We are still taking cold showers and we think our attic is infested with rats, and our electricity is messed up.

Date: Sept. 27, 2010

Area: Arapiraca, Alagoas

Companion: Elder Thomas

From Herriman, Utah

Hey family!!!! How are you??? This week was good. I´ve been doing a lot of divisions because Elder Thomas Is District Leader. So yeah that was cool.

So Julie and Joe are getting baptized!!! Joga na agua!!! Batiza PÔ!!! That’s cool!!! I never realized how important baptism is until the mish. It’s so crazy how many scriptures and stuff there is about baptism. That’s really good.... they’ll both have such a fresh start!!!

   We’ll baptize a 23 year old guy named Refeal on Saturday... Which is good cuz we’re really trying to find men, we have to focus on men over 18 cuz their hard to baptize He’s already thinking about a mission. He’s firmey.

But yeah not a lot happened this week... we played basketball today for p-day. It was way fun I bought some sweet cow skin sandals with fur and stuff. Their hecka ugly but their sick!!! they were cheap too.
 But other than that we´re just teaching and chillin´



Hecka Ugly shoes


We are marking a ton of baptisms but people keep falling, nobody will wake up and go to church.

I´m praying for President Mickelson... I got a letter from the stake presidency, it was nice. I hope he starts doing better what kind of cancer does he have?

I wrote grandma this week... Tell her thanks for everything! I’ll write my other grandparents this week. but yeah I don´t know about grandma´s book... I don´t think we have it.

When I get your package I´ll try and download your pics and letters, if not I´ll load the pics onto my sd card and develop them. I hope that jerky stays good... I´m excited.  I don´t need cd´s anymore. I got a bunch of music from an Elder in my district so I´m all good.

How´s school going??? Thats good brians working a lot,  Is he going on dates with anyone? Tell him to take advantage of it before the mish... lol Na zinca! Thats awesome alec got homecoming king. I bet he was SO happy:)

Did dad enjoy the concert? Did he feel young again or old and worn out? ( Brad and Lane went to KISS last week)

Well I don´t have any cool or interesting stories this week, so sorry if this week kinda sucks.

We´re just making pancakes, playing nerf ball, studying, baptizing the people of brazil, dodging snakeys(Girls) making pizza (the pizza here has no sauce) and thats about it. We are still taking cold showers and we think our attic is infested with rats, and our electricity is messed up. maybe evan can fix it? :D

All of the cool kids are leaving on missions so the ward is gonna suck after this week, these kids are so funny! the English that they´ve picked up from the Elders is so funny and random!!
Is ryan in the field yet?

Oh yeah so Friday we´re going to the assembly of God, a church that hates us, we made a deal that if a guy goes to our church, we´d go to his, so yeah thats gonna be quite the experience. I really can´t stand this church. it´s a joke we can hear them yelling stuff about us. a lot of the churches here are just straight up apostasia. so we´ll definately get some stink eyes there, but I hope everyone is doing good. I´m surving here. my stomach is better. I hope it stays that way.

One of these weeks we´re going fishing.  I´m stoked. We´ll use bamboo poles and everything, its just far away.

So yeah keep sending pics and stuff, it keeps me going...
Love you guys! Be safe!!!

Elder Ludlow


I found some pictures on a Sister Missionary's blog. They were at a district meeting.

Evan Fixes the water well

Date: Sept. 20, 2010

Area: Arapiraca, Alagoas

Companion: Elder Thomas

From Herriman, Utah



9/18/10

Hey family!!! How´s it going? I hope good!!

   Dad that´s an awesome hunting story. That sucks that you didn´t find him. but I'm glad you had a good time. I really really want to go hunting. You should send me a calendar with some big bucks and bulls to hang in my study room, You need to get some good spots to hunt so that I can take a monster when I get back.

    I´ll make 4 months soon, To be totally honest it feels like I´ve been gone way longer than that, but 1/6 of my mission is already passed that's nuts!!!! its going fast but slow... hard to explain.

    This week was good. I don't really have a lot to write, We had to get a couple married on Wednesday their names are Bruna and Geovan   



Bruna and Geovan wedding



We had to pay so we´re basically poor for the month. tudo para batizar!!! I might need to take out some money btw, but yeah we re-activated the husband and baptized his wife on Saturday... it was the funniest / craziest day ever... So the church was faulting agua (water) and we were trying to get the pump working to pump in water from the well, but the only person who knows how to work it is this crazy old man named Evan. , I´ll describe Evan later... We´re trying to get a hold of him but he´s out of town so us and the Elders Quorum President are there trying to figure out what is wrong with the pump, it turns out that someone broke off the lock and tried to rob it, but all they did was break it, then Evan shows up with his wild, untamed hair, camo shirt that says "youth in zion" and his baggy denim shorts. He starts yelling at us and calling us names and stuff, and gets down there and rigs the wires all up with masking tape and we think it´s fixed. so we wait about an hour and a half for the well to fill up but it´s still not pumping water into the church... this is where it gets hilarious... Evan realizes that one pipe still isn´t connected., and its somewhere in the fifteen feet of water in the depths of the well, so he grabs this old wooden ladder and puts it into the well, then he takes off his shirt...... then he starts to loosen his belt...... the next thing I know he´s standing there in nothing but his tight, mesh g´s!! in broad daylight. So he climbs down into the well and is outta sight we hear nothing for a few seconds then we hear him come up gurgling and gasping for air. we see him... he has a pipe in his hand and a wire in his teeth, so he comes up, drenched, looking like a drowned rat, and tells us that he got shocked!!! I was laughing SO hard.... I wish you guys could have been there, so he rigged it all up and got it running. But we only had one hour till the baptism so we had to fill the font with buckets. We got all of the young men to help, it was funny but we got it done, the water was filthy but we got to baptize!!! So that's my cool baptism story... pretty cool lol.... we have a few baptisms marked but only one is firmesa. It´ll be in between sessions at conference.



broken water well





Filling the baptismal font



Bruna's Baptism



   

Today for p-day we just cleaned up the house a bit, played a game of 1 on 1 on the nerf hoop and I lost so now I owe Thomas some flip flops. Then we went and developed pics in the center.

    We´re working really hard but We aren´t really finding firm people, if people don´t keep commitments, we drop them and nobody likes to go to church so yeah... but we will get a lot of references from members this week and those usually turn out good, so We´ll try and mark a lot this week.

    Elder Thomas is a good comp. its cool to have a companion from the 801 but it sucks We´ll probably get separated this transfer, so just 3 weeks till I´m with a Brazzie and speakin nothing but Portuguese!

I did a few divisions this week, taught a lot, not much more to say. ha ha

    Mom, I´m feeling better. I´m healthy and strong and getting fat so don´t worry. I´m Safe! I was just sick for a week. I'll send you a pic of my throw up, ha,ha!



8/20/10
Sick boy - So happy that he's feeling better!



I´m way happy for Elder Hooke!
(He finally got his visa and is heading to Brazil on Wed.)

Ky sounds good.. ha ha i´m NOT surprised about the jeep thing lol typical Kylee. .

    I'll make a video tour of my house for you guys and send it on a disk how´s that? I just don´t have a ton of time to get this package together... But I'm workin in it :)

     You guys should send me some hunting mags... I´m feelin depressed without those memorable trips with dad. lol

Did you send a package? if not slap a pic of mother mary on it and it's more safe...

        The old guy I'm standing with is Evan... he´s a crazy guy



Evan, the man who fixed the well for the baptism



Next week send me some pics with the email.

I love you all!

It's fun here. and I´m doing great here. Just working a lot and eating even more. I´m working out a lot trying to get big and strong!!! but all the crap these people feed me are making it hard lol.



9/20/10
This picture was taken today



Well I love you guys!

I´m still working on your package.

Love ya!!!

Elder Ludlow

Oi

Date: Sept. 13. 2010

Area: Arapiraca

Companion: Elder Thomas

From Herriman, Utah

Hey guys,
It was nice to get emails from everyone, sounds like everyone is doing good.  I hope all of my buddies will get out on the mission asap, it sounds like a lot of people will be going soon. Do you know if Ryan is in the field yet? if so I'm going to email him.

Brian´s looking good rockin the mullet! ha ha.

 I'm working on getting a package together to send home to you guys with a disk and some other little stuff. its just hecka expensive.

This week was another crappyish one. Elder Thomas and I are working SO hard... but we´re not getting anywhere with any investigators, we had nobody at church yesterday, we´re teaching people, marking people´s baptisms but everything is falling. We still have 1 marked for next week. We´re getting them married on Wed. and baptising the wife next week. This week we worked really hard, taught a bunch of lessons.

Right now I'm on a division with some Elders in another area. Elder Thomas is in Maceio because he has a meeting tomorrow, so I stayed here last night and I´ll sleep in this area tonight then tomorrow morning I´ll go back to my area and do a division with a kid from my ward.

How´s the hunt going? when I was in Macieo at the start of my mission I stayed with an Elder from Randolph, he´s sick,  he showed me some pics of some huge elk and antelope from that area. Good luck pa you´re lookin fresh with your beard. send me some jerky....lol.

Today we´re just hangin out in the center of Aripiraca, We´ll go fishing later in the transfer.  I´ll write letters today and try and get them sent. I got your packages and some letters, that is what I call pure joy. ha ha the two sources of happiness on the mission: agua aka baptisms and letters.

I started the Book of Mormon in Portuguese this week. I´m gonna try and have it read before Christmas. I´m just really slow in Portuguese, the language is coming good though.

I hope you like the pics, there´s one of a monkey I saw at a members house when we were eating lunch, me pulling water at a well to help a lady with dishes, and some other ones.

8/31/10

9/7/10

So Matt´s getting married eh? that's good, tell him to send me an announcement. I´ll have to write that kid.

I´m doing good here in Brasil, Elder Thomas is a great guy and we´re having a blast... eating pancakes and playing nerf basketball every night, he gave me a tattoo of my street name, Caico, last week. I´ll send a pic. tell Brian Brazil has so many perfect skate spots. and in my area there´s a HUGE half pipe. I´ll take a pic.

Caico = Ice cream, my nickname

Well family... I love you all, be safe and have fun!

Elder Ludlow

8/31/10



joga na agua!

Date: Sept. 6, 2010

Area: Arapiraca, Alagoas

Companion: Elder Thomas

From Herriman, Utah

Hey guys!!! how is it???? I'm still here with Elder Thomas in Brasilia... I´m really glad, my next companion will for sure be Brasilian so I'm glad to be able to speak English for a few more weeks.
    I hope you guys got a deer or elk.... man I wish I was there with you guys.
    Send pics of the mullet!!! that's sick!!!! next week upload a bunch of pics with your email.
This week was kind of rough. ha ha we worked so hard, and everyone is falling!!! We´re having to drop a lot of people and its pretty frustrating... I just wanna get in the agua!!!!!! people just aren´t keeping the commitments.
   Today for p-day we went to another area and had a picnic, it was pretty fun, either next week or the week after We´re going fishing. I´m pretty stoked for that, and this month were gonna go to that big Christ statue.
I really like p-day, it´s nice to take a break and let my mind stop worrying about all of our investigators. we probably wont baptize again until the 18th.
   I still haven´t gotten your packages, it probably wont be for a while... that's the problem with being in an interior and not in Maceio, we never get letters and stuff.... (President Beynon has to deliver them)
   I'm trying to think of any cool stories or anything that happened this week... on Thursday, my comp had to go do a baptismal interview cause he´s D.L. and we left at like 9:30... on the way home we got lost and we finally asked this guy and he said we walked 2 kilometers too far... then we had to walk forever down this dark, sketchy road and my shoes and pants got hecka muddy. We didn´t end up getting home till 11:15. we walked like 5 or 6 miles instead of 2. so that sucked ha ha
  If you send a package tell dad to make jerky.
   How's school going? hows Josh Pugh? Is he still crazy or is he hecka different?
I emailed Isaac a while ago, he knew my comp too back in high school, I guess they had a class together.
    So about Brasil, people are crazy here, all of the old guys sit around and drink, playing dominoes lol.
Every Saturday night is party night, which means that you blast music and chill in your porch and drink.
The girls are really snakey, as soon as they see two huge white kids they start yelling dirty things at us. I´m a prime target cause I have blonde hair. I get called gallego(spelling) all the time. or they call me German. I had a girl ask me to teach her the language of English this week.... the only thing is I didn´t know that the word for language and tongue are the same in Portuguese. I was wondering why she was laughing... lol. but its all good. it makes it easier to baptize!!!! lol.
So Brasil.... I explained the food last week, the churros here are way better than the Mexican style back home, also they have these things called coxinhas that my comp is addicted to. I'm trying to eat more fruit and stuff, most fruit is so good and cheap here. but the oranges suck here.
   Nobody here can say my name... they call me Loody Low or random things like that, the rapazes in the ward call me Caico, which is this ice cream here, lol dont ask me why?
   I went on a division with a Brasilian named E. Morais this week, that was fun.
My Portuguese is coming along decent. I can understand most everything depending on if the person talking has teeth or not, there´s this dude in the ward I swear he speaks Arabic or some other weird language cause I can't understand a word he says.
   were working with a family that were feeling really good about, hopefully We´ll mark their baptism this week, I have a goal to baptize a family that will go to the temple.
   When is Micah gonna leave? I think Seth and McKay are going in October, hopefully they can go together. Also Cody should be leaving soon shouldn´t he? I hope that kid comes to Brasil! that´d be sick!
   Tell Bri I want mullet pix next week, He needs to add some steps on the side or carve in a design! lol (mom is saying "don't encourage him!" I can see it now) :)
   Well I really don't have much more to say... everything is the same here... still making a ton of pancakes ha ha
   Well I love you all! Be safe and have fun!
Tell Dad good luck
BATIZADOR LUDLOW

I've been sick

Date: Aug. 30, 2010

Area: Aripiraca, Alagoas

Companion: Elder Thomas

From Herriman, Utah

Hey Guys :D

      This week has been pretty good. sorry my letter was so short last week. the LAN house was really crowded and the Internet was so slow!!! Elder Thomas and I both left really frustrated lol.
    I keep forgetting to take pics of my house, it´s really nice. I guess some mission homes are pretty bad. we´ve been taking cold showers for like the last 3 weeks, that's fun... Our area is really good, it´s a lot nicer than that area I was in in Maceió for 4 days.
   We´ve been teaching a lot with the young men in the ward. there´s 4 that are about to leave on missions so we use them a lot. We had a baptism marked for Saturday but it fell... Maurilio the kid we were supposed to baptize smoked that day and he said he´s going to run away with his girlfriend soon.. he´s a punk!!! lol , He´s had a really hard life, He saw his dad kill his mom when he was little and so he ran away with his 2 brothers, he´s 15, I don't think he´ll really leave, He really wants to be baptized but he´s just gotta work some stuff out. Elder Thomas had a crazy idea to make him and his little brother stop smoking, we made tea out of cigarettes and made them both drink it, I hope it works! lol.
      Rosevan´s family is doing good, Their dad is working so that's good, he´s the one who´s dad got killed.. we talked with the bishop and the ward is going to start helping them out.
     Yeah we eat at the member´s homes everyday, the food is usually pretty good but theirs a few houses that we absolutely dread ha ha.  It´s always rice, beans, chicken, spaghetti, and beef. with coke, guarana, or juice to drink. Elder Thomas and I make a lot of pancakes too.
   We´ve been workin out hard core for the past 2 weeks.... I puked for the first time as a missionary last week, right in the middle of the road, it was terrible. I´ve already been sick a lot,  I´m used to it now lol. They say not to drink the tap water and stuff but it´s impossible not to cause the members make juice with it and stuff, ha ha don´t let Grandma Janet read that, lol.
  Tell Brookie that I´ve seen one monkey and it was in the center in Aripiraca. it was some guys pet. basically all I see is hundreds of nasty sad looking dogs lol.
   Mom please don't tell me the number of days I've been out! ha ha it makes me depressed! lol it feels like I've been gone a lot longer than 3 months.

     So Kylee did end up going to Utah state? that's good.  I wrote her a letter.
  Did you guys get my postcard from Sao Paulo that I forgot to send? I tried to send some bracelets home but they wanted 30 bucks to send one of those tiny padded envelopes so I'm just gonna send a box with more stuff. Elder Thomas said it will be like 40 bucks.
    No I haven't gotten any packages... they take a month or 2 to get here.
    Transfers are today, but I think we´ll both stay, President said We´ll stay in our areas for a long time.
I bet I stay with Elder Thomas for one more then go with a Brasilian.

I still haven´t made a disk. I´ll throw it in with the package.
How´s the Lovendahl´s house???
    How are Goober´s mission papers coming??
   For p-day we went to the center and printed off pics for some people in the area,
We took pics by this giant cross its literally like 3 stories tall.

8/29/10

Tell Dad good luck with the hunt!!!
I love you guys! be good...
Tell Grandma Hall and Grandma Linda Happy Birthday!!!
With Love,
Elder Ludlow

8-26-10

8-26-10

We Baptized a little girl named Jessika

Date: Aug. 23, 2010

Area: Arapiraca, Alagoas

Companion: Elder Thomas
From Herriman, Utah

Hey guys! Hows everything going?

   Are the kids liking school? what time does Bubba have to wake up and be there if he has early morning seminary?

   Tuesday we went to Maceió for zone conference. While I was there I got your letters. I also got some from Grandpa and Grandma and Grandma Janet(she was asking about a book she lent us? did you find it?), Mckay, and Kenna hubbard. It was great! I love letters.

   We baptized a little girl named Jessika on Saturday. She´s been waiting forever to be baptized. We don´t like to baptize kids without the rest of the family but she´s gone to church a bunch and her family supports her so it´s all good. We have to get permission from the President to baptize someone under 12.

Jessika  8/21/10

      We´re going to try and baptize a dude named Maurilho next week. He has a testimony and has been to church a lot so he seems pretty firm, the only problem is were helping him to quit smoking.

        I sent Isaac a short email last week, He sounds good. So Parry left? thats good. He´ll love the mission.

 Have you heard from Alvin? I think I'm gonna write him today, has he found a girl yet? lol

I hope he goes to church and gets baptized if not thats my first goal when I get back.

  We don't really have anything planned for this p-day We´ll probably go watch a movie with some kids from the ward that are about to go on missions. President lets us watch Disney movies so thats cool.. We don't really have a lot of money to spend to go somewhere ha ha cause busses and taxi´s are kinda expensive here. Next month We´ve planned to go fishing and paintballing. I'm excited!

    So how´s Brian? Tell that fool to write me! Has he been golfing a bunch? I wish I knew of a golf course here so I could go.

   I hope Beaver was good. I'm jealous I love that place. Dad has an elk and deer tag right?

Tell him good luck. I want pics when he gets the big one.Did you guys fish there?

Tell Lym and Kody Hi.     Kody should be turning in his papers soon right?

Well I love you all. Be good and be safe!

Love Bradley

I could only get one picture to download. The internet is freaking slow......... sorry

Batizador Ludlow

Hello from Brasilia!

Date: August 16, 2010

Area: Arapiraca, Alagoas

Companion: Elder Thomas

From Herriman, Utah

Hey guys!

Another week has already passed!! I'm doing great here in Arapiraca my area is Brasilia!!!
  I'm really liking it in Brazil. There's a lot of really poor people. There's a family of recent converts and they have the cutest kids! Their names are Rosevan (mom) and Dawani and Roseli. I think they are like 9 and 11 years. But you go in their house and its literally 2 rooms, smaller than my bedroom back home, they all sleep on a mattress and the only furniture they have is 2 chairs, this week we bought them some food. We are both starting to build a great bond with this little family!

    I emailed Elder Hooke and he said that he is in Alabama, that's cool I just hope he gets the visa soon so he can focus on Portuguese.
     This week was really good. Except I was terribly sick for 2 days with stomach problems.  Oh and our shower head broke so we have to take cold showers.
     Elder Thomas and I are working hard! We have a lot of baptisms marked. We will definitely baptize on Saturday, it's a little girl named Jessika, We have to take moto taxis to teach her cause she lives far away. so that's cool.
                                          
                          Moto Taxi

(Zoom in on the driver, Ps. he's the elders quorum Pres.)

     We have I think 8 or 9 baptisms marked throughout the next month, but who knows how many of them will actually stay firm,  I hope all of them.
    Last night we did a division and I went with this 15 or 16 years old kid named Moroni, he is really shy and wouldn´t talk a lot, the first door we knocked on was this man named Jose, I taught him the first lesson and my Portuguese was perfect, the Spirit was there and we marked his baptism, the second door was a woman and her daughter we taught them the first lesson also and I think I got a little cocky because of Jose and this time the spirit was not there, the lesson went horrible. I learned that I really need to rely on the spirit to convert these people. so yeah that's a cool little story that happened this week!
    Today for p day we went and played basketball.,it was okay. some Brazilians came and they are horrible at bball!!! No wonder they stick to soccer.
    I'm gonna try and send a package of little stuff for the kids soon. i bought some bracelets today and they have these little rings made out if coconut. so I'll try and get that sent in the next few weeks.
    Mom I'm gonna order some leather scripture cases okay? I have to order them from Sao Paulo, the guy is right next to the MTC. so will you put money in my account if there´s not any in there? They are way cool and I don't have cases for my Port. scriptures and their getting hammered. I think they´re like 80 bucks. but their hecka durable and their way cool!!! he puts anything you want on them.
    So yeah I love you guys!!!
    If you send a package send peanut butter, mac and cheese, if you can a mountain dew. a double double from in n out lol, a sd card reader, and little american candies or ctr rings to give out to kids.

Be safe and have fun!!!
Tell dad good luck with the hunt and I'm hecka jealous. I hope he gets a big one!
Love ya
Love,
Batizador Ludlow

ps
I'm gonna email Isaac today also.

pss
The Brazilians have a heck of a time saying my last name. so I've resorted to introducing myself as Elder Loodlow and they still can't really say that. haha


Here's some pics.
I still can't believe I knew my trainer before the Missao!!!
Love you all!!

8/14/10

8/14/10

Drinking agua de coco 

(the house behind me has a 32" lg flat screen TV, Crazy Huh?)

         8/9/10

Vicosa waterfall that we hiked  to all day on our pday last week

Picture with President & Sister Beynon

Sister Ludlow,

I finally got the picture of Elder Ludlow with President and Sister Beynon. I will be sending a letter, and a hard copy of the photo this week to you.

Thanks,

Elder Bevan

Secretário Executivo

Missão Brasil Maceio

My comp and I worked really hard this week

Date: Aug. 9, 2010

Area: Arapiraca, Alagoas

Companion: Elder Thomas

From Herriman, Utah

Hey fam! This week has been crazy!!! I went on a division on Tuesday till Wednesday with a Brazilian named Justino, it was fun.

 My comp and I worked really hard this week. we're teaching a few investigators and have a couple of baptisms marked. now that were getting to know the members hopefully we can get some references.

My comp and I had to teach a training on Wednesday, the language is okay people just talk way different here than in Sao Paulo or what I learned in the MTC, to be honest I have a heck of a time understanding them. lol.

There's a lady in this ward who her and her kids were just baptized, they had a tragedy in their home this week, her husband can't be baptized because he's killed someone but he's really trying, he has to go to church for 8 more months before the First Presidency can approve him. His brother killed his dad this week. sad huh? he´s had a really rough life. so we had to go over there and comfort them on Thursday.

We had a ward party on Friday it was really fun, it was definitely not how they do it in Utah. lol it was just really loud and crazy.

I guess it was fathers day in Brazil on Sunday, so dad happy fathers day again.

I had to speak in church on Sunday, that was scary. it was about the love of god. theres a talk about it by Pres. Uchtdorf that's really good you should read it,   (click here)   my comp is speaking this Sunday. I remember Dean telling me that the Elders would be teaching, conducting, and doing everything else, thats kinda how it feels.

I remember how bad I hated going to byc and stuff but now I see how easy my church life was, the wards here literally don´t function without the missionaries. uggh!!!

I wish I was hunting! Today we woke up at 4 am to go hiking. it was really cool!!! we went to a big waterfall. it was a long day though. it's 6:44 pm and we just got back,   next week we're playing bball, and were planning a fishing trip next month. I don't have time to upload pics, plus I have a million so I'll make a disk and mail it.

  Tell Kevin hi, there's lizards everywhere here and whenever I see one I think of him lol.

   Tell Pa good luck on the hunt. ha ha,  I want to go hunting so bad!!! but baptizing people will be fun too,

It's crazy how much baptism there is here. We invite people on the first lesson or on street contacts. My area is a little harder cause it's a  rich area, but we'll still baptize a bunch.

   My pants that grandma made are good. tell her good luck. 2 kids here are opening their mission calls tonight at ward family home evening.

  No I won't go to the Temple my whole mission, unless if you come get me I'll go to Recife with you guys. I'll send a package soon with a disk of pics and some reals ($) and stuff. Brazil isn't like Mexico where everything is cheap though, Its about like the US, it just depends, for example an xbox 360 is more than a grand here in U.S. dollars.

  Oh yeah tell Grandpa and My Grandmas I love them. And tell them I can't use U.S. dollars here lol, so don't send it.

Hows Micah's mission papers? tell that turd to get movin and do work!

Oh yeah do you know if my buddys I left behind in Provo have visas yet or are they reassigned?

I love you all be safe! be good!!!

Love, Bradley

P.S.  lol  I had my first Portuguese dream!

All I remember is I was asking someone if they had heard about our church... lol

First Letter from Maceio

Date: 8/2/10

Area: Arapiraca, Alagoas

Companion: Elder Thomas

From Herriman, Utah

Hey Fam

Hey guys. Sorry I couldn´t email. Our p day is on Monday so its been forever.

I finally made it to Maceio! Last week there was leadership trainings so Sister Beynon picked me up from the airport and we ate lunch then she took me to the church, thats where I met the President and my trainer. My dad is Elder Parley Thomas!!!  he's from Herriman, We went to high school together! ha ha crazy huh? He's way cool. his parents are mission presidents in N. Carolina. he's been out since right after school got out. So last week I went to those trainings for 3 days and after we went and worked in the grota {favela} and it was pretty crazy!!! it was really busy!!!

We stayed in a house with 4 other elders. we taught some people and on Friday my comp and I baptized. :) it was pretty exciting!!!

                                           

So now I'm in Arapiraca, it's inland of Maceio, it's a really nice, clean place compared to where we were in Maceio.

I really like it here in Brazil. I'm having a blast, we went to church yesterday and had testimony meeting then we had family night with some people in our ward. I don't really know much about my area cause its only been 2 days. but the ward seems really good and the people seem nice. its a lot harder to understand people here, they talk really wierd here,  this is kinda the hick area of Brazil I think. they don't really pronounce thier words. lol but I'll learn. our house is nice I'll send pics of it next week.

So hows life in Utah? Hows the family? I hope good. Are the kids having a good summer? Hows dads work going? Tell Brooke happy birthday! So how is the neighborhood? that sucks about Chace... how bad was it?(they had a house fire) so hows Micah and Alvin and Ky? how are Micah´s papers coming? thats crazy that Ryan left! I hope he has a good time. has Alvin gone to church at all lately? hows the Cole family? hows Kevin and the cousins? oh yeah Sister Beynon said when you send packages to write on the claim religious materials, candy, and letters and only claim like 15 or 20 bucks otherwise it will cost a ton to pick up here. Could you send me a stake directory so that I can write Louis and Brandon Gust and also a ward program so I can write Isaac?

I hope you guys are doing good!!! I'm loving it here.

love you guys!!! be good and safe!!!