I have received the the news and I will be transferred. Who knows where yet but tomorrowI will make the 4 hour trip to Porto Alegre to get my new area.
I will be a little sad to leave. Met and made friends with a lot of great members. Things will be interesting. I am glad for the opportunity to be here and learn from my companion.
Last week we had some more success with teaching. We have been working with the less actives these past two weeks and had some success. We had a few less actives go to church. Hopefully things will turn out better for the the people here and get some baptisms and reactivation.
That was exciting to hear that they have a possible temple location for Connecticut. I am interested to see the plan for it. Thanks for sending that report. Interesting to hear what has happened to the week.
Lately I have been thinking a lot of things I can do to improve my self as a missionary and for life. Kinds of things I say and think. And I have had interesting results working on everything I think about.
Cool things about the book of Mormon is that it is real evidence that our church is founded on Christ and is truly restored. Also it describes in detail how a lot of people will react to it and to religion in general. It is so exact that it is a little scary.
I am excited for what is happening around us in the world today and to know that God is a just God.
Thanks for sending me things about what is happening.
Love you lots
Elder Kramer
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Are things nice and cold in Conneticut? - Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Hello my fellow family members. The word for this week is arbitrio R bee tree(roll the r a little) oohh - This word means agency
Things have been going pretty well this week. Several less actives have expressed the desire to return back to church.
We have been working with the members to teach people with members.
The lady I told you about that cried during a lesson said that she believes the book of Mormon is the word of god. Now she just needs to see that this word of god can help her life. Other than that she likes our lessons very much.
We have taught this 90 year old woman who wants to be baptized but she has some medical issues that might prevent that from happening, but we should find out today or tomorrow.
Working very hard to keep the rules exactamente or exactly. Trying to stay as healthy as possible. Things are only getting more humid here. Right now we are entering the hottest part of the season. It should stay about
this temperature for 2 more months.
Lots of walking everywhere and trying to find people who have not heard about us already.
Next week is transfers. That means that pday is on a Monday. I am not sure what will happen but it should be interesting.
Enjoyed reading about the family and Mckenna´s letters.
Reading lots from the Book of Mormon in English and in Portuguese. Reading the bible dictionary. Lots of good info there.
Things are going pretty well here right now. Working on keeping a good attitude and energy throughout the day. Makes lots of things better. If you think of one small negative thing it can ruin your mood for a long time.
Important to do what you can do and when things seem difficult think about something good.
Lots of great members here in Bosque and I have lots of fun talking to some about experiences. I like talking to return missionaries here a lot. They understand Americans better than most people and also they can relate to us.
A couple blessing I have know God has given me is the ability to work all day. The ability to learn the language even if it is slow. And the ability to control thoughts and actions.
The more I read the book of Mormon the more I am interested in the prophet receiving the plates of Nephi and also for a lot of old writing of prophets to appear. I know we must have faith though so for now I guess it is alright. But I would love to read what was written.
Mother the picture i have sent you is the city of Passo Fundo. That means deep pass or deep step. It is really a pretty good city.
I am grateful for your letters. I know I have not been gone long but it seems like an eternity.
Love you all very much and if you want to know more or have anything interesting to share let me know.
Also, (I am talking to everybody) write and talk with the grandparents. They are great people and I think they would enjoy hearing personally from everybody.
Love Lots Elder Kramer
Things have been going pretty well this week. Several less actives have expressed the desire to return back to church.
We have been working with the members to teach people with members.
The lady I told you about that cried during a lesson said that she believes the book of Mormon is the word of god. Now she just needs to see that this word of god can help her life. Other than that she likes our lessons very much.
We have taught this 90 year old woman who wants to be baptized but she has some medical issues that might prevent that from happening, but we should find out today or tomorrow.
Working very hard to keep the rules exactamente or exactly. Trying to stay as healthy as possible. Things are only getting more humid here. Right now we are entering the hottest part of the season. It should stay about
this temperature for 2 more months.
Lots of walking everywhere and trying to find people who have not heard about us already.
Next week is transfers. That means that pday is on a Monday. I am not sure what will happen but it should be interesting.
Enjoyed reading about the family and Mckenna´s letters.
Reading lots from the Book of Mormon in English and in Portuguese. Reading the bible dictionary. Lots of good info there.
Things are going pretty well here right now. Working on keeping a good attitude and energy throughout the day. Makes lots of things better. If you think of one small negative thing it can ruin your mood for a long time.
Important to do what you can do and when things seem difficult think about something good.
Lots of great members here in Bosque and I have lots of fun talking to some about experiences. I like talking to return missionaries here a lot. They understand Americans better than most people and also they can relate to us.
A couple blessing I have know God has given me is the ability to work all day. The ability to learn the language even if it is slow. And the ability to control thoughts and actions.
The more I read the book of Mormon the more I am interested in the prophet receiving the plates of Nephi and also for a lot of old writing of prophets to appear. I know we must have faith though so for now I guess it is alright. But I would love to read what was written.
Mother the picture i have sent you is the city of Passo Fundo. That means deep pass or deep step. It is really a pretty good city.
I am grateful for your letters. I know I have not been gone long but it seems like an eternity.
Love you all very much and if you want to know more or have anything interesting to share let me know.
Also, (I am talking to everybody) write and talk with the grandparents. They are great people and I think they would enjoy hearing personally from everybody.
Love Lots Elder Kramer
Hello the family - Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Hello the house. Thank you for your letters. This week I received a package from you and from Jacob and Suzie. I don't know if these were the 2 packages you were talking about or what but I received them.
I had divisions this week. With Elder Cunha. He is Brazilian and probably the only one I can communicate really well with also. He knows how to say things in a way that I can understand them. Also he understands American missionaries very well.
We have been working lots with the members trying to receive references and also to get members to go out with us.
We went and visited a few less active families and they were great. I am not sure why so many go less active because they know that the church is true and that they should be going.
The couple in the picture are the biggest helps to the work we have in this area. They go out with us several times a week, giving us many references. They are a great couple and love helping us out. Their names are Paulo and Ceclia França. Ceclia gives us hair cuts we eat and they just are a great help.
Things I have been doing. I have taken a large interest in the history of the Book of Mormon and how Mormon put them together. It is very complex and yet it expands our views on a part of the world that otherwise would have been lost. Personally I want to read all the plates of Nephi and the other plates but I will have to be satisfied with what I have for a while.
Another thing i have been doing is learning the structure of Portuguese. I am learning all the subjunctives and other things. It is a little funny but I don´t understand a lot of the words and there are a lot of people I don´t understand just because I am with an American companion who has a similar way of saying things as I do, but, I can put basic sentences with subjunctive together correctly. Not always though. However, Elder Cunha said that I spoke much better. Now I just need to always think in subjunctive and then add to my vocabulary with words and other things.
Two weeks until transfers happen and then I will be done with training. Which is a little crazy. Who knows what will happen.
It takes a lot of work to keep us prepared to go out for several hours a day and return and still make everything on time.
The woman that I told you about is one of our few good potential investigators. I am not sure if she has a desire to change to our gospel but she loves to have us over and give her a lesson. I think that love we show her and the love of Christ really touches her heart. Now we need her to understand that by living the gospel she can experience a change as well.
The basic day for me is.
Wake up six thirty
Prepare for the day and eat and clean house by 8
Study from 8 to 9
Then Study with my companion from 9 to 11
We then prepare to leave and walk up to 35 minutes to get to lunch.
We eat lunch and give a message and leave around 1.
We go to the apartment and I brush my teeth due to the issue I had earlier. Brush after ever meal and floss after every meal is something I do every day now.
We then study the language for 1 hour. After that we go teach some lessons. If we do not have any lessons we go and talk to anyone that passes by us. However many people have heard about us and don't want to listen. I have yet to do something like setting up a stand and doing something like that.
Sometimes we visit members to get references.
After a lot of walking and talking to people we return home at 9 to 9 thirty and plan eat a quick dinner and prepare to go to bed.
We have been trying to work with the members a lot more to teach people and hopefully we will get some success out of that.
This is about our average day.
Love Lots Stay Strong
Elder Kramer
I had divisions this week. With Elder Cunha. He is Brazilian and probably the only one I can communicate really well with also. He knows how to say things in a way that I can understand them. Also he understands American missionaries very well.
We have been working lots with the members trying to receive references and also to get members to go out with us.
We went and visited a few less active families and they were great. I am not sure why so many go less active because they know that the church is true and that they should be going.
The couple in the picture are the biggest helps to the work we have in this area. They go out with us several times a week, giving us many references. They are a great couple and love helping us out. Their names are Paulo and Ceclia França. Ceclia gives us hair cuts we eat and they just are a great help.
Things I have been doing. I have taken a large interest in the history of the Book of Mormon and how Mormon put them together. It is very complex and yet it expands our views on a part of the world that otherwise would have been lost. Personally I want to read all the plates of Nephi and the other plates but I will have to be satisfied with what I have for a while.
Another thing i have been doing is learning the structure of Portuguese. I am learning all the subjunctives and other things. It is a little funny but I don´t understand a lot of the words and there are a lot of people I don´t understand just because I am with an American companion who has a similar way of saying things as I do, but, I can put basic sentences with subjunctive together correctly. Not always though. However, Elder Cunha said that I spoke much better. Now I just need to always think in subjunctive and then add to my vocabulary with words and other things.
Two weeks until transfers happen and then I will be done with training. Which is a little crazy. Who knows what will happen.
It takes a lot of work to keep us prepared to go out for several hours a day and return and still make everything on time.
The woman that I told you about is one of our few good potential investigators. I am not sure if she has a desire to change to our gospel but she loves to have us over and give her a lesson. I think that love we show her and the love of Christ really touches her heart. Now we need her to understand that by living the gospel she can experience a change as well.
The basic day for me is.
Wake up six thirty
Prepare for the day and eat and clean house by 8
Study from 8 to 9
Then Study with my companion from 9 to 11
We then prepare to leave and walk up to 35 minutes to get to lunch.
We eat lunch and give a message and leave around 1.
We go to the apartment and I brush my teeth due to the issue I had earlier. Brush after ever meal and floss after every meal is something I do every day now.
We then study the language for 1 hour. After that we go teach some lessons. If we do not have any lessons we go and talk to anyone that passes by us. However many people have heard about us and don't want to listen. I have yet to do something like setting up a stand and doing something like that.
Sometimes we visit members to get references.
After a lot of walking and talking to people we return home at 9 to 9 thirty and plan eat a quick dinner and prepare to go to bed.
We have been trying to work with the members a lot more to teach people and hopefully we will get some success out of that.
This is about our average day.
Love Lots Stay Strong
Elder Kramer
Re: 1/10/2012 - Tuesday, January 10, 2012
We visited with the Stake President. The stake president's name is President Dirceu (Jeer - say - oouu). The people in the picture are his family. With two of his daughters, his wife and one of his grandsons. It was only me and my companion. We live too far away from other missionaries to make an effective get together for events. We worked until night and then around 8 we went and stayed at his house until ten thirty. Mission President's permission. The other photos I usually send to you are the only things I can take pictures of. During P-day, I take some pictures of some things around my apartment like birds, scenery, the city. When we go somewhere like a division, I take pictures of things from the bus. I figure you would like to see some of the things here in Brazil.
I don't have much time but just wanted to let you know I love you guys and the letters you send. Things are a little crazy with the holidays but we taught a woman who really liked our lesson and she broke into tears because of it. Hopefully she will keep commitments and go somewhere.
Love lots. Sorry for the really short letters but things are on a short leash today.
Love Elder Kramer
I don't have much time but just wanted to let you know I love you guys and the letters you send. Things are a little crazy with the holidays but we taught a woman who really liked our lesson and she broke into tears because of it. Hopefully she will keep commitments and go somewhere.
Love lots. Sorry for the really short letters but things are on a short leash today.
Love Elder Kramer
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Hello in the new year - Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Hello in this new year. Thank you for your letters. It was nice to hear about McKenna becoming senior and also of dad and the photos. It has been a long time since i have seen photos of us younger. I remember taking the pyramid photo outside.
Things are improving in the language department. I understand people better and i am able to have conversations with them. Nothing great or interesting but i think i can communicate alright now. It is definitely an improvement from not understanding a word to understanding basic conversation.
For New Years Eve we stayed at our Stake presidents house and it was really nice. However when we went back home to sleep there were fireworks going off all night. Most of these are not the pretty ones but the ones that make noise.
This is a time of lots of learning and spiritual growth. Also a time of lots of walking. Been trying to visit less actives but most of them don´t live there anymore.
Also i am becoming more confident in talking with random people on the street. I find that if i speak vvverrry sslloowwwllly they understand what i am saying. Really depends on the person. Some understand everthing i say and others think i speak alien.
I am very gratefull for the letters you send me. They give lots of support. Love you all very much and the best of luck to O´kara in young womans. It is a huge change.
Love lots Elder Kramer
Things are improving in the language department. I understand people better and i am able to have conversations with them. Nothing great or interesting but i think i can communicate alright now. It is definitely an improvement from not understanding a word to understanding basic conversation.
For New Years Eve we stayed at our Stake presidents house and it was really nice. However when we went back home to sleep there were fireworks going off all night. Most of these are not the pretty ones but the ones that make noise.
This is a time of lots of learning and spiritual growth. Also a time of lots of walking. Been trying to visit less actives but most of them don´t live there anymore.
Also i am becoming more confident in talking with random people on the street. I find that if i speak vvverrry sslloowwwllly they understand what i am saying. Really depends on the person. Some understand everthing i say and others think i speak alien.
I am very gratefull for the letters you send me. They give lots of support. Love you all very much and the best of luck to O´kara in young womans. It is a huge change.
Love lots Elder Kramer
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
My letter this week - Tuesday, December 13, 2011
This week has been pretty good for the things that i am supposed to be doing. Getting lots done around the apartment and getting some good study in. Had some success proselyting which was good.
So here was some events in my week.
-Had divisions this week. don't remember the Elder´s name i was with but it was nice. He only spoke Portuguese but i was able to converse with him. That was fun. He understands me better than my companion who is American. It was long day with him though. Lots of walking about half an hours worth to get to our appointment and for a while it was raining. After the rain though it was a beautiful day.
- Same day as divisions got to eat some chicken heart. Was not bad at all but probably something i am never going to buy to eat.
- Well those are the really eventful things i can say to you at this moment. However doing really well at waking up taking care of the apartment. So i have been staying pretty healthy and the apartment has been clean almost to my standards of cleanliness.
Lots of crazy things happening to us these days and lots of learning. Sorry about the short letter. At this moment i don´t have much to say. Probably in a month or something though it would be great if you could send lots of those fiber tablets. They eat lettuce here but they soak it in vinegar and oil and it is not healthy or good tasting. Thanks for all the support you give me.
Thanks for all you do for me and i am excited to speak to you on Christmas. I will find out more about that and contact you. We have Transfers next week and i do not know what will happen.
Love Lots Elder Kramer
So here was some events in my week.
-Had divisions this week. don't remember the Elder´s name i was with but it was nice. He only spoke Portuguese but i was able to converse with him. That was fun. He understands me better than my companion who is American. It was long day with him though. Lots of walking about half an hours worth to get to our appointment and for a while it was raining. After the rain though it was a beautiful day.
- Same day as divisions got to eat some chicken heart. Was not bad at all but probably something i am never going to buy to eat.
- Well those are the really eventful things i can say to you at this moment. However doing really well at waking up taking care of the apartment. So i have been staying pretty healthy and the apartment has been clean almost to my standards of cleanliness.
Lots of crazy things happening to us these days and lots of learning. Sorry about the short letter. At this moment i don´t have much to say. Probably in a month or something though it would be great if you could send lots of those fiber tablets. They eat lettuce here but they soak it in vinegar and oil and it is not healthy or good tasting. Thanks for all the support you give me.
Thanks for all you do for me and i am excited to speak to you on Christmas. I will find out more about that and contact you. We have Transfers next week and i do not know what will happen.
Love Lots Elder Kramer
The weekly letter. - Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Time is going by pretty quickly here. The days are short and the pdays are even shorter.
This last week I finally saw the first real rain here in Brazil. It was fairly strong but it only lasted 30 minutes. I think the north gets much more aggressive rain than down here. The skies are almost always super clear with no clouds.
I know i am getting better with Portuguese because I know I can talk to people if they talk very simply. I know more how to talk about gospel related stuff though just because we use it all day every day. It is defiantly interesting to see how the learning curve has changed from the MTC to here. I love it at lunch with less actives how they try talking to me and i do not understand them. They then assume i know no Portuguese and then start talking about how i can´t speak Portuguese and they find it funny. However they understand the lessons and the messages i give so it usually shocks them that they could understand me. I find it amusing. I wonder how it feels to foreigners in The United States.
One thing i have gotten better at is talking to people on the streets. I was advised in the CTM to focus our efforts on Men and families or Men with families. This is what i do. It is very difficult because men are less receptive but it hopefully will work out.
(Story Time) The first time i was really able to contact someone on the street well - I saw a man waiting for the bus and we went to talk to him. I ask him about is belief in god and afterwords i brought up our belief in the Restoration. He thought we didn´t use the bible so i taught him that we use the bible and the book of Mormon and that the book of Mormon was another testament of Christ. Well i was very excited to be able to have a real conversation and then the bus came and picked him up. However in my haste i did not get his name or number. This taught me very quickly that at bus stations to get those things almost first. But is was a good learning experience for me.
We had a ward activity this week and it was very interesting. Unlike any ward activity i have ever seen. First of all it was for investigators but the activity itself was hastily planned and gave us no time to try to invite people. In the end we had 2 investigators. After watching a short clip about Jesus Christ purpose we went into the cultural hall and the members sang songs and ate ice cream. It was strange because most of the songs were English Beatles songs. Not my idea of a spiritual activity to help the investigators but everyone there seemed to enjoy it a lot. (The Ice cream here is pretty good but it is fluffy. You have to eat a lot to be satisfied)
I have been enjoying reading from the book of Mormon quite a bit here. I can get the general drift of what the book of Mormon is saying in Portuguese but it is still pretty difficult. I love reading the English but i have to also read the Portuguese book of Mormon otherwise i will not get any language training.
Trying to work hard and learn and follow the rules better. The thing we do here most of the time it seems is cleaning and cooking. So much to do. However i love personal study. During the day i always think of things that old prophets have done or things about what god has done for us and how we can better live. Thinking is something we have a lot to do here. Thinking when cleaning, thinking when walking because it takes a lot of energy to speak(very hilly around here and hot). Pondering things about Christ defiantly makes our work seem more and more important. Even though i still probably have to idea how important the work we are doing here is.
Keep up the good work at home.
I know mom already does things like this but keep on helping the missionaries with references and also go out with them. We can always use more references and we can always use help teaching.
Sorry for the lack of information and stuff. Running late today. Lots of things to do. P days are crazy.
This last week I finally saw the first real rain here in Brazil. It was fairly strong but it only lasted 30 minutes. I think the north gets much more aggressive rain than down here. The skies are almost always super clear with no clouds.
I know i am getting better with Portuguese because I know I can talk to people if they talk very simply. I know more how to talk about gospel related stuff though just because we use it all day every day. It is defiantly interesting to see how the learning curve has changed from the MTC to here. I love it at lunch with less actives how they try talking to me and i do not understand them. They then assume i know no Portuguese and then start talking about how i can´t speak Portuguese and they find it funny. However they understand the lessons and the messages i give so it usually shocks them that they could understand me. I find it amusing. I wonder how it feels to foreigners in The United States.
One thing i have gotten better at is talking to people on the streets. I was advised in the CTM to focus our efforts on Men and families or Men with families. This is what i do. It is very difficult because men are less receptive but it hopefully will work out.
(Story Time) The first time i was really able to contact someone on the street well - I saw a man waiting for the bus and we went to talk to him. I ask him about is belief in god and afterwords i brought up our belief in the Restoration. He thought we didn´t use the bible so i taught him that we use the bible and the book of Mormon and that the book of Mormon was another testament of Christ. Well i was very excited to be able to have a real conversation and then the bus came and picked him up. However in my haste i did not get his name or number. This taught me very quickly that at bus stations to get those things almost first. But is was a good learning experience for me.
We had a ward activity this week and it was very interesting. Unlike any ward activity i have ever seen. First of all it was for investigators but the activity itself was hastily planned and gave us no time to try to invite people. In the end we had 2 investigators. After watching a short clip about Jesus Christ purpose we went into the cultural hall and the members sang songs and ate ice cream. It was strange because most of the songs were English Beatles songs. Not my idea of a spiritual activity to help the investigators but everyone there seemed to enjoy it a lot. (The Ice cream here is pretty good but it is fluffy. You have to eat a lot to be satisfied)
I have been enjoying reading from the book of Mormon quite a bit here. I can get the general drift of what the book of Mormon is saying in Portuguese but it is still pretty difficult. I love reading the English but i have to also read the Portuguese book of Mormon otherwise i will not get any language training.
Trying to work hard and learn and follow the rules better. The thing we do here most of the time it seems is cleaning and cooking. So much to do. However i love personal study. During the day i always think of things that old prophets have done or things about what god has done for us and how we can better live. Thinking is something we have a lot to do here. Thinking when cleaning, thinking when walking because it takes a lot of energy to speak(very hilly around here and hot). Pondering things about Christ defiantly makes our work seem more and more important. Even though i still probably have to idea how important the work we are doing here is.
Keep up the good work at home.
I know mom already does things like this but keep on helping the missionaries with references and also go out with them. We can always use more references and we can always use help teaching.
Sorry for the lack of information and stuff. Running late today. Lots of things to do. P days are crazy.
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