This Blog Needs Some Pictures

Unfortunately, Elder Marx doesn't live near a post office, so we don't often get pictures. I'll have to supplement. He mentioned he's blazin hot. I think it's not hot Las Vegas style, but hot as in very humid. Here are the Belo Horizonte climate charts:

Am I reading this correct? The month of December gets 40 inches of rain in Belo? As a reference for the 702 crew, we average 4 inches IN A YEAR.

Oh how Scott will love seeing this picture when he gets back. This is The Dad changing the brakes on Jenn's car - which has been Scott's job since Jenn started driving. Scott's been changing The Mom's brakes since he was 11. It's back to being The Dad's job for the time being.

Kruger had a little procedure done and needed to wear this headpiece for a week. He wasn't happy about that. He also gets this sad look on his face when he sits and contemplates spending the next 19 months with the parental units. He misses Scotty.



Hallie, Charlie, & Drew all miss Scotty. Drew helped with the Sunbeam class sharing time by showing a picture of his uncle, and explaining he was on a mission for two years in Brazil teaching about Jesus.
G'ma: Drew, when you get older are you going on a mission like Scotty?
Drew: No. I go to school when I get older.
short-term goals...

Probably the biggest newsworthy item for the boys that Scott has missed out on was the arrival of the Bousa car.

And finally, Scott hasn't been around for the last 5 months to share funny youtube videos, we miss that part of our Sunday evenings. I am quite positive that on some of those long, hot, wet walks up and down hills, he's found a way to quote Bubb Rubb & Lil Sis, Whoo Whoo!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Hey mom, I know you look forward to my letters as much as I look forword to yours, but today was zone pday and not much time to write. But I'm alive. I love you and the family and we should have baptizm this week. The work is great.

I love you and the letter next week will be better. tchau

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

well mom,
this week has been really fun. We have been working hard and starting to see the blessings. We should have a baptism this week of jenny (40+-) she wants blessings of god and to be baptised so she went to church with us last week and wants to be baptised. we told her she has to stop smoking and she is but she will get baptized.

um... we ran into a lot of menos ativos this week (less actives) and they said they would return to church so lets see what satan will bring for them today. one of the MAs we talk to was because we walked a drunk guy back to his house. I'm really glad this guy didn't lose his cookies all over me but when we got to his house his granddauther and his son and dauther-in-law were baptised and they haven't been going to church. So I think that the Lord wants them to return to church um... we got cleber to quit, to stop smoking so he should be going to church this week and tieago is this really kool dude we talked to and he should be going to church this weeek , he know the church is true and the book is blue, we just need to get him to the church.

one thing I'm really going to change and has change while I'm out here is reading the scriptures. Like I'm reading the bom 3 different times right now. once 'cause I started before the mish (with Jenn in a competition and I'm going to win and she is so going to pay for a snowbaording trip to park city) and I want to finish. And another in Portuguese marking when it talks about Christ and names of him (messiah and redemer, etc). And another (in english) 'cause President Frei asked us to read it and mark when it talks about things in our purpose (see page one of preach my gospel). So all different copies of the book and all diferent times of the day, but I like reading in English then in Portuguese 'cause it helps me understand. So in the next little thing you send to me could you throw in some new colors for my marking pen, you can buy them at deseret book for like 1 or 2 and I'm out of yellow and running low on pink, blue, brown, orange. I have red and I have green yeah, just those colors. love you. You're the best mom ever.

October 8, 2008

I do not have a mamacita. I wash my own clothes. there is this kind of washer here like this big tube with a little plastic pice that spins at the bottom and moves the water around. I'm learning to not wash the sox before the whites cause all the lint from the sox then gets on the whites and then they're kinda itchy after that happens.

The week was just fine with the comp speakin Portuguese. He speaks and i don't understand. I speak and he doesn't understand. we have a lot of fun. I'm teaching good. I hope we have like 6 datas set for outubro but I'm thinking the Lord will bless us with our goal of 2 this month.

Thanx to the prayers of my family and friends i got to go to conference, YEAH! I only saw the second session on Saturday and the first little bit of the second on Sunday cause on Sunday the transmission cut in and out so I didn't hear the 2 speakers on Sunday from brasil and the bishopbric guy and on including the prophet. So, hey, if you could like copy and paste the talks of Dalin H. Oaks and above and the bishopbric guy and down that would be kool. But I loved Elder Bednar's talk on prayers and I loved Elder Wirthlin's talk -- and I loved them all. It's weird, never like going to conference and it has so much more meaning when you get up and take the 2 buses for an hour to see it and I probably walked half a mile in beetween. So I'm so going to make my family do that. Forget this whole byutv thing, lame comfy couch. No way. They're going to the church and they're going to take notes! Yeah, sure... : ) jk

What I heard of conference was we are heading for hard time so have faith and rely on the Lord -- which is what we should do always, keep the faith and all will work out. I do think of the business and how things are doing. Every once and a while I'll see brazilans puting in a storm drain or a backhoe on the street and turn to elder sarmento , oi eu posso fazer isso antes da missão (dont try to translate that its not corect but he knows what im saying)

I could tell you about when we were teaching this less active and heard gun shots and saw a body in the street dead. But I won't cause I love you and I know you dont want to hear about that kinda stuff.

Well I love you and until next week, tchau.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Well this week has been freaking amazing. I’m really getting a testimony of how good first lesson is Da mensagem da restauração is so powerful and can change the lives of people every where !!!!! my new comp Elder Sarmento is on fire and he always is like, "hey pray about this and god will answer your prayers, and what r u going to do with this new answer... you need to be baptized." so we have marked 6 baptism dates in outubro and had two already so that 8 BAPTISMS in outubro. I pray to the Lord every night to bless the people we set dates for because i would so happy to bring these people back to there father in heaven

Awesome kitchen. The sink drains into a bucket, which is dumped outside.

We had conferência da zona this week and pres talked to an elder about where he lived before the mish and talk about how if he could never return what would he do.... and he likened it to the people in the world cause we used to live in a amazing home before and we are going to return and we need to make sure that we bring all of our brothers and sister with us... basically what he was saying also had a big thing on the atonement or expiação de jesus cristo it really made me think of all the thing the savior went through for me and that every sin i commit has a payment every one has a payment and christ paid that every one. i love the Lord I’m grateful he is helping me in this work

And thanx to the prayers of my family and myself i think i will reach my goal of going to conference on saturday probably just the morning session that starts at 1?? and they play it in english so says elder cottchell in another room so I’ll definitely be hittin that up. my new comp knows so much about the scriptures it’s crazy. he is 22 and studied pshycs if that’s how you spell it got baptized when he was 18 i think and decided to go on a mission which is an awesome choice. i teach him english and he teaches me portuguese and when i say he teaches me portuguese its more like, “hey did that make sense?” and he'll say yes or no, which kinda sucks but hey it’s helping me ... I sound like a dummy but its all good.

Scott's all-in-one bathroom/shower. The white unit is the on-demand water heater

Bettim, Brazil

First companionship, Elder Broud & Elder Marx

Where is Elder Marx at???

Scott Speaks Portuguese!

um... eu tenho uma entrevista com presidente frei no sexta-ferra nós falemos sobre como eu posso estudar as escriturdas melhor lemos em môroni 10: 3-5 sobre promessa de môroni eu presciso ponderar as escriturdas mais e achar por que mormon poe este em o livro foi bom entrevista eu gosto muito .

"I have [I think he meant had] an interview with president frei on Friday. We talked about how I can study the scriptures better. We read in Moroni 10:3-5 about Moroni's promise. I need to ponder the scriptures more and find why Mormon put this in the book, it was a good interview. I liked it a lot."

Thank you to all the return missionaries that responded to my request for a translation.

Wednesday, September 17

things on the battle front are good. we are winning and satan is loosing. i broke down and bought new shoes if you haven’t looked. they are good, i like them. my other one’s i had worn the sole down and it has a big hole in it. so it rained like crazy on monday hurricane style but we went to work cause this is a "mission of warriors" not a mission of "pretty boys" like across the way. we baptize and confirm and invite people to come unto Christ in the words (more or less) of president frei. Hey, he sent you an email about CHRISTMAS PACKAGES AND HOW THEY NEED TO BE IN THE MAIL BY OCTOBER 15th. love you. i think it would be good if for christmas you buy me 2 shirts and keep them at the house so i wouldn’t have totally out of date cloths. But, yeah, i hope i told you in the last letter that i freakin love the koolaid singles you sent. they were awesome .... there were no questions so i don’t know what to write about ..... um i sent letter to you with pictures in it
we baptized edinalva and now i guess she has a drinking problem so now we need to resolve that um... we are going around to the recent converts and teaching them all the lessons again cause transfers are this next week and elder broud thinks he is leaving so he wants to tie up all the loose ends um... maria didn’t get baptized cause ... i have no idea she just doesn’t feel ready to, so we felt that we should teach the atonement better. so that’s what we are doing this week a week of atonement. we started with lehi’s dream and we explained that and then tonite we are going to talk about what the savior went through and apply it to the dream and then we are just going to go over every lesson and say this is what we teach to make sure you’re ready for baptism and every lesson and then just be like we have taught you every thing you need to be ready to receive this promise with god what else do you think you need?

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Elder Marx with President & Sister Frei

teaching is great we ... oh i know what i should tell you, we had two baptizms last week and i baptized somebody ...in portuguese... i asked elder broud if i could say the prayer in english but he said the witnesses don’t know it in english so i said it in port. Anyways, baptized charles and edinalva. It went really well and we started teaching maria next door to charles and she just got an answer that the church is true and we hope she gets bapt this week, if not then next week. but we are teaching like that whole street now and are going to have a noite familiar on the street have a lesson and play taco which is this game they always play in the street and looks really fun.
the language is good. today in language study we went over the 1st vision cause i had been messing that up pretty good so we went over it and I’m going to practice that. we get a letter from the president every week in portuguese and I’m starting to understand it and I’m really starting to understand when people talk to me in the street, so that’s good. in the mission we need to make 10 good contacts a day like of impact and either get an endreço or plant a seed for the fuirto warriors. so i do that and instead of really playing a recording i starting to talk to more people.

love always, elder marx

President and Sister Frei with the new arriving elders. Scott is 2nd from the right.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008
whoo-hoo - Scott answered my questions this week!

How do we send you letters?
Just send stuff to the mission home. I'll probably get it like twice a transfer 'cause they bring it to zone conference and interviews. The apartments are a really scary place for mail to sit all day.

What's going on in Brazil?
It's elections here so there are just cars driving around with huge speakers on their roofs turned all the way up so it's really hard to talk to someone on the street when they drive by. I call them satan mobiles cause anything that tries to stop the work is of satan.

How's the teaching going?
We are teaching Charles. He is not a member, but his wife was baptized like 3 years ago and they had two boys die while ago and some buddy some where said some thing to make her mad about her sons, so they never went back, but we started teaching. And I said, "Charles, is the book true?" "Yeah," he replied. "So then the church is true and perfect cause it's of Christo, but the people in it aren't perfect, so get baptized." So he is on the 31st with the other family. And we have a baptism this week, Edinalva.

...big problem, getting people to church 'cause the building is really far away and people can't afford the onibus ticket to get there, so it's hard to get them to church.

Had any good experiences?
...back to Charles. We taught him about fe last night and I didn't really know what was going on, but at the end I thought I should tell him that is would help if he read the bom every morning before he went to work and it would help him throughout his day. And later Elder Broud told me that we gave him a scripture and we are going back tonight and he wouldn't have time to read it but then I told him he should read in the morning. So that was so the Spirit 'cause I didn't even know what the heck is going on...like antes the mission I didn't really know what was the Spirit and what was the crazy ideas of Scotty. I'm starting to realize how to recognize and follow thoughts or promptings.

In zone conference, sis. Frei talked about pineapples and how it takes them 18 months to develop and everybuddy always wants fresh pineapple, so they continually grow them and harvest and plant more. So she was saying that we need to always find people and plant the seed.

We have 5 baptisms on Sunday.

Just funny Scotty talking about trying to get home fast after an appointment went late-
So we're keeping the pace up and moving right along but we are going up and down and up and down these hills and my fat legs are getting tired but we finally get to the last stretch and I just want to fall over, keeping in mind I've just been walking all freaking day up and down up and down hill mountains all day so it's the last stretch and I'm like, "Pai celestial, help make it home." and right then this thought comes to my ehad, Elder Broud is a little in front like always and I thought 'race him home.' So I was like, yeah, I could beat him. So I raced him -- and won by the way.

Wednesday, August 17, 2008

I'm here in Betim, Brazil, a little city out side of BH. My trainer, or father, is Elder Broud. He is from Oregon and speaks really good Portuguese. This is his first time training so it should be fun for both of us. You should be getting a letter from me in the mail, they had us write. It's really short and simple, didn't really feel like writing.

I don't know much about the area, just that there is a girl that is close to baptizmo and I'm way excited for that um... my apartment is... nice... Brad should know what I'm talking about. No badays, but hey we can't all live in high class.

peace elder marx
ps. eu tenho mais vente e dois mézes



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Pictures!

MTC laundry room. Writing letters during the rinse cycle.

Cafeteria or House of Beans & Rice

View of Sao Paulo from the roof. Under the metal roof is the indoor gym

View of Sao Paulo from Scott's MTC room.

Mr. Cheneys across the street. The missionaries can go here on p-day to get American items, cookies, and email.

Week No. 7 July 30, 2008

hey elder marx here.

ctm life is good now that the strike is over. i got some letters (9) from my mish and a package(2) from her just some tapes and some really fun stuff like markers and postit notes, she is wonderful. along with the package from sis hig i got a package from the iron mountain ward primary. it was so fun. i was hoping i would get something like that. tell sis leavitt i haven’t read all of them but i will.

um... nothing too exciting except i leave in two weeks, yeah ya. i fly to belo like a 1 hour flight at 5 in the morning. i hope to call you from the airport cause the rules say i get 2 calls home a year one christmas and another day ( useally mothers day) so I’m going to talk to pres frei about seeing if i could call but no promises. if i do it will be at like 2 in the morning.

um... yeah proselytizing again this week. teaching experience was good. taught a bishop lesson 2 so it was pretty cool. i did well, i think. he smiled and nodded his head the hole time so whatever.

oh we just ate lunch as a district out side the ctm at this really good burger place for cheap, like i got fries and burgar and the avocado concoction for 8 reis pretty good except for the drink

um.... im doing good and studying hard omg..... thanks for jinxing me, mom. elder housley made ap in our branch so, yeah, now on sunday i have to go to meetings instead of lunch. i know, i know, i can hear dad agorda" thats what he getts for being obedient" but now i have to suffer ... jk its not that bad, plus i really like our branch pres so i just use it as an opportunity to learn from the branch pres.

god be with you

elder marx

Week No. 5 7/16/08

well another week down and 4 or so to go. time is really starting to pick up. O templo foi otimo hoje. o temple de são paulo is like the best. There’s stained oak and just awesome, just wished devon could have been there with me. so last week i got my first hair cut from the ctm barber yeah, he like doesn’t look when he is cutting and just talks and sings the whole time but he has cut hair at all four of the ctms that have been in brazil. but its funny cause like elders will come to class with missed spot in there hair, i don’t have that problem cause i was like ‘hey focus on my hair’ but he doesn’t speak english so it’s funny to try and talk to him.

we taught a family last saturday it was kool, but not at the same time. like there’s 12 in the district and only enuff rooms for half so we had to split up so me and doogy had to teach with others. i taught with elder coats (idaho) and elder halgren (montana) they did awesome. i stumbled but got my message out. it was awesome cause there wasn’t a word that i wanted to say that i didn’t know, so i totally had everything i needed to say in my lesson. there was some divine help with that cause me and housley tried to teach our lesson the night before and we couldn’t keep it under 15 mins.

all is well aqui the language is ok i feel a lot better EVEN THO ELDER SNEEZE-ALL-DAY (housley) GOT ME SICK so yea, I sleep better even tho I’m sick, weird.

can’t wait to leave the place they call spirit prison love you all, elder marx
sure, dad, you can use my 47 inch tv while I’m gone…LOL

(note before I start Scott’s email. Most people hanging around our family will end up with a nickname. After the first week when we heard Scott’s companion, Elder Housley, was a pretty studious kid, we were a little concerned. Scott, to say the least, isn’t. We’ve nicknamed Scott’s companion Doogie Houser. So that’s who Scott’s referring to when he says doogie, his companion. He also is DYING to meet an apostle in real life. When he read Devon’s letter about all the apostles at the mtc in provo for missionary president training, scott was bummed. That’s the explanation for another reference he was making. And finally, with 45 cousins in the Vegas valley, our kids are constantly meeting people that know a cousin or aunt and uncle, the first thing every body asks is …are you related to…)


Ok, so you were right. i think i told you about this other missionary serving in the SP north which covers the ctm and all the teachers live close to the ctm and this elder marx is in their ward. so guess what i get every time i see a new teacher "marx, marx are you related too?" not kidding. It’s crazy, i can’t escape it! I’m in another hemisphere and i still get it. but it’s all good. so for the 4th of july all the americans totally played it up. I’ve never been so patriotic in my life. for lunch we did get burgers and fries and what the brazilians could call ice cream it just wasn’t the same, but I’m grateful for their effort. on sunday we had ctm conference cause of it being fast sunday (have them every fast sunday and tell brian that not even the water fountains work let alone the vending machines) plus if you see someone go even a inch toward a water fountain your like HEY its fast Sunday, cause if i have to fast so do you. i sang in a quartet the star spangle banner it was pretty good.

ok last friday we went tracking. IT WAS AWESOME. it was the first time i really felt like a missionary. so much fun. tell devon to keep his apostles, i talked to people in my mission language. Shnazzberries! (i told my district about shnazzberries at first they thought it was stupid but soon enough one was like shnazzberries! Yeah, that’s right, spreading the word.) we must have talked to like 60 people. most of them were like what ? no, get away, cause i guess the missionaries go to the same place every friday and so they were prepared by the wrong person. i even talked to a anti in english from north Carolina. Yeah, he said that we’re a really good business and we were doing good coming and talkin to all the poor gullible people takin 10 percent of there money. he also said that’s what a bishop told him in north carolina (good job brian... jk) but me and doogie just bared our testimony and left. it was sad that his heart was hardened. hopefully we softened it a little . that’s what we keep hearing "just leave a good impression for the next missionaries" if that’s the case, do i get to count it to my total if they get baptized? Jk. wrong attitude i know, but funny.

so this saturday me and doogie are teaching a member family in the ctm like all memory no papers and all in Portuguese, so plaese pray for doogie so he can talk the whole time and I’ll just testify.

Um, i think that’s it. oh we went to the são paulo temple today so we got back a lot earlier than usual so I’m looking forward to chillin. so today is a holiday so I wasn’t even sure if the email place would be open. i guess like in 1878 or some stupid year brazil almost had a civil war so now they celebrate an almost fight ... sounds to me like some lame excuse of a day off work.

Email June 25, 2008

Well, another week down I’m technically on my 3rd week, I leave August 12th um... i totally forgot what i was going to write but i hope i can remember... every thing is good at the ctm or centro de treinamento missionãrio.

As I am sitting here in the computer place I’m sitting next to a one elder marx from Oregon. yea crazy. he said his family is from utah. crazy crazy

ok so the schedule goes as follows
630 arise
7 personal study
730 comp study
8 breakfast
830 class
1230 missionary directed study time
1245 lunch
145 class
515 dinner
615 mdst
825 gym
930 shower
10 quiet time
1030 light out
thats monday wed friday; tues day no gym but devotional, thursday no gym just mdst for 3 HOURS!!!!! and saturday large group meeting at 8 sunday church in the morning free time between 11;10 an 6 when i go to choir and yes mom we sing in Portuguese and fire side at 7 the district meeting then night time as followed

so i now know why elders get fat in the ctm cause theres a lot of food and they just sit in class all day i think i weight like 160 kilos or something i cant remember

just remember James E. Faust said that there’s two missionaries ones who went to brazil and the ones who wish they did. hola

This blog is a little boring without Pictures

Scott has not sent any yet, so I barrowed a few I found on the internet.


Centro de Treinamento Missionãrio, or CTM as it is referred to in Brazil.

Email June 18, 2008

hey every buddy im doing good in the ctm its way fun. Yes is true straight from a missionary we eat beans and rice ever MEAL!!! not kidding. Irmo calvocunte /kow-vo-cunche/ or we just call him captin crunch he teaches us in the afternoon and we have such a good time. To my brothers and sisters just remember what the stake president said that i need letters and he is right im not kidding, you cant disobey a man called of god can you... didnt think so. its kool. some times we talk about deep doctrine in between class and mdst. some pretty intresting stuff. my district is the best in the whole ctm. and im so lucky to be a part of it. just me and my companion are going to belo horizonte but its cool most of them are going to the curachiba. well times up and got to go be i talk to you next week peace

WE RECEIVED AN EMAIL FROM THE MTC PRESIDENT

Dear Parents,
We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC. What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they come through the front door of the MTC for the first time.
They now have companions and are settled into their rooms. They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study.
The branch presidents and their wives, who are usually a senior missionary couple or mature Brazilian couple, will soon give them a second greeting. These couples are rewarded in their callings through the love they always develop as they embrace and watch over the missionaries.
The MTC has a full time live-in physician to care for their health needs. He is assisted by his able wife.
We are also happy to report that the Cafeteria food is abundant and very good.
Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple. This will be either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on individual assignments.
Important information is attached for communicating with your missionary through letters and other mail while at the MTC. Your missionary's district is 24-B and the mail box number is15. Too many packages are arriving after the missionary has left to the field, so we ask that you send a package only in the first 4 weeks and after that send any packages to his or her mission home.
We are also parents of children who have served as missionaries. And we have been missionaries who have left family. Please know that we are mindful of you and know of your love for your missionary.
Your very important young person is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of others. We hope you will be encouraged and comforted by this quote by President Lorenzo Snow: "There is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of an elder [sister] when he is preaching the gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord’s children."
Please accept our love,
President and Sister Woodward
Brazil

To: The Blog



SPECIAL THANX



Hey, I'm off to Brazil.

I just wanted to say thanx to everyone in my life. You have molded, shaped, or touched me to make me who I am or helped me see what to stand for. A lot of you came to my farewell. For that, I am grateful. To come a long way...for only a 15 min talk... means a lot. It means you care.

I wish a special thanx to a woman of great spiritual stature, Sis. Catherine Higbee. She has been my companion for the last 10 months and has made it the best. I hope to have many more months, even years w/her. She is my best friend and a person I confide in. To her, I leave my heart.



Next special thanx to the toughest crew in the 702. You took a chance on a semi-kool new kid with a nice truck and a popped collar. Through thick and thin, big or small, trucks in ditches, or cops hot on our trail. . ."LEAN!!!" Todd would say or "SHNAZZBERRIES" Russell would say next. May the ROAR of the Dragon ever echo the roads of Vegas. To you, I leave memories.



Last but not least, my familia. Through the ups and downs I've felt your prayers and read your testimonies. My mom and dad have put up with the most. Either late nights or bad tempers. Even short answers to the basics: "Where are you going? Who's going to be there? What are you doing?" Teaching right from wrong, showing me the way. To you, I leave my testimony that the work I go to is the purpose of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. I hope to wear his name proudly. I hope to carry the spirit with me and the message of the restoration -- That through the Prophet Joseph Smith this church of Christ was restored. I wish to tell people the way. . .the way to exaltation and returning to Christ. And in the name of Christ, I leave.

FACTS ABOUT BELO HORIZONTE

• Belo Horizonte is Portuguese for 'Beautiful Horizon'
• B.H. is the 3rd largest city of Brazil
• It has a population of 2.4 million in the city and over 5.3 million in the metropolitan area
• B.H. is the first modern Brazilian city to spring from an architect's drawing board. The city was developed along the same plan as one corresponding to Washington D.C.
• B.H. is well-known for its climate (hot and humid in summer, warm and dry in winter), claimed to be one of the best in South America