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