Sapiranga - Week 2

January 11, 2016

Ola meus amados amigos! 

i´ve passed the mark, Portuguese is officially easier to speak than english!

So i didn´t send a general out last week. sorry about that...

but i think it sufficeth me to say that it was a great week! if i´m right this week marks my second week here in Sapiranga! Sapiranga is a "small city" on the outskirts of Novo Hamburgo. for some reason Heavenly Father loves putting me in rural areas! and i can´t complain, i love it here! 

There are "hills" (more like small mountains) surrounding the city, it makes for some beautiful veiws! on one of the "hills" there is a platform that people jump off of.... WITH PARAGLIDERS!!! 

how fun is that! no way president is going to authorize us to paraglide on p-days, but it´s still fun to watch them jumping from a distance!

So i was thinking the other day about the food here and realized that there is something a little stange here that we eat. CHICKEN HEARTS! people here love cooked chicken hearts! they eat them on pizza, hamburgers, lasagna! Its like their bacon! it´s not that bad, just a little chewey!

the week before this past week was new year, wasn´t it. we passed new years in the house of Joel, a member here who love the missionaries! his son it a total pyromaniac! he bought two boxes full of fireworks and was lighting them of the moment we arrived until the moment we left. it made for a colorful and noisey New Years! 

Here in Sapiranga, not many people are in to fireworks, and i think the fireworks ar a bit weaker here too beacause whenmidnight hit there was a lot of fireworks but mostly just the ones that make all the noise! it was a bunch of fun seeing all the people lighting of fireworks running around with their ears plugged and dodging the mini fireballs of falling used fireworks!

This week was more normal, i can remember a ton, but we visited a good bit of the mambers here. they are all characters! it´s allways an experience to visit and talk with them. 

oh yeah, i almost forgot! my companion, Elder Sacramento! He is one of the best examples of how small the world is when you´re mormon! he was baptized up in the northeastern part of Brazil by an Elder Rogers. Who just hapens to be a member back home in York SC. pur very same stake! he already visited Charlotte too! look at that, my companion on the mission already visited my home city and was baptized by someone i already know! what are the chances! plus, something i thought was funny, he´s already visited more places in the US than i have... 

Anyways, this is whats happening out here in Brazil!

Love you guys a ton!

Tudo Bem em Brasil!

Elder John D. Scarlett

MISSÃO BRASIL PORTO ALEGRE NORTE

AV. VISCONDE DE MACAÉ, 245 –CRISTO REDENTOR

PORTO ALEGRE, RS, BRASIL – CEP: 91350-290

(51)9334.1484/3348.5268

View out of window of my new apartment

Sao Francisco de Paula - Week 17

December 28, 2014

Feliz Natal de Brasil!!!

I remember a saying I heard a while back which really is the epitome of this last week.

It went something like this:

      "Every seven days, a week passes."

That just really touches me. I couldn´t think of better words to descride this week even if i tried!

Haha, but really this week was amazing! and how could it not be? it was CHRISTMAS!!!

The week started good on monday when we bought a blender! i started making smoothies! So good!

We worked with all the strength our bodies would permit! i can´t think of any good stories about this past week for now, so i pass to the next great event!

Christmas is a holiday everyone here loves! and who couldn´t?! It´s Christms!! Here we start the celebrations of with a belly-busting dinner on Christmas-eve. Cleumar, a local member, invited us over and we ate Churrasco, the cowboy barbeque of Brazil!! nuf said.

Christmas day we had another big meal for lunch in the hous of the Church members. we stayed with them for a bit and played some games and had a blast!

Then we headed to Cleumars house again for our Skype home! It was great to talk with family again, i´ll always be greatful for the strength they give me!!!

We had our first English Class on Saturday! i´ll have to include that next week because i don´t have time this week! foi ligal!

Love all you guys!

Keep being Great!

Tudo Bem em Brasil!

Elder John D._

Scarlett

Because I love my sister, Allison :)

MISSÃO BRASIL PORTO ALEGRE NORTE

AV. VISCONDE DE MACAÉ, 245 –CRISTO REDENTOR

PORTO ALEGRE, RS, BRASIL – CEP: 91350-290

(51)9334.1484/3348.5268

Sao Francisco de Paula - Week 16

December 21, 2014

This week flew by fast!

This week was a pretty interesting week. we had a big Christmas conference for all the missionaries in the mission on wednesday in Porto Alegre! it was a two day conference where half the mission attended one day, and the other half the next day, so our day was wednesday! it was super fun and very interesting. every zone put on a presentation about christmas for the rest of the mission. a lot of them very very... interesting... it was super fun and very enjoyable to say the least. 

working after the we returned from the conference was an amazing experience! the conference really filled us with the spirit and when we started working it showed!

another interesting thing that is happening out here is that the mission is changing. the Mission President is working hard to help the missionaries start working in a way which is more directed by the spirit. I´ve only seen the changes in my area so far, but it´s amazing to see. 

for example, yesterday was a really slow day. no appointments, not many people on the streets to talk to, nobody in their houses. Elder Fávaro and I were trying to figure out something to do, find at least one person to visit. we sat down on a bench and he said, 

"you need to choose the next visit." 

"okay, it´ve done that before! let´s think who can we visit, hmmmm...."

nobody. 

there is nobody i can think of to visit...

"okay, lets look at the contacts and see if anthing stands out!" 

nothing.

i sat there for another 15 minute just thinking, then a little thought poped into my head that i need to find someone in Rincão, a neighborhood in our area. 

okay.

so i pulled out the map and looked at the streets in that neighborhood. 

again just little thouhts popping into my head, like "no, not that street, nope, not that one either." 

but when i hit the right street i recieve a very small peacfull feeling like 

"that´s the one" 

"okay, we´ve been there before. Who lives there?"

i ended up finding a person we talked to one of the past weeks in the list of contacts in my companions planner, his name was Lucas. so we decided that we were going to visit Lucas. 

the whole family was there and the visit was filled with the spirit! the message was exactly what they needed and they were happy to set an appointment for us to visit with them again. 

this is exacly what president Campos told up he wanted of us. he wanted us to be able to listen to the whisperings of the spirit as it tells us exactly where to go and what to do. i have no doubt in my mine that Heavenly Father wanted us to visit with that family in that hour of yesterday afternoon. 

Heavenly Father knows what he wantsfor each of his children, we just need to listen. 

love you guys a lot! 

talk to you guys next week!

Tudo Bem em Brasil!

Elder John D. Scarlett

MISSÃO BRASIL PORTO ALEGRE NORTE

AV. VISCONDE DE MACAÉ, 245 –CRISTO REDENTOR

PORTO ALEGRE, RS, BRASIL – CEP: 91350-290

(51)9334.1484/3348.5268

Sao Francisco de Paula - Week 15

December 14, 2014

Holy Goodnes! Oh My Days! Flip Me!!!! It´s so close!!!

This week was super interesting. thing have and are changing like i never thought they would! it´s super cool and super strange!

First change that has happened so far. two less missionaries in São Francisco de Paula! What?! how did that happen?! all i have to say about that is: Kids, don´t gossip. 

But it was super sad to watch them leave, it was the first time i´ve cried out here on the mission (sorry mom! :) love you!). they were super great, but now it´s just me and Elder Fávaro working here for the entire city of São Francisco de Paula.

Second change, we have two areas to work in now, our old area, and the area of the Elders who got transfered. 

Third change, i´m becoming more assertive! Mom would be proud if she saw me now! missionaries can be super indecisive! if i asked right or left they would stop and ponder which road has a higher chance of encountering a dime on the road. but i´ve started taking more of the decision making into my own hands.

Fourth change! 

CHRRRRRRIIIIIIIISSSSSSTTTTTTMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! 

I am STOKED for Christmas! Haha in reality, there is´t much to do on Christmas day for us, but the season is incredible out here on the mission! So many people are ten times more receptive just because Christmas is coming around! and is there anything better than being able to share the gift Jesus Christ gave for us in this season of Charity Love and Giving? 

I think we´re going to start charoling too it´s going to be soooo cool! 

So the branch here already had a huge christmas party! they´re awesome! there had to be at the very least 80 people at the party! that´s huge here! like ginormous!!!! 

and i made Chocolate Chip Cookies!!! 

So now everyone here thinks i´m a talented baker! (i just used the pre-prepared cookie dough mix )  but the party was super fun. president gave a great message about Christmas and remembering Christ through our actions, we watched the video the Church released for Christmas, and ate! What made it super awesome was that a lot of the less active member we are working with were there and even a few friends of theirs showed up!

but there is more in store for this season! i´m super excited for all that´s coming!

Love you all!

Have a good Christmas Season! 

Tudo Bem em Brazil!

Elder John D. Scarlett

MISSÃO BRASIL PORTO ALEGRE NORTE

AV. VISCONDE DE MACAÉ, 245 –CRISTO REDENTOR

PORTO ALEGRE, RS, BRASIL – CEP: 91350-290

(51)9334.1484/3348.5268