Monday July 7th, 2014

Alrighty so this week was interesting and at the same time nothing really happened. First off we had a meeting with the new President, President Young. He's really cool and awesome and a ton of things in the mission are going to change. He spent the last 18 years in the stake presidency...so basically my entire life. 9 years as first counselor and 9 as the stake president. But he is a man that really walks with the Spirit and leaves everyone feeling good about themsleves after he talks  to them. Sister Young is amazing. She gave her talk in english and Pres. Young translated for her but her testimony is so powerful and she is one of the women that just loves every one. She just has such a huge love. She rememinds me of Misses Clause. She is really cool but she is super nervous too. So all of us American Missionaries went over there and talke with her in english a bunch and she is really a super cool lady. We all had time to have a little quick interview with pres. Young and it was interesting because of the reactions of the missionaries to the interview. One sister she came up to me afterwards just beaming saying it was one of the best interviews she has had on the mission and felt the Spirit so strong. Another missionary was super dissapointed and was complaining a little about the interview and just left a bad feeling hearing him talk. My interview was really good. Like really good. I enjoyed it a ton.He asked me questions that made me think. He asked me what the highlight of my mission was and i had to sit there and think because I had never ever thought about that. Then he asked why and some other stuff but it was a super good interview.

Anyways that really was the highlight of the week. Other than that, rain and more rain and I'm super grateful for my jacket because umbrellas just don't work with missionaries (you always lose them) The work here is tough but we are all right, doing good and being dilligent. 

Sounds like you all are having a ton of fun and doing lots of fun stuff. Paintballing, coanoeing, 4th of july. Must be a tough life. the 4th of july here I sang national anthems and we spent the whole day inside because of the Brazil game. I did eat 6 hamburgers though...yeah I thought I was going to die afterwards. Good luck with that date, i don't think she's told him she's going to byu-i....just wait until college because it will only be better and more fun and way colder. Way way colder. But yeah she needs to get her licensce.It will be weird with all 3 of us driving when we get back. Should be fun, we can totally race ;) 

So as for us in our apartment. Yeah we cook me and elder park do the dished because no one else does them. I clean the apratment, by myself but it's all good. Today we are actually going to eat at a restuarent really quick because we are going to go hike the mountian today if weather permits. But it's allwell and all good and going. We will be here another 6 weeks so it's all good.

And as for psalms I was thinking about looking a little more into it but I don't like reading the bible in portuguese. Like at all, and if i get the english bible out I have the triplice and next thing I now i've been reading in english for like 2 hours..........but sometimes it's worth it.

Sorry this week isn't a huge long letter but I'm all good and its all fine. Love you all and miss you tons]

Love Elder Simonsen

Monday June 30, 2014

Alrighty so we now have a new President, President Young. And we will have a meeting with him tuesday to hear him talk and see him so that should be fun. Saturday had brazil's game. That was crazy I don't know if you all heard but brazil barely won. Went to pk's and barely won. So we were all locked up inside our house and we thought the game ended at 3 but at about 4 the whole city started going crazy, then dead silence, the crazy again, then silence and repeated about 4 times. So it was obvious to figure out what was going on. But because brazil won we won't have any chance to work friday...because of the game we have to stay inside the whole day. So should be a ton of fun.

We have a couple of cool things that are happening, we are teaching this one family and the husband is a member but the wife and kids aren't and it's really complicated but the wife is starting to open up and being more friendly with us and letting us teach the kids everyonce in a while and it's just incredible how that house is changing. She was completely against the church and is going to another church and complicated stuff but we have been visiting them a ton and we had a super spiritual lesson with the first vision with them and that was kind of what opened the door. Afterwards we were able to dedicate the house, and then give a blessing to her son, and just these little things are so huge. We had an activity with them yesterday using lehi's dream to teach about the importance of the book of Mormon, and it appears that she really liked the activity and it made everyone think. We are super excited about this family and are working super hard with them. 

We also took someone to church last week, we've been having a really hard time with that, so that was huge. The lessons with her are super spiritual and she says she's feeling the spirit but she is also saying she won't leave her church....so we are working just as hard with her. 

Other then these two developments this week was a unnormally hard week, a couple people cut us, no one would talk to us, had days this week and the week before that we only taught one lesson the whole day. But it's all good, we are still going and we are no where close to being desanimated.It all comes with time and we are planting a ton of seeds. 

So this week I started really reading Jesus the Christ in portuguese and I'm in the parables and it's really cool how reading in portuguese is like reading again for the first time. It's something really exciting. I'm reading mosiah too, and learning a ton. I guess the biggest lesson of this week and last really has to be your relationship with God and putting off the natural man and becoming a Saint through the Atonement of Christ. THere is so much we have to learn and so much we have to do and even if your tired you still have to keep going and the Lord will bless you. He answers our prayers and through prayer we can learn HIs will. Read, study and apply the book of Mormon and your life will be enriched and you will be enlightened by the Holy Ghost. I love you and miss you all so much. 

Love Elder Simonsen

P.S. Thanks for the quotes

Monday June 23, 2014

yeah i haven't heard very much about the US. Honestly I'm at the point where I don't even bother asking. I got tired of everyone bashing the states and all that stuff. I've just decided to not even mention it for a while. I hear that brazil is doing good though. France and holland. Spains out, englend is almost out (the english are still pretty sweet though, I saw their line up when I passed in a members house super quick)  australia is doing pretty good but that's about all I know. LAst week was pretty sweet, went to the mall, found mcdonalds but just didnt have the courage to eat there. it's expensive so I didn't. Went to the nike factory............yeah we stayed there about 3 hours :) will never buy anything from the nike factory in brazil though. Haha you think our nike factory is expensive. the cheapest shoes they had there were about 100 reals. Normal shoes were about 300 reals. its about 150 bucks. so yeah i didn't even buy anything. Just looked and tried on shoes. We went there because an elder in our district needed new shoes. All the pool pictures were pretty sweet. Can't imagine the heat, haha it's cold here and rainy and cold and rainy. SO yeah i'm  using the long sleeve shirts.but it really isnt that bad. Just when it rains. But it's all good.

Not too much is happening here. This week we had the game, stayed home all day (literally all day) got a new oven that day (yeah I can cook pizza now!) wednesday and thursday and friday were all moderately normal. Saturday spent the whole day home.......we went to lunch and my companion had an allergic reaction to something ( we still don't have a clue what it was...) so yeah we took him to the hospital and stayed there for like an hour and a half and then went home and he slept from like 4 until the next day when we had to get up and go to church. SO I have tons of energy because I've been home a ton recently...so today we are going to hike a mountian :):):):)  yeah I'm super excited so I have even more energy. We just have to be home by around 2 because of the game today....but my companion is fine, he didn't die, he just had trouble breathing......but he was really no where close, we went to the hosptial because they accept the insurance of the mission.

Went to church yesterday, was pretty much normal. Yesterday just kind of passed. No one was home and the only person we visited cut us. So this week we have to find new investigators. I was wondering the last couple days (because we had a couple experiences) how is it that people open up to us so easily. Literally they tell us everything within the first or second visit. We had a guy who helped us on the day we helped an elderly sister move, call us over in the middle of the day and tell us everything about his life. He just opened up like a book, and it really struck me, all I had done was during the move just talk a little with him, little about the world cup, mentioned the church and where it is and other than that I didn't really do anything else. I left me wondering, and thinking about how the Spirit really opens people. Like through the Spirit opening the people and them explaining themsleves, we have a better opportunitny to teach people and not lessons. To really apply the gospel to their lives and help them out. The SPirit really literally shows you what to do and guides you. Sometimes they still don't accept the message, and sometimes they do but later decide to not to but it really is something to ponder about and realize how great is the power of the Lord and how we must truely rely on Him and His infinite wisdom and strength. I was reading Mosiah 2 today and he describes exactly that. How that with out the Lord we are nothing and we are unprofitable servants. it just makes you stop and wonder and really thing a little bit. Anyways don't have much time but I love you all and miss you tons

 Love Elder Simonsen

Pictures June 16th, 2014

 World Cup 2014 Street painting 

Oh the life of a missionary!!!!!!! Look how tan he is!!!!! 

The lady is leaving on the 27th of June.

The picture wouldn't turn~ Sorry!

Monday June 16, 2014

MOMOMOMOMOMOMOMOMOM

SO yeah I'm super early today I know, so we are going to the mall today and we have to be out of there by like noon so we had to come early today. Should me fun, President authorized it so we'll see how it goes, but anyways this week was pretty good. HAd a date, that fell the day before but we are still trying with her. She just has a couple of difficulties but she is willing to try. She just is really scared, so we are working with the members a ton. The difficulty we have is that she works at home, and never leaves her home, basically ever. SO that is what we are trying to help her do, feel more comfortable with the members. Other than that the work is still going. Rained all day one day and it was the day we helped a sister move. Yeah it was really fun, I have no idea how they got the couch in her house, we maneged to get it out of her old but not to get it in her new house. The doors are really small here and the stairways to houses are really crooked and slippery, and the the house itself is really small. But it was a super fun experience, I had a white shirt, it's still mosty white now. But we at least picked up the address of the moving truck guy and he said he'll go to church one day. 

So this week was the world cup and it really wasn't that bad. We had to stay home all day but the streets, houses, cars, and people were all painted and decorated. You could hear the whole neighborhood explode when brazil had a goal. It was interesting. That day I slept after lunch until the game started and then after that there was no way to sleep anymore. BUt i'll send you some pictures. it is super pretty. We had a zone conference last week with 3 zones. Yeah I got 12 letters :0 I got brooks and kiaras and grandma Stakers and like a ton from grandma SImonsen. The secretaries are always saying that I get the most letters :) Thank you so much for them I really appreicate them. But yeah we didn't do anything that day. Spent the whole day there, playing basket ball with the Americans and the playing a game called signs. Took a picture with president. ALl that good stuff. Eating cake, getting fat. 

Speaking of which our ward here loves the missionaries so much, that yesterday we had 2 lunches......2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So yesterday we went to lunch at one sisters house and while we were their I had the relief society president call me saying that another sister made lunch for us why weren't we there and then we all realized that the other sister had just mixed up the days. SO they asked me to go there and like schedule dinner or something at here house....So I knew 1 we would not have time to come back for dinner and 2 I should play it safe and take the other missionaries with me. SO I did and we got there and the sister was so happy and started putting food on the table and yeah so we ended up eating there too. We ate from 12:30 to 5 yesterday........It was so hard, and hurt so much but we couldn't tell that elderly sister no so we buckled up and ate, and drank so that she wouldnt feel bad...I don't think I've ever aten that much in my life. I ate at least 5 full plates yesterday both sisters also had desert and they bought soda. Neither of them drink soda so we had to...therefore yesterday I died. BUt that was the fun experiences for this week. I love you all and just remember sometimes, even though you all love the missionaries remember that if they say they aren't hunger, chances are it's because they've eaten already :p

Love elder simonsen

a second letter 

fathers day sounds like it was super fun, I can't imagine seeing talon doing his dance. YEah the tv looks pretty sweet but idk what yall are going to do with it. Sounds tough about Mr. rule, only thing that I can think of would be that he needs to read the book of mormon and the sisters can't visit him only once a week. If they do the rest of the week he will forget and wont read or do the commitment. I don't know about quest but what I'll do is I'll write them letters. I'll mail them off  tomorrow and just give them to them when they get back from quest if they get there in time. SHould be fun going to utah. I need to write grandma Butcher a letter. I've been meaning to for a while. Take pictures! oh and if you could send me a picture of me ad talon at the zoo in front of the turtle I would be so happy. Just in email would be perfect. Take pictures when yall go to idaho. I don't know nothing about there. but should be lots of fun

also if you could look into fasfa for me that would be sweet. Like when we have to do fasfa for next year when I get back and when byu wants us to do the scholarships and stuff. I would appreciate it.

Sister gave a talk about going home and so Ive been thinking bout it on the days of the brazil games, what is it that I will do , am I following Gods pla for me. Is my will His? AM I following what He's told me. So that was just somethng that I've been thinking about nd what not. BUt just so you know I've bee trying for a while now to have a prayer guided by the spirit and finally this week had one. It's so hard because I've changed so much since I became a zone leader. and I'm workig a ton on my pride.and charity and stuff. Its not easy. But I'm progressing. I love you and have to go. 

Love elder Simonsen

 Show message history

Monday June 9, 2014

So i'm still waiting for a letter but while I'm waiting. Alright got the letter :p wow 100 to send the box...........sorry, I didn't realize it would cost so much. So I would be perfectly fine if that was the last box you send me. That sounds like a ton of fun and the world cup shoud be pretty sweet saturday. So the brazilian game is thursday and we have to spend the entire day at home. We cannot leave. ALL the brazil games we have to stay home. SO should be fun, but I picked up a book that has all the games whose playing an where and a history of eveysingle world cup. Yeah it was free. i'll take pictures of the streets this week and send you all pictures. they are crazy, banners in the streets, painted streets. Its so pretty. Its kinda like christmas.

 Anyways we are all good here, add that member on my facebook and add a woman named tati. I keep forgetting to tell you to add her when I was in linhares. So por favor. JUst don't add the whole world.....THis week we had stake conference and Elder Ballard and Elder Scott spoke via de broadcast from salt lake to about almost all the stakes in brazil. It was a really cool experience and elder scott's portuguese, was really hard to understand in the beginning because he speaks with a spanish accent but his talk was about prayer. The ELder Ballard talked and he was very straight forward....basically be smart about how and when you use your smartphone and value your time with your family. Be where you are phyiscally. AND DONT use the phone during sacrament. It was a very good and plain talk. THe night before we had the opportunty to go to the adult session of conference and listened to a man President Castro talk (2nd counsler stake) who is leaving in a couple weeks to be a mission president in Manus.....WOW he talked about temples and the whole time you were just amazed. It was such an amazing talk. Super cool.

Anyways we had an investgator that 180ed this week. I went there with a member and our recent convert 10 year old Melissa) and tried to teach her...was one of the most difficult lessons I've had yet. Do you feel good? No. Do you feel good when we visit? No. bunch of questions to which she replied no and then do you believe God loves you. No. Yeah so We taught here that her heart is closed and that unless she opens it the spirit cant do anything she wont feel anything. She has to pray. And we left...the Next day 180!!!!! She was happy she prayed the Lord answered her prayer and she was feeling the SPirit. Miralces happen and we must always give thanks to God for them. ALways trust the Lord because He loves us and is our father.

Anyway this week I've  decided that i'm going to study magnifying your calling and the inlfuence of the spirit. I read a talk by PResident Eyrig tittled serving with the SPirit. SO that's were I'm starting. I'll write more next week but it also has to do with jacob 1:19 and ALma 17:3 teaching with the power and authority of our calling. There is a story that I like that was important for me. If you would like share it with the sisters. (the whole talk :p )

Bishops have that feeling come to them during the night and each time they sit on the stand looking at the members of their ward or thinking of those who are not there. It can happen to them when they find themselves near a hospital or a care center. More than once I have heard the words when I walked in the door of a hospital: “I knew you would come.”

We need not worry about knowing the right thing to say or do when we get there. The love of God and the Holy Spirit may be enough. When I was a young man I feared that I would not know what to do or to say to people in great need.

Once I was at the hospital bedside of my father as he seemed near death. I heard a commotion among the nurses in the hallway. Suddenly, President Spencer W. Kimball walked into the room and sat in a chair on the opposite side of the bed from me. I thought to myself, “Now here is my chance to watch and listen to a master at going to those in pain and suffering.”

President Kimball said a few words of greeting, asked my father if he had received a priesthood blessing, and then, when Dad said that he had, the prophet sat back in his chair.

I waited for a demonstration of the comforting skills I felt I lacked and so much needed. After perhaps five minutes of watching the two of them simply smiling silently at each other, I saw President Kimball rise and say, “Henry, I think I’ll go before we tire you.”

I thought I had missed the lesson, but it came later. In a quiet moment with Dad after he recovered enough to go home, our conversation turned to the visit by President Kimball. Dad said quietly, “Of all the visits I had, that visit I had from him lifted my spirits the most.”

President Kimball didn’t speak many words of comfort, at least that I could hear, but he went with the Spirit of the Lord as his companion to give the comfort. I realize now that he was demonstrating the lesson President Monson taught: “How does one magnify a calling? Simply by performing the service that pertains to it.”

I've been thinking alot about the power and authority of the Priesthood and how the SPirit radiates based on our wothyness and our obedience. HOw important it is the have the Spirit with you to leave the impression on the person.

ANyways I love you and hope your week goes well! Love Elder Simonsen

Monday June 2, 2014

WOW sounds like a crazy week. Graduation, I can't even imagine....i really apprecaite the pictures though. Court's hat looks super sweet. THose píctures look really cool. ANd that's awesome about mr. Rule. The Sisters have to visit him everyday now. Read with him and help him recognize the spirit. 

So as for where i am know. I'm in vilha velha, basically the st. augustine of  Espirito Santo. Tons of old buildings and stuff like that. HIstorical sites and what not. But where I work is a bit of a newer area and a little bit longer from all the historic sites. I'm in a neighborhood called cobilândia. Its actually a super awesome ward. like they are amazing. They are working so well with the missionaries. They have a closet that has a ton of supplies the missionaries can use, videso, triple combinations, book of mormon, pamphlets, its amazing and is saving us because we don't have anything. The mission has a shortage of pamphlets and book of mormon so bascically we're just going for it. As for being zone leader, I'm district leader here and I'm training again. He's from Curitiba and he's name is Elder Barreto. First week was p´retty fun, new area, new missionary. Don't know where anything is, so the first 2-3 days we were completely lost. But I know where a maority of things are now and we are still learning some of the areas. I'm living with elder Park again. So of my 7 transfers in the mission I have lived or rather will live, 5 of them with him. IT will be an interesting transfer. We are like best friends but they have obedience difficulties.......so I'll learn alot this transfer.

The area is really good, I get fed a lot so that wieght I lost will be coming back really quick. I show everyone the picture of us on the beach and no one can find me. They think it's my brother or something, Haha only because I'm super skinny, and...well because I buzzed my hair. I was trying to cut it and yeah, 2 all the way around. But here they have a 2 high and a 2 low......it was a 2 low. But it's already grown back a ton ;) 

As for the ipod, all the music you ut on the pendrive, all the byu music I had. Conference in english or portuguese, talks you all like. It will probably be easier if you but sessions because i can sift through them to find certain talks but its up to you. CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like the motab cd you put on the pendrive (Christmas one).
_____________________________________________________________

That's awesome she talked during the seminary graduation!!! I wish I could have been there. It would have been so cool! Was brook making faces at her like she did during that missionary fireside with me? Tell talon he has to go to church because I'm at church in brazil and its what right and its what jesus wants him to do. Talking about your experience with that man, Yeah I love it when people tell me what I believe or what they think I want to say. THere are a lot of people that tell me what we believe and what are doctrine is....which doesn't make anysense to me, because they have never even been to church or talked with a memeber....Just what they've heard. Then they don't want to hear anything from us, representatives of not only Jesus Christ but of His Church. 

This week was really good. It gave me a lot of time to reflect, now that I'm not running around all the time. I have so much time to think and ponder and really work on who I am now. I can really study and ponder. I found a scripture that says "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee" Isaiah 26:3 ANd I really liked that scripture because this week I've really been trying to have prayer guided by the spirit. But Ive been feeling so long from the SPirit and I was trying to figure out why. I had already recieved inpsiration that you need to be still to feel the spirit so what was I lacking? what I learned is that it isn't a stillness of mind (though it helps) but a stillness of heart. Everything we do goes back to our heart and our desires. That's why its so important to have a might change of heart. The atonement changes our character and our character is in essence who we are which has to do with the desire of our heart. For where your heart is there is your treasure also. I haven't been still in my heart, not completely at least and I was getting caught up in the vain things of the mission and was super prideful ( i still am) I've been trying so hard to be humble, so hard to put myself equal with others. But it's really hard when you watch them be disobedient and do things wrong. SO my focus is humilty and being humble and service the key.

Anyways I love you all and miss you all so much! love Elder Simonsen

 Baptism we had yesterday (members daughter)