Minhas pernas são cansados porque jogamos futebol hoje

"...Life here is going really well. We are working like absolute dogs because we now have a lot more responsibility. That's because President made us Zone Leaders!!!!! Just kidding. But he did close one of the neighboring wards and assigned us to keep working there as well as the ward that we were already working in. So now our working area is a lot larger and the fact that the 2 wards don't actually touch makes things a little complicated... But the 2 wards are rising to the challenge. The bishop of the new ward knows that we can't work in his ward without divisions so he's going crazy getting everyone to go out with us so we can work in the 2 areas at the same time. Basically we're going to be working with members in the 2 wards almost every day so we're going to be seperated a lot. Its really good though, we're already seeing how important planning has become for us. If we don't get everything planned very well, things will fall apart and we won't be able to work like we planned. But yeah, we were already working hard but now we're working like crazy but I'm loving it. The bishop of the new ward is an absolute stud and we're working very closely with him. We're going to tear it up like crazy now not only in Uvaranas but also in 31 de Março...

We also had a fun... service project this week. We showed up at the house of this lady whose sons we baptized about a month ago because she said she needed a little help with a project in the house. It was absolutely pouring rain when we got there and she said that what she wanted us to do was to rip off one of the walls of her house and rebuild it with new wood. So we did. We ripped all the wood off and started sawing and nailing and slipping in the mud and all sorts of fun stuff.... Also, the supplies here stink. Hardcore. Two hits of a hammer and the nails started bending like rubber. So after a long time of slipping in the mud, getting soaked, and occasionally building something we finished up rebuilding the wall. She was most appreciative, and we were completely exhausted... but it was a really fun experience and I've learned to appreciate American materials and quality...

Well family my time is about up already so I'm going to have to wrap this up quickly. I love you all and I hope things are going well of on the other side of the world. Help the missionaries out where you're at and buy them ice cream or pizza and tell them, they're doing a great job. Keep me in your prayers as well as all the missionaries in the world. I love you guys..."

Hmm... não consigo fazer um titulo ingressado hoje...

"...Well hello family. Its the start of another luverly transferência here in the Missão Brasil Curitiba. Don't worry, I'm staying put. I'm glad of it too, we're tearing it up here. Elder Halgren is staying here too, which is also a really good thing. We've had a few changes with missionaries coming and going... But yeah, Elder Marx is staying in Ponta Grossa for at least another 5 weeks (this transfer will be only 5 weeks). I'm really glad to keep staying here too. I love my area and working here. We were worried about our area closing because we are losing lots of missionaries and not gaining any new ones. We lost at least 20 missionaries and only received 10 at the most. President had to start closing areas because we simply don't have any other choice.   But we're staying here and we're also going to maintain another area that got closed so our work just doubled! The work is progressing here though.  We had the baptism of M this Sunday and that was super great. Our problem is that we don't have lots of investigators right now. We're knocking lots of doors trying to encounter new people to teach and we'll teach them but when we come back to see how they're doing they'll cut themselves (does that even make sense in English? it means that they told us they don't want any more) But we're still doing our absolute best and its only a matter of time and hard work until the things really start rolling...

This week was a good week . Something exciting that happened is that the church had a celebration of 60 years here in Ponta Grossa. In 1950 the missionaries arrived here for the first time, and that's when it all started.  Now, 60 years later, we have 2 stakes ,14 wards, and 22 missionaries here. It was really cool to see that it all started because of 2 missionaries who gave it their all and brought souls unto Christ and now we can truly see the benefits of their work. It really struck me that we never know how reaching the things that we do are or their effects. Small and simple things really are how the Lord works and when we look back we can really see how much things have progressed. Just like Ammon and Aaron said looking back at all their labors, one day I want to be able to look back and see how reaching our labors really are. It was a real testimony builder for me....

Sorry this letter is so short, but I need to wrap this up and send send a letter to President. You guys all know that I love you and that I have a testimony of this work. This truly is the Lord's work and I'm honored to be working here in Ponta Grossa. I love you all and pray for you and I know that the Lord blesses each and every one of us. I really have a testimony of that..."

Feb 2

"...But anyways... This week was a good week. We've worked so hard and we're seeing fruits. We have a baptism scheduled for this Sunday. Her name is M. We met her knocking doors and she invited us in and accepted the gospel. Her faith is really surprising...she's standing firm and she'll be baptized this Sunday... Its great to see her faith and its an affirmation that we never know when we'll find the Lord's elect and that they are all ages, races, and genders. I also had a "Daniel in the Lion's Den" experience. They have a large old Pit Bull who generally doesn't like strangers. They generally chain him up before they us in the house, but one time they forgot. Instead of being angry and attacking us, he just went and sniffed my leg and let me scratch his head. M and her husband were amazed. I just looked at my comp and said "Blessings!" Yeah, the Lord was looking out for me that time...

We're trying to find new people to teach right now, our teaching pool isn't very big still but we're doing all we can to find new people- including lots of contacts and talking with everyone in the road...

But yeah, Elder Halgren and I are getting along really well. Actually, we've had a LOT of people tell us that they think that we're brothers. Its pretty funny. But yeah, we're tearing it up.

Well I'm about out of time so I'm going to have to wrap this up. To make up for the short email here's a couple pictures: We had a zone activity where we had a water balloon fight and also when I slipped and fell in the mud and also when we had this HUGE HONKIN SPIDER run into our house and also our last baptism. Hope you enjoy them. PS, I like pics too...

But yeah, I love you guys and hope you all are doing well and I pray for you. Know that we're tearing it up here in Curitiba and I love the gospel and being a missionary. This really is the gospel of Jesus Cristo. I love it and I love sharing it with everyone..."

Inglês? Por que eu quereria falar inglês? Português é muito melhor e mais fácil

"...Então... Oi família! Tudo bem? Como vocês estão? Eu estou ótimo. Hoje, eu decidi que eu escreveria em português para vocês por que é mais fácil e eu gosto de falar português. Just kidding I'll switch back to English but I wasn't kidding about Portuguese being waaaay easier. Its seriously a chore to speak English...

I'm pretty sure last week I spoke about the English school where we went and spoke English with the students? Well we went back there again and it was waaaay flippin difficult to speak English. I'd speak a sentence and in the middle of the sentence I'd switch back to Portuguese again. Elder Halgren and I pretty much only speak English because its way easier than having to switch between the two languages at the same time. But yeah, this week was a  good week. When  Elder Moretti went home our teaching pool was basically nonexistent... so we've been running like crazy trying to get new investigators. Let's just say we've met quite a few interesting people this week since we've been doing nothing but knocking doors. Here are just a few stories from knocking doors this week:

• Man who talked for a half hour telling us about his entire life history, including his "vision" when he went up above the clouds and spoke to St. Peter who told him it wasn't his time and to go back. It took a half hour of trying to find a break in him talking so we could leave. 
• Another woman who told us she had a vision and saw the Holy Ghost descending between two trees in the form of a dove.
• Another person who told us about the vision she had of seeing Jesus, God, and the Grandfather of Jesus
• Going into another person's house where she wouldn't let us talk but just kept telling us about all her past sins... we left

Basically, we had quite an interesting week. Please don't think I'm complaining about it. It was a very good week. We had a lot of success encountering new people. Our teaching pool is growing a lot and we are going to keep it up. We're also (finally!!!) gaining the trust of the ward and people are offering to go on divisions with us and they're really helping us out. Life is really going well here in Uvaranas. Its actually really exciting to be working with a motivated comp... I have have a comp that is getting out of bed at 6:30 and doing comp study with me and doing contacts and being a real missionary. I have to say, its really nice... We're working our hardest and we're doing everything we can to get out there and find the eleitos. We're doing everything we can to help our investigators out and we're teaching with the Spirit. Yup, its just a matter of time until things start really rolling. But yeah, sorry this is so short, I'm about out of time and so I'm going to have to wrap this up but I love you all and I'm happy you guys are doing well. I love being a missionary and I love the Gospel and I love the Book of Mormon and I know that they are all true and we just have to trust in the Lord and everything will be alright. the gospel is seriously a huge blessing in our lives and we can never forget it..."

I love you all,

-Elder Marx

Is it already P-Day? Already???

"...Well hey there everyone. How are you all doing?... This week we've had quite a few changes here on the mish. As you all already knew, Elder Moretti left this morning to go home. Sunday afternoon the LZs called me and told me that they (finally!) knew who my new comp would be. He got here this morning. His name's Elder Halgren and he's from Montana. Yup, after like 6 months I'm finally with another American. I haven't had time to get to know him really well yet but from what I've learned he's a pretty chill dude. He's got about 6 months on the mish and he studied at BYU for a year before he came here. He's also about as tall as I am, played Tight End, and likes guns and hunting. He also brought with him peanut butter, gravy mix, and a cake mix with frosting.  Yeah, we're totally going to tear it up down here. 

...During this week, not much very interesting happened. The most exciting thing of the week is Elder Moretti going home. I have to say, at times it was a little annoying when he got trunky but he worked until the very last day and he was a very good companion... I got a little trunky when he kept talking about going home and the things he would do and his first day as an RM but I nipped that in the bum and re-dedicated myself to the work and now with a new comp we're totally going to tear it up... We're going to have to knock a lot of doors and talk to everyone to get our teaching pool back in shape. We have an excellent investigator, L, who prayed and received a witness that The Book of Mormon is true and wants to follow the witness...  Its pretty frustrating when you see someone who wants to do the right thing but the people close to them won't let them follow the Gospel. Keep her in your prayers please... 

...We had another interesting experience yesterday. One of the members in another ward runs an English School and he asked us gringos if we wouldn't mind coming and speaking English with the students and helping them out. Its a great missionary and service opportunity so of course we accepted. They stuck each gringo with a group of five or so Brazilians and we sat there and spoke English with them and talked to them about the gospel. It was actually really difficult to speak English. My mind is 100% Portuguese right now. I think in Portuguese, I dream in Portuguese, right now I'm translating from Portuguese to English. When I sat down with them what I wanted to do was of course speak Portuguese, so it was a little difficult to switch gears like that and speak just English, but after a while I adapted and was speaking  more naturally. It was also a great missionary opportunity because we all spoke a lot about baptism and the Book of Mormon and if they wanted the missionaries to pass by and share a message with them... I had one lady ask me if Mormons believe in heaven so I basically taught the Second lesson to them (its really weird teaching in English). Another time a lady asked me what was the difference between us and the other religions of the world and I was about to launch into a First Lesson but the teacher said it was time to switch. I was very bummed. Then, at the end, they gave us DONUTS!!!!!!!!!!! That's right, those delicious, sugary, lard-soaked rings of heaven. I was in heaven, along with the rest of the Americans. It was amazing...

...But yeah , that was pretty much my week, speaking English ... giant spider attack (The sucker was huge! Like 3 inches!!!!!!) baptisms, and lots of work. I love being a missionary. We're totally tearing it up down here and we're going to keep the trend going. This will be the first week in like 4 weeks that we haven't had a baptism... but we're going to get out there and find more of the Elect and get them into the water. I love it here, I love being a missionary, I love the Gospel, I love the Book of Mormon, and I love my Savior Jesus Cristo. I know that this is the Lord's work and that I'm right where I'm supposed to be. I love you all and pray for your success and everything that you are doing. Keep up the good work on the other side of the world."

-Elder Marx

Oi Família!!!!

"...By the way, today is my should-be-8-months-but-I-got-pushed-back-2-weeks-because-of-the-stupid-anti-american-brazilian-government-who-doesn't-want-give-visas anniversary. That means that my mission is one third over AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*deep breath*

Anyhoo... Man time flies. I can't believe that the mission is going this fast...

...But yeah, life down here is going sweet. We had 2 baptisms this week... But yeah, we're really tearing it up down here... However, we've turned that around and the ward is super stoked and working with us and we're having more success... Elder Moretti is going home next week and he is pretty dang trunky but we're still working hard. He's going out with a bang and with baptisms. We still don't know what will happen with me. Maybe someone will come out here and be my comp or maybe I will get transfered out to be with someone. I hope President doesn't shut this area down- he was talking about it when I got here but we've turned a lot around and improved a lot and I hope we don't get pulled out of here. We'll see what will happen next week...

So its summer down here and its raining a lot. A LOT. Yesterday, we were working down in the poorer part of our area. Its basically a favela with dirt roads and not very well built houses. But so it was raining...So I wasn't looking where I was walking... and I realized that I was in fact sliding down the hill. It was so slick I was basically running in place trying not to fall but still going backwards. Eventually I planted my feet hoping I would be able to slide down to the bottom because I certainly wasn't going up... Well I slid about 15 feet...but then gravity and newton took over and I totally ate it in the mud... My comp about died laughing when he saw me sliding down the hill and then eat it. But yeah I was absolutely covered in mud... It was hilarous. Of course we took pictures. But then the scary part took over. My camera is acting wonky and when I try to take a photo it can't write it on the card...I really hope I won't lose my photos. I'll keep you posted.

But yeah, that was my week- baptisms, working hard, and totally eating mud. Guess I'm a missionary. I'll keep you posted on who is my new companion and what happens to me and my area. I'm doing absolutely great. We're tearing it up here and baptizing loads of people. I am absolutely loving it here, I love the mission and I love helping people follow Jesus Cristo. I know that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that this is His Church..."

Feliz Ano Novo!!!!

"...Well hello everybody, how are you all doing? Mom said that classes started already, right?... Anyhoo... how was new years for everyone?... I hope everyone is enjoying settling back into the grind of work and school and all that fun stuff. If not, I hope that you all are at least enduring until things improve.

Well this last week has been a fun one, and I mean that sarcastically. I got wicked sick this week, like Dad-in-Bolivia level sick. It started just after I sent the email last week, I started having some pretty severe stomach problems... It was pretty annoying, not gonna lie. But then I woke up on Saturday and I didn't have a fever anymore, or stomach problems, but my insides felt bruised and twisted after a couple days of nonstop problems. However, we continued working and we had a surprising amount of success for teaching on New Years when everyone was hungover and trying to sleep.

But yeah, like I said, I got really, really sick. It wasn't until Sunday that I started feeling actually back to normal. But since Sunday, the blessing have started coming in nonstop. Just Monday and Tuesday, we've taught 10 lessons, including 5 first lessons, we've marked 4 baptismal dates, and we're preparing 3 young men to get baptized this Sunday. Seriously, this week has been a huge blessing and we're really tearing it up right now. We are super motivated and excited and we're teaching ridiculous amounts and its really flipping awesome to be a missionary right now. I know that this week wasn't especially exciting but I am so grateful to be a missionary right now. I love where I'm and that I am this blessed that I can work as the Lord's servant bringing souls unto Him. I know that this truly is the Lord's work, and I know that I was called to be here as a missionary. I know that the Book of Mormon truly is the word of God, I finished reading it in Portuguese yesterday and I truly love this book and how it brings us all closer to Christ. I love all you guys and I hope and pray that you guys are doing well and that school and work and moving and all the fun things in life are going well for you guys. I'm here and I'm tearing it up and I'm loving it..."