Ola

Oh Hello,

 

Well this week wasn´t so much. The theme of the week is "working hard, to no avail". Because that´s what we did this week. We worked our butts off but for some reason, nothing was going right. First off, Elder França went to Recife to get his visa to Venezuela, leaving Elder Holmes and I here as a regular companionship for two days... or so we thought. Enter Elder Adams. His companion also went to Recife so he was with us instead. He has been in Brazil a year and a half and doesn´t know how to speak portuguese... or teach. Needless to say it was extremely frustrating and we were super pumped to get Filho (aka Elder França) back. Elder Adams is determined to learn Japanese, ,something he studies everyday during language study. Shockingly, speaking Japanese does nothing for you when you´re in Brazil and had that time been spent studying portuguese this past year and a half,  imagine where that kid would be. Yikes. Anyways, when Filho got back we ran up to him and hugeed him and started chanting. 

As for the work of the week goes, it was a week of challenges. We fasted this week, after França got back, that everything would go right with Jessica´s baptism and her family would come to watch so they would want to be baptized next week. Unfortunately neither of those things happened. Jessica had an emergency where she had to travel to Campo Limpo to stay with her aunt and help her. That´s what Jessica does. Always helping people, dang her. (Heavy Sarcasm implied). So it ended up being a little disappointing on that end.

 Two funny stories this week: First one. So on P day we went to go play basketball with the young men´s president and Victor Belo (Elder Belo´s little brother). It was super fun, Elder Holmes and I were kings of the court for like 8 games straight playing against Filho, Victor, and Carlos. The next game we played I caught a pass from Holmes and drove in hard to try to put a floater over the top of Victor and Carlos. Well I was in mid air when I noticed that Victor was not stopping fast enough. So I put it up and he TRUCKED me. I ended up spraining my ankle pretty bad and had to sit out for the rest of the day. But I imagine it was pretty funny. Sign that kid up for the Ravens! Don´t worry though, I soldiered through it because I didn´t want us to lose any days of work and aftfer about three days of excruciating pain it only hurts a little bit now and is relatively unnoticeable.

 

Second. We had a super week of lunches. Basically when the members give lunch everyday. It never happens. One of these was this inactive guy who gives us incredible lunches. So we were pumped,  and it was Franças first one back (score). He made us Cheeseburgers. And they were dang good! I felt like I was at Red Robin again! And homemade french fries. It was incredible. After 9 months without a hamburger it was really good. We dubbed it "Octaviano´s Burger Fest". It was epic. SHoulda ate more.

Anyways amigos that´s it for this week. I hope everyone has a great week. I was thinking about the inevitable influx of missionaries in our mission and how awesome it would be if Jamieson Green came here. Será?

Vós amo,

Elder Marley

Letter

Hey,
This week wasn´t too bad. Good to hear that Erica was funny on drugs. Sorry I wasn´t.

Anyways. This week was not too bad. We have this family in our ward that takes care of us like none other, Jilmar and Rose. Jilmar is the second counselor in the bishopric and Rose is in the Primary presidency and they both team up to be the missionary family. It really started when Elder Holmes and I became a companionship. They give us lunch basically every other day, instead of us having to go out to eat (waste of money here). So they always find ways to make us laugh. Their family is the family that Holmes and I traded American goods for Brazilian "equivalents" I hope that all of you are this family for the missionaries back home. Because it´s priceless. The funniest part of the week was definitely Elder França learning how to distinguish the difference between "man" and "men". It was hilarious. Because he says it and moves his head really elaborately (is that the word?) when he speaks english. When he finally got it down, he was so happy. I´ve literally never seen someone that happy before. It was so funny.
On another note we had another baptism this week, Ana Maria, that was a reference from Salt Lake. She was there in the beginnning of the year and visited all the church history sites, and talked a lot to the sisters there. So when she came back she was interested in the church but didn´t know how to get in contact with the missionaries. So she waited until one day one of the sisters from Salt Lake emailed her and passed her address to us here. When we got the call at like 830 at night, the initial reaction was oh we´ll just visit her tomorrow, it´s been a long day, blahblahblah. But when we were walking back we thought, maybe we´ll just pop in and introduce ourselves really quick. That turned out to be a great decision because when she got there she said she had been praying for us to show up that night because she was extremely depressed and needed help. We ended up teaching her about the Restoration and inviting her to baptism this sunday (this all happened two weeks ago). She ccepted and was baptized yesterday. I was thinking yesterday when we went by to talk more to her after her baptism about how strange it is that we walk by her apartment building every day, like every single day for seven months in this area and she was there the whole time, just waiting and praying for us to show up. And in her moment of greatest need, we received a prompting to stop by when in reality, we had no inention of doing so earlier. It´s really something. Because lately, I´ve been wondering if my prayers have been being heard. I´ve felt sometimes like they haven´t been and that it just won´t happen. I realize this is exactly how Ana Maria was feeling since she got back from Salt Lake, and God waited until her weakest moment to answer her prayers. It goes to show that sometimes, our answers are delayed so that we can strengthen our weaknesses and grow our faith before things get worked out. Sometimes it´s necessary for us to suffer. True, everyone has a breaking point, but what we THINK is our breaking point is often not. I don´t know, it was just a really cool experience and I´m glad we were able to help her not only find the true church but to find hope, and a way to hole onto true happiness forever, no matter happens. The atonement of Christ really is a miraculous force that has the power to save us not only from our sins but also from our burdens. As we can read in the scriptures that Christ not only suffered for the sins we commit but he also suffered every pain and temptation as well. If it had not been so, the atonement would have been incomplete and would not have total effect. It´s a really interesting concept to me, how perfect the whole plan is. Especially out here on the misison being able to see the Atonement take effect in the lives of others, as well as in my life, really reminded me as to why I came out here. I came out here to preach this gospel, yes, but ultimately to help other people, because that´s exactly what the gospel does. Anyways, that´s all this week. Have a great week everyone.

Elder Marley

Getting Hot! and Pictures!

Good Morning Land of the Free,

What´s with everyone getting married? STOP IT! Don´t you know your wedding won´t be very cool because I´m not there? Gosh dang it. But all joking aside congrats to all my friends that are now engaged! It´ll be a weird world to come back to. Let´s see what I have to say about this week. It wasn´t too bad. We had a baptism on September 7th (Brazil´s independence day) of a girl named Jannayé. I think I´ve mentioned her before, but her uncle came down from Ribeirão Preto to baptize her because nobody else in her family is a member, but they were all there and it made for a really spiritual baptism, thats for sure. Our Bishop (Bispo Belo, father of Elder Belo in the Portland Oregon mission) talked about eternal families and the blessings of the gospel, something that I´m almost certain hit home really hard for Jannayé´s family. It was really cool. Also, I did my first confirmation in Portuguese yesterday, nervous much? But it went well and was a really cool experience. Also this week I hit seven months in the mission. Which doesn´t seem like a lot of time in the perspective of two years but when I look back, it´s crazy. Seven months ago I was with the Clawson (and Byers) family getting dropped off at the MTC of course being accompanied by one of my best friends, Josh Kunzler. It´s mega surreal to look back and think about that day and everything that´s happened since then, both in Brazil and in the MTC. It´s nuts to me. And now, almost all of my best friends (that are members) are on missions in different countries. Colin is in North Carolina, Jake is in Hungary (what the heck?), Josh is in France, and Jeff and Conner are here with me in Brazil. It´s freaky business for me because two years ago I NEVER would have thought I´d be out here. In Brazil, or even on a mission. It´s still shocking to me. Anyways, enough of that. I learned this week that Brazilians, at least in São Paulo, don´t really care about their own Independence day. Which, being American is absolutely shocking. I was expecting some crazy partying to go down but nope, that´s only for soccer games. It´s a totally different world.  Holy crap this week was HOT! My comp (from up north where it´s basically hot, hot, hot with a view) was complaining about the heat. It´s been sitting around 33. That´s celsius, you´ll have to convert to farenheit, but with this humidity, mother! It´s been hot. My neck tan is developing nicely.  This is the last week of this transfer and I won´t say anything about it because last time I was dead wrong. Though these transfers get faster everytime. Elder Holmes and I refer to the past two transfers as the great twelve week transfer, and it´s only fitting that we have another American holiday to celebrate together in our last week together. PATRIOTS DAY! ´Murica. It will be some good stuff. Well, have a great week everyone. Nobody else get engaged ok?

Love,

Elder Marley

Mail Time

It´s mail time, mail time, maiiil tiiiiiiiiiiiiiime!

 

Okay urrbuddy. So that awkward moment when I don´t get transferred. Joke´s on me, I´m in Monumento for one more transfer! With Elder Holmes, the Brotinho himself. So that was exciting to get that call. But as for this week I´ll start at the top. We got two new zone leaders this transfer and now five missionaries in our zone are from my group. Me, Elder Contreras, Elder Vasquez, Sister Moura, and Sister A. Teixeira. So we´re a pretty young zone now. But that´s not the part I even care about. The really cool thing that happened this week was on wednesday we had interviews with President Ferrin for the first time. Let me just tell you, that man is basically my favorite person in Brazil. For those of you who haven´t been following for the past six months, I´ve had quite a difficult time getting settled in here and it´s been an exceptionally rough first quarter of the mission. So I walked into President´s office feeling a little down and not very stoked, but I left feeling incredible and like the best missionary ever. I don´t quite know how to explain it but when someone REALLY has the spirit you can just feel it immeadiately. During our conversation I could just tell that President Ferrin really was the person that God chose to run the mission here and that he really relies on the Lord for all the guidance he needs. All my worries about the mission were basically washed away as President reassured me and Elder Holmes that despite what our leaders might say that we´re good missionaries and as long as we keep doing what we´re doing we will always feel good about our missions. As opposed to the guys who do things just for numbers or in other ways disobey on the mission who will return feeling very empty. It was basically like President was thinking everything I was and said exactly what I needed to hear to be able to just press on. I have a long time left after all. Oh before I forget, quote of the week from Elder Holmes: "My ultimate goal is to become a trophy husband." Bahaha. I thought that was hilarious! You might not, but I sure did. As for the work itself this week, we focused on finding and teaching as many people as we can every day. And boy did we ever. The only thing that was a bummer was that we didn´t have anyone at church because it´s Brazilian father´s day. But we met one girl who wants to be baptized really bad, and her uncle is a bishop in Ribeirão Preto. He´s coming down to baptize her in a couple weeks. I wish I had a lot more to write, but there´s always a storiy-less week here and there. But I will write a better one next week! Love ya everyone, thanks for the support and love.

 

Amor do Ipiranga mais uma vez,

Elder Marley

Captain America

Okay America,

This week I don't have a TON to write about but, that's life. So it was PROBABLY my last week here in Monumento (we don't find out transfers until the night of) so it was a little surreal walking around here all week thinking that it might be awhile until I see them again. We don't know for sure, but the ZL's threw the älmost for sure" tag on the me leaving thing. So yeah. But this week we worked our butts off. It was crazy. We walk a ton, because our area is one of the biggest in the mission and also mega hilly, we also sweat a ton this week. It's been really hot lately. But we found a lady named Lucia through a reference we received from Church headquarters that she wanted some representatives to drop by and bring a DVD. That was us. So we get there and she's this old lady about 85 years old and she has this awful genetic disease where she can't leave the bed. I don't know what the disease is called but she has spines kind of like a crocodile, all over her body. It's a pretty sucky disease because she can't walk or get out of bed or anything without help. So her husband and daughter help her live basically. Pretty sucky life. But anyways, we have been going there and we have to be really quick with her because she can't sit up for too long, and she doesn't hear too well. But the first time we visited her we just left her with the DVD and shared a quick message with her and a prayer. I gave the prayer and she just started bawling. Marking the second time so far in my mission that the spirit has moved someone to tears during a lesson. She talked about how God knows when someone needs a visit and it was really special, I thought. She couldn't go to church this week, even though I offered to pick her up, literally, and take her there. But maybe next week, it's a hard life. We've been dealing with people using their free agency freely a lot lately and sometimes it's really hard to accept when people just choose not to progress. Like Volquiria. She 1) Knows the church is true. 2) Goes to church every sunday. And 3) participates in all the activities, but won't get baptized because she doesn't want to stop doing ... with her boyfriend. The trade off is obviously worth it, but some people just don't have the same view as us, no matter how well we try to explain it, and some times it's way rough. We had a funny experience this week that was pretty fun. We were walking to an appointment when we walked by a buffet (they're different here, think more like Chuck E. Cheese, or Weenie Hut Junior from Spongebob) and we saw a giant Captain America, made out of Balloons, for some kids birthday. Anyone who knows me knows that Captain America is my boy so naturally we stopped to take some pictures with him. Unfortunatley some guys had the same idea as us, including as Elder Holmes puts it "the Red Skull" who was "just biding his time across the street". So we stood a few feet away and pretended to be on the phone/checking out schedule for like 20 minutes until everyone was gone. Also, We commemorated the kid who, though living in Brazil, decided to have a Captain America themed birthday party, knowing full well who the biggest stud in the world is. That kid is now the runner up to that title. Oh, also we were teaching a lesson to some kids from the english class and it was going decent, whatever, they were asking a ton of questions, but there was this one kid, like 9 years old who was just sitting over there spacing out (kinda looked like he was on some sleep meds or something) and he just blurts out to us in the middle of the dicussion, "I know the names of some dinosaurs!". We just couldn't help it, we busted up laughing. It was hilarious! Anyways, I think that's about it this week. I'm gonna miss Elder Holmes AKA Brotinho, and Monumento but it's gonna be cool to check out some new places. Keep it real everyone. The church is true.

 

Elder Marley

Another great week

Everyone, what is up? (Jim Rome...?)   Sorry for sending some pretty lackluster letters lately. So first off, our mission broke the area record for baptisms in a week this week, 85! Whoa. That was cool. And our new mission president is changing a LOT of things up, for the better I might add, this week to help us be more effective. (Like zone P days). Hollaback! Okay, so, taking my mom´s advice, I started writing stuff down that happened this week so I could remember it for the weekly letter. Well, it mostly ended up as a bunch of funny quotes from my companion and I as we make astute observations about the world around us. So I´ll just kinda throw them in this letter as it happens. But as for the good stuff, we picked up two new families this week. They´re Jehovah´s witnesses so they were really tough to start teaching, they invited us in to bible bash, which we don´t do, and jokes on them because they´re marked for baptism on the 7th of August. Oh, also, Eric´s dad wants to be baptised but the thing is he´s just living with Marlí, ( a normal thing here), and she´s not divorced from her first husband here yet... and Renato´s a little crazy. But hopefully they can prayerfully consider what to do and get things moving in the right direction. They have this awful dog, ironically named Alegria (Joy), that is ALL OVER THE PLACE, and bites the crap out of my ankles all the time. So I mildly hate going over there, but it´s been really cool seeing their lives change as they´ve re-opened to the gospel. We also are teaching two exceptional young men who go to the church to play volleyball with the ward twice a week, Felipe and Caique, and they´ve been going to church lately. They really love Gospel Principles class because it´s so easy to understand. And yesterday they showed up at church with a shirt and tie and everything! Imagine my surprise. The only thing is these guys grew up without a christian background so we have to teach them starting with who Jesus Christ is, and why he´s important and everything so it´s a little slow, but they live in the ghetto so it´s always fun to go teach them. Oh, one of the people we´ve been teaching for 40 years, Volquiria, will be baptized finally this coming week. If all goes according to plan. Last time she was supposed to be baptized, they had a VERY SERIOUS family emergency and she went into limbo (yes, like Inception) and pulled out for a little, so I hope she can step up this week and follow her faith into eternal bliss. Here´s something that´ll make Mom laugh. This week we were walking down the street with all the car dealerships and saw a motorcycle. It was really sweet. Flat black, with auburn accents and everything. Just like, boom. Then at a closer look it had a name on the side of it, and that name was... Motard. Haha. Motard! Does 6 year old Brad own that motorcycle? It was hilarious. Elder Holmes didn´t get it. Also, we celebrated the release of the Dark Knight Rises this week by eating yogurt. Don´t ask me how it relates, because it doesn´t. Also, the streets here are dangerous to cross so we often just run across the street out of instinct and Holmes did it once with absolutely no traffic, and when I got to the other side of the street he said, "Speaking of uneccessary run..." but I thought he said uneccessary nun, because there was a nun on the other side of the street so now whenever we see a nun we say "speaking of uneccessary nun.". I don´t really expect anyone else to think that´s too funny. But let me just say we have quotes that would make Paul Sorenson proud. Last awesome experience of thwe week. Last night we went to have a family home evening with our favorite family (Barbara´s) and Barbara invited her new boyfriend, Leandro (yes, I baptized him too). Let me just say, I could not be any more proud of anyone up to this point in my life than I already am of this whole entire family. They did the whole thing. Prayers, maessages, spiritual thought, everything, and it was literally spiritually ground shaking. It was nuts. Barbara was just testifying on one side of the room, Dulcemir was sharing her conversion story on the other side of the room, Wellington was talking about serving a mission neext year, and they ALL (including Leandro) have set a goal to get to the temple next year. I can not adequately communicate the feelings I was feeling in that house last night other than that family already has made this mission worth it. And in the end of this life, seeing them on the other side, will be the greatest reward I can imagine, for my short, and sometimes falting service to my Lord. I am not perfect. I have a TON of weaknesses and difficulties. But these difficulties are making me the man I need to be in the future. But, I will keep working hard because experience has taught me that I´ll be grateful for this stuff in a bit. Thanks everyone. Have a great week.   Elder Marley

Happy 4th!

Okay America, Buckle up, This week was hardcore parkour in Brazil. First off it was July Fourth (Go America) and me and my US comp did America stuff all day. We made 12 eggs for breakfast along with 15 bacon strips, 10 pieces of toast and two liters of chocolate milk. Go America. We called it the Great American Breakfast, and it was the follow up to Panini fest 2012. Oh and of course right after the GAB, we had lunch at a members house, I haven´t eaten that much since Jake and I were at college during post class grub sesh at Crappy Teriyaki in Rexburg. But the real deal on July fourth was that there was a HUGE soccer game in town. The Corinthians (Most popular team in São Paulo) were playing Boca Junior from Argentina in the Libertadores which is the American championship that determines who plays Chelsea for the world championship later this year. Corinthians has never been to the final so the whole country was buzzing and people were going absolutely nuts. You could feel it in the air, and the day of the game, there was fireworks all day (normal), and people just prepping. We had to be hoe at 5, before dark because it gets really, really, dangerous at night during REGULAR games, let alone one like this. Corinthians won, and we didn´t sleep at all that night because of the firworks and bombs going off all nigght. It was hardcore! We just pretended it was people celebrating Independence Day in America. Go America. Also we had more trouble with Dulcemir and her drinking this week and we can´t really do anything about it. We have a ton of other people to visit so we´re going to try to leave her with some members to help, so that´s kinda rough right now. She isn´t a huge fan of us at the moment because we don´t stop by as often. Also, two of the people I baptized, Leandro and Barbara, are dating. Holla-freaking-back. Just a side note. This week was also Festa Junina in Brazil and in our ward. They threw a huge party that´s hillbilly themed and there was tons of food, dancing, and games. But, like a genius, I forgot to take pictures. Just take my word for it, it was fun. We FINALLY baptized Daniel yesterday too. Wow. It was awesome. I´ve been working with him since I was with Elder Atkin and he finally was baptized. Now he can marry his wife in the temple, and have a complete family. His brother in law was so crazy happy (he served a mission in Santa Catarina) and it was great just to see everyone so glad to see him taking this first step towards eteranal life. Anyways, thats the big news of the week. We met President Ferrin too, and I think things will be great in this mission with him. I´m really looking forward to working with him. It is crazy to think this will end someday, but I still have a long time to go so, no worries. Thanks for all the support and I will be back on next week with some more good news. Amor e Bençãos do Brasil, Elder Marley

Amor do Brasil

Okay okay okay. This week was nuts. Elder Toala got transferred and became ZL. I now have Elder Holmes with me as my new comp! He reminds me of Elder Vang a lot haha. He´s a huge duck fan, so we get along well. We had LOTS of trouble this week with Dulcemir (our recently baptized missionary mom) because she´s been drinking and smoking again... and she was absolutely trashed like twice this week when we were there. So we´re going today to go leave a message with her and hope she gains a conviction to not do that anymore. It just kills poor Barbara. So we´ll see how that goes. Oh and surprise! Leandro got baptized on saturday! The first baptism of our new mission President! I haven´t met him yet, so I don´t know anything about him but I´m assuming he´s good. Why not right? Leandro was baptized and confirmed and it was really cool! I got to baptise him, he is so cool, he always has the best questions about the gospel and has a great desire to learn more. It´s really cool. This week Elder Holmes and I had great success. People were showing up to church on their own yesterday, which has never happened while I´ve been here. Seriously all of our investigators showed up alone and stayed for the whole thing, including a contact we did that seemed very uninterested. He showed up. What in the world?? I think it´s the blessings of TWO obedient missionaries working hard. We also had some great improvements in some of our ancient investigators and one is marked to be baptized on the 15th... I can´t explain how it´s working, but it is. Our days feel unsuccessful, but then just happen to be fruitful. It´s pretty cool. I´m really glad I got to stay here for another transfer because I really like the people we´re working with and I think we´re doing a really good job out here. Weird story of the week is that yesterday after church we went to a member´s house (the same one that fed me and Elder Atkin pigs feet) and we ate beef tongue suasage. Weird huh? It wasn´t to bad, just the idea of what it was was weird. And they invited over their friends for lunch and the man is in the mafia. So that was a little uncomfortable too haha. But hey, I hope this week turns out well too. I really appreciate the letters! I will be back next week to fill everyone in again! Have a great week! The Church is true. Nos temos uma grande responsibilidade para compartilhar o evangelho com tudo mundo! Cada membro um missionário! Não esquece!   Amor do Brasil! Elder Marley   P.S. SIX MONTHS

Fantastic Week

For a follow up on Brad's sleep issues, he seems to be doing a lot better!  He said he is sleeping better and better everyday and he is very grateful for that blessing and for good doctors that have been able to help him.  He would love to hear from all of you and his address for the Brazil mission home is on this site.  Thank you for your love and support as well as your prayers.

This week was fantastic!
We had another baptism! Barbara´s sister Laleska was baptized, out of the blue. Just like Barbara haha. AND her mom, sister Rebecca, and boyfriend Wellington are marked for baptism! How sweet is that?? So we will be spending even MORE time there this week than usual. It´s incredible how in two weeks everything went from awful with no solid work to do, to extremely busy with almost TOO MANY people to visit! And this family loves us! It´s great! We finally found that family every missionary wants to find. It´s so wonderful to be able to teacvh them and watch their testimonies develop. We had one lesson with them where Elder Atkin and I basically sat there and testified to them for an hour because they were having doubts. The spirit was crazy strong until Rebecca just burst into tears and left. It was strange but a really powerful experience all the same. I´m really looking forward to this week with them. Also we had lunch with one of the Utley boys mission companions from 2004, Elder Kavamura would have been his name and he gave us two more families to teach... wow. We´re gonna be super busy but I know there was a reason we had to go through those hard times. We had to prove to the Lord that we really have the desires to help his children here. Speaking of which, we had a unique service opportunity last night. We were on our way to a teaching appointment around 7 o clock at night when we saw this guy with no legs laying on the ground. He was pretty drunk and was crying. We stopped to see if he needed anything and he said he hadn´t eaten in four days, and you could tell too! So we went and bought him a big water bottle and four loaves of pão de leite (MILK BREAD)  and gave it to him. I then realized it was sunday but I thought the Lord would be okay with buying on sunday because we were trying to help someone. It was a really cool, but simple experience and a great opportunity to be real missionaries and representatives of Christ and serve. Well, I don´t have much more to write this week except everyone go on youtube and look up Swagger Rangers UVU. It´s a dance crew and they´re crazy good and Alex Fuchs (the not aian one) is my AP! hahaha. He´s awesome! Anyways, I love you all! Things are going really great here and I´m looking forward to another great transfer here in Monumento!
Love from Ipiranga,
Elder Marley

First Baptism

Olá  Well this week was a huge surprise of a week! I was in and out of doctors offices all week to get this whole insomnia thing under control so I think I spent 30 bucks on bus trips haha. But everything is good. Surprise! We had our first baptism this weekend! Whoa! Barbará was baptised! We taught her last sunday and she got baptized yesterday! We´re teaching her entire family and they´re super excited about the gospel. It´s incredible how this all happens at once because we´ve been praying for this for weeks! Barbará is 17 years old and has a two year old daughter named Ivy that is so adorable! She has gone through some extreme trials in her life and was looking for a church to raise her daughter in and after we talked about the restoration she said she wants her family to grow up in the mormon church. It was incredible. Now her sister, her sisters boyfriend, and her mom want to be baptized next week. What a miracle. It just goes to show that even though we weren´t having any success, that God was preparing people right under our nose to teach. This family absolutely LOVES us and I love them so much. The father is an evangelical pastor but doesn´t live with them. He was there for the first lesson and that was interesting to say the least. It´s the end of the first transfer and I´m so happy I survived! Only 17 left! Talking to you guys yesterday was a huge blessing and made me so happy! Everyone looks so good and I´m glad to have received an update on everyone! This week was really an eye opener for me. I experienced some very interesting experiences that I will hold sacred for the rest of my life. I never noticed really how I walk down some of the world´s most dangerous streets every day and feel completely safe, I literally feel the Lord´s promise of having angels on our left and on our right at all times. As we strive to live the commandments with exactness we will be preserved just like Helaman´s 2000 warriors. What an amazing blessing and I, like them, am taking what my mother taught me as a child and applying it in a battle of a different sort but of equal importance. What a blessing it is to be here and like we always hear `No one ever said it was going to be easy, He just said it would be worth it`. I know this is the most difficult thing I have ever done but I know it´s also the most important. Having a hand in literally helping the Savior save souls is a marvelous honor and I couldn´t be happier to be serving the Lord where and when I am serving Him. Thank you so much for the prayers, I feel their effects every day. And Grandma and Grandpa Peterson and Marley... Thank you for the letters! They made my week even greater! Love from Ipiranga Elder Marley 

We Must Smell Bad!

Olá minha querido familia e amigos!
Okay. This week was pretty rough! We no longer have any progressing investigators! A variety of interesting events occured this week to bring that to pass. My theory is that it´s just because we smell bad. But really. Our water got shut off this week because somebody forgot to pay a water bill back in... wait for it... 2008. And they just shut off the water in 2012. hahaha. Oh Brazil. Anyways that was pretty funny. We spent a couple days in the favela this week including a saturday night. Mistake. Things get so nutty on saturday nights in favelas. They don´t have to work on domingos so they just live it up with really loud funk music. Brazilian funk is like ghetto rap. It´s hilarious once they start dancing. Anyways, let´s not get sidetracked. Our four promising investigators just up and moved to Curitiba this week. Surprise! So Marcus will have to baptise them when he gets there. We started to finally get to work with the members more, they´re opening up to us! So hopefully this week we´ll get a lot of good work done. We have a bunch of part member families and less active memebers we´re going to start working with this week and I am super excited. It´s tough to take pictures here because cameras get stolen so often so I hope that explains the lack of photos lately. It´s been raining like CRAZY here! Man oh man! It seriously flash floods a ton here and people have two doors. One regular one and one of cast iron to stop the flood waters from getting in. Crazy life! Hmmmm, oh! The ward I´m serving in has a missionary serving in PORTLAND! Elder Lima! So look for him! He´s from the Monumento ward! This week we had a good experience. It had been a really really tough week and we were getting down because it was just feeling like we weren´t being blessed for all of our hard work. We were walking home last night and saw some people moving some things into their new room. So we decided to help them out because that´s what we do. Well we helped them, and set up a time to go talk to them later this week. After we did that, we got home and ta da! Our water was turned back on! Blessing! It was cool. I also learned that faith is developed over time but really in reality is a gift from God and we need to exercise our gift or we will lose it. I hope everyone has a great week! Thanks for everything!
Elder Marley

It's More then a Drizzle down here

Opá Família!

Okay wow, this week was all over the place. I would be sending pictures of my first four baptisms today but, SUPRISE! Nobody showed up for the baptism, so it was me, Elder Atkin, the ward, and a font full of water, with no family to be baptized. That was the worst feeling I´ve had in my life, bar none. Talk about devastating. We hope to figure their issue out and help them maybe this weekend or next, depending on what the problem is. Other than that, the week was relatively good. I still only get about 1 and a half hours of sleep per night, and that makes things really rough after a few hours of walking, but I´m still alive! Blessing.

 We have been working really hard to find people this week and we find them, but people are too nice for their own good and say yes to our faces then don´t show up at the door the next day or on sunday. It´s quite rough because it´s so important that people keep their commitments! Hopefully things shape up a little better this week.

 Unfortunately I only have one funny story this week and it´s mostly sad. We contacted with some folks in the park and we went over to talk to a group of kids (it was about 9:20 on a Wednesday... sketchy) anyways, they were like 14 years old max. They were heckling us and being really obnoxious and rude because kids are kids everywhere in the world it turns out, so Elder Atkin decided it would be fun to talk to them. After a little bit of talking and enduring some rude remarks we came to find out that one of the girls was the mother of two. And that her boyfriend was wait for it... twelve years old. Yikes. We didn´t have anything to say to that so we left them with a law of chastity pamphlet and went home. It was more surreal than funny. Oh and fun fact of the week, I identified what favela water smells like! About 500 dead camels. I can hear Cassidy laughing about that but it´s true! Oh man it reaks. Also, I thought I knew what rain was living in Oregon, but man was I wrong. The rain here is unreal!! Seriously! Anyways. Basically what I learned this week is that, the will of the Lord isn´t always what we want, but if we submit to His will we are promised blessings in return. I will continue to work my hardest until my body either sleeps, or falls down again, haha. I hope I have some baptism pictures for you all next monday! I really love the work here, there´s a lot to do, and knowing that Christ would do the same thing if He were here, keeps me going everyday. I love this gospel and I´m so glad I decided to remain faithful when the choice was placed before me. I love you all and thank everyone so much for the love!

 

Eu amo Vocês,

Elder Marley

 

P.S. We got to see Elder Holland speak on saturday at our mission conference and he spoke about the will of the Lord and the importance of remaining faithful, aka, exactly what I have been thinking this week! It was incredible!

1st Letter from the Mission Field!!!!

Oh do I have a lot to pack into this email. haha. First off everything here is even better than I expected, except we haven´t really had any success yet. The weather is pretty hot usually in the mid 80´s during the day and super humid, we walk about 12 miles a day and the days go super fast. Everywhere smells bad here but it´s always a different kind of bad smell and it just makes it feel authentic. My trainer´s name is Elder Atkin, he´s from Chico California and is 27 years old. I´m super grateful to be serving with him because he´s super good with the language, doesn´t hardly speak English to me, and is the district leader so we work probably the hardest out of anyone in our zone. He has a year left in his mission and is still loving it.

 The food here is perfectly fine, I haven´t gotten sick once, and memebers feed us lunch here because they only eat one meal a day here. I´m losing weight pretty quick, it´s funny. Anyway I have a few funny stories. First, we went to the ward mission leader´s house for a meeting and while we were talking to him his son walks in and starts watching a movie, I look up like 15 minutes later because I heard a ton of " f" words in english... this 9 year old was watching Paranormal Activity 3! hahahahah. I was like, oh my gosh, that´s one way you can tell nobody in the house speaks english, they let a  9 year old watch rated R movies with no idea that they are rated R. haha. It was hilarious. We HAD like 5 investigators we found and taught a few times this week but they all fell through yesterday and weren´t there when we went to pick them up for church, talk about heart breaking. This is eternal salvation we´re talking about! People just don´t understand. It was a little discouraging but we just have to rememeber that people will always have their agency to accept or reject the gospel and we´re doing all we can do.

 Oh this place is called Monumento and it´s where Brazil declared its independence from Portugal! Pretty cool! Except now it´s all industrial and reminds me a lot of what Detroit Michigan probably looks like. It´s pretty darn sketchy. I love the ward here, they´re super friendly and all the kids call me Elder Marley e Eu. Marley and Me haha. It´s pretty funny. Oh and I met my first Brazilian Rastas yesterday and they were yelling at us because Americans are racists and they were mad because the pictures in opur pamphlets had ´White Jesus´´ hahahaha. So funny. Then the guy who was totally stoked, figured out my last name was Marley and literally laughed for 15 minutes non stop while we taught hi wife. hahahaha. It was SO WEIRD! Anyways there´s a couple funny stories. I really like the area, it´s quite impoverished and people, like whole families live in a place the size of Sammi´s room, two beds, a kitchen, and a television. Seriously, and there homes are just dug into the side of an alley way. It´s pretty intense. But the people that live here are generally really nice. Except the guy that was screaming at us about being fake and hating all the other christians. That was the night of the big gang shootout. The cops killed like 8 people. CRAZY! 

It´s been a great week and the work here is tremendous, this mission is the busiest mission in the world (288 baptisms last month) and it looks like it´s gonna keep going. We get to meet Elder Holland this week so I´ll definitely write about that soon! Love you and tell everyone I Love them too and hope maybe someday I can get a letter like I used to when I got my last one a month ago. haha. Love you,

Love

Elder Marley

Last Letter from the MTC Provo

Oi!

Ok, so this week was crazy and a lot happened. First off I leave for Brazil on Tuesday. CRAZY! I'm so excited but I have no idea what it's gonna be like. It's a 23 hour trip total and will definitely be nuts.

  The other big thing that happened this week was that we were able to hear an apostle at the devotional one last time, Elder Dallin H. Oaks. It was such a cool experience. He spoke about the sacrament and about worthiness. Elder Oaks is one of my very favorite apostles and He spoke about the importance of us remaining worthy in all things if we expect the Lord to be with us. It made me think a lot about what I'm thinking about during the day and how much I can improve on keeping my thoughts loving and happy. That's the first step to a negative or positive life, after all. Other than those two things nothing really out of the ordinary happened this week. We didn't really get to teach much and I had to say goodbye to Irma J, which was rough, but she promised she would make feijoada for us when we return so that's fun!

 Getting to talk to Mom and John and Grandpa and Grandma Peterson was seriously the most wonderful thing ever and I'm STOKED to do it again tomorrow. I had the opportunity to go to the temple this morning with my great friends in my zone that are leaving for Portugal tomorrow. They're so awesome! Elder Fry, Barton, and Rhodes. It was great and I will DEFINITELY miss those elders a lot but I know they're going to do incredibly in Portugal. This whole experience at the MTC has allowed me to grow so much emotionally and spiritually. Dealing with happiness and discouragement and growing in charity and in patience has blessed me a ton. I can already see how different I am just after two months. Onward and upward! I'm very very grateful to have had the opportunities I have had already and for all the ones that are on their way. The next email will be from Brazil. I love you all and am so grateful for everything that all of you have done to get me here, friends, family, and everyone I know.

Ate proximo semana

Elder Marley

Oi familia e Amigos!

WOW. This week has been CRAZY!!!

 So obviously it was my last week with my English district because they left on Tuesday. Our last classroom meeting on monday night with Brother Dopp was so incredible! Talk about a spiritual feast! I really loved each missionary in that district fully. They're all going to be incredible missionaries and I'm sure they already are doing great things in Minnesota. I also had to say good bye to the Man I have been friends with my whole life, Elder Clawson, on tuesday night as he departed for NC. That was pretty tough actually. He traded ties with me and left. It was a little heart wrenching, not gonna lie. Saying goodbye was tough but it was great. I got my new Portuguese district and they're all from the Northwest, and are all extremely nice guys. I got two new companions Elder Coombs from Puyallup Washington, and Elder Royster from San Francisco. They're really cool guys. Elder Coombs is a stud. He's such a soft spoken guy but he's extremely humble and very powerful in the Spirit. Elder Royster is exactly like Kurt Mooney, for a reference. It's awesome. Elder Smith and Elder Bond aka the A-Team are another companionship and they're awesome. Elder Bond looks and acts like Tyler Robson and I love it! Elder Smith is really laid back and nice and looks just like Brother Emmet from Mt. Scott ward! There's also Elder Jensen and Willard. Both from the same ward in Washington, best friends their whole lives and now companions. Weird. They had a huge wave of visas this week and Elders Coombs, Bond, Smith, and Jensen leave tomorrow... on their first day... FRUSTRATING! But I'm glad for them. Mine should be on it's way so I may spend some time in the CTM if I'm lucky still. So yes, mathmeticians, there will be three people in our district tomorrow... I was called as District Leader, but it's one companionship so it won't be tough.

 The Portuguese it's tough. The way they teach here is like trying to drink water from a fire hose. It ain't pretty. But after about 5 days we're really picking it up well. Our teacher is Irma Jacobs from Brazil and she's so cool. She's been in America for 10 months so she actually CAN'T speak English to us, which explains why our Portuguese is so accelarated. We learned how to bear testimony, pray, and hold a basic conversation with someone already and I can read and understand Portuguese pretty well. Overall it's going well. All the elders in this new district are headed to Joao Pessoa (where Elder Paul is headed) except for Elder Willard (Porto Alegre South) and I. The portuguese is so intense we don't even have time to think here, but I like it. I apologize if I've been slow to return letters this week, my mind has been on overload. Last tuesday we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Holland. He spoke on being a missionary forever. It was super inspiring as Elder Holland typically is. It was funny because we had to wake up at 3 to drop off my english district so we were thinking about not going to the devotional. What a mistake that would've been. Last night we heard from soul singer Alex Boye. He talked about his conversion and the importance of our call and our power as representatives of God. It was so incredible I can't even describe it. The spirit was so strong we left the fireside feeling like we could literally move mountains. It strengthened my faith so much this week just going through some tough changes and trying to grasp why I can't just go to Brazil. There is clearly a reason I need to be here, whether for my benefit or for others I don't know yet, but I will continue to follow God to the end and endure in faith. I'm very glad I'm a missionary and can bring glory to God and honor my family by doing this. I've been out a month and it's flown by! I have a feeling this will go by fast so sometimes I just need to stop and savor the moments. Eu sei que da Igreja e verdadeiro. Eu sei que Joseph Smith es um profeta de Deus. Eu sei que amar de Deus e eterno. Eu sou grato por minha familia e meu amigos. I love this gospel. I can't wait to hear from everyone this week and to finally get to brazil in a few.

I love you all.

O evangelho restaurado es verdadeiro

Elder Marley

Latest Update

Note:  Brad's Visa has moved to "authorized" so he will be leaving for Brazil very soon.  Until he leaves, his new MTC box number is 223 and his P-Day is changed to Mondays.  Thank you for all of your love and support of him.  He is thrilled to receive any and all letters and packages you feel so inclined to send.


Ola Familia!


I haven't gotten the PACKAGE yet but I did get the photobook yesterday and it was amazing! My district was so happy they got to see y'all before they left! Elder Pauls leave in like three hours and it's freaky! This week has no doubt been intense. It's our last week as a district and everyone is feeling kinda weird about it. I think there's something wrong with me though because last night we had an extremely spiritual last class with Brother Dopp our incredible teacher, and everybody was bawling... except me... again. It was a little weird but it was still fantastic. I got a little discouraged about not getting the visa this week but I guess there's a reason I'm supposed to stay here for a little while longer so I guess I'll exercise some faith and follow the Lord's plan for me, even though it's 100% unknown and a little weird. So before I forget my new mailbox number for my new Portuguese district is 223 and it starts tomorrow. I get two new companions and I hate the thought of moving my stuff for only a week, it's a little bit of a pain but oh well. By the way, I LOVED getting letters from everyone and finally getting one from Dad! It was a nice surprise!




I feel a little nervous to start Portuguese tomorrow but I had an interesting temple experience last week that really helped and we get to go again today. I can't explain how good it feels knowing that the Lord is watching out for me so closely and He wants me to succeed so badly. It was really interesting last night as well (during the same lesson with Brother Dopp) that I couldn't help but feel that the Lord is and has been preparing me for something great. I don't know what or how it will be great, but I can just feel it. All the ups and downs in life and the trials and afflictions, are for our benefit and as we are promised in Doctrine and Covenants 121: If we endure it well, we will be exalted on high. This whole week has been ridiculous. It's been up and down but overall just one huge incredible spiritual experience. It will be tough to say goodbye to my district tomorrow morning and to Elder Clawson but we should always be moving onward and upward. The song Lord, I would follow thee meant a lot to me this week. It just made me think about what I would do to follow God. If we have the faith to follow God through the fire and back in this life, that we will never have to experience it in the next, but we have to go through fire at some point, whether here or there.: No matter what happens in your life, no matter what terrible things have happened or what is happening, if you endure it well, and follow your Savior out of the fire, it will be for your benefit. It will never be easy, but it will always be worth it." I'm so proud to be serving the Lord and even though it's super tough I know that if we live the commandments and we keep the faith that the Lord will never forsake us. I know that as I continue to live obediently that I will be able to teach and serve with all the authority of God and I will be worthy to act in His name. This church is the true church restored to the Earth today, this really is a marvelous work, and for the next two years as I work my heart out to serve the Lord, I know countless lives will be touched and the Glory of God will be praised forever. I love you all, thank you so much for everything and for all the support. This is a miraculous experience.

Elder Marley

P.S. Sister KNIGHT will be at the visitors center in Portland in 3 weeks. I told her to look for all Beans and Marley's and that my Grandma Peterson will no doubt initiate a conversation with her.




Also, I hope you got my pictures!

Week 2

This last week was incredible. Our district successfully got away from the sophmore slump where the second week districts enthusiasm drops. We did get a new district of elders headed to Virginia and Texas and they're super rowdy but I am sure next week it'll be a different ball game. At devotional last Tuesday we were able to hear from Elder Clarke of the seventy and he gave an incredible talk on being a successful missionary. It was just a roller coaster week. Sometimes I get down because I feel like I'm not progressing but that usually lasts only about 5 minutes and then I feel fantastic again. I sent some pictures this week and I hope you get them soon! So I was thinking the other day about something that's really cool. I'm the fifth Marley to serve a mission and all five of us have had different languages on our tags! Engliush, German, Spanish, Chinese, And now Portuguese. I just thought it was cool. Anyways this week Elder Paul and I made great progress with a few of our "investigators" and committed two of three to be baptized. It's super crazy to be able to feel the spirit so strongly all the time. We went to the temple today and after the session I had a little time to think and pray and I was so moved by the spirit. I feel so incredibly blessed to be serving and especially to have met these wonderful missionaries. It's crazy to think that I almost didn't take the opportunity to meet all these guys. The Lord really does work in mysterious ways. I love this whole experience and it's really going to be incredible. This is my last week as an English missionary and I start Portuguese next wednesday! Unfortunately that means my whole district and Elder Clawson leaves for Minnesota, Brazil and North Carolina on wednesday too. That day will be so rough. But on the plus side this upcoming wednesday we get to train new elders and sisters in our zone and one is a Sister Knight who is going to PORTLAND OREGON!!! She's going to work in the new visitor center so everyone go there next month and tell Sister Knight you're my family! Way too awesome! I just feel the blessings of living obediently so much and I'm so grateful for it. I'm so grateful to know that my heavenly father has forgiven me for the stupid kid I once was and that He trusts me with this work He has for me in Brazil. I know what I'm doing here is the work of the Lord and if I serve Him with all my "heart, might, mind, and strength" that I will be able to rest well in two years and that I will be able to have success in the next 23 months. I love everyone so much and I am so grateful for all the love and the support. What an amazing experience. Everything that will happen in the next two years, good or bad, will be for my benefit and the benefit of those I serve. I'm really growing close to the missionaries I'm serving with and I'm growing even closer to the Lord. Stay faithful and strive to feel the Spirit everyday because it's possible.
Muito Amor Familia,

Elder Marley

Brad's First Letter Home!!!!

Oi Familia!

Yep. The amount of Portuguese I knew when I left is the same amount I know now! We''re doing the pilot program so we learn our gospel stuff here then leave for the CTM in Sao Paulo on February 29th, in theory, to focus on language. This week was so nuts. The first day, I was just losin all my stuff. I got my companion, his name is Elder Paul and his twin brother and him are in our district. My Elder Paul is going to my mission and his twin is going to Joao Pissoa Brazil up north next to Nick Anderson. This whole week has been one spiritual punch in the mouth. We have the most incredible district ever. Elder Pauls by the way mom, are the ones from the missionary mom website. So yeah, I don't know how that worked out.

Anyways, day one I was feeling down and doubtful, but I had a life changing spiritual experience the next day that turned everything around. I explained it in my letter. The missionaries in my district are Elders Paul, Elders Barker, Johnsen, and Yorgason from Utah, Elder Mattison from Arizona (reminds me exactly of Craig Burwell, mega stud) Elder Winkler who is easily the most inspiring person alive, but I'll get to that later. We have four sisters Sister Morgan from NC, Sisters Briggs and Fitisemanu from California, and Sister Rider from Florida. It's true that Sister missionaries are what keeps the church together. They're incredible! Sister Morgan is the Zone coordinating sister which means she runs all the things that concern the sisters in our zone. Elder Paul and I are the Zone Leaders which is the same thing but with the Elders.

It's funny being here because all the Brazilian missionaries come up to us and try speaking Portuguese and we're just like, “Uhhh, we don't speak Portuguese." Then we have to explain why. Oh! I've run into Elder Clawson and Hermana Layton a few times! Makes me SO happy to see them! I'll try to get a picture with them soon. Anyways. One Elder in our district, Elder Winkler, is the most inspiring guy on the planet. He has been homeless and in and out of foster care since he was four years old. He ran away from his abusive aunt and uncle for the last time at age 13 and literally ran away to join the circus... he played drums for Cirque Du Soleil and has worked as a professional drummer since. He is a former drug addict and alcoholic, and received the gospel at 17 when he was living in the attic of a strip club in West Hollywood. He's so hardcore, but his testimony is truly amazing. I wish I had more time because there's so much to write about him alone!

Oh, I forgot to mention that the missionaries in our district are all going to Minneapolis Minnesota. Which is funny because they're all from hot climates and Elders Paul and I are from cold climates going to BRAZIL. It's been so good getting those letters and I sent one last week so it should be there soon. Our devotional on Sunday was given by Brother Heaton an exec here at the MTC and then we watched one of Elder Bednar’s talks. Like I said, it's just been one huge spiritual rollercoaster this whole time and I've only had one day when I was being a pooper. Not bad for me! Hmmm what else? Oh Elder Paul and I get to teach a few mock investigators and two of them are really tough cookies but we work so well as a companionship that our lessons often end in tears. My teachers’ names are Brother Dopp and Sister Itri. Brother Dopp is really close friends with the Kunzler boys! Small world AGAIN. I just love this place and it's sad to see some of the Elders that you can tell just hate it because of their bad attitudes. Come on guys. I love it, the Spirit is so intense here, and the food is mediocre but does terrible things to your digestive system, and it's true I laugh at EVERYTHING now! I don't get it!

Anyways, I came here knowing nothing and my testimony has been strengthened so much since I got here. I know this gospel has the power to change lives and even though it's tough, I know every second of the next two years will be so worth it for me, and for everyone I can touch. I love all of you so much and thanks for the few letters I've been getting they really make my day and I love writing back. If you sent me a Dear Elder I've already responded - it just has to get to ya! Once again I love you and thanks for all the support!

Love,

Elder Marley 

Elder Marley has checked into the MTC and we are anxiously awaiting his first letter on P day.  I will post it here when it arrives.  Please feel free to contact him at the addresses here under "contact Elder Marley" I know he would to hear from everyone.