June 2, 2015

This week will be my last week of service as a missionary. So I guess that I can start off saying that the past two years were great and everything ... anyway, this week is going to be great. Elder Tavares and I decided to the craziest thing ever - a crazy power week of teaching. We want to EXPLODE our area so our goal this week is 100 lessons and 1000 street contacts. We worked our ties off yesterday and it was a great start to the week. Today we're going to the temple, but as soon as we can get back to our area we'll be back to work! If the last two years didn't tire me out, this week will!

So the highlight from last week was the baptism of Luciano and Crislaine. They are great. I think they are the converts most converted that I've had on my mission. They have taken our lessons for a while and have progressed a ton! Luciano is really happy with the Plan of Salvation because he wants to do baptisms for his two brothers and his dad who passed away two years ago in an assault. He also wants to link his whole family together to get everyone sealed, which includes, as he puts it "convincing my (his) mom that this is real." They were baptized on Sunday and it was great. Since I'm going home, I'm going to give him one of my suits.

baptism of Luciano and Chrislaine

What else was good this week? Well I learned how to make "galinhada" which is chicken with rice. That stuff is GREAT. I'd heard it was easy and so I decided to try it and now I know how I'm going to survive college! I made a panful every night this week. :)

I got a FRISBEE :) And we played Frisbee in the central park. That was really fun! There was a bunch of guys playing soccer, and they kept staring and commenting on the "crazy people playing with a 'Flying Saucer'" One guy came to play but felt ashamed because everyone was watching (all of the people in the park) so he left us 4 missionaries to play. But it was great. It was pretty cold- 50 degrees, I think, and running around was awesome! Today it's even colder and I can barely bend my fingers to type cause they're frozen!

Frisbee at the park

I'll see y'all soon! Love y'all tons!

Elder Jasperson

May 25, 2015

Mark 12:27 - many people are mistaken, thinking that God is the God of only the dead, that we only need to worry about him after death, that God doesn't have purpose for us, the living. But this is false. I know that God is the God of the living. He reins over us now. Not just after our death but now. We have to always remember that the living God is our God NOW and not just in the future. This means we must follow him NOW and not just in the future.

This week I had a special treat- Eliane, Jean and Lurdes, from Rio Pardo, called me! I got to talk with them and everything. They are all doing well and are still really active in the church. They confirmed that the other converts there in Rio Pardo are still active too! What happiness!!

This week we finally managed to get Luciano to go to church! He didn't wake up, and wasn't going to go, but when he didn't show up, we ditched Sunday School and walked to his house. He woke right up and showered (and his wife, Crislânia too) and they gave us a ride back to church! Yay! They loved the meeting and accepted baptism!

Guess what else happened on Sunday? The Incident of the Ghost Faucet! Here's the story- Sunday night, we met up with the other missionaries in the central park to do some contacts. We then returned to the chapel to pick up our suit jackets before going home for the night. (We leave our suit jackets in the chapel after church on Sunday so that we don't have to haul them around with us all day in the hot sun). Anyway, we got to the chapel and E. Collett went to the bathroom while we got the jackets. And he called us over- there was a weird sound in the bathroom! It was the sound of water. The sound was coming from the baptismal font! It sounded like somebody was swimming in the font. Well that was funny because the font was locked up. It should have been empty. We put our ears to the door to the font and yep- the sound was coming from the other side!

Well we don't have the key to open the font- we tried to get the doors to open or to look under the door to see something, but we couldn't. So I ran around to the outside of the chapel and found that there was a window above the font. The light wasn't on and I couldn't see anything, but there are open slits in the window. So Elder Pradera came running around with his camera and I gave him a lift and he stuck his camera (with flash on) in the window to take a picture of what was happening. The picture revealed that the faucet was running! The font was filling up - almost overflowing!!

picture from the window

We called the bishop and his counselors and everyone was in other cities. The ward mission leader who also has the key wasn't answering. We needed to do something!

Then I remembered that Elder Nielson had taught me to pick simple locks. We searched the chapel and we found a fork and a piece of wire. I spent 15 minutes trying to pick the lock on the door, with the Elders cheering me on. I kept almost managing it and losing control at the last minute! And the font was almost overflowing! Then E. Pradera had a great idea- "Is it possible to take the pins out of the door hinges?" He asked.

We ran around to find something to help and we only found a pair of scissors. So with the scissors I managed to pry the pins out of the hinges (sorry, primary, I destroyed your scissors) and we managed to pry the door open! This was the door that opens on the side to watch the baptism, but I jumped from there to the stairs and managed to turn off the water- just in time! Whew!

saving the day!

we did it!

Well we managed to get the pins back in the hinges okay (with a bit of difficulty) and we went home. Well after an hour or so the bishop called wanting to know if we'd managed to get the key with the mission leader. "Don't worry," we told him "we managed to work it out" J

The moral of the story? Don't mess with Texas J

Love,

Elder Jasperson

May 18, 2015

This week was a cool week. We're teaching several awesome investigators. Here's a cool story about finding Carla:

Last transfer, I'd made contact with Carla and her daughter in the street. They'd given the address in the road called "Almirante Tramandaí." Well, that's at least what I'd written. But that road wasn't on the map. Almirante means something like "General" So I figured that maybe it'd be the road Tramandaí, which was on the map. But we never had time to go there 'cause that road's far away. Anyway, I always remembered that contact and felt like I should go there. Well last week I made contact with a guy who gave me the address "Almirante Tamandaré." I immediately remembered Carla and realized that was probably the name of her road too! So we went to find her. And we knocked on her door. Carla opened the door and said: I've been waiting for you, Texan! I didn't even remember that I'd mentioned I was Texan, but she did! She has been searching for the true gospel for a long time- her first question for us: Where is the prophet in our days? What a great lesson that was!

We've been blessed these weeks with some other great investigators like Carla. This week we found the best burgers I've eaten in Brazil. At a place called "Good Hamburgeres" (yeah, cheesy name) we decided to buy a burger to see how it was and Wow that thing was AMAZING! I love good burgers :) It even came with real french fries!!

Another cool food story? We bought peanuts and we made peanut butter in our blender! I'm wasn't a fan of PBJ's, but I'm learning. Peanut butter is really great too! I guess the sandwiches aren't that great because we could only find diet jelly at the store.

homemade peanut butter

Last Pday we played soccer- and guess what? They said that I can play as good as a Brazilian now! Yes!!! My mission is now complete!!

Love Y'all!

Elder Jasperson

heavenly father smiles over Alvarada!

we traveled to Rio! (NOT)

May 11, 2015

This week passed by quite quickly. The transfer passed by and all 4 of us stayed here in Alvorada. We went to the Cuia Park in the city center and made Chimarrão.

at the Central Park

The most exciting part of the week was when a bird got into our house! Well we don't know how he managed to get it, because all the windows were shut, but the fact that the windows were shut made it pretty hard for him to get back out!

bird in our house!

I called home this week on mother's day and it was great to talk with the family!

Another miracle happened this week- we were walking in the street without anything to do at night because the people we'd marked visits with weren't home. So as we walked, Sister Ungria passed by and called us "Elders- do y'all want Pizza?" Well of course we wanted pizza! So she instructed us to walk to the pizza place farther down the road and we did and then she paid two huge pizzas for us! I love it when people give us food! J

I had an experience that made me feel like Dora this week (Dora from Finding Nemo). Our shower head was broken. So I got my tape and tools and stuff and took it off the wall and fixed it all up! As I was fixing it I was thinking "I don't know how to fix a shower head" Just like Dora who didn't know how to speak whale. So somewhere I learned how to fix electric showerheads and I didn't know it (Thanks Dad) J

May 4, 2015

This week started off with an awesome lunch- I sliced some potatoes and fried some potato chips and then I grilled a chicken leg in our sandwich maker!

That wasn't the end of the good food of the week- because Brother Heleno made us Texas Burgers and Fries :) It was almost the same thing! We ate so much that E. Tavares called out "Estou Gravido" (I'm pregnant!)

Kauã (that kid from last week) found us in the road this week and asked me if I had shoe polish. He'd got some black shoes to use to go to church and wanted to polish them. I told him to take them to church with him and that I'd polish them for him there. So he took them. And I spent a few minutes sitting on the floor in the chapel polishing his shoes. That was a nice moment of service. I could feel the power of service. I know that sometimes we have to be humble and serve someone. Even a kid that can be annoying.

This week our ward was blessed with 4 baptisms. Dênis and Maria Eduarada were baptized by Elder Collett and Elder Pradera, and we baptized Mário and Clarice. Dênis is a great guy! I did his baptismal interview and it was cool because he's my dad's age. He kind of looks like dad too --maybe because he's kind of bald... ;) Anyway he's really happy to start his life anew. A large part of his family already are members of the church, living in the nearby city of Viamão. So a bunch of his relatives came to see the baptism and the chapel was really full of people!! We sang a musical number.

Clarice is Vanderson's mom, who felt touched after her son decided to be baptized and decided to be baptized too. Mário is 16. He was a reference from another young man we were teaching, Edson, who ended up getting a job and he stopped investigating. Mário's mom is interested now in the church and we're teaching the whole family!

Today is transfers, and we're all going to stay here in Alvorada!

I've only got 5 more weeks to serve the Lord. I don't feel ready to finish my mission, but I can't avoid it. I'm hoping to give my all to finish the mission awesomely!

Elder Jasperson

Mario and his mom

Vanderson's mom

chicken leg in our sandwich maker

corn ice cream

Vanderson learned to the new tie knot!

Our party pancakes to finish the transfer!

April 27, 2015

So this week the weather finally cooled down! It's been really nice to work, but there's one really terrible consequence- our shower head is broken! Here in Brazil, houses don't have hot water heaters. The shower head has an electric resistance that heats the water. But ours is broken so it doesn't heat the water. And colder temperatures at night = ??? Colder showers!! That's a great way to wake up in the morning!

We had our district meeting this week- and it turned out to be the funniest district meeting I've ever held! So I was just starting the training, when suddenly the door opened and in walked... Kauã! He's a 10-year-old who lives close to the chapel. He comes to church with his brother, Vande (Vande goes to teach with us frequently). Anyway, he'd seen that the church was open and decided to enter! We told him to go home and he just wouldn't leave. So we tried ignoring him, but Kauã wanted our attention! He started playing the piano during our meeting. We shooed him out and returned to the meeting when suddenly - the door opened again and in walked...Brother Osmar! He's a recent convert and was walking by when he saw the chapel was opened and stopped by to talk with us. Well I guess he didn't realize that we were having a district meeting, because he started talking with all of us and sat down and everything! Well about 15 minutes later he finally left. But during the time that he was there, Kauã snuck back in to the chapel and when we started the meeting back up, he started making noises and pulling from chair to chair. So once again, we shooed him out of the chapel. But Kauã couldn't be stopped! He snuck around the chapel and started banging on the windows of the room we were in. In the end, we just put up with it and finished the meeting.

Close to the chapel is an ice-cream store. We'd talked with the owner a while back so we stopped by there to buy ice cream pops. The owner said that his business is really, really low now that it's getting colder, and was surprised that we wanted to buy ice cream (for missionaries, no weather is too cold to eat ice cream*). I bought a corn-flavored ice cream pop. And it was surprisingly really good! If you even find corn ice cream, you've got to try it!

This week Ismar and Vanderson were baptized. Ismar is Israel's brother (Israel who was baptized last week) and Vanderson is their friend who they brought to church with them. Beatriz, their mom, is really happy now 'cause her sons go to church with her! We've passed a lot in their house these last few days. And their family is really fun! Beatriz has another daughter named Cassandra who wants to be baptized, but she works on Sundays. L Anyway, their family is really cool- loving and happy and stuff. After we teach our message, we always spend a little extra time at their house playing Old Maid or Go Fish (these games don't exist in Brazil, they only know how to play betting games (like poker) with cards, so everyone loves playing “Go Fish” and “Old Maid” after I teach them!), telling jokes or any other fun activity. Beatriz told us that she's so happy to have cool role-models for her sons! We hope that they serve missions!

Tonight we're planning on doing something awesome- here's a hint- it includes chairs, the central park of Alvorada and chimarrão!

Love Y'all!

Elder Jasperson 

*Speaking of being too cold to eat ice cream, one time in Jardim Alcântara, a member called us in to his house (we were walking by) to eat ice cream with him. But when we sat down his wife came in and said "No Honey! It's far too cold right now to give ice cream to the missionaries! They'll catch a cold!" It was like 80 degrees and E. Dos Anjos and I were like "Noooooo!!!" But she put the ice cream back into the fridge and gave us bread and butter instead. L

20 April 2015

http://itsalmo.st/#myarrival

This week we met some fun people- here's some of the funny things we heard in the street this week: 

• "se eu be batizar eu não posso" (If I get baptized, I can't)
• "vim de Porto Alegre me chamaram de louco" (I came from Porto Alegre they called me crazy)
• "Não largo minha católica" (I don't let my Catholic go)

These were some of the things that people yelled repeatedly in our faces this week.

Here's my favorite quote from the week -- a woman who said: 

• "sou católica apostólica relaxada" (I'm relaxed Catholic (instead of Roman Catholic))

Anyway this week was good. Israel was baptized. His mom was baptized a few months ago, and then forgotten by the ward (and missionaries) well, we found them and he was baptized. His mom, Beatriz, is blessed with a great family - they're all cheerful and happy. It's cool to meet with a family like that. Sadly, her other two kids, Ismar and Cassandra, don't want to be baptized yet. Israel's inviting all of his friends to church now and two of them should be baptized this week!

What else...

• A little girl - like three years old - tried to pickpocket me on the bus.
• I broke my nametag.
• We got soaked in freezing rain on Saturday - and we ran back home, pausing now and then under store signs and bus stops.
• Our shower broke and we've taken freezing showers ever since Wednesday (I've actually gotten used to it)

and ... 

• Elder Collett taught me to juggle (he did like clown school or something like that!) 

Elder Jasperson

13 April 2015

So this week was a food thing. We're at the end of our food money, but there's always a way- a Sister from the ward gave us some weird green beans and some Asian noodles, so we ate something like Chinese takeout day and night for a few days. And then one night guess what we found? A potato promotion- 3kg for 2 royals! So we bought a bag and we've been eating all types of potatoes! Fried, baked, boiled, mashed- I haven't figured out how to make potatoes with sugar yet but we've had them in about every other possible manner!

Chinese take out

potatoes!!!!

Flávio was baptized this week- he's 19 and works as a personal trainer- his bicep is bigger than my head! That was a good thing.

So cleaning out some old stuff in the house, I found a bed canopy! I managed to hang it up with "durepoxi" (that same thing I used to fix my suitcase wheels) and I've been sleeping in the "princess bed" now! Haha it looks like something from "Sleeping beauty" :)

putting up the princess bed

finished product

sleeping like a baby

sleeping princess

We worked a lot in the central park of Alvorada this week- and we made a new record of contacts in an hour- 150! Elder Tavares is a great worker too!

Here's to another great week!

Elder Jasperson

central park in Alvorada

a shoe problem

April 6, 2015

Well General Conference passed by well and was the highlight of the week. The rest of our week was a series of lunch problems.

For example- On Wednesday we'd marked lunch with Sister Cheli (or shulé or Cirlei- we still don't know her name) so we set off to her house. We'd called her to confirm our lunch and she gave us an address- Felipe Ferrari Rd. It's about 35 minutes away from our house, walking, so we decided to go for it and walk there. Well we finally walked up to her house to find out that she didn't actually live there! It was a wrong address! We called some Sisters and they got us the real address- In a different road on the other side of the city! We took off walking, starving, and about an hour afterwards, we walked up to her house- and she wasn't home! Her husband (who isn't a member, he said) told us she was traveling and that she wasn't there! (We still don't know who we talked with to confirm our lunch or where the address on Felipe Ferrari Rd came from!) It was already 2:30 and we had a marked visit to make, so instead of going to a restaurant, we went and taught first and finally we ended up eating around 3:30 that afternoon! The restaurant was closing, but luckily the manager knows the missionaries and he got us in :)

Would you be surprised to hear that the same story happened again on Saturday? We're just training our legs and our stomachs. As some might say, we are "testing the flesh"-- that's what Gabriel, an investigator, told us! That was funny.

At general conference, we learned a lot about celestial marriage and enduring to the end. Those things are important guys! We didn't get to watch the Priesthood session yet but we'll download it and watch it this week.

Love y'all!

Elder Jasperson

Us with a guy in a banana suit
(his sign says take a picture with me- fifty cents)

March 30, 2015

So with the transfer I ended up in Alvorada. I'm training a new missionary- Elder Tavares. He's from the north of Brazil, a city called Olinda, in Pernambuco. He has a TON of energy. Sometimes I feel like I got the companion from "The Best Two Years" - Elder Calhoun.

Our first day we arrived in Alvorada and started to work. We´re opening a new area here. I got the map and gave it to Elder Tavares, telling him to hold onto it. Then we got out of the house and out in the road and I asked him for the map. Oops! He forgot it at home! Well, I kind of remembered the things I'd seen on the map, so we kind of wandered around and we ended up managing to find where we wanted to go. And then Elder Tavares looked at me with those giant greeny eyes and said "Wow! We followed the Spirit!" :)

That night we kind of got lost getting back home. Elder Tavares started running around like a crazy guy saying "this way... no, that way!" in the end, we managed to find our house :) I made a "torta de bolacha" to welcome him to the mission.

So we passed most of the week walking and walking and walking... but we managed to teach a lot too. In the end, it was a good week.

Ever since I've been on the mission, I've heard about Alvorada- how it is a really dangerous city. They say that the Burro "Umbu" is the most dangerous in the state. Well, we decided to go and check it out. From what we saw, it wasn't actually that bad! But I guess that depends on what you call bad. That Burro is really far away from the church though, so we won't be going there that much, I think.

In the countdown, I'm down to 10 weeks left! I can tease elder Tavares a lot- the number of days he has on the mission is the number of weeks I have left! But actually, I'm really going to miss the mission. I don't want to go home that much (even though I love y'all!) In sacrament meeting, a young woman who returned from her mission last week bore her testimony. She too didn't want to come home yet! I guess most missionaries feel like that. She received her mission call, went on the mission, and came home, all in the time that I've been on the mission.

And the best part about Alvorada? It is beside the airport so I get a constant reminder every day of airplanes passing overhead!

Love Y'all!

Elder Jasperson

??, Elder Jasperson, and Elder Hortêncio 

pig's head barbeque

elder dos anjos and me ready to leave

celebratory cracker pie

March 23, 2015

I read a great article in the Ensign this week. We have lots of old ones in our house and I was leafing through them. In the February 2007 issue, there is an article about the Good Samaritan. I liked it a lot.

I'm being transferred tomorrow! So my time in Novo Hamburgo has finally ended! We had a good week, especially because Wesley and Natã were baptized. We reactivated Wesley's family and he was baptized, since his family stopped going to church before he turned 8. Natã is his neighbor and was baptized with him. Elder dos Anjos played and I sang "I need thee every hour" for the service. Natã's mom was so happy to see her son being baptized (even though she definitely doesn't want to be baptized--yet!) and she cried during the whole meeting.

Elder dos Anjos, Wesley, Natã, and me

Wesley and his family

Natã and his family

Other people that I've taught were also baptized Gabriel, Ismael's brother was baptized in Sapucaia, and Adriana, a woman that I found in Campo Bom on division with Elder J. Silva was baptized too. So it was a happy week.

Fátima, the Bishop's wife taught us how to make a "Torta de Bolacha" (Cracker Pie) and so we made one and it turned out yummy :)

Torta de Bolacha
(cracker pie)

close up of Torta de Bolacha
(cracker pie)

I did a division with Elder Hortêncio on Friday, and it was fun to relive old times for a moment. We talked a lot about Rio Pardo and stuff. It was fun to see how our teaching styles are similar (I wonder who taught him to teach like that... haha)

On Sunday the Teacher of the Gospel Principles class didn't show up, so I gave the lesson about the Atonement. It's one of the best lessons to teach. Since I hadn't prepared beforehand, so I took notes on a paper towel from the bathroom really quick. Since it was hot, the fans were all on (there isn't air conditioning in the rooms) and the paper towel kept flying away!

my paper towel notes

I'm excited to be transferred, and I'll let y'all know next week where I'm at!

Elder Jasperson

March 16, 2015

D&C 90:15 - we need to learn from "Good Books" It is important that we know many truths, or that we are instructed in various fields. God wants us to be intelligent.

This some good things happened - Rute was baptized in Ivoti. And way back in Rio Pardo, a young woman named Ana that I taught was also baptized :)

We did a division with the area called Sapiranga this week. So I worked with Elder Merrit in our area and Elder Dos Anjos went to Sapiranga. Elder Merrit was trained by Elder Hortêncio and he's new on the mission. He has a lot of trouble speaking Portuguese since he's new and it was a different challenge for me to work with him- it was the first time that I've worked with somebody who doesn't speak the language. Despite that, we had a great division. We got a ton done and had a bit of fun too. At the end of our division, Elder Merrit said "Can I be honest with you? I don't want to go back to Sapiranga"!

One of the fun things we did was Thursday night. We were walking back home that night and we passed by a group of boys in the street playing basketball. They'd nailed a strip of metal up on the light post as a basket and they had a basketball (which is pretty rare). So I stopped and asked the boys if they'd ever played basketball with an American (since basketball isn't really a sport in Brazil, everyone knows that Americans play it cause the watch the NBA). Clearly, they said no, then I told them that we were American and that Elder Merrit and I would take them on. So it was the 7 guys against us two. We're both tall and it was well-matched :) We got a good sweat out before getting back home. The kids were all yelling "Wow! These guys are 3 meters tall! They're professionals!" It was a fun night.

Another funny experience was on Friday when this guy in the street started yelling after us that we were Americans and spies from Obama! Since he didn't want to listen to reason, I just asked him if he wanted to give me his citizenship number for me to pass to Obama! Ha ha

This Sunday, we were arriving a bit late at church, coming from picking up some investigators when Brother Thomas stopped me and asked me to talk in sacrament meeting. Of course I accepted! I love to give talks. I hurried to find some good scriptures about prayer and talked about how God answers our prayers. Then I invited everyone to pray daily asking to have missionary experiences.

Speaking of prayer, last week in Ivoti, I lost my bag and with it some money and my Bible. That was the saddest thing - losing my bible because I've had that guy my whole mission. I'd left the bag on the bench at the bus stop, when we were returning to Novo Hamburgo from Ivoti. So I'd been praying that somebody would find it and recognize it as being a missionaries', and that they'd take it to the chapel in Ivoti. But that didn't happen and I was pretty depressed. But I kept praying that somebody would find it. And on Tuesday, the missionaries from Ivoti called saying that they'd found it! See that? God really does answer prayers :)

Elder Jasperson

Elder Merrit and me

with Elder Merrit

personal pan breakfast cake
(Mom: I finally learned how to make it right!)

the last of the breakfast cake

down to the end of my shoes!

This is what we do after a long day of walking in the hot, humid sunny weather

March 9, 2015

D&C 117:13 Our Sacrifices are worth more than our success to God.

This week was great because we went to the temple and we had a mission conference in Porto Alegre. We had some problems catching the right bus and stuff, but it all worked out in the end. I worked in Ivoti this week and helped Elder Andrade lift up the area there. They'd been having a hard time and now they've got a ton of new investigators to teach! It was a great faith-building experience because we saw that as we used our faith and diligent, God blessed us with results.

One funny part of the division was that when we asked a Lady to pray, she started "Ó Pai Celestial meu gostoso..." which is calling God "Delicious" ha-ha.

You can listen to my voice recording for more information about the week :)

Sorry I don't have any other cool stories from the week, but I know that the Church is True and that God is Good. (And maybe delicious).

I was with Elder Hortêncio in Porto Alegre this week. Can you find us in the pictures in the shopping mall?

on the bus

at the temple

at the temple

at the temple

at the shopping mall

at the shopping mall

March 3, 2015

Doctrine and Covenants 98:2 - the Lord promised that he will always, always answer our prayers :)

This week flew by! It all started on Monday with Churrasco (BBQ) at Flávio's house.

our churrasco last monday

our churrasco last monday

Tuesday we went out in search of new investigators and we had little success. It was a long day.

Then, on Wednesday, I went to Porto Alegre to work. I was on division with Elder Burgos and we worked in the "Elizabeth" area, where I served in Nov 2013 - Feb 2014. I had some cool experiences there, when I met up with Thiago, Gabriel, and Diego, three of the boys I taught and baptized last year. Wednesday night, after tracting all day (and a lot of success!) we passed by the chapel to get my bag of clothes and stuff (since I stayed the night there) and seminary was going on. Thiago was there and he saw & recognized me before I could remember who he was! He's grown a bunch and his hair is longer (see the picture). Luckily, I had some ties with me in my bag and I gave him one.

Me and Thiago and the tie I gave him

On Thursday, I was still in Porto Alegre (I stayed there two days on division) and while in the street that afternoon, two boys came running over- Diego and Gabriel! They both are still going to church too and were really excited to see me! They kept asking if Elder Soares was back too (my companion when I taught them). The rest of the division was good too. Thursday, around dinner time, a man was killed in the Burro we were in, São Borja. Everyone got scared and hid in their houses so there wasn't much for us to do there. We saw the guy, lying in the gravel on the side of the road as we were walking to a different Burro. Thursday night, the Missionaries there give a Piano class, so I participated (and taught) with Elder Burgos.

Since I was in Porto Alegre, I stopped by in the mission office to talk with President Wright, pick up materials, and stuff, and I ended up fixing-up some of the computers there. Sister Wright called me over later to help her with her computer. Ha-ha maybe it was a bad idea to tell them that I know computers!

Friday morning, I returned to Novo Hamburgo with Elder dos Anjos, but not to our Burro of Canudos. As soon as we arrived in the train station, I went on division with Elder J. Silva in Campo Bom. He's Elder Hortêncio's companion. (I trained Elder Hortêncio in Rio Pardo and now he's training Elder J. Silva). Elder J. Silva has 3 weeks on the mission. Our division also went well, but we got really, really soaked that afternoon. We stopped under a bus stop to escape the rain a bit and a woman passing on a bike also stopped. So we taught her while it rained and invited her to the church and to be baptized and she accepted! So we took down her address. She lives with her son so now the missionaries have a family to teach! Elder J. Silva is new so he still has all that "Greenie energy" and he walks so fast he's almost running in the road! I could feel my 'age' a bit trying to keep up with him! Ha-ha it was first time on the mission that somebody had more energy than me!

Elder J.Silva and I on the bus to Novo Hamburgo

I finally got back to good old Jardim Alcântara on Saturday morning. Since I'd been on division for three days, I didn't have any clean clothes. I actually had run out of clean shirts on the division and I had to put on a dirty one that morning. I washed a shirt to use for that day, but I didn't have any clean socks except for my pair of white socks that I use with my tennis shoes to do service. So I had to use the so-called "old man style" of white socks with black shoes! How embarrassing! (Don't worry, I have clean clothes now)

Rocking the old guy style

Sunday was a decent day, but sadly, none of our investigators came to church. That was annoying. We even left church to go and pick them up in their houses, but nobody woke up (and some weren't even home 'cause they went traveling Saturday and didn't tell us). We're hoping that this week will be better. We worked yesterday (Monday) 'cause we're going to the temple today. So yesterday we went out with João to teach (he's a young man in the ward) and we taught a bunch of lessons.

This week I'm going to do a three-day division in Ivoti so I'm hoping to have some fun adventures (they say that Ivoti is the city of Germans).

Love y'all!

Elder Jasperson

a preview of a wonderful missionary breakfast- apple tea (don't worry, there's no black tea involved here), 

oatmeal and brown sugar. (Boil the oatmeal with the tea bag in the water)

my new tie

Elder J. Silva and me resting
(Jehovah's Witness missionaries in background)