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

 

02/25/13

Opa Família! 

This week has been pretty good and its gone by pretty fast! My companions name is Elder Jensen hes been in the mish for a year and he is super cool. It wasn't really hard to move areas, but I sure wasn't expecting it. This new area seems pretty cool and all the people are really nice! We haven't had a fault of water yet so that's good in the new house! Getting to know a new area is super hard, it just takes a little bit of time haha. I think the best part of the week has just been getting to know the people and our investigators. Its also the hardest part too I think. Everyone is used to a different person when you show up so its kinda weird haha. We have some investigators that are ready to get baptized, they just have to get married first. Which means they just have to get the money to get married legally, and then the church can do the party for them. It sounds like everyone is doing pretty good at home. Congrats to Nathan and Tyler, and game winning basket and a pin is always great! You didn't like the state penn mom? Por que nâo? haha time is passing by so fast here, I'm already a fourth the way done with the mish. It´s crazy! I hope the news from the interviews is good and that everyone has a good week! Tell everyone i love them! Oh and ill put some pictures in this email, because the Internet at the place today isn't terrible.
So we have pictures of the baptism, one of Jacó and his family and one of Jacó and us together, and there is a picture of the Madeiras family!
Love you all!
Elder Brady Simpson

Brady and Mom did some online chatting this week :)  This is what he responds to my questions:

Yeah i like my new comp he is super cool, its weird speaking English sometimes though. Because we both speak English and there is a Brazilian in the house that speaks it too haha. The city is cool, everything is super close together though and i don't really like that and its more expensive.

We never ride the bus, only walk. The area covers a couple neighborhoods like maybe from our house to country ridge and all the neighborhoods inbetweeen. It was really hard to speak English when i got here because id already forgotten alot, and lots of times its English and Portuguese together. Its really funny when we say something in English but the format is Portuguese. Oh and I've never not felt safe, so i don't know which is safer haha
The house is better i think, just smaller, and yes they have cockroaches too here they are just another bug no big deal. Ive got to go though. our time on the net is up. Love you mom and it was great talking to you!

02/20/13

Hey Family!

This week was super good! The best part was the baptism last Wednesday! There were more people there than there usually is in sacrament meeting haha. We had investigators, members, less active members. everything! It was super spiritual too. After Jacó got dunked he said he wanted to do it again it felt so good haha. I'll try and send some fotos, but the computer house we are at is super ghetto. This last week has really just been visiting members with my companion because he is finishing his mission today! Oh and some big news, I got transferred too! I'm in Ipés, João Pessoa agora, in the city for real now. It came as a surprise that I was transferred too. Normally they don't send both the missionaries out of the area. I'm excited though, change is always a good thing. So yeah not to much exciting. My new companion is American and he is from the san juan islands. Good luck with your interview mom! And congrats to Cam, placing at state is a big deal! I didn't ever get a video from dad, only photos. I think i'll have more to say Monday, but I love you all and hope this week goes great for y'all! Oh and I'd love to get Tyler and Sawyers emails!

Love Elder Brady Simpson

02/11/13

Hey Fam!

This week was really good! We have an investigator José Paulo that is 60 years old. The lessons are going really good with him! But when we challenged him to be baptized he said no, he said that after 60 of being part of the catholic church it would take some time to be ready. I hope its sooner than later though! Also on Thursday we were at lunch when the Patriarchs wife told us about her grandson, Jacó. He is 9 years old and the only member of the family that isn't baptized. When a kid turns 9 its the missions job to do all the paperwork and teach the kid and so we've been doing that, and his baptism is this Wednesday! He is super excited for it, he has been waiting to be baptized. His family was inactive for a while and so that's why he has waited. I'm pretty excited too, after so much work here in Municípios we are gonna have a baptism! Last week i finally made the brownies you sent me. I ended up making them at a members house that we love to hang out at on P-Day. They like them. We went there again and spent almost the whole day playing Uno with them. I think I've learned that when your working and not seeing success you just gotta keep working and something good will happen. Something President Hall said in a conference was really good, he said that sometimes when we aren't having success its not because we are doing the right things, sometimes its because we haven't done the right things long enough. I think sometimes in life we get frustrated super fast when we don't have success,but sometimes we just need to have patience and do the right things for more time and good things will happen. Oh a met a new missionary here in the mish from mattawa, his name is Jared Sabin. He has relatives in ellensburg too. I think Dad probably knows his family, cuz mattawa isn't so big, ya know? Sounds like cam was almost dying during his matches. But on to state is great! Congrats cam! Best of Luck this weekend! Boa Sorte! About the crab. They other guys in the house say that they have crabs from the ocean here and crabs that live in the sand. We live like 25 kilometers from the coast. At least i think its that far. But we found it under our washing machine. It was strange for us too. Ill try and take some more photos this week for y'all. Oh and Carnival started this weekend. Its a pretty strange holiday. We saw a bunch of guys dressed up as girls yesterday. But its a national holiday. so there is nobody in our town. Everyone is in João Pessoa. All the youth in the church go on a campout during this time too, so there was no one in church yesterday. like 30 people, and 10 were from the other ward haha. I love you all and hope this week goes great for you guys!

Love,

Elder Brady Simpson