Adam Candland: May 20: Last entry from Brasil.

[Note: Adam returns home at 10:30 on Thursday]

I´m pretty dang anxious to just get this over with. I´m excited and sad, and would love it if today were already Thursday because I don´t look forward to trying to sleep these next few nights, trying to do something all day as a missionary at home where I can´t do anything fun with my siblings, then stay awake long enough to be released. I´m stressed about college, about finding a job, about getting my baggage all taken care of, and a ton of other stuff I´ll have to worry about.

Anyway, this last week we´ve been working hard. We didn´t manage to baptize anyone this transfer, which is a huge bummer. Our entire zone of 7 areas baptized 1 person this transfer. That is absolutely ridiculous. Anyway, out of our zone, we have about 8 baptismal dates marked only too. 3 of those my companion and I marked.

I don´t really know what I want to eat. I´ll be starving around lunch time. If you guys want, I´d be glad to cook something my first day back. I don´t have any meals in mind that are SO good that I have to eat it that day. But some day I want some mexican food, and also some teriyaki.

I took a few more pictures to show. I´ll send those home now.Here in São Paulo, sometimes you´re looking for a house number, but you can´t find it. Sometimes you´re looking for a house, and where it should be, it isn´t.

Okay... this is pretty messed up. I almost feel like I did that day I got my dear john. Just a little calmer and not nauseous. Alright. Until Thursday. I´ll talk to you then.

--
-Elder Candland 

May 13

Alright, we´re short on time today. I´ll try and get those pictures sent to you guys.

For my guitar... I don´t know what to do. I don´t have a hard case. I scored a cheap cover for free and stuck with it. It may depend on how I can fit everything in my suitcases too. I´m looking good so far, but there is still that last bag in the mission office full of stuff that I can´t even remember. It´s all going to be decided on may 22nd.

Here´s my dictionary.

Here´s the tarantula from Sunday night.

Here´s a dog that followed us into our house and decided that my backpack was a bed.

10 days...

-Elder Candland 

May 6

Well let me get the complaints out of the way. I´m pretty disappointed with this area. We´re working hard, yet we can´t find anyone who is interested in hearing about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I´m at the pique of my mission, using all of my experience, and I´m having the most difficult time I have ever had with finding people to listen to us. Saturdays are particularly frustrating. This last Saturday we had a ton of appointments marked with several people, and every - single - one fell through. It wasn´t even 4 o´clock and I already felt like throwing my name tag on the ground and start yelling in English. No one here understands commitment. They say that we can pass by at a specific hour of the day, and then when we show up, they´re not even home. I just don´t get it. We tell them that God has called a prophet, just as he always has done, and that we have proof that he was called of God, and we promise that they can have a happier family and that they can receive a witness from God himself that this is true. And they treat it as nothing.

Okay, I think I´m fine now. Anyway, as for Eastern: I don´t have a clue. I´m not really receiving much revelation on such topics at this moment. I just fasted that things will be prepared so that I can jump back into my life without many problems. That´s the best I have for now. I can try praying about Eastern this week.

I got my last package. We made the brownies today, but they were still cooling off when we left. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed reading letters from the rest of the kids. I don´t ever hear from them, an it was kind of a reminder that they´re still real people. To be honest, Kortney sounds like quite a handful these days from the way she wrote in her letter. Good luck with that one when she hits 16.

Anyway, it´s all good for Mother´s Day. Speaking of which, I was asked to give a talk on. 

Oh, and could you take a look at baggage stuff for me. I need to remember the maximum weight, and I need to know if a guitar constitutes a carry-on item. If not, I´m not sure how that´s getting home.

Alright, talk to you guys on Sunday.

--
-Elder Candland 

April 29

Well, things have improved. As for that brother who was upset about us messing up the lunch schedule (and even though it was just one more ridiculous excuse to not keep the covenants he´d made with the Lord), we wrote a letter apologizing for the problems we caused. Anyway, we ate lunch with him on Saturday and it was fine, though he told us that we didn´t need to leave a message because he already knew all of the messages as if there was a list of messages for the missionaries to memorize. We´re clean of that problem now. He can´t say that because of the missionaries he doesn´t attend church, though only health problems are an actual excuse to not go to church.

Aside from him, we´re just doing our best to treat the members as best as we can, calling every day beforehand to confirm our lunch appointments, accommodating their schedules, etc. The ward is treating us better, but I still don´t really like the ward. It´s really ``dry´´ you might say. It lacks some strong/normal members to carry it. I´m hoping to baptize some good converts to help this ward out.

To answer mom´s question from last week, I was using the exercise bar quite a bit, but these last few weeks I´ve kind of stopped. I need to go these last 3 weeks nonstop. I´ve kind of lost hope in coming home as skinny as I left, but it´s pretty tough. We walk for hours in the Brazilian heat, and I still put on weight. 

Well, until now, the work here is going a little too slow for me. I´m really trying to pick it up, but we´re having a hard time finding people who are looking for the truth and are willing to do what it takes to follow it. We´ve taught a lot of first lessons this week, but few people really wanted to hear more at another time. We just need to throw in our nets and pull in as many people as we can find until one or two prepared people show up.

I like the goal for the kids. It´s something Dallin will use on his mission. Keeping the house clean really helps keep God´s presence  , which helps to plan, receive inspiration, etc.

Anyway, that´s it for this week.

-Elder Candland