3/7/2011
WoooHooo! I hit the 8 month mark today! That means I´m one- third of the way done with my mission! This week has been really busy, but really rewarding. Elder Fisi is a super hard worker, and we´ve been running around all week, and yesterday it payed off with a baptism of a little girl named Maria Vitoria. She was super happy to be baptized. So far in the mission I´ve only been baptizing young people, but this transfer that should change. Our mission president has been emphasizing teaching men, and now we have a man who is ready to be baptized this next Sunday, and another married woman too.
This week is Carnival (like Mardi Gras). In my area of the mission its really not that big of a deal. Everyone just travels to the busier parts of the city, so our problem is that we don´t have anyone to teach at night. The city is a little dead. The part I do like though, is that there are bands of little boys that play the drums in the street and dance in bear costumes to try to earn money.
I got a package from the young women in the ward. Make sure you tell them thank you for me.
I´m not sure what else to tell you guys about. I´m happy, the church is still true and blessing lives. I know that there is a right way to live and be happy, and it´s choosing the right everyday. I love feeling the spirit, and serving the Lord. Keep choosing the right, and thank you for all your letters and encouragement.
Love, Elder Forsyth
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
2/28/2011
Hi Everyone :)
Man, my new area is awesome! I´m living in a big city now, which is great because now most of our investigators know how to read...hahaha. But seriously, I work with two wards now instead of one branch, and the leaders here help us so much. They pick up all of our investigators with cars, and they are working to give us contacts, and going on splits with us. We couldn´t ask anything more.
My companion is Elder Fisi. His family is from Tonga, so he lived there for 8 years. He´s also lived in Califoria and Washington. He speaks Portuguese really well, along with the language from Tonga. He works super hard, and has a lot of goals. He talks a lot about GH, gloria dos homens, which is glory of men. He tries really hard to look good in front of people, with lots of baptisms and stuff, and I guess it seems to be working. He´s baptizing like crazy, and he was called to be district leader this transfer. He´s pretty young in the mission too. He´s been here less than a year. I´ll definitely learn a ton from him. He played football as running back, and wrestled, and did drama, and he likes to sing. We usually sing duets at all of our appointments now so that's pretty fun.
I don´t have any pictures to send this week, but I´ll try to get some next week. This week has really been a race; we've been all over the place. We leave the house at 10:30 and don´t get home until 9:30 at night. Elder Fisi is a super hard worker, and he wants to be assistant to the president, so I think we´ll work super hard this transfer and baptize a lot :)
I love you guys, and if you have any questions for me don´t be afraid to ask. My area is a little closer to the mission office now, so I should be able to receive letters more frequently now.
I know the church is true!! Keep choosing the right, and the blessings will come. Stay happy, and I´ll write more next Monday.
Love, Elder Forsyth
Man, my new area is awesome! I´m living in a big city now, which is great because now most of our investigators know how to read...hahaha. But seriously, I work with two wards now instead of one branch, and the leaders here help us so much. They pick up all of our investigators with cars, and they are working to give us contacts, and going on splits with us. We couldn´t ask anything more.
My companion is Elder Fisi. His family is from Tonga, so he lived there for 8 years. He´s also lived in Califoria and Washington. He speaks Portuguese really well, along with the language from Tonga. He works super hard, and has a lot of goals. He talks a lot about GH, gloria dos homens, which is glory of men. He tries really hard to look good in front of people, with lots of baptisms and stuff, and I guess it seems to be working. He´s baptizing like crazy, and he was called to be district leader this transfer. He´s pretty young in the mission too. He´s been here less than a year. I´ll definitely learn a ton from him. He played football as running back, and wrestled, and did drama, and he likes to sing. We usually sing duets at all of our appointments now so that's pretty fun.
I don´t have any pictures to send this week, but I´ll try to get some next week. This week has really been a race; we've been all over the place. We leave the house at 10:30 and don´t get home until 9:30 at night. Elder Fisi is a super hard worker, and he wants to be assistant to the president, so I think we´ll work super hard this transfer and baptize a lot :)
I love you guys, and if you have any questions for me don´t be afraid to ask. My area is a little closer to the mission office now, so I should be able to receive letters more frequently now.
I know the church is true!! Keep choosing the right, and the blessings will come. Stay happy, and I´ll write more next Monday.
Love, Elder Forsyth
2/23/2011
oi familia!!!
I was transferred today!!! Everything has changed. Elder Cook went to another state, and I came down to Joao Pessoa. Now I´m in the middle of a big city, with cars and buses, and my companion is Elder Fisi. He is Tongan. He speaks the language of Tonga, English, and Portuguese, and is learning Italian. He speaks well, and will teach me a lot of stuff. I´m super excited to be in a new area. Time was starting to drag on a little bit in Mamanguape.
Elder Cook and I both left our area, and it closed. All of our investigators were dropped, or will be picked up by the zone leaders there. It´s a little sad, but I think we left a few people there who will stay firm in the church. Our baptism from last week started going to seminary by himself, and he is really enjoying all of the things in the church. He´ll probably receive the priesthood this month.
A lot of elders went home this transfer, and only a few arrived. That´s why 5 areas closed. It's super crazy because there really aren´t any Americans arriving in Brazil any more. I was one of the last. In the whole Brazil MTC, there are only 4 Americans. They´re calling missionaries from other Spanish speaking countries now.
That´s super crazy that Amber will come home so soon! I´ve got to go now, but I´ll tell you all about my area and my companion next week. He seems super cool.
I love you all a lot, and I hope you all have a great week.
Love, Elder Forsyth
I was transferred today!!! Everything has changed. Elder Cook went to another state, and I came down to Joao Pessoa. Now I´m in the middle of a big city, with cars and buses, and my companion is Elder Fisi. He is Tongan. He speaks the language of Tonga, English, and Portuguese, and is learning Italian. He speaks well, and will teach me a lot of stuff. I´m super excited to be in a new area. Time was starting to drag on a little bit in Mamanguape.
Elder Cook and I both left our area, and it closed. All of our investigators were dropped, or will be picked up by the zone leaders there. It´s a little sad, but I think we left a few people there who will stay firm in the church. Our baptism from last week started going to seminary by himself, and he is really enjoying all of the things in the church. He´ll probably receive the priesthood this month.
A lot of elders went home this transfer, and only a few arrived. That´s why 5 areas closed. It's super crazy because there really aren´t any Americans arriving in Brazil any more. I was one of the last. In the whole Brazil MTC, there are only 4 Americans. They´re calling missionaries from other Spanish speaking countries now.
That´s super crazy that Amber will come home so soon! I´ve got to go now, but I´ll tell you all about my area and my companion next week. He seems super cool.
I love you all a lot, and I hope you all have a great week.
Love, Elder Forsyth
Happy Valentines Day!
2/14/2011
Happy Valentines Day, and Happy Birthday EmmaLee! It sounds like everyone is happy at home. In Brazil they have a Valentines Day, but it doesn´t happen in February, I think it happens in October or something...
Like I said, we just worked really hard this week, and didn´t see a ton of crazy things. Thanks for all your letters. I´m so thankful that I have so much support.
Happy Valentines Day, and Happy Birthday EmmaLee! It sounds like everyone is happy at home. In Brazil they have a Valentines Day, but it doesn´t happen in February, I think it happens in October or something...
This week was just work. Not a lot of crazy things happened that I can thing of, but I do have one little story. Last week when I was writing you guys, a drunk guy entered, and passed out the floor. Then another guy passed and said, "Be carefull! He's armed!" and then the drunk guy got up and pulled out a huge knife from his pants, and ran out of the lan house chasing the other man. Then the drunk man returned, waving his knife all around. All of the missionaries were hiding behind chairs, and the drunk guy started hitting his knife against the ground. Then he sat down and started break dancing. He left soon after and started break dancing for the policeman outside... you only see this kind of thing in Brazil :)
Other than that, I really don´t have anything else to report. We baptized a boy this week. Josenildo. He´s awesome. 100% elect. We met him at church two weeks ago. He just went because the lady he works for is a member. We went to his house and taught him about the Book of Mormon, and then the next time we passed by he´d already read 11 chapters by himself. He had a bunch of questions about the tree of life, so we answered all of the questions, and then taught him about Joseph Smith, and asked him to pray to know if the church is true. The next time we were there we taught the commandments, and he stopped drinking coffee, and then chose to be baptized this Sunday. I think he has potential of being a missionary someday.
I´m sending two pictures. One is of Elder Possamai on the bus ride to church. He´s my zone leader. The other picture is of Josenildo's baptism.
Like I said, we just worked really hard this week, and didn´t see a ton of crazy things. Thanks for all your letters. I´m so thankful that I have so much support.
1/31/2011
I had a good week here in Mamanguape. We didn´t baptize this week, but we still have plenty of people we can baptize next week. I was talking with some of the other missionaries about how I didn´t feel like I had any really cool stories about miracles or curing people or demons or anything, and then that same night something really crazy happened. I don´t know if it classifies as a demon story, but I´ll let you be the judge.
A few weeks ago a member asked us if we could go to her mom's house to give a blessing to her son who was sick. When we got there, the son ran and locked himself in a room, and the grandma there was deaf, so we tried to talk to the boy, but we couldn´t really do anything. Last night we were walking to an appointment when we ran into this same member again. She said that this time the dad was there, so we would be able to talk to the boy this time. We went over there, and it was already late and dark in the afternoon. The boy bolted for his bedroom, but the dad held him back. Then the boy ran to a corner and stood with his face in the corner and wouldn´t talk to us or look at us. The dad started yelling, "Just let them give you a blessing! Accept the words of Jesus!" and then the grandma started shouting the same thing in a deep raspy voice. Everyone was yelling, and we were just trying to talk to the boy nicely in a normal way. Asking questions about the books he liked to read, if he liked going to church. But everyone in the house was freaking out and just making this slightly autistic boy worse. Then all of a sudden the lights went out. There was just one light barely flickering above the boy´s head. The dad grabbed a flashlight on his cell phone, and when the flashlight turned on the flickering light went out.
I was starting to get pretty creeped out. The boy ran and sat on a bed and put a sheet over his head. His mom came running in the house with two little boys and the boys started yelling and playing with candles, and everyone was just yelling to give the boy a blessing. We just kept trying to act normal, asking the boy questions and stuff. Like I said, I was creeped out, so I started to pray that whatever evil was in that house would leave. Then a little later, all the lights came on. Tthe dad took the little boys out of the house, and everything quieted down a little. Elder Cook asked, ´Would you like to recieve a blessing?" The boy then spoke for the first time, in a deep creepy voice, ´no.... haa haa haa haa´. Elder Cook and I looked at each other a little creeped out. Then the boy started speaking in english, ´What´s your name?´ We just smiled, ´Oh, you speak English?´ then he said, ´Buenos Noites´ and ´Bonjor´ he started throwing out all the words he knew in other languages. I asked, do you want to learn some other words in English, and he said,´Yeah, let me get my notebook.´ He went and got his notebook and came back and we started talking to him normally about all the things he learned in school. Eventually he took off his sheet, and we said a prayer and left the house.
I was starting to get pretty creeped out. The boy ran and sat on a bed and put a sheet over his head. His mom came running in the house with two little boys and the boys started yelling and playing with candles, and everyone was just yelling to give the boy a blessing. We just kept trying to act normal, asking the boy questions and stuff. Like I said, I was creeped out, so I started to pray that whatever evil was in that house would leave. Then a little later, all the lights came on. Tthe dad took the little boys out of the house, and everything quieted down a little. Elder Cook asked, ´Would you like to recieve a blessing?" The boy then spoke for the first time, in a deep creepy voice, ´no.... haa haa haa haa´. Elder Cook and I looked at each other a little creeped out. Then the boy started speaking in english, ´What´s your name?´ We just smiled, ´Oh, you speak English?´ then he said, ´Buenos Noites´ and ´Bonjor´ he started throwing out all the words he knew in other languages. I asked, do you want to learn some other words in English, and he said,´Yeah, let me get my notebook.´ He went and got his notebook and came back and we started talking to him normally about all the things he learned in school. Eventually he took off his sheet, and we said a prayer and left the house.
I´m out of time now, but I love you all a lot, and I hope you have a great week. I´ll send some photos next week. I went to that big statue again today with Elder Cook and my zone.
Love, Elder Forsyth!
Love, Elder Forsyth!
1/24/2011
Not a lot happened this week, so this email will be short. I tried to get replies off to everyone who emailed me this week though. I was happy to hear from Josh and Ben. It sounds like everything is going well in school and work.
This past week we didn´t have any baptisms, but we have about 9 people who are ready and willing, so we´ll start putting people in the water this coming week I think. 4 months work here is starting to pay off :) Work is starting to get repetitious, but I´m still enjoying myself.
The other night we bought a huge hamburger for $15 and everyone in the house shared it. I´m sending pictures of it.
Elder Cook went to a training this week for two days, so I got to work with E lder Souza from Sao Paulo for a day, and Elder Jay from Utah for a day. We had a lot of fun. We found 13 new people to teach, and in the end we had a 10 year old girl running up to us asking, ´What do I have to do to get baptized?´ I told her ´What a great question!´ It´s such a great feeling when people are excited to learn about the gospel.
Hopefully next week will be a little more exciting! I love you all a lot, and I´m thankful to have a family so strong in the gospel! Choose the right and receive blessings.
Love, Elder Forsyth
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
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!!!
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!!!
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