11/7/11

hello!

I had a fantastic Halloween. We didn't do anything haha. Seems like the Halloweens in the US are still the same and sounds like you didn't buy enough candy this year haha. basically you dressed up as me for Halloween. That's really cool... first time that has ever happened! 

Everything in our area is fantastic. The food is good the members are good and we are continuing to have success. We had three more baptisms this week! it was so fun! Isabelle Elisabete and Leandro. I have pictures that I will put up. The two girls were contacts on the street one is 16 the other is 8. Leandro is a 14 year old kid and we were teaching his dad. He was interested and really likes call of duty and English so it was a perfect baptism for me hahaha. look it helped again;)

I haven't heard from Tyler for a few weeks. I will shoot him an email to see if he has left yet or not. We will see.... I already emptied the stuff out of the first boxes and only have the stuff that is wrapped left.

and yes I got Sara]s package and I opened it! hahaha I hope she isn't mad but I didn't want to wait. It had everything that I could want. Especially the deodorant toothpaste pads for shoes and the candy basically everything. The deodorant here isn't the best and they don't have the sticks only spray. oh! and the Betty Crocker things will be awesome as well!
and those pictures can be sent through email! I need them by next week! so please remember for next week.

That's funny you ask if I am growing. I have no idea and i don't know if I am gaining weight either. If I start to look fat in the pictures you better tell me! I have a story about riding buses. It happened today. We traveled to a post office for Elder Maciel and we took a small bus on the way back. There were no more seats so I had to stand. We took a picture.... :) 

Its true. Christmas will never be the same until I get home haha. 

I have no idea what the rules are for Christmas  when it gets closer I will ask. 

so... some stories this week.... 

last Tuesday we visited a lady that is a little off her rocker (like that?)  and she had a dream about killing her husband and about putting a bible in the mouth of her child and she asked us to interpret.... yeah how the heck am I supposed to interpret that? we made up something about how she needs to take care of her children and be the man of the house or something like that. Not the best answer but better than her killing her husband! 

I cut my own hair! last week we had hair cuts but he didn't cut the front very well so I did this week. nothing special. It rained like crazy this weekend and we didn't have umbrellas with us hahaha it was awesome!

I forgot to tell you guys that my companion is a district leader. This means that the president trusts me to put me with him. I will keep you updated on everything that is going on. Its crazy how fast this first quarter of mission is going.

and on a sad note, everyone in our house was sick last week. Stomach for me. Everything is better now though. It already passed. No need to worry at all. 

Hope you guys have fun for the holidays! eat a lot for me and remember that i love you and i am thinking about you! That's all I have this week. love you all!!!

LOVE ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

10/31/11

With the holidays approaching, we want to ask everyone on this email list to take a minute and write Jake a note.  Just respond to this email and we will mail them to Jake.  It would be awesome for him to get a ton of mail during November and December.   Thank you for being such great friends to Jake!  Doug & Sheri

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

http://elderjakelanglois.blogspot.com/

My people! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isn't it funny that everyone thought it was going to be Jed.... hahaha.That is so cool. He will have a lot of opportunities to serve with missionaries as bishop. at least here... we visit with the bishop almost 2 or 3 times a week. I am glad that is isn't dad. ha The packages were awesome! I will wait to unwrap everything until the days that are marked. I already saw the clothesline thing and I think it will be useful. so original. I love that we have the same desire to dress up on Halloween, me being a skeleton or a soccer player every year. We have Halloween but people just drink and nothing else haha. pretty exciting huh?
  David Lambert broke his foot? how the heck did that happen?! that is crazy... Tyler will be getting is really soon. My stomach is fine. sometimes when I eat too much though it hurts. I am still trying to control that haha. I have plenty of money. We get 100 reais every month and it is plenty for food and soap and stuff like that. I haven't bought anything to keep or for you guys yet. There really isn't anything here worth buying except soccer jerseys sooooo I will probably come home with 10 of those haha.
Some things are really hard to find here, or they are really expensive. Sliced bread.... woo! it is so expensive haha. We had pizza today that was frozen and it was really good. Yogurt is really good but the granola is really expensive haha. we like stuff that is really simple and cheap.
we didn't have a baptism this week but we have to marked for this week and they are pretty firm. The last baptism we had was Amanda and she is 15 years old and had been going to church for 3 months. (very rare) usually people visit 2 or 3 times and are baptized. she just needed to be baptized so we did it. that party was really fun but a lot of work. People don't realize how much really goes into throwing a party like that haha. it was fun and worth it.  the intestines were interesting... I don't have any juicy stories to share... yet haha. and juicy could be literal....
so some funny stories of the week haha. if you think you are good at math... try to do a word problem in a different language. oh my gosh!!!! I spent 20 minutes trying to read the question and I realized that it was the easiest problem in the world. I thought I was good at math... haha oh and we taught a lady that has a lisp in Portuguese. that was pretty entertaining.... almost as entertaining as the guy that stuttered haha.
and for the most entertaining we were teaching a crazy lady named Beti. she literally is crazy. We were teaching the second lesson about the plan of salvation and there is a small part about Adam and Eve.  We talked about the forbidden fruit and she asked if it was some sort of symbolism and said... are you sure that they weren't smoking weed and the fruit was just a symbol  for that? and we had no idea what to say haha. We just moved on.
  Iknow you will laugh at this next one and think I am sad but I will tell it anyway. Call of duty actually helped me in life. My companion can't remember our area for anything but the second day I already knew where everything was. It's my awesome mapping skills ahahhaha. I am sure you are proud of me for that one! oh! and i gave a talk! in portuguese obviously. It was really good even though I had 10 minutes to prepare. I just winged it and it turned out pretty well. People are saying that I speak better than an elder here that has already served for a year and 2 months.... go figure.
Being on a mission is awesome and is just like a game. We try to teach and baptize while everyone else tries to avoid us. We focus and how the people we teach feel and not so much on the lessons. It is working really well and are having some awesome success. Sounds like everything at home is going well. I miss you guys but know that when the two years is up I will return and be that much happier to see you.
The best thing about being a missionary is knowing that what we are teaching is true and that when people ask questions we have zero fear because we know that this is the perfect gospel. I feel good every time I think about it! I love you and appreciate everything you have done for me throughout the years. I wouldn't be the person I am now without you.

love you guys!!!!!!!
ELDER JAKE LANGLOIS

10/24/11

I am doing really good! I got my packages on Tuesday! and I opened them took out a package of peanut butter, m&ms and the other things that I can open right now and re-duct taped the boxes and am waiting till Christmas:) typical Jake haha. I haven't gotten the one from Sara yet though so I will let you know when I get that one. Tyler will get his visa in 17 days! how cool is that? the weather is pretty good. It's like a hot day during the summer in San Jose everyday. It isn't that bad when you are walking but when we go into the houses is when it gets super hot. The wind here is always blowing really hard and so it is cool but when inside its just pure heat haha. My health is perfect plus I found these cool yogurt drinks that are actually real yogurt usually here they are bebida lactea so this yogurt is awesome!
Noite americana was soooo good!
i did almost everything though.... I didn't have much support from our Brazilian companions because they aren't American but the other American didn't really want to do anything so I think I know how you feel when you are in charge of activities. You would be proud of me. We had 100 people there or more. We made 200 cookies in a bread store haha and 200 pancakes three at a time. I uploaded pictures already of this week and last week
I uploaded some too... if you didnt notice haha but yes a great success.
I am not using missionties anymore so if you don't want to then that is fine.
Johnny is hilarious haha Thomas is jacked up and needs to send me a letter about everything. He needs to practice his writing too haha.
Can you give me some ideas for American lunches that are super easy? My comp always wants to eat American food. Glad the list of emails is still growing. I becoming more popular:) oh and in the next package can you send those q tips maybe for my birthday ha.
I got 3 letters this week too. David Crawford which was awesome Holly Hauter which is the funniest girl on the planet. I hope that you read it before you sent it haha. That is what I sat next to in class 3 times a week. Is that picture of Thomas that you sent the one that was on their fridge? We had a baptism again. A girl named Amanda and it went really well. oh! and about noite americana the bishop came up to me and congratulated me and said he wants to have more. I said yes.... haha so we are thinking of doing a cake contest this time. We will see how that goes...
And the funny thing I ate this week was boxo(booshoo) which is intestines!!!!! yeah!! it was the weirdest texture of my life but honestly tasted like any other meat haha. that was my week and hope you guys had a good one too! love you!
ELDER LANGLOIS

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