Nov. 16, 2014 crickets and mist

          Grilos *chirp chirp*    (means crickets)

Me in the area. It's always misty like this. Way pretty!

Well... Grilos. You know. For opening an area, we don't have many contacts. My area is really like a farm town. a lot of horses, cows, chickens, and a ton of dogs. I think the ratio of dogs to people is like 3:1. The ratio of dogs in the street to people in the street is like 10:1. So a lot of our contacts are with dogs. haha jk. But really its hard to do a lot of contacting cause the houses are really spread out. Luckily we have had some work done here before. Unluckily is that this area doesn't even have a map. it doesn't surprise me cause have the streets don't have names. Its basically a forest. Ill try to put a pic if the internet works with me. My area is a mix of 5 "neighborhoods" so its a really big area. Some times we have to walk the distance of up to 9 Kilometers to get to our next lesson. It really sucks when they aren't there haha. But the good thing is, is that we are becoming really good hitch hikers ;)

Training is good. Its a lot harder than it looks to give "loving criticism". We are doing good and teaching well but he is really kinda prideful cause of his past and his experience with teaching. Its a little annoying but we will see what we can do about that this week. I've been praying for inspiration to try to help with this problem. anyone have inspiration for me? haha

I'm really excited to be in this area. I believe that the Lord has "elects" for me waiting for me to talk with them. So... i talk with everyone. :) its really cool to see these people start to listen and become that elect that's been waiting for me. Ive already encountered 2 :)

My area is REALLY beautiful. Lots of vegetation and lots of things to admire about nature. God really is wonderful! It's like hiking everyday. Like I'm out in the mountains looking at all the great stuff that we have here. 

In other news our house that was made for 4 elders now has 6. We have 6 elders in this one ward (if that tells you the area boundaries). So we are pretty tight friends ;) Oh and I found out that Spencer Jolley also passed through this area ;)

Love you all so much!

Elder Kyson Sullivan

My comp in the area. it was raining pretty good. w/o umbrella.....

Nov. 10, 2014 good pics and Sister Fatima

         Transfers and Baptisms.

Wow a lot happened this week. Lets start with the good stuff!

Ru was finally baptized!!! :D She was my very first lesson here in the field and was my last baptism of this area. The meeting was really good and we made it really special by singing i like to look for rainbows as the 4 elders. Also she got a lot of presents and we even showed videos on the TV. It was really spiritual too! :)

Rome went to the temple this week to do baptisms for the dead. She took 78 of her own names to the temple. When she explained what she had felt and seen the spirit was so strong. She really felt the presence of God and has a really strong testimony. It was fun to see my recent convert go to the temple and do the work for her ancestors. Also im blessed to have a temple here so close to my mission! 

It finally came! My transfer!!! Ive been transfered to an area called Grilos. Which translates to Crickets. Yupp. its in the forest in the zone Caucaia. I heard i will be taking a bus to get to my area every day cuz its pretty far from the home we will be staying in. Oh ya... Im also going to be opening the area. So lots and lots of contacts! To make it better I will be finishing the training of Elder S. Oliveira! So to summarize all this ^^^^ Training, opening area, forest. 

In sacrament meeting this week our pianist couldnt come.. so they called on me 30 seconds before it started to play. i only played the top hand and got a majority of the notes right but hey for not practicing it was basically the hand of the lord. Mom i hope youre proud that your dream came true ;)

In other news i climbed through a hole in a fence to buy a churro in the favela (really poor area) and it was filled with condensed milk. why doesnt america have this? it was probably the best churro ive had in my life. We also painted an entire house. so this week has been packed with a bunch of fun things!

Im really excited about this transfer and the opportunity to train someone else. Opening an area scares me a little but i know that the Lord will help me. Keep me in your prayers as i encounter these new experiences! I love you all and have a good week. until next time!

Elder Kyson Sullivan

 Ru

and a little look of what i climbed every day. its not called ´cry little boy´ for no reason haha

rom and mig. thats the tie i gave him for my going away present

And Ju and Tati. (ju wants me to baptize her. she turns 8, April 30 in 2016. One month before i leave!)

my planner for this transfer

and a cool picture that a member drew here.

the district im leaving (yupp all elders!)

Brad Carr In todays email my son Elder Carr told us that they were both in the CTM together and they went on splits together this past week. He is the one in the front in the middle.

 This picture was posted by Elder Tewksbury's family. It looks like the same day as the one above.

and Sister Fatima. she gave me lunch about 40 times here in this area. about 10 times every month. She has REALLY good food. i credit my gaining weight to her ;) (this photo was taken today)

(Mother's note: my personal hero on the other side of the world.)

How to send packages to brazil import tax free

http://www.liveinbrazil.org/how-to-send-packages-to-brazil-tax-free/

Nov. 3, 2014 contacting at cemetary n pics

          Atividade no Cementário

Atividade no Cementario (activity in the cemetary)

So this week was pretty cool. One of the elders in the house had a birthday. we celebrated with pizza and cake. It was halloween where we scared 2 people accidentally. and we also visited the cementary and did over 250 contacts in less than 2 hours. 

This last sunday was dia dos finados. where a ton of catholics go and clean the grave of the person who passed away. Well.. My idea was... there will be a lot of people... who are sad... and need to know about eternal families. so... we went with a little paper and handed them out saying that families can be forever. and did this for a while. we also had a few lessons there and talked about the church and gave out pamphlets pass-along-cards and other materials that we had. we are still waiting for the calls but hey it was a good easy way to have a lot of people hear about the gospel. 

Another thing that was pretty cool was that Elder R. Santos lost his planner... well that wasnt cool. the cool thing was that we had both prayed to find it. (I prayed mostly cause he was throwing the biggest fit and i wanted it to stop.) But ya turns out he had dropped it and one of our investigators that live close by picked it up. when they saw us looking around they ran out with it in their hands! God answers our prayers :)

Also we met a return missionary who is living in Kaysville right now. he is here for work and he baptized a family who lives in our ward. he came and helped us out at the cementary and also gave us a ride to lunch. what a pal. His name is Carl Dixon. been home for about 7 years now. 

Rute is going to be baptized before i leave. well i hope. Its planned for this sunday. please keep her in your prayers that she can be prepared and resist the temptations of satan in being confused and not wanting the church anymore. She was my very first lesson here in the feild and my first investigator! 

This weekend i plan on taking Romenia and Tatianne to the temple to do baptisms! it should be a really spiritual and happy time there. 

Thats about it! with love,

Elder Kyson Sullivan

a little something to laugh at

if our house was any smaller......

me and elder Gshwend repping the states in brazil. 

and me and my companion. 

Sporting the "Bro Tie". 

All his best bros bought a tie like that to take on their missions

all over the world.

Oct. 28, 2014 language is hard

5 Months! 

Welcome to 5 months in the field. i still like it i think and its getting easier everyday. 

i forgot to note what i want to write on so i will share an experience. One day i asked God if this church was true and to show me a sign. you know thinking like an investigator and not for myself. well the next day we went to a lesson and a group of evangelicals showed up with a pastor and everything. I know what koby means by this prayer cuz they were all yelling and crying and shouting haleujah and amen jesus and look at me god! it was a little crazy and i didnt feel any sort of the HG. So that was a fun answer to a prayer ;)

Ru is a real struggle. she has a testimony. knows the BoM is true. likes the church. but her daughters are really giving her a hard time about all of this. So we have her marked for the 9 and are planning a really big baptism for her!

We are also planning a contacting activity this sunday. its like the cinco de maio of brazil. so its going to be in the cemetary. talking about the plan of salvation and doing a lot of contacting. should be pretty fun and we are getting the ward involved too. whats even cooler was it was my idea :) go inspiration!

The language is proving to be a challenge for me. its getting harder rather than easier to communicate and i am getting a lot of blank stares recently that says that they dont understand. well. im going to study really hard this week! 

Thanks for all the support and the prayers! i love you guys and hope you have a good semana!

Elder Kyson Sullivan

Oct. 20, 2014 baptisms n pics

          Batismos!

This week we had 2 baptisms! Vini and Gab! They are way wild and wanted to swim after the baptism was over. haha. crazy kids! 

Today we went to the tallest building in sao paulo. it was way cool! lots of buildings every where! pics to come.

This is E. Gschwend. He is from Texas, and is the zone leader right now.

They go on splits a lot and Kyson really likes him. 

I practiced spanish this week a little. was a little different but i think i will stick to portuguese until i can get fluent at it. its coming better and everyday i see a little improvement. there are still a few rules that i cant get a hang of. 

I made eggs with rock salt cuz an argentino told me to. well.. not really. he said the salt was on the shelf on the box when really it was in the cupboard. kinda funny but they were way bad. he ate them all  and was grimacing the whole time. i threw mine away and paid him for the eggs ;)

Elder Santos isnt any better with getting ready in the morning. He is really stressing me out cuz i want the members to like us and they dont like lateness. what a fubeca. 

Work is feeling a little monotonous these days. but the days are going on and on. Almost to 5 months! thats a little crazy to think about! Not much happened new this week besides that stuff ^^^ Have a good week everyone!

Elder Kyson Sullivan

p.s. can i say how cool it is to have a brother in the same STATE on a mission too? like what are the odds? its like im in st. george and he is in filmore. que legal!

This is a Brazilian BBQ. Churraco. Courtesy E. Mayfield.

The flavelas is the poorest part of town. 

According to the Elder who took this picture, 

the flavelas are being torn down and these red, green, and blue buildings are 

going up in their place for the homeless to live in. Courtesy E. Iverson.

Oct. 13, 2014 a day in the life

You know when you are so close to getting something but it depends on another person for you to get it? Thats how it is with baptisms right now. we are working really close with 3 people. 

Ru. She is still going strong. She is in a battle with Coffee right now. She says she drinks it only in the morning and can stop whenever. We have challenged her over and over but its not working. We have tried replacing it with something else similar to coffee. Its just not working. She has recieved all the lessons, has a testimony but just cant stop drinking. She wants to get baptized but its kinda been a struggle with her. We are still working diligently with her though. She is a really sweet lady and has a good heart!

V. He is a boy that is full of energy. He is 11 years old and has a dad that doesnt want anything to do with the church. He was raised a little weird and now has some habits that we have fixed. 1 of them was not respecting his mom. We have drilled that into his head now. He is doing a lot better and now likes to go to church with his family (minus the dad). His mom is always saying how much he has changed from our lessons. 

So close.

G. The little sister of V. She is really imaginative and is a funny little girl. The only problem is that the Jehova Witnesses got to her first and filled her mind with crap. We are now trying to clean that up so she can get baptized too. She still goes to church with us and its always good to talk to her and play a little too. 

An is the mom of those 2. She is a less active but has started coming to church more. Her husband is a little crazy... he likes to go out on the town and do who knows what. She never knows where he is and when he is home there is a case of domestic abuse. Its really sad and we are just trying to help her through it. Bishop is also working with her and trying to strengthen her and her faith. Worse comes to worse they will end up separating. :(

Our House is a joke. We just recieved a HUGE dresser and it takes up half of our study room. We have a sleeping room. with 2 other dressers and 2 bunk beds. a study room. with 4 tables and this huge dresser, and a kitchen with 2 tables 2 fridges and a shelf and try to put 4 missionaries there too. Its kinda a mess. I feel like the mom here. Everyone likes to sleep in and not do the dishes and not clean anything. I ended up doing all of that today. by myself. Its kinda a struggle right now but im trying to talk to them and get them knowing that i dont like to do it too but it has to be done. Also to top it all off we all were sick this week. Still recovering, but its been a mess and a really bad joke. haha

One thing ive learned in the mission is how to ration food. I am running out a little faster than i would like so now I'm down to the last bits. Im just trying to make it til the 15 and all will be good! Sometimes I think that the money they give us isnt sufficient but we survive somehow :)

So a day in the life of a  missionary: (for you mom)

get up and shower, eat breakfast, get ready for the day.

study the book of mormon, preach my gospel and other resources that will help your investigators. then study this again with your companion but more in depth for each one for the day. 

then i study portuguese for an hour from some books i got at the mtc. i also found a really good one here in the house that i am working out of. 

then lunch! its usually at a members house and they make something yummy (most of the time) and we eat and leave a message and go to work.

We plan the night before or during comp study for what we are going to do for the day. We pass by houses and see if we cant teach them a lesson. some people have lied about their address and we cry a little but move on to the next house. We try to plan a route so that the houses we visit are close together and we can get a lot of visits in in one day. We Then come home at about 9 and plan and eat and write in the journal and go to sleep until the next day. 

Thats about it! I thank you all for your prayers and your love and your support! Its getting a little easier being out here but i still miss the states! Enjoy your peanut butter and Dr. Pepper! ;)

Love,

Elder Kyson Sullivan

Oct. 6, 2014

         Conference Weekend and Transfers

Kyson's mom: I don't like to tell Kyson much about Utah State sports. I don't want to go to that "homesick" spot with him. But, I just could NOT HELP MYSELF this week. So, here is the snip-it I started my letter with, hoping he would not jump on a plane and come home.

"The news of the week is that Chuckie Keeton might be out for the year with his injured knee. That means Darell Garretson was QB against BYU at BYU. Darell did awesome. BYU's QB did awesome till he got tackled and a BROKEN LEG right before halftime. Halftime score was 24-14 for Aggies. Well, the BYU backup QB made about 40 passes, and only 3 of them were caught. Two of which were caught by the Aggies. Utah State kicked BYU's butt. 35-20. Utah State has not won at BYU since Dad and I were going together in the 5TH GRADE. 1978."

Here is Elder Sullivan's response:

GO AGGIES!!! FREAKIN PAYBACK!!! WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! 



Well this week was pretty good! I got my new Comp Elder R. Santos and he was a Zone leader but got "downgraded" to what I call finalizing my training. He is way cool and likes a lot of the same things that I do. He is from Natal. I now know what a good missionary is like haha.

Conference! a few things that I really liked from conference are these:

Walk AS Jesus walked. The temple work is only limited by the number of members of the church. and Be a little better than you were in the past. I really enjoyed this a lot and was able to watch in English so I understood it all and felt all the power that was behind it! 

Well because of conference this week was a little slower and didnt get as much work done as usual, but something miraculous happened this week! We marked Ru for baptism!!!!! Whooooo!!! This was something that was a struggle to do. We tried a couple times but she didnt want to just jump in the water. She wanted a for sure answer. Well we are helping her accept the fact that she really has a testimony and is ready. Our last lesson with her she cried cuz the spirit was acting so strong in her! Its so cool to see these changes in people!!! The baptism I hope will be this Sunday :)

I love you guys a lot and thank and pray for you each night! Until next week!

Elder Sullivan

Elder Sullivan in the front of the classroom with his new great friend, 

Elder Gschwend from Texas.