Monday, June 27, 2011






Oi Família,
I´m in my first area, Santiago, and it is cold. I´m sending some pics, but I´m not sure how well its going to work. The pics are some from both mtc´s so if you get them enjoy. So my companion´s name is Elder De OLiveira Silva. He´s from Jãon Pessoa and he´s very little english, but the mission president told him not to speak any which is good. It feels like another world here. I can hardly understand anyone and I can barely respond. It feels like I´m in another dimension. Oh and yes there is a can where tou put the used toilet paper. The food is about the same but its good. oh and the assistant to the president here is the elder who´s blog I looked at. Weird huh? So yea its really cold and the streets are cobblestone. It´s like a mixture of south america and old europe. I´m going to have to hand dry my clothes too. I have no idea how,though, because its so cold. It feels like and sort of looks like autumn back home, except the trees are green and for the occasional palm tree. My companion and I live alone, just the two of us which is extremely weird since I´v never lived with less than three people in my life. I also dont think I´ll gain any weight here even though the members keep making me eat every time I have lunch, because most days we only eat once at the member´s house. Anyway so right now I´m pretty frustrated with the language, but I´ll get it. I got to go now. I love you all. have a great week. Tchau.
Elder Jolstead the younger

Friday, June 24, 2011

June 24, 2011

Here is an excerpt of the letter from Elder Jolstead that came today.

Oi Familia!
My last letter from the CTM! Enjoy. So alot happened this week or at least on Friday so I'll get right to it. This last Thursday our night teacher Irmao Ramon had to leave, because his two years teaching was up.He was so funny and a great teacher.His last night teaching he gave us much words of wisdom.So this Friday we went to Avienda Paulista which is basically the Times Square of Sao Paulo. It is crazy! Tons of people are walking back and forth and at first we were intimidated because we didn't know how to stop someone. They all looked like they had a place to go and they were going now. It's funny though because our first contact came up to us. It was a girl about our age supporting Green Peace. At first we had no idea what she was saying but then I recognized that she asked us if we were here in Brazil on business or school and that's when I cut in with "we are actually missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was funny how her face changed when she realized that we're also here to tell people a message, and that she wouldn't be able to talk just about us supporting Green Peace. Anyway we talked to her about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon and then invited her to read it. At first she didn't look too enthused but she took it. I wish when I had talked to her I had taken her love of the earth and went with it, like, "We believe the earth is a gift from God and we also believe that we should take of it, but all I said was, "Green Peace!" "Muito Bom!" Oh well, I hope she reads it.

Elder Jolstead wrote more, but this is just a part. He said that he was glad that he had the opportunity to speak with others as well. He is now in Santa Maria ready to spread the gospel there!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

June 14, 2011

Oi Famìlia!

Last week! Opa! I can´t wait to get out of here. I liked here but I´m ready to leave. I can´t believe Jackson is about ready to go. That´s so cool. He´s been waiting a while. So I guess it does take forever to get to you, because I wrote those letters about two weeks ago. This week I went out proselyting on Avenida Paulista which is pretty much like Times Square. I write about my excursions in my letter though, because there´s a lot to say. So right now I´m kind of nursing my tongue, because while eating a brazilian mush I bit my tongue. I was pretty sure I almost bit it off, but its fine. I barely knipped it. So this is like the last week of school for me too. Tuesday is the day and I am ready to go. well i´ll write more in my letter. i hope you´re all doing fine. Eu você ama! Tchau Elder Jolstead the younger oh have jackson write me before he goes.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

June 7, 2011

Oi família,
Um...I actually have two more weeks. its very sad. I leave the 21. I was wondering when T-cox would send them in. Has Levi sent them yet? That´s cool about the chicks. I figured you´d have to pretty soon because the other chickens are extremely old. That´s pretty funny about that play. that kid´s will never life will never be the same after playing lady gaga. He´ll here about that for the rest of his life. So Elder Jolstead´s b-day was yesterday, but I don´t have his address. So my teacher Irmão Ramon took pics at the temple today and I think he´ll send them to you tonight or tomorrow. Unfortunately this is the first e-mail I read so it has to be the shortest. If I have time I´ll write more. Love you all. Tchau. Elder Jolstead

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

May 31, 2011

Oi! Ma,

I am very sad. You tore done the ship?! I´m gone a month you just go and change everything. I feeling nothing will be the same when I come back. I´m just kidding. I´m already over it. So that play looked like it was pretty good. And I´m glad the stringflingthing wasn´t as bad. So Shantewa was able to go to Build a Bear? Tell her Happy Birthday. I´m sorry I didn´t send a card yet, but I´ll hopefully send one soo. Oh, really important: Could father move some of my money from my checking to my savings, just in case my card gets stolen. I wouldn´t want all my money to be gone. So Lawrence is going into the army? that is so weird. It´s strange to think how things continue going while you´re away. So I´ve decided that because it costs money for every letter I send, I´ll just send all the letters to people nearby in the envelope to you. Just give the letters for the people to them por favor. So this week was cool. I went out one the street to teach and that was cool. I actually felt like a missionary. I´ll tell more about it in my letter. Three weeks left here. I ca´t wait! I´m am tired of classrooms. I love you guys lots! tchau! Elder Jolstead

May 24, 2011

Oi,

That´s so funny! I could actually picture that in my mind. I´m really sorry it happened though...haha. The Laguage is coming, not as fast as I want, but its coming. The food is getting boring. Beans and rice w/ every meal, but at least I´m eating. I´m glad you were able to see the picture of me and Elder Broadhead. I´ve actually got a lot of cool pics but I can´t send them until I´m in the field. So the play is starting. That´s cool. It seems like they´ve been practising forever, but I guess I´ve only been gone a month. It seems like so much longer. So Augie came over? How was that? He´s a way goofy guy. Tell Shantewa Happy B-day for me, because there´s no way a can send her a card on time. So anyway I´ll tell more about my week in my letter. I love you. Thcau Elder Jolstead

May 17, 2011

Oi Ma,
So first off, this keyboard stinks. Its very hard to type when the enter button doesn´t work. Anyway, Brasil is amzing! The City of São Paulo is huge! The driving is terrible. You always hear about Utah and California being bad drivers, but some of the things I´ve seen here should not be done with a car. The CTM is awesome. The first three days I was really home sick for the Provo MTC, but I got over it. My new companion´s name is Elder Jenson and he´s a way cool guy. He put up with my Pre-MTC depression. I actually saw Elder Broadhead many times. We talked whenever we saw each other. I guess he hurt his arm or something. When I first saw him his arm was in a sling. It´s not any more, though. The food hear is awesome, way better than Provo´s cafeteria food. I do miss my daily milk and bananas though. (In Provo I had bananas and milk every meal.) So what´s with the picture of Shantewa com Milea e Neisa? Oh my Portuguese is coming a lot better. I gotta go, but I´ll talk more in my letter. Love you! tchau! Elder Jolstead

May 10, 2011

Oi!
So um... our flight got cancelled because they're working on the plane. I was pretty bumed about it. We got all the way to the airport when we found out. So it was a great field trip to the outside world:) We actually are leaving tomorrow same time, so expect a call at around 5 or 6 your time. It's kind of funny we were wondering why the Lord would have us stay another day, because its not ordinary that a plane just breaks down and they have to fix it. We were joking that maybe the Prophet is speaking at the devotional tonight and thatthe Lord wants us to here his message. Its very unlikely though. Anyways that all I have to say for now, but expect a call tomorrow. Love you guys. Tchau
Elder Jolstead

May 9, 2011

Oi Ma!
I'll be calling at 1:00 today to talk about travel plans so be ready! Oh Happy Mother's Day. I'm sending You a card so look for that too. I really don't Have a lot of time left so I'll write about my whole MTC experience in a letter. Oh! Could you get those address for me? I sent a list home with a letter. I'm really curious on what's going on with everyone including my friends. No one has been telling me much. I got to go love you Tchau.
Elder Jolstead

May 2, 2011

Ola Familia,
My visas came through! I'm leaving the 10th! It's awesome! I'm kinda sad though. I've really gotten used to the MTC. The people in my district and Zone are really cool. I'm gonna miss them. My teachers were really cool too. Oh, Dallin H. Oaks talked to us last Tuesday. It was awesome! We also had a crazy "investigator" this week. Our teacher Irmao Alsbury pretended to be an investigater and he was totally crazy. He like started petting one of my companions ear and reading a book upside down! It was impossible to teach him, because he wouldn't shut up and he spoke Portuguese really fast so we barely understood him. I'm really grateful for the oppurtunity though, because there are probably people like that in Brasil. I'm guessing he was acting like some one he met on his mission, because if he wasn't he is really creative and a little weird. So that's pretty sad about MVMS. I guess they'll be foreverly undefeated in wrestling. That's also really cool about your trip to Seattle. Sounds like it was fun. tell Nathan good job. I knew he'd start liking girls pretty soon here. Ha,ha. Just for the record: Who's idea was it to hire cute girls at the MTC? What the Heck?! I guess it's just to challenge the missionaries. I'm just saying...Anyway the MTC has been great! And I'm really gonna miss it here, but I can't wait to go to Sao Paulo. That's about it for now. I've got some pictures, but i don't know how to send them. I'll figure it out. Anyway, I hope you guys have a good week. Love youy guys! Tchao
Elder Jolstead
P.S. Um... one of my pairs of pants is pretty small. Do you think you could send me a bigger pair? Try 36 waist and34 length.