10/17/11

It sounds like a pretty crazy week. Here we had one that was similarly crazy.
That is really cool that you set out her bread for everyone. That is definitely grandma. I read the talk Sara wrote and cant imagine anyone in the room had dry eyes. That is the most perfect talk and am glad she gave it.
 I think I call you guys at Christmas but I am not sure. You can make it a conference call though. It is really easy and you can do it without hanging up the phone.

I can't believe I am getting presents right now. I don't know if I can wait to open them! I want them as soon as i get them. The food here is definitely different but is really good still. I am glad people actually like to read my letters and they aren't boring haha.  That's good that all of the visas are starting to come through. maybe we will get more people in Maceio. We had to close 4 areas this past transfer. oh I am staying by the way. ha

 

The people here love Americans and we are having our first ward activity that the missionaries are putting on! noite americana! hahaha we are making pancakes and cookies and playing lots of American games. It is going to be awesome! On the invites I put that there will be real Americans haha. Hopefully people will come... I don't think I need anymore recipes. I will ask if I have the necessity.  I think I know what I want when I get home though. Take out Chinese. One thing that is literally impossible to get here. We can make nearly everything else but I am not Chinese and don't have those sweet pans to make the chicken so that's a problem.
No need for music. Brazilians are the worst singers in the world. I love them but they really aren't the best at singing.
i think my mission president likes me too. Not sure if that is a good thing or not because he will want me to do everything if he trusts me hha.
So some funny stories. Last Tuesday we were walking and this guy just barfs right in front of us! are you kidding?! haha my comp almost walked into the stream hahahahaha. oh man. People here get sick from the food too I guess....  here they have things called grotas that are valleys with houses covered in them. It is crazy and very very tiring. It's like hiking to visit people. ha not my favorite thing to do. We also had service 2 times last week. We did yard work and mixed cement and painted rooms. When I say yard work I don't think you understand. This guys backyard was like one humongous weed!!!!!!!!!!!! 20 yards long hahaha. We hacked and pulled until it was all gone. crazy.. Yesterday I kicked a lizard. It came back to  attack me and I tried to dodge it but ended up stepping on it..... its alive still though.We made cookies today! wooooooooo! tasted just like home. and we had one baptism and one this week and we had 11 investigators in church  so we will have a lot more to come soon!

That was awesome to get to talk to you. It only distracted me for that night but besides that there wasn't a problem at all. You called at 9 o clock here so our day was already done. sSunds like our sports teams are doing awesome. They will both win the championships while I am gone. I know it. haha The nursery is definitely the best place to be during church haha. That was the best when I visited Sara and got to play with kids the entire time. Not sure how you guys ran into that girl on a mission but God works in mysterious ways haha. One thing I am positive you learn on your mission as I am learning right now. I am glad that you thought about thomas and me during conference and hope you had fun.

Love you guys! 

ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS


AKE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!  Thank you to those who have already written.  He loves hearing from you!
****Please write Jake.  Letters from home are so important to the missionaries.  The easiest way is to respond to this email with a note or letter to Jake.  I will forward it to Missionties and they will print it in Brazil and mail it to him.  

If you want to send a letter through US mail, one piece of paper with an envelope is $.98.


Elder Jake Langlois
Brazil Maceio Mission
Av. Dom Antonio Brandao, 333 Sala 402
Ed. Work Center, Farol
Maceio-AL   57021-190  Brazil

10/10/11

Glad you like the pictures. We need to take more because I haven't taken any since I uploaded them. I can guarantee that I wont remember everyone haha. I never really knew the Brazilians that I took pictures with soo.... ayeah haha. This keyboard is terrible again...
ahaha I hope it was fun hanging out with all my friends! what the heck. haha I am sure they are doing well and hopefully they win this year in volleyball. i will write Taylor separately.  Otav! ha if I were there he would have yelled jaaaaccoooobbb.  That is awesome he is getting married and he hopefully he will still be there when i get back. and I am super excited for a letter from him in Portuguese. Glad Keoki and family enjoy reading my letters.  Try to make them a little entertaining at least :) 

  Our baptisms fell through again but we have a goal to baptize at least one each week . We have two families and we are working on marriage right now! haha because of the law of chastity... so it might be a while for them. I don't think I will get that sick even if I do get sick. Only a couple visits to the bathroom and I will be good:)
  that'sreally sad that grandma passed away but I think it is better that she isn't suffering anymore but not to worry because we will see her again. I feel more sorry for grandpa because he will be very lonely. Hopefully he will make it 21  more months so i can see him again. Try to get a phone call! haha that would be awesome! hope you had fun in utah.
I think it is better to copy and paste like this  and if I have time I will respond. if not... sorry.
I haven't gotten the Christmas boxes but! I got the Halloween card hahaa. plenty of time  before Halloween. and it was really funny. Halloween without you... "it sucks" on the inside:)

 

Alrighty I have some things to write about this week! this one day a group of 7 girls followed us for 3 blocks and just laughed... haha it was ridiculous! the next  day in the same place I invited them to church and they stopped laughing:) hahahaha now I know how to stop them. I think it is either because I am giant or because I am funny looking but I am not sure. I also have some funny scriptures that missionaries showed me this week. Please look them up! 2 kings 2:23-24 proverbs 21:19 and 25:24. you might think they are weird or rude but I had a good laugh knowing that a prophet wrote these.
oh we don't have a post office in this area and I guess in most of the areas  so I will try to send letters as fast as I can. new thing I ate... blood haha. grilled blood to be exact or blood steak. It tasted like a giant scab but I guess it is expensive... so i ate it. Pretty nasty and hope I don't have to eat that again. haha yeah.... oh well. I am in Brazil! next week is the first transfer. I am almost certain that I will stay but who knows to tell you the truth... I am ready to leave. everyone here thinks I am retarded because i didn't speak Portuguese that well. Now I can actually talk but everyone thinks I am still retarded haha. oh well. I SPEAK ENGLISH! something that everyone here wants to do. ha anyway. love you all and hope you are doing well and stay safe!!!!!!! LOVE ELDER LANGLOIS

That is really cool about the missionary that you talked to. I am sure she gave you a lot of information about Maceio. Something funny another American missionary said to me this week. The church is truer in the US which is very true. When you come to pick me up you need to go to church or at least sacrament haha. its crazy. the reverence is terrible and in the priesthood session there were like 15 women! haha its so funny. oh did Michelson serve in Brazil? if he did the bishops wife served with him. I saw a picture of him and it has to be him. Carmine and Suzie sent me a letter! It was awesome.  oh and send missionaries  to this address.. 13800 biola ave.

Tell kyle to send me an email.  oh and is there a substitute for karo syrup and cool whip? love you and will write taylor right now. :)
ELDER LANGLOIS

Pictures!

Jake was able to send us some pictures (finally)...enjoy and don't forget to write him! 

 

10/3/11

We don't go on the computer at the same time every day as you can see that today I am on at a different time haha.  Its fine if you cant send mail. It's hard to read and write back anyway haha. I never have enough time. I think we will have two or three baptisms this next week so that will make up for it  and there are a lot of less actives  here. We do have a ward though and the boundaries aren't that big.  We have plenty of people to run the ward and everything is going well. Our bishop is really good too. I can't believe your packages actually get through so easy . I told elder McCann that mine got here in 6 days and he said that never happened to him. No I never bought a razor because  they don't sell them here haha. There is a mall pretty close by but we don't go there too often. Maybe I will next time we go. Its fine though. I don't grow much facial hair so I just chop off the little I have every 3 days. Everyone is getting married! as soon as I left their have been  20 engagements  haha. Maybe I was holding everyone back. We had a wedding here ! it was so fun haha. tons of food and lots of crazy people. The wife will be baptized next week. Its really cool to see  a marriage in Brazil.

 I cant believe that you guys actually got the video ! haha that's so embarrassing but hilarious. Its about time Brandon gave it up. I don't think it is against the rules to ride on the back of a truck. It was enclosed so it was really safe. oh there was a bike  accident the other day and I think both of them broke their backs. The bikers here are crazy...   The bug bites have stopped. I think I taste like a Brazilian now and they don't want to eat me. and I haven't used anything you sent me with  yet. haha its not that hot because of the wind and me feet are normal. haha I use sun block and that's all. so I have tons of extra stuff that I don't think I will ever need.  hopefully. I want a letter from Teresa and Louie. So the picture situation is terrible. It takes 30 minutes to upload  a picture. I don't know what to do... I cannot believe that Grandma is still alive.
  Conference  was interesting... it was in Portuguese  and it was the worst conference of my life haha. I understood about 3%. I could understand when I really focused but I didn't have enough energy to listen for more than I minute at  a time.. I thought it was hard to pay attention when it was in English.    ha ha oh well.

SO... I forgot to tell you about that guy that stuttered! imagine how hard it is to understand a person that stutters in a different language! !!!! oh my gosh! it sounded like he was talking 12 times faster than everyone else. Needless to say I had no idea what he was saying. I have some random things that I wrote down during the week to tell you. ..... here they eat cough drops as candy. haha like a mint. weird... oh can you send floss next time too? oh I had liver for the first time... different but fantastic haha. every time I wear Sara's wedding tie it makes me happy. Just to remember that day.. oh and during priesthood session I hope that dad wasn't alone and I also hope that he ate a Carls Jr. haha. anyway things are great. we played volleyball this morning... wasn't even a contest haha. iIwill talk to you all next  week  ! love you all! LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

9/26/11

Hey! This week was  awesome. We had baptisms because they were kids and all of their friends were in the church. They already had all the requirements and so we just baptized them and yes he wanted the tall guy to baptize him haha.But the baptisms this weekend fell through. But we had 9 of our investigators at church on Sunday. 9!  We are so lucky to be in this area because there are so many people here that will accept the gospel. It's fine if i don't get packages on Christmas. They will eventually get to me and I will have my own Christmas when it comes. Oh by the way thank you so much for the other package. It is awesome and I have been eating a lot of it. I saw how much it was to send... that's ridiculous. haha you know I don't like spending money.
  That'sreally funny that Tyler spoke about me. I am so honored to be apart of his talk. He will soon realize that he is about to do the best thing he will ever do in his life. And Michael!!! congrats! its about time hahaaha:) that is really cool. Do you like her?
I love my president and his wife. They are really cool and are always ready to help us when we need something. It is fun to talk with them except they don't speak that much English so it has been hard for me to get to know them really well. I never told you since I found out but I am in the poorest state in Brazil hahah and my area is pretty poor but there are a couple other areas worse. I feel really really safe though. Not sure why, probable because I am giant haha. That is crazy you know someone that knows Elder McCann! haha so cool! I will try right now to go into Costco to see if I can upload them onto that. If not I will have to send them through email.
My knee feels better and we are playing basketball today in the middle of everything. There is a square in the middle of town so we will play there and have lots of people watching haha. so excited. Send them through mail. I won't have time to read letters while I email.
So  few stories I want to tell. Everyone here says misericordia! which is mercy haha so every time I hear it I think of Heather and the Crawfords! the food is always pasta beans rice and meat with some sort of fruit juice to drink. always haha. and I expect a email from Louis and Teresa soon too!
So on Wednesday we helped someone move which reminded me of Thomas haha and we rode in the back of the truck. Second time in one week I did that. haha and we aren't allowed to hand out pass along cards by the way. I don't know why. AND iIgot a bug bite on my weenus haha. The part of your elbow that you can't feel. Don't know why that dumb bug wanted to bite me there. I thought it was funny.... Any way everything is going really well. Time is flying by because we are working so hard. My Portuguese is rapidly improving and I am beginning to teach a lot of the lessons. It's really fun to see peoples lives change and to see how much of a blessing we are to people and don't worry we are being fed every single lunch in a members house. :) I love you guys so much! LOVE ELDER LANGLOIS

One more message from Jake-He was on the computer this morning when we checked email so we were able to ask questions back and forth.  Here are some of his responses that paint a picture of where he is.  We have a map of his mission and we can't find him on the map.  We aren't sure exactly where he is!
Enjoy!


We are really close to the mission home  but I have no idea where we are either. I just know we are in Alagoas and the city is Bendito Bentes 1 (area)
We are pretty close to the chapel. If you are standing in front of the gates facing away from the chapel go diagonally right across the street and walk straight zig zagging between all of the buildings and if you continue until there is a dead end. The dead end is our house. A little white door haha
It is clean. I sweep every morning so there aren't too many bugs  but when I find ants on the walls I love using the duct tape to capture them. haha I don't use the repellant though.
This is not a place that someone would want to visit and yeah we get 100 reais every 15 days which is plenty!
There is not much in the stores here. Nothing from the US. São Paulo had tons more but here there isn't anything.... I am trying lots of new food.
McCann is good and yes everyone is making contacts with us because of my height. haha
Walking is everything we do. We rode in the back of a truck twice though.
There really isn't anything here worth buying haha. I will definitely be buying some soccer jerseys though for sure
I will use super glue for shoes and stuff like that  and yes, every p day we cook lunch for ourselves. Its fun. We are making burgers today i think

Dad! don't have much time so I will describe my apartment. It's 4 rooms and a little alley way for laundry haha. It's pretty small but we have everything but a dryer. We have one bathroom and it's not the prettiest thing in the world but it works. It's definitely humbling haha. We live in the most ghetto place though. Maceio is a very poor country. love you! ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

Pictures!

Jake's first baptism!

9/19/11

JAKE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!  Thank you to those who have already written.  He loves hearing from you!
****Please write Jake.  Letters from home are so important to the missionaries.  The easiest way is to respond to this email with a note or letter to Jake.  I will forward it to Missionties and they will print it in Brazil and mail it to him.  

If you want to send a letter through US mail, one piece of paper with an envelope is $.98.


Elder Jake Langlois
Brazil Maceio Mission
Av. Dom Antonio Brandao, 333 Sala 402
Ed. Work Center, Farol
Maceio-AL   57021-190  Brazil



Alrighty! I made it to Maceio! haha it took a while and the flight was nuts. There was a guy that was epileptic and had two seisures on the flight. Craziest thing I have ever seen because he was in the row directly in front of me. I arrived around 3 in Maceio and drove with the presidente to their house. We had some interviews and ate dinner and I found out who my new companion was. Elder Maciel! He is pretty tall and is from rio grande do sul. He is awesome. We both came into this area fresh and we had two baptisms Saturday!!!! I got to do one and a guy in the ward did the other! first one! so sweet. Their names were Rafael and Gabriel both 15 years old. We have two marked for this week too. We don't even need to find anyone to teach because the members are awesome! We have 30 referrals right now. Plus tons of people come up to me and ask about my height so we have way too many people to teach right now.
Our bishop is awesome, and is helping a lot. The president and his wife are also amazing! I got the box and 3 letters. I dont know if I will ever have time to send letters. we are always so busy! but I will try next p day when things get less hectic. Some guy said I was fluent in portuguese the other day and I just laughed. I just pretend I know what  people are saying and smile and nod my head hahaha. but I am getting a lot better! Oh I forgot my camera so I will send them next time:( sorry. And now I am sure you are wondering if I am sick or not. Nothing has affected me yet. I am perfectly fine, except my knee is a little tweaked. I think its from traveling and walking so much but it will be better I think. Everything is fine, I have a bottle that filters everything. I can fill it up from any water and I am able to drink it. Its pretty cool. sounds like everyone is doing well at home. If you want to know where I am, my area is benedito bentes 1 and the city is bairro. It rains like crazy here. It's almost always cloudy but super hot. We bring our umbrellas everywhere with us because it goes off and on all the time! I love it here though. The members are awesome, we get lunches every single day and the people here love Americans. Cant wait for this week because this one already flew by. Elder maciel said that we had record numbers this week, and we only worked for half the week. Pretty crazy. I love you all!!!! LOVE ELDER LANGLOIS

Email #2


Happy Birthday this week to both of you! I wish I were there to celebrate. I am doing really well. I just need to talk to president about my knee. It is fine, no need to worry. So 2 baptisms my first week! can you believe it?! And two more this week. It is so much better being here than in the CTM haha. I love the people and I love working. The food is fantastic. Everyone says its super strong but it is nothing compared to the mexican food at home. OH can you please send a few recipes that are super simple but they cant have certain things. The very basics because the stores here dont have much. No real milk haha and everything that is american is super expensive. Especially chocolate. reeses, no syrup because I can make it here. Your package took like 6 days to get here. I dont know why everyone thinks that it takes so long. I dont know... Your vegas trip sounded fun. And I decided what I want when I get home... Thanksgiving and chocolate eclair dessert. Those are things they dont have here. potatoes, turkey, jam, bread (they do have rolls though which are good) milk is powdered. It's crazy to think I will be doing this for the next 2 years. This week already flew by though.  Hope all is well there still. I have about 50 minutes to write now so I can write a lot more and read some more.  The package was awesome, feel free to spread out sending them because I dont have time to eat all of it hahhaha. You guys are definitely the best missionary parents. Tons of letters and a package on the first week already. I live with two other elders McCann and Ramos who was in the CTM with me. He is super short. We all get along well. Elder McCann never gets any packages so he was really excited when I offered him a reeses. It made his mission I think. I dont have much else to write. The streets are super skinny are dirty here and everything is made for short people. Our apartment has everything you would want except a dryer but we just hang dry. I love you guys so much and hope you continue to be blessed while I am gone! ELDER LANGLOIS