Here's Branden's letter from last week

Oi! FELIZ NATAL!!!!

Voces sau animado para NATAL!!!!

I cant believe that it is already Christmas time again! Ok, so really quick I will answer the phone call question. I think 3 o'clock your time and 7 o clock my time will be perfect! And we will call you, you don't have to worry about anything... I'll call ya :) when you talk with Elder Matos. I think I will have him call the home phone so more people can hear him and try to understand haha. He actually speaks really good English and we have been practicing so it should be fun:) He is pretty excited. I think he will call Christmas eve around 12 your time if we can plan on that that would be awesome :) If the home doesn't work we will call the cell.

IT will be awesome! Sounds like the family is having an awesome week before Christmas! Going to Leavenworth and watching Christmas lights and having a marry old time haha The Other day I was thinking about going to Leavenworth and you guys should take a pictures for me at Leavenworth and send it. I also want to see Trevor!!! You Passed Cassie!!!! That is crazy! You are seriously going to be taller than me when I get back! Then you and I will dominate sports together! OH YA!!!!

Well this week has been awesome and a lot of really cool things have happened that I was t to tell you about! First I have a short story for ya, on Wednesday we had a long hard day with all of our appointments falling through and no one wanting to talk to us. So we were kind of frustrated and we came home for dinner to make some food. I headed out to the bathroom which is outside... I went and started leaving when A cockroach landed on my neck! And this was not a small cockroach! haha I swiped it away and started kinda running haha It freaked me out! But after I couldn't help but to laugh :) I love it when things like that happen...

I also made my first contact on the street through guitar! I miss playing guitar and I always see people playing in the street. So I decided to start talking to someone who was playing and he let me play. So we jammed for about 5 min and then I asked him if he wanted to hear our message and he said yes! So we gave him a lesson and he came to church this last Sunday! First contact through music!!! :)

There is this new candy that I found that I will have to bring home in 2 years for you to try because it is soooo good! It is a peanut butter candy and it taste so good! I think it taste even better because I have not eaten peanut butter in 3 months! haha Here peanut butter is sacred! We had an elder receive a package with peanut butter and you should of seen the riot that started!!! haha There are good things and also some not so good things that we have eaten. I still don't know what this thing that we ate was... but it looked and tasted like a big ball of fat... that was rolled in sand. ha Or some kind of raw fish. It was NASTY!!!! It is times like that, when I am really grateful that dogs like to eat everything! Dogs are definitely a mans best friend!

This week I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Cornwell that lives in Richland! We both have 6 weeks here in Fortaleza and it was awesome! He came to my area and so I had the chance to lead our pack and it was awesome! Together we understood everything that was said to us and we had 8 new investigators that day! I loved the feeling of being in charge and leading us around! Elder Cornwell is a stud too! He has so many good examples and is so chill when he teaches! it was awesome!

Dad you are still a stud running! I have not had the chance to go on a run in the field here yet. Elder MAtos doesn't really like to and no one else wants to in the morning. I want to go running but it might have to wait for a different comp...

Cassie I am super proud of you and for finishing school!!! That is so awesome! That just sounds like a huge weight just got lifted off your back! haha But I am really proud of you and your the best!!!

Feliz natal family! And I will talk to you on Sunday around 3 your time and 7 my time!!!

With all the love in meu coraçao Elder Heath

P.S. Danielle thanks for the recipe!!!! Your the best! I think we might have a problem... I don't think cream cheese exists aqui. haha

Baby It's Cold Outside... not. :)

Here's a few pictures from Branden... he's looking pretty tan! I'm a little bit jealous...

OI! Meu Familia!

Man, I have to start out by saying we have a good looking family! Everyone is looking so good at home! The whole family together for thanksgiving having a good time! Cam is representing the cougars, and you guys look ready for some food in the picture :)

Congradulations to Danielle and Mom for dominating the competition that you were in! first and second place! That is so awesome! haha And in the pictures that you sent you girls are looking good!

Well dad, you guessed it, ha it is about 97 degrees today and I am sweating writing this letter! ha It is funny how I could definitelyl go for some cold weather and you want some warm hot weather :) And ya, I see dogs all over the place here in Brazil! They are mostly little dogs that just like to bark a lot which I dont like. Elder matos and I like to talk about those commercials of football players saving small dogs from burning buildings..... then punting them ha. My portuguese has really taken a leap this week. We had a mission fast and it really blessed my life! This week I went on several exchanges where other missionaries came to my area, and I was the senior comp. Leading and doing mostly all of the talking. After doing that I felt really good. IT was scarey at first not having my Brazillian Comp there to answer the questions I didnt understand... but I received a lot of help from God during those days. Understanding people is getting better.... but many times it is still difficult. But then I ask Elder Matos what they said... and he cant understand them either... haha so some peple are just impossible to understand. Its all about picking up key words :) Dad, that is so awesome that you still pray in portuguese! KEEP IT UP! I have heard so many stories of missionaries that served in brazil and after they totally forgot the language! I love Bragging about my dad to everyone here, and how you still remember you spansih! I want to be just like you and always remember portuguese! I havent had time for culture shock here ha Everyday is work work work! But honestly it didnt effect me really, I love the new Brazillian culture here and a lot of things are differnt but I love it! MY health has been PERFECT! It i s a miraclel! Becasue everyone that arrived the same time I did has gotten montazumas revenge... but I havent. I like to bragg about it haha I get lots of bug bites but that is about it... Favorite Braziilian food here is lazagna! There are some pretty creative types here. Of couse there is a layer of beans and rice, and meat... it is really good! But honeslty the desserts here are my favorite! Desserts made out of fruit are so good! Yesterday we had some funky coconut babyfood wtih chunks in it that was...different... haha but it was good! I love all the meat that is cooked here... brazillians really know how to cook meat!

Prezident Souza is not really that strict... we definitely have a lot of rules but they are for our good. I really like Prez Souza, he Emails me almost weekly asking personally about our progress and what I think about a lot of things! It is really cool getting to know him. One thing that ihe is doing for christmas is.... for setting up the call time My comp gets to call you on christmas eve and talk to you and tell you wht time to call me. haha Good luck! ha I have actually been teaching him a lot of English and we are preacticing phone calls haha It will be aweomse! Elder Matos is a stud! For this christmas we can call whatever time during the day that we want. And so if you give me a time frame... like during the morning, afternoon, night I can make a time :)

Danielle... if you remember could I get the ingrediants for your oreo little ball things? That you are pro at making?

So some things that have happened this week... Our laundry machine broke and so I have been learning how to wash clothes by hand! It is pretty interesting... but it is working so that is a plus. Im not really sure what I am doing, but scrubbing my clothes with soap has been working so that is good :) I learned how to make juice from passion fruit which was really good! Members love giving us mangos and passionfruit and so we do lots of things with fruit! I love being a missionary and everyday is a new challenge and we have new opportunities!

Love Elder Heath!!!

This weeks update.

Opa familia!

Sounds like another week the Heath family is doing great in kennewick! There were a couple of questions that Ill start off by answereing. So, on P-day we like to play ultimate frisbee a lot, but im not a huge fan. So I talked the elders into playing some volleyball this week! It seems like soccer and volleyball are the main sports here in brazil. Did I tell you about how we cant play soccer? It's kinda dumb and there is a soccer fiesld on every corner here but we kinda found out why this week. We were just walking past a soccer field this week and something happened, I think a player was trying to slide tackle and missed the ball and took out the other player. Then that started a fight on the field. These Brazilians are HARD CORE when it comes to soccer! They are soooooo good, and I want to play with them, but rules are for our safety :)

Danielle and Trevor you two want to go snowboarding! That is so SWEET! Snowboarding tis the best place on earth! If you two want to use my stuff, go for it! Danielle my green pants would look pretty sweet on you :) haha That is one thing I think I would really miss about living in brazil... all the things that you can do with snow! Snowboarding, snow cones, snow fights.... So, enjoy the snow while you have it :) And mom, dad, its never too late to strap those skiis back on :)

So this week was a week of hard work! We had a lot of poeple that we taught that loved talking to us, but dont really want to act on anything we say. It is really sad when that happenes. All the people here a re so nice and I hate seeing all of the blessings that they could have if they would try for themselves to come closer to christ. WE had an awesome lesson with a less active family that has not been to church in a little over a year. And they said they would come back to church and they said that that day was the first time in a year that they have felt the love of God in their home. It really shows the power behind the message that we share. They came to church and wanted us to come back as soon as possible, and so they invited us over for lunch! It is awesome to see them all together at church with smiles on their faces!

One of my favorite things to do in the streets as we are walking is to jump into little soccer juggling games haha Every street there are kids playing and they love the missionaries! I am nothing compared to them, but it is fun to join and play a little soccer in the streets with the kids! I love talking to them in portuguese and convincing them that I am a Brazillian haha A lot of the time they actually believe me, which boosts my day haha And there are also the kids that run up to us and say Fala ingles! (speak english) and it is all good most of the time, I like teaching them words in english... but when we are in the middle of talking to someone, making a contact and a group of 8 kids run up saying speak inglish is kida frustrating sometimes. haha but, I love the kids here! So awesome!

Mom, you were talking about how the missionaries used the example of the gosple of Jesus Christ is like a piece of plywood, and the 2 nails are the Book of Mormon and the Bible! Haha that is so funny... That is one of my favorite object lessons! I use that almost everytime explaining about the Book of Mormon! haha I like that and another one, where you and your investigator makes a fist. Your fist represents God and theirs represents them. You then move your hand and have them follow your hand which is easy when they can see your hand(God) But we cant see god so you have them close their eyes and try to follow your fist and it is really impossible. But then you take a pen which represents Prophets, and put the pen in your fist and their fist and we can follow God through prophets. BEcause prophets speak face to face with God (Exodus 33:11) and through them we can follow God with exactness. I love object lessons!

Well everything here in Brazl is awesome! I love meetong all of the members in our ward and meeting everyone else too! I still cant understand everyone and have to knodd my head sometimes but Im starting to really pick up on how to listen for key words and not focusing on everyword. It is helping a lot :) Sometimes I answer questions taht they didnt ask...ha but hey, knowing answers to more questions isnt a bad thing :)

I love you all, and I am sending a christmas letter this week, so I hope that it gets to you in time! I love you all tons!

Elder Heath

P.S. here are some pictures of my area, sitse sau juao! :) Are you getting all my pictures? Hope you like them!

Some of these pictures are from last week's e-mail... but I wasn't able to get them added until this week. Enjoy!

We love letters :)

How is it going FAMILY!!!! :)

It is always so awesome to hear from my family every week. And thank you so much grandma for the family letter! I just got the other day! All of the elders really like all of the awesome pictures that you put in the letter. I love showing my family to everyone! You guys are the best! IT is really nice to have pictures of family when we are out tracting too. People always ask about family, and want to see pictures! I like showing off my family :) Grandma, The other day I was talking about Elvis Presley with a member in our ward, and how you love Elvis Presley. The sister said that you should look up ´`Roberto Carros`´. Because he sounds like Elvis. ha just if you want to :)

So I have some BIG NEWS! Elder Maltos and I had our First Baptism in our area! Cite sau juan! We have been teaching Lucas for 2 weeks and he was baptized yesterday after sacrament meeting! IT was so awesome! HE asked me to baptize him too, which was a huge honor! The Baptismal font was outside and the water was cold but the sun was hot, so it was perfect. We have a really awesome ward and pretty much the whole ward was there watching the baptism. We got in the water and I asked his full name. He said Lucas Veras Gama de Araujo, and he said it so fast, I was like what?! Once I got his name right It seemed like I forgot all of my Portuguese. ha slowly but surely I said the prayer and it was awesome!! I felt better than I have ever felt! It was amazing! But it was such an amazing blessing to help Lucas be baptized. He has a ton of friends in our ward which is awesome too! IT was an awesome day! 1st baptism with many more to come :)

So you want to know a little more about my companion? haha things are going great with him! I think he has the Bible memorized, and he knows every scripture! I like teaching with him a lot, and he is a pretty big jokester so we have a lot of fun together. He doesnt know much English, but I'm helping him learn. The most English he knows is through songs. He likes a lot of rock and roll. So he learned English through rock haha He is awesome! He is 26 and has 1 year left.

Things in Brazil are a lot different! I tried to send a picture of what our area looks like. We have one paved road in our city. Dirt and rock roads everywhere. The houses are made from brick and are really open to let wind in. The houses are really small probably about the size of my room and Danielle's room together. In my area we have no big buildings. We are about 1 hour from the big city of Fortaleza For about a family of 6. It makes me really appreciate all of the things that we have. The kids don't have hardly anything, and so I like doing simple little magic tricks to give them some candy or something. It is fun to see their faces light up when candy or a couple centavos come out of their ear, or appear from nowhere :) ha

But the people here are so nice! It is amazing to see how satisfied they are with what they have, and how important family is to everyone! Family is everything in their lives! And the people are so willing to give up so much for us as missionaries. A lot of times for our lunch appointments, it is only us eating with a couple kids, because they don't have enough food for everyone. The people here are amazing.

Mom, I love the shoes you made me buy! I wear them everyday and they are so comfortable! thank you so much for getting them for me! I am doing great with clothes too! Learning how to sew a lot too :)

I hope I answered all of your questions, sounds like you are doing amazing as usual! WE also had the opportunity to hear from president Costa, President of the 70 this last week! IT was awesome! Thank you for all the you do for me! I love you all so much!

Elder Heath

In the Mission Field!!

MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oi, tudo bom? (Hi, is everything going well?) It feels like forever sense I have written you! Our schedule this week has been really messed up. We had p day on Wednesday this week because we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Bednar on Tuesday! It was so awesome! We were only a couple feet away from him, and man he has power when he speaks! IT was really cool because he had no lesson plan, and just answered questions that we had and from that he gave an amazing talk. WE heard from him and ELder evans tambem and we took pictures with them so I hope I can get a hold of those pictures to send to you somehow.

Here's a picture of all the missionaries with Elder Bednar.

Well it sounds like everything at home is wonderful! Thanks so much for the emails. I like hearing what is going on back in the U.S. haha It is a completely different world in Brazil but it is awesome! Dad, Sorry I wasnt there to help with the Christmas lights. Im glad you didnt slip or anything. WE upgraded to LED ehhhh? sounds scheeky (slick, cool) ha I think I could go for some hailing weather right now. It is about 94 degrees mid-day....everyday. And it feels like 120 ha. I like it though, it is a good quick way to get a sweet looking farmers tan.

This letter is probably going to be really scattered because there are so many things that I want to tell you that has happened. I guess ill start at day one...

WE arrived at the mission home and spent all day relaxing and resting in the mission home. We ate lunch with President Souza and it was so good! Right across the street there is a McDonald's and a Burger king! We didnt try it because it is about 14 bucks for a meal. Then I meet my trainer/first companion in the field. People were receiving comps and most of them were Americans so I was thinking I would definitely get an American... That is what I thought. MY Companion is Elder Matos! Born and raised in Sao Paulo. He is awesome! He knows lots of Portuguese but hardly any English. It is a little interesting at times but he is really patient with my language. As we walk down the street I ask about everything we see and he is more than glad to tell me once...twice... three times haha. We have had a lot of success! WE are opening a new area in Fortaleza! Called citz sao juao! It is about an hour from the beach, but other than that, i not really sure where haha.

So when we arrived our first night we got locked out. And we had no keys. So it took about an hour to get into our place and that was a lot of fun... waking people up to ask questions haha But we got right to work. ELder Matos has been in the fiesld for about a year and he knows the Bible better than anyone I have ever meet! He is 26, and loves heavy metal music. haha he plays drums, so everywhere we go we are always singing and playing beats. Dad, You will love this. One day I started singing Earth,wind and fire and Elder atos knew it! So we sing ..Do you remember?... all the time haha

We have been getting to know members here... there are not a lot...yet. But the members are so nice! I have gotten to play guitars in members houses that was really cool. Sing some songs to the kids. I have also learned some cool majic tricks with coins that the kids really like. Dad I know exactly what you meant when you said that the people you meet in Brazil hardly had anything, and you just want to give everything to them. Even though the people dont have much, they are the happiest people on the PLANET! Even the people who dont want to hear our message, and are really set in their lives invite us in to have dinner with their families. There is one member in our ward that I have to bragg a little about. Anna Maria. She is one of the Nicest ladies I have ever meet! We meet here the first day and she says that her and her house serve the Lord and so we are always welcome. Every time we walk by she gives us fudgecycles and talks. She likes singing hymns together too. So we sing hymns as loud as we can when we go to her house. She is really patient with my Portuguese and is always teaching me when we visit.

So first day in church was pretty fun. It is definitely different. WE dont have a building or anything just some benches with a covering over top but that good feeling is definitely still there. All of our members are really nice and really friendly. It is cool because a lot of the kids in school learn English and so the kids were coming up to me saying random words in English. I like it a lot. But we got called in right after sacrament and we were asked to give the gospel doctrines class... I thought I was scared to do that at home in English... haha It went surprisingly really well. We were definitely Blessed, and giving the lesson in Portuguese was awesome! I felt so good after. And when I was teaching people were nodding their heads like they understand so that is a good thing haha

Well I am just about out of time, but I just want to let you know that I am in great hands here. And I am loving everyday! IT is hard work but it is good work! Tell Aimee that I miss her too and give here a hug for me. Ill send pictures next week! AS far as Portuguese... the first couple of days were pretty scary because everyone has such a heavy accent here and talks SOOOOOOOOOOOO FAST! But I am starting to really pick up on what people say. Keep praying for me. I love you all and I miss you! You are the best! And DANIELLE, Thanks so much for the letter! I dont have time right now to write back but next week I will! I love you all so much and I Know that this church is true. I have already seen conversion this week and how this gospel changes lives for the better! We had 3 people come to church with us this week! I love being a missionary! And I love my family and friends!

Elder Heath

First letter from Fortaleza!

OI!

Hey we just arrived here in Fortaleza and it is BEAUTIFUL! We just had our first meals here with President and Sister Souza! They are so nice and dont speak any english. Good thing we are fluent haha. We were welcomed at the airport by a bunch of missionaries and we are going to meet our trainers tonight and off to work tomorrow. My P day is monday so I will write you then more. I am safe and loving Fortaleza! It is SOOOOO QUENTE (HOT) I love it though.

Elder Heath

Letter 2 from the Brazil MTC

Here's a picture of Branden and his district with the President of the CTM. Doesn't it look beautiful there?
O man! I must of gotten here at the perfect time! Haha I am going to have to figure out this e mail thing. I have emails from about 5 missionaries and only 30 min. Sorry if this is a little short today!

Oi meu familia! (Hello family!)

So this week has been crazy! I am starting the last full week of my mtc time! And it started with a BANG! On monday we had our first opportunity to roam the streets of Sau Paulo and go Proselyting! It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life! We were just walking up and down streets, and that first person we stopped and talked to was the hardest! I remember reading somewhere that someone said you just have to get the first one over with... So Elder Cornwell and I just walked up to the first person we saw, right across the street of the CTM and started talking to him. It was pretty clear that he didn't want to listen to what we had to say, so he shut us down pretty fast. But after that it got a lot easier! It was amazing! WE were walking around and we walked past this shop and there was a lady working in there, and Once we walked past I had this feeling that we needed to go back and so we did. She said that she has been wanting to talk to the missionaries and she was glad we came back! That was the first book of Mormon that we placed and man it was a good one! We gave three more out that day as well. I wish I could tell you about all of them but I'm running out of time. We had a BEST TWO YEARS moment as well. So the third guy that we talked to, we started our lesson in portuguese. And I had a mind blank in portuguese and right when I had my mind blank he said... do you speak english? in english haha And it took me a second to take in and comprehend what he said. Then I said I think so! haha It turns out that he has been studying english for 8 years! IT was good to talk in english haha

Well, Dad I wrote you a letter back in portuguese and sent it in the mail today so you should get it in about a week.

I love you all and cant wait to hear from you! I thought of one more thing for christmas... shoe things to make shoes smell better haha

I love you and I am headed to Fortaleza the 7th! I hear elder Bednar is going to be there too! Super cool!

Elder Heath