1/28/13

Ola Família!

This week went by pretty fast! Not really a lot happened, we just worked a ton. My new companion is great, he finishes his mission in 3 weeks, but he is still working hard, so that's good. I think we will be able to help a lot of people before he leaves. Lets see, last week we found a crab in our house.. and it wasn't a little crab, it was a big ´ol crab. I killed it with a sling shot after we threw it into the street and it ran into the neighbors house. They thought we threw it over the wall to their house, but nope. We didn't. It sounds like everyone at home is doing great! Congrats on Taz man being called the deacons quorum pres. And to Cams for finally pinning a guy. It took him long enough haha. So really not a lot happened. Mom do you think you could add the people from Brazil that have added me as friends on facebook?  I was able to use my card at the grocery store haha. Oh and bytheway the grocery store here is so different from the store in the US. Oh and Nathan you can buy me a car too! Something our Bispo (Bishop) said yesterday  in a talk was really interesting. He said why do we think that the Lord will answer our prayers right away? Lazurus who was a really close friend of Jesus waited 6 days, he even died. 2 days of being sick, and 4 days of being dead before Christ got there. and the scriptures say that Jesus wept for his friend. I thought it was pretty interesting, and a really good example for us in our lives. That's about all I've got to say! Hope this is a good week and everything goes well for you all! Love you guys!

Elder Brady Simpson!

1/23/13

Ola Família!

Lets see, we had transfers today, and I stayed in my area! I got a new companion though! His name is Elder Borges, it his last transfer before he goes home. And he is a native Brazilian. It should be good! This transfer is only 4 weeks which will be weird! Nothing really crazy happened, but  I have a few good stories to tell. We went to a members house to talk to him and his family, it's a guy of 18 years, his family likes to drink, a lot, and his grandma came out and asked us if she could tell us the story of her life. Of course we said yes. It was awful haha. She was so drunk. It turned into her talking pretty much to only me for an hour. She ended up saying weird things, like that she knows me and we are super good friends and when her grandson asked her where she knew me from she said the end of the world. Super drunk. I also received another persons life story in hand gestures, because she can't speak and only uses hand motions. Cool huh? It seems like as a missionary, everyone wants to tell you about their lives. Then on Monday we had a mission wide conference. That means the whole mission was there! Elder Craig C. Christensen from the Presidency of the Seventy was there and he spoke to us! He spoke  about our calling as a missionary and stuff like that! It was sooo good! One of the things he said that was really good is that we need to learn how the Spirit speaks to us. What the spirit is saying to us when its with us and we feel it, and what it is saying when we don't feel it and its not with us. He said that when we are first starting to learn we are like children and only receive yes and no answers. Like is the Book of Mormon true? Yes or No. But then he told us that one of the apostles said that now in life they receive paragraphs and pages from the spirit! Crazy huh! The spirit was so strong! It was cool too, because I got to see all my friends from the MTC there too! That's pretty much all that's happened lately! Its good to hear that Cam, Kelley and Nathan are doing super good in sports! I wish we would get some of the cold from there down here! Its been super hot! I'd love to get emails from Joey and Bryce! Its crazy about everyones mission calls too! It seems like everyone is leaving on a mish. Can you send me Brennens address? I dont have it. And the Coach referenced was for sure coach D. I hope you all have a good week and I love you all!

Elder Brady Simpson!

01/14/13

Whattup Fam!

This week went by super fast, but not a lot happened.  I went on splits this week with on of our Zone Leaders, Elder Orr. He is from Salt Lake City, and he played football at Utah State a year before the mish. He was super cool and it was way fun. We got to talk a little in English, but its funny because its English with Portuguese mixed in. Sometimes the words in Portuguese will come to mind before the words in English ha ha. I always like going on splits to see how other people do the work, and not just my comp. It was cool to goof around and still get work done. Lets see, not much else happened. We have a big open field in front of our house where everyone puts there trash, and someone from another street lit it on fire. It sucks when this happens, because the wind always blows the smoke down our street and mainly right to our house. So all of our stuff smelled like garbage smoke. It's awful. Enough people on our street called the fire department though so it got put out before it got super bad. I think the only other cool thing that happened was that we had a guy on the street tell us we missed an appointment with him like a month ago, I think we probably couldn't find his house, but we went there on Saturday and started teaching his wife and him but his wife cant speak and only uses gestures. She understands Portuguese and can read so we will be able to teach them just fine. We have an appointment with them later this week. It sounds like everyone is doing good in sports. Cams is killin it in wrestling and Nathan and Kelley are doing good in Basketball. Does Taz have anything going on right now? Crazy that Jackson is already engaged!! Transfers are next week, this is the last week of the transfer. Crazy that I've already been gone for 5 months. I found a scripture this week for dad ha ha Proverbs 20:29 i think he will like it. Oh and I was wondering if you guys could send me a Seattle sounders soccer jersey. I gotta represent a USA team and not only Brazilian teams. I love y'all and hope this week is great!

Com amor,

Elder Brady Simpson

01/07/13

Ola Familia!

This week was super hard. Our area seemed like a ghost town after new years. Thats because new years here is insane, they party all the 31st then all night then all the next day. I think its a bigger deal for them then it is for us in the USA. Its their summer break too so maybe thats why. Happy Birthday to Kelley! Im Glad new years was good for you all, i just went to bed and slept. Lame huh? but we had to work the next day. It sounds like everyone is doing good, and cameron is still scared of needles huh? Sounds like nothings changed too much. We got rain down here for like the first time on the 3rd it rained hard, it had been a hard day of walking and not finding anyone, and we were standing under a ledge of a building and i started thinking that maybe its a test to see how bad we really wanna find someone to teach, so we went out in the rain to the other side of street was a man standing under a legde and we talked to him and he told us we could go to his house another day and teach him and his family. The rain turned into a blessing! I got the family picture you sent in a package, but did you send another? I havent tried my card again, we dont have a bank here so we only go to the bank every two weeks when our cards from the church have money. Fast sunday yesterday was pretty good, its always funny when the primary kids get up and bear there testimonies. Usually here they just say that they know Jesus lives and that this is his church. Super simple, but super powerful. How great is that knowlegde that we have, that Jesus lives and that this is his church on the earth! An a scripture that i really like is 2 nephi 1:15, i love the picture it brings of getting a hug from Jesus, and that he is always there for us! I can try and look for a jumprope down here, a street vendor porbably has one, they sell everyone down here at a street vendor haha. Love you guys! And i hope you all have a good week!

Com amor,

Elder Brady Simpson

12/31/12

Ola Família! 

Christmas already feels like it was soooo long ago. It was great talking to you all! This week was super long for me, but some cool things happened too. Lets see.. when we were doing street contacts on Friday  we talked to a guy that was sitting in front of his house, and when i introduced myself he said that i had already taught him and his family in João Pessoa a while back. I was never in João Pessoa a while back haha, but hopefully I'll be able to teach him again! Oh I've taken a shower out of a bucket for over a week straight now! It kinda sucks haha. And Friday night we lost power for a couple hours which means it was almost impossible to sleep because the fans wouldn't work. I went on splits with one of the other elders we live with this week too. Elder Dantes. It was super cool and relaxed. Its always good to see how other people do the work. He is much more relaxed than my companion, my companion is always almost running when he walks and it gets annoying, because I like to walk slow haha. Um also we had a church activity Saturday  with dinner! Free food is the best! We ended up helping make the food a little bit during the day, i ended up cutting potatoes for and hour and a half. Fun ne? 100 people showed up for the activity so that was good, but our investigator was traveling this week so he wasn't there. Then in church the next day there was only 32 people. Don't know what happened there haha. Saturday my knee hurt the worst it has since football i think, it felt like every step there was something around my knee getting tighter and tighter. And to make it all worse I got sick Sunday morning, I think it was something with the food Saturday night, because I wasn't the only one that got sick. I'm better now so don't worry! Glad to hear Cam and Kelley are doing good in sports! Tell them not to get too cocky! And its pretty crazy that Sawyer is already leaving for the mish, time is going by super fast! Tell Brandon and Jade Congrats for me! I'm pretty sure by the time I get back all my friends will already be married haha, but seriously. I tried to get money off my card again today at the bank, but it didn't work. We haven't ever gone inside, but the first part of the bank has atm thingys and we always use those, maybe I'll have to try going inside. I think I'll try and use my card at the store today to see if it will work there. Oh and i got the Card from grandma Simpson at the beginning of November I think! I don't think I really need anything, I think I want a jump rope, and if y'all could email a video of cam wrestling and those fotos of the fam that would be cool! I think that's about all I've got to say this week, I'll send a couple fotos with this email too! One is with a giant beer can blow up thing that was in the Street haha and the others are some brothers that are the only youth in our ward that are our age! They fed us dinner on Christmas  Love you guys! Hope you all have a good week!

Com amor,

Elder Brady Simpson

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.