35th week

hi family

dang that picture is so pretty. i am die ing right now! holy smokes. man Oklahoma looks like a dump compared to that. i didn't know court and zack were with you guys. that's cool. did you guys have to get visas or anything to visit? are you taking a hundred thousand pictures? any ways. how was the plane ride? did Lauren have fun? did you almost puke? i remember when i came out to Oklahoma we ran into a lot of turbulence and the plane was shaking up and down for like five min. did you get any of that? what is the temp down there? is it sunny cloudy (with a chace of meat balls) or in between. wow im jealous right now. lets go back.  plan it now because we only got 14 months left!

well anyway this week has been fun. first off pday is the devil here. like we don't do anything. there is only 6 people in our zone right now. and so we just sit there board. we played this game were you draw pictures. it was fun but still super boring. this week is already week 5 of the transfer. its gone by super quickly. and last week was fight week. its like when you get so sick of each other that just the little things start to piss you off.  its happened with all my comps so far. its  just the week when all your angryness comes out. (kind of like a guy pms) anyways so we knew that was going to happen so we planed accordingly. every time we thought we were going to get on each other nerves we just yelled out fight week. and it just reminded us to just be cool and don't freakin freak out! it was funny because we probably yelled that like 500 times this week. but it was better than the alternative witch would be to have contention between us. which would meen we would lose the spirit.  and we cant afford that ever. because we rely on its promptings all the time.

ok so we were tracking this week. and the spirit was directing us were to go 100% we call it moroni trackting. because we only knock on the doors that you feel like there is an investigator behind . or that there someone that need to here you speak that day. so we already got like 5 book of Mormons placed. in like 10 min. then we knock on this door. and this lady comes out and was like hey i have been meaning to talk to you. so were like sick! this is going to be one of those cool conversion stories! we told her all about the book of Mormon and gave it to her. but then all of the sudden she is like i have something for you too. all the sudden i just got this sinking horrible fealing. she comes out with this book and she said because you gave me a book i will give you a book. elder shupe took the book. but i asked what was in the book. she said that once you read it you wont belevie in god any more and you will see that your religions a cult. i was stunned. i couldnt beleve that a lady this nice would say such a thing. she closed the door and just left us speachless. we when home that night and i just opend the book. an all of the sudden the house just got super dark and it felt like you were walking through mapel syrup. all kinds of weird stuff was going down. and it just feld like the devil himself was in the house. we immediately got on our knees and prayed and dedicated the apartment. the feeling sort of when away. so i decided to throw the book outside. immediately the feeling went away.  it was super crazy. and one of the worst feeling i have ever had. after that we listened to church music to try and get the spirit back. super crazy. i dont know weather to give the book back to this lady or weather to just burn the book. its still on our front porch.

well back to the good stuff. conference was this week. and i love them with all my heart. just to hear form the prophet and all the apostles. its so great. you only get four of them on your mission and the probably the best four of your life. unless you speak there yourself. just lots of insperation. and full of hope for your investigators. just cool beans.  the ward fed us in between secions so we didnt even have to leave the church.

but here was the dumb idea of the week. so some one wanted to hold out signs and dace around on street corners. to try and get people to confrence. it was super dumb. im like what are we a babtist church. lets show some dignity! but whe had to do it anyways because of these dumb missionary's. wanting to impress the sisters again. no one ended up coming anyways. if even one would have showed up. it would have been a success. but not even one soul unto christ. but now people will just remember us by. didnt i see you dancing on the street the other day?

well anyways

i love you guys so much dont have to much fun without me. i love you all

YOur FavorITE missionRY

Elder Clements.

Elder Dakota Iverson's letter

Mom that is so great that you watched conference! And did dad watch it
> too? I hope so! It was the best conference that i have every had on my
> mission, let alone on my whole life. I do not believe that was my last
> one. I literally do not believe that it was my last one! It seems like
> to me that the general conferences are of so much worth to me on my
> mission. I pray that you all watched it, and if not that you will
> watch it on the sight.
> So basically i am still here in São Luis. The cool thing is that
> two more missionaries were put into my district and are not living
> with me in my house. I love it because they help me keep the house
> nice and clean. I had to divide my area with them. So that lady that
> is going to get married and baptised this saturday will be their
> baptism and i will just go over there and support them. I would rather
> not have it any other way because one of the missionaries that moved
> in with me is an american that arrived in brasil right now. I am so
> excited that i can give him this opportunity to be excited in the
> work. What better wayt to start your mission and marry and bapise some
> body in the first week!
> I am really happyt to be here with him and help him. We did a
> divsion where i left with the new kid and my goal was to have him
> return to the house totally excited about his 2 years ahead of him. We
> did a contact with a family on the street and i invited my self in to
> their house, well i guess they invited me. I sat down and felt a
> feeling to talk abou the law of chastity. I set an invitation for them
> to get married and baptised to complete the comandments of god and to
> be able to be an eternal family. They looked at eachother and they
> were like ``yes, yes we will´´. You should have seen the face on the
> new kid light up! IT was so great. When we left that house he was
> saying how cool the mission is and how excited he is for the work! i
> am grateful to be able to be here to help him. The person who is
> training him has only 2 months on the mission, so he also looks up to
> me alot and i have to stay alert always to help them and give them
> instruction. I know that i can be a tool for bad, or for good in the
> situation that i am in right now. I must be an insturment in Gods hand
> and show to these two missionaries why we are missionaries and how to
> reprensent the Lord. I thank my Father in Heaven for this chance. New
> missionaries are my favorite, just because they are so open and ready
> to learn so much from you.
> Pedro was supposed to be baptised yesterday, but there was a
> problem. I will do all in my power to make sure it happens the week
> that comes. We should have 3 people baptised if everything goes right.
> All i can do is my part and let the lords will come to pass.
> Other then that miracle with the other family i felt really
> humbled as i talked to a lady about her husband that had passed away.
> We did a prayer and then i started into the plan of salvation. I told
> her that if she does the right things she can be her husbands wife for
> ever! She looked at me and said in a small shaken and tender voice
> ``could it be that this is really true´´? I said, yes, yes it is, then
> was able to bear my testimony about the subject.
> My other favorite example with the week was when we were teaching
> adriano and marlion who should be baptised this saturday. While we
> were in their house we were just talking with them and all of a sudden
> i had the strongest feeling that we should talk about the gift of the
> Holy ghost to him. But for some reason i put off the prompting and
> just kept on going trying to do my own will. About a minute later
> after a few questions and comments were made my companion looked at me
> and said that he felt that we should talk about the gift of the Holy
> Ghost. I looked at him and said ``wow, i had that same feeling´´. So
> that was a witness to me that the spirit truly works with us if we are
> ready to listent to it. I just put off his prompting and ignored it,
> so he went over to my companion and said the same thing to him. Then
> my companion used his agency to follow the prompting. Thus, helping me
> to use my agency for the right and not in the wrong direction. It
> truly was a miracle. I know that they spirit is real and is the
> essence of my call as a missionary.
> Mom, Dad. I know this church is true. Never can some onetell me
> that it is not. I know for my self that Thomas S Monson is the prophet
> of the Church and of God upon this Earth. I know that i must keep on
> going foward with a firm hope in christ so that i may be saved by his
> mercy.I want to apply his atonement in my life and become better every
> week. I love my family and all his godly hand has given me. My prayer
> is that i can be who he wants. Who he expects of me.
>
> I love you all.
>
> Elder Iverson