August 6, 2012

This week we had a baptism . and this next saturday we have another marked and our Recent convert is still active and very happy

Tyson Loves the Children!

  im sorry that my other email didnt make it to you guys i thought it sent but it didn't.  it had pics so ill try and resend these as well. But I have some bad news One of my fillings fell out I hear that dentistry is cheap and good here but i havent called yet and the wife of the president said its only like 50 Reals but Im nervous cuz i still cant speak and i dont know how to use our insurance and its a dentist. ha ha  






But these are some pics the Kids are Ruan and I think Rodrigo but they are my friends. i was playing baseball with them Lucienne is our first baptism and is still doing great Flavio is the Next and Moises Is A great Guy he's the one with the thumbs up and the blue shirt he's a great guy And he believes in me a lot....   The first or second time i was with him he told me he knew i will be a great missionary he can see it in my eyes. he is definitely a help to me me because when i felt lost i think to myself Moises Knows what i can  be  ha ha I know that you guys know but he is here and he sees me today and in my struggles with the language Really though with the language I'm learning very very fast but as I've always been I want to do it right and I want to do it NOW ha ha but I am Learning patience that is  for certain now when my companion does something  I don't feel Like Murdering him and I can take a breath and let it go sorry about mission ties i need to do better about writing honestly I think Im Pretty selfish I came here cuz I want to be a better me and when Im in the apartment I want to study and play guitar and just lose myself in the doctrine of how i can be blessed usually im reading about the spirit because I want to be able to Hear and Understand everything he says but i will try to be better And this last is Flavio our baptism this past saturday.

 and the other is my district at the temple we got to go through a session it was good but it felt like the first time i went through because I'm tense cuz Its in Portuguese but I think thats all i got. Oh and i ate at Burger King ha ha i will attach that photo too ha ha I love you guys so much and I am so glad to be here its great it really is And i am psyched for Josh he better not ever get discouraged because he's not switching tongues I think I could serve an english mission no problem now ha ha but I Love You guys a ton take care I honestly Cant wait to return home but I think once i  learn the language this will become my home because i love the people I love the weather i love the work I love the rules and the president i only have two problems......    Language and Companion But  all of this will change I Know 

Eu Amo Voces Elder J. Smith

Tysons District went to the Recife Temple for P-Day.

Guess what Ty Found!

August 1, 2012

Dang I figured you guys wouldnt be expecting a letter today sorry bout monday we changed pday to today cuz our zone will go to the temple. but anyway things here as always are getting better. anyway i hope you guys have a great day this week and a half has been good me and my companion fought a little but were trying to be better i kinda wished he would be transfered but hes training me and training is 3 months so the odds were against me ha ha anyway everything here is good it really is but its always complicated but....  ugh... im trying to think of something that happened this week but i cant think of anything darn.....  i must not be working hard enough if i dont have some miraculous story to tell you guys. man i wish someone would wake up and catch my email.  today is temple day for our zone since i got here i havent seen my freinds from the Ctm but i heard Mclaws already had two companions and has baptized 8 people so hes having more luck than me anyway how are things there wow its almost time for school to start again time moves so fast here on the mission! I wonder if it will ever slow down...  but things are good im growing fast and learning so much but reading my scriptures and praying. ha ha the other day we ate at subway and it is expensive! 7 R$ for a 15cm (6in) ha ha but it was good anyway I Really feel my testimony growing and i am picking up the language pretty fast Its crazy that im in this big city on the other side of the world with a ton of green and humidity speaking a different language but I feel like im at home This is where i need to be, its where I am meant to be at this time I never felt so calm thinking about life but then again I dont think Ive ever had this patience that i am learning here I Love you guys so much and im glad that i was born in this church and from this side of the world I can See That My whole life and the life now and life after EVERYTHING I have who i am where am from,how i act, who my friends are, how i feel, down to the very core of my soul Is because of the gospel and you guys. I love you Guys A TON and Deid too...  ;) OH YA!!!!   AJS Wedding!!!  woohoo congrats to him hows the house and everything I want pictures!!!!!!!!    anyways until next week on monday i think dont forget that I love you A TON and more  Tell Jake Im waiting to hear from him and I love him ha ha Tell everyone I love Them ha ha cuz really I do

 

p.s. Minha Mae não gosta de Mim porque ela não escriver uma resposta de minha pouco mensagem  ha ha só brincando....   Eu não sei se eu estou escrivendo em portugues correto então possivalmente isso não tem sentido mas Eu Amo Voces!! e Eu sou muito Gratos por Tudo. Eu sei que A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias é verdadeiro e que eu sou um filho de deus e foi camado por um profeta para servir o senhor aqui no Missão Brasil Recife!!  EU AMO VOCES DE MAIS

July 23, 2012

I have a lot of goood news  ive actually started to feel like i am making a gain on this language and me and my companion have hit some middle ground sorry bout weighing you down with my problemas. these past few days have been good. i batizado someone!  was good sorry i slip into portuegues.  i think because im working so hard to accomplish it ha ha  after the baptism i was speaking with other elders and they were speaking english and it felt weird cuz i am used to the broken english i speak with some members like Moises he is a great guy really funny he always tells me he can see that i am a good missionary it it gives my heart peace.

in the pics he is the one with the blue and white shirt with his arm around me and the thumb up ha ha but ya things have gotten better. me and my companion played some basketball today and it was good anyway ha ha before the baptism we were walking by the road and my companion starts laughing and i look and see girls dancing in between cars at the stop light and my companion decided to pass by the road they were on and the light turned green and they returned to the sidewalk and confronted us there was i think 5 of them and when we got closer i realized at least one of them was a guy very strange any way my companion says excuse me can we pass and they said sure but were blocking the way they started dancing and hissing (a way to flirt here) and we went to walk around and one grabbed my arm so i broke his... hers... its grip and just ran was strange de mais ha ha any way the batismo was great after it i could speak very well and had a conversation with a brazilian elder anyway i am great ill add some pics to this hopefully and send it the boy in the pics is ruan


 he is my amigo we played baseball the other day it was fun.   the last one is from left to right a member whos name i cant remember the mother of ruan companion lucienne recent convert and me and o bispo (the bishop) well i love you guys I am thankful for all you do love you guys a ton so be careful and choose the right i know i complain but ive rarely  been this happy i love you guys a ton thanks for the letters and i will try to send more brit your a great example to me iwant you to stay close to the church and far away from short shorts and boys ha ha :) being me....          Elder J. Smith

First week in the City!

So ha ha no baptizms yet for those who are asking. ha ha nobody in my district ended up in my area or zone i think. ha ha my president is a nice guy hes got a really low voice. ha ha um the house is pretty rough ill try to send some pics. ha ha but i dont know if it will work. My area is pretty ghetto .ha ha our chapel is under renovation so guess what we have church in a catholic school. ha ha it was pretty different and we had sacrament meeting on the basket ball court. ha ha and i understand basically nothin ha ha its hard to speak but im growing fast! sometimes when i feel the spirit strongly its like my mind focuses and works double time and i can understand. im speaking more now but when i think i havent really improved. people here are very nice when we went and visited members yesterday every one of them fed us. ha ha to say the least i was stuffed. ha ha ive been having fun but my feet are pretty sore we walk a ton! and my companion likes to walk fast so its hard to keep up when your feet hurt. i love the children ha ha there really nice. meu amigo Ruan is awesome he drew me a picture ha ha and gave me some marbles so me and my companion can play at the house. ha ha we ate at ruans house yesterday and my companion did some magic tricks for them. ha ha it was fun my companion likes to play violin he'll take it to members houses and play a hymn make me sing and leave them with a short message but its hard for me to match the violin with my bass voice. ha ha elder siles is my comp.  we get along but he jokes a little more than id like to but i love him the same ha ha the city is RUN DOWN ha ha its rough alot of the houses are in pretty bad shape including ours id like to do some work but time is short and we are usually out of the house.  Tell everyone i love them and Love you thanks for all you do and use that missionties up! Elder Smith

Hey This is my email para voce telling you i made it too recife the flight was good and its hot here guess what i finally found someone that knows josephcity ha ha i knew i would find someone his name is elder king hes cousins with ralph bushmans family i cant speak much portuguese and its even worse with my understanding mas i am getting better by the way i bought a harmonica its one of the big 2 sided ones its not a guitar but its something by the way my companion decided hed listen to the songs we had on cd it was good to hear your testimony in a song for me its sooooooooo hard to get in the spiritof missionary work when i cant speak with anyone but i am improving greatly oh and also my companion is bolivian and knows less english than i know portuegues so im grateful for that my area i am in is madelina we currently have no investigators i think..... my companion kinda likes to play with me its pretty annoying because i never really know what i were doing. my living quarters is pretty humble to say the least but its cool with me. anyway i think ought to go love you guys i wish i could talk more. i think my pday is tuesday still but like i said my treinador likes tricking me so it might be monday so just watch for it love you guys a ton and i hope to get some letters soon send my love to deid and papa and grandma i know right now it is hard but i know the lord is helping me alot hopefully next time i will send pics next time. love you again

Tyson also sent us a email in Portugeuse. I will include it now and add the translation on the end.

entao eu vou escrever para voce me perdoar se meu spelling is bad eu gosto isso aqui na cidade de recife mas eu nao posso falar  e tambem no entendi muitos muitos muitos  coisas mas eu sei que jesus cristo morrer para mim e tambem joseph smith foi um profeta eu amo voces e tambem meu companheiro eu sou muitos gratos por todas coises voces fazem para mim eu sou muitos animados para falando em portuguese e eu quero falo agora mas eu tambem sei que deus e nossas amoroso pai celestial e ele tem um plano para me eu sou muito feliz por que eu sou de muito grande familia  meu companheiro queria casar minha irma britney e eu amo ela entao eu vou matar meu companheiro.......     brincadeira. eu sei que eu estou aqui para todas pessoas de recife e eu espera que eu posso cumprir meu proposito como um missionario. Agora eu estou escrevendo uma carta para voces em poruguese quando eu estou a meu casa eu  falo muito portugues  com meu companheiro. atualmente eu estou nao comfortable falando em ingles

TRANSLATION......

So I'll write to you to forgive me if my spelling is bad I like it here in the city of reef but I can not speak and also understand the many many many things but I know that Jesus Christ died for me and also was a prophet joseph smith I love you guys and also my partner I'm very thankful for all coises you guys do for me I'm most excited about speaking in portuguese and I speak now but I also know god and love our heavenly father and he has a plan for me I I am very glad that I am a very big family my partner wanted to marry my sister britney and I love her so I'm gonna kill my friend ....... joke. I know I'm here for all persons reef and I hope I can fulfill my purpose as a missionary. Now I'm writing a letter to you guys in poruguese when I'm in my house I talk a lot with my Portuguese partner. currently I'm not comfortable speaking in English

Finally Some Pictures

 Thanks for all the letters. Well, I don't know what the temperature is or what the humidity is, but it's still quite hot. It's getting pretty nice but it rained Hard last night. It's kinda crazy how green it is even in the city. We just got out of the Temple. It was awesome. Our whole District (which is now 12 guys) rode a small van to the Temple and got there very early, so we got in a session with just our District. It was neat. Today P-day is gonna be shortened big time cuz an Apostle is coming!!! :>) Anyways, we got a letter from our old Brazillian roomate. He's serving a mission in the Saluador Mission which borders mine. He says he's having a great time and that his roof doesn't really keep out the rain. ha ha. Saturday we had TRC where we teach members from the area like they are investigators. I was a little worried about it, but my companhiero was VERY worried. So we prayed before our lesson,  and we did VERY WELL. I could  understand most of what was said, and I could even answer questions they had. It was great! It's SOooo amazing how much we can learn by the Spirit. I couldn't even imagine speaking portuguese 2 months ago, but now It's likesecond nature. Granted I'm not fluent, but I feel confident when I speak about somethings. I CAN'T WAIT  TO GET TO THE FIELD!  Yeah, I sleep on the top bunk and as you can see the bed is tiny. ha ha. Smaller than my bed at home, but thats ok. Things are awesome here. I've stopped putting on weight, so I'm bout a solid 195 now. Sounds like you guys are pretty busy. I loved the Family pics. I don't need hardly anything and I can get just about anythingI need here except ranch dressing. But I'd prefer that you don't send me a bottle of Ranch, ha ha. Just watch _ _ _ _ for me. ha ha! It's exciting to hear about home. Sounds like life is better without me there ha ha. Thanks for all you guys have done for me & still do for me.
Love, Elder Smith

Elder Smith and his District at Sao Paulo Temple

Elder Tyson and His CTM Companhiero Elder Passey

Inside the court yard at the CTM

Tyson showing off some brazillian candies

Elder Smith and His good friend, Elder Mackay

Elder Smith showing off his Brazillian Soccer Shirt. One of my Favorites by the way...

Elder Smiths Scripture cover that he had one of the locals make for him.

4-29-12

4-29-12

Ola. Mom Desculpe Por Meu Portugeuse. I'm still learning. It's amazing to think of how much I've learned, but I boast not of my own strength. For without the Lord, I am nothing. Sorry but recently I have been forgetting about home. Ha Ha. Home is ALMOST  a dream now. Being here at the CTM and being "in the world but not of the world", I can't see my life without the Church nor would I like too. Thank You and Dad for teaching me what is right. I am so Thankful for even my CTM experience. I can't wait to get to the field. Speaking of which, I believe 3 weeks, maybe 2 weeks from today I will be flying to Recife. It seems so far away. Love you, Elder Smith

Dear Pai,
Ola Como Vei. As you can see I still need to improve on my portugeuse, but last lesson we taught ourteacher, I spoke quite a bit but I'm starting to think more in portuguese. It's great! My faith is growing tremendously! As for my companhieros, Elder Mackay, Mclaws and Passey are all going to Recife as well as another one in our District. Love You, Elder Smith