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...