6/11/12

Hello!
Well, this week wasn't too great in terms of working, but I did get to go on another exchange with Elder Maciel. He is going home this week and I am super sad. I think I am going to cry when he leaves haha.
This week there was a celebration of the Manaus temple so almost all of our Saturday and Sunday were dedicated to that event. Not sure if you guys can watch the thing from Saturday but Tyler was in it. He was walking around with all of the missionaries. Pretty funny to see that he hasn't changed haha. It was funny to see that the 138th temple of this church was dedicated this week. It's crazy to know that from the work that we do here on the mission can lead to temples and tons of strong members. We have a wedding planned July 7th or 14th, but we aren't sure when yet, we are just waiting the papers and with the wedding and then we will baptize the husband to complete the family. They are awesome people. Other than that, we are searching for people that actually want to change/better their lives through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hopefully this week gets better.
hope all is well there, and that it isn't too rough because of the funeral.
LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS


Jake wrote a letter that was read at his Grandpa's funeral last week.  Thought we would share it with you.

Dear Grandpa
It is sad to know that he has passed on, but we know he is in a better place. When I think of the memories with him they go on and on, but I would like to share a few with you today. Just like all of the other grandkids we would always spend the night at Grandma and Grandpas’ house. The shoe fairy or grandma would come and grandpa would always ask if we wanted the grandfather clock turned off.  We always said no, but he turned it off anyway. We would wake up with the smell of toast and hot chocolate and see that grandpa was eating his bread and milk with a huge bitter grapefruit. He always offered, but no one would ever have courage enough to try it. We would play games with him and grandma and they would always let us win... I think. Then came time to pick the raspberries, apricots and plums. Grandpa would follow us around saying only pick the really purple ones! Of course we always picked some that he didn’t approve and stuff them in our mouth before he would see. With the apricots he would always be amazed that I could pick the ones way at the top, every single time he commented about how tall I am. He was someone that always made us smile and always made us laugh. His love for us, his grandchildren, was so much, and we will be forever grateful for him. We love you grandpa! And will see you soon.

All my love Jake

6/4/12

Hello!
Sad to hear about grandpa, and me not being there again.
haha so I said that we had some marked baptisms this week right? No one went to church so every single one fell through... at least for this week hahaha. wow. It crazy how this always happens, but we just have to keep trying and let the people use their free agency.
I want the board game that they have, if no one else claimed it yet.
You said its nice to have Sara home and have noise. Does she make a lot of noise? hahaha
Glad that Steve and Thomas played cod in my honor.
  I don't have much for this week, because it was just another week working hard. Only have one thing that was interesting that I tasted the other day. Does anyone remember that Mexican candy lucas? I tried an ice cream here and it has the exact flavor as lucas! the weird thing is, is that the flavor was from a fruit with a crazy name that I don't remember. Lets just call it a lucas fruit.
Since my grandpa passed away I bear testimony about the plan of salvation. That God really does love every one of us and wouldn't let the happiness that we have during this life end. There will be something after, and I know that death is something bitter, but with the plan that God made for us we have hope that we will be together again. I know that this is true, I teach it every day and people's lives change just because of the hope this message gives them.
  I love you all!
ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

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