Já é Julho.... quase!?!?! (it´s already July... kind of!?!?!)

So, it´s already July kind of. Which means I´ve practically been serving the mission for about 6 months. Time sure has gone by quickly. Yet, I´m still not fluent. I am missing a lot of vocabulary still. Good news is that Brasil has made it to the next set of games in the world cup and they will be playing today. Just so you all know, everything shuts down a little while before a Brasil game. Literally everything. If you thought you were a patriotic American, just come to Brasil during the world cup. Everyone is wearing green and gold, the streets are all decorated. It´s really quite amazing.

It´s gotten a little ´chilly´ at night, so I just keep my fan off and sleep with a sheet. Someone said that they were "com frio" or with cold or cold. Oh dear, I fear people here in the Nordeste don´t know what cold is. I mean, I don´t really know what cold is, if you think about it, but I have a better idea. I´ve been to the snow a few times....

Anyway, I´m terrible at keeping track of the letters, but I think ´S´ should be fine. So ´s´ sounds like an ´s´ anytime except when in between two vowels then sounds like a ´z´ or when there are two like ´ss´ it keeps the ´s´ sound.

The Book of Mormon is truly amazing. When the day is difficult or when I just want to relax when I get home, the best thing to do is read the Book of Mormon. I think it´s because of the comfort of the Holy Ghost. When you read the Book of Mormon, the Holy Ghost is always there to help you learn and calm down. Also, another amazing thing that the Book of Mormon does is clarify things in the Bible and testify of Christ.

It´s truly amazing. There are many awesome stories in the Book of Mormon. For any of you who know me well, you know that I´m not much of a reader unless it comes down to Harry Potter. From reading the Book of Mormon I´ve discovered more of a desire to read more because I always learn something from reading it or I find an answer to something I´ve been worried about. I know that the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God written by the hands of prophets, and is another testiment of Jesus Christ. I know that if you want to learn more about the nature of God, get closer to God or if you want to understand the Bible more clearly, all you have to do is read the Book of Mormon. I know Joseph Smith was the prophet that God chose to translate the Book of Mormon, and restore His church to the earth. I love you all, and invite you to study the words of life found in the scriptures.

Love,
Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Celebrating Sozinho

So, the work here has been slow since the World Cup started. On days that Brasil is playing especially. We´ve been staying in our house cleaning, studying, and taking pictures. Yesterday, I made some videos of myself opening up a Maracujá (or passion fruit). It´s pretty cool, it was my first time doing it myself. I ate a bit of it, then made juice out of it. It´s pretty cool on the inside of the fruit. It´s like a alien egg pod. You´ll get to see the video eventually some day. Anyway, while I was doing this I was dressed in my awesome yellow and green shirt that has a lion on it and the word BRASIL on the back. I have a little Brazilian flag hanging above my desk, and whenever Brasil scored (it was really obvious with all the screaming and yelling and booming of fireworks) I would run outside to my porch and blow my green and yellow whistle to join in the merryment (there is also a video of this). No one saw me because of our wall and gate that surround our house, not even my companion. I think he was trying to take a nap. The poor elder really loves soccer.

As for the letter of the week, ........... it is the letter ´H´. WOOHOO!!!! So, H is pretty fun. If it is at the beginning of a word it is silent like in the English word herb. If it follows an ´L` or an ´N´ it makes a ´y´ sound. For example ´espelho´ (mirror) is pronounce eh-spell-yo or ´minha´ is pronounced meen-ya. I think that´s it for ´H´.

Something very special I´d like to share with you is the fact that God is our Loving Father in Heaven. We are litterally His children, because He is the father of our spirits. Romans chapter 8:16-17 talks about how we are God´s children."16 The Spirit itself beareth ^awitness with our ^bspirit, that we are the ^cchildren of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; ^aheirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we ^bsuffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." So, if anyone feels lonely or not of worth, don´t, because you are a child of God and He loves you. If you want to know His love for you, just pray and ask Him. I know He will answer your prayers. I know that God our Heavenly Father loves us, and I know that His son Jesus Christ lives. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in fact the same church that Jesus Christ established and by living the teachings of His gospel we can find eternal happiness. I love you and hope you are well.

Love,

Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Ready for A Copa Do Mundo

Elder Chiba Sent the Family on both costs a package to prepare them for The World Cup, or as he calls it "A Copa Do Mundo!"

So, A Copa Do Mundo has started

Dear friends and family,

A Copa do Mundo has started!!! Unfortunately, us missionaries here will be stuck in our houses during the games that Brasil is playing. Apparently it will be dangerous outside with drunk people and soccer enthusiasts. Brasilians sure love their soccer and their country. Man, put them together and you get one big party. I think it´s wise of our mission president to have us stay inside. I don´t know about the other Elders houses but ours is close to several bars and it gets pretty loud on weekend nights. But, you should all watch the game because I can´t and you could cheer for Brasil for me. I´ll be in my house blowing my whistle and waving my Brasil flag whenever I hear happy commotion outside.

This week´s letter is the letter D. D is like T, except with a D sound. When it is in front of a i or e at the end of a word it is pronounced like ´g´ for example `gee isn´t that great?´

I´ve been reading the book ´Our Heritage´ lately. It´s really amazing what the early saints did and what they had to go through. Their faith was amazing. Some of those saints were my accestors and I am ever so grateful for their faith in following the directions of the prophets. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the same church that Jesus Christ established during His earthly ministry. I know thatJoseph Smith was called of God to be the prophet to restore Christ´s church. And I am so grateful for the chance I have to share this wonderful knowledge with others.

Love,

Elder Samuel H. Chiba

QUE MARAVILHOSO!!!!

Hello Everyone!!!!

The most amazing things happened this weekend. Our friend Marcos, who we have been teaching, was baptized and confirmed a member of the church. He´s amazing. When we started teaching him, we asked him to pray to see if the church was true and to see if he should be baptized. Our second lesson with him, we asked him about his prayer, and he told us that he received an answer that he should be baptized. So, we´ve been teaching him all about the gospel. He´s been devouring The Book of Mormon. Also one of the members gave him a gospel principles book and he been studying that too. The hunger that he has to know more of gospel is amazing. I wish that everyone had the same desire he does. I don´t have too much time left to write, but I want you to know that I love you and I wish and hope for the best for you (which is the gospel). There is so much to learn.

Tomorrow is zone conference. My companion and I cleaned our house today with a little more gusto because tomorrow Sister Dias (the wife of Presidente Dias) will give us candy if we´ve cleaned the house and other such things. I´ll try to write more next week.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is amazing, and we can all find more happiness and peace if we follow it. Think about how happy you are right now, and if you think you are plenty happy, you can be even more happy. It´s possible. I don´t think I´ve been so happy before. Especially during Marcos´ baptism. There was such a joy that overwhelmed me. I´m so happy for him, and I know that the Lord is happy as well.

Love,

Elder Samuel H. Chiba

(p.s. there seems to be a holiday every other week. i´m not sure, but it seems like it anyway. maybe time is just going by really quickly....... AAAAAAAAAAAAH IT´S ALREADY JUNHO!!!!!!!!!!)

Olá Gente

Olá Gente, (hello people). I hope everything is well on the other side of the world. Ok, well other side of the equator. I guess that´s the other side of the world huh? Anyway, good news I´ve gained about 2 kilos back. So, I´m at a stunning 90 kilos. I´ve been having headaches recently, I probably should be drinking more water than I am. I drink a pretty good amount though. Who knows?

I guess this week was tranfers, (i thought it was next week), but good news, I´m still in Cidade Jardim in Teresina. I´m glad. We´ve been teaching some awesome people and I was hoping to see them through everything. Speaking of awesome people, we´ve been teaching this awesome guy named Marcos, he´s 18, and he´s amazing! We started teaching him a couple weeks ago, and he is devouring The Book of Mormon. He´s going to be baptized this Saturday!

Also, I´m pretty sure that I´ve said that bugs are bigger here, and I´d like to reitterate this statement. On Saturday, we were doing some service work cleaning up a member´s backyard, and there were a lot of big spiders, a huge caterpillar, and a whole bunch of intensly scary ants. The ants were about as long as my thumb nail and they had huge mandibles. There were a whole bunch of decaying coconuts that we were putting into this bad and these ants were all over the coconuts. They were really angy and you could hear their mandibles snapping as they were ferociously biting anything, (I didn´t get bitten) but the sound of them biting was like the popping of little bubbles of bubble wrap. Man, that was intense.

So, I don´t remember the grammar rules I´ve told you already. But, today I want to share with how amazing the gospel is. The only problem is that I don´t have the words to express how wonderful it is. All I know is that it is perfect and it is true. The more I study and the more I teach the gospel, the more I learn and understand how perfect it truly is. So, I suppose, I can´t really do much to help you except share a little bit every week and also invite you to talk with the missionaries in your area. My friends and family, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored and is complete and perfect. The church that Jesus Christ established is on the earth today, and we have a prophet who receives relevation from God to direct the church. I have been called of God through His prophet, Thomas S. Monson, to share and teach people about His gospel. I know that if we all follow the teachings of Christ and learn more about Him and His gospel our lives will improve everyday. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Samuel H. Chiba

p.s. i attatched a picture of a spider and the huge caterpillar