Last Week in the CTM!

Ola everyone!

 

How is everyone doing? I have had such a busy week trying to cram in as much information as possible before I leave for Porto Alegre Tuesday! I don't know where to start. First of all, we had a devotional on Sunday that went very well. Elder Tanner and his wife spoke. They are mission presidents in Sao Paulo. The cool thing is, Sister Tanner was just released as the General Young Woman's President for the church. She gave a really good talk about nephi. The Elders got to laugh about it because she had the "Young Women's President type of voice". There is one thing that missionaries do whenever they see a senior missionary. They take a good long look, than lean over to their companion and say, "She looks like a good mission mom." This is a very important attribute for us! Sis. Tanner fit under that category! Lucky, all the Senior missionaries fit that category at the CTM.

 

District 17-A has had a tradition since the first day we arrived at the CTM. We love to run up and down the stairs to our rooms. We usually race. Well Thursday we were running down steps and I rolled my ankle again! It was so frustrating. I had to put ice on it and it got bigger than it was the first time. Lucky, I took some good pictures. I feel fine today but I need to start taking it more easy! I don't remember if I told you previously, but I got a second haircut. This one was not so scary and I was able to have a small conversation with the Barber! He cut it so short! I can hardly part it to the side. (It kinda lookslike Jordan's before he shaved his head!) I am starting to like it though and I think I will always cut it short! That way if I'm tired in the morning, I don't have to fix it up!! I'm hoping to send pictures next week, but depending on the rules, I might not! If not, ill send it in a small envelope!

 

Monday was a very eventful day! We were able to go proselyting!! We were only allowed to be in the MTC boundarys but it was still really fun. The problem with being in MTC boundarys is every monday 30 missionaries talk to the same people!! Haha, we recommited 7 people to re-read the Book of mormon that they have already recieved. We were able to have a nice lesson with Marcelo. He is so cool! He talked about how he loves spending time with us. He said he has told us things that he has never before said to anyone else! He said he feels so good and peaceful when he is with us.... but he wont read the Livro de Mormon!!!!! Ahh its frustrating. Unfortunitally, its raining today and we wont be able to see him again. We are planning on asking another missionary in the CTM to teach him. We were able to hand out four Livro de Mormons as well. One little old lady was very interested. Her name was Cida. She lives right next to the church and the CTM but has never talked to missionaries before! We were stunned. We gave her the book of mormon and she asked when church started. She sounded like she was interested, I hope she follows through! When we gave her the book of mormon she gently grabbed it and wrapped her hands around it! It was really nice to see. Thats not even the best part. The best part is we were able to do all of this with 8 weeks training in one building. I can promise you that we were guided by the spirit. I promise you that the Holy Ghost whispered to me words in portuguese that I have never used before. We were truly blessed. I promise that if you remain worthy to recieve the Holy Ghost, you can also be blessed. If you are being faced with trials, if you have a question, or if you just need comfort, pray to your father in heaven and ask him to help you. This is a great blessing that we have recieved in our lives.

 

I hope everyone is doing good, you are always in my prayers. Wish me good luck because by next email I will be in a "Land down Under" as we call it in the CTM. I will be with my new trainer that wont speak english even if he knew it! Im so excited....

 

Elder Horst

Love.

Week 8

This photo was taken on Sunday, June 10 after the missionaries watched the dedication of the Manaus Brazil temple.  
Where in the world is Elder Horst?  Can you find him?
ANSWER:  center, second row from the top, with the big smile :)

Hey all!

How is everyone doing? I have been having a great time here in Brazil! I am really getting comfortable here in the CTM and the days are getting way to familiar! Its almost time to leave!! Even though I am excited to get out and serve the people of Porto Alegre, I am so grateful to be here at the Brazil CTM. Each day I learn things that help me both with the language and spiritually. Ill share a few stories. First with the language.

The language has been coming very well for me! I haven't had time to worry or get stressed and if I did have the time, I wouldn't let myself! I always have a positive attitude when I learn. One problem is that I have the worst American accent! I cannot even pretend to use a Brazilian accent. The hardest thing for me to do is roll my Rs. My companion and Elders in the district like to tease me about it! I would just tell them that it would come someday and there was no reason to worry! Well this week I was answering a question from our instructor. In the middle a few Elders had an excited look in their eye! I stopped and asked why they looked like that and they said "You did it! You just rolled your first R!" They than started clapping and cheering. It was really funny. I know that the Lord is here to help me as long as I obey his commandment and do as he asked with a positive attitude. This was a good example of that.

A special occasion occurred this past Saturday. The Manaus Temple in Brazil was dedicated. I had the opportunity to watch the celebration and Dedication the next Sunday. It was a great experience. The saints in Manaus had to travel days with boat and bus to get to a temple. They faced many hardships. They sold everything they owned to go. When they would get home after having nothing they would get asked, what now? There reply was.. Keep saving until I am blessed to go again. I am so happy for them. Never take the temple for granted. Always thank the Lord in your prayers for the opportunity to perform temple ordinances.

A lot of missionaries left for their missions Tuesday. That makes my district the oldest district in the CTM! We love to have that honor. My companion and I try to get to know every single missionary here! Yesterday a sister came up and asked "Why are you always included in everyone stories?" Haha its fun to have as many friends as possible! One of the missionaries that left on Tuesday was Elder Theobald. He was the one that started Singing in the Stairs at 9.30 each Sunday night. He put me and my companion in charge of keeping the tradition going! In two weeks, we will have to pick another worthy missionary to keep it going! Its kinda fun, but its a big responsibility! Just as an update. If you want to write letters to me from here on out please send to the NEW address below.

Brazil Porto Alegre South Mission

Av. Princesa Isabel, 342-B

Santana

90620-970 Porto Alegre - RS

Brazil

Mom, please check the address in the packet to see if its the same.. Use the one in the packet if its different!

I hope everyone is doing well. I just want to announce that my NEPHEW will be born around Halloween. I sure wish I could be there to see him, but I am so excited to hear all about him:) Congratulations Rebecca. Also, my good friend Chazz Denton got his mission call to Kentucky, Louisville! Good luck Chazz, im proud of you

Week 7!

Hello everyone! Another week has gone by and there is so much to talk about. First of all I would like to announce that Brazil and USA played soccer last week and Brazil won 1-0... no surprise there!! Go Brazil! I love talking to the Brazilians about futeball. Some get so excited and some seem like they are annoyed by how much they hear that question. My new team is Gremio! Apparently theyre not doing so well... But their from Porto Alegre and theyre colors are light blue and black which is cool. Our rivals are International or Inter... also from Porto Alegre!

 

Thursday I was playing basketball and I fell really bad on my ankle. I had to stop playing and went to the doctor! It was not a big deal but I wanted to make sure that I wouldnt get hurt worse and not be able to go trackting!! He gave me a little brace and I was off! The best part is, I got to use the elevator for two days!! Now im fine. I am walking and running. I just need to take it a bit easier next time!!

 

We had TRC this last saturday and it didnt go so well! We were blessed with having members as our investigators! My companion and I were really excited. Well we were assigned to three teenage boys and they were so annoying! They were not reverent and did not take anything seriously! It was a good lesson on how easily the spirit can leave the meeting. We did a good job teaching though and we had a lot of fun.

 

Ready for a cool story? You wont believe it. Last wednesday my companion and I decided to go to a park for P-day. We had the intention to find someone to talk to! We go and walk around for a while and talk about how cool it would be to teach! Finally we look and find a man sitting down reading a book! We thought it would be a perfect opportunity! All of a sudden we got really nervous and we looked at eachother and said "what do we say to him??" We said a prayer and practiced what we would talk about than finally went for it! Half way to the man we got nervous and turned around again. We talked for a minute and I said "this is rediculous!!" and went up to him! "Ola, tudu bem?" I asked how he was and he looked up and said he was fine! We introuduced ourselves as missionaries than had no idea what to say! I said, "do you like books?" Haha it was so strange. When we asked what book he was reading he showed us and it was in English!!! He said he knew english and we were able to talk to him with ease! Doesnt that sound like the Best Two Years?? We went through the restoration and asked if he wanted a Livro de Mormon and he declined. A thought came to my head and I said, "I know your learning english. If I bring an English Book of Mormon next week would you want to read it together with us?" He started to get a little more excited! He said, if you teach me more english than i will have to teach you more portuguese! We got so excited! Long story short in another hour we are going back to talk to him. We will get to know him, talk about the differences in countrys, than share a little message! I am so excited. Unfortunitally, its raining really hard out and I cant imagine someone going to the park to read a book today.... He might not be there but we have high hopes! I got to go to the temple today to do initiatories. it was my first time and was a great experience.

 

Elder Ray has finally arrived in Brazil! Each week I asked the new people if they knew an E. Ray. They said yes and I spent the next fifteen minutes searching the CTM for him. It was really nice to talk to him and catch up. It was also funny to say that we now belong in the same ward! He is a great missionary.

 

The start of week 7 is really cool. It means many things. First of all, we have technically had our first transfer day! Secondly, we finished our first planner and moved on two our second! This one is printed in Portuguese and I made a goal to only write portuguese in it! Im really excited and so far its going great! Last night we were supposed to have a talk from an area Authority but he couldnt make it. Instead we watched an amazing video of Elder Holland in the Provo MTC. We usually dont like videos from the provo mtc because we are really jealous and want apostles to come to Brazil! But thats ok. He gave the most inspirational, powerful talk I have ever heard I loved it!

 

I wish I could talk about my lesson with Igor but I dont have any time to write. Ill write it in a letter home and maybe mom will post in on the blog.

 

I hope everyone is having a fantastic week as am I. Just remember, when you think its getting way too hot this summer, think of me in Brazils amazing cool winter weather!

 

Elder Horst.