August 19, 2013

This week has been pretty good to me:)

Elder Ginatto and I have been working to get some baptisms for this coming weekend, and I've been having a pretty good time working with him. Just one thing: We are constantly out of our house so much, on p-day and every day, that I hardly ever have a shred of time to get handwritten letters to you guys :( Last p-day was NUTS, and didn't work out for any sort of letter-writing. Seriously, just SOME of the things that happened:

-We ended up not taking the bus and walking an hour to downtown (our bad)...in the sun...

-We all got sunburned

-We all ended up spending way too much of our budget while in downtown.

-The coconut water guy hustled us for double the normal price in downtown (Dude, you gotta understand that coconut water is amazing. Not a good feeling to get hustled for it).

-Elder Gross (who lives in the house with us) lost the keys to the house.

-Elder Ginatto sprained his ankle.

And so we all ended up just kind of dissatisfied with p-day when we got home. Actually, we were actually kind of happy about it. It was kinda one of those moments where you failed so miserably, failed so utterly, that it just makes you feel like laughing. Like when Loki challenged Hulk. Or like when Leia kissed Luke (actually that wasn't funny). Or like white people that like to play basketball, or beatbox, or break dance. Just makes me cackle healthily every time I think about it.

And this p-day we discovered a SAM'S CLUB in our area, and we all took advantage! Elder Ginatto got a membership car today, and so we all headed over and spent all we could afford. Carefully observing the pictures I'm sending, you'll see the MOUNTAIN of Froot Loops we bought, that we got from a sale they were having. They were selling big boxes of Froot Loops for 30 CENTS! So we actually ended up almost filling the cart with just that.

And I also found out this week that Dad called into the mission office, and actually ended up talking to one of my ex-companions, Elder Roberto. He said he got the jist of what you were trying to say, and understood that you WEREN'T trying to get me to come home early:) That's gotta be a tough phone call when one end only speaks Spanish and English and the other end only speaks Portuguese:)

Alright, things are going AWESOMELY out here, I'm loving Jacintinho!

And I LOVE you guys!

More than missionaries love Froot Loops:)

Bye!

Elder Daniel Reneer

(Sorry, this one won't fully upload)

August 12, 2013

Another new transfer! So news of the transfer is that now I'm with an elder I lived with in Lagarto, Elder Ginatto. He was my zone leader there, and now we're working together. He's a hard worker and super determined, and we're getting stuff DONE here in our area. We already ended up getting a baptism in this week of a little boy that has been going to church for 3 months now with the bishop's family. We're trying to get the mom and dad on board with the baptism, too, but they're living together unmarried, so for now, that's the difficulty for getting them to baptism. 

And you wouldn't BELIEVE how many people here are living together unmarried, it's RIDICULOUS. I don't know what's going on, there are just SO many and it is soooo hard to find any sort of family around here where the parents are married, I'm estimating it's something like 30% married. I think the churches here have stopped preaching that that's a sin or something, it's like they don't even talk about it anymore, I just don't know. This is probably the thing that most missionaries detest on the mission here.

But yeah, I'll just leave that topic where it lies, it's like an old boxing glove. Every time I pick it up, it's smelly, ugly, and every time I put it on I feel like punching someone. Repeatedly. Until they get married.

So last P-Day we had a farewell party for Elder Albuquerque and another one of my old companions that's returned home this week. We had the party in one of the member's houses, and I ended up using a chunk of my P-Day, about 2 hours, to blow up balloons for it, and we FILLED that house with balloons...or in other words, with the proper air from my lungs. 

So mom, as far as losing weight/taking care of your body goes, I'm right there with you. Actually, I'm not trying to lose weight, I'm actually trying to do the opposite, trying to put on any weight I can get my hands on, but it's NOT WORKING. I am literrally doing EVERYTHING I can to gain weight. I'm eating more ice cream, getting more sweets, piling on more rice and beans, slapping more slabs of meat on my plates, but it's NOT WORKING. I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge that if you want to gain weight, you gotta eat heavier stuff, so I'm even trying to eat straight lead to see if that'll add any sort of a fraction of a pound. I'll let you know how that works out, when I see some results. 

But yeah, I'm really trying to get somewhere with my body right now, and so I've been working out twice a day, and so far, I feel great! If I keep going in the direction I'm going now, when I walk out of the plane, keeping in mind my balding head, workout habits and my Brazilian sun-bronzed skin, you will most likely mistake me for Dwayne Johnson when I walk out. Seriously.

I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Also I LOVED the BYU tie, not sure if I forgot to say something about it or what. I just can't look at it for too long, or I start thinking about home and start having trunky moments. It's my only tie that makes me think about getting married at the "Happy Hunting Grounds" of BYU.

Elder Daniel Reneer

August 5, 2013

This last week has been good to me! 

I think I'm starting to get more positive about things, getting more fire for life now that I'm finally making closure with the fact that I'm going bald. I feel like I have a lot in common with Harry Potter in that way. When he made closure with the fact that he was going to die (which we all know is almost as bad as balding), it gave him the push he needed to give Voldemort a good beating. ;)

No, but seriously, all jokes aside, things are going good here. We just ended a transfer (I stayed) and Elder Albuquerque got transferred. I'll find out who my new companion is tomorrow in the transfer meeting with the President.

We spent a lot of the last week helping out our zone, doing exchanges, and doing baptismal interviews. It's been nuts! In fact, I've been so scatterbrained and flustered during the week that I managed to accidentally lock me and Elder Albuquerque into the church grounds of a different ward. I don't really know how I did it. One moment we were going into the church, the next moment I realized that I locked the gate behind us. I was too embarrassed to tell Elder Albuquerque that it was because I was deep in thought imagining what it would be like to be an assassin in ancient Egypt. But I'm pretty sure everyone has those moments, it's a normal thing. Let's be honest, how cool would it be to be a highly-trained assassin that takes down corrupt pharaohs? SO cool. 

I'm not a nerd, stop thinking that. Oh, and we got out of the church just fine. We were waiting for an investigator to show up for an interview, and the other Elders brought him with them. 

In other news, we're working with a family to get them married and baptized. Maybe here in a week we can get them hitched. Here in Brazil, marriages are WAY more complicated. If you want to get legally married here, there's only one place to do it. It's a little government building that's a lot like a DMV, except you can only use it one day every 2 months if you wanna get married. We're REALLY hoping this family gets there this next week!

I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!

More than Neville loves Herbology:)

Elder Daniel Reneer

July 22, 2013

Bahahahah I'm eating enough, don't worry! Your dream is just trying to make me look bad. As a matter of fact, I'm eating more nowadays than I have at any other point in my life. In all seriousness, I might actually be at risk for getting fat before the end of the mission. In fact, I think I might get so fat that I'm gonna need a name change. In Portuguese, you add the suffix -zão to a word if you want to emphasize how grand or incredibly large something is. So in my case, considering that there's a chance of me being exactly that (grand and incredibly large), I'm going to go by Danielzão. 

And speaking of dreams, I had a dream that I came home and you guys had gotten rid of Sasha. Man, I don't know what you guys were thinking, but you guys had gotten a weiner dog in her place. Just don't do that. That's like leaving a new box of Fruit Gushers in the pantry and coming back to find an empty box and wrappers, just to give you a rough idea of the stress. Or better yet, like when you used to pull a fresh sheet of cookies out of the oven, and I would have to go do something or another for a minute, and then going back to grab some cookies, finding dad finishing off the last few and chuckling at my dirty looks.

Like seriously, if the goings get rough with Sasha, go watch Marley and Me, and that'll really help you guys to stay strong with her. ;)

As far as news goes out here, not a whole lot of new stuff to report, I didn't even really get any good pictures, but next week I should have some:)

I LOVE YOU MOM! AND EVERYBODY ELSE!

More than dad loves mom's cookies ;)

-Elder Daniel Reneer

July 15, 2013

So far this new area I'm in is AWESOME! I love it!

I took a picture (below) of one of the areas we work, it's called a grota in Portuguese, and I think it might be gorge in English...? It's got some KILLER stairs running through every part of the area like veins, there's really not much of a pattern, and if you're not paying attention, you can actually get hopelessly lost! How cool is that? 

This week we taught a mission prep class in the church, and I nabbed a good picture of everyone, and the other photo...well, that's a classic Brazilian Catholic church, I finally got a picture I've been wanting my whole mission. While in South America, you really gotta take advantage of legitimate photo opportunites. And seriously, there are few things more authentic in South America than soccer, beans and rice, and the Catholic church, so you gotta get after those photos. This is neither a stereotype or a joke. Kinda. I just kinda feel like a failure because it took me so long to get such an essencial picture.

OH ALSO I just thought that you guys should all know, in important news, that I'm considering asking the mission presidente for a mission extension. CONSIDERING. Just wanted you guys to know so that it's not such a surprise if I decide to stay a little longer on the mission. In fact, I think I might actually just turn my papers in again for another mission when I get home. I already got a year down, I think I can handle another three!

No, just kidding, but seriously, I might ask for an extra transfer on the mission, we'll see.

Oh, and send me a bunch more pictures of the family in the next emails, just whatever pictures you want to send! I still gotta fill my photo album!

BYE I LOVE YOU!

More than Han Solo loves Chewbacca :)

Elder Daniel Reneer

July 8, 2013

SO we're getting to that point on the mission now where I'm about to hit the summit and start down the other half of the mountain, WOO! That's SO incredible to me that 3 days from now, a year will have already passed since I flew out of the United States. IT'S RIDICULOUS. THAT WASSOOOOO FAST. 

Also, I GOT THE PACKAGE YOU GUYS SENT! Dude, I was SO happy when I got it, it's been a long time without letters or anything from family...hint, hint...

Actually, let's be honest here, and skip hints. I'm just dying for letters now. DUDE I'M LITERALLY DYING. HELP ME. I love to write letters, but you know it's just kinda gotten to that point where things have cooled down on the receiving side. Dude, if I could compare this to a relationship, it wouldn't be too pretty. At this point in the relationship, we've already had a really good start. I wrote poems for her, she made cookies for me...and when we went out to eat at McDonald's we had fights over who was going to pay the bill. Things were beautiful, and we were in love. It was give AND get! AGH! The beauty!

But something along the line happened. One day I snuck a cute and well thought-out poem into her messenger bag (which bag I also gave her on her birthday, it was an exclusive designer bag from Coach), and I waited, but she never said anything. On our 14-week anniversary, I sent her daffodils (the first time we told each other we liked each other, it was in a meadow of daffodils). But she never even called to say thank you. One night I tossed pebbles at her window (which is how we met), but her roommate (who is a lying snake) came to the window and said she was out at the movies, watching the new Avatar. But that just didn't sit right with me, because once when we went rollerblading together, she told me that she hated Steven Spielberg.

I started to get so worried and depressed that I stopped writing poetry, stopped worrying about texting, and I stopped going to pilates to get in shape for her. I stopped taking showers, started eating way too much ice cream and getting way too fat. 

I'm here to tell you right now, there's a solid probability that I'm gonna start turning into an emotionally unstable, smelly and large sort of person of I go too much longer without getting more letters. I'm not here to like, beg for letters or anything, because that's kind of pitiful and no one wants to write that sort of missionary, anyways. But PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE WRITE ME LIKE, SOON.

Love you guys:)

No, but in all seriousness, like, put my address up on facebook and tell people to get off their fannies and write a desperate missionary in their free time. Like, seriously. Feel free to quote me on that one:) Also if you do that, make sure to also write that whoever writes me, I'll write them a cute and well thought-out poem in return;)

But aside from all this ridiculous needy missionary stuff, things are going good here, WAY good! My companion (who I got a picture with finally, below) is awesome, and we're getting things done. We've also dominated the package you sent me, already made the muffins, ate all the candy, and wore all the clothes. Ah, I love packages.

AND I LOVE YOU MORE!

BYE!

-Elder Daniel Reneer

July 1, 2013

So first off I just wanted to say that I'm SO FETCHING HAPPY, congratulations to Meghan for surviving another childbirth! DUDE, Meghan, you're the man! Seriously! The only thing I got a little down about was that he didn't end up being Daniel Izac Christensen;)

So first off in news, in order of importance... the TRANSFER. So now I'm in Maceió, the other major city in the mission. I'm in an area called Jacintinho (like ja-see-CHEEN-yo), and so far it's awesome! My new companion is Elder Albuquerque, a Brazilian from São Paulo, who's got a year and 7 months on the mission, and we're the zone leaders of our area. Dude, when the President called me to be a zone leader, I kinda was a bit in shock, because of the way they announce the transfers here. They don't give any sort of heads up about the new area or companion, so when the new companionships were announced, I was just a little dazed. But things are really going good now, I'm really liking the work in the new area with the new companion. 

These last few weeks things have been pretty intense! This region of Brazil has been partying hard this whole last month, because June is filled with holidays and parties, and they also just finished playing for the World Confederations Cup in soccer, which Brazil won last night. Here it's been way intense, because they are really faithful partiers here (you can kinda see that by the look of our street at night in the picture I took...there's a party pavilion and bonfire in the middle of the street). Here the people have firework bombs that they just kinda toss around whenever there's a party going on. In fact, they just kinda toss these bombs around whenever there's really no particular holiday too, just for whatever, it's all good here. Brazil just made a goal in soccer? Go toss a bomb in the street. Neighbor just invited you to their barbeque? Chuck a bomb into the street. Just saw a kid help an old lady cross the street?Just realized that you're not dead yet? Just remembered that you don't have leprosy or any other deadly plague? Take a moment to let your euphoria out, and throw a bomb in the street! Dude, it's seriously contagious, the excitement this people has for life. I LOVE IT.

It's just that, last week, I was walking with Elder Roper, and Brazil made a goal, so someone took advantage of the opportunity to throw an ENORMOUS bomb behind us in the street, and it almost knocked us on our faces. DUDE they're crazy out here. But I LOVE it!

Well that's all for the moment now, I'm just still awaiting the package you sent, I should get it this week.

Ah! Also...

This week's Brazilian first: I ate a chicken foot. Yeah! And I didn't even vomit!

Love you guys more than dogs love bums :)

Elder Daniel Reneer