Zone Activity

 Oi!! Im glad to hear that you guys got some moisture! Hopefully the flooding wasn’t too bad, sounds pretty crazy though. You wouldn’t believe some of the floods that can happen here. Last Friday I guess there was water 2 feet high in a part of our area.  Training went really well with the president. As I said I really like him and I love how focused he is on teaching by the spirit. Today we went to the field of Vasco, one of the teams here. It was way cool and really old, definitely different that any stadium I’ve visited before. Then we played soccer as a zone. Lets just say I have a lot of work. haha but It was way fun. We had a few investigators in church this past week. A part member family, a older woman, and a young man. We are doing a plan with the ward to go to with a member every day. That should help a lot because it is super hard to have members with lessons. And ideally we should have them all with members. We honestly didn’t have a lot of time to work this past week. We lost all of Monday and Tuesday, and big parts of Wednesday and Thursday because of district meeting and interviews with the president. Then I was out on Saturday because of food poisoning I think, not to sure what it was but I’m better now so there is no need to worry. We did divisions yesterday night with members and I went to a house where the parents are members but the daughter wasn’t. It was really cool cause the member and me bore our testimonies, then the parents bore theirs. Nothing invites the spirit like a testimony. It is so cool to see that we don’t actually do the teaching, the spirit does. I need to remember this and not get in the way. You are so right gratitude makes our lives soo much better. I have really gained so much more gratitude for everything since I came down here. We literally have soo much. Anyways hope everyone is healthy and safe. I love you all and am soo grateful to have you all in my life! Love, Connor

Meeting the Mission President

oi! Sorry I didnt email yesterday, we went to the federal police to do some visa work, and then we took a bus to Jaracapagua? and slept over there because all the new missionaries had training with the president today. It was really cool yesterday cause we drove through the center of Rio and then along the coast and beach for a while. It is absolutely beautiful. First time I saw a beach here, and no wonder people come from around the world to vacation. haha but training with the President was great today! As I am getting to know him I really like him, he is all about doing everything by the spirit and hard work. Definitely someone to look of up. Unfortunately we didn’t have any investigators in church, they either wouldn’t wake up or we had 2 that were sick. But I know if we work hard we can get some next week. I honestly am growing and learning so much and am super excited to see what happens over the next 2 years. Believe it or not but I am pretty used to walking around in the 100´s

and it is not as bad as I would have thought. Still not easy by any means though. haha. But I hope everything is going good there and everyone is better now! Also I hope that you guys had a fun Martin Luther King day! Did you and dad already go to Florida or is that coming up. Man I miss saint george but hope dad and the teachers have fun. That’s kind of interesting about the funeral being at a restaurant. Man I would love to read grandmas history when she gets it written. Sounded like grandpa and grandma had some awesome friends and stories.

Wish Cole luck with battle of the Bands. That is super exciting he made it. I wish I could see. Also tell Kade congrats on scouts! I heard about the cruise ship and saw a picture because it was on TV at the federal police. That is insane, kinda scary to think about. Haha Iove the comparison with the scriptures and belt. Honestly the scriptures help me more than anything and I love them. So I got the other 4 packages today, two for Christmas and two for things that I couldn’t bring. Thanks so so much!! It was like a second Christmas! There are so many things haha I will have stuff to last for a long time don’t worry. Unfortunately I got a letter that there was another box but it was 3 hours away and would take 90 reais to pick up. So im going to let it get sent back because I cant travel 3 hours. Thanks for every thing though!!! I really appreciate it. Money has been doing pretty good. I might buy a watch though because the cheap ones don’t last, I have already been though 2. haha So if money goes that is why. Tell Paige thank you sooooo much. That really means a lot to me and it is amazing to know I am so much support and love at home. I am praying for you guys to! Hope you all stay safe and know I love you all! I know this church is true and has made me so much a better person! With tons of love! Connor

Finally got some packages!

Well First off Happy Birthday Kade!!! Sounds like you had a pretty good one! I hope it was, Teacher now?? Haha That’s crazy! Oh and yes everyone can email me, but I can only email family. Also yes I can print emails so no problem there! Some really good news! Last Tuesday I got the letters and two of the packages! One from you and one from Grandma! Tell Grandma thanks so so much! I loved it and am super excited to have pancakes with maple syrup. haha. The other packages, there are 4, I will get on the 17th when we have a meeting with the president. Also could you get me Nicks A´s mission address? Thanks! So my week was pretty good! Really depressing yesterday though. We were all ready to baptize aparecida when her older sister decided not to let her. She thought that she couldn’t have fun and some other things, we talked for almost 2 hours but she wouldn’t budge. It is really sad because Aparecida really wants to, but she lives with her older sister who would kick her out. Makes me really sad. But we do have a bunch of new investigators. I am discovering that the hardest thing is getting people to church. Almost all the adults we talk to work on Sunday, and even if they don´t work it is super hard to get them to wake up by 9. But I am sure we will find some that are willing! The ward is really great! Probably about 70-90 people. The church building is an actually building, just way way smaller that what I am used to. haha It will help though that there was a stake fireside last night where president Lima spoke to the stake on how they can help out the missionaries more with our work! President Lima is a really spiritual guy and I look forward to getting to know him more!! Oh and my shoes are doing great! Absolutely no problems there and also we can get contact solution here, so don´t worry. Tell Paige to get better soon!! And tell Cole I wish him luck with Battle of the Bands! That would be awesome to make it! Malaysia sounds pretty sweet! Tell Ashley she can email me about it if she wants. One thing that would be super helpful are return address stamps of my address here, just a thoughts. Really I can’t think of anything else I would need right now. It definitely is such a privilege to have the opportunity to serve a mission! I love it more and more every day, even the stressful days, which I am sure I will have many of. haha. That is super awesome about the Recent Convert grandma mentioned, I know we all can make a difference in people lives that we know. Something that strengthened my testimony a ton was last week, I was having a bit of trouble with the language, mostly understanding people. So I decided to fast and as soon as I did, honestly I could understand sooo much more Portuguese. Seriously the Lord will always help us in the way that is best for us. Sometimes the things we ask for are only possible through fasting and prayer. I know that if I work hard I can improve tons with Portuguese during the next 9 weeks of training.  It is kind of funny that at least half of our new investigators started because they saw that I was American and wanted me to speak English or something. There are a few perks to not being native. haha I thank you all for your support though and hope you are all staying safe. Love you all tons! Elder Ottosen

New Year's in Rio

Happy 2012!! So this past week has been so much better with the weather, been cool and raining almost all week. I better not get used to it though. haha That’s pretty crazy how hot it is there? Hope you guys get snow soon, another big drought wouldn’t be good.  Oh you can just send some pics when you send a package, but don’t worry about sending anything too soon. haha maybe after I receive all the ones I have waiting for me.  Glad you got the pictures though! I’m glad everyone is doing good! If you see Nick tell him hi. Tell Jordan congrats! Glad to hear about the BOM challenge! I have grown to love it so much more on the mission!! I’m glad you guys had fun for New Years though! I’ll say it was pretty insane here. Never seen anything like it. Anyways my PDay schedule is normal until 1030 then we buy stuff, email and do whatever until 6 when we proselyte again. Today we might just sleep cause we didn’t get much. haha. Thanks for all the advice though! Anyways this week we almost, almost had a baptism yesterday but she decided to wait til next week. Aparecida, and 15 year old girl of a part member family that we are teaching. It was interesting to see how at first she didn’t want to at all but after much testimony bearing and teaching she now wants to! I love seeing the change the gospel can make in people. We found about 11 new possible investigators this week and I will let you know what happens with them next week. About 6 are teenage guys, then some older adults. So in testimony meeting I bore my testimony yesterday! It was super scary because of the language, and super short but I’m still glad I did it and the ward was super nice! Things with the comp are pretty good!! I am learning more Portuguese, but I still have a lot to go. Anyways we got some pretty good work done this week until Saturday. Brazilians really know how to party, they put us to shame I think. They start lighting off fireworks the morning of the 31st and continue all day. All of the businesses shut down and everyone is just partying and usually drinking. I am really proud though because a recent convert that we visit often had a big problem with drinking didn’t drink at all on new years! Anyways another thing is everyone in the city buys fireworks, and these fireworks are mainly meant to make noise. So at midnight it literally sounded like ww3. haha Not a lot of sleep, but it was crazy to see the sky light up, and this wasn’t even near the beach where 2 MILLION people go. Amazing. haha and then yesterday everyone pretty much sleeps and then parties some more at night. We got no work done, but this week will be better. I am definitely starting to love the work and am really excited for when I can speak better. Haha so walking to the bus stop one day some guy comes up to me and gives me a full pineapple!! It was super random but delicious I have to say. Walking through the streets one day I realized how much potential people have, that is thrown away because of sin. Its saddening but only makes me want to work harder. Imagine what it would be like to live with the Nephites in their perfect society after Christ! To have no poor and only righteousness, It makes you just want to try that much harder to be good.  Anyways Thanks so much for all the Love and Advice! I hope you are all having a wonderful 2012! Have a bright hope for the future and make it the best year of your lives!! I love you all so much! Elder Ottosen

Rio at last!

By the mission home in Rio

Okay so I will try to remember all I can to email this week. Number one when we landed last Tuesday it was incredible. We flew right past the beach and the Cristo o Redentor statue. It was absolutely amazing. Then we met our president and drove to the mission house. They president and wife are super nice and I love them, but they are super strict about everything. I guess like a president should be. Anyways from what I saw up to that point Rio was amazingly beautiful, we were really close to the statue and it was incredible. Then we went and met our companions and I went to our area that night. Irajá. But we live in Ramos and have a 45 minute ride to our area every morning. My companion is Elder Carniero, a Brasileiro that speaks basically no English besides for a few words. He is really nice and helping though and with a Brazilian companion my language will improve quickly, though as of now it is still very difficult. He has been in the mission about 7 months. The others in our apartment and district are really cool, Elder Oliver and Elder Connell. I will let you know about others I meet later. Anyways when I heard all the rules and saw the apartment that’s when things got kinda hard.

Haha the apartment is really small, probably 2 of my rooms total. My closet is bigger than the bathroom. hahaha. Anyways I was really freaked out but things are all good now. We really need to make sure to use water filters, but luckily we have a filter on our sink to. The next day we had a baptism! Though I didn’t really have anything to do with it haha. It was an older lady that had been going to church for a year. I will talk more about investigators as I learn more. Most are just ones that my comp had before and we are working with. The biggest thing to get used to is the heat. Today it has rained all day and been mercifully cold. But the rest of the days I think in the 100s with lots of humidity. At night we are lucky if it’s in the high 80s, but you’re so tired it doesn’t matter. haha. They also don’t have dinner here, so we usually have breakfast, me usually oatmeal, then lunch with a member, usually rice beans, meat and a dessert or fruit. And then we can snack when we get home at 9. Also they don’t have milk like we know it in Brazil. Their milk you don’t have to refrigerate, but it tastes really bad. haha. I really like the ward. They are super nice and inviting, even if I don’t understand all the time. Basically things are going good, but I’m still kinda in culture shock. I was expecting more green in Rio. haha. All I see is concrete all day. But you can look up my area on google. It is in the city of Rio, and kinda a more run down area. Yes there are favelas that we can go in and some we can’t. Lots of the younger kids want to hear me speak English sometimes so that is kinda cool.


Anyways it was great hearing from you guys!

All we did yesterday was stay at the members then go home and study because of the murders. I guess they were 5 minutes from the church; people can get kinda crazy with alcohol, which is all people drink during holidays. Party and go to the beach. I don’t want you guys to worry about me though. Tell Paige congrats on the essay. That is absolutely awesome! Today for p-day we had a zone party and played white elephant. I got a bar of soap. hahaha. Let everyone know that I love them! Thanks for your support and help. Anyways I love you all so much and will for sure write more next week and try to send some pictures. Love, Elder Ottosen.

Flying over Rio

Pictures taken at the mission home in Rio

Proselyting for the first time!

Dear Family,  

I am glad that you are doing great things for Christmas!! That really sounds awesome! Hope everyone is enjoying it and enjoying the Christmas season!! Oh so I got the 20 you sent! Thanks so much! And tell Grandpa and whoever else thank you so so much for the support and gifts! I will bring them something back in two years. haha. Oh and I actually did get a letter from Grandma Fitz last week! I sent her a reply today but tell here thanks! I can’t thank all of you guys enough! haha. Hopefully the packages you sent will get there fine, but if not then oh well. haha. Tell Colton, Emily and Jordan congrats!! That is awesome and they won’t regret it a bit!! I’m way happy for the new high school name! That’s awesome! Let me know about the mascot! haha man I hope not 110!! That sounds more like Fortaleza where Rourke is going. But hopefully you guys get snow for Christmas! Oh and with the battery charger my comp actually luckily had an extra so don’t worry about it. I sent back a memory card today, hope you get that soon. I probably won’t get to talk to you again before Christmas but hopefully! I will call you but I don’t know when. Thanks tons for everything though!!! So this past week things were pretty normal until yesterday. We went proselyting in the surrounding neighborhood!! We just did street contacting, but we were given 2 Books or Mormon for each person and 3.5 hours. My companion and I passed out all 4!! It was a really awesome experience! Haha also pretty hard because 90 percent of the people we talked to already had one. But still it gave me lots on confidence! Next Monday we go to downtown Sao Paulo! And then the next day off to Rio! Man I need to remember sunscreen though, it was extremely hot and I got kinda burnt. I am super excited for Rio but almost more nervous than when I left for the first time! Anyways I hope you are all doing wonderful! I love you all so much and remember to have a very merry Christmas!! Love Elder Connor Ottosen!

Departure date for Rio

Oi Oi!!!!

That is crazy that Nick is finally gone! I hope he is having a good time in the MTC! I was able to mail a later to Jake today so hopefully he gets it before he leaves basic. So yeah I leave Tuesday the 20th. It is about a 45 minute plane ride, but besides that I honestly have no idea about skype, calling, or anything in Rio so I will have to let you know as soon as I know!! I am way excited to get there though!!  thanks for all the letters though!! They are awesome to read! But no I haven’t gotten anything with money yet, maybe soon! Tell everyone thank you so so so much for the gifts! I will try to mail them all something soon! Thanks for all the love and support!! So there isn’t a ton to talk about because every day is pretty much the same. haha. Today I did sealings in the Temple though and that was a way cool experience!! Also when I email you next I will have been proselyting once already. We go next Monday in the surrounding neighborhood! I am super nervous for that. So I guess that Sao Paulo won the soccer championship of Brazil or something? Because all Saturday Sunday and Monday we could hear fireworks going on every minute or so and loud music constantly from when i went to bed at 1030 to when i woke up at 5 30. haha crazy!! So I was talking to my teacher and prices for some things are crazy in Brazil!! Like a MacBook pro is around 5000 to 6000 reais. An iphone maybe 800 reais. And Nike shoes start around 200 and can get upwards of 600 reais! Haha some of the American products are extremely expensive! It is crazy!! But besides that I have mostly been studying and learning. I sent a very small Christmas of some candy and something for Kade today. Anyways I hope you all are having a Great Christmas Season! I encourage you to remember Christ in everything we do! Thanks again and you have my Love! Elder Ottosen