12/23/12

Opa! Família!

This week was super fast, it was almost like we had 2 p days. we had p day last Monday  then last Thursday we had a Christmas conference with 2 other zones and President and Sister Hall. It was super good, we learned about the gathering of Israel and how it is happening right now, and with the change in missionary age it is becoming more and more important to prepare the way for the second coming, we know it is getting closer by the change in the age. Crazy huh? I got a package from you last Thursday mom! it was great! I forgot how much i loved peanut butter snickers and pop tarts haha. Thank you so much mom! It was just what i needed. I also got a package from the Graffs, it had some treats and 4 cds of Christmas music and 3 cds of talks from general authorities  It still outdoes feel a lot like Christmas here because it is super hot. super super hot, but at least we have a breeze! 

Wanna hear something crazy? Last week we met a guy on Thursday and he invited us to teach him in his house, and so when we went there Saturday to teach no one answered, and a man in a car drove by and told us he died.. We back to check again this week just to make sure it wasn't a lie, and a neighbor told us the same thing. She said his lungs stopped working and he died, but two days earlier he was perfectly fine. Crazy stuff. Also i think one of our new investigators is a drug dealer, no biggie  He always has shirts like Cameron's drug dealer shirt, but his are a little more legit, they have a shine to them, and are kinda fancy haha, also he always has a big wad of money in his pocket, like a big wad. And he looks sketchy but i'm not supposed to judge haha. We met him, because he stopped and asked us if we believed the world was going to end on December 21st, we said no and then he told us it was supposed to end at 10 o'clock that night. Sadly nothing happened. Also, have you ever had to take a shower out of a bucket of water, with a cup to pour the water on you? We have to do this at least once a week because our house runs out of water. That and i haven't had a warm shower in the morning in months, always cold showers haha. 

Congrats to Cam on winning again, how much does that little fart weigh? There is no way he is 182. And good job Kelley too and scoring 17 points! Its pretty crazy that everyone is getting married. I'm not gonna have any friends left when i get back from the mish ha. I'm super excited to call home tomorrow and noon your time is perfect! Skype should work! But if you want you can pick up a calling card. i have faith we wont need it though. Also some cool news we got a church yesterday is that an apostle is coming to the stake where i'm at in January, that should be super cool. I love you all, and Merry Christmas Eve? Or Feliz Natal! 

Com amor,

Elder Brady Simpson!

12/17/1I

Hey Family!

I'm glad to hear that you are all going great! It sounds like everyone is killing it at sports! I wish I was playing sports still, it so hard to not play them, or have any time to work out too. I have like no muscle now. Sad huh? but this week we will get to play volleyball and maybe football! Not a lot happened this week, no cool stories really, we just walked our butts off all week trying to find people to teach. We talked to so many people this week. I guess the craziest thing is that now I'm the only American in my house. Its pretty cool! Sometimes its hard though because I don't speak fluent Portuguese yet. I think the hardest part of the week was just trying to find people to talk to, it was sooo hot here and nobody wanted to hear what we had to say, but it seemed like as soon as we wanted to give up, I would always say a prayer and the next person we talked to would be interested. Lots of times people lie about where they lived though too and that is hard. One cool thing that happened though was that at church yesterday it was the primary sacrament thingy and I understood what all the kids said because we speak the same Portuguese  it was really funny and cool to hear the primary songs in Portuguese  It was all accapela to because no one knows how to play the piano and the piano here is awful. It so weird that I don't know how to play it too. I took some pictures this week so I'll send those to you too. I don't think i can use google plus, only skype. and whatever time is best for y'all is good for me. If I call you at four o'clock here it will be noon there yeah? Is that good for you guys? or earlier if you want. Thank you so much for the cookie recipe, hopefully I'll be able to find everything here to make them. I love you guys!

Com amor, 

Eld3er Brady Simpson

The three is silent, I didn't feel like backspacing a bunch to fix it

There is a picture of me in paradise, one of a sketchy street we  walk down and one of a type of snack here I learned to make call coxinhas they are super good. And if I look fat, its because my shirt is like a tent, a homeless person could live in. 

12/12/12

Ola Família! 

Well I'm still alive! We didn't have P day on Monday because we had transfers this week. every six weeks p day is on Wednesday  So this week was super long because we didn't have p day. we have P day again this coming Monday the 17th.  This week was ruff for us number wise, we didn't find hardly anyone new to teach, and no one was at church with us. Lets see, we had a great lesson with Jacletson last week, and yesterday we watched a movie about Joseph Smith with him. I felt the spirit super strong and I hope he did too because I know it was there, he hasn't been baptized yet because he doesn't have a testimony of Joseph Smith yet. We think he will be baptized soon though. I got a haircut this week too and that was pretty crazy. I asked the guy for a 2 on the sides like normal, and scissors on the top, and everything was normal until he started to use the scissors haha they were just a normal pair of scissors and he just started cutting chunks of hair off. in the end though it turned out good and looks normal, was kinda crazy during it though. I also gave my first blessing in Portuguese  all of the sudden my comp asked me for a blessing one day. That was super cool, I had no idea what I was going to say and thoughts in Portuguese just came into my head, I don't remember what I said now, but it was super cool. Crazy that Christmas is in two weeks ne? I hope the package you sent will get here before Christmas  we have a big conference thing for Christmas next week and we will get packages and letters there, or if it doesn't come we have a zone conference the first Wednesday of January and I'get it there I hope. We are allowed to skype and I'm only 4 hours ahead of you and one ahead of Jessi, because my mission doesn't have daylight savings time like the rest of Brazil  Me and my companion get along great, which is good, because we will be together for another transfer. The only change in our house is that the other American is leaving and we will have a new Brazilian. I'll be the only american. I'm feeling pretty comfortable with the language, the only things i don't understand is slang and sometimes jokes haha. Another cool thing that happened this week is that we learned how to make coxinhas they are a type of snack thingy here and they are delicious. Congrats to everyone with sports and stuff, it sounds like everyone is doing great. I miss sports so much, I wanna work out and play sports so bad. I've gotten so weak here haha. Oh and good luck with finals mom! Love you all and hope you all have an amazing week! Mom could you pretty please email me so pictures from my life before the mish, and a family picture, I can print them out here. Everyone wants to see picture of me before the mish, and picture of my family! Thank you so much, love you! 

Com amor,

Elder Brady Simpson

So ive got a story for you and the boys, but I  don't know if its something to tell to mom haha. On Sunday after our lunch appointment we were doing street contacts before church and a man on a bike stopped us. He then proceeded to ask us what we were doing there and if we knew who he was. We told him we are missionaries and that we didn,t know him. He then said he was the most dangerous gangster in the world and then told us to give him two reais, which is the same as one dollar. The whole time he was talking to my companion and avoiding me haha if he talked to me he called me german, he told us we have to have money becuase we are dressed nice and have all our teeth, well he actually told me I only have almost all my teeth, I'm not which one I'm missing but apparently I only have almost all my teeth haha. So we wouldn't give him money, then he told my comp to give him his tie and that if he didn't they were gonna have to fight. My comp didn't and told him he wouldn't fight becuase they have nothing against each other. Then we said we had to go to church and he asked us if we would help him rob a cellphone from a guy sitting close by. We said no, and the guy told us if he had a gun with him he would rob a guy in a car. The guy was honestly like a third my size too. So a guy tried to rob us without a knife or a gun or anything, and he didnt get anything from us. Hope yall enjoy this story, and I love ya! if you think mom won't freak out you can share it with her too. Oh and how is wrestling going for cam? mom says a little but not much

Love,

Elder Brady Simpson

12/3/12

Ola Familia! 

Como vocês estão? 

Esta semana foi bom, mas foi muito difícil. Nos falamos com muitas pessoas mas quase nunca encontrar eles em casa. Temos um pesquisador que está progredindo! O nome dele é Jacletson. Ele tem 18 anos e ele é muito legal, ele já visitou igreja duas vezes!

    Este email eu recebe de você me fez muito feliz e triste. Muito bom Cameron! Eu tenho saudade por wrestling, mas hoje nos jogamos futebol! Foi muito legal!

This week went by so fast! i cant believe its already December  I miss wrestling so much, I cant believe its already been 2 years since I haven't done it. Congrats to Cameron  he´s finally a champion like me haha.. but i won twice... I'm so grateful for the gospel and the blessings and knowledge it brings to our lives! I was super sad to hear about sister Gubler! I haven't been able to watch the Christmas devotional but maybe i will be able to. hmm what did i learn this week... so much i cant remember anything specific. This week was busy and hard.

We had a meeting with president Hall this week as a Zone, it was about how we are doing in the mish and what we need to improve on. We also practiced telling an investigator that we cant teach them anymore because they are not improving. Its sad when you have to do that. 

My companion and I are having a hard time meeting the goals for the mish in our area, we are in a pretty hard area, and my companion told me it looks like its starting to get a little better. We don't know what we need to do better or differently though. We walk soooooo much and we should be teaching, not walking the whole day. We did teach Jacletson the plan of salvation this week and he seemed to like it, and he was at church again. I think he is supposed to get baptized this week! He's really accepting of the gospel! One thing I think is super funny is that lots of people ask us if im american and when i say i am they want to talk to us, but if i say im brazilian they dont want to talk to me haha. Saturday was a pretty relaxed day, we had lunch at the bispos house and on the way back to our house my comp almost fell like three times so we ended up staying in the house for a while till he felt better. Then that night a member of the other elders ward made us Chinese food, and for desert was a fried banana in a skillet, covered with cheese condensed milk and cinnamon and guess what I ate it and like it haha. Also we had fruit salad after that with condensed mil,. and it was good too. I will send some pictures as soon as I take some, I haven't really taken any. Also can you look through my facebook and send me some fotos, because everyone asks to see fotos of my family and life before the mish and i don't have any. Thanks so much mom! Love you all and Hope y'all have a good week!

Elder Brady Simpson

PS. Mom could you also email me some easy recipes and the recipe for cookies? i want to make cookies so bad, and eat them too hahahaha love you!

11/26/12

Ola Familia 

This week went by so fast! Its crazy that Tyler has been out for almost a year now! Sometimes it feels like I'll never make it to the year mark, but sometimes it goes by so fast. All the older elders say that the first transfer is the worst of them all. and it goes by super slow.  Cameron finally cut his mullet? Dang that's super sad! Did y'all at least take a picture? Thanksgiving and black Friday were pretty relaxed here we worked, i had a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, it was super good bytheway, because usually i just make roman noodles. Black Friday was just like any other normal day, because its not a feriado here.(holiday) So about my week. We gave three blessings this week. i always do the anointing. its super weird to do it in Portuguese  My comp usually has to help me with it haha. Yesterday we had two new investigators at church and church was reverent for the first time since I've been here. Pai Celestial for sure answers prayers, because i had been praying for that all week. The two guys said they liked it after church. they weren't used to how calm and quiet it was though because usually the churches here have someone yelling and they all say hallelujah and stuff like that. It was good to finally have investigators again. i did use the moleskin for my blister for a while, but now its pretty much fine. our apartment here is pretty sketchy haha but its fine. we live with 2 other elders, one that's american he is from Hermiston Oregon and a Brasilian. The showers are just like Brett said, with the toilet right there. My companion is great. It was a super good week.

i hope you guys have a good week this week i love yall

Elder Brady Simpson

11/19/12

Note from Mom : This weekend was crazy and I did not get emails out Sunday evening as planned, so I got up early on Monday but alas both missionaries had already emailed and I about died when I saw the emails.  Lucky for me both were on the computer while I was!! Tender mercies for sure!!

Tudo Bem Família!

Im a little sad to see there wasnt an email from yall today, but im sure you all are busy! This week went by super fast! We found a few investigatiors which is super cool. Gerson and Luciana are there names, we have taught them twice so far, and they like what weve been teaching. We are teaching them again tomorrow which is good. They werent able to come to church yesterday because they had to work, but they said they want to go! Teaching in português is so much harder than in english haha but its coming along.

     This week has been super hot down here, luckly my area has a breeze which is super nice. We walked a ton though. It sucks when people give you fake adresses that are super far away, so when you get there you cant find it, and then you have to walk all the way back. Also my knee has been bugging me a ton this week, cause i tried running on it last p day. I hardly even ran. Its dumb. I just want a new one haha. I think arthritis might not be the only problem with it, cause it always hurts on the tibial tuberosity, not under the knee cap where the arthritis is. Its frustrating. This week i got a massive blister on the bottom of my foot too. Its super gross, but its part of the work. I did emergency surgery on an ingrown toenail i have too.. okay not really surgery, but i had to dig the toenail out and then stuff the head of a q tip under it. 

  Once again church was crazy, the members are great though. The kids here run around every where and sacrament meeting is usually pretty irreverent. It is still great though. All the members make me eat sooooo much, even when i say im full they give me more. They think i eat more than one plate, but i dont. Its awful and kinda funny at the same time. Usually the food is super good too. Simple but delicious, but it doesnt compare to your cooking  mom! Really not alot is new here, we do pretty much the exact  same thing everyday, study, teach, and look for people to teach. I love you all and hope yall are doing well. 

Com amor, 

Elder Brady Simpson

11/12/12

Ola Família! 

This week has been better than the last week i would say. It work is still tuff though. The week went by fast, but the days were super long haha. First things first, im getting tan here which is nice, and yes mom i do use sunscreen... sometimes. This will surprise you, but ive actually found a fruit i like. Açai with banana is soo goood. I think we get a smoothie thing just about everyday. This week i finished Jesus the Christ, it was a super good book and i learned alot from it. Im also about halfway through The book of mormon again in both portuguese and english. The members here are great, the food that make us for lunch is great, usually rice and beans and salad with some sort of meat. And juice. I love juice! The Stake president here doesnt think i eat enough haha he always tells me i need to eat more, and Comer sem vergonha, which means to eat without shame. We got invited to go to a little Jantar (dinner) party with them and the bishop and some other members and he kept making me go back and get more food haha. The food was super good too. They had lasangua and strogonoff thingy with chicken and lime. 

         The work this week was hard, because everytime we would make an appointment with someone on the street, they would never be home at the time of the appointment. That makes it frustrating and hard to teach people. We had one investigator that went to church with us last week, and i think he is crazy. When we went back to teach him he had questions about the sacrament and why we dont use wine. He thinks we at least need to use grape juice to remind us of Jesus´s blood. Then when we taught him about baptism, he said he doest want to belong to a church because he likes to go to all of them. He said he wants to be free. It was really weird. I dont know if we are gonna go back, because of this, and because he like to talk and we are always there for 2 hours. We had zone conference this week and it was really cool to see the entire zone. President Hall Showed up at the end and it was cool to see him. He´s great. i Did get 3 letters too so that was cool. I think we get letters once a month at zone conference only.

      I have two friends in Santiago Chile right now, maybe saydie will go to the same mission as one of them! Crazy that Garrett and Mckenzie are engaged, i thought that would happen though haha. Hows camerons ankle? Thanks for the sports news mom i love hearing about it, thats great for SVU girls cross country! 

     So one thing i learned this week is from the example of Nefi, Its when they are coming back from jerusalem after getting ishmaels family, and his brothers tied him up and were discussing about killing him. When he prayed he didnt pray to have God miraculously break the cords that had him bound, but he prayed that God would give him the strength to break the bands. How many times in our lives do we pray for God to help us with something without us putting in any effort? i like to think that after nefi prayed he worked at breaking the cords until the broke. Thats something i learned and am trying to work on while im here!

Love  you all!

Elder Brady Simpson

11/5/12

Hey Family!

This week was pretty ruff. I feel retarded all the time, because i don't speak the language near as well as i thought. Its been hard. I've also been super lonely all the time. Its hard going from my district in the CTM to being with 3 other people that only really speak Portuguese  All the kids here speak so much better than i do. Its kinda depressing. I've been trying to lose myself in the work though. Its hard because i don't think i'm helping much at all. So yesterday we had church. It started at 4 and went to 7. Its so much different here. All the kids are crazy. if you thought the CTR 6 class you thought was hard, it would be like 10 times worse here. every meeting here is a lot more irreverent  We did have an investigator come though! Whats crazy here is there are animals every where. Dogs and cats just wander around. So do horses donkeys goats. We get lizards spiders, everything. Its pretty crazy. My area municipios is next to Santa Rita. The area is pretty big, so that means a lot of walking. Its hard on my body haha. My bed is awful too. So we had a ¨snake¨ which is a girl that likes the missionaries buy us ice cream the other day haha. Our schedule here is different. we wake up, have till 8 before study time. Study time goes till noon, then we have lunch at a members house, then rest time. so we don't really start working till about 2 o'clock. 

That was a sweet article about Cameron  I hope his ankle is alright! Sounds like everyone is doing pretty good though! Hows Dads Head? I haven't gotten any letters yet, i think we get them on Wednesday though. I Guess we only get them like once a month too, which kinda sucks. Jessi is gonna be a great missionary, she sounds a lot more prepared then i feel. i'm kinda a little jealous of her going to the south. I miss it over there. Mostly just the people actually. I haven't heard from like anyone in forever. Hopefully my Portuguese will get better soon. I love you all a ton! Tell Nate Happy Birthday for me! 

Com Amor,

Elder Brady Simpson

10/31/12

Oi Mãe! 

Estou in minha area agora! Eu saí a CTM ontem! Hey mom i'm in my area in my mission now! Its pretty crazy! I feel like i dont know any portuguese anymore, which sucks. The area i'm at is an area called municipios its like 20 minutes maybe outside of João Pessoa. So far it seems like its a pretty poor area. Its way different here than it was in the CTM or at home. Hopefully i adjust soon. My companion is a native Brazilian  which is cool, but also makes it kinda hard. The Americans don't like to speak English much either though. There is one other companionship in the house we live in. there is only one closet for the four of us so we have to  live out of our suitcases. That's pretty much what i did at the CTM though. It was kinda tuff to leave my district from the CTM, we all pretty much became a family. President and Sister Hall are super nice and cool! They fed us all dinner last night, and it was so good. I'm excited to be out here serving the Lord, and hopefully i'm not to awful at it. I love you guys a bunch and hope you are all doing well and having a good week.

Com  abraço,

Elder Brady Simpson

One other Thing! Happy Halloween! it doesn't feel like Halloween to me because i am in paradise.. actually its kinda hot, but my area gets a breeze so that's nice. Por favor tell Cameron Happy Eighteenth Birthday For me. And eat lots of candy for me, because i don't have any haha. Love you!

10/24/2012

Hey Family! This is my last email from the CTM, its kinda crazy! Time has gone by super fast, and at the same time, it goes by slow. I’m really excited to get out of here, but at the same time I’m wondering if I’m ready. I did get to see Perry today; it was super great to see him! So this week has been pretty crazy. Monday we went proselyting just around the MTC, which is kinda hard since almost everyone has a book of Mormon already haha. But we gave out three books of Mormon. The first was to a guy working at a car repair shop; he actually called us over and asked us what we were doing. The second was to a random guy walking down the street, and the third was to a lady sitting out in front of a shop. I was pretty nervous to start talking to people because I didn't want to sound dumb, and I didn't know how they would react. My companion is a stud though and so it worked out well. Tuesday we sang in the choir at a little devotional we had, it was really cool, we sang Ye Elders of Israel one verse in Portuguese one verse in Spanish and one verse in English. Today, we went to the temple and got to do initiatory, it was really cool. They were all in Portuguese. Sorry to hear about Cams ankle that must suck. But he'll be fine for playoff so that’s good. Nathan doesn't hate football; he just has teenage girl hormones haha. Hopefully Dad will get better and nothing serious is wrong. I’ll keep him in my prayers though. It also sounds like Jessica is doing really well too. I’m sure she speaks Spanish better than I speak Portuguese. When she says she feels like she sounds like a five year old, it’s probably not that bad. I’m pretty sure we all speak Portuguese like three year olds or something. I miss all of you so much, I’m so grateful to have grown up in a family like we have. It was crazy to see how some of the people down here live. I also miss the all the food when the whole fam damily gets together.

Love y'all Lots,

Elder Brady Simpson

I leave next Tuesday so I think it’s the 30^th. I hope I’ll be ready! I can hold a conversation well enough, but there is still a lot I don’t know. And Elder Taylor goes to Joao Pessoa also!

We fly and it will take like 3 or four hours on the flight, then depending on the area I think we take a bus.

So I heard about this crazy bug in my mission. It’s called a Poró, it looks like an ant with a scorpion tail, and instead of biting you, it pees everywhere it goes and its pee gives you second degree burns. Wild huh?

It’s like 37 degrees Celsius there right now which is really hot, the farther inland you go the hotter it will be, but if I’m by the beach it will be bearable because of the ocean breeze. So another cool thing that happened was on Sunday the president of the interlogos sao paulo mission spoke to us, and the missionary choir sang Joseph smiths first prayer in a bunch of different languages, everyone is in the choir bytheway, and they had us sing it twice because they said they could hear the angles of the Lord singing with us. It was so cool. The Missions presidents talk was also really good, I don’t remember what is was really about, but I took good notes sooo I’ll have to go back and read them.

Also I haven’t cut my hair since I’ve been here at the CTM so its super long now. But I’m getting it cut Friday. Tell everyone I love them and, Eu espero que vocês tenham uma boa Semana! (I hope you guys have a good week) Love you mom!

10/17/12

Ola Familia!

Esta semana foi bom! I am not out of deodorant yet, but it will be good to have more so i don't have to use the spray stuff they have here in Brazil! if you can send it with perry it will be way cheaper. If he comes next week i will still be here, but if its the week after i wont be. There are a couple other things i would like you to send if he has room too. Some spark if possible, and one of my MTC teachers was wondering if we could send a multi-colored mechanical pencil, i guess its like one of those pens that has lots of colors and you can choose which one you want. they don't make them here and she really wants one. someone in my district said they sell them at arts and craft stores of something. This week we had a power outage which was kind of crazy, we had class without lights for a couple hours, no big deal though because it was sunny! also we had a member of the area quorum of the seventy speak last night, it was really good! he talked in only Portuguese, and i was able to understand all of it! I was so happy! It was about faith, and real growth, real growth is if we have and increase in faith and conversion. I think his name was Elder Junot. Sawyers mission call is awesome! He´ll be great! Good to hear Nathan won his first game! Thats super exciting! Tell Cameron to stop sucking and fumbling in the end zone, haha just kidding, I'm glad they won. but really, who fumbles in the end zone? I hope this week isn't as stressful for ya! its crazy that Jessi is already in the MTC, do you know if she is there for 3 weeks or six weeks or what? She is a girl so of course it was gonna be a pain for her to pack haha. Diz todo famila que eu amo vocês! Tem um boa semana,

Com amor,

Elder Brady Simpson

Oh yeah i got sick this week too, it sucks! it makes it so hard to focus on stuff. I thought it was just a little cold, but i don't know. i haven't had like any energy since like Sunday, and I'm always tired. i think its just about gone though. Sunday i took a three and a half hour nap, and slept all night just fine. i got some medicine from the doctor here too and its helped a lot.

9/26/2012

Hey Family!

My week has gone great! I got grandmas letter last week on like Wednesday. That's pretty cool about the IV thing, kinda strange that you cant practice on your own family if you ask me haha. tell Nathan and Tyler good job in their games! That's crazy that Perry got his Visa that fast! and yeah I'll still be here. i think that's my last week in the MTC. I have got to see Brian Chamberlain a lot, but he left yesterday for the field along with a lot of other really cool guys from North America. I miss football soooooo much, i wish they had one that we could play with here. I guess Ben was at the temple yesterday, and i didn't get to see him, because my district goes to the temple on Wednesdays which sucks. Not really anything exciting has happened here this week, just lots of study and lots of learning how to teach! I finished the book of Mormon again this week though! I challenge y'all to read it again! and tell Jessi that if she starts studying preach my gospel now before she leaves, it will be a great help when she gets to the MTC

 

Love you All,

Elder Brady Simpson

10/10/2012

Como Vai Familia!

Im sorry about the cars not working! Im glad i dont have to worry about that for a while! The traffic here in Sao Paulo is insane. motocyles drive inbetween cars and its just crazy haha. Cameron would love it. We watched conference in english. it was amazing, i would definatly recommend watching it if you have time with school and work and everything. I bet Jessi is starting to freak about about the mish. It will be so fun for her though. The new mission age is pretty crazy news huh? i dont think i wouldve been ready to leave when i turned 18. Sounds like cameron is being a stud out there on the field. Good job buddy! I thought nathan didnt like harry potter? guess he does now haha. i leave the mtc in less than 3 weeks which is pretty crazy! it will be my last week when perry gets here, im glad i get to see him! i think my last day is halloween or the day before! Mostly this week has just been lots of studing o evangelho and a lingua portuguse. its fun now that we can actually make sense when we talk to people! Also if perry has room any candy would be cool and i would really like one of those rockstar lemonade things. im kinda starting to miss american food and drinks. and i definetly miss working out. i feel like im getting fat hah... Eu espero que vocês têm uma bom semana. Eu muito amo vocês.

Stay Classy,

Elder Simpson

P.S. Gabby and all my other friends want my mission address so they can send me letters. if you could give that to them on facebook that would be awesome. the actual mission adress not the mtc one, because by the time they get here i will be in João Pessoa. Also my other mtc teacher added me on facebook today haha. 

Also one of my new roommates is from Vitoria and he knows tyler powell! crazy huh! His name is Elder Kuster. I guess he knew tyler pretty well cuz he asked me about saywer and kade haha. it was all in portuguese too because the new roomies dont speak any english, thats good for us though so that we will learn faster. love you!

10/3/2012

Hey yall!

Not really alot has happened this week. Just more studying and stuff like that! its cool that now elder taylor and i are able to teach and get our point across without having to take notes in portuguese with us. we can also understand most everything someone says, if they dont talk too fast haha. We went and got hamburgers with one of our teachers  Irmão Israel today. Its was so good haha. I wrote grandma and grandpa back today so they should get a letter in the next couple weeks. We had a family home evening thing this week with some of the really good friends in our district and our brazilian roommates that left yesterday. it was way cool. the three of them all spoke really good english too. its crazy how fast time is going down here. sometimes the days seem like they never end, but the weeks go by super fast. i miss you all and hope you all are doing well!

 

Com amor,

Elder Brady Simpson

Oh yeah, we got lost last week during p day while we were walking around and ended up way outside of the mtc boundry things.. it was soo cool, the people were sooo much nicer and fun to talk to!

P.P.S i think one of my instuctors Irma matos added me as a friend on facebook haha.. oh and tell everyone good job in there games and stuff!

PPPS. Im gonna want more deodorant for sure! They dont have stick deodorant down here, only spray on stuff. The chocolate down here is super good too haha. And yes i did find the mini eggs and gummy bears on like the first night and shared with my friends.. now i wish i still had them.. haha. Eu amo vocês!  

9/19/2012

Hey Family!

Tell Cameron that, that is pretty awesome! Give Kelley an asprin and she should be okay haha.. We do get to go the temple every P day which is really nice! today while we were there the power went out halfway through our session, we sat in the darkness for like 15 or 20 minutes before they just had us leave. Last week on p day we went to a bbq place like tucanos, and we had chicken hearts. they were actually kinda good! I forgot to tell Mom Happy Birthday last week, so i will now. Happy Birthday Mom! My companion is awesome, we get along great! And yes we did get some new roommates last week. they are also brazilian, they arent as cool as the last ones though haha. This week weve learned alot about prayer and faith, and a lot of portuguese. we also had a devotional about agency last night that the MTC president gave. it was really good! I have a bunch of pictures from the MTC, but we cant send them from the computers here. i might have to take some and get them printed and send them home in a letter. I haven't seen Ben yet, but i really want to! It would be awesome if you guys could keep me updated on college football haha. Pretty much the only sport we play here is volleyball. I miss yall!

 

Tudo Bem,

Elder Simpson

9/12/2012

Hey Family!

my week went well, we are getting better everyday at teaching in Portuguese so that's good, Portuguese is getting more difficult now though. my teachers are amazing. we have been told we have the best ones in the CTM so thats good. my knee only hurts when i run on it, and maybe when i have to climb the stairs haha.. we did not get to hear the CES broadcast, but im pobably gonna go listen to it one of these days! im glad to hear everyone is liking school okay. It gets pretty fun here somedays, my disctrict is great and we joke around alot. My brazilian roommates left yesterday for there missions, so that was sad. they are some really great people. Elder Hayden Wing also left yesterday, it was nice having a friend from home here at the same time. Usually the food here is some sort of meat with rice and beans and fruit and juice to drink. oh and bread, lots of bread. its alot of fun, but i miss football alot. tell nathan good job for me. and you guys of course! and  i miss music too haha. I dont remember bens email address, but my Pday is on wednesdays. it would be way cool to see him. The best part of my week was probably when we learnd head shoulders knees and toes in portuguese, or maybe the first vision. our teachers makes class super fun so thats good!

Eu amo vocês!

Elder Brady Simpson

With some companions at the Mission Ties office

9/5/2012

Oi Mae!

Going through customs was great, they didnt check any of our bags haha. My campanion is Elder Spencer Taylor from southern cali, he played lacross at BYU and he is really cool! We have air conditioning in the classrooms, but in our quartos we just a fan and we have wooden screens that go over the window that let in air at night. We have two brazilian roommates that are awesome. they teach us portuguses. i got used to the time change like right away, but we are still always tired because we have long days. The food is good most the time, we have a try everything once or twice rule. The CTM is alot of fun, and i heard is way more laid back then the provo one. every morning we study by ourselves as a district, then in the afternoon and night we have a teacher. My favorite scripture is alma 26:12.. we went to the Sao Paulo temple today, its way pretty! everything here is alot cheaper too. Its crazy how much you can feel the spirit here. Even when someone is talking to you in a different language you can feel it. how can the gospel not be true. tell jessi i feel bad for her, but only a little bit haha.my knee was awful after i got off the plane, and it bugged me for a while, but its getting better. i miss you all! i hope everything is going well! Eu sei que Dues vive, e Jesus Cristo vive e  Filho amado de Deus. , eu sei que os familias pode ser eterno. The language pronunciation is weird here, Rs are like H, H is like Y when there is an L before it and D is like a G those are just a few of the weird things.

Com braso ( with a hug),

Elder Simpson

Elder Simpson and the group he was with when he arrived at the CTM in Sao Paulo