May 25, 2015- week 38- P-day in Monte Mor, Brazil!

Hey Fam Bam!

One more week down here in São Paulo, Brasil! Man, I cannot get used to how fast the weeks go by on the mission. I remember life being a lot slower before the mission. Haha, I still can't explain why this is so. But, hey, I'm enjoying myself down here. So, as my companion is the District Leader, we did another division on Tuesday! This time, it was with an Elder named Elder Aceituno. He's from Honduras and has one less transfer than I do on the mission. He's super cool. I attached a photo. He's got a cool before mission story haha. Anyways, we had a good week.

We went to our investigator who has a problem with smoking and he's doing about the same. But hey! Remember that one cigarette concoction that I talked about last time that would take away his deisre to smoke? We were able to find one of the ingredients, but it requires two things. We're working on getting that other part. Also, a really awesome thing happened! He said his first prayer with us!!!! You guys don't even know how much of a step this is! His wife is already a member, about 5 years. They've had missionaries come over often over these 5 years, but he never ever said a prayer. He finally said a prayer with us! It was such a good prayer too! We were so proud of him. Haha, I'm still really happy from that. He's progressing so much!

Also, we went to another part of our area that we've never visited before. It's called Elias Fausto! It's actually a different city about 25 minutes away by bus. It was a lot of fun, its been a while since missionaries have gone there. We're gonna go there two more times this week.

Anyways, I gotta go now, but have a great week all of you! Till the next week.

Love,
Elder Collins

Foto

Elder Aceituno and I!

May 18, 2015- week 37- P-day in Monte Mor, Brazil!

Oppa! Tudo bem?

This week was alright for me. Not much special happened, but like all the others, it was pretty fast. So, I had two more divisions with two elders. They came to Monte Mor. Their names are Elder Dehnike and Elder Villeda. The first Elder actually is from my group. He's Argentinan from Buenos Aires. He's really cool, but he had a problem with his knee so we had to take the day slowly. Also, as you guys know, I was recovering from my sickness. It was a little hard to talk to you all because my voice was acting weird.

Anyways, our investigator that is smoking is doing a lot better! He went a whole day without smoking! We were so excited to hear that! Also, his son went to this one demonstration where they made this one drink from some ingredients and had a person who was addicting to smoking drink it. Afterwards, he was asked to smoke a cigarrette, but he couldn't do it. He said that every time he put the cigarrette to his mouth, he wanted to vomit. So, we are buying the ingredients for out beloved investigator to help him. Also, yesterday, we went to his house and watched the Testaments with him. It's been a while, so I forgot how good it was. We felt the spirit strongly in the end too.

Also, now we are giving English and Spanish classes at the church on Thursdays at night time to everyone who wants to learn more English. Last week was the first time that we did it, and it was mostly members, but this week we're handing out cards to people so that they know where and when it is.

Hey! Thank you for the mailing address! I will soon send off a letter to you guys! I have no idea how long it'll take, but just know that soon enough one will be on its way. Sorry for the short email this time, we had to do a survey for something called "mission tour" I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I know that some general authority will be coming down to talk to the whole mission!

Thank you for all your emails and the packages! I will be sure to tell you of anything that arrives for me!

Love you all!

Elder Collins

Photos!

Splits with Elder Villeda!

Look at these fubecas!

May 11, 2015- week 36- P-day in Monte Mor, Brazil!

Olá minha familia! Haha, so this time I don't have to much to say, as I just talked to you guys YESTERDAY! Woohoo! Hey, it was great being able to talk to you all after a while of not. I'm not, as some would say "trunky", but I was a bit exhausted after talking so much English with you guys and getting to see you all! Now, onto another 6 or 7 months of WORK.

I'm still amazed at how deep John's voice is. haha Seriously! Anyways, thanks for being on at that time when I got on. I'm sorry I wasn't able to give you a specific time for you to get on. Next time, I will have a time set apart though. I'll make sure I do. The member at who's house I was at said you guys are super cool "uma familia ótima!'', as he said.

So, as to my week, it was a normal week. The only difference being that I had two divisions with other Elders and also that I got sick and went to the hospital. The hospitals here are terrible. You could literally be bleeding slowly to death and you would still have to wait a long time. The hospital was also filled with people who had dengue. Man, it is a dengue epidemic down here. I mean, yeah it can be lethal at least the second time you get it, but it only gives you pain in the bones and a headache. Nothing too bad. If I do catch it, I'll be out of commission for a while. When Elder Arnson got it, he said he couldn't do anything for like a month. Just sleep and more sleep. Which doesn't sound too bad haha.

To answer your question, Yes, I have to do my own laundry. I have to do everything myself here haha. I kind of miss it when mom did it for me, or I had other to share the load. Shaaare the looaadd...Also, yeah! I'd love to send you guys a letter. But, I don't really know how the address thing would work. Could you give me your guys' mailing address?

Well, sorry for the short email, and unfortunately I don't have any new pictures for you guys (but I think you guys took some of me), but I just wanted to let you all know that I really did enjoy talking to you guys. I feel like I talked a lot, but I don't know- maybe that's a good thing? I think the mission has allowed me to open up a lot more than I'm used to. Now, I WANT to talk haha. I never thought that would become a reality. Anyways! I love you all, and talk to you guys next week!

Your son and brother,

Elder Collins

FOTO

Mother's Day Skype call

May 4, 2015- week 35- P-day in Monte Mor, Brazil!

Olá Familia!!

Transfers have happened! And, I'm staying! Woohoo. Alright. So, this past week was better than last week. We're working really hard with one of our investigators right now. He goes to church every week and has a testimony of everything, but the only problem is that he has a problem with smoking. We've been setting goals with him and following up every other day. Yesterday, we went to his house and did a special experiment. We decided to make a cigarette tea and have him drink it. I don't know if you've ever tried anything like this with other investigators that have had problems with smoking, but it's supposed to make them want to throw up. We made it with our investigator and had him smell it and drink it. He said it was the worst tea he's ever had. haha We asked him if was alright afterwards and he was all calm about it, but kept going outside to spit. We had dinner with his family that night, but he didn't want to eat. I hope the tea worked. We'll see tomorrow when we go back there. He's the closest investigator we have to baptism. And, since I'll be here with my companion (Elder Aguirres) another 6 weeks, I'm almost positive that he will have stopped smoking by the end of the transfer, if not this week.

So, to answer your questions- Holy cow, do I walk? Man, I have never walked so much in my LIFE! Yes, we walk a lot. haha They do have buses, but it wastes our money ever time we use the bus. Sometimes, it's not even effective because we end up waiting a long time for the bus, and by the time the bus finally gets to us and we ride it to our destination, it's the same time as if we were to have just walked to the place. But, yeah- their major mode of transportation here is buses. They've got buses to almost everywhere here.

Haha, how did you know about the rain? Haha, yes it's finally raining over here. It's been at least 5 weeks since they've had a good rain here in Monte Mor. It's good, but also at the same time bad. Good, because it's a break from the blistering sun, and bad because it makes all the paths muddy and no one wants to talk to you in the streets.

Yes! MOTHER'S DAY!! Unfortunately, I do not know when we will be doing the calls. It will be after lunch for us, I'm thinking maybe around 4 or 5pm your time in Italy. But, I'm not sure. I don't even know who's house we're going to. Just be ready any time after 2 or 3pm, I guess. Sorry. But, I'm really super excited to be able to see all you guys. It felt like I just talked to you yesterday (at Christmas time), but I'm ready to see you again! Make sure to have questions ready, cause I will be ready to answer them, and I have questions for you guys too! 

Thank you for the emails, and also for getting me some more shirts! I love you all, and I'm super excited to talk to you all. See you this Sunday!

Your son, brother, and friend,
Elder Matthew Collins

FOTOS (unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures this week, so there's only one)

Oh how I love green!