Well one more week of TRANSFERS!! And guess what? Im the new assistant! HAha just kidding I would never want to be anyways… so much work! I am actually staying one more in Parigot de Souza and I will be sending Elder Coats home! This is his last transfer then after he goes home it will be my turn I wanted to stay so bad because I love my companion and my area.

This past week was.. terrible. I dont know what happened haha. But dont worry things are getting better. The weather is fine.. a little warm. Our teaching group got pretty small but we have some good people. This past week we had an amazing baptism. We baptized a boy and a girl after conference, then that night we marked a baptismal date with their sister, Bruna. She has always been a little “mole” in other words she never really listens to the messages or goes to church. She had been receving lessons from the Jehova Witnesses and had been going to their church and she didnt want to mix things up. But we worked hard and got her prepared. When we were preparing her for the baptismal interview, the Jehova Witnesses came to the door! It was a super akward experience but we just finished with a prayer (bruna did it and then left. She was undecided until Saturday when she finally made the (best) decision (of her life) and then was baptized on Sunday, it was awesome and I got to baptize her. Now her mom is talking about getting baptized and will proabably be baptized a the beginning of May.

OH YEAH!! PARABÉNS to my brother Tanner who is going to CUERNAVACA, MEXICO!!! He will be speaking spanish of course, which we all know isnt as cool at portuguese lol. It willbe cool to give him all my “advice” before he goes out on 9/1/2010. On Sunday I gave a talk about the signs of the second coming of Christ and how we need to prepare ourselves and others. I tied it in perfectly with missionary work. I think the scripture that tells it the best is DandC 88:81 (i think) which says that he who is warned must WARN HIS NEIGHBOR. So i told them “Brethren, you have just been warned. Now it is your responsability to warn others”. It was really cool This Sunday we will have a special multistake fireside where the choir will preform. It will be the first of 4. Rumor is Jeffrey R. Holland will be there… that would be tight!!
Well thats about it, sorry my life is not as exciting as others haha but I am doing good and helathy and thats all that matters. Have a wonderful week and SEND ME LETTERS! I am have withdrawls haha. I love you all.

Elder PArker JOel Boyack

ps i promise next week i will send pics

WOW!! Is it just me or does every week go by faster? Today we went to the house of the Lord, aka the Temple!! It was such an amazing experience. It has been MONTHS since I have gone and really needed that spiritual boost. Afterwards we had a district activity at pizza hut but when we got there it was closed but we found a Subway real close so that was nice haha.

Today is the last pday of the transfer, so it is possible that next week I will be emailing you all from somewhere else! I highly doubt it though seeing as how I only have two transfers here. My comp will be dying this next transfer, so it is probable that I will stay here and kill him then another missionary will come in and kill me!! That would be awesome, I would love to die in this area. We had a realignment in the boudaries and our ward gained 17 active members!! So that will REALLY help us out.

On Monday we had zone conference, which went very well. The assistant Elder Henrie is going home this transfer and gave a VERY powerful talk. I am curious to find out who the new assistant will be. Ever since I passed in the office I have never wanted to be an assistant haha man that would be NUTS. Talk about stress and loss of sleep!! Poor guys are always dead tired but have to ALWAYS be alert and excited for the other missionaries. Me and Elder Coats are DOING WORK here in the Parigot de Souza ward. I broke 4 more of my persoal records this past week, and I am fighting to break more!

We fighted hard to get a baptism but nothing came up this past week. We had two the past week after the Sunday morning of General conference and I am happy to report they are doing VERY well! Thanks to the help from the members… AND, we will be baptizing their sister this week! She is already going to seminary and LOVING it. After this week we have no one FIRM that will be baptized, but thats what we are working for!! PLEASE pray for us and for our investigators.

Well im not sure what else to say.. things are going well, I am healthy, and thats about it! once again thanks for your prayers and support. Have a wonderful week!!

Elder Parker Boyack

HELLO EVERYONE!!

Man to be honest I am getting a little sick of these weekly letters. The work just becomes so routine here and so there isnt much to talk about.. But we are working our butts off. I broke FOUR of my personal mission records this past week. For example lets say the most addresses I have gotten in a week was 100, this week we got 109. So I was very happy. The Lord is blessing us with so many amazing new investigators, I don´t know if I will be able to keep up with all of them! We have two people lined up for baptism this week, it will be really cool because we will do it inbetween the sunday sessions. We have 14 dates marked for baptism! That is also another mission record. There are so many people its cool because I am literally losing myself in the work and focusing on others and their needs.

Here in our neighborhood there is a sweet gang war going on. So if anyone is out after 10 and they find you, you are DEAD. Haha but luckily we get in at 9. I have heard people saying one night they counted 15 gunshots at a time… idiot gangsters. Brasil is a great country but MAN have they some serious problems. If you think the US government is bad, you have no idea. The schools are TERRIBLE quality as is the police and paramedic/fire support. May I just say that America is truly a BLESSED land. The apostasy here is outrageous.. so many ridiculous churches teaching insane ideas. BUT, thankfully we have the truth and we NEED to share it. I have been listening to talks, recently from LeGrand Richards.. he is the MAN!! He has helped me to build more courage. Sometimes I got nervous around people and never was to bold about our beliefs, but now I could CARE LESS what they think! Haha I love going up to the crentes (beleivers, usually carrying a bible under their arm walking in a suit, or the ladies always wear dresses and have LONG hair) and talking about Joseph SMith, the Book of Mormon, etc. Some are so blind and hardhearted its sad, but by talking directly about the restored gospel, you will be able to find out who will listen.

The choir is getting really good, wish you could all be here to listen to it. Me and Elder Coats made salsa the other day, MAN it was delicious. ITs funny when we do divisions because the other elders freak out when they see a nice clean and neat zone leaders house, STOCKED with food. That is something that you rarely come across haha. Hey if anyone reading this wants me to get them something cool from Brasil, let me know. Most of my Freinds and my family will already be getting souvenirs. I love you all and wish you all a prosperous week FULL of missionary experiences!!

Your brother in the gospel,
Elder Parker Boyack

Hello,
Well the time continues to fly here in Curitiba. I hit 1 year and 8 months yesterday… so insane. My comp Elder Coats only has 1 transfer left after this one, so needless to say we are both somewhat… trunky. Haha and in our area its where the planes make the turn to go off to their destinations coming from the airport so it DOENST help lol. Yesterday we had the Zone Leader Counsel which went very well. I learned a lot and am excited to put into practice the things we learned. I got burned a little bit cuz I had some trunky habits and i even told people I am a trunky dude, but you dont have to worry because I am still working my butt off. But I decided yesterday that I should just get rid of these habits and I shouldnt even say Im trunky because it doesnt help.

The work is progressing here in Parigot de Souza, we had lots of investigators that aren´t progressing and we decided to focus on finding the elects in our area. I also resolved to be more bold in our lessons, especially when it comes to things that hinder our investigators from getting baptized. Yesterday we stright up taught the Law of Chastity with and young couple and challeneged them to get married (at least legally and do the church ceremony later) and they accepted!! Here in Brasil you have to go to a place to sign some documents to be married, you cant get legally married in the temple or at the church.

The mission choir is getting really good, we will have do multistake performances at the end of april which will be awesome, unfortunately we are practicing every pday (wed) and sat morning which i am already tired of. Not much more happened this week.. My mind has been somewhat braindead these past couple days. I tried writing in my journal and sat there for a few minuted trying to think about what I could write lol.

Thats all for now, let me know how you are doing cuz i really enjoying reading the letters and emails from you guys. I love you all!

HELLO EVERYONE!!

How are you all doing?!! I am doing GREAT. Guess what happened today? TRANSFERS!! My comp Elder Rossi got transferred to the interior to a city called Guarapuava. Then the LZ that was in Guarapuava came here! His name is Elder Coats, from Preston, Idaho. He is the MAN. I am so happy right now. He arrived on the mish 1 transfer before me, and has only 2 more left (which means I only have 3!!) so I will prob stay with him for 2 transfers and kill him then someone will come in his place to kill me. HOLY COW MY MISSION IS COMING TO AN END!!!!!!! I dont say that happily, its more like a shocked, weird/strange feeling. Elder Coats is way into motorcycles and cars, so we get along very well For his senior project he built a SWEET chopper bike, so rad.
This past Friday we had interviews with Prez, man that guy is INSPIRED. He told me two things i really need to focus on. 1. Applying the scriptures to my life and 2. always keeping a prayer in my heart, def 2 things i need to get better at. One of the missionaries in the zone went home a few days early to take the SAT test so in his place we got a boy from the ward to help us out. He will be leaving on a mission soon and he saw how TOUGHT it is, I was honestly scared he was going to not want to go aanymore haha but he gained a big respect for the work and even bought us all pizza last night!!

Here in the mish we have an easter choir, its way cool. We practice every Wednesday/Saturday which is brutal. But its paying off and we are getting a lot better. As for news that is about it. I am really excited to have Elder Coats here because this area is GREAT but the ward has some problems. Elder Rossi knew so much and he was really bummed out about it all. so I am not going to tell ELder Coats ANYTHING haha and if he figures it out it ok but if not even better. So we have lots of péople just ready to be baptized, all we have to do is mark a date! So this week should be STELLAR.

Sorry my letter is so short, not much to talk about haha but I promise next week it will be longer. falou!!

Hello all,
How are you doing?? I would love to hear from you. LEtters, emails, whatever, let me know hows life!! Here things are great. One more week on the good ol mish. Lots of stuff happened this week. Normally lots of stuff happens but I dont write it down and just forget. This time I wrote EVERYTHING down so I have lots to say On Thursday we went to visit the sisters area. When you leave Curitiba, there is a city called Fazenda Rio Grande, which has two companionships. AFTER that there are the small cities of Mandirituba, Areia Branca, then Quitandinha. We got confused and got off in the wrong city haha but everything went fine and we had a good time. Its funny cuz in small cities there are nice big catholic churches ALWAYS in the center. While coming home, the bus broke haha so we waited for another one then when we got into the terminal there was a man that was practically dying so me and Elder Rossi helped him find his wife then we waited like HALF AN HOUR for an ambulance.. so ridiculous.

On Saturday morning we helped a family we are teaching clear their property. It actually belongs to the city they have just been there forever but now the city wants it and depending on the state of the property they might be able to get a free house in compensation. Needless to say my hands took most of the beating. But it was really good to see our investigators happy

This Sunday was stake conference… WOW. That was our main focus this past week was to get EVERYONE we are teaching to the conference. We should have had about 15 people but only 8 were able to make it. ALL who went had spiritual experiences and in these next few weeks we should baptize all of those 8 people. IN other words, when you have a conference, BRING SOMEONE!!

On Monday it was the last district meeting for our Distrcit LEader, he left 10 days early (Transfers are on the 17th) so we had a sweet jepordy/scripture chase thing and i dominated haha all the other elders had it easy because they had put tabs in their scriptures and could eaily open them, but I (with tabless scriptures) was the champion, and for my prize, a box of chocolates

YEsterday we had zone conference. MAN was it good. Prez talked about the importance of working with the members and the leadership. SO important. To all of those who are Ward Mission Leaders, your support and help to the missionaries is CRUCIAL!! PLEASE help them and always maintain contact with them.

I am pretty sure I told you all about the golden family we found a few weeks ago, the dad of the family had two strokes. So they are TOTALLY getting baptized, just still dont know when haha. On Tues we were teachin g the word of wisdom and then when I was bearing my testimony about how I have NEVER smoked, drank acohol/coffee, or used drugs Laerte (the dad) said “wait, wait, wait, hold on right there. You are a PERFECT candidate to marry my daughter!!” (she was sitting in front of me haha) and then he said “alright, you can continue.” Haha he is the coolest guy ever. We just need to get them to meet the members and get to church!!

Well that was most of my week. Lots of WORK. Lots more to do. I am pumped for these next weeks/months. Every day I get a little more excited. This really is the Lords work, and we are his representatives. THIS is the true chuch of Jesus Christ. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. I love you and wish you all a wondferful week FULL of missionary moments!!

Elder Boyack

Thats what I feel like recently.. I feel like I am on the final strech! My time is ticking and I and running faster and faster. To be honest, I am super tired. Haha I was telling one of thesisters the other day how I need a vacation!! I swear the first week home I will sleep for a week… STRAIGHT!! Haha but I am loving this time. Its sweet because I feel like I am one of the more experienced missonaries and i am in an amazing area but with a challenging ward. To be honest I hope I “die” (end my mission) here to see what diffrence I have made. The Lord is really helping/blessing us in the work here. This pace has LOTS of potential and I am excited to see what will happen.

The golden family we foudnt the other day while knocking doors is doing very well. This weekend we will have stake coference and we should have at LEAST 15 investigators at church. President Araujo will be coming to speak which should be awesome. We fond out today that the area doctor will be coming as well which will be pretty cool. I am super stoked about this weekend!! I looked at all my records throughout the mission and this weekend I am fighting to beat my record of investigators in sac meeting.

This week we have Silva with a baptismal date. she has been taught for YEARS by the missionaries and loves the church. The ONLY thing that is stopping her fro being baptized is a “confirmation” that this is what she needs to do. She felt this when she was baptize/confirmed in the catholic church (she was 22) and wants to feel the same way to know that she needs to join this church. SO, what I need from ALL of you is the following:

PLEASE say a special prayer for Silva. Pray for the Lord to show her the truthfulness of these things and that she can receive this “confirmation”. Please pray for her to be baptized THIS WEEKEND. I know that if we get everyone reading this to pray, the Lord wil soften her heart.

Yeah there isn´t much else to say. Things are good, life is great, and the church is true!! What more do I need? 8 baptisms this month would be nice

I love you all!

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