February 3, 2014

Dear Family! 

I have been feeling tons better. But when i was sick i honsetly thought i was gonna die. It was a head ache i thought my head was gonna explode. no joke. i couldnt move my neck my stomch hurt sooo bad.my muscles were so weak. it was awful!!! i had diarea i puked. but i took some drugs they gave me and i feel tons better now. i lost some weight. im down to 94.55 kilos.   But the woman, Shirley and her son Denner are doing awesome!!! and their little Bella is continuing to drive everyone insane! ha.  Denner really wants to serve a mission and will be attending seminary. He loves going to church, he wokee up at 6 in the morning to get ready and to wake up his mom. haha. their are great! Its so refreshing to find someone with a true desire to search for the truth and to ask God what is right and to follow. Its been so awesome watching them learn about the gospel and have all their questions answered by the gospel. 

My new comp is Elder Cassiano he is from forteleza brasil.  He is pretty cool... :)  Im really trying to follow him, but its hard for people who come into an area they dont know and immediately lead. He is 26 a recent convert with an awesome desire to share this message!

Thats really frustrating to hear.  Their isnt a ton of young women here but the ones here are so few compared to the number of non members so they really have to be examples, and they really are, to some of them its the only important thing! its relly cool to see, they wanna leave for the mission right now!  Amanda, the girl we baptized last month has already started personal prgoress and loves it! 

I wish i could put my knowledge in peoples heads about the gospel.  You reall see how lost the world is when your on the mission. when your complete focus is the work, you realize whats really important, and you realize how confused the world is about whats really important. Its so sad to see!!!

 

The desire is really something people need to find out for themselves, i just hope not everyone has to suffer a ton to before figuring it out!  why cant every one be like shirley!  sincerely looking for happiness for thier family and gospel truths, she realizes whats important, and all her questions show this desire. all her questions were exactly what us as missionaries are prepared to answer. The work is hastening like crazy! they had a big conference in brasil this past sunday and the president of the area of brazil spoke and it was all about missionary work and preparing people to serve missions!  i didnt get to see it but i looked at it on the site before email for a minute or two. they really are trying to get everyone prepared and out in the field!  We are here to find the people that are elect, and not waste time with people that arent ready.  When i first got here and my trainer said that i thought it was kinda messed up. I thought everyone deserves a chance, and our whole effort, and they do! but we cant waste time teaching a ton of lessons and wasting time and energy on someone that wont progress.  They are stressing the baptismal invitiaton in the first visit. it really interesting watching how fast they want us to work.  The Lords work is awesome! 

Yesterday we were walking to our next visit and i had a feeling to go a different way, idk why, its not any longer but we started walking that way and a guy called out elders! ha. he joke with us for a bit, but turns out he served a mission and is a member and was visiting family, they were having a big get together making pamonhia!  Its this corn thing really popular here and its pretty good, we ate a ton and i got a chance to learn how to make one. and he introduced us to his aunt and uncle that live their and arent members. so we will pass by there soon! idk if its anything special but it was kinda cool!

SEATTLE WON THE SUPERBOWL?!?!?!?!  GOOO HAWKKSS!!!   ha of course the freakin year im on my mission.  BYU willl win the natl champ next year. i already know. haha

well i love you guys and miss you a ton! 

Chow!

-Elder Grondel III