FOURTH AREA: Christmas and Zone Conference

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

"This week was great. We had our Christmas zone conference in Pelotas on Thursday and it was great."

We got to talk to Max on Christmas morning. Mom got a speakerphone so we could all listen and talk together. He sounds so great and just so excited to be preaching the Gospel.

Here we are talking on the phone. We were all there, except Emily and Russel who were on the cell speakerphone.

"The weather hás been weird here cuz usually this time of year it is already scorching hot, member last year on Christmas? It was like 100 F... it hás been rainy and cloudy and cool lately so i have been enjoying it, i prefer pouring rain and bein soaking wet rather than sweating and the scorching Sun so its been good, há há, but Elder Horrocks hates the rain, há há, its pretty funny cuz I Love it"

"I gave a talk in church yesterday tôo and it was great, há há, theres something about giving a talk that I Just Love now, but i talked too long, like 20 minutes! Há há and didnt leave any time for the next Guy, oops.. but the Bishop asked me to talk about the birth of the Savior and Christmas and it was great cuz i was able to share experiences of Christmas’s at home and my first Christmas on the mission and how it really helped me see the true meaning of Christmas and feel more of the Christmas Spirit through remembering not only about the birth of our Savior, but his whole life and especially his atoning sacrifice.. I AM so grateful for the opportunity that i had to give this talk.. i talked about the importance of serving others and about how we always made donuts and the other dang good twist cream cheese thing  há há.. and i talked about the Christmas Carol and how Ebenezer Scrooge found the true meaning of Christmas and i talked about how Grandpa would always read Luke chapter 2 and we would always complain, há há, but how i AM so Grateful for him and for always reading it to remember the true meaning of Christmas.. "

"I absolutely Love to study and it seems like we never have enough time to study and it goes by so fast in the morning.. there is always so much more to learn and it is great"

FOURTH AREA: Two baptisms for Thanksgiving

Max was called to be a district leader in Rio Grande do Sul "because of his enthusiasm for the work and his dedication to the Gospel, the Lord has extended this new call. He has already shown that he knows how to teach by the Spirit and to let the Lord lead in His work. Now he will have the opportunity to influence others by his example of obedience and humility."

"We had such na amazing baptism on sat. Night.. this week was crazy but all of the stress and everything was worth it, há há.. of course it was, it was amazing.. we had the baptisms of Jelguer and Diogo together and they are amazing.. one of Pres. Swenson’s counselors came from Pelotas to interview them on fri and they both passed and he sat us down after and said they were ready and was impressed how far they have come.. theres no way he can be as impressed as I am.. they have come so so far and completely changed their lives and are so amazing and i am just so grateful for the opportunity that i have to teach them about the Gospel and share my testimony with them, we all have such a strong friendship.. I had the opportunity to baptize Diogo and a ward missionary, Elder Oliveira, or irmão Rudi baptized Jelguer and it was so great and such a spiritual baptism.. Jelguer had to be baptized twice and Diogo only once so it was great, há há and after the baptism all of the men together with Jelguer and Diogo sang Elders of Israel and it was so amazing.. for the first time on my mission, both of the converts bore there own testimonies after the baptism and it was so so amazing and so spiritually powerful.. "

"I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and living and we are so lucky to have the fulness.. i know that our Savior lives and we have a loving Father in Heaven that lives.. i love you all so much! have a great week!! "

FOURTH AREA: Service and Baptisms

"I found Norman’s twin Brazilian sister, ha ha, almost identical, she's awesome and reminds me of Norman and loves me just like Norm, ha ha.. She is Iraci’s dog"

(I think she looks WAY more like Milo, though)

Iraci's dog

Milo

Norm & Howard

"the baptisms were two from the ward that were 8, named Dionatan and Mariane, the daughter of Irmã Iraci, and also the other elders baptized a 14 year old boy named Diordiani and hes great and the baptism was amazing and almost the whole ward was there and Mariane wanted me to baptize her and so I was so grateful for the opportunity and it was great."

"so we ate lunch and taught Emilia and her fam this week and it was great.. its so amazing to see how far she has come and how much of a change I have witnessed in her and how the gospel and blessed her life so so much, she is amazing and already talks about serving a mission, I think I already told you guys. It makes me so so happy"

Max's Zone

Making cookies

FOURTH AREA: A Rainy Week in Rio

Another regular week as a missionary.

November 2-6, 2009

It's going to get hotter as they move into summer, but this week it rained almost every day.

E. Max and E. Horrocks are still working with some choice investigators and eating!

"we ate at a great churrascaria ( a restaurant with Brazilian barbecue) and it was by far one of the best meals I have had in my life""I also sent a pic of our area, just one of the roads so you can see how it is."

FOURTH AREA: Mission Conference

MISSION CONFERENCE WITH ELDER SCOTT IN PORTO ALEGRE

October 31, 2009

"This week was amazing and this weekend was probably the most amazing experience I have had in my whole life. We went a day early on Fri morn for Porto Alegre cuz I had an appointment with the doctor, but we missed it (it’s a long story) and so Fri night in Porto Alegre we just helped the secretaries out to get ready fo the conf. and we slept in the office and it was good to be with Elder Watts again for a night and see how he's doin. (He's still the financial secretary) So, yeah, we woke up on Sat. and we had to be seated by 8:10 and Elder Scott came about 8:30. He came with Jay Jensen of the Presidency of the 70 and Ulysses S. Soares, the Brasil Area Pres.

It was so amazing.. it was the entire mission for the first time and it was so good to see all of my comps. Especially Elder Bischoff! Man, I just love all my comps and they were all there and this is Elder Jones’ last transfer! Crazy..

As soon as they walked in we all stood and the Spirit just became so much stronger and a completely peaceful feeling came over my whole body, I cant explain it really.. so we all took turns and we all shook his hand and told them our names and where we are from and as I shook his hand and introduced myself, he just looked me right in the eye and with his soft voice that I love he just paused and said, “ wonderful” and gave a lil smile.. then we had a training with him about how to best present the BOM and use it in our teaching and then Pres and Sister talked followed by Pres. Soares and Pres. Jensen and they were all amazing and Elder Scott ended and it was the most amazing experience I have ever been a part of.

He bore his testimony as a living apostle of the Savior and bore his testimony that Jesus Christ lives and he ended saying that he knows because he knows the Savior personally.. wow.. at that moment the Spirit sort of just took hold of me and my whole body trembled and I was almost brought to tears.. I cant put it into words.. then we went right to the closing hymn which was I Know That My Redeemer Lives, and the Spirit was just so strong and so amazing and I am just so so grateful for the experience.

My testimony was strengthened so much more and continues to grow each and every day.. there is no doubt in my mind that Jesus Christ lives and is guiding this, his true church on the earth this day through living prophets. I know that the BOM is true and contains the fullness of the Gospel and all that we need to do to find happiness in this life and to return to live with our Father in Heaven and our family forever and ever.. for this I am so grateful and so grateful for my testimony and the true Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.."

They also had a chance to go to the Temple while they were in Porto Alegre.

"Um abraço! Tchau!!" 

FOURTH AREA: *Rio Grande with E. Horrocks 10/14/09

NEW COMPANION

E. Horrocks from Pocatello, ID!

"[My new companion is] Elder Horrocks and he has 5 months on the mish and he reminds me a lot of how i was.. it is so great to work with him and i am so grateful for the opportunity.. He's from Pocatello, Idaho and wanna know somethin crazy? His older bro served on the same mission and i remember seein pics of him and his name on the records in the the area book in Cavalhada.. its so cool.. he finished about 2 years ago so it hasnt been long.. but hes awesome and a great comp and great missionary already and we are already such great friends and we get along great and i feel that we work great together."

THREE STORIES FROM RIO GRANDE
#1 "So, we were walking down a street in our area the other day this last week and these two teenage boys on their bikes stopped us and asked if we are "Mormons" and we started talking to em and they were really interested and we taught them the 1st lesson right there in the street and it was amazing and they were so surprised to hear about the restored church and gospel and that there is a living prophet.. the problem is they said they would come to church yesterday and didnt along with everybody else except one.. Rogerio finally came to church and he loved it! "

#2 "So, it was dang funny on sat. we were walking to an appointment in the afternoon after lunch and we could here this really loud religious music and we turned the corner and in front of a church there was a ton of ppl out front and all in the street and there was a guy yelling and preachin in a microphone with huge speakers and a choir singing and ppl dressed up in all sorts of costumes and we just walked right right threw the middle and just thinkin about how is looked makes me laugh, ha ha.. imagine, two white as can be american mormon missionaries walking right threw a convention or something of another church, ha ha.. man, i cant lie, i felt really cool and it was dang funny how every single person was staring at us and the looks that we got.. and i swear that as we passed by the preacher dude yelling, he got even louder and he was just staring right at me and i just smiled back and kept walking, ha ha, it was so awesome, i wish you all could have seen it.."

#3 "So, yesterday I had an amazing spiritual experience - we taught Nilzair and her parents listened together for the second time (member they're not members) and the spirit was SO strong with us and it was one of the most spiritual lessons i have had on my mission and i KNOW that they all felt it and it was just such an amazing experience and they cant deny that spirit that they felt.. afterwards, Nilzair asked me to give her a blessing of comfort and that sweet spirit guided me completely and it was a miracle and an amazing experience.. we left running for home completely filled with the spirit and i cant even explained how i felt."

Max will be Max

"So, the food is just amazing here, ha ha, just so ya know, i love eating and its so weird that i'm not huge, i eat SO much for lunch everyday and it is just so good, every single day.. i love beans and rice and all of the food here.. this week we 2 huge chickens that were SO good and all spiced perfect and we had potato salad thats amazing and the desserts are amazing too, man, yesterday we had one of the best cakes i have ever had.. ha ha it was 2 layers of chocolate and two layers of white with choc. mousse in between the chocolate and this coconut frosting in between the white and with frosting on top, wow, i cant do it justice, ha ha, just know that the food is amazing and i am loving eat.. so it is officially spring here and heating up.."

PICTURES FROM ELDER MAX & HORROCKS IN RIO:

FOURTH AREA: Service Project

OCTOBER 12, 2009

"So, today hás been awesome.. this morning we had a huge service project. It was the “Helping Hands” thing and so there were so so many ppl there to help and we were at this place that is like an old fokes home and a homeless shelter I think and there was ppl working in all different parts. I started out in this yard pullin weeds and cuttin grass and it was sweet to get to work with my hands again for a change, it took me right back to before the mish as a gardener, há há, remember that?! So yeah, it was sweet, we just worked in the yard the whole time and there were ppl fixing wheelchairs and weeding and doing recycling things and it was so sweet to be a part of and maybe we’ll be in the Ensign, há há, that’d be sweet.. "

FUNNY

"There's this old guy that comes to church alone every week and hes been a member for abour 10 years but fell away and recently returns but the problem is that every single month he bears his testimony but its not really a testimony – he just goes up there and every time ends up yelling almost and preaching to everybody about how they need to pray more for the poor and needy.. yeah, its really weird but the Bishop talks to him almost every week and he just doesnt change.. há há, sorry i just had to tell ya bout him.."