1/19/2011

This week was good here in Mamanguape. We´re working hard, finding new people, and progressing in the work. The only problem is that time is starting to get slow. I´ve been in the same area so long that it starting to get hard to find exciting things. We still do have exciting things though :P

This week we were walking and we passed 3 blind people walking down the street together, all helping each other out. Elder Cook started singing 3 blind mice.

I met a 14 year old investigator of my zone leaders. He has long hair to his shoulders. I told him that I used to have longer hair, and showed him a picture. he though that was really cool, and we became fast friends. On Saturday he asked me to baptize him, and that was a pretty neat experience.

On a sad note, one of our investigators died this week. He was thirteen, and had come to church with us once, and was planning on coming to church again, and then he hung himself. They don´t really know if he did it on purpose, or if he was just playing around when it happened, but it´s sad either way. About once a week we hear another story about how someone died in the city. This week it just happened to be one of our investigators :(

I don´t have any new photos this week. Not a whole lot happened. I really enjoyed the photos you sent though. The closet at dad´s looks good, and it was neat to see the baptism photos. Josh looked stoked to get his license. I´m trying to send a sound file to you guys. I don´t know if it will work. I don´t have a program to play it here, so I´m just hoping that you guys have a program there. We borrowed a guitar for Christmas, and then the family we borrowed it from went to the beach for a while, so we´ve had a guitar for a few weeks, and I recorded the theme from Friends, "I'll Be There for You"to send to you. Let me know if it works. If not I can try something again next week.

I love you guys a lot, and I´m glad to hear that everyone is doing well. I´m content here in Brazil :) missionary work isn´t the easiest work around, but I can tell you first hand that it´s worth it. I really don´t have any reason to complain. I know that in the moments that I feel uncomfortable, I´m really just growing stronger. I started working out with Elder Cook about 2 months ago, and I´m starting to put on some muscle. I´m almost back up to 80 kilos, which is 176 pounds if my math is right. My arms are 14 inches around. I don´t know if that's good, but it makes me happy to know I´m improving. I used to be such a lanky kid, and now I´m starting to fill out a little bit. I´m just telling you about exercises because I´m waiting for that file to load, but it just finished, so I think I´ll wrap it up now. Let me know if you have any questions for me. I love you a lot and if you´ve got 30 seconds while you´re waiting for facebook to load up, just send me a quick email! :)

Love, Elder Forsyth

The church is true!!! Read the Book of Mormon!!!

1/12/2011

Wow... I can´t believe how fast time is flying by. This has been the fastest 6 months of my life. This week I burned a tie to celebrate.

Congrats Chandler on the mission call! You´ll do great! And congrats Kayla on being pregnant! I think there will be a lot of changes when I get home. It will be really crazy.

This week we had transfers. Everyone thought that for sure I´d be transferred, but to everyone's surprise, I´m going to stay for 6 more weeks in Mamanguape. That makes a solid 6 months that I´ve been here; a 1/4 of my mission in one city. I´m also staying another transfer with Elder Cook. It´s pretty rare to stay 3 transfers with one companion, but that's what I´m doing here with Elder Cook. We get along great, so it should still be a fun transfer. I´m just getting a little bored here. I´ve been walking the same streets everyday for 4 and a half months without a break. I´m still happy though, and I´ll still keep working hard.

This week we baptized two girls. Jessica is 9 years old, and Jaquilini is 12. This transfer, if things go right, we´ll baptize their families too. We have a lot of people progressing right now, which makes it a good thing that I´m still here. I´m going to practice acting like a senior companion this transfer. I´m pretty sure Elder Cook will let me. He´s getting a little trunky now. This will probably be his last area. He has 3 more transfers to go, and he´ll go home in May.

I love you all a lot. It was good to hear from Mom and Dad and Steph. I want to hear from Josh how driving is, and from Ben how it is to hit a pole. Is Emma getting excited to drive too?

Have a great week! I´ll write you all again this Monday. Enjoy the pictures of the burning tie and the baptisms. I also sent a picture of a cookie that came in dads Christmas package. It was really good, and I´m really thankful that you guys still love me and think about me :)

Love, Elder Forsyth

1/3/2011 Happy New Year!

All is well here in theNordeste (north east). New Years was pretty fun, but it made me miss the family a little. It was tough to work New Years Eve, because everyone was drunk, so we hung out with members and investigators and ate dinner with them. We had an investigator that fed us alligator! It was one of the best foods I´ve eaten in my life. It's kind of orange, and a little fishy, but has a texture like chicken. The meat is really soft and kind of fatty. It´s illegal to hunt alligator here, but this investigator works with a tractor, and at work he accidentally killed an alligator, and they let him bring it home. It was a neat experience for us.

At home we just stayed up and talked until midnight. It was really hard to stay up late though. We´re really used to waking up at 6:30 every morning and going to bed at 10:30 every night. I can wake up without an alarm now at 6:30, and I´m usually asleep instantly at 10:30. At midnight the streets erupted with fireworks. Where we live the fire works have colors and are pretty to watch, but here they just make the fireworks as loud as they can. We had bombs blasting right outside our windows. If I wasn´t already awake I would have woken up. We had a family underneath us celebrating, and at midnight they all gave each other hugs and kisses, and it made me think of my own family :( After the fireworks we all went to bed. We really couldn´t do much work the next morning though, because the whole city was sleeping. All of the stores were closed, and no one was in the street. It was the most quiet I´d ever heard the city.
This week I will officially hit my 6th month mark; January 7th. I think I´m supposed to burn a tie or something. We´ll see how that goes. After this week we have transfers too and that means I´ll email again next Wednesday. Chances are that I´ll leave Mamanguape. I already have 4 and a half months here. A change would be exciting, but I´m also enjoying all the work here. I have a lot of friends here now. We have 2 families progressing really well. I think this Sunday we´ll baptize all of their kids, because the adults still have a few problems to work out, like getting married...

Man, I just can´t believe that it's January. It still feels like July. It feels like I´ve had the longest summer of my life. It´s weird to think that I wont see a white January for two more years.

I love all of you guys, and it sounds like everyone had a Happy New Year. I don´t have any photos to send right now, but I might have a video that I can have tony send later in the week. Stay safe, and don´t miss me too much :) I love you all a lot, and want you all to be happy. Make my brothers and sisters write me. :)

Com amor sempre,
Elder Forsyth

12/27/2010

Merry Christmas!

This week was pretty great. We did a lot of fun things. I must admit, it didn´t feel anything like Christmas, but it was still a lot of fun.

Last Tuesday we had a Christmas conference. It was at a place called the Liahona farm with about half the mission. This place was really big, and had a huge Liahona on a tower. I think it was built for church activities. While we were there we had a talent show. Most of the talents were spur of the moment. I ended up singing hallelujah and I´m yours, and I played the guitar when my zone sang "Army of Helaman". It was really neat. We played an upbeat version with a flute, and everyone really liked it. After the talent show we had some free time, and our president let us play soccer, or volleyball, or watch Toy Story 3. I chose Toy Story 3, because I was kind of tired. We had to wake up at 4:30 to get to the conference. The movie was kinda neat in Portuguese. I liked it. After the free time we had a spiritual devotional, talking about taking on the name of Christ, and what that really means. Our mission has been thinking a lot about the difference between believing in Christ and believing in the name of Christ. It's weird to think about, because the scriptures talk about both. Once you know what it means to take the name of Christ, does that change the definition of taking the Lords name in vain? I´m beginning to think that taking the Lords name in vain is very different than saying the Lords name in vain. When you take the Lords name, you´re representing him, and if you take the Lords name in vain, you´re saying your representing him, then doing things that he would never do. It's just interesting stuff for me to think about.

For Christmas my district made a Christmas tree out of a sprite bottle, then put our packages underneath it. I´ll send pictures. We also hung up some lights. In the mission we have a symbol of a wave with an arrow going into it that represents baptism. Thats what the lights are in the shape of. We all did a secret Santa kind of think. We spent 5 reais on a normal present for someone, and 5 reais on a white elephant for someone else. I received a pirated Popeye dvd in Portuguese for my present,and a fake ukelele for my white elephant. I liked it. I opened a package from dad on Christmas morning with cookies and candy and pancake mix and ranch mix. It was really great. I think a couple packages from mom are still in the mail. Christmas was really great though.

I really liked talking to the family. Most of my plans fell through for calling in a members house, or in the church, so I ended up calling on a street payphone. It was kind of annoying when sound cars drove by with advertisements, but I still got to hear everyone talk, and that's what matters most. I love you guys, and I can't wait to talk again for Mother's Day.

Last night Elder Cook and I were in the street looking for contacts, and a lady walked up to us, and said, "Hey, do you want to come to my house and say a prayer with my son?" We said, "Sure!" and went over there. Her son was inactive, and her husband was mentally retarted. We gave the husband a blessing, and talked to the son a little bit. It was neat that she just approached us in the street while we were specifically looking for people to teach. Sometimes the spirit works in weird ways, but I always love it when the spirit makes my job a little bit easier.

I loved hearing everyone's questions in the phone call, but if you have anymore, don´t be afraid to just shoot a quick email. Tell me what you guys got for Christmas :) I know Emma got a kitty and a phone, and Steph tried to tell me about some of hers, but it was hard for me to hear her.

I love you all, and hope you have a Happy New Years.

until next Monday,
Love,
Elder Forsyth

12/20/2010

I´m getting excited to call on Christmas. Amber said she will call at 11am. I´m guessing that is your time, because 11 for us is 7 for you. So I will call you at 11am your time, or a little earlier, to give you a number to call, and then you will have to call that number to talk to me. I don´t know what number you guys want to use to call me, but it needs to be one with long distance. I think I´ll call dads house to give you the number, and if his house is busy I´ll call Mom Tammy´s cell. I really don´t know how to plan this out much better, so I hope it all goes well. Is everyone just going to be at dad's house? I hope so. I´m so excited! It´s almost been 6 months since I´ve talked to you guys! Does it feel like that long for you?

Not much else happened this week. We had a stake conference, but it was really a district conference because we´re not big enough to be a stake yet. I got to play the organ for 500 people. It was kind of neat. I´m starting to like playing the organ. It´s a lot different than the piano because you don´t have a sustain pedal, but at times its easier than the piano.

We´re going to have a Christmas conference tomorrow. I´m excited. I borrowed a guitar from a member, and I think i might play something at the conference. I´ll let you know how it goes.

Start thinking of questions you want to ask me when you get to call. If I can talk to Amber that would be cool, but I only have 40 minutes to talk to you guys, so we need to be careful not to waste all the time trying to make conferences and stuff. If I don´t get the chance to talk to Amber, it will just be 5 more months until I can for sure talk to her on Mother's Day. Time is going by so fast here; 5 months is going to feel like nothing.

I love you guys a lot, and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. I wish I could send you all presents, but I think you´ll all just have to wait another year and a half to receive your gifts.

Choose The Right, and always try to stay happy!

Love, Elder Jacob Forsyth

12/13/2010

Yesterday the Christmas devotional aired here in Brazil. My president told us we could go if we brought investigators, and we ended up bringing a whole bus full. It was really fun. I didn´t understand all of the talks in Portuguese, but I remember something about the Grinch and a war in Germany and the true meaning of Christmas :) It´s crazy that Christmas is almost here. Christmas will definitely be different this year.

For the last little while it´s been tough finding people who have enough motivation to change their lives. A lot of our investigators have been really lazy, but now we have a couple of families who are really making changes for the better, and it´s really exciting to see. We have a man named José who, when we met him, was separated from his wife living alone with two of his sons. This week his wife returned to him, and she said he was saying a lot of good things about us. It turns out that before we met him he was a heavy drinker, but when he met us he stopped, and now his family is coming back together. It´s really exciting to watch. I know that the gospel changes lives.

We have another family who is coming to church every week, and want to be baptized, but they need to get married first, and the lady doesn´t want to get married until she gets some mole removed from her nose. weird....

One thing I was thinking about this week, was that most of the things the missionaries do, no one will ever find out about. Like when we walk 30 minutes for an appointment then get there and get turned down. The family that turned us down won't ever know our sacrifice of and hour walking to get there and back. i think that's a stat that will only be recorded in heaven.

I love you guys, and I hope you all have a great week. The church is true!

Love, Jake

I feel like I just wrote you yesterday. Not a lot has happened since the last time I wrote. Elder Cook is teaching me how to jump rope, and I´m doing that every morning with him now. He jumped rope professionally, and can do a lot of cool tricks and stuff.

I found the pictures from the baptism a couple weeks ago. I´m uploading them now. We confirmed Luciano yesterday. It was a little tough to get him to church this week, so we bribed him with a video game. Usually he has friends to take him to church, but his friends didn´t want to go this week. We went over to their houses and got them all to go to church. It was good.

I´m getting excited to call home for Christmas. I asked my president if I could call Amber and he said no :( but maybe we can make some sort of conference and all talk to each other at the same time. It´s crazy that I´ve already been out for 5 months. It´s starting to feel like a long time now, but it all goes by so fast. We measure time here in transfers, which are 6 week periods. I already have more or less 4 transfers, and there are only 16 transfers in a mission. I feel like it wont be very much time until I´m coming home. Hopefully things won't have changed too much by then. Have things already changed a lot since I left? I hope not.

One thing that is kind of unique to North Brazil is açai. It's a fruit that grows in the amazon and it´s really good. It's a berry, but they make really good shakes with it here. Maybe you can find it in Jamba Juice or something, but probably not. I bet it´s hard to find. We eat it here almost everyday.

fyi, "ci" makes the "s" sound

"ti" makes the "ch" sound

"de" makes the "j" sound

"ca" makes the "k" sound, unless it has a squiggle. then "ça" makes the "s" sound.

eu amo vocês e estou muito feliz aqui em Brasil. o sol é forte, e eu suo muito, mas sempre O Senhor vai nos abençoar quando estamos fazendo coisas certas. Quando eu tenho dificuldades aqui, eu só pensa que vocês são recebendo as bençãos em casa.

com amor, Elder Forsyth

12/1/2010 Transfers

This week we had transfers, but I´m staying 6 more weeks in Mamanguape. I have 3 months here already, but it´s a great area, and I love my companion and the people here. It will be a great place to spend Christmas.

We also had Thanksgiving this past week. No one here celebrated, but we had our own little feast at 9:00 at night. It was fun with just the missionaries. We had chicken patties, potatoes, noodles, and a few other things. Here everyone likes a drink called guarana. You should try it. I think you can find it in the stores in the part with international stuff. I have a few pictures from Thanksgiving, but the photos of the baptism from last week are on another elder's camera.

It´s crazy hearing about all the snow at home. Here it snows black; we have a lot of sugar cane fields by our house, and when they harvest it, first they burn the whole field, and everything burns except the stalks of the plant that have the sugar water inside. everything else that burns goes into the air, and comes down on the city as black snow.

We had a weird experience with an investigator this week. He said he likes the Book of Mormon, but he doesn´t know if its true because he has his own visions and dreams, and he doesn´t know if they´re true. He then told us of all these different visions he had already had, and he wasn´t sure if they were from God or not. I didn't really know what to think. We just told him that if he feels good when he has them then they´re from God, and if they´re not from God then reading the Book of Mormon should help the problem. I´m kinda nervous to return to his house. There´s a really weird feeling there now.

It's kinda weird typing in English right now because I´m thinking in Portuguese, then translating my thoughts into English. Learning a language is nuts. I just need to practice some grammar and learn some more words, and I´ll be speaking perfectly.

The other photos I uploaded are of a family night we had in the house of Tony Suares, the first counselor of the stake. We ate abacaxeira pure, which is like mashed potatoes, but more gooey. It´s good.

I love you all, and I hope you have happy holidays! I´ll write again Monday.

Love, Elder Forsyth