October 20, 2008- Heat, Sand and a Fridge!

hello hello family. Well I’m here in Natal and my first week is officially over. It has seemed like one of the longest weeks of the mission. Not the longest but it was long. But things are good here. I’ll try to describe this area. It’s definitely different. So there is a lot of sand, like everywhere. haha and the city is pretty big but during the day and stuff it just seems deserted. It’s funny the shops open in the morning. close in the afternoon, re open for the evening and then close at night. probably cuz it’s so hot here. but I think I am really close to sand dunes because the roads are mostly just sand and stuff. This area is about middle class I thin, there are some people that don’t have a lot and some that have nice things too. I think my first area had more money though. The people here are nice and I can tell that I am definitely understanding the language a lot better. I’m helping teach more and I’m talking more too. I’m so grateful that the language is starting to come around. I still have a lot of work to do though, but it’s all good. Elder Vieira is good, I definitely get along a lot better with him. He has his weird tendencies but I’m sure I do too. He reminds me of a vulture kind of, he is about my height but probably weighs 120, 60 kilos however much that is. I don’t know. haha I remember from chem. the equation but I don’t want to do it right now. but anyway he is cool and we live with two other elders, Elder Lohman from Tennessee and Elder Salines from São Paulo. They are both studs and Lohman has 6 months and Salines has 8, he is our district leader. Vieira has 1 year and a couple months so I’m still the novinho but it’s all good. Our house is tons nicer and a lot bigger! I love it, fridge and stove.,no washing machine or iron or microwave but we get by. haha but the area is good, it is huge so we do a ton of walking, like a lot. haha but the ward here we work with is very small, so I will probably be helping more here but it should be fine. I’m getting to know the members and our bishop is great to work with. It makes me appreciate all you do dad, you bishops are busy guys! I always keep you in my prayers. Well that’s the update on the area. haha any questions? let me know. Well I’m excited for the Rays and the Phillies. I like both of them and it will be good to have a new champ. Thanks for the update. I’m pretty bummed for byu though. I hate that one loss like that drops them so far. What about usc? They have 1 too. ,the bcs is gay, but Texas better not lose too. haha elder Lohman is a Tennessee vols fan bigtime, but they are really struggling this year. so anyway thanks for the sports updates. I always look forward to hearing what’s new. Go PG! haha I’m sorry about MKs loss again, but maybe a year of losses will make them hungry for next season- a season of wins right? Save the wins for senior year. That’s when they count. haha Well I’m going to try to send some photos next week, I’ll try to take some pics of my area too. But I need to find another way to attach them through like paint or something because right now they are too big and take too long. I will figure it out I promise. I got two mission ties last week at our interviews with president. I will only get letters here like at interviews and zone conferences, so maybe like 3 times a transfer which sucks. In my other zone it was once a week, but so ya know I will only get them here every few weeks. sorry. I can still send them. By the way did you guys get those letters I sent? I hope so. I thought dad said something about getting it, so that’s good. I will try to send more and I think I sent another one last week. I will do another mission ties this week, write some more about what’s going on here. It’s amazing that when you can stay busy how much faster things go here. I like when it stays busy. It’s easier to lose track of time. haha this area should baptize more than my last area. I hope. haha but the work is good. I need to try and find some things to send home but this area doesn’t have a lot. I will find some things though. haha ill keep my eyes open. for Christmas I could use a cd player. haha I can’t find one here. and some cds like the rm and best 2 years maybe. I don’t know. haha and there is a connection for the cd to my speakers that I forgot. mk knows what it is. So if you could include that. As for other stuff I don’t know. My clothes are still all good and I have plenty of everyday stuff. Maybe like phase ten? haha we have uno but that would be sweet. I like surprises too! Whatever you guys send will be good. I always love photos too. Maybe some old one like me and my friends. I don’t have any of the boys, like football ones. I think there are a couple in the drawer of my desk that I want. So that would be awesome if you could do that for me. Mom I wish I could try some of your bread haha but I’m sure it will be perfect when I get home. So I’m really excited for that. and I’m glad your knee is getting the bend back. I know that physical therapy hurts like crazy but be brave and know that the pain you deal with now will mean less pain later. but I’m glad you’re making steps. Sounds like the fall is going great. I love the fall. haha I love your grandma and grandpa stories. I bet it’s so fun having Mya running the show now. haha I bet she will have an attitude when I get back. haha we will be friends. I am doing well now and working hard. I miss you all a lot but I know that this work is the work of the lord. I know that this is where I need to be. I love hearing that all is well but if there is ever anything you need to vent to me or just talk about I’m still here. I love being the listener. haha and you’re always in my prayers, each one of you individually. I love you all and hope that this week will be great. I’m trying to have fun everyday, but you guys need to too k? haha I love ya. talk to you soon. love ty

Thanks T.K.!

Yesterday was Tyson's P-day and he sent me a quick e-mail despite the lack of one on my end. Well, that fabulous missionary is sure in tune with the spirit. I have been kind of stressed out the past few days with work and the babe and just everyday life. Well my sweet brother, all the way down in Brazil, knew exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks bud, I love ya!

Hey aub. How are things back at work? I hope your finding a groove with things there and at home with mya now. I know it's probably really hard, and I can't even begin to imagine what its like being a mom but I know that if anyone can do it its you. And like you told me. When things get hard you can go to Heavenly Father and tell him anything. Always pray to Him about Mya. About things you can help her and teach her. I know you do already. You are a wonderful mom, and your an awesome sister too. You always know just what I need to hear. Just remember keep your head up even when things get hard because something good is just around the corner and if you got your head in your hands you wont be able to see it. haha I love you Aub. You're the best. If you ever need anything just let me know and I'm there. haha love you aub. Give Mya a big kiss for me. Have an awesome week love ya. love Ty

October 13, 2008 Moving to Natal!

Oct. 13, 2008
Hey everybody. Well it has been another good week here in the mission field. This week I had what was called a division and for like half a day I went with another missionary. So our district leader works in the mission office, so for the division he came to our area to get to know it better. So he worked with elder joabson and I went to the office with elder Gardner. He is from Washington dc. so I got there at like 4, its only like 10 minutes from our area and that night I worked with him, he works from like 6 to 9 only because he works in the office all day. So I stayed the night in the office with him and the AP´s. elder Santos, and elder draudt, he is from Orem and went to timp. He played baseball so I have played against him a few times. So it was cool to talk to him and get to know him better and we actually know a few of the same people and stuff. He is a really cool kid. So I spent the night and the next morning helped with some things in the office. Just putting in information and stuff and then around 12 I went back to my area. It was cool I guess. haha it was kind of nice to work with another missionary and see how they do it too. But the rest of the week has been good and we had a baptism this Sunday. His name is Vandberg and he is 16. it was cool and I got to baptism him. So that was awesome. but our group of investigators is kind of small so this week we are going to make a bunch o.... stop I’m so sorry but I just got a phone call and I’m being transferred. so I will e-mail later. I have to go now! haha sorry I love you all so much and can’t wait till I can explain. Love ya ty
Later That Day…
ok I’m back, it’s around 2:30 and I’m at the bus stop waiting to get on a bus to natal, its north of where I’m at and my new companion will be elder viera. Elder draudt called me this morning and was like hey your being transferred right now. So go home and pack really fast and get on a bus. So I did just that. haha I had to stop everything we went home, I packed really fast, and I’m actually really surprised how fast I did. And now I’m here just kind of waiting for a bit. I will arrive in natal at 6 30 and I leave at 330. it’s kind of crazy and I almost don’t want to leave because I like this area but at the same time I’m really excited. I’m nervous at the same time but it should be good. haha the mission is just crazy. It would have been nice to just be transferred on a normal transfer day but it’s all good. I just hope I don’t turn into the guy that president sends all over the place for emergency transfers. haha but maybe that’s who I’m supposed to be. I’ll go where he wants me to go. Well ill pick up on my other thoughts right now. So I miss snow like crazy and mom I’m sure you would love the warm weather but it’s so hot here. haha like all the time. I miss having a clear breathe and dry skin. It’s always sticky. Even after you get out of the shower. but I guess it’s not shivering. haha so how is the knee? how much bend you got now? yeah mk sent me an e-mail but he only thinks it was big cuz he sent it on his touch. Tell him to use a normal comp and he will see they aren’t that big. haha it’s all good though I’m just happy to get them. Well sounds like myas blessing was great and that everything went well. I’m happy for that and jealous that I couldn’t be there for it. Dad you can share what I said. It was something like that. haha I really liked being with kyli but when I was just hanging with everyone and had lots of friends it was so fun. and now I’m out here I wish I would have dated alot of different people. and taken a whole lot more pictures. and for the priests preparing I will give a little bit next week. I want to write a little longer and I don’t have a ton of time to say alot. But I’m stoked for Texas right now! haha number one and for byu. it’s too bad that this awesome year of football just happens to be when I’m out here. I actually knew this was going to happen. Oh well. I’m so excited for the package that will come. I will keep the snowboarding pictures off the wall. I hope you sent some others too. I love pictures. I haven’t seen any new ones of you guys since I have left. But thank you all so much for everything you do. You’re all the best. But the language is coming along and things are going good. I’m getting into the work and the time is passing quicker each day. I’m excited for the band of brothers newsletters too. Oh if you could tell all the moms next time to take me off their forward lists it would be great. I can’t receive it so it might get me in trouble. But if you hear anything cool maybe just attach it to one of yours. But I know this new area will be an adventure and that I will grow even more. I love you all so much. I sent a letter for each one of you individually a couple weeks ago? Did you ever get it? I hope so. haha well I better go. I will let you know how things go. Love you all. love ty

Excerpts from a letter to Aubry & Cody

There were a couple of funny things that Tyson wrote to us the other day. I thought I would share with ya'll. Enjoy!

...Well Cody I know hunting season is coming up soon, I hope you go kill something big. People here in Brazil can't believe that we go and kill things. They are like shocked by it. It's really funny. They don't like the idea of hunting very much I don't think. Kinda weird.

**He also says that he had to catch a lizard that was by their house because his (native) companion was afraid of it. Something about that seems a bit weird to me.

October 6,2008- First Transfer

-This pic may have been taken on a rough day.-

So hello! haha this week has been good. well transfers were yesterday and nothing happened for me. haha I’m still here in my area with elder joabson. so it should be another good 6 weeks but I hope we can baptize more this time. it should be good though and things are getting better for me and elder joabson. I’m trying to just accept him and not be bugged by the little things he does. the language is taking big steps right now and there are times when I can understand everything that everyone is saying and actually talk to the people. it’s pretty cool. I’m far from fluent but I’m doing well. so conference was really good this weekend. I watched one session Saturday and the two Sunday. but I missed priesthood and one Saturday. but it was all in Portuguese. I understood quite a bit but it would be really sweet if you could send me the ensign when it comes out next month. I would love it. I’m really excited for my package! thank you so much. I’m glad you got my mission ties and I’ll try to write some more soon. I mailed a letter a while back so I’m hoping you should get that soon. I mailed it a week before I mailed the mission ties so mission ties is definitely a lot faster. I’m trying to find some things to mail in a package to you guys with the tape. I’m not sure what to send but I’ll find something. haha it is probably a crappy tape too. I don’t really remember what I said and I only did one side. I am going to try and do the other side while I’m finding things to mail. I’m sure you guys would like that a lot more. that’s so sweet about cadens call. if you see him or anything or get an address for me that would be awesome. or tell him good luck and congrats for me. and seans address would be awesome too; I want to mail him a letter. sounds like conference weekend was a good one, I was a little homesick cuz I love conference weekend but it was good here. definitely different cuz of the time difference. that’s too bad about mks game. sounds like they need just some more experience. but thanks for the sports updates. sounds like baseball will be better next round with some closer series. mom I’m so glad that your knee is on the mend and that you got to drive again. watch out world! haha ok so that’s nuts about Emily hall! that was really fast too. haha but that’s good for her and I hope the best for her. I think it’s so weird though to get news like that. oh well I better get used to it. well the work is good and we have a couple new investigators but no one really solid. it’s hard here because no one is giving us references and everyone just wants to go to the beach instead of church. but I’m hoping we will be able to baptize this one kid next week. we will see. things are going good here and I’m hoping this transfer will be really good and I will learn a lot. just think I have this transfer, and then next transfer I get to talk to you guys. haha I hope you’re excited. but anyway I love you all so much and I love hearing how all of you are doing. I’m glad I have such an amazing family. hope all goes well this week and that you all are having fun too. you’re in my prayers. I love you so much. if I need to write anything or you have questions I haven’t answered just ask. haha talk to you soon. love you. Ty