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

Paul's Surgery

No it's not Hyrum but it's his big brother. It's a video of Paul when he first came out of surgery. We got a kick out of it and thought we would post it.

1st Email from Cuiaba

mom...way to go losing your phone....well the first week went by alot faster then i thought it would...its all been good...
the first day was hard...i got a little depressed you could say...
i realized i dont speak or understand anything and the living conditions...well different...
food....ya..anyway...
not to mention the tempature is 130 everyday i swear...
haha...
but i prayed and since then ive been good....
lets see some of the highlights of the first week.....
i sweat ALOT....
i got bitten by a dog....not bad but it got me...
um WALK LOTS...
the house...haha...
if you can call it that is LOADED with STDS....haha...
its sooo gross....wow do i appriciate my house at home now...haah....
its like i dont know...bad...
i LOVE it...its all a really fun experience...
the fruit is awesome...mango straight of the tree...mmm mmm good....
all is well though...
how was new york....
how is paul...
whats up with all the head injuries latly...jeez this is bad...i would like everyone to be alive when i get home please...
sunday at church i was talking to a guy...and come to find out one of his companions on his mission was ryan bevan...sarah bevans older brother...crazy huh?
here is my new address
Elder hyrum stanger
CX. Postal10264
Cuiabá-MT
78050-975
Brazil
so you can write me at that address...spread the word...o and as soon as you get this you should call grandma and tell her to not send me money anymore....NO one send me money anymore ok...thanks...if anyone wants to send me money just have them put it in my account or something ok....thanks....
at a fireside one of our leaders brought their 18 month old little girl. i wanted to hug her and hold her so bad, but not for 2 years... haha
i love everyone! give them a hug!

Email October 21st, '08

so wednesday the 15th was an AWESOME day for sure....you know how i told you we got our move date moved to the 30th...well guess what? wednesday they moved it again to the 22nd....thats tomorrow....wow huh..=..im soo excited...we leave in the mornig to the airport and off to cuiaba a whole week early...i cant wait.....thursday is the brazilians p-day so they went to the temple early....and all of us americans in my room =were in showering and the brazies in our room locked the door when they left...all we had were our towels so we couldnt go get help. we just had to wait like 15 min and a maintanance guy finally let us in.=....fri. we went proselyting again...way fun....there was some crazy parade thing going on.....ppl dressed way....WEIRD...crossdressers and ppl like naked pretty much and everyone was drunk out of there minds so it was hard to talk to ppl but it was still a fun. good experience...sat we set our clocks 1 hour ahead...so we lost an hour of sleep...but it hasnt really affected me...im glad i farmed and pretended to work at home....its made it alot easier for me out here....remind me to make my kids work ok...thanks... sunday i found out Elder Scott and Elder Anderson are coming to speak to us saturday....to bad i leave a week early now huh...i am going to miss them by like 3 days...so that is kinda dissapointing but im still excited to get out into the field for sure...a good quote i heard sunday in a talk was....I have two years to serve the lord and eternity to think about it.....it just made me think to myself....STOP THINKING AND DO!!!! yesterday i read the august 30th chruch news....the twin falls temple was the highlight of it so that was cool....we also had all of our meetings, departure meeting, health meeting, and all the fun stuff....haha....and i had gym and we were playing volleyball and i was running to get the ball and i slipped on water and slid into the wall...OUCH...i hit my knee and toes full speed into the wall....it hurts to kneel and pray now...and walk...and everything else...haha....it broke part of my toenail off and jammed it into my skin and stuff....its pretty gross..haha....but fun story....!!!well that is pretty much my week....were going to eat at rodigeose here soon since its our last p-day....were going with Irm Qurrino....he is cool....love you all. bye for now. Elder Hyrum

Elder Stanger and Miguel

Hyrum got to see Miguel, our old foreign exchange student from Brazil. Here is a picture of them.