February and Yet Another New Area....

11 February 2016

Carnaval again, and Sick... again...

Well Carnaval is here again.  Its not as crazy here as it was in Trindade.  Just everybody on their porches dancing and drinking.  So... its cool.  We ran into a cool family that was taught everything by the missionaries about a year ago, and 2 of them want to be baptized this Sunday.  So thats pretty cool!

We've also been teaching 3 couples, two who are our neighbors and another who lives way far away, who are super cool too.  One of which has the cutest little dog ever!

Other than that, theres not really much else to say.  There is only one place that we can use to send emails and the internet is very slow so we cant send pictures :/  The only other thing that happened is that on Tuesday, the Sisters all got a virus and were SUPER sick.  Elder Gomes da Silva and I spent the whole day running errands for them, and buying stuff for them.  Then when we woke up yesterday we also started throwing up.  That was why we didnt write yesterday, because we were in the hospital.  They told me that I needed a shot, so I was like, Ok...  Then they told me lay on my stomach and where was the shot?  On the butt... What the heck?  Is that normal Mom?  Because since that Ive been having trouble sitting right... Ouch.  Then right after me a little 8 year girl had the same thing and didnt say anything, made me look like a baby :P  But yeah, today Im pretty sick too, but the others are feeling better.

Welp, thats about it.  I'll talk to you guys next week (in like 4 days) and I love all you guys!

Elder Biggs

Someday.....

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16 February, 2016

Well You Guys Already Know…..

So Sunday, we were all super worried about being transferred.  Nobody wanted to leave.  Everyone was certain (including me) that at least I was going to stay. But on Sunday night I received a phone call from President Fusco:

"Who’s talking?"

"elder Biggs"

"Elder, are you keeping the commandments?"

"Yes President"

"Have you done anything, or are doing anything wrong that would make me very very disappointed?"

"No President?"

"Ok then, Elder Biggs, you’re being called to be Zone Leader.  Do you accept?"

"I accept."

"Congrats Elder, the Assistants will call you here in a bit"

Bye Elder Gomes da Silva

I hung up and Elder Gomes da Silva asked me what happened and I just kinda got sad, and said that I was being transferred...  I got all packed up (I'm getting better at that btw) and the next day we headed to the bus stop.  Other than me, Sister Moon, a Sister who arrived with Elder Rodrigues and reminds me a TON of Reygan, was also transferred.  So we headed out and last night I met up with my new Companion, Elder Belbin!  Elder Belbin has a lot more time on the mission than me and trained Elder Niu, my Tongan friend.  We’ve already been in the same district when I was back in Trindade so we're already good friends.

But yeah, that’s about all I got for you guys today.  I also discovered today (when you told me) that Sister Nevin is in my zone, so that’s cool! I have to buy a card reader because this lan house doesn’t have them, so no pictures today :( But next week I'll be sure to send a bunch.  I love you guys!

Elder Biggs

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22 February, 2016

So... Maybe I forgot to tell you guys...

I could’ve sworn that I told you guys where I am last week, but apparently not...  I'm back in Fortaleza, in a neighborhood called José Walter.  Its pretty close to Castelão.  There really isn’t a good reference point becasue our area is very small and is pretty much just favella.  But its cool.

Elder Belbin (He doesn't look like Matt Smith in this pic
but I will try to take a better one here in a bit.)

Elder Belbin is my comp and is ending his mission this transfer.  So he'll be my 3rd comp to end his mission with me.  He is from New Zealand!  And no, he doesn’t have an accent anymore.  He has the same accent that I have.  half American, half Brazilian.  We've become very good friends in this last week.  We joke with each other, but also feel comfortable with one another enough to talk about stuff.  He looks a lot, almost exactly, like Matt Smith.  And probably normally has an accent like him too.  He’s 20 and is from an all Mormon family too.  So yeah, we get along really well and he’s teaching me how to be a better missionary.

The ward here is José Walter 4 ward, in the Sul stake.  It’s a small ward that is running on hard times.  But we've already gotten to know the bishop really well and the Ward mission leader.  (This is the first time on my mission that Ive had a Ward mission leader).  Elder Belbin arrived here 2 weeks before me, and was with an Elder Occon, a missionary who served 7 months in the Gilbert Arizona mission waiting for his Visa.

Bye Elder Amaral

Being Zone leader is pretty cool, but I'll need to see a little bit more before I can really tell you how it is.  But one thing that I can say is that time is PASSING by fast.  Elder Amaral (who went home last week) told me that after 1 year, the transfers start flying by.  And my time in Limoeiro was so fast that I cant even believe it.  After, I was talking to him and he told me that that is exactly how it feels.  So... It wont be long now.  I discovered that the day I will leave here will be on October 19th.  And it’ll only be me and Elder Wedekind on the plane.  So only 8 more months. D:

Alright, I need to get going.  There was a meeting for all the zone leaders with President today and P-day is already ending.  So I'll talk to you guys next week!

Elder Biggs

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29 February, 2016

Sweet, I’m 20 Now!

My Birthday Suit!

Alright!  So how’s it going? Good? Good!  This last week we worked like crazy!  In our daily planners there is a plan, and a backup plan for every half hour.  And we made an additional 2 backup plans for every half hour.  4 plans for 30 minutes.  We've been pretty wasted these last few days.

We had a mission council this week and President has been telling us that the only thing that will make us feel better is work.  And we're-a-working.  my week has really just been that.

Some cool things that Ive learned this week is how to Gospel of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, Gift of the holy ghost, and endure to the end) is more than stuff that we do, its a way to live.  Its this that allows all of us to change, and to be better.  We all have things about us that we want to change.  The gospel helps us do that, and to be a person, ore like Jesus Christ.

Benjamin, our baptism this week

Anyways, this week we baptized a 22 year old man named Benjamin.  He is from Africa!  Studying here in Brazil.  He's super cool and always says the pray in his cool African language.

Anyways, I gotta go.  I love you guys  and I'll talk to you next week!

Elder Biggs



This is what I see of all the time (because we are always on
each others side) and I think he looks a lot like Matt Smith.

January in the North Lemon

18 January, 2016

2^nd Week

Being in a district of ONLY sisters, you find yourself waiting a lot of the time...

This week started with us leaving the Lan house to go straight home, pack up, and head to Fortaleza for a mission council that is held once a month.  Tuesday morning was the council, which was really cool.  Just the zone leaders there….and me :)

Here in Limoeiro, things are pretty awesome.  It’s really hot here.  Way hotter than Fortaleza, but not as hot as Arizona.  This place is really cool.  It’s actually a cute little town where everything is perfect. It’s like a Brazilian Mayberry.  It’s awesome.  And working here is really cool too.  It’s very hard finding success here, but with the spirit guiding, its a whole lot easier.

Elder Gomes da Silva and I are pretty good friends at this point.  He is really funny and everybody loves him, but he works hard too.  I think that’s a really good aspect about him that I will try to apply which is that he is very cool, but he doesn’t let that get in the way of doing what he has to do.  Unlike other missionaries and companions who are super cool, but worry more about being liked than working for the Savior.

The group here is moving along.  President opened a couple of cities about 2 years ago and all but this one are branches now.  Just this one that is still a group.  But this last week I interviewed a man to receive the priesthood and gave him the Aaronic priesthood.  And there is another man that I will interview next week.  So it’s moving along.

That’s about all the time that I have.  I love you guys so much and Ill talk to you next week!

Elder Biggs

_______________________

25 January, 2016

Crazy Cool Week!!

Alright, this week has got some cool stuff!

I'm just gonna go down the list here:  Last week a Subway opened here so naturally we headed over for lunch on P-day and it was the best Subway I had ever had in my life!

We have a new friend who we like to call Marley.  He's a super beautiful Lab who found us on the outside of town and followed us ALL day.  Then when we had left, he just kinda went back home.  A couple days later at 6:30ish we're walking in the same area and we saw on the other side of the mud road (because its raining like crazy here every single day) Marley with his mouth open with surprise (literally Im not even kidding it was hilarious) looking at us.  Then when we called to him he went crazy, jumping all over us (which got us real dirty) and crying as though to say "I found you I found you!!!"  He then followed us for the rest of the day accompanying us in all our visits and everything.

On Tuesday we headed out to Fortaleza for a worldwide missionary broadcast, which would be the next day.  Wednesday we all got to the 3 story stake center where I met up with my Castelão peeps.  I also met up with Elder Ramirez (Barney) who was transferred too, and guess who his new comp is!  Elder Da Hora!  It was actually pretty cool, Da Hora is ending his mission here in 8 weeks and is totally trunky.  So it was cool.  The actual transmission was super cool with Elder Anderson, Bednar, and Oaks talking a lot about the actual gospel of Jesus Christ: faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, and endure to the end.  How to teach it but also how to apply it in OUR lives.  Pretty awesome stuff.

On Saturday we all received phone calls from President Fusco telling us that we needed to baptize "today and tomorrow."  And we had just about nobody.  No. Nobody. At all!  Anyway, I discovered that the daughter of a member here wasn’t baptized yet (she found my blog so she'll probably be reading this), because of complications with the girl's dad not wanting her to be baptized. Technically, because her dad didn’t live with her and doesn’t take care of her, she doesn’t need her dad’s permission, just her mom’s.  She turned 8 about 9 months ago.  So me and Elder Gomes da Silva talked with her about this and after a super spiritual visit with her, she showed her incredible faith by saying, "Alright, let's baptize her today then"  Alyne, the daughter went crazy excited to be baptized.  And after tons of miracles, we got to the river and baptized her that night.  A super cool experience.  

Anyways, this last week has been super long and super difficult.  But really did pay off.  Which is basically how the mission is, neh?  But after this week full of miracles, a car accident (we ran into a motorcycle and a wall, it was AWESOME), and a baptism, it sure is good to be a missionary!

Elder Biggs

________________________

1 February, 2016

Fortalaza Again…..

So since Elder Gomes da Silva has arrived on his mission he has traveled to Fortaleza EVERY week.  Remember while I was in Trindade I went to Fortaleza like, twice in 8 months...  But its only 4 hours to get there, but generally we have to leave the day before just to get back here the day after...

This week we got called to Fortaleza for a District Leader training and also President wanted to interview me because I was the only one in the mission who hasn’t been interviewed in the last 3 months (because of transfers and stuff :P)  So while I was there I went ahead and looked at some cool suits

 

I like the grey one better.  The blue one is a whole lot more blue than it looks in the photo.  The suit and pants are about R$300 ($75ish).  Next time we head to Fortaleza I think I might buy it for my 20th b-day!  just because....

P Day!

This week we've been pretty busy with trying to find people to baptize and also organizing this group.  What Ive learned is that this group is about 2 years old but no one has ever had callings and nothing has ever been organized.  A new group leader was called, and right now we're trying to help him with his new calling.  It’s getting there.

But anyways, it’s good to hear from you guys.  Glad that Nilda is keeping you guys updated.  It’s already February, which means just 3 more months until Mothers day 0.0

Elder Biggs

Starting a New Year off with Transfers!

4 January,  2015

Welp, Here we go Again.

New Years Eve (until 9:30) with Wellington and his family

So this last week had new years and that was pretty much like any other day.  Other than the fact that everyone was drinking and that everyone was blowing up soda cans.  Which was actually pretty cool.  We've been working hard and having LOTS of success.  We're finding people in ways that I never thought possible.  We've really been seeing miracles these last few days.  Ive had quite a bit of a problem training and this last week FINALLY am getting the hang of it!  And about an hour ago, we got a call that Im being transfered...

I dont know where or with who, and neither does Elder Rodrigues, but Elder Ramirez (Barney) was also transfered.  I only passed 3 months here (which is about normal) but I feel like I was able to do what I had to do.  I feel good about my work here.  Elder Rodrigues is about how I was when Elder Young left, like, "I didnt like you, but I dont want you to leave" He actually said that, but joking (i think).

Last P day playing with Amaral and Rodrigues (with a cool shirt)

Honestly, Elder Rodrigues was one of my favorite companions, (maybe even my favorite, sorry other Elder Rodrigues) but at least this one isnt going home until long after I go home :P  I'll let you guys know next week all the details on where I am, who Im with and all that jazz, but I love you guys, and I'm definitly going to miss Castelão a ton.

Elder Dorado and Sister Santos from Trindade leaving for their missions.
I ran into them at the airport (in our zone).

Elder Biggs

__________________________________

11 January 2016

Limoeiro do Norte

After I wrote to you guys we headed back to our house, after stopping by the grocery store to drink coke in th glass bottles one last time, and I got all packed up.   I really liked Elder Rodrigues, but I think the hardest part was leaving Elder Amaral.  Elder Rodrigues' comp arrived pretty quick and I still didn’t know where I was going.  So Elder Amaral stuck with me for a while waiting for his comp.  and we both about cried.  For the last 3 months, we’ve been best friends and its not like we’d really see one another, because he’s going home in a month.  So yeah... But we decided to meet at the Fortaleza temple dedication.

I later got a call that I would be returning to the middle of nowhere in a city called Limoeiro do Norte, about 4 hours from Fortaleza.  My companion is Elder Gomes da Silva and I’m training him too.  He got here with Elder Rodrigues and still has 6 more weeks of training.  He’s super cool.  One of the nicest and coolest guys Ive met on my mission.  Here, it’s us two, and 4 sisters.  This is the first time in my mission that I’ve had sisters in my district.  And here’s the best part….. I’m district leader.  Also, this district doesn’t have a zone, so I am also Zone leader.  ALSO!  The church here isn’t a ward or even a branch.  It’s only about 2 years old here so its still just a group.  Yesterday just had about 30 people in our old school where we have church.  The group leader just moved away and so now, IM the group leader.  Yesterday I was presiding, leading, blessed the sacrament, and gave a 40 minute talk at the end (which was a pretty sweet talk if I do say so myself).  So basically, I have all the callings except assistant to the president right now :)

I stole this pic off the FB (Erika)

Here in the middle of nowhere there is finally cool stuff that I can talk about again.  For example, these last three days there was a huge concert in front of our house.  In front. of our house.... We had to book it home 5 o’clock everyday because it got pretty ugly after that.  Also, it wasn’t really possible to sleep so that was cool! 

Ok, that was the week.  Hopefully these next few letters will be more interesting, but the internet here is slow again, so pictures might be a little more rare, but vai da certo!

Elder Biggs

December 2015 - Christmas in the Field

7 December 2015

This Week

Hey, hows it going? Cool! 

This week was very uneventful, as in I honestly don’t know what to say.  Its getting pretty hard to think of cool stuff that’s happened because its like, right now: Im training.  That IS the thing that’s happening.  And that'll be for the next 10 weeks.  So... Ill just talk about that :)

I love Elder Rodrigues!  He is really turning out to be my favorite companion.  Who until now was other Elder Rodrigues :)  He just BARELY turned 18 and is really cool.  He's going through the whole start-of-the-mission  thing, but he’s a lot better than I was when I got here.

Sorry for the short letter.  Im saving all the good stuff for Christmas!   See you next week!

Elder Biggs

_________________________________

14 December 2015

Another Week

E ai? (that means what’s up) Glad to hear from you guys, I really do love hearing about what’s going on back at home, don’t have to worry about long letters (Dad), if im running low on time, I just wont read it all :)

So this week was another week of just work.  Elder Rodrigues and I are really good friends at this point.  Id like to think that he doesn’t hate my guts, but there's probably a couple times when he doesn’t like me too much, but whatever.  Part of the experience.

Right now we're working with a woman in a rich neighborhood named Valésia.  She is a young mom and is absolutely eating up everything that we and the church are offering to her.  The only problem is that she isn’t married to her husband (super freaking common here) but she received a very strong answer to her question if the Book of Mormon is true and is half way through 2 Nephi!  She is the one with the cool dog named Mike, here’s a photo:

​He's a super rare type of dog called Shah pay or something mandarin or something.  I don’t know exactly...

This week we also did a service project where I used a normal shirt in the sun all day.  Well its been awhile since my neck has been exposed to the sun so... 

Yeah, that isnt feeling very good right now.

Oh and you guys have to send this to DeWitt.  The ward secretary here is named Theo (pronounced tell).  He served his mission in Argentina and got back just a little over a year ago.  I asked which mission he served in and asked if he knew and Elder Evans.  He said "Was he a secretary?" I said yes, and he got super excited when I told him he was my cousin!  So: DeWitt, Elder Da Silva told me to call you a "Bunda Mole" I'm sure you know what that means.  Also, he told me some pretty funny stories...

Alright I gotta go.  I love you guys, Dad, if you could send me the skype info thatd be great.  Next week we can get all set up for that!

Elder Biggs

_________________________________

21 December 2015

Good Week

This week was a very good week that I would like to start by sharing a picture of me eating "Tapioca" (basically starch cooked like a pancake) with eggs - a delight here in the Northeast of Brazil - with my instate hat and hammock:

Anyways, Tuesday was our Christmas Conference.  Super cool and super spiritual.  We started with pancakes with honey (they don’t have maple here) and later on watched Kung Fu Panda! A MOVIE!!!  The conference lasted all day and was a really cool experience.  Tempted me to stay for next year's too!

This here is Elder Amaral, who’s basically my best friend right now.  He lives in the same house as me and super cool!

The rest of the week was pretty normal.  We’ve been talking with this mom, Valécia, for the last week or two and she was nervous of what her husband would think when he got home from a business trip.  But when he got here he was very prepared and the two are really excited at the idea of Temple marriage.

I'm pretty much all out of time now, but it’ll be a lot easier to talk to you guys this Friday.  I love you guys so much and I'll so you guys this week!

Elder Biggs

Ready for Christmas!

______________________________________

28 December 2015

Christmas is Different Here

Skype Call!

So ever since I can remember, Dad’s always been telling me how magical Christmas on the mission is.  And receiving emails from my friends in the field in the US, the same thing.  But here... well... its a lot different.  Basically, here there’s a big party the night of Christmas eve, a huge dinner at 10-11pm, the at midnight they trade presents (secret santa) Then sleep, wake up at noon have a big lunch, the Christmas ends.  After noon, everything was totally normal.  People drinking and partying in the road, just like all the other holidays.  It kinda made me sad to see that no one really thinks about Christ on Christmas (even less than in the US) but maybe it’s all good and I'm just not used to it here.  But this is my last Christmas so, its whatever!

The day after Christmas I woke up extremely sick.  I was so weak and so bad that I couldn’t even sit down and study.  I called President and he told me not to eat anything or drink anything for the rest of the day.  Anyways, it started with the worst diarrhea of my life, followed by very painful vomiting.  And it was worse because I wasn’t vomiting anything.  I think it was like what happened to Mom when she was a kid (if I remember the story right) [dry heaving] anyways, that night I was (trying) to throw up and a tiny little thing came out and I instantly felt a hundred times better!  Apparently I ate something that wasn’t supposed to be eaten, and my body was like, "no no no no no no!"  So yesterday and today Im still pretty wasted, but its getting there :)  Fun mission stories!

All right, I gotta go.  It was so cool talking to you guys and I'm so excited to see you guys again in 5 months!

Elder Biggs

Me and Wedekind are pretty bummed about not be able to see Star Wars, so we made this.  I also should point out that this is COMPLETELY in camera.  That means there are ZERO effects on this photo.  Not photoshop, at all!

November 2015 and the One Year Mark!

9 November 2015

SEND MORE PEANUT BUTTER!!!!!!!!!!!

So last P-day we invited Elder Wedekind and his comp to finally make Missouri Cookies.  I was way nervous to mess up but it actually turned out REALLY good!  And the best part is that I only used half of the peanut butter!  So I can make it again!  But send more, because that was good! 

Other than that this week has been a pretty good week.  We've been working like crazy and having lots of success.  We have a few rules here from President that are 1, mark 4 baptismal dates every day.  And 2, invite 40 people to church on Friday and Saturday.  Last week we invited 40 people and had lots of people at church.  This week we worked crazy hard to mark 4 dates every day and because of that were blessed to meet tons of new people.  But we didn’t invite a lot people to church, and because of that we had almost no one at church, which ruined a TON of the dates (because you need to go to church two times before baptism).  We're learning in a very real way to be exactly obedient.  President told me today that I need to be 100% obedient starting today.  Which I am to everything in the handbook, but definitely can improve in the counsel that President gives.

One other cool thing to add.  We marked a date with this kid who seemed a little emo, but whatever.  Then after we marked the date, another (raging fruit basket) comes in, kisses him, then leaves.  And we're like, dang it, he's gay.  But we're still teaching him, so Ill let you know how that goes.  But wait there’s more.  We found 2 lesbians while knocking on doors who are atheists.  But  their super cool, and found the Book of Mormon really interesting.  It’s cool because I’ve had tons of atheist friends so I knew how to explain things to them. 

Alright, 40 minutes is up, but I love you guys and will talk to you next week! 

(6 weeks til Christmas)

Elder Biggs 

_______________________________

16 November 2015

Good Week

This was a pretty good week.  Already the 5th of the transfer, which means next week someone might be transferred.  In our house there is me and Elder Calixto, Elder Amaral and Elder Ramirez.  In this instance, I'm Elder Johnson, and Calixto is Elder Vanpelt from the Best two years.  Then Elder Amaral is one of the coolest missionaries Ive ever met who is also our District leader, and Elder Ramirez is basically Barney from the Andy Griffith Show.  So, yeah!

 

Last P-Day, me and Amaral played ping pong just about all day, until it turned into Mortal-Combat-Ping-Pong.  That was fun until we both hurt ourselves (seriously...).  Another cool thing was that we had headed to a favela to teach someone and their grandpa had been burned their trash (which is normal here) so naturally we helped (see first picture). Wednesday was Elder Ramirez' birthday so me and Calixto went home about 10 minutes early to set up a surprise party for him.  Cake, candles, coke, Christmas tree, it was cool!

So this week we had been teaching a couple young men when their sister and 2 of her friends showed up.  One of the friends told us that she was baptized, had been praying and thinking the day before what God wanted her to do, and she found us.  We told her that she had to come back to church and that her sister (one of the other girls had to be baptized.  They both went to church yesterday and she is excited to be baptized!

So that was my week written in like 40 seconds!  Oh, one more thing.  Here in Brazil the sewage isn’t under ground in a lot of places but just flows on the side of the road (gross right?).  Anyways almost a year has past and I have never step or tripped in the gutter. Well what do you know it?  2 days ago we're leaving a house and FWOOP! my foot falls in the gutter and I fall flat on my face!  I ripped my pants on the right leg and hurt my knee, but we were in a hurry, so I just kinda jumped up and we kept going.  Good stuff :)   And yes, I washed my shoe :P

Alright I gotta go. I love you guys and I'll talk to you in 5 weeks!

Elder Biggs

Fire!  The fire actually got so big and so hot that 1) I wasn’t able to get any closer, and 2) the neighboring buildings fire alarm went off.  It was AWESOME!

Me with Hulk.  I know we look alike, but Im the one with the zits.

_________________________________

23 November 2015

One Year!

Me with Hulk. I know we look alike, but Im the one with the zits.

So this last week I finally hit the one year mark!  It was super cool because Elder Wedekind is here in the same district.  A member in his ward invited us to her house for dinner and we had barbeque and burned a shirt (that Wedekind found in his house).   Also I discovered that the rule of the mission isn’t that you cant EAT Oreos, just that you cant buy them with mission money.  So I bought R$10 of Oreos which won me a free Oreo BAG!!!  Its awesome, because its a bag, but with Oreo!  Im not sure Ill be able to send pictures, but I'll try.   

The other thing, I was walking down the street a couple weeks ago and found a shop selling movies.  And in the front of the shop were a bunch of movie posters including one of the Avengers (in Portuguese: Os Vengadores: Era de Ultron)  I asked how much and she said R$5.  SO I was like, I'll come back tomorrow. Well the next day, we returned and they had moved locations to a place that I didn’t recognize.  Well on Thursday were walking down the street (me still sad about the poster) when we come across a new store selling the same thing. It actually took me a minute to put two and two together before I realized it was the same store :P  So I totally bought it!  OH MY GOSH Its pretty cool. Hanging over my bed right now :D

A couple other things, they cut our power on Monday, so we went a few days without energy.  That was cool, sleeping without a fan to keep the mosquitoes away.  Another thing was that we had interviews with President.  Now this is rare, Ive only had 3 interviews with him in 1 year (excluding the first day in the field).  It was really cool, and afterwards we had a training with him.  When we started the interview, President Fusco said that he was sick, I was too,  and afterwards I ended up getting really sick.  Im not sure what it was exactly.  Probably just the cold (for the millionth time.) ut Im still sick and my voice is crazy weird.  But gotta work, so, doesn’t really change anything.

The only other thing is that we baptized this week. I think I talked about this last week, but 2 girls found US in someone’s house and said that one was already a member and the other was baptized, but lost the records, so we went ahead, reactivated one and baptized the other.  They're both super excited to come back to church, it feels like 2 baptisms.

Anywho, Im just about out of time.  I love you guys and will talk to you next week!

Elder Biggs

____________________________________

30 November 2015

Surprise

So this week has got a couple surprises. Tuesday, the package arrived which I opened and read all the letters.  Thank you so much, I really liked it.  I didn’t open any of the presents yet, they'll wait until Christmas.

Elder Rodrigues and I

The other thing.  I received a phone call from our zone leaders that Elder Calixto was being transferred, and that I was going to train!  So we headed over to the stake center here and found a big group of new missionaries including lots of Americans and another Elder Rodrigues.  Anyways, we did a lot of training without know who our comps would be and I slept with them at the mission house.  I was called the big brother because I was the oldest missionary in the house.  The next day, we arrived at the stake center and they announced the companions.  I was one of the first ones < "Elder Biggs will train Elder... Rodrigues"  And I was like, "No WAY!" So I now have 2 Elder Rodrigueses (Remember, Hod-ree-gez).  Anyways, training is really hard, but its also really cool.  He's a lot like me, having a little hard time adjusting but is doing ok.  He was with his family just 3 weeks ago, so its a little different for Americans who already have a month down.

Our baptism this week, Wesley, who was baptized by his uncle

A couple other cool things.  Our Zone Leader Elder Padilla went home this last week so our new ZL is Elder Camargo!  We had a great chat about his son (who he trained) Trindade, and how to train and stuff.  Super cool.

Also, we found a pug, like super pug, like all those rolls and stuff, at a investigators house, and his name:  Mike!  They even called him Mikey!  I tried to take a picture but we ran out of time...

Also, we were eating lunch and there was something a little strange about it.  I asked and they told us what we were eating, and guess what it was.  Pork Blood!  Like the kind that Rhett and Link ate.  It was pretty nasty, but I ate 2 times anyway. 

One more thing.  Last night, we were heading home and another drunk dude with 2 other drunk guys tried to rob us last night.  hey were like pass you hone and your watches, and we were just kina like, he doesn’t even have a gun.  So I said ok, then we took off running.  When we got home we found Amaral and Ramirez and told them, yeah we almost got robbed again, but I just barely got this new cell phone, I will not give it up again!    So yeah good stuff.

Ok, Gotta go,  Love you guys and I'll talk to you next week!

Elder Biggs

-Elder Rodrigues and I

-Our baptism this week, Wescley, who was baptized by his uncle

October 2015 in Castelão

12 October, 2015

Frozen Hot Chocolate

This last week had some interesting stuff happen.  I will try to send pictures with this:

Wednesday we got home and Elder Da Hora went to use the bathroom.  While he was "busy" a rat ran from the corner into our room.  We then spent the next 10 minutes trying to kill it, which we finally did by throwing a flip-flop at it.  Here, if you find a rat you have got to kill it, or it might get other people sick and kill them.  It was a cute little guy, but, he had to go.  This is the 2nd rat we’ve killed here.  (I wont send it, but I totally took a picture)

About a week ago we stopped by a soccer field and watched a group of kids playing soccer for a bit (missionaries cant play soccer, and no one here plays basketball, so that’s lame).  But we ended up teaching them and a couple of them are looking really good.  We talked with the family of one of them who is also looking pretty good.  This is a picture of Martinez (Mar-cheenz) who I call Tony for no reason.

We also had a mission conference this week with a special guest.  And when we arrived there, it was President Swensen!  From the MTC!  And another cool thing, is that President Swensen was President Fusco's Mission President!  So it was really cool to see the two of them together.

Then after the conference, I decided it was time!

I made frozen Hot Chocolate and Oh Boy! Was it good!  Everyone except Elder Da Hora liked it (which was good for us because we got to have more) but it was super cool. The guy in the middle is Elder Amaral our new District Leader who is super cool!  He likes to think about crazy stuff like me, so we get along really well.  and the other is Elder Rameirez from Equador.  He's super crazy sometimes and super quiet sometimes, we get along pretty well also!

The other day we also got to paint a big wall.  That’s all I really got to say about that, but it was fun.

But that was my week!  The transfer ended yesterday so now starts a transfer really special.  3 days before the transfer ends will mark one year!  Me and Wedekind and I are excited!  I love you guys and will talk to you next week!

Elder Biggs

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19 October, 2015

Internet for Just 40 Minutes Now...

Hey, so missionaries have been doing bad stuff on the internet so President Fusco is cracking down on everyone.  For the next 3 weeks we only have 40 minutes of internet time, and if things don’t get better in 3 weeks it’ll be 15 minutes, then 3 more weeks it’ll just be letters.  But it'll probably stay at 40 minutes.  President said that he couldn’t do that to our moms.

So the biggest news is that after emailing last week, we got a phone call that said that Elder Da Hora was transferred.  He left about an hour later and I stuck with Elder Amaral and Rameirez (our roommates) for the next 2 days.  My new comp arrived from Crato Tuesday night at 11:30.   His name is Elder Calixto (Cal-ee-stow), hes Brazilian and has 8 months on the mission, which means I'm senior *what what*  He's pretty much Mr Bean.  So we get along really well.  He really is though the goofiest little guy that Ive ever met.  He's 21 and is the only member in his family.

As for things that happened this week, we've been finding lots of new people to teach and baptize (we've got a few people getting ready to get baptized this week).But really the only thing worthy of note is that yesterday we got robbed.  These 2 drunk guys assaulted us (with a finger gun) and we'd just leave but they had me by the hand and had Elder Calixto's bag before we had a chance to do much of anything.  They just took our cell phone from 2001 but it really leave us annoyed.  Today we had a conference and President laid down the law and cut our internet.  Also, while leaving I ran into Sister Nevin!  She didn’t know Portuguese yet so we talked while walking back to the bus stop.  It was cool.

Anyway, there's my 40 minutes.  I love you guys and will talk to you next week!

Elder Biggs

Me with Sister Nevin
(Sister Nevin is Daynen's cousin's cousin- small world!)

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26 October 2015

One Year From Today

One year from today at about 10am (give or take 2 hours) all of you will be waiting at the airport for a tall(er than Tayte), super skinny Elder in a dirty suit.  Elder Wedekind is sitting next to me right now and told me that we'll be heading home on October 25th, 2016, and that we'll be arriving one year from today!  So... YEAH!  We're not trunky!

Anyways, this week went pretty well!  We've been working really really hard.  Remember how everyone said the Trindade is the worst area in the mission?  Well everyone is now saying that the Castelão stake is the worst stake in Fortaleza, and that the Castelão ward is the worst ward in the stake.  So we're trying to change that.  We're working with 4 couples right now who will start the month-long process of marriage next week.  So hopefully here in a month we'll have 8 baptisms!  This week we taught the owner of Milo, the dog who ate my foot, and she was baptized!  I have a goal to baptize 6 more people before I hit 1 year.  So it'll be crazy.

Speaking of working hard.  One thing we like to do pretty much everyday is pass by the grocery store here and go to the little snack-bar (I don’t remember the actual name) in the back and buy 2 Reais of food and 1 liter of Coke in he glass bottle.  Its a good way to relax and its only R$4 per day.

Well, I'm gonna head out with the whole 40 minutes thing.  I love you guys and will see you in one year.  *what what*

Elder Biggs

There wont be pictures today because either the computer or my sd card is broken.  Lets hope its the computer...

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2 November, 2015

Halloween Week

So I had completely forgotten that this week was Halloween until Makenna told me last Monday.  I was like, "Oh Yeah!"  Here they don’t celebrate Halloween very much, but the Brazilian equivalent to Day of the Dead today.  But on the bright side, Christmas season started yesterday so we totally put up our missionary Christmas tree (I'll try to send a picture but I'm not sure I'll be able).

So on Tuesday, we had a Seventy visit our mission.  Elder Campos.  He talked with us about a bunch of stuff, we had lunch, then after lunch he started talking about something really important.  He said that the 70 has a training with the Apostles a week before every General Conference.  And usually they all talk about different stuff, but this year they ALL talked about one thing.  The Sabbath.  Elder Campos showed us Exodus 12:13 (switch the word token for sign), and Exodus 31:12-13 (in Portuguese token and sign are the same word).  Basically the destroying angel is out and about now like how he was in Egypt, and in those days the sign protecting everyone was the blood on their door, but now its the Sabbath.  So I'm gonna really make sure that you guys keep the Sabbath day holy because IM the first born and I don’t wanna die ;)

But after receiving this we shared it with one member who then held a family home evening and told everyone, who in testimony meeting and all the other classes shared again, then in Ward council everyone shared again.  Everyone here is really getting excited about the Sabbath, its actually really cool!

As for other stuff that happened this week, that’s really about it.  I went on splits with my DL who lives with us, Elder Amaral. He's super cool and has the same voice as Wacko!  Its cool, I'll try  to send a video one day!

I love you guys and am still trying to get used to this 40 minutes of internet. BYE

Elder Biggs