---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jacob Thatcher <elderjthatcher@myldsmail.net>
Date: Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 9:36 AM
Subject: Carta de Elder Thatcher 30-12-08
Dear Family and Friends
Well, I successfully made it through one Christmas! One down, one to go, Sounds like you made it through, even with lots of snow--so that was sweet, maybe your just finally starting to get plowed out. What could be a better present then a bunch of snow Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and the day after Christmas? Maybe it would have been nicer without the wind, but this is almost impossible in Rexburg. Do you know why it is always blowing in Idaho???? Because Utah sucks... :) That is my one famous joke. That and the dehydrated Frenchman joke :)
I am so sorry about the deaths this week; I am so shocked to hear about Gale Hunter and Cody Jacobson. I pray for their families.
So Christmas morning, and Christmas day, was basically like any other day--except for the phone call. It's just hard to take Christmas seriously without snow, hot chocolate, and of course, family and friends. I woke up, went around, and did my usual things, then sat down and opened my presents. What a treat, thank you everyone! I have never had so much candy and sweets in my life. Believe me, I am eating a bunch, but, I am also letting these Brazilians enjoy some real, American doce :)
Every Thursday, we have our district meeting at the Bairds house, so at 9:30, just like any other week we went there and had our meeting. Afterwards, Elder Baird and I copied half the book of Mormon on a CD for Terizinha. She is really busy, and can't see the letters really well, so we gave her some B.O.M cd´s for Christmas. In the meantime, Elder and Sister Watts, another senior couple arrived from Porto Alegre (3 hours away) to eat dinner with us. We had ham, baked potatoes, beans, rice, and bread. So it was an o.k. dinner, but wasn't as good as dads giant omelets Christmas morning. We sat and talked, us and the 4 old farts until 2:00, when I was supposed to call mom. Then when I tried on the Bairds "Vonage phone" which goes through the internet, just like Skype or msn, it didn't work... wouldn't you know, it works every day of the year, but Christmas morning, the one time I can talk to my parents it doesn't work (Murphy's law) It was to good to be true to be able to call for free. So I attempted the land line-- of course, the Bairds didn't have the right phone package. To make a long, boring story short, we tried all morning to call. Finally, I contacted mom on the internet, and she called me, what a fun conversation, a pain in the butt to call, nothing more then would be expected I guess, to call 8000 miles away, but it was all worth it!
And, during the conversation, I decided that I am forgetting English, and don't know Portuguese yet.
After this, we delivered a couple of presents and called it a day.
Every Friday we have lunch at Irmão Marciano's house in Santa Catarina, because I never got to talk to Dad Thursday, the only time that I could do it was during the long walk there and back (1.5 hours each way) So, we went to a local pharmacy and asked them if they knew anyway I could call the United States. They said that there was a special international calling house around the block. We went there, and after a couple trys, I successfully talked, for a total of 6 minutes (according to the people, but it was less, still, they charge me 20 reals!!! or 10 bucks!) but it was all worth it because they called me back and we had a good conversation.
You all sound good, and I was pleased to know that you were anxious to get off the phone to go skiing; it shows you have your priorities in order :) I would do the same thing if I had the chance to ski 18 inches of snow on a blue bird day!
SIDE NOTE: These dumb high school kids that are working here at the Ian House. They have the worst English music turned up, blasting in our ears. I´d like to kick there butts, they have no idea what the words are saying, but they worship the horrible music. Sometimes I talk to them in English, but they don't know it, I just mutter things like `you nerd`, or other insults, but they don't hear and they don't understand... I guess it's the natural man in me.
Yesterday we found a new family, they are members of the Quadrangular Evangelho, or basically a four square evangelical church, and live it to the "T" They have a very humble house, but it is clean and orderly, and were happy, excepting, and had very open hearts. The spirit was really strong in their house, and I am excited to teach the family again. At the end of the lesson Elder Abdo asked, do you know anyone else we could teach? He said yes, his father, and he would like to go with us to teach him... our pleasure!!! Other then this success story, the work has been very, very slow. The population has skyrocketed here in Torres; it doesn't even look like the same city. People are everywhere; it's like a boom town in the olden days. We have seen cars from Argentina, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro. I wouldn't be surprised to find someone from a "1M" or "1T" :) Elder Abdo and I did a test yesterday while we were walking on one of the busier streets; we tried to find 3 parked cars in a row with a Torres license plate. In 20 minutes of walking we did it twice!! So needless to say, the people that are at home, are not from here, and don't want to hear to missionaries. Imagine, travelling to California or Florida, on vacation, would you let us in? So, the only people that are from here are using this time of year, this tourism to make all their money for the next year. They are all working on the beach.
We are also "Cleaning House" more or less this week. We are sadly cutting some long time investigators that just aren't progressing. In a way it's relieving, finally we can move on, start fresh, and finds some new, excited people, ready to receive the gospel of Christ, but in another way, it's sad, we have made good friends along the way, almost like family, and it's sad to just say goodbye... but when they just aren't ready what can you do?
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT
I have been thinking about our investigators that we have cut, and how they missed their chance, for now, and even possibly for eternity. Remember the story in Luke 8 about the sick women, which had faith enough that she knew if she could touch that robes of Christ, she could be cured? While Christ was passing, she touched, and she was healed. It was a split second only that Christ was passing. She was ready, she seized the opportunity. Comparatively, we must be ready, we must take advantage of every moment we have, because it may be the last, Acquaintances come and go, opportunities pass, seasons fade, kids grow up, the snow melts and time treks on, so we must not delay our actions, not save for tomorrow what we can do today. Our investigators only have so long to seize the opportunity to be saved, to join the church. If they don't exercise their faith and let US pass by, they never know the next opportunity they will have... if any
Sorry, I forgot my camera cable this week…. No pictures
Love you Lots! Jacob
From: Jacob Thatcher <elderjthatcher@myldsmail.net>
Date: Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 9:36 AM
Subject: Carta de Elder Thatcher 30-12-08
Dear Family and Friends
Well, I successfully made it through one Christmas! One down, one to go, Sounds like you made it through, even with lots of snow--so that was sweet, maybe your just finally starting to get plowed out. What could be a better present then a bunch of snow Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and the day after Christmas? Maybe it would have been nicer without the wind, but this is almost impossible in Rexburg. Do you know why it is always blowing in Idaho???? Because Utah sucks... :) That is my one famous joke. That and the dehydrated Frenchman joke :)
I am so sorry about the deaths this week; I am so shocked to hear about Gale Hunter and Cody Jacobson. I pray for their families.
So Christmas morning, and Christmas day, was basically like any other day--except for the phone call. It's just hard to take Christmas seriously without snow, hot chocolate, and of course, family and friends. I woke up, went around, and did my usual things, then sat down and opened my presents. What a treat, thank you everyone! I have never had so much candy and sweets in my life. Believe me, I am eating a bunch, but, I am also letting these Brazilians enjoy some real, American doce :)
Every Thursday, we have our district meeting at the Bairds house, so at 9:30, just like any other week we went there and had our meeting. Afterwards, Elder Baird and I copied half the book of Mormon on a CD for Terizinha. She is really busy, and can't see the letters really well, so we gave her some B.O.M cd´s for Christmas. In the meantime, Elder and Sister Watts, another senior couple arrived from Porto Alegre (3 hours away) to eat dinner with us. We had ham, baked potatoes, beans, rice, and bread. So it was an o.k. dinner, but wasn't as good as dads giant omelets Christmas morning. We sat and talked, us and the 4 old farts until 2:00, when I was supposed to call mom. Then when I tried on the Bairds "Vonage phone" which goes through the internet, just like Skype or msn, it didn't work... wouldn't you know, it works every day of the year, but Christmas morning, the one time I can talk to my parents it doesn't work (Murphy's law) It was to good to be true to be able to call for free. So I attempted the land line-- of course, the Bairds didn't have the right phone package. To make a long, boring story short, we tried all morning to call. Finally, I contacted mom on the internet, and she called me, what a fun conversation, a pain in the butt to call, nothing more then would be expected I guess, to call 8000 miles away, but it was all worth it!
And, during the conversation, I decided that I am forgetting English, and don't know Portuguese yet.
After this, we delivered a couple of presents and called it a day.
Every Friday we have lunch at Irmão Marciano's house in Santa Catarina, because I never got to talk to Dad Thursday, the only time that I could do it was during the long walk there and back (1.5 hours each way) So, we went to a local pharmacy and asked them if they knew anyway I could call the United States. They said that there was a special international calling house around the block. We went there, and after a couple trys, I successfully talked, for a total of 6 minutes (according to the people, but it was less, still, they charge me 20 reals!!! or 10 bucks!) but it was all worth it because they called me back and we had a good conversation.
You all sound good, and I was pleased to know that you were anxious to get off the phone to go skiing; it shows you have your priorities in order :) I would do the same thing if I had the chance to ski 18 inches of snow on a blue bird day!
SIDE NOTE: These dumb high school kids that are working here at the Ian House. They have the worst English music turned up, blasting in our ears. I´d like to kick there butts, they have no idea what the words are saying, but they worship the horrible music. Sometimes I talk to them in English, but they don't know it, I just mutter things like `you nerd`, or other insults, but they don't hear and they don't understand... I guess it's the natural man in me.
Yesterday we found a new family, they are members of the Quadrangular Evangelho, or basically a four square evangelical church, and live it to the "T" They have a very humble house, but it is clean and orderly, and were happy, excepting, and had very open hearts. The spirit was really strong in their house, and I am excited to teach the family again. At the end of the lesson Elder Abdo asked, do you know anyone else we could teach? He said yes, his father, and he would like to go with us to teach him... our pleasure!!! Other then this success story, the work has been very, very slow. The population has skyrocketed here in Torres; it doesn't even look like the same city. People are everywhere; it's like a boom town in the olden days. We have seen cars from Argentina, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro. I wouldn't be surprised to find someone from a "1M" or "1T" :) Elder Abdo and I did a test yesterday while we were walking on one of the busier streets; we tried to find 3 parked cars in a row with a Torres license plate. In 20 minutes of walking we did it twice!! So needless to say, the people that are at home, are not from here, and don't want to hear to missionaries. Imagine, travelling to California or Florida, on vacation, would you let us in? So, the only people that are from here are using this time of year, this tourism to make all their money for the next year. They are all working on the beach.
We are also "Cleaning House" more or less this week. We are sadly cutting some long time investigators that just aren't progressing. In a way it's relieving, finally we can move on, start fresh, and finds some new, excited people, ready to receive the gospel of Christ, but in another way, it's sad, we have made good friends along the way, almost like family, and it's sad to just say goodbye... but when they just aren't ready what can you do?
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT
I have been thinking about our investigators that we have cut, and how they missed their chance, for now, and even possibly for eternity. Remember the story in Luke 8 about the sick women, which had faith enough that she knew if she could touch that robes of Christ, she could be cured? While Christ was passing, she touched, and she was healed. It was a split second only that Christ was passing. She was ready, she seized the opportunity. Comparatively, we must be ready, we must take advantage of every moment we have, because it may be the last, Acquaintances come and go, opportunities pass, seasons fade, kids grow up, the snow melts and time treks on, so we must not delay our actions, not save for tomorrow what we can do today. Our investigators only have so long to seize the opportunity to be saved, to join the church. If they don't exercise their faith and let US pass by, they never know the next opportunity they will have... if any
Sorry, I forgot my camera cable this week…. No pictures
Love you Lots! Jacob
