Hello all from CRAZY THUNDERSTORM Curitiba!! Thats right, as we speak the heavens have opened and its raining cats and dogs. Unfortuantely, I did not bring an umbrella. So the forcast is a soaking wet Elder Boyack with a chance of wet clothing on the line that was out to dry. I LOVE THE MISSION! It never gets old

This week was spectacular. We had a baptism from a girl called Emily. She is a friend of a recent convert and loves the church. Unfortuately her family has tons of problems but we are helping them too. Tonight we are going to have a family home evening with all of them and it will be ACE (as says Jergy lol). This area has lots of difficulties, but we are being positive and doing our part. We are also having some difficulties with a few missionaries and companionships in the zone, but we really got everything out in the open and Prez is helping us out alot. Its sad when there are missionaries that really just dONT want to work, very sad.

This week I had ana amazing experience. I was on a division with an Elder from our zone, and it was about 7pm. There werent any more marked appointments and we were heading to another persons house. I felt a strong impression to knock (here you go up to the gate and clap) on a certain door and when I did a woman came out and let us in! There lives her, her husband, and two daughters. The husband suffered two strokes a year or two ago and has some trouble spaeking and moving but he manages very well and can understand perfectly. We gave the message of the restoration and it was amazing! There was a strong spirit there and they all felt it. They accepted EVERYTHING even baptism! The guy was so awesome, repeatedly saying “I am going to read this book” and “I WILL go to church”. We are going back today at 6 so those who read this in time PLEASE pray for everytyhing to go well! His name is Laerte hers is Lídia.

HAha mom you are always worried about what I study, DO NOT WORRY. Unfortuantely i am STILL in the Old tEstament, but almost finishing. I am also reading the manual “teaching, there is no bettter calling” or something like that, VERY good stuff. I gave a talk this sunday and burned everyone haha it was awesome. I did a MLK (MArtin Luther King) style talk and started out with “I, have a dream!” Then i told them how it is my sincere desire to FILL that chapel (the frequency is always very low). I told them how us missionaires CANNOT do it alone. We NEED the help of the members. So it was great, now I am just waiting for some refrences

Anyways thats all for now. Keep praying for me and our investigators please. I wish you all a prosperous week and look forward to hearing from ALL of you, yes, that means you!!

Love,
Elder Boyack

Man sometimes I am just amazed at how blessed I am as a missionary. Samuel Smith (the first mormon missionary) had NOTHING. I have a cell phone, sweet email, amazing house, and many other conviniences, not to mention Preach MY Gospel. Yet somehow the old school missionaries managed to baptize hundreds of people.. maybe technology isn´t so good haha.

Anwyays things are great here in the Curitiba mission. We have an easter choir practice going and it is SO cool. There is a small group that will sing “This is the Chirst” and I was chosen!! I am way stoked. The weather has been great, a little wet but i prefer to be wet then for it to be humid!!

Our teaching pool is going ok. We have a girl marked to be baptized this Saturday and she is awesome. She is still unsure about baptism but its mainly cuz her whole family is messed up and she realizes it wont be easy to be an only member in the family. Luckily she has a freind next door that is an active family which helps out alot. We have been finding some good people but the people here are a little more difficult. Lots of craziness.. the churches here are nuts. I will have to send you guys some pics of the churches here haha they are huge.
I am getting along VERY well with my comp. He is a really cool guy and works hard. He has a little trouble when it comes to leadership, as in he doesn´t have much patience with the missionaries. I am helping him and he is helping me. I really hope we get to stay together at least one more transfer.

Well i spent to much time setting up this email and other stuff so i promise I will write more next week. But before I go I wanted to let you in on something I read when I was studying this week. I was reading “Truth Restored” by Gordon B. Hinckley I think.. and there was an amazing part about when everyone in Nauvoo was sick. If you have seen “Jospeh Smith: The PRophet of the Restoration” you will know what I am talking about. Joseph, himself being sick, stood up and began to heal everyone. In the story there was even a certain point where he when to a group of people by the river and commanded them to all be healed, and they all immidiately recovered. There was a certain man that was on the edge of death, the Joseph healed him and the man “lept” out of his bed, ate a little food, then left his house with Jospeh and the others. THAT DUDE WAS DYING!!! Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God, and he did NOTHING by his own power, but through Jesus Christ. I testify that he restored to true church in our days and that Thomas S. Monson is his sucessor.

Unitl NEXT Week,
Elder Boyack

Dear Whoever is reading this,

Hello from Curitiba! MAN its great to be able to say that. It was pretty sunny but NOTHING like PAranaguá. BUT it has already cooled off and even rained all day. Today was the first time I have put on a long sleeve shirt in MONTHS!!! I love it! My comp is GREAT. His name is Elder Rossi and he is from the Capitol of Brasil called Brasília. He is probably one of my favorite brazillian comps. I was getting a haircut today and just couldn’t stop laughing because of what a crazy dude he is. The lady cutting my hair thought I was ticklish haha.

My area is pretty interesting. Our chapel is being remodeled so we are meeting in my old wards chapel, MAN was it cool to see how STRONG that ward is! All the people I baptized are FIRMEZÃO and doin great. Lots of people moved in the ward and no one has left. Their frequency (or # of people in the meeting) was about 110. OURS was FOURTY TWO. It was… empty. I have been finding out bit by bit the problems haha but the Lord has been helping me to stay excited and positive. Lots of people left or stopped going because of the bishop, as well as the remodel. We have found lots of “apostasy” and scheduled an emergency meeting with the bispo to get every thing at least running smoothly. He is really excited to help us out and wants to work, he just doesn´t know what to do haha. I walked a TON yesterday looking up inactives and really got to know the area. I am really excited because I can see so much potential in these neighborhoods, we just have to FIND these people who are waiting!!

So I heard a cool idea for all you members. There was a ward here where the scheduled a 40 day fast for missionary work. Every day a member fasted so the missionary work in the ward would progress and that he could be an instrument in the Lords hands to help his children. When talking to the missionary who gave me this idea he said he came into the area right when they started and he said he didn’t do ANYTHING, all he did was baptize. He recognized that it was the power of the members. So to keep track they had a 40 piece puzzle and when a member did his fast he put in his piece. It is a very cool idea and I challenge you ALL to put that into practice in your wards! Miracles DO exist!

Well I have officially reached that stage. When people ask how much time I have I tell them (usually) 1 year and a little bit. But when I tell them how much time I really have they always say “aw man you are almost done then!!” man it is the WORST thing. Haha but the members here are great. There are two AMAZING rapazes (young men) and a great recent convert. One big problem about Brasil is very few people do their visits. So this lady and one of the rapazes go out and visit all the old ladys! How awesome is that! So we will work with them a LOT to lift this ward and do some WORK!

This is the true church of Jesus Christ, and I testify Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is true and was written by ancient prophets here in the Americas. I know I am doing the Lords work, and YOU ALL CAN TOO. We have such an ENOURMOUS blessing in our lives and we would be selfish Hippocrates to not share it with others. Maginify your callings, go visit your designated families, and share the gospel. If you do this you will be happy, and have the spirit. Have a spectacular week and I will talk to you all next Wednesday!

Love,
Elder Boyack

Hello Everyone!!

Well well well i was TRAAANNSFERRED! I was very happy to leave especially because my next area and comp are awesome. I am back in the Jardim do Sol stake, my second area was the jardim do sol ward. Now I am a ZL in the Parigot de Souza ward. And whats cool is they are building a new chapel here so my ward meets in the same building as my old ward! How cool is that?

My comp is Elder Rossi from Brasília, the capitol of Brazil. He is a VERY cool guy and we get along great. We cleaned the whole house already (it was a MESS) and I must say it’s a NICE house. I love being back in Curitiba!! It is so nice here. The mission has a new assistant and a new secretary which is nice because the mission was needing some big changes.

Well to be honest there isn’t much more to talk about. Unfortunately we didn’t have any baptisms this past week but I am positive we will have many in my new area. The beat the record in December in this stake with 20 baptisms! I will just have to get up to 25

I promise next week I will write more about my new area, companion, and our investigators. Have a great week and I look forward to getting tons of letters and packages from you all!!

Love,
Elder Boyack