Hey guys!!!!

Hey guys how're ya'll doing? Its hot!!!!!! Its really stinking hot!!!!!!! Seriously!!!!!! Okay, just had to complain for a little bit. Its not as hot as Arizona but its so dang humid!!!!!! When its not blisteringly hot, its raining and the humidity is 99% and still really stinking hot!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!! 

Okay, got that off my chest... I'm good now. So seriously, how's everyone doing? 

Life's going well down here. This week was an interesting week. We didn't have anywhere near as much success as we were hoping for and we were trying to figure out why. Finally, we realized that we were letting a lot of little stuff slide and the little things were all piling together to trip us up in the work. So, we went at it to fix the problems. First thing on the list: clean the apartment. We have spent this whole P-Day attacking our apartment. Man, it needed it!!! (I can see mom starting to tear up as she reads this, Bubba learned how to clean!). Its loads better now and its amazing how much of a difference having a clean house makes. Its also interesting that you can see that its oftentimes not one big thing that goes and trips you up in your life- its oftentimes little things that are innocent on their own that go and work together to trip you up. Does that make sense? Am I being philosophical or am I just rambling?

Have I mentioned its hot? 

So this week will be interesting because we will be traveling to Cutiriba to see the Apostles. Good thing: we get to see 2 Apostles. Bad thing: We're losing pretty much 2 days worth of work here in our area. Especially when we're in make-it-or-break-it situations with lots of our investigators. Satan's really been on the attack lately and he's tripping our investigators up.... Nothing is ever easy, eh? We'll figure out how to deal with these... *twitches* lovely children of god... *twitches* and help our investigators stay strong. Satan is a real jerk sometimes...

So, it was hot, and now its raining so its hot AND humid as all get out. 

Actually, it gets so hot here and then it starts to rain. So the pavement is so hot that when the rain falls the water immediately starts to evaporate and it makes this steam effect. You look down the road and see steam rising from the asphalt. Its actually pretty cool. 

So this week, we're going to work our tails off and help all of our investigators out, teach and preach and work like missionaries do, and chill with 2 Apostles. Yup, should be a pretty good week. 

Gotta run, love you guys!!!!!

-Elder Marx

hey!!!

Hey guys, how's everyone doing? Life's going great down here. So, this'll have to be short, because I spent a lot of time responding to everyone. Life's going well down here. We're working hard and seeing success. We're knocking lots of doors because there're pretty much no members to give us references, but things are going really well.

So, are you ready for the big news? So what will you all be doing on the 27th of January? Wanna know what I'll be doing? Listening to two apostles!!!!!! That's right, Elders Ballard and Anderson are coming to Curitiba and they'll be having a special mission conference with all of us. It should be SWEET!!!!!!!!! I'm really stoked. I'm teaching my companion enough English so that he can present himself to the Apostles in English. The Brazilians are all really excited because its not every day that an Apostle comes to Brasil, much less to their part of the country. It'll be a great experience to them.
But yeah, life's going great down here, gotta run and send an email to Prez, but the church IS true and this IS the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Elder Marx

Hey

Well hey there everyone. How's life? Things are going really well here. Well, transferes happened, and Elder Lopez got transferred out. That means we have the whole city to ourselves and I have no clue how to get anywhere (remember, I've been here for just 2 weeks). So, we have the whole city of Castro to ourselves and we're slowly figuring out how to get around. The map is our very best friend right now. No joke. When we don't use the map, we end up getting lost and walking for forever to get to where we should be. Oh wait, do you guys want to know who my companion is? Well, remember that Elder that I asked you guys to send a package to for Christmas, Elder Justino? Well, he got transferred out here and he's now my companion and I got to see him open the package. He was really appreciative of it... It was really nice of you guys to do it. Thanks a lot.

So has anyone ever tried açaí? Its this brazilian miracle fruit that it ridiculously delicious and healthy. Does it even exist in the states? I'm getting addicted to the stuff. If you can find some, get it. No joke. Its ridiculously good. Açaí milkshake... best thing ever... Well, not really, its even better pure...
But anyways, this week was super great. We worked our butts off. Literally, we walked like crazy, but it all worked out great. We had 11 investigators at sacrament meeting. That's like 20% of the branch. No joke. It was kinda ridiculous. The branch here is really small so we're really hoping that all these people will get baptized so that we can strengthen the church here. We have several people who are getting ready to get baptized. We have a family, A e M who are getting married so they can get baptized. Then we also have a woman named A... But we can see the Spirit working with her and the changes in her heart that are happening. Although she can't really understand what we're explaining, the Spirit is there to testify to her heart that its true. This last time, we went and taught her about Christ (you'd be amazed- here in Brasil everyone says they believe in Christ but they don't have the slightest clue about who He really is or what He did for them) and invited her to follow His example, by being baptized. It was a really powerful lesson and the Spirit was there in abundance. You could see the Spirit testifying to her and we could all feel how much Heavenly Father loves her. It was great.

So this week, things are going to keep going well. We're going to keep working our tails off, figure out the area, and find lots of new people to baptize. I love this work!!!!!!!! The Lord truly is preparing His children to receive His gospel. Things are going great out here. I sure do love you guys and hope you all are having a wonderful January. So, is it cold? I seriously can't imagine cold. Its so dang hot down here. It gets downright toasty and then when it gets really hot it starts raining and we get soaked. If ya'll think Provo is bipolar, try Paraná. You never know what'll happen here. Buy the missionaries ice cream and tell them its from me. Or if its too cold for ice cream, get them something they want. Just feed the missionaries. And give them references. And go out to teach with them. Something I'm learning here is how blessed we are to be in a nice, big, comfy ward. Its different out here. But its exciting to help the Church grow.
Well, I love you guys. Help the missionaries!!!!!


Love,


-Elder Marx

new picture

So...P-Day switched to Monday...

Yeah, so P-Day is now on Monday- how weird is that? How weird is the fact that its 2012?!?!?!?!?!? I feel like it was yesterday that it was 2010 and you guys were throwing me on a plane or dropping me off at the MTC. Man, time really flies. I'll be kinda honest, at the start of 2011 it was kinda rough for me to think that in the whole year I would never see my family. And now, its already 2012 and its really weird to think that I'll be coming home this year. (No trunky, I still have lots of time and people that need to be baptized. Did you ever see Predator? Well, there's a guy who says, "I ain't got time to bleed". I changed it: "I ain't got time to be trunky."). But yeah, time really flies. 

So this week was pretty chill. It was kinda hard because it was New Years and everyone is traveling. But now, they're all coming back and we'll go crazy this week. We actually went to Ponta Grossa to play soccer with the zones and I got to see a lot of old friends. I realized I'm kinda doing a repeat tour of the first part of my mission.

 I started in:

• Pilarzinho (the São Lourenço/Boa Vista zone)
• Then Uvaranas (Ponta Grossa)
• Then Eucaliptos (Zone São Boqueirão)
• Then Matinhos (Zone Paranaguá) 
• Then Colombo (coming back to São Lourenço/Boa Vista)
• Then Castro (coming back to Ponta Grossa)

Are you seeing a pattern here? I feel like I'm doing a repeat tour of my mission. It was really cool seeing the differences in where I was serving a year ago and now. Maybe I'll get transferred back to São Boqueirão to end up my mission lol. Who knows, but its really cool to see how things change. One ward where I served has already split into 2, another has young men who did splits with me and are now on their own missions. Times change, elders change, but the wards remain. 

Anyhoo... leaving the sentimentality... So we also had another cool experience last night. So, I was in a division with another elder in another area, and we went to teach a family... So, we go in and the spirit was really strong and the guy told us why he wouldn't be baptized. We were the first elders in more than 3 years of missionaries that he shared this with. It wasn't us, it was the Spirit that made the difference. It just built my testimony about what a difference the spirit makes in our work and when we're worthy to have Him with us, it makes all the difference. The guy told us his life story, and he's had an extremely difficult life. I won't tell you what he told us and break that trust, but let's just say he's had a really difficult life. We then had the opportunity to testify of the Atonement and how he was never alone in all of this. Christ passed through every moment of his life in Gethsemane. My testimony of the Atonement grew that moment, and I could feel how much Christ and Heavenly Father love that man. For a second I could imagine how much God really loves him and how He really does know each and every one of his Children. Christ really passed through every moment of every one of our lives- and because of that, he can help us overcome everything. It was a very powerful experience. Its all true. It really is.

So, this week we're going to work our tails off, teach everyone, and just teach and preach and work like missionaries do. I sure do love all you guys and I hope you all have a wonderful start to 2012. Have fun, because the world's going to end in December, right? Just kidding.

Love you all!!!!!!!!!!

-Elder Marx

Hey!!!

Well hey ya'll. How's life? Well, seeing as how I talked with you all on Sunday, I'll keep this short and sweet because I've got to write a decently-long letter to President. So, here we go...

• Well, Christmas was good. Do you guys remember me telling you about how much Churrasco (Brazilian Barbeque) I ate? Well, I ate Churrasco 5 times in 3 days, then on Monday morning I woke up sicker than a dog. My stomach was NOT happy with me. Go figure, with all the meat I ate. So, the only problem was I was running regularly to the bathroom but we had to take a bus for an hour and a half back to Castro. So I just prayed that everything would be alright, we got on the bus, and went. There wasn't any room to sit so I kinda just passed out on the floor of the bus until someone took pity on me and let me sit down in a real chair. I was pretty sick for a couple days but I'm feeling better now. Lesson learned? Yup. Churrasco's good but you can't eat that much of it without any problems.
• Have I mentioned that it was great to talk with you guys on Sunday? (Especially see Bronson). Its still kinda weird to think that Phil and Janel have a KID. Just saying...
• Well, The work this week is kinda being difficult, everybody's on a vacation NOBODY's at home or in the streets. Its kinda difficult because we still have to work and teach, but nobody's around. Oh well, we'll get it to work.
• Can you believe that its almost 2012? Like, the world's going to end next year, right? (The greenies get pretty peeved when the older missionaries tell them that the world will end before they get home. I don't say it, others do, but its still pretty funny lol)
• So, what will you guys do for new years? I personally would be fine just sleeping in bed (I'm boring- wait didn't I call Phil and Janel boring before the mission when all they wanted to do was sleep. What's happening to me?????!!!!!)
• Oh, and my last two packages finally got here, I'll be picking them up on Friday when I go back to Ponta Grossa. It just took almost three months for them to get here- no biggie, right? Was there anything in them that could go bad?
• hmm... what else? Well, I can't really think of anything, but it was great to talk to ya'll!!!!!

Love you guys!!!!!

-Elder Marx

Well... novidades...

Well... some craziness has happened since last week. Seriously, I think that this last week has been one of the craziest of my mission. So let's start off...

So do you remember how I talked about how we were going to baptize that family? Well, as you know, a person has to be interviewed before they're baptized... I went to his area to do a baptismal interview and he came to my area. So, we did this division starting Thursday afternoon, and then we get a call from them back in my area. They tell me that the landlord of J (who we baptized) like hardcore freaked out and kicked them off the property and said that he would call the cops if they every came back. It turns out he's macumbeiro- a vodoo worshiper, (its fairly common down here) and that's why he didn't want us there... So anyways, they call us and say that the only time that we can do the interviews would be Saturday afternoon... we had to keep the division going for 3 days. So, I stayed in the other for three days. No big deal, except for I had no change of clothes so I was walking around for 3 days in the same Gs, Shirt, pants, tie socks, etc. in the wonderful Brazilian sun. I was pretty smelly at the end. Actually, I smelled like I did back when I finished up football practice. It was pretty rank. But it all worked out in the end and they were all interviewed and we ended up in the division Saturday night and I had a much-needed shower, shave, and change of clothes. Then, Sunday came along and we had the baptismal service and everything worked out wonderfully. The branch was really supportive and it was all wonderful. Actually, the daughter that I baptized was scared of the water and she kept popping her foot out of the water and had to be baptized again. So finally I pushed her down to the bottom of the font so that she would be fully immersed and she freaked out and just about did a back-flip while in the water! It was pretty funny. So then, we finish up the rest of the day and I get the rest of the district's numbers and call the zone leaders. The zone leaders then tell me that the assistants just called and I was getting emergency transferred!!! I was told at 10:00 at night to be at the bus station at 8 the next morning. Well, that rather perturbed me, I was being sent without any warning and couldn't say goodbye to anyone and all my clothes were dirty and and and... But, after staying up the WHOLE night packing my things, I got on the bus and off I went. Missionary work on less than 3 hours of sleep: not fun.

Oh, where am I now do you ask? Actually its a sweet area called Castro. Its about in the middle of nowhere. Its this little tiny city out in the interior of Paraná.  Its an hour and a half bus ride from all other missionaries and we're all alone here. We have this little tiny branch and we're going to work out tails off and baptize like crazy. It also means that I'll probably be finishing up my mission here. There are worse places to "die". My comp's name is Elder Lopez. He's American and he's actually from Yakima, WA. He doesn't know Grandma and Grandpa... But anyways, small world, huh?

So, about the Skype dealie-o: I logged into my skype and she's still working fine... I still don't know about when I'll be able to get on because it looks like we're going to have to spend Christmas in Ponta Grossa (the nearest elders) and use the webcam there. So, we're still working out the details and I'll get on super quick on Friday and send ya'll an email about exactly when I'll be getting on. I'm doing my best to get it all organized and I'll let ya'll know.

So, I also got 3 packages for Christmas. The box and envelope and 1 envelope from BoB and Drl. I squealed like a little girl when I saw the Buffalo Wild Wings Sauce. No joke. Like a little girl. Elder Thorpe and Bezerra thought I was nuts. The ties are all super sweet and the Reeses are rapidly disappearing. I kinda doubt they'll actually reach Natal. But thanks SSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MMMMMMMMMMMMMUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH for the packages. I really appreciate it.

Well, that's about it and if I forget anything I'll just tell you on Sunday!!!! Love you all!!!! Até Domingo!!!!!!

-Elder Marx