Nov. 16

Family and Friends

We hit another transfer again yesterday. man that one flew. i am officially no longer a trainee. but instead an official junior companion. woohoo. everyone should be excited. again i am staying in campinas 4 with elder boudrero. i now officially get to finish him off. 4 more weeks. i know because hes been showing me for the last 5 or 6 days. i think hes a little excited. im a little excited because we get to go to the temple tonight to see a family that elder boudrero baptized get sealed. it should be pretty awesome. ill make sure to take some good pics. always we get to go to the temple prolly another 3 times in the next 4 weeks so that makes me way excited. going to the temple has to be one of the best things. its been raining a lot again. yesterday we were walking in a river going up and down the street. our shoes were soaked and our t shirts drenched. even with an umbrella. everyone clears the streets when it rains so its hard to make contacts and lots of times they wont even leave there houses to open the gate. rainy days are hard but its just apart of the work. rain or shine 100 degrees or 40 degrees well be out there working. thats for sure. its funny because whenever it hits about 70 degrees f people start bundling up with sweatshirts and beanies and coats. whatever they can find. and were out there walking with our short sleeve shirts on smiling at everyone telling them how perfect the weather is. it does really get hot but you just gotta love brasil. the work is going. lots of it to do. we now officially dont have to study for 4 hours every morning anymore. its now only 3 yay. well be able to leave the house earlier and go make contacts and teach lessons before lunch everyday. it feels good to be working. thats why were here and thats what we need to be doing. yesterday we really missed america so we went to walmart and burger king. walmarts a little different. they didnt have peanut butter. thats not the walmart that i know. and burger king is pretty much the same so thats good. to answer your question mom everyone here drinks soda and i mean everyone. im starting to get a little sick of it. we get it for almost every meal. they only have like 8 flavors too. grape orange coke pepsi sprite and guarana which is my favorite. its like a fruit from the amazon. its way good. so im kinda addicted to that. it seems to be my mountain dew of brasil. haha. elder boudrero and i saw a taylor swift cd the other day and we freaked out. she isnt really known here which is way sad so we try to tell everyone about her. one of our investigators really likes her now and we almost got her to name her dog taylor. haha shes prolly one of our best investigators. shes the one with the husband who drinks a lot. her names priscilla. she always reads and always has questions for us. she tells us that she hopes that her two boys will grow up and be missionaries just like us one day. thatd really be awesome. her son leonardo always reminds us that we need to say a prayer and is always jumping up and down to be able to say it. we are doing everything to be able to help this family out. their living conditions arent exactly the best and the parents arent actually married yet. but we can really see the difference that the gospel has made in their lives. they want us to come over almost everyday and they love going to church. they seem like such happier people and have started parying and reading the book of mormon as a family. this all is just a confirmation for me that the gospel really does bless families. i really couldnt imagine our family without the gospel. id have no idea where wed be right now. its not even fun to think about. we really have been blessed. and now it is for me to bring this happiness to everyone else. i make sure that everyone knows that through heavenly fathers plan that everyone can have an eternal family and that i love my family more than anything. thats why im here. its going great. time does fly when youre working hard and having fun. well see what happens after 4 weeks. im sure ill be with a brasilian which will be good because it will really boost my language skills. the church is true. no shout of a doubt. i love being a missionary. nothing better.

love you guys

elder desanti III

Oct. 26 Letter

DESANTI fAMILY this week has been a blur and has also been our best week of work. it feels good to work. ive determine the harder you work the faster the day goes and the better you sleep that night. sometimes it doesnt even feel like we sleep but i guess thats just apart of our lives now. theres plenty of time to sleep later. a lot has happened this week. a lot of good stuff. we had our two baptisms on saturday. it was def the best baptsimal service ive ever been to. our ward filled up our little primary room. it was good to see all the support. i had the pleasure of being able to baptize raphaella the 11 year old daughter. this was my first time ever baptizing and in portugues. i was pretty nervous. i screwed up her name pretty badly. she has 5 different names each one ive never heard of so that was interesting. and i thought i only had to get the prayer right. ha so i said the prayer dunked her and got out of there as fast as possible. haha i need to have some practice. afterwards elder boudrero baptized camila. the experience was really awesome. camilas aunt who was baptized in april got up and bore her testimony. she talked about her baptism and how she wanted this church to be apart of all her familys lives. she talked to the missionaries there and eventually it got to us and we were able to teach her and baptize her. their whole family there was just crying and crying and the spirit was super strong. the lord finds his way to each and every person that is ready to hear it. my testimony has been strengthened of that. they are going to be really good members and hopefully their example will lead to the rest of their family being baptized. remember the family i told you about with the drunk dad? well its a different story now. we returned there last thursday and he was back. we found out that he had passed out drunk and was taken to the hospital. he returned the next day and told his family that he has lung cancer. we have been there everyday since. we have almost taught them every lesson now. and they have excepted everything and are reading and asking tons of questions. we took them to church on sunday. the family being motivated by the dad to go. they loved it and said they felt a really good different feeling about everything. this family is golden. he has stopped drinking and smoking and has promised to come to church every week with his family. their only problem is that they need to get married and they are working towards that. we have set a date for them to be baptized on december 4th. its amazing to see how much a week can do to a family especially with the blessings of the Lord. their family is a lot closer. you can feel the love when we go there. we can see their happiness their smiles every time we walk into the door. its an amazing feeling. the spirit is always so strong. i know thats true because i can understand almost everything they say perfectly. thats new for me and i kinda like it. haha the work is progressing and my testimony is growing like a seed on steroids. the work is true. so many people try to tell us that its not. they literally have nothing to argue. every little thing about our church is true and important to the whole program. you really dont realize that until you see the big picture until you see what everyone else has to say. its amazing. i love the scriptures now more than ever. i feel like ive missed out on so much and i have so much to catch up on right now. lots and lots of reading to do. its a good thing i like it huh? theres a lot to learn and a lot of work to do. with every day i feel like im better and better. im happy and a different person than ive ever been before. i love my family with all my heart and you guys will always be in my prayers. until next week... com amor, elder desanti III

Kenton's Correct Mailing Address

Elder DeSanti's mailing address:

Brasil Campinas Mission

Rua 10 de Setembro,38

Cambui

13023-100 Campinas-SP

Brasil

traquil de campinas,

yup im here and its crazy. first off ctm/past week. last week flew by. it seemed as if we were slowly waited for something to come but having no idea what was on the other side. sorry we didnt get to write emails yesterday but in the mish our pdays are wednesdays now. so anyways we had a lot of instructions leaving the ctm about health and orientation for the mish. lots and lots of pictures with lots and lots of goodbyes.it was tough because i did make a lot of friends there but i know that were always united through the work of god. anyways the ctm was boring so ill just tell you about yesterday and today. yesterday we boarded the bus at about 10 am with our bags packed ready for war. there are 5 americans and 7 brasilians that all came in yesterday. 4 from provo have been reassigned state side and i guess well have to see how that goes for them. sao paulo was super dreary and cold. campinas is on the other side of the mountains. even though its only 1.5 hours away. we come here and its just the perfect temperature with the sun out and everything. campinas is a pretty wealthy town for brasil. we could see that as soon as we drove into town. a lo nicer than sao paulo. there are a ton of huge shoppings (malls) here. its pretty legal. also on the drove we say the campinas temple. it is set aside on its own hill a little ways off the free way and it is straight up beautiful. wow. a little ways into town we went to the mission home. the mission home is really nice. pretty much marble everything 3 stories a pool. they really know how to live here. we met president and sister tanner who are both way nice. i know im really going to like them. we had a typical brasilian lunch of lasagna rice beans lettuce whatever and then some really really good brownies. you guys have no idea how much i crave american food. luckily theres a mcdonalds close to our house and i can hit that up. we conversed with them for 3 or so hours and then headed to the mission office which is also super nice. we learned about our money and the rules for the mish. which soccer is allowed. not very common in brasil. weird but true. then they took us outside and there was a bunch of elders singing called to serve outside the door. pretty cool. they then called us up one by one. of course i was second. it was like me standing in front of everyone them just staring at me. then they called out my companion elder boureros. everyone went crazy hugs going around clapping haha pretty exciting. well my campanion is from logan utah. hes been out 1 year and 8 months. hes a pretty cool guy. he also likes taylor swift so i think well get along fine but he also hates byu. def not cool. btw when do they start football. i would like a schedule or something and some recaps por favor. back to the past, present, future? i dunno um oh yeah hes way good at portugues and i am not. our area is in the city of campinas. it is so clean compared to sao paulo. i already love it. our apartment/house is pretty nice for missionaries i guess. we have a bedroom a study room and a small kitchen. i havent seen any creepy crawlers around it so i think i will be fine. anyways we got back at like 545 and about 6 he was like are you ready? looks go back and look at how i was feeling. first off i was really confused and lost when we got our companions and everyone was leaving. i had no idea what was going on. also i was a little worried and not to forget nervous. anyways i was asked this and you can imagine how i was feeling. not prepared...excited...super nervous...scared. uh huh so we went to the bank but on the way we started talking to people or should i say he started talking to people. i was in a bit of a shock. just kinda staring at people nodding my head up and down and saying boa noite when the conversation was over. man im good. well after these couple of contacts we went to the bank to take out some cash. on the way back up the road i got cat called twice. yup no lie. not that i knew they were cat calling me but my companion translated so i knew what was going on. creepy and now im even more scared. legal. next we have legit appointments. we visited a lady who is getting married september 3 so she can be baptized on the 4th. her son was there and was asking me questions and all i could do was stare at him blankly. hmmmm this should be an interesting couple of weeks neh? anyways i kinda just stood there lost in the portugues language. my companion talked to her about the baptism and wedding and her future husband. we said a prayer and left. first experience i was sweating pretty bad. still shocked. second experience we went and taught a 12 year old boy and his mom about prophets and about keeping the sabbath day holy. or my companion did. i nodded my head and went along with it. afterwards all of our appointments feel through cause no one was home and we did some more street contacts and went home. i was so tired and shocked that i couldnt even think. i zoned completely out. somehow i unpacked all of my stuff and went to bed. tough first day but also my only first day. woot. today is pday so its all good. we met up with elder miller and his companion who are in our district and are really close so thats good. we study this morning and are now at this internet place writing emails. were supposed to go have lunch with the district or zone leader i dunno. the first day was a shock. i was way lost but i feel more confident today and can def understand better. nerves just got the best of me. common for everyone right? we have more appointments tonight so ill be ready for that. mom my health is a lot better now. i think it was the ctm/sao paulo smog air. its clean here and there arent 200 elders around me at all times so i feel good. there is a lot to learn. i knew that coming in and i look forward to it everyday learning a little bit more. im glad my family is doing so well. i got the wedding announcements and a letter from cassie the last day in the ctm. so thanks for that. everyone is jealous of our good looking italian clan. i know portugues will come. its tough but its going to try me in every way and it will be really good for me in the end. i look forward to being fluent but i know there is a lot of work to get there. the gospel is true and people need to hear that. this is my motivation. eu posso faze-lo. i can do it. its going to be the best 22 months now. i can already tell. hard work will shape me into what i need to be and the lord will strengthen me as i am his servant. i love the gospel i love my savior and i love my family.hope the wedding is amazing. i love you cassie and spence. boa sorte. ate a proxima semana.

ELder DE SAnti III

ps dad can you send me all your lesson ideas. i dont remember the entirety.

pss photos included from the c

Família Amada,

Campinas week one finished. It was tough and it will continue to be tough. I do enjoy it though and i know the lord is here protecting me. there are so many people to teach here its crazy. our area is huge. if we walked straight to the area where we have most of our investigators it would take at least 2 hours. we take some crazy buses that make me feel as if i am going to die everytime i step on them. in our area everything looks super old and like 3rd world but a lot of the times when we go in the houses they are pretty modern. some even american standard. the people are super friendly here and they get the point that i am just learning the language. sometimes they ask me a question and i have no idea what is going on. other times usually when they are talking about the gospel like answering one of our questions i can understand and its feels good. everyday we have lunch with the members. all they do is tell us to eat more and more and you feel bad if you dont so you just keep eating. the other day i remember a lady gave me two huge pieces of cake and juice. i could barely finish it and when i did she asked me if i wanted more and i seriously felt like tossing the bucket. couldnt do it. ah but the food is pretty good. weve actually had a really good variety this week. my companion says usually its just the same. as everyday we have 4 hours of study in the morning. one personal two companion one language. its a new program to help greenies progress faster. i feel like my lessons are getting better. weve taught the first lesson so many times in the last week that i cant even count. its cool cause we can just walk up to people and tell them that we have a special message about god and they will simply give us their address some we can come visit them at a later time. almost all people in brasil believe in god and jesus christ. they main thing we need to tell them is that christs church that he established on the earth had a prophet 12 apostles and the authority of god and also after baptism we receive the holy ghost to make it complete. this is what makes our church different from the rest among other things. it also makes it correct and complete gosple of Jesus Christ. we invite all people to read the book of mormon and to accept this. we have 6 or 7 really good investigators that we think could be baptized in the following weeks if they continue to read pray and hopefully come to church. church was not like home at all. first off we arrived at 830 or so. set up all the chairs and waiting for everyone to show up including our investigators. the chapel was empty until about 915 for a 9 am meeting haha. we had sacrament mtg last so that was different. our investigators never showed up so that was really sad. so everything was in portugues and that blew my mind so i was lost haha. plus there were a bunch of little kids running around during sacrament mtg. different culture i guess. our bishop is really cool. he speaks english and so does like every other member of the ward. its suprising how many actually do. so a lot of times people speak english to me and im not so lost. last week we found out that president and sister tanner went home the day after we arrived in the mission. he has to have surgery on his leg or something and wont return until then. its sad everyone loved him. our new president is a brasilian who used to be the president of the brasilia mission. yesterday we had a meeting with him and his wife. they banned coca cola and nearly chocolate. weird but true. we had a 7 hour meeting. i was pretty bored and it was hard not to fall asleep. needless to say were looking forward to president tanner´s return. today we had a really good experience with a lady teaching her. its actually not our investigator but its elder millers and his companions. we taught all four of us. she is an english teacher here so half the time we taught in english and half in portugues. it was really cool how excited she was to hear the gospel and had so many questions to ask. we all bore our tetimonies about the book of mormon. we taught her for 2 and a half hours. it was really awesome. well the work is going forth in brasil. i still have a lot to learn so i am trying to study my hardest and take in all the information that i can. i know i have a lot of support and i am so grateful for that. the holy ghost is with us guiding us and i know that i have my family and friends behind my back. i love being a missionary. its tought solid work for the soul that is more rewarding than any other work. im so happy for spence and cassie. they are a great example to me. im blessed to have such an amazing family. i miss them so much. best of luck with everything. love you, elder desanti III

Mai e Pai e familia e amigos

Oi. today is my final day in the provo mtc. im really happy but its also a little sad. ive made some really good friends here and ive been reacquainted with old ones as well. i had to say my final goodbyes to christian again as he left early this morning. its tough but it was awesome to see him and i know he is just gonna dominate new hampsire. our distrito is really close and its gonna be tough to leave but i look forward to going to brazil for the next two years. ive heard so many stories and now its finally time for me to experience it. i leave tomorrow at 1130 from the mtc. my flight leaves about 2 i believe. so i can call before i leave maybe and when i land it fort worth texas. ill call home as you told me. look forward to it. im praying for everyone here to get their visas. 28 new missionaries are coming in this week that were supposed to go to brazil and only me and 3 others are leaving in the next week. so i have a companion flying with me from texas to brazil. his name is elder brady. hes in the other district but itll be good that we can meet up. thanks for all the packages and goods. my distrito loved the donuts. we have a lot of fun but we realize this is a lot of seriousness to this work. its weird how it works in the mtc but the days are extremely long and the weeks fly by. depending on the day it feels as if ive been here from 1 week to 4 months. the language is coming along. we finally started teaching in straight portuguese. thats a little tough. but its amazing because as long as we prepare ourselves and do what is right then the holy ghost will just take over and you wont even have to worry about the language. our investigator janeiro has accepted the commitment to be baptized. although hes a role play investigator the happiness me and elder miller felt was just amazing. i cannot wait until i feel that joy times 100 with a real investigator. i find it a real blessing to have come to the provo mtc. although the time was short i feel as if ive learned so much and have grown up a lot too. my teachers are amazing. im sad to leave them behind because they have taught me so much and are truly some really cool guys. my love for the scriptures has increased immensely. our schedules are so busy that sometimes its just really hard to simply read. but when i do i learn something new everytime. reading page after page its impossible for me to deny its truth. we have talked a lot about that if the book of mormon is true then joseph smith was a prophet jesus christ is a savior and the church is true. it truly is the keystone of our religion and jesus christ is truly our connerstone and redeemer. its gonna be a new challenge for me in brazil. i feel as if provo has just been the training wheels for me and that as soon as im in brazil those will be gone forever. this gospel is true and it is the happiest message you could share with the world. i look forward to proclaiming this to the people of campinas but before that happens i still have a lot to learn. i know i am blessed with the opportunity to go to brazil. God has work down their for me and im gonna work my hardest and best to accomplish everything that he asks of me. brazil e mais blanco more whiter. people are looking for the truth. the growth is absolutely amazing in brazil. its time for me to dive in and get down to work. i am so grateful for all of you guys and all of your support. maybe in brazil itll finally hit me how far apart i am from everyone. but i know i have friends doing the same thing and we are all gonna work until jesus christ has said, "the work is done." there is so much to teach and learn in this gospel. i feel as if i havent even hit 1/1000 of my potential and knowledge. the provo mtc is an amazing place. so those that dont go directly to brazil dont be ashamed or sad. god knows exactly what he wants for you. its all apart of His plan. He loves us and knows what is best for everyone. ill talk to you tomorrow mom and dad about 1245 hopefully. i love you so much

ELder DeSanti III

TUDO BEM? umm. first week in the mtc. hmmm pretty crazy. this week is way different than usual because all the new missionary presidents wer being trained here. so tons of apostles and general authorities were here. but of course we werent allowed to see them. it was hard saying goodbye but the mtc is super rewarding. my companero is elder miller from california. we get along great and were going to be an awesome team. we had tons of introductories to start off the mtc. we heard from the presidency and tons of others. the teachers here are super amazing. but they only speak portuguese. now thats a problem. see i dont know portuguese quite yet so its tough. portuguese is um poco different from spanish because of the pronunciation. muito bem. everyone is happy here. its so great. i get to see my old friends. elder ron mccall from byui, elder steven robertson, from washington. and of course christian. pictures are soon to come. i love my friends. my district is really great. we have tons of fun which i dunno if that is the best but it works for me. im so tired here that i cannot stop laughing. almost anything someone says even remotely funny i will laugh and laugh. so far the portuguese is coming along. weve learned how to pray and to bear testimony. and now a week later i can understand most of the portuguese my teachers fala. so we saw elder russell m. ballard on friday walking around and we got to shake his hand. as you know he is an apostle and ive never shaken ones hand before so really really neat. ive also learned how to snap my fingers brazilian style. it means very good or awesome. not many people can do it. me and christian aka elder smith get to hang out on p days just like old times. oh btw that is monday and my mtc box # is 98. so send me some mail. my mish is bra-cam and my mtc darte departure is july 12. my branch president said i should be able to go to the brazil mtc by then so my visa is on the way. it is also the same day all of my friends are leaving to the field so i am excited. me and elder brown that we met in the airport are in different districts but in the same zone. everyone loves each other and there are tons of elders in my zone from washington. so we have a secret handshake which makes us cool. christian is fresco. on friday night we had a special fireside where we got to hear from elder bednar. he spoke on being a pmg missionary. my goal is to be the best ever. amem. 1000 baptisms no less or ill being muito disapointed. also there were 7 apostles at the devotional. the spirit was amazing that night. i have learned so much here and surprisingly i am always the first one awake. 615 everyday. yaya. sunday we had combined church and every speaker spoke on enduring to the end. thats exactly what im working towards. we have tons of spiritual experiences here but i can only email 30 minutes every monday. so its tough to decide what to write. sunday night we had the best speaker ever. who was super funny and talked about being worthy on the mission. i really enjoy it here and we are way too super busy to miss home. we never have free time which is the opposite of my old life. i love you guys lots and hope all is well. today we got to go to the temple and i did sealings for the first time but the temple is closed for the next few weeks so i will not be able to go again here. send me dear elder mail. i am the only one that doesnt get them and i get them every single day. i love you guys until later....

tchau,

elder d

Oi familia

it has been another strong week in the mtc. we have gotten pesquisadors that are our teachers. janeiro and andy. its cool cause it almost seems as if real life. they have problems and information about them that we try to adjust our messages to match them. its tough cause all they do is speak in portuguese but it is really helpful and we hope they will get "baptized soon". we also have trc where outside members come in and we teach2 them as well. they speak a whole new language of portuguese haha. our teachers speak a little slower and have some hand motions and also repeat themselves but people in the trc just let it fly. its really tough to pick up on but i know it will come. its going to get harder as this week my comp and i have challenged ourselves to teach in portuguese starting wednesday. this shall be very interesting. i feel like theres so much work to do in the mtc but all i wanna do is to go out in the field. i have a lot to learn. so i got my flight plans to go to brazil. i fly out the 12th at about 1 or something like that. i think i have permission to call home so ill check up on that. and im sorry mom but i am the only one flying out as of now. i am 1 of about 50 missionaries going to brazil and im the only one with a visa. its funny cause a lot people like "hate" me now. haha theyre just jealous. i really hope this will boost my language learning but i am also a little nervous flying alone but God will be there with me and theyre will be no problems at all. the firesides are amazing at the mtc. we have them every tuesday and sunday. saturday night we had a special one for the 4th and we were able to watch the stadium of fire fireworks from our campus. pretty cool but the problem was we stayed up until midnight doing it and we still had to get up at 630. church was way tiring and i passed the sacrament for the first time in a while. we have about 40 in our branch. i almost busted up laughing cause my buddy elder peterson from arizona totally messed up. luckily i held it in. church was super hilarious because as people were bearing their testimonies other people came on over the intercom randomly like a piano solo and people seeing through the glass. the spirit was kind of ruined but we all had a good laugh. afterwards we had a mission conference. everyone in my district fell alseep we were all dead tired and it didnt help that the meeting was 2 hours. on sundays we also get the opportunity to walk around the temple. i have a bunch of good pictures but ill have to figure out a way to get them to you guys. mom yes i would like all the stuff i couldnt take on the plane as well as a laundry bag and my return of the quack shirt. also i love your guys emails but it would be amazing if you could dear elder me cause then i could read them at nights rather than cramming them into my 30 minutes on mondays. congrats to the mansiuses. thats awesome. i feel like theyre are apart of the family. i love you guys and am so glad your summer is going well. good luck with court and erics wedding hopefully ill hear from them soon. i got the suit and umbrella. wore the suit yesterday and got a ton of compliments on it. everyone has been telling me that im gonna get super tan and look like a brazilian so im looking forward to that haha. now just the language. the work is going forward strong. theres so much to learn here and im just trying to take it all in. i love the spirit. we have learned that without the spirit there is no conversion. we can teach the pequisadors but the only way they can know it is true by praying to god and asking for it. my district is amazing and i am really going to miss them but i know that going to brazil know is going to be a huge blessing for me. keep on going. i love all you guys

elder desanti (g- sanchi)