May 30, 2011

Oi! The days crawl by and the weeks fly by. Ha. Craziness. Really the days have truly slowed down not knowing Portuguese, but wow, its already P-day. And yes, we did indeed have a baptism, and it was really cool. It was a mom, Carol, and her daughter Manu. They are awesome people, and they seem really happy, it was a really good experience. The gospel just makes us happier, and that's why I'm here, to help bring people unto Christ.   As for my companion, he is from Recife, Brasil, and me and him get along pretty well. We live in an apartment, that hopefully you will be able to see part of in the photo. Its the two of us, and we have a bunk bed, and kitchen area and stuff. Not at all hotel standards, but that's expected, ha. We cleaned it all out for our first P-day. Still questionable, ha. Our area is definitely down town, and the ward is my area if that helps in finding the boundaries. The food has been going good, I don't necessarily love it, but its not bad. Ill get used to it, ha. As for skinny? ha. I have lost a few pounds, but nothing really huge. As for putting everything into one suitcase, that's what I meant, ha. I combined my suitcases into one and left the other at the office with the stuff I don't need. I do miss our seminary class, amazing times. I truly loved seminary. As for Brazil, they do indeed have seminary, and its in the morning, but those that cant attend that attend one at night. As for address where i live: "Avenida 9 De Julho 1021" but that's only to look it up on google, send all letters to the mission home still. As for the area, that sounds right. Ha. And Brazilians can be super loud, and can be super quiet. Ha. My companion is "normal" to say the least. Ha. He is a good guy. We have some disagreements, but tudo bem. And yes, I have been able to teach a little in the lessons, and I have extended Baptismal invites, and we have one more date for June 12th. Its interesting cause this family has the missionaries over to teach their kids so they can decide for themselves when to be baptised. They whole rest of the family is baptised. As for working out, yup, first thing every morning. By the way, Legos are super expensive here, i was going to buy some for a lesson, and they cost 10 reais for a one little figure. Crazy! ha. So you could send me one, starwars is well know, ha, just kidding. No need. There was a really cool art on the side of a building that was all made of sticky notes, I thought that was cool. Also I have been told that we might get to skype at Christmas if that changes anything. Doubt it will change anything, but thought I would let you know. As for scriptures of the week, I choose Moroni 7:29 because miracles will never cease, just look around you. We are incredibly blessed to be in this world. And the second one to catch up is Ether 12:27. I used it as a spiritual thought, but the message is so cool. I really like it, so let us all take courage and bring our weaknesses before the Lord and make them strong. Like learning Portuguese for me. The Lord loves us all so much, and I love the Lord and am so thankful to be out serving him. This gospel is the true gospel, and it is the only way we can receive true happiness. A third scripture really hit me this week, and is Mormon 9:21. With Christs help, we truly can do anything. We just need to ask, not doubting and we will receive. I'll use that as the scripture for next week, just a little earlier. I love you all, and may you always remember how much you are blessed and how much God truly loves you. 

-Elder Tanner Paxman

May 23, 2011

We just got this e-mail today.  Tanner's P-day in the field is on Monday and he was transferred on Tuesday from the Missionary Training Center so he missed his P-day last week.  So I am not late in posting, I swear.

HOLY COW! So much to catch up on, its practically been two weeks and only one email! This is crazy, ha. We´ll its always good to hear from you guys, and I miss you guys but we all know I'm where I'm supposed to be. I love you all. As for address, keep using the mission address, sadly I will have to wait till someone can bring it to me, but that's the only way. So i will be getting mail less often now, but I´ll live. I got Amber's letter, and man, her kids are cute! Ha. Thanks Amber, that was awesome. And, for scriptures of the week, I believe I'm behind one week, but I still only have one, remind me whenever I don't send one please. As for this week, It is D&C 90:11. I am a part of this! Legal! Also i would suggest checking out the Beritz Language Commercial sometime, we watched it for an analogy back at the CTM. Also another Elder and I got our computers to talk to each other using the language program that records your voice. It was pretty hilarious. I wish I had a video. I did film a small welcome video for you, but its too big to send. Dang, ha. Guess you´ll have to wait. I just wanted you all to know packing peanuts can be pretty entertaining, anyways, ha. So my first day here, let me tell you it was awesome. First of all, I transferred all my luggage into one bag, and that was quite a task, my bag was bursting, but luckily we don't have to worry about weight. I was surprised, but I fit all I needed. Craziness. Then we has the opportunity to go out teaching, it was really cool. Besides hardly understanding anything, I went out with an Elder Mathews and Elder Jensen. They were awesome. It was Elder Jensen's last day (who turns out to be my Grandpa), and he said thank you for making my last day memorable. I said that it was luck, and the Holy Ghost, not me. The spirit was strong as we taught two families and brought another to church. Then day two, after what seemed like forever (it was several hours) we finally met our new companions! My Dad is Elder De Andrade! He is legit, and super nice. Then we took off to our new area, which is Cequeira César, and its right in downtown São Paulo where I went Proselyting. There are about one million people I'm my area alone! Craziness to the max! I'm going to send a letter to Mom and Amber tomorrow and you have got to tell me when you get it. So over the week, we have been teaching, walking, contacting, and practicing like crazy. So its a custom in Brazil to kiss as a greeting right? Well, as missionaries we don't, but not all people know that. Ha. One investigator, a little older than us, started to do it, and my companion stopped her before I even knew what was going on. It was hilarious. She apologized, and said she was just accustomed to it. Also there was one lady who had a dog that she would have say our names. She would say it and the dog would howl, and it was hilarious. Also there was another crazy family who acted out things and did a lot of movements. They were super loud too. Ha, but awesome. Its even funnier when you don't understand what they are saying. That has been hard, since my companion knows only some English, but ill make it through. I cant wait to be able to truly talk with people. That will be amazing. What is super amazing is that we have a baptism this Saturday! My companion and I are teaching the lessons and preparing her now. It is a mom and her Daughter. We are all so excited. Anyways I have got to do, but i want you all to know that I know, that Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer and he will help us with anything. I love him so much, and am glad to be out serving him. (If I haven't used this as a scripture of the week, have this be the second one) And as it says in Philippians 4:13 we can do anything through Christ. I love you all, and cant wait to hear from you again. Até mais!

-Elder Paxman

May 11, 2011

As for Dad´s talk, I would highly recommend using Preach My Gospel, its an amazing resource! As for P-Days we go to the temple in the morning and then we email and stuff. Then we go out and explore the town and buy what we want and what we need. Then we actually have class that night. Its pretty much a day to walk around town. My P-days will be changed to Monday while I'm out in the field. So it might be a ways until the next email, well four more days I think. Ha. I hope i can write sooner, but we´ll see. As for Reai´s in a Dollar, its about 1.5 or 1.6. I'm not entirely sure, but its about that. And as for the photos, yes i can see them, and that's awesome. Every ones growing up! That's Laine right? He looks huge! Now for my week! Good News! I sent pictures home in a letter! I hope that they get there. I sent about 12 home because at the CTM we cant send photos via email. I will send some next week via email though. I'm super excited. So, the most amazing day so far happened! We got to go proselyting in downtown São Paulo and it was amazing. I was feeling a little intimidated. My companion and I said a prayer and then went to work. We were really ´´scared´´ for lack of a better word, and kept walking for a while. We walked past these two boys about our age at a shoe shinning place, and I felt that we should talk to them. I told my companion and at first he said that we could get them on the way back. I said I think that we should talk to them now, so we went back and contacted them. They were Golden and so nice and receptive. They were awesome and we could talk Portuguese to them without a problem. That was exactly what we needed, It was a confidence boost from the Lord. The Sisters passed by them later and said that they saw them reading the Book of Mormon. That's legit! We continued to go around talking to people that we were inspired to talk to. Two people were too busy, but still really nice about it. Two more rejected us because they were Catholic and thought that they wouldn´t need it. How wrong that is, we all need the Book of Mormon in our lives, it is essential! We also talked to a man that was reading a newspaper and working and two ladies that were standing there smoking, and another awesome story. We gave one to this guy that said he loves reading and would be interested, and when we walked by him 15 or so minutes later, he was still reading and was already into 1st Nephi! People are so nice and accepting here. I love Brazil! As for some other things, I love doing laundry with the Labels from Dad, and the Blue string from Mom, its always a great reminder. I love you guys so much! You are the best family!  We also had some other Elders leave this week and they will be missed. We had two Elders get hurt over the past week. One rolled his ankle pretty bad, and another fractured his elbow. We were able to give him a priesthood blessing, and how powerful that is. One of them asked me to anoint.  I love the power of the Priesthood and can testify that it is real. There is so much power in a blessing and being surrounded by so many people who hold the power of God. It truly is a blessing. I Love the Lord and am so thankful to be serving a mission. I love you all!
-Elder Paxman

May 4, 2011

Another week flies by in the life of Elder Tanner Paxman! Seriously, its crazy how fast the weeks go by. Heck, Ill be out in the field in two weeks, and I'm sure that will fly by. I sure hope ill be ready, I´ve got a lot of Portuguese to work on. My roommates and I have pretty intelligent conversations, well only sort of. At least we understand each other somewhat and can get the point across. We use the dictionary a good amount. One of them is helping me to read Jesus, O Cristo. I'm increasing my vocabulary, so that's pretty cool. As for the chocolate stuff, I have no idea still, I'm actually taking it in today if we have time, so I hope it comes out. So no very exciting stories this week, we did lose two missionaries in our district to the field. Also, we had Donald L. Holstrom  from the presidency of the Seventy come and talk with us. (That is a cool story about Parker btw). We also went to a ´´Tucanos Brazilian Grill´´ like there is in Provo only its the real thing, but not called that. I actually didn't get anything, and one thing I realized here in Brazil is how I am not much of a Meat lover. The Brazilian experience is dang awesome though. I love being here, especially when we get to walk around and be in the real Brazil. As for the scripture this week, I choose Moroni 7:33 because we were looking for a scripture that would help someone accept the church when they were having a hard time. Its so true, Christ should be the focus of our lives, I know that he lives, and that he loves each and everyone of us. He will help us in all that we need. Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer. We all should focus our lives on Christ. I love this Gospel, and I love this Church, and I know that it is True. I love you all and wish you the best. And Mother, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! I love you! Until next time, I love you all so much, and hope I keep you all entertained enough.
-Elder Tanner Ross Paxman