Letter 47: Final American Week » A Desert Moonrise
A Desert Moonrise
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Pictures
Me and my iguana friend
The district
Our chapel’s broken (it’s being remodeled)
A hill in Palmeira dos Índios
Elder Lima and me with calzones
Elder Lima and me
A Brazilian calzone
Elder Melo put Abby (our family dog) on his next planner
Elder Melo and me
Munguzá, Corn pudding that I made
The decorations for the São João party
Our Beans
Elder Melo, a brother from another ward, and me
Me, Jane, Antonio & Elder Melo
My mouth is full!
The new and improved district!
Elder Borget and me
Elder Sorenson & me
Corn
Cornhuskers (shoutout to my Grandma Bates who is from Nebraska!)
Elder Melo with Corn
Even More Corn!
More Corn
Our beans
Surprise Selfie
New Years Ice Cream and Sprite
A second Zone Conference in the Maceio area (this isn’t Connor’s area, so he didn’t attend)
Zone Conference in Sergipe (another state in Brazil).
Minecraft Tree
Potato Smilies our Ward Mission Leader’s wife made us!
Moonrise over a pile of trash near the grota
Delicious vegetable soup that yours truly made!
Artsy palm tree
The coastline of Maceió
Me, Elder Sorenson, Elder De Oliveira and Elder Fernandes out on the wall
The inside of our fridge (maybe it’s interesting)
Giant ant next to a US dime
It means I Love Maceió
An old lighthouse
Out on a little outcropping of a broken wall
Out on a little outcropping of a broken wall
Selfie (shout out US FIRST Team 1710)
Elder Weeks, Elder Sorenson, Elder De Oliveira and Elder Fernandes
Us on the boardwalk by the beach
Elder Sorenson with a bottle of honey we got from our investigator
Guess what this is….
The back of the posterity tie I gave to Elder Sorenson.
The presentation of the posterity tie
Elder França and me in a bathroom selfie
Our District
Papaya tree with our ‘caixa d’agua’ (big water box) in the corner of the picture
‘Pokémon’ that invades Elder França’s bathroom
Water Reserve (The Box)
Brazilian Easter Egg
Breaking the Plaster (from last week’s letter)
Cleaning up after district meeting (from last week’s letter)
Look what’s inside!
Selfie with Elder Basden
The district
Selfie with Elder França
Elder França and me
Elder França and me before the baptism
Juliana, Elder França and me
Juliana’s Baptism
Pie Crust Delight!
Connor showing how much he loves his mom!
Mother’s Day Skype
França’s birthday sandwich
The Sisters made cake for França’s birthday
A Brazilian Hot Dog
I bought a Reese’s
Elder Melo and me
It’s like the same.
Beans growing in cotton
Elder Melo
Corn for sale!
The district after transfers
It rains a little here in Brazil!
A quote from Elder Holland I’ll talk about next week
Elder Basso and me
Pasta we make every P-Day
Tree of Chocottone
A lot of apartments in our area
As close as we can get to the beach
The boonies of a beach town
Clima Bom dressed up for Christmas–blurry!
Our street
Palm Trees and Beach
Ponta Verde (fanciest place in the mission)
Elder Sorenson & me
Diogo’s House
Diogo
The Grota
Inside Diogo’s House
88 degrees at 9:47 in our house
Inside a bus, a non-congested time
Fruitcake from Diogo
Zone picture
Me and the Elder’s Quorum President
Brand new “Parque Shopping” (mall)
Cruz Das Almas, Jacintinho is in the distance. That is where the church is.
A New Years selfie with Elder Sorenson and ice cream
Zone Conference in Maceio. Connor is in the second row on the right side.
The entire Brazil Maceio Mission at Christmas. Connor is kneeling on the far right hand side of the picture.
Connor with President and Sister Gomes
John & Debbie at their confirmation
The district before the transfer
Thanksgiving – Brazil missionary style!
Left to Right: Elder Lira, Elder Weeks, Elder Bezerra and Elder Borges
Gecko in our house!
Guaraná Antartica
Elder Holland Quote
Selfie with Ke$ha the guard cat!
Brazilian Apple Juice
Brazilian Money
Couscous with tomato sauce, our preferred dinner at home
Creativity at its finest!
Elder Dinwiddie Frame
Paçoca
Shake – Bananas and Milk
Looking at the sewage waterfall
Elder Eddington and Me
The group of youth we explored with
A paper cake a member gave me
Our Cat is Curious
Birthday Pizza
We made brownies a while back
We bought a bunch of cereal with a free bowl!
We made cookies
126 Bananas in a Fridge (and 13 Liters of Cold Water)
The Dining Room
Elder Eddington at our desks
The Guard Cat
Super hot peppers in our backyard
Our Laundry ‘Room” (It’s outside)
Our Porch
Bottled water we drink so we don’t die
All the streets in Brazil look like this
Elder Eddington and me
President and Sister Gomes and us at the President’s house
President and Sister Gomes and me
My District at the Temple
Elder Frazier (EFY Roommate) and Me
Elder Kimball and I with Elder Clive, from MTC 1.0
Selfie with Elder Kimball
Elder Kimball and Me
Arriving in Maceió
The one picture of the outskirts of Maceió I got before my camera died
My district and all our teachers
Sao Paulo Temple
First View of São Paulo
São Paulo temple that Irmão Severo drew
Walmart by the Temple
São Paulo MTC Arrival
Quail
One of the last stops before leaving Cali
Elder Howard (I lived by him in Yucaipa), Elder Perkins (Has been in my zone since we were companions)
Elder Taylor, Sister McCoy, and Elder Harp
Elder Bush, Elder Nelson and Me
Yucca
August zone conference
A Desert Moonrise
Another Coyote Melon
Another Desert Sunset
Coyote Melon
It also flash flooded. This puddle is about a foot and a half deep a day after the rain.
Connor got to attend the temple before he leaves for Brazil
August Yucca Valley zone conference
It’s hot here!
Mike Tyson Pipe Art
Kobe Bryant Pipe Art
Mailbox Spider
We got lost outside of town
Connor at Joshua Tree National Park
Elder Taylor at Joshua Tree National Park
Elder Taylor at Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua tree sunset
The Vicious Cottontail
Our view from the top of the mountain
Brazil Bound!
Elder Taylor and Me
Mickey Mouse Cactus (a.k.a. Prickly Pear)
Artsy Sunset Stop Sign
Giant beetle by our house (it’s real!)
Grass…in the desert!
It’s hot!
Sometimes Joshua Trees are silly!
Cat Claw
Selfie on Truck Day (We get it once a week!)
Hey, Shawnee’s in Kansas!
Sagebrush
Desert Sunset
Gourmet Food
Surprise Selfie
Selfie with a Joshua Tree
The Jumping Choya
Me and my companion selfie on top of the mountain
Overlooking Babylon
The View
Elder Merenluoto and Me
My companion and me with the biggest dog I’ve ever seen!
Yucca Valley landscape
Joshua Tree
Frisbee language study
The comp and me in the park
Ghetto pic
Lunch. Eggs, hot dog, pickles, hot cheetos, and ketchup burrito. “The mission surprise”
#SelfieMonday
The Bishop, his wife and me
Most of my zone
How many goats are there?
Me and our pit bull friend
We’ve used a lot of toilet paper!
The incredible amount of food I’ve started eating with a Polynesian companion
My awesome family!
Skyping with Elder Weeks on Mother’s Day
Hey Justin, go stand by Connor
About to chop a take and bake pizza we got from a place called ‘We R Pizza’
Delicious Birthday chinese
My left-handed birthday card
Delicious Hawaiian Barbecue
Just a ghetto billboard
Our new bench
Picture from our investigator, “Awesome Pokemon Michael”
Parking boots?
With some recent converts
Reese’s Egg sandwich #NoShame
Me with the firefighters by our apartment again
Me on TV in Brazil taken by Elder Evans in Rio
Selfie with Elder Christensen
Weekly planning selfie
Hummer limo
Fumigating a house (looks like a circus)
Port-A-Potty party
Efficient Missionary member map
World’s tiniest banana tree
Doing service on the temple (I’m not the one in the bucket)
My view of Brazil
#ServiceSelfie
#AwkwardSelfie
I like sunsets
Fake In-N-Out
#CopCarSelfie
I’m an elephant
Police helicopter spotlight
Shaky picture of the helicopter
My flag setup
At Forest Falls
Overlooking the valley
P-day selfie
To Kansas, with love
I’m starting to eat like a Polynesian
The Bunk Beds
Me and the office mission sign
Elder Weeks and Elder Vakameilalo with the Zone Leaders they live with Elders Daines and Christiansen
The miles we rode last transfer (while going 15 mph)
The bike I ride around
Shopping carts of Highland
A big beehive we almost messed with
Hey Connor go stand by that
Fast Sunday featuring my new bike lock
Rainy day in California
Just one of the neighbors
February 21, 2014 Redlands Zone Conference
When in doubt, buy in bulk
Selfie Saturday
Snow in sunny Southern California
My English nametag
Through this doorway pass the finest missionaries in the church
Farewell Sunday
Farewell Sunday
Farewell Sunday
Farewell Sunday
Farewell Sunday
Elder Weeks
Captain Brazil?
MTC District
MTC District
Elder Kimball and Elder Ririe
Elder Ririe and Elder Weeks
Elder Weeks and former Zone Leader Elder Ulrich
Elder Weeks and Elder Berry
A warning sign for stealing avocados
A cat that comes around every time we are weekly planning
Elder Perkins
Redlands California Temple, 1 mile from our house
Best spelling job ever
Roadkill
The setup at our place
Selfie with Bro. Bailey
Mission wide conference Jan 3rd
Mission wide conference Jan 3rd
Mission wide conference Jan 3rd
Mission wide conference Jan 3rd
My breakfast burrito
Sunset. I like sunsets.
Elders making binder covers for the young men and young women
“Super Cold”
California Moonrise
Dune buggy Santa
Our Christmas tree
Opening the Christmas Eve pajamas
Skyping with Elder Weeks on Christmas
The other Elders’ Christmas tree
The Elders Christmas morning
Artsy picture of some cookies we made to take caroling Christmas Eve
A duck dressed like Santa
One of our delicious cookies we handed out
Beautiful California Sunset
Mission wide conference
Elder Berry with the 4 broken bikes in our apartment
Elder Weeks and Elder Berry (with Elder West)
Me lighting our sketchy heater
Elder Weeks and Elder Kimball in Provo
Elder Kimball and Elder Weeks in Provo
Thanksgiving Dinner with the Ward Mission leader
Homemade quesadilla and KoolAid with not-so-homemade Taco Bell sauce
Elder Weeks, Null, Kirchmann and Plaster
Just kidding, I do have a bed
My bed
Redlands California Temple
White shirt thank you cards
First day in California
Elder Weeks’ MTC district with their teacher Sister DeCampos
#selfiesunday waiting for a devotional
James 1:5
The picture that comes up every time I turn on my camera
the letter
It’s just one of those days!
Emergency blanket
Title: What should I wear today?” Media: Oil on canvas. 1894
Elders Borget, Harden, Kimball, and Weeks
Where is Elder Weeks?
“ball so hard in the dorms”
The view from Elder Weeks’ room
Elder Weeks and Elder Ririe
The view of Y mountain from Elder Weeks’ room.
Narnia Hole. Missionaries hide small trinkets for the missionaries that follow them to find.
Elder Weeks and Elder Kimball
Elder Weeks’ District
Elder Weeks, Elder Jacobs and Elder Transier
Elder Weeks and Elder Racule
Elder Weeks 