5/28/2012

Hello!
I got the box mom don't worry! and it was awesome! I was definitely not expecting sparkling cider! what the heck.
The voice recorder is awesome, and I think I will get some people here to talk to you guys and I will send it back. 

This week was awesome. We have a goal that is set by the mission for all of the key indicators of missionary work, and we almost double them this week. All of our baptisms fell through last week but we are trying so hard to get one this week. Its crazy how fragile a baptism is. so some funny things that happened this week. I like to call this one "fart at the fair" there is always a fair every Wednesday night and we were entering to buy some fruit and all of a sudden we here a toot. there was this old lady (alone) sitting on the curb and it had to be her. We looked at her and she had a stone face, but I know it was her! haha we laughed so hard.
also I forgot to tell you that we taught our first atheist the other week. We talked about the big bang theory and about evolution and taught him how to pray to see if there really is anyone out there. It was interesting teaching someone without a christian background.
also some crazy guy stopped us the other day and he started talking about his church and how it was the best example of Christ's church. He then started yelling and saying that we were false prophets and that we would go to hell and all these things. after he stopped I said that only Jesus Christ can judge where we go, therefore making you a false prophet, bore my testimony and we left haha. it was hilarious.
That's about all for the week. we played some volleyball with our zone today and we to an all you can eat barbecue. (tucanos) :)
anyway love you guys and I know that what I am doing is teaching the truth to all the people here in Brazil. There is no doubt in my mind that this church is the church of Christ restored in these days.
love you all
LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

5/14/12

It's my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but I am in Brazil......  Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes!
We are going to an all you can eat pizza place tonight to celebrate! so excited!
Skyping with you guys was awesome! cant wait till the next time!
 Don't worry Natalie I wont come home fat. I am keeping my figure hahaha
I am the disrict leader now.  I am taking pictures still just waiting to find a computer that doesn't have the usb blocked.
Sister Gonzaga called me and sang to me in English. The accent was funny, but she did really well.Things are going well. In two weeks we should have 3 baptisms and in a month we should have a wedding and a baptism. We are hoping that everything goes smoothly and that we can help them from giving up. It's fun being a missionary, almost like a game that I am trying to win but I liked what President Holland said" we are doing the most important work in the universe! the salvation of souls"
Joshua Dale Wong is my comps name. He is querky but likes to work and I am laughing all of the time.
I think those were fireworks you heard when we were Skyping because there weren't any cops that came. Don't worry about me:)
It would be awesome to win that trip to Brazil, but as you know the Langlois family is the worst with luck. I have never won a raffle in my entire life.
So my comp is from Portland Oregon and he is a convert. His family aren't members. He likes to sing, and I just laugh at just about everything that he does.
Also avocado is sweet here. They make smoothies with them and use them like fruit instead of salty vegetable things like guacamole. I thought that was weird
Also can you buy some byu shirts really cheap that I can give to other people. The 5 dollar ones for football with various sizes. That would be fantastic.
So funny story, some guy came to church this week and sat in the first class. We talked to him after and gave a 2 minute lesson about the restoration of Christ's church in these days and he said" alright I am staying in this church for the rest of my life and I want to get baptized"  also he found out about how we can't drink and he said " yesterday was the last day I will ever drink in my life." hahaha He is hilarious, a little crazy but an awesome guy.
Anyway happy mothers day again to all the mothers! and hope everything is going well.
love you all
LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

5/7/12

Hello!
So we baptized again this week! A girl named Larissa. She is 21 and is a chef, and almost has no time to talk with us. Not sure how we found time to teach he and prepare her to be baptized, but it happened!

My new ward is awesome! The bishop is hilarious. Saturday, we had a baptism with two wards and both the bishops were there, and the last bishop in the building has to turn off the lights. He ran to his office, got all of his things out, and ran out haha all while the other was talking with some people. He is hilarious! I get my new comp tomorrow.        
We can skpye Sunday and I am planning on going over there 7 our time.
I heard about Dylan, maybe I will train him! I will ask the president haha. When does he get into the field? do you know?
When went downtown in Aracaju Thursday because Elder Bradshaw didn't buy anything for his family so I had to drag him there. We went downtown in Maceio today so I have some ideas, just don't want to buy anything yet because there is still a ton of time left on the mission.
You got an ipad! what the heck! you are so spoiled.

Oh and by the way.. thanks for the birthday wishes everyone! I enjoyed them! Happy Mothers day to all of you!
So the funniest thing that happened to me on my mission happened this week:
we were riding in the bus and I was sitting in a window seat with Elder Bradshaw behind me in the other window seat. Everything was fine and we were moving along and our bus goes to pass and stop in front of a bus that was already stopped which is normal. So we are passing and I was thinking "wow, we are really close to the bus." So the mirror on the bus that was stopped hits the window behind mine and rips of the mirror! Rips off the entire bumper! and breaks the front glass of the other bus! hahahaha it was ridiculous and I think the guy lost his job because of it. We just sat there... what do we do now? haha it was awesome, but we had to wait a little for the next bus.
Also there were transfers this week and I was the only one in my district to stay. All of the sisters left:( usually elders don't like working with the sisters, but they always make food for us! not the only reason I like them. ha)
Anyway, hope all of you have an awesome week!
LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

4/30/12

Hello everyone!
That's funny that they are related. The work is good, a little slow because he is ending the mission and everyone gets that home sickness at the end and has a hard time working, but we are hoping on two baptisms this week. We found a house to live in, but it just has to be approved by president for us to live there.
The visit from Elder Holland changed my life! wow he is not a normal person. We all had the opportunity to shake his hand and when I passed he said" oh my gosh you're tall" hahaha  Now I know for a complete fact that those men are called of God. No doubt in my mind.
good! Thomas can write me during the meeting. Great idea!
Why does BYU always lose in the playoffs! that is so sad.
So for skyping I could be in a different area and for sure I will have a new comp. That's why I don't know when we can skype and what time. It will be about 7 at night my time I think and I haven't talked with anyone to set it up. I will get on that.
  Ialways let you know about the packages don't worry!
So one other thing really cool happened this week. We were shopping in a supermarket to get things for our trip to see Elder Holland and this almost deaf lady came up to talk to us. she was a member of the church and worked there, and  really wanted to help us. it was hard to talk to her not knowing signs (the signs here are different too) and so she took us around the entire store. She was super nice and loved trying to talk to us and help us. At the end after we picked out everything that we wanted to by she took it out of our hands and went to the cashier and bought everything! we couldn't stop her because she couldn't hear us! We didn't know what to do, but we realized that we shouldn't stop her. She demonstrated the true love of Christ and she will be blessed for it.
Also we had stake conference this week and a baptism of a man that waited 2 years to be baptized. The sisters finally got him haha.
love you all a ton and hope everything is going well in California!
LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

JAKE'S BIRTHDAY IS MAY 14th-----Please help flood his inbox with emails to wish him a happy birthday.  We will forward messages to him---just reply to this email.   For those of you who left voice messages, the recorder is still in the mail and will hopefully make it by his birthday.   Letters from home are priceless when you are on a mission so far from home.  THANK YOU!

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

4/23/12

Hello!

Dalton Bradshaw is his name. and his parents name Dwayne and Denise Bradshaw.  He said he thinks he knows them too. funny.

So the work is great, we have spent almost 100% of our time trying to find a house but we had a baptism this week! Gustavo is his name and he was so ready to be baptized. He stopped drinking coffee for no reason one week before he even got to know the church. Miracle for sure. We are teaching a lot , and people are opening up there doors to us. We are 4 hours from the mission home, and Elder Jeffery R Holland is coming to our mission this week! It's going to be awesome! I have never shook the hand of an apostle before. at least I don't remember haha like I didnt think I ever went to Disneyland.
We have to move because the owner of the house is ripping us off. haha We are paying way to much for the house that we have.
So only one baptism happened, and the others are trying to not happen, but we are working really hard to prepare our investigators to be baptized.
Anyway the work in this ward is going. We have 4 cities in our area. 4 times the size of any other area I have had on the mission. I will have tons of work and will never run out of doors to knock. I am sure you already found out this on the mission, but the best way to get baptisms is to just be super happy. People open doors and are so much more open about their lives.
For sure I will keep an eye out for the packages.

Sharks are terrible but that's good that I wont miss them winning:)

We will be able to Skype for mothers day, I just don't know when yet because I will have a new comp. I will have to talk to him and plan everything but I think I will try to do it Sunday, mothers day at night

My stomach is great now! everything is normal and I haven't had any issues. I am living in a cleaner place now so I have a lot less problems.

the pictures didn't work again, but it is a problem with the computer not with Costco. I will keep trying. I sent 6 during the week because I was already uploading pictures to show to President Gonzaga about the house.

This week wasn't too exciting. Every single day we looked for a house but we cant find anything cheap enough. Also our new chapel had an open house so we spent a lot of time at that too. It is huge and nicer than our chapel at home.

funny story... we played basketball today, and a member that is 40 years old or so thought he was so good. The court had a lot of dust because of the construction so he tried to pass one of the defenders and fell on his face. He thought he broke his face, but it was fine. Just a bruise. I have to keep the tradition of someone ALWAYS getting hurt when playing church basketball hahahaaha

love you guys and hope you have a good week

LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

4/16/12

Hello!
Sister Gonzaga is awesome. She reminds me of you, always having everything planned perfectly and clean. haha She is always happy, and has a great personality. With the president and the wife, we talk to them during zone conference, interviews, transfers, and a few other occasions. It isn't that often, and is a lot less here in Sergipe. but we usually see them every 3 months at least.
My comp is from Beaver Utah, we get along just fine.
I was already trained by Elder Maciel. Trainer is just for the first 2 transfers in the mission. He just is  a district leader, and I think that's what I will be next so president put me with him. Also, in this district there are 4 sisters so I think I will have to take care of them. haha oh great.
So we have 3 baptisms for this week and next week. Lucia 25 years old, was a reference from another elder, Larissa 21 the first door I knocked when I got into this area  which was awesome, and Geovania 22 who was a girl that we just started to talk to. She seemed like she just wanted to flirt with us, but liked what we taught and will be baptized. Also a young man might move into our ward that has already gone to church twice so he will be baptized too! the blessings are coming finally!
so I tried to send more pictures, but I think the lan house blocked the computer. I can't get into it to send the pictures.
Thomas is jacked up! he needs to learn to like typing! at least to me!
So this week was pretty good. We are teaching a lot, and are just helping these investigators get ready for their baptisms.  We even taught a deaf person the other day. She was drunk and deaf. Not sure how, but we taught a little bit to her and at the end she was able to here a little bit. Either a miracle or she is just crazy ahaha. I don't know if I told you about the farmers market here. Every Wednesday there is a fair and tons of tables are set up, and people just come to sell fruits and vegetables. It is on our street and I took a picture of them setting up, but I couldn't send it.
also I did an exchange with Elder Maciel! my trainer and we went to the aquarium haha. We went to look at the prices and to plan an zone activity, but it is closed on Mondays. so we decided to go that day. Not sure if we were supposed to but it was really cool! there were sea horses sharks and tons of other things. Well that's about all we did this week. We are still teaching and looking for new people every day, and searching for a new house to live. Hopefully we find one this week and move!
anyway, I love all of you guys and hope you have an awesome week!
LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

4/11/12

Feliz páscoa!

So I am in Aracaju Sul in a place called Grageru II  and it is awesome. It's the other state in our mission, which means I am no longer in the poorest state in Brazil= so much cleaner, safer, and more organized. My new comp is Elder Bradshaw who leaves the mission after this transfer. I am "killing" him in the mission. I am in the Grageru II ward and there are three cities in my area. So what I was working in the past 6 months of my mission, is now tripled so there is tons more to do. The difference is more walking. about 1 hour and a half to get to the one side of our area to another. Long I know but so worth it!  We should have a lot of success in this area, we just have to work hard and help the most people we can. My trainer is my zone leader! I still haven't left his side since we got transferred. He is the best influence to me and I will never forget him.
haha Thomas is still preparing to go on a mission hilarious! but tell him the he should read the scriptures at least 5 minutes every day too!

So I got here in this area and we already had two investigators at church. More than I had my entire last area! I am pumped to work here.
I can print the emails that you send, the problem is that I don't have much time to read them. Today I read the entire book "our heritage" it isn't very long but I finished it in 4 hours or so. I have never done that in my life.
So in Brazil they have these giant chocolate eggs. That is all that they do for Easter haha.

That is awesome that Bob and Linda are serving a mission!

so I don't have anything that cool to say this week. It was my comps birthday so I made him a dessert, and he had to visit Maceió to get his passport renewed so I am in a threesome until he gets back. Next week I will have more to say and baptisms to talk about!

eu amo vocês e espero que vocês lembrerem sobre o salvador jesus cristo durante este feriado. sempre tenta fazer seus melhores para que possamos viver com Deus novamente.

LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS