Week 7 September 29, 2009

I can finally say that next week is my last week!! It's crazy to think that by this time next week, I will be saying I have 6 days left, oh my gosh!! I want you to all to know how much I love your letters and thanks so much!! You guys are the best!! So where to start!

Today was a good week, kinda long, but all was good!! The worst thing that has happened to me, is that I spilled some meat sauce on my yellow tie that I got from Candace's wedding and I as kinda sad!!! I took it to the dry cleaner, so hopefully it will come out!!

Jeppson isn’t right by me but he is on the same floor and I see him everywhere so it is sooooo nice!! It's so nice to have a couple familiar faces here!! I sent home a DVD with a lot of pictures and videos on it, I think like 130, so tell me if it gets there!!

I saw Peter walking again, it was so nice and he wrote me this week so that was awesome!! He is doing great!!

So just a quick little update! I have been trying to sew I'm not that good but I kinda need to learn… A sister missionary that I have made friends with gave me the best gift ever!!! She was sent a huge box of all these chocolates and she gave me a chocolate fudge brownie, oh my gosh I haven’t eaten it yet but I'm going to today!!! I'm so excited!!! I never told you last week, but I ate chicken hearts and some other stuff and I LOVE THEM HAHAHA!!! Oh just for the record I think I have cried sooo much here cause of the spirit I swear I'm a baby!! I think I need to buy a little Kleenex thing and just stick it in my bag!!! Haha!

So this week, aren’t you guys sooo excited for conference!!! Its going to be amazing oh my gosh I'm excited!!! And in São Paulo it should be so fun!! So listen to this amazing schedule for the next couple days!!!

Friday- proselyting

Sat- wake up, personal study, breakfast, companion study, mdst, lunch, conference, snack, conference, personal study!! Its going to be amazing

Sun- breakfast, we get to watch priesthood meeting, snack, conference, snack, conference, dinner! Gosh these are going to be some amazing days!!!

Then after that I am on my last week!! It's crazy!!

Well next week is the last p- day I will be writing!! Its crazy!! And there is going to be so much to say! I am sooo excited to be doing something at the same time as your (watching conference) and yes we get to in English! We would be sitting in AWWWWW if we didn’t, haha we aren’t even close to speaking Portuguese like that yet haha!! Anyway fam I love you guys so much!! Thanks for everything

You guys are the best!!

Elder wiscomb

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH

P.S.- some personal study things I came across was a quote by Pres. Herald B Lee. “The most important of the Lords work we will ever do will be within the walls of your home” I want to thank you mom and dad for doing such an amazing job at raising us, you’re the best!!

And one more thing, I was reading in 2 Nephi 33:1 It's amazing, it talks about how people need to be excepting for the gospel !! It said that the Holy Ghost has the power to carry the gospel UNTO the heart of man!!! It made me think that for someone to be comforted they need top come unto Christ with an open heart and a contrite spirit then the Holy Ghost will be able to take the message INTO their heart!!! I hope that made sense!!! Anyways love you all so much!!

This church is true! Stay strong!!

Coulson and Craig at the Temple

The "fruits" of our labors

Week 6 September 23, 2009

It's crazy to think that another week has gone by here in Brazil and I only have 20 days left!! Where did the time go!!

So guess what, Craig got here and it is SO much fun! I was sitting in the cafeteria and I saw him walking down the stairs and I just ran out and we gave each other a huge hug. It was so amazing! Today we got to go to another session in the Sou Paulo temple and Craig was there too!

Where to start, it's been a crazy week!!!

Proselyting!!!! Oh my gosh it was amazing!!! We ended up handing out 4 Books of Mormon and giving some other discussions, but I really noticed how much I need to rely on our Heavenly Father out here!! It's been kind of a crazy week cause its been so busy and we have been a little sick, so before I was like “elder make sure we don't forget to say a prayer before we go out...” long story short, we were so excited we forgot. I quickly noticed that's not how it works!!! We ended up walking around for like an hour without finding the courage to talk to anyone and no one would talk to us when we tried. We walked way up to this park and I was kinda getting down and I finally remembered we never prayed!!! So I said elder lets stop and pray for help and guidance, and my companion said ok... so I prayed and right after we just felt so good and we were walking down this street and we saw these two guys selling pineapple (which is amazing!!!) We walked passed and I smiled at then and they were like “oi oi” come back and try some pineapple and they asked me what were missionaries.. and in my horrible Portuguese we ended up talking to them for like 20 minutes and we gave them both a Book of Mormon and right when we were leaving they started to give them back and we were like “what” and they said “we can't pay for this we have no money” and I said it doesn't cost anything! Its a present and they were SO excited they gave me these 2 huge pineapples and we walked away!! And when I walk away, I always look back to see what they do, and they were both reading and we walked by again 45 minutes later and they still were!! So I guess we really did see the fruit of our labors huh hahah!! Just kidding, but this is truly such amazing work!! Gosh I can't wait to get to Santa Maria to do that ever day!

We also taught this 20 year old girl and this 16 year old boy and they went amazing!!!! We got lost and that is how we found this girl!! She was so amazing and had sooo many questions so we pretty much said please call this number and other missionaries like us, but are fluent in Portuguese, will come and answer all your questions!!

I quickly found out that this is the Lords work and we can't do it alone through our own pride!! We really need to rely on the guidance of the Lord!!! This is such an amazing work!!!!

I fell like I have grown up so much!! Its gone by fast but its been tough! We have been focusing on the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ and something that Elder Holland said has just been hitting me sooo hard!! He said....

This is something that should be hard.... you are not only here for other people, you are here to find out and convert yourself!! Salvation is something that shouldn't come easy! Why should such an amazing thing be easy especially when Jesus Christ never ever got it easy!!!! I came to the conclusion that this mission should be hard for me because I, am still in the process of being converted!!! It would be selfish of me to think it was going to be easy or ask it to be!!

We went to the BBQ, oh my gosh it was amazing!!!! I feel kinda sick cause I ate so much but I loved it sooo much!!!! They say that in Santa Maria, it's like 10 times better, so I'm sooo excited!

Chars cuz leaves in 6 days and I'm way sad!!! I have become so close with Elder Green, I love that kid so much! I also saw some people from BJ mission, they had a meeting in the CTM so they dropped by and I was like... do you know an Elder Little and they started freaking out and I said give him a hug for me

Everything is just amazing here in a Brazil!! I am loving it so much! I really am!! There is nothing better then felling the presence of our Heavenly Father! It's crazy cause I'm one of the old ones know and it fells like I have matured sooo much! So i think I'm going to have to change that and do some rebellious stuff or something hahah just kidding!

I love you guys soooooo much!!

You guys are always in my prayers!!!

Elder Wiscomb

Visiting the Temple

P-Day in the CTM

Arriving in Brazil

Week 5 September 16, 2009

It was such an amazing week!! It went by sooooooooo fast it was crazy!! So to start of I'm going to tell you about a funny story............ soooo, I was playing volleyball cause it was raining and the water leaks on the basketball court and its super slippery, so we didn't play ball, but we were playing with sister missionaries, it was going good and I was on the front line and there was a sister missionary to my right and I go up to hit the ball because someone set me and my companion comes flying out of no where and hits me and my arm. On the follow through I hit this sister missionary in the face... I felt sooo bad!!! That's just the beginning... so then my reaction, is whats funny!! My reaction was to immediately give her a hug cause I though, I seriously like knocked her out hahaha.. so I like grabbed her in my arms and everyone was like"noooooooooooooo" haha it was super funny and I was like "what did I do" i kinda got in trouble but I don't care! It was a reaction!! Who cares haha!! Anyway that was on Thursday so a good start to the week huh!
But guess what, two of your packages came!!! Thanks soooooooooo much!! I'm sooo excited to start reading the Book of Mormon study guide!! I cant wait! and the sweetish fish and the chocolate covered raisins are amazing!! It's funny cause we were all talking about how both of those sound so good then the next day I get some hahah!! Answer to my prayers!! And the Cliff bars, the instant breakfast, and the lemonade packs are just amazing too, gosh you guys are seriously soooo amazing!! Thanks sooo much!!! My teachers all thought that Cliff bars where the most amazing things ever hahah!

Well guess what.. I finished the New Testament on Sunday and it was absolutely amazing!!! I think I read Romans and Revelations like 5 times!!! I think you learn SO much when you read it all in like 10 days! But anyways it was amazing I can't wait to get started on the Book of Mormon using that study guide I'm way excited!!! I have only read like the intro in in and its already amazing!!!!

Today we got to to the Sou Paulo temple!! It is such a blessing every time!!! I think so much of you guys in there!!! I swear I could spend the entire day just sitting and pondering in the Celestial room it's the most amazing atmosphere!! I love the temple so much! It brings so much joy to us in the CTM!!

I would tell you about proselyting but I was mistaken, sorry!! We go in 3 days!! but I will tell you next week for sure!!! I'm SO excited and scared but it should be a good experience! The people here are all so nice!!! We did have to teach the first lesson to a professor in the CTM and let me tell you a was horrible!!! hahaha! I sat down and my mind just blanked and then I just laughed the entire time hahah but whatever it was fun haha!

CRAIG IS HERE!!!! I haven't seen him yet cause we got home from the temple and we came strait here but I can't wait to see him!!! It's going to be SO nice to just give him a big old hug!!! Guess what, there is a good chance that me might even be right across the hall from me!! They were cleaning the rooms yesterday!!! But I'm way excited!!!

I have notice that I haven't told you guys any of the small things about it here in the CTM...
- I live on the sixth floor, the top top floor and we have to walk of the stairs like 6 times a day and it sucks!! hahah.. so I have come to the conclusion that that's mount Everest, and then just to top it off I am on the top bunk so that's K2!!! I swear by the time I make the trek up the stairs then up my little latter I just crash! I swear I'm sooo high there is an altitude change hahaha!!

- Me and Elder Green (Charlie Morgan's cuz) have become the best of friends!! I love this kid sooo much!! He has the exact same attitude and sense of humor it's so fun living right next to me!!

-The food is seriously rice and beans every day! People joke about it but its not a joke haha... and the food half the time is just horrible and you don't know what you doing! But this week our bishop, or president.. President Van Orman, his wife brought us cookies cause we had our half way interviews and that was just amazing!!!

- Gym is just amazing!!! That kid elder C Tayler has lost 20 pounds know and guess what I'm up to about a positive 15 but my pants and stuff still fit the some so don't worry mom hahaha

- Nothing has broken this week so that was nice!!!

- Our Brazilians left... kinda a bitter sweet think because they smelled SO bad!! Our room was called the stink bomb because when you open the door it made the entire hall/floor smell literally like crap!! I seriously don't know how people smell so bad!! Maybe because I only saw them shower 2 in the 3 weeks they were there... huh weird right haha?!

-A week from today we are going to a Brazilian BBQ with my teachers so that should be fun I'll tell you all about it!!

Nothing really else, but I glued my shes together so they are holding in there, and my pants are fine... lets just say I have been practicing my sewing skills A LOT hahaha!! and I'm still horrible!!!

Anwayws love you sooo much!!!!!

Week 4 September 9, 2009

Yesterday we were supposed to have the presiding pres over all of Brazil come and speak to us in our Tuesday night meeting but he never showed cause the weather has been insane here!! its was way hot on Thursday and Friday of last week and the rest of the week its been raining like crazy and thundering and lightning like crazy too its been awesome!!! So anyway he didn’t show so we watched a talk by Elder Nelson when he went to the MTC in Provo which was amazing too!!

Oh and for the record I think everything of mine is falling apart! My pants are coming undone (on the seems). I dropped my watch of the top of the bunk and there is a huge crack in it REALLY frustrating, I don’t think the crack will go any further..My new balance shoes are breaking on the side already!! I think I need to stop killing people in basketball…. But I can't help it.. the soles are like coming off the shoe kinda frustrating but whatever...

So the Sou Paulo temple is closed right now so I thought we weren’t going to go to the temple for another week which would have been two strait weeks in a row but we got surprised and we got to go to the Campinas temple which was absolutely amazing!!! Oh my gosh I love the temple!! I am going to work there when I get older for sure! At least I am going to try. The presence of our Heavenly Father is just sooo strong!!

I am sooo excited to see craig!!

Some of the missionaries at the Salt Lake Airport that were going to the Santa Maria, Brazil mission

The night before Coulson left

Week 3 September 3, 2009

We have these things called MILESONES and that is where we have to give a lesson of a topic that the instructor gives us on the spot and I fell comfortable with any situation he gave me! He gave me a situation that was in HIS life and made me answer it... it was that someone died in is life and the topic was plan of salvations... as I was talking to him he started to tear up and a tear fell from his eye. At fist I was like... "What the" but then after he came up to me and was... elder Wiscomb, you really know how to talk with the sprit, and when you were talking to me something hit me and I felt the comfort of the holy ghost.. Anyway I thought that was pretty cool!

This week has been a little sad though, there is a sister in my group who took me to the side and told me that her father passed away a month before she left on her mission and she needed to talk to someone.. So I sat and talked with her for a while (in class don’t worry we weren’t by ourselves!!! but all the other people were doing something else) and then elder Brooksby receive a letter on Sunday to speak with the bishop and he was told that his best friend got hit by a care and died on Thursday so its been a said and hard week for some people too...

The language is still non-existent haha.. Just kidding its starting to come I can say little things... but they just say learn the teachings and the language will come and I have noticed that they are right! By all means I still am pretty bad though haha.. especially when I start talking I get nervous and just blank hahah! I tried to buy floss the other day and I think the ripped me off cause I could speak that whatever not a big deal!! 10-dollar floss it was worth it though! ]

There is a kid here, elder Tayler, that is like 255 pounds and he looked at me and said dude I got to lose weight man! so me and my good friend elder Kamya from Hawaii, we came up with this schedule for him... don’t worry its healthy we just run with him and do some other stuff and show him how to kind of eat right, but he is doing amazing!! he has lost like 15 pounds and he is soooo happy!! (coming from someone who has gained 10 pounds huh haha but oh well)

-haha mom I found your cookies you sent with me... I accidentally put them in the top of my shelf and forgot about them I was pissed but I'm still eating them and they taste amazing

-we have a nightly gathering in my room for a harmonica concert haha! I'm getting pretty good!!!

I just want to say thanks soooo much for the pizza party!!! just so you know it consisted of a liter of soda, 6 cookies, and a pizza from pizza hut!!!! it was seriously the most amazing thing ever!! I don’t think that I have ever loved pizza sooo much and all the other elder’s thank you too!!! they love you for that as much as I do!!!! you guys are the best! seriously!!!! thanks soooooo much!!!! love you all!!!!! hope everything is just great!!! talk to you in a week!!!!

Hello Mrs. Wiscomb

This is Elder Zimmerman, Elder Wiscomb´s companion. Thank you very much for the pizza party you gave your son. He shared with everyone and it was a good ol´dose of back home.

Thank you so much

-Elder Zimmerman

Week 2 August 26, 2009

I finally got done with my second full week here in they CTM! And let me tell you it was another week, which felt like a month!!! I swear the only thing I do is sit in class and eat! And I have gained like 8 pounds hahah awesome huh!!! There isn’t even much time for studying cause they literally come around and turn off your lights at 10:30 but that’s fine cause I'm usually soooo tired so I'm more then happy to go to bed then!

Something funny is I have a new name here in the CTM is ELDER WISDOM... I don’t know why they call me that, I guess I always look like I'm in deep thought then I say something that is very important I don’t know but its kinds funny.

Week 1 August 19 2009

“Hey family!! Gosh finally I get a chance to email you guys. This week has been one of the most insane weeks of my life and it feels like it has gone on forever! Its crazy to think that I have only been gone for a week, I swear I haven’t seen you guys in months!

The flight over here was sooo long!! But guess what I taught a man named Carlos and he was coming back to Brazil for his mother’s funeral. He hadn’t been back here for 25 years. But that just opened the door to so many more questions and the ways for me to answer just came to me. Long story short I talked to him (luckily he could speak English) about how families can be together for ever and, that there is life after death then I introduced the book of Mormon and other things and by the end of it, I was holding a book of Mormon in my hand and I promised him that through this book he will find the happiness and light in his life that he has been looking for! And he took it and said that he would read it! Anyways it was a good way to start off the mission and it was even better that the plane was practically empty besides us 30 missionaries which 16 of us were going to Santa Maria!”

The food here in the CTM is kind of interesting! Half the time we don’t know what were eating, so i'm just waiting for the day that I get sick! I have talked to so many missionaries and they say that everyone is destined to get sick at one point or another in the CTM!

I haven’t had much time to write and I’m sorry and by my way my email address is cwiscomb@myLDSmail.net... and my writing address to the mtc is

Elder William Coulson Wiscomb

Box#26 District 33-D

Brazil Santa Maria

Rua Padre Antonia D Angelo, 121

Casa Verde, Sau Paulo, SP

Brazil 02516-040