Fake Hot Dogs, Cleaning, and Pick-up Lines

Hey family and friends

this week was absolutely horrible... 

my comp is a bit weak sauce and got really sick... so we had to stay home all week...

ive only stepped foot into my area 4 times. i dont know anyone or anything really

so since i stayed home i took advantage and studied alot... ya a man can only take so much studying... so i stopped and cleaned the apartment

ya the apartment was thug nasty.... the fridge was a nightmare.  Thank goodness for moms... I love you mom for cleaning up my messes.. now im paying for it by cleaning the mess of 3 other people. haha but dont worry im throwing order in this place.

I learned how to make some stroganoff and chili.... we made chili dawgs... so goooood.... we bought a pack of 50 hotdogs for like $8... that can only mean one thing,.... the hotdogs were not just made out of dog... ewww... but drowned in chili they were good

Welllllll finally saturday my comp decided he could do some work... so we went up to the top of the MORRO DA CRUZ (google image that beastly hill) we did a service project with the ward... Elder peters and I cleaned a nasty canal/gutter thing that was filled with mud... we cleaned while my weak sauce comp watched.  It got messy... it was awesome.  But nasty... i found tons of crawdads and frogs in that mud... so cool... then after 4 hours of mud battling we went to our apartment to clean off and to go to lunch with some members...

at lunch i met 8 year old, lorenzo... he gave me some tips on how to get the ladies... so ya... apparently when i meet them i need to ask them

"whats ur name?"  "Hows your family doing?" and "want to go to the cinema?" after that when were at the cinema i need to put my arm on her chair so it LOOKS like i have my arm around her... haha then ya after the date i gotta give her a love letter..  That lorenzo is gonna go far in life i can tell.

Then we started walking to an appointment after lunch and my comp almost fainted.,... apparently he has vertigo.,.. yup so i carried him home and i havent seen the sun since then... yaaaaaaaaaa,,, like i said. my comp is weak sauce.

its also kind of weird how he got all better all of a sudden on Pday...

wellllll the one spiritual highlight of my week was:

I saw a senhora doing some weeding, i felt like i had to go and offer my help... she said no... then we talked to her about who we were... then i felt like i had to just help her... so i knelt down and said "excuse me maam but im not gonna let u do this by yourself"  So i did the weeding for her while she and my weak sauce comp watched.  When i finished i said "thank you for letting me help you." and i started away... she got all confused and asked who we were and stuff like that.  she confessed she thought we were just talk and no walk.  so im glad i felt the spirit and we definitely planted a seed there.... I hope we have another opportunity to teach her.  Welllllll thats my week... i try each day to feel the promptings of the spirit better... im getting pro status

love you and be good

Elder Maynez

Poop on the Bed & Stair Killers

whoaaa well i got transfered (yes!) to the área "Intercap II" located in the neighborhood "Partenon" which is in Porto Alegre

 

on the bus ride here i met a crazy lady who performed a rap for me about Jeremias the prophet... she started yelling and stuff on the bus,... everyone looked at me wondering why i made her sing the rap haha... it was awkward sauce.

 

Got to the RODOVIARIA (i dont know the word in english) in Porto Alegre and met up with tons of missionaries that were being transferred. it was cool to see a bunch of priesthood power all focused in one little área. haha

 

went with the presidente to go find my companion... and then we went to our apartment... theres 4 missionaries in this apt too..... it was a mess... i cleaned everything and started to unpack....

 

my apt is right next to a CARREFOUR, a really cool supermarket walmart dealio thing where they have a band of employees on rollerskates.  It was really cool to go there. 

 

my área is really cool.  Theres a guy who designs logos thats making a logo for me.... a woman gave me a sandwich fo fwee (not fo fee, fo fwee).... yaaaa.  the área is crazy.  its got a huge catholic campus (im here now emailing and the computers are touch screen whats up!) The main points of the área are the hills (hills steeper and bigger than hills in san fran) and the favelas  (google image that word).... its really sketch. no worries mom i take care of myself... im already friends with half the gangstas here. haha

 

I´ve met a lot of crazy people already....

 

i met a temple sealer, who used to be a seventy, and jsut talking with him was awesome.  he is waaaay spiritual except when he and his wife bicker. haha they have funny ringtones, one is star wars and the other is superman. cool eh?  well i went to go leave a message with them and he prophecied what scripture i would share,.,,, crazy!!! its not even a common scripture.  I was so impressed and scared.  haha but ya it was good to know that the Spirit, the temple sealer and I were all on the same page haha

 

So my comp (Elder Fernandes) and another missionary (Elder Marshall) got really sick. so ElderPeters and I went out to work.  I was introduced to some crazy hills and staircases.... 257 stairs almost at a 90 degree angle in 3:09... its a new world record haha... imma try to break 2 minutes by the end of this transfer,  we were dying .... it was a heckish staircase and then there was a beastly hill to top it off.... ya.... my lungs about gave out... haha

 

The last highlight is that I went into my room and there was a huge poop on my bed.  My sheets were all wet and gross... who does that? so i took the sheets and put the poop on the culprits bed...revenge right? then i realize my comp is filming everything. im like whats going on? haha then i go to wash my sheets with fire but then they stop me and show me it was a prank.... whoa i cant believe i fell for the plastic poop trick..... they got me good haha.... its been a long time since ive seen a good prank haha so ya... the revenge is coming in hot.

 

Well thats about it... the mission is good, im loving it even more because i know whats going on now.  Im taking initiative and giving 100% to the lord... the only thing we can give to the lord is our will... its the only thing that doesnt belong to him,.,. but when we give it to him he will make us a lot better than what we could ever become by ourselves

 

I know the church is true.  I know the message we share brings blessings and happiness to those who accept the message and apply the teachings to their lives. ive seen the difference it makes in their lives

God, the Father, and Jesus Christ live and have restored the fulness of the gospel via Joseph Smith.  I know without a doubt that joseph Smith saw god and jesus christ in the sacred grove.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God and we can feel closer to god every day that we read it.  Magnify your callings in the church.  Theres nothing more important than this priveledge that we have to help build gods kingdom.

 

I love you people and thank you for the support

 

Well take care and forgive the typos and misspled words.... i cant spell in english as well (its sad i know.. . .)

bye

HAGS

 

Elder Maynez

Write ELDER MAYNEZ

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We know that sending letters can be pretty hard, this is why we are providing you with Elder Maynez' email address:

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I Dine Like a King...

Just some updates, highlights ya know the usual

-  weekend after conference wow im feeling good... spiritually recharged... conference was amazing... i was forced to watch in portuguese and that was a challenge because the signal wasnt very good and sometimes it would die.... WE watched it in the stake center... 

It was hard to understand everything because:

    1. the signal was bad

    2. i had investigators so i had to explain everything to them

    3. tried to take notes - listened in portguese and wrote in english haha

    4. tried to think of references in the scriptures for every principle taught

ya it was frustrating but it worked out alright.............

-  im being transferred to Porto Alegre the area of porto alegre that has the most hills in the city... thats something to look forward to

-  I was invited by the owner of KRAUSE (a huge store kinda like nordstroms) to go and visit him and his family to speak english and dine with them   That was so incredible.... he is no doubt the richest man in porto alegre... He had a huge mansion and everything... I was a little humble servant of the Lord with dusty feet and he was a big rich man.  I taught him and his family the first lesson and they really like me.  They treated me like a king.  THey asked me what i wanted to eat,,, i chose shrimp and rice and sushi,,,, they made it on the spot.. and the wife has been to france and learned how to cook and all that jazz so the food was amazing... I was getting used to rice and beans haha.... they gave me a huge box of chocolates from switzerland and some liquid gold to drink 

yaaaa.... all i know is i want to baptize them and then we could build a temple in pelotas.... i taught them in english and translated to Portuguese if they didn't understand me.  It was awesome... I still cant believe that i had that opportunity to teach the gospel to him.... They invited me to go boating with them and have lunch with them on Sunday  but alas i couldn't .. i told them my schedule was busy and i made some rich jokes like "Ill have my people contact your people then we can make this happen"  But im being transferred so we´ll see what happens with that family... ahhh that's so crazy

- thats it.... i love my time here as a missionary and each opportunity that i have to teach is a blessing and i treat it sacredly... The greatest service we can render to someone is sharing the gospel.  WE are all so blessed to be living in this dispensation.  We have a living profeta and 12 apostolos ... we have modern revelation;  God does not change.  He continues to answer our prayers and to bless us.  He´s our loving heavenly father.  hes always near and is always ready and willing to bless us...

be good and love ya!

Elder MAynez

Opening a New Mission Area--Or Am I?

THIS WEEK WAS AMAZING!!!!

We had a training with our mission president and we learned some things on what we could improve, That was cool and all but after the meeting he pulled me aside and we talked...

He asked me if ive ever studied other languages,  i said ya some italian, spanish, japanese, ya know the usual. haha he said that Im gonna open a new area in the "fronteira". there they

speak spanish, portuguese and german.  So the president gave me some books to start learning the 3 languages.... whoa right? so next monday im being shipped to this german settlement to preach

im still shaking from excitement... its so crazy,.,, wish me luck

what else... uhhhh everything is great here im learning so much and the more i learn the more i realize the less i know. nawmsayn? haha but ya im loving this work.  The mission is such a blessing for 

those serving it, its an honor to be a part of something so grand and so marvelous .. freak man im starting to say words ive never used in my life 'grand' and 'marvelous' whatevs.... anyways i love it and im working my hardest because with the truckload of new missionaries that are going to be arriving im gonna be the leader... so i gotta prepare myself like crazy... 

the work is moving forth, the ball is rolling and cant be stopped

the 2nd coming is almost here.  we need to be more prepared than ever

Families need to do family home evening and most of all family prayers.... those are the things that will bless us. 

im so excited for the general conference coming up... the prophet is going to speak!!! i hope all of you have a question on your mind that you want answered.  I know i do,.  I find that having questions 

for general conference makes general conference more meaningful.  I love the time i have to serve and i try not to waste a single minute of it,  I am learning more about the gospel and the more understanding

that i have the more joy and happiness i feel.  the more happiness i feel the more i want to share it,.  Those are the words i want to share with you guys... the more we understand gods plan for us

the more we have the desire to share his message.  

#churchistruerthantrue #begood #seekHeavenlyFatherinprayeralways #loveoneanother #thanksforthesupportandlove 

Love you tons,

Elder Maynez

PS Happy April Fools Day... that first paragraph was a lie.... im sorry i shouldnt joke like that,.,, but that was better than saying i got in a fight with thugs and my eye got stabbed out right? 

I Used a Machete...NO BIG DEAL

ay ohhhh

Well not much out the ordinary happened besides:

-we painted our apartment... that was fun... it looks all uneven but no worries it dried and looks pretty good

-uhhhhh had some baptisms but i didnt take very many pics ... my bad... well i dont like how brazilians have 49 names... its kind of annoying sometimes haha

-but the guy in the pic is GEREMIAS... 16 years old. future missionary.  hes awesome and God truly prepared him for us to teach

-ya i think i threw a pic of my bday celebration there... 

-i made a huge cake for the baptism and the gas in our apt ran out so the cake kind of died while we were waiting for some gas.... but i saved it and everybody loved that

chocolate mint mess i made

-then we drank about 5 L of chimarrão... that was a bad idea... we almost peed ourselves because we were far from members but we found someone who let us use the bathroom... bless that person.... she saved 2 lives that day.

-we had a huge churrasco with geremias... Bordolli n I couldnt really work too hard after because we ate so much we waddled like penguins

-im having withdrawals from dancing ... every once in a while i bust something out while proselyting... haha jk but seriously

-We did a huge service project where we cleaned out a swamp... i felt like the saints cleaning out nauvoo or kirtland... i forget... but ya it was cool because i used a machete and went to business

then ya....

welll thats about it... the only highlights of the week

Im feeling the influence of the spirit everyday its awesome. im learning so muchabout the gospel. my studies are inspired and its amazing how much there is to learn

i love being a missionary and all the experiences are once in a lifetime dealio.... 

so ya

be good and if u see my dad wish him a happy birthday for me ok?

haha k cyaaaa

love Elder Maynez

3/11/2013 Better Luck Next Time

This week went bye so fast....

everything is great.

I´m teaching a lot of people especially some potential missionaries

Theres this kid that has 17 yrs old and ive never seen someone so responsible.  we taught him all the lessons in one day.  He understood everything. Hes gonna be an awesome missionary

We finally found the secret to the work.  Doing splits with the young men preparing for a mission.  IN the ward im in it was destroyed by the missionaries because no one worked or did anything so the confidence the members had in us was zero.

So now were gaining confidence from the members and getting tons of references.... 

im doing some deep doctrine studies with Bordolli and thats really fun.  the more i know the more i dont know. weird huh

the dogs are annoying as ever.  i stepped on one the other day by accident and ya it freaked out so i had to kick it. that silenced it.  haha mom dont worry im ok. the dog isnt hee hee 

im almost fluent... minus the american accent.... i can almost say anything... almost

i understand 98% its awesome. the spirit really does help... 

i love reading the scriptures... im marking the Book of mormon everytime it has a reference to God, CHrist or the spirit.  So far every single page talks about them

I did a study session about food. i looked up all the references to food., the gospel is a feast.  I love it.,  Im gonna start baptizing fat people and use that analogy. haha

Well im sorry but i only have an hour and nothing really happened this week so better luck next time

bye love ya

Elder MAynez