I am forgetting more and more English (3-14-16)

EHHHHHHHHHH, this week was super super great! Só bençãos do Senhor. And I also have found that I am forgetting more and more English, and that some words in English are really really hard to say. I taught adjectives in my class last saturday, It´s crazy, it took me a few minutes just to say the word "Adjectives" right! But, my language improves everyday, yesterday i rattled off a cake recepie to a sister in the ward, and she was just like wow. your language has really improved! I´m so happy!!! I also met a ton of new people this week, so we´re hoping with the start of the new transfer, we can really find some great people who will prepare for baptism! I´m really super excited, and I have some good feelings about this transfer. Milagres(miracles)- they have a saying here in brazil, Só Alegria or just joy, and that´s all the mission is! The other night we were making contacts with people, and it was almost time to go home, we´d made a million contacts that day so me and Elder Jeronymo started off in the direction of home. (quick overview, our house is one block from the church on the other side of a main street here.) So we´re walking to go home and then turn to enter the street of our house, I felt that we still had something more to do, but i wasn´t yet sure of what it could be. So I just started walking in the opposite direction. And I ended up deciding to just try a few houses.After sevral houses with no sucess I decided that maybe it was nothing. At the point where i decided that the feeling was nothing and that it was time to go home we decided to knock so one more house. At this last house we met a man called Nelson, who heard our mesage and wants us to return Teusday. I don´t know what fruit will come from this but I just know that we were lead to that house that night. Also, I learned that it´s really really easy to miss the whispers of the spirit. It would have been easy to say, lets just go back home, we were within 50 feet of our house. But I just felt it, not sure how else to describe it. I still don´t even know if it will end up with anything, but it was the spririt whispering to me. We´ll see what happens with Nelson next week I guess. But so many blessings are being given to us right now! Anyway, I´m doing great here! I also love you all, and I´ll send you something for carder next week! i can´t wait to get it all! Tchau! Elder Wyatt

Pictures from 3-7-16

Pictures from top to bottom: Missionary Night, Charrasco (BBQ), Beauty of Brazil, Trying his hand at the Harp, His Favorite fruit called Pina

I'm loving it here like crazy! (3-7-16)

Hey mom, I had a lot of fun experiences this last week, and I took a lot of pictures. I´m not going to say much but just send you a bunch of pictures. But yes, I got the package last week!!! Thank you so much!:) Ya, I know, almost 7 months, it goes by way to fast, it´s ridiculous!. But I´m loving it here like crazy, I´m really getting comfortable in this area. The problem, I´ve been here a long time now, and I have the smallest area in the zone. Transfers were last Saturday and we both are stay, but no surprise there! anyway, so I´m for sure staying for 6 more weeks. I´ve already knocked a good portion of the dorrs here in Boa Vista, so I´m picking up a few lists of members and perspective elders and searching a little bit this way. It works good for a few things, we can find new investigators of course (and it´s a much more casual way to make contact), it will help clean up old church records because people have moved, and we can try and help a few less actives return maybe. Anyway, that´s the plan for this transfer. We also had a ward activity were we did a play about missionary life, and it ended up going really well. if I can get the video sent I´ll get it to you, we´ll see. Anyway, love you all so much, the Cabo trip looked great! I guess you will have to send me there some day;) tchau Elder Wyatt

Thankful for blessings (2-29-16)

Well, we´re starting up the last week of the transfer now, it´s time to give it some gas so that we can finish out strong. This week was kind of hard. But definitely had some really strong points! Things are moving along slowly but surely here in Boa Vista. We had interviews with President Brum on Friday, and I won´t have many more interviews with him, he goes home in July. But it was really great, he had his general questions that he always asks to see how we´re doing, and he asked a lot about how is Elder Jeronymo, and the training going. Just gave me advice, helped show me what i can do better, these type of things. I asked him a few questions also. One being about how difficult it is to get Investigators to church on Sunday. He just gave me advice to try and bring more members to lessons, that this would help people to have a greater desire to go to church. I´m going to start putting even more effort into bringing members to lessons, actually, he gave us a challenge to double our lessons with members. The hardest thing here is getting our investigators to go to church, but I´m hoping that this will help in this area. As far as investigators go, we have 3 youth who have 15 years, and they´re really studs! I like them a lot. 2 are 7th day adventists, really smart(like to debate a little), but I think they have a lot of interest in the church. Another was invited by a girl to go to church, and has been going to another ward for about a month now, but he lives in our area, so we´re helping him to go to our ward, but he´s also super smart! He went to a church that had their own "prophet" but he came to find out that this Prophet was very false. He´s super prepared, we just need to help him to receive an answer through prayer. Actually, we have one more kid with 13 years, who´s really cool. We taught him for the first time last Saturday. The only bad thing was there was a drunk guy in the house while we were teaching him, but it was actually really funny... He just stared at us, he did try to make us leave, but the kid told him he wanted to hear us and to go lay on his bed. So what did the Bebido (drunk) do? Went and grabbed his bed and brought it into the living room.... Then layed down and in an instant was asleep. So, we taught the restoration with drunk man asleep on the floor. And by way of bebidos, were teaching 2, but I think they have a desire to stop and we´re trying to help them with that. Anyway, this week was really hard, I was a little down on myself and just felt really weighted. The god thing is that there´s things called blessings. I asked Felippe our Ward Mission Leader to give me a blessing Sunday, and it was a really neat experience to say the least. Needless to say, I´m feeling much much better now, and things are better in my life. The mission continues, and I´m prepping to do what needs to be done everyday! Elder Wyatt

This place has more lightning touchdowns than any other place in the world! (2-29-16)

hey dad, don´t have much time, so I´ll have to be short. The videos were to big, so they wouldn´t send sorry btw. The Thnderstorms are crazy here, someone told me that this area has more lightning touchdowns than any other place in the World, so the Lightning is really cool here. And it depends on where we are and how bad the rain is. if we´re at home and it´s bad, we´ll wait for a bit, and on the street we find the next closest place that´s dry. Also. we live right across the street from the church, really close which is amazing! This week was better for me for sure, we´re going to give it a lotof effort this coming transfer also. Haha, some days my legs get pretty tired from walking, but he bad thing is, walking doest burn that many calories, not like running or riding a bike. The work is still going, I know there is a reason I´m still here, so I´m going to try and do some new different things to find what i´m missing. Right now I´m studying a lot about santification by the spirit, and we have 1 hour of personal study, and then 1 hour of companion study. I´m pretty excited to see those changes in the kids! btw, I got your letter in the mail, I´ll get a response ritten and sent out in the mail this week or the next. But thanks so much dad, love you! Elder Wyatt

Letter to his Dad I thought was worth sharing (2-22-16)

I recieved a really cool talk the other day about the atonement and it ties it into the doctrine of intelligences. If you´d like I can send you some of the scriptures it quotes, it´s really cool, and helped me to understand better a little bit of the atonement, especially why it´s so infinite. But, I was thinking about studying a bit more myself the Atonement. But, training is going great, we´ve made some really good progress. I found some things that Elder Jeronymo was needing and I molded our practices to that, and it really helped a lot. He´s a great missionary, with a lot of desire and heart. i´m pretty grateful to have him as a companion. Weights not to bad, I made a few chnages specifically to my diet, and I´m holding pretty steady now, so not to big a problem, but I need to get back to exercising. I´ve been writing in my journal in the mornings because It´s hard to find time at night. But, here´s the problem, I have some things that I want to do, but there´s not much time out into a missionaries schedule for us, it´s for others. So, I make due with what I can. Next transfer is 2 weeks from now, but I´ll probably stay and finish the training of Elder Jeronymo. Cabo is going to be really fun, sounds like it´ll be a great time! I´ll be sure and get a letter sent out to you after i get yours, there´s so much I´d like to tell you but just don´t have time. But I´ve learned a lot, things I want to apply after the mission, and things that I´m trying to grow in the habit of doing. I´ll be sure and get some of those downs, but thank you so much dad. Love you, and ter mais. Elder Wyatt

Missionary Life...It's not always one with our stomachs full (2-22-16)

Well, nothing to crazy happened this week. It was pretty normal overall, i think what i´ll do is just take some time to answer questions. The changes that come from a mission though are enormous. Just things like, you learn what you were doing wrong in your life before the mission, and I have a really strong desire to fix those things. Like, being more study minded, really, actually keeping the sabbath day holy, wasting less time on video games, things like that. As missionaries, a lot of times we hear all the problems that people have. We also have the gift of the spirit to tell people how they can fix these problems. But, this gift also can tell us what we need to fix. These are the things that you wouldn´t believe, just the changes that come. Also the knowledge that I´ve gained, I´ve started to find out how little i knew before the mission, but i´m gaining a little more each day. Oh, I just remembered something funny that happened this week. So, normally our money falls on the 1st and 15th of every month, and normally by the end we don´t have any money. so, this last week, the 15th fell on Monday, which is P-Day, so we´re on our own for lunch. This last week our money didn´t fall and no one in the zone had any money. Haha, I ended using my personal card, and there´s an Elder in our house who doesn´t have one, so I bought lunch for him, but the whole Zone was in revolt for a few days until our money fell. anyway, missionary life, it´s not always one with our stomachs full. We also have interveiws with President Brum this Saturday, so he should bring all of the boxes and things with him I hope. Anyway, so we´re really searching for new investigators right now, having some sucess but nothing crazy. We´re going to keep working hard, fasting and praying a little, and see what we can find. Anyway, thanks and love you guys. Have fun in Cabo! Elder Wyatt​

Prayer can make changes in our lives and the lives of others, this is a great Truth (2-15-16) Caden reached the 6 month mark!!

Well, this week was amazing! I´m having a problem right now remembering though what it was that happened that I wanted to tell you... I´ll just go for it and hope I remember. First off, 6 months in the mission, it´s unbelievable how fast it´s going by! Friday night we took some pictures to remember it all, also drank some tererê. It´s this plant thats crushed up, you put in suco de limão and drink it through a special straw, the stuff is really big here, and so good. I´ll have to send you guys some someday, I think you´d like it. But it was pretty neat to hit 6 months, but already! how crazy, it´s going by 2 fast for me. But I´m really starting to get accustomed to the mission. I´m making friends with the members, there´s a couple families I really like. I can really comunicate with people. someone asked if i was fluent, I don´t know if i´ll ever be fluent, but I felt really comfortable with the language about 1 month ago, and now I just feel like I grow a little more each day. everything is really great. Alex is doing great! He received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday, and went with us to visit people, he really likes it and wants to do it more. You would not believe the testimony he has of the Gospel now! He always asks, when can i have this, or a patriarchal blessing, go to the temple, always wants to learn more! He´s super excited for it all. We had someone new named Artur in gospel principles yesterday, and Alex at the end of the class was like, hey, don´t worry, we´re all here to learn new things, and your super welcome here anytime! Also, just ask if you need any help. I´m telling you, he´s a stud. Wow, one thing that´s really changed here is the Ward. They´ve made some improvements, and you would not believe the things that are happening here! It´s really great, i feel so much more secure about the Ward, and am pretty proud of everything that´s happened here, not going to lie. Well, the work is really progressing, and my testimony really grew this week. A question arose with a member this passed week and I had some doubts about a doctrinal question. The truth of the matter is that God responds to our faithful questions, and mine was answered, clearly, leaving no shadow of a doubt. Prayer is crazy on the mission, it can make changes in our lives, and the lives of others, this is a great truth. Preach my Gospel has a really great "personal inventory" on your prayers that you can do. I invite everyone to give it a look sometime. Anyway, ter mais todo mundo! Elder Wyatt

Giving out wheelchairs for a service project. (2-8-16)

Well, it was a good week, on tuesday and Wednesday we did a service project. The stake here received 109 wheelchairs for people here, so we helped put them together one day, and the next day we helped distribute them as people came to pick them up. There was a mountain of people at the stake center, and all the missionaries from the zone were there helping too. So, I got to see Elder Sant who´s still in my zone. Did I tell you he´s training too? I think there having a lot of success there in Andradina. But it was really a neat experience, you can´t imagine how many people there are that are needing these things. That´s something interesting since I´ve been here, I don't know if it´s only because I´m out walking the streets talking to everyone, or there's more in Brazil, but there is a lot of people with deformities of feet, hands, legs, lots of things. Don´t know, but there's a lot here. Anyway, I was glad to help out some, and I also met a married couple of missionaries who are serving in São Paulo as church welfare missionaries. they´re from Idaho and the husband served here in Araçatuba in 1971 when they just had a branch here. it was neat to talk with him. Other things that happened was it was really difficult. If you didn´t know, this weekend and until tuesday is Carnival. Everyone is drinking, partying, or left for a bigger city where they have parades and dances and things. So, basically it´s really annoying, because no one wants to receive us right now. Luckily here in Araçatuba there´s not a bunch of public things. So, we work, it´s just a little harder. But, I´m almost certain I told you the name of my comp. Elder Jeronymo, but anyway, that´s his name, and he´s doing great! Improves a little each day, he wants to work hard, and do everything right. i was pretty blessed with him, basically all I´m doing is helping him destroy 2 words from his vocabulary realmente (really) and Né which is like a word people use after every sentences, but it doesn´t even exist. Anyway, we´re working with that. Haha, and he still has plenty he needs to learn, but he´s progressing wonderfully. And yes, I teach gospel principles class every Sunday when we can get someone to church. And other great news, this week I hit 6 months! Anyway, Tchau! Elder Wyatt

1st Pic: Cadens new companion Elder Jeronymo, Alex, Caden, and Felippe the ward mission leader. 2nd Pic: Caden and Alex on his Baptism Day

Alex is amazing and a miracle! (2-1-16)

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CR!!!! Pretty exciting, because on the same day as CR´s birthday we had the confirmation of Alex. Fala parabéns para CR. How exciting he looks like he´s getting pretty big! And Carder´s next, with his own baptism. Pretty exciting things are happening there then, I´m glad everybody´s so busy and happy. You´ll have to record some videos of sis for me so I can get it a view someday when I get back. Spaghetti was a good choice, I had the same thing on Sunday actually. Also, thanks for updating me on the Boy´s Basketball, and you have my address to give to Marylin right? Also, i´m glad you got the letters, hope they give you a little more information than my emails can. I think I´ll start some new ones this week, always have plenty of things to tell. Oh, and yes, I would love the picture book, for sure! So my old comp. was sent to Jabuticabal (I think I spelled it right) to be a Zone Leader of a brand new zone there. His shirt will be simpleto get to him, all the Zone Leaders go to Ribeirão Preto every month, so I can just send it with my zone leaders and they can get it to him there. He was pretty excited about the shirt so I´ll make sure and get it to him. So anyway, I just wanted to talk about a few things today, namely Alex and E. Jeronymo, my new comp. Alex is amazing and a miracle. You know how we call people "Investigators" well Alex literally is one, He was already in a lot of other churches, and he left a lot of other churches, because what he found in the Bible and what he found in other Churches wasn´t the same thing. So, he´s always been searching for the truth, but didn´t know where to find it. So, one day he finds our church site on the internet, and decides to check it out. So he goes by bike, in church clothes like 45 minutes to the stake center for church one Sunday. The Zone Leaders found out who he was, and where he was from and sent him our way. So I had heard about him, but had to wait a week to meet him. in the beginning he had a lot of doubts, he knows the bible really...really well... but he always came to the conclusion that we were right. Also, his mother didn´t like us, so he came every wednesday and saturday to English class, were I taught him English, and afterwards we taught him the lessons. He, during this month and a half has not missed one Sunday, even when he was working in another city late saturday night, he came back to go to church! I´m telling you, he´s a stud, and half the time he was teaching me. He has a good amount of scriptures memorized. But last week, he decided he was ready, and he really was ready for baptism. It was a really amazing experience to be apart of helping him reach this point, the best thing is that he´ll be a huge help to the ward here. the Lord really gave us a miracle with Alex. Another thing, my new comp is amazing. i´m really excited to train him, which isn´t really training at all, just helping a little. He knows it all very well, I´m only helping with like the way to teach, some parts of the mission life, rules, simple things like that. For sure we all have plenty to learn, and still are, but we´ll both learn a lot together. i´m pretty excited for this tranfser to see what happens, I think we´ll see plenty of miracles. We only had one half week so far, but this next full week we´re planning on giving it our all, and it´s going to be a good one! Com Amor, Elder Wyatt

I'm going to be a Trainer! (1-25-16)

Well, this week was pretty crazy. It was normal all the way up until Wednesday... When just before 9 while i´m teaching English my comp. Elder teodoro gets a call that says he´s being transfered by emergency. (normally this means something bad, but in this case no). He was called as a Zone Leader in a brand new zone they are opening, and needed to go there a little early. So, basically he´s a really great missionary, and president Brum trusts him a lot. So he left the next day at 9 in the morning, and i got put in a trio with paraíso until now. Saturday we recieved the transfers, and Elder Wyatt....stays in Boa Vista. Also, I´m going to train, so I´m actually in ribeirão Preto right now, because I´ll wait here until tomorrow when all the newbies arrive. Anyway, lot´s of crazy changes, but I´m super excited! I´ve wanted to train since I finished my training, so I hope that I´m able to help this new missionary out a little. I plan on him coming out of training as the best missionary around. Other crazy thing that actually happened today. I ran into Elder Buckner, the missionary that was a little bit difficult in the MTC. i don´t know if i told you this, but he didn´t make it to Brazil, he stayed in Arizona, and I heard later on the he returned home. Well, he did, and now he´s come back and I ran into him today! But, it was really pretty awesome, he asked to talk to me aside, and he apologized for how he acted in the MTC. Said that he thought a lot about things when he returned home, and that he really wants to be a good missionary, one who does things right. I just was like well I wasn´t perfect, sorry, things like that. But, it was really nice to talk to the guy. he´s changed a little bit, and I think he´s going to be an alright missionary, and I´m kind of proud to be a little part of that:) Anyway, things are going to be crazy now with the training, but I´m still super excited! Love you all and have a great week! Wish Kam good luck for me in everything with sports and school! The boys as well. Tchau Elder Wyatt

I'm not talking about being inspired by our stomachs (1-18-16) Pic: Caden with the Stk. Patriarch and family

Hey everyone! This week was really really great! And yes mom, it rained, a ton.... It rained one night harder than I´ve ever seen it rain before. It was Thursday evening, about 7;30, and we had had a great day. We found one incredible family, and had some other good lessons with some investigators. Also, it was the last day before our money dropped again, needless to say we were starving, and without money, so what did we decide to do? We decided to visit Irmã Ana. But, I´ll explain to you how inspired it was, and I´m not talking about just inspired by our stomachs. So we walked to her house, aftr she arrived she said she´d make us some salgados, so we said we´d come back by in 30 minutes. So we headed off a few blocks from her house, to a recent convert, but she wasn´t there. Next to a investigator, nada. And it starts to rain a little, so we decided to head back to her house. then it starts to rain a little harder, and a litttle harder, and some more, until we had to get under something. So we run under a tree, which does nothing, and start looking around for a dry place. Literally the only place is a church, directly across the street from us.... So we´re like yes, or no, and it´s both of us, yes. So we run over and into the church, who´s having their meeting, and you wouldn´t believe how well we we´re recieved! 5 people, and the preacher all run over to us, offer chairs, towels, and generally made sure that we were ok. so we sit down for a little bit, oh btw, they were watching a video of two preachers argue over 1 Peter 3:18-22, about the spirits in prison, and they had no idea what they were saying at all. Elder Teodoro said, "Joseph Smith te amo." It´s amazing the clarity that we have with modern day prophets, thank goodness that the church was restored. Anyway, we didn´t want to stay long, because it´s not to great for 2 missionaries to be stuck in another church, not exactly following the rules. So we decided to run for it, in the pouring rain, with rivers for streets 2 blocks to Irmã Ana. So we did so, to find the her house was being flooded. So we started to move things around, were able to save tables and chairs and things, also, Ana is 79 years old. So anyway, long story short, we were really inspired to be there at that time to help her, and it was without us even knowing it, we were just hungry. it´s really great to know that the Lord is directing this work. Anyway, the whole week was just great, Elder Teodoro did a baptismal interview for the LZ in Higienopolis, and we had a lot of good quality work this week. I also got rained on a ton, and all my clothes that i washed clean also got rained on also. But the promise is the more rain you take, the more beautiful your wife will be, at least that´s what they say. hope all is well, keep up the good work. i only sent your letters out like a week ago, so it could be a little while sorry. But love you all, Tchau! Elder Wyatt

I found out my new mission president coming in July is an American from Virginia (1-11-16)

Well. this week was interesting to say the least. I´m going to have to be brief, I had a email to respond to President Brum and don´t have much time. But, some things that happened... one, found out who the new Mission President will be, I don´t remember his name, but he´s an American from Virginia. He´ll arrive sometime in july and president brum will end his mission. I really like President Brum btw, the more I hear about him the more i learn that he´s just solid. Also, we had 3 divisions this week with other elders, so it was crazy. Two were with new missionaries and I took them here in Boa Vista, and the other was with the Zone Leaders, so I was with Elder Ananias in his area. This week was also very difficult, right now there really asking a lot of us, a lot of things to do. i don´t know, both me and my comp. feel really inadaquate and feel like it´s impossible to get it all done. But, after a lot of prayer and planning, we succeded. Now, first off, numbers are not the most important thing in the mission, much more important is the people they represent, but I had the best numbers I´ve ever had. We worked really hard, and relied a lot on the lord, and a lot of miracles happened. that´s something pretty amazing. Also yes, it has been raining a lot, and thank goodness for that, really cools it all off:) I bought a ping pong set! All of the chapels here have tables, but nothing to go with them. So I bought paddles and balls, and a net to play on P-Days. Also bought some books from deseret. And on the Package nothing special, I could use like one package of deodorant to keep so i don´t run out, but something to snack on, I love it and my companions always do too. I like ties if you pick one up, but no worries about anything, I love it all! Ãnyway, loved the pictures! Thanks for everything! Love you all! Elder Wyatt

Its a new year and with people ready to make changes, the missionaries will be there to help. (1-4-16)

Well, as I expected it was a very difficult week, and one that didn´t have a lot of sucess, but we worked super hard! So there is one thing that we can control on the mission here, and that´s contacts, so we made a million contacts this week, the problem is that no one is looking to commit to anything and so it makes everything all the more difficult. So mostly we visited those investigators who we knew would accept us and we could share a message with them. It´s not much fun to leave the house everyday knowing that you might have 1 or 2 lessons and the rest of the 6 or 7 hours you´ll be knocking doors, but that´s a part of missionary life here. The good thing is that overall , with what we had in mind and the goals we established at the begginning of the week, it ended up good with us reaching most of our goals. This week i went on a division with Elder jacobson, an elder who only has 3 weeks in the mission. It was awesome, and scary, because I didn´t have a brazilian to rely on. But we did awesome, and he speaks great Portuguese for only 3 weeks. I was super excited for the division, and it ended up being really great, and my comp really helped to excite the other area when he was there. It´s cool, because he´s a DL over 3 areas that are training missionaries. So he goes to the other area and trains the trainer, and I get to try and help the trainee if I can.... But I hope I helped a few of them out, and honestly, miracles always happen with divisions. Me and my companion are super excited about this week. We are going to destroy some areas, it´s a New Year and the parties are over. People are ready to make big changes in their lives, and guess who will arrive ready to help them make these changes, the missionaries! Anyway, I´m super ready to get back into the swing of things! Also, on other thing, we´re having a World Wide conference for all missionaries on Jan. 20. I have decided that it´s something really big, and this is my conclusion. The church has established relations with China, and with the opening of a country with 1.8 billion people, they are sending all missionaries under 1 year to serve there. But anyway, that´s my theory, we´ll see what happens! Elder Wyatt

It was great to Skype with the family! (12-28-15)

Well, I already said a lot about my week talking to you on Friday. Btw, sorry about the cell phone dying and kind of cutting us off, but it was probably a good thing in the end. We were a little over time....and it makes for awkward goodbyes slightly less awkward:) Loved talking with you all so much too, but man, it kills. Everything... It makes me miss everyone so much. Also, it destroyed my portguese that night, after I got off, we talked with President Galvez and his son who returned from his mission 2 years ago, and they were having difficulty understanding me. My companion also said my accent was really really strong, haha, but I´m back to normal now. It´s really good to hear from everyone:) This week was extremely difficult though...Christmas in general here is just a big party that starts the 24th and ends january 2nd. So, no one wants to recieve us, hardly any new investigators, no one is commiting, just really hard. My comp and I are really doing great though, and really working like crazy! We´re excited. Oh, he also said thank you for the tie! We did find 2 hopefully pretty solid investgators this past week, but that was about it. I told you we had a division with the assistents this last Tuesday right? well it went really well, I was with Elder Borges, and learned a lot from him, he´s a great missionary and knows his stuff. That´s one thing I´m really grateful for is having had the chance to learn from a lot of really great missionaries. Anyway, we´re going to really try and get through this week, work hard, and we´re really focusing on planning for the new year and having some great success! Anyway, just a short one this week, love you all! Elder Wyatt

It's been a Super good week! (12-21-15)

Well it´s been a super good week. I really really like my new comp. He´s super good, great missionary, very smart, and wants to work hard. I´m really super excited about this transfer and the things to come. I think that some great things are going to happen. this week was a little hard though, this end of the year time is really hard here, and it´s difficult to teach and have appointments, no ones really all that excited to talk to us. But we continue on. This week on wednesday we´re having a division with the assistants, and actually "P-Day" will be Thursday we only are emailing today and instead working the rest of the day. Today will be a lot better day to work than Thursday. Christmas here in general is not all that huge. It´s more of just a fiesta or party and a huge excuse for people to drink a lot. So it´s difficult to make contacts and have lessons when the whole world here will be drunk. We´re trying to mark some investigators for this day and also the day before, but it´s difficult. But anyway, I´m excited for natal and everything that goes with it. Just by chance the sister that makes the best lunch in my opinion is marked for this date, so I´m excited to see what it will be! But once again, it´s a difficult time for missionary work so I´ll be happy when it´s all passed. On another note, our plan is to skype at about 6:00 our time here. So not sure when that is exactly for you, but find out and that should be the time. If things change maybe we´ll call and let you know or I´ll send you a quick email, not sure, but we´ll see. Excited to see everyone! It seemed like time when I started my mission, but you would not believe the speed it flys by. It´s crazy to think how much time has passed. But the mission is great and I´m loving it. Also glad you liked the pictures, hope all is well:) Thanks for sending all the info too, I like hearing about everything back at home, it really sounds like everybody's doing pretty good. Kam is killing it in basketball! Glad I´ll still get to see her play all through high school, Tell her to keep it up! Keep doing eveything right, sounds like you all are really blessed and watched over. Haha, and yes, I remember them! Glad to know that some people still remember me! Anyway, keep me updated and talk to you soon! I´ll probably skype to dad´s email, wyattdrilling, is that fine? anyway, love you all! Elder Wyatt

Pictures from top: elder Barros, Elder Theodore (both from Brazil), a members pet monkey, & some of his favorite people Desiderio & Alice

Q & A from Caden and a letter at the end (12-14-15)

1. Did you make maple syrup and how did it turn out? 2. And the gravy too? You didn't tell me how the thanksgiving meal went? 3. Did you like the English teaching books I sent? Were they what you were looking for? 4. What is your favorite quality of your companion? 5. What quality have you improved on that you are glad about and why? 6. Have you gained/lost any weight? (Since I have only 2 pictures since Brazil) 7. What is your favorite thing about Aractuba? And your least? 8. Are you more emotional now? 9. Do you still write Jaun? And have you Kaden? How are they? In response to the questions- 1. Yes I made the maple syrup with the pancakes last P-Day, haha, you can´t eat pancakes without syrup;) But I think I needed to boil it just a bit longer, because it still had some crystals, but was still good anyway. Also with the pancakes, I didn´t add enough baking powder the first batch so they were flat, but the next few batches were great. 2. I didn´t end up making gravy, I had nothing to make it with, and I talked about Thanksgiving a bit, it was good, just a very busy day that day, and it started very late, so we left early because it was 9:30. 3. Yes, I do like the English books, a lot, I might send the soft cover one back though, because I really only need one. I was hoping for one more with like lesson plans, but this will work great anyway! Also, I will translate the whole book into Portuguese and it will help me learn new words too! 4. I think that he´s very willing to give and share is my favorite quality. 5. I have improved my willingness to share also, humility definitely (Elder Barros is very smart...). I have always been very this is mine and this is yours, and we´ll just keep what we have. But on a mission, especially here, you learn to go with less so that another can have some when they have none. Anyway, I´m grateful for the many opportunities to share not just the gospel, but honestly material things that others need as well. 6. Gained, haha, the foods pretty good here.... Haha, but I don´t know how much, I´m 88 kilos now? 7. Favorite thing, lot´s of pretty trees. Things I don´t like, the city is very dirty, and the people are very cold and shut out. 8. Haha, more emotional?? Well, I share my testimony a lot, and I feel the spirit very strong, but it´s not the kind that brings tears to your eyes. I mean, in general, a mission is very stressful, and tiring, so I think my nerves and emotions are a little more on edge. 9. And Yes, I write Juan and Kaden basically every week, just a short little something in general. All appears to be well with them! Haha, much easier to respond to, and I hope that answered everything. I also have a letter written in respone to yours and dad´s letter so you´ll have those questions answered, just gathering up a few things before i get it sent out. It will be late for Christmas, but I haven´t had much time to do much, sorry, crazy busy! Anyway, this week was a little cazy! It was the last week of a 7 week transfer and we found out the results Saturday night. So the news is......Elder Wyatt is staying in Boa Vista!!! Yayyyyyyy, I´m pretty happy to stay I like where I am, and we have some pretty solid Investigators. Sad thing is that Elder Barros is going to Rio Preto, north of us and will be a Zone Leader there. He was a great companion, but on to better and bigger things! My new comp will be Elder Theodore, a Brazilian from São Paulo, and I heard he´s a really good missionary. So I´m excited for that! Things are really great with me, and I´m still going strong. The District is really changing this transfer too! out of the 5 areas (one being mine and the other the ZL´s) 3 districts will be training new missionaries. Anyway, lot´s a great stuff. So pretty basic week this week. I bought a cake and had a little party for a missionary going home on Thursday night. We´ve had to drop a few of our Investigators so we were back to knocking a few doors during the week because we need to find some new ones who are prepared and ready to progress! But our studs are still doing good, Cleusa is awesome, but she´s been really sick lately, so she´s going to Rio Preto this week to the doctor. Also, Raphael, a really really good Investigator is moving to another area.....so we lost him, and that´s really sad. But, we have some progressing, and i´m really hoping and praying for the coming transfer to have some great success! Also, now that I´m staying, I know a little more about Christmas, we´ll probably skype at President Galves house, a member of the stake presidency in our ward. He has a computer and all that. I´m not sure time and all that, i´ll give even more details probably when we talk to him about it. Anyway, hope all is well. Give me more details about what´s going on at home these days! Also tell dad I got his second letter! I will write him back, the hard part is just finding time to be able to write one! Also, I probably won´t get christmas packages until January, but all´s good! Love you! Elder Wyatt

She felt something special from the prophets picture (12-6-15)

hey mom and dad, well it was a good week, not just crazy, but pretty hard. Yes we did have some some pretty good rain....I was on a division with another missionary from paraíso and they have a really really big area....It started pouring on our way home and I was soaked! Haha, but I love the rain so much here, it´s so cool and refreshing, and sometimes there´s so much thunder it´s like a constant rumbling. Also, when a storm hits, you know it, there´s like this huge rush of wind, and the other day we could see the rain coming towards us down the street until it hit us. Rain is amazing though, just sometimes you get good and soaked. Crazy thing, we were teaching Alice again, the wife of Desiderio, and we taught about prophets and well she liked it but something really interesting happened... Elder Barros pulled out his picture of President Monson, and we handed it to her for her to see, and she did like this like jump thing, like something shocked her, and then she looked at the picture and did it again, but only for a moment. Anyway, she said that she felt this good thing go up her arm, and something bad go out the other arm, and the pain in her head and in her body went away, pretty crazy. Except, she asked us for a bigger picture of him so that when she prays she can have the picture on the way to pray too. Haha, it was pretty funny, but we explained everything to here, that we don´t worship the prophet, that we pray to God. Anyway, so many miracles in this house, they´re really something special. One last thing, this morning we visited a school´s english class which was really fun! oh, and one more, so wednesday night is going to be crazy.... We scheduled a appointment at 7:30 right before my English class because that´s the only time it could happen, but at 7:00 Elder Barros is playing piano for the primary, so I´m teaching on my own with the stake president and his wife. then at 8:00 I´ll teach my English class, and Elder Barros will go and teach another family that can only do it at this time, anyway, I´m a little nervous to teach with the stake president and on my own, but here goes nothing! Also, just a side note, I really feel much more confident in the language now, not perfect but I can get my point across fairly well. Anyway, until next time, hope you enjoyed the read:) Oh ya, I forgot, today we were with the ZL`s and I made pancakes for everyone! Elder Wyatt

Im Improving in every aspect, its just what a mission does! (12-1-15)

Hey everyone, it´s been a great week super busy. I had a million things happen here. Elder Smedley, the other American in the district came down with meningitis, the viral kind not bacterial, and so he´s been in the hospital for 10 days or so. He´s good and all is well there, so no worries! He missed thanksgiving which was sad though. I just want to talk about a few things that happened this week, I don´t know, sorry, but I´m pretty tired and not in a big mood to write much. first off, we had stake conference this week and it was really great. The speakers all did a great job, and President Brum was there and spoke too. We had Cleuza there, and it was literally a miracle. She said to us that she had worked at a place very close to the stake center and passed by it everyday, always saying someday I want to go in there. Well when we invited her to go, she was super excited to! She loved it, talked so much about how she could feel the spirit, and after the meeting she wanted us to introduce her to every speaker so she could personally thank them. Another thing with her, we had Bento at our last lesson with her and it was amazing, loved him, they really had a lot in common, knew a lot a people from the old days, and it turns out her son works with his son and are best friends, it´s crazy! So many miracles with her, and she just loves everything about the church. Other thing was that we had Christmas Conference yesterday, which is why we have P-Day today. It was neat to get to see all the different missionaries from the west side of the mission. I met a sister on the bus named Sister Overson who´s from St. Johns, so that´s pretty cool! Someone needs to ask Murph for me if he knows her? Also I found out that the Elder who baptized Desiderio is from Snowflake, an Elder Lunt if anyone knows him or his famliy? Anyway, really cool what a small world. Anyway, life´s great here, just we traveled really early and then late last night from Christmas Conference to Rio Preto yesterday and I´really wore out, so sorry it´s a little shorter. Thanks, love you all! Hey forgot to tell you guys, I recieved your packge in the mail last week! Thank you so much mom and dad for looikng after me! You really mean a lot to me and I hope that all has been well. Being away gives life a different perspective. I want you to know I´m really improving in so many aspects, it´s just what a mission does. Anyway, Christmas soon, best of wishes, tchau! Elder Wyatt