Week 3 in mission field 12-11-12

Well everyone that emailed me this week said to be sure to respond to all their things but that is not possible seeing as you guys sent me your life long stories. Haha but I’ll do the best that I can. No I haven’t received any letters yet and I got one package. Don’t worry about it though. Everything is all good. So my companion…he’s is super impatient with me learning the language and anytime I don’t understand.  I’ll have stories about all that when I have more time. It’s something that I’ve just had to laugh at or smile because it can be so ridiculous. Honestly he is a good teacher and missionary but he isn’t a very good trainer for Americans because he has no patience for us learning the language. 

   This week we have 2 people scheduled to be baptized. Jonas, his daughter and grandson are members. He is still praying for an answer. I can tell he wants to know it’s true but he is very stubborn too. Haha but I know he will be baptized. I feel the spirit very strong when we teach him. The second is Iziz. She had a problem with coffee, as do all Brazilians, but she has been working past it and I hope everything goes well there! We have a couple more scheduled for the next week too. We need more investigators though! It’s tough to open an area. 
 This week I had a pretty cool but simple experience. I never bring my little mission handbook with me that has all the priesthood ordinances in it, but I felt like I should last week on one random day. Turns out that someone needed a blessing that day! It was awesome to feel to Lord working through me. 

  I already don’t have much more time because we have to email the president also. But I’ll do as much as I can. I really love the members down here. They are so nice and like I said, the kids think you are some sort of king. I wrote Elder Fischer is a boss on a deacon’s hand and he went around showing everyone.  It’s really comforting to have that support from your ward. That’s definitely one thing I’ve been blessed with.  

We had stake conference this week. It was pretty cool. We got to hear from M. Russell Ballard. He started out in English and then they had some Portuguese voice take over and I couldn’t understand! haha I was so excited for a second. I could understand the just of his message, but I wanted it all. I’m selfish like that. 

Oh! yes I am right next to the amazon river. It’s a pretty amazing site, especially when the sun is setting over it. And the breeze is blowing. It feels just like the beach. But it’s not really safe to take our cameras out around here.  Especially that area! Sorry! only for my head I guess. I’ll draw a picture for you guys sometime. hehe. 

Well that’s about all I have time for! Love you guys!

 

-Elder Fischer

Week 2 in the mission field 12-03-12

So I don’t really know where to start…Except that these key boards are awful and really hard to  write on…Its sounds like everyone had a fun past two weeks! It was awesome to finally read some English…I mean hear from you guys. Haha. I go to my scriptures to get away from Portuguese every once and a while.  This language will fry your brain…

So I don’t have those packages yet. I’m not in too big of a hurry because I’ve got a while till Christmas and I have a lot of other things to worry about…haha. It looks like I’m only allowed to email family and my president here in Belem still. Ummm…I guess I’ll start with everything that’s happened. Oh and way to go Allie… keeping up the prayer tradition.

We left around 7 in the morning last Tuesday. We had to wake up at 3…fun stuff!! haha. We flew from Sao Paulo into Brasilia and had about an hour layover. We were also about 30 mins late so we had no time really. Then we went to the President’s house from there. It’s more of a mission apartment than a mission home so there isn’t any room for us to store stuff. We had lunch and dinner there and they told us all about our mission. That lasted about 8 hours. I had my interview with the mish president and then that night I was off to the field! My area is called Arsenal. It’s only about 30 mins by car from the mission president’s home. It has some super nice homes and it has super poor ones as well. It’s really sad to see people sleeping out on the street…All the food has been great so far! Rice and beans and pasta! But it really has tasted good. The first day here we got bought me some food for about 3 days and then got to know the area. My Companion is Elder Chrysostomo. He is from Sao Paulo but his family is from South Africa. He speaks about 50  words in English so that’s nice. But no one in my apartment can speak English except those words he knows. Haha..That’s a little overwhelming when you need help! Actually I lied.  Two of them know a bunch of English songs. They don’t know what they mean but it’s nice to hear words of English spoken from their mouths. Elder Chrysostomo is big into American hip hop which is pretty funny with him being black and all. He will try to sing it but a lot of times he just says it wrong. But yea all four of us are new to this area so we are pretty much starting from scratch.  It’s definitely a learning experience. Schedule wise….I wake up at 6:30, get ready and study until like 12 I think. Then we go eat lunch. We have someone to feed us every day. The members here are really nice. Except one that I met on Sunday….I’ll talk about her later…haha. After lunch we tract and have appointments until 9.  We don’t stop to eat or anything. That takes some getting use to. But overall it was a pretty good week. We had 7 people with baptismal dates but I’m not sure how often those hold through. Hopefully all of them will!! I would tell you there names but all the names down here are more like sounds. Like rauasmasdljf. There’s no way I can remember them! haha

So yea, the mission field is definitely not for the faint hearted! haha. It’s definitely harder than anything you can ever imagine without actually doing it. It’s nice to have the Lord of your side though.

Sunday was an interesting experience. I didn’t understand a word but interesting. As I said the people here are incredibly nice to the missionaries…especially their young men and young boys. They just look at you like you are the king of the world. And then try to talk to you and I just have to say…Nao falo Portuguese cara. They sure get a kick out of that. 

When we ate at a member’s house Sunday for lunch, there was this woman that I mentioned earlier. She got a kick out of speaking to me as fast as she could because I couldn’t understand. And then she would just laugh so hard when I couldn’t understand. I almost went off in English. haha. The rest of their family was super nice though and she would talk normal speed to others and I understood a little. Here in Belem, they have the weirdest accents. It’s impossible to understand….words like voces, tres, des, deus…they turn into voshaysh, traysh, deash, abd deaush. They slur there words with almost…a lisp. It makes it really tough to understand.  I guess I’ll probably get use to it though.

So my companion and I get along pretty well. He’s pretty cool after study session. In the mornings and during study, he hates everyone in the world but at nights and halfway through the day he really brightens up and is really funny. He’s a good teacher to the investigators and is good with the members as well. He’s been out for about 16 months now.

Well that’s all I can think of for now!

 

-Love, Elder Fischer

 

 

Week 8 in CTM 11-20-12

Ola familia! Yes this is my last week here at the CTM but who’s counting…haha finally I get to go to BELEM! I have enjoyed it here but I can’t wait any longer to go! I appreciate the packages that you guys sent. I haven’t had the chance to get over to Cheney’s yet today. I guess you guys should stop using that this week though because I’ll probably just send regular mail in the field. You guys are going to get my fat off of Cheneys!

So I’ve heard rumors that we get turkey and mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving. Just rumors though so I’m not getting my hopes up. However, I do hope that we have pineapples and mangos because those are the most delicious things here. Sorry but I have no information of travels yet so I can’t give that to you! I guess I’ll tell you how it goes after! haha. And my companion is headed to Belem as well. There are 5 of us in our district and then another group of Brazilians going down with us too.

I’ll look forward to those pictures of everyone! I’m excited to see them! Don’t worry about the maps for Belem. I’m sure I’ll be able to get one or I will be given one. Madi…I miss Madi so much. haha. And I’m sure I’d miss Kate if I knew her:( haha. hmmm I have to admit that the beginning of dads letter made me laugh very hard. I got some weird looks from the people here in the lab. haha.

So my week…I guess be sure to change my address on Facebook. I’m not sure what my new address will be other than the mission home right now though. Sorry! That pen that I was talking about  the refills for it are F-301- Zebra pen. If you don’t mind sending me some, that would be awesome! In respond to Weston’s Information, I’m so glad you gave me a Kobe update. You guys should record some playoff games for me… and those experiences from your ward sounded awesome. Hopefully by about this time next week, I’ll be having some for myself.  Speaking of Kobe…I’ve perfected the west L.A. fade away. You can tell Grant and Spencer to be nervous… Also when we play volleyball, I’ve been granted Brazilian feet apparently, since I’ve been here… Somehow I’m able to play volleyball with me feet. Haha but volleyball has gotten fun. Our district still hasn’t lost a game, we challenge every district we can…it’s all good fun.

Elder Adamson and myself get all the sets from people so it’s fun to spike it in peoples FACE! haha even though the instructors tell us to calm down sometime..haha. This past week I’ve found myself slipping on English words and saying Portuguese words on accident. I also had a couple Portuguese words in my dream….weeeeeiiiird!

So this past Wednesday, we had Elder Costa speak to us. He is the area president and member of the 70. He did an amazing job. Its honestly one of the best talks I’ve ever heard. I wish I could see it like 5 more times. I can only imagine what they are spoiled with in Provo. For some reason it really upset my companion though. He said he didn’t like the way he presented it because it felt like he was telling him what to do. I was just thinking that he kinda has the right as the Area President but I didn’t really argue with him because he said he hated every second of it. He even was crying for a little. But Elder Costa talked about mission work and working with members and his mission. He did a really good job

Something that really struck me hard this week was something I learned in class. We were talking about struggles and trials. And I always knew they were given to make us stronger but I never thought of it as deeply as we talked about it. We talked about how each specific trial that is given to someone, is given to bring that person closer to God. It was just awesome to hear because it really lets you know how God really knows us individually. And we can think, this trial suck, why can’t I speak the language as well as this other person… but in reality, it a blessing. Because maybe you can’t speak it as well, so you will learn to rely more heavily on the spirit. It was a real eye opener to me!

So this last week we have been giving everyone compliment in our district each night. People told me that I was Kobe. I had magic fingers and they liked how obedient I was. How I tried to obey with exactness. They also told me how sincere I was and they felt like I would be the good Samaritan in the district…That if someone needed a helping hand, I would be the one to turn around and give that to them. All their compliments were really uplifting and a great experience for me.

Yesterday was my first day of proselyting in Sao Paulo! It went pretty awesome! I have some nice tan lines already. Elder Whitaker and I gave out 5 Book of Mormons. It’s all we had and we got one contact. I think my favorite one was Igor. He called us over and asked about our underwear…but I explained that it was sacred and he ended up being receptive. He even said he works there every day if we wanted to come back by. The Lord really blessed me yesterday because I’m not normally one for going up to random people and starting to talk to them but yesterday I had no problem with it. I had been praying for a while that I would receive help. It was a great answer to my prayers. I wish I had more time to tell you more about people we met. One guy knew English but we didn’t find out until about 10 mins into talking to him when we were leaving! haha but he was super nice. His name was Vitor. He was probably my second favorite.! Well I have to go now! I Can’t wait to here from you again!

 

-Love, Elder Fischer

 

“Faith is the power, Obedience is the price, Love is the Motive, The spirit is the key, and Christ is the reason”

 

-James E. Faust

 

Week 7 CTM 11-13-12

Apparently this week was just the week for our family to get sick! I think I told you guys last week that I had gotten a pretty nasty cough and a sore throat. There is just a little cough remaining from that so I’m all good now. I hope everyone back home is doing alright too. So I guess it’s about that time that you guys start changing the address for my letters! Please make that announcement of Facebook too! I don’t have an address yet but I will get it to you all as soon as possible. I’m sure you guys have the mission home address but I’d like to give you guys the official addresses when I get it.

So it’s just been another normal week here in the CTM. The language has been getting better. Some concepts in grammar are finally just making sense. It’s for sure a blessing of the Lord because I feel that I haven’t put that much more effort into it. I decided I wanted to finish the Book of Mormon before I leave the CTM. In English obviously…haha. I just started Alma so I have to kick it into high gear.

Nothing really funny happened this week but I will share the stories that I have. As far as people messing up the language…Someone prayed to our “bandit” heavenly father this week. haha…My companion had a pretty normal week. He is just kind of normal now. We hid this one elder in our districts letter because he gets them every day. We were like.. let’s tell him that Elder Whitaker ate it. He respond by saying…guys I wouldn’t do that. It’s believable that I would eat it. But I wouldn’t steal it. It was pretty funny because I’ve seen him eating paper on multiple occasions.

So I really miss our old Brazilian roommates. They were so cool. I think I told you I traded him some BYU shorts that I had for some of his because he said it was his dream to have a pair of BYU shorts. Our new Brazilian roommates smell extremely bad. It’s taking some getting use to but they leave next week so I think I can power through.

This week we talked a lot about teaching people and not lessons. The example he gave us was Acts 20:9. It should be about Paul. I think that was the right one. Basically it means we need to teach good lessons.

So I did have some pretty uplifting experiences this week. We got to watch a devotional by Elder Bednar that he gave to the Provo MTC. He taught us how to really study. Which we all know I need because I have never really studied before. But he said it’s how we study the words of our prophets. I’ve found that you can use it in just about anything though. 1st you discover the doctrine being taught. The doctrine answers the why question. 2nd you find the invitation. 3rd you find the promise. I had a really cool experience because that night or the next morning…I can’t remember…I was reading in Alma 7 and I came across versus 14-16. It was basically in order how we use this technique.  It’s super helpful but obviously everyone has their own way of studying. I think I’ll use Elder Bednars though:)

The next cool thing that happened…I was teaching our fake investigator that we’ve had for the whole time here and we finally came across her problem. It was coffee which is apparently a very common problem in Brazil. And while we taught her, I just had this awesome feeling and desire to help here and want her to change. The crazy thing to me is that she isn’t even a real investigator.  It made me so excited for the field because I can’t wait to actually feel like I’m helping people. I remember when you all told me that I had a gift for naturally caring about everyone’s feelings. Which I think I get from mom…I know I get from mom…haha and sometimes, it can be stressful. But now I see why I do have this attribute in my life and I feel so blessed to have it. If I can nurture it and really do my best to keep it, I think it will really help me in my mission. Well that’s about all I have time for today. The temple was awesome as always. Too bad it’s my second to last one for two years. Also I’m getting a pen from someone in my district.  It’s called a zebra pen. Apparently they are pretty nice but take ink refills.  I was wondering if you could start looking into those.  I’ll inform you next week if there are any specifications about it.  I made need you all to send me some refills. Well I really can’t express how excited but nervous I am to be out in the field. It’s finally almost here. I love you all and can’t wait to hear from you again!

-Love Elder Fischer

P.S. Weston I met another guy from SVU that played basketball with you and Elder Allen. His name is Elder Morris. I think his first name is either Martin or Michael…I can’t remember. But he is a pretty cool guy. Lemme know if you know him!

P.S. In case anyone was wondering I’m still putting on the KB, 24, jellybeans, baby boy, black mamba, Bryant game face up here….in volleyball and basketball. I got the west LA fade away down…Game over when i get back;) Belem Brazil district can’t be beaten in sports.

Week 7 in CTM 11-06-12

I’m getting so close to Belem I can almost taste it! haha. My departure dates will be early morning on the 27th! This week has been pretty normal. I’m losing things to write in my journal and emails because it has become very repetitive. haha. I still enjoy it though. I’m just ready to be dealing with actual people and real investigators! I got your cinnamon rolls today! They were very good! Thank you very much for this! You guys are going to make me fat. It’s ok though because I’ll probably sweat it all off up in Belem. Also, of course Madi is talking about me. Let’s be honest, I’m still the favorite. haha jk jk. That’s really interesting what you said about posting about missionaries on social websites. Why is it that they warn against that? Whatever you guys chose to do is fine. I’m not too worried about it. ALLIE! Congrats on Varsity! That’s crazy! But don’t get too cocky…remember that all your talents and blessings and strengths in life come from me:) hehe or the Lord. But I’m really proud of you! Even if this year isn’t as fun, it will make you so much better in the long run!

So everyone here is pretty anxious to hear about the election. Luckily my district is pretty close with the Steadman’s here and they get all that information so we will probably be informed by tomorrow about the whole situation.

Like I said, this week was pretty normal. Other than the fact that we had fast Sunday which are very very hungry here… haha but I also love them at the same time. We had a mission conference where we had a two hour meeting and then a sacrament meeting. We also had a devotional that night. All the topics for every single one of these meetings was obedience to all the Lords commandments. It was pretty cool that it played out that way. I hope it whips people here into shape. I’m far from perfect so I’m sure I needed it just as much.

My companion and I are doing well. I finally talked to him about showering every day. He actually took it pretty well. That was pretty good. We’ve begun to develop more of a friend and companion relationship rather than me being his guide. I’ve been working really hard and praying so it’s always nice to see the Lords hand in your life. He did tell me that his dad was extremely impractical and you couldn’t ever convince him that you were right if he thought he was right. As he was talking to me I was just like…if only you knew how much you were like your dad…haha. This week I have been really appreciative that I  have him rather than some other guys in my district though. I feel that I was honestly prepared to have him as a companion for the past couple years. Some other guys in our district may be more normal guys but they just don’t share the desire to serve and be obedient that they need to have. This past week we have really cracked down on our district rules so it has been tough and frustrating for them. I’m blessed that I don’t have to worry about my companion breaking these rules…except when he goes off about carnivorous plants. At that point, there is no stopping him. Haha those are his favorite. And it doesn’t really break a mission rule. It just gets things off topic which is against our district goals. He makes really funny noises a lot which honestly help me get through the days. haha. They can be really entertaining. He has an alien voice that he uses and he kept saying “join us” this week. I have no idea what that means. Haha. Also this week he was stabbing the air with a pen. I asked him what he was doing. He said he was stabbing a whale with an hypodermic needle that had automatic reloading. HAHAH I just couldn’t hold it in. But we have fun together so it’s all good!

The spirit continues to be strong here. The temple is amazing. I can’t believe I only have 2 more temple trips for two years:( When I get back I def. want to go visit as many temple as possible especially those so close to me in Utah. I think that will be awesome…especially when we can as a family. Too bad that will be a while since Allie can’t get married until she is 40. I guess she can go on a mission though. Then we can all go together!

I got a little sick this week. The actual sickness didn’t last long at all and the cough I got from it won’t go away. It has been keeping me up pretty late into the night, like 1:30…haha but I got a blessing last night and that was a really cool experience too. My companion gave that to me. Well it sounds like you all are doing great! I’ll keep praying for you all! You don’t have to worry about me! I’m doing great and I’m super anxious to get out into BELEM!

 

I love you guys!

-Elder Fischer

 

And that’s alllll she wrote

 

Week 6 CTM 10-29-12

It’s crazy that we are starting the 6th week already! So I don’t have an official date for when I leave. All I know is it is 4 weeks from today. I have no idea where I will be going or what the address will be. But I’ll let everyone know as soon as I can. And as far as skyping, I have no idea whether I will be able to skype or call or who I will be able to. And I won’t be able to figure out until I am in the mission. Mom I don’t remember what I told you for my package but none of this is to urgent. I just wanted to make sure you knew I needed deodorant, my retainer if you can find it and a small mini pmg book in Portuguese.

So Billings Montana sounds like it’s the happening place. They must being growing bishops in Montana huh? haha that’s awesome thought! Be sure to tell Connor I said congratulations. In response to dad, I don’t know what story you are talking about so be sure to tell me all about it next week. So the fact that Elder Stanley visited this week is pretty crazy. Because this week I just had to desire to read granddaddy and grandpas conversion story so I actually knew who everyone was and a lot of the facts that you were talking about. It is a pretty awesome story!

This week was pretty great. I guess I’ll start off with fun stories. One of my companion’s goals this week was to tell Elder Fischer that he was cool. Haha it was pretty flattering to me. He had a pretty normal week overall and some of the faces and things he does are actually starting to grow on me. He did draw 5 rings on his fingers in pen this week. And then he licked the ink off. I’m worried about his sanitation… This next one is probably my favorite story of the week. I was in the bathroom fighting the troops and I heard someone talking in a smegal voice. I was kinda scared because it sounded really good. But I thought it was just Brazilians because they always make crazy sounds. But to make a long story short, I went to the room after I was done and told him about it. Turns out it was him and he said he was going back and forth from mirror to mirror talking in that voice because he thought he was alone. Awkward. Hmm funny missionary mistakes this week…apparently one of my instructors students tried to tell someone that “joseph smith was killed by those who rejected the gospel.” instead he said that joseph smith killed those who rejected the gospel… minor mistake.

The only new thing I heard about Belem this week is that they have ants that fly around. Oh yeah and when you smash them, there is acid that gives you 3rd degree burns. God has a sense of humor. Why is that necessary!!!! haha.

So this week I learned a lot doctrine wise. We were called apostles with little a’s because we are over the area that we serve in. That put into perspective how important our work is. Also mom, i was reading in Mosiah and I came across Mosiah chapter 4 verse 27. Remember you don’t have to do everything:) just the best you can. also D&C 10:4 is a good one:) they made me thing about you because you always work so hard even when it’s not your job.

So President Deign gave an amazing fireside last Tuesday. He blessed us with an incredibly strong promise. If I have time I’ll type it at the end of this email. But it was really cool because I had been reading in Mosiah about King Benjamins address. I had read it the night after he gave the talk. It talked about how we are so minor in all the world and all our efforts really don’t make a dint in what needs to be done. But when we do our best, the Lord blesses us and will always keep his promises. That brought me so much comfort because President Deigns promise was so strong and I know that they were the Lords words.

Today at the temple we ran into some nice people who were just walking around. The women talked to us for about 15 mins telling us our conversion story. I actually understood that her family didn’t want her to be baptized, but she wanted to and was praying for the missionaries to come. The arrived shortly after she had been praying and she was baptized so after. Her husband was baptized after her. They talked to us a lot about Belem too. It was comforting to me that I could understand them a little bit. I may have cheated a little since I was fresh out of the temple though. Maybe a little extra help was given:)

Well that’s all I have time for today! Sorry I didn’t have much time!

 

-Elder Fischer

 

“In accordance with your worthiness, and faithfulness, (you will be blessed) as you are struggling, and you will feel the healing, peaceful influence of the holy ghost. You will be blessed with the gift of tongues.  You will be blessed with faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. You will be blessed with a vision of your calling to your mission calling, and you will be blessed with faith to work miracles in your lives, and the lives of your investigators”

 

Week 5 CTM 10-23-12

Sorry this is so late posting – will be catching up over the next few days…

Overall this week went by pretty fast and I enjoyed it. It’s all getting pretty repetitive but I’m about half way through the CTM. This week we really started speaking to our Brazilian roommates more and our classes are all Portuguese. It’s been hard but it has been fun too. Both of our Brazilian roommates are pretty fun but they don’t like each other. And they hate it when we fart. hahaha but they will have to get over that. We did the pull my finger trick on them and they were disgusted. They did say they thought I’ld speak pretty good Portuguese once I finally learned it though..just because I talk fast apparently.

So last Monday, I had had one of my rougher days of the CTM. I just didn’t really remember a lot of the Portuguese I had learned and it was a little frustrating. But I had an awesome experience the next day. We have someone who use to be a mission president in Recife come talk to us and he said  some really comforting words about not stressing the language but really focusing on faith. The rest of the week turned out great. Everything was just awesome so that was a good experience for me to have.

So one of our instructors told us a story about his mission this week. He told us about an investigator he was talking to and he had challenged him to read 1 Nephi 3:7. Turns out the investigator read 3 Nephi 3: 7. You’ll have to look that one up and imagine how that went over with the investigator.

In church this past week we talked about Chiasms. Idk if you all have heard of those or not. We talked about it in BOM at BYU but I never really looked into it any more than that. It’s basically a form of writing that was used a super long time ago. And there have been some found in the Book of Mormon. Alma 36..I think, is the one I’ve been looking at. It’s really interesting. I had them marked and was going to share them with you all, but I left my scriptures in the room. It’s basically abcdcba. The first thing they will talk about in the chapter will correspond with the last thing and they meet up in the middle. And that chapter is about Alma talking to his son about his experience so it’s pretty cool to see it all play out. And it just proves that the Book of Mormon is true because there is no way that Joseph Smith could have done that on his own when chiasms weren’t even discovered until these past 30 years.

Some pretty funny things happened this week. First of all, my companion was reading the dictionary which is weird anyway, but after that, I heard this weird alien sound, so I looked up and he had this crazy looking face and was slowly raising his head making this sound. I have no idea what was going on still. He also kind of had a meltdown this week. We were talking about if golf was a sport or not one night after classes and he just freaked out on us and said the conversation wasn’t celestial. So I kinda chilled with it but others just kept talking. He ended up throwing his tic tac case on the ground and smashing it (he missed the first time) and got to the point where he was even crying a little. Later that night I kinda tried to make him feel better and comfort him. He told me later that week that he really appreciated it and it made him feel better. But it happened a second time too apparently. Some Brazilians in our room were trying to pronounce “beach” and “focus”. Needless to say it wasn’t turning out to well for them. I left after a while to go brush my teeth and when I came back they said he had started yelling at him really loud saying they had to leave his room right then. I’ve had three people come up to me this week and say they don’t know how I can deal with him but they also said that they think I was his companion for a reason. They said they didn’t think anyone else could really put up with him. I’m still working on it but I’m doing the best I can with him. And some times he is entertaining.

Other random things this week…Hmm TRC (which is where they record you teaching) went pretty well so that made me happy. I rolled my ankle playing basketball but I was able to keep playing and it’s just a little sore.  Apparently a lot of Brazilians get engaged down here before their missions. I know like 5 personally. It’s kinda weird but it’s normal for them I guess. I learned about Catholics belief in purgatory, dad..if you remember from supernatural at all. Speaking on supernatural, last night I woke up and I heard my companion screaming “it hurts” like 5 times. I just went back to sleep and asked him about it in the morning. he didn’t remember it at all…but there was an elder from Chile who had a bloody murder screaming night terror like two weeks ago. My first thought when I heard Elder Whitaker screaming was “SAM!” haha. We may need them to come help us out. Well that’s about all I have time for. If you get time you should really study about those chiasms. They are really cool. Also I always skipped 2 Nephi because people said it was boring. There is so amazing things in 2 Nephi – it’s an awesome book. Well I hope you all are doing well and it’s nice to hear from you all constantly! Stay classy!

 

-Elder Fischer

Week 4 CTM 10-16-12

I am sorry I have been so behind in posting Elder Fischer’s letters.  There has been some discussion on whether to continue the blog.  I will post his letters over the next few days in order to bring everything up to date. Stacey – letter is below

 

So this is the start of week four at the CTM! The time has really been going very quickly. I think it describes it best by saying “The days seem like weeks, but the weeks seem like days.” The days are long but the weeks just fly by. The baby looked great! Haha I can’t wait to make myself the favorite… haha well this week was pretty normal. The Portuguese is coming along as always but it’s still pretty tough. It’s crazy to think that I’m coming up on my halfway mark in the CTM. So we got Brazilians in our room this past week. One of them is dating a 15 year old girl and wears her perfume…haha its super weird but he is pretty cool and can speak just a little bit of English so that’s pretty good. It helps with my Portuguese being able to talk to him. The other is pretty quiet but is still pretty cool. Also, last week we had our first week of TRC. They film you teaching an investigator and then you watch and they help you make improvements. It’s pretty scary but I was able to get through it.

 

I went to the police station this week. I think we were registering for citizenship or something. I could have just signed my life over to Brazil but who knows…haha. Also the temple was great as always. I’m finally learning my way around Sao Paulo to so that’s good. I’ve finally found some people to play basketball with too. It makes gym pretty fun. It’s really hard not to get competitive but I’ve been able to manage. I think my wrist is about 100% too. It hasn’t really bothered me at all. I also play a bit of volleyball during gym so I’ll be sure to whoop up on Allie when I get back..hehe. Well like I said, this week has just been kind of like a normal week so I don’t have a ton to say. I think I have started to realize why I have the companion I do though. I’ve noticed that he has started following and copying a lot of the things I do. And honestly, there are probably only one or two other people in our district that could put up with him. I’ve learned a ton from the experience so I am thankful for that.

So someone told us some stories about Belem this week. Apparently they have hand sized cockroaches that fly. They don’t die when you step on them. haha I figure the best way to take them out is to spray some axe and light the suckers on fire.  hahaha. They have black widows which I’m not to excited about. When you sleep you really have to have a fan, not because it’s so hot but because it keeps the bugs off of you. Apparently if you don’t you will just feel huge bugs running into you while you sleep. They have spiders the size of your hands that jump…yes they jump. Also they have little racquets that are electric that can kill bugs. Apparently the bugs are on steroids up in Belem and they don’t work on them. haha. Someone that went to Belem told us all these things and he also told us a story about when someone became a warrior. When you say it in Portuguese, its slang for I pooped my pants. hahaha. So they say you haven’t served in Brazil until you poop in your pants. I refuse to let that happen though. haha.

Haha that’s funny that you guys had Kristen over Wednesday. But she should know that I’m still going to be the favorite. She won’t be able to steal that from me.

I have noticed this week how easy it would be the break the rules. There are a few computers here with working internet and they really don’t watch over you at all. It’s sad to see all the people here that aren’t here for the right reasons. Constantly breaking rules and doing things they shouldn’t. You can really tell a difference in the spirit when its going on too. Like they will break a rule and say “what are they going to do? Send me home?” I’m just like..yea so you shouldn’t do it. All you can do is pray for them and hope that they have that change of heart though. So I’ve really grown to love reading the scriptures here. I wish I could just read them straight through in English but I’ve decided I need to spend more time reading them in Portuguese. Well that’s about all the time I have for now. I meant to bring my journal this week so I could remember what all happened and give you guys a good letter but I forgot! sorry!

 

-Elder Fischer

 

Oh yeah and I almost forgot! Happy late birthday dad!!! I wish I could have emailed you on your actual birthday! Sorry! And now that you’re one year older, I am def speedier than you! hahah. which reminds me, this week we had a child’s day where all the workers and people dress up as kids in celebration for them that should be a celebration in the usa:) ok i gotta go really now!

 

-Love you all!

 

 

oh yea and about that package, if you dont mind, can you look for a mini Preach my gospel book. That would be awesome for the field. That’s all I can think of for now. Maybe some deodorant because I don’t think they have good stuff down here. I can’t think of anything else right now but I’ll keep you posted!

 

Thanks a bunch!