Friday March 25, 2011

Family!

 

Ok, so I have a lot to say and not a lot of time to type it, so I won't fill this email with a lot of colorful vocabulary and such.

 

Wednesday, I saw Sperry, Teresa, and Grandma Hope!!!! It was awesome. I was selected to be a host on monday. Elders are hosts, and then if it is a sister missionary, they are taken to a place where Sister missionaries are also hosts. I didn't see Jessica that day, but I was glad to know she was there safely. I forgot to ask if we are related to Moses Sperry. Are we? It was my first time hosting.

 

I got the cookies that Uncle Gary and Aunt Dorthy sent me, they were good, but they sent me too many, so my district likes them (aunt Dorthy and uncle Gary) too.

 

Next week, I will send home some stuff I won't need. For example, an English Preach My Gospel, my shoes and such (I am going to take a chance with those shoes . . . you will understand why later.) I will also send the tuperware back. It will have the letters I got here at the MTC in it along with my memory chip from my camera. I don't have many pictures, but some are better than none, I guess.

 

I saw Jessica on Thursday! we are meeting up on Tuesday instead of sunday because I forgot it was fast sunday.

 

Ok, so the MTC called Dad yesterday, and I about died when i heard his voice, it was so hard not to say anything. They asked me not to say anything, so I decided to be obedient and not say anything. My financial stuff that mom requested is in my hand written letter. The wart on the side of my thumb grew back. I wasn't worried about it, until I was playing basketball, and it split open and looked sort of cool (Megan would say gross, but the rest of us would be thinking it was cool), so I thought that I should just make sure that everything was ok, and they are sending me to a dermotologist on Monday. Since I had it before the MTC, they are using Aetna. (we believe in being honest)

 

About the gel in my hair. I would use it, and yes it is allowed, but I don't have a blow dryer. I might just have to get one in Portugal, I like the duck butt better than this.

 

I have gotten 1 haircut and will get one more next friday before leaving.

 

The phone call that mom is talking about is left up to the branch Presidency and is generally for telling parents the travel plans, but it is possible that I will be able to call to. If I do, i will know next week, and may have to call before my last P Day here, I will call mom's phone.

 

Dad, can you see if you can get on that scripture program of yours and get a bible dictionary for me in Portuguese. It would be really nice to have it during study. They gave us a very small thing that we can use that doesn't have near as many entries. If you can print that off for me and send it to me, that would be much appreciated, it would have to be soon if you can, so that I can get it in the USA, and you won't have to worry about international shipping.

 

I got my travel plans!! Apparently the phone call info comes in that, and ours don't say anything about the call. We leave on April 5 and arrive on April 6. we fly from Salt Lake to Denver to Frankfurt to Porto. I sent more specifics in my handwritten letter (flight numbers and such if you want to track the flights). I was told that I would have to stay in the MTC if my wart thing wasn't cleared up by the 5th, but they think it will be and I will only need 2 visits. (One to remove, and another a week later to follow up and make sure they got everything), but the MTC doctor doesn't see any problems with me leaving on the 5th. The reason I am going to chance the shoes is that I only get 1 carry-on that is a max of 18 pounds (not a lot by any means) and 1 personal item. They said a backpack counts as a carry-on and the personal item is like a scripture bag or shoulder bag. We have to check with the Travel office to see if my shoulder bag is a carry-on or personal item. If it is a carry-on, I will have to pack it in one of my bigger suitcases. The 2 carry ons can be 50 pounds. My problem is weight and space in my suitcase. We get 2 hours in Germany though!!, and it is a total of 19 hours of traveling strait. The Denver to Frankfurt flight is roughly 9 hours assuming we are right on the time zones.

 

Jessica and I are meeting on Tuesday, I hope to have pictures for you then, and I should get my care package stuff from her then. If you have any more questions, just send them on Dear elder and I will respond on Friday. I will also email you the results of my wart on Friday rather than writing a letter, you will get it faster. i wouldn't have authorization to write the letter until wednesday, and it would get in the mail on thursday.

 

Love,

 

Elder Hope

 

Eu sei que português é a lingua dos anjos!!!

(I know that Portugues is the language of the angels!!)

Friday March 18, 2011

Mom!

 

Ok, so you will have to send this onto other people in the family. I have been told that I can only send one email every week, and not an email that has several recipiants. Our entire district didn't know, and so they said that they would not revoke our privlidges this time, but now that we know, than we need to be obedient. Also, I am not allowed to email Jessica while I am in the MTC. I guess it is for the same reason. Jessica will just have to ask her Branch President if she can email me, it is by choice of the branch presidents.

 

Is Jessica the Mission Nurse?

 

Ok, so I was realeased as District Leader as you know, and that was honestly a tough week for me. I noticed the blessings I received while being the district leader.  On Sunday, one of the Branch Presidency members asked me and my companions to be the Zone Leaders!

The first day of being a zone leader was tough. We are responsible for the outgoing missionaries and have to escort them to the travel office. We had people leaving at 3am, 4am, and 5am, and we had to be up at 6:30, so needless to say we were tired.

It is sad how people refuse to listen to us. We had another departure last thursday, and we were instructed to ask them to stop having a going away celebration. They were singing a hymn that was starting to get really roudy. (Secreta Oração . . . maybe dad might see that one getting out of hand, it is Secret Prayer in English). They also left their room a mess, so we got to go and clean up after them. All in all, I felt sort of bad, as if I had failed. I had gone around the night before with my companions and we asked them not to participate. We knew everyone knew, but they did it anyways. We read in Ezeckiel 33:1-7 which made us feel better. We are the watchman, and we sounded the trumpet, but they refused to listen. As missionaries, we are the watchman to the People of Portugal. I know that we are blessed. How great a call and responsibility of our call!

We got to welcome in new missionaries. . . sort of. They were assigned to us, we went to the training meeting, and then they changed the branch that the new missionaries get, so we didn't get to orient them. Our Branch President had us check 3 times to make sure that we were sure that we weren't getting any new missionaries.

 

I found Elder Brett Carroll, and got a picture with him! He leaves on Tuesday, and Jessica is coming in on Wednesday, so she won't see him. I would like to meet Jessica on that Sunday after she gets here after the fireside, but before the film infront of the choir seats where the white haired guy stands and conducts. It is on the ground level. I will go to choir that day, if I can, sometimes I have meetings, but down on the ground level after the fireside but before the film. Ask jessica to bring her planner, and we can set up a time to meet and take pictures then, she will know more by then.

 

An update from the missionary perspective on the earthquake in Japan. 6 months ago the church called a record number of missionaries to that area in Japan. No one quite knew why (except probably the Apostles and Prophets). It is said it takes about 6 months for those missionaries to feel comfortable in Japaneese. A record number of baptisms is taking place there right now! Apparently some missionaries are being contacted rather than doing the contacting. During the quake all the missionaries were in a Zone Conference. All missionaries in Japan are accounted for and alive right now. Elder Holland said that they are keeping the missionaries safe, and they are being tested for radiation, and no harmful levels have been found among missionaries yet.

 

I have 3 investigators:

Jared- going to be baptized on April 1, 2011 (I think he is already a member though). We only have to teach the law of tithing to him  now and he will be ready for the interview.

Eguêno - He is tough. He believes the book of mormon is true and doesn't believe that there is only 1 true church. The different doctrines are unimportant to him, but the ordinances are. He was already baptized though and believes his minister had authority from god. We are going to teach that families can be together forever and see what happens. He won't pray with us. We told him that we weren't there to make fun of him or laugh at him, but we were there to help him come unto christ, he still wont.

Sabastão - is our new investigator. He is from Brazil, and doesn't speak very good english. We tought the first lesson, and he is praying with us. We will move on to the second lesson at this point. 

 

All in all, I know that the Lord lives and loves each of his children. I wish I had opened up the New Testament back home more like I am right now. It is full of great stuff. The book of mormon can be used to solve any problems that the investigator might have. Together the Bible and the Book of Mormon stand together as witnesses that Jesus is the Savior of the World. I add my testimony to theirs that the book of moromon is true and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God.

 

Mom, don't worry about Jessica, the people at the MTC will take care of her like they have of me. The Lord, her companion, and her Mission Leaders will be awesome. She is supposed to go to Las Vegas. She is also supposed to teach some people from Argentina . . . Maybe not in this life, but she will teach people from there. Portugal is combining missions in Preparation for the temple. The members are doing a lot of work for us to continute to help them.

 

Love,

 

Elder Hope

Friday March 11, 2011

Family and Friends!

 

It is a great time to be alive and all things are falling into place. Besides the quickest half hour (give or take) of my week is the fact that I get to email my family, is the week itself. Can you believe that I have been here just over 5 weeks?

 

Dad- I met a guy. His name is Elder Michel Blind Mechaileh, he is from Curituba, Brasil. He lives in the Portão-Ala Gralha Azul stake or something like that. His dad's name is Miled L. Mechaileh and the son, who is going to serve in Japan, said that his dad has been there since the seventies. I was wondering if you knew him, I know it is a big city.

 

Mom- I love getting your letters, the last one was so funny. I was able to find Elder Brett Carroll and we are planning on taking pictures later tonight. Also, I will add a letter for you to give to the turners when I get it written today. . . I don't know their address. I don't know how many names I will have done, but I have done several. I will finish them before I leave the MTC. Also concerning the temple, look at John 20:30, I think it is interesting on what the Savior did.

 

Jessica- I am way excited to see you later this month! I suggest trying to be here only 3 weeks because the food causes turbulance. I don't know where we can meet, but I will figure it out by next letter/email. Las Vegas is such a cool place, I am way excited for you. Are you going to be the nurse in that mission? What did you mean by dad picking you up from Saint Louis in your letter, it sort of confused me.

 

Megan- I have a little bit more to say to you. Please do whatever you can in your power to get well and healthy. Secondly, I hope you will stay in Spanish. You will never regret it. It is a skill that you can use for the rest of your life. It will open the door for you to understand the other romantic languages such as Portuguese, French, and Italian. I ask you to strongly consider staying in spanish, That is one thing I would do differently if I went through High School again. Please just take a moment to look around at the blessings that Jessica has received from Spanish, the blessings dad has received from Portuguese and even the blessings that Dale has received from learning French. You can make your choices, but I encourage you to make it a matter of prayer whether or not that is something that you should continue or not. I know that you will never regret learning that language, that Spanish will help you through life. I am greatful that the Lord took pity on me and gave me a second shot at learning a language. In Pregar Meu Evangelho (Preach my Gospel) it says that the Lord works wonders with the people who take the time to learn another language. It says that he has invested a lot of time into helping us learn, understand, and apply the language that we have been learning. Please consider it.

 

Ok, another cool thing that was told to us is that 46% of the chapters in the Book of Mormon have reference to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As Missionaries we enable the power of the atonement as we invite others to come unto Christ. Just like the Berlin wall, sins can be a wall in our lives that prevent us from going any further. Repentance is the way we take the hammer and chizel away at the wall. Some walls are really thick, and we get help from Bishops and other leaders to help us. Read Alma chapter 7 verses 11 - 13 (I think those are the verses) and see how many times it mentions the word "sin". How many times Alma mentions that Christ died for our sins.

 

A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos últimos Dias é a igreja de Deus. Eu sei que Joseph Smith foi um profeta de Deus e ele traduziu O Livro de Mórmon por meio de o poder e força de Deus. Deus ama-nos ele quer-nos voltar e para morar com ele outro vez no reino Celestial. Eu sei que eu foi chamado de Deus por meio de um outro profeta quem é seu voz na terra oje. Não tenho muito tempo mais, mas eu quero dizer que eu amo-se.

 

Com Amor

 

élder Hope

 

P.S. dad if you put aprende rather than aprenda, it is the command form.

 

send my love and my wishes to elder Mosca. and I am way excited for Jessica (Hermana Hope) to come!!!

March 4, 2011

Family:

Ok, so first off, will you please email elder mosca and let him know that I can only email my family here at the MTC. . . it is one of their rules. Tell him that I really admire his courage, and his testimony. Also tell him that I met Brother Nate, formerly Elder Nate who apparently met Elder Mosca at the Airport and Elder Nate had nothing but good to say about Elder Mosca. Brother Nate also knew Elder King and Elder Arendson, all 3 of my missionaries! (Elder Mosca is one of the 3) I don't think Elder Mosca knew Elder King or Arendson. Brother Nate also knew Elder Grondel and he sort of laughed and said that Elder Grondel was "one of a kind" . . . Whatever that means. Secondly, I only sent this email to mom and dad, you can forward it onto the rest if you want to. I am going to send a letter today or tomorrow that has some things that are really cool, but I also mention a story from dad's mission that I think he told me in confidence. . . so if you wouldn't mind opening it up first and reading it before you share it with the rest of the family I would appreciate it.

Ok, so on our devotional on Tuesday we sang the song Scatter Sunshine . . . one of Mom's favorites!, and I can see her laughing right now too as that is exactly what I was thinking when I saw the song.

Ok, so I have a guy in my District, Elder Molandado, who is from Arizona, and they play a game there that they call immigration. In Texas we call it fugitive. If you want the rules or something else explained to you, just ask Megan.

I also had to do one of the hardest things this week that was difficult, but I felt needed to be done. We had a rock that people carry around when they spoke English. That was all fine and good, but I had a really bad feeling about it. So after some thought, ponder, and prayer, I decided I needed to face the district and tell them that we shouldn't be using the rock. We have a few Elders who are very weak at Portuguese, and they just simply were not speaking, to me that is a problem. So after explaining to them what I thought, they were actually quite receptive, but I am greatful that was taken care of. I feel like all people in our district should speak as much portugese as possible.

Elder Searle is not related to any of those people, maybe distantly, but not within a 4 generation period of time. Elder Whitaker knows Portuguese really well, so Elder Searle and I went and practiced the Restoration in Portuguese, and we actually did it! we sort of butchered the Language, but together we did it!

I have noticed a few things that are really cool with the way things are translated:

in Matthew 19:12 it says "...which were made eunochs of men"

in Portugese it says " . . . que foram castrados de homens" homens means men

in 2 Timothy 4:4 talking of the Great Apostosy it says that the men are "turned unto fables"

in Portuguese it says "voltando às fábulas" which is interesting becasue the verb voltar means to return and fábulas means fables

in Mark 10:11 it says that a man shouldn't "put away" his wife in portuguese it uses a conjugation of the verb Deixar which means to leave.

Just a few things. I was looking up marriage and stuff for 2 of those because we had to teach why divorce was bad and things like that.

Will you look up the work "repudiate" for me? it is an english word and I don't know what it means. We don't get access to dictionaries, just the translation ones.

Elder Whitaker went to EFY with Marissa Hedelius one year!! I thought that was fun.

We were writing note to our investigator and he responded really quick, so Elder Whitaker repsonded again by writing response and he said, "it is just like Text messaging."

Thank you so much for the updates on Jessica and the family. I have been getting your dear elder letters. I think Jessica will go East of the mississippi River to Virginia or Nauvoo or somewhere in the Bible Belt, but that is just a guess. I think she will go spanish speaking, though it would be cool if she went to the portuguese speaking mission in conneticut so she could learn a lingua dos anjos!! my Branch President said that Spanish is a beautiful language of prayer and thanksgiving, but the people who speak spanish don't realize they get the answers to their prayers in Portuguese.

I am not really sick, I have had to up my Vitamin C because there is so much sickness going around and one day I will be just fine and then the next I will be under weather for a short time. I heard that the MTC had to get another doctor on for short term so they can cope with the sickness. I am going to buy more vitamin C today . . . Just so dad knows.

Well, my time is about up, but I love you guys tons, you have been a big strength to me.

Elder Hope

one more thing in Brasil, companhero means companion but in Portugal it is referred to as your gay companion, so we get say our colega, which means coleege. (spelling?), I thought that was interesting, and our Branch President doesn't like us calling our companions colegas, but if we do in Portugal, that would be bad, so he understands. I am supposed to get released from district leader on sunday, because i am 1/2 way done with the mtc

bye

**Jessica's Note: I did get my mission call to Las Vegas! I am going Spanish Speaking!!!

Pics for the MTC

Nick sent us some pics! Here they are for you to enjoy!!!



Elder Bishop, Elder Hope, and Elder Cottrell



February 25, 2011

Family:

Ok, so there are few things that I have to say as quick as possible. One, I have been getting your DearElder Letters!!!, and it is really exciting to get those letters. I loved the care package for valentines and I got the drugs today!

What is Grapfruit seed used for? I am doing a lot better than being sick, and am still working hard on getting the things done.

Ok, so to clear up any misconceptions, I have 2 companions. Elder Whitaker is from Orem Utah and is practically fluent in Portuguese. Elder Searle is from Idaho Falls and liked to wrestle. He wrestled in High School. He went to BYU Idaho for one semester before the mission, just like me, but I didn't ever know him.

I have 11 elders total in my district. Elder Maldanado is from Arizona and his companion is Elder Hansen is from Cache Valley Utah . . . something like Richmond. Elder Hawkins is from Victor, Idaho and is my right hand Elder. He is always there and helps me so much. His companion is from Texas! His companion, Elder Palmer, is from Denton, Texas and is a Pharmacy Tech. Elder Gibson and Elder Bonds are companions. Elder Gibson is from California and Elder Bonds is from Virgina just south of DC. Elder Bonds and Gibson are going to Mozambique on their missions, the rest of us were called to Portugal. Elder Johnson is from Idaho somewhere and Elder Smith is from Salt Lake City.

My toenail is growing back and it doesn't hurt anymore.

Mom, You were asking about my schedule and what we use our money for. We get gym 5 days a week (for us, its not on sunday or Friday), and we get to go to the temple every friday. Today in the temple, I went through for a name, Daniel Webster. . . and was able to seal him to his parents afterwards. I felt so strong that he wanted to be sealed in the temple, so we made it possible for him. The way that emails work now, printing them off is not possible for us right now. 18M computer lab is only for Senior Missionaries right now. For our funds, we get $6 a week. We use it on Laundry, Dry Cleaning (the mayonaise thing exploded all over my suit coat, so I had to get that dry cleaned) and there is an MTC store. That is where I got a lot of my drugs when I was sick. So that is about all we use our money for. We get free meals and 2 free hair cuts. I actually did send the pictures this last week, and you should get them in a day or two.

My Portuguese is fairly weak still, but it is coming surely and slowly, but I think it will come. It is a very nice language. My teachers are Irmão Mechem (served in Fortelzea Brazil) and Irmão Schlappi (served in Cape Verde), but there is a teacher that served in Portugal, and has trained our teachers in the Portugal accent. He comes every once and a while for pronunciation. I have a really hard time in sacrament meeting, our Branch President, President Aidukaitus is from Brazil, and his accent completely throws me off, and then he asks our district what we thought, and we can't tell him because of the j sound that all the brazillians make . . . in Portual it is more of a "sh" sound. By the way the "De" is pronounced "de" in Portugal, not a "ja"

I really like the MTC, I just want to get to Portugal. . . I just know that the language is the only thing holding me back. Our teachers say that this week is the week when we really catch on to portuguese. We see all of these elders leaving to go into the field and we just are having a hard time waiting for our turn. Most missionaries going to portugal fly from Salt Lake City to Denver, and then Denver to Germany (I think they said Munich, but I am not possitive), and then from Germany to Lisbon. The Denver to Germany flight is apparently 18 to 19 hours . . . in other words really long.

Please email Elder Mosca, and tell him that I love getting his emails, but I can only send one email here in the MTC every week . . . sometimes I can get 2 off, but it is really hard and the computers don't like it very much. I love that man.

So, this week, Uncle Sperry and Aunt Teresa sent me a letter via DearElder!!! I was so excited to get an update on her family.

I have 2 investigators, Jared, he is a pharmacy student in Salt Lake City, and we challenged him to baptism, but he doesn't know if the church is for him. We just have to work on his faith, and then he will get baptized. Eugêno is from Cape Verde and is sort of an interesting character he has come and has agreed to help us with our Portuguese. He has this philosophy that you can never know anything 100% even if god tells you that it is true. He is only 99% sure that he has 5 fingers. We meet him in Portuguese and then teach him in English, and that could be part of the Problem, that he doesn't understand English super great. . . we should be teaching in Portuguese in no time!!

Megan, get better, and remember you are loved

Jessica, I hope to see you soon

When is the exact date brett carroll enters the MTC?

Love ya

Elder Hope