The power of the Priesthood is so true! Miracles happened this week! (11-23-15)

Well, once again, another week of miracles.... but I´ll get to that later! Everything is going great, and it was much cooler this week, thanks to the rain, one day it was actually cloudy all day! I also got to see another part of the city too, I was on a split with another zone leader in the area of Higienopolis, and they are in the city central. We were in a really wealthy neighborhood for little while but no one there ever accepts us, so went to another part of their area and had some more success. One lady was a Jehovah Witness though, and she didn´t like us to much, but she had a really cool house though! She´s a painter and had some really really nice paintings done by her. Also had this banana tart thing that was rather delicious. Did I tell you that they have like 5 different bananas that they sell at the store? big ones, little ones, ones that are like as long as your forearm. Ya, pretty crazy, and really good. They are also really cheep and so, I eat a lot of bananas, haha. This week was pretty good for investigators, though Cleuza ( the woman that I talked about last week) she was in the hospital. Kind of scary, but we are going back to visit her this week! Also this week is packed by the way!!! Today we have a Noite Familiar (FHE) with the LMA who´s inviting some less actives and we´re having Brazilian pizza (SO GOOD) and these like tapioca pancake things??? Then our lessons are stacked Tuesday already, Wednesday is a division and stacked with English Class that night. Then Thursday we have Interviews with President Brum and thanksgiving in Jussara (another area), Friday we have a ward activity, and then Saturday and Sunday is Stake Conference. Busy week! Also we had a couple investigators attend church finally, which was a really cool experience. They were actually saying, "look, I just don't think this church is for me." stuff like that, and so I pulled out good old Alma 32, with the experiment. Just solid, and I was like look, you can´t make your decision without actually trying it. It talks about faith not being a perfect knowledge, but you have to first exercise a particle of faith, and if it is good, it will grow. So I promised him if he went to church, he would fee the spirit and receive the answer he needed. And he also has some really big family problems, and I promise you that the talk given by Felippe, was totally inspired for this investigator, really it was just so amazing. Now, I want to testify that the power of the priesthood is so true. I had the most amazing experience this week. We have a fairly recent convert of about 1 year named Desiderio. He is 86 years old, and I say better late than never. But, I´m not sure if I told his story or not, so I´ll just summarize it real quick. He was down on his knees one day praying to know what church was true. He stood up and the missionaries literally knocked on his door in that instant. So basically this house is full of miracles, because I´m going to relate one that I took part in. We´ve been trying to get his wife to come to church with him, her name is Alice. But she is constantly sick and also has really bad anxiety about leaving the house. She always has the worst headaches and can´t leave her bed some days. We showed up there Thursday night and she was sick in bed and actually we were going to go pray with her, but Elder Barros felt like we should give her a blessing, so we asked her if she believed that Jesus Christ could heal her and make her feel better. She said she had faith. So I did the anointing and Elder Barros did the blessing and that´s when the miracle happened. She told us afterwards that the instant that Elder Barros laid his hands on her head it all went away, and she felt it pass from her head and then to her legs, and just give her strength. He also blessed her to be happy and smile, and there she was just smiling huge and brightly and so happy! You could literally hear the change in her voice. She got up out of bed and started to walk around! She had Desiderio fix her a plate of food and she said I can´t eat that much. She ate it all! It was truly a miracle to see her healed, in that very instant. The Power of the Priesthood is very real, and when you worthily use the Authority you have been given, anything is possible, so amazing. So happy and so blessed! Anyway, love you all! Elder Wyatt

She cleaned her house and made something sweet not knowing why. (11-16-15)

This week has been the greatest yet! Literally, miracles happened this week. So, I told you last week that it rained a ton, well this week it was exactly the opposite, and I dont know if you had a chance to check the weather mom, but it was extremely hot, but I have no idea how hot because it was in Celsius.... but you probably could fill buckets with the sweat that I sweat. Anyway...we also continued to knock doors at the beginning of the week, so we were outside a lot, not really teaching, but Wednesday it all changed. We had a Zone Meeting on Wednesday, and I got to see Elder Sant again, and we also have an Elder Seaman from Philidelphia, anyway, I split with Elder Klinsman in my area and Elder Barros went to Santana. We had a miraculous day, first a youth minister stopped us and really just asked us what we get out of serving a mission, and I shared Alma 29:9 with him (really great verse) next we made some good contacts and met some great people. But we found one lady, 60 years old, never once talked with mormons before, and she suffered from breast cancer earlier in her life. She was buddihst and converted after 17 years and was baptised into the Methodist church. But she has always felt this longing for more. She woke up Wednesday and she just knew something was going to be different. She said she cleaned her house, not knowing why, and then made some sweet pumpkin stuff still not knowing why. Then we knocked on her door. She was so touched, we shared the Restoration and told her to pay attention to how she felt while we explained about Joseph Smith. She could feel the spirit prompting her that what we said is true as she listened. She promised to read the book of Mormon and pray about it, and after reading Moroni 10 when we returned she says she feels that God was speaking this directly to her. She is really a miracle like I said, just amazing. But she´s not the only one, We have found so many people, and after what has felt like so long, we are finally finding real investigators that are interested in hearing our message, and are willing to make changes, and they are truly growing. It´s so amazing to watch this. We found 3 others, and I won´t like they are the rough, almost hippie looking type of people. One has these huge dreadlocks. But this teaches you why you don´t judge, they are super interested, and really understand the need for authority, the thing is almost everyone we teach, they all see and understand that everything we are saying, it all makes sense. The only problem is that they won´t pray and ask, and really it´s a humility issue. Another family we found, not married honestly, both about 50 years old, and the wife can´t read, and the husband barely, but we invited him to pray and ask if Joseph Smith was called as a Prophet of God, and he did recieve his answer. He lives in a tiny house, but honestly, in the moment, he recieved a truth that is greater than all the knowlegde that so many people on this Earth cherish and pridefully flaunt. It´s truly amazing to be apart of this work. So about the brownies, I actually didn´t make it to class on Wednesday, we got stuck in a lesson with another awesome family we found, Leticia and Ben-Hur(yes, his name is literally Ben-Hur, how cool is that!) He´s a fireman here and he also race's bicycles. They have a 1 year old son named Arthur, such a great family, and they are super interrested and had a ton of questions. So I missed English class, which is actually really improving! btw mom, I haven´t recieved your package, but I´ll probably get it when President Brum comes for stake conference at the end of the month. I´m doing fine btw, I did get slightly homesick, but honestly, I´m way to busy to get homesick hahaha. No, I do not like Reese´s puffs, and I found reeses here actually! also found a backery really close to our house, pão de queijo(cheese bread), sonhos (literally: dreams and they are just that) all kinds of great breads here. And our Christmas Conference will be in Rio Preto north of Araçatuba and I´ll travel there in the morning, and then that night travel back late. It´s like 4 hours on the bus one way. I´ll be able to skype at President Galvez house, a member of the Stake Presidency here. Can´t wait to talk to CR and everyone! Love you all, Elder Wyatt

We are always looked after (11-9-15)

Hey eveyone, it´s been another great week, it really has! mom, btw on questions, if you have specific questions you want answered specify them by listing them, it´s just difficult sometimes to see them in the paragraph and it would be easier if you did that, but sorry, I´ll try and do better about answering questions more! So ya, we only have about 50 people, but all of the organizations are present there and everything runs fine. lot´s of old people though, but still some families. The church is older here than most other parts of Brazil, in general anywhere in the South, than it is in the North of Brazil. But once again, there´s a million different churches here, and the Catholic Church isn´t all that prevelant here. Still plenty of catholics but not as many as in other parts. They have a million evangelical churches and they all teach different things... Except they all love to read Psalms, we contact people and they like to show us what they´ve been studying, and it´s always Psalms, really pretty hilarious. I mean Psalms is great and all! but you can ask them about Christ or an Apostle and they don´t know the doctrine, but ask them to quote some random Psalm verse, and they´ve got that baby down. A few things about the weather, it´s been rather great! Lot´s of rain, for a while there everyday, so it´s been in general quite a bit cooler! It has been pretty hot when it´s not raining. The only thing is that you have to be careful if you washed any clothes and hung them to dry. I´ve also got pretty soaked a few times now! Araçatuba is pretty dry for Brazil, but when it does rain it rains hard. Also they have a lot of lightning here and irmão Bento told me that Americans come here to study the lightning here in this region actually, so interesting. But honestly, now, I wish I hadn´t bought a rain jacket, because it doesn´t just rain all day, and I don´t want to carry it all day, and if you get wet then so be it. Also, the people here gave us towels one time, and another person gave us an umbrella, so we´re always looked after. My English class is going well, I´m ready for the books to get here, I think that my lessons will be a little more focused, right now it´s just whatever I can think of. I taught different buildings last time, like courthouse or library, and then taught the phrase, "I am going to the...." (Eu estou indo pelo) and then the new words they learned. I have different people, not to many though attending yet. The Stake President's wife attends though, and so far she has brought us carrot cake (not like in America, it´s literally made from carrots and they also have corn cake, which is just like a sweet cornbread), chocolate cake, and she´s bringing brownies this week! She´s really cool, and has actually been to America several times! The stake president is also a convert of 8 years btw, pretty amazing. But, actually I attended the English class of Elder Smedley, the other American, they have a really well established class that the Branch President there runs. They are having a Thanksgiving Dinner on the 26th! We are invited and I´m pretty excited that I´ll be getting thanksgiving with all the fixin´s! Something really cool happened with an investgator! She says she won´t change her church, but I don´t believe her. Anyway, she basically testified of us and who we are. She talked about how she feels different around us, and that she can feel the peace and comfort when we´re around. She really believes that her family gets along better now, and they started having family prayer together. She said that since we arrived heavenly father has been answering her prayers, giving her money when she didn´t think she´d be able to pay the bills, comfort to family members, and more understanding in her church. Now she just needs to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! And, she said she would, and I believe her, and that she´ll do it with the real intent! Really she´s such a wonderful person, the whole family is! I´m excited to see where she goes, but they only moved here 4 months ago from São Paulo, a young mother married with 4 kids. She´s nearly died twice in her life and miraculously was healed, she obviously needs this! really amazing, I´m so excited to see where she goes! So anyway, it´s been a great week, though we ended up knocking a ton of doors, sometimes that´s what you´ve got to do! All the time actually.... haha, and I actually thought about some Christmas suggestions during this week, so added to what i said last week, I would love cereal also! That´s one thing I miss! Anwyay, just some suggestions, choose what you will, thanks! Love you all so much! Elder Wyatt

Q & A with Aunt Marcy (11-2-15)

Hey Aunt Marcy, sorry I wasn´t able to reply last week but I didn´t really have time, so sorry! but I´m answering now, oh and first, thank you for sharing the scripture, I have used it in 2 different instances with a member and with an investigator, so thank you so much! 1. What is a valuable lesson you learned from your companion this week? 2. What was the best thing you ate this week? 3. What was the strangest thing you ate this week? 4. Who spoke in church and what were the topics? 5. What could you use for Christmas this year? Wants and needs. 6. Tell us about a time this week when you were feeling humbled. 1. How to use the first picture in the gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet to teach people to pray. 2. A cake that a member made for a ward party, it had a pineapple creme in the middle and figs. So good! 3. pig fat 4. it was fast sunday, and really good. though quick story, a woman started nursing her child in sunday school and I remembered what Uncle Richard had told me. 5. Wants are just peanut butter or jerkey, or maybe something sweet, really I can´t think of anything I need at the moment, but I would really mostly just love a letter with some nice thoughts. 6. One thing I´ve really tried to work on this past week has been my love and charity for the people, so one thing I´m doing was a suggestion to me, to look at each person and say they are better than me in a least one thing. So, I find what it is and as long as I focus on that it´s easier to not be judgemental. I have found that I am lacking in many things after talking to so many people this week... But you also find out things that you can honestly do better in your life.

One thing here the members do not lack is A Testimony of the Truth! (11-2-15)

Hey mom, so one quick thing, you´re not allowed to ask for people at home to fast for your investigators, but since I didn´t actually ask.....by all means, thank you to everyone who fasted and prayed for him, and he is really progressing forwards! We also have a family commited to baptism now, but honestly they lack real intent, they have the faith, they know that what we teach is trully, they just really need to put it to action, so we are working with them right now. This week in general was pretty difficult, but we persevered through and the end of the week was better than the first. Tuesday we had a completely full day with totally pre-planned lessons with people we´d talked to and progressing investigators, and not a single one happened, so like a said difficult, but we had more lessons at the end of the week, and we met our goal in contacts for the week, that was exciting! This was the first week of the new transfer since this transfer is 7 weeks, and we´re excited for another week! We had a ward party to celebrate the birthdays of everyone for the month of October, and we had 3 less active members there at the activity, so that was really exciting for us and the ward. Honestly the ward has not been very missionary minded, but things are really changing for the better, they are trying to focus more on helping us, and then planning more activities which we hope will help retain and reactivate members of the church here. Also, Irmão Bento, 1st counseler in the bishopric honestly bore one of the most powerful and heartfelt testimonies I have ever heard. He talked about how the church is true, and what it means to him, but more importantly, how much it can mean to others. He talked about how he would go out with us, and then crying (btw, he´s the tallest and biggest brazilian I´ve met so far) talked about how he just wanted to plead with them to please bring your family to church, because it´s true, and you can feel the spirit, and really, the only way to salvation is through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Haha, not going to lie, I was in tears also, but it´s because I´m involved in this work and I know what he´s saying, I feel that way too! So strongly, and I really do know it´s true. Our ward mission leader talks alot about the spirit, and I´ll be honest, the church lacks a lot in Brazil, like leadership, running the church correctly, and they are far from perfect. But this ward mission leader Felippe is his name, knows more about feeling the spirit, and teaching and using the spirit than any person I think I have ever met. if there is one thing the members here don´t lack, it´s a testimony of the truth, and a strong one. it´s a testimony builder for me. Well, love you all so much and I will be continueing to do my best everyday, just in case you were worried. But all is really great for me. Thanks for sending out the package! The ZL´s go to Ribeirão Preto the first of every month, so if I should probably get it the first of December but we also have presdent Brum coming here for Stake Conference at the end of the month, so could be then. Anything sent out during december I will get 1st of Janurary. But As i said early to Aunt Marcy, food is always appreciated, but I would honestly just love a card from anyone too! Maybe a tie, never would say no. Anyway, all is great! Let me know if i can do anything here to help! Love you all! Elder Wyatt

I hope that I can be a good missionary and stay faithful to the end (10-26-15)

Caden with his companion and below Caden in Aractuba Hey mom, hoped you liked the pictures, I decided to try sending them first, and it took some time, but got them sent out! This week has been by far the best yet! So to start, actually I just finished my first transfer because this one was only 5 weeks, and the next will be 7. So I am staying in the same area and probably will be here for a good long time. The new rule of thumb is that they generally keep missionaries in one area for a long time to help us get to know the members better and in turn really help progress the work along with members. in fact I´m pretty sure that it was the First Presidency who said this. So life is going great, I really am starting to get to know the members better and I can actualy speak somewhat with them. We actually had 6 lessons with a member present which in some missions isn´t that good....but for here, that´s twice as many as we normally have in a week, and it really has helped our success! Also we really met a lot of our goals for this past week, and had 9 new investigators, so stoked for this! Btw, Antonio, who I talked about last week has a baptismal date set now! November 21 is the day, we are working with him on smoking and drinking but he´s so ready, we both know he is! Me and my comp. are actually fasting right now for him, and then we will fast next week again but with him, so pray for us! On the subject of primary program, yes they do have it here it´s called Reunião do Sacramento do Primarío and that´s basically primary sacrament meeting. Haven´t had it yet but we don´t have to many primary kids in our ward. the truth of the matter is only about 50 people attend each week, but it´s still a ward, there´s so many less active members here. But we´re working and making some good progress in this field! I told you a different week that 50% of our work was supposed to be with less active members, well that came into action about 1 year ago. Well the policy just changed again, it´s now the wards job, and we aren´t allowed to visit less actives unless it´s with a member, and only then if they have someone in the family that can be baptized. So we just keep doing what we can, and in response to your question mom, yes I try to follow all the council we receive, make changes when I am asked to, and really try my hardest to live the rules that we have here. One rule I actually really like that´s specific to our mission is that we always have to have a book of mormon in our hands unless it´s raining or P-Day. The thought is that it will make people curious and have a question, or especially since we walk everywhere, they will see us and our books, so I just really like this! Just one last thing I want to cover, I need to be quick! We´re actually headed to a big outdoor shopping mall today, my comp needs new shoes and I need a backpack and a blanket. But this past week I had a chance to go on splits with Elder Wilson the Zone Leader, and it was actually his second to last day. It was great and I learned a lot. There are a lot of missionaries here that are what´s called "dying" because they don´t want to do anything. But Elder Wilson worked till his very last day, and anyway, I spent a day and a night with him and I hope that i can be a good a missionary as he was, and stay faithful to the end. And It was so neat to learn from him, for one thing he´s American, so he could really explain a lot, and be of a lot of help. We walked a ton, he has a big area, but such a great day! Anyway, Love yáll, have a great week!!!! Can´t wait for the package thanks! You just do whatever you have to and I´ll be happy. I´m very grateful for all you do for me mom and dad, and I appreciate it so much more now that I´m out in the field. I just want you to know that I love you so much, and all the kids, thank you. Elder Wyatt

There are so many miracles to be experienced on a mission and it has been amazing! (10-19-15)

Hey everyone, it´s been another great week! I´m just going to start by answering some questions. On clothes, yes everything is great, glad I have my rain jacket, and everything is working great! But, chances are that I´ll have to buy new shoes sometime soon. Another American here gave them 3 months tops... He´s been here for a year and has already bought 5 pairs! We really do walk a lot, my companion said we probably wlk 5-7 kilometers a day (not sure what that is in miles) but hey, it´s all good, I need it because the food here is still so amazing! Can´t say that I had anything just too wild this week, just love the diversity of fruit and juice here! I drink juice all the time! Btw, if you didn´t know every meal we have rice, beans, and salad. With every salad too we always eat beets and it makes me think of dad since he always used to eat it! But ya, everything is all good! Oh, and the pringles can was from the MTC. I thought I´d take this time to tell you a little bit about my investigators, we have some pretty cool people! First is Luis, and he´s actually a Jiu Jitsu fighter! Pretty cool (until i found out that like our whole ward fights, crazy!), the only problem is that he is always training and never home. Luana is like a 25 year old who is a Portuguese Professor. Antonio has one daughter who is 4 and has been taught for about a year now, but finally attended church! We are pretty excited about him. Manuel and Sandra, who are catholic, but so receptive! They have a few problems with some of the doctrine of the church like baptism of children for example. They really believe in prayer and are working on recieving an answer and love the BOM. They actually study together everyday, I mean they are just solid people! Then we have Deneilson and Neide, who have an 11 year old son, and they are literally a miracle. We found them at 8:30 at night, and they are ex-investigators, who believe in the book of mormon and everyting! So, when an investigator isn´t baptized it is normally because of 1 of 2 reasons, Faith, or Repentance. Their´s is repentance, but we are workng with them! The awesome thing was we walk past their house like everyday, and this time we just feel like we need to stop, and we start the normal way..." Oi, tudo bem...Como se chama....nos somos missionarios...." anyway, the father runs to the gate and is like "pode entrar(you can enter) like immeditately craziness! Then brings out his BOM shows us how much he´s read, how well he knows his stuff, and it´s been almost a whole year since he spoke with missionaries! So awesome! Our final family is just a young one, with a 3 year old, with pictures of him all over the wall! The Father reminds me of Darren for some reason? Just kind of a built guy, really a cool person! I´m really excited to be workng with them! All I can say is that there are so many miracles to be experienced on a mission and it has been amazing! Tell dad he´ll be great conducting, and tell all the kids I love them! Oh, and we´re actually starting the English classes this week, so I am so excited! Anyway, love y´all and best of wishes!

I am loving life and everything is great!

Hey everyone, this week has been amazing!!! We have had a lot going on, and it´s been extremely busy and it went by so fast. It has all been going by so fast. To start out on Tuesday I went to an English class of another companionship as their "special guest" So I just talked with different people, answered questions mostly. They have three different classes and 3 levels, one taught by a member here who served his mission in Boston! so he speaks really good English, and then the missionaries, and finally a kid named Lucas who lives here who speaks english, portuguese, and hungarian. He´s super cool, and anyway they have about 30 people who attend their classes. It was nice to have a break from portuguese just for a little while and not be the one struggling to speak. Also, I met a girl from Iceland there! She was another special guest like me and is a foreign exchange student. I was talking to her, she speaks English, Icelandic, Danish, and about as much Portuguese as I do. Anyway, I think I might teach her in English, she´s touring Brazil right now for 10 days, so when she gets back we´ll see, but I´m stoked to have the opportunity maybe to teach in english. Then the next cool part was that they had an international talent show this last Friday. So, there are a lot of Japanese people who live here also. We had songs in Japanese, Hungarian, German, we as missionaries sang called to serve in English and Portuguse, and then all the different classes sang a english song that they had been practicing for a little while. It was so much fun and such a great experience. Next thing, the building that my ward normally meets in was being remodeled for about a year, and they dedicated the building last Saturday. That was a pretty powerful experience. The Stake President is very new, he´s never served as a bishop or much anything before he recieved the call as Stake President, but he was called to serve in that capacity for a reason. So, Sunday was the first Sacrament meeting in the building for the small ward, and so many people bore strong testimony. I am constantly surprised by the people here in their knowledge of the scriptures. They don´t know a lot of things, but sometimes they have the strongest testimonies in the fundamentals of the gospel, and they also really have the deepest questions. It´s so neat to see sometimes. I´m loving all the experiences I can share with members here. Oh hey, so crazy thing happened this week....passturized (not sure how to spell that) milk! So, it turns out the milk we´ve been getting from a lady in the ward is quite literally straight from the cow, and ya, so for 3 weeks we´ve been drinking milk that we didn´t boil. But hey, we boiled it this week, and all's still well! Haha, except after we boiled it we didn´t know how to get it back into the bottle?? So, I made a funnel by poking a hole in the bottom of a pringles can and poured the milk in there to get it in the bottle, it was so funny!! Anyway, that's my crazy story about food for this week, oh and, they make stuff from pumpkin here! We had this pumpkin preserve the other day at a house and it was really good! Oh, hey we finally got rained on! We were teaching a less active member (quick thing about less active members, the Area Presidency of Brazil has told all mission presidents that 50% of our time needs to be spent visiting less active members) so anyway, sitting on the porch and all the sudden just a huge gust of wind hit, and about 30 minutes later, it just starts pouring rain! We were at the house of another less active when this happened and he gave us an umbrella before we left, but we still got pretty soaked, worst part was, I had all of my clothes hanging out to dry that day.... I had to wash all of it over again, not all that fun. But the rain here has been wonderful, it cools it off so much, and at least for now, it´s been a very cool rain. In the middle of this rainstorm we walk past a house and see a little kids bike, and decide to go back, and we have started teaching a family because of it! We are actually teaching the mom and the dad too! plus they have a 3 year old son. We get a lot of families where only one person will sit and hear our message. Anyway, the spirit was really strong in the lesson and I hope that they will continue to have us. We also taught another less active but we had to go with the bishop in his car because it isn´t safe to go their ourselves, so ya, that was kinda scary. It´s just really poor, little houses all the same, and really dirty.It´s really far from the chapel and there are no members there, but a lot of less active members. So, for questions, I thought I already said this, but my companion is from northern Brazil, in the Amazon, and yes, I love him! I get a long so well with him, I already said he´s really smart and is teaching me Portuguese, great teacher and great missionary. No, we don´t have ipads or home phones. And we go to a place that has a bunch of computers and you pay to use it for a certain amount of time. It´s super slow though, and takes forever to send pictures so sorry about that. I am loving life and everything is great, love you all and have a great week!!!!! And tell people I would love letters, anytime they want to send them! Elder Wyatt

Caden's Address

Elder Caden Paul Wyatt Rua São Sebastião, 1003 Centro, Ribeirão Preto-SP 14015-040

I'm in the "bible belt" of Brazil (Oct. 5th, 2015)

Hey, this week has been great...and extremely difficult. As I learn more of the language (I´m beginning to understand more, and even forget English words sometimes haha...) I´m beginning to understand more of the difficulties surrounding this area. more on that later though, first off! The food, I still can´t get over it, it´s delicious, and they have a ton of it here! Sometimes we have to buy food because a member won´t be able to make lunch for us that day, so they just give us the money for it, and we go down to this place called xaviers that´s one of those rotissiery meat cooking places, so good! and for 10 reais, about 2.50 in American dollars I can buy a bowl of food enough for lunch and dinner that day! Also, we always have lunch with a member, but half the time we have dinner from a member also. Two nights ago, we were returning a bowl to someone that had given it to us for dinner one night, and she gave us hot dogs! They were the best I´ve ever eaten. They were wrapped in lettuce with like spaghetti and some type of crunchy sweet root, and then the bun, so good. Anyway, I can´t leave a members house without eating like 3 plates, so much food, always. I really payed attention to the culture this week, or at least tried to. btw mom, no, there are like 10 Americans who arrived the same day as me, and then plenty in the mission, but there are more brazilians here then americans. Anyway, they are not so different from Americans but some differences are they all have walled in houses, with either barbed wire, electric fences, or broken glass on top. Also, they are very free I guess?? What I mean is that the guys never wear shirts, the women wear as least as possible, and I´ve seen like a million people making out in the streets in broad daylight. It´s a little awkward but that´s just how they do it around here. School is very different here, high school is more like college where you have classes at different times over the day, not just in one sitting. Other things are different, but in general you find the very same people here. One thing, which I found interesting about my calling here is that I´m kind of in a way in the bible belt of Brazil. There are a ton of different churches in this area and the people are very religious! It´s not like that everywhere my companion says, so i think it´s cool that it´s similar to where I used to live in that aspect. About my mission President, he´s amazing!! He actually leaves in like july of next year, so he´s been here a while, but when I first saw him, i had just got off the plane, and I had been barradged by Portuguese all down and to be honest I was not doing great. But, I looked through the door where people were waiting for those who had just got off the plane, and I saw a husband and wife in name tags with huge smiles on their faces!!!! Oh, it brightened my day so much. I haven´t had much time to really get to know them to well, but I know they are amazing people. Also, if you baptize a family, you get to have breakfast at their house, so a nice incentive there. They are such great people, and I really love them. So, working with members. There are kind of problems in this area from what I understand is that members won´t give out referrals to missionaries about their friends unless they live in their area. It´s really pretty sad, but we´ve been addressing these problems with the stake presidency who are really awesome people. We are really working to get the members involved. We have a great ward mission leader, the one I gave a blessing to, and he´s super excited for the work, always talking about it with us. btw, I participated in two more blessing this last week, and we actually have one scheduled for a sick member on Wednesday, it´s been so awesome! So, I have received so much help this week, I feel like my language has improved so much, and I receive so much help when teaching and talking to people. The gift of tongues is so real, and you don´t even notice, but I wouldn't be able to learn without it. For general conference I actually attended the 1st 2 sessions and priesthood in portuguese, but that was because they didn't have the key to the family history center. Anyway, I could understand quite a bit, but it made it difficult to get a whole lot from it, and the last two I watched in english. So blessed to hear from the prophet and apostles, and the new one´s will be great! Anyway, I´m taking the ponderize challenge, and I think everyone should! In Portuguese it´s called Ponderizar mixture of ponderar and memorizar. Hope all is well at home and love you guys!!!! I am always praying for yáll! Boa Sorte, Te Amo! Can you share my address please, I would love handwritten letters from anyone! Encouragement never hurt anyone... Elder Wyatt My Address Elder Caden Paul Wyatt Rua São Sebastião, 1003 Centro, Ribeirão Preto-SP 14015-040

Caden's first letter from Brazil

Ok, so I have a ton to say and not much time to say it all! but, the first meal I ate was at the Brum´s home and it was delicous! It was Brazilian Pizza and it's seriously the best thing on Earth but I wasn´t to hungry from flying. I was the last to arrive because I was the only elder to come from the states. There are about 15 new elders and 3 new sisters. Other things on food. We eat rice and beans for every meal and usually have some type of pudding or mousse for dessert. Then it´s either beef or chicken something, a long with noodles a lot of the time. The food here is so good! We have a whole schedule so we get fed everyday at lunchtime with one of the members and I normally eat so much that I´m sick because they have so much food. Another thing, our breakfast is always pretty much milk and cookies (they call them crackers here, but they are just oreo cookies, and I love it!) I go running every morning just so you know.... Also, there are two old ladies in the ward who always give us food for dinner because they worry about us, one day they gave us a loaf of homemade bread, another they gave us salgados??? which is just dough stuffed with chicken or beef and fried, so good! and today another lady made us a cake out of some kind of root to eat. I haven´t just eaten anything crazy, just different fruits, oh and one day we had pancakes, but they were wrapped around ground beef, they don´t have maple here. Food is amazing here. Not sure of any unusual customs here yet, it´s way different here, just life in general, but the people are so good. About the city, Araçatuba, every city that the missionaries serve in here is big, we don´t really have cars to travel around, everywhere we go is by bus, which are actually really nice! I live in a small house that we share with another companionship, and it´s dirty, we don´t have any hot water and I sleep without a blanket with a fan on, but it´s really pretty nice! I´ve been in some homes of people that are just so so simple, but they are an extremely happy people. Ok, when I arrived I could understand nothing!!! they speak so fast and it was very hard the first few days. plus I had like no sleep! Monday night I was flying and didn´t sleep, arrived Tuesday, slept that night at the mission home in Ribeirão Preto, Wednesday checked in at the police station, and left that night at 10:30 for my area that was a 6 hour drive away. Anyway, it´s been difficult, but I´m starting to understand more everyday, especially when I work at it. My companion is from Amazonia and is really smart! He actually knows quite a bit of english and is able to help me so much, I am really lucky to have him, he´s a great missionary and teacher. I have two spiritual experiences I want to share. I hope I have time! 1. on friday night me and my companion were contacting and having no luck, so we decided to pray to find someone, and so I said the prayer and we just thought and waited, until finally I said lets go talk to these three people on the side of the street. Anyway, we talked to them and the man said some loud words and waved his hands around, I didn't understand him but when we left my comp said that missionaries had been there before, and had met his daughter who was there alone. She was deaf and so he said that they laughed at her or made fun of her or something and didn´t want to talk with the missionaries. so we left and walked around the corner, thinking about what we should do. after a while my comp said you know what to do. but I wasn´t sure, because I felt like we should go back to that house. Well after debating over it inside myself for a while I finally decided to go back. I wanted to bear testimony to him. So I went back and his wife said I thought I just told you to leave, and I said I wanted to share my testimony. And the man was really quiet, and the whole time he was quiet. So I bore testimony of Christ, that he lives, that God loves each of us, and that I know it to be true. and then we left. that was it, and i don´t know why we had to go back, but we did, and that´s what I shared. But, the spirit was so strong! Both of us felt it, and I know that family did also, so maybe another missionary will find him and then he will listen now? We get turned away a lot here. The other experience. I gave my first priesthood blessing!! We were with the new ward mission leader and he asked me to give him a blessing because his back and neck were hurting. It was so amazing!!! I did it in english for sake of actually saying the right thing, but he told me he felt the spirit, that it went through him like it was heat traveling through his body. I also blessed him to fulfill his calling. What a sacred experience, one that I am so grateful he allowed me to do. I know that by faith, many things can come to pass. Oh, I also spoke in church this sunday! that was scary but I spoke about faith, and asked the members to help in the missionary work, introduced myself, and bore my testimony. The members here have so much faith, and it´s amazing to see. They are such wonderful people, and I already have developed a love for them, This is the place where I need to be, and I´m excited to serve and have the opportunity to bear testimony to these people. Love all of you at home, and am grateful for the prayers. It´s a new place, and I won´t lie it´s difficult, but it´s so amazing. On the streets, me and my comp go around singing hymns in english and in portuguese, and I´m reminded then, that I am about the work of salvation, and that this gospel is so beautiful, and can bring people true happiness and joy, for eternity. Elder Wyatt P.S. yes, it's hot and humid! But everyone is great here, lots of inactives and we spend a lot of time visiting them. oh, by the way, thing I need if I can get you to send me a package some time! Maple, reeses, jerky, money, and pictures of me and family and stuff to show my companions. also if possible a children's song book in english. and if you would, email me for next p day a recipe for pancakes and how to make syrup for when you are able to send maple. not in a big hurry, but if you get a chance, also I would love handwritten letters every now and then. I don´t have my address with me, I´ll send it next monday if you can´t find it somewhere. Love you all!

Letter from his Mission President

Dear Wyatt Family, We are excited to have your son, Elder Wyatt in our mission. This will be a great opportunity for continued growth and development as he serves faithfully here in the mission field. He will meet, teach, convert and touch the lives of many people who are seeking to know, understand and live the truths of the restored gospel. Your son has already been assigned to his first area. He will be working in Boa Vista in the city of Araçatuba, and will be trained by Elder Barros. The area is very blessed, and your son’s trainer is a reliable and responsible missionary. Your son will certainly have much success and great spiritual experiences. Along with missionary service comes many new and interesting demands and challenges. Your son will continue to learn and adapt to new and interesting customs, cultures and foods, as well as a new language and schedule. Your continued love and encouragement will give him the support and help he needs. My wife and I are very grateful to have your son serving by our sides in this great missionary effort. The lives of many will be influenced and blessed because of your son’s great service and dedication. We will do our best to help your son succeed in his service to the Lord. Thank you for preparing a son that is willing and ready to be of service in this part of the Lord's vineyard. May the Lord bless you for your sacrifice and help in this important and eternal endeavor. Here is Caden with his Mission President and his wife:

His Visa came in and he's headed to Brazil!! (9-15-15)

MOM! I will be on later today, so I'll tell you all about my week, but if you can get a package sent out by today possibly tomorrow that would be great! I need 6 deodorants (word on the street is they don't have much down there) 2 hair gels and 2 things of peanut butter, a package of black nike socks, and maybe a small light if you get a chance. Anyway, sorry for this, but my travel plans are here, so I have my visa, I leave next monday from the MTC at 6 AM!!!! That's why it's imperative that that the package arrives this week, but if it can't make it in time, no worries, I'll be fine. Also, make sure I'm good on money on my card for travel and bagts, and also, make sure they know I'm going to brazil. (next email) So hey this week has been super amazing and extremely difficult. Things keep progressing in the companionship and I never know what to do, but oh well, awesome story actually from the temple today! In the celestial room I just opened it right up to DC 98, and the beginning is about how all of these trials we have in our life are for our own good. that was really comforting to me:) We actually had a major Companion inventory on Saturday and I was very blunt and told him how it was. Things have kinda been better honestly! So anyway, lots of troubles, but I've overcome a lot, and really grown a lot, and I really am grateful to the Lord for that. And I haven't had to do it alone, I've had teachers, leaders, and Elders all there supporting me. So, my birthday was last Thursday and it was amazing!!! I really really missed y'all at home, that part was certainly hard, but a lot of people went through effort to make it special. They sang happy birthday in Portuguese, which actually has 2 verses! the direct translation is actually really funny! There are so many cool translations just on a quick side note, blessed in Portuguese literally means well traveled. And the song Put your Shoulder to the Wheel is called Our Law is Work in Portuguese, excellent missionary song. Anyway, Birthday! Besides getting three packages that day and cards, and dear elders (Thank you all for that!) I walk into the room about 9:45 that night and there is like 20 people crammed into the residence room! There are streamers, and pictures, and they all start singing happy birthday. then we ate a fruit basket someones's mom sent them, and in grandma Wyatt's package there was Martinelli and we split that between a bunch of us! I have pictures and as long as the computers allow today I'll be sending them out mom! So neat to see so many friends I've made here. They all passed around this chalice thing made from a red solo cup and said something they liked about me, super sweet! Also got a tie and a tie clip, so stoked about that. Thank you to everyone for the well wishes and love. Brother Gerald Causse of the Presiding Bishopric came and spoke and he was great! In fact i told several teachers here that he came to speak and the joint consensus was that everyone wants him to become one of the next apostles. He is an excellent speaker, and shared some great experiences he shared with President Packer. He taught a lot about how the Lord speaks to us through the scriptures. Among so much else, he was an example to me, I so love the talks and devotionals given here, there is literally nothing like it anywhere. They are always very relevant to whatever it may be that i'm needing in my life. Our last Sunday Devotional was given by Brother Heaton, who works here at the MTC, about recognizing the Holy Ghost, also excellent. i'm glad I have taken really good notes, because I want to use their words and counsel to really try and take steps towards improving and deepening my conversion. Super great experience this week, and I first want to give some back story. last week i did an exercise that I honestly felt prompted to do. I was studying in PMG when I just noticed how so many of the things that were in there they called acts of Faith. So I actually decided to write down things I'm my life that i'm currently doing as an act of Faith. Acts of Faith really help us to show our love and trust in God. So I wrote down probably 15 things that I was doing, some were broad, like going on a mission,. or learning Portuguese. others were very specific, but I spent a good amount of time thinking about it. Next i wrote down specific blessings I had seen in my life as a result of those things and it was amazing to see! The blessings far outnumber the things I am doing, and they are amazing, so many things that I had never thought of came to my mind, it was truly another humbling experience. then I wrote down more things I could do to show my faith. So, 1. I invite you all to do that, because it's awesome. 2. One thing i wanted to do was try the Lord in his promise in that if we will diligently study, and not worry about what we should say before hand, then he would fill our mouths with what we should say. (DC 33;7-8 and among other places) but it's a promise of the Lord, that if we do our part, he'll provide the support. Well, I studied super hard Sunday, and I had 2 lessons yesterday on Monday, and they were my absolute favorite and best ones yet! The 1st one i had so much vocabulary i had studied the night before, and in the second lesson, we had an unexpected problem arise, and I knew exactly what to say, what questions to ask, and what scriptures to read, and the Portuguese to speak. It was beautiful. I promise you, that the Lord, if you put your trust in him, fully doing your part, he will guide and bless you. I'm going to start a journal and find promises that the Lord makes, if we do this, then we will have this happen and study each promise really in depth and try and implement it into my life and look for His hand in my life, I'm seriously really excited. so if anyone comes across a good promise, please go ahead and send it on down! Such a wonderful week, and I'm ready to be gone, but I will so miss the MTC, it's the best place on Earth.(almost) Anyway, i'll miss my friends and all from here, but I'm ready to go into the field and get started on the work. I want to help push the rock cut out of the mountain without hands. It's rolling forth to fill the whole earth, and after the things i've felt here, how could anyone not accept His Gospel. Now, i know there will be difficulty, but I just want to serve to the absolute best of my ability, I love you all and am so grateful for all you've done. Keep the faith.

Letter we received in the mail from Caden dated 9-6-15

Dear Family, I just wanted to take the time this Sunday to write you a letter and thank all of you so much for literally everything! I also want to say this has been a not so great week! Ha ha, probably not exactly what you want to hear from your son but man, its been hard. But, I should also say just so you know, it has also been one of the best, most spiritual weeks Ive ever had. I promise you I have never made so much growth in the gospel, in life, and in becoming more like unto my savior. I have felt his love in my life, and seen more fully through his eyes how he views others. I think I have lived my life for a very long time thinking that my way is most correct. Also, if I didn't like someone, I could just avoid them, and I'm sad, because I never worked to change those feelings. Here at the MTC, if you dont like your companion, well, your commanded to love him or you will not be able to teach with power and authority. In this letter I want to talk about some blessings and some struggles. I also hope to express how much I love you all, and how much the lessons y'all, Mom and Dad, have helped me here at the MTC. It has been excellent Missionary preparation. So, to start, I want to go back to last Monday. Me and my old companion Elder Sant taught our last lesson together and it was amazing! We taught our teacher, Sister Irma Sandholtz, who was playing the role of an old Investigator she had named Manuela, So she didnt really know how to pray, so we spent an extra lesson teaching her about prayer, why we pray, why its important, things related to that. The Spirit told us what to say, how to say it, and everything helped me just to really feel great, especially since I was kind of down with my companion leaving the next morning. But we taught so well together. We also really got along, he was from TX, I was from TX, we both had a strong desire to work, and honestly, our attributes really complemented each other well. So, anyway, sad to see him go, but he is serving in Ribeirao Preto, so I will see him soon and hopefully I'll get to serve with him. {Caden goes on to talk about his next companion and how it has been difficult but what he has learned} Now, I want to share with you how much I've grown and learned. The Lord truly is the teacher and has his hand in all our lives. This past week, I have prayed night and day for love and charity. I have received it mom and dad. I testify to you, that when we sincerely seek after something, and pray about it, the Lord will answer you. For one, I have never felt his love for me so constantly in my life, Plus, comparatively from how I felt about my companion to yesterday would astound you! What used to bother me no longer does. I have also prayed hard for my thoughts and while I'm not perfect, how have things changed immensely. It's amazing what the Lord has done with me. I've never loved the scriptures more, my family more, or so fully appreciated all you've done to shape me. Like I said in my last email, thank you Dad for being such a huge example to me. I just want you to know I love you all so much and am so grateful. Another blessing has been how strongly I have felt the spirit recently! Actually wait, tell Aunt Marcy what she sent me was truly inspired and helped me out with my attitude and outlook a lot. But anyway, I was with another elder and we were practicing explaining the Book of Mormon, and I was playing the role of the Investigator. So the situation was supposed to be that Elder Flake invited me to be baptized and I said no. Then when he asked why, I was supposed to say because I didn't believe the Book of Mormon was true. He asked if I had prayed about it and I said yes, but that I didn't receive an answer. So, he reads Moroni 10:4 to me, bears testimony of the power of the Book, and then he asked me to pray, right then and there. He later told me that he felt prompted to do that. I started praying then, simply, like an investigator would and really tried to ask with conviction, in my limited portuguese, if it was true. As soon as I started talking, we both felt the spirit so strongly. Elder Flake said stronger that any other time here at the MTC. It was so great to see through the eyes of an investigator, that you can pray and ask, and the spirit would testify of the Book of Mormon, and how amazing that was. I want to bear testimony, that I've always known the Book of Mormon is true, never doubted it, and the spirit has testified to me many times of principles I've read in there, so I absolutely know it to be true. But it was awesome to have that testimony to be true, and to know that the spirit will testify to my investigators. Such a huge blessing here at the MTC is to be able to feel the spirit so strongly. Among so many things, I just have to say, I'm truly blessed to be here. And Mom and Dad, Ive been helped so much by y'all. Why I was so blessed to have y'all as my parents, I don't know. But, I could not have asked for better. I love you all so very much and will continue to remember so much from my childhood the lessons I learned will carry with me always, and I will continue to keep my faith growing. I want to ask you all to look for how everyone in the family has been blessed by me serving a mission? I'm super grateful for all the support back home. I can feel the prayers, and all the concern. I ask that you all please continue to pray for me to have charity. I'm looking forward to my Birthday this week and cant wait to honestly get out of the MTC!! I love it here and all, but I want to get out in the field! Thankfully the Lord is helping me with my patience and I know 2 weeks will go by quickly. It's already gone so fast! I love you all! Love, Caden Wyatt

My Faith has never been Stronger (9-8-15)

Hey mom, yes, they don't do mail on labor day, so I should get it today hopefully! The language has been coming along really well lately! I'm able to get my point across better, and I'm formulating my sentences faster and speak more rapidly! I've been really blessed because I've been diligent. But seriously, there are 2 weeks left now and i can't even believe it. I'm so very excited to be leaving soon! Said goodbye to some good friends from the zone this morning actually and it got me really pumped to be leaving so soon, and time passes by so quickly here, I'll be out in the field in no time, because boy am I ready. I am so happy though with how the language is progressing, it's very frustrating at times, and I know very very little still, but I'm super happy with my progress. Sometimes I'll be honest, it gets so hard I just want to cry, but it's at those times when you get down on your knees that I feel the savior most. Sorry about pictures this week, I didn't take any because I forgot to put my memory card back in the camera when we when to take pictures at the temple on Sunday. But please keep sharing my letters with people, thank you for that! And yes, i'm so glad I studied preach my gospel before my mission, and it has helped enough that I wish I had prepared even more! Keep me informed about everyone's going ons and I love hearing about the games! Keep me posted on Childress. Will Foster actually emailed me today! Told me a little about Texas Tech. About Dear Elder, loved the chips and queso, not a huge fan of the shortbread cookies, but the brownies were tasty, and I would LOVE Krispy Kreme. Keep praying for me definitely because I need lot's of help... I sent you a letter in the mail today actually with more details, so just let me know when you get it. So this week was pretty general. Except I almost forgot actually! Remember how I told you that last week I thought someone important was coming that night? Well we had Elder Oaks! He was super great and I loved having him there! He spoke about teaching by the spirit and also gave us 3 tips to help improve our teaching. Probably one of the best parts of the MTC, is they have devotionals every Tuesday and Sunday, so they always line up some really great speakers. I have learned a lot, things that i want to implement and things that I want change. This is also the only place to watch any devotional that happens here, so you really try and watch as many of the talks as you can while you're here! 2 Elder Holland talks and 1 Elder Bednar are the only talks that I've been able to watch while I've been here, but they were the best! Such an amazing opportunity. So hey, really not much to say honestly this week, but I wrote a pretty long letter describing the events around the past week, so if you can wait, then I can tell you more about it fully in the letter. But if you would like, you can share if you don't mind typing it up on the computer, the experience I shared about the BofM with Elder Flake! I love all of you so much and just wanted to say that! Tell each one of the kids hi and that they are amazing! They have always been such great kids, and just remind them for me that I know that. "Eu sei que" means I know that in portuguese. Please keep supporting me, and keep me in your prayers, because I love the support, but just know that my faith has never been stronger! The MTC is a special place, where if you are obedient, and study hard, true conversion is brought about. Oh actually, one thing happened Sunday that I wanted to mention! I actually taught priesthood and district meeting so that was like 2 and a half hours straight of teaching! kinda wore me out...but they went well!:) Anyway, love you all so much. Keep the letters coming, and I'll email you next week!

Inviting Others to Come unto Christ (9-1-15)

Hey everyone, This week has been really sad honestly. So last week four elders in our district received their visa's and left only this morning at 8:30. Elder Cooke and Elder Picardo (they were companions) and then Elder Butterfield (who was Elder Buckners companion) and Elder Sant, my companion. So I now realize already how hard it is to leave your companion, he was super awesome, and we got along so well! I'll still be seeing him in the mission though, and not making any decisions already, but if I do decide to end up going to BYU we might room together! So inbetween all the changes, Elder Flake and Elder Crabtree are staying and they were already companions and me and Elder Buckner are now companions. Oh, and btw, I'm also just going to stay as District Leader. Normally, in the MTC they only have you serve for 3 week, but this last sunday I didn't get released so I'm staying for the full 6 weeks, and our district absorbed another district, so I am taking in 2 more elders, and actually I'll be over 2 sisters now, so that will be different. It's really not like I do much though anyway, sometimes I think my only job is to get the mail...Haha, but I also do give teaching assignments and meet in Branch council and stuff. I am loving serving in this way, and I'm actually kind of excited I'm not getting released! Someone told me that you receive a lot of help from the Lord as district leader, and after they were released they said everything was so much harder, so yay for blessings.

I have certainly been blessed here at the MTC, no where else is the spirit of the Lord so present, and can you receive so much help in learning the language and growing your testimony. I love everything I've learned since I've been here, and I like that just every now and then our teachers take a break from speaking Portuguese and will share with us a story from their missions or the scriptures! Brother Belchior did this awesome demonstration on the importance of reading the scriptures. He had us all take some time to write or family a letter, then when we were done he ripped them up...Needless to say, I was genuinely not happy. But I got over it after we all talked about how we felt and then explained that shows how the prophets feel when we take for granted the scriptures and don't read them like we should. Anyway, just thought it was excellent, and I plan on using that some day in a lesson. You're also welcome to use that anyone... Oh, and we got another new afternoon teacher to replace Brother Alves, his name is Brother Clements, and he is super awesome! Love him, and with only 4 of us left, I think that we will be able to really focus for the next 3 weeks and study extra hard and learn so much. We might even start an english fast in the next few days or so. Thank you all for the continued support and the Dear Elders! I love the packages and the food and all I can say is keep them coming. I am also happy to report that I have not gained any weight while here at that MTC, I am still a solid 190 currently, and they finally opened the gym back up so basketball has been on the agenda every other day, then inbetween me and Elder Sant would go lift. Not sure what me and Elder Buckner will do but we will see. Congrats to dad, I totally called the Bishopric! I know that he will do an amazing job, he has always been an excellent example to everyone around him. I have learned more and more each day actually how much he has taught me. I am so grateful to you dad for instilling me with a desire to be better, in all aspects of life, even when maybe I didn't quite want to listen. I have tried to follow his example and have found ways to use the lessons he taught me everyday at the MTC here. The final thing I want to close with is to share our purpose here at the MTC, which is, to Invite others to come unto Christ. So we actually teach members on Friday nights, and even though we aren't teaching them the same lessons as investigators, we always are told to do the same thing, and that is to invite them to come to Christ. Invitations are the most important part of our job as missionaries, because no matter how much we teach, investigators will only be converted through their own personal connection with the Lord. So, this week, I just want to invite everyone to look for opportunities to make their prayers more of a conversation with the lord. “The trouble with most of our prayers is that we give them as if we were picking up the telephone and ordering groceries—we place our order and hang up. We need to meditate, contemplate, think of what we are praying about and for and then speak to the Lord as one man speaketh to another” (Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 469). I have never prayed like I do here, and part of that is because i try and take the time to listen, more than just talk and go to bed, I would just invite everyone to meditate more and give the spirit time to tell you that he is there. Thanks love you all! Elder Wyatt

Keep the Commandments of God, and He will Prosper You (8-25-15)

So hey everybody! So many amazing things have happened this week, and yet to be honest it has been very hard. To start off, mom I forgot to tell you some of the people I've met here that I know! I met Jordan Hacke(??) I can't remember how to spell her name, but she was here for about a week before she left for Costa Rica. Also, to Aunt Marcy, Holly Castleton is here to and I recognized her from when I was with Trevon. I also met a few snowflake people, and some different kids from Texas but know one that I knew. And thank you so much to Mom and Aunt Marcy for the packages!!! Much appreciated by me, and also my roommates. All I can say is to keep them coming!;) Thanks to everyone for the Dear Elders also, they just put a bright spot at the end of the day. To Camdon- my basic day at the MTC...wake up, study, eat, study and teach, eat, study and teach, eat, study and teach, then go to sleep. That is all that we do here. Me and my companion love to go outside any chance we get. You are inside this one classroom all the time, so whenever it's study time, we book it outside to sit on the grass. I have found out that companion study ends up being some of my favorite. It's neat to hear things from his perspective, and to ponder on those things that Elder Sant brings up. Also, here at the MTC they say that the days are long, and the weeks are short. SO TRUE! I can't believe I've already been here this long. So we finished teaching our investigator Thiago, who's real name Brother Nore. Those lessons went great! All kinds of spiritual experiences and opportunities to teach by the spirit. We now have two brand new teachers Sister Sandholtz and Brother Alves. Sister Sandholtz is awesome, she speaks slowly and she's really easy to understand. She lives right by the temple here in Provo. Brother Alves is a different story...He is from Brazil and speaks very quickly, and is very hard to understand. But, the blessing of having him as a teacher is that he really focuses on the pronunciation of our words, and learning to speak the words more clearly and quickly. I love both of them and they are now our new investigators also. We teach them every other day and they trade off, so we now have to prepare a lesson and translate it everyday. It's really helping to improve my language abilities. They have also helped all of us in the district set language study plans, which help make my study so much more effective. So, hard things this week, I will just briefly explain because some of it I'd just rather not dwell on. First off, the MTC is an incubator for sickness, and I have not felt to great the past few days, so anyway, it kind of makes it hard to focus in class sometimes, but I am absolutely doing my best. Everyone in our zone is sick, so anyway, figured it was my turn anyway! The other thing is, as district leader I get to deal with any problems that the district may have. I've been holding little district study meetings every now and then at nights and we're studying christlike attributes. We also had a "District Inventory Meeting" and talked over our problems. I really do love my district, they are all outstanding missionaries, and men in general, and they help me everyday to learn and to grow. My companion is probably the best out of all of them and helps to keep me focused and on a rigorous schedule of spiritual in take. Things improve everyday in my life, and I hope that I can always report to you mom and dad that everyday I felt like I got a little better, and deepened my conversion just a little bit more. For news on speakers, we had the Missionary department head guy speak, Stephen something, I feel bad for not remembering his last name, but he was amazing! He always speaks on repentance and comes like once a month apparently...his job is to make sure everyone that is here is here for the right reasons. He apparently spoke the Sunday before we all arrived. And last Tuesday Elder Echo Hawk of the seventy spoke and he spoke on the importance of the work that we are doing, he had an amazing story, and he's a Pawnee Indian btw. And I'm not sure of this is true, but word on the street is that an Apostle will be here tonight, and I really hope so, but I guess we'll see. There's almost always rumors that an apostle is coming anyway! To end on a more spiritual note, going to the temple every Tuesday is such a huge blessing! I went in there today with a very specific question and I was able to have it answered. Also, I wanted to share a quick scripture I found, and it's only just and excerpt, haha, and honestly i found so much this week, but this I feel like pertains to us all, and not just missionaries. It's in Alma 41:7 and the part I like it "thus they stand of fall" It then goes on to talk about we are our own judges, Every decision, and every shortcoming or highest achievement is on our own shoulders. But how wonderfully is it that we do get to choose? We are the deciders and all of Amla 41 is about how our choices in this life will determine who we will be in the next. Will we be restored to righteousness, or wickedness? It must be one or the other. Will we stand on the wall like Samuel the Lamanite did, or just to fall short of our divine potentials. I leave you with this quote, "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God." (Mosiah 2:41) Keep the commandments of God, and he will prosper you, as it says over and over in the Book of Mormon. Elder Caden Wyatt P.S. Love you, and thank you so much for the package. tell the kids I love them, and that I loved the pictures and letters from all of them. I also want to ask you to print out all of my emails and mail them to grandma beeman please. I couldn't find where my cameras was today so I'll find it and send you extra pictures next week.

I'm in one of the most sacred places on Earth (8-18-15)

Well, I'm just going to try and write a pretty general letter and send it to everyone so that I get it all covered in my email, but oh goodness, where to begin!? To start I flew on the airplane with 3 other missionaries and one sister who are going all over the world. It was neat to get to share with the elderly gentleman next to me on the plane ride about a mission and why I am choosing to serve two years. The plane ride seemed pretty short honestly and we even arrived early so I caught the 10:30 shuttle over to the MTC. You could definitely feel the spirit as you entered the mtc. Oh, and also, I ended up talking to our cab driver who was from peru the entire ride over and actually got a lot insight into the area and culture of the area I'll be serving. After arriving and dropping my bags off at my room (there was a japanese flag hanging on the wall btw) we headed off to my classroom! I was the first one to arrive there in my district and I met Brother Balchior, our teacher. He is from mozambique?? some place in Africa and he's this little short, really dark african man, 24, and he speaks portuguese and Bantu, served in California spanish speaking, and also speaks English, such awesome guy! He's a great teacher and if you work hard, he'll teach you well. he also has the best stories in the MTC (all the other portuguese speakers here envy us because he's our teacher) and I have felt the spirit so many times in his class as he's taught gospel truth. I love learning the language, and it's been really hard ya... To be honest y'all, I might be the worst speaker in the class, or close to it. It's been very, very humbling. but! I have found that it's unimportant, Brother Balchior has said several times that the best missionaries he has come through his class speak terrible portuguese, but they have the spirit, and that's the best way to teach. That being said, I study hard everyday, and I'm not used to be at the lower end of the class, but I know its in the Lords hands. I love that! The spirit at the MTC is amazing, I'm in one of the most sacred places on Earth (these buildings are blessed just like chapels) and you can tell. We are all temple recommend holders here, and the spirit abides with you everywhere you go. Someone just says one simple gospel truth, and the spirit will testify to me, or when we sing a song whether as a district or a combined 2500 missionary strong choir it's just a spiritual outpouring, and that's a testimony to me, of the wonderful teachers, and missionaries that are here at the MTC. So, something cool, shoutout to Aunt Marcy here, I'm rooming with a bunch of Japanese missionaries, and basically our whole wing are missionaries that are learning japanese, so I thought that was pretty cool! i'm in 13m room 221, not sure where Jaron was, but you'll have to let me know.\ So, there have been so many great experiences, but, in the essence of time (we only have an hour) I will keep it to two. first just the awesome one! We had the Nashville Tribute band here on Sunday for a devotional, and they were amazing! I haven't ever been to a concert before, though I'm not sure if this even counts... It was amazing to hear their voices in person, and plus, I was on the 5th row, so I was so close to them! We weren't allowed to clap for them, but I wanted to so bad! They sang songs from all of their albums including Joseph Smith, the Missionary one, and their new album Redeemer (Look it up, it's like southern gospel songs and they are amazing) That was cool to have as my first devotional on Sunday. Btw, Sundays are the best here because of church and meetings and everything. We sing, everyone has to prepare talks and someone is randomly selected, and do the sacrament prayers in Portuguese. So I really like Sundays. Now, my best experience at the MTC so far was me and my companions second lesson with out Investigator named Thiago (like Chi-augo). Our first lesson was only after 2 days of instruction and it was kind of rough, but me and my companion just kept it brief, and taught about the book of mormon, kept it simple, and it really wasn't bad.. But our second lesson was amazing! We taught like the 3rd lesson the gospel of Jesus Christ, except we had no preparation! We got back from dinner and the time was 6:28 and on the board reads lesson with Thiago at 6:30!!! Oh my, we were so scared, me and my companion ran up the stairs and kneeled at the door of the room, said a quick prayer and went in. Me and Elder Sant opted to teach first everytime. But we went in there and taught with such power and authority! The spirit was so strong, I hardly remember what we said, but it wasn't us, it was the spirit, and both of us were literally holding back tears, and we even had the investigator shed a tear, who isn't a real investigator, he's a teacher here at the MTC. Our third lesson also went really well, except we forgot to say an opening prayer, but both me and my companion are always surprised by how much we are able to say, and that is a testament to me. I also was called as my district leader here at the mtc and while I don't feel like I am the best for the jopb, I work hard to be an example for my district members and try and fulfill all that I am supposed to by supporting them, they also really support me and are super helpful. Only on companionship doesnt get a long well and the rest are great, so it makes my job easy. There are 8 elders in my district including us,and 6 are actually headed to Ribierao Preto, so that's pretty cool. We never know when we might lose one though, as any day one of us might get a visa and head down to the MTC there. Well, to describe my companion, he's about 6 feet and ripped. We both love to work and get along really well! he's amazing with the language and helps me a lot. We also go down to the fitness center everyday and work out and I'm getting back in shape for Brazil. I'm pretty excited for that! We do really well! I also love our roommates who have been here 4 weeks already and will be here with us to the end. They extend a lot of helpful advice. Thank you to mom, dad and aunt marcy for the dear elders. We can't open mail till 9:30 at night, so please keep sending! It's nice to have mail to look forward to and I'm not distracted at all! We have way to much to do to be thinking about home or friends, and i thought I would miss it more, but I'm loving it here! It's seriously the best place. So please, keep sending letters,there are a huge support and make me so happy, not sad!:) I love getting something everyday even though I can't respond. Also my district and roommates thank you for the brownies! And Grandma Whipple, did you hear music and the spoken word? they sang the sound of music thought you'd like that. It was funny because we all cheered and were very excited for it and thought it was funny what we get excited for these days. And mom, I need you to send a few things, I need another large pair of shorts and another shirt, maybe a ASU or UofA big shirt, I need some more work out clothes, and maybe a couple pairs of nike socks. For anyone else, I would honestly love handwritten letters and packages (with food because the cafeteria is terrible, but the temple cafeteria is great! I went to the temple today and loved it!) just candy, cookies, jerky, anything to munch on would be great, and everyone in my room would love it, we share all of our packages. my address here is- Elder Caden Paul Wyatt Sep22 BRA-RIB 2011 N 900 E Unit 308 Provo UT 84602\ - Anyone I love you all a ton and everything is great here! p.s. if you ever send a packages just send like 5$ in ones for the vending machine, thanks!

I'm Excited To Serve (8-13-15)

Hey, so we're allowed to write y'all tonight just to let you know all we're safe and sound. i hope all is well at home! Everything is great here, and there's about 2200 missionaries here at the MTC right now. I love having so many worthy elders and sisters everywhere, and it brings such a great spirit. You can sing a song, in either language, or someone just says one simple gospel truth and you feel the strength in their words. Everything is wonderful here and I love it....I think i might change as time goes on, but you push hard and study hard, and I'll accomplish what i came here to do. I have a great companion, who's from Sulpher springs, Texas, and we both have a great desire to learn the language and work hard. It makes things way easier when we have the same goals! my instructor is the best in the whole place, everyone is jealous of us. His name is brother Belchior, and he's from Africa. Have a great district and we met with our branch president and his counselors today, I actually got assigned as the district leader for our district, pretty exciting, I'm excited to serve. my P-day will be on Tuesday, and we only get an hour to email, so my emails while in the mtc may be brief, i apologize, but I'll do my best. the food is not all that great honestly, but life goes on. I also heard that this sunday the nashville tribute band will be here to play for all of us.So, love you guys and hope all is well!