Monday, December 23, 2013

Week 100

i cant believe this is my last email!! its so crazy that this day has come! i didnt even realize that this would be my last until a couple days ago.... i hope everyone is preparing a party for me! two years passed by so fast for me, was it the same for yall?
me and Elder robb
 ''this man is the man!''

so to answer the questions. for food i want terriyaki, mongo grill, outback, sweet and sour chicken, spicy italian chicken, and some surprises. i have forgotten almost everything i used to eat at home. i have been brain washed here from rice beans and meat :) i honestly have no idea what i want for christmas. after being out of the loop for so long i dont know what things i like or will need. maybe ask brodie what things i would like :) i had an i-touch but i thought mom took it. i just remember the headphone jack was broken.
 funny story, so i ran out of Brazilian money here and i still had 60$ with me, but i needed to buy some stuff. my debit card was canceled right so i couldnt use that. i heard there is this gypsie guy here who trades money and i was able to trade with him :) we bargained for a long time, but the trade went alright. i can try using my credit card if the last of my money runs out.
i will wait to mail my knife until the christmas call, i want to ask dad a couple questions first before sending it.
i loved the picture with dad and his ugly sweater, i remember always wearing that to school and loving it :) im a little sad though that there isnt snow in the mountains for skiing yet, i was really looking forward to skiing with everyone. looks like dad will have to do a special trip to utah to ski at snowbird with me!
on tuesday we helped out our branch president in his class. he is an english teacher and also  has some students who will do foreign exchange to the US, Canada, and new zealand. we hung out with his class for a bit and helped excite them for the trip. it was super fun. we made goals to do service everyday for somebody. we showed up by surprise to a less actives little market and cleaned it for him. that was also super fun :)


 the kids who will go the US
  i solved the number puzzle

oh! and so for Skype, i will Skype from here 7 at night. i think it would be 2 in the afternooon there... maybe 3. just be ready! im super excited :) it will be a funny call.
so we were supposed to travel to Parnaíba on Friday, but the trip was canceled last minute. that meant we were able to go to the christmas devotional here though! it was cool, the choir was great and the nativity. i attached some pictures of that too.


a bummer is that the zone conference was changed to this week, but we still dont know the day. i wanted to plan a Family night for the branch before i leave, but i dont know what nights i will be here... i really hope i can say goodbye to everyone., i really love it here :)
because i dont know if i will still be here next sunday i gave a last talk here in the branch. it was a cool talk about all the things i have learned and how everyone needs to serve a mission! i cried a bit at the end. my mission has seriously been so awesome :)
so for christmas we will eat lunch with the branch presidents Family. he has a really big Family and we will all go to his parentes house for a BBQ :) it will be super cool and im super excited!

 

i dont know how i can sum up my mission in this last email. so many things have happened and i have grown in SO many ways. i am excited to get home and put in practice all this things. the major things that i learned is how to pray, the importance of the scriptures, how to work, how to plan, how to serve, how to love, that really the church is necessary in our lives and not just a good thing, and that the mission in a necessary step in our lives. my motto for the mission was Moroni 9:6 and im proud to say that i worked this way during my misison. i have really loved it and i thank you all for all your love and support and prayers! until next week!
-Elder Lambert

Monday, December 16, 2013

Week 99

hello Family!
 
so i got my itinerary this week in my email! thats how you know its time to go home right... so this week was the week that i taught the most lessons in my whole mission! the presidente set new goals for us and we were able to get them. it looks like my district was the only district that did - the presidente really likes me :)
 
the old goals were to teach at least 28 lessons a week and we were able to get it every week these two transfers, but last week he came out with a new goal of 52 lessons. we ended the week with 54 which was by far the most i had ever taught. we were leaving the house at 9 almost everyday to start walking and teaching. it was a really gratifying experience and it makes me happy knowing that my work will not stop!


another cool thing was that we had a surprise opportunity to serve somebody! when we were coming home late one night, we saw that a woman was moving into our building. there were two men helping and there was a ton of stuff. we ran upstairs and changed clothes and went to help. it took quite a long time, but the lady was SUPER happy for our help! we made a contact with her and the other people that were helping and they are all being pretty receptive so far. sadly i busted up my hand though as you can see in the picture. it was well worth it though :)
 







random fact: we saw a cat skull also
 
so, the baptism worked out great! she was super happy about her baptism and the people who were there also loved it. her little brother went to church yesterday and wants to be baptized also. we will see if we can get him ready before i leave! she has already finished Reading 1st nephi and is loving everything in the church. probably next week she will get a calling. we will start to visit some of her friends also.

so this week we will travel to Parnaíba! part of me is excited to travel, but it will hurt our week a bunch, and we will also miss the christmas program here :( they will do a nativity.
 
tonight we will be going to a birthday party of a member and it sounds like there will be lots of pizza and soda :) im getting super excited for it!

there arent many updates for this week. next week i will send the times for christmas skyping. i need to figure out what will go on here exactly! probably will be in the afternoon for you guys and night here.
i love you all and wish y'all the best!
 
-Elder Lambert

Monday, December 9, 2013

Week 98

well Christmas is coming and the pigs are getting fat! here we dont see geese, but we do tend to see LOTS of pigs, donkeys, cows, and horses in the street...
 
on Monday Elder robb and i went christmas shopping for the other two missionaries. it was really funny buying the things. on christmas i will take pictures of their presentes because you will have to see them to understand exactly what it is. lets just say that i am a very clever person :)  another random event this week was that i ate quail eggs! that was kind of an interesting experience. i dont think i had ever seen a quail egg before. they are super small but very tastey. 
also, me and Elder robb made a flame thrower with the brasilian deodorant here. it doesnt even work for its purpose, so we made another purpose for it :)

so i went to Parnaíba during the week for a meeting there. it was super fun and we had some awesome adventures! it was fun seeing the people there agian. i thought it would be my last meeting, but i discovered that we will have a zone conference with presidente on the 23rd. that will be a cool last meeting for me. i got some more mission ties letters also. thanks mom! mom is my faithful letter writer, she endured to the end :)
 
when we got back from Parnaiba, i did divisions with the others and made it a contest to see which group could do the most work. the prize was that the losers would have to make a french toast breakfast for the other group. me and the new missionary ended up winning so we won breakfast :) it was really fun because i used it to excite the other companionship. they were a little upset so this worked out a lot.
 
also this week we saw tons of miracles! me and Elder robb were able to mark baptismal dates with two families and other people also! all the dates we have are for the last weekend of my misison. i hope that one of them works out! its my goal to baptize a complete family before leaving.
 
we will have one baptism this week of a woman named monike. she is a contact we did a while ago and she has progressed alot! she is all ready and her baptism will be saturday afternoon

this saturday that passed had the wedding and baptism of imrão josé and imrã do carmo. it was super cool and a great way to end the week. i have more pictures, but sadly they wont upload... it will be nice when i get home and i can show everything!



Monday, December 2, 2013

Week 97

hello family!

so as you all guessed, i stayed here in piripiri. looks like i will be dying here (finishing)! its so weird to think that it is already december, i will be home this month! i really cannot believe it.
well here in brasil we are all super excited for the christmas holidays, for sure talking to our families is a big part of it, but i also just love christmas spirit. our apartment is pretty snazzy, i will take a picture of our decorations next week. i broke the rules about christmas music and started listening before thanksgiving...
so our p-day was pretty cool. we gave a sort of english class at night. the schools here did a competition to find out who the best students are and the best will be able to do a foreign exchange to the US. we met up with the students to talk a little  bit about what the host families will be like, how they can take advantage of this learning experience, what the schools are like, etc.. it was pretty cool because i was in their shoes not that long ago. they will pass through 2 months of basic training and go there. the first picture are the three girls from this city that will go.
Wednesday we had a family night at irmão manoel's house. he was turning 79 so we threw a party for him. he is a really good example to me because he is old, has health problems, but always is at church and we always see him in front of his house reading the scriptures and other church books. its really cool because sometimes he calls people over in the street to read with him or talk about the gospel. its a bummer he is too old to serve a mission :)

so for thanksgiving we had a feast! well at least as much of a feast as possible. everyone contributed. we had pasta, breaded beef, soda, french fries, and BETTY CROCKER BROWNIES!!!! the brownies were SOOOOO good! i hope you like the design i made in them for you! if you couldnt tell what it is, its a heart with an arrow through it. it was pretty funny because brasilians dont know what thanksgiving is, only if they have seen something in movies. it was super fun though, they liked it. i got sad thinking about all the good football games i was missing, and of course you guys! i miss a good feast with the family every once in a while.

so on saturday we were just doing our visits and we stopped by a members house to see how they were doing, when we got there we noticed that they were painting so we ended up helping! it was super fun. i love painting :) i really love the unexpected service projects that sometimes we can do here. we just threw on a different shirt and spent the rest of the day helping out. i painted the doors.
so i will have a zone meeting on tuesday, so we will go to parnaíba tonight. i wonder if i will still get some letters or if they are done for the rest of my mission...
so now onto Sunday it was fast and testimony meeting, so you know what that means. this was the last testimony i will share in a testimony meeting in my mission... it was really hard to think about that when i was up there. little by little i am starting to realize that really my mission is ending; not just going on pause or leaving for a break, buts its really going to be over. its a really hard thing for me to think about, but i'm super excited to go home. after 2 years i am definitely ready!

well, just know that i love you all and soon enough will be home! is tanner johns home already? soon we will be able to talk on skype! what are your christmas plans? i will be calling on christmas, but i dont knoow what time yet. the people here might throw a party for me :) i love you all and until next week!
-Elder Lambert