Butterfly Funeral

We taught a family of like 6 i think in a house smaller then annies room...just one room the whole house..they had a sheet hanging from the wall to kind of seperate the visiting area from the kithcen bedroom and bathroom...there was a tree branch growing through one of the walls and then a huge butterfly flying around..haha..it flew into the fan during the prayer and that was then end of him.haha

More Questions

As a mom, I love knowing everything about my missionaries... so I ask lots of questions. Bet you like knowing too!
1. Do you street teach? a little street teach mostly just name and house number and we will come by later. but ya. these people are retarded. i cant think of one reason why ppl live here. everyone in the ctm said. CUIABÁ, HMM. NO PPL DONT GO THERE FOR BUSINESS OR PLEASURE, JUST ALOT OF COWS AND REALLY HOT....haha...its sooooo true..
2. Do you have investigators come to church? We have one, a lady... she wants to know more before she gets baptized, but she accepted to get baptized
3. How big is your ward/branch? There are 300 members but only 25 come. the missionaries before us baptised lots of children and so none are active still and the members dont like missionaries cause of them
4. Then where do you eat everyday? at like 7 of those active. bishop, 1st counsler, mission leaders, and sunday school teacher haha...its great...but ya...were trying to reactivate too..everyone is like...'the missionaries just baptised me and i never saw them again. i thought they were my friends..'
5. Tell me more about your house. its weird to think i live in brazil..it doesnt seem real...as discusting as my house is i love the fact that i can shower and ??? at the same time haha
6.how is the language? Are you starting to think in Porteguese? ya like 3 words haha....i always think in port before english!! but i def know more now then i did before i left...i can like understand 50% and talk a little bit
7. I hear you are headed for a rainy season. Has it started to rain? it doesnt rain much...everyone will die if it doesnt start raining soon..haha..we already dont get to shower half the time cause there is no water..haha
8. Are you serious? Do you drink out of the sink? bottles. i dont want to die. haha...NEVER drink out of sinks..haha. and ya..if it doesnt rain...i have no water...with no water...cant shower...the best is when we use the toilet and there is no water haha...yikes
9. Do you eat beef? Is your house poorer or richer than most? Do rich people live in Cuiaba?
no rich ppl and ya..lots of beef..i would say our house is nicer then most the houses for sure..haha...but i dont like to use the word nicer..maybe not as crapy..haha
10. Do you have a kitchen sink? o yes we have A sink. for lots of things...
11. How do you do laundry?there is a machine that PRETENDS to wash the clothes then we hang them on a line to dry.
12. Do you eat healthy there?beans, rice, beef, and these things called salgados...that is all i have to chose from...and fruit. we just have to be careful with the fruit, it has bugs in it:(
HE WANTS LOTS OF PICTURES... IF YOU CAN FIND THE TIME, SEND THEM TO HIM!

First letters from the field

Mom, Thanks for the letter! It is good to hear Josh is doing well. I have to tell you your letter was awesome this week. I got your letter the 3rd day in the field and that was my first full day. Now being my first full day you can imagine everything going through my mind! Ok, never mind... I don't think you can imagine... it was a lot. But lets just say your letter could not have been better timing. The first day was sooooooooo hard! Hot, different language, living conditions, hot, hot, walingk, hot and more hot, and lots more walking. But I'm not complaining. Ive really learned to enjoy myself in these conditions. I've found no matter how bad a day can go, I can always find positives. For example... yesterday (Oct 28th) Everything went.... well shall I say not so good? First we walked 1 1/2 mile to a bank to get money, but the machine was broken, so we walked another mile to another one. Then we took the bus to teach a 16 year old boy and he didn't accept the lesson as we had hoped. So the day went on. That night for dinner we started to walk to the members house and it started to rain and we don't have umbrellas and we don't have time to get them either. So we walk 3 to 4 more miles in the rain and we can't find the house. We use a pay phone to call the Elders.. come to find out we walked the wrong direction. We bought drinks for dinner but by now the bags had dissappeared. We turned to walk back 3 miles to the house. After dinner we had to hurry cause we had gotten to dinner late so we had little time to get back to our house by 9:30. We decided to take a bus cause it was 8:50 and we had like 5 miles to go. So we got on the bus for like 5 minutes and realize we were on the wrong bus.. OOpsie! So we get off and SPEED WALK in 100 * weather back to our house. We got back at 9:35 so not to late! But looking at this day you can't help but wonder... what went well, what was good? Honestly, not alot went good, but I've learned somwhat how to find good in all things. For example, it was fun to walk in the rain soaked wet! We got to know our area better. Dinner was GReat! Ya just some of the little things but the little things help keep me going! It was fun to walk in the rain while we laughed at our stupid mistakes of directions. I've enjoyed everyday, so far after that 1st one. It was tough! I said a prayer and after that it just got easier. So just so you know, I still LOVE it here. I LOVE life. All is well! I love you and hope all is well. Love Elder Stanger

Mom's List of Questions....:)

1.Where do you go for a computer? for computer i go to the office normally or to like a coffee shop thingy
2.Do you meet in a church building? our church building is getting remodled so were in like a warehouse right now
3.Tell me about any families or people you work with. in the letter i will send today i talk about one family-its a new area so were still trying to work to get ppl
4.do you track or do you have appointments? we track and have appointments-mostly appointments
5.Tell me about your comp?my comp, elder mason, he is from cali, he is loaded rich(more details.. just ask mom)
6. Can you use your debit card?ya i can use my debit card, im going to try not to though as much as poss,
7. Are you in a poor part?yes, very poor, all of our mission is poor i think
8. Is there a ward or branch? i dont know if its a ward or a branch-its weird, but my area is the hardest in the mission i guess cause only half has been open for missionaries and elder mason and i are opening the other half-its hard but fun
9.Do you eat at peoples houses? lunch everday is in a members home
10. Do you still eat beans and rice and now FISH?ya-every meal beans rice and tomatoes, ive eaten fish once...YUCK
11. Are there misquiotoes? Bugs? Snakes? not really alot of bugs, a few but its just so dang hot,
12. Do you ride buses? ya ride busses and walk, LOTS
13. Is youre bed comfortable? of course my bed is comfortable. its a 100 year old mattress on the ground haha
14. Are the Brazil testimonies strong? the ones who belive in the church have strong testimonies, there are some weak to, just like in the states
15. Do you work with teenagers? ya work with whoever wants to hear the messages
16. Tell me about the toilet the toilet is under the shower-its a weird setup-Grandpa wouldnt not approve-i took pics,
17. the carpet? NO carpet-tile and concrete
18. The kitchen sink? not much of a kitchen at all, ive got pics
19. Is this new area very poor? (already answered above)
20. Did the dog break your skin when he bit? no the dog didnt break skin, it was really nothing, i just told you to scare you, it mainly just got my pants. DONT WORRY
21. Are the rats on the streets? no rats on the streets,
22. Do children beg for money, food?no children begging
23. Do vendors sell on the street like in Mexico? ya ppl sell stuff on the streets!

there are fruit trees EVERYWHERE like every 10 feet there is a mango tree, pomagranite tree, caju tree, any kind or fruit you can think of plus more that you have never heard of, and
ok ok...from now on becasue of time, write down your questions and only send 5 at a time ok...haha love you

November 3rd Email

well....come to find out....the area im in my comp and i are opening it...haha....
its his first time as senior/trainer and my first area and were opening it..haha....
so ya..its a great fun experience....im loveing it....
highlight of the week...um...an hour walk to a no show....:)..that was fun...
i absolutly love it here....i thank the lord daily cause it doesnt make sense...
the heat
the livving conditions
the hard work...
it just doesnt make sense that i would love it but i do....im having soooo much fun....its great....
we sing in the streets and stuff..haha...were loosers...um...
everyone loves to hear me pray and teach cuz i dont know the language well haha..
so i do alot of praying and teaching....
all the kids here are soooo cute...they also LOVE to help me learn...
they get picture books and ask what this and that is....theere great helps...
way cute though for sure...
i want to just hold and hug them...but i cant....um...all is well....love you