Monday March 16th, 2015

Alrighty so this week was the last week of the transfer....so we had to work a ton....or walk a ton. We are super spread out in our area...........so we walk a ton.......so yeah we're going to try and fix that this week. so first thing... I cant send pictures and I don't have a camera....but dont worry I'll get it back tomorrow. I was at another baptism saturday night, an older lady who the sisters had been working with a ton and who I had talked a ton with every time I got a chance. We took pictures and I handed a member my camera because I was taking pictures with the sisters camera and then the baptism started and then, we left right after the baptism and yeah I forget to get it back. But if you could send the pictures of the baptism that you receive I would be so grateful. 

Alrighty so today is one of those days when the computer and the internet at the lan house dont work so we'll see if i can manage to send a letter to you today.....

So yes we completeed a family yesterday. We baptized a mom and two of her daughters. The father is already a member who was inactive and the other daughter is 7. They are a super special family and the Lord truely guided us to find them. They live a little far away from us and a good distance from the church. if you want to look on google maps they live in iriri closer to a city call Ipuima. the church is in Guarapari... But the baptism was super special. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have helped them become united. Now we have to help them get to the temple. 

Anyways this week was super fun and a tons of hard work. The district meeting was good. We learned about the questions of the soul and how the book of mormon responds these questions. We also learned about atributes of Christ and how we can develop them. I'm really focusing on reading the book of mormon. I havent started the 40 day challenge yest because I'm trying to finish the book of mormon still. I'm almost done with ether. I've been trying to finish it for a while now, so hopefully today i can finish it. 

I'm really trying again to become more like christ, to see in myself him. To become as close to him as I can. It's not easy and you have to have a ton of patience. But I'm working on it and on being more humble. But the book of mormon helps a ton. We can really learn the atributes of Christ reading and really pondering the character of the prophets and the other characters in the book of Mormon.  I'm super grateful to be in this area one more transfer and I'm starting to think that maybe, just maybe....this might be my last area........or not who knows. I have two more transfers. technically 3 because it starts today. but time is flying by and the end is getting closer. I'm studying the christ-like attributes so that I can be a man like Christ. So that I can be a good husband and father, so that I can become the man that the Lord wants me to be. Like we have to prepare beforehand to be missionaries, we must prepare before hand for the next step. The things we learn here on the mission will take us through the rest of our lives. Habits are created and attitudes formed here on the mission. The important thing is to not lose focus. To remember that there is life after the mission and that this time here is only a little time of our life but is super important. there is so much symbolism in the mission and how it relates to the Plan of Salvation. Study conference, Study the scriptures, study the words of the Living Prophets and follow the counsel of local leaders. Study your patriarichal blessing, this week I studied mine. What the Lord asks me to do, what He says I should be, and the cautions He gave me. made things a little bit more clearer. I love you all and miss you all tons. Lose yourself in the work and you'll find yourself. 

Love,

Elder Simonsen

Baptism Pictures March 15, 2015

Monday March 9th, 2015 (Take 2)

Haha just teasing

SO yesterday we had lunch with a family that lives here in Guarapari. His dad is american and served a mission here in brazil and married a brazilian, studied at byu and then somewhere in NewYork and them Moved to São Paulo and a couple of other places here in Brazil. So we had dinner with them. He (the son) is completely brazilian and his wife is as well but because his dad was american and super well off they have a strong taste for american products and have visited florida a couple of times as well as a ton of places in Europe. So yes they had in their house 2 cans of rootbeer. And i got to drink one. We had what is called churrasco or brazilian barbque but for desert we had cake and brownies and pancakes, with.....yes real maple syrup :) I could just close my eyes and it was all american. Yesterday was super tough ;) And they gave a some maple syrup :) so i can throw away that syrup I made last week by hand that made me a little sick............I didnt have maple so I improvised with vanilla. But It was super amazing meal yesterday and so much fun. I really enjoy their family, they are tons of fun.

ANyways other than that we worked a ton, and then some more, and then worked even more. We get home every night and are super tired. After We make the calls at night I just went to bed. I'm just super tired. It might be because of doing this work for so long and the fact that we are walking and teaching so much and working so hard but its a tired that I havent felt ever. I'm also getting anxious but I know that i still have a ton of time. One of my friends in the mission called me on thursday because they had the leadership meeting so he was with our zone leaders and they let him use the phone. Anyways he WAS part of my group and would be leaving with me on the same day but he called to let me know that he extended his mission, or that he is trying to. So he wont be going home until the last week of august, and literally he will have one day at home before he has to run to byu and do all the stuff there......so i was a little sad that he wont be leaving with me butI know that he will do a ton of good work for one more transfer here in the mission.

We didnt have any baptisms this week, the one we had fell. Maybe this week. However we were introduced to a member who hadn't been to church since he was a teenager and met his wife and kids, who aren't members AND they went to church yesterday :) so yes we are going to work a ton with them. They are a super cool family and we have a really big love for them already. The only problem is that they live a bit far from us so we have been using a member to visit them. Without the member it takes forever to wait for th charter bus, go there, and then wait for the bus to come back. But we are really excited about them. We are trying to work even harder and be even better. But all is well here and we are having a ton of hard work to do and pushing through it all. 

I cant believe that brook will be 17! She is getting so old. I'm sendin her card today so maybe it will get there by sunday.........maybe. I sent emmy's card about 2 weeks back. And I'll try and send courtney's next week but I need her address.....Thanks for the pictures and sorry I cant send any. If I had never forgotten the camera chord when I left this would have been so much easier and cheaper. But oh well. 

Love you all and miss you tons,

Love

Elder Simonsen

ps. i got grandma simonsen's cards and a card from Grandma Staker

Monday March 9th, 2015 (Take 1 )

Dearest darlingliest family....I had rootbeer yesterday


that was my week. Love you!

Elder simonsen

Monday March 2nd, 2015

THANKS FOR THE PICTURES!!!!

Sorry I cant send any, both memory cards have viruses now and so they dont open on computers to send pictures...but they still work so....I'll just keep using them. If i had brought the camera chord i wouldnt have had any problems.........I'll just have to wait now. Only a little bit longer. Speaking of which don't send anymore packages after today because they probably will get here after I leave.....or the last couple weeks. So yeah its better to not even try. But We'll see how it goes. I'm glad the birthday letter I sent you like 6 months ago got there...............................

Anyways sounds like you all are having a ton of fun and the eagle projects sounded super fun. Courtney's pictures were a little scary but its all good and as for everyone using my clothes...its all good go for it. But i'm super happy you all are doing things and visiting super cool places and having a ton of fun. Enjoy the nature because its super beautiful and tons of fun.

Anyways this week we finally had a baptism. Since the first week we have been here we have been working with her so that she could be baptized and she was! Yesterday after church! But I didnt have my camera......so the bishops wife took pictures. But we had a ton of people at the baptism and it was super spiritual. She will be confirmed next week but she felt so good after her baptism. She said she was the happiest she had ever been. You could really see that when she was sitting there after her baptism while the 1st counselor was giving the welcome talk. She is 19 and the missionaries have been trying to teach her for a good while now. She is lais's friend and because of Lais she was baptized. So just imagine what you could do for your friends. What you have is a joy without measure and you can share it with your friends. All it takes it to listen to the spirit and invite them to hear the missionaries. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission and see the changes in the lives of Heavenly Fathers children. He has a plan for every single one of us and loves us so much. 

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Other than that the weeks been pretty good. I've been working a lot on being humble and just accepting when people treat me wrong or try to prove me wrong or anything else. If i need to I'll defend but if not I wont argue, it just turns away the spirit. Its not easy, especially when they are talking about your country, your points of view, or are saying your wrong. But its worth it to have the spirit with you. To be meek and humble of heart. The reward you recieve isnt of men but of God and as such is an eternal reward. This week I've studied john 17 a lot and how wer are in the world and not of the world and how we much become perfect in Christ and one with Him and the Father. How we literally have to walk watching ourselves in every aspect and how when we become one with them we have a power greater that we have ever felt and a love bigger than we can imagine. Study the scriptures, turn to the Lord completely and put Him in the first place in your heart. Seek to do His work and forget everything else. Do what He asks you to do.

I'm going to try and finish the book of mormon this week. I'm in 3rd nephi 14.......so I'll have to read a ton and then I'll try and read it in 40 days again..It should be fun. There really isnt too much to say about the week. We are working hard, the area is beautiful and super huge. But the Lord will help us. The sisters in our district are really great sisters and workling really hard and the members are amazing. I love you all and hope you all are well. Sorry that the letter isnt super long.

Love Elder Simonsen

Sister Regina Marques (the bishop's wife) sent me pictures today from yesterday's baptism. 

Monday February 23rd, 2015

haha if this is 78 degree weather I'll be toasted when I go back. Yesterday was not 78 more like 98 :P

Yeah its all good. We are super far away from everyone and we had 2 baptismal dates but for now they arent dates anymore. One we are waiting to hear back about her interview....the other is a young boy that's 10 years old. We dont have permission from his mom for him to be baptized and he keeps drinking coffee.....His sister isn't helping too much with the situation (she's a member and so is his other sister) but we are working on helping them and teaching them to keep the commandments and live the gospel of Christ. We are trying to teach the mom but for now its been super difficult. But we are trying to use the temple and family history to help. She has had 3 deaths in her family in the last 5 months. Mom, dad and her uncle. So we are going there today to teach her about the temple. The members here are really good and the love the missionaries. Like if they could have the missionaries in their house the whole day they would never let us leave....ever. Haha one member offered to build up her house so that we could come back and live here. It's super pretty here and the other cities in our area. I really think that if there was one place you would visit to see the beaches and the land it would have to be the cities in our ward. Super Beautiful

As for the pictures its because I'm always getting viruses. I lost them because of that. The memory card can hold 2,000 pictures or 3,000 and i only have 500 (well I had almost 800...) I lost a lot of videos that I took. Actually all of them. 

Anyways the things i've been studying this week. Trust in the Lord (completely) Jesus the Christ, character. Who the Lord wants us to be and yep marriage. So marriage was what I studied this morning because its p-day and........no I'm just kidding, I studied it because yesterday we had divisions with members and went around the WHOLE day helping the to know where the members live in our area. Home teaching. But It was a super good experience because the Member explained a little bit about the marriage covenant that we make and who makes what covenant and who is responsible and things similar. IT made me wonder a little bit because here you see so many marriages destroyed and families divided and its a verry difficult situation for the families here. SO I wanted to know A little more and read in true to the faith about marriage ( I have no idea how to spell it anymore) And I learned a lot about how the relationship between a husband and a wife should be and how they should have nothing between them, and then how they should trust in the Lord. I learned a lot. 

I'm learning to trust in the Lord completely so that He will provide for us. Teaching by the Spirit. Studying and applying the doctrines and relying on the spirit to tell you what to say, literally in the very moment you need to talk. The thing i've learned from President Young is that the Spirit and the Lord don't alway (very rarely) work in a super quick instant response. IF we are patient and plead with the Lord and live worthy of His constant guidance and love we will recieve the answers to our prayer and the map of our life and the responses we need. But we have to trust in the Lord more than anything or anyone else. He must become our support. In Jesus the Christ I was studyin about the APostles and how they were taught to rely on the Lord completely and trust that they would know what to say in the moment they need it. It's a slow process but its line upon line, precept upon precept. There a little here a little. I've also been studying the plan of salvation, a little spanish (litteraly a little) and humilty and realizing that I am super prideful and very disobedient. That I don't know everything but what I do know, I know. Anyways I love you all and miss you tons. and leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Simonsen

Yep, Carnival ~ Wednesday February 18th, 2015

So yeah we couldnt use the internet monday because it was carnival, which was interesting because we still worked like normal all of the days of the week...and the lan houses were all open monday but today....of the 4 lan houses in our area the last one was the one open, and the most expensive....but at least we get to send email. 

So this week has been lots of fun, lots of really loud music, and tons of people from tons of different places all coming and passing through our area. It really wasnt too bad but it was a lot more than i saw last year. Nothing really happened though. Just work as normal. Oh and hardly any one went to chruch from our area....so that was a little difficult. But all is good and well. We have two investigators that are progressing towards baptism. One is a 19 year old girl who is friends with a member and who recieved an answer really quick. So we are working with her and the members (who are recent converts themselves) and having a ton of fun. I'll try to send pictures next week...I havent been walking around with my camera. Speaking of which I lost about 200 pictures....they just dissapeared...Oh well. The other investigator is a brother of the recent converts (young women) who is 10. We are trying to work with their mom as well but its a little difficult to teach her, she doesnt have too much interest yet. And hasnt completely decided to stop smoking and drinking coffee, but the Lord is always preparing the people to hear the message of the restored Gospel. We have another family that we are trying to complete, working with the mom who was almost baptized 6 years back but wasnt because a member offended her..............yeah thats a big problem here. But we had a super strong lesson about the temple and eternal familes with her last week so we are going to capatilze this momentum and try and get her more interested in becoming wothy to enter the temple, being baptized. 

The yumiest thing that i've had on the mission, i have no idea. I just eat eerything, but in the last two weeks its a thing called Pavê its a dessert with cookies and chocolate and cream and is super good. The worst thing is olives, I just dont like the green olives here an some areas they put green olives in everything............but I've learned to stomach it.

So things I've learned this last week. We'll we had a conference with President and they are really trying to focus on the Book of Mormon. Using the Book Of Mormon in teaching and helping in the conversion of the investigators, less actives, and members. Yeah :) so I've been studying a lot about which scriptures I can use and how I can use them and how literally you can teach so much just from any scripture in the Book of Mormon and how much stronger the Spirit testfies using the Book of Mormon. For example we taught the law of chastity to Talita, the 19 year old girl, and in the beginning it was a little difficult everyone was playing around not taking it as seriously as they should  and so the Spirit prompted me to use the scripture in Alma when he is talking to his son. It's very clear and I dont hardly every use it because its so direct that it leaves some people offended or feeling awkaward or I feel its super harsh but true. Anyways we used it and the spirit testified super strong and was a powerful lesson. 

Also I've studied the Plan of Salvation. I love studying the Plan of Salvation :) SO I studied Alma 12, Alma 34, Alma 41 and they aren't as commonly used here but they teach so clearly the doctrines of the Plan of Salvation and really invite the Spirit. ALma 12 I really enjoyed a lot. The last part. The thing I recongonized is that alma 12 and alma 34 are both taught by Amulque. He was truly an amaizing missionary.  So I'm working on using the book of mormon a lot more and teaching a ton about the temples and a lot about the commandments. The 4 that are asked in the baptismal interview. I've grown to understand why tithing and the sabbath day are so important .

I've also been studying Jesus the Christ (at least this last p-day, chapter 22 or 21) about Jesus being the bread of life and how clearly he stated that only through eating his flesh and drinking his blodd can we gain eternal life. Clearly stated taking the sacrament and observing the sabboth. Which is the commmandment to take the sacrament. Super important and so easily over looked. John 6

Anyways these are the adventures and lessons and studies of this week. I'm working on trying to walk like Jesus, being patient and suffering all injustices, being meek and humble. Not easy, especially because its a habit for me to fight back but I'm learning to be more like the Savior. 

Also another note, this week becaus of carnival they had a special camp for the youth of the church and the single adults so that they can stay away from Carnival. So.....this family of recent converts has a daughter that's 15 and a son that's 19 that went. The daughter met Ana Paula who is our recent convert from Cobilandia and The son met wellington who is our  recent convert from Campos.  They are both still firm and super strong in their testimonies. Just made me super happy to know they are good and still super strong.

I loe you all and miss you so much,

Love Elder Simonsen