"If Those are the blessing I can recieve in the Temple, then I want them!"

Hey all!

How's life nos Estados Unidos?  Tudo Bem?  Life here in Brazil is going pretty well.  We had another baptism this past Saturday, his name is S.  He is such an amazing guy, I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him.  My companion wanted me to perform the baptism too!  That was pretty cool.  He's so eager to live the gospel, its truly incredible.  The last lesson that we taught him was about the temple, and he really wants to go to the temple.  He didn't even ask ´´how on earth am I going to get to Campinas?´´ but basically said ´´if those are the blessings that I can receive in the temple, then I want them!´´  We also have three new investigators.  It was kind of funny, they seemed pretty disinterested when we first contacted them.  Its a family of a grandma, her daughter, and the daughters son.  We met the grandma because we were walking by on the street and she was sitting on the sidewalk in a lawn chair.  Elder A. just started talking to her, and she let us into her home.  There we met her daughter and grandson.  They gave us some water, and we asked if we could come back the next day and share our message with them.  They said yes, but didn't seem to excited about it.  Initially, we weren't even going to go back.  When people are that uninterested, you usually just move on.  Elder A.  felt that we should though, and so the next day we stopped by and shared the first lesson, the restoration with them.  It was so cool seeing how drastically their attitudes changed as we told them about the first vision and the restoration of the fullness of the gospel.  Its a pretty interesting message!  We've got angels, visions, prophets, the whole 9 yards!  We then invited them to do what Joseph Smith did, and pray to God and ask him if what we had taught was true.  We are going to meet with them again tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes.

The language is coming along very well!  It's still pretty difficult to understand what people are saying, and sometimes people get really frustrated because I cant understand what they're saying.  I just have to keep working at it though, and the language will come.  I think we are probably teaching somewhere between 5 and 10 investigator lessons each week, but I don't know the exact number.  We are working hard to talk to more people too. 

Its getting so much easier!  At the beginning of my mission I was a little afraid to talk to people, but now the fear is almost gone.  There's still a little, but its wearing off pretty quick. 

I've attached a couple of pictures from the baptism too.  I hope you enjoy those!  I love you all so much, talk to you in a week!

Love,

Elder Sweet

Christmas Skipe with Elder Sweet

Part of our Christmas Day conversation with Elder Sweet over skype.  Trevor, Amy and the rest of us.

A letter

 

Dear Sweet Family,

It is with great pleasure that we receive your son in our mission. Elder S. arrived here with good health, enthusiasm, and desire to preach the gospel to the people of the Brazil Goiânia Mission. He is prepared and has a strong testimony of the restored gospel. I feel honored to be his Mission President and I know that there are many people already prepared to hear his message of the restored gospel.

Your son will be expecting letters of love and support. E-mail is a good, fast, and safe way to communicate with him. If you want to send handwritten letters and packages in the mail, you can send them to the mission office and we will deliver them frequently.

Thank you for everything you have done to prepare your son for this great work.

Sincerely, President                                

Itumbiara Brazil, the best area in the Mission!

Here's the sign outside of the old church building. 

 I'll send a picture of the new one soon!  I love you guys!

Hey there, Minha Família!  Tudo Bem?  Okay, the first order of business is explaining why I didnt call you while I was in São Paulo.  The pay phones there were wierd, they werent accepting my calling cards (Btw, theres no apostrophe button on this keyboard.  Sorry about that!).  So, I tried paying for it with my debit card, but I forgot to tell Wells Fargo that I was going to Brazil so they cancelled the transaction.  I didnt have any Brazilian currency with me, and there wasnt a place in the terminal where I could go to exchange what I did have.  I tried calling collect to Moms phone, the house phone, Dads phone, and Sheelas to give you the number that I was at and call you back, but all of your phones are blocked to collect calls.  Im so sorry about that, I was really looking forward to talking to you all!  I still get to talk to you all on Christmas though, and Im pretty excited for that!  Dad, whats your skype name?  Send it to me in an Email, and Ill check it right before I get on to skype.  Ive told the member that is letting us use their computer for skype that 4:00pm (everyone uses a 24 hour clock hear, so 16:00) is good, so thats 11:00am for you guys I think.  Let me know if that works.  If any changes need to be made, let me know as soon as possible so that we can make the necessary changes.  Letting me know through Email will be fine, just make sure to send it the night before so that I can see it when we first get to the members house.  

Okay, about my trip.  Overall it was pretty uneventful, except for one totally incredibly crazy awesome thing that happened!  When I sat down in my seat for my flight from Atlanta to São Paulo, a young looking guy from Brazil sat down next to me.  He was probably in his late 20s or early 30s.  I talked to him in Portuguese, and got to know a little about him.  I found out that I had the honor of sitting next to someone who had recently completed his Ph.D. in Number Theory!  I thought ´´Okay!  I dont have to worry about entertainment for this flight anymore!´´  I picked his brain for a good 3, maybe 4 hours, and he was so cool about answering all of my questions!  Man, it was so much stinkin fun!  His name was Marco.  Our conversation was all over the place, mathematics to science to philosophy to logic and then back to mathematics!  We talked for quite a while about infinites and infinitesimals, the different kinds of operations that you can do with them, and their application in probability.  He told me that he was on his way back from a Mathematics conference that he had in Montreal where he met with another Mathematician who was working on the same problem that he was, but who was attacking it with number theory whereas Marco was coming at it with Probability.  He briefly explained to me the problem that hes working on, and I understood absolutely none of it lol!  That was so cool though!  How on earth do I get so lucky? :)

Okay, about Brazil!  So the first thing that I did after President Kuçeki picked me up from the airport was try some fresh coconut water and cane juice.  President stopped at a stand on the side of the road and bought me one of each.  The lady selling them pulled a coconut out of a big metal cooler, chopped the top off with a Machete, and handed it to me.  It was so good!  Then she took some sugar cane and put it through this machine that pressed it and shredded it, kind of like a juicer but for sugar cane.  She collected the juice in a bottle, and gave the bottle to President Kuçeki.  He poured me several cups, it was really good!  There was a really faint taste of fresh cut grass, but overall the juice was delicioius.  We had Brazilian Pizza from Pizza hut for dinner that night at Presidents house, and a Christmas party the next day with the whole mission!  I got to see Elder S., my MTC companion, there too!  It was so cool seeing him again.

We also figured out where were being assigned and who with at that meeting.  I dont mean to brag or anything, but I got the best area in the mission.  Ive been assigned to work in Itumbiara.  Its a town with about 100,000 people in it, and one branch.  A brand new church building will be dedicated there next month, and in preparation for that President Kuçeki has decided to hasten the work in Itumbiara.  The entire city is one area.  As most of you know, there are usually 2 missionaries per area.  In order to ´´hasten the work´´ here though, President has assinged 8 missionaries to work here.  We have one Sister missionary companionship, the 3 assistants to the President, my trainer and I, and another Elder named Elder M.  Im so excited!  Its going to be really unconventional, well be going on splits with the assistants basically everyday this transfer.  The people here in Brazil are so amazing!  When we talk to them on the street and ask them if they want to hear our message, most of them say something along the lines of ´´ Yeah!  I love Jesus, you can share your message!´´  Its actually really rare for someone to turn us down, its pretty different from Arizona in that sense.  The people here live in far more humble circumstances than we do in the US too, its helping me to realize just how much we have! 

Well, I've got to go.  I'll send some pictures really quick, and talk to you all on Christmas!  I havent taken too many pictures so far because Ive seen enough of Brazil to know that carrying my camera around at night is a bad idea, but when I can I'll take some more to send you.  I love you all so much, vai com Deus!

Here's the view outside of our house!
Its a bit different from Arizona,
that's for sure!  I'm learning to love it though :)

Love, Elder Logan Sweet

Text Messages from Atlanta!

Text: "Sister Sweet,
I'm enjoying dinner with your son before he jumps on the plane to Brazil.  He sounds great and I'm sure he's going to be a great missionary.  Have a great evening.
Jason T. from Bountiful, Utah."

Text: "Just had a nice visit with your son. 
He will be a great missionary!"

Text: "Here is Hna. T. in Honduras." 




The T. Family saw Elder Sweet in the Atlanta Georgia Airport and invited him to their table, they were on their way home with their daughter who had served in the Tegucigalpa Honduras mission.  Logan mentioned his cousin Jonah B. had recently returned from serving in that mission and Hna. T. said she knew him!  So we asked for a picture we could forward to Jonah.  We're grateful to the T. family who loaned Logan their cell phone and allowed us to have a conversation with him for about 20 min.  It was the last we heard from Logan until the next day when we called the Mission office in Brazil and learned he arrived safely and was actually sitting in the chair across from the Elder we were talking to!  

We Thank the T. family who reached out to Logan and made his long trip to Brazil a lot more interesting.  We felt like Heavenly Father knew where Logan was and put this family in his path.  It's a tender Mercy we are grateful for! 

I'm Thankful for you!

Hey Mom!

I’ve wanted to write Thanksgiving letters to everyone in the family.  My days have been so busy that I haven’t been able to get around to it until now.  Being busy is a healthy problem, though!

We’ll I hope that you’re Thanksgiving went really well!  What did you do?  How’s your family doing?  I know that Amy & Trevor came down for “pre-Thanksgiving” too, how was that?  I wish I could have been there but Tucson, Arizona’s nice this time of year too : ) .  The ward members are super nice & we got invited to more Thanksgiving dinners that I care to count.  We ended up just going to two, but it was still fun. 

This Thanksgiving, Mom I’m thankful for …..You!  Mom, where do I even start?  You’ve been there for me literally longer than I can remember.  I’m so thankful for all that you’ve done since before I was born to help me along & provide the necessities of life.  In addition to that, you’ve done so many things just to put a smile on my face, to go the extra mile.  I remember you making cookies for us every Tuesday for “Child appreciation day.”  You made me Halloween costumes & a “rocket cake” for my birthday when we lived in Georgetown.  You’ve also been an outstanding example of Christ Like service & love to me & the rest of the family for as long as I can remember.  You drove me up the hill to seminary, school, concerts, & other activities countless times.  You helped teach me to be a safe driver, & you also taught me how to sincerely care for other people. 

I could fill volumes with all of the wonderful things that you’ve profoundly impacted my life for good.  This single page is hardly volumes, but I hope that the same message came across; I miss you & love you Mom!  Happy Holidays : )

Love,  Elder Logan Sweet

Brazil Goiania Mission Address

Brazil Goiania Mission
Rua 18, 110, Salas 1105 a 1107
Ed Business Center, Setor Oeste
74120-080 Goiania - GO
Brazil             

Atten: Elder Logan Sweet

Mailing Tips:
When you write or send packages use the United States Postal Service, it has a greater chance of getting to him in the shortest amount of time because the Mission can forward USPS mail and cannot forward other types of mail.  Also address Elder Sweet as Elder Logan Sweet because there may be another missionary with the same last name.  Smaller packages under 4 lbs are best with no more than 7 items with a total value of less than $15.00 and he won't be charged again for customs.  
Thank you!  : )

Stereotypical Mormon Missionary!

How are you guys doing?  I hope California is treating you all well, it'd serve you right!  I'm glad to hear that you got the window regulators on my car fixed, that's so awesome!  That's a good little car, take good care of it!  Congrats to Landon too, I'm so happy that he finally gets to go back to Paraguay!  How long will he be down there?  Make sure that his friend picks him up from the airport, that way you know he's being picked up by someone that you can trust.  I know that he's going to love his time down there.  He and I will only be a few hundred miles apart I think!  Maybe I'll see his plane fly over on his way to Paraguay lol!

Well, here's this weeks report.  It's kind of short because not a whole lot went on this week.  First, I got some information regarding my departure.  I will be going to the airport around ....... on December ..th.  That's basically all I know!  President Passey told me that they'd already booked all of my flights.  Of all of the Visa waiters they've had, I've had the second shortest wait!  I'm pretty thrilled to be going down to Brazil, but I have grown to love Tucson, Arizona.  It's a beautiful place and there are so many great people living here.  I also went on my first official companionship exchange!  My trainer is the district leader, so he has to go on an exchange with each of the missionaries in our district once per transfer.

This is a picture of Mt. Lemon during the rainstorm,

 it looks like it's straight out of a movie!

I got to spend Thursday with Elder C. in a biking area!  Biking up some of those hills is hard work, let me tell you!  I'd have to get into much better shape to do that each day!  It occurred to me that that's the only day in my whole mission when I get to be the stereotypical Mormon missionary!  In Brazil I'm told that I'll just be walking everywhere, and that they don't use bikes down there.  So, I got one day!  It also rained too.  I didn't bring a coat with me because I rarely need one, but when I woke up and saw that it was raining outside I realized that that had been a mistake.  Elder C. lent me a sweater that he had, so I put it on and we went about our business.  Around 2 o'clock it stopped raining and started warming up, so we swung by our apartment to drop our sweaters off.  I happened to look in the mirror after doing so and saw that my shirt, which had been white that morning, was now blue all the way around the collar!  Elder C. lent me a "bleach pen" that he had and the blue came right out.  I wish I had had the foresight to take a picture though, it was really funny!  

On Sunday one of our investigators dropped us too.  That's the first time that that's happened to me, so it was kind of difficult.  There are so many things that I wish I'd done differently, so many things that I should have said.  I'm trying to learn from it and move on though, so I won't vent too much :)  I know that God loves his children, and that a way is prepared for them to accomplish the things that he needs them too, even though I may not see the beginning from the end. (1 Nephi 3:7 and 1 Nephi 11:17)  I have faith in Heavenly Father's love and in his plan!

This is a dead cactus arm.  I just sent you this because I think it's kind of interesting. 

 I used to think that cactuses are like cucumbers on the inside, 

but they're actually very sturdy and have a lot of wood inside them. 

 I heard about a Saguaro cactus that fell across a road.  

A guy who was driving a truck down that road decided he'd just 

blow through it without slowing down, expecting it to blow up like a watermelon. 

 His truck stopped very quickly, and the cactus didn't go very far!

I also cut my own hair for the first time today.  I can only describe the experience and terrifying; terrifying beyond almost anything else that I've ever done.  It turned out ok though, and I learned from it.  I'll be a pro pretty soon here :)

Well, that's the gist of what's gone on this week.  I don't know exactly what time I'll be able to call, but I'll probably have a pretty long layover before my flight to Sao Paulo.  I'll try to let you know if I get more details, otherwise just be ready for my call!  I might be able to call on the 17th too when I get to the Sao Paulo airport, but I'm not sure.  I'll give you more details as they become available.  I love you all so much, keep being awesome!

Best,

Elder Sweet  

My Two Month Report

Dear Dad,

They've got really cool looking
 mountains here in Tucson! 

This one is called Mount Lemon

     Hey!  How's my totally awesome Father doing?   You asked me to give you a 2 month report on my mission, so here it is!
     They say that the days are long but the weeks are short on the mission, but I'm finding that the weeks are short and the days, well, they're short too!  A little too short to be honest; it hit me a couple of days ago how quickly time is going by.  I may still have 22 months left, but if they continue to go by at the same apparent rate then this mission will be over soon.  I need to work hard & savor every moment of it while it's here.
     The work here is great.  Finding is really hard though.  Most neighborhoods have laws in place that make tracting pretty difficult (for example; "no distribution of printed materials")  We've increased our contacting goal to 58 a week, so we'll see how it goes.  We have 3 investigators right now, whom I told you about in my E-mail.  Hopefully we'll find some more in the next couple of weeks.
     My Trainer is awesome.  He's from Tegucigalpa Honduras.  He's our District Leader & he's a very hard working missionary.  President P. has used him a few times to "rescue" an area that previous Elders messed up.  He's extremely persistent especially when it comes to contacting referrals & assignments from the Bishop.  He goes back each day if they don't answer & or it becomes apparent that they're avoiding us.  With as difficult missionary finding is here, working with members & gaining their trust is crucial.  Elder C. has also done a very good job of that;  the members here really like the missionaries & are actively engaged in missionary work.
     I'm also working hard to improve myself.  I've set goals to stretch me & help me to gain more confidence.  Going up to people & sharing the Gospel is still kind of difficult, but i am getting better at it.  It's funny how difficult it is to share with people.  First, you have to find them.  Most people here are at work most of the day or in their homes.  Often we can hear them, but they don't come to the door.  If we do get to talk to someone, they usually say "I'm a christian, I'm not interested."  It's funny how often we get that. Occasionally someone at best accepts a pass along card though, so that's good!
     I'm also setting fitness goals for myself.  I'm running & stretching each morning, doing push ups & sit ups, & Shaolin-seu.  I'm also carefully watching what I eat for breakfast & lunch since I can't really control dinner.  I shoot for 600 cal. for breakfast, 400 for lunch, & that leaves me about 1,000 for dinner.  I've lost weight since coming to the field & I'm becoming stronger & gaining far better endurance.  30 minute runs are easy now, so I'll probably start getting up earlier to do a 45-60 minute run & more Shaolin-Seu / Resistance training

They have these awesome warning signs! 

 I can't help but laugh whenever I see the

 electricity monster with the face on it lol

     Overall, the mission is teaching me to rely on the Lord, do my part & it is helping me gain a better picture of the man I want to be.   I still have a long way to go & many weaknesses to overcome, but I'm doing all I can.  The Lord is teaching me here a little & there a little what he wants me to do & be He's giving me a greater knowledge of the relationship that I have with his children.  That is my report!
     Love, Elder Sweet (by Letter)

"That Greenie Aura"

Hey there! 

 We went to a dinner appointment last Monday and I completely forgot my tie!  The Father in the family asked if I was a greeney, and I said yes.  He said it was because I had the "greenie aura" about me, but that it was a good thing and that I should never lose it.  Towards the end of our appointment Elder C.  noticed that I was missing my tie, and mentioned it to me.  The Father of the family then said that that's how he knew I was a greeney!  It was an awesome laugh :)

How did Thanksgiving go for everyone?  How was the trip up north?  We don't get to call on Thanksgiving, typically it's only Christmas, Mother's day, and when we're in an airport.  I'm sure that everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving anyways!

Let me tell you a little about my Thanksgiving, and what we've been up to the past week.  We weren't able to meet with our investigators this week because they were either out of town or just not there (We did have dinner with the D's family, but he wasn't able to make it).  For Thanksgiving we went over to the M's home, they're a family in our ward.  We had an awesome dinner, and we sang Christmas songs (All missionary approved) on their Karaoke machine!  It was a lot of fun :)  We went and visited some other people too.  One of them served his mission in China somewhere, and majored in Mandarin in school.  He told us a lot about Mandarin.  He knows the ancient chinese characters, the old ones, and the simplified ones.  The ancient characters are a lot like hieroglyphs, their very pictorial.  He also taught us some Mandarin tongue twisters!  His wife is less active, so we shared a message with them too.

We got to teach a lesson to a brand new investigator yesterday too!  Her name is L, and she's from Guatemala.  She's in the United States visiting her family right now, and wants to be baptized.  Her parents recently granted her permission to do so, so we got called to teach her.  She was so receptive to the message of the restoration, and said right off the bat that she wants to be baptized.  It's so neat seeing someone who already has seen the blessings of the gospel in the
lives of others, and wants that for herself.  People like that are a lot like King Lamoni, whom Ammon taught in the Book of Mormon.  They are so ready for the gospel, and so eager to learn more.  We're going to be passing her off to the Spanish speaking sisters in the area, but I'm sure that we'll keep in touch and hopefully hear some more good news soon!

Lately our focus has been the "He is the Gift" initiative.  It's about how Jesus Christ was the first gift of Christmas, and how we should keep him at the center of this season.  The centerpiece is a brief film that you can watch online at christmas.mormon.org.

  You can also watch it in Portuguese at http://www.mormon.org.br/natal .  We were given pass a long cards to distribute when we talk to people, and a lot of people have responded very positively to it!  We've had everyone from Atheists to Christians stop to here a bit about it, and it's so much fun seeing how this season unites people and causes them to open their hearts.  Jesus Christ really is what it's all about, not just this holiday season but the gospel itself.  He was a gift from our Heavenly Father, and our salvation is a gift from him.  That's what's most important in our lives, recognizing our reliance on Christ.  Christmas is a wonderful time to grow closer together as families and make cherished memories, but let us try to do so this season by coming closer to Christ.  As we do so, we'll gain a greater appreciation for what he and Heavenly Father sacrificed to provide us with the opportunity to grow and become that we now have.  By so doing, we will be able to see just a little more clearly how dearly they love us.

I become more converted to the gospel and the work everyday, and I'm learning to love the people. My capacity to work hard all day long is increasing.  I've adapted to the schedule really well, and am actually getting up 30 minutes early each day now to go for a 30 minute run.  I'm getting a sharper idea of what a good missionary does, and I'm working towards that.  I've also really enjoyed seeing the spirit work through us.  I'm gaining a stronger testimony of the principle that we need to treasure up in our minds the word of God, and then give no thought before to what we will say and that it will be given us in the very moment that which is needed.  I've seen this principle in action so many times in so many little ways, but they're still present and strikingly displayed.

I love you all!

Elder Sweet

I met a celebrity Mom!  He's in Frozen!
 He even let me take a selfie with him!

And then Elder Chavez and I got

 a picture together with him!

I came by to visit the next day though,
and I found this...He melted!!!

And then I wept. :(

I hope you all have a great week!  Have lots of laughs!  

Talk to you soon!

Elder Sweet