Olá!

Everything is good here is Curitiba land (pronounced Kur-i-chee-buh). It had been crazy weather here. Earlier this week me and Elder Boswell were walking down a dirt road in our short sleeve shirts and it just started POURING. Luckily none of us brought an umbrella, so we stood under a tree. Then he turned to me and said, “if you were the prophet, what would you do in this situation?” So I said “keep working!!”. It was really fun and we just kept visiting people and contacting even though we were soaked.

On Monday we had an interview with Presidente Araújo. Mine went GREAT and my Portuguese was dead on. He was really impressed  He is a VERY powerful guy, just hearing him pray was awesome. So he got us pumped up, and we are going to have a VERY good month in November!

Well our wonderful investigator Marilda (who came to church without even being taught a thing!) is doing great. We taught her the 1st and 2nd lessons and they went great. She had a lot of questions, and had some doubts about joseph smith (they say his name like zhoseph esmeetch haha) but we had a family home evening at the relief society presidents house and watched the restoration DVD and it went GREAT. We have another lesson with her tonight and we are going to challenge her to baptism. Should go well 

So me and Elder Boswell have been livin large. We had a churrasco two night this week (bbq) and one night a HUUUUGE thunderstorm came in and it was hilarious. I was crazy windy and there was lightning everywhere and we were out side bbq’in. Yesterday we bought tons of sandwhich makins and made sanwhiches. They are soooo good!. Man I am loving the food, and haven’t gained a kilo! (2 pounds)

We talked with Presidente about Mr Clouse (the kraft president guy) and he said we could go back but we have to teach the first lesson. So we called him up and he was really excited to have us over again. He is a really cool guy. It will be a great lesson, and really fun to do in English 

So we were in the process of doing to marriages. And I gotta tell you it is the most annoying thing, takes sooooooooo long! And so we were visiting one of the couples the other day and the wife (16 years old with 2 kids!! Eesh) and she said they were going to move the next day, to a place in the middle of nowhere with no bus, or even mail. So we were NOT happy. But everything happens for a reason, she reads the BOM every day so that’s great. We went to the cartorio for the other marriage and got things moving along. They will get married at the end of November and baptized too! Man they are such an awesome family.

So we went to visit one of elder Boswells street contacts. And we get to the gate and see huge piles of garbage everywhere. Not like stinky gross stuff, but like cardboard, toys, anything… so we went in their house and taught them. CUTEST little girl I have seen in brazil, and quiet, which is always nice They really loved our message and accepted all the commitments, I even challenged them to be baptized and they said yes! But we don’t think they are married so we might have to go through that process, yippee. Pedro, the father, was SWEET.

So a few days ago, I think Sunday night, we were walking down the road and stopped to talk to this old  guy and his little kid. The guys name was Tony and the kid Tiago (james). So he invited us to go to their house, right then, and talk more! IT was cool but you could tell they are really catholic so I thought they just wanted to bible bash. But we set up another time and went over. It went really well then Tony started talking about how the little boy and his sister our really afraid at night and he wanted us to give them a blessing. So then when we asked the girl if she wanted one, she said “we don’t need one, he does!!” It ended up being him having a huuuuge drinking problem so we gave him a blessing to help him stop and we are going to work with him. The little kid, Tiago, is studying to become a padre Haha we are going to turn him into a missionary!! So we are going over Sunday, we will see how that goes.

Well that’s all for this week. I am having tons of fun, lovin the food, the people, my comp, and the work. It was hard at first but now I love being a missionary! Everyone please help the missionaries in your ward, it is 1 MILLION times easier with the members help. Remember we are God’s children, and he loves each one of us. That really helps me out sometimes. Well, talk to you next week!

Elder Boyack

p.s. send all letters and packages to the mission office.
I cannot remember the address, but its something like:
Praça Joseph Smith, Portão, etc. thanks!

Queridos Amigos, Familia, e alguma outra pessoa que está lendo isso,

Yo! Things are great here. Lots and lots of work but I am really loving it. You don’t really comprehend what people mean by it was the hardest two years of my life till you are actually doing it! Me and my comp. Elder Boswell have been trying to get a lot of new investigators and we are doing pretty well. We had 2 families at church (the two we are marrying and baptizing, just waiting for the documents) and one new investigator, Marilda. She is awesome! She is the daughter of Valdica, the big black lady we are teaching. Valdica told us to go visit her and we went on Saturday to mark a date where we could come back, she was REALLY nice and invited us in. We mentioned church on Sunday and she said she wanted to go! So we picked her and her son up and they loved it! So cool. We taught her the first lesson yesterday and it went really well. She really likes the youth and relief society programs.

So today was the mission Olympics. There was soccer, basketball, chess, ping pong, and volleyball. I was nominated to play chess haha. I had an INTENSE (never though chess could be so intense) first game and won, but the next round I lost.. haha it was fun though. Our whole zone got these cool blue jerseys. One kid got a concussion playing soccer and another tore something in his knee playing basketball, pretty intense!

SO, a couple stories. My comps dad is waaay high up in the Kraft company (think mac and cheese). So he is good friends with the president of Kraft Brazil who is some young American guy with a couple of kids and speaks barely no portuguese! So we called him up and set up dinner at his house, he was (and we REALLY were) excited. So Friday night around 5 his driver pulls up to pick us up! He was really cool. So we go to their house (we had permission from the mission president) and it was sooooo nice. They had a pool (NO ONE has pools here) and tons of sweet stuff, including a macbook and apple tv Anyways they are a really cool family, and Mrs. Clouse (the wife) made amazing American food, including her homemade bbq chicken. We had tons of fun and watched finding faith in Christ then bore our testimonies about Jesus Christ. It was awesome and they really want us to come back. So we are going to see if we can go back one more time and teach them the message of the restoration. They gave us a bag of treats, including Pringles and rice krispy treats!! We are livin the good life.

Last night we were at Ezequiel and Jandiras house. They are getting married and baptized. I LOVE that family! They have three boys and one little girl. Already from keeping to commandments and going to church you can see how they are being so blessed. So Jandiras father walks in and he is WAAASted drunk. He talked to us for about an hour about how he can get blessings from God and have peace in his home. It was hilarious, luckily I held in my laughter. I felt REALLY bad for the kids though.. could you imagine that guy being your grandpa! (Thanks grandpa for being a good example!) But we said a prayer with him and he finally left and we taught a really good lesson.

I am doing really well with the language, and really starting to get the hang of things. Being on a mission is great, and I am glad I made the choice to serve. I have really been thinking a lot about how insanely blessed I have been. I have a great family, awesome house, amazing friends, and all throughout my youth I had an amazing ward with sweet leaders. Not to mention being born in the church! I am so grateful for everything I have, and I want to thank EVERYONE who has helped me to get where I am today. Help the missionaries, Joseph Smith said there is no other more important work than missionary work. It starts with a desire. You need first a firm testimony, then love for the people. As Moroni said, you can pray for this love. Then once you have those, you will have no problem sharing the gospel. Keep up the good work and thanks for all your support!

Love, Elder Boyack

Address:
(this is the mission office)
Elder Parker Boyack
Praça Joseph Smith
Portão – Curitiba – PR
80610-210
BRAZIL

Dearest Friends, Family, and other people,

Well this week flew by. It has been getting hotter which has it’s good and bad parts. Last night we had a freak thunderstorm, and somehow my comp slept through it. I woke up at 2 in the morning and watched the lighting for an hour. It’s really cool looking here. My allergies have been really bad. I’m not really sure why. So I got some prescription meds from the pharmacy and they worked the first night but aren’t working anymore. It’s really frustrating and hard to work when you are sneezing and your nose is dripping..

For a few days the past week our electricity was acting up, then one morning (while I was taking my shower) it shut off! So we finally got a member to come check it out and when we went out to the power box one of the wires had fell out! So we shoved it back in and everything works great. I LOVE electricity! There are no dryers here so if you dry clothes you have to put them on the lines. Also there are no water heaters except for a little dinky one on top of the shower head which works surprisingly very well. But water and electricity don’t mix very well so showers are quite entertaining

This week we challenged a girl we have been working with to baptism and she accepted! We are really happy. She promised she would come to church, but never came. We should have had like 10 investigators at church but not one came. My comp said this is the first time it has every happened to him. But our bishop moved and we got a brand new one, he is only 23! He was the gospel doctrine teacher. We are REALLY excited and we are going to work very closely with him. Our ward is amazing. We always get guys to go on splits with us and they are all returned missionaries. People sometimes get sick of having the missionaries over so much so its really nice to have a member they can connect with.

So we have been trying to get some new investigators and we were looking though our area book. We found Mariza (20’s, getting married (which is weird cuz no one does!) and has a kid. She is NOT living with her husband which is sweet, then her mom Valdica (big black lady who loooooves to talk and feeds us every time. So some how the missionaries stopped visiting them a few months ago. So we went and visited and re-taught the first lesson. It went VERY well and when we came back only Valdica was there but she said Mariza was reading the Book of Mormon with her husband and Valdica was listening! So cool. We are going to get them to church, even if I have to drag them there.. haha. We also have two families who know everything is true and want to get baptized but they aren’t married so we have to wait 20 more days till the papers come… very frustrating.

So this Monday me and my comp got these cool discount tickets for any restaurant. So we went to Subway! It was AMAZING. I am eating the best food here. We get pizza like once a week and its soo good. We always have a pday eve party and last night we made breakfast for dinner. Fresh squeezed pineapple/orange juice, ommlets, and bacon! It was amazing.

I am having fun and really learning a lot. It’s hard work but I love it. It is so cool to see people change their lives for the better. Speaking of which there is a member in our ward, Pancho. He hasn’t been going to church so we visited him and he said he has been sick and will come back. So we knew he had some weird history, so we asked him. Turns out he lived in Chile and was an ASSASSIN. He told us all these crazy stories about bombs, people chasing/protecting him, eating a dog, crazy stuff.

Any ways that’s all I’m up to. Thanks for all your support, I love you all!

ELDER BOYACK

Address:

Rua Luis Peligrino Toaldo 200 Casa 2
Santa Feli

Hello everyone!

Well I have been doing pretty good. This past week went by pretty fast. The main part would have to be conference. My comp. Elder Boswell said conference is like Disneyland haha. We bought some candy and got our own little room for all the missionaries and we watched it in English which is soooo much better! I really enjoyed it all especially Jeffrey R. Hollands talk on angels, so cool. We have a family that has been coming to church and they really liked conference so that was cool. Throughout the week we got like 15 people to say they would come but only that one family came, kind of frustrating.

We had a big storm the past week and it was cool/not so cool. We got soaking wet but I love the rain so we tried to just enjoy it and not let it get us discouraged. It was the first time I got to use my sweet trench coat so that was cool haha. I finally bought a sweater, it is purple haha. The weather is so weird here.. yesterday it was really hot and now its really cold. Makes it interesting!

So sometimes the irmãs give us money for lunch and we had the rare occasion of getting money on Monday which is when we have district meeting!! So were were downtown and so we ran over to the pizza hut. It was AMAZING. Speaking of American food, my comps dad is like the CFO or something of Kraft foods and he is really good friends with the guy who is the president of Kraft Brazil (he is American and doesn’t speak a word of Portuguese, its hilarious). Anways so today we talked with him and he wants us to come to his house to have dinner! We got the mission presidents approval cuz its out of our area so that will go down next Friday. We are so excited!! It will be cool cuz after dinner we will teach them the first lesson, in english  he has a nice family so it should be good.

The work is going good. We are finding lots of people and are plently busy. The people here are so nice and everyone invites you in and listens. We have been working on trying to get some new investigators cuz most of ours aren’t progressing. We have a few AWESOME families that are just waiting for their marriages to go through so we are just trying to continually visit them and keep them happy.

So all of your homework for the month: Men, GO ON SPLITS! Lessons are a million times better with a member, plus the investigator has someone to connect with. It’s inconvenient I know but when you are being judged, the Lord won’t care. Sacrifice your time!! EVERYONE, give referrals. Man I wish I could rewind back in time, I have like 10 people I would send the missionaries to. It is really hard and you are not sure what might happen or they might get mad at you. Just do it because you love them. Members can help increase missionary work success by unbelievable amounts, so get working! Thanks everyone for all your support. I am doing great and know I love you all. You can mail letters and packages to (Rua Luis Peligrino Toaldo 200 SOB 02 / Santa Felicidade / 82320-270 Curitiba – PR / BRAZIL) THANKS!!

Love,
Elder Boyack

Querido Familia e Amigos,

Well this week was awesome. It started off pretty rough cuz my feet were KILLING me. It was soo much walking. Plus we never got in any houses to teach lessons.. but I started to feel a lot better, and I took some Tylenol and my feet stopped hurting. We started teaching more lessons and getting new investigators. We confirmed a 9 year old boy in church who was baptized the previous week. His parents can’t get baptized yet cuz they aren’t married. We have so many people lined up for baptism but NO ONE is married here so we have to get them all married haha. Plus it takes 40 days for everything to go through so that is pretty tough.

I was a little apprehensive at first doing contacts but on Sunday you have to do all the contacts you never did during the week (15 a day) So I did 50 contacts and it boosted my spirits. The people here are really nice and always listen. I got my first address! I was feeling really good about some guy I was talking with so I asked him for his address so we can stop by and teach him more. He was really nice.

My companion is Elder Boswell. He is from Chicago and is younger then me! So weird. He went to byu for just fall semester so we talk about byu a lot. We get along great and he is a good teacher. He REALLY wants to be an orthodontist which I think is pretty funny haha.

My area is HUGE. We have the city of campo magro plus the neighborhoods of curitiba: Santa Felicidade, Butiatuvinha, and some other ones I cant remember. We have one big ward called ala(ward) felicidade. Its cold in the morning and hot in the after noon then cold at night, but I am getting used to it. Today is was POURING and there was lightning everywhere.. pretty cool, except im soaking wet. So we went home dried off and ate some pizza for lunch.

I am living in a condo with 2 other missionaries. It is really big and we always have tons of food. My bed is great and I am sleeping ok. Just like the mtc it takes me about a week to get accustomed to everything and get comfortable.

For breakfast I usually have a banana and some granola, then we have lunch with members every day except pday. They feed you SO much and it’s always so good. I loooove rice haha. Then dinner we will do whatever we are feeling. Last night we got a pizza and it was so good. Some nights we have top ramen. This morning (some lady gave us a huge bag of oranges) me and my comp made a ton of orange juice. So good.

We have taught a lot of lessons. Mostly the 1st one. But usually we just leave a small message about the importance of prayer, scriptures, etc. people here work a LOT so we can’t just stop by we have to schedule everything. Usually we will plan out lessons for the whole day but half will fall through so we visit other people, go tracting at the bus terminal, or just go around asking people if we can teach them.

I really got thinking why I came out here. The first couple days were rough. But I started trying hard and just kept working and everything got better. I am really doing good and having fun. My comp is hilarious and we tell stories to each other but I try to do them in Portuguese to practice. Keep sending letters and send packages to the curitiba mission home address. Thanks for all your help and prayers. Keep up the good work and HELP YOUR MISSIONARIES. Go on splits and give them contacts! Man I was an idiot before I left and wish I knew then what I know now. A lesson with a member present is a million times better. Tchau Tchau!!

Love,
Elder Boyack