Howard! Howard! I love you Howard!

I believe, I believe I believe!

Conference weekend was off of the hook! I felt like the pizza guy when he went to BIG! (believe industries gathering) it was super great though! It is a completely different experience on the mission! In part because I had to go to the chapel to watch it, which I really like actually. It is a cool thing because you are there with all of the other members (the strong ones at least) and then in  between sessions no one goes home because it is far away, so you just stay there and talk to the other people and everyone brings food and it is great for strengthining the friendship in the ward. We also were able to get 6 investigators there, which was awesome because there is no way that you can't feel the spirit during conference. We took a family to the second session which was perfect because it talked a lot about the family and women and the priesthood!! (pretty much the whole conference talked about this stuff)

I really liked Elder Valenzuela´s talk about small and simple things, I felt like that was what I was needing to hear. There were a whole ton of good talks, I took over 11 pages of notes! I stayed awake for the whole time too!! haha! take that!!!!

This  week was pretty memorable, we had a zone conference on Thursday with president which was good and also I finally got to use some of my lifeguarding skills after all these years! here is what happened:

We´re walking down the street when right by us a car hit a lady who was riding her bike. The car drove off (don't worry they got the guy, the police car was right behind him). We were the first ones over there. She was conscious but had a lot of back pain, we called the ambulance and also her husband. I put a couple of books of mormon under her head and used my "sweet skills" to secure her head so that just in case she had spine damage, it wouldn't get worse. I was also praying a lot that she´d be ok. The cops came and the ambulance and there was also a huge group of people around us and watching us and stuff. I think that she was alright, the doctor/ambulance guy said that it wasn't too bad, but I am glad that I knew how to help in the situation and that Heavenly Father hears our prayers. It was a pretty crazy thing, but I felt real happy afterward that we were able to serve Heavenly Father´s children in any situation that may arise.

The district is doing really well! We are really excited because if everything works out, all of the companionships will baptize this weekend! This is a really good city that has a lot of potential! It is starting to heat up as well, which is weird cuz it is cooling down for you guys. It gets really hot down here in the summer and I am going to be right in the middle of it. Oh joy! It is also good to hear that Mason is climbing the business ladder of success. I expect that a novel is already in the works, my good man!

Also my bday present already got here and I don't know if i should open it, or wait. What do y'all think?

I was pretty inspired by conference and I know that everyone can be a missionary!!!! I think that it is great to know that we can all enjoy the blessings promised to those who serve the Lord. I invite you all to look for missionary opportunities and please let me know about the experiences that you have!!!! I know that the 7th ward priest quorum is an Ensign story waiting to happen! (mason and dad)hehehheheee... but seriously, I can promise that you will be happier than ever if you help God´s children come unto Him.

I love you guys so much and I am proud to call you my family and that I can represent our family here at the end of the world!!!!!!

Love you tons,

Elder Stringer 

Hellooooo!!

Hey!
the pronunciation of the city that I am in is more or less like this:
 oo-roo-goo-eye-ah-nah

but you have to say it pretty fast or else you sound really silly.

I don't have a whole lot to say... we moved into our new apartment, which is waaaaaaayyyyy better than the house that we were in. We started at 7 oclock tuesday morning and didn't finish until 8 at night. It was tiring. but you should see the new place, I really dig it. (and I am finally sleeping in a bed).

We had a good week, we marked two baptisms for the 12th of October. They are pretty much set in stone, but I still am always on edge until after the confirmation. I am soooooooooooo!!!!!!!! excited for general conference!!! It is going to be super cool! They are two of the greatest days for a missionary, I think! (I will also buy some candy and sneak it into the chapel) hehehehe...

I am pretty sure that I will get nice and skinny here. hehehehe, but seriously. It is super hot during the summer and another good thing is that the members give us juice instead of soda during lunch. Also this city is notorius for getting missionaries sick.  But there is no reason to fear or be worried or anything like that because I will be fine and I wont get sick!

But seriously, I am doing well, and I am happy. The gospel brings a happiness into your life that can't be described, I have noticed that. at the begining of my mission it was hard and I wasn't always so happy, but as I started to study and work harder and learn more about the gospel and our Savior, I have gotten happier. It is pretty incredible I think. And believe it or not, but I have found myself thinking that 14 months isn't going to be enough time for me to do everything that I want to.

Thanks a ton for the emails and I love hearing from you guys. It makes me happy to hear that you are well and all of the adventures that you are having (like Mason getting asked to a dance or something, which he didn't tell me. bum.) And also it gives me motivation and stuff like that to work during the week.

Love,

Elder Stringer

URUGUAIANA BABY!!!!!

Well, I made it. I rode a bus to the end of the world and a little bit longer, but I finally made it. It is a cool city, it is very flat! Which is a HUGE blessing. hahahah... the house here is very scary, let me tell ya... it is dirty and old and the first thing that I thought when I entered the bathroom was that it smells like the bathrooms at the KOA. But it is all good, because we are moving tomorrow. everything is all ready to go, I have been sleeping on the floor since Tuesday because the beds are all packed up.

The area here is super great! The ward is awesome too! A lot of the members already know my name, which is a miracle because in Ijuí it took them two transfers to be able to say my name. I am sure that we will have success here. My companion is Elder Marley, he is cool, he is from Salvador and is 26 years old. He has 6 months on the mission and a year and 10 months as a member. He is real obedient and likes to work, which is good cuz we are going to do lots of work.

There are 11 missionaries in the district, including the 2 zone leaders, that live with us (and I don't even have to ask my companion to tell them hi for me, Mason! I can do it all by myself ha!) Also there are 5 sisters in the district, which I believe is equal to the problems of more or less 58 elders! Its pretty crazy and I am praying super hard that no problems happen! Also I got to do my first baptism interview yesterday, it was pretty cool and it was a strong moment to feel the spirit!

One of these days I will go to the international bridge, which links Brasil with Argentina and I will take a picture! Unfortunately I can't go into Argentina, because if they catch me, I will have to go home and my mission will end. Also, there is a place here that sells the BEST donut that I have ever eaten!!!! And it is only 50 centavos, which is like 22 cents!!! hahahahaha, I will get fat!

Also I included a picture of me being a boss with a big knife!! A family in Ijuí gave it to me as a going away present! They are super nice and I was super surprised, but I will always remember them when I eat churrasco with my super tight knife! I will miss them a lot!

I love you guys a ton and hope that you have an awesome week!!!!

 

Love,

Elder Stringer

Transfer News!!

Ellos,

It is a good thing that you all sent the box to the mission home. The 12 weeks of training have come to an end, and the transfer is here. I am going to leave Ijuí and am heading for Uruguiana, it is the second biggest city in the mission (I think) and it is right on the border of Uruguay and Argentina. I am pretty excited, I think that it will be cool. I also heard that it is really hot and I will be there right for the middle of summer I think. Usually we find out about transfers on Monday, but President Parrela called on Friday and said that I was going. The news spread through the ward real quick and people have just been giving us food and all sorts of stuff and I think that I liked it better when we found out on Monday, cuz everyone is making a bigger deal about it. Also it is pretty far away, like 7 hour bus ride from Santa Maria.

I was also called to be the district leader there. I heard that it is the mission's biggest district, but I don't really know. I am nervous and excited at the same time, it makes me happy to know that the Lord and President Parrela have this trust in me.

We had an awesome experience on Saturday! We got permission to leave the city and do a service project with the ward at our ward mission leaders vineyard. It was one of the most prettiest places that I have ever seen and it was great to be there with the ward members! And we had a churrasco too! It was a lot of meat and they didn't have plates or anything so you just had to use your hands! the gaúcho knows how to live my friends!! hahahah!!!!

I am going to miss Elder Dias, he was a great companion and it was awesome to be his first companion. 

I don't really have much else to say... I am doing well though and I have a ton load of packing to do today, which is super annoying. I am excited to get my bday package and I am pretty sure that I will not have the will power and strength to not open it if I get it before November 10!

I know that this email is short, but what do you do? I am really grateful to have served here and I made some great friends that I will never forget! I grew and learned a lot here and am sad to have to say goodbye.

I love ya'll a ton and hope that this week is off of the hook!

Love,

Elder Stringer

 

 

Mowing the Lawn

Well, I have an awful lot to write and this week was great! We had the baptism of João Carlos on Saturday, it was an awesome experience and I was super happy to see Elder Dias baptize.  I am happy that he had the experience of finding, teaching and baptizing while being trained. We tried to get all of the members to bring friends to the baptism, but nobody did, it was kinda lame. But the baptism was awesome and we talked to him yesterday and he's happy and already asked us how to pay tithing! hahaha!! It is really super great!

We did a family night with our ward mission leader and some other people! It was a blast, the best family night that I have done here on the mission! Also I finally was able to take a picture next to the famous Scooby lanches (scooby snacks). It was awesome.

We also did a service project, we mowed a lawn. I included a picture of my very high tech and efficient "lawn mower". (it´s the picture of me with a stick that has a piece of metal at the end.) Needless to say, I was exhausted and thought that I was going to die after 2 hours of "lawn mowing". (but at least I didn't have to scoop any poop).

I got sick again this last week. It's a long story, but I ended up staying out in the cold for hours because we were locked out of our apartment until we were able to find a ladder long enough to reach the second floor. 

I am super happy to hear about byu's success and I will be able to walk around with a smile on my face! I am also glad to hear that the ring was wanting to be found even though smeagol-john lost the precious! hahahah!!!! 

On a more serious note, I know that our prayers are answered and that many people (including ourselves) can be blessed through prayer and hard work. I am super happy and am enjoying myself a lot! I hope that you all are too! Have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Stringer

 

 

"Oh, It's You"

Hey!

This week was a week to remember my friends! The conference with Elder Gavarret was really good and I learned a whole ton! also... I got my package!!!! wooohooo!!! hahahaha!!! It was awesome, I was so happy and I really liked it, it was awesome! Also... we had two baptisms!! wipee!!!!! They were Patrik and Anderson, two young men who have been going for a couple of months now, but their mom didn't let them get baptized before. The Lord softened her heart and yesterday morning, before church we had an awesome baptismal service! I baptized patrik, they are two goofy little guys and I like them a lot, it was a really great moment!

I really liked the package and all of the stuff that I got! I thought that it had been robbed, because I didnt see my tie and contacts when I first opened it and as I was laying in bed, I thought "mom probably put them in the cocoa puffs box, it seems like something that she would do." I got up and found them there in the cocoa puffs box, I laughed a little to myself. I liked the pictures that you all sent, I couldn't stop laughing at the pic of ash and mase at kc's wedding. It was so hilarious! And it was funny because all of the letters talk about how summer was starting. Needless to say, I was very happy.

This week the weather heated up nicely! It was at a perfect 70-75 degrees more or less! But everyone says that it will rain now and rain a lot! I have been torturing myself trying to think of a good nick cage reference or joke or something all week, but I haven't been able to. I think that the natural man is going away from me. I am going to miss the nick cage joke part of the natural man...

We are having a good time here, me and Elder Dias have gotten to be good buddies and I am going to miss him whenever we end up parting ways. I am glad that today is pday and I am going to try and make a breakfast cake!!! I don't know if sour cream exists here though. That is about all that I have to say.

Heavenly Father is really great and I am so happy to be serving him for these two years. I am glad that I was born into the family that I have and I wouldn't trade that for anything. Love you guys a ton  and have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Stringer

Unfortunately another week passes without a good nick cage joke... :(

 

 

Soooo Flippin Cold

Hey!

How is everyone? I am doing well, I got over my sickness. It got super hot for three days last week and then it got cold and rainy. It has been raining since Thursday! It is still raining, it is not much fun spending the whole day in the rain... but today will be cool cuz I will spend the rainy day inside!! Wippeeee!!!

This week was a good one! We are getting some real good work done and are really excited to see what will come in the next couple of weeks or so. The new second counselor of the area Brasil is going to come to Santa Maria on Wednesday and we will all go there! I am excited it should be good! We have been having some fun lately. We ordered chinese food and it came and the box was super small and it cost 19 reais and it tasted weird, but it was a good one time experience. I think I´ll just stick to the rice and beans. 

We went out to teach with a member and I learned about all of the new movies that have/will come out. I was baffled at how out of the loop/world I am! But I figure it is probably a good thing, one of the apostles said that missionaries have to live on a higher level, separate from the world. But still...

Everyone is asking for requests for my bday package so here are a few: a mini basketball hoop, pnut butter, something cool and fun. and that's about it. I cant believe that ash and john´s new digs has a swimming pool!!! What is this! Does it have a hot tub too? That is one of the things that I miss the most! When it is cold here, it is soooo flippin cold! And nowhere has heating or insulating so we are in the cold allll day!!!! And then I bury myself under the covers at night and 6:30 always comes way too fast. And I am back in the cold! I am looking forward to the heat again, but I am sure I will regret saying that when it comes!

I included a couple of pictures, one of the chinese food and the other was after we were attacked by a rain storm that popped out of nowhere! We were unprepared and had to run back home to change clothes and get umbrellas! (it is a pretty darn good looking pic if i may say so myself) Never mind, the computer won't let me attach files, next week I will send them!!!

Did college football start this week?! It is torture to me to think that every Saturday for the next couple of months I will not be able to sit and melt my brain in front of the tv! But this is the last full college football season that I will miss, so I will just tough it out!

I love you guys a ton and am excited to send you all my next email it is going to be boss!!!

Love,

Elder Stringer

Family!

Family!!!

Hello family!! How you are!? I am doing really well and other than a sickness that I got over the weekend things have been great! I wasn't feeling super great on Friday, but I didn't think it was anything too serious. When I woke up on Saturday, I could hardly talk. It was crazy and hurt a lot. It was a pretty rough day and I let Elder Dias do a lot of the talking. We taught an elderly woman who has hearing problems and I was trying to yell so that she could understand, but my voice was all squeaky and weird. Elder Dias seemed to think that it was pretty funny. The members are really good and they all want to help a lot, they were all giving me weird homemade remedies and what not that was making me pretty nervous. Yesterday was rough, my ear plugged up and it hurt really bad so we went to are ward mission leaders house and his wife rubbed this weird stuff on my ear and they gave me a blessing and in about a half hour i was all good! You guys don't have to worry about me here cuz the members are great!

We had two interesting and somewhat dangerous experiences this past week. First was on Tuesday, a member took us to a friends house and we taught a lesson and when we got out of the lesson his car had been broken into and his radio was stolen and the glove box was open and there were papers all over the place, it was pretty crazy because the car was locked and they didn't do any damage to it. They must have had a fake key or something. The other was yesterday, it was starting to get dark and we were looking for a house that is in the city´s most dangerous neighborhood. We found the house and tried to be really quick with our message, but when it was over it was already dark outside. We weren't feeling very good about walking through the neighborhood so we decided to take a long detour all the way to the highway and walk around. Nothing happened but it did take about a half hour more.

John Carlos went to church yesterday and liked it and we taught him the word of wisdom and he said that he will live it! We are with the vision of baptism for the 31 of August. I am a little hesitant to write this though because anything can happen, but I am pretty sure that it will work out!

I am (sort of) sad to hear that school starts tomorrow, but it will be a good year and it will pass by super fast! I got mom's letter today, but I haven't read it yet I am real excited to read it!! It is pretty cool that Mase went on a date yesterday. I am pretty impressed because it wasn't even a dance.

Well, my time is coming to a close, but it was another good hour talking to y'all! I love you lots and hope that you have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Stringer

This Week!

I told you all that I would have a lot to write this week and I do! Things are really picking up here and I am suuuupereeeee excited! I don't even know where to start.

It sounds like y'all had an awesome week! That is good, and to Mason who will start school next week I say "enjoy your last week that you don't have school." and to mom who already started I say " enjoy it too." And to everyone else who is doing stuff regardless of whether or not school is involved I say " enjoy it." (this paragraph was basically a waste of good time) hehehehehe...

Anyway, I didn't get my package. I don't know if it didn't get to Santa Maria, or if it got there and just got lost in the office. Next time that I am there, I will do a thorough search. But I did get 4 letters!!!!! 2 from Bro. Porter, which are always good. And 2 from some recent converts in São Gabriel. It was great!!!!! One said that she was doing well and that she has been teaching a lot with the sisters that are there and that she is thinking about maybe serving a mission after a year of being a member!! It was awesome to see that they are progressing in the gospel and learning and stuff!

It was pretty hot this past week, until Friday when it rained alllll day and Saturday too. And then it got cold again and I had to use my sweater and my coat yesterday! Yesterday was fathers day too, so feliz dia dos pais, dad! And since Ashs bday is this week, feliz aniversario Ash!

We have some good investigators! There is a family of four that we are teaching who are really interested and we are super excited to be teaching them! We also found an older gentleman by the name of John Carlos (which is an awesome name). He is about 60 and lives alone and his house is very humble, it doesn't have light. So we went there one night and taught about the Book of Mormon. We read 2 nephi 31 by candle light, it was a very spiritual expierience and he accepted to be baptized at the end of the month! (It was like a scene from a movie basically if you can imagine it in your mind) 

We did a fast with the bishop this month and things are starting to work out! There are 4 young men that go to church a lot but aren't baptized because their mom won't let them. The bishop and young men pres. went and talked with her and she is starting to warm up to the idea! We have a lot of good people to work with! We've also helped the members help us a lot more too! We taught one lesson with a member at least once everyday last week, we had 14 lessons with member in total! It is cool to see what happens when everyone jumps in and helps! The Lord is really great and I know now that if the people aren't baptised it is because of their agency, because the Spirit has been very present here in the ward!

Mase asked me if my thigh cramps up when I drive for a long time and the answer is no, that's weird. But my feet have been cramping up an awful lot lately and sometimes it really hurts. There have been a couple of times where it happened in a lesson and I just have to pretend like nothing is happening, the people think that it is really weird cuz I suddenly stop talking and make a weird face! I usually have to explain to them that it is a problem in my foot.

Anyway, that is what I've got for this week, I have been wracking my brain trying to make a Nicholas Cage reference, but I just can't think of anything good! I will include some pictures of the city and the area here! I love you guys a ton and hope that you have an awesome week!!

Love,

Elder Stringer

 

 

Hey Folks!

Well folks,

This week went by even faster than the last one. (I can't think of anymore movies that Nick Cage did that weren't multimillion dollar blockbuster hits. he´s just too good.) I will formally apologize for the errors in spelling and grammar of my emails. (My excuse is that the computers here spell check every single word that I write).

Well, the transfer already passed. I think that I will stay here with E. Dias. I hope so. The work is going well and soon we are going to see some results of all of our hard work. It has also started to heat up a little bit and the weather is really nice. This week we worked like crazy and 6 new blisters were formed on my right foot. That is excluding the 2 that were dormant and woke up. But I am good now, I am taking care of it and it is all good and there is no reason to worry.

I am expecting that my package will get to me tomorrow because of the transfers. that is what I am hoping at least. I am trying to think of a fun story that I had this week... hmmmm....

Well, something interesting is that the Spirit really works. I know that you already know that but we had some cool experiences with inviting the Spirit, asking an inspired question and then just letting the Spirit take control of the lesson. It was neat to see, it happened a couple of times this week. 

I also had that privilege to teach the (last minute) gospel principles class yesterday. It was awesome, I wish that you guys were there. I was able to see my progress in many things: the gospel, Portuguese, my teaching, etc... 

I am running out of time today and I know that this email was quite a bit lamer than the last one, but the next one is going to be killer! I am feeling it! Lots of things are going to happen this week!!!! I love you guys a ton and hope that you have the greatest week!

Love,

Elder Stringer