(Link to photos --> CLICK HERE!)

Hello everyone!
It has been a LONG time since I have written, but this post won’t be the monster that it should probably be. I have four days left here in Fortaleza and then it is off to two weeks of adventuring. It is even worse than last time; there is now 14 pages of journal single-spaced since my last post.
Let’s see, on November 8th, we went on splits with some of the Elder’s from the office. There were three of them, they had one appointment and some referals to look up. I went with Elder Dustin Olsen (Chantelle if you read these posts, yes, this is the same Dustin Olsen you went to High School with, he says hi!) while Hector went with the other two Elders. They had some people call in wanting a copy of the Book of Mormon.
I really enjoyed the time going out to the appointment and coming back because we had so much in common to talk about. Our apartment can be too quite some times. When we got there we talked to a couple. The man is a member and is living with his “wife”. They are trying to get married but when you are poor it can be difficult, so the mission is going to help them out. They are really excited. She wants to get baptized, and will be (when they are married and not living together out of wedlock). She has as strong testimony of our Savior; we talked to her about faith in Christ, and living His gospel. We also taught her about fasting. Oh how I wished I were a missionary again. I could feel the comfort of the Spirit as we taught and could remember the joy of dedicating myself to the Lord full-time. There is nothing like it.

That weekend we took our first real big vacation. We went out the absolutely incredible paradise resort town of Jericoacoara. All the pictures on this post come from the trip. It is like waking up every morning in a post card. Everything was picturesque. My pictures I put up on facebook (link above) can very ineptly give you a sense of what it was like. On the dune buggy ride we took in the morning there were a couple of times where I closed my eyes because of sand (everyone else was smart enough to have sunglasses. I think I was the only one in the entire city to not have them) and would think, "am I really cruising along a tropical beach in a buggy on some random place halfway across the world?" Opening my eyes could only bring a grin. It was pretty neat. On the trip we saw seahorses, nearly extinct yellow crabs, crossed a river on a ferry, kayaked in a fresh water lagoon, made new friends (Marcio, Lia, and Claudia), and went to the spot where a city once stood. They had built it upon the sand. Silly Brazilians, we learn not to do that in primary. “The wise man built his house upon the rock, and the foolish man…” you know the rest.
That night after one of the most fabulous dinners ever we watched the sun set over the ocean from the top or a snowy white dune. There even was a couple galloping by on horseback along the beach at sunset—straight out of a fantasy book. There was a group praticing capoeira on the beach and walking back into town we were surrounded by music and light. It was a fabulous weekend, in a more relaxing indulgent way. It was a wonderful break though by the end of the second day I was itching to get home and get back to work. If I had the chance now between Jericoacoara again and missionary splits I would choose the latter in a heartbeat.
I have discovered Bonbons here. The hazelnut chocolate ones covered in milk or white chocolate are to die for. We use Bonbons to motivate our students to achieve their goals.

In institute the next week, Natália told me a wonderful story. She said Brother Carboni, who is the institute president in another stake, had a daughter that past away. Even with the truths of the gospel he was really struggling with this and hadn’t found a way to reconcile his feelings. Later he had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake City to go to General Conference. After the conference he had the opportunity to be in the presence of the prophet Gordon B. Hinckley with some others. With out brother Carboni ever saying anything to President Hinckley, President Hinckley turned to brother Carboni and said, “please be at peace about your daughter, she is happily teaching the gospel in the spirit world right now”. The Lord works in wonderful ways.

The next weekend we went to the fish market in the morning and bartered for all sorts of fish we had never seen before; big fish, small fish, (red fish, blue fish jk), fish with teeth, squid and more. We had them fry up several different kinds of fish and a bunch of shrimp for us. We ate until we couldn’t eat anymore and on the way home gave the leftovers to a starving little boy. It was a good morning.
In the evening we went to a rock concert (that wasn’t so hot at first) and stayed for the first couple of bands. It started with a bad 50’s rock cover band and moved on to what Hector called “butt rock”. It was a Brazilian attempt at Metallica...not so good. However, in the evening there was a great young band that had a sound that was a mix between Coldplay and Radiohead, and after that there was a Brazilian Singer (girl) who sang beautifully to much more traditional Brazilian sounds and rhythms. So it ended well.

I am going to leave it there for now. It has been a truly wonderful time here in Brazil and I feel like I was able to really immerse myself in the culture and make a difference too. Above all I feel like I drew closer to my Savior during this time, which was largely my intent for coming out here. I can say even more strongly that I know that God lives, and I know His Son lives and loves me. He loved me and each one of us enough to die for us. I am thankful for a merciful God that has given us the truths of the gospel, and has given us scripture that we might learn to mold our lives to His principles. As Alma “I would not that ye think I know of myself, but of God”. I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who has given me the Spirit so that I might know these things, as I know now, with all certainty of heart. See you all when I get back in less than three weeks!
Yours truly, Jason

Teaching, football games, cockroaches, and so much more!

Much more photos at --> http://byu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2147004&id=17821729

Once again I must start with, "where to begin!". We have been extraordinarily busy as of late so I have failed to get my posts up. I have been really good with my journal writing however so I should be able to find something good to put up… let me see…
I could talk about teaching, North Shopping, the beach house, the football game, Catholic mass, cockroaches, “Halloween”, the library, the dance and so much more.

Teaching
As always I like to talk about the highlight of my time here-teaching. Unfortunately they changed the format a little this last week and so Hector and I are teaching together again. Because we are both used to teaching this our own way and teaching the whole time on our own, you feel kind of lazy just listening half the time, and you butt heads a little over how to teach the class. It has been good though and we try to always start our turn to talk confirming what the other just finished saying.
I feel like we have gotten through better to this and the last group the importance of really doing your contacts and putting yourself out on a limb. We brought Bonbons in as a reward for those who actually called people on their list the day before. When I feel like we are really helping it justifies all my time down here. I pray that we can continue to increase the effect we are having on them each week. I ONLY HAVE THREE MORE WEEKS OF TEACHING LEFT! Sad thought, I will really miss the employment center and all the wonderful people that work there. I need to take pictures of them.

Bus Ride and English class (Journal entry November 7, 2007)
On Wednesday we “left for Bom Jardim where João [a volunteer at the center] teaches his English class to help one last time. The bus ride there was so crazy. It felt like some gross “mosh” pit dance party, with everyone completely packed together. We weren’t able to get seats and I had to stand with my back to the isle hanging over a lady for dear life. She at least offered to hold my history book so I could use two hands. You don’t understand how crazy it is until you have ridden a bus in South America in a big city. There are no laws, or if there are they are not enforced, on how many people can be on a bus. It is truly like a clown car. Whenever you think it is impossible to cram more people on the number doubles. I have watched people hang from the bus entrances as it starts to pull away and let the doors smash them into the bus. It has really tested my flexibility. Honestly, I used to be a little claustrophobic and at times I have to suppress a little bit of panic. There were at least two times I was sure if I jumped I wouldn’t hit the floor again. This is not to mention that fact that you have people squeezing themselves by you all the time because you have to exit in the front (you get on in the back). There were a few times when girls needed to squeeze by and had it been by choice I would feel compelled to go home and spend the night repenting. I think after one ride I could be the definitive author on “101 Ways to Invade Someone’s Personal Space”.
The lesson went well. We helped them by having them ask questions in English and then reply in English while João translated for them. The bus ride on the way home was pretty normal except the two prostitutes that got on. I just buried myself in my book and read most of the way home as the bus was nearly empty.”

Soccer Game (Warning: Partly Man Story!)
The soccer game was another great experience. I wrote in my joural:
“It was a lot of fun and I took good pictures. Hector on the way to the game started to feel the way I did when I woke up and really needed to use the bathroom. After Simplicio asked a vendor for some napkins to use as toilet paper for Hector, he went into the bathroom for a little while and came back out. Too quickly I thought. I found out later he hadn’t gone; it was too gross. Turns out he couldn’t wait any longer a little into the game so he said he was going to the bathroom and I wanted to get a drink so I followed. Once he had gone in I decided to take a peek into the “bathroom”. I have never seen something so gross. There was an inch of “water” on the floor, the sinks didn’t work, there was no toilet paper, most of the doors were broken or missing and there were no seats on the toilets. The “water” was verified as being more when Hector and I looked into another bathroom to see if it had working sinks to see one man relieving himself on the wall and another under the sink. THE TOILET IS ABOUT 2 FEET AWAY! WHY AREN’T YOU USING IT?!?! They were probably drunk.
Ceará won the game 3 to 0 and it was a good time all in all…”

Le Cucaracha! (A continuation of the same days journal)
“…However when I got home and started writing this journal entry I saw something moving in my bathroom. IT WAS A COCKROACH! Oh, and not just any cockroach, one about 3 inches long. I scrambled for a shoe after I had jumped on top of my bed in a time span I was sure defined the laws of physics. When I got back I couldn’t see it anywhere. I knew it had to have climbed under the sink cabinets. The problem is my bathroom is barely double the size of an airplane bathroom and putting my head somewhere where I could actually see under the sink (if it was there) would mean sticking my face only a couple inches from from the cabinet edge.
Sure enough, as soon as I poked my head under it was about a foot from my face. Once again defining all of Newton’s laws I was back up on my feet and fetching the broom. I swept under and threw it to the back corner. I tried killing it with the end of the broom with no success and when I went to find something new to kill it with it was gone. I couldn’t find it anywhere! I shut the door to the bathroom, so I don’t know where it went. I am paranoid now. You can say all sorts of great things about Brazil, but until they fix the cockroach problem it is not for me. :)jk I have the bathroom quarantined now, and the light is being left on because they don’t like light. I plugged the hole I think they could be coming out of.”
Since then I have become a master hunter with poison traps around the house. My kill count in my bathroom alone is at 4 now.

The Rest
Halloween was actually pretty anticlimactic, the dance was awesome but I don’t have time to talk about it now, the Catholic Mass “of All Saints” will have to be in my next posts, and the library experience actually turned out to be a very deeply moving and perspective changing experience so I will have to remember to include it in the next post. For now, I have to take off because we have missionary splits in an hour. Love ya all!

(I put some more photos up again. They are all up on Facebook Here is the lind--> http://byu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2140476&id=17821729 )

Wow, were to begin. So much amazing stuff has happened since the last time that I wrote. It has been nearly two weeks, I didn’t even realize that that time had gone by so quickly. I have written in my journal everyday here in Brazil and I have learned that value of it. You can really have a chance to articulate important ideas and orient yourself to your goal. After hearing Elder Eyring’s talk in general conference, I have made it a point to write how I have seen the Lord’s hand in my life each day and it has been very insightful and faith building. I have noticed many things I would have dismissed or not noticed without further reflection. I will try to right just some of the highlights since my journal entries since my last post are 8 pages single spaced!

(Us about to leave for the bus trip back! Not exciting...explained in later post) -->

Teaching

(<- A couple we helped get work. They came to ring the victory bell :) :) :) )

The teaching has continued to go wonderful. Today, was especially a crazy day. I don’t know if I mentioned it before. The response for our work shot has been so strong that we have a 700 person waiting list. I am not sure how they are advertising, at the first of the lesson I always ask for their name and why they are here. So many say a friend recommended it to them and the friend had said it was really helpful. It makes me so happy to be making a difference. The center has always done well with participant but I don’t think they have ever had so many lining up at the door. I am sure Hector and I will teach separately the rest of the time here. I am more than ok with this. I have gotten a really good hang of the language and the principles so I feel comfortable. I have kind of developed my own style and direction, and with all the wonderful things we are doing down here it is just not hard to feel confident, especially when you know you are getting a little extra help.

Anyway, so today, they needed one of our classrooms for a business to do a presentation, so I ended up teaching a class of 30+ right in the middle of the center! They actually locked the front doors to the center, we moved all the chairs and table around, the volunteers stayed off to the side and I got to/had to steal the show a little bit. I could have been so easy to be overwhelmed. I was on display, right in the middle of everything, it was noisy, I had to talk really loud, and I had to use a make-shift whiteboard. However, it all went really well and everyone is anxious to return tomorrow.

Something I have focused on down here is to act and not react and it helped me with that situation. I have had the chance to read a lot of good literature while I have been down here. One I would suggest to everyone is “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, by Steven R. Covey. I am only part way through. He explains that many people like to say are lives are deterministic, that we have a stimulus and that provokes a response. All are a product of condition and conditioning, our childhood, or our environment (Genetic, Psychic, and Environmental determinism). This is not true, and is what separates us from animals and other creatures. Between stimulus and response we have the freedom to choose, we have the ability to act. Thoreau said, “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavors.” I know this is true.

Young Single Adult FHE on the Beach

About 8 days ago we had an FHE activity on the beach with just the youth (young single adults) in the ward. It was all planned by the youth, and we even had some youth from other wards show up. Hector and I brought two people for the LDS Employment Center so it was about 30 or more people. I recorded it as follows in my journal:

“Bruno, who will go a mission soon, gave the lesson and then it was opened up for a testimony meeting. It was so serene. There was a gentle ocean breeze, not to hot, not to cold. The lights from the city gave us just enough light to see each other and you could hear the waves crashing against the sore. Because Bruno was leaving on a mission there were many mission stories shared, and many talked of bearing testimony about Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith and the restored gospel and it really struck me. My testimony really started with Joseph Smith, my family went on a church history tour and when we were at Carthage jail I felt the Lord’s presence and the Spirit so strong as they had played “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief”, Joseph Smith's favorite hymn. To look around and think, how did I get here? It seemed like the end of the earth, and there were 20 plus young single adults huddled in a circle, all of their own volition, their own planning, bearing their testimonies of the restored gospel, Christ, and Joseph Smith. The prophecy that Joseph Smith’s name would be known for good or evil through out the whole world is coming true. To know that these young were gathered today, to know I was there today, because a young boy went to a grove to pray and then had the courage to tell the world what he saw was truly a tender mercy of God.”

Temple Trip to Recife

(Recife Temple!)

Probably the biggest adventure recently was the Recife temple trip. We were to leave Wednesday night, drive the 13 hours to get there in a bus where we could sleep, be at the temple Thursday and Friday, and drive home Friday night. Giving us one night of sleep there in Recife. It has been the best experience here so far. The trip out was crazy, in my journal I wrote:

“Well it turns our there was a mix up with the buses and we ended up getting a microbus from one of the members who is on the city council I believe. It was funny cause it has a big picture of his face on the side. Everything else about it wasn’t funny. It was tiny, it didn’t have any storage space for bags, none under the bus, none above your head, and just a little under your seat. But alas, we got the seats with the wheel well below them. My knees barely fit in the space, and the seats didn’t recline”…”I am not saying all of this to complain, it just adds to the flavor of this memory and trip, as it has been one to remember. :) :) All of this, with a 13 hour bus ride ahead of us each way made it quite the proposition. In fact they knew it would be so bad that the devotional we had was all about having the best attitude, being grateful you could go, and not criticizing the situation.

(As you can see we were dead tired on the bus -->)

Well, about 10 minutes in, despite all my packing and preparations I noticed I totally forgot to go to the bathroom! Panic was only made the situation worse. Just before we were leaving town, the bus pulled over at a little “shopping” because one of the members had a battery operated TV that might let them see the football game. When we pulled over, instead of just him hopping out I noticed like the half the bus had evacuated, and I thought, “this is my chance”, so I asked Bruno next to me if he thought there would bathrooms there and he said yes so I took off. It is an open front store with just 3 or 4 straight isles to the back. I found in the back, two of the grossest bathrooms in my life. The girl’s was a little cleaner but had no toilet paper and the boys had 2 square of the waxy Brazilian toilet paper. So after being an entrepreneur in toilet paper usage efficiency, I walked out of the bathroom a little grossed out just to see the bus passing in front of the store down the isle. I took off running, and rounded the front of the store. I decided I would only chase it to the end of the block and if didn’t stop I would go back to the store where I would be more safe and they would know to return, but just as they went to go again at the end of the block, the doors swung open and I jumped in. It was pretty run down part of town so I wasn’t too excited about staying there. I am sure that someone, at least Hector, would have noticed pretty quick and had them turn around.”

I gave a good feel for the whole experience when I wrote my friend Jenna Kimble a letter:

“The temple trip was so great. There were a LOT of trying times along the way, but when I first stepped into the celestial room after my first session… I was home… my true home… and I was loved and I could feel the Spirit so strong. It was a beautiful moment. Two days straight we did sessions, ceiling, baptisms, you name it. It is a 13 hour bus ride each way, so they can only go so often. This was a special trip with just the brethren. I had never tried to squeeze three sessions in on one day and ceilings. They really go to work! It was wonderful, the spirit was strong, the food was good, and the beds (the one night that we weren’t sleeping in a minibus overnight) were great.”

TEACHING-WEEKS 2-3

(Here is a link to the next set Facebook album I put up. Once again I put most of my photos up on Facebook--> http://byu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2140476&id=17821729 )

Teaching
Teaching the class has been amazing and to say it is a blessing would be a euphemism but as that is the best word I can think of I will stick with that. This week is the second week of me teaching on my own. Our center has had SO many people coming in to attend the workshop that we have had to divide into to rooms so we each teach 20-30 students. We were told today by a volunteer the waiting list is now at 700 people! Truly, the response has been a tender mercy from our Heavenly Father.

The first week, I struggled. We didn’t have the participant manuals and I was in the smaller room. True the room isn’t as nice but that wasn’t the problem, the smaller room has been the overflow room, and as we have learned since we have changed rooms this week (hallelujah!) those who come later tend to be those who aren’t as serious about the course—go figure. :) So without the books for the participants I really had to wing it and have the secretaries furiously making copies from the one book we had I some of the activities for my students to do. Turns out the books had been confiscated as contraband, thought they were drugs or something, much to their surprise when they actually opened them up they were full of Christ-centered self-reliance manuals so they sent them right along. Ha ha. In all this chaos order in my little classroom started to fall apart and it was a trial of my faith. I was getting up before 6:00am to prepare for my class in hopes to do better and after a thorough reprimand on the 3^rd day everything came together better and I felt that the last day was significantly more effective. (Who knew I would deliberately go to bed at 9:30pm and get up at 5:30am? Those who know me feel free to scoop your jaws up off the floor).
This week, meaning so far just the first two days, the whole spirit of the class is different and I can tell everything is going to be so much better. I know I am being blessed and I know the Lord’s hand has been in my life; of course having the workshop books now helps. :) I love the chance I have at the end of lessons to, in an appropriate fashion, share my testimony. That little extra spirit goes along way, even if it helps me the most.

“Snakes”
Some warned me, some told me took make the best of it, but for better or worse, despite my best efforts the “snakes” have come out of the woodwork. For those few of you who are not familiar with this term, it is what the missionaries and members here in South America call the girls who go after the Americans. It has been bad, I have been given several numbers, near confessions of love in emails (and I don’t even remember who they are when I get the email), and volunteers interrupting me while I am trying to use the computers at the centers to tell me a girl has decided she is interest in me and wants to know if she can talk to me! For those of you who have thought my already astronomically sized head was already so big that an inflation of this sort would have surely caused an implosion of cosmic proportions. Probably leading to the formation of a new black hole and the destruction of the earth, I am happy to report I have realized it all for what it is and am not letting it affect me. It is weird though, it is like some mixed up weird form of reverse racism. I am being treated different for the color of my skin but in a nonviolent kinda creepy sort of way… or at least they are treating me different the nationality on my passport. :) Now before I go and burst all my bubbles, let me say I do feel I have had a chance to stand out here for more than just the color of my skin, and if this is not the case than I have not been doing what I set out to do while I am here.

The End
So much more to write, and so little time… ok, desire. I actually have more time but this will suffice. Tchau!

(Yes, my friends that is a chocolate pizza! My first reaction to the pizza was, "why did we buy this". Of course later is was, "where have you been all my life!")

THE APARTMENT/THE BEACH/THE FIASCO

(Once again full photographs can be seen at this address http://byu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2135444&l=9fa7c&id=17821729)

The Apartment
What a fiasco this has been, but ultimately we are here and we are happy. As I explained earlier we were living in a hotel/hostel for the first couple of weeks, it was nice you could get meals there, but think of it like the dorms, nice is some ways but really expensive. Eight reais for each meal, when we had budgeted three for breakfast, five for lunch, and seven for dinner. Now, we have a little kitchen, our own rooms, our own bathrooms (more than we needed, though his shower leaks so not to cooshy yet), a small living space next to the kitchen, and a balcony. We are now farther from the LDS employment center and the church but now the beach is only two blocks away, groceries one block away, restaurants everywhere, and the “shoppings” or malls are much closer. We can take a cheap bus that will drop us off right by the center and the church.






The Beach
Speaking of the beach being near by, having it close still doesn’t spare me from being an obvious gringo American. Today, in the afternoon I thought I’d take the short stroll from our apartment down to the beach with my camera, take some pictures, enjoy a stroll and come back. Well, Sunday is a big day for relaxing it appears and as I was getting closer to the beach three tourist buses pulled up packed full of young adults who where just chomping at the bit to verbally dig into a clearly foreign gringo. Since I was wearing athletic shorts that gave away I was carrying something, and I knew all of them would want to “look” at my camera if I pulled it out, I rounded the block and went home with my own personal peanut gallery “cheering” me on as I went home. That day I wished I was of Latin decent like Hector so I would go mostly unnoticed; at least he’s not given away until he opens his mouth. I had plenty to do at the apartment so I wasn’t too bother about it.


The fiasco
The fiasco was with our manager. He, despite his initial gracious commentaries that he’d be more that willing to help with anything, clearly didn’t like the fact we were not happy with the “housing” arrangements. Considering he was trained on this and given a Power Point explaining exactly what we were supposed to have, and he basically ignored half of the specifications, I thought he had no room to complain; clearly I was wrong. He eventually gave us a couple of hours of his time one evening to exchange our money and look for deferent accommodations, explaining all along the way that is was basically impossible to find anything, everything needed a year contract or was too expensive and I got the idea that he was hoping to go on this little adventure just to make a point; for sure at least to guilt trip us along the way.
Well, in less that an hour we found a really nice place, within the budget, and near the beach. Of course then he explains the next day that he doesn’t know how much he can get back from the hotel, that he doesn’t know if he can get the money because the man renting the apartment wants it up front, blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH. Once again if he had paid attention to his training information he would know that all he had to do was open an account for the area (as in the area we have an Area Presidency for) and then BYU through the church would reimburse the money back to that account in the end. Well, with all that we lost that apartment, but of course in one afternoon Hector and I found several other suitable options. Longer story short, he got us into one of the ones we found, or course it had to be the most ghetto of them and the one farthest from the center but at least it meets most of the requirements outlined for us. We still don’t have desks. If we are sounding a little bratty it’s because we paid good money in America for something specific and he didn’t deliver, and even more importantly, our directors in Salt Lake found out where we were living and said it was against the regulations that had set out. Regardless, all it good now and we are happy and the center is happy.