Primeiro beijo em 6 meses! [First kiss in 6 months]

Party for Elder Halpin! I loved it. We ate cake all week!!!

Oí!

Another week gone by and a lot of success and rejection yet again. I love it though. I am getting more and more prone to rejection here. haha. I will be immune to rejection by the time I get home. What blessings... haha.

Anyways, questions you asked first.
[Asked if the missionaries ever got the chance to attend the temple during their mission.]
1. Temples are a hard thing for us. We can’t go to the temple no matter what. I want to really bad but the problem is that we can’t leave our mission boundaries and we don’t have a temple in our mission. But it’s all good. Another reason why I want you to come here is to go to the temple down here. It’s so gorgeous the two temples I have already been too! I want to go to Curitiba though!

[Told him about someone from our ward heading to Santa Maria Brazil.]
2. That’s good you are sharing all that info with him. Where is he going in Brazil? Because in the north, it’s totally different than here. So ask questions if you have any! But anyway, those stories are crazy and yes they have bugs like that. They also have bugs in the water. It’s not too bad though. Here it’s all filtered in the city so I don’t bother too much with my water bottle. But when you are in favelas [slums] you use the water bottle no matter WHAT! And I think I was blessed secretly... I have 6 filters in my suitcases so I am good. The filters are given to us by the church too if we need more. But thanks mom! But those bugs, there really aren’t too many bad bugs here. Just HUGE COCKROACHES and HUGER SPIDERS. That’s about it though. Very few snakes here too. We also have mosquitos that can get you sick for 2 months. Don’t want that. It’s very unlikely to get here. A lot more likely in the north. So if he is up there, tell him to take lots of bug repel.

3. So if people ask how I am doing, tell them WRITE HIM! haha. Letters are always needed because they give me an extra boost. But tell them I am doing wonderful! Still alive at least right...?

4. I don’t believe Connor has muscles.... LIES! haha. I want to see that jacket too! And are you guys doing my bed cover a Brazil flag? I really want that!

So this week was pretty good. And it sucked just like every week. But I feel like I am growing a lot from it. We got to have a conference with Elder Godoy of the 70. We woke up at 4:30 to catch the bus but it was worth it. He was really a funny guy and he is only 40 some odd years old! Super young! We learned a lot from him this week. We got a training on how we are supposed to do certain things and I am trying my hardest to do these things. Speaking of a training, we are giving a training to our branch this week. Our branch is just struggling so much. It doesn’t seem like our branch wants to be a ward ever or something. Don’t understand them sometimes. But they have some wonderful people in the branch. We are giving them a training on how to be branch missionaries to help it grow to a WARD! I want it to happen before I leave Brazil. That’s my goal. We will see how that goes! We might burn them a little... but with love ya know? haha.

So some great stories for ya.

1. The title of this letter... Got my first kiss in 6 months. It was super funny. Teaching a lesson on divisions one day and sure enough we were visited by a drunk, as normal. We continued to teach and he walks up to Elder Denna and gives him a big kiss on the cheek. I was like, oh no.... this guy is gonna try and get me now I bet. Sure enough, I was sitting on the ground. I had nowhere to run. He first fell and got up a little and gave me the wettest kiss on the cheek a drunk man has ever given me. (wow that didn’t compare to anything that has happened before). But it was nasty. I smelled like vodka for the next 2 hours....

2.You ever seen snakes on a plane? I haven’t, but I heard it was a horror film. Same with the new movie called ´´snakes on a bus´´ starring Cameron Millett. It was probably a comedy film though.... There was just this green snake on the bus one night when we were going home and I HATE snakes. Biggest fear of them all. It was probably funny for the people that got to watch me do a little dance freaking out....

3. We found an awesome place for cones for 70 cents! 2 scoops of amazing ice cream for only 70 cents! LOKO! Anyways, we always go there now when we pass by and continue onto appointments. It was really funny though because it rained two days this week really hard and we walked in the store and the guy thought we were crazy. We ate ice cream on the side of the road in the rain. Why not right?! haha. It was wonderful!

4. We broke into a house this week. We broke in because one, we asked earlier that if she didn’t answer the door we would break in and wake her up to go to church. It was really funny. People were looking at us really funny and we were just screaming really loud to wake her up. She gave a lame excuse... I gotta do my laundry today... LAME! But it was fun finding ways to break in, hopping the fence, throwing rocks at dogs and so forth. haha.

This was another pretty fun week. Not too much really happened but I had a lot of fun and am learning a lot here. I really enjoy it. I really am so grateful for your support always and for everyone sending me letters, thank you. TO all those not, WRITE ME PLEASE!!! I want to hear from everyone! And I mean that, EVERYONE! We got transfers next week too so I will let you all know what happens next week! This house continues to break on me and it sucks! We have been taking cold showers for 2 and a half weeks now. Not fun! It literally is freezing cold in the morning and I end up with numb fingers every morning. It’s just been pretty cool recently but today, looks like back to hot!

I love you all! Take care! If there is anything you want to know let me know! And tell Connor i got him a SICK hat! He will love it. I am thinking about buying dad what they call a ´´Dad hat´´ here. It’s those hats that dads wear in the states... ya know? haha. We will see!

Te-amo! Até Mais!
Vai la, escrever uma carta para mim agora se voce esta usando google tratutor!  [Write a letter using Google Translator.]
Elder Millett!

Seriously where do the days and weeks go?!

Can’t say it enough, days just fly by!

First of all, congrats Aimee!!! [Aimee just got a full time teaching job.] That is wonderful to hear! Just so you know I did a little dance and my comp was here to prove I did the dance to show my excitement for you! That is seriously so so so so so so wonderful HOLMES! You will do awesome!

So first, they don’t have tortillas here at ALL. Well pretty much. No one eats them at all here but they have them. It’s a Mexi thing.

And yes it would be fun to have you come pick me up. I just thought, it would be pretty cool to have you come down maybe with Connor and he can get a little taste of mission stuff. And you know how easy customs was here...? Not hard at all. They don’t even search your bags. Not like it was for Matt it sounds like. But we will keep debating this. I presented it to members that I love here (they said COME!) and Edinea and she says you should come! Bruno wanted to meet Connor he requested. haha. But Edinea got her calling finally! She will be a Relief Society teacher for 2 weeks of the month. She is so excited! She also got permission from the area 70 here that she can go to the temple earlier than the 1 year normal wait. That is pretty cool! She just started taking the temple prep and I am SOOOO excited for her. I am jealous too because I want to go to the temple with her too!

Yes mom I am doing the things he said. [Changing out his shoes everyday.] But we walk literally over 10 miles in a day. No joke either. Especially now with two areas... Eesh. I have two pairs of shoes here. I am gonna try and get these ones re soled for only 10 dollars. Dirt cheap. We will see.
I don’t want to have you have to send another pair. It’s a lot cheaper to just buy a pair here.

Anyways, week sucked. But it was good too. First off, we are going to just cut Moises and the family. I love them SO much but they just aren’t doing the things that they should. But he just can’t stop doing stupid things. He was seeing so many blessings and he has had 3 chances to be baptized but now that he hasn’t, his life is going downhill again. We warned him about this too. He might even go to jail for 6 months now. It’s a really sad situation.

We taught a concept that literally came up out of nowhere on Monday night about focusing on the good things. I related it to what I am going through. I got thinking, the mission would be terrible if I just would focus on all that is bad on the mission. I got thinking about how I left my family, friends, don’t get to relax ever and LOTS of other things. I just got thinking about that. Then I got thinking about just one good thing, bringing others unto Christ. It outweighs EVERYTHING bad about being here. It just got me thinking I need to always be thinking about why I am here and to always remember like Gordon B Hinkley said, It’s not that BAD! I love that quote. So my thing I would hope for everyone reading this, always be thinking about the good things and don’t let the bad weigh you down! I am just worn out physically, mentally and spiritually but I still want to keep going just because I know why I am here. Life isn’t bad! It’s wonderful! :)

So lots of fun stories...and weird ones....

1. Gave a talk this week. The president asked me if I would and it was just on missionary work. I just wrote down key points and just went up and decided to be more guided to what I need to say by the spirit. It was such a better talk then I have ever given before. I talked a lot about member missionaries and it then led to the story of Emily. It was really cool because in all the other classes that’s all everyone talked about. Everyone talked about Emily Emily Emily and her getting baptized. It was really funny. Emily would like that she was the topic of conversation for the whole day at church. haha.

2. Got called Neginho this week. In direct translation, it comes to little Negro. Why would they call us that?!  Especially with Elder Halpin being the tallest white guy I have ever seen....

3. Met a Cannibal ( however you spell that) this week. We were knocking doors near our house at night when we came up to this REALLY NICE HOUSE! We clapped at the gate and the guy told us one minute then finally came out a little after. We talked to him, invited him to church and he said no, he practiced his own religion. We asked what it was and he said, Cannibalistic (which is cannibalism) and he said at his church they practice the ancient rituals of the descendants of Africa. So in other words... we have a cannibal as a neighbor.... So now we chose a new route home, which now takes us by a bunch of ´´street workers´´ as I would like to call them now that are supposed to be women, but are men. Can’t escape the weirdness here!!!

4. Another story with my talk, I was giving my talk and 5 minutes into it, 3 women just decided to feed their babies... Not with a bottle. People are just a little too open here at times and they need a law against that in public! So gross....

So that’s it for stories. We had just a terrible week that I will probably have lots more of, but it’s all good. We made pizza last night with some members and it cheered me up. haha. They LOVED it and also requested that when we come back to visit to have you make some food for them like an ´´American mom would.´´ I love the experience here and I can’t wait to share all of these experiences with you. I just never have enough time on the computer. It’s tough to explain all the wonderful and terrible things that are happening. I love it here though! Take care and always remember to smile!

Até mais!
-Elder Millett

PS. Doing wash like the pioneers is FUN! Give it a try sometime!

Calor demais! [Very hot!]

With Elder Delcat to show how studly we are..

It is really hot here and super humid right now... I am dying! And this computer place today the ac broke so I will be sweating like crazy the next 45 minutes... haha.

Answers to your questions now...
(Question was what should we eat for you at Taco Bell?)
1. Order a crunch wrap. I am craving one hardcore! haha.

(Have you had a chance to make pizza again?)
2. No I haven’t made pizza this week. One of the families in the ward wants to make a pizza and cookies with me this week. I am really excited because they pay for the whole thing as long as I make it and show them how to make it! haha. Score!

(How is Rodrigo doing?  You haven’t spoken about him in a few weeks.)
3. Rodrigo... yeah that was a really sad story I will explain to you one day. He ran away with his family and his other part of the family has no idea where they went. It’s really sad... I was really depressed for two days because of it I will be honest.

(How is Moises doing?)
4. Moises... Him and his wife are trying SO hard to make it to baptism. He drank again this week because he got really stressed and fought with his son and doesn’t like contention. We are helping him and his wife and they are awesome. They are reading every day, praying together and just doing everything they need to. They will make it there and I know it! He says he really knows the power of the priesthood is true because he invited us over to his house 2 weeks ago to bless his house. It was such a cool experience and we blessed it and the spirit was SOOOO strong there. It is hard to describe. But we blessed that this house could be where EVERYONE lived and happiness could be here. None of the family lived there with him because of his drinking problem and just a week after we blessed the house, all the family lives there again and he is happier then you could ever imagine. He bore his first testimony to us and he didn’t even know it! It was an awesome experience for me too. Love that family so much!

(How is Edinea doing?  Does she have a calling yet?)
5.Edinea is absolutely an awesome person! No doubt! But I like that, hopefully you get to meet her one day. I got thinking about it and there have been lots of moms and dads that come down to visit. I just think about that all the time and how cool it would be if you guys came down at the end of my mission and for the last week just show you and dad around, and you can experience a little of brazil! haha. But we will have to see... President T doesn’t mind that because a lot of presidents of the mission don’t like when parents come down but president loves meeting the parents. We will talk about it more one day! haha. But Bruno is 8 years old and no she hasn’t gotten a calling yet. She is going to be interviewed this week by president of the branch to get her a calling though!!! :)

(Asked if he had access to milk and mayonnaise there since he wanted ranch dressing.  Figured if he did, I could just send a mix.)
6. Yes we have lots of Mayo and milk here. They are a little weird with their mayo here... they like it on pizza and weird things. But yes we do have it. haha.

Anyways, this week as I said was very hot. It keeps getting hotter and hotter here. It is crazy humid and I don’t like it because, this is the season for big spiders (you already know that) and now the COCKROACHES! YAY! haha. There are some huge cockroaches that we see randomly in our house. It is pretty nasty but very normal because every Brazilian home has them. You just get used to them and it’s no big deal... But this week was wonderful. Our shower broke, again, and our washing machine broke too! It was super funny because it broke the day after I did my wash.  But I am SO excited to do my wash by hand. It will be hopefully the only time in my life I do it but I am actually really looking forward to doing it. It will be a lot of fun and a new experience.

Tempo das historias!  [Time of stories!]

1.Our neighbor came out to help us and he is super old. He always has to be right which is really annoying to have neighbors like that, which all of them have been like that so far... But anyways, he came out to help us with the water cuz he wanted to explain something and came out naked... He had a towel covering him up but he was walking and it just fell off. It was no big deal for him though cuz he didn’t react or anything... AWKWARD....

2. We had missionaries knock at our door. It was a lot of fun. They were very awkward people and got me thinking; wow I hope I am not this awkward. I talked with them for 10 minutes before they even told me what church they were from... I told them we have a book preach my gospel if they would like to use it to learn some techniques. It was really funny. I like talking to them though!

3. I got my first hole in my shoes! I celebrated a little and did a little dance in the street because I was just happy to know I had walked that much to get a hole already! I love these shoes though. They are my Rockport’s. I am gonna try and get them resoled.

4. It was Independence Day here. We were walking into center for our meeting and it was a huge parade going on. We were walking in the middle of it and didn’t even realize at first. So we had a little fun with it and starting just waving like the princesses would in the parades. Haha. But it was CRAZY! Those always turn into riots there it sounds like. We had our meeting and got out and sure enough, the streets were empty, nothing was open and there was nothing but trash just EVERYWHERE. It was weird walking in the center of the city with no one there. We saw an ice cream shop open and hit it up. It was even better than DQ and they only cost 50 cents for a cone! IT’S WONDERFUL!

5. I got to cement a wall this week for service. It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of fun with it.  I actually enjoyed it and got to learn a new thing I can maybe use sometime in my life! It turned out looking really good too! I also got told, ´´you are allowed to marry now because you know how to do this´. It made me laugh, but I have a Brazilians approval now! I think it would be fun to build a house here even!

6. Here I drink more soda/pop (whatever people call it) then I have ever drank in my entire life. It is CRAZY! I love soda but I am drinking lots of water because I know the dangers of it. So I am keeping balanced but everyone no matter where you are gives you soda to drink. They are really good too and you should check if they have guaraná in the states. Look it up please! haha.

SO I really don’t have a lot of time to write today. This week has been good and I am trying so hard and it feels like the fruits of the labor is none week after week. I get looking back though and I see there have been fruits from my labor. But one thing I learned from this is maybe because it feels like nothing is coming out of the Lords work at the time; it ALWAYS pays off no matter what you think. I love you all and hope all is well!

Take care!
Até mais e te amo! [So long and love you!]
Elder Millett!

Olá!

So another Monday, ALREADY!!! Yikes I can’t say it enough but time flies by. This time is going by fast. Well first questions...

Thanks for getting off that shirt! I know he is so excited! And I think one thing that Edinea might like is some candy. I hooked them up with some starbursts and she LOVED them! And so did Bruno. So maybe just some American candy? haha. I can’t think of something else that she would like. But they are seriously awesome and I just really want to do something for them. And you can get him which ever kind of tie you think is the best. The regular one would be good then I could teach him!

Yeah I have used the Dazer [device that emits a high pitch that deters dogs] a lot. It’s so funny to see the dogs run up to the gate then they are about to bark then I use it... Lots just run off freaking out which is hilarious. haha. But I love having it.

I did use my sweater and that’s it. I recommend not bringing a heavy coat to whoever comes down this way. It’s only cold in the morning and that’s it. The night isn’t even that cold. So just a sweater will do. I was well warm enough!

So my week was Loko! I had some fun experiences though. This week started out normal and we went to our appointments and all that fun jazz and got a call. I got sent to Londrina for a day. It was awesome! It literally felt like I went home again. I love Londrina and I am hoping to spend some more time there before I leave. I loved it there. But I went with one of the Elders that actually chose me, (because he said I am one of the only chill people in our area haha) and we went to his appointment he had there. We just spent the whole day and just got to joke around. I was bummed I didn’t have time to go see old friends there. But the house where I used to be is now a set of Sister missionaries. But anyways, we went to McDonalds! It was so good to have some American food again. i love it. I took that fattening stuff for granted! Now they don’t have hamburgers here like they do in the states. So the first place I go to is Red Robin when I return! haha.

But this week we did a lot of running. We have been going crazy since we now have two areas so it’s HUGE! We are walking like crazy. It is so hot here and I am just dying from the heat. I want it to cool down a little bit again but probably won’t happen. Our 2 baptisms this week fell through but that was actually a blessing. An investigator, Moises, the first time we met him was a DRUNK and almost lost his family. We started teaching him and his family and his family is not going to be separated now because he is stopping drinking. The church is a huge blessing in more ways than one! His wife is now talking about getting baptized too! I am super excited. He drank on Thursday which was so sad so he couldn’t be baptized but he literally only took a sip... enough that we couldn’t baptize him. But he will be baptized this next week with his wife. His wife went to church this week and they are happier than ever! And because he drank, he gave us dinner at his house the next night. He said he was so scared to tell us he drank a little bit which was funny. But we got dinner out of it!  We actually got dinner 3 times this week which is NOT NORMAL! I have only gotten dinner on the mission 6 times now. Which is pretty darn good though. I was just super excited. Anyways, keep him in your prayers to help him stay firm not drinking. I don’t want him to lose his family especially!

Well some fun stories...

1.While I was in Londrina, I was waiting for my comp who was in there and I had to stay in the waiting room. You know how weird it feels to be alone now? It was so weird feeling! It was just me and the receptionist lady and I just felt weird not being with a comp. I see why missionaries are awkward after the mish...

2.Edineas we were having dinner again one night and I was just talking to her and Bruno. I always have a problem with my Portuguese there and always mix up what I am saying. She asked me for a scripture and I said this... Sim, eu tenho aquela escritura [yes I have that scripture] for you. I always just throw in a little bit of English in my sentences! haha. It was funny. But she loves the saying that I said to Bruno when I was looking at their pictures. I said what Deanna would always say to me... What happened Bruno?! You used to be so cute! haha. Edinea loves saying that now!  She says thank you D!

3. Edinea also says, the reason she will go to the states is just to get starbursts. She loves American candy because in all honesty, the candy here is TERRIBLE!

4.When me and Elder Halpin have bad days, we go by the bread place and usually get some cake, and some Guaraná to drink. It is so nice to just have some time to think. But it was funny because the other day we met this lady that was an owner of a bar that told us Hey! Come grab a drink. We were like... uhhh... we don’t drink pinga. haha. But she told us she had Guaraná for us that we could drink that was so good! I just through it was funny, 2 missionaries hanging out in the bar talking to drunk people. They never shut up...

5. SImple story... we woke up, there was a dead cat in front of our door. It was great... haha

This week was a pretty good week. I am looking forward to this next week as to what will happen. We are working on finding more people to teach and to be more productive with our time. Yesterday at church everyone seemed more united and more willing to work together which was great. Edinea also bore testimony and I was so happy. She is probably one of the strongest members in our branch now. Her testimony was so powerful and she just talked about maybe sometimes the time isn’t right to hear the missionaries because the first time she had the missionaries she hated them. But she was prepared for me and Elder Halpin and just I wish you could have heard her testimony. It was so simple and so powerful!  She had people crying even! The spirit was very strong there.

I am loving the mission here. It’s just so fun seeing it change people’s lives for the good and helping them just simply be a better person, and also being a part of the TRUE church on earth. I love you all so much and hope all is well in the states! I got home sick the other day, just for some food there. That’s it. haha. Is that weird??? I wanted Taco Bell so maybe you should go out to Taco Bell for me and drink mountain dew!" Please! I know Connor wouldn’t mind... haha.

Take care and always smile! Thank you for all your encouraging words! I want to continue hearing from everyone through letters! Continue sending them! Letters are wonderful! I am trying my best to write back to EVERY letter! I love you all!

Até mais!
Elder Millett

ps. Could you scan the pic of my baptism and send it to me? Or just in the mail. Either way. I just figure it would be good to show parents and stuff who don’t think their child is ready! Thanks! And that map too! I would like one asap please! haha. People ask all the time... where the heck is that?!  Love ya!