave Monday night at 5:30 and go to Atlanta where there is a 3 hour layover till I leave for Sao Paulo. I'm gonna try to call home sometime that in there so I'm just gonna call mom's cell again. Hope to talk to ya'll soon and have some great stories.

 

Com muito amo (I can do that now that I'm gonna be speaking Portuguese soon).

Elder Saueressig

Week 11...Rockwood, TN

I am so grateful for that amazing email that Dad wrote me, it almost brought tears to my eyes it was so inspiring and moving. It is pretty funny to see "Hey brat," in my inbox. I do appreciate the in-depth letter. Enough ragging on your expert journalism (see that I can insult and compliment at the same time.) I really do appreciate the letters here though, it is nice knowing what is going on back home. Just make sure that you tell me the football scores for the KSU games.

 

Oh and Pres. Irion said to call him about my visa situation, so I might email ya'll later today. He also could be messing with me as he does have a sense of humor. Actually there is a pretty good story behind that too. Pres. Irion is an OBGYN and an Elder had a sharp pain in his side. So he called Pres. about it as he is doctor asking what he should do. He said "well I would normally prescribe birth control pills but I don't think that is appropriate in this situation."

 

This week was pretty humbling. It seemed like every appointment we had fell through and only about 5% of the doors we knocked on answered and none of them would listen to us. I have really been trying to have a good mood besides all of this and I think it is starting to wear off on the people we do talk to. I have also learned how to ask enough questions that even if they don't want to talk to us I can keep them at the door for a couple minutes. Maybe that is why nobody answers, because they are all so annoyed of us and word has gotten around. We also had transfers this week and let me say something. My trainer is pretty great. We went with the District Leader and I felt like we were teaching him. He actually said at the end of it that he was impressed with us and he actually wants to try asking more questions.

 

This week was just kind of a normal week. Other than the awesome sign that we found randomly on the sign of the road. It was pretty far up the road almost to the point where we heard banjos. It said, "please do not dump dead animals." This sign did make me giggle a little bit. I want to take a picture of me laying in front of it so bad. Other than that it has been great. Oh and I have recently discovered the greatness of Bruce R McConkie. My companion for Halloween wants to get an Elder McConkie tag and get the Bruce glasses and go around all day saying "There is no salvation in believing false doctrine."

 

Love,

Elder Saueressig

Week 10...Rockwood, TN

It has been raining quite a bit but luckily no flooding. I have heard other parts of the state haven't been so lucky, especially earlier where there was 2 feet of water on the streets.

 

(In our weekly email to Elder Saueressig, we told him that John took Will out to shoot a gun for the first time this week). I think dad should throw a turkey shell into that shotgun. Then, I bet Will wouldn't enjoy it as much. Jokes aside, I was getting worried about who dad would take hunting. I wasn't sure if he was going to drag Cody along with him. It's good to hear that dad has a new buddy now and pretty soon he will be out shooting dad when he goes duck hunting like I did the last time I went hunting with him. Just rubbing that in a little.

 

Speaking of hunting, you would not believe all the dove that I see around hear. Literally every bush that we walk across has at least 3 dove that pop out. It seems crazy that it is almost that time of year already.

 

Well this week has definitely been interesting to say the least. I think this week has been the biggest roller coaster I have been on in a while. What's funny is it has nothing to do with me but broke my heart to pieces. Our golden investigator Miss Flo that was so eager to learn about our church well turns out she's not so golden or even an investigator for that matter.

 

To start off with this lady is 71 and has gone through some really tough times. She lost her son and her husband in 2 years of each other. Then she lost her daughter a couple years after that. We invited her to come to a genealogy meeting that we had at the church. We arranged a ride for her to get there from another older lady (I'm not calling everyone old for fun, there is a reason behind it). Then after a couple other things we got to the church and the lady that gave her a ride said that our investigator was already a member. So to check this we looked on our less active list and sure enough her name was there. So after talking with Miss Flo a little bit, she said that she doesn't remember being baptized but she did remember going to our church. So then we got to tell everyone that we were just kidding and we didn't have a baptism for the 24th. So I'm just assuming that since she was going through a tough time and her age is what made her forget. I guess it is good that we didn't baptize her and go to do paper work and figure out she was already a member.

 

Also, the icing on the cake is that we now get jokes from members and our leaders that we could just start teaching our Branch President our Branch Missionary Leader.

 

The good news is that our branch is growing. Our little branch is trying hard to become a ward. I guess there is just a certain pride in saying ward instead of branch. A couple weeks before I got here they averaged around 60 people which is pretty decent but the Stake President said that he would put in the paper work for them to become a ward if they averaged over 100 for a couple months. These last two weeks we had 112 and 102 people attending. It is so cool seeing people getting excited over church attendance and seeing their desire of missionary work grow. We have also been working really hard on getting less actives to church. We are starting what we call a "blitz" every first Thursday of the month where the branch gets together and splits off to try to see all of the less actives and cover the most ground that we can.

 

This week one of the Seventy (church leader) came down to talk to two of the zones in our mission. Luckily, I got to attend. The Elder speaking to us from the seventy was Elder Kopischke. We got to have a question and answer session with him and it was so cool because he started off saying that he wouldn't call on us as long as we were awake but the only reason is so we could let our thoughts wander and seek revelation. It really was amazing as I thought about each of our investigators the promptings and guidance I received. Although I did learn a lot from what he said, I felt like the spirit really guided that meeting. He really was a special witness of Christ and the strength and power from which he spoke truly did touch me.

 

I have been thinking a lot about why the Lord would trust me to be his messenger and my duty as a missionary. So as I read through Elder Holland's talk "Lord, I Believe" a particular quote stood out to me.

 

It says "So be kind regarding human frailty—your own as well as that of those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer, mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we."

 

I love that talk so much. I think I have read through it at least three times a week on my mission and I encourage everyone to read it. I love y'all so much and pray for you guys every night.

 

Love,

Elder Saueressig

Week 9...Rockwood, TN

So I'll admit it, it has definently been hard on my mission. I got here and we basically had to start all over again. We have had people that seem like they want to listen to our message then drop us. It's not the lack of effort on our part. We have been visiting investigators and tracting what feels like non-stop with no prevail. We haven't had one single person that we have taught (that the sisters didn't take) show up to church but, the Lord watches out for us. I remember hearing a lot before I left that you'll have bad days but the good days will make it worth it. Well, that happened this week for sure.

 

To start off this week we decided to visit someone that they tracted into a couple of months ago but never really got around to teaching. We got there and the house and people in it were definitely rough which is fine because the gospel can bless all lives. There were definite signs of some hard drugs being taken. For example, on the table that I was about to lay my scriptures on I noticed that there were some white streaks on the table and I guess I could've touched them to see if it was the powdery substance I thought it was but I really didn't want that particular substance on my hands. The peoples' teeth (the ones they had) showed signs of wear from harsh chemicals but that turned out to be an amazing lesson.

 

We gave one of the gentleman there a Book of Mormon and he said that he would have it read in at least two days as he finished the entire Bible in four (granted he was in jail). The down side is he was moving but the rest are staying. We committed them to baptism on the 31st of August.

 

Then we were carried on after that doing what any other missionaries in the South do confounding preachers (another story about that but that is for another time) and being followed by not so friendly canines. Then yesterday is when we really saw the blessings of the Lord in our work.

 

Yesterday during Gospel Principles we got informed that someone called the Branch President asking how she could be baptized. Yes, this really did happen. A couple thoughts ran through our minds, it could be a prank call. But they left a number so we decided to call it. The lady that we talked to was named Florence but, being from the South, she told us to call her Miss Flo. She was super excited about getting to meet us.

 

After dinner with the Branch President we decided to try to find her. After Google Maps lying to us and a little inspiration we were able to find her. She was one of the sweetest old ladies I have met. She is struggling with Lupus right now but that isn't slowing her down. She was meeting with her friend in Knoxville and her friend told her she was getting baptized and that Miss Flo needed to call her local branch to figure out how to join.

 

She also went on to inform us that she was actually told not to come back from other churches. That's definitely not how Christ told us to treat the widowed and afflicted!

 

We committed her to baptism on the 24th of August and our lesson went fantastic. My trainer said that he felt like he was watching an episode of the District and he actually didn't want to jump in because he was scared he would mess something up.

 

Then after this we got an online referral from one of the cards we handed out. Which unfortunately we couldn't meet because we don't teach when the sun don't shine.

 

We also tracted into a couple and they told us to call them Mama Lou and Big daddy. We had a really good discussion with them and have a return appointment with them.

 

This week truly has been a blessing and our hard work and effort has been rewarded. I wasn't able to mention all the people that we have met too. I love it down here and if I didn't get my Visa I'd be alright with it. The people down here are so caring and even if they are stubborn and believed they have been saved even when they are cussing out another religion. I am so grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow.

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention the guy who had that amazing dream. Yeah, he got baptized this last weekend.

 

Love,

Elder Saueressig

 

 

Week 8...Rockwood TN

It was truly and amazing week in the mission field for me. First of all I think I am really starting to love the people here in Tennessee. While many of them might not have jobs (or teeth) they'll do anything for you. It is pretty funny because even though they disagree with what we are saying when we offer to help them with anything they always offer the same thing back.

 

It was nice this week because we got to teach a lot of different people and seeing them change is amazing. We are teaching one investigator that is really struggling with health issues right now. He normally has a couple seizures a day and has the beginnings of cerebral palsy but even with these challenges he said that he would be at church next Sunday as long as he was alive. We didn't even have to commit him to come. He just decided that it was the next step that he needed to take. It truly is amazing to see how the gospel can change and really humble a man.

 

So after two weeks I got to participate in Rockwood's first baptism in at least a couple of months if not almost a year. My companion baptized the Beyer family. Jeremy the father was a Baptist preacher who had been teaching straight out of the Bible and read it a little different than those around him. He was actually reading the Bible right! He had been searching for a long time for the true gospel and it happened that he came across two missionaries walking down the road and he decided to stop them. Six weeks later he and his family are members of Christ's restored gospel. He loves the Book of Mormon already and his copy looks like it has been used for ten years. Not because of neglect but because he has been studying it like crazy. We plan on having him help us teach a lot of other investigators and I think he will be an awesome addition to the Rockwood Branch.

 

Now here comes the stories that I have been waiting for and know will be happening all the time. The first is about an investigator that we have taught and turned over to the sisters. He really wanted to know if what we were saying is true but he didn't know for a 100% yet. Then one night in the last week he had a dream and his deceased wife came to him in a dream and told him that she was glad that he was meeting with the missionaries (which she mentioned by name) and she couldn't wait till he was baptized and he was sealed to her (which we or the sisters hadn't even mentioned yet). I didn't think things happened like this often but I have learned that when someone really wants to know, God will go through whatever is necessary to accomplish His work.

 

The next story is when we were tracting in a pretty sketchy neighborhood and we were walking down a long driveway. I noticed a tire with a rock sitting in the middle of it and a big ol' chain going to somewhere, about that time we here a growl and before I even saw this hellhound. I was almost at the end of the driveway. I look back and my companions are way back there and see this elephant dog barking at the end of it's chain and the fear of god in my companions' eyes. That maybe a little dramatized but I know one thing for sure I would've been safe.

 

The last is about a lemon and lime joke which is hilarious but ya'll (yes, I can use that now) will have to wait for two years to hear that one.

 

Thanks so much for the package. It is good to hear that the Lord is blessing us on both ends. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve in Tennessee. My companion says, "the lord sends boys foreign to make them men, men stateside to make them leaders, and leaders to the south to make them scholars." I get to do all three and while that may seem strange, I can tell you one thing, you have to know your Bible in the south. I love you all so much and pray for you guys every night.

 

Love,

Elder Saueressig

 

Week 7 .... Knoxville Tennessee

So after finally arriving in Tenn. I can actually get to work teaching real people.

 

It is way different in Tenn. It was funny when we got here because we had a lot of kids from Arizona and Utah that had never experienced humidity. This place reminds me of home quite a bit except there are mountains and tons of trees. There is no flat fields and not a lot of agriculture going on around here. They said that there is a little bit of tobacco and cotton but that is about it. I think yesterday is the first time I've have seen cows since I got here.

 

I am currently living in Rockwood which has a branch that is about the same size as ours. Yesterday we had what I guess was a ton of people show up for that little branch. I think what the clerk said was we broke 90 people. They do have enough members that if everyone showed up that they would be a ward but they have a problem with non-actives or less actives (LA). Right now I think we visit one LA for every investigator we visit.

 

There are a lot of people that live in government housing and don't have jobs. It seems like there is either people that are pretty well off or there are people that live in the projects, I don't think there is a middle class here. We encounter a lot of people that have Word of Wisdom issues here and in fact if you come across a house that doesn't smell of cigarette smoke they are most likely a Baptist preacher or either a member of our church already.

 

This week we have been doing a lot of tracting because they just split our boundaries in half so we have two sets of missionaries in the branch and of course the half that they had all we had all the investigators that had a lot of potential were given to the other set of sisters. Of which one is being baptized this Saturday. I think that the sisters will be good for some of the investigators and trying to bring back less actives.

 

We have ran into a couple of good people while we are tracting. It is tough though because it seems everyone is Baptist down here. Literally on every block there is a Baptist church. I now see why they call it the Bible belt. I think we are right on the buckle of it too. So whenever we actually get to talk to people they are either convinced that they know our church and that we don't believe in Christ or that our religions don't go together at all. It is nice when somebody does let us teach them.

 

It is kind of rough trying to keep up with Portuguese here. I have another companion that is going to Brazil so we have taken turns practicing teaching each other but we can't use it all the time. It is pretty tough trying to maintain with only having an hour a day and no teacher to teach us. I still want to be in Brazil so I don't lose my Portuguese and it isn't as big of a shock when I get there but I know I'm here for a reason and I need to remember that I'm serving the Lord and not time.

 

Love

Elder Saueressig

Week 6...last week at the MTC

So today is the last day in the MTC. Tomorrow at 2:30 I head over to the travel office so I can make the 6 am flight.  I am super excited and so ready to pick up the accent. Just kidding, I hope I'm not there long enough to really do that. Although I don't plan on being there too long I want to give it my all while I can.

 

The PE instructor gave us great words of wisdom. He being a 20 something year old man compared us to Navy Seals how we just get in there and get out. He said the same thing happened to him too when he was supposed to go to Brazil. I'll be traveling with three other people tomorrow from our zone so at least this time I won't be all alone.

 

We are so busy right now trying to get everything packed and ready to go. So far I have been able to keep it all in one suitcase and still be under 50 lbs, unlike my companion who had 2 suitcases that were 50 pounds exactly and still had to cram his backpack full.

 

The news on the visas is sounding really good. We had 8 people get theirs today and it sounds like things are really starting to speed up. It seems like the DC consulate is processing theirs the quickest. If I wasn't on a mission I'd make a joke about how it's surprising that DC does anything, but since I'm a missionary that is a no go.

 

I'm so ready for the change and have a difference in schedules from week to week. I love you all so much and thank you for the prayers. I know that I have been blessed and that the Lord truly cares about us.

 

On Sunday night we had a testimony meeting and I think everyone cried except me and one other kid in our district. Then we finished off with "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" which was a pretty bad choice because we couldn't keep a tune because everyone (except me) was crying.

 

This week I learned:

• The gift of tongues truly works
• God answers all prayers
• Change is hard
• The spirit truly does guide us

Once again I am so thankful to all of you and am thankful for the love and support all of you provide. I truly know that this church is true and that he loves and cares about everyone of us. I have been able to see that so much more as I serve him every second I'm awake.

 

I love you all and pray for you every night. I am so grateful for this opportunity to learn and to grow. I hope I can learn as much as I have learned in the last 6 weeks at the same speed for the rest of my mission.

 

Com muito Amo

Elder Saueressig

Temporary Reassignment...

Today we got our reassignments and everyone was super excited about opening them up. I was actually going to drone on and on about the area and not tell you but I decided that was mean so I am going to Knoxville, Tenessee.

 

I'm sure I'll only get more redneck there which is never a bad thing. I leave at 6am on July 16 and will arrive there at 2:15. I am traveling with 3 others so it won't be too bad. Love you all so much.

 

Com muito Amo

Elder Saueressig

Week 5...at the MTC

Once again another busy week at the MTC. Time is flying by. This week we are preparing to leave the MTC and reviewing all that we have learned. Everyone is getting super excited and sad at the same time. We haven't heard if we have our visas yet or not, we figure that out on Thursday when reassignments come in. I'm feeling pretty confident mine is coming in but I won't know for sure till I get the letter saying I'm going to Brazil or serving state side for a couple months.

 

I love teaching in Portuguese now because while it isn't perfect I don't have to plan everything I want to say and I can answer questions now. I just know when I finally get down there that I'll have no clue what they are saying.

 

So the MTC is pretty mellow so I don't have any cool stories yet but I'm sure they are coming. I just hope they don't involve dogs especially being bitten by one. It is pretty funny though because we watched a video on health and how to stay healthy down there. It said that we shouldn't eat from street vendors and our teacher is telling us that we have to eat from street vendors because they have some of the best food. I'm sure the parasites in them just add extra flavor.

 

It's kind of funny at the MTC because I've only been here for 5 weeks but I feel like I have senioritis. Then I'll get to start all over again being a greenie and all.

 

I also found my new favorite scripture this last week which is Alma 26:12. I read the entire Livro de Mormon in the last month and wrote down my favorite scriptures and then reread those scriptures and this one is my favorite.

 

This Sunday was also fast and testimony as you would probably know and as soon as it opened up I think the entire zone stood up to bear their testimonies. So I didn't get a chance but oh well I will have many more opportunities and I do it every day anyways. We also got to watch Characteristics of Christ by David A Bednar this week. If you get a chance, you have to watch this talk. The things I learned from it are:

• What really sets us apart from Christ is in times of struggle he turns out while we turn in
• I need to get myself(natural man) out of the way when I teach
• "there would be no atoning sacrifice without the character of Christ"
• people are converted not because of what we say but what they felt
• when you don't think it is possible and there is now way you can do it, you're right but through Christ you can.
• Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words

This talk was super powerful and after listening to it I felt the desire to be more like Christ and to read and study the scriptures.

 

That same Sunday we also had a mission conference and got to hear from all the mission presidency. They talked about using technology out in the field and that they have been doing that at the MTC for the last year with those that aren't physically able to serve. Pres. Nally said that they average 100 baptisms a year and one Elder that did it said that he had one investigator that traveled to Salt Lake from Arizona so he could be baptised from him. There is also only 13 missionaries that do this. I doubt it will affect us too much in Brazil but it is awesome seeing the work of the Lord move forth so rapidly.

 

I love you all so much. I miss you but I've noticed the harder I work the less that I think about things back at home. Also I think I figured out how to fuel inject a two stroke engine more efficiently than what has been done but that's another subject. I'll make sure to send a bunch of letters as soon as I figure out where I'm going and when. Thanks for all the prayers and love that you all have shown me. I can tell that I have been blessed and that there is no way that I could speak the language like this without the Lords help. 

 

Com Muito Amo

Elder Saueressig