Sept. 23, 2014

         23 de Setembro, 2014 

(Spent Monday at the temple, so no letter. Had p-day on Tuesday instead.)

Hi everyone! Loving it here in area Chora Menino. which translates to cry little boy. They dont call it that for no reason too. It's cause of the ladeiras (hills). Every day we cross over at least 7 just for the work. It's gotten easier but I've had my fair share of tears ;)

This is my last week with Elder Cinezio! Ive heard rumors of me training a new elder but we´ll see. We´ve been working on me becoming the senior in the group and take control of the situations. I dont like it much hahaha. It's a lot easier to be the junior. 

We went to the temple today! We were a little late getting there and the session was already full. So we worked in the laundromat beneath. That was an eye opener about what goes on behind the scenes to make it all possible! If you have a chance go spend some time down there helping out! They sure need it!

We have 4 baptisms lined up for this weekend! Terez, Miri, Adri, and Fab! They all have their own story but the important part is that they will be hopefully entering in a convenant with Heavenly Father this week. We are fasting as a zone this friday if you guys want to join in feel free! 

We are teaching lots and having a great time here! I'm so excited to see what this next transfer brings and what we can do and improve as a companionship. I love you all and thank you for your prayers and support!

Fica com Deus,

Elder Kyson Sullivan

This Elder has been our neighbor for years. His stepmom sent me this picture.

She was my visiting teacher for a couple of years,

and she took her job very seriously.

(She visited every month!)

Elder Drew Mayfield and Elder Sullivan finally meet up.

Elder Mayfield is serving in the poorest of sections of the city. 

He says this pig is huge, and it

was eating garbage that just sits on the side of the road.

Garbage like this is everywhere.

I think the redhead was in the CTM with Kyson.

(my OCD wishes someone would take a napkin 

and clean the fingerprint off the middle of the lense.)

:)

Kyson standing up in the background. Elder Mayfield 2nd from left.

 Kyson is way in the back.

Elder Sullivan on the left looking happy, YAY!

Sept. 15 2014

Mole Curto

The word mole means soft. or in other words they dont keep promises or progress very well. Just not their time. Curto means cut. like... cut them off from discussions. We were way close this week to cut Ru but she came to all of church and felt the spirit strong. I see a baptism in her future :) We also marked to other moles for baptism called Miri and Adria. We are hoping that everything turns out as planned and  we dont need to cut them. Here in SP we have 90 degree winters.. If you dont like the cold learn Portuguese and come to Brazil haha. 

Something that has really made me mad is the guts some men have to create a church. and to preach by their understanding and not by God's. I have spent countless lessons trying to just solve what other people have put into our investigators minds. We try to explain it clearly and slowly enough that they can understand!

Tati is a recent convert and is really struggling in the church we spend a lot of time with her teaching and clarifying things. She wants to run rather than walk when it comes to learning. We take it slow and teach everything again. She doesnt have a background in the bible so we teach from there too.

We also witnessed an 11 year old throw a tantrum when we came to get him for church. His mom made him go cuz he promised us. That was fun :) 

Last thing! PEANUT BUTTER! A member got me 40 ounzes of PB for FREE!!!!!!! Ya im quite excited :) You dont know the missing I've had for this!!! It's skippy so its a good kind and extra crunchy. So it should be good! Its a little old but hey i~ll take what i can get! :)

Thats about all for today! I hope you are all doing well and having success in your trials! Remember to pray! ;)

Love, 

Elder Sullivan

In the forest:

A monkey eating a cookie:

 The staircase to get to the highest point in Sao Paulo:

Representing his Peeps!

District temple day and party:
Kyson is right hand sid middle row.

Sept. 8, 2014

Jaragua & fun:

This week was good! we found a lot of new investigators and served a lot this week! A couple high lights cause i dont have a lot of time.

Today we went to Jaraguà. the highest point in São Paulo. This city is bigger than i had imagined. pics to come next week. we hiked around and found 2 different types of monkeys!!!! what are the odds?!

One day we painted for 9 hours. for service. It was really good and we got a lunch out of it haha ;) but the paint was really thick and formed really cool to the house.

the next day we helped a member in her restaurant cause she had a doctors appointment that she needed to go to. that was fun running around and trying to get the stuff done. it was a little hard for me cause im still not fluent in portuguese but im working everyday to get better!

We had a mexican dessert on saturday. 10 R$ for 1. our bishop bought us each 2 haha. it was really good. it was like a creamsickle but with nutela in the center and banana on the outside. talk about a taste of heaven lol.

                                                           

My district leader is pretty much a fubeca. Fubeca is an expression often used by missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which refers to a missionary who does not meet the designated rules and does not work right ( slacker)   Sleeps in a lot. bends the rules and does things that i question sometimes. but the thing that was really confusing for me was that we stayed in a members house for 3.5 hours. trust me i tried to leave and it just didnt work. ya its a little strange but im sticking to what i know is right.

Ive been having a little problem sleeping at night and its almost bad enough to call sister and ask for medicine. im trying a couple of other things that might help before i resort to that. 

Ya thats about it. we are moving the work here and getting the members involved. We are having a good time and joke a lot. Portuguese is coming slowly but surely and i understand the majority of what people are saying. im still a rookie but im a rookie thats trying. :) i have about 1 month left til i become senior comp in this area and maybe be a trainer (Pres talked to cinezio to say that he should train me to become a trainer in the future.. who knows when that is...). but ya its a grand time here in brasil!. 

I love you all and i will try to get some pics out.

Elder Sullivan

Sept. 1, 2014

Opa everyone. This week was good and filled with lots of blessings I will try to sum some of those up. 

Isa:

isa is an older lady who was introduced to the ward by a member. she has really been prepared we are teaching her in a members home for all of the lessons and is eating it all up! I´m way excited to keep teaching her and hopefully the rest of her family too!

Graci:

She is a less active member that we found yesterday. we thought she was actually a contact that we had but when we got there she invited us into her house which never happens. We then talked about the atonement and decisions we have and she said that she had been thinking of coming back to the church but just needed the push that we gave her. so we are making plans to recieve her in the church this sunday. Definitely the work of God! :)

Jacki:

She is a contact that we had and rescheduled for another appointment. When we went there she wasnt there. we didnt give up though. we continued going to her house just hoping. well when we got there she was there! She stayed home from her usual church cause her daughter was a little sick. What a blessing! We taught her a really good 1st lesson and gave her a LDM. Way cool experience.

I also watched this week o legado. or The Legacy. Its a really good movie about the pioneers that we can give out to our contacts. This triggered some sort of craze for the pioneers and i started reading and will finish today the book, Our Heritage. Its really good and describes how the church was founded and why it is how it is today. 

We had a split this week and i went into a different area. we then split again and i got put with another american who has been out in the field for 7 months. Well... lets just say there was a lot of english that day! :) but good came from it! we recieved a couple contacts from people that were asking where we were from. they were surprised however that we were able to speak good portuguese back. haha. 

I want to brag a little now about my breakfast in the mornings. I first make 2 egg ´pancakes´ like 2 eggs on the frying pan and flip them all at once so its a pancake. do this twice with cheese in the middle. then after i put diced tomato and green pepper on the top! really good! i recently add hash browns that are still in work of perfection but really im eating way better here than i did back home! but i am also a lot fatter lol. and i´m also happy.

Thanks for your support and examples! Heres to another week!

Boa semana para vocês!

com amor,

Elder Kyson Sullivan

Me at the São Paulo Temple

Packages to a missionary in Brazil cost you money to buy it in the USA,

then you have to pay a bunch to mail it to Brazil.

When the package arrives

to the post office in Brazil,

customs officials

assess the "value" of its contents.

Then, they charge 60% import tax on the "value"

of the package.

The "tax" or extortion fee is easily $100 US or more

that the missionary

has to pay out of his pocket in order to get the package.

If the package contains electronics like an ipad or iphone,

the import fee is outrageous: 

count on the tax being close to $600 US.

Just fyi.

Aug 25, 2014

Uma Eventful Semana!

Oi familia e amigos!

this week was a little crazy and a lot of stuff happened thats new and exciting so... here we go.

Our house is finally done being painted! it looks brand new! after it was done we reorganized everything and it looks totally different. Well. exciting news. Presidente wanted to come look at it. and he didnt ask us until 3 in the afternoon that day. well unfortunately we were already working (and were in a lesson when he called so thats good). So it was a nice test of our daily cleanliness. i was happy that i had made my bed and organized my desk before i left. Well. He still wasnt happy with us. we have some pretty old tables and 2 fridges and 2 stoves and 1 of each dont work. we also have every liahona from 1980 in our house and it looked really bad. We also have sofas instead of chairs so all of this stuff now is being taken care of but he got pretty mad at us for not telling him about it sooner. We dont really know any better cuz we are both new and everyone elses houses are a disaster. We are probably the cleanest in our district. So ya that was great lol

We had a recent convert show us an anti mormon video today. kinda shook me a little but i was able to answer the questions she had about this video. Some parts were so funny like they said that Joseph smith was our Jesus and would be at the judgement seat with God and Jesus Christ. Others were a little more sketch and ill save you from having the same experience i did. But this is one of the worst things that can happen. Have a recent convert watch something like this is just really bad. I´m glad she told us about it and that we were able to help her. Im not happy cuz i had to watch it lol.

We also had Noite cultural. Or cultural night. It was good and talked a lot about geneology and familysearch.org. was way good minus the part where the old dude talked forever. Every family brought a plate of food that represented their family. that was fun to try all sorts of different food. some was way good and the others were... well different haha. But this best part about the night was that people brought their friends and were able to meet us and we now have new investigators and people to visit them with me :) 

We participated in the choir and thats always fun. They want a lot of our time though and im thinking that its not going to be worth it to do it again. we sang at ward conference that was yesterday. It was fun to meet the stake presidency and hear their message (which was on missionary work and bringing one new friend to the missionaries every trimester. which is really good news for us cause thats more people that we get to teach :) ) But the thing that was crazy was Presidente Del Guerso also showed up and was able to see our investigators and recent converts and see the work in the ward. he is thinking about putting 2 duples in the ward and sharing our small house with 4 people haha. Pretty crazy. Whats funny is the only thing that presidente said to me was, "hows the language coming?" everything else was directed to Elder Cinezzio haha.

Well that was this week! Até próximo! 

com amor,

Élder Kyson Sullivan

I found pictures on the mission facebook page today. These are from the day he left the CTM:

Aug 18, 2014

This is the end of the first transfer! Its been a fun time and I´ve learned a lot!

Stuff to talk about this time. The weather. No really. The weather. I dont know if you guys follow the weather here but its absolutely crazy. It went like this. hot, hot, hot, rainy, windy, super cold, hot in the morning cold at night, hot. and it's winter..... 

Something happened on the rainy day... I found a nice little secret that my shoes were hiding from me! They have a hole in the bottom where the rubber wore off. I dont drag my feet, sometimes i trip, but this road here is really rocky cause of the hills. So.... i dont know what to do. Its not really a big hole but I´ll send pics. I am thinking of just putting some calk in it. But i dont know where to find it. (the 85$ shoes mom)

Today we went to Irmã Fatima´s and learned how to make rice and beans! They were really good! She owns a restaurant and volunteered to help us out. So when i get home I will show you guys how a brazillian eats ;)

Recently I feel like I´ve been training myself. Kinda a bummer but I kinda do that anyways when I was home. Sometimes though I´d like some insight from him too.

We had another baptism this Sunday!! Tat. was baptized and she was so happy she did. She is the niece of Ro. from the first of my baptisms and she too has a daughter who is only 6. She is really sad cause she too wants to be baptized. And she wants me to do it! Too bad I wont be in this area in 18 months haha.

We didnt go proselyting yesterday. We got a call that said no proselyting and stay in your house. I was kinda excited cause something crazy was happening. Turns out we just had a general preisthood meeting that was going on. 

I got to decorate my planejamento! (planner). It has Captain Moroni and Jesus being baptized! Some good pics for a mission I think. I´ll see if I cant get pics out today.

My Zone and the craziness they are.

Thanks for the love and support I get from you guys. Always praying and thinking of you!

with love,

Elder Kyson Sullivan

Crazy landlord wearing a pair of XXXL shorts the guys found in the apt.

(more pics coming later after him mom figures out how and finds time to do it all. They will be posted in July posts.)

Aug. 11, 2014

This week was really good in the chora menino area! We had a baptism of Luccas! He is about 11 and was going to church for about 2 months before we let him get baptized. His parents didnt come to the baptism and i hope that this will wake up the members to see that they need to step in and help!

Our members in this area are really slacking. they are used to not doing anything to help the missionaries and we are trying to accelerate the work here with the members. we are doing our part but we need the help from them!

We had this family home evening/seminary class with this family. She called us the day before and asked us if we could summarize the book of mosiah and the book of alma by the next day. we agreed. well my companion agreed for me. so i got to do mosiah. mostly just read from the little section that is above the chapter and went over the story really breifly. the mom then picked out scriptures to read and it was really nice and learned a lot. Then when E. Cinezio went to explain Alma (only the first30 chapters) everyone was laughing and couldnt stop! so we called it quits at chapter 8 and ate pizzas! It was really good! 

Whats not good is churrascaria. Its like BBQ but of anything you can think of. they had all parts of the cow. coração de galinha. or heart of chicken. and all other types and flavors of stuff. i paid 20$ for all i can eat and i am so sick of meat now. I just wanna barf haha. the next day after is the worst and i cant sleep good. no wonder it talks about this in the Word of wisdom huh? haha. 

For personal study time this week i read the book "Our search for happiness" its really good and has some good insight that im hoping i can use for other lessons to help my investigators! i recomend it to everyone!

This next wednesday im starting english classes for anyone who wants to come. i am going to have a rule that if you are a member you need to bring a non member or less active and they need to write their name and address so that we can come visit them. hopefully it gets big enough that we meet a lot of people. if it doesnt work then it will just be a flop haha. 

I talked with a member today and he asked me if i liked peanut butter. (which they dont have down here) and i said of course! he said that he would get me a jar of skippy peanut butter for about 10R$! how good is that! so now i will be feasting here shortly. he said about a month and i´m telling you that i need this month to go by faster haha! 

Well that was this week. I hope you are having a good summer and working hard and having fun! I´m definitely trying my best to work hard and have fun too! pics are coming after this!

Tchau e amar!

Elder Kyson Sullivan



(Be patient. These pics will load eventually.)

First Semana Pizza!

this is called a ladeira. or a really nasty hill that my area is full of. 

we ask president for 3 things. 

1. dr. pepper.

2. a car and 

3. a flat area haha

my kitchen 

and a better pic of the bathroom. this bucket we use to flush our toilet. you fill it up about half way for a number 1 and about 2 or 3 buckets depending on the number 2. its a little bit different here haha. there is also now a garbage can that you put the paper in cuz the plumbing doesn´t like it here. the broom looking thing is for after you shower to sweep the water into the drain so the floor can dry faster. pretty interesting haha. 

our study area and laundry machine. 

me in the central. this you can put on the blog haha. its pretty crazy how many people are around out here! there are just so many people trying to get to their stores and find the better deals. everything is way cheaper in the central too!

me and luccas!

and the city. the place in front of the buildings is the flavela. or a place where the poor can build houses for free until the government needs the land then they have to move. so all the houses are stacked up on top of eachother.

this is the bishop with luccas.

and me with one of the many dogs we meet. her name is brunino. like... what?

justin beiber my companion calls me and farmer joe. haha

this bird is from austrailia and is pretty cool. when you come near it it will put up a mohawk to try to scare you! haha

Aug 4, 2014

Hello everyone. 

This week was good. We had training for new missionaries. I thought was kinda a waste of time cuz we just contacted all day. I mean its important but we could have been in a home. It was still fun cuz we got a new companion and went and contacted but had to use a book of mormon in the contact so it kept it interresting. Next training we will have to mark a day for baptism! yikes!

We have 3 potential baptisms coming up. 

Tatiane. She is the neice of romenia and recently moved in with her so now we are teaching her too and everytime is a lesson with a member (cause of romenia :) ) She asked us when she could be baptized so she is ready ;)

Luccas. he is 11 years old and has been going to church with us for about 2 months. When they are younger we like to wait and make sure they will come to church and wont drop out. So he also asked us to baptize him. had an interview with his mom and she okayed it. 

And Rute. We have been working with her for a while and she just wont come to church consistantly. We have had a couple dates for her but it just isnt working. 

Now i am reading the BOM with the LDM to try to perfect my language. The work is moving slowly haha. But i can see improvement in my speaking. Still rely heavily on the spirit to help the people understand :)

My body knows its time for cheer season to start. Its craving really bad right now and im trying to keep it under control haha. 

Inverno or Winter here is like Summer. so.. Im not excited for summer haha. 

Sorry its not super long but its basically the same thing everyweek. Foods good. People are nice most of the time, and the walking just keeps going. Thanks for the prayers and support and until next week!

Elder Sullivan (the better looking one)


Ok i have a little more time so i will continue on. I thought that I didnt have more time. 

So today we went to 25 de março.  Look up that street. Its always packed and everyone is selling anything you could want. Well except Dr. Pepper. haha. I bought a universal charger there for 5 dollars and today bought a usb card reader for 4. Like way cheap. But the street is packed. Think of black friday in Walmart then add a bunch of frightened chickens and maybe some fireworks and homeless people and you have 25 do Marco haha. 

Sorry I dont have a lot of photos. My computer doesnt have a usb port and I have to sit next to my companion. His does and he tried to send me a few and they arent the good ones so hopefully next week we will have better success with it. 

So I´ve been asked by multiple people if we have a class of English. Well we dont yet and im working on making a class. Right now its going to be 1 night a week and hopefully get more people into the church and find more people to teach. 

Well thats time. 

for reals,

Elder Sullivan