04/15/13

AHHHHHHHH hes coming down here to Brazil! I called it! So I don't know too much about Belem, but I live with a guy from there. It does rain a lot. But its super hot too! And its gonna be super sweet, I'm super excited for Cams! Parabéns buddy!  I got the Easter package this week! Thank you so much mom! The only other thing I could think of for a birthday package is maybe a Seattle sounders jersey. I can buy towels here so I think it would just be better to do that. I'm super glad to hear that everyone is doing well though! The shoes I have a still good, I'm still using my first pair so that's good! So this week was pretty good! We started off the week well. Then Tuesday we taught a lesson with Sister Hall in the chapel with a lady that does all the printing for the mission. She was really receptive and the spirit was super strong. It was kinda a weird lesson though. We showed here the whole church, then we gave her a blessing because she has problems with kidney stones. Then we watched the prophets talk from conference Sunday morning. We have another lesson with her this Thursday. The craziest part of the whole lesson was that at the end Sister Hall surprised everyone even herself I think and challenged her to be baptized, and she accepted. So this week we have to get everything all figured out for her. Then Wednesday we had interviews with President Hall and training from Sister Hall. She was still talking about the lesson and telling everyone about it haha. Even President Hall mentioned it to us. Then President told me I'm helping another elder that I live with because I'm running with him in the mornings and work out with him. It was kind of funny. Friday morning kinda sucked though. Elder Felix and I, the other Elder we live with left the house super early to find a doctor so that I can do physical therapy down here. We walked like all the way to the beach looking for the place and then found out that it was on the other side of the city. So we walked there. When we finally found the place they told us that the doctor we need to see only works on Monday at noon. So then we had to walk all the way back to our house. Like 3 and a half hours of solid walking haha. That's really all that happens this week with me. Love you all and I hope y'all have a good week!

Com amor,

Elder Brady Simpson

04/08/13

Hey Fam!

Cams call is already coming?! That's insane! I waited a month or more to get mine. I actually got mine a year ago this week! Crazy huh? Did you all watch conference? It was pretty amazing huh? Conference here starts at one in the after noon, then the afternoon session starts at 5. We got to watch it in English too so that was nice. It so much better when you get to here the different ways that the apostles talk. We got to watch with president and sister hall too. One thing I noticed is that almost everyone talked about the importance of the family. This is one thing that I see every day down here in Brazil. Most families here are not really families or people don't really have a family. I'm so grateful for my amazing family and the things you all taught me. I'm grateful for the opportunity i have to help other people have amazing families too. I saw the trailer for the movie you all went to in a members house and it looks super good! Funny that dad fell asleep ha ha? How's everyone been doing lately? The towel I have is great! it dries super fast which is nice. The only thing that sucks is when I wash it and then take a shower forgetting that it is in the wash. Then I don't have a towel to use ha ha ha. My companion is pretty cool, he is from Sacramento California. I thought about some things I would like you to send me, and I came up with Those rubber CTR rings, to give to the kids we baptize, some livestrong bands, cuz everyone wants mine ha ha deodorant too ha ha. Toothpaste, the good American kind because here it sucks and is expensive, peanut butter and oreos ha ha  I got letters from cam and Kelley this week so it looks like I'll need to write y'all some letters. Also we have a super cool new family we are teaching now. They are super receptive and like the doctrine. They went to a session of general conference too. The only problem is that we will have to get them married first. Oh and we have a wedding on the 20th of this month so it looks like I've got some wedding planning to do ha ha. I hope y'all have a good week, I love you all.

I think Cams will go somewhere legit, it would be cool if he came down here to Brazil, so that's my first guess. Second I think like Samoa or Hawaii or somewhere like that. Where ever he goes its where the Lord needs him, and there will be a specific reason for him to be there and people that are waiting for him to help them. And things to learn there. 

Abraço,

Elder Brady Simpson

04/03/13

Hey Fam!

I'm doing super good! This week was transfers again! I got a new comp again. His name is Elder Wilkins another American ha ha, I was sad to see Elder Jensen go, he was great but Elder Wilkins will be cool too! That's crazy about Cam and the mission papers, his call should come soon! It sounds like everyone is doing super good at home! So not a lot happened this last week with me. Elder Jensen got sick like all week so the first part we didn't really work much. IT was a lot of down time. That's super annoying because we have nothing to do in our house. We did have a dinner appointment with the family of the kid we baptized on Friday and its tradition here that the Friday before Easter everyone eats fish. Not meat. I don't like fish ha ha. The work has kind of gotten hard too. We want to help so many people, but its hard when they don't want to help themselves. Lots of times the poor people use the excuse of being poor to not doing something and it super annoying. I did get the letter from Kelley, but not the package yet. That's really all I have this week. It was kinda funny this week that for holidays everyone just goes out drinking here. So it was like lets celebrate the Resurrection and Christ's death by getting super drunk. Needless to say we saw a lot of drunk people. The letters are getting to me just fine, but we only get mail like once a month which kind of sucks! But i Love you all and hope y'all have a good week!

Ate mais,

Elder Brady Simpson

03/25/13

Familinha! 

It sounds like you guys are doing super great! Glad to hear that finals are over mom! I'm sure you did great. Crazy about Cam starting his missionary papers! I'm glad to hear it! Tell him that he needs to read the Book  of Mormon. Really read it though, not just to say you read, but to learn and grow from it. It is an amazing book. In fact you should all read it. Reading that Book and praying about it is really the only way we can have a sure testimony that the church is true. Its the keystone of our religion for a reason. Sucks about the dentist for him though hahahaha. Harrison's mission will be great, I've been hearing that people are accepting the  gospel there like crazy. It hasn't been uncommon for one set of missionaries to baptize 100 people at the end of the week! Crazy huh! So this week we started working in the richer parts of our area, which is hard. The people there are a little bit more closed and not open to talking to people in the streets. It kinda sucked at some points, but at the same time it was cool. When I saw richer parts it still doesn't compare to the states though. Nobody here has a yard or anything. and everything is fenced off. So we have an investigator, the mom of our baptism last week that has been a pretty tough investigator. She was baptised in the Evangelical church and it was such a good experience for her that she doesn't think she needs to be baptized again. Also she is having a lot of problems, they are super poor. Like one room house status with 3 people living there. She just didn't understand the priesthood, and she is scared of being a member of another church I think because she had a bad experience in the other church. But we had a really good lesson with here on Saturday. At the end she started crying the spirit was so strong. I think she knows that our church is different, but she is just scared to change. That's a problem with a lot of people. But hopefully we will be able to help her more this week. It would really help her kids too if she was a member and they all went together. Glad to hear Ben got home safely! If you could send me Tyler and Sawyers email addresses that would be great! But other than that I think I'm doing pretty good! Eu amo vocês! I hope y'all have a good week!

Com amor,

Elder Brady Simpson

03/18/13

Hey Hey Hey!

Hows everyone doing? It sounds like everyone is doing pretty good, Jess sounds good in her emails too! I knew it was Dads birthday and then I remembered that I forgot to say something in my last email, so I guess I'll say happy birthday now. 46 years old. Closer to 50 than 40 now ha ha. I wish we would get fed steak like you guys feed the elders. usually we get some type of chicken with rice and beans, which I love, they way they make the rice and beans here is amazing. So we had a conference of two zones this week with president Hall and Sister Hall, it was super good and the spirit was super strong. Then the same day, Tuesday we showed up to a baptism of the ward, a boy from the family we are trying to get married. And they asked me to baptize him so I did! It was super cool. All his siblings were crying because they wanted to get baptized too ha ha. So the week started of really good, then it got kinda hard. No one wanted to talk to us in the street and we were just getting rejected left and right. And I wont lie that kinda sucks. One of our investigators a 12 year old kid that went to church last week even said he didn't want anything to do with us anymore. And that's kinda how the week went until Sunday. So we had marked a baptism of a 10 year old kid, and already done the paperwork and had permission and everything for the baptism that night. We went to look for the kid to bring him to church and his mom wanted to talk to us. She said she was thinking about the baptism and she thought he needed to wait some more time and get to know the church better. So I was thinking great our baptism is about to fall through. We managed to convince the mom to go to sacrament meeting though. And guess who gave a talk yesterday, this guy. The whole time preparing the talk and before I gave it I had been praying that the spirit would be there and that I would be able to help anyone with something. And my topic was preparation for baptism. I'm not gonna lie I was pretty nervous to give a talk. But after sacrament meeting we were talking to the mom and she said that the baptism was gonna happen tonight. She said she felt the spirit and that she felt like it was the right thing to do. That really boosted my testimony that God answers prayers, and that its the spirit that does the talking, not us, because my talk was not that good i don't think. So we were able to baptize Glaydson and to me it was a miracle! I was so happy. Also i finished the Book of Mormon in Portuguese yesterday! That was a pretty big accomplishment for me too! Brenn's letter was freaking amazing! I miss that kid so much and I'm so happy for him that everything is well. Oh and mom I was thinking that maybe if it wasn't too late you could send some jellybeans, like the starburst ones or the nerds ones! I hope this week goes great for you all!
Com amor,
Elder Brady Simpson
Ps. fotos from the baptisms will be sent. my face is awful in the one with glaydson.

03/11/13

Hey fam! 

Sounds like everything is going super well with y'all in the states! Sounds like Jess is doing super good too, except for the being sick part! I think getting sick here is a little bit worse though ha ha. The drug stores are kinda sketchy ha ha. It sounds like your new clinical thingy will be super good, working on the floor you will work on and all. It is  crazy that Ben gets home already! I would kill to have a blizzard down here ha ha it is always so hot, and once  you get hot it's hard to get cooled off again. I've got a couple cool/ weird stories from this for you all. So quarta-feira we were talking to some boyzinhos that live pretty close to the church that played basketball with us on p-day, and their family was there so we ended up talking to them all, but towards the end his sister that is 14 and was already baptised was talking to us with her friend. She was dressed in immodest clothing and has a bunch of earrings and piercing, needless to say she is inactive. And her friend started asking us about the church and gay people. Needless to say he is gay. I think he said he is 17. Elder Jensen was kind enough to answer all his questions haha. But during the middle of the conversation they lit up a homemade joint. haha pretty sketchy huh? But on Sunday the girl and her brother and her best friend, another girl that is baptized went to church! And another kid that lives there that was a reference from a deacon. It was cool to see them there! Also in another contact this week somebody lit up a homemade joint, but this time it was only tobacco. So the other story I have is from yesterday morning. We did splits to go look for people to bring them to church (the people that said they would go) and I went to a villa like a little apartment thingy built down the side of someones house. It's pretty much a side street with a bunch of tiny houses like one room. But this one is the most ghetto one I've ever been in. Seriously a ghetto. I don't even know how to describe it. I'm going to try and take a picture this week of it for you all. But so we went there and as we were walking down the street we saw the cops in the road and I was thinking oh crap it looks like its in front of the villa. It was. So we started talking to the owner real fast, one of the guys we were looking for, and he said he was a little busy. Come to find out that one of the guys that lives in one of the apartment thingies beat his wife then left saying he was going to buy a gun so he could kill her. Its almost impossible here for someone to own a gun legally. So really only the gangsters have them. So it was kinda a big deal. And the two guys I was looking for didn't go to church because they were busy haha. I think I would like some more spark, some lemon aid would be amazing. Like the country time stuff or something. also some more Tylenol stuff. an American soccer jersey haha. i don't know ill try and think of some stuff. This week was really good, I don't even remember the hardest part. I think it was just walking. one day I woke up and it hurt to walk. But só vai! Brazil is awesome, I love the people here. Sometimes it can get a little bit sketchy, but its legit! Oh and I'll try and write some letters this week and send some tang in them. They have about a million different flavors of tang here.

Hope you all have a good week! 

Com amor,

Elder Brady Simpson

03/04/13

Hey Fam!

This week was pretty great! On p-day we played basketball and threw around a football with some members. Its nice that we have things we can do on p-day here! The bad news is that  I've had knee pain all week but I just try to ignore it because its not to terrible yet.  Then the next day we got money for our lunch appointment so we ended up buying stuff to make brownies and snickerdoodles and no bake cookies.  Everything turned out well except for the snickdoodles, funny story with those. I think our recipe is wrong because the batter? was not thick enough so we made it into a cake! It tasted just like snickerdoodles, but it was a cake! Pretty sweet right! We have been teaching a lot here in this area, and it has really paid off! We had another batismo this week on Saturday! I don't have a picture yet for you though sorry. So her name is Camillia and she is 23 and I showed up here and she was already in investigator, with her boyfriend thingy. They have a kid together that's one year old and crazy ha ha. So we were planning on helping them get married so they could be baptized, but then they separated and we didn't have to wait anymore and she really wanted to be baptized. So it was super cool. We are still trying to work with her boyfriend Daniel but he is really hard to find, and he is super mole (soft, lazy I think is the translation) But for the reunião batismo we had to be fast because stake conference was the same night. That's why I didn't get a picture because we were in a hurry, we don't even get to watch stake conference, except for the Sunday session. We also made brownies and cake for the batismo too. Everyone loved it! So yeah this week has been pretty great! Stake conference was good too! Presidente and Sister Hall spoke and they talked about how us as members need to help the new converts get adjusted to a new way of life in the church. We speak a different language and have a different vocab in the church and if people don't have help they will just go back to the way they were where everything is normal for them. Also some big news for y'all! The missão will split here in July, it will be mission João Pessoa and mission Natal. So Rio Grande Do Norte the northern state in the mish will be a mission and Paraíba will be a mission. It will be weird I think. Also missionaries are miracle workers, because my comp and I are wedding planners ha ha we are helping a couple in the ward that isn't married get married and then we can baptize the man. They been together for 10 years already and have three kids, one will turn 8 this month. Its pretty crazy ha ha. I never thought I would be helping with a wedding before the mish. That's pretty much all I've got to say this week. I'll try to write some letters soon. Ive been super slow with being transferred and all, and we have been working a bunch, but I'll try! Oh and I'll throw in some pictures for y'all. One is from a baptism in the ward. It was super cool and over the top. But we took picture with the dolls they had there ha ha.  Oh and a cake we got to eat last night at a fireside that the Moças did, Young women's. The cake was super tasty ha ha.

Love you all and congrats on the Job mom I'm super excited for you! 

Com amor,

Elder Brady Simpson