{Nov 1, 2010}

Dear Mom and Family,
Happy Birthday today mom!!! You are awesome, and I really am
grateful for you and you lovingness and kindess. I sent some things
for you. I sent a letter and a CD of pictures and a birthday card, but
i am not sure if i put the right zip code on the birthday card, but I
hope you get it all.
So this week was really good. It is really hard for me to work the
week of the transfers because all I can think about is if I will get
transfred or not. But there is a way to get over these distracting
feelings. If you are distracted, or mad, or down, or have a bad
thought you can make a contact and you will be alright.
So this week we baptized Mateus. He is 10 years old and really
really smart. One day we were knocking on a door and he was walking on
the sidewalk and started to talk to us. He first said to me Excuse me
sir, where are you from? and then we talked to him and we got his
address and went there another day. He knows Daniela who we baptized
my first transfer. He is an amazing kid. Oh yeah and we had a talent
show. I will send pictures and videos later but I did this thing were
I was the midget missionary and everyon laughed and it was awesome.
There were 150 people there.
And for the transfers I was transfered to Benfica, my first area! I
left last night and got here this morning. The bus ride was good, I
actually slept good. My companion is Elder J Santos. He is really cool
and he is from Riberão Preto. He has almost 1 year on the mission and
we will be zone leaders here. Our zone has almost 30 missionaries.
Elder Carvalho is in my zone! Also one cool thing is that I live in
the same house as I did in my first transfer and Elder Gomes lives
with me, the goofy skinny tall calm missionary.
Oh yeah and the good thing about now is that I will be able to get
letters every week. Oh and I got the package that you guys sent. It
took about a month to get here I saw and thank you so much!! I
especially like the shorts and the hat and the drawings and
everything! Also thank you Grandma Ruth and Papa Earl for th money and
also thank you Grandpa and Grandma Tanner. I will write letters and
properly thank you guys.

Love,
Elder Willoughby

PS- the picture is of me and Elder J Santos.

{Oct 25, 2010}

Dear Family,
Well things are awesome here in the Celestial Kingdom. We are working hard and God is blessing us a lot. One cool thing that happened was Sunday morning when we were picking up our investigators to go to church everyone was ready. Every sunday we walk around and pick up our investigators with sometimes the help of members. Lots of times we have to wait a few minutes for people to get ready and lots of times we have to wake people up. Well this Sunday was really good. First we walked by Cidinha´s house and she was ready. Then a woman named Ana and her daughter Bruna went and they were waiting for us. And since Cidinha knows where the church is and already knows Ana they walked together to church and then we went to get more people. A young man 10 years old went and he went with a member girl that is 16 (Daniella that we baptized 2 transfers ago). Then we went past another house and 2 more young men came, Alef and Rian. These two walked to church with Jairo. So it was cool because 3 people that I baptized helped us. I love this place so much. I dont know if I will stay or if I will leave this transfer but up until now I have spent half of my mission in Barbalha. I am on my 6th transfer right now and this is my 3rd in Barbalha. So this Saturday we will find out what will happen. And if I do leave I will leave Sunday night and get to Fortaleza monday morning.
To all the readers and I know with full certainty without a shadow of a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true and is the word of God and is, as it says, the most correct book on the face of the earth, and by abiding by its precepts you will get closer to God than by any other book. Read a chapter and ask God if its true and He will touch your heart and you will feel the truthfulness in your heart.

Elder Willoughby

{Oct 18, 2010}

Dear Family,
This week was really good. First of all thanks for all the emails and stuff. I was surprised to hear that Brody is living in Rexburg. Sounds like all of you guys are having a good time there. Oh and I always forget to say it but good luck for Isaac Robertson, here in Ceará is hot, but everyone says that Teresinha is a lot hotter, so all I have to say for him is boa sorte. Here in the Cariri Region of Ceará they say they just have two seasons, summer and hell. Oh yeah and thanks all you guys for the letters and emails and birthday cards. Thanks mom and dad for the birthday money and card and also for the pictures that were inclosed in the card. I like to show people them and everyone says the same thing, that I was really chubby. On Wednesday, the 13th, the assisstants came and we had a mini zone conference thing and so the brought all the letters and stuff from Fortaleza. I am not sure if I had told you but here in the Juazeiro do Norte Zone, we just get letters when someone from Fortaleza comes here, which is usually 2 times a transfer. All the rest of the mission gets letters everyweek. I havent gotten the package you sent yet, but no worries I will probably get it the next time someone comes. Well anyway my birthday was good. My 5 companions got me a cake and I got some presents from some members and investigators, mostly candy, and also on Saturday after having lunch a member surprised us with a cake, cajuina, and clown noses! It was fun. This week we were able to baptize a girl named Cidinha, who is 21. She is really cool and we found her when we were teaching Jaiane. We were teaching Jaiane and before we started she went to grab her friend. Cidinha works as a maid and babysitter type thing. The first time we invited her to go to church was the week of gen conference. We stopped by her house to go with her, but she didnt go. After that she got really sad and started doing all the committments and stuff. She even answers the questions they have at the back of the Missionary Pamphlet things, which I had never seen anyone answer. I was thinking about it and baptism is so cool, because if Cidinha is confirmed and endures to the end, she can enter in the kingdom of God, but if she hadnt been baptized with the proper authority, she would not be able to do that.
Thanks all of you for your prayers!!

Elder Willoughby

{Oct 11, 2010}

Dear Family,
Well this week was a great week. We worked really hard and God always blesses us lots. Elder de Oliveira is really a great elder, and I am learning more about how a father feels and thinks. One cool thing was that we found this really good family, Antonio Marcos, Ana, and the daughter Bruna. It was a contact that we did and then we went back. We invited them to come to church and they said yes we will go, and they were really excited but something happened at the last minute and they were not able to come. I am not sure if I already said about Jaiane, but she is a girl that was playing the guitar on the sidewalk one day. We taught her and were preparing her for baptism and hopefully she will be baptized in the next few weeks. Also she brought her two friends to church and her one friend whose name is Cidinha wants to be baptized like right away. She cried during the sacrament and said she felt really peaceful. I love hearing the feelings of people who go to church for the first time! God blessed us a lot.
Those were all the good things and probably the worst thing that happened is kind of funny. We ate last THursday at a members house and I ate a really lot, and a lot of dessert too. And so I was feeling really sick that day, and it is getting really hot, and I was just like, this awful feeling in my stomach will go away. So we were walking in the street and I was like praying that I wouldnt throw up, but God said to me that all these things would give me experience and be for my good, so in the middle of the street I started puking a lot. Like a really lot. But we had an activity in the church so we went there, I met up with Elder Nascimento, who also had thrown up, and so us 2 went home while the rest of the missionaries stayed at the activity.
But the worst thing isnt anything compared to the best thing that happened. I got to help ordain Jairo to the Melchizidek Priesthood. It was so cool that someone that I taught and baptized and confirmed, I also got to help ordain and confer the melchi. Priesthood.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and I love all of you, and pray for us!!

Elder Willoughby

{Oct 4, 2010}

Dear Stephanie and Family,

Thanks for the emails! This was a really good week in Barbalha. It is getting really hot. Seriously the last week or so has been incredibly sweltering, but the heat never really gets to me, it would take a lot more heat than this to melt Elder Iron Man (thats me). Jking, but seriously the heat never really bothers me. Elder de Oliveira is really good, but its hard being a father. I will read some conference talks and see what the Brethren have to say to help me. I have a goal to help him so that at the end of this transfer he is even more animated and excited to work than he, as a new missionary, already is.

We started teaching a man named Cícero. Jairo was walking to get the bus to conference and Cicero asked what church he belonged to and so Jairo told him and he was like I will call my friends to come and talk to you. Moral of the story is Jairo is the man and awesome. So we will work hard with Cícero. We are also teaching a girl named Jaiane who is cool. One day we were walking back from lunch and she was playing the guitar on the side walk and Elder Nascimento was with us, and plays the guitar really well, and so he asked if he could play, and then after we started teaching her. She even went with us to general conference and took her friend too.

General Conference was like this. The church payed for a bus from Barbalha to Juazeiro, so anyone that wanted to go could go. The Bus ride to the church is like 30 or 40 minutes. In Juazeiro there was a nice air conditioned room for the american missionaries. It was nice, but we got home really late on Saturday because we had to do some stuff. And then on Sunday we had to get up at like 4:30, get ready, get on a bus, and be in Juazeiro at 6:00 AM for the Priesthood Session. And then after that we had to go back to Barbalha to make sure some of our investigators came, and then back to Juazeiro. It was really tiring and really hot, and I was fasting, and I thought I was going to collapse over and die. But I didnt. Oh yeah and yesterday was the day of the Brazilian elections. And in Brazil it is mandatory to vote. If you dont you get penalized or fined or something.

Loving Life,

Elder Willoughby

{Sept 27, 2010}

Dear Family,
Everything here is going good. Well I had my son and I attached a picture of him and I. His name is Elder de Oliveira but his name is going to change to Elder Monteira I think because there is already an Elder de Oliveira. He is from Curitiba. It was so cool when I picked him up in Juazeiro. I was talking to him and he said something like, yeah yesterday when I was in the MTC, and it shocked me that the day before he was still in the MTC. I cant believe I am training, I am totally not prepared to mold a missionary, just yesterday I was being trained by my father Elder Carvalho. Well anyway it is kinda cool because he is already teaching like I teach, for good or for bad. Well one thing that happened this week was that we had family home evening at this one members house. We watched the movie the Testaments and then drank Mango Juice, which was delightful.
Some of the people we taught this week were Janielle, Francisco, and Fábio. Francisco was cool because we hadnt gone there all week and then on Saturday we decided to go and we taught about the Sabbath Day and he was like, sure I will go to church. He has a wife named Lena and a son Ericleiton. We found him because a youth talked with his son in school about the church so we went there to talk with his son, but found his parents too. I was just about to stop going there because we had been teaching them for like 3 or 4 weeks and they hadnt gone to church yet, but yesterday was a miracle because he went to church and we will work really hard with them this week.
Well I have to go already because I burnt a CD with a bunch of pictures for you guys.
Always remember to read the Book of Mormon everyday!

Um beijinho,
Elder Willoughby

{Sept 20, 2010}

Dear Family,
Well this transfer ended and one more is beginning. It is all going so fast. This week was good, we worked really hard. One thing that happened was that we had a small conference with President Batt. He only comes to this region like every 3 months so we said some things and we had interviews and then we all ate lunch in Juazeiro.
One cool story was about this one family. They were a referal from a member here. We went there and taught and the mom was like I was praying that someone would come to help my son and you guys are it. So cool!! But the sad part is that they didnt go to church and I am worried and like hope everything turns out alright. We marked a baptismal date with them and everything.
Inviting people to be baptized has to be my favorite thing to do. You cant be scared to do it but have to be really bold. Its cool because most of the time we mark a baptismal date in the 1st lesson and something to work toward. And if they read and pray and go to church then chances are that they will be baptized on that date.
So here are the transfers
Elder Nascimento- stays, will be companions with a young american
Elder A Mendonça- transfered to Benfica(my old area) to be Zone Leader
Elder Warn- transfered to Serrinha in Fortaleza
Elder Landskron- stays in Barbalha but changes to Elder Mendonça´s area
Elder Oliveira Santos- transfered to Ipanema (also my old area)
Elder Willoughby- STAYS and other exciting news
I am pregnant
I am going to have a baby and be a father. That is missionaryslang to say that I am going to train. So my baby boy will be delivered to me from the MTC on Wednesday. I DONT KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF BABIES. But I´ll be able to train a missionary. Pray for me.
I know that God lives and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and the most correct of any book!

Um abraço,Elder Willoughby

{Sept 13, 2010}

Dear Family,
How are the United States doing? My hope is that they are really good and you guys are having a blast there. I am still super well here in Barbalha. Today is already the last P-Day of the Transfer. Time here goes super fast. It flies. Let´s see what did we do this week. We worked really hard. On Setember 11 me and Elder Warn sang the national anthem and had a moment of silence to remember our country, which was really cool. One cool thing is that for the first time this ward has a Ward Mission Leader. So this week we had a meeting with him. So his name is Diego, a typical Brazilian name, and he is like 21 and preparing to serve a mission. He still has to wait like 8 months though to be able to have a year. One other cool thing is Jairo is helping us a lot. He is super active in the church. He is basically the man and all the missionaries think so. I am proud to have been able to find and teach such a cool man. He has just been a member for 1 month but he is preparing to serve a mission. I was thinking about how cool it would be if he left to serve a mission while I was still on my mission.
This week we were working really hard, preparing this one really great man for baptism, but Satan worked really hard to and it didnt work out. But one good thing is that last week the two people that were supposed to be confirmed didnt come (for more or less legitimate reasons) but this week they both came and were confirmed and received the gift of the holy ghost. Now if they endure to the end they will be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven!
There is this one guy named Luis who is the man and he took us on another hike today. He is the man and it was really awesome but I didnt bring my camera.Luis really has a big heart.
Well that is it for now but thank you for all your prayers!!

Elder Willoughby

{Sept 6, 2010}

Dear Family,

How is everything there? Can you believe I am a missionary with 8 months already? It´s weird, time goes by so fast here. So you guys are going to the fair huh? Thats cool. I remember last summer when I was forced to volunteer there, helping make Tiger Ears. Well anyway things are going super great here. Did you know that for the last two months The brasil fortaleza mission has been the highest baptizing mission in the world, and the highest baptizing ward/branch in this mission is barbalha? Pretty crazy, huh? I never thought I would be in the middle of the jungle preaching the gospel. But I´m not really in the middle of the jungle just so you know.

So this week, one cool thing that happened was that we had a zone conference. The president didnt make the long trip here but all 4 assistants came. It was like all day long. One thing that I felt during the conference that they talked about was reading the book of mormon with your investigators. so this week we did that a lot, especially with the people that we already baptized. It went really well. I really liked reading Enos with them and Mosiah 3 and 1 Nephi 3.

So the worst thing that happened was that I had an ingrown toenail. I actually had had it for like 2 weeks already so I finally decided to go to the doctor. It didnt hurt that much but it really was stupid because I had to stay in the house for a few days. But it is 100% already.

So today we had a Zone P-Day, so people played soccer, and stuff. So I am in Juazeiro do Norte right now. We also watched the movie Enchanted. It was funny because I remember the last time I watched it I was with Emily. This time I was with a bunch of 20 year old men. And another crazy thing, my old comp Elder Lopes´brother was there.

One really great family we found was Samara and Gilson. They are a pretty young couple (25ish) and are looking for a church. Yesterday we taught them the first lesson and it went really good. We are going back on Tuesday. One really great thing is that they arent married. Alright thats bad, but the great thing is that they were like, hey can you help people get married, it will show more trust in our relationship, and then we were like............yeah!!! So we have to pray a lot for them.

Also there is this man named Demi that we were preparing for baptism. But this past week we could never talk to him, partly because of my toe, partly because of other stuff. But anyway he didnt go to church but we are going to really work hard with him because he is a really good man.

Well thats about it! Remember to read the book of mormon everyday and pray everyday, and go to church, and help the missionaries. Which reminds me I was reading chapter 13 in preach my gospel and it had a suggestion that mom did, which was to invite someone to a special holiday lunch!

Um abraço e beijão

Elder Willoughby

{Aug 30, 2010}

Dear Family,

Everything is going really good here. This week was good. One thing that we did was we helped Jairo paint the back part of his house, the same part of his house where we helped cement. What else happened, we taught a lot, and sweated a lot. We were blessed to be able to baptize one girl whose name is Edileide. She is 17 and we have been teaching her for like 6 weeks and I dont think she ever missed church in that 6 weeks and we were finally able to baptize her. We found her like this. We were walking and a drunk person came up to us ( and I dont know if you guys know this but drunk people always come up to missionaries, always! and we usually just try to ignore them) and talked to us and told us to come back. I dont even know why we came back but it was because of this girl. She accepted everything that we taught and is really awesome. She really wanted to be free from the errors she committed in the past. She is always really excited to go to church. We also baptized this week a girl named Joyce. She is Eryka´s friend and when she saw Eryka´s baptism she said she wanted to be baptized too. That is a testimony that the Spirit of the Lord is manifest in the ordenances of the priesthood. Anyway she was baptized too.
Last night we had a family home evening at the house of a man named Luis. He is the YM Pres and really awesome. He has a huge heart and he is like a big teddy bear. He looks like a little boy and I can always picture him with a pinwheel hat on. Anyway we had FHE at his girlfriends house, who was baptized also yesterday by Elder Nascimento´s companionship, and Luis and this girl are going to marry!! And he is always like I want you to see my marriage. What else that is it. I will just write some in Portuguese so you guys know that I am not lying about the whole being in Brazil thing.

Eu sei, com certeza, que essa igreja é a igreja do Salvador Jssus Cristo. Eu tô aprendendo muitas coisas aqui. Ontem a gente teve uma noite familiar na casa do Luis bem especial. A gente cantou É Tarde A Noite Logo Vem e O Elder Nascimento tocou o violão. Depois eu deixei um pensamento sobre o Espírito Santo e li a escritura 3 Néfi 11:3. O Espírito tocou bem forte no coração da gente. Eu nunca esquecerei dessa noite.

Oh yeah and I am learning a little bit of guitar!

Elder Willoughby

From freetranslation.com this is their translation for the above:
I know, with certainty, that that church is the church of the Savior Jssus Christ. I tô learning how many things here. Yesterday the people had a family night in home of the Luis well special. The people sung IS Afternoon THE Night Soon Comes and THE Elder Birth touched the double bass. Afterwards I left a thought about the Holy Spirit and I read the scripture 3 Néfi 11:3. The Spirit touched well fortress in the heart of the people. I never will forget of that night

{Aug 23, 2010}

Dear Family,
How are you all doing? You guys are probably enjoying the heat there, and so am I here! Well anyway this week was really good. I am trying to think of what all we did. One thing we did was help Jairo (a man we baptized last transfer) pour concrete in his back yard. And it is also interesting that the top part of Jairo´s house is going to be rented to a woman we baptized this week named Paula. Paula lives in Missão Velha, another city, but she is going to move here. Three weeks ago at church she came to church with some members and was like I want to be baptized. But the hard thing was that she only is in Barbalha on Saturdays and Sundays and so we had to teach her just on the weekends. She is dating a member and they intend on marrying. We also baptized a girl named Eryka who is a friend of Andrea and Fernando. She is really a good young woman and the gospel will bless her life greatly.

One cool thing that we did today was go on a hike with the YM pres and Jairo and some of the young men. It was basically in the middle of the jungle and I took a lot of pictures. But the thing is that I spent a lot of time trying to send the pictures but it didnt work. THe2 pictures are us on the way back. Here things are a little bit different, they dont have busses to the place we went, just trucks that you ride in the back. Sorry the email is short.

Love,

Elder Willoughby

{August 16, 2010}

Dear Family,
How are you guys doing? I am doing well here with my new companion. Elder Oliveira Santos is basically the man and we are working hard. He is from Sao Paulo and is pretty funny. One interesting fact about him is that no matter how much he shaves, he has like a permanent 5 oclock shadow goatee. Elder Nascimento´s new companion is Elder Landskron who is Gaúcho and is beginning his mission here. So I am trying to think of things that happened this week. My companion got in Juazeiro Tuesday and we met at District Meeting and afterward we took a taxi to Barbalha. Sometimes in our house we run out of water, (I am not sure how that is possible, but we do) and when my companion got there there was no water to take a shower, which stunk because he had traveled 12 hours to get here and was not able to take a shower. Well anyway this week we worked hard and have good people preparing to be baptized. For example, there is a girl named Paula that will be baptized this next week. She was like I want to be baptized so we were like.........alright, lets do this. She is the girlfriend of the brother of a member. She lives in another city Missão Velha where there isnt an LDS church or members or anything, but she comes to Barbalha every weekend, and so we taught her on Saturday and she accepted everything. We also have one young man named Rafael that we are preparing to be baptized. He is the brother of Andrea who we baptized last transfer. Also it was cool because we brought Dariane´s brother to church who also knows Rafael so that was awesome, and we are preparing both to be baptized. Well that is cool that you guys talked to my mission president. I called him on Tuesday or Wednesday and he wanted to know your telephone number.
Love,Elder Willoughby

{July 9, 2010}

Dear Family,
Well how the heck are you guys doing? How is the summer heat doing? I hope you all are doing really great. I was sorry to hear about the water line breaking at Ben and Jessica´s house, just get some duct tape on that puppy and patch her up.
So this week was pretty good. Elder Magno´s parents were still here. One cool thing that happened this week was that we had a talent show. The missionaries do all the planning and everything and it turned out really good. There were 90 people there! Me and Elder Gomes and Elder A Mendonça did this theatrical peace skit type thing that was really funny. Elder Warn played guitar and sang Aint no sunshine when you´re gone for Elder Magno. Elder Nascimento played guitar, Elder Magno sang, and there was a young man here that played the drums, and their little band was awesome. Everybody loved it.
Every Thursday night we have a ward activity called Integração. They have it in almost all the wards in Brazil and its to let people have fun and integrate the investigators. Usually when there are a lot of people at Integração, a lot of people will come on Sunday also. And at Sacrament meeting this week there were 100 people! That is exciting because every Sunday this transfer the frequency has gone up. It started at about 46 and yesterday was 100.
So we had transfers and it was hard because its like this. Elder A Mendonça was a secretary in the mission office for 7 transfers and so like he has a bunch of connections and is really influential with the President. So like everyday this week he knew what the current transfers were. But the president always changes them and tweaks them until Friday. So it was really hard not killing Elder A Mendonça and trying to firgure out what was going to happen. So the transfers are like this.
Elder Magno is being transfered to Sao Paulo to his house and his companion will be his girlfriend that waited faithfully for two years.
Elder Warn and Elder A Mendonça will continue to be companions here in Barbalha.
Elder Gomes will be transfered to Fortaleza, Nova Aldeota, and will be companions with Elder Boyer
Elder Nascimento is the new district leader and will train a new missionary.
And me. For the first time in my seven months as a missionary I will stay! And my companion will be Elder Oliveira Santos who I already know. He is from Sao Paulo and is the man. He is 1 transfer younger than me. So this will be his 4 transfer and my 5th. I am a little nervous to be senior companion so you guys gotta pray for me that I dont screw everything up!
Oh yeah and yesterday we baptized one girl named Teresinha. She is the younger sister of Dariane who we baptized this transfer. She is really cool because she always came to church with her sister and really wanted to do all the right things. I think yesterday was her 6th time coming to church and also she always comes to church on Thursday´s also.
So yesterday I went with Elder Gomes and he said goodbye to everyone and I swear everybody loves that man that we call baby. Everyone cried when they were saying goodbye to him. And I felt like a jerk because I swear I was the only one that didnt cry. But then I was talking to Elder Warn who saw Elder King in Juazeiro (because Elder Warn and Elder Mendonca had to go leave baby at the bus station in Juazeiro) Elder King said that same thing happened to him. His comanion was leaving and everybody was crying except for him. Are we bad people? I think so.
So I think I am going to burn all my pictures on a CD or DVD and send them to you guys. I think that would be a good idea. Yeah I am going to do that.
Well I know that this church for which I am a missionary is the church of the Savior Jesus Christ and I know that we can be forgiven of our sins no matter which they may be.

Much Love,
Elder Willoughby

{July 2, 2010}

Dear Family,
How are things going there? I hope really good. So I was helping
another elder send photos so now i dont have very much time but quick
recap of the week. it was good. elder magno´s parents are here and
yesterday elder magno and i went to crato because he has cousins and
an uncle and aunt there and we had lunch with his family and this is
his last week! This week was good we baptized Jairo and Andrea. Both
stories are cool. Like the first Sunday here we were brining
investigators to church and we were already really late when this one
lady stopped us in the street and asked us to talk with her son, and
we were like we are really late we cant talk right now and she was
like no it will just take a minute, so we went and marked a day to
come back. Jairo is cool and is 23 years old. At first he had a lot of
doubts and he started asking really weird questions and he had been
reading anti stuff online and so we were like great thats too bad we
will just cut him, but then he started reading the book of mormon and
knew it was true and he said he used to go to a bunch of different
churches but our church was the only one he felt good at. he is
basically the man. he has already read to alma in the book of mormon.
 Andrea we met like this. Elder Magno had to do an interview with an
investigator of Elder Nascimento and Elder Gomes. But we kinda wanted
to stop by Nei so we had to do a division Elder Gomes and I went to
see Nei and Elder Nascimento and Elder Magno went to do the interview
(Elder Magno and Nascimento are cousins and they do a lot of divisions
which is cool for them so Elder Gomes and I spend a lot of time
together) well anyway we were coming back to meet our companions and
this girl yelled elder and we went back and she said she had already
been taught and so we got her name and number and adress and stuff and
said we would stop by and we just started to teach her and she
accepted everything and was baptized yesterday. She is 18 and we are
teaching a lot of her friends and family members too.

Alright gotta go, love you, the church is true,

Elder Willoughby

{July 26, 2010}

Dear Family,

How are things going with you guys?? I hope everything is going super well. Is it really hot there right now? So this week has been pretty good, I am trying to think of a story I could tell you guys. Well the worst thing that happened is like all six of us missionaries got sick.It started on Tuesday Elder Mendonça got sick and then on Wednesday I got sick and then on Thursday Elder Nascimento got sick and on Saturday Elder Magno got sick. And Elder Warn was sick before that so the only one that didnt get sick was Elder Gomes so we are pretty sure he poisoned our food.Jking. So yeah that happened, what else, we are teaching this one guy named Jairo who is the man and will be baptized this next week. Yesterday we were just passing by the church at like 8am just to fill up the baptismal font and he was already there at church which is awesome. So we had to fill the baptismal font because someone was baptized! Someone opened the door to heaven. The man that was baptized is named Luan. He is 19 and is the man. At first we were teaching his brother Marcondes who is also in the picture. Also Nei, the man that we baptized last week, had been bringing Luan to church so that is totally awesome. One cool thing that Luan told us is that like that first Sunday that he went to church, after church some people asked him if he wanted to go out drinking and he was like no I dont, and when we heard that we were like ELECT!!!!!!!!!! SO yeah, but on Saturday the ZL´s were coming here to interview him to be baptized and he wasnt there he had left for a soccer game or something so we were all worried, but he talked with him later that night and it just so happened that the next day, Sunday, was the Barbalha Branch´s first branch conference and a counselor to President Batt, President Cabral, was coming. So we just had Luan come to church and he was interviewed by Pres. Cabral and was baptized and everything was alright. Oh yeah and in church Nei told another São Paulo story. What else....here they have really big avocados, and there is a picture of me with one. I made suco de abacate, or avocado juice. It doesnt sound very good but it is. Alright remember I love you guys and thanks for all you do for me and know that I am doing good. I know that this is the work of the Lord.

Elder Willoughby

18 July 2010

Dear Family, Well everything is going good here in Barbalha. How are you guys doing? I hope you are doing really great. Its so cool here in Barbalha. Its really has been growing since we got here. The first Sunday there were like 48 members, the next there was like 64 and then yesterday there was like 84. I feel like I am in a movie here. The church is so young in this jungle town. You never know what is going to go wrong at church. For example, this Sunday someone was going to give the closing prayer in sacrament meeting and they got up and started saying something like this, Brothers and Sisters I would like to give you a warning, that next week we would like all the married brothers to be here...and then the branch president cut him off and told him to just say a prayer. I really would like to know what he was going to say. I think I will ask him later. Also it is funny because whenever you say Good Morning brothers and sisters they always say good morning back....always!! So this week was good. One thing we did was go work at the ExpoCrato thing where the church had a tent. IT was kinda lame because last year the missionaries talked with like every single person that passed by and they got all their addresses and stuff, but a bunch of the addresses were wrong and stuff, so this year the president was like just sit back and if someone walks into the tent and is interested then you can talk to them and stuff. THey also had a bunch of animals there which was kind of cool, I got to touch a goat and a sheep. They have these really big cow things with big hump back things, almost like a camel, its called a BOI. So this week we baptized one man named Nei. He is the kinda crazy guy, yet so cool. We found him when we were knocking doors, and he let us in before we even said anything (which alot of people do here). He always speaks what he thinks which is kinda cool. So he is basically the man. So I got 5 letters which is awesome, thank you guys, but I have given up hope of getting the one package that you guys sent in April. Is that the last one you sent. You shouldnt worry about me here, I am doing fine, but thanks!! I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the church that Jesus Christ established, again on the Earth. One thing that annoys me is that a lot of people think that it doesnt matter what church you belong to, it doesnt matter if you are baptized or not, because God´s love is so great that he will save us all. Not everyone that says Lord Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of God. I know that all of us have to repent and be baptized in the true church.
Love,Elder Willoughby

{July 5, 2010}

Dear Family,
Well everything is going really well. I have lots of things to say so I hope I dont forget anything. Alright to answer one question Elder Porto has 2 more transfers and he will end in 21 September.
Alright so when I was at the office one thing that made me feel good about myself was president batt pulled me aside and told me that because I worked well this last transfer he was sending me to Barbalha. But he kinda of scolded me and told me that I have to be perfect here. The missionaries call this the Celestial Kingdom. The two other cities close to here that have missionaries are Juazeiro do Norte and Crato. So the church has been in Juazeiro for 10 years but in Barbalha for only 10 months. In the past 6 months there have been over 100 baptisms. Everyone here is a recent convert. The only one that hasnt been baptized in the past 10 months is the Branch President Silva. He moved here from Rio de Janeiro and is a member for like 15 years. My companion Elder Magno is the Branch Secretary.
What else? So this is the only house in the mission that has 6 elders. Its crazy 6 missionaries for 1 branch. So this week there were just like 45 members at church, 6 missionaries, and 23 investigators. And we had a baptism!! It was an awesome young woman named Márcia. She´s 18 years old. I think they found her through this awesome family that the missionaries before me baptized.
So Elder Magno is awesome. He is from Sao Paulo. He is working hard still which is awesome. I knew him when I was companions with Elder Lopes, he was training Elder Redd. Elder A. Mendonça also lives with us. He was the secretary of finances of the mission. He is really funny and awesome and I love him because he is so cool. He is from the State of A Lagoas. He is training an American named Elder Warn who is from California and cool. Also there is Elder Nascimento who I knew before. He spent the night at my house my first night in the mission field. He saw me being born. He is really cool too. And his companion is Elder Gomes who is cool also and from Sao Paulo. THis is just his second transfer.
SO the busride here was good. We left from fortaleza at 10 pm and got to juazeiro at 6 am and then took a taxi to barbalha. Oh yeah and one cool thing is that Elder Carvalho, my trainer, was one of the missionaries that opened this city. What else???
So Elder King and Elder T Larsen who are both from my group arein Crato so I see them every Tuesday for District Meeting.
Barbalha is cool. So there is this dead guy here named Padre Cicero and everybody loves. him. You can look him up. The cajuina factory Sao Geraldo is close by. The sky at night here is incredible. Here is more like a jungle, and for the first time this week I taught straight up in the jungle, with mosquitoes, palm trees, pigs and all.
For some reason I am not being able to send pictures right now so I will send them later. Oh yeah and here the Zone Leaders only get the mail like every 3 weeks so stuff will take longer to get to me here.Well thats it and tell people to send me letters!

With all the love that my heart posseses,
Elder Willoughby

{June 28, 2010}

Dear Family,
Thanks for all the emails and the letters. Well I am kinda of in a hurry right now because I am at the office because I was transfered and there are a lot of missionaries are waiting for the computer. Well this week was good. I am going to Barbalha which is close to Juazeiro do Norte and Crato which is a 12 hour bus ride from here. We leave tonight! My companion will be Elder Magno who is on his last transfer. Sorry its such a short email. Tchau!


Elder Willoughby

{June 21, 2010}

Dear Mom and Family,
How are you guys doing? Happy Father´s Day to Dad and Ben and Max. Is it getting really hot there? Well I hope you guys enjoy it.
So this week was pretty good. Mmmm what did we do? We had interviews with President Batt so that was really good. There is a strike here among the public bus drivers so taking the bus is a large pain in the rear, but seeing as there were four missionaries we took a taxi and divided it 4 ways so it wasnt that bad. Let´s see also there was the World Cup on Tuesday. It was impossible to sleep or study so I just sat around. Its really cool. It sounded like there was a war going on. Tons of fireworks everywhere. Its really unlike anything I´ve ever experienced. And after everyone was drunk so it was hard to teach people.
So yesterday was pretty good. We had two men baptized. One of their names is José. He is like 55 years old. One day a few weeks ago we were walking down the street and he called us over and said he wanted to be baptized. Crazy huh? And we taught him everything and he just had to give up coffee but it was easy for him. They have this stuff here that is like coffee but not so we usually buy it for our investigators, its called Cevada. So he was interviewed on Saturday night and everything went well and he was baptized on Sunday. In the picture you´ll notice he has something wrong with his eye. A car hit him and basically his eyeball fell out of its place but is now safe and sound in the socket, so everyone is happy about that.
The other man we baptized is Marcos. He has been coming to church for a few weeks and I think I already wrote about him but his family are all inactive members and like for years he didnt want anything to do with the church, but when we went to visit his family to try and reactivate them he was interested. He broke up with his girlfriend to be able to live the law of chastity and he gave up coffee also. He likes reading the Book of Mormon and he also read the Principles of the Gospel lesson like twice beforehand which is awesome.
So the two baptisms were awesome and also we had a man and his two children, Cláudio the father and Mikael and Mikaely the children and they watched the baptism so that is super awesome. We will pray and work hard for them to be baptized next week.
After the baptisms we ate at an investigators house, and after that we home during the soccer game. The end.
So you totally dont have to send me a package but if you want to I guess I would like some garments, round neck mediums drilux or mesh. Also Gillette Mach 3 razor blades (they are really really a lot more expensive here), candy, pictures from home. Yeah definitely send pictures from home. Pictures of me you guys, from high school, pictures of the snow, and whatever else. People always ask to see pictures. And the best advice I got to send pictures is to put pictures of Mary and Jesus on the box. I dont know but it will probably just take a month, but I still havent gotten that other package, must have been a fluke.
Well I have to go but good luck with everything. And send pictures!!!

Love,
Elder Willoughby