Milagre!

Oi Minha Família!

Como vai? Aqui em Jacareí, as coisas estão indo bem. Ainda eu estou aqui, então, tou bem. Nossa! Eu vou ter um ano aqui na missão aqui em pouco, cê é loco! não acredito! Mas, como estão as coisas, lá? estão indo bem? espero que sim, por que todo dia eu oro pra vocês todos.

Anyways, man! Crazy week... good week... tiring week... but I´m very very happy. For this it was a good week! My presidente gave his last conference which was awesome! Loved it to death! Bascially he said some really inspiring things and I know how I can have success in my life ;) haha. So much stuff happened this week that my brain is dead. I feel like so much happens and that I want to say it all, but when it comes time to email I already forgot it all. But I will write things down. So that way I can write down my expierences! I need to do that!

But that being said, I have a great expierence that happened! This intire transfer we have been working very very hard and just having no at church, no results. I just became very very desanimated. It wasn´[t fun. I didn´t know what else I could do. I got tired of investigators empty promises for everything. I just couldn´t find the right people. I was wanting to find the elects really bad. Well, this past week, we were teaching people and we got more or less 10 people that would say they would go to church. Like usual, but good. So anyways, we go and try and find them and finally a family of 6 (4 that could be baptized) goes! a miracle happens! We finally had people at church and a complete family nonetheless! It made the happiest little missionary you have ever seen. I think I didn´t stop smiling yesterday, I was just so FLIPPING happy it was awesome! I feel like I´m finally doing what Presidente always says: Mark a diference! And I marked one. Well, today morning we went to visit them, and another crazy thing happens! They adored church first off. The mom, was in love with everything, except she said the people could sing faster :P haha. (i agree, but that´s cause I play piano) She absoltuely loved it, all of them did! Basically to wrap things up what happened: we talked about the date we marked with them and how that they should be baptized this sunday, and the dad looks up. The mom says, just tell them now. But he said: no no after... no no just tell them now. So at this point I´m trying to figure out what he´ll say and freaking out because I was thinking that something bad was going to happen. he said: I´m already baptized. And I start thinking, alright lets explain about authority again and explain all that again. But before I could he said, I´m already baptized in this church! And I just got shocked! haha. Basically, the dad was already baptized and confirmed in the church since he was eleven years old but he had forgotten, but when he went to church, he completely remembered!!! It was crazy. So the dad is a member, but the rest of the family isn´t and we are expecting 3 baptizms this week :) :) I´m VERY excited and VERY happy now. :):):) This gives so much motivation. Also, I´ll explain more later but also we had a very inspiring meeting with the bishop and we are going to be working a lot more with the ala,.... ward doing ativityes and other fun things liek that! One of them envolving throwing water balloons/pies/cakes in the faces of the elderes! It´ll be GREAT!!! love it.... anyways, I´m very excited and I hope I don´t get transfered. it´s 6ish here and I still don´t know what will happen wth the transfers tomorrow! But I´m pretty sure I´ll stay because I have to complete my training with my newbie! just kidding... with my companheiro! :D Anyways, WAY DANG EXCITIED! :D Please pray for them! Eliane, Carlos, Rafaela with be the ones to be baptized!

NEW BABY!!! Crazy go nuts..... That´s dank man dank mesmo. Carumba! meu irmão é um pai de verdade, cara, não acredito. Eu acho que você está mentindo pra mim, né? man, I´m an uncle... again! Sweetness in the ..... what rhymes with that. Who knows, but I do know that my bro is a pai! father! congrats! I bet he is freaking out right now :) I am, Im super excited and very jealous that I can´t be there, but I´m here in Brasil,.... so yeah. I just like to say that :) But I don´t have a cute little younglinho to call my own, so that is pretty cool, congrats to the broski, tá? Please, everyone learn português, I can´t write in english. It makes it harder to recount my stories cause I have to translate. don´t like! hahaah :P

How´s the world in Medford going? I keep on here that Mitt Romney is doing awesome! how many states are left now? It should be getting close to done now right? Then does it start the race between Mitt and Obama? Hey I don´t know if I told you but, I would love short sleeve white shirts. that´d be awesome! my shirts are stinky! just kidding, except not! haha! What now... So yeah.

Man, refelecting on everything I learned from the presidente has really made me to appreciate him and what he has done for me! At the conference, all the missionaries sang to him and his wife, "Juntos Pra Sempre" (Together forever) and man, I just started crying during it. I couldn´t help it, I´m going to miss that man so much. I will very much visit him at the house by the beach (as he likes to say :P) in Portugal. Did you know that his wife is from Angola in africa? That´s cool, I did know that but I felt like saying it now, don´t ask me why! :) So anyways, I´m trying to apply the things I learn from him everyday, and I feel like I have changed a whole lot. I feel like I know how to get exactly what I want (like with a goal) The diligence and persistence that comes  with it, is very required. I feel like I have changed a lot, but I don´t know. Anyways, I gots to go, still no call from the líderes de zona, so who knows what will happen, but I gots to go cleaning now! :) I love you guys and thanks for all your support and love! ps. I finished a letter to you guys p-units! Da hora? da hora :P tá? ta. LOve you guys! Be strong, mark a diference, and if you want sucess, do somthing never done before!

Com amor,
Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

So I am very grateful for Phil, who also went on a mission to Brazil--I asked him to translate some of the Portuguese in Grant's letter:

Here is the translation from Grant's most recent e-mail. 

"Oi Minha Família!"

Como vai? Aqui em Jacareí, as coisas estão indo bem. Ainda eu estou aqui, então, tou bem. Nossa! Eu vou ter um ano aqui na missão aqui em pouco, cê é loco! não acredito! Mas, como estão as coisas, lá? estão indo bem? espero que sim, por que todo dia eu oro pra vocês todos."

Hi my Family!

How are you?  Here in Jacarei things are going well.  I am still here, so I'm well.  Wow! I will be on my mission for a year soon!  I can't believe it!  But, how are things there?  Are they going well?  I hope so, because everyday I pray for all of you.

"NEW BABY!!! Crazy go nuts..... That´s dank man dank mesmo. Carumba! meu irmão é um pai de verdade, cara, não acredito. Eu acho que você está mentindo pra mim, né?"

I don't know what "dank" is, not portuguese but also not any slang i know in english.   Carumba! (like saying crazy! but the word doesn't translate to crazy, the word itself doesn't really have any particular meaning)  My brother is a really a dad, dude, I don't believe it.  I think that you're lying to me, right?

"Da hora? da hora :P tá? ta."

Cool?  cool.  ok? ok. (da hora doesn't mean cool directly it really means "of the hour" but it is a slang meaning cool or rad or awesome etc.)

Semana = Crazy!

Oi!

Well my dear family and friends, yet again another week of the life of the missionary elder Meh-hiu (as they say my name here) has passed and gone! And it was CRAZY! So it is just lovely when you have the best investigators in the world and they decide to move on ya. That´s happening with some of  mine but I´m still allowed to teach them. So I´m happy :) But this past week we have interviews with the president. Man I love those things! They are the best ever :D We went there and man, I just feel like 150% better. Cleared some doubts with him and just I feel great! It´s magic.... you knooooooooow! (name the song, actually I don´t even remember the name). So but anyways, I just got super frustrated this past week, because I have been trying sooo hard to get investigators to church and this week, we weren´t allowed to brng them on sunday because there was a temple dedication of manaus. But on saturday was the celebration thingy of it, so we were supposed to bring investigators to that! Well, I was telling my leaders of zone that no one here in the ward or branch (including the president of the branch and bishop) knew about the saturday thing. Even the transmition guy had no idea about it. So on saturday night, me and my comp of awesomeness went on the bus (i had bought tickets for my investigators) alone because one of our investigators got drunk making his "wife" and kid get out of the house and they didn´t go. (Benedito, Ivrlei, and Thiago). So that was dandy! But we got there, and guess what? No transmition! WOOT! Basically I got super frustrated but we watched a baptism. Yay for that :D haha. Sisters are doing better than me... :P I´m just joking around. hahah. Anyways, basically saturday was stress and on sunday was good. foi de boa no domingo. Basicamente, eu estou sentindo loco porque nada estava dando certo. Mas eu estou feliz! But craziest thing of them alllllllls! Chegou a noite de domingo. There came night on domingo... sunday. And I get a call from the assitants. Okay, what did I do wrong... haha that´s what I thought. Because the assitants will only call for specific reasons. And he said, okay an emergency transfer is happening and you will stay in your area but you will be leader of district O_o <----- that was my thought. hahah. Basically, we got new sets of zone leaders and they are the coolest guys ever! I love them to death! Elder Hedrick is one of them and he was my old companion. Bascially, SUPER EXCITED FOR THAT! And Elder Atkin, and he is one of the most honest and good heart loving missionaries that I know. Basically, super darn excited and freaking out because I´m district leader now. WHAT?!?! Anyways, that´s my big news for this week. You should send the emails tat louie does to me. I would LOVE that... yeah :P Also, I need more short sleeve white shirts. Or at least I think that would be a lovely present. haha.

It sounds like you guys are having a ball of fun over there in the united states! Can you check ohow cold it is here? Because it´s pretty freaking cold! I don´t like it. I´m freezing here. haha I got a little sick because of it.  but I´m almost over it now. But it won´t stop me!! Poor Gavin, not fun to throw up haha. By the way, I almost cried when I read what gavin said. I´m so happy he remembers me, I miss that little  guy... have a boy again jess! haha :P or i´ll just have one :P hahaha. Estou brincando, rapaz! But, I´m excited to meet Ruby to. I feel like i say those things ever time but that´s alllllll good :P I´ve got a tan mark where my watch is!!! I should probably take it off some times hahaha.

Who all graduated this year? (random thought: Laughed super hard at the picture of dad running :P hehehe) Hey! I´m making 11 months this wednesday! Yeah.. that´s cool hahah.

What other fun things do you guys have planned for summer? I can´t believe that it is summer there because It definitely isn´t here haha. :P So my companion is doing super well.! He´s helping me be a better missionary too. and he´s learning the language good. It´s too hard on himself because he´s doing really good for where he is at, but he wants to be further, but I don´t blame him, that´s how I was like too. But he´s a great guy!

But I love you guys and I have officially started writing a hand written letter to you guys and I promise I´ll finish it soon  :) YAy!  Love you all more than a fat kid loves cake, 2 cakes?! yes. Love you!

com grande amor, mais do que vocês conseguem imaginar,
Élder Grant Shaw Merrill

Missionary is fun!

Oi!

Week of hardness! That´s how I would describe this week. So we have been finding and teaching tons of people and trying to find more and more people every week to baptize and we are making tons of progress! But this week was stake conference (which Presidente Monson talked via satelite[and other people too]) so we had to bring our investigators there. Which is like 30 minute car ride. So we invited about 7-9 people to go to chruch that we were trying to help get baptized and when saturday night came, I only had one irmão helping me. and he had 2 spots avalivable. I am pretty sure I called everyone in the ward and no one could help. I had to do this too at a phonebooth. Anyways, I ended calling people until 10:20 at night and was like okay, I guess it´s time to call it good. Bascially, super stressed out, had no idea how I was getting 7 people to church the next day. Well, at 8:30, while walking to our chapel, I get a phone call from an irmão of the ward saying the person he was going to take got a stomach ache and we had tons of spots left. Man, I was so happy to hear that! well, we got one person in a car and the that irmão with my companion went to go look for our other investigators. We were going to find the others as well, but it ended up being an random irmã of another ward in são josé dos campos showed up at the chapel and asked for a ride. I was kind of mad about that but that´s all good. Needless to say, we ended up going to the stake center with one investigator and when my companion showed up he had no one and he had forgotten about 2 others. Well at this time it was 10 already the conference was starting. I got my leader of mission of ward to help me go back to our city and look for our investigators. I love that man, he sacrifics so much. Well, ended up being none of our  investigators could make it and I got at the conferecne at 11:40 and got the last 10 minutes of Monson´s talk. Yay!... I did my part and that´s what is important. And we did have one investigator there! So always got to look at the bright side of things!

Mom, it was funny. you said "Jessica, Adam & kid arrived..." I got confused but I realized that you meant to say kids! haha.

This week, we went to a scary part of town! I´ll leave out the details, but bascially I was holding onto wellington (a member) the whole time hahaha. :P Darn the elects of God that live in shady lugares... places. :P

Give David and his family the best! I remember when Grandma Shaw died and  how that was hard for me. But I remember because of the time I had to prepare for it, it made it a lot easier, but still hard. But give them a good hug for me! :) Thanks

I saw the pictures of Elder Schenk and everything, it was so good to see that guy getting better. He really is inspiring and I´m very glad to have known him :)

Dad laughed sooooooooo hard when I heard what happened with you :P hahah, seriously though, that IS funny :P Wish I saw that... :P I bet it was exactly like the office hehe.

I didn´t even know Ethan Grether went on a mission! Man! Hey yeah, what other stuff is happening that maybe I don´t know!

Anyways, time is money/p-day/got to go! Love you guys and I´ll get my thoughts better planned :) Love youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

com amor,
Élder Grant Shaw Merrill