Changes

March 21, 2011

I have a new companion, its like I am living a different life now. I am almost always happy, I love what I Am doing even more, and I am not as tired in the morning! Its such a relief. My new companion would be one of my good friends back home. He is so funny and fun to be around and forgiving and humble. It really is like a whole other mission! He has only been out 3 months though, so I am in charge!! Weird huh? I guess the consulate LIED about my VISA coming at the first of April.. Oh well, my Portuguese is suprisingly good because this Brazilian lady (I have told you about her before) calls me everyday just to practice. She is so nice!! She's one that we have to visit for sure, probably top on the list. She has helped me out a ton. Her name is ***. Her little kid *** speaks fluent portuguese, spanish, and english, and he is 12!

So yea I am in my new apartment. It is ridicuously nice and in a much nicer neighborhood. I also live with another set of missionaries. The are spanish speaking, so we talk in spanish a lot. They are both way cool guys too. It is so fun living with other people, I actually get to talk!

One downfall to our new place is that it is in the very bottom of our area. We have to drive a ton. I'd say we drive like 2 hours a day. But its ok, I am still much happier. We are just costing the church a bunch of money on gas! Every mission should be a walking mission, you get to talk to so many more people! Another downfall is that most of my mail still gets delivered to the old mailbox, which is on the opposite side of the world. But no one lives in our old place, so I go to check it every once and a while. I also miss being in the ghetto. It is mainly ran by a Vietnamese gang. I have learned how to do a very basic contact in Vietnamese!! Its a tonal language, and sounds ridiculous, but they actually understand me! I can't understand what they say back though. The other day I contacted someone in English, someone in Spanish, someone in Portuguese, and someone in Vietnamese! quadlingual missionary.

I do miss talking sports with Kit. But our mission ward leader, *** (great great great grandson of Parley P) loves sports and knows that I do too so he keeps me updated. BYU is playing Florida in New Orleans tomorrow I think. He says he wishes I could go with him. Obviously, I can't haha.

So tomorrow is the first time I am going to have the opportunity to visit ***. He is the huge black guy I told you about last week that I helped move into his new house. He is a professional cook, so I think its gonna be a good night. But he is so outrageous. Like I said, he is like a guy in one of those movies whose behavior is so ridiculous that you think that the director overdid it. He reminds me of the guy in Beverly Hills Ninja that laughs so hard that he falls over dead. You know the scene when Chris Farley is trying to get the bill plates or someting? Go watch it and you'll see.

That's all I have for this week. The only thing that is bugging me is that I haven't heard from Fitts and that my VISA isn't here yet!! I am going to be out 6 months in like 3 weeks! Whats goin on!! A kid in my MTC district who filled out his online thing 2 days before me got his VISA 2 weeks ago!! I'm sure it will either come this week or get denied. It has to, its been like 8 months since I applied.

Anyways I love you and I miss you. Can't wait to call.

Love, Alex

ANOTHER LETTER THIS WEEK:

Thanks for fasting. I really hope it comes this week. My Portuguese is going to suffer now that Elder Alencar is gone. I have heard about that guy that cut off his arm. Thats pretty intense. So you start the new job this week eh? I hope it goes well, Mom seems to think that you are pretty calm about the whole thing. That is comforting to know that you felt a solid conformation. I thought the same thing about the Second Coming but the people here like to believe the most ridiculous thing that they hear so all I ever hear is that the world is coming to an end, so it gets to me sometimes. Thanks for the advice, I am going to read my blessing when I get to the apartment. Good luck with the job, I know you will do well. I try everyday to live in daytight compartments. My new companion is the best!!!! He is athletic, loves to ski, blew up stuff in high school, and actually saw our manhole incident on the news and tried it out himself! not saying that is a good thing, cuz its not. The point is that we get a long really really well. It is like a different life now. I am now kinda nervous to get my VISA for fear that my companion in Brazil will be like my old one! But I'd still rather go.

I gotta run, but I love you and thanks for the advice. Don't forget to write!!

I love you,

Alex "Eldeh Bay-keh" (thats how Brazilians say it)

Exchanges

March 15, 2011

The week went by at normal speed, nothin special. My new companion's name is Elder Taylor from Colorado. I am moving today, and I don't know the address. Sorry. Put on my facebook not to write me anymore, cuz I think I am gonna get to Brazil soon. The kid Elder Van de Graaff filled out his online form 2 days before I did. He was in my district!!

Anyways, while eating at some poboy shop last week, I couldn't help but somewhat pay attention to the TV, which was on CNN. I hear about Japan and all that, it sounds pretty bad. Everyone eats it up down here because they all think the world is coming to an end. We got a thing in the mail the other day that said some "expert" caculated the end of the world to be on May 21, 2011. So, at least I get the Mother's Day call before the world ends.

I need a new journal really soon. I don't know what to do though, cuz I don't want you to risk sending it and then getting my VISA. Plus I have no idea what my new address is. But I got Katie's package, luckily! I happened to be on lunch break when the UPS guy delivered it. But tell her thanks! The pictures made my day! Those are some way sweet cuff links too.

This week was just weird. I taught such a senile old guy it was ridiculous. He didn't even know where he was. He didn't even comprehend what I said and talked about some "spiritual realm" he was in. Its such a unique plac here, these people have almost nothing, but they are so prideful. Our teaching pool really sucks right now, and it seems like no one will listen! I am being patient though. I feel bad for my new comp cuz when I leave (hopefully this week) he will be on his own in an unfamiliar city! I basically know this city in and out now, its weird. But one day last week I came across a member that goes to the singles ward that served in Floripa!! So we went on exchanges and he brought a bunch of pictures and told me all about it. I am so excited to GET THERE. It almost seems too fantastic to be real. But anyways, that exchange was fun.

I went on exchanges with Elder Frampton, my ZL, and did some spanish work!! I am not very good at spanish though and they don't understand a thing I say in Portuguese. But again, he was a really fun guy. He told me a story of a Master and his servant. The master told the servant to use a basket to transfer water to a tub from a nearby well. So the servant tries to do it, but a basket can't hold too much water, so he barely filled up the tub. By morning, the water that he had filled evaporated when the sun came up. He was sad because he wanted to please is master. He went and told him he failed and the master said, no you didn't look how clean my basket is! I liked the story because the apparent reasons we are doing something may not be the important ones. (like our purpose is to baptize, but maybe God has another purpose for being on a mission)

Elder Alencar has the worst allergies. I feel bad because his eyes are swollen and he sneezes like 20 times every hour. I was wondering why I don't have any problems?? It suprises me! But you didn't answer my question about my health genes! I wanna know!
So in your Ward callings do you have to go to any meetings outside of church, like ward council or something? We have to go to ward council, and its actually fun. Imagine that, the only source of entertainment to me now is ward council! I can't believe it. Its because my bishop is so funny.

One of the members that you are gonna have to meet is named ___. He has the most southern accent ever, and is the nicest guy in town. He reminds me of Kit. But on his birthday, (I called not knowing it was his birthday) he came on exchanges with us and said, "what better way to spend my birthday than serving the Lord." It was also a good birthday present because we went to a member's house for dinner. This lady is such a good cook, and made soo much food. It is said that there are only two rules for having a party in Louisiana. 1: have food 2:don't run out of food. Seriously! they make so much food its unreal! But as we were driving to our house after than meal I realized that the grass here went green overnight. It is weird, it is like fall because the leaves are falling off the trees but the grass is super green and the weather is pretty warm!!

So I went AGAIN on exchanges with Elder Thorup, the VISA waiter for Brazil. I have spent 1/4 of my time here in Louisiana in his area, so its basically my area. I know it just as well. But we got to ride bikes again, and as usual I loved it. We help the most outrageously loud man in the world move into his new house. His name is _____. He is a GIGANTIC african american guy and is a professional chef at LSU. He is so loud and laughs at everything its so funny. Its like a character in a movie that the director overdid because his behavior seems like it wouldn't be possible in real life. You gotta meet him, he lives in the first ward. Haha he is so funny. A really really good cook too!

I had a dream that we went to Lava Hot Springs the other night. I always loved that trip. I remember when I bet dad that a sign said something and he thought it said something else. I won, obviously, and he had to buy me a sword. I hope that tradition never dies!! I love it there! I remember going there and fishing with grandpa and the fish spitting the hook in my nose too.

Well thats all I've got this week. You gotta set up that picture website!! I have so many funny pictures, you guys are gonna die.


I love you and miss you. I can't wait to call!!!

Elder Baker

Baton Rouge

March 7, 2011

Last P-time I played basketball for like 4 hours. It was the best thing ever. I was in Walgreens the other day and I tested my blood pressure and I had high systolic blood pressure. What does that mean? In your letter you said you thought that everyone is nice here and you wondered why I ran into these crazy people? Well, now that I have been here 3 months yesterday, I have found that everyone is either extremely nice or very anti. I was in a lesson with some guy the other day and he seemed like he had no brain. I was trying to figure out why, when another guy knocked on the door and introduced himself as the "candyman." He came in with homemade candies for sale for 30 dollars for a tiny little piece. That explained why he had no brain. Its sad, they have an anti mormon section on the radio here. One church, called ***, is the worst. I think the preacher just tells the people how terrible mormons are every sunday. And the sad thing is, the people that go there listen, regardless of how ridiculous the things he says are!

So there is a couple that served in Brazil that live next door? What part? How long do they plan to be there? That'll be fun if they are still there when I get back. Where did that other odd couple go? They were only there for like 2 seconds. Anyways, the place where the guy I baptized lives is called ZION CITY. Although there aren't as many murders as there is on Marque Ann street, this place is probably the most ghetto I have seen. Most of the houses you can see through the crumbling walls. Lots of them are half way burned down. Its sad. But, we are gonna tracat through there cuz thats where are the humble people are! Its funny, we go to the rich neighborhoods and its all catholic white people who say no right off the bat.

I was kind of sad yesterday because the pen that Dad gave me the night before I left broke. I am gonna attempt to fix it today, but I don't know if it is fixable. But yea you are right, the weather has been crazy. It has been cold then really hot in the same day. There are huge mosquito-type bugs that are EVERYWHERE. I hate them, they just fly into your face. My reflexes are gettin better for sure though as a result of them. I can dodge most of em now.

There are big ditches lining every street here, and when I first got here I thought it was so weird. Now I know that if they weren't there, the whole city would flood! It rains for a day and it seriously dumps rain and they are completely full. They make it really scary to drive because the roads are small and poorly built. I am just waiting to see a little car upside down in one of these ditches.

Nothin too exciting happened this week. We ate at a place called Randy Montabanos and it was way good! We had CRAWFISH. It was really spicy, and not very filling. I struggled to eat it but as I looked around at people it seemed like they were professional! By the time I had eaten one they had a pile of ten! I also had some crawfish etoufee. It was pretty good, probably my favorite southern dish so far. (I am gonna get shrimp next time instead of crawfish though-I don't see what all the hype is about)

Marti-gras is tomorrow. I don't know if we even awknowledge it as missionaries, but it will be fun to see what its like. Baton Rouge isn't really big into it (as far as Louisianians go-everyone is) but the main place for Marti gras is in New orleans, obviously. Umm, thats really all I have for ya this week.

I love you and miss you.

Love Alex

Mangos

February 28, 2011

I have not gotten the package yet. I don't know where it is, but I haven't moved yet. By the sounds of it, I will get my VISA before I move, so don't worry about that. The pictures of Charlotte kill me because she is so fat!! More fat than I remember the other two being. But first off, ask mike how the skiing was!! I heard that we got dumped with like 5 feet or somethin? and what HAPPENED with Jerry Sloan and DERON?? I am glad I am gone or else I would probably kill someone.

Anyways, I had to poke another hole in my belt, but everyone feeds us junk so I will hopefully gain back the pounds that I have lost. Last Tuesday we had Zone Conference and I got to see my pledge brother from Sig Alex Cannon! We hung out the whole meeting, it was really fun. Afterward we went to see a Japanese family. They are so funny, they are fluent in english but still have that way funny accent. He speaks 5 langauges!! Japanese, Mandrin, Chinese, Taiwanese, and english. He has a way funny sense of humor.

We have been going and playing basketball in the mornings on a court that is near our house. By the time I actually wake up and realize that I am playing basketball its time to go though. But its still fun! Shopping for a new apartment was like the most fun I have ever had. I think i will just go do it for fun when I get home! Haha just kidding. But we found a way cool place with a lake side view and were excited because we could fish during lunch and dinner, but they denied it. Oh well.

I bought a mango the other day and I had no idea to cut it and I remember Dad had some crazy way to cut it. So I don't know if he can teach me via email, but that would be nice. Hopefully there will be many mangoes in brazil. On Thursday we went to see this guy named **. He is a Reverend for a humungo church over here with like 500 plus members. Usually lessons with ministers and pastors result in bible bashing (kind fun sometimes, but not good to do) and they have no interest in the book of mormon. But this guy, who happened to be the biggest of them all, was extremely interested. He is humble enough that he would leave his position and join the church if he found the book of mormon to be true!! (If he is sincere, he will) So I guess we are hoping for him to be converted. That would probably result in like 300 baptisms of his congregation!! haha that would be nuts.

We went on exchanges with one of the members that lived in Brazil for 2 years. He liked it so much that he wanted to move down there! It didn't work out though, and now he says that he is stuck in "rotten Baton Rouge." My companion gave me a compliment the other day! he said that I "reason well." So I have been thinking about that lately. I guess I do reason well! Maybe its cuz I was brought up by a top notch lawyer, who knows.

We had another really good lesson with one of our investigators last week. It was a unique lesson, because we had him over to a members house and invited 4 other members over too. Afterward we were just having a friendly conversation, about computers and normal things, and I think the friendship was made!

I went on exchanges with the elder that I was with a couple weeks ago. Elder Thorup. He is waiting to go to Sao Paulo. But we were in his area, north central. It was soo hot biking around. We probably went like 11 miles. and its all flat here, so its pedalling the whole time. The humidity is outrageous now! It is like swimming basically. But we biked all around the place. We went to the most ghetto areas ever called Mall City and Brookstown. Baton Rouge is so strange. Its like everyone is living in the 90's. There are no new cars, everyone has 1980's buicks and cadillacs. You can't find any technology past 2000, and you would think that everyone would be partying all the time. Nope, everyone is already drunk. People have their drinks in their brown bags at 11 in the morning. So it is actually pretty quiet at night, besides the people donig drug deals and drive bys.But I LOVE biking. and walking. I really don't like the car. I just want to be outside. So that day was really fun, we biked around everywhere and had a couple good lessons.

Yesterday was frustrating because we wanted to find new investigators so we tracted for 2 hours. The Acadamy Awards were on, and EVERYONE was watching them. It was just as bad as the Superbowl. We did find 2 new people though!

thats all I've got for this week. It sounds like my VISA is close, so I hope next P day is from Brazil!!

I love you Mom

Alex

Smush

February 21, 2011

So last wednesday was the first day that I can remember on my mission so far that I have been ridicuously tired throughout the whole day. I just wanted to sleep all day soo bad! I wish sometimes we actually had a full day to "prepare" instead of until 6. I call it "Preparation Time." But its true! We go out and tract at 6 on P days! But it doesn't really matter, I'll get over it.

The other day we decided to try Vietnamese food because we are basically 1/2 in the set of "Boyz N Da Hood" and 1/2 in Vietnam. I can say basic things in Vietnamese! But we went to the most ghetto place we could find (for some reason I thought that the ghettoness would verify the authenticity) and ate there. I ordered the weirdest thing I could find. Some kind of clear soup, with pig feet, jellyfish, and squid vertabrae. It was shockingly very good! It was called Dauangs. or somethin. But it was so strange to eat.

So I am teaching a guy that loves all my favorite bands. It kinda sucks cuz I want to show him all these great other bands that I know he will love but I can't. But he said he is gonna make me a CD so I will pack it up and wait until I get home to see if he actually has good taste! But he is scheduled to be baptized in a couple weeks. Hopefully it'll go down. But I baptized someone!! His name is Darrell Jackson. he actually chose me to do the baptism, so my first baptism was literally my first baptism! It was a special experience for him. The Lord really prepared him to receive the message. So he usually wears like jeans and a t shirt to church, but yesterday, a day after his baptism, he showed up wearing a huge mega vebrant red suit. It was ridiculous. No one could look at the speaker because he sat towards the front and you couldn't not be distracted by the bright red. So he was feelin good about himself. Get that picture website up, these pictures are classic!

I think the East High newletter is done? Maybe you could send it to me?

So I created this recipe that I call "smush." It is actually really good, I could prabably make a fortune selling it. It consists of rice, ham, eggs, carrots, sugar pea pods, and red beans. It is good. I will have to make it for you when I get back.

I think you probably remember the lady I tell you about who is married to the guy that would be best friends with dad? Her name is Iris. I called her up because I ripped my suit jumping. She said she would gladly fix it. We went over there and she had a huge meal prepared too! It was funny though cuz we could'nt say no. But my companion was fasting!! Haha so he sat there while we all ate delicious food. I felt kind bad. But this couple is so crazy. They are both above 85 years old and they act like newly weds! They are going to Jerusalem in the summer, and they have been on every continent! Including Antarctica!! They have been close to my mission in Brazil, and they say its amazing. I really really hope my VISA comes this week. I am getting frustrated with the Portuguese. It feels like I cant learn any more until I get down there. But, hopefully it'll be this week.

I was informed yesterday that we are going to have to move. I don't know if its because the area is too dangerous or what, but we are going to move as soon as we can find a place. So that kinda sucks, I don't want my mail to get lost. But send it anyways, I don't think we'll find a place anytime soon.

I have run into a ton of people who want to basically kill me this past week. People who only want to Bible bash, and who hate Mormons. It is hard to keep up with them because they are so stupid and contentious. I just have learned to walk away. But everyone knows the Bible to death! I feel like I know nothing when I talk to them! But its ok, I am still doing fairly well. But I wish I knew Hebrew and Greek, because they all argue that the Bible isn't true unless its in the original language. Many people speak fluent Hebrew and Greek here, its weird. But thats all I have for this week, I will write you a letter if I actually find a place to move. Otherwise, just assume I am still on Bard ave.

I love you so much and I hope I get to talk to you soon! (Cmon VISA)

Love you Dad, thanks for the letter! KEEP THEM UP!!

Miss you so much,

Alex