FAbio is doing a lot better, the only reason he didnt go to church is cuz he slept through the alarm haha (he has a 8 month old daughter that wakes them up at like 4am) so thats alright. We have been finding tons of families recently which is cool, but most need to get married.. unfortunately the brazillian government doesn´t help out much with that.

BRASIL LOST!!! Haha it was amazing… everyone was so mad. I had been waiting for them to lose to buy cool brasil soccer shirts cheap but the next day i couldnt find ANYTHING. They had put everything away already.. lol. Next world cup will be here in Brazil, that will absolutely be insane.. imagine if they win!

As weird as it is… it still really hasnt hit me that I am going home. Its a super weird feeling and I think it will only hit me when I sit on the plane. These past two years have gone by so fast but so slow. I have met SO many wonderful people here and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be able to help so many. Thankfully I maintained a journal, although I should have written MUCH more often. Sometimes i read past entries and remember things I had totally forgot. This was by far the best thing I have done for myself. My mission saved my life. I wasnt the best missionary and there were definitely times when I could have done more, but the Lord uses the weak to make big things happen. There is a story in the bible, I think the dudes name is Gideon. Anyways he had a huge army and after some tests the Lord selects only 300 people to go against their enemys. The Lord uses 19 year old boys and girls to battle the biggest of all battles. I have been so immensly blessed in these 2 years, i sometimes wonder why. I have an AMAZING family… amazing parents, leaders, education, friends.. etc. And I see people here who have nothing… at all. I have gained much more patience and many other qualities here, most of which I got from my companions. Something I didnt really think about when I left was how hard the mission would be. In these past two years, my mom got sick, my dad lost his job, I got yelled at, made fun of, sick, and so many other crappy things have happened. I walk miles every day talking to strangers making no money at all. I have a habit of telling people “Or I am crazy or I have something really important”. I know that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church on this earth. I know this not because of my parents or because someone told me, but beacause I asked and God told me through the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ lives, and he paid for all our sins. He only asks that we have faith in him, that we repent of our sins, be baptized, receive the gift of the holy ghost, and endure to the end. And thats exactly what I will do and hope everyone else will do. There is NO other way we can return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that the Book of Mormon really is a book of sacred scriptures. I know families can be together forever and I look forward to starting my own. Before my mission… I had no vision of things… its hard to explain but basically now I have a REASON to work… I have a reason to study. I always had a reason, but I never really understood it until now. This truly is the work of God and I am happy I was able to be a part of it. I look forward to the chance to talk to my friends and family about these wonderful things. I invite EVERY 19 year old boy and 21 year old girl to talk to your bishop and send in your mission papers. It is hands down the best descision you can make as a young adult. Forget your friends and the worldy things. They will wait for you as you dedicate yourselves to serving the Lord for 2 (or 1.5) years. I love you all so much, and I am so excited to be able to see you all again. Once again, I thank everyone for the emails, letters, and packages. I tried to always respond right away but sometimes I couldnt get around to it and for that I apologize. Have a wonderful week and see you soon!!

Love ,
Elder Parker Boyack

As for the work its going…. slow. When i got sick i had to stay home (it was the first time i had barfed in like 6 years!!!) so that really made things harder. Things are picking up but we had something really sad happen with Fabio. He was doing SO great and we were going to mark a baptismal date with him but our bishop totally blew it… I wont go into details but to all those reading, a bishop has NO authority to interview investigators. Unfortuantely ours didnt know that and said some things that Fabio didnt like too much in the interview and now he wants nothing to do with the church…. i almost cried and poor Kelly (his future wife) was crying all week. Needless to say the bishop of this ward is famous for being an idiot… im just trying to have patience for two more weeks

The world cup here is CRAZY. Our bairro (neighborhood) is the worst. If brazil wins, im staying inside lol. I was totally rooting for usa but they dont play soccer very well and didnt make it too far. The bishops son came up to me after USA lost and said “Elder, seeing as how you are going home soon you might as well hitch a ride with the USA soccer team!” haha I almost punched him. Please pray for me… i need it. Satan really works hard on you at the end and its annoying. I love you all and appriciate your support. Have a great week!! Be a missionary!!

Elder Boyack

ps next week i write my last email…. HOLY COW.

Yesterday Brazil had their first world cup game. It was insane, these people are nuts haha. I am going to try to send video of the chaos that was going down here in Curitiba. Our “bairro (naighborhood)” is one of the most dangerous so I was not too excited about goin out in the street after they won. Imagine how it will be if Brazil wins the world cup… absolute craziness. But all of you americans, you better support the best team, USA!! Haha everyonemakes fun of me here but I am postive we will win. For those who dont know, we tied with England 1-1 our first game and we will be playing a few these next few days. So turn on your tvs and root for them!!

I gave a talk this past Sunday on love. IT was really good and Fabio really liked it. He is doing good but he is working a TON. We are trying to keep going strong with him but its being difficult.

On Sunday the whole mission choir took a bus to a city in the interior called Ponta Grossa. We did our last performance there and it was funny cuz the assistants forgot our music folders, but by then we had everything memorized. It went very well and afterwards president gave us a cool cd/dvd set of the performances.

Well sorry its so short this week but we gotta run. I love you all and cant wait to see you! I have less than a month!!! How crazy is that.. time is flyng by and I am so excited. Have a great week!!!

Other than that things are going fine. Thanks for all the emails and I hope you all have a great week. I love you all!

Elder Boyack

ps i promise next week I will write more and send pictures!! hooray!

I am here in COLD, RAINY Curitiba! Do you know what today is? Thats right its the first day of my last transfer!! (At this moment Im sure my parents are jumping with joy lol). Haha Elder Coats will board a plane in 4 hours to the good ol USA. I am going to miss that guy. I sure learned a lot with him and look forward to seeing him again after the mission. He is at Presidents house right now eating his last lunch.

Fabio gave us a ride to the chapel in his SWEET civic and took me and my new comp back home. Fabio is doing great, President went up to him after the transfers meeting and asked “Are you baptized yet?!” then when he found out no he said “Well when are you going to get baptized?” Fabio replied saying, “Very soon”. So we are just going to keep going firm with him and I am positive in these next few weeks you will get to hear about how amazing it was

My new comp is Elder Gomes (Pronouced GOH-mez) from FORTALEZA, CEARÀ! Thats right Ryan, I got me a nordestino lol. He is a really cool guy that I sang with in the Choir. He Turned ZL so I am excited to train him. We are going to have an amazing transfer. This transfer will FLY by, we have so many things happening, especially getting the new president. All missionaries (especially the RM´s) will know what I mean when I say its an unreal feeling to know I am going home. I have 6 weeks, which is still a TON of time, dá para batizar MUITAS pessoas But it sure is weird being the OLDEST zone leader and the OLDEST missionary… crazy stuff.

Well aside from all that not much has been going on… lol. The work was slowing down but now its going to EXPLODE!! I am so stoked, my goal is to baptize EVERY week this transfer.. its gunna be hard but it is defeinitely possible. SPEAKING of baptisms, our mission hit a record this past month! 201PEOPLE were baptized in May! Our record before was 170 something people in one month, so things are going well. President is going out with a bang.

Well thats about it for now. I hope you all have a good week a look forward to hearing from you all soon. I love you!

Elder BOYACK

Well I wanted to tell you a little about Josué. I am not sure if I told you all how we found him but just in case I will tell his story again. Josué was working with a very old man (he is a temple worker) and the man told him to look for two boys in white shirts and ties walking on the street. One sunny day me and Elder Coats were walking by his house and he remembered what the old man had said and stopped us. About two months later he was baptized. BROTHERS AND SISTERS, all that old man did was open his mouth. He saved a mans life by telling him one simple thing. Never forget how much an influence we can have on people. As the Lord tells us in Doctrine and Convenants, we must open our mouths!! That is the only way we will be able to help people to find the truth.

also I wanted to tell you about irmão alberto. (Irmão = Brother) So Alberto was always active in the church, im pretty sure at one time he was a counselor in the bishopbric. He got a new job which unfortunately meant he had to work on Sundays. He thought he would be able to handle it but slowly he drifted away from the church. All members (even the bishop) had lost hope. We had nothing to do one rainy night so we decided to visit him. It seemed as if no one was at home but we kept knocking and finally Alberto answered and hesitantly (sp?) let us in. We talked for a while and said a prayer and when we were about to go the rain got really bad. We stayed for a little longer and ended up watching the Restoration film. We left and he even let us borrow him umbrella which we brought back the next day. That Sunday, after 20 YEARS of being inactive, alberto came to church. He was a little lost but the members received him well. This past Sunday, he went a 2nd time and was even saying how he needs to get a new suit. After, one small and simple visit, he came back to church. That is why we must forget ourselves and help others. I cant wait to be able to have families to visit to help them. Those of you that have such assignments, I hope you really understand the importance of those visits.

On a more trunky note, I got my ligação do mal yesterday!!! Thats the call you get from the secretary asking which airport you are going to fly home to!! Haha I about fell of the couch. Of course I told him San Diego, the BEST place on earth. My comp is busy writing his LAST letter home. We painted the house this morning cuz President is coming to every house for inspections/interviews. NExt week we have transfers and I am excited to see who my LAST comp will be!!

OH yeah I almost forgot! We had our LAST zone conference with President Araujo. He is the man. He talked a lot about faith (as always, exactly what I was needing to hear) and he even talked about the new president. HE opened up a question/answer session and it was way cool. I am so old… 1 year and 10 months. Its funny how with such little time I still feel like I have a lot of time left. There are so many weird emotions and feelings on the mish. This Friday I will have my last interview with PRez and I am way excited. I am also excited to meet the new Prez, especially cuz 14 days after that I will be getting home HAHA but don´t worry, im still working hard. The sun finally decided to come out after a few days of clouds and rain, which always sucks when you are a missionary. We are working with some really good people. The other day a girl stopped us on the street and asked if we could go to her house again to teach her. Turns out some missionaries had been going there and stopped cuz she had no time. She told us she wants to get baptized before she has her baby (Which is due in two months), can I say, I LOVE BRASIL!!!! Haha well I hope you all have a wonderful week. Keep praying for Fabio and go tell everyone about the restored gospel!!

Love,
Elder Boyack

Elder Coats (my comp) is doing good. He only has 14 days left!! TWO WEEKS! Haha today the whole mission choir got to eat at a nice restaurant and all the old dudes sat by prez and we were talking trunky (he goes home July 1st) it was really funny. Prez was telling us about the new mission president, he sounds like a really cool guy, I am excited to meet him. BUT, thankfully I got to spend 1 year and 11.5 months with one of the best mission presidents EVER. We had our last performance as a mission choir on Sunday, it was awesome!! We even did a sweet recording session Sat Morning and we should be getting some nice cd´s. It was an amazing experience but Im sure glad its over haha.

Well to be honest I forgot to write down any cool things that happen, and when I dont everything becomes a blur. I will try harder this week to fill you all in on whats goin down in Curitiba, Brasil. I hope you all have a good week and look forward to hearing from you all! God be with you till I write again

Elder Parker Boyack

I broke 1 more record yesterday! I taught the most lessons in one day, but im not going to tell you how many, it was alot haha. We are working our butts off. Yesterday I did a division with my old area, Jardim do Sol. It was very cool and me and Elder Andes (brazillian) had a good time. I went to a dudes house that i taught when I was there and his wife (who was a WITCH when I was teaching him) ended up being baptized! Goes to show we never know who is ready. So over this past year he has really come to know the members and the church. He doesnt like the fact that the brother who is assigned to visit him DOESNT do anything. He considers it a sacred resposability and was mad how many people talk the talk but few walk the walk. So as he was complaining I was like “Vaginor, who are YOU visiting!?” Haha he was so busy going off about the members but he himself doesnt do anything! Then he was like “but im not a member” then i said “so what?! doesnt mean you cant visit anyone!” so he got all excited and said he is going to visit all the members haha. I read alma 7 with him and told him to forget everything and put it aside. He knows its true and he is to busy looking at others problems when he himself needs to solve his own problems and get BAPTIZED! It was a very cool lesson

Well asides that nothing much else happened. Things are going good here. My time is rapidly dwindling. I am going crazy!! haha but dont worry I will be fine and come back a nice handsome RM (as my mom says). I love you all. I love this church. I love my companion and my mission President. I love my Savior. I wish you all a wonderful week with lots of missionary experiences!!!

Love,
Elder Boyack

We also had a miracle yesterday. We are teaching this dude called Fabio. I think I talked about him in my last email. Anyways he is VERY intelligent and has a great life. He is VERY interested in the church and loves watching the movies and reading about it He had already expressed his concern to us that he doesnt have faith in God or Jesus Christ and he understands Joseph Smiths story but cant bring himself to beleive in it. He at least has a DESIRE (alma 32) to beleive and so we are working with that. We watched the “Finding Faith in Christ” movie yesterday and we marked a baptismal date with him! After about 2 months of contact he has never gone to church so we told him he HAS to go to be able to get at answer. He also never prayed about these things so we told him he must do that. He was super excited and smiling and I am way excited as well. PLEASE pray for Fabio, he is an amazing person and will be an apostle one day lol.

Elder Coats will be going home soon (June 2nd). Its so crazy to be near the end.. I am going somewhat crazy lol. But the only thing I really know now is to work so thats all can I do. Our goal for this month is 5 baptisms and we WILL reach it. Oh yeah this week we had the 2nd musical fireside thing, it was ok.. the 1st one was definitely MUCH better. There were some microphone problems and the choir barely was able to practice anything but we still have two more to go so I am hoping they will be better. Sorry my email is somewhat short/unorganized, my brain isn´t working very well today. I hope you all have an excellent week! Falou!!

Elder Parker Boyack

Love,
Elder Parker Boyack