Update

There is one excited niece behind that poster

Ahh...mother & son

Please excuse the blurriness. It was the best one I got.

Elder Frazer returned home from Brazil on Tuesday, December 13. He is on medical release. We are grateful to get spend Christmas with him!

Letter from 12/5/11

Here is Cody's first letter from Recife. He is struggling with some intense culture shock and asked that not all of what he wrote be shared on the blog, so it's been a bit edited. He is in need of all the love and support we can render. Prayers and letters!!

Hey mom.

 

I´m in Recife! The work is not really on fire here... I guess they almost closed the Recife mission a few months ago because of how bad it had gotten. My companion is a great guy. He´s been out for 8 months and he´s from Washington. He´s also like 6´4´´ soooo we´re not going to get mugged anytime soon. We do get a lot of weird looks though. Just picture two white giants walking through a favela full of small Brazilians. It´s pretty funny.

 

I´ve decided that I like being a missionary but I don't like it here in Brazil. It stinks like crap or urine EVERYWHERE. Even our water. Yes our WATER. Our parasite infected, discolored, and stanky water. I barely eat anything because the meat here is just left out all day for flies and whatever else to grow on it. Our bread is handled by the same person who handles the meat and since no one wears gloves or washes their hands or anything, even our bread is covered in rotting blood.

 

I´m not real sure how much time I have left on this thing. I don´t really understand anyone. But everyone understands me. Most of the time. I´ve made a few contacts and passed out a few Book of Mormons but haven´t taught any lessons. The ward here is pretty strong and has some amazing members but my area is the closest to the mission office so missionaries usually come here to end their missions and are not very enthusiastic about the work but are more thinking about going home, so the members do not give referrals.

 

Thank you so much for your love and support through letters and things. You can find the address of our mission home or office or something online. Just send letters there and they get to me. There are not any huge spiders here. It´s pretty much like home. There are spiders but no more and no bigger than we have. The real problem is mosquitos. The are everywhere in our apartment. There are no windows so they pretty much just live with us. I´m covered in bites. We sleep with a fan blowing on our face, not for the breeze but because it´s the only part of our body uncovered by the blanket. We sweat all night but we have to be covered up. It does rain here though and it cools things off. I´m soaked right now. But I´m already sweating again. When it rains bad the sewers overflow and sewage gets everywhere. I´ve already walked through it quite a bit.

 

We eat lunch at members´ homes usually. It´s pretty cool. I wish I could talk to them though. And my companion won´t translate for me because I guess it can be rude to speak in a language that people don´t understand. But I don´t understand anyone so yeah...

 

We got two missionaries emergency transferred into our area a couple days ago because they witnessed a shooting and the shooter saw them. They are fun to have. One is like my east coast equivalent. The other is a Brazilian that is hard to get along with.

 

Hopefully it will stop raining so we can play bball today. We´re not allowed to play soccer because there were too many injuries. I don´t have any time left but please tell Bryn Lockhart that I got special permission from my mission president so I can listen to LotR music in the apartment!

I love you!

Elder Frazer

Elder Frazer has arrived!

We received this email from Elder Berg, the secretary of the Brazil Recife Mission:

Hello Dear Families!

We just want to let you know that your sons arrived safely in the Brazil Recife Mission!

They are such great missionaries and we are excited to see their work.

Elder Lovinger

Elder Bateman

Elder Jensen

Elder Linton

Elder Frazer

Attached are some arrival pictures.

 

*Note: We don't have Cody's current address, but he can receive emails at cody.frazer@myldsmail.net which he can read once a week on his p-day. I'm sure he would appreciate all the English communication we have to offer!

First letter from Brazil!

Tudo bom em Brasil!

Hi everyone! I´m here in Brazil! It is crazy here! I feel sorry for anyone going to the Brazil CTM. The MTC in Provo is muito muito melhor!!! The food is usually a little better here (when we know what it is...) and we get snacktime everyday and naptime on Sundays so that´s cool but that´s about it. The missionary spirit that is so strong in the Provo MTC is not really here. The classes in Provo were so much more spiritual and missionary oriented. Here they are most certainly not. And the teachers are all Brazilians learning English so they spend most of the class trying to speak in English. The most we learn is talking to the native Brazilians in our room. But I´ll stay off the negative topics. As far as the weather here, all those people who say Brazil is hot are CRYBABIES! Sau Paulo is the NICEST weather I have ever been in! It feels like those 3 or 4 weeks in Chico when it transitions from winter to summer. It´s awesome and they say it never really changes. However, I am not serving in Sau Paulo. I am serving in Recife. The place that all the Brazilians say it is muito muito quente. In other words, hotter than you-know-what. On a climate map of the world, on a scale from 1-10, and the Recife Mission ranges from 7-9. But I´m excited nonetheless! ...okay maybe a little less.

We went Proselyting in downtown Sau Paulo today! (Little note, Sau Paulo has 33 million people. That´s as many people as the state of California. Yeah.) We talked to many people and it was awesome! So many people really love to talk about God and families and how important they are. We passed out 5 Book of Mormons. It was sweet! I should probably mention that we simply assumed many people were interested because we really had no idea what they were saying. Unless they spoke some english which a few of them did.

The plane ride from Atlanta to here was CRAZY. It was like a bucking bronco. But there were 8 missionaries on the flight so we were pretty much for certainly safe.

I leave for Recife tomorrow at 6 am. My flight is at 10 and I land around 12. Elder Frazer ready for duty!

So DearElders do not come to this MTC and we didn´t get them before we left so if you sent one after friday of the week before last, I didn´t get it. And letters take about 3 weeks to get here. Packages often not at all, haha. I don´t know what my address is yet so just email me and I´ll respond sometime this week or next.

I love you all!
Chau!

-Elder Frazer

P.S. Brazilians don´t know how to do Thanksgiving but there was kind of a Thanksgiving type meal....kind of.

Happy Thanksgiving, Cody!

Letter from 11/19/11

Oi!


SO Elder Scofield, Elder Parker, and I all recieved our visas! Elder Parker leaves on monday and Elder Scofield and I leave on tuesday. And the day before you leave is a p-day. And since sunday can't be a p-day... Essentially we have as close as you can get to having a 3-day weekend on your mission. CRAZY!

I will be in the Atlanta Airport from around 2:30-6:30 your time and we're allowed to call family for I think 30 minutes or so while we're waiting in the airport sooo have your questions, comments, and praise ready because I'll be calling!

It occurred to me a couple days ago that in nine days, I will be out in the field! Is that crazy or what? Them Brazilians ain't gonna know what hit 'em! I think they're just recovering from their last Frazer and now round two!

I'm not real sure what to talk about because I'll probably be saying most stuff on tuesday so... How you doin'?

Did I mention I'm flying to Brazil on tuesday? Yup...

I've been out of the MTC three times during my stay with my dear old comp Elder Doyel. I told you about the first time I''m pretty sure so I''ll tell you about the other times now. The second time Elder Doyel had a ""spider bite"". I told him to put some anti-itching cream on it and stop touching it. He insisted on going to the doctor. So we got to walk down the street to some clinic where the doctor gave him some anti-itching cream and told him to stop touching it. The third time was more interesting. Elder Doyel had a ear ache one night and around 9:00 pm he decided we had to go to the doctor. So we went to the front desk where they got a shuttle that took us to a medical center. After 20 minutes it was decided that this medical center didn''t take the MTC insurance. So we had to call the shuttle back. Except that we didn''t have a phone...Or know the phone number...... Luckily we weren''t the first completely clueless missionaries that this rather grouchy secretary had seen, so she got us a phone book and a phone. The shuttle came back and took us to another medical center that was much friendlier and cleaner. Elder Doyel was in with the doctor for about 45 minutes and during this time, Elder Scofield and I took advantage of the train set left out specifically for tired missionary companions. (At least, I think that was what it was for.) Elder Scofield and I built a grand train track the connected the west and east sides of the waiting area. The secretary was very impressed and awarded us with some hand sanitizer. We thanked her with a pass along card. After Elder Doyel was done with the doctor we had to take the shuttle to Rite Aide to pick up a prescription for his ear. The driver told us this was our chance to shop, look around, and experience the wonders of Provo. So we did. I bought some Ranch flavored Pringles and Elder Scofield bought some Pokemon cards. It was great. We then got back to our residence around 11:15. We lost some sleep but it was worth it. The next day Elder Doyel left our companionship so it turned out to be a great last night of fun together.

Well talk to you on tuesday! Bytheway (Ahem, LaDawn) this keyboard is broken so any bad punctuation can be attributed to that. The speleeng iz mie bade tho.

I love you guys!

~Elder Frazer

It's Here!

Cody's visa arrived! Mom got a 4 minute long phone call from Elder Frazer this morning with the news. He leaves for Brazil on Tuesday. He will be in the MTC there for 5 days, and then will receive his first transfer into the field! Missionaries only stay in the MTC for 9 weeks in Brazil (as opposed to Provo's 12 week stay), so after 5 days there Cody will reach his 9 week mark. My guess is he's going to feel pretty overwhelmed by the language barrier when he leaves the MTC. Let's send out some extra prayers for him. 

Pictures!

It looks like the Halloween bowling set was a hit. Whose clever idea was it to send that?

Letter from 11/15/11

Ola minha familia!

 

Como vao voces?? I never hear from you guys anymore! Tell Courtney to get writing! and Kari too! Also tell Kari that I love her.

 

Now that it is in November, I have enjoyed the awesomeness of singing Christmas songs ALL DAY!!! Despite my companions dislike of Christmas music before Thanksgiving. And yes I said COMPANIONS again. Elder Scofield and I got a new edition to our companionship. His name is Elder Parker and he's waiting on his visa. He's the last in his district so they added him to ours. He's been here for 11 weeks. 11!!! He's pretty cool. He's from Washington and we get along pretty well. He's a very enjoy the simple things and smell the roses kind of guy like me. And very unlike Elder Scofield, haha. I think it's an east coast/west coast thing.

 

I'm going to go ahead and answer a few questions Sister Bowles asked me in here because I know she reads the blog. No one gives me the comments from my blog. Are there comments? Are they good? Will someone keep me in the loop here?! We have 5 hours of study time that we're on our own. During this time, we study whatever we want and however we want. There's not really much to choose from. Either Portuguese or the Gospel, and most often the Gospel in Portuguese. We can also go on LDS.org and do stuff. There's some great stuff on there. For instance, Elder Scofield had never seen Johnny Lingo before and wouldn't you know it, it's on LDS.org! So we watched that. Favorite quote in Portuguese: "Oito caos????" And about the Halloween party, our Italian friends set it up. They left the day afterwards and it was a very tear-filled departure. But we inherited a bunch of their stuff like nice chairs, nice desks, some good smell spray stuff, and noise cancelling headphones! Those headphones are great for when you just want to punch your companion in the face. Just kidding....kind of.

 

I don't have many stories to tell today so I will respond to a few things people have said to me. This may seem kind of spacey but those to whom these comments are directed at will understand them.

 

First off, Rachel kissed a guy in Italy?!?!

 

Also so everyone knows, I can send one email a week to my family so until I'm out of the MTC I won't be emailing anyone else. This stops me from contacting or thanking anyone who's address I don't have unfortunately.

 

Please thank Uncle John for me for his awesome, spiritual, and hilarious emails.

 

Why the heck are you making something awesome like Turducken when I'm NOT home?!?!?!

 

I am grateful for an awesome family, to be alive during Elder Holland's apostleship, and for the oppotunity to serve the people of Brazil.

 

Also tell Justin I don't get his political jokes without context which I can't get because I'm a missionary.

 

This is a shoutout to Ladawn for sending me the most letters last week! I love you Aunt Dawnie!

 

Well I love all you guys! Tudo bom!

 

~Elder Frazer

Letter from 11/8/11

Ola minha familia!!!

So after looking over my list of 14 people I needed to write, I realized that I felt more exhausted on my one day off than I did on my six days on. In other words, I really am very sorry that I can't write to everyone or even respond to everyone. But I do appreciate everyone's letters very very much and I will try to respond to all questions in this group email.

 

So first off, my companionship changed again! They pull us out as soon as our visas come and send us down to Brazil so our district shrinks every week. This week we lost Elder Rowland and my companion Elder Doyel was reassigned to fill his spot. So now it's just Elder Scofield and I. Also, Elder Doyel moved out this morning so Elder Scofield and I have a 6-person room to ourselves. We're thinking about bringing in an interior designer. I'm going for the Mahogany shelves and leather-bound books look.

 

We have two teachers here and one of them is named Daniel Court. I've found out in the last week that he is good friends with Hailey Bowles! Small world right?? And even SMALLER! He was in Victoria's ward at BYU-I! My mind = BLOWN. Him and I are pretty much bffs now.

 

Thanks you so much for all the Birthday stuff!!! My district quickly consumed the greater portion of it. I am just too nice. Except for the poppyseed muffins of course. I kept those for yours truly. The pictures were especially awesome. I'm so glad I can put a name to a face now! Thanks Jill!!!

 

I've realized that my facial hair grows really fast now. We're supposed to shave everyday and one day I forgot and I got comments all day! Maybe it's cuz it's too flippin cold here!

 

So I don't think I mentioned it but I'm in some special choir thing. They had auditions and Elder Doyel wanted to try out so I went with him and then the director asked if I was there to try out and Elder Doyel said yes so I thought what they hey, and I sand I need Thee Every Hour. Elder Doyel and I are both in the special 10 person choir now and we've been practicing for a few weeks. We're performing during the thanksgiving special meeting thing with some Apostles or something like that. No big deal though.

 

The other day in the TRC, my companionship taught two Brazilian girls from Recife!!! CRAZY SAUCE! They spoke so different from us! I guess Recife speaks different than everywhere else in Brazil. It's closer to Spanish because there's not as much blargsh. Casey will probably understand that. De = De not De = Jee

 

Elder Rowland and I pulled the greatest prank the other day. (This one is for you LaDawn) Him and I were the first ones to the showers after gym. (BTW, there are 6 showers for like 30 people on our floor just to give you an idea of the awesomeness of what we did.) So him and I went into every shower and turned them on and closed the curtains and then got into ours and started taking our showers. When everyone else showed up they assumed that all the showers were taken when really just our two were. They couldn't figure out why Elder Rowland and I were laughing so hard until they realized everyone but Elder Rowland and I were outside the showers. It was brilliant.

 

Last story real quick. My companionship makes at least 30 contacts a week now and I am loving it. It is so awesome especially because everyone we contact at the MTC is extremely busy and doesn't want to stand and talk to missionaries in the cold. SO REALISTIC RIGHT?! Well, I commonly get choked up as I share that I know God is our Heavenly Father and that I know He loves us more deeply and incredibly than we can understand. I love to share the ways I've felt His love in my life and especially share about Him giving His Son for us.

 

I love you guys!

 

~Elder Frazer

PICTURES!

 My Companion Elder Doyel and I

Recife, Brazil?

New York, United States?

Who knows where we'll serve, but we'll serve!

(Elder Frazer, Elder Fogleman, Elder Rowland)

Letter from 11/1/11

Oi familia!

So I thought I'd tell you a little about how the mail stuff works real quick. I can read email all day until 6 on tuesdays. I get mail everyday around 1 except on Sundays. And I get DearElders everyday at 6 except on Saturdays and Sundays.

So everyday my companionship grows stronger by deciding on a question every morning that we all have to answer every night. Well the other day, Elder Doyel and I were thinking of what the question should be and he says, "How bout we share about any... physical abnormalities we might have?" I immediately recognized this as him being curious about my Vitiligo but too afraid to actually ask. I thought I'd have some fun with him. That night I spoke to him very seriously and discretely about my fake big toe. He's since learned to be more direct with his questions.

Something else I notice about my dear companions: Though my bed was never made, I at least knew how to make it! My companions apparently had the opposite experience. They always had made beds but didn't have a clue how they got made! I've been asked this question a few times now, "So... which sheet goes on bottom?"

I guess I have dry sensitive skin because Elder Doyel noticed that my hands were always bleeding a couple weeks ago. I thought it was from just random cuts and scrapes but then I realized my hands were cracked and bleeding all over the place! I thought it was a rash at first but it went away with lotion. I have to constantly use it though because I guess I just can't handle the dryness here!

The other day I got a really cool curly fry in my lunch and I showed Elder Fogleman. He grabbed it and ate it! Well I was pretty upset so later that day during class I stole and ate his Twix. He made me spit it out in his hand and then he ATE IT. It was half chewed up and he ATE IT. It was the most nasty and impressive thing I've seen here.

To mom: SURGERY?!?!?! Thanks for keeping me in the loop! WHAT THE HECK?! That sounds like it was pretty major too! C'mon now, I'm on a mission, not dead! Tell me these things people!

Did you guys send that family picture yet? I also thought what I'd want for my birthday. It is COSTCO MUFFINS. The chocolate ones and the poppyseed ones! And not that Winco crud that we sometimes get. Thanks! :D

Do you guys all share your letters with eachother? I wanted to make sure that everything I send home gets to everyone else.

The weather here just turned for the worse. It rained and snowed today and the forecast is more and more snow. We went to the temple and were completely drenched by the end of the walk up there. Hope this suit isn't like anti-water or anything. I would ask for a jacket but I feel like as soon as I do, I'll get my Visa.

Please thank Uncle Jon for his letter and poem. The poem was pretty awesome.

So Today is day 34 of 63. I'm on the downward slope and gaining speed! Yesterday Elder Doyel told someone we were on our 4th week and I said, no 5th. He was dumbstruck. In other words, the weeks are flying by. However, it seems the letters have slowed down a bit. Please please please send me letters! Even sentence long letters are letters!!!

Should I just mail my pictures to Jill so she can post them? Or should I keep sending them home?

Last night we had a Halloween Party!!! It really was a party too! It might have been a bit outside the bounds of MTC rules but....Yeah that's all I got. Our whole classroom floor was invited! There were Brazilian Elders, Russian Sisters, Italian Elders and Sisters, and Ukranian Elders. It was SO MUCH FUN! We had halloween decorations, tons of food and candy, dress up stuff and light up halloween balloons! And bowling! We also had a party on our dorm floor too later that night! I'll be sending a few pictures of that next week. It really was a great Halloween!

Well I love you guys!


TE AMO E BOM DIA!
 
~Elder Frazer

Letter from 10/28/11

Dear Mom e famelia!
Sorry my email ended so abruptly. I had four seconds left! I hope I answered sufficiently.

I am getting your Dear Elder letters and thank you for them! Keep 'em coming! Also, do you share my letters with everyone? (Mainly Victoria?) And does Jill post them? Can she post the pictures I've sent? Or have Victoria post them on my facebook? Because I can't send them in an email here. Also, I can see the pictures you emailed but can't print them. Please send that family one of us at your wedding! Yes, the one with Victoria in it! I think your life size cut out idea is awesome and I will send a picture next week! I don't have one to send now and it takes a few days to get one developed. I love you so much!

Last Tuesday we had Elder Richard G. Scott come and speak at our devotional! He was amazing! But he spoke mostly about marriage which was weird! Guess what?! He asked a question (What is most important to be thoughtful of when searching for prompthings? See? Hear? or Feel?) and I raised my hand and he called on me out of 2400 missionaries! I answered "what we feel!" He then asked "Why?" I was pretty much blanked out at this point so everyone laughed at me when I didn't respond, haha. But then I answered, "Because that's how the spirit talks to us!" Can you believe it? I spoke to an apostle!

Also this week, my companionship started making "street contacts." It is so MUCH FUN! It's real practice! One of us makes the contact (to missionaries we run into in the halls) and one of us translates! I made a couple sisters cry because of my testimony! I'm pretty much awesome. Also, I'm trying to memorize the hymn, "Be thou Humble."

I love you guys!

Love,
Elder Frazer

P.S. Please get that letter to Lyle Nelson. Also you can read it if you want to see my portuguese skills!
P.P.S. All I want for my birthday is a loving, supportive family and I already have that! ...Also, a puppy.
P.P.P.S. Grandma sent me this check. Not too sure what to do with it seeing as I'm in the MTC...

Send some birthday lovin'

Hi Readers,
Just wanted to remind you all that Elder Frazer's birthday is coming up (Wednesday, November 2). If you get a chance to send birthday greetings via a letter, an email, or a note on dearelder.com, I know he would really appreciate it.

Thanks for supporting our favorite missionary!

Letter from 10/25/11

Oi familia! e mai!

So first off, we're only supposed to email once a week so I can't email Mark specifically, so Feliz Anniversado Mark!

I'm going to try and answer all your questions real quick in this email but I'll probably be writing a letter too later today.

My daily schedule changes every day but pretty much always consists of these things: 3 hours of personal study time, 2 hours of language study time, an hour of gym time, 6 hours of class time, and 30 minutes of planning time. There's other stuff too but that's all I can think of right now that happens every day.

My all day of Portuguese was in a word, FRUSTRATING. It was a pretty quiet day. My companions and I even got a little angry at eachother because we just couldn't figure out what we were trying to say to eachother. Pray for me though because we're doing 2 full days this week...

We try to go to bed at 10:30 every night. But my companions are frequently writing in their journals til a little later than I'd like, haha. I sometimes have trouble getting to sleep because my head is just buzzing with verbs, present subjunctive tense conjugations, what we're teaching our investigators, what I could do better as senior companion, and most of all, wondering what kind of food they're going to make us tomorrow. And almost every night I wake up at 3 am. I wake up, I check my clock, then I roll over. Don't know why but hey, at least it's consistent.

We do our own laundry in a huge laundry room with tons of washers and dryers so it's pretty easy to keep all our stuff seperate. But Elder Doyel did find one of my shirts in his clothes. We're still trying to figure that one out...

We get 50 minutes a day of gym time. We either play district kickball or I play bball. Our district is kind of known for kickball now because we're the only ones in the MTC that do it and we are SERIOUS about it. We used our daily planning session a couple days ago just to get our lineup and positions in place. We sometimes play by ourselves but we like to challenge other districts too. Bball is soooooo fun. It's all 3v3 games and they are so much fun! I'm loving it while it lasts!

My teachers are amazing! They are both new but they are both really good teachers. They are both very spiritual and very helpful with Portuguese. Did I mention that every single lesson is in Portuguese? It's definitely, learn the language or learn nothing here I guess!

We don't have a mission president other than the MTC president but we do have a Branch Presidency. He's like the bishop of our ward/branch of missionaries. I've had an interview with him and one of his counselors since I've been here. Also I've had interviews with my District Leader in which I've had to report on my companion, which is him! It's been fun.

We have church in one of the many Chapels/Classrooms. The speakers are called up at random from the pulpit so that means we have to prepare a talk EVERY WEEK! And did I mention that the talk too are only in our mission languages? (Which in our branch includes Portuguese e Italian.) The sacrament preparers, passers, and blessers are asked tghe week previous to do it.

We have all 3 hours but it's scattered throughout the day and our sunday school is just a kind of district discussion.

We get to go to the temple every P-Day.

The food is interesting. I'm getting pretty sick of it. They do NOT know Mexican food here and it's killing me.

There are always missionaries everywhere in the MTC. We see missionaries from every mission all the time.

Everyone eats meals at different times. Our meal time is the last one of the day and we often run our of the good stuff!
I like it here because of my district, my teachers, and I'm just used to it.

Half my district goes to Masao Brazil and half to Recife.

GOTTA GO! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Letter from 10/22/11

Dear Mom,

I couldn't fit everything in the email so I'm adding a few things here.

Russel Askey and Melanie Nelson?!?! That's Crazy Sauce!

Remember how they call Firesides "Sunday Evening Blah Blah Blahs" now? Well not in the MTC. It's all "Firesides" here.

For our three hours of personal study time every week, my companions and I have been speaking only in Portuguese. It is not easy. And this Friday, however grudgingly, they committed to speak only in Portuguese the WHOLE day with me. It's going to be a great experience full of frustration and horrible grammar.

My companion, Elder Doyel gave me a note that said he was so happy to have me as a companion because of my big heart, ability to love everyone, and catchy happiness. It was very special to find that on my desk after a long day.

Today officially marks a third of my stay in the MTC. I think I need to work harder because I don't feel like I've accumulated a third of the knowledge I need to be a missionary in brazil.

Thank you so much for the package! The notebooks and Oreos will be very needed! But HOLY CLOTHES! I needed like one shirt and one pair of shorts. It shows me how much you care though:). But I'll probably have to send most of it back before I leave.

If you're praying for me to get my visa, pray that it comes in six weeks. I love my teachers and my district! I don't want to leave Provo anytime soon.

In church we sang a rendition of "Ye Elders of Israel" that I put together. It went really well I think! We had an Italian sister play on the piano for us. Did I tell you that the Italians are our best friends? Cuz boy howdy they are! They are so nice and are always leaving us friendly notes in our classroom and bringing us caramel corn and cinnamon rolls and all sorts of awesome stuff. Elder Doyel and I go to choir and dinner with four of the Italian Sisters every Tuesday and Sunday. They are so nice and so fun and so friendly. You can feel their spirits and love of the Gospel being around them. I'm sure LaDawn will love to hear that!

Tell everyone I love them! I hope all you crazy cats are sharing letters I send home! I miss you mom!

Fala o proximo!

Elder Frazer.

Letter from 10/18/11

Oi Familia!

I guess no one wanted some daily communcation cuz I didn't get any emails. That's okay though. I still love you guys!

Well things are going pretty good here! The weather warmed up a bit so I'm not in any danger of hypothermia right now. But they tell me it starts snowing by the beginning of november... It's going to be fun that's fo shizzle! Luckily I have the fire of missionary work burning within me.

So, story time. We taught a lesson in the TRC this past week. There people from off the street, usually byu students, come in and get taught by the missionaries. They don't act like investigators or anything, it's just an opportunity for us to teach real people. Well in our second 20 minute teaching session, we were teaching a guy that just got home from his mission in Portugal about a year ago. (BTW we teach in Portugues). The lesson was going fine and it was on the Plan of Salvation. Then Elder Doyel felt inspired to have him read in the BoM that scripture about there being opposition in all things and the guy started to cry. The Spirit entered the room so quickly and completely. We knew as we continued to teach that we were truly teaching to this guy's needs. He may have already known all about what our lesson was on and he probably didn't understand much of our broken Portugues, but he needed to hear the scripture and he needed to hear our testimonies and feel our spirits. I know we helped that man because we were able to truly teach by the Spirit.

Another story, Elder Fogleman and I are quickly becoming best friends. I'm so glad he's here with me. We have a blast together and we're always laughing or testifying. A few nights ago our district was all hanging out in our room and Elder Doyel started talking about how he could hypnotize people and make them go to sleep. Elder Fogleman volunteered to help him demonstrate. After several minutes of Elder Doyel helping Elder Fogleman to relax and get into the "trance" Elder Doyel violently yanked on Elder Fogleman's arm and yelled, "Sleep!" Elder Fogleman collapsed onto Elder Doyel (who is not a big guy and Elder Fogleman is) and we all sat or stood in absolute astonishment and disbelief. It had WORKED. Elder Doyel struggled to keep Elder Fogleman up and he tried to put him onto a bed. We were all still in shock and awe. Elder Doyel asked me to help me put Elder Fogleman on the bed and when I did I grabbed his feet. Elder Fogleman instantly bust up laughing. He had faked the WHOLE THING. We were all trying to catch our breath for the next ten minute because of how incredibly hard we were all laughing. Elder Fogleman fooled us all, even Elder Doyel.

Last story, Saturday night we were in a weekly workshop learning about applying doctrine in our lessons. These workshops are all in english. We got to a point where we broke up into doubles and were supposed to teach a lesson. I was teaching a very large Somoan. I was teaching first. As the lesson started the words, Ola, Como Vais? Came to my mind. Then I realized I didn't need to speak in Portugues. Then I saw this huge guy staring at me and I just couldn't think. The only words that came to my mind were in Portugues! I couldn't even testify in English! Eu seu que....er Eu know que Cristo... er Ahhhhhhh there's a huge Somoan who wants to kill me! It was a hilarious experience.

Well I love you all! Sorry I couldn't write more!

Thank you for the packages! WHY DO I NEED A BOX FULL OF CLOTHES THOUGH?!?!?!

Talk to you soon!

~Elder Frazer

Letter from 10/11/11

Tudo Bem?!?!
Guess what? I just filled out my online Visa today!!! That means I'm on the final step to getting my Visa! I think... Also I think there's a way for you to know what the progress of my Visa is because other missionaries know but I don't know what it is. We had one missionary this week from our district get a call over the intercom to be ready to depart for Brazil in 45 minutes because his Visa just came in. Crazy right?!?! Pray that happens to me I guess!

How is Ginger? Does she spend most of her time at Casey's? Is she sad that I'm gone? I miss her so much! Will you send me a picture of her? Also a family picture, preferably the one at your wedding with all of us in it?

So since we had one missionary leave and my compionship is so rad, we got the extra companion. His name is Elder Scofield and he's from New York. He has quite an accent too. I don't think he likes me too much but I understand that it's hard for him cuz just when he was settling in here he gets thrown into a new companionship.

We were told today that our residence building is going down on thursday so we have to be ready to move by tomorrow night. Awesome right? We just got used to our new home and how were moving! I think we setting a record though; first transfer of the mission at the 2 week mark!

 

So I was looking through my letters the other day and noticed that I had none from COURTNEY!!! What the heck?! I want to hear from my favorite little high school sister! Get that girl to start writing me rapido! (rapido means fast em portugues)

So I wrote Ladawn, Casey, and Victoria em portugues so I probably won't be writing much in it in this email.

 

Tell Jill and Justin that I'll be writing them next week. I absolutely love their letters! They are so awesome especially because they have pictures of my favorite nieces! I miss those girls so much!!!

Guess who I met here? Bryn Lockhart's twin girl cousins! And one of them is serving in Roseville California! So if you run into a Sister Crossley, her and I are pretty much MTC BFF's.

I have 3 minutes left so this is going to be quick. I love you guys!

My favorite quote of the week was from my companion after our devotional on Sunday. He said, "Take that testimony!" It was HILARIOUS. And so true. We were so uplifted on Sunday! It was a great day!

I love you guys so much! I can't express it in words! TE AMO TE AMO TE AMO!!!!

Vai com Deus,
~Elder Frazer

Dear Elder

For those of you who are interested, here is the link to dearelder.com. You type a letter on dearelder and send it as you would an email. Dearelder then prints it and delivers it to the missionary. Cody mentioned in his most recent letter that he really appreciates mail, so lets support our missionary by sending lots of uplifting letters.

Letter from 10/4/11

Dear Mom,

Tudo Bem?!?

I love you so much! I hope that as my mother you’re able to read my hand-writing. If not, maybe your experience as an elementary school teacher will help you.

First of all, we only have 30 minutes to email time a week! That includes reading and sending. It takes me about that long just to read them! I’ve gotten 9 letters and a package in my six days of being here. That’s about 8 more than anyone else. So thank you for making me the most envied missionary in my district! Getting just one letter can turn a long, down-trodden day into an amazing, uplifting one! If there is sunshine in my soul (which of course there always is) then a letter is like a magnifying glass. Victoria used this thing called “dearelder.com”. I guess it’s like you send an email to the MTC and they print it off and give it to me. While I’m here in the MTC, it’s free and far superior to emails or letters so use it! Please call Victoria and tell her to post something about it on my facebook. Also, if you didn’t get the message, mail is awesome so write and encourage others to write FREQUENTLY!!!

In my district there are twelve missionaries (all Elders) and half of us are going to Recife. Shawn Fogleman, *AHEM*, Elder Fogleman is also in my district. My companion is Elder Doyle. He is a very neat guy with a strong testimony. We were truly inspired to be companions! We get along better than maybe anyone else in the district. I am the Senior companion and he is the District Leader. We are doing our best to inspire and uplift the rest of our district. He is from Sherwood, Oregon (just south of Portland) and comes from an awesome LDS family. I love this kid already!

We got to watch General Conference in the gym here at the MTC. It was great! I’ve never taken so many notes before! Wasn’t President Uchtdorf’s talk on Saturday morning great?! There were great “oooos” and “ahhhs” at the announcement of the second Provo Temple. I tried my hardest but with the taxing MTC schedule I just couldn’t help falling asleep once or twice.

There’s so much to do here and so little time to do it. They keep us BUSY and FULL. I’ve never eaten so much in my life. And the eating times are so awkward. Sometimes we’ll have meals just two hours apart and sometimes eight hours apart. But boy howdy! When we have meals, WE HAVE MEALS. They tried to make chicken with creamy stuff but they failed epically. I thought I’d love the unlimited cereal bar but it’s all off-brands! I mean, what’s up with that?! But anywho . . .

I’m also only allowed to write letters on P-day and when most of the day is taken up by the Temple and laundry, it doesn’t make for a long letter writing experience.

Most of our day is learning Gospel stuff in Portuguese. Our teacher only speaks in Portuguese, and I mean No English. We also have lots of Personal Study Time. I’m definitely struggling with the language; others are learning much faster than me. But I’m still surprised with how much I have learned. I can understand it very well. We’re teaching an “investigator” named Junior. He’s from Brazil and going to BYU. He is a very good actor. He apparently doesn’t know English and let’s fact it, my companion and I don’t really know Portuguese. This makes for very . . . interesting . . . lessons. We just hope the Spirit is teaching him in Portuguese because I’m pretty sure he hasn’t understood anything we’ve tried to say in it.

We just had one member of our district get his visa and take off to Brazil today. His companion is joining my companionship so we’ll have a trio. We went to the Temple today; it was awesome.

The best part of the day is gym time. I’ve become a bit of a 4-square legend here. Thank goodness I worked at Neal Dow! There’s also a lot of volleyball and basketball.

There so SO many Sister Missionaries here! They are everywhere! Most of them are absolutely awesome too! I would encourage every woman of the church to serve a mission because the sisters definitely keep us Elders from getting too crazy.

On Sunday I thought I was going to snap and stat punching people because of the monotony of being here. But yesterday was certainly a blessing and calmed me down. I got my glasses (THANK YOU!!!) and 7 letters (THANK YOU!!!) and got to go on a field trip! Elder Doyle surprised me with a trip to the Provo Medical Center. He had to get his eyes checked or something lame like that but it meant two hours off campus! We were in a missionary shuttle for about 30 minutes and in the doctor’s office for another 30 minutes which means we tasted sweet freedom for a whole hour! We contacted lots of people while waiting for our ride. We also planned our second lesson with Junior. (We challenged him to baptism. He said it was too soon but that he’d prepare.) The field trip was definitely amazing. Talking and haring our spirits with real people!

Please share this letter with everyone. Also, call Victoria and share it with her or email it to her or something. Please Please Please Please Please PLEASE send me a couple more P-day shirts like the purple Funland one and send me another pair of gym shorts and a pillow case. (ASAP!) I SO do not have enough regular clothes for pj’s, gym time every day, and P-day clothes!!! Also, the bad weather has already started here! I’ll tell you when it starts snowing, I might need a jacket or something . . . By the way, we just had an Elder in our branch who was supposed to go to Brazil get permanently reassigned to Montana due to visa complications. And I’ve heard that’s not a too rare thing either. Keep your fingers crossed that that doesn’t happen to me I guess! There are over 230 missionaries here waiting for visas to go to Brazil. Crazy huh? Anywho . . .

I love you guys a ton! I’m already excited to see you guys again! I really do love all of you! Please be sure to share this with the Mark’s, Courtney, Kari, Kiersten, Jill, Jonathan, Casey, Justin, Grandma, and LaDawn and anyone else you want to. Tell them all that I love and miss them. And when you call Victoria tell her that I love her too! Also, can you find Elder Carr’s contact info for me? Thank you so much for everything mom! I hope your job is going well! I hope my service is blessing you! Boa Sorte!!

Eu seu que Jesus Cristo e nossos Salvador e Redentor! O Livro de Mormon e verdedeiro!

Con Amor,

Elder Frazer

P.S. Also a spiral-bound notebook if you can.

First Email

Mom received a short email from Elder Frazer yesterday:

I'm doing laundry right now. Tuesdays are my P-days (woot woot!) I have a ton to do but I'll try to write later today. I just wanted to tell you I'm doing great! I love you! Thank you so much for the emails and letters!

~Elder Frazer

*Note: For those of you unfamiliar with the missionary lingo, "P-day" stands for Preparation Day. It is the day in the week when the missionary does laundry, grocery shops (not necessary while in the MTC), checks and sends email, etc. Every other day is devoted 100% to missionary work. Aren't those missionaries amazing??

Adeus!

God be with you 'til we meet again.

Final Countdown

{Cody with a few of his favorite ladies}

Earlier today I received a text message from Cody informing me that there were 24.5 hours until he would be set apart as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He appears to be counting down. Who wouldn't be? Cody is closing a chapter to his life and entering an experience that will have lasting influence on the rest of the chapters to come.

Last weekend Cody gave a phenomenal talk in church about increasing spiritual capacity. If you missed it, or would like to re-ponder the message he shared, you can read it here.

Cody will be learning Portuguese in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo (relocated from the Brazil MTC because his Visa has yet to arrive) for the next ~12 weeks. A missionary's MTC schedule is strenuous, lots of classes to attend and lots and lots of studying. I've heard letters in the MTC are appreciated like sunshine in Seattle, so let's inundate Elder Frazer's mailbox! His address is:

Elder Cody Frazer
MTC Box 88
BRA-REC 1128
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604

His email address is:

cody.frazer@myldsmail.net

Farewell, Cody! We all love you and look forward to hearing about your experiences as you fulfill your Call to Serve.

Increasing Spiritual Capacity

Talk on Spiritual Capacity
9/18/11

Bonjia, como vais? My name is Cody Frazer and for those of you who don’t fala portages, “Bonjia, como vais?” Is Portuguese for “Hi, how are you?” Now I know you’re all impressed by my mastery of the Portuguese language and honestly it impresses me too. In fact, sometimes I speak Portuguese so well it sounds just like English.

As you can all probably tell from my opening statements, my talk should be on humility. But it’s not! My talk is on spiritual capacity. After thinking about this topic three questions came to my mind: What is spiritual capacity? Is it measurable like the capacity of a measuring cup? And is there a maximum capacity like the capacity of a building or elevator?

I found the answer to my first question in a talk by Elder Robert E. Wells of the Quorum of the Seventy. He stated that “The [spiritual] capacity the Lord looks for in us is that ability to perform to the degree that we become profitable servants unto Him. The Lord has given us talents, gifts, and blessings. He expects us to magnify them and to use them in the service of others…” In other words, it is our capacity to use and develop what the Lord has blessed us with.

In Matthew 25 the Lord gives us the parable of the talents. In this parable a man brings three of his servants to him and gives the first servant five talents (or gold pieces). Then he gives the second servant two talents. And finally to the third servant, he gives one talent. And then he leaves and while he is gone the first servant takes his five talents and trades up to ten talents. The second servant takes his two talents and trades up to four talents. And the third servant buries his talent because he is afraid to lose it. Then the man comes back and praises the first and second servant and reprimands the third servant.

Now I always thought that the third servant gets treated unfairly. I mean, the first guy gets five talents and he only gets one! He didn’t even have a chance to compete with the first and second servant! But then I read more thoroughly what happens after the man returns and I’ll read that now; it’s verses 20-23. (Go read these scriptures!)

So the first servant gained five talents and the second servant gained two talents but were they treated any differently? No! The man says to them both, Well done, good and faithful servant. So the third servant had equal opportunity to double his talent and receive the blessing of his master but he did not. The first two servants utilized and increased what they were given. They showed that they had the spiritual capacity to take care of their master’s possessions.

Now back to my second question, is spiritual capacity measurable? I think that it is. I think we can measure how great or weak our own spiritual capacity is by taking inventory of what Godly traits we possess such as: faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, kindness, charity, humility, and diligence.

Finally, to my third question, is there a maximum spiritual capacity? I don’t think so. I think that any one of the previously mentioned traits can be both a contributor and a product of spiritual capacity. For instance, having faith in God can increase our spiritual capacity. And with an increased spiritual capacity we can have greater faith in God. And so it goes in an infinite loop. Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles made this comparison: He said, “An infant’s body is tiny, and its spiritual capacities are undeveloped. While the body may reach the peak of its maturation in a few years, the development of the spirit may never reach the limit of its capacity, because there is no end to progression.”

Through answering those questions, I feel that I have a better understanding of what spiritual capacity is and I hope you all do too. Now I would like to focus on how to utilize and increase our own spiritual capacity. I picked out three ways that are particularly important to me in which we can do that. They are: prayer, scripture study, and service.

Elder Nelson said that, “Prayer invites those ennobling attributes of the spirit that are ultimately ‘bestowed upon all who are true followers of… Jesus Christ.’” Prayer is something that is so important to me. In a health class I took a couple semesters ago we had a unit on spiritual health and its importance in our everyday lives. I was very happy to learn that our textbooks cited prayer and meditation as essential for spiritual health not just for the religious person, but for everyone. In 2 Nephi 32:9 we are given a commandment and a blessing concerning prayer. It says… (Go read this scripture!) I have prayed when I’ve been at my lowest point, in the depths of sorrow and loneliness and I have felt comfort. I have also prayed with a heart full of gratitude and love and I have felt joy. I have a testimony that God does hear our prayers and answers them. President Gordon B Hinckley said of himself, “I don’t know how to get anything done except by getting on my knees and pleading for help and then getting on my feet and going to work.” President Hinckley is a great example of increasing spiritual capacity through prayer.

In recent months, I have grown a deep love and appreciation for the scriptures and the opportunity to study them. We’ve just recently celebrated the 400^th anniversary of the King James Bible. Before then, widespread ownership or knowledge of the scriptures was virtually unheard of. Now we are so blessed, we can not only own hardcopies of the scriptures easily, but we can have it on our computers, or phones, or even mp3 players. I have such a testimony of the scripture study. Nephi tells us to “feast upon the words of Christ…” That is such a great metaphor. We shouldn’t just read the scriptures or glance through the pages but we need to FEAST upon them. Make them a part of us so they can strengthen and fortify us. Whenever I’m having an off day or I feel angry or upset for any reason, I know I can turn to the scriptures. There is an incredible strength and a spirit that scripture study brings into my life. I know we can increase our spiritual capacity though scripture study.

Finally, service helps us to increase our spiritual capacity. Meaningful, selfless service is an unmatchable gift for both the person giving and receiving. I have never felt so loved as when someone has truly served me and I have never felt such joy as when I have had the opportunity to truly serve another. When Christ was on the earth he constantly served others. President David O. McKay said, “Man’s chief concern in life should not be the acquiring of gold, or of fame, or of material possessions. It should not be the development of physical prowess, nor of intellectual strength, but his aim, the highest in life, should be the development of a Christ-like character.” He is the greatest example of service and the greatest example of spiritual capacity. Christ himself said, “I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done.”

This past week, my mom kept pestering me and pressuring me to be sure to give the greatest talk of our century this morning but to be honest, I’ve never been one to give grand speeches. It’s hard for me to speak over long periods of time and I commonly trip over words. But I can and always will be able to give my simple testimony of Christ. And that is that I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I know that He loves us and that as we follow His example, we can increase our spiritual capacity and can live happier, more joy-filled lives. I say these things in His name, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Drumroll, please...

Elder Cody Frazer has been called to serve in the Brazil, Recife mission. He will report to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Brazil on September 28th.

Recife, Brazil Temple

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT RECIFE?

For a quick overview of Recife, check out the wikipedia site here.

To learn where Recife is located within the enormous country of Brazil, click here.

To view a photo montage of beautiful Recife, click here.

To view a short video about the Recife temple, click here.

CONGRATULATIONS, CODY!!

They're In!

The papers are currently in Salt Lake awaiting next Thursday's missionary assignment meeting. We are so excited for Cody!

**Don't forget to cast your vote on where Cody will be called to serve! (See previous post)**

Where in the World??

Mission papers will be submitted within weeks. There are currently 340 missions worldwide. Where do you think Cody, soon to be known as Elder Frazer, will be called?

Don't delay, cast your vote today!

*Click here to register with Google so you can post your vote in our comments section. It's quick, easy, and free, and we'd love to hear from you!