Brenna's email - 9/14/11

Hello everyone!!!! First things first... I got both the packages!!! Whoo hoo! I was super excited! And the sandals fit great! I love them! They are super comfortable! A few blisters of course - but that is only normal with new shoes! But they are great! And I guess you didn´t get my story
about the tank tops - I was wearing the old ones when she saw me - she thought I was wearing a new tank top - because it was no longer white but a grey-ish color... Gross huh? Lol - good thinking on the tank tops!!! And I was SO SO SO happy to have normal deodorant! The deodorant here is very sub-par... actually it is pretty terrible... So - I was wondering... could you look up Shereen´s email address for me - and Jesse Thomas? I want to send them letters - but I don´t
know where to send them to! So - this week church was WAY better! We actually had some people there! Whoo hoo!!! We brought this guy named Luis - and he LOVED it! He has been searching for the truth and he really wants to change his life - he is still a little hesitant about baptism, but we´ll see... Also - a recent convert got baptised 2 weeks ago and she brought her nephew to church
and he LOVED it! He is way excited about everything! His name is Alexsandro. We brought this other guy to church, but halfway through sacrament meeting, he just left! He said he had to go to the bathroom - and then he left! Yesterday, we went and visited him to see what happened - and I think that he heard ´´Book of Mormon´´ and realized he was in ´´the church of the Mormons´´ and he freaked out and left. We tried explaining to him yesterday about why this church is
important and true and about how we have a living prophet today, but he wasn´t wanting to really listen - so I just said, ´´Fine, then we are just going to leave because you don´t have an open heart to hear what we are here to say...´´ He realized that he was being really closed to hear and he felt bad about that and listened afterwards - but still didn´t change his mind about anything... Oh well - maybe someday... We are also helping this guy named Bruno prepare to be baptised - we marked with him to go teach him yesterday at 6 and when we got there - no one was there! We called
his cell phone, his mom´s cell phone, we went and taught another lesson and went back and still no one was there - turns out that he got hit by a car! So he was in the hospital! Everything is alright though - he just scraped up his arm... But man! Why do these things happen to the people I am teaching??!! These past 2 days have been pretty difficult - we have been trying to visit our
investigators and no one is there, we mark to go to family home evenings with them and they end up not being able to go - and NO ONE let us in to teach! It was pretty hard - so last night I was praying to know how we could find new people to teach - I feel kinda lost in this area because there are a lot of big houses and apartments with only interphone - and they don´t like to let people in... So anyways, I was praying and then I studied about how to find people to teach this morning and then there was an email about this from President Parrella today! He explained how we will be able to find the elects to teach! Wow! Answer to my prayer - and I feel like I know where we need to work now - it was interesting because I was looking at the map - and I was thinking - I think we need to work in this area - and then I was looking in the Area Book at
some old investigators and the addresses were from the same area! Wow! I know the Lord answers our prayers! Maybe we will find a gold mine of elects there! We´ll see... But I am pretty optimistic about this new area... OH! I made cookies with the stuff you sent me! They were SO GOOD!!! I am also learning a lot about the power that we have when we are missionaries - I am really loving teaching with the spirit - I have had a LOT of amazing experiences where the words just come into my mouth and I have felt the spirit testify so strongly when I testify - it is AMAZING! Yesterday, my companion said that I speak differently when I am teaching - that my voice is different and that I have less of an accent... I thought that was really cool! I know that it really isn´t me that is teaching - it is the spirit and I am just there to be the voice! Like it has been hot there, it has been WAY hot here too! It has been more than 100 days without rain here in Belo Horizonte! I remember the last time it rained - it was the second or third night that I was in Venda Nova! That was a long time ago! And it poured! So I am really scared for when it does start to rain again... I think the clouds are saving up to just DUMP on us! Yikes! Oh - so the members here are way awesome - they are super willing to help! Yesterday, we went to a restaurant that was REALLY good for lunch! And then afterwards, they took us to our next teaching appointment!!
That saved us a lot of time! I love when the members help us out - because really, we can´t do our work without them! Man, my email this week really isn´t that exciting - sorry that I don´t have any really great stories or anything to share this week... But next week will be better!!! I hope you all have an AMAZING week! Love ya!

Sister Dunlop

Spencer's email - 9/12/11

Hi my family!!

How are you all doing??? I am doing super good! My comp is doing a lot better! He just needed to get accustomed to the work. But now it is going good, he still is a little shy and gets frustrated with the language....but hey that’s normal! But we are working hard! we did have 2 baptisms this week. One of them wasn’t feeling ready so we waited. It’s better to baptize when they feel ready and
firm. So that’s what is most important. And thank you guys so much for the advice. It helps alot. It is just such a different experience training. I really have to take the lead.... So that’s pretty
different. Haha of course i remember those days (band/soccer season).... Just crazy!! I don’t know which is crazier... The mission is how you decide it to be.... it can be super easy-or super tiring! so that’s what i think. I think the mission might be a little more crazy because you never have time for yourself. We wake up and eat and stuff and at 8 we are studying.... we study for 4 hours and go to lunch. then we work. get home at 9:30 plan until 10 and then take a shower and sleep... sooooo.... I don’t know!!! bad response. its super weird because when i left everything was starting too!! or just started! i think that is weird... i am getting old on the mission!! but for
sure not trunky! So one thing that is happening here is there is a big forest fire. at the national forest! it started Thursday and already 85% of the forest is burnt. its because everything is so so so dry here. so there is like smoke everywhere. and ashes. Its interesting.... and i guess it isn’t going to rain until like october. So that’s cool... It is so so so hot here! and super dry!! But its good for missionary work. because when it rains there is no one on the road. so that’s good!
My question for me to answer... Um i like both (more info in letters or emails), because i get the letters really late. like today i got letters from august 24th... so yeah... i like both. haha! I remember when i had to read the book of mormon in 6 weeks! that was awesome! i learned a super lot! it seems like you learn more of the story and stuff so that’s super nice.

Anyway this week i learned that satan will do anything to stop people from going to church... we had about 14 people firm for church and 3 went. and it was all for dumb reasons.... as
missionaries and members we need to be firm. We can’t let little things get in the way of our salvation. Work, you are tired, school, homework... whatever. there is nothing more important than assuring a place in the kingdom of heaven. Don’t let the little things get in the way. God works in small and simple things... But so does Satan. He knows we won’t do the big sins
but little sins lead to big ones. I know this church is true, and that God loves us. We just
need to do the work to show him that we love him. Have an awesome week!! I love you guys!!

Elder Spencer Dunlop

Brenna's email - 9/7/11

I GOT A PACKAGE, I GOT A PACKAGE, I GOT A PACKAGE TODAY, HEY
HEY!! (sung to the tune of I´ve got a pickle by the Little Rascals) Thank you
thank you thank you!!! I still haven´t looked through everything yet because I
had to jump on this computer opportunity - but from what I´ve seen I am very
excited! I think I´m gonna make cookies today!! Yay! And I was very much in
need of new tank tops - they are kinda grey now... It was funny because I saw
Sister Lobo the other day and she asked me if I got new tank tops and I said no
and then I said it was the old ones and she said - ´´Oh! I thought you got tank
tops in a grey color...`´ Yeah - kinda gross - but kinda funny at the same
time... Oh - and by the way - Happy Independence Day!! It is kinda sucky having
a P-day on a holiday because everything is closed! Luckily President let us use
the computer here in the mission office! There is a huge parade going on here
in the center of Belo Horizonte so things are pretty crazy! But parades in
Portland are way better! They basically just have a lot of police cars and
ambulances going down the road... So - wow it is hard opening an area! Luckily
my companion is really good at remembering how to get around because you know
how I am with directions... Sunday was kinda rough because we planned on going
to church with a lot of people and no one was home, or they couldn´t go, etc,
etc - but this sunday will be a LOT better! We already have some people that
are really excited to go! There was a baptism from the other sisters marked for
Sunday - but he was only 9 years old - he was going to church with his aunt who
got baptised 2 weeks ago - but still - the bishop wants his mom to come to
church and everything first too - and I agree. My companion is really awesome -
she likes to work and she is teaching really well - I like her a lot! The
members here are really awesome too - they really want to help out! There is a
member that offered to take us around our area in a car to show us around and
another member - where we were eating lunch - found out that we were taking
cold showers because our shower head broke (before we even got there) and he
went and bought a new one and installed it for us when we were out and about
during the day! Cool huh! Yesterday we had a training meeting and it was way
awesome - I learned a lot! I love training meetings and zone conferences! And I
found out a lot of things that made me SO excited!!!! First of all, remember
Guilherme from Ouro Branco? Well... He recieved the Melchezedeck priesthood and
is preparing for a mission! He baptised his girlfriend there!! Also - Jose - another
man we baptized in Ouro Branco is going to get married to a member there this
next month! He is a funny guy... Also - I found out that this guy that we were
teaching in Venda Nova actually got baptised! I was a little hesitant as to
whether or not he would because he said that he didn´t think he could stop
drinking coffee and smoking - but something really cool happened - when we
explained about tithing, we gave him a tithing envelope and he works for
himself - everyday he started putting tithing in the slip and he said that he
has never had so much work in his entire life - he had to come home early a few
days because so many people were calling him to work! Cool huh? Blessings of
tithing! So he got baptized! Also - another lady that we were teaching there
didn´t go to church because something really sad happened on Sunday - and she
said that she was reading in Alma and it was talking about EXACTLY what
happened to her - and now she KNOWS that the Book of Mormon is true! So she is
going to get baptized! ALSO - my recent-convert is bringing people to church! I
am actually helping people! Changing lives! Man - that is so amazing to see!!!
I love it! I am excited to see when we can see our fruits here - makes it a
little harder when the people before didn´t really leave any leads - but we are
gonna make it happen here!!! I love you all! Oh - and yes Clara, I noticed in
that family camping picture that you are wearing my American Idol shirt! Don´t
think I didn´t notice! Just so you know - I want everything back in the same
condition that it was when I left it!
Love you all!!!

-Sister Dunlop

Spencer's email - 9/5/11

Hey family!!!

How are you all doing?? I am doing great here in Recanto!! Yep i stayed!! I love it here!! it
is super good!! The members are awesome! so that’s super good! i am though a little jealous that you are at the beach!! no fair! but i bet its hotter here! i guess the average is 95 degrees! yeah.... hot! but its good i like it! Well like i said i am training! what a surprise. let me tell you! He is an American from Seattle, Elder Oliver. He is a good missionary with a lot of desire to work. he just has a little bit of a hard time with the language.... but hey that’s normal right??!?! so it’s good! It was a pretty funny baptism (Note from Teri: This is referring to his letter last week.)! but it was fun too!! This week we worked hard.... Not quite as fast as normal but hard. he still is getting used to the walking. he has big huge blisters on his feet.... so that’s fun!! haha!!! But we did have a lot of
success. we should have 3 baptisms this week, all people known by carlos - His nephew and his friend. so that’s super cool!!! it should be super fun! haha!! first baptisms for elder Oliver! yay!! we also found a couple families so that was cool. they are super good! Pdays are just crazy because there is a lot to do and this area is really big so it takes a while to go everywhere we need to. so yeah.... that’s why. like today i have a bunch of stuff to buy and then i have to cut my hair, i have to do some other things at home and some paperwork to get caught up. since Elder Oliver can’t do paper work yet.... it’s in Portuguese. we want the missionaries after us to be able to read about the investigators. so yeah.... we got a new ward mission leader. he should be super good! he is very happy and excited about working! so that’s good! we have a meeting with him. so that stuff!!! it seems like it’ll be super good to work with him. well i am finally sending pictures like i said i would, so it’ll take a little bit. But i am doing awesome!!! i love you guys!!! have a super great week!!! these pictures are of planaltina. with my comp and that lady we baptized. and then there is my birthday cake, our house before painting, baptism, my comp and my district leader so yeah.

Elder Dunlop

Baptism of Helton

Companions

His district

With Greenie, Elder Oliver

Elder Oliver's huge blister

Brenna's email - 8/31/11

Hello!!!! Well I have BIG NEWS for you this week... It was quite a shock for me... As you know - transfers are today and well, now I am senior companion AND I am training a new sister AND oh yeah... I´m opening an area too... Talk about scary! Let´s just say that I didn´t sleep very well
these past two nights! To top that all off - president said that he trusts a lot in me - that is a lot to live up to! I think I am most nervous that I´m gonna be so lost for about a month or so - this area is HUGE - and it is in Belo Horizonte still (the area is called Pampulha) and I don´t know where
ANYTHING is! It´s already been an adventure... We are starting a new program with the trainers and trainees - we now have 2 hours of companion study instead of just one and we´ll be doing a lot of practices and studies from a new book that came out a month ago that goes with Preach my Gospel - so that should be really good! Every week it has challenges for the new missionary - the
challenge this week is that they´ll be doing the baptismal invite every time this week - wow - talk about jumping right into things! But I think that is great - I was kinda scared to do the invite for a while because it was my companion that always did it. My companion is Sister Da Rosa, she is from Rio Grande do Sul, she has been a member all her life (well I guess after she turned 8), she is 22, middle child, and she seems way nice - I´m pretty excited! I don´t know why President closed and opened this area - there were sisters here before too - so apparently we have a baptism marked for this Sunday! Whoo hoo!! Sister Corbin is also training - she stayed in Venda Nova - I guess that is what we get for baptising so much... By the way - we had 2 more baptisms this last Sunday! Jefferson and Geovani. Jefferson was so perfect - he LOVED church and he was always saying ´´our church´´ or before I found the true church, etc,etc,etc - he is already half way through 2 Nephi and he goes to church by himself! We didn´t even have to pick him up!
It´s awesome! He even said - after I get baptised - I am going to start working - but it won´t be a problem because you guys won´t have to come over to prepare me for baptism anymore! He understands our purpose! It´s great! He is 19 - so I know he is going to serve a mission! Geovani is 12 - and his story is interesting too - he is friends with a member who brought him to church - so we went over there and taught his parents - his mom and his ´´dad´´ which is really just his mom´s boyfriend - so the mom said that he could get baptised but the ´´dad´´ said that he wanted his mom to visit the church first and then they´d talk about it... Well his mom didn´t go to church 2 Sundays ago with us - but he did (Geovani) we went over there to teach him and he was telling his mom that he really wanted to get baptised - so she said he could - the dad wasn´t there... So Sunday morning rolled around and the dad found out that he´d get baptised that day and he got mad and said Geovani couldn´t go - but he went anyway! Wow - the enemy was really working against that one - but he DIDN´T WIN! Muah ha ha ha... I like when we win! It was really hard saying goodbye to everyone in Venda Nova! It is always hard to say goodbye! I don´t like it - but I am needed in a new area now! I´ll need lots of prayers so I don´t get too lost! He he... I´m gonna try sending pictures - we´ll see if it works out...

Love ya!
Sister Dunlop

Spencer's email - 8/29/11

Hi guys

this week was super good, we had a lot of success. Carlos was baptized but the other two weren’t because their mom didn’t let them. so that was lame. I don’t have too much time. like 5 mins... so i have to be super fast. but The transfers..... I stayed in Recanto das Emas and i am training!!!
is he crazy?!?!?!?! so we will see how it goes this week huh??!?! i hope to have a lot of success and help the newbee learn a lot!!! pretty cool!!! But yes... super stressed!! Next week i will send letters and pictures..... (i hope) i will wake up early to send letters so you don’t have to worry!!! nothing too crazy happened this week!! but one funny thing about the baptism, was that while the pool was filling up they ran out of water.... so it only have like 2 feet of water, aaaannnd then the power fell!!! so we had the baptism in the dark with barely and water!!! he had to lay down in the water to be baptized!! but it was cool after he said "too bad i can’t do that more often i think i would do it every week!!!" so that was col! just goes to show that the work of God doesn’t get stopped for anything huh?1??! haha well I’ll write better next week!! we have now a meeting with he president to learn how to be a trainer.... I’m going to need that huh??!??!?!?! I love you guys!! have an awesome week!!!! sorry it was so short it starts in 15 minutes and i have to go to the
chapel!!!! the church is true!!
Elder Dunlop

Carlos' baptism

Brenna's email - 8/24/11

Hello!!! Yes I am happy and healthy!!! I will cross my fingers that my package will get here before next Wednesday!! I can´t believe that we have transfers in 1 week! That is so crazy to me! Every transfer is flying by faster and faster!!! I am really interested to find out what will happen to me... It shall be interesting since we´ll be getting 3 new sisters! I heard that one is from Portugal and Portuguese from Portugal is really different - so that should be super interesting!!! This week has been super awesome! We had 2 baptisms on Sunday - Harrison and John ( they are brothers - Roxanne´s brothers). They were super fun to teach ( they are 9 and 10) and they are super smart - they respond better to our questions than adults do! And they are super excited about church! Shows that children really are more pure - I understand now why Christ liked to teach the children! It was pretty funny too because their cousin was over when we were teaching them and she was begging us to teach her to and begging her mom to get baptised... Haha - she went to church with them without us having to go pick them up! (the nice thing is that they are next door neighbors to the church - makes it a little easier) so we´ll see if her mom lets her! Remember the guy that went to church with us last week drunk? Well guess what?! He hasn´t drank in a week! And he is reading the Book of Mormon! And he went to church again with us last week and stayed the whole time and could actually feel the spirit - cuz he wasn´t drunk! It is so amazing to see the change that the gospel has made in his life in a little over a week! Man it is awesome! He wasn´t working because he was depressed because he was drinking and now he has already gone back to work and has a purpose in his life!!!! His baptism is marked for this weekend! He just needs to stop with the 2 or 3 cigarrettes that he is smoking everyday! But he can do it! Also - we are helping a really awesome guy named Jefferson - he is an allstar! He went to church and LOVED it and he has already almost passed me up in the Book of Mormon! It seems like he was just sitting at home waiting for someone to help him do the right things with his life - because really he was way ready - he just wasn´t going to a church! It was way interesting how we found him too because it was actually his sister that just came up and talked to us - and we went to her house to teach her but it ended up being him that we are teaching - I still have hope that she´ll go to church next week though! She didn´t go on Sunday because on Saturday night she got hit by a motorcycle and she had this really nasty deep gash in her leg so she couldn´t really walk! You could almost see her bone! Don´t worry - I took a picture! So you know what is amazing???? SUPER GLUE!! My foot was hurting way bad last week - it felt like someone was poking a neetle up my heel because it was cracked - so I bought super glue and cleaned it out really well and then glued it up! It was like magic! The pain went away! Whoo hoo!!!I think after the mission I should do super glue
commercials cuz it is so amazing! Lol Oh! Before I forget - I have something VERY IMPORTANT to say!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CLARA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLARA! I LOVE YOU AND HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING YEAR! TRY NOT TO CRASH THE CAR OKAY? Okay - now I have another VERY IMPORTANT thing to say! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MOMMY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE VERY BEST MOM IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD! I LOVE YOU! Okay - I had to do that before I forgot! Anyways, this week our stake is like the guinea pigs for the rest of the mission - we are doing something where for 2 hours after lunch everyday we are visiting all the less-active members - cleaning up the ward records! There are a lot of less actives - which is way sad! So far
(since we started on monday) we have only found people that have moved, people that aren´t home - AND - an AMAZING family! There is this guy who baptised a long time ago and he has a really strong testimony of the gospel - but he met a woman who had a little interest in the church but didn´t end up getting baptised - well he ended up not going to church more and they ended up moving in with eachother and now they have 3 kids - and we went there and he wants to go back to church and bring his whole family there - so we marked a marriage date for them and a baptism date for her!!! Wow! I hope this goes through because they are a really amazing family! I already love them and I just met them this week! We´ll see what happens... but I´m gonna get this family to the temple!! Well, my time is running out now - but I LOVE YOU!!! HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!!!! UNTIL NEXT WEEK (wherever I may be...)

Love, Sister Dunlop