2/27/12

Família e meus amigos!

My week was good once again, but a little disappointing on Sunday. None of our investigators went to church. We tried to pick up 5 to go to church with us and no one came... we are trying everything! anyway....me and my comp are really tight, we get a long great.  I know that is just a tool of Satan and we will receive the blessings soon.

I still haven't gone to a post office, but I might today and if not i will see if the mission already received it Thursday when we go to a zone conference. If not, next p day I will go to the post office for sure. Does it matter what post office?
The BYU volleyball team seems like it is struggling without Taylor. I hope he gets better soon so they can actually win this year. That is crazy that his hand broke, I still don't believe it. 

Can't believe that Rachael is already coming home. It seems like she just left. Grandma and grandpa too haha. Time is flying by for me too. Every week is like a blink of an eye. Almost to the point it feels like we don't have enough time to work. 

The Spanish Book of Mormon is for me of course! I am learning a ton of Spanish, and I prayed the other night in Spanish hahaha. It is awesome.

Carnaval finally ended and without an injury to the missionaries. There were +/- 100 deaths on the day of Carnaval and there was a fight against the judges of the floats and samba schools. it was crazy. Everything is fine now. 

so guess what? I am the pianist of our ward! I am learning how to play piano too! I can sight read the right hand on almost every hymn, and I can actually play some of them but the pianos here come with all of the hymns in them and I just touch one key and it plays. haha so I am almost the pianist. 

and we went to the Catholic church this week! we have an investigator that invited us to go there. It was... different. Everyone was staring at the Mormons in the Catholic church, and there was a time when the "father" asked that all of the people that were visiting for the first stand up so we did and it was like everyone was judging us (all 800) at once haha. I felt so awkward but just smiled the entire time. There wasn't one person that greeted me either. It was fun haha but if any of you that are catholic and haven't gone to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints, then you definitely should visit there. I went to your church... now you get to visit the church of Jesus Christ! 

I'll write a little in Portuguese for you guys alright?

entaõ, tudo está bem aqui em brasil. estamos trabalhando demais e eu sei que Deus vai nos abençoar pelos sacrifícios que estamos fazendo. eu amos todos vocês e quero que vocês visitem a igreja dos " mórmons" só para provar. eu sei que isso vai trazer felicidade em suas vidas. 

Até mais!!!

ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

2/20/12

> Family and friends!
> This week was good, and disappointing but I am still happy haha. so
> you will never guess what is happening behind me right now! Call of
> duty haha we are in a Lan house and they are playing it. cool huh.
> So this week we taught a lot of people, but before baptism people
> have to go to church 2 times first. We only had one person in church
> for the last 4 weeks. It's really rough, because I had never had this
> difficulty before. We are trying different things and nothing is
> working. But, I know things will work out in the end. My comp is
> awesome, we get along really well and we are always happy and the
> house is super clean and we are cooking a lot of good stuff.
> I got Sara's package! the belts are awesome and I really needed them so
> thank you! also before I forget I want to wish Kyle a happy birthday
> next week haha.
> So for preparing a missionary, you don't even need the stuff that is on
> the list. I have a suitcase full of all of the medication first aid
> stuff and all of the other things. I use the deodorant, sunblock and I
> give the medications away when my comp gets sick. If you just drink a
> ton of water you will never get sick or have problems but everyone
> drinks ton of soda...
> Dylan Jensen is coming to my mission! that is awesome haha. I will train him!
> soo... some funny things that happened this week.
> those little girls that were in the pictures call me Jakey haha. They
> found out my name and they only call me that now. I took a picture of a
> chocolate eclair (Brazilian) dessert that I made. It was amazing... I
> taught an English class Friday haha. I taught everyone the ABCs song:D
> hilarious with the accent and the lack of singing ability.
> Also can you send me a book of Mormon in Spanish.
> we had a lunch this week, by the way its Carnaval still, and it was in
> a non members house haha. Everyone was drunk and kept wanting to feed
> us. It was super loud, and super fun. I will never forget that lunch
> and just to describe a little about Carnaval... guys dressed up as
> girls. Girls aren't dressed very well, a lot of alcohol, a lot of
> parties, and people like to throw eggs and flour at people. That's just
> a little bit haha. love you guys!
> LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

2/13/12

Family and friends!

So I didn't even know it was valentines day haha. and I always tell you guys when I get the cards and packages sooooo I haven't gotten anything yet. I think the mission office is just full of letters and packages because no one is getting anything. I think we will make a trip there to get our stuff.
  I will see if I can find a post office, i have two letters that I wrote December 1st haha. I am just waiting for the opportunity to send them. 

don't worry about the packages, I will tell you when i get them, maybe there are just in the mission office. 

The food here is really simple, impossible to not like. Its beans spaghetti salad (without dressing) and a meat most likely chicken haha. everything that we would eat at home just every single day.... haha its awesome though and I found out that it isn't even that hot here. The highest it ever gets is 90 and that isn't even bad. At home it gets hotter than that!
So right now we are trying to find more people to teach through contacts and less actives. We have a 16 and 23 year old girl that like the church a lot and we just need to get them to church. Other than that we are hoping that the members are listening to all of the council from the general authorities so we can work with them. This ward is great, but the help is limited so we are on our own talking to people in the street.
Learning a language opens up your mind. I feel like I can think better and learn a lot faster than before the mission. It is really strange that I can feel the difference, but I know it is something that will help me for my entire life.
Everything here is good, I am still learning a lot about the mission especially because I am so young in the mission and training. We are learning together because I still don't have much experience. It is really cool, and I know this next transfer coming up will be a lot better. I am finally learning how to do everything, but i still know I can't do anything without the lords help. The mission is hard but fun at the same time.

soooo. I wanted to describe where we play volleyball in the city Rio largo. There was a flood and so the train station and tracks closed. We play in the middle of the train station with the net tied to an old train, and the oil rig that fills the trains hahah. There is sand in the middle and it is the most ghetto thing I have ever seen. It is awesome though.

so we bought a 20 pound watermelon:)

yesterday we went to a house to eat lunch and she was alone so we went to a park for a little bit to wait for her husband to get home and we played on a teeter totter. The most fun I have had on my mission yet...

and this weekend is Carnaval, but everything crazy is at the beach so nothing happened here. Everyone is just drunk, but that is like every other day of the week.

I am loving it here in Brazil and know that I am helping a lot of people. The biggest change that is happening is in me and all of the experiences I am gaining. 

Love you all and hope everything is going well! 

LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

2/6/12

> Hello!
> Sounds like Thomas is scoring tons of goals in hockey. Tell him to
> keep it up and he will be pro in no time! also the dance sounds really
> cool. How was the clean up for the island that you made? real sand?
> wow. In our ward there isn't a calling for a ward activity planner, it
> is the missionaries. The missionaries here do EVEYTHING!
> I don't think I have any requests for a package. I don't really need
> anything at the moment. Are you serious!!!!!!!!!!! Taylor broke his
> hand!? that is ridiculous. I cant believe that would happen. He was
> destroying everyone. No one could keep up with him! wow, that makes me
> really sad. I think I will write him a letter this week.
> so good news! I measured my height:D guess............ 6 10 and a
> little bit haha. with shoes.  It's crazy. We played
> volleyball today and paintball! which was really fun! it doesn't matter
> what ties you send. I think I will just give them away. Send some
> normal ones too though.
> So the story of the week is called the super big. It is a 3 pound
> sandwich that we bought on Thursday! hahaha I ate half in less than 5
> minutes and someone told me about another challenge that I have to
> eat 5 pounds in 20 minutes and I get 200 reais!!!!!!! I am going to do
> it one of these days:)
> and guess what!!!! I killed another fly with a pen!!!!!! I am so good!
> so that's all. A week that isn't the most exciting.
> Love you all!
> LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

1/30/12

Hello family and friends!!!!!!!!

First off, don't worry about the favela. They are my friends now haha They even offer me alcohol which is expensive. They love the missionaries and if you talk to them they love us even more hahaha. I still haven't gotten the package, and yeah it is possible that no one is there. Usually Saturday and Sunday they don't have anyone there. it should be fine it will get here. Yeah I am giving my ties away.  It is easier than anything else. Bright colors and normal colors and they don't have to be expensive. Kohls!:D 

we had another baptism this week! her name is bruna she is 17 years old, and she is the neighbor of those little girls. It is really sad there, the dad drinks and they barely have enough money to eat but we cant do anything about it. They act like we are their dad, but it is fun. 

hahaha the picture of my jeans is awesome right?! I think I grew, I don't really know but my other pants are still perfect, so maybe my jeans already were that short when I left. Not really sure, but I will try to measure. Don't send a new pair of jeans! that was the first time I wore them and that was just for a minute.
that is so sad that you guys went to classic burger without me. i don't think you have ever done there without me. that's funny.
I can't even believe that 200 days have already passed. It's fun to think of the mission in terms of weeks. Its more or less 100 weeks and its crazy because the weeks pass really fast here. Its like every two or three days when you are working hard. 

so i got the Elmonts christmas card! that was funny and a good surprise. My new comp is great! My kid in the mission! his name is elder Del Castillo, yes he speaks Spanish. for Bolivia!!!! I am already learning tons of Spanish here and it will definitely improve after these 2 transfers with him. It is really fun to lead things for a change, but I also know that it is really important that he learns how to do everything too. To make a long story short he is speaking a lot during the lessons hahaa.

we had an activity this week! it was movie theater night. We projected a movie and had popcorn and soda. Really easy and everyone loved it. We are thinking of another one to do for next Wednesday. It should be every 15 days. Nuts I know, but if you have ideas for activities I am all ears. 

we also had two service projects this week on the same day. wow it was hard. We dug up pipes and reconstructed everything. After we helped build a house, mixing cement( by hand without a machine) and carried a lot of bricks. Everything was worth it though, because I am soooo strong now! not really....

so cool story. Livia who was baptized last week has a dad that stopped going to church 12 years ago. His kids are being baptized and now he is wanting to go back to church. it is the coolest thing we can do as missionaries, is bring families together and make them more united and a lot happier. It also gives me hope that when someone leaves the church that I already baptized, they have a chance to return. 

That's all! 

love you ALL

LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

1/23/12

Hello!!!
So I haven't gotten my comp yet. He comes tomorrow and I am so excited/ nervous! it still hasn't even hit me but I know when he gets here we will be working a ton.
I am glad you looked up the favela haha it is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in my life, but its safe. Everyone there knows the missionaries and like them a lot but I still don't like to tract there. We have a member there and we visit here every 2 or 3 weeks.
so my new area is in tabuleiro, maceió. It is almost the exact same place I was before. I can almost see my old area haha. so I don't know if I told you but this is the second time following sisters. We took the sisters apartments the two times I moved and they are super clean. No need to worry.
The work here will be really good, the members are willing to help and people like me here haha. That is ridiculous that they only stay 6 weeks now! wow! that's lame but I am glad I already started my mission at least...
Natalie went to church!? that is awesome! I am so proud of her!!! haha. I hope she liked it.   Tell her that I will be back in no time and to try to keep busy while I am here:)
You can send those emails if you want, usually I look at it on byu.com since it is a church website hahaha.

so some funny stories this week... we were knocking doors this week and some lady came to the door and said "no one is here" and my comp said "you are someone" hahahaha that was ridiculous. Nothing came of it, she was just a grumpy old lady.
and this week we had a baptism!!!! a girl named Livia she is 9 years old and her sister and dad are members. The mom of the family inst a member so we will try to work with them to get married and after get her baptized to complete the family. i sent pictures. also there are pictures of other little girls shirley shirleige shirleine sheila rayanne raissa  and in the other family ligia with the dad john. It took me a few visits but i finally know who every one is haha. The names are so similar and ridiculous.
also my comp will be Bolivian! so I will come home speaking Spanish too! whooooo!
Also I need more ties so next package in a few months can you send ties? thanks:)
Love you guys and hope everything is going well!
LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

1/16/12

Hello!!!!
So guess what? I will be training this transfer!!!!!! it is ridiculous but I will talk about it later.
I am in the Tabuleiro ward with a temporary companion until my trainee gets here next week. The ward is awesome and I am excited to work finally! My district leader is elder McComber and we were friends at BYU haha so that is awesome. everything is great right now!
yes that means I am in a safe area now! ha I hope you are happy:)

Does dad know a Pratt from the volleyball team?
so the new area is really good. The thing that is the best is that my trainer is my next door neighbor!!! can you believe that?! I never thought I would see him that much before he left to go home but now I get to see him every day. It would be good if you sent a BYU magazine too:)
so a story for the week. we played a game in our new area called choose where to go and if we get lost you cant ask for directions. It worked perfectly! we got lost and found our way back, in an hour hahaha.  We got off on the wrong stop of the bus and it was in the middle of a jungle. I knew which direction to go to get to our meeting but we ended up hitting a cliff with a river running at the bottom. I took a picture haha. We wanted to jump it but decided to walk around. it was crazy and we were in the middle of nowhere!we got to know our area though!

so I don't know if you guys know what a favela is but look it up online. We have one in our area and everyone is crazy and drunk and loves the missionaries. oh! the eders! they are CRAZY.

another thing funny is the garbage men here. It is a garbage truck with three guys running behind it grabbing the trash and throwing it in the back. hi tech right? haha
so that is all for the week! love you guys and hopefully my comp comes next week!
LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS