December 15, 2012

Oí família! So sounds like things are going good with the exception of Shantewa. I knew that it was only a matter of time...hehe I´m kidding of course. I know how it feels to hit someone´s car. At least she slid. I practically used father´s car as a battering ram haha. As you can tell I don´t feel to beat up about that now. But I still don´t trust myself to drive. Sister Ribeiro tried to get me to drive 2 times already. I have to say it was tempting. The Hi lux of the President is a pretty nice car. haha But I really don´t think that that would be such a good idea. So things have been going better this week. After all the traveling got done we actually got to work a little and we´ve had a lot more success. The Lord really compensates for the time we lose doing assistant stuff. This Elder that I have been working with these last 3 days that my companion has been traveling with President had a pretty good idea to find new investigators. There´s this military station near our apartment and out of no where he wanted to go in and talk with one of the leaders there about teaching the soldiers that live there. So we went in and talked to this sergeant guy and he said he´d have to talk to his superiors first but then we could call to find out if we could. He was pretty cool about it so I think we might be able to pull it off. It would be really good because there are a ton of missionary-age men there. Here in the south they have to serve one year in the military at 18 years old so there´s hundred´s of future missionaries in there. So that was cool. Oh and I found out that you can record General Conference for personal use. It says so in the Church Handbook. I read it today. :) That probably would have been better to know before we taped over all the conference tapes that we have. So its been pretty hot here. I was hoping that maybe it would be like last year where it was actually pretty cold here. Oh and today I got a letter from Brother Claypool. I don´t know who that is so I´m guessing that they´re new members in our ward. Thank them for their letter for me. So I don´t know if they´ll let me stay another transfer yet. President hasn´t said anything. He just said that he would ask Salt Lake. Hopefully they´ll let me, because some how word got out that you could stay longer and its becoming a fad to ask president to stay longer. :( I hope this doesn´t ruin my chances. So yeah that´s about it. So what time will I be able to talk to you guys on either skype or on the phone for Christmas? It´s a good thing that its not on Sunday this year, that way we don´t have to plan around church. Think I ´ll try to use the computer here in the mission office, but I don´t know yet. Anyway that´s about it. Have a great week everyone! Love you guys Elder Jolstead the Younger

December 7, 2012

Hellooooo Family! So, unfortunately we haven´t taught that much more, but we have found some good people to teach. We´ll see what happens in the weeks to come. Its looking like Christmas here too. haha There´s lots of lights here in Santa Maria and this last Monday Santa came to the military base next to our apartment! haha I have to say that was pretty interesting. Especially the tanks with the Christmas lights on them. haha The only thing that doesn´t really feel like Christmas is the lack of snow and the 100 degree weather, but... other than that it seems like Christmas. So anyway, things are going alright here. We´re working hard. This next week is transfers. That same routine again for the 5th time now. Transfers, picking up the newbies and trainings are very normal to me now. The first time was exciting, but now I kind of look at it as time that I can´t use to work in my area. That´s just part though. Anyway so things are good. So that´s about it. Have a great week. Love you guys.

November 30, 2012

Querida Família, How´s everyone doing? How´s the new diet going? Have you been able to go without sugar? ( I say as a eat a cookie. hehehe) That picture I drew was of my old companion and his fiance. I drew it for his birthday. I can´t believe its Christmas already too. I came in the office today and it was all decorated. I think it was Sister Ribeiro how decorated. So my week has been very enlightening. I´ve been very frustrated these last couple of weeks, because it seems like out of no where the work in my area just stopped, and I can´t figure out why. But, at the same time its been good. I´ve realized how blessed I´ve been these last couple months. The Lord has been helping us so much. We have had a lot of success. I was getting a accustomed to the ease of it all and the Lord doesn´t let us stay comfortable for too long. He can´t, because that is the exact opposite of the purpose of His plan for us. We need to keep progressing and so the Lord, I think, felt like I needed to grow a little more. And let me tell you He really did a good job. These last weeks I´ve really seen how much I have to do better and where I really need to change. Its exactly how that scripture in Ether says: He will show us our weaknesses so that we can change them and with His help we and make them strengths. I´ve really had to stop this week and really think about what I´m doing here. We´re literally helping the Heavenly Father´s children came back to Him. Why should that be an easy process? It wasn't easy for our Savior. Why would it be any easier for us? So in a way my week was very good. I still have a lot to learn. But I really am grateful for the opportunity to serve; during the goods times and the hard times. There is nothing better to be here on the mission, serving the Lord. Well anyway that´s about it. Have a great week everyone! Love you guys. Elder Jolstead the Older

November 23, 2012

Oí Minha Família! How´s everyone doing? Happy Thanksgiving! I think I´ll celebrate by making clover rolls. You found a Jumanji Game? Was it fun? No animals appeared? haha That must have been terrible for that drummer. Poor guy. Those kinds of things seemed to happen to me everytime I played at the school. I think out of all the times I played at the school 2 times I didn´t have trouble with the bass drum sliding away. haha That´s good that the missionaries back home are having success. Unfortunately we´re not having too much success right now, but that´s just part of being on a mission. Sometimes you do good and other times you don´t. If it was all good everyday you wouldn´t learn or grow and there would be no point. We just need to keep working and the Lord will help us out. So yeah nothing very notable happened this week. Just work like normal. Have a great week though! Love you guys Elder Jolstead the Older

November 17, 2012

Hey Family! How´s everyone doing? Sounds like the regular winter fun. Driving in the snow is not something I´m looking forward to when I get back. So yes I can email Joshua. Last week I didn´t get a chance because of a trip that we had to do to see how a missionary was that burned himself with hot oil. It wasn´t that bad though. When I first heard about it though, my firat thought was two-face from the Dark Knight. haha Don´t worry too much about the packages Mother, I´m doing alright. Just send them when you´re able. I´ve been trying to eat better too. Instead of rice and beans I´ve been trying to eat beans and rice. haha No but really I´ve been trying to eat less, because now how its so hot here, if you eat a lot you don´t feel to good later. I´ve lost weight I think. So my week was alright. I still haven´t had a full working week this transfer. We had another training for the leaders yesterday. But with the time we have been working we have been walking a ton. We´re trying to update the members´ list for our ward, so we basically walk from one side of the street to the other looking for the addresses on the list. It would be easier if the addresses here were in order and didn´t jump from 30 to 589 at the house after it. haha We hope the Lord will bless us with an incomplete family as we do the ward´s job of cleaning up the members´ list. At this point we basically have no real investigators. We´ve cut and baptized them all, so we´re back to doing the fun part which is finding new investigators. Anyway that´s all that happened this week. I hope you all have a great week! Love you guys Elder Jolstead the Older

Oí família! How is everyone doing? So yes I heard about Obama and also about our state legalizing gay marriage and marajuana. The scriptures say that the world will get worse before it gets better so this is just a fulfillment of that. Oh well. We live in the world but we´re not of the world. Our example and us sharing the gospel, can influence others and make a difference in the world where we are. Little by little we can fight against wickedness in the world. Well Anyway, this week was good. We went traveling with President. Its always cool to do that. You get to learn a lot talking with him. Unfortunately all our ´´Golden`` investigators decided to go on vacation and not come back. haha Oh well it just proves that they aren´t the ones who we need to help with the gospel at this time. We´ve been praying and fasting to find an entire family and we know the Lord will bless us with a family, its just a matter of time and work on our part. Well that´s about it for now. Have a great week! Love you guys! Elder Jolstead the Older

November 3, 2012

Oí família, Oh! how I love Halloween! Yes, I carved a Pumpkin! I´ll have to send you guys photos next week. The Brazilians thought is was cool, because I think they´ve never seen a Jack-o´-lanturn with a real pumpkin. Our play did have a good turn out...of members... Well I guess you can´t always get what you want. haha It was good though, and very spiritual. I´ll be honest to hear that Kelleene is sick again was a bit of a shock, but like you said the Lord uses our life to test and try us to make us into the people he wants us to be. She´ll be alright though. The Lord will be with her every step of the way. Well anyway my week was alright. I have a new companion...well actually he´s the same companion that I had in Livramento, before I became assistant. Round 2! His name is Elder Morrison and he´s actually from Tacoma, so that´s cool. We went to Porto Alegre this week to get the new missionaries and then we gave trainings all week. So unfortunately we didn´t have a lot of time to work this week and next week will be about the same because we´ll travel all over the mission to do Zone Conferences. Its cool though. I like to see all the missionaries in the mission. Anyway that´s about it. Have a great week! Love you guys Elder Jolstead the Older

October 26, 2012

Oí Família! Wow the play sounds like it´ll be pretty funny! The fact that Shantewa will a sugar plum made me laugh. haha The train ride looked like it was very cool. It reminded me of the fall weather. Unfortunately here, its getting hot again. :( I got one of your letters today. I can´t believe that Marissa is getting married! Its crazy how life continues without you there. So I think today I will buy a pumpkin to carve too. Will see what happens though because finding a pumpkin big enough to carve here is a challenge. So anyway this week was ok. We were blessed to find a family this week. A young couple that are legally married (that is always difficult to find). They accepted to be baptized this next month. So this is my last week with Elder A Santos. I don´t have any idea who will be my next companion, but I think I´ll find out today. Then comes the usual transfers next week. I´ll go to Porto Alegre with the dead and bring back the newbies. Then the usual trainings for the next 2 weeks. I´m wondering if I´ll stay here for another transfer after this one. I like the idea. This area is very good. Its just hard to find new investigators. Well tthat´s about it. Happy Anniversary! Have a great week! Love you guys Elder Jolstead the Older

October 18, 2012

Oí, How´s everyone doing? Have you guys decorated the house for Halloween yet? I think we´ll cut a Jack-ó-Lanturn this year. Last year I just ate a piece of candy haha So yeah Joshua sent me an email. Sounds like he´s having a great time. The MTC is awesome. He´ll love it there. Did he say anything about having a companion? It was pretty weird at the beginning having some one follow you around. haha That train ride sounds like it should be cool. So anyway, my week was pretty normal. We´ve been having a lot of success these days that I´ve almost forgotten how it feels when no one is progressing and you need to find new investigators,.... these last couple of days I´ve been starting to remember how that is. So yeah that´s what I´ve been doing these last couple of days: Searching for new investigators. Its good though, because if we always had success and never failure we´d never learn and never have to trust in the Lord for help. So its good that he´s testing us a little. Oh and we´re doing an activity in the ward: Night of the Theater. Every organization will present a short play or skit and we missionaries are doing a play of the First Vision. Its been pretty fun. It reminded me a lot of our Christmas plays. (especially when Elder Hormazbal, our director is trying to talk and everyone is just goofing around. haha) The practices we have here are almost exactly the same. One Elder will out of no where make a joke or do something funny and this the others will tell him to knock it off and then the next minute another missionary does another stupid joke or something. haha Its just like home in the Christmas plays. hahaha The activity is tomorrow night. It should be good and I hope that the members bring non-members, because if they don´t it will be a big waste of time. Anyway that´s all I did this week. I do have another thing to add for the whole family. Something that I don´t think to many members realize. When some one new comes to church its a big thing for them and they´re in a world completely different than they´re used to, that´s why we as members need to reach out to them and make friends with them. One of the most frustrating things as a missonary is working with members. Sometimes it seems that the members here drive away converts faster than we can baptize them. Its like we open the door to the church and they just leave through the back door. Sorry but it something that´s been frustrating me for along time. Members need to be a lot more aware of new converts and also willing to help them and be friends with them, if not the church will never grow the way the Lord wants it too. The members need to be involved in missionary work. Anyway, have a great week! love you guys! Elder Jolstead the Older

October 12, 2012

Oí Família! Well...I guess I´ll have to be Elder Jolstead the older now. I´m glad he left smiling because its so much worse when everyone is bawling. hahaha I loved conference! The announcement about the age of missionaries is awesome! They´ll be so many more missionaries now! I loved the talk by Elder Holland. That wasn´t the first time I heard that talk. He gave one similar to the missonaries in the MTC awhile ago. Its something very important because there´s so many fubeca returned missionaries. I don´t understand how so one who supposedly served an honorable mission could come back and act like nothing happened and that they served their missions and that´s the end, you´re finished and you can go back to who you were before. That talk was very powerful. I also liked Elder Bednar´s talk and President Monson´s talk in the Preisthood session. Unfortunately these days I´ve been very tired so some of the sessions I missed a little because I fell asleep. :( I was very put out afterwards. This week I had a great opportunity. I was able to go to Uruguaiana and see some of my converts there. I was able to talk to one family there and I have to say that was one of the happiest moments of my life. The mom has a calling in the relief society and is very strong in the church. Her daughter is also very strong and is attending seminary everyday. The whole family reads the Book of Mormon everyday and prays before every meal and before they go to bed. The difference that I saw in the mom was incredible. I remember that she was always stressed about some very terrible things that were happening in her life, but now she was so peaceful and happy. So anyway it was very awesome to see the change the gospel has made in their lives. I think the feeling that I felt is the feeling that only comes to those who have the priviledge to share the gospel with others and see the happiness that they feel. That is why it is so important that we share the gospel. For the salvation of others as well as our own happiness we need to share the gospel with others. Unfortunately I didn´t get to see the whole family because the kids were at school and the dad was at work. It was very cool to get to walk where I walked 6 months ago. The funny thing is that it was about a year ago when I was transfered there. Anyway, here in our area we are teaching this woman who is practically converted to the gospel already, can´t get baptised because her husband decided that now he doesn´t want to marry her. Now that they already have three kids. So this week we´ve been praying a lot for her and her family and this week we´ll fast especially for her and her husband. Last time our prayer and fast stopped a baby from coming, I´m certain the Lord will answer us again and soften the heart of her husband so that she can be baptized. Oh and today we got to eat at the President´s house at lunch. It was very cool. I always love talking to President and Sister Ribeiro. Anyway, that´s about it. Have a great week everyone!!! love you guys Elder Jolstead the Older

October 5, 2012

Oí Família!! Well I have to say that when I saw these pictures I couldn´t believe my eyes! Derek looks like they took Joshua, cut off his head and took dereks head and put on Joshua´s body! hahaha Don´t tell them that I said that, though. :) Looks like you guys had fun at Silverwood. Oh and I hadn´t realized that Krystine had come home to see Joshua go through the temple, that´s why I didn´t understand when you said that there were 5 Jolsteads there. Oh and mother you look a lot slimmer. Not that you weren´t slim before, but you look a lot slimmer. :) That is very sad about Kurtis. He´s fine though right? I mean with the sickness that he caught. That is one of the risks that we have here. But its not as bad as you think. And even more important is that even if the food could give us some disease the Lord won´t let that happen unless its suppose to and its for our good. The Lord wouldn´t have let Kurtis get sick if it wasn´t what was suppose to happen and what the Lord wanted to happen. It is sad though. I forgot to tell you that a missionary came home here in Santa Maria who knew Kurtis in the mission. An Elder Hammer I think. Anyway this week was very different. The President sent us both, me and my companion to work with 2 different companionships of Zone Leaders. So basically we left our area with no one working here for 2 days. Something interesting is that the President said that if we did this we shouldn´t worry about our area here because the Lord would bless us. So we left Tuesday. I stayed here in Santa Maria to help the ZL´s here. It was a pretty awesome experience. The first day it was raining a lot and they had the whole day planed. We prayed before left asking the Lord to help us find a family too. Then at one point after lunch one of the elders lost his planner and with it all the addresses of the people that we´d visit that day. So we were a little sad about that so we said a prayer and asked the Lord to help us find his planner. Then we searched for a long time and decided to just let it go for now and try to find new investigators. So we spent most of the afternoon doing that. Then at night we were walking and we saw a woman walking with her daughter with a ton of grocieres in the rain. So we went up to her and offered help and gave her our umbrella. So we walked with her to her house and we talked with her about her family. She has 8 children and she said that she going to a church but doesn´t like it anymore because of all the ridiculous rules that they have there and how she is looking for a church to join. Well you can guess how happy we were: 8 children, looking for a new church to join; we knew from the beginning that this family was prepared to hear the gospel. So we arrived at her house and we taught the Restoration and at the end we invited them to be baptized and they accepted and when we invited them come to church she looked at her husband and said, ´´I don´t know about you but I´m going this Sunday.`` So anyway if you think that this experience is cool guess what happened after we left their house...We found the planner that had been lost with all those addresses. Something that I realized after was that all this was so that we could find that family, because if that Elder hadn´t have lost his planner we would have gone to all these other plans and we never would have found that family and even cooler was the fact that the Lord answered both prayers: Find a family and find the planner. Everything worked out perfectly, just how the Lord wanted it. And even better was when we came back to our area to work yesterday, the Lord really did bless me and my companion like the president said. We found 3 people who were also prepared to hear the gospel and were able to teach more lessons then we usually can in one day. We taught them and they accepted to baptized as well. So anyway that was a cool experience. If we´re obedient and do our part the Lord will do his part and everything will work out, even when we aren´t able to see how it could work out as perfectly as it does. That´s what Moroni means when he talks about the trial of our faith. That´s crazy that Joshua is leaving this week. He shouldn´t worry though the MTC is awesome. He´d better learn to like it too because he´ll be there for 3 months haha. Anyway so I´m excited about conference. It´ll give me that extra boost. So anyway that´s about it. We should be having another baptism here soon. The problem is we need to marry her first and that´s proving to be a lot harder then it should be. It seems like there´s everything going against her and we haven´t been able to start the marriage process yet, but today we´ll try again. Have a great week. love you guys Elder Jolstead

September 28, 2012

Oí minha família amada! So how´s everyone doing? Back in school now? Can you believe its almost October? I think we´ll buy a pumpkin and carve it for Halloween. haha The only problem is that the pumkins here are small and green. :) It´ll have to do I guess. I´m also excited for General Conference. Its like two days of trainings from the apostles and the Prophet. That´s good that Derek is doing better in football. That´s cool about everyone in the temple too. But wait who went? I only counted 5 people. Imiss the temple. If it´s possible I want to go there before I´m released as a misionary. I don´t know if that´ll work out but I think it would great to go before they suck the ´´missionary power`` from me. haha So this week was Zone conference week again. My companion traveled with President this time though. I got to stay in our area with another companionship that works in our same ward. It was good, but nothing really special happened this week. The Zone conference was good though. (like always) Our President talked about faith as a principle of power. It was very good. He also talked about the Book of Mormon and how we should use it in the work. So not much else happened. Right now we don´t have to many investigators, but we do have this woman who we are helping to get married. She´s the daughter of one of our recent converts (Joelma who was baptized in August) Little by little we hope to baptize her whole family, because there´s still 3 others who haven´t been baptized yet. In think one is coming around, but still don´t understand what´s stopping her because she always participates in our lessons. She just doesn´t come to church. Oh well everyone has their time. You can´t force conversion; it doesn´t work that way. So yeah that´s about it. Have an awesome week. Love you guys Elder Jolstead

Oí Família! I can´t believe that Joshua will be going in teh next 3 weeks. That went by really fast. I hope he´s ready. So I got your letter and well yes I did get a little dizzy reading it. haha That´s very sad about the Cornelius family. I´m going to miss Bro. Cornelius. Say good bye to them for me ok? So you can probably tell by the fotos that the couple was baptized! Jeferson and Elenita were baptized last Friday and she had her baby tuesday. It may seem weird to you that we prayed and fasted so that the baby wouldn´t be born until after the baptism but the Lord answered our prayer. So this last week it was that same running around that happens every transfer. We went to Porto Alegre again to drop off the dead and pick up the new missionaries. Something unique about this time is that I took my ´´Father`` to the airport. My trainer finally died. (He´s been dieing for a long time now haha) There were a ton of new missionaries, it reminded me of when I came here. My group had about 22 missionaries that arrived. So this transfer will be my last with my companion, Elder A. Santos :( . President already told him he´d be transfered after this one. It´ll be sad, but that´s the way of the mission. No one stays with you forever. Oh and we ate at Subway again today. Oh so I don´t know when you guys will send another package, (probably Christmas right?) But could you send me more eye solution, because the solution I have will expire in November. I didn´t know that eye solution expired but I guess it does. :) Oh and also some scar medicine. I don´t know why but about 2 months ago 2 zits appeared on my nose and for some reason they left scars. ( I didn´t do anything to them too, just washed my face with soap) So anyway it would be great if you could send me some medicine to get rid of scars because they left some pretty long scars on my face. So anyway have a great week everyone! Love you guys. Elder Jolstead

September 14, 2012

Oí!
How´s school going? You ate beets? You know the first time in my life that I ate beets was here in the mission. They´re alright but I have to say that I was a little scared the day after when I used the bathroom. :) If you didn´t understand what I meant, that´s ok. haha Tell Derek not to worry about being on JV. He just needs to work harder and practice more and he will be moved up. So I don´t think I´ve gotten fat, but I think I´ve gotten bigger. When I left I weighed 175lbs. Now I weigh about 190lbs. 15lbs is quite a bit. I think Joshua shouldn´t worry about staying skinny on the mission. :) So the baby hasn´t been born yet! And they´ll be baptized tonight! I´m still praying very hard, but it seems until now that the Lord has answered our prayer and our fast! hahaha So this week has been ok. I got a little sick tuesday, but I´m good now. Today we did a deep cleaning of our apartment. With 4 missionaries it gets pretty messy (especially when the other companionship doesn´t wash there dishes>:( ) So about 3 weeks ago a sister from the ward gave us the leftovers from the lunch we had there and for these passed weeks its been sitting in the refrigerator...well today I was the lucky one (or really the only one willing) to clean the fridge. Its not that we let things rot in the fridge. My companion and I have very little time to do anything p-days so until now we haven´t been able to clean a lot, the other companionship has had time to clean... Anyway so we cleaned our apartment and now its a lot cleaner (and it smells better too) So another transfer will start next monday. The same routine again. I like it though. You learn a lot at the Zone Conferences and all the trainings that we need to do every transfer. The work is going well though. The hard thing about this area is that its extremely hard to find new investigators, but this is also a blessing, because those who we find are the Lord´s elect: those who are prepared by the Lord and who understand our message and are willing to follow the gospel. We do have to walk a lot though, because it takes awhile to find these people:)Well anyway that´s it for this week. Love you guys!
Elder Jolstead

September 7, 2012

Olã!
How´s everyone doing now that there back in school? That´s cool about Joshua practicing with the missionaries. That´ll help him a lot. He has only 5 weeks! Time seems to be flying by! That is awesome about the foreign exchange student. I can imagine how excited Jared is to speak portuguese with her. Ask her what part she´s from because my companion is from São Paulo, in the capital in Interlagos. Maybe she´s from there, but it would be very hard if she knows him because the city of São Paulo is huge. So anyway that´s cool. So this week was alright. It´s getting pretty hot here. And because the city is surrounded by hills its like a pan here. The air is really heavy. Its terrible. :) So today we played basketball with the bishop and some members. Its been awhile and I´m out of shape so I felt like I was dieing haha. We´re going to start playing Mondays and Thursdays really early in the morning to get in shape. The first week will be rough but after that I´ll be used to it. So this next week we will have another baptism of a couple, if all goes well. She´s pregnant and she already passed the due date :( It should be anytime now. If its born normal we´re all good, but if its a C section.... well she´ll be baptized in October. Our fast last week and our daily prayers are asking the Lord to hold that baby until after the baptism! hahaha I hope I have faith enough to delay that baby from coming. haha Anyway so that´s about it for me. Have a great week. I love you guys
Elder Jolstead

Oí Família,
Wow, there´s nothing like family pics to make you trunky! haha I´m just kidding! It looks like you guys had a great time. How tall is Joshua now? He looks pretty tall, really skinny too, but don´t tell him that I said that. He shouldn´t worry though, he´ll get fat on the mission. haha I think I´ve gained about 10 pounds. Its been going up and then down my whole mission though. Its not fat though. I´ve been doing excercises every morning since I´ve been out so I haven´t gotten fat. haha Anyway so this week has been great. We had a baptism this last Sunday: Joelma and her daughter, Raquel. They´re the family that we´ve been teaching awhile now. They have a grown a lot during this time. At the beginning They said that there was no way that they´d wear a skirt to church, but then yesterday when we talked to them they said that they had been looking for skirts in the stores. :) I´ll send you some photos. We are still working with the family though. There is one daughter who needs to get married and we´ve already started the process of marriage for them. She´ll probably get married this month, because it takes awhile to get married here. There´s also one other son that said he will go to church this Sunday. His problem is that he works a lot so its hard to teach him, but he´s cool. Then there´s Camila...the other daughter who listens to all our messages and participates, but doesn´t want to got church, pray, or get baptzed...I really don´t understand why, but we´ll see. The Lord is very good at changing people´s hearts, I´ve seen it more then once. We also found another family this week: a mom and her daughter. They excepted baptism in the first visit without thinking twice. She said that when we talked to her in the street she didn´t want to stop to talk to us, but something told her stop and then after we taught her she said she knew why. It was very awesome. The Lord really is blessing us with a ton of awesome families here. Well anyway that´s about it. thanks for telling me about Jaren, Mother. I hope he´s doing good. Have a great week. Love you guys.
Elder Jolstead

August 18, 2012

Oí Family!
So this week was awesome! I traveled with Pres. Ribeiro to do Zone Conference. I gave a training on helping the investigator receive revelation through prayer. It was pretty good. Pres. Ribeiro taught about how we as missionaries can recieve a testimony of Jesus Christ like an apostle because as missionaries we are an extension of the qurom of the 12 apostles. It was very good. The week seemed to go by slowly though and it was pretty tireing to travel all week. I did have a oppurtunity to get to know Pres. and Sis. Ribeiro more though. They´re very funny. Pres. Ribeiro is usually very serious and direct and sis Ribeiro is the opposite. Its funny because she´s always spending money to buy food for the missionaries and she always takes a long time to do things so president always gets frustrated because he likes to get things done right and in the smallest amount of time possible so that he can go on to work on something else. Its pretty funny. President Ribeiro also explained how mission presidents get called and ordained which I´ve been wondering about for awhile. It sounds like a pretty awesome experience and a testimony builder about the fact that mission presidents are called of God. Another cool thing is that they get trained by the whole quorum of apostles and the first presidency, personally, in the MTC for one week. I can´t even imagine what that would be like. That has definitly got to be an awesome experience. We talked about other things too. All and all it was an awesome experience to travel with them. So that´s about all I did this week. Just a lot of traveling. We´re still preparing that family to be baptized on the 26th. I didn´t get to teach them this week though. The mom has gone 2 weeks without smoking now! I´m so happy! She is really progressing. That is cool about the baby! Another neice that I won´t see. haha That´s funny that there is whooping cough there, here there have been problems with the flu. I´m good, but its been really dry here so my nose has been bothering me. I´ve been sneezing a lot. haha
Its also been really hot here. I feel that this year I won´t have a winter :( Oh well we have to work regardless of the weather. Oh so I talked to a missionary here from Brasília. I wanted to know where he´s from to see if mybe Jared passed through there. He said he´s from the Nova Cruzeira part of Brasília or something like that. May be Jared knows where that´s at. Anyway That´s about it. Have a great week. love you guys
Elder Jolstead

August 10,2012

Oí Família,
So I´m sure by now that the baby has been born. So that´s cool. That missionary shower is a good idea. They do that here too and usually its very helpful for the missionary. Its still hot here too. I feel that I´ll be jipped this winter. :) Oh well I´ll just have to deal with it. The Preach My Gospel study is a great idea. It will help a lot with the younger boys who will be going on missions later on too. The key to being a great missionary is doing everything that that manual says word for word. Its amazing how when we follow the words that are written in that manual, words inspired from God, that it just seems that everything goes right. The Lord always keeps his promises. So this week is the first week of transfers so it was pretty hectic. Monday I organized the transfers. I set up the email to show where all the missionaries would be transfered to. Then tuesday we took the ´´dieing`` missionaries to Porto Alegre and picked up the new missionaries there. Then on wednesday we gave a training for all the new missionaries. Then yesterday we gave trainings for all the leaders of the mission. Today is P-day thankfully, but next week I´m going to all the zones with the President to give trainings to all the missionaries in their individual zones. I just know I´ll be very tired by the end of all of this. haha The week after will go back to normal though. But as you can see its pretty crazy to be the assistant. We almost don´t have time to do the actual work the first two weeks of the transfer. haha But even with all this time taken away the Lord helps us and our investigators. Its crazy that with this small of time we are able to still find and teach our investigators and how well they progress too. Anyway that´s what is going on with me. Have a great week everybody! Love you guys
Elder Jolstead

August 3, 2012

Olã Família!
Happy Birthday Braeden! I didn´t forget I just forgot to put it in my email last week. :) 12 years old! Now you have the priesthood! That´s awesome! Just 7 more years and you´ll be out here in the mission field. So My week was great. We now have a family to baptize this month and 2 more in September. I think the best thing about a mission is when you have the opportunity to teach whole families! You get to see them change and grow together. One helping the other overcome their challenges. Its really cool. It´s also cool to see how the Lord blesses you when you do the best you can. Its like He waits until you´ve done all you can then everything just goes well by itself or miraculously things happen. Somedays it feels like we are working really hard with very little success, and then out of no where after we´ve gone as far as we can, the Lord just drops a family or someone infront of us ready to be taught and baptized. Its like the baptisms fall from the heavens. Its really awesome. So anyway that´s good news. The winter here is being stupid. Its been really hot and humid. It rained a ton this last week and then just got really hot and stuffy. That´s the worst. Oh and President Ribeiro went out to teach with us this last Monday. That was awesome. I was a little nervous though. haha I made bread today too. It looks like it turned out good. I haven´t eaten it yet though. Oh and I´m here illegally in Brasil for about 3 months now. haha I´v been waiting forever for the secretaries here to get everything ready so I can renew my visa. I´m fine though. Nothing will happen. haha That´s sad about the baby shower for Rebecca. No one came? So how´s Jared doing? He hasn´t sent me anything for the last month so I have no idea what´s going on with him. I better not get a surprise wedding invitation, because if he gets married before I get home he´ll be married for a short time because I´ll kill him when I get back. hahaha... I´m not kidding though He better not get married while I´m out here. So anyway another transfer has come and gone. And with everyone I get a sick pit in my stomach. They go by so fast. Anyway that´s about it. Have a great week. Love you guys!
Elder Jolstead

July 27, 2012

Hey Family!
I´m doing good. Don´t worry mother. Its probably been about 5 months since I´ve sent a letter home. Its not that I´ve been lazy its just that these last transfers have been going by super fast and its seems like I don´t have time to do anything during my p-days. I´ll try to send a letter though. The scout camp sounded like fun. I always loved going to scout camp. I did hear about Shantewa. I think its funny that every one after me gets these special privileges, when I worked liked a dog trying to find a job to try and earn money to drive. haha I really didn´t work like a dog, but I did work hard. haha It really doesn´t matter though. The picture of Daniel and Makayla is pretty dang cute by the way. haha he looks very happy. So this week I did another division. I have no money at all because of the bus tickets. haha I went back to Livramento, which was cool. I got to see my old area and all the people there. I got to see the family that me and Elder Morrison baptized. They are actually to move which is sad because that means that I´ll probably never see them again. I´ll be able to keep in contact through the Internet though. Also came in contact with a Pastor from another church. I´m usually very calm when talking to other religious leaders. I really don´t like to bible bash, but this guy was a jerk. He started tearing apart the Book of Mormon and saying crap about the church and he wouldn´t even let me talk. He kept talking over me, so I kind of blew up on him. haha Thankfully the other missionary was able to think straight and separated us and we just walked away, because if he hadn´t I would´ve burned that sucker. haha I´ve got a lot more patient on the mission, but I really have no patience with ignorant people who act like children, repeating the same thing over and over, practically yelling over you when you´re trying to explain calmly. As you can probably tell I haven´t really gotten over it. I think its just my pride that was hurt. haha I know arguing really doesn´t help anything. Just makes the situation worse, but I really hate when people don´t listen to me. haha But anyway we´re having more success in my area now, here in Santa Maria. We have about three different families that we´re teaching now. They are very good too. Anyway that´s about all this week. I hope everything is going well and that you guys are having a good vacation. Love you guys.
Elder Jolstead

July 20, 2012

Oí Family!
Wow! I thought Krystal was due in August! That´s awesome! Can I just say that, that was the fasted pregnancy I´ve ever heard of. (I´m sure it wasn´t so fast for Krystal though :) ) Wait so they´re living in North Dakota? I´m so lost. haha That´s cool though. So you got the letter from president? I wanted it to be a surprise that´s why I didn´t say anything. So yeah there´s a lot of responsiblity, but it´s an awesome calling. I get to meet all the missionaries and visit all the areas with President. And I get to know President better. It´s way cool. I also had an opportunity to go to Porto Alegre to pick up the new missionaries and drop off the ´´Dead`` ones. It has been really awesome but can also be stressful at times. So this week went by fast. I went on splits with another missionary in the his area way in another city 2 hours away. It was good. I stayed there 2 days. I found out that as a leader I need to start doing splits once a week. One week I stay in our area. The next week I go to another missionary´s area. Anyway it was good. The area was a lot different than mine. It was more like the farming areas where I stayed in the first half of my mission. I liked it though. The city is called Cruz Alta. Its funny because the names of the cities here all are related to Catholism. Cruz alta means big cross, Santa Maria means Saint Mary; Santiago=Saint James (that one is a little different), Santo Angelo=Saint Angelo,=Santana de Livramento= Saint Ana of Livramento, etc. Its funny because every city has a park with a huge old catholic Cathedral in the front. I don´t know about the rest of Brasil but the south is very catholic. haha there was even a huge mary statue in Cruz Alto. Anyway enough with the catholic stuff. I Can´t believe you´re already talking about everyone returning to school Mother, it seems they just left haha. So how´s Jaren? You know today I was talking to his trainer who works here in the mission office too, as the financial secretary. I hope he´s doing good. Anyway I think that´s about it. Have a great week everyone. Love you guys
Elder Jolstead

July 13, 2012

Família!
That is awesome about Joshua! I bet he´s really excited! The excitement will die once he has to start getting those visa papers filled out though. haha I hated that stuff. So my week has been great. We´re finding some really great people to teach. Lots of families, which is really good. Its gotten a lot colder here too. I´m loving the cold here! Its so much nicer than the heat. The only problem is taking a shower. Its hard to leave that hot water in the morning. :) So the caffinated drink thing was a joke mother. Don´t worry I won´t start drinking caffinated drinks. haha I will start drinking Chimarrão though. So this last transfer has been speeding by. With more responsibility time seems to fly. I got photos from Jackson. It looks like he´s doing good where he´s at. Maybe a little trunky, but doing good anyway. haha Anyway I hope you guys have a great week. Love you
Elder Jolstead

July 7, 2012

Hey Family!
That´s funny that you´d ask about the food here Mother because today for lunch we´re going to eat at Subway! YES! Trunkeza até o pó! hahaha So yeah Santa Maria is big. Big enough to have a Subway and a McDonalds, but McD´s, I hear is super expensive and nothing like the McDonalds in the States. The Church is the strongest here in Santa Maria. Just one stake with I don´t know how many wards. So I have some news for all of you. The topic of Cafeine Drinks. So my mission president has cleared all these doubts that have existed in my mind. First, the church does not prohibit caffiene drinks. Until there are Area seventies that he´s eat with who down a whole liter, but here´s the thing back in the day the church wouldn´t allow the missionaries to drink it, but now it depends on the mission president. One other thing: the General Authorities don´t drink it, because it is bad for you. My president asked them and he said that their counsel is to not drink it. So in conclusion the church doesn´t prohibit caffeine drinks but the General authorities do counsel against it. So anyway we were right about following the counsel of the leaders of the church but we can´t say some one is not following the commandments when they drink caffeine drinks. So I´ve just come back from eating at subway. It was way exspencive but it was good. I´ll send some pics.

Yeah so I´m here in Santa Maria. Its interesting here. So I found out that I can drink Chimarrão. I know that you don´t know what that is but I´m excited to try it. Its like a green erva that the people here drink with hot water. Everyone and I mean everyone drinks it here, so i´m interested to know how it tastes. Right now we´re trying to find people to teach, because we´re both new in the area and the other missionaries didn´t give us much to work with. haha It´s pretty hard to find here, because of all the apartment buildings. We will try a new method though, that our president did when he was here back in the day that helped him baptize lots of people. He calls it the Law of Cornelius, with reference to the story in the new testament when Peter teachs that roman soldier who brings a ton of family and friends to hear peter preach. Basically it´s when we teach a lesson and stop in the middle or almost the end and say we´ll come back another day to finish but we would like for them to bring a friend, family member, or neighbor to the next visit. Then when they bring some one we teach and then we go to the house of that person and teach and do the same thing with them. Its seems like an awesome idea and the President was able to teach a lot of people this way, so we´ll try it. Anyway that´s about it for now. Enjoy the pictures! Love you guys
Elder Jolstead

June 29, 2012

Oí família!
I´m sure that was cool to have most the family at home. Looks like like you guys had a great time at Las Vegas. It was prety hot there? Well I don´t know why but its been pretty dang ht here to. I guess nature hasn´t heard that it´s winter now :( So I´ve been transfered once again after just one transfer. I´m now in Santa Maria, the actual city, which is awesome. Its the biggest city in the mission. i think there´s like 250,000 people that live here. So we had a baptism last Saturday before I was transfered. A man named José. He´s 72 years old. It was funny teaching him because he has a terible memory. We taught him aout the word of wisdom about 50 times because he couldn´t memorize the 5 things we can´t injest. haha I even made up hand signals for him to remember. He´s been going to the church for a year now and he has a great desire to keep the commandents. (until every question we ask he says we have to keep the comandments. hahaha) He´s not sinile though he just has a terrible memory. I wouldn´t baptize a senile old man haha He is really awesome though and I enjoyed teaching him. So now I´m here in a big city. It´s a little different but its cool here. My new companion´s name is Elder A. Santos. He´s really cool and he´s from São Paulo. It´s the first time I´ve had some a companion with 1 year and six months. He´s the oldest companion I´ve had so far. He´s an awesome missionary though. So anyway that´s it for me. Have a great week. love you guys.
Elder Jolstead

June 18, 2012

Oí Fanília,
How was your week? I think you´d be a great director mother. Braeden dressed up like a smerf? that would have been funny to see. That´s cool about Joshua. I´m excited to hear where he´ll be going. May be we could have another Portuguese speaker. This week we started our english class. It went pretty good. We´ve been going to a school next to our church to invite the studenys there. It was pretty funny going back to school.:) So Saturday we taught. It was a pretty good turn out. There were about 23 people. We want more though! hahaha Sometimes people don´t think we´re really giving free lessons. When we went to one school they asked what our intentions were and totally grilled us. Why can´t they except the fact that we want to help people? Anyway it did help me see where I could work on my portuguese to get better. I guess we who speak english use a lot of our throat and brazilians speak more through their nose and speak in a really high voice. So in order to speak likea brazilian I have to speak like a stuck up little girl. haha I don´t know how well I like that idea. haha We also have a baptism this Saturday! Yay for baptisms! Well anyway that´s about it. Thanks for the recipies. Have a great week. love you guys
Elder Jolstead

June 11, 2012

Oí Família,
Wow Joshua graduated! And Nathan and Derek look like some one stretched the picture! haha they still look the same in the face though, so its kind of funny. Jared looked happy on his b-Day. hahaha He´s still wearing that sweatshirt too that looks like a smarties package. hahaha This week was ok. Yesterday we saw the dedication of the Manuas temple. It was awesome. I miss the temple. If I will be able to I want to go to the temple before I get released as a missionary. I think that woulçd be cool. So right now we have very few people to teach but we´re trying hard to find more. Its hard when you don´t have many people to teach. We are teaching an awesome family that hopefully we can help get baptized this next month. We do have a baptism for this month. A man named José. He´s pretty cool. He is about 60 and the missionaries have been teaching him for about 2 years and he´s been going to church that long. His problem was that he really didn´t understand what the other missionaries said and so he didn´t want to get baptized. The first time wwe passed by he said that he finally understood about the comandments and why he needed to be baptized and so now he´s very excited to be baptized which is cool. O mother so I was wondering if you could send some more recipes. Bread sticks, banana bread, waffles,( my companion has a waffle maker!!!!!!) That would be awesome. Anyway have a great week everyone! Love you guys
Elder Jolstead

June 5, 2012

Oí Família,
I´m doing good. This last week we had a pretty cool thing happen. This last couple of weeks we´ve been fasting and praying specifically for a family of at least 3 to teach and baptize this month. Pres. Ribeiro has been telling us to really focus on finding and teaching families so we asked the Lord specifically for a family that is married with at least one child the age of baptism. You know the funny thing is when you ask the Lord and do your part ( be obedient and work hard) he gives it to you. We found the family this last Saturday just like we wanted. Mom Dad and 2 children on with the age of Baptism. The thing about it though was it wasn´t easy. the Lord really tried our faith. These last 2 weeks have been hard, but in the end we got what we wanted. So that was cool. So Anyway we also saw Elder Gudoy speak at the Stake Conference here. He´s a 70 so that was cool. It was a great talk. Anyway that´s cool about Tiara. And I have to say I miss an american home-made bbq hamburger so I hope everyone is taking advantage of that. That´s cool that Joshua is getting ready for the mission now but not so cool about his arm. :( Oh Happy B-Day Shantewa! I hope you had a good one. 17 right?:) Anyway so that´s it for me. Oh Mother or someone, If I sent a letter to you for Jackson could you type it up and send it as an email? It´d get to him faster than mail. And sorry for the lack of letters. I ran out of envelopes and I haven´t had a chance to buy some. But I will today ok? Thanks. Love you guys
Elder Jolstead
Oh and when I fix my memory card I´ll send some pics

May 28, 2012

Oí Família!
We had a baptism this week! A really awesome family. Elder morrison and his other companion found them and we´ve been teaching them the past 2 weeks. What was awesome was the fact that they were all baptized, so in a year they´ll be able to go the temple! So anyway everything is going good. No mother I´m not learning much spanish, but something cool is that I can understand a lot of what they say. I think Spanish, Portuguese and Italian are really similiar. Oh so I have to more recipies to ask for. Banana bread and waffles. My companion has a waffle maker! YES! WAFFLES. These last couple of days I´ve been eating chocolate cake for breakfast, because of lack of real food. :) ´´Dad is great!...He gives us chocolate cake!`` ´´eggs and milk....that´s nutrition!`` haha So schools coming to a close. Everyone should be happy about that. Anyway that´s about it for today. Have a great week Love you guys
Elder Jolstead

May 21, 2012

Oí Família,
So my first week here was full of trips. One trip to Santa Maria then to Livramento. Then the next day back to Santa Maria for a meeting, and then back to Livramento. I have a feeling that being a Zone leader will be a little tiresome. :) But I´m liking my new area. It´s not very big but its cool. I live right in front of Uruguay and today we´re going to go there for P-day. That should be cool. So right now we´re teaching a family of a teenager that my companion baptized before I came here. The family is awesome! Yesterday the dad bore his testimaony that he knew that God sent the missionaries to their house and that he could see the change that the Gospel had on their son. So that was cool. They´ll be baptized this Saturday. I have to say that its weird that Bishop Jamison isn´t Bishop anymore, but Bro. Payne is a really awesome guy. I remember when he was my Young Men´s leader. He´ll be a great Bishop. So anyway I´m glad everything is going well with you all. Have a great week. I love you
Elder Jolstead

May 7, 2012

Wow!
Mr. Tan! Are you sure that´s Jared? haha So that´s cool that Jared´s home. I remeber when I got my wisdom teeth pulled out. One of the worst moments of my life. So I´m doing pretty good. I´m srtuggling a little. I think I hit some kind of mid-mission crisis. People for some reason are starting to have a hard time understanding me again. It´s a little frustrating, because I haven´t had that kind of problem for about 6 or 7 monthes. My companion says its because I talk too fast. That´s weird that I talk so fast the brazilians can´t understand me! Anyway it just this that´s kind of bothering me. Oh and I helped build a house this last saturday. I mixed cement. You know those machines that turn the cement over and over? Well yeah I did that for 3 hours with a shovel...it was terrible and my back still hurts.haha Anyway so I think I´ll be able to skype this Sunday. be ready 6 here so like 1 there I think. love you guys.
Elder Jolstead

April 30, 2012

Oí my Family,
Mother I think it´s funny how you let out the part about Jared coming home at the end. haha So that´s cool. Grandma will be going to Salt lake this next Thursday give her a hug and a good bye for me. Braeden had two concussions?! What the heck Braeden! haha So this last week Elder Holland came. It was awesome! He shook my hand and he also made a comment about how red my face was. It was really hot inside that capel and I think I was getting a little sick. Anyway so he gave a really good talk about the fig tree that Jesus cursed and that like the fig tree if we say we´re a fig tree or a missionary, we need to give figs or be a missionary, or like the fig tree will be cast off by the Lord. It wasn´t one of his burning talks though. I didn´t feel burned at all. He also gave our mission and all Brasil a apostalic blessing. That was also really cool. So anyway, my time is short. Give Jared a hug for me too. It´s going to be weird being the only Elder Jolstead. It actually already feels weird. Anyway have a great week. Love you guys.
Elder Jolstead

April 23, 2012

Oí Família!
Thanks for the baptism pics. They got to me. Everything is going good here. I did get a little frustrated with my Zone leaders yesterday, but I´m good now. Sometimes I don´t agree with my leaders but its not my right to say anything against them. Don´t worry about the razor blades. I can get along with out them for now. So yeah... I agree that this last year went by fast. My last interview with President he called me ´´Old.`` I got a little uneasy, but I still have a lot of time. So this saturday Elder Holland is coming. I´m really excited. He´s one of the Apostles that I´ve always wanted to hear in real life. So that´s cool. So mother, is Jared coming home this next week? Krystine said that she sent him his last email. He doesn´t write me anymore. Anyway, I was just wondering. Have a great week everyone! love you guys
Elder Jolstead the Younger

April 16, 2012

Family,
So my first week in Itaqui was pretty good. Right now I´m getting to know the area and the people here. The whole city is my area, so it´s a good thing the city isn´t as big as Uruguaiana. Its a lot prettier than Uruguaiana though. My companion´s name is Elder Allen and as you can guess from his name, he is american. My first american companion. So anyway as for District leader, this week I didn´t really do a lot and this next week I won´t do too much because of Zone conference. I´m really excited about this Zone conference because President is going to talk about the book of Revelations, and my president knows a lot. So anyway that party looked fun. I miss american cake sometimes. :) So where are Mikey and Rebecca living again? It´s good that you´re getting involved in missionary work, Mother. It´s really not as hard as you think. I think members just over complicate it sometimes. Not that you´re overcomplicating it mother.haha How are the papers coming with Joshua? 6 months now until his birthday. Anyway tell everyone I forgive them for not sending an email this week.haha Have a great week. Love you guys.
Elder Jolstead the Younger

April 9, 2012

Oí Família,
Thank you for the pics. It was good to see everyone. Some people have changed, namely Nathan, but the rest of you look the same.haha So I´m leaving Uruguaiana...It´s really sad. I´m going to be District Leader in a small city called Itaquí. It´ll be diferent and a little hard since I´ll be a leader now. I´m a little scared but I know the Lord will help me if I do my best. So we had three baptisms this week which was great. I´ll try to send some pics. Oh say congratulations to Mikey for me. Oh yeah Happy Easter! I love you guys. Have a great week.
Elder Jolstead the Younger

April 2, 2012

Message flagged Monday, April 2, 2012 9:33 AM
I LOVE CONFERENCE!!!
So I thought conference was awesome this week, but went by really fast. I agree with you mother, Elder Uchtdorf Elder Holland and Elder Nelson gave great talks. I also liked Elder Scott´s talk and Elder Bednar´s talk which I think burned a couple of priesthood holder fubecas. I also liked the talk by Elder Anderson and President Monson about the Plan of Salvation. I don´t know why, but conference seemed really really good this year. Maybe its because I missed the last one. That´s strange to think its already spring break. You guys will be going to BYU? That´s cool that Elder Ballard will speak. Did I tell you that Elder Holland will come talk to our whole mission at the end of this month? I´m really excited. This month is going to be an extrally good one. So it was pretty cold this last week here, but it warmed up again, dang it! I think its just Uruguaiana that is weird with weather. So this is the last week of transfers and we will have 4 Baptisms this Saturday. I´m pretty sure I´m leaving Uruguaiana. President pretty much made it obvious the last time I saw him. Oh well it will be sad to go, but I´m ready to leave I think. Anyway have a great week and Spring Break! Love you guys
Elder Jolstead the Younger

March 26, 2012

Oi Família!
I´m doing good. The foot was three monthes ago, when had leprosy.haha So this week was ok. We had like a rugby/ keep away game with the youth in the ward. We (3 missionaries) dominated but the victory came at a cost...I´ll send you pics of the aftermath. haha We also marked 3 baptisms for the beginning of april. They´re part of a less active family, so it´ll be cool to reactivate them and baptize some of their kids that didn´t get baptized. That´s pretty sad about the pinewood. It has to be the track though. Rebecca will have a girl? That´s funny. Mikey would have a girl first. hahaha Just kidding I bought a pen drive to put the pics you send me, so don´t worry about printing them out. The pic of Elder Sá with his bible was a picture I drew waiting for our lunch. So if you haven´t already sent thye package do you think you could send me the following items:
stomach relief medicine
Blades for my razor HQ8 Philips Norelco
Maple Flavoring for syrup
Chapstick
If you already sent it that´s ok. You can just send these others later when you send another package. Oh do you think you could send me the following recepies?
Chocolate chip cookies
Crescant rolls
Pizza
Anyway have a great week! Love you guys!
Elder Jolstead the Younger

March 20, 2012

My Family!
So how´s it going? Yeah it´d be nice to see my nephew too. :) That is really sad about Gonzaga. Its a good thing I wasn´t there this year. haha Oh so guess what? On Saturday the investigator of the other missionaries working in my ward, shot a kid over a soccor ball. It´s funny I didn´t think anything like that would happen in my mission, but I have been told that my area is the ghetto of the mission. haha The kid is fine though. He went to the hospital to have some surgery done, because according to the people that saw it, the bullet went through the other side. Pretty messed up stuff. So other then that nothing happened this week. My companion came back from Santa Maria. Is the van working now? I was worried it had died. Oh so I got to paint this week! I felt a little trunky about my old job.:) only a little though. I try to send a pic. Anyway have a great week. Love you guys.
Elder Jolstead the Younger

March 12, 2012

My Family!
How is everything? That´s great to hear that Robbie sent me a letter. Now if only Jackson would too. It´s hard when you´re not allowed to send emails to your friends. :( It´s already March! Or at least the middle of March! And it´s still 100 degrees. I´m sick of this freakin´weather. That´s cool the missionaries are having success in our ward. So mother I know that you might not like this, but... I´ve decided to ask my mission president for an extra transfer at the end of my mission. I know its along time until then, but I´ve already decided. haha Krystal and Garret are going to live in North Dakota? Were they still living in California before? Well I´ll try to tell about my week. This week we had Zone Conference and as usual, it was awesome. President used the life of John the Beloved to teach how we can be better missionaries. Oh and Carnival happened this week. I don´t know if you´ve heard about it. I didn´t see it, thank goodness. I did get to see the floats when everything ended though. They are really cool. There was one that was a giant jaguar that moved. It´s too bad they have to ruin things like that with all that other wicked stuff that happens. Anyway so my companion is sick. He left for Santa Maria yesterday. I don´t know what´s wrong with him though. From what he says, I think he has a hernia. Oh so this week we´ll have a baptism. Iara, who we´ve been teaching a while, will finally get baptized. She recieved an answer really strong this last week when we were teaching her. It´s funny to compare the answers people receive. Here, for some reason a lot of people dream. All my time in Uruguaiana, I´ve felt like Joseph in Egypt, with all the dreams I´ve had to interpret. haha Its funny to see the difference in testimny as well. Generally those who felt the spirit testify are a lot stronger and have a lot more to hold on to then those who just have a dream. So Iknow officially that I will leave here next transfer, because Pres. sent an email to another missionary telling him that I would leave. Really sad, but it just means I have to take advantage of these last weeks here. Anyway, have a great week. I love you guys.
Elder Jolstead the Younger

March 5, 2012

Oí Minha Querida Família,
Sorry I didn´t write much. I wasted all my time trying to send more photos and it didn´t work out. Then I got really frustrated so it was better that I didn´t write. So last week was transfers, and my son, Elder Sá left me. It was really sad because he´s a great missionary and week worked really well together. So now I´m working with Elder Rosa. It´s a little different, because we´re both senior companions. He´s just working with me until his new companion gets his visa, because right now he´s in America. He´s really cool though so it´ll be fine. So I´m still in Uruguaiana and will complete at least 6 months working here. This last week was really hot, but we had a lot of rain in the beginning. (I did a lot of swimming haha) Oh so we marked another baptism with a woman that we´ve been working with along time. That was an awesome experience, but I wrote it in my letter, so you´ll have to wait to here about it. :) sorry That is really cool about Grandma! Is it a 2 year mission too? It is kind of sad that I won´t get to see her when I get back though. Tell here congratulations. Oh and Krystal too! Have a great week. Love you guys
Elder Jolstead the Younger

February 20, 2012

Oí Família!
Wow sounds like a great week.haha Really crazy, quero dizer. Just to let youi guys know I laughed a lot reading this email. Oh so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER!!! 48, right? Eat a piece of cake for me! So my week was pretty good. The baptism will finally happen this week which I´m reall excited about. Oh thanks for mailing the blogs, mother. It´ll be nice to know how they´re doing. That´s cool that a lot of family was at home this week. Hopefully one day they´ll all be reunited when I´m there to see them :) So how´s Grandma doing? How are the paper´s coming along for the mission? Oh and I don´t think They´ll think you´re crazy for just chasing the chickens mother. I´m pretty sure the neighborhood knows how crazy we are from other past experiences.haha Anyway Have a great week and sorry I haven´t written a letter for awhile. It´s been hard to find the time. Don´t worry I´ll start up again today. Love you all.
Elder Jolstead the Younger

February 13, 2012

Oí Família!
Thanks for the pic Mother. That was pretty funny. I can see Joslyn in a rock band. haha How was the 3D experience? It´s pretty cool, huh? A lot better than the red and blue or green or whatever glasses. How is it that everyone is able to start driving before I did? I think there´s a little bit of pregudice in this family.haha Just kidding...kind of... So yesterday we were able to marry that family we´ve been teaching for about 3 monthes now which was awesome. The baptism is soon to follow :) This last week I´ve had a strong feeling that this is my last 2 weeks here with Elder Sá in Uruguaiana. It´s really sad, but probably true. So I´ve been trying to work even harder to really take advantage of the time I have left here. Oh so I have a favor to ask: Could you Mother or someone else start printing out the blogs of my friends and mail them to me? I´m really curious how things are going with them, but they don´t write me. You don´t have to print them all out at once just little by little. I´d be great if you could. Anyway, have a great week you guys. Love you.
Elder Jolstead the Younger

February 7, 2012

Bom Dia Família!
Ah! I remember when I moved downstairs. I was quite the change since I lived upstairs for about 16 years. Don´t worry Derek, you´ll get used to it.haha I´m really enjoying my scripture study as well. It´s like some times I just can´t satisfy my hunger to learn in just one hour. I´m reading the bible and its funny the more I read it the more it testifies that the church is true too. I mean the Book of Mormon testifies specifically that the church is true, but it´s strange that the people of the other religions haven´t realized that everything the bible says also testifies of the Church. Óh so yesterday Elder R.M. Costa came to our mission to talk with us. He is the Seventy that is over all Brasil. It was really awesome. I also had the chance to sit at his special table at lunch afterward, which was really cool, because I got to talk with him 1 on 1. Pretty sweet. Anyway so this week, katia and Januareo will get married and then next week I think they´ll get baptized. Have a great week. Love you guys!
Elder Jolstead the Younger

January 30, 2012

Oí Família,
So I have to send just a quick email today, because I´m late. This week was good. That family we´re teaching is going to get married the 10th of February. We´re still having trouble finding new investigators, but it´s getting better. Yesterday me and my companion burned a ´´Pastor`` of another church. Don´t worry we burned him with love.haha He was teaching one of our investigators against what we taught, so we arrived there and he started teaching his false doctrine and stuff. Then after we corrected everything he said. Come to find out he was an inactive member and thought he could prove all the gospel teachings wrong with the bible (I know its really ironic: use the scriptures to prove wrong the scriptures) So anyway to help our investigator and this inactive member/pastor we burned him with love.haha it wasn´t bible bashing, because the spirit was there and we weren´t proving him wrong to satisfy our pride, but to answer his duvidas. In the end we just bore our testimonies and told to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it again. So that was a fun story. That´s great that you´re reading Jesus the Christ. I love that book. It´s funny, that before my mission I really didn´t want to learn anything, but now on the mission, I want to learn everything. Right now I´m reading the WHOLE Bible with the book of Mormon in Portuguese. It´s an awseome feeling when you learn something new and things about the gospel begin to be make more sense and be more real. I love Personal study for this reason. Anyway I got to go. Love you all.
Elder Jolstead the Younger

January 23, 2012

snoooow
snooow
snooow
snooow
SNOOOOOW!
Oí familia,
How´s it going? I wish I had snow. This week was really hot. These freakin´gauchos keep moving the time of summer. haha I asked at the beginning when summer ends here and they said February, but know when I was excited that summer is almost over they said it doesn´t end until april.:( But that´s just their way. But to give you an example of how strong the sun is: Yesterday I showed a family picture for someone in the ward and she said that it wasn´t me because I had dark hair then and now I´m blond! I don´t know if it´s true or not but to me my hair looks the same. I am a lot tanner though. haha So the work this week was a little harder than usual. These last few weeks have been a little to easy and the Lord won´t let us get comfortable.haha Nothing really exciting happened this week. We´re just waiting for that family to get their birth certificates so they can get married. Things are going well with them and hopefully this next month we´ll be able to baptize them. That´s funny about the shoveling. We´ve also been doing a lot of service. Anyway have a great week everyone! Love you guys
Elder Jolstead the Younger

Oí Família!
I´m doing great here. We´re working with an awesome family here and not just the parents and children, but the grandma and aunt too, which is really cool. They have a few problems, but it´s amazing to see the change that´s happened with all of them. They´ve become a ton happier and more excited. One of the greatest joys in missionary work is to see miracles happen in the lives of the people you teach as they come unto Christ. So anyway I´m really happy now. That´s awesome about Elder Holland! I´m jealous too! Brother Lee gets to do everything! Haha So anyway that´s all I have for this week. I hope you all have a great week! Love you guys!
Elder Jolstead the Younger

Oí Família,
I´m doing awesome! We are teaching a ton of great people including a family that is progressing really well. When I first found them we were just teaching the mom. At the beginning she was so depressed and closed that she never left her house. Now we´re teaching the whole family and she is always so happy now. It´s awesome! The gospel really does help people and bring them more happiness and peace in their lives. Anyway so that´s really good. We also have a lot more really great people. Anyway I have to go. Have a great week. Love you guys!
Elder Jolstead the Younger

January 2, 2011

Oi Fam韑ia,
Happy New Year! I can磘 beleive how fast this one past. I don磘 know if you realize this ( I know his Mom has) but Robbie has been out one year already! That磗 cool that Jackson and Jaren got to skype home. I磛e yet to hear how Jaren is going. I hope he磗 doing fine. We磖e doing great here. My companion is awesome. I know this is kind of bad but I磎 going to use a gospel metaphor. My last transfer was like the Great Apostasy, spiritual darkness, but this transfer was like the Restoration. We磖e teaching an awesome family right now and have a ton of great investigators. I磀 like to tell you about an experience this week, but I don磘 have time. Kelleene爃as been爃ome for 18 months? Wow she completed a 创sister`` mission.:) Anyway I hope you have a great week. Love you guys.
Elder Jolstead the Younger