Week 11

Well, I am glad to hear that everything is going well and that you are all having fun.

This week was good and went by fast. We just keep tracting and teaching our investigators. Some highlights... we got one of our investigators, Erika, to come to church, so we are shooting for her to be baptized this week! Yay! My first baptism! I will send you a picture! (Also, with Erika. One night, we had this amazing lesson where we talked about church and we started talking about hymns, so I pulled out my little Portuguese hymnbook that I carry around for situations like this and me and my companion shared a few hymns we thought could cheer her up. I was also able to sing Brilia Mega Luz or Lead Kindly, Light for her. It was awesome.) 

Also, I was able to place my second Book of Mormon when we taught a girl named Jessica. She lives in humble circumstances and I can tell she wants to learn more, so I am excited for that. The only bad thing I can remember about this week is when one of our promising investigators decided that she didn't want to have this church and gave us back the Book of Mormon we gave her (my first), but I have already used my fifteen minutes on that, so... moving on... (Nathan's computer time is limited on P-days since he has so many other things he has to do to prepare for the upcoming week.)

 I am working on talking to everyone seeing as how our mission president has set a goal for us to talk with 30 people per day so that will be interesting. I am getting along with my companions and we are having fun. The language is coming easier, although at times, I don't understand everything but I am working on that. My companion is starting to have me take the lead seeing as how he will be heading home in a week or two and I will have to show the new missionary around. 

So, yeah. Everything is going well. It's funny because up there it's starting to get colder but down here, it is starting to get blazing hot so if you could send me a hanky or something that would be great.

Well, continue to tell me how things are going up there. Send me some pictures if you can. It is always good to hear from you guys. I love you all so much and I hope that things continue to go well for you.

Tchau! ("bye" in Portuguese.)

Sincerely

Elder Nathan Paul Jardine

Week 10
Alright. First off, I did get to watch General Conference in English (I was the only one in the little secretary's office watching it live on the computer) and yes, General Conference was awesome. I took about 20-30 pages of notes (each page was a quarter of the size of a normal piece of paper). Yes, I was also able to watch the Priesthood session in between sessions (in English) so that was great.
Also, in morning session, we had one of our investigators, Erika, come and I felt like the first 3 talks were purely for her, especially the one about joy (her husband died recently and she has been feeling sad). 
Other than that, this week was good. Tiring, but good. The other three missionaries in our house live to play Uno, Brazilian style (it's interesting).

So, everything here is good. We are still working on getting investigators to come to church so they can be baptized and we have had to cut one or two investigators, but we keep meeting new people.

Oh! On a side note, I gave out my first Book of Mormon, so that is a small milestone . I am getting better at learning Portuguese and I speak as much as I can along with utilizing language study in the morning. It is getting to the point that Portuguese is my primary language when I speak and I am also starting to think in Portuguese so that is exciting. 

I learned this past Friday that I am able to get letters and packages every three months at zone conference and interviews so we'll see when I get your packages and letters...so, ya. All is good here.

Keep telling me how things are going and any news that I should know ( I had a dream last night that Jessica was pregnant so DEFINITELY tell me when that happens or anything close to that) and please send me pictures. I love hearing from you guys.

With all the love in the world,

Elder Jardine

Week 9

Well, this week was good. We went tracting a lot and we taught a lot of lessons. We were able to get three or four people to commit to baptism (one is named Paulo and he agreed to be baptized on November 1st after hearing just the first lesson. We go to teach him tomorrow about the Word of Wisdom so we can get him working on his smoking problem (that is how we found him when we were out proselyting). We talked to a lot of people and they are mostly open to our message (no Jehovah's Witnesses). My companion, Elder da Silva, and I are getting along great; he does a great job at teaching me and letting me teach. My other two housemates are cool; a little bit crazy, but we all get along.

Things were a bit difficult at the beginning and end of this week. I was tired and a bit depressed and in pain. (Nathan has hurt his knee and it's been bothering him lately with how much walking they have to do.) I am doing everything my mission president and his wife have counseled me to do to make things better.

It is sad to hear that Mike Riggs died, but at least he is in heaven now, so he is perfect (literally). (Mike Riggs was a man in our Eugene ward who was confined to a wheelchair all his life with significant health problems; even so, he was an amazing example of faith in the face of adversity.) Keep telling me how things are going there.

Love you,

Elder Jardine.

Temple day :)

Elder Jardine's district

Week 8

Well, I am here and things are going well. I am learning the language quickly and I am noticing that every day I am improving. I am proselyting a lot and we are having some success. I am eating very well every day; we have a member feed us lunch (which is the equivalent of dinner here) and I have a good breakfast every day (THANK YOU MOM FOR TEACHING ME HOW TO COOK AND CLEAN!) Also, it is safe to say that my area is the most organized place in the house, aside from the kitchen (which I organized).

It is good to hear that everyone is doing well. I am glad to hear that you got my letter and I hope you get the next one I sent about a week ago. If you send a letter, a trick I learned is to put a Virgin Mary stamp on the seal and put Virgin Mary stamps both in and on the package (that way they won't open it and if they do, they will feel very, very bad). 

Well, I hope that everything contunures (I wasn't sure what this word was, so I googled it. It's Portuguese for "continues" which is good. Nathan is really struggling right now with the language, but if he's slipping Portuguese words in his email, it means he's starting to transition to fluency.)  to go well for you and I hope that you always remember that the Lord is there for you when things seem to be going wrong.

I love you all so much and I pray for you daily.

Sincerely,

Elder Jardine

Week 7

Hey, this is just an email to let you know that I am alive and that I am finally in the Campinas mission home. I won't be able to email you until next Monday. I will tell you more then. I love you all so much and as soon as I can, I will send all the pictures I have taken over the past month (there are some pretty freaking cool ones if i do say so myself).

Check out Adventures of a Mission President's Wife (blog) and Brazil Campinas Mission 2015-2018 (facebook page). My mission president is President Hill (and Sister Hill, his wife).   

Like I said, this is just to let you know that all is well and that I have finally started my mission, so I will tell you more next Monday.

Love you!!

Sincerely,

Elder Nathan Jardine

Week 6

Everything is going well here. I leave for Campinas next
Tuesday and things are starting to wind down here at the MTC. I am healthy, gaining weight and muscle ( My goal is to do at least 50 push ups, 50 sit ups and 15 pull ups a day). We were able to hear from Elder Neill L. Anderson here at the MTC this past Wednesday and I was able to shake his hand. It was awesome.  
As for the house... holy crap are you building a castle? (I sent pics of the footings for the foundation.) It looks huge!!!! But I cant wait to see the finished product. Well, it is always good to hear from all of you and I am so happy to hear all is going well. I will send more pictures as soon as I can. I love you all so much and a pray for your saftey and for the Lord to bless you every day. The Lord loves us all and he will help us if we ask for help. I know that's true because that was how I
was able to get through life in the MTC and I will probably use it a lot in the coming weeks/months until I am fluent in Portuguese and know what I am doing :).
Love you all and hope you have a fantastic week.
               
Sincerely
Elder Nathan Jardine