Brazil Week #45

Bom Dia my marvelous family! We had a normal week here in Cuiabá. My area is super good but its different than I thought it would be before I arrived. I thought it would be all skyscrapers and stuff, but luckily its not like that. We work in an area that's about 45 or 50 minutes from the cuiabá center. SO really, my area is alot like my other areas before. Its not a super poor area but there's not really any nice houses or buildings. The church house here is by far the nicest building for miles. But I like it like that, its alot easier working in a humble area, because it means that it has humble people. The people here have a different vibe about them compared to Sorriso. Here there are alot more of the typical Brazilian looking people. With darkish skin. Sorriso has alot of white people from the south and are a closed, cold people, but not so much here. It's alot easier making contacts and talking to people here. It is hard though too, cause its a pretty small area and almost everyone knows the missionaries. There are people that are like yeah, I have already had the missionaries here like 5 times but you can come in if you want. That kinda stinks sometimes. But it's alright. There are always just random people that are like hey Elders what's up! and we talk to them and they have received alot of visits from the missionaries already but don't want to change churches. There's alot of that but the attitude of the people here is completely different. Sometimes,  I think I´ve died and gone to heaven haha. But it's good here. We had been working alot with a young women this week and named Mayara. We met her during the week last week because she is the friend of a member, we invited her to church and she went and so right after church we taught her the restoration. It was a powerful lesson and we had two members with us during the lesson. I thought she was going to pass out at the end of the lesson, because she couldn't breathe cause she was feeling the spirit so strongly. It was a neat experience. She accepted to be baptized without hesitation, but after, she had some questions, because she was already baptized in a church that her parents go to. She said that her mom told her that it's a sin to be baptized more than once, we explained about authority and showed her and example in the Bible when there were people who were baptized again, she also said that she didn't know how her parents would react with her desire to join another church. She said both her parents are very active in their church and that her mom is even an evangelizer, which means she does missionary work too and walks in the streets and makes visits and stuff. We said that we would talk to her parents during the week and explain everything. So during the week we tried to do that, we went there several times but mayaras parents weren't home or were busy and couldn't talk. We finally were able to talk to her mom for like 2 mins, but she just said to come back later when she wasn't busy. So we came back later but she had already left. Mayara said she talked to her parents, but they didn't agree with her being baptized again and told her that she is denying Christ of she were to get baptized again. We still explained that we want to talk directly with her parents to explain things. Finally on Friday we went and her dad was there, but he didn't want to talk, so we just talked with Mayara for a little while and finally her dad poked his head out the door and then went back into his house, then he came aback out again a little later and actually talked too. But the first thing he said was our daughter wont be joining your church because she already has her own church and she wont be changing. He said that she hasn't said anything about joining another church. We explained that's why we were there to talk to her parents and explain things. He didn't know what to say after that, I just told him that we will come back to talk to him another day. He just tried making excuses saying that he is never home and stuff like that. He was kinda rude and it didn't sit to well with me, but the Spirit told me to keep my mouth shut, so I didn't say anything to provoke him. We will wait for another day when we can actually sit down and talk, and if they still are hard headed, we will just bear testimony and let the Spirit burn him. I feel bad cause Mayara really wants to get baptized, but she's only 15 and so she has to have permission from the parents. Whatever though, it will work out as the Lords wants it to work out. So on Wednesday, we had district meeting and also President Reber came and interviewed all of us. It was good, he just said to keep praying for the visas because there are over 1,000 Americans waiting for visas to go to Brazil. He said that I will probably be training as soon as the visas arrive so he said be ready. So we ate more bbq this week and we had another service project in the house of a member, we picked a bunch of weeds and cleaned up his yard. Then he made us bbq again, it was really good, but my necked burned alot we had a good time though. Tomorrow I am going to go on splits with our district leader Elder Cardon, he's from La Paz, Bolivia. He works in another area, but he will come here and Elder Almeida will go to his area and work with his companion, which is Elder Linton who is from my group. SO it should be a good day tomorrow, I think we will end up doing alot of contacts and looking for new investigators, our teaching pool is a little small right now so we need to fill it with some fishes. I don't know if we have any plans for p-day today, I know that we will get fed lunch today and that there will be family home evening as well at the house of a member. I enjoyed all the letters and the pictures, looks like Jordan should have had a good time at the dance. Yesterday church was stake conference and so there was several wards there. I think the stake president said there was about 500 people that came. It was good and I got to see all the missionaries from our zone. Right now I am in the same zone as Elder Linton, Spencer, and sister Clark who are from my group and sister Clark is from my district at the mtc, the other 2 we just arrived the same day to the mtc and were from a different district but we are still good friends. Sounds like you guys had a warm week back at home. We had a warm week too, it was about 90 degrees the entire week, it was supposed to rain this week, but we didn't really get anything, except for last week it rained like crazy for about an hour! the main avenue turned into a river literally, I was expecting to see a bum rowing down the road on a wood door or something. Time is passing really quick, I'm getting closer and closer to hitting a year. Strange to think about that. Well, I'm gonna try to load some more pictures for you guys before we go, but i think that's about it for this week. I think mom will have to do alot of spell checking. There isn't spell checking on this computer cause its programmed for Portuguese and so it just says that all of my words are incorrectly spelled. plus there's a problem with the a button and so it keeps pressing "a" without me wanting to. So I hope everyone has a good week this week and that you all stay safe and happy. I love you guys all so much and thanks for everything from you guys!  Com amor

-Elder Kennington

Week #44 Cuiaba, Brazil is Great!

Fernandos Baptism Day. October 19, 2013

Yeahhhhhhhhh, Cuiabá is the best!!! So not much time today its pretty late but I´ll try to write what I can. SO yeah, got transferred to what seems like paradise haha compared to my last area. Transfers went good we got to Cuiabá at about 1 in the morning, the bus was slow again. We got there and the secretaries weren't waiting like we expected them to, it turns out they had waited till midnight and then finally went home, nobody had cell phones so we had to find a phone booth and to make a charged call to the assistants, they said to take a taxi to the secretaries house and they would reimburse us. The problem was we had so many suitcases that it would take at least 2 taxis to carry us and all of our baggage. There were 3 of us in total that took the same bus to Cuiabá, me, Elder Lima and Elder Molina, they were both going to Campo Grande but would have to wait till the next day to take their bus, so we talked to all the taxi dudes and they wanted to charge like 40 reais for two taxis. But then there was a taxi guy that also had a truck and said that it would fit all of our baggage and us without problems. He said that he would charge 30 reais which is still outrageously expensive but it was the best that we could do because there was no way we could haul all of our suitcases to the secretaries house by hand, its less then a mile away but we had a ton of suitcases that were super heavy. So we got a ride with this dude, it was pretty funny when he started up his truck to drive toward us and pick up our luggage he ran into a pole. I just laughed. Luckily we he got us to the secretaries house without any problems. Flip, every ones leaving already so next week I will fill you in on the rest. But my companion is great, he doesn't seem too trunky and he is willing to work, Fernando was baptized yesterday and I think his wife will be getting baptized probably within the next while. That made me super happy. So our street that we live on, also has the stake president, the bishop, the old bishop, the member that takes care of our lunch schedule and several other members.  I feel like I'm in Utah again. We have already had several activities. The members are really excited here we have ward missionaries that actually have the calling of going out with the missionaries on visits. I'm stoked about that. This week I think we have had dinner every night in the house of a member and also we have had bbq 3 times this week. That's alot! Im living with 3 Brazilians again. Its me Elder Almeida, ELder Moraes and Elder Moura. They are the bomb we joke alot and have a good time. they are great missionaries and are good examples of how to work. SO today we went fishing already, ahaha we went with some members to the river Cuiabá. We sat on this barge thing that is tied to the shore and fished. I bought a huge straw hat for 5 bucks that kept me from burning. We still used a ton of sun screen. I kept 5 or 6 fish I think but they were all pretty good sized. We had a blast. We are already planning on taking a trip this transfer to the chapada which is the most famous tourist attraction in mato grosso. its a huge bowl thing with a waterfall I don't know how to describe it. But the members here are more than willing to give rides. Ohh , it's only peace and happiness here. I'm super excited to be here and I'm super excited that Fernando got baptized yesterday. To bad I didn't get to see it. They sent a picture though. I worked  4 and a half months with him visiting him every week and the first Sunday that I am transferred he got baptized. Oh well I will always think of him as one of my baptisms because we got so close in the 4 and a half months I was in sorriso. This week we spent alot of time visiting members and getting to know them. So yeah have to go for real but I'm super stoked. Love you all sorry for the short letter, next week will be alot better and I will have alot more pictuers! I

love you all so much!!

-Elder Kennington

Fisher Man Kennington in his 10 Gallon, $5 Hat.

WeeK #43 Transferred from Sorriso To Cuiaba.

My family! Good morning, bad news today and good news, bad news is that the baptism that I had been praying for so much fell through again. Good news is that they will still get baptized next week, bad news is that I wont get to see it, good news is because I'm getting transferred! other good news is that I´m going to Cuiabá, bad news is that Cuiabá is one of the hottest cities in Brazil, good news is that I will finally get to work in a ward there, bad news is its another area that still doesn't baptize very much, good news is that I'm going to be senior companion with a Brazilian that only has this transfer and then he goes home. So I will be his last companion. We will both be seniors together. President Reber called us about an hour before we received the actual transfer calls and asked to talk to me. He first told me that I was going to be transferred this transfer and that I was going to Cuiabá. He said that he was trying something a little different than what he normally does. He told me that I was going to be senior companion with another senior companion. So I would be in a companionship of two seniors. My companion was going to be a Brazilian with only one more transfer and is pretty ready to go home, sounds like he's pretty trunky. President said he wanted us to both be companions, because he doesn't want this elder to just slack off his last transfer. President said that if he were to put someone is as junior companion they would have to just do what the senior companion wants. But he said with us both as senior companion I would have more say and would be able to push him to work. He also said that I need to help him stay focused and not spend all his time talking to the young woman in the ward cause I guess he is kind of a womanizer. So I guess we will see the extent of things this week but I sure don't plan on being a slack off bum this transfer with a trunky companion. President just said if I want to work and my companion isn't willing to comply then to just call president and let him know. I sure hope I don't have to do anything like that and that it wont be that bad. I think my companions names is Elder Almeida. I met him at our last zone conference in Cuiabá. I actually did a practice with him, he seemed like a jokester but a cool guy. I remember thinking during the practice with him, "man he would be interesting to have as a companion" well what do you know now he's my companion. haha So This entire week I've been telling myself I'm staying. So that I wouldn't be disappointed if I stayed. Everyone expected me to stay accept for Elder Geisler, he said from day one that I'm leaving after this transfer, We´ve joked alot this transfer about how bad Elder Geisler wants me to leave, because If I were to leave after one transfer with him it would mean that it was more likely that he only stayed 3 transfers instead of 4. Because if I were to stay 6 months here it would be likely that he stayed 6 months as well. And Elder Geisler doesn't want to stay here 6 months haha. Ever since his first week here he has hated the area. I don't blame him. Sorriso is definitely the most difficult area in the northern part of the mission. But our prayers were answered and I'm leaving and so he will probably only stay for two more transfers. Good for him. Elder Lima was also transferred, he only has one more transfer left on the mission and he is going south again to campo grande where he will die.  When someone finishes a mission they die is what we say. And the last companion is the person that "kills them." so to speak so I will be killing Elder Almeida. So Elder lima was really happy to be transferred, we will be taking the same bus to cuiaba so at least I wont have to make the 8 hour ride alone. I´m pretty stoked for a switch up of things. I was honestly dreading that I would have to stay another transfer here. I was joking with Elder Lima that we payed for our sins here in sorriso. Veeesh, but its hot here in sorriso and Cuiabá will only be even more hot. haha Good thing sunscreen is reimbursed here. So i am bummed though because fernando and his wife will still get baptized in the next upcoming Sundays when he doesn't have church. He was stoked to get baptized he had his baptismal interview and passed with flying colors. Elder Lima did the interview and was jealous afterwards. He said wow he is super elect I wish he was our baptism. So Saturday we cleaned the font all up, and we got up early to fill it up. But I called at about 8 in the morning and fernandos wife Ryani said that he got called into work last minute and couldn't get out of it. And so like that our baptism went down the toilet. I prayed so much this week and fasted and did all 

that I could. But still it didn't work out. I wont lie yesterday was one of those days that I shed a few tears of sorrow. I wanted so much to see this baptism and now I wont be able to see it. We went and visited them after lunch because they had gotten done with work. We talked for a while and fernando was sad that he had to work but said that this Sunday it should work and and they will get baptized. But I guess the Lord is teaching me something with this but I don't know quite yet what it is. Anyway I'm pretty short on time  still have to finish up a few things I have already packed 95% of my things but I still have a few more things to take care of. This week I spent so much stinking money with my personal card. This week the mission had alot of problems. Everyone ran out of credit on their cell phones, and nobody could call each other, cause the cellphone provider was doing some weird things that kinda screwed our mission over this week. We had to spend two entire days in lucas this week doing interviews for the sisters, the sister baptize a ton in lucas and so we have to go there like every week. We went Saturday to do interviews and we got there and found out the we didn't have any passages marked and so we couldn't go to lucas so wel called the secaratries of the mission but they said the travel business that they use was closed so they couldn't put any passages in our names, so I had to pay for 4 passages. both ways for me and Elder Geisler to Lucas. It was 60 reais in total so I think it cost me like 30 bucks, luckily Ill get reimbursed but still I was kinda ticked that I had to spend so much money this week using my personal card. Elder Geisler had a personal card but it quit working our something so I had to spend a bunch of money this week traveling. But I took some pictures in Lucas that Ill send. Also we ate pizza at a Rodizio pizza place, where you pay ten bucks and then you just sit and they bring a bunch of different pizzas to you and you eat as much as you want. I ate in total 18 slices of pieces. The other Elders only at about 10. I still eat like an animal during dinner. I don't ever eat a whole lot during lunch which is the main meal here, but during dinner time I have a bottomless stomach. So yesterday after lunch we were walking to an appointment and there was a random turtle just walking on the side of the road. So we stopped and took pictures. The other day the was just a random Iguana chilling in the same place by the side of the road. Funny things here in Brazil. So I don't have anymore time, but I'm am excited to start another new chapter of the mission in Cuiabá, oh also on Saturday I hit 10 months on the mission. Good grief how the time flies. The mission is good, and hot, and hard, and sad, and joyous, and many more things, But I sure do like being a missionary. So thanks for the emails from everyone. I sure appreciate them. But I will talk to you guys next week, know how much I love all of you and am always praying for you. Have a good week!

-Elder Kennington

Brazil Week #42

 Note: This was last Weeks letter. Sorry I forgot to post it.

Bom Dia Família! I love you all so very much and want to thank you all for your letters and your support. Its is such a good feeling to know that I have a wonderful family that gives me all their support and love as a missionary. We had a good week this week and seemed to pass quickly. Last p-day was good we had a zone p-day and so everyone came from Lucas and Sinop to here in sorriso. We didn't really do much but it was good to enjoy each others company. We played ping pong and ate ice cream and just chatted. We had a good time. Miqueis randomly showed up at the church and so he stayed with us during the day he had his guitar so we played guitar a little bit as well. Miquies really likes the missionaries. I just wish his parents gave him more support sometimes. Not a whole lot exciting happened during the first part of the week, we made alot of contacts and tried out a new neighborhood. We met some cool people and families that of course weren't married legally. Wednesday we taught some cool people and taught some elects who soaked everything up during the lesson. They said they were married but I had my doubts so I carefully asked a little bit more about them and of course found out they they were only living together and not legally married. Then I learned that the husband his like 23 and that his "wife" is 15 years old! I was like what!? Man there is some weird stuff going on in the world today.  It was kinda weird teaching this week because there wasn't going to have church on Sunday because of general conference. Sorriso doesn't have a satelite and the Internet is horrible so all the members had to travel to Lucas or Sinop. So I did end up having splits with the Assistants this week. They came Wednesday night at like 3 in the morning. I went with Elder Hancock who was called as an assistant this transfer so he is pretty new as an assistant. We had a really good day. I planned our day the night before. We had a sweet day all of our lessons worked out, we taught 6 lessons. It was good. We even marked a date with that couple Fernando and Ryani that me and Elder Cordeiro have worked with so much. I am praying day and night that it will work out so that they can be baptized this Sunday. Right now I just have to have faith and visit them everyday this week. I ask that you guys will pray for them as well. Friday we had to go to Lucas again to do interviews for the sisters baptisms again. This time it worked out and we were able to get both the interviews done. Even though it took all day. I ate subway again but this time I used my card from home. Cause I am out of money already. Between going to Lucas 2 times and having to pay taxi and lunch and dinner, me and Elder Geisler have no money. He has zero money. And I have 5 reais. So probably today  I will have to dip into my personal money from home. I have to buy several things from the market today. I have no food at the house, and also I am out of soap and toothpaste and toilet paper haha. So I will probably have to use my card from home today. Cause we wont receive more money until next week. So since there isn't a way to show general conference here in sorriso we got permission to travel to Sinop to watch it because they have a chapel there with satellite. So we took the bus there Saturday morning, we were going to go at 8:30 but all the seats had already been sold so we had to go at 11:30 instead. Elder Geisler already served in sinop so he knew where the church was. Sinop is about an hour from Sorriso. So we got there and watched conference in Portuguese. We wanted to watch it in English in the bishops office but nobody knew the password. IT was ok though cause this time I could actually understand the translation unlike 6 months ago haha, the second session the branch president came and entered the password so we were able to watch in English. Its just alot better when we can actually here the voices of the prophet and the apostles. Conference saturday was really good and priesthood session as weel. Even though I had a hard time staying awake, I was super tired and here the session went from 8 till 10. We stayed in one of the Elders houses there. There are 2 duplas there and they have two houses, we stayed in the house closest to the church. IT was also the only house that had mattresses. Even though it was only three, so Elder Lima got his own mattress and me and Elder Geisler and Elder Miguel put to crappy mattresses together and we slept on the two mattresses. We stuck a fan by us and just slept. We actually slept pretty good, but it was cause we were so tired. I took my smallest suitcase with me that is used for carryon. Cause I brought my pillow and towel and stuff and my backpack cant fit all of that. I regretted it though and I had to tow my suitcase around everywhere. Sunday was great though. General conference was inspiring and I received much personal revalation and I had prayers answered. I especially enjoyed the talk that President Monson gave Sunday morning. He talked about some things at the end that are included in my patriarchal blessing that before I didn't understand too much. But he cited a poem that makes it perfectly clear. That made me happy and I'm glad that the Lord answered my prayers. We had lunch at a members home in Sinop and then we went back for the last session which was great as well. We got our passage secured for 8 that night so we had to wait for 2 hours after the last session. Here the sessions started at noon went till 2, and then had intermission between 2 and 4 and then went from 4 to 6. Conference was great though. That sounds like fun that you guys got to listen to it while camping, even though the brothers were being bums and wanted to go home. They should be happy that they have time to spend with mom and dad. Those are times that I took for granted.  I would have loved to been together with the family watching general conference. I really would like to be able to go to conference with the family when I get back from my mission. I think that would be an amazing experience. I hope we can all give ear to the prophets words. He really is the Lords mouthpiece and we would be wise to listen to him and all who spoke at general conference. Something that I always took for granted is that we an actual living Prophet that speaks with Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ is the head of this church, he is the one that guides and directs it through a living prophet. I know that Thomas Monson is the Lords chosen prophet here on the earth at this time. Of that I have no doubt. One of the things I liked about Sinop is that next door to the elders house is an ice cream cone shop. I hope I don't go to sinop because I will get fat from the ice cream there. Sinop seems alot better than here in Sorriso as far as the city itself, its alot greener and has alot more trees and more people in the street. But from what I heard from the Elders there it still has its problems with the branch. One of the things I don't like about these small ramos is there is always alot of drama and people that say and do things that drive alot of people away from the church. BUt I guess that is any branch or ward. Satan tries hard to destroy members. Just do everything to avoid gossip and talking bad about other people. Pride is a terrible sin, I know that the pride of many people here has hurt the Sorriso branch alot. Never let the things of the world or our own desires to look good blind us to what is really important. So we left Sinop and got back to the bus station in sorriso at 9:45 because the bus was late and really slow, it was also raining alot. So nobody had money to pay for a taxi and also it was sunday so we just decide to walk home. Which stunk for me cause I had to drag my suitcase for about 2 miles till we got back to the house. Plus it was still raining and I had my scriptures and camera in my backpack. I just remember praying that the Lord would hold back the rain till we got back to the house. So finally we got back home and sure enough the heavens started letting out all their rain. Good things we were in the house. I was pretty  dead and just took a shower and passed out on my bed. But it was a good week. I felt close to you all during conference. We had our little room of three americans when we watched general conference. It brought back good memories of home. I remember when the session were all over I said well lets return to Brazil now haha. But it was good. We talked alot of English which was weird but nice. So this is the last week of this transfer. Wow it passed fast, I think the fastest transfer so far for me. Its been really good with Elder Geisler. I have more self confidence and more confidence in the language. So I am really wanting to get transferred, I'm pretty burnt out with this area. But seriously,  I think that I will be staying one more here. I don't want to but I have a gut feeling that I will be staying again. I am ready to move up and be the senior companion but that is unlikely for anyone because there are so few missionaries coming into this mission. We will receive one Brazilian Elder this transfer. There is still a bunch of Americans waiting on their visas. But as I always ask pray for transfers that all will go well. But I know that everything is according to the will of the Lord. I will do what he wants me to do. He is my Master and I am His servant. I will do what he asks and what he desires. This is his mission not mine. But I think that's about it for this week. I want you to know how much I love you all and am so grateful for everyone of you. I hope you all have a good week, sounds like its cooling down there and you guys are getting snow. We got a little rain here but its still hot as heck! But yes love you all have a good week. So here is picture of last weeks p-day with the zone, and also a bug that is everywhere here in sorriso, this one was flying around in our room when the assistants were here so I smacked out of the air with my flip flop. and then we took pictures of it. It looks like a frog with wings and they aren't afraid to attack. Anyways Paz e amor daqui no Brasil! Amo vocês muito! Fiquem firmes na fé!

-Elder Kennington

Brazil Week #41



BBQ

It's p-day again! Monday sure is a good day if your a missionary haha. But for everyone else its still the worst day of the week. But not for the Lord's Servants. So this week was pretty weak. Not much to tell so sorry it won't be much of a letter. Last p-day we only did emails bought stuff at the market, took a nap at the house, then went to the house of a member and played card monopoly and risk again. It was a pretty normal p-day. I know that they had the funeral of the sister in our ward and I think it went well. We didn't get to go but it sounded like it went well. Tuesday we had a division with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Miguel from Rio and Elder Geisler went with Elder Lima. We did away with the boundaries in the city so now we can work in whatever part we want of the city, but sadly there are very few neighborhoods that are good to work. So Tuesday we worked in the same neighborhood as the other Elders. I learned some good ideas and techniques from Elder Miguel, he only has one more transfer than me but he is an excellent missionary. He reminds me alot of Elder Cordeiro. We taught several good lessons to some cool families and people but only one of them was legally married. We met a cool family that went to church yesterday. We passed by a house that I had already been prompted to stop at before. The week before I passed by two houses that are next to each other it was aready late at night and we were finishing our day. We passed by the houses and I had the distinct prompting that in one of those two houses there was someone who wants to get baptized. It was a simple prompting but I knew that I would have to return and make contacts at both those houses another day. So on Tuesday me and E. Miguel passed by and he said lets stop here. So we stopped and made a contact and were let in. The ladies name was Denise, we talked a little bit and found out that she wants to get married but she cant yet because her husband lost his documents and is having a tough time getting stuff straightened out so that they can get married. Even before we started talking alot she said that she needed to be baptized but she cant cause she's not married. It was interesting that she brought up baptism before we even mentioned it. So we taught the third lesson which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ which talks Faith, Repentance, Baptism, The Gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. She enjoyed the message alot, and accepted to be baptized. We couldn't mark a date because she's not legally married yet but it was really neat teaching her and finding that there really was someone that lived in that house that wanted to be baptized, just like the Spirit told me. I´m glad the Spirit did that because now I know better of what to expect to feel the next time the spirit prompts me like that. I will be able to recognize that its really a prompting from the Spirit and not just me. Maybe it will take a while for this family to be baptized we don't know. But we know that the Lord wanted us to stop there to at least plant a seed if nothing else. Wednesday we went to teach José from last week but there wasn't anyone home and we couldn't get a hold of him so we went and visited a sister in our ward who hadn't been coming to church but it was because she has been traveling alot to the farm where her husband works. We went to the other side after and taught Ricardo our recent convert because it had been 2 weeks since he had been to church as well but it was because he was also traveling. We had a lesson with him and we had a few other things after that, Thursday we had several appointments marked but they all fell through 3 in a row. So we visited with the husband whose wife has passed away a few days before. His name is Brother Carlos and it was him that always took us fishing here in Sorriso. He was pretty sad, we talked for a while and he had alot of questions about what happens after we die and about the Resurrection and millennium and stuff. He is a member and was sealed with his wife already and stuff but still he didn't understand a whole ton on that kind of stuffed. We answered his questions and helped to comfort him. I gave a message from Mosiah 2:41 I think it was verse 41 but it talks about being blessed temporally and spiritually and that the righteous would be received into heaven. We gave him a pamphlet on the plan of Salvation that he can read and study as well. After this we visited some less actives and Miqueis as well. Friday was pretty terrible, we zeroed out on our numbers that day. I think we had like 2 contacts. The rest fell through. I think Friday was the worst day  have ever had here in Brazil as far as numbers go. We didn't teach anybody, it was pretty kaidaço. Saturday was bad too. There were t baptismal interviews in Lucas that were marked so we went to Lucas and arrived at about noon. We ate lunch at subway which was sweet! First time in close to a year that I ate there! But we walked forever with the sisters to their interview, and the guy had left cause he got called into work or something, I was like what!? We walked all this way for nothing! They ended up teaching their neighbors and we sat in and bore our testimonies, we left to go to the other side of Lucas because the other sisters had their baptismal interview. So we went to the bus station to wait for the sisters, they came and said that the baptismal candidate was still working. We had to catch the bus at 8:30 and it was already 6:30 and the person being interviewed was still working and lived 30 minutes from the bus station. So we were waiting for her to call to say she was at home, but she never called and didn't answer her phone so eventually we had to just say that it wouldn't work cause we didn't have any more time. So we had to leave and go back to sorriso, we got back to the house at about ten. We accomplished nothing and it looks like we will have to return this week to do the interviews that fell through last week. Sunday we had our Sorriso branch conference, which was pretty much the same as any other Sunday except they had a little training during the first hour. There was still only 50 people at church. The other Elders had the investigators at church, 2 were of that family of denise that me and Miguel taught, and some other guys came as well, but unfortunately Denise's husband was sick and so they left before church was over. We had lunch with the branch president at the end of the city boundaries. He gave us a ride to lunch, but we had to wait a while cause he had alot of stuff to before he could leave the church, so we had lunch at about 2 and we didn't leave til about 4 and we got home at about 5:15 because the walk was so long. So It wasn't much of a week this week. Not much success and not much exciting happened. We did have a barbecue during the night though this week, I will include a picture as well. Also I included a picture of last week of when we went with our branch mission leader. We walked down a road that is next to a little farm place which I thought was cool. Also This week I learned that the assistants will be coming here to sorriso and having a division with the zone leaders and then the next day it will be with me and Elder Geisler. I don't know why I'm nervous to have a division with the assistants but I am. So pray for me so that it will go good for me and Elder Geisler. But Im excited for general conference. We wont get to hear it hear in sorriso because they don't have a satellite hear and the Internet doesn't work in the church, so I think we will have to go to sinop or lucas to watch general conference, it will be interesting seeing what will happen, but I hope you guys enjoy the sessions. But I have to go we are having a zone -pday today so the sister from lucas and elders from sinop are here in sorriso with us. But I will talk to you all next week, love you all!

-Elder Kennington

Brazil Week #40 Seeing some old familiar missionaries.

Oh minha família amada. How I love you all so much. I really do miss you all alot. No missionary exists that doesn't miss his family and home at times. I had a dream Friday night that everyone in the family and also alot of friends came here to Sorriso to visit me. It was an interesting dream seeing and talking to everyone. It seemed like it lasted for a while as well. But eventually I woke up and realized that it will still be a while before I get to see and hug my family again. That made me kinda sad. But its in those times when I have to get down on my knees and thank Father in Heaven for my wonderful family and friends. It´s hard when we look at how long it will be before I am home, but then I look at the other side and see that it's even sadder that I only have a year and a few months left on the mission. I have more than 9 months on the mission now but I feel like I haven't done very much to help The Master. We work so much but harldy any of our investigators go to church. Sorriso is supposedly the second hardest area in the mission. I am almost embarrassed to bring investigators to church because there is hardly anyone at church. And we have a few overbearing members that jump all over our investigators the minute they walk in the door. On Sunday we had 30 people to church. I remember walking into sacrament meeting and thinking "This is the Church of Jesus Christ. Why are there so few people in the Lords true church?" I got a little discouraged with these thoughts and then remembered that these are just things that come from Satan. I remembered that scripture that talks about straight is the way and narrow is the gate that leads to eternal life. And few there be that find it. Or something like that I don't remember exactly. But I'm glad for the time that the Lord is giving me here in Sorriso so that when I am transferred I will be able to appreciate the trials and difficulties that I had here. We are pretty blessed to have such a strong ward back at home. That's something that I took for granted. But so this week was pretty good I guess. Last p-day after sending emails we left to cuiabá at about 2 pm. I got to sit by Elder Molina the whole way to Cuiabá. He is from Chile and is super awesome.  2 of my favorite missionaries are Chileans. Elder Molina and Elder Paredes that I was with in Cáceres. We all chatted during the 8 hour ride to Cuiabá. Sorriso and Lucas and Sinop all went on the same bus so there was 10 of us on the bus together. It was a good time. We stayed in the houses of the Secratartes in Cuiabá. They live really close to the mission office. The Sisters had all the luck though and got to stay with President and Sister Reber at their house. So we stayed with the secretaries who are really cool guys. The next day we had the conference. We learned alot about obedience and the importance of working with the members. We also learned why we have one of the hardest missions in Brazil. So our mission is huge and contains millions of people. But our mission has only about 3,000 active members in it. This is the second lowest number in the missions of Brazil. That's tough I think Roosevelt itself has that many members alone. Our mission is the second hottest mission in Brazil, so its hard physically, but also our mission has very very few members to give references and help give support, so its also one of the hardest work wise. Its so much easier working with members and working from references that they give. But Unfortunately we have a tough mission with that, especially here in Sorriso. But that's why President wants us to strengthen the members. Our mission is baptizing alot less than it has in the last few years. But we are seeing real growth. The baptisms that we are having are staying firm in the church. We receive a graph that shows the number of people at church each Sunday in the entire mission. And almost every ward and branch has a higher frequency than the year before. I think there was only Sorriso and one other branch that hasn't grown. President Reber is helping the mission see real growth, and not just a bunch of baptisms but nobody staying active in the church. Our church in our mission is strengthening. Slowly, but its growing. I got to see two people that I knew from the mtc. I got to see Sister Clark who was from my district at the mtc and Elder Linton who wasn't from my district but arrived the same day at the mtc and also he served in New York as well with me. It was great seeing them and talking to them I will send a picture that we took together. Everyone in our zone left that day except for me and Elder Geisler and Elder Molina and his companion Elder Mayolo from Washington because there was a training for all the district leaders and also for their Companions and well. So me and Elder Mayolo had a training with a few other Elders. The assistants gave the training to us which was really cool. I learned alot. This training was on Wednesday and the conference was on Tuesday so we got to stay for two nights. Also we ate at McDonald's on Tuesday. Which was good but super expensive. I miss those days of a mcdouble for a dollar instead of like 10 bucks haha. I got to talk alot with the Elders in the office and the assistants. Oh and also I played the piano at the conference. Called to serve which went good. So on Wednesday we left at 4:30 to go back to Sorriso, This time my seat was next to Elder Mayolo who is from Washington. He has 6 months on the mission right now. He arrrived 2 transfers after me in Brazil. He served a transfer in Montana. He is super cool and I want to be companions with him one day. This time on the way back to Sorriso we were all alot more tired and we slept most of the way there. We arrived in Sorriso at about midnight and we got a taxi and went back home. Thursday we taught that guy Giomarley that went to church on Sunday. We waster another 2 hours at his house cause he just wanted to talk and talk and talk. But this time we were able to give the restoration lesson to him. He enjoyed the lesson but was like oh I don't think I need church, I feel that I can be spiritual in my own house. We explained the blessings of church and we  must go. But we were ready to drop him as an investigator. So we tried visiting a few people after this we visited a family that me and Elder Cordeiro had visited alot before. Their mom was in the hospital with some problems with her heart I think. We left a message with them and talked with them for a bit. So the day after we tried a new neighborhood and knocked some doors and taught a few lessons. We taught the entire first lesson to a lady standing at her gate cause she didn't want to let us in her yard but she wanted to hear our message, then we found a really cool humble guy named José. I saw his house and knew that we needed to make a contact there. So we made a contact and he invited us in even before we had really introduced ourselves. He was curious with what we do and had alot of questions. We talked a bit and then started the first lesson, but then this guys friend showed up, I don't remember his name cause it was something really weird. These guys were both active in the assembly of God. But one was more humble and open than the other. We started over again on the lesson and gave it to both of them. It was a good lesson and I know they both felt the Spirit. We asked them how they felt during the lesson. And José started talking but his friend cut him off and started talking saying how its good that we are out spreading the word of God and he said that he believed our experiences that we shared about how we gained our testimonies but he pretty much told us with directly saying so that he didn't believe that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. And then he told us that we should only teach about Jesus Christ and not about other things. So he pretty much told us that we shouldn't talk about Prophets and about the first vision and Apostles and the Authority of God that we had, to them.  The Lord was testing me again that day. Because the ignorant comments of this guy grinded my gears pretty good. I looked him in the eyes and told him in the most direct way that I could that this is the Church of Jesus Christ and not of man. I bore my testimony and said some other things that weren't my own words, but the words of the Spirit. After that he shut up pretty quick. They wanted to show us some videos of what its like in their church. It was of just some pasture guys yelling and screaming halleluhah and a load of balogna. I just watched with mouth open cause I was so surprised by how this pasture acted and the things he said. I couldn't believe that someone would teach about Jesus in such a rough tone of voice and yelling and stuff like that. We had a prayer and the video was still playing so I asked if they would pause it and the pasture guy in the video was screaming at the top of his lungs. I almost asked them if they thought the Savior taught in the same way as that guy in the video. But I kept my mouth closed. We had a prayer and left. We plan on coming back but to teach José who was alot more humble and open, I think he will like the Book of Mormon alot. Saturday we had several appointments fall through but we had a few less active lessons and lessons with investigators.  We had dinner at a members home that night because they were celebrating the birthday of one of their daughters. We ate steak sandwiches with homemade mayonnaise which was pretty good. Sunday, There was only 30 people at church none of our investigators showed up to church as well as the other missionaries didn't have anyone. We had lunch and then we went with our mission leader in the branch to teach some lessons with him. We taught some interesting people with him, that he knew. We will go back and teach more this week. That night we got a call that one of the women in our ward had passed away suddenly. Mother of the family that we had visited during the week. She was doing better but then had suddenly worsened and had passed away yesterday evening. Her name was Sister Eunice she had helped me and Elder Cordeiro a bunch, she came with us to several lessons and was our member present, show was a wonderful lady that was a convert of about 5 or 6 years. She had been sealed to her husband and everything and was active in the church. But the Lord needed her back I guess. She will be a powerful missionary in the Spirit World. I called Elder Cordeiro and talked to him and told him the bad news because he was close to this Irmã as well. He was saddened. He is doing good I talked to President Reber about him and he said that Elder Cordeiro is doing better. He hasn't had a surgery yet but he is having less and less pain. It was good talking to him last night. So that's about it for this week the funeral of that irmã will be today already. A weird thing about Brazil is when someone dies they have the funeral the next day. I'm not sure if it will work for us to go or not. Oh, also I haven't provided very much about Elder Geisler my companion. He is from Dixon California. His name is Nathan and is 21 years old. He hit his one year mark on Wednesday so Friday he burned a shirt and Elder Lima burned pants because he had already hit a year and a half and still hadn't burned pants and also I burned a tie finally even though it was more than 3 months late. I burned a really ugly tie that I found in Cáceres. we videotaped it and it was pretty funny. Elder Geisler is legit. I am going to help him with language study, because he speaks with alot of accent and everyone thinks that I have more time in the country than him. But I am going to help him with the language. This transfer is going by super quick and is already halfway over. I really am ready to be transferred from Sorriso, but most likely I will stay until December just because I want to leave. We will see what happens. This is the Lords work and I will do what he wants. So yeah this email has taken me a long time to write. But it was cool reading about your week this week and sounded fun. But I love you all so much and I know that every difficulty  I experience and every time we face rejection, I know that my family is being blessed. May the Good Lord bless you all. Thanks so much for all the prayers and support. I am always talking with Kaiden and Jetson and Robby. They are doing well. Amo vocês muito! Have a great week this week!

-Elder Kennington

Brazil Week #39

Hey good morning everyone. I hope you are all well seems like everyone is doing well. This week was pretty average kinda disappointing as well at certain times. Last p-day we played the game risk at a members house and had dinner there and stuff. Also I got quite a few pictures developed at a store and I put together a little photo album of the photos mom sent me from home and also photos from the mission. Its pretty expensive here about 50 American cents per photo so it wasn't very cheap but It was worth it. Tuesday we taught some lessons on the other side of our area. It was pretty normal. Had  funny experience when we were walking back home for the night we passed  a lady that was walking to church with her 2 children, she was in a skirt and had a bible so it was obvious they were going to church. So I asked her the obvious question if she was going to church. We chatted for a few minutes and I explained what we do and what our purpose as missionaries is and I explained a little bit of what we believe, then I did the normal routine of oh is there another day that we could come by your house when your entire family is at home and teach this message to your families? After I said that she was like oh I´ll have to ask my pasture. I was like what? so I explained a little more of our purpose and then asked her again if I could write down her address and information, this time she was like oh sure of course. After that Elder Geisler was laughing a little bit so I asked him whats up? and he said that during the contact I asked her If we could go to her church and give a message about families and Jesus Christ instead of her house. After that it all made sense why she said she has do ask her pasture. Kinda interesting talking to people in a different language now. Before it was think about what you want to say and then say it but now you just say it without thinking. Maybe I need to stop and slow it down a little and think about what I'm saying haha. Wednesday we had Ricardo our recent convert went with us to teach a friend of his from work. We walked forever to get to the guys house and the guy was kinda lame. He didn't accept the first baptismal invite or anything so we just sat and talked and gave the first lesson. It was kinda funny cause Ricardo was wanting to teach and would randomly come in and start teaching about Christs Church when he was on the earth or about Joseph smith. It was kinda funny. We finally finished the lesson and walked all the way back home. We got back at almost 10 at night because it was such a long walk. Also I forgot on Tuesday we had zone meeting here in sorriso we had a good training on teaching techniques and some other things. Its always good getting our zone together we have a really good zone. Right now there is 3 Americans, me a sister named sister fenn from Arizona, and Elder Mayolo from Washington. We have a good zone. Thursday we didn't have any lessons marked so we spent the entire day knocking doors and making contacts and trying to teach lessons. We found a neighborhood that we wanted to work and then prayed and we each selected four streets that we wanted to tract, after we selected we saw that 3 were matching streets so we decided to go knock all the doors and these streets so that what we did. The first street we got nothing. Everyone had excuses. We ran into a Jehovah witness lady and we talked for a while and shared some of our beliefs. I don't know much about the Jehovah witness church but I know that they remind me alot of our church, they have pretty strict codes of health and values, which is good. She wouldn't even accept a church pamphlet. We knocked more doors met some more ornery  people, met a lady that didn't want to talk to us cause we weren't Catholics. And then we ran into another Jehovah witness lady. This time it was E. Geislers turn to make the contact and he kinda hesitated before he said anything and the lady was like well hurry up with it. That annoyed me, I don't like when people have that attitude towards us. I don't get annoyed or angry very easily but this lady tested me. She asked about if we use the bible and asked about the book of Mormon and I explained that it was written by prophets this side of the world. She was like after Christ there were no more prophets, I took advantage of that and said yes and that's what our message explains is how the same church that Christ organized was brought back to the earth with a Prophet 12 apostles and the priesthood authority of God. I was talking in a calm voice the entire time, and I after I said that she was like whoa I'm not here to argue with you! Christ forbade arguing. I said exactly. We thanked her for her time and left. I think its funny how sometimes people try to snare us or make us look like we are the bad guy. The Spirit taught me something after this. He taught me that deep down inside all these people know in one way or another know that we are doing is right and is the truth. But most won't acknowledge or accept that until The Savior comes again. We tracted more after this we taught alot in the street and at the gates of the peoples homes. We were in a neighborhood very close to the church but it was a rich neighborhood, and almost nobody wanted to give us 15 minutes to teach a full lesson. We did find an inactive knocking doors. He was like oh ya I'm a member of your church, we taught him a lesson and he said he would try to go to church on Sunday, he says he has a hard time waking up on Sundays. We knocked more doors after this and finally taught a full lesson. Then we finally went and had a meeting with our ward mission leader. Friday was like the Friday before My head starting hurting the night before and was still hurting during the day, we have a member in the branch the was sick so we had to stay in the hospital all during the morning cause they have to always have someone watching him in case something happens I don't even know. I still had a bad headache after lunch so I drank a bunch of water and took some pain medicine, then I went and laid down for a while I still didn't feel very good but I told Elder Geisler that I wanted to get out of the house and teach some people, we went to a lesson that we had set up we got there but they said they weren't interested. We knocked more doors after this and just had more people that didn't want to hear anything. On the way back we met a guy named Giomarley that wanted to speak English with us even though his English wasn't too great. We said we would come back the next day. So Saturday we had lunch along way from the house and it was super super hot. I was feeling better though. We went to this guy giomarleys house and he just wanted to talk forever about the us and movies and a bunch of other stuff. When finally we got to the point where we were going to teach him the restoration he was like I i have to go the the store right now, so we started to leave but I was like no I'm not leaving here without giving him an invite to church, so I said hey lets go to church tomorrow he hesitated and I explained a little more about our church eventually he said that he would go if we met him at his house in the morning to take him to church. SO Sunday morning we picked him up and took him to church. Here in sorriso we have a member that always jumps on our investigators when they get to church and goes on talking a bunch of stuff about our church it kinda overwhelms our investigators. But whatever it always happens. Church was good but with 15 minutes left of church our investigator was like well I'M tired I'm hungry I'm going home. I said dude there's 15 more minutes but he said no I'm going home. Don't know what happened there but he just got up and left. we will visit him this week to see what he thought. Sunday lunch was way into our area but luckily a member gave us a ride along with some other members that lived in our area. But there wasn't enough seats so they somebody could stay in the trunk area so that's where I stayed luckily there was plenty of room for me there, I will include a picture for you. We visited some investigators after lunch and then we put together our baggage because we are traveling to cuiabá today because there will be conference there tomorrow and we will stay till Wednesday because there will be a training on Wednesday as well so it looks like we will spend alot of time in cuiabá this week. We will leave in about 2 hours. I was hoping that I would get to see Elder Cordeiro at the conference but his zone wont be there. I think he is doing fine, I will ask President Reber tomorrow how hes doing but I thinks he is doing fine. So that's about it for this week, it was kinda tough we faced alot of rejection and ignorance from the people but I learned alot and for that I am grateful. Thanks for the emails from everyone I hope you all have a good week The Church is true!

Abraço pra vocês

-Elder Kennington