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