Hairy beast!

Ooops... I thought it was a hairy beast.... but it's just Trent! He's sooo proud!
Update.... The hairy beast/Trent is now clean shaven... maybe he had a date or something!

News and pics from Brazil...

Here's the latest from Brazil:

Oí família!This week was the week of transfers and i got transfered. I´ll still be here in Anápolis but just to a different bairro. It´s not that far away from where i was before. It´s actually the next area over. But i wont have to take a bus everyday so that is good and alot cheaper. I´ll be with Elder A. Costa, he is brazilian and he is cool. I already know him because we´ve both been here in anáplois for a while. We didn´t baptize this week but the baptism is from last week. Everyone was sad to hear that i was leaving and i got a bunch of presents yesterday. I got a soccer jersey, chocolate, a key ring, some brasilian music which i will listen to after the mission, and another sister is going to send me a cool cup with my name and stuff engraved on it. It´s always the poor people that give presents and not the rich people. I will miss them, i was in that area for a long time. But i´ll be going to another small branch and i´m sure the people are cool there too. I already know that one of the members there makes pizza exactly like papa john´s. I´ve went on a division in this area so i already know some people. Anyway, Jadon now has a cool scar to show everyone. Hopefully he gets well soon and nothing happens. ... But i did think of stuff you can send me. Some insoles for my shoes so they are more comfy, another set of those scripture marking crayons, and some ties. That´s about it for this week. Good to hear everyone is doing good and i´m doing good here too. See you all later. Tchau Elder Lewis.

Appendix update...

Jadon is doing great! He is unhoooked from everything except the main IV and is walking some and eating liquidy food. Maybe some real food today. YAY!

Appendix...

We spent pioneer day with a brave young man... Jadon had to have surgery for a ruptured and absessed appendix. He sure endured all his pokes, needles, tubes and IV's well and is recovering from his two hour major surgery. Thanks Jadon for being an example of courage to us. Get well soon!This is Jadon after surgery...

We can't wait til he's up and around and smiling again!

this week from Brazil...

Here this week's email from our missionary:

Oí família! This week we had another baptism! But i don´t have my camera right now because we were doing other stuff this morning. But we baptized the older brother of the kid we baptized two weeks ago. His name is wallington and he is a cool kid. We also got another reference this week that is golden. He is the husband of an inactive member, but they are going to have a baby in a few monts and he wants religion now. He already stoped playing soccer on sunday and stopped drinking coffee. Hopefully we can baptize him before the transfer ends because i´m pretty sure i´m going to be leaving. But i also went on a mini division this week to help out with a service project. It was way awesome, we compacted the ground for a few hours with a hand compacter. That´s about all that happened this week was the baptism. But the camping looked fun and trent´s new gun is pretty sick. I was also really impresed with dustin´s shooting. What gun did he use? Cool that greg got his call to idaho. ... Any more news from the fam? Sure is getting hot there now. It´s probably a good 80-85 degrees right now here. But everythng is going good and you guys can send me food and candy if you love me. Stuff like skittles, starburst, and anything else good. See you all later. Tchau Elder Lewis

Disclaimer from mom... Yes I love my son, and I tell him there is money in your account, just buy what you need... but I guess there is no substitute for good ol American junk food... so I have already gone to the store and bought him treats that will go in the mail today. He probably won't get it for two or three months... or more, since he is still waiting for a box that was mailed in the spring.... but it's the thought that counts!

Camping adventure

Mike and I LOVE to go camping so we managed to take a few days off and head to Greer... The first couple days we had just the right amount of clouds and rain

Our campsiteWe did activities like couponing We drove 5 hours to watch movies we have never seen on a 10 inch screen! We HAVE to play Phase 10... This pic shows a really bad hand... but I managed to remain the Phase 10 QUEEN! We shopped at the local stores One of our favorite gift shops
The scenery was BEAUTIFUL

Wildflowers were everywhere

I loved all the little creeks
Lots of paths to follow We didn't actually hike (kinda old)... but we WALKED many trails that we found we found some interesting spots to rest We HAD to go on several walks cuz we ate so dang much food!

Dutch oven cobbler... WAY yum!

Not only did we cook some amazing stuff at camp we ate twice at the Molly Butler lodge... It was so good and the view is great. While we were eating dinner there we watched deer out the window.. THAT'S not something that you can do at just any restuarant!

Not only did we eat well... but we shared with the little woodsy critters.

There were lots of noisy bluejays

We bought a hummingbird feeder cuz we noticed some hummingbirds flitting around. But I learned that hummingbirds are NOT cute little birds humming a happy tune. They do NOT share and are very mean to each other. I have now determined they are evil and have put them in the same category as snakes!

This guy we nicknamed Chubby. In this pic he is right by my foot. He shoved so much food in his cheeks and kept coming back for more. We fed them peanut butter sandwiches, bread, grapes, potatoes, granola bars and gingersnaps. By the last day this guy passed everything up and only went for the gingersnaps. I hope he is doing OK and not having gingersnap withdrawals.

Friday night we had a fireside... without singing... but a great scripture discussion... and finished it off with smores...

Well... I finished up with smores... Mike doesn't like them... I don't know how anyone CAN'T LIKE SMORES!!! This is my easy recipe for smores... chocolate covered graham crackers and roasty toasty marshmellows. YUM! We had a great relaxing trip and were very sad to come home... especially to 116 degrees! Time to plan another trip!

from Brazil

I've been on vacation, so this is from earlier in the week...

Oí familia, Sorry for the short emails. But the pics are of Thalles who we baptized. Everything is going good here in brazil. My trainer stoped by our house again and this is his last transfer so I will just say that he is super trunky. But i will miss him, he is a good missionary.Nothing much happened this week, it came and went too fast. The weather here is not hot at all and not cold either. The branch is still in need of much help. Last week the attendence was really low but this week it went up a little. Elder summerhays is doing good, last night he threw up alot but is good now. His little sister was has the swine flew he came to find out last week. I have been very blessed not to have been sick yet on the mission and i hope it will continue that way the whole two years. ... We´ve been teaching alot of people here but hopefully we get some baptisms because they are a little lazy but we´ll help them out. During the interview i had with president last week he said this is my last transfer here in industrial. This area has a lot of problems.. One sister kicked her husband out of the house and he is now living in the chapel. This is not the first time too. There is some other apostasy but i can´t talk bad about the area or the members. Most of it is because almost everyone is a new member and the two families that consist of the branch HATE each other with a passion. But all is well and we do what we can do to help them out. That´s about it for the week and i´ll see you all later. Tchau Elder Lewis

our July party

We finally had our July celebration... Happy birthday to Lexy, Kristin, Krislin, Jadon and America! Family parties always involve food. Thanks Kristin and everyone for the yummy dinner.


After our great meal we played the silly family birthday game...

We had to guess the ages of various family and friends...

It required lots of thought and intricate calculations!

Jaron was the top winner... out of 40 possible he got 24... Hmmm... BUT we know a lot more about how old everyone in the family is... even Santa and Spongebob!

Super people were there...

WOW... she's strong!

Time for presents...

How come Kristin's gift bags are smaller than everyone elses?!?

What a smile... that orthodontic work sure is lookin good!

$$$$$

The birthday peeps

Lexy needed help with her candle

Who gave the kids silly string?!?

We had a great time. Birthdays are always fun... but I'm NOT gonna think about how OLD everyone is getting... especially me!

short note from Brazil...

Here's our VERY short note from Brandon:

Oí família
The computer deleted my email but we baptized this week and we had a conference with president so that´s why i´m emailing today. Everything is going great here and i have to go now. Anyone have any questions for me? The truck and the go cart look great. How much did trent buy the go cart for? See you all later. Tchau Elder Lewis

ANOTHER vehicle...

We have yet ANOTHER vehicle added to the collection... Having a truck wasn't enough so Trent bought a convertible... kinda!

He let some of us test drive it

It was fun... Thanks Trent... but now we REALLY need a bigger garage!