Salvador Week 2

Elder Gomes created this of the elders in their apartment

hey! how was everyone's week? this week was good here in Bahia. i'm loving it here. the people are amazing, the food is amazing. the language is hard. haha but I'm learning so much every day and my companion is amazing. this week, we committed 6 more people to baptism. so now we have 12 investigators with dates! buuut, we have so much work to do. we have to get them all to come to church, which is super difficult. but man there is nothing i would rather be doing right now then this work. yesterday, i was able to skype with my family! it was super good to see them and talk to them. after i was finished, the people whose house i was at were having a barbeque, so i got a bunch of steak and sausage and terere. it was so good! 

i've been studying a lot about the restoration of the gospel, and the history of the church. i'm so thankful for this gospel in my life. i love teaching it to the people of Brazil. 

the people here are awesome. there is one man, who rides a shopping cart up and down the road. he sprints and then jumps on the back, and he keeps up with the cars. its impressive. also, there's a tree here, with a bunch of stuffed animals hanging in it. i don't know why, but its super creepy. ill try to taker a picture this week. and i don't remember what ´picture i sent last week so ill just add a few. man i love my area. the members here are super great. Sunday is always cool, because the people are so loving. We've had a few family home evenings with members and investigators. its super cool. Families, and having a strong family is so important. its cool to come together and experience the love these families have for each other. 

i cant really remember anything else that was super cool, this coming week ill try to write stuff down so i have a more interesting email. 

today were gong to a super famous elevator that is here, and going to a huge market. ill update y'all on that next week. Love you all!

The stuffed animal tree

First Week in Salvador!

I made it to salvador! my first area is called santa cruz, in salvador. its right next to the beach! its a cool area. our area has sooo many hills! its a serious workout. my companion is elder Gomes, from sao paulo. he has 7 months on the mission. hes an awesome guy, and an amazing missionary. getting out here, i realized how little portuguese i know, but i learn every day. its difficult, but i love it. the people are amazing! we already have 4 people with baptismal dates, but we still have a lot of work to do with them. this week was full of ups and downs, but im happy to be here, and i love getting all your emails each week. so a few things about brazil. EVERYBODY has a motor cycle. and they are insane. we walk up and down the narrow streets dodging motor cycles. and they have moto-taxis. you would have to be insane to ride on one of those. another thing, the roads are way narrow, so were always dogding cars. i got hit by a car yesterday! well, i got hit by the side view mirror, so nothing happened, but it was really funny. the people here are really friendly, we talk to a lot of people, and a lot of people accept our message another day. great, nice people. the food is good! a lot of beans a rice, or pasta, strogunof, and meat. lots of meat. coca cola, or guarana with every meal. and a lot of maracujá! its my favorite. i think its passion fruit, but i don't actually know. but its insanely good. the bread here is amazing, i don't know why. we get some every night on our way home though! last night, a less active member gave us a whole bunch of snacks to experiment, and then made us some maracujá. it was all super good. 

so, to conclude this email, i just wanna say how greatful i am to be a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. it is such a privelage to wear my saviors name on my chest every day. im so thankful for the gospel, and how it blesses my life and how it blesees others lives. im grateful to be serving here in brazil. it is very humbling. i would like to invite you all, if you have ever wondered about the Book of Mormon, or the church of Jesus Christ, please, get in contact with the missionaries. Just hear the ,essage, and pray with real intent. Heavenly Father does not lie. ask him if its true. i know you will receive an answer. i love you all, i hope you have an amazing week. 

CTM Pictures:

above, view from the CTM

below, CTM District

First Pictures from Salvador

Elder Gomes from Sao Paulo

Arrival in Salvador

Parker made it to Salvador and is alive and happy!

This is his mission president for the next two years, President G. Paulo Bangerter and his sweet wife.

Elder Opfar and his trainer, Elder Gomes from Sao Paulo, Brazil.  

Last Week in the CTM

ola! this week was just another week in the CTM haha more long days in the classroom. Luckily on pday I buy a lot of snacks to eat during class. they sell this roll of cookies called boa vida, they're 1 real, which is the equivalent of $0.33! they're are the best! I love my district and my companions! it's gonna be hard to say goodbye to them in a week! but I'm so excited to get to the field! Very excited to get to Bahia. the food was still the same this week, beans and rice, with beef or chicken. a few different things. I'm still loving it though! feijoada is definitely one of my favorite foods here. and they have guarana machines in the refectório, so I definitely drink 7 glasses every meal. I'm definitely loving it here in Brasil, the people I have met are amazing and I can't wait until I can speak Português with them. 

Week 4

This week was a good week! we sit in class for 15 hours a day, but it's awesome. I buy a lot of candy and cookies on my pday, so that helps me make it through lol. one of my teachers got mad at me for eating so much, then the next day, congratulated me for not eating any candy during class. little did she know, I didn't eat any candy because I finished it all the day before. Easter was awesome, we heard some great messages at church. I hope you all had a good Easter! we got ice cream with dinner that day so that was awesome!! i learned a good amount of Portuguese this week, it's coming along great! crazy I only have two more weeks until I get to the field! I'm way excited! we get to go to the Sao Paulo temple every week, and it's so beautiful! 

well, that's pretty much all I have for this week, I will send pictures once I get to the field. I hope you all have an amazing week!!

Week 3

I'm half way done at the mtc!! this week was super good. so I'm in a trio now, and I'm loving it!

on Saturday we went proselyting and we gave out 4 Book of Mormons! it was so awesome! it was cool talking to real people. and it was cool bearing my testimony in my terrible Portuguese. 

the food here is awesome. beans and rice every day. plus we have chicken, beef or hot dogs every day. they have these weird crepes with meat on the inside. they're one of my favorites. 

the language is coming along great, I've learned more Portuguese here in three weeks than I learned Spanish in 2 years. the church is true, and the Lord truly blesses us. 

last night we watched an Elder Holland talk from a Provo MTC devotional from 2014. it was so powerful. 

I'm so glad i get to serve the Lord and the people of Brazil for the next 2 years. A mission is the best decision I ever made. I know this church is true with all of my heart. I know it is the restored gospel. I know Heavenly Father has called a prophet and apostles today, and i am so thankful for that. I'm so thankful for the knowledge and peace this gospel brings to my life. Read the Book of Mormon with real intent, pray to our Heavenly Father, and He will tell you it is true. I love you all, I hope you have amazing weeks. My emails will get more interesting once I'm in Salvador, instead of stuck in classes all day haha 

Brazil!!

Sorry I didn't send an email last week! it was my first pday and i just chatted with my mom! But anyway the first week was a serious culture shock! I love Brazil so far though and Portuguese is amazing! ANYWAY I'LL TELL Y'ALL ABOUT MY WEEK!

Wed-we went to the São Paulo temple, which is sooo insanely beautiful! after that, we emailed and got to explore the area around the ctm.  We found the biggest avocados ever! They're a solid 2-3 pounds!

Thursday- we went to the police station and got our fingerprints scanned and some other stuff. it was cool to see more of Sao Paulo. it's a huuuge city! 

Friday was a pretty normal day, just classes all day and teaching our investigators.

We got to watch general conference this weekend! it was so amazing to be in such a spiritual environment and hear the words of the prophet and his apostles. 

 This week we got 3 new missionaries in our district from Provo! so I'm in a trio now, and we have 4 sisters in the district! Sorry this email is so short, I don't have a lot of time to email today! but I love you all, I hope you have amazing weeks! I promise next week's email will be better!!