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