Nov 11, 2010

Last saturday, we had another baptism. It was the brother in law of our bishop, or something like that. It was really awesome. I felt the spirit so strongly when he was baptised. We accidently overfilled the font, so in the afternoon we had to clear all the water out of the room. haha then when he was baptised alot of water came out of the font and splashed people. it was really funny, but a really enjoyable meeting. He is like 60ish years old and his wife has been wanting him to be baptised for so long, and i was here when he decided to be baptised. Really awesome!!

We have two more people ready to be baptised but all of the leaders are going to be out of town saturday, so we have to wait till next saturday to baptise them. Our goal of baptisms for the month of november is 4. We had one last week, will have these next two, and will find atleast one more before the end of the month. So i think we will meet our goal. Will be the first time on my mission baptising as many people as my goal is. So I´ll be really happy.

The ward is good, they arent super helpful, but atleast we can have lessons with members pretty easily. We havent gotten alot of references, but im working on getting more. So for now its a bit more tracking. We have appointments jsut about all through out the city, so we walk alot. Im working on focusing more in fewer areas.

The other day we were at a recent converts house, waiting to teach his mom, sister and friend, and Elder Salla and Neia (our recent convert) got into a little water fight. Then she challenged him to eating a pepper, and who ever ate it faster got a bucket of water splashed on them. -this day was really really hot- Elder Salla ended up winning and dumped the water on Neia. We did the lesson, then afterwards, Salla told me that he swallowed the pepper whole and faked chewing it. haha Neia ate it entirely and was crying too. haha Elder Salla is a trickster.

Well, tommorow we have Zone Conference, so soon we will be going to conquista. I´ll be sleeping in the same house as Elder Morris (from my group). He is working in another satelite city of Conquista. It will be the second time in 9 monthish, being in a meeting with him. So it will be tight catching up.

Ill try to send a post card this next week.

Tell shelly im sorry that they didnt beat Green Valley, but good luck with soccer. she better make varsity!!!! haha

I miss thanksgiving. send me a pumpkin pie and some of your rolls, okay? Its not celebrated here in Brasil, unfortunately. :[

Nov 3, 2010

So how's the new area? What's it like to be back where it all began?.....and
with a command of the language?
The new area is great so far.  The members are pretty cool, the work is rolling, we even have baptisms lined up.  Its a city 2 hours from conquista and its decently sized, we are the only missionaries in this city.  right now most of our appointments are far away from eachother so i got to start focusing our work in one area before being able to work really hard so thats my main goal here.

Have you been able to meet up with "old" friends and ward members?
yea, i did a division with the elders in Ala Brasil and was able to visit a few members there. it was really cool being able to talk to them and them conversing with me with not much problem. haha it was so tight!

I am still unclear what you mean when you say that (as District Leader) ­
you are still over the Zone  Leaders in your area? I thought the Zone
Leaders were over everyone?
In this Zone there are two Districts, my district (with the ZLs and another pair) and another district (with 3 pairs).  i get the numbers from the ZLs and the other pair then pass the numbers of our district to the ZLs.  i also do the interviews for them when needed.  Understand better?

Is the weather getting to you yet?..or have you gotten used to the heat and
humidity?  Do you miss the ocean?
The heat is more of a Dry heat, which i prefer.  its still kinda hot but not too bad.  I dont miss the beach too much, since i couldnt ever really go to the beach it didnt really matter.  i do miss seeing it though. haha

This was a short written email. Kevin basically just answered my questions! In his recording, Kevin interviewed his current companion and it was thrilling to hear him converse in fluent portuguese! I would have loved to have been a bug on the wall when Kevin met up with some of the members who knew him before he was able to speak the language. What a blessing for both Kevin and the members to really see- first-hand -the fruits of the Spirit! Kevin also mentioned that he would love to receive some candy in his holiday packages! In case any of you are interested - Christmas packages should be sent out before Thanksgiving with the hopes of him receiving them before Christmas. Send them to the Mission Home. They may sit there for a little while - until a District or Zone meeting - but he will eventually receive them.

October 30, 2010

So what¹s the news on the transfer?   Area?  Companion? Responsibilities?
DifferencesŠ..similiaritiesŠ.?

I got transfered to a small city called Itapatinga.  its part of the Victoria da Conquista zone, its my 3rd area in this zone, Bairro Brasil and Marada Real being the first two.  So im really glad to be back in this awesome zone.  My companion is Elder Salla, he is from Sao Paulo and has 3-4 ish months in the mission.  Hes new, but really awesome.  Im still DL.  Im am over the ZLs and Marada Real.  Tommorow im doing a split with the DL from Barrio Brasil since he will do a baptismal interview that we are having this week.  Yay, baptisms without doig anything for it, haha yay.  And it will be cool seeing my old area again.


If you are able to do an audio recordingŠ.now or in the futureŠ.I still
would like to hear you speak some conversational Portuguese.  Interview your
companion and translate your conversation.
 
i mad one with my last companion, next week i will make one with my new companion.

 
Yea, so i have been transfered as you can tell now.  Yesterday, we had a huge transfer meeting with the salvador mission, because Elder Oaks was coming to do a mission tour in Bahia.  It was such a powerful meeting.  I learned so much, and i really could feel his spirit.  He truely is a special witness of the Lord.  I will try to look at my notes and add some things i learned in next weeks email, okay? haha
 
well, not much else is new, since the transferes and such.  but next week will have new experiances.  work on that family, maybe your ment to be their guide to the truth.  send the missionaries over there!!!

My apologies for not keeping Kevin's Blog up-to-date! We have been "blessed" with many life-changing events in our family since July!! Kevin's sister Kim was married and his dad was offered a new job at BYU-I a. We had to pack up him up and he had to leave the same day school started for me in Vegas (I am a teacher.). Kevin's younger sister Shelly is a senior in HS and she made the Varsity Volleyball team...and recently Honor Choir. We decided to let Shelly finish her senior year in Vegas. Then there is the matter of selling the house and a business....and I even missed writing Kevin one week! Kevin has also been sending us recordings - which I will attempt to include portions of them in future blog entries! All in all - life is good - and we appreciate your prayers and support as Kevin fulfills his mission for the Lord at this time in his life. Things have begun to settle down and I hope to be able to update this blog on a weekly basis! So here is the most recent letter from Elder Allen. Following this entry are the missing weeks....if you are interested in taking the time to read them...... :o) Enjoy! Denise - Kevin's Mom


Oct 13, 2010

1 -Tell me about your companion.

Elder Nascimento is from Fortaleza. He has almost 6 months on the field. He is a musician and can play just about anything. He has a bro that went on a misison and his whole family are converts. hes a tight dude. haha

2 - It sounds like you are going to leave this area next transfer. What are you
going to rememberŠ.or take with you from this area? Who has touched you and
helped you to be a better missionaryŠ..a better person?

Im going to take Alot!! i turned senior and then LD here, so i have alot of experiance to take with me. I´ll take alot of memories and have friends here i will never forget, like Caló, Emerson, Pelegrini, and many more.

3 - Are you training someone to take your place as District Leader when you
leave? Or is that not how it works?

no, who ever takes my place just becomes LD

4 - I was reading in one of the Missionary Blogs I follow that Elder Jones is in
your area? I know he helped you through some tough times. Have you gotten
to see or work with him again?

Elder Jones is really tight. He and Elder Purcell (my LZs) are pushing me to do better then how i am doing. Sometimes it annoys me but im trying to be humble and take their help. Which im doing. I havent gotten to do a real division with Jones yet, but im sure i will soon. I will miss Purcell when he goes home in two weeks.

So not much else is new just working with Nascimento these last two weeks of the transfere. He is doing super good and we are really enjoying ourselves.

i added another recording. remember if u want me to say anything in portugues or what not. do tell me!!!

Well, im gonna work my butt of these next two weeks and try to leave the next person lots of people to work with, since we wont be able to have more baptisms. But its gonna be good. whens my next package?!?! haha love ya

until next week!!

Kevin sent one additional email:
oh also Sydni is demanding blog updates. haha so your gonna have to catch up or something so people dont start complaining. :D love ya

**** Thank you - Sydni - for the extra little “push” to update Kevin’s Blog!!! Sometimes I wonder if anyone really reads it! Good to know you do!!! ;D ****

Oct 6, 2010

Questions:

1 - Are you able to get protein besides beans in your diet? i.e. beef,
cheese

Yes, people make meat, and sometimes i buy cheese. ive been having ramen alot lately as a night snack. haha


2 ¬ The email group I follow has been discussing the water situation in some
of the Brazil missions. Do you drink filtered water? I have noticed in some
of your pictures that you have a big jug of water. Are you drinking that
while tracting, too? You are avoiding the parasites issues ¬ aren’t you?
Thinking about that gives me the willies!!

Yes, i use the filtered water in a water bottle and crarry it arround. im looking for a really good water bottle to buy though, im bored of just buying plastic ones every few weeks. haha but no parasites so far!!!

3 ¬ You mentioned that you were almost transferred to the LZ’s area. Why?
I thought transfers just happened a couple weeks ago?

Because a short time missionary sister was set to come last week, and president wanted to put the sisters in our area and move us to help the LZs in their huge area. But the part time sister couldnt come so im still in centro.

4 Did you receive the Mission Ties letter/s I sent a couple weeks ago?
yep i got it. thank you!!!


5 - Have you written to Sister Lovely yet? You mentioned that you were
going to write her a thank you note for the packages and money collected
from the ward. Just wondering.

yep sent her a letter, should arrive in a bit.


I hope your trip with dad was good. haha i laughed when i heard about his freezer selection. (The freezer was filled with Marie Callanders frozen dinners!!) something dad would do. Tell him to take pictures of the apartment and work and put it on dropshots.

Well, i cant think of anything else at the moment, ill finish my other emails and if i remember anything else ill add more. haha sorry

Sept 27, 2010

What was the funniest thing that happened to you this past week?

yesterday, we were chillin in one of the malls in salvador, elder kinney was needing a new suit, and we wanted to go check out the bookstore. so we go up to the main floor of it and find out they are holding a fashion show...in the bookstore....i was like what the heck. Elder Sloan accidently ran into one of the models, Kinney saw some stuff he didnt want to see, and i got yelled at by an old large lady since my laugage bag was in her way. haha i would get left with the lame experiance. haha jk, we then left the bookstore since there were too many super models there and we couldnt look at the books. thinking back on what happened, i never thought i would leave a bookstore angry because there were too many supermodels there. so that was the highlight of the week.

Most spiritual?

the most spiritual part of the week, was when president was concluding the training and he bared his testimony about the work and how he wouldnt trade any of us for anyone else, then he cried a little. it was a powerful testimony.

What did you learn this week?

learned a bit more how to be a better missionary at the leadership.

i didnt get a chance to do a recording, sorry, i was in salvador till this morning and i took a nap cause i have a cold and im dead tired.

we just had a Leadership training in Salvador. i was supposed to be transfered to the ZL area here in ilheus and sisters be put into my old area, but the part time sister didnt come. so im stuck in my area after getting all ready to transfer. stinks but not much i can do about it. the only change is that im getting a new companion, Elder do Nasimento. so that will be a change up a bit. other then that, everythings the same.

Sept 21, 2010

havent gotten an emailfrom you yet, mom. so ill send the recording for now.

(I was so busy with work that I forgot to send Kevin my weekly email. I felt terrible. Luckily for me, Kevin sent his recording anyway! No email….but still the recording!)