December 26, 2011

I loved talking to you all. I hope you guys had a great christmas. Mine was a good one! After I got done talking to you we ate at a members house. She gave us dinner with the rest of her familiy. It was great! It reminded me of home. I am going to send you some photos that I took this week. We have a new member of the family. Rosie haha that is very exciting.

So we went to Manaus monday. We left at about 6 it took about 14 hours to get to Manaus. We arrived in Manaus a little bit late. This place is called Ciggs- it's a zoo / military base. So we arrived and they had already started. They had this big room where president spoke and the rest all of the zones in Manaus sang a couple of Christmas songs or did a musical type thing. After we ate lunch, then walked around and checked out all of the animals. It was a regular zoo I took some pictures, but they didn't turn out very good because the fence was in the way. After that we talked a little bit more and we went straight to the bus station to return to Boa Vista. Yeah, almost three days with out taking a bath and there was 12 of us, luckly the bus had a pretty powerful  air condicioner.

The visit to Manaus was very quick. I was hoping we would see the temple, but it was good to see all of the missionaries. 

This year is a new year time to make new goals. President has made some goals for the mission now that we are preparing for the temple dedication. It will be good to see what this new year will bring. 

I was so glad that I got to see you guys 

love you all 

elder ontiveros 

Decemeber 18, 2011

Hey,
This is just going to be a quick email. We are getting ready to go to manaus, just have to go get a couple of more things after this. I bought new shoes. I don't know how much they will be in dollars. I think around fifty dollars or so.. oh, thanks, for the gift I will look for it. 

The traditions in Brazil are a little bit different. Sat. night at midnight they will have a party until 3 am(we will be home by 10:30 pm or so) and Christmas Day is a big lunch. They have this cake that is really good that only comes out at this time. haha I'm not really sure what they are going to do that is just what they said. It's my first Christmas here in Brazil. It is weird seeing all of these Christmas decorations in heat, but it will be fun! 


Sunday we have church for one hour and a member who has a son on the mission will be giving us lunch. I think anyone who has a son on the mission will treat the missionaries in their ward like their own. And after lunch we will be going to another persons house so that I can call you guys. It is 2 o clock right now so I'm thinking I will be giving you guys a call around 1 or 3 on Skype. Just keep your email open on Sunday and I will let you know if there will be any problems. 


I cant wait to talk to you all I am very excited. We are leaving at six and we arrive in Manaus at 8 tomorrow. I still don't have my charger, so we will see how many pictures I can take.

amo voces 

elder ontiveros    
ps is I'm glad you had a great performance. I liked the picture. Thanks for the quote mom- 
until Sunday 

December 8, 2011

Dear Fam,

My campanion is learning English, so it was good practice for him to write that email. This next week we will be returning to Manaus for our annual Christmas party. I was hoping that we will go by plane. It is a lot faster. One hour and we are there. It will be good to see all of my recent companions and missionaries that were in my district. We are going to a place in manaus that has all sorts of different animals. This place is apparently world known. It will be cool. I´ll make sure that I take pictures!

This week was a good week. I had to speak again. I spent most of the night preparing for my talk and I was supposed to give a ten minute talk, I got up there thinking all that I had prepared would be more than 10 minutes, but it was for only six. We got out of church a little bit earlier.

Yesterday´s lunch was a little bit different we had duck instead of chicken and it wasn't bad at all. It almost has the same taste as chicken. The familia that gave us lunch yesterday the dad is a fisherman and he also hunts crocodile. He said that once he gets one he will make it for lunch. I have been wanting to try crocodile and turtle soup and monkey. A lot of people have said they have eaten these things, but it isn’t very common.  We will see. Here in Boa Vista a lot of people eat a lot of fish so for the majority of our lunches we have been eating fish. Fried fish is the best!

Yesterday we walked an hour and a half to a meeting with a lady who has a coworker that is a member. Besides the walk, it was a good meeting, she really had a lot of questions and interests about our church. I´m feeling pretty confident that she will be baptized, she said she would read and go to church with us this week and she is married! That is a blessing not very many people get married here. They have a fear that things will go wrong and they will have to divorce.  

Well that was pretty much my week. I can call through skype. We have to find someone who has good internet.  What is the band’s name that iz played for?  I would like to see pictures. I have got some good ones that I will send next week.

Love you all

Elder ontiveros

Iz I want to hear about your performance

- Show quoted text -

December 5, 2011

I am your son's companion Elder Rainho . 
I want let you know that Elder Ontiveros is traveling to Manaus on the bus and he won't be able to write you guys until later .
He shares his love and hopes that you guys had a great week .
Com amor 

Nov. 28, 2011

Dear famliy,

Another week has gone by and mom yeah it was a pretty fast week for me. I can't believe how fast it went. Well we got a call yesterday for transfers and I and my companion are going to be staying together for one more. (I think he wanted to train) but oh well, he will have that chance some other time. I'm glad you had a good Thanksgiving. It was a regular day for us. Brazil doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving.  So it was good.

Christmas is coming up here pretty soon. We don’t know what we are going to do. President has planned a huge party in Manaus and he still isn’t sure what will happen with the people that aren’t in Manaus. He said that maybe he will bring everyone in to Manaus only that we would have to ride on the bus for 18 hours. I’m not a big fan of riding for long distances, but it is president that decides and I just have to obey.   We will see what will happen.

This last Saturday we had a musical that the district of boa vista put together it took them more than a year to put this together and it turned out great! They made these convites two weeks ago and since then everyone got together and just started handing them out inviting everyone to this musical. It was great we had a lot of people that weren’t members. We put up two tables with material, Book of Mormons, pamphlets, videos etc. everyone was excited to share what they know about the church. It was great.

Well I better get going now. I'm sorry this is a short email, a sister made lasagna for us so we are going to go eat now.

Jane thanks for the email. I love you too. I will be able to talk to you in 25 days…I cant wait! Are we going to get a dog Jane? That would be soo cool huh? Rose is a cool name and if it was a boy what would you name him? Love ya Jane- I gotta go

Love you all

Elder Ontiveros   

PS Thanks for the work out plan mom and I could use some of your cookin right now. Why aren't you guys going to Scipio? Grandma and Grandpa got home and you arent going? and oh I think I might need some new shoes for christmas and maybe some socks. 

Nov. 21, 2011

Dear família

Well another week has gone by and I have made it. I didn’t really think that I would make it, but after the zone conference was over I felt a lot better. I had to conduct and share a training with the zone this last Friday. I think it went ok I could have talked a bit more, but I think the spirit was present and he was able to teach our zone something. President is a good guy I really love him and I have felt his love for me and the other missionaries he talked about the importance of doing our best and working hard and we do this because we love God.

He put a small table and chair in the front and put a greasy bag with a breakfast sandwich and asked us what we thought. ´´ Are you willing to eat this?´´ while he asked us that he ran his fingers through it ´´and what about now?(The only person that was willing to eat it was an elder that is a little bigger than us) He then put another table with a white cover, a chair that was very comfortable, the finest utensils a sandwich with tomatoes, lettuce, meat, cheese and a white chocolate cake with cherry on top and a  fruit salad- just everything and he said ´´what about now? Would you give this to The Lord? You have got to think about what you want to give to Him on how you want your life to be. How you want your family to be.´´  Afterwords he showed a couple of pictures of missionaries and after their missions and their families and how a mission changed and blessed their lives. It was really good I loved what he said. He also said that we have to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. I am in Alma right now, so I have got some reading to do.

I love you guys very much. Thanks for the pics. Hope you all have a great week.

With much love,

Elder Ontiveros    

November 14, 2011

Dear family,

Well this week went by sort of. After I got off of the phone with you guys everything went ok. Everyone started laughing and joking. When we were waiting for a taxi on our way to go to the stake center so that I could call you all. A member, who loves the missionaries, was passing and was actually heading to same exact place that we were going to. This member is also pretty crazy, but he makes us laugh. He dropped us off at the stake center and picked us back up after I called you guys. On the way to our house he bought us dinner and just him being goofy made me feel a lot better. So, yes I am being watched over. Angels are on our shoulders and I don’t have one doubt! I know that grandma is helping me. Something is inside of me, I feel it. It makes me want to be a better person each and every second it shows me what I should do in certain situations. It is the Holy Ghost and I am very grateful that I have it.  

This week we have zone conference. Here in boa vista president didn’t put zone leaders just two district leaders and since I am a district leader we have got to put this conference together. And we have to give a training. I sure hope that it goes well. I will be training on the importance of working with members. Members are part of this work, it is important to have a member present in every lesson and to work and share with them how this work is coming along, who we have that will be baptized, if they have anyone that we could teach..etc .Wish me luck.

I love you very much. Tell grandpa o that I love him too. 

I want to show you guys some pictures of our house,but like I said I left my charger in acre and i think I will be getting it around December, but it is a really nice house! We have four trees a tree of mango two fruit trees that I forgot the name of and a lime tree. It´s pretty cool we make all sorts of juices.

Well I better get going. Love you until next week.

Elder Ontiveros  

November 7, 2011

Well 
I think everything will be alright. One of the things that president said is that we all go through these experiences. He shared a story with me and told me that his companion (who was one of his friends that he baptized into the church) had a brother die on the mission and he then knew that the Lord put them together for this reason. He was able to comfort him and everything went well afterwords. Just look upwards all is well all is well- Tudo bem tudo bem. After a lot of sobbing I feel a lot better.  Really peaceful. I feel like I need to study the plan of salvation a lot more. So that is what I am going to focus on. 
I love you guys
iz thanks for the email I will try and write a bigger email this next week. You rock
Love you all,
Elder Ontiveros  

October 24, 2011

Dear Family,

Well I made it here safely to boa vista (good see) So I left acre about 1 am on Tuesday and we arrived in Manaus on Tuesday at 4 am it was a pretty rough couple of days. We didn’t get much sleep on Tuesday. I and another missionary from Acre was coming with me to boa vista, but our flight didn’t leave until Wednesday morning at 12:00, so we had to wait in the mission office until our flight left that night. It wasn’t too bad because I saw a lot of missionaries that I hadn´t seen for a long time and I had a chance to talk with them. We left Manaus about 1 and we arrived in boa vista at about 2:30 am. We got all of our luggage and we were expecting to see a member to come and pick us up from the airport, but no one was there. We waited for about an hour and still no one. We didn’t have a number or a phone to contact anybody at least I thought at the moment, but I remembered that I had a thing with sister Klein´s number on it, so we called sister Klein at 3:30 am and she said that she would call someone to pick us up. So about thirty minutes later my companion and a couple of other missionaries came and got us with a member. The member who was planning to pick us up fell asleep…oops. Everything worked out after that.

We have a house in my new area. I wanted to send some photos ,but I forgot my charger for my camera in Acre. We have one district here in boa vista so I am in a branch. I had to speak again yesterday. It went ok. I think I am getting used to it. I think I will have to speak every month because there isn’t very many members. 50 or 55 that come every week.

My comp is a really cool dude he is from São Paulo. It seems like everyone is from São Paulo.

Well I am going to get going. I will let you know how my week goes. Like it says in Moroni 7:48 I am just going to love everybody because charity never faileth.

Love you all

Elder Ontiveros         

October 17, 2011

Familia,

Well another fast week has gone by. And another one will be passing here pretty soon. Well I'm finally leaving rio blanco and I will be going to another state the opposite side of rio blanco. It is a state called roraima, boa vista and I am really really nervous. I will be a district leader meaning I have to speak every week in front of missionarys that I don't really know. I tried teaching yesterday in the principles of the gospel class and I don't think I did a very good job. People weren't understanding me very well. This is a struggle for me, talking to people that I don't really know or teaching people that I don't really know. I will learn a lot through this experience. I will have to work harder than I have ever worked before. If I'm obedient,everything will be fine.

Man I sure hope grandma o will be ok. I will pray for her health. I am very nervous I really hope that she will be okay. Tell her that I love her a lot.

I will be leaving here at 1 o clock in the morning on a plane.  It will take about 2 or 3 hours to arrive in manaus and after that I think I will wait in manaus until midnight on Tuesday and fly from manaus to roraima. Like I said I am nervous and a little bit excited it will be nice to be in a new area and get to meet different people. I just hope that everything will be ok.

Iz thanks for emailing me I'm sorry that I can't really respond to you. I have to go home and pack up all of my things. Iz I heard you are going to perform in November with a live band. Thats sweet! I want to see pictures. What songs are you going to play? Let me know I gotta go

Love ya.

Well I gotta go. I love you all and pray for each and every one of you individually. Thanks for your support I am so grateful for it.

Elder ontiveros     

October, 10, 2011

This week was a good week. We did alot of contacting this week it is really good practice for me sometimes I really hate contacting, but it helps my Portuguese. On Thursday we were on our way home and we decided to make a contact with this guy named Ivan. We explained to him about the church and asked if we could come back and teach him, he said that we could and he said that he is free anytime.

The next day a Friday was a big day we had 6 meetings planed already marked. I honestly didn't think we would have enough time for what we had planned, but we had set up with a member to come with us but he forgot and was doing something else. So we went to our first meeting and after that our second meeting fell through and our third and our fourth etc it just wasn't the day (that's what I thought at that time) we even tried calling some people to see if we could come over to their houses and everyone seemed to be busy. We were very disappointed becasue we didnt know what we should do after walking closer to our house we decided to head over to Ivan's. A little hesitant on this decision because  when we contacted Ivan he was drunk and we were unsure if he would remember us. We arrived at his house and he was home he let us in we asked him how he was doing we were just trying to get to know him. He explained to us that he and his wife had split up recently and she left the kids with him, two sons. He said that if we hadn't showed up he would have dropped the kids off and he would have ended his life. He said he was just getting ready to leave. After that me and my companion knew exactly why our meetings had fallen through.  We needed to be there. The Lord wanted us to be there at Ivans house. We felt the spirit very strong and taught him the plan of salvation. We also told him the  two most important things that he needed to do- one, take care of his kids and two, be baptized. We marked a baptism and he accepted. 

This experience helped me out a lot it made me realize that this work isn't mine it is the work of The Lord. I am a tool in his hands. That is why it is very crucial to have his spirit. It was  a good week.

I love you guys very much

Elder Ontiveros

October 3, 2011

Dear family,

Another quick week as gone by and I am here again typing you all. This week was a good week.  Like the rest of you, I enjoyed conference! Man what a wonderful place to be listening to our beloved prophet and his apostles. 

I am so grateful for you guys I don’t know I was thinking a lot about you when I was listening and it made me realize how important families are and how important parents are. And at times I thought that you mom and dad were being annoying when really you were actually trying to help me out. I cringe at the things that I did, but that was me then and I don’t let it bother me too much. All the things that you guys have taught us just makes so much sense and I am so glad that you taught me these things. Iz, jake and jane Mom and Dad love you and care about you. I know sometimes that it is hard, but listen to them! They know what is best for you.  When we are all in tune with the Gospel with the spirit families have a power that defeats Satan. Here in Brasil it is a bit different. I see thirteen year olds who already have kids. I see a lot of kids that don’t really have parents. They live with their grandpa or grandma or aunt because their parents have addictions which interferes with their responsibility of taking care of their kids. Man I am so glad that I am part of family filled with love and a good environment.  Every person I contact I make sure I tell them something how much it can bless their family because I understand how much of a difference it has blessed mine.

I learned a lot during conference, but this is what made the biggest impact.

We watched conference at the stake center. I watched it in English..it is a lot better! I like to hear their actual voices rather than a voice of a translator.

Dad I think you sent me an email last week and I think I already had left. But the Portuguese is doing better. It is all about my confidence in how well I trust in myself and the Lord. Portuguese is starting to make sense after nine months I think I am getting the hang of it. A Brazilian comp has helped out a lot. I think it would have been better if I started out with one.

A couple of weeks I sent jake an email telling him that I even knew a little bit of Spanish. So jake Mr. Smarty Pants decided to use google translator and translate his email that he sent to me in Spanish. haha I laughed pretty hard. The heat Is ok I think I have gotten used to it. I will send a movie today. I hope you guys get it.

I love you all

E. Tyler Ontiveros        

p.s. I am a mexiCAN. hahaha

Sept. 26, 2011

Well this week was good. 

This is my fith attempt of trying to write to you all. All of the stuff that I wrote to you all got erased.

I don't have much time right now. Everything is going well. This week was a tuff week it has been really hot 120 degrees sometimes a lot hotter than that. The members have been working really hard. I don't know if I have told you that our area is huuuge. I think that we have the biggest area on the mission. It is soo big!

I am so grateful to part of this church. I am soo glad that I am part of a family who are members of this church. Everything depends on ourselves each and everyone of us have our own different weaknesses. That's what makes us unique. It depends on you if you want to learn how to fix this weakness.  We have to be patient and over time things will start to make sense. You will become better. That is why I am soo glad that I was born into a loving family that goes to church that reads the scriptures and does the things that are more important than any other thing. I am very exctied to see what the prophet and apostles have to say this week. If you guys are going to the conferece center make sure to wave and maybe I will get a chance to see one of you.  

A mission is one of the hardest things I have done in my life, but now that I look back. I have been more happy. My first letter was a lot better than this one. Sorry I love you all soo much.

Tell Rob and Erin that I love them too. I will try and email him.

Elder ontiveros

p.s.There has been a strike here in Brasil at the post office. They don't like how much money they are getting. I dont know how long it will be before I get those packages.

Sept. 19,2011

Familly

Hey well another week has gone by and I AM here again writing you all. Well this computer stinks. Sorry if the letters are very strange.  This week was good my companion is very smart I am surprised of how much he knows about this gospel and how our Heavenly Father works.  He has a strong testimony, it is very cool to see and be with all of these different missionaries and see how this gospel changed their lives and their families lives.

This week we had a meeting with the leaders in our ward. We have all come up with different ways we could help our ward to increase.  They have agreed to give us a number of references so we can teach them.  So we have been very busy. We have a lot of people to teach.

Our house is filled with  roaches.  Uhhh I don’t like them at all! They are pretty big and they can Fly!! One flew on me and  I threw a fit. It isn’t very sweet today my companion bought some insect killer, we sprayed it all over the house. We are hoping to not see any more of these gross bugs.  If we do -they better be dead. 

Yeah mom I'm pretty sure president will send us all into Manaus I don’t plan to be here in Acre until then. If I am still here, I will laugh. And it will probably be in English and they will have a translator.

Tell Diane that I am getting her letters and I really appreciate them and the Bennett’s and a lot of other people in our ward. It is kinda hard to send things here in Acre because we aren’t allowed to leave our areas until we ask permission from president and the only way we can ask permission is from email. And I usually forget until I have left the computer place. So I am saying that the post office is not in our area.

That stinks that Jake is hurt. That really stinks. Get better. I liked the picture -well I didn’t like the red U on our front lawn, but the house and the garage looks amazing! And have we always had grass like that in the front: It looks amazing.

Here is a picture of me and my companion. Yes we have a portable Dvd player but we use it to watch church movies only. The mission bought every companionship a dvd player because they made a movie that is very awesome it works together with Preach my Gospel. It teaches us very well.  

I love you all very much,

Elder Ontiveros  

Sept. 12, 2011

Dear família,

How is it going família? Well this week was a good week. I got another comp! I will sure miss Elder Ribeiro, but his time is needed somewhere else. So Tuesday night me and another Elder got a ride from a member to get to the airport so that we could pick up our companions. They arrived about midnight, but someone was missing. Yeah my companion… luckily the zone leader was present so he could call president. Oh Elder Epley is one of the Zone leaders here it´s good to see him. But he called president and president said that his ticket was purchased for the next day. So that night I stayed in my old area the area that Epley and his new companion is in. It was good to visit that area again now that I can actually speak correctly. The next day we went with another member to get my comp. We returned to our house and he was ready to start working asap. My companion is a very smart kid. He is Brazilian and is from São Paulo, Campinas. His testimony is really strong I am excited to see what happen this transfer.

The work is coming along people still have a hard time understanding me. It is very frustrating because of my American accent. Me and my companion are working on it. I will teach the first lesson and after they will smile and ask my companion what is he saying? I only understood a little bit. Sometimes I just want to scream  I AM SPEAKING PORTUGUSE!! But I don’t think that would work out to well. Now that I can speak so so I have to memorize the way people speak.  This only happens to a couple of people.. not everybody.  

Let Jenni and Joe that I love them. Congrats on the new baby! How many new cousins do I have? I lost track. Haha

Yes, mom when I arrived here president gave us a journal so that we can write all of the things we learn in conferences. (The very few conferences that we have) You really do have to go into these meeting thinking on what you can improve on, set a couple goals and try and apply what you learned in your life.   

I'm sorry I wish I could remember all that happened this week, but I still at remembering things. I want to write more, but I just can´t remember. This week I will do better in writing what I need to share to my family. Usually I will forget while I am writing you and after I am done using the computer I will remember again. Anyways I love you all.

Elder Ontiveros

Sept. 5, 2011

Meu querido família,

 Well this week went really well.  Sorry mom everything is ok I will have some tough times, but everything will work out. Yes the mission will pay f or medication, it takes some time though because they have to send the receipt  to Manaus and afterword’s contact the church office building, after a couple of weeks the money will be in our account.   

I am learning a great deal through these experiences. My companion is a great kid I am going to miss him, he will leave this area and I will stay here… yet again. I will be training another missionary..again I really don’t have the slightest clue why, but I know who knows and he has a plan for me and for all of you this is what I am so grateful for! He loves and knows exactly what we need in the exact moment. I am happy that I get another chance to train again. I know what I need to work on! I get another chance to be even better than before!  I have been thinking a lot about me me me I always remember the quote from Pres. Hinckley ` forget yourself and go to work´  This will be my focus this transfer.  I´m really excited!

So a new missionary has to stay with their comp for 2 transfers, so this  means that I will be stuck here in Rio Branco for 3 more months. ( December) I will have almost one year  her  in Rio Branco …. Crazy.  One more month until general conference! I am very excited to hear and see the prophet and apostles. I am counting down the days.

 I heard there was another tornado in the US. Did it pass through South Carolina?  Well I cant think of anything else to write about. Next week will be better.

Love you all

Elder Ontiveros

August 29, 2011

Today will be a very short email. Sorry, this week was avery rough week. My companion has been sick for a couple weeks now. And we have been there and back almost everyday to the hospital and buying medicine.. etc yeah.. we ran out of money and we won't recieve money until Thursday so I think I will need to use the card a couple of times. I am sorry I try and avoid using the card as least as possible. 

I like our president I know he loves us, but he is very busy and sometimes it is really hard to talk to him. Transfers are coming this sat. I will let you know if I will be leaving this area. So I will let you know what is going to go down. 

The mission is tuff, but life is pretty tuff.  All the things that I am learning here will help me become a better person. Just take it step by step and I think everyting will be ok. Just like learning a languange I had to start with the basics and learn each day and at times you will stop learning you will think that you don't need to continue to study portuguese, but this is wrong we are always learning to become better.

I love you guys a lot. Thanks for the emails. Next week I will have a bit more time to email you all.

Elder Ontiveros

August 22, 2011

Dear familia,

Well hello! I am glad that you all liked the spider movie. Wooo it freaked me out also. We found this spider in the church, luckly I have never seen a spider in our house. I don't know what I would do if I saw one like this.

Well this week was a good one we had our conference with president and I learned a ton. I have a lot to improve on.  I like when president comes because he´ll take us all out to lunch and it is some good FOOD! All you can eat rice, beans, lazanya, varity of fruits, soda, ice cream. It is the BEST! 

Our president talked about become what you can do to become a better person. What we need to do to become better people.  He shared a scripture in mosiah 3:19 and it talks about the atonement of Jesus Christ . We need to use the atonement in our lives everyday. We need to repent because we aren't perfect. We will make mistakes, but we have Christ who paid for all of sins so that we can repent. It is something that I am very grateful for. My testimony has strengthed a lot in the Atonement, it makes us become better people . Our goal here on this earth to become like Christ our reedemer our foundation.  What a great example to follow.

I was really glad that we had our conference because sat. Bishop asked me to speak again on Sunday.  So I just shared what I learned at conference. I really hate the feeling before speaking. I would rather die I think. After I got up and started talking it wasn't soo bad. I think they understood to what I was saying.

Wow I knew Jake would do great! I am very excited for his Senior year! Just don't get hurt! Yes that linked worked Mom, I think it got me a little bit too excited! Haha YEAH!

This was another great week! I am praying for you all! And I know that you guys are recieving blessings! It is just amazing. I love you all soo much.

Elder Ontiveros

August 15, 2011

Hey mom
 This week went pretty fast for me. We had three baptisms this week. One of them was a wife of a less active family. They recently got married so that she could be baptized. They are almost like a familiy to me. It was really cool to see the change in her at the begining she seemed uncertain, but she started getting used to things and all of a sudden she just can't stop smiling and laughing. We also baptized her daughter. The daughter kept telling her parents and us that she didn't want to get baptized until Bishop talked to her and she decided that she would get baptized.  She wanted to suprise her parents. So we interviewed her in the mourning and right before the baptism she walked in all white everyone was suprised. It was great!   I don't think I will ever feel comfortable also teaching or bearing my testimony etc. Smiling and laughing I found out helps alot.
Oh tell Dad happy late Father's Day and tell himI love him. How was Father's Day? 
I'm sorry I need to load these Photos everyhting is going well! I love you mom and iz and jane and jake and everyone else 
elder ontiveros 

- Show quoted text -

August 8, 2011

Dear Family,

Hello how are things going? Well, mom I’m glad this week went by fast for you, because it was a slow one for me. We baptized five people last week ( I think I shared this information with you) We figured out that one of the people we baptized had another name that she didn’t use. Luckily, my companion felt that he needed to talk to Bishop about it because it is a ordinance.  At first I didn’t really think it mattered, but Bishop said that she needed to baptized again. Her name needs to be said exactly how it is on her birth certificate. So Saturday we, Bishop and another member said he would go and fill the font up. The next day was a Sunday. We planned to rebaptize her during class. Email in English is becoming very frustrating! Anyways , the water that was filled on Sat. disappeared and we didn’t have any water to fill the font back up again. There was enough water to where I could kneel and she would have to sit it worked and we were able to baptize her. Kind of strange.

I read something this past week that I liked. In principles of the gospel I read that we need to learn how to be happy while working. People spend long hours working each day. Right now I am doing the Lord's work (the best work there is) and at times I feel very stressed, but I am going to need to learn and make goals on how I can better my attitude. It is great how revelation works. I felt that I needed what I read in that exact moment. Now I have to apply it.

Man this p day is busy again, sorry I don’t write very much. It’s sometimes very hard for me to write. My companion is good.I’m learning a lot.

Could I get some pictures of jakes scrimmage this week? That would be sweet. Here are some pics.

I love you guys

Elder Ontiveros

ps I love your emails mom and dad thanks 

August 1, 2011

Familia,

Well, it was so good to hear from! I liked how you talked about Grandpa teaching those little girls and how he probably wouldn't see them ever again. Yesterday, we had 5 baptisms. Afterwords  bishop called us into his office and thanked us for all the work we are doing he said yes you baptized five different kids, but who knows you could have baptized the next stake president. He shared his conversion story it was very cool. He was 14 years old when he was baptized, served a mission, got married and sealed into the temple and afterwords was called to be a bishop 28 years old. He told us that the missionaries that baptized him, could have been another number  to them and he said that you guys are saving souls (in tears) and the Lord has called you two missionaries in this area to save them. I'm very grateful to have such a freakin awesome Bishop! he works all night and all day. I dont know how he does it!

This week was a good week! We a big party at the church this Sat. It was pretty cool. A lot of food! I was happy! I was talking with a member and I really liked what she said about our church. She said it isn't easy being a member of this church and she said she is overwhelmed with getting all of the kids up in the morning to go to church. (I don't think you guys have ever felt this way) She said she cried and cried and prayed and prayed and read the scriptures and she said thats what made the difference. Thats what made her stronger.  Sometimes something will go wrong and you don't really feel like reading or praying, but that is truly what you need to do- read and pray. In the times that are difficult. Thats what strengthens your testimony.

Iz I'm so glad you shared your testimony that is so great! And you are so right! The Holy Gost is so awesome! We become better people from him. Always strive to  listen to him. Iz you are thirteen huh? Wow your old! Brazil is sweet. Really hot! So I lied, not very sweet. Just hot.  School is about to begin are you excited? I heard that it is really really hot in the U.S.?

I better go right now

Love you all

Tyler

July 25, 2011

Dear Family

Well I got the vídeo and loved it even though it was only a couple of seconds long. Wow Jane you have grown. How tall are you?  I liked your little pose.. haha

Well this week was a good week. We have been working with the same investigators for these past couple of weeks and this week… finally is their baptisms. We will be baptizing five people this week. A brother and a sister and a brother and sister from a different family and another boy.  It has been fun teaching these kids. They really have grown. They really have learned a lot and to see their testimony’s grow , has been a great blessing.  Yesterday, I had to unexpectedly confirm a recent convert man I was so nervous I told bishop that I had never done this before I have never practiced he let me know that he would help me it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. As I placed my hands upon Rodrigo I felt a sense of peace and the words just started flowing out of my mouth. I learned something very valuable and that is, I need to trust in myself first, I need to calm down, relax, take a breather and just go and Heavenly Father will help with the rest. Just like you said mom in one of your letters when the people (I can´t remember whom) but when they were crossing the river they needed to take that step of faith get into the water first and afterword’s the sea lifted.

 Oh and I spoke again yesterday.. I don’t know how well it went. I read a lot of scriptures and little bit from a talk given by Elder Oaks. He talked about desire I really liked it a lot. One thing that I really liked is that he said desires shape our priorities for example we may have a desire to eat, but we have a stronger desire to fast… Something like that. I really liked it.

Well, this week they have this Expo here in Acre called Expo Acre it happens every year. They have rodeos and they will show off different cars. Alot of different things (their version of the 24^th) so me and my comp we will go check it out today.

I'm sending some pictures. Check this house out!! It is very pretty and they have a bird.

Love you all

Elder Ontiveros

July 18, 2011

Familia,

You haven't seen my emails, I am sorry. Mom,  maybe gmail would be better. Did you get the movies that I sent? If not let me know.

Yes, we have a new misson president and he is reallly cool and I have felt his love he has helped me already in becoming a better missonary.  Today was a very great day! This email maybe very short. Very Busy! We went up to the stake center  made and ate lunch up there and played some soccer and a little bit of basketball. We made rice, salad and we bbqued some meat normal lunch here in Brazil.

We had two baptisms this week. One with Rodrigo who found our church through a site and he was studying for almost a year until he finally decided to make a visit to our church. Really Really awesome! And Talise who is a friend of a member. This week we will have another baptism. Me and my companion have made a goal to baptize each week . The members are really helping and working hard in finding new people for us to teach. I have never seen a member work so hard! These members in Brazil.. they know how to work. I am very grateful for them.

This week I get to talk in sacrement meeting again...great. I think I will be able to do a better job than the last time I talked. 

I'm glad everyone is keeping busy. Being busy is good.  I was reading the ensign of this past conference and I can't remember who gave the talk but he said something that was very interesting. ```we die to live and we live to die``  and after he shared that we could both die spiritually and physically. If we don't do what the Lord wants. I thought it was very interesting. 

Well I better get going now. I will send pictures next week and hopefully will have the oppurtunity to write you all indivdually.

 Iz I got your email thanks.. I hope you had fun at young womens camp.  Families are very important it is one of the biggest things that hit me while being here. It is where we all feel true happiness.  My companion is tough he is the only member in is family oh and I think his cousin is a member. He is a good kid.

Love you all

Elder Ontiveros

July 11, 2011

Dear Family 
These week until now has been Great. We have marked several dates for baptism. We should be able to baptize every week now. Yesterday we met with a mom and her son . The mom is a less active member and her son hasn't been baptized. We had a nice chat about the Book of Mormon. I think he enjoyed it. He likes to talk a lot, he is a very smart kid. He thinks about things that are important. It was really neat because the mom was also enjoying it and to see her attitude change from the first time we saw her. I could see how much she loved her son and she could see how much her son enjoyed talking to us. We marked a baptism for 31 of July. He accepted and they will be going to church this Sunday. This Gospel has the power to change peoples lives and help families become more united. It isn't the easiest living the gospel principles, but it will make us happier and better. I'm grateful for you my family very much. I'm almost half way there (I'm not counting) 
Love you all very much.
Elder Ontiveros 

June 29,2011

Hey,

 This week was better. Heavenly Father has been on my side. He is pushing me to work harder. It is really cool to see the change take place. My last email. Yes, I was very stressed. Very worried about speaking the language and very worried about saying a wrong thing. I don't know I just feel more comfortable. So what if someone doesn't understand me haha I'm going to repeat myself until I am understood. Yes I may have a weird accent, but I don't really care I'm speaking portuguese! My companion can understand me perfectly. And I have some things to say to you that are very important! That's how it goes. Almost every person we teach for the first time until they get used to it. Then they can understand me. It is very fun sometimes I feel very very uncomfortable but it makes me grow. I am able to have confidence in myself and what the spirit wants me to say.

Anyway that was what my week was like. Very Awesome. I'm learning a lot.

I emailed dad also, so you can read his. Thanks for the quote mom. I love you! I love all of you. Here is a video. It has been pretty cold here these past couple of days. It is starting to warm up now. You will see. With love

elder ontiveros

  ps Iz I stay far far away from girls. Just like you should stay far far far away from the boys! Dont you worry. We baptized her this last week. She is really cool. She wants to serve a mission. Sorry the video won't load. You might have to wait next week. love yall 

June 22, 2011

Hey Family 
This week was great. I am feeling a lot more comfortable with my portugese now that I have a Brazillian comp. We have been getting along very well. He is a very good kid. I have been sick these past couple of days, so we haven't been doing to much. Today I have been feeling much better. This last week we had a baptizm and this week now we will have another. Here are some pictures. I hope you will enjoy. It is amazing how much better I can speak. Heavenly Father has truly helped my out. This past week I was really really stressed! But it will all just work out. I know it will. I'm sorry I know this is a very short Email, but we are going to go now. We are really fome ( hungry) I love you all so very much. 
Elder Ontiveros 

June 1, 2011

Dear Family

Today was another busy day, so I don’t know how much time I will have to write you. I really want to write Grandpa, but it will have to be another week.

These past couple of p days has been good. We have been playing soccer. It’s pretty cool because we play one  across the river and we are right there close to this soccer court. (Indoor) I’m not as good as the Brazilians...man they can move their feet! It is unbelievable! And afterwords we had a barbeque Brazilian barbeque is amazing! No one has barbeques. We have something better! We use coal and this portable grill thing I don’t know the name in English. It takes a while, but it is soo worth it! Very good.

Afterwords we went with the Zone leaders and bought another fan and finally a washing machine! I think my clothes may smell a little better.  

This week we have a baptism it is a guy who has been waiting for I don’t know how many years for his wife to be baptized .  It is finally coming and he is very excited. He says that after the Manaus temple is finished, they will go. Man what a wait. And what a cool story!

I'm sorry I am in a rush we have an appointment tonight, so im trying to hustle. Things are going great! Dad poor poor Dad I'm sorry Dad you need to be careful.. Where is your helmet? That long board isn’t set to go straight down a hill you have to carve from side to side. And Jane way to be tough and stick it out good job! Iz, I will write you next week I promise.

Love you all

Elder Ontiveros]

Ps I did buy shoes they should last me for a while and this movie that I'm sending is a funny one I was doing a tour of the house, but it didn’t turn out very good. This last part I thought was funny, so I hope you enjoy it.   

May 25, 2011

Well Hello Familia,

Earlier today I started writing my letter to you guys on word perfect (you may have noticed a change in the spelling) the internet crashed and didn’t start working until now.  Mom I hope I didn’t you keep yourself to worried. I am still alive.

This week was a little different. My companion got a little sick, so we didn’t work very much this week. We would try and leave to teach our investigators that had dates. During this time I spent pondering and studying.  My studies are getting a lot better. It just amazes me how much a person can change by just reading and actually finding the things that God does having that burning desire to know how he works with his children. It hasn’t been the easiest thing. It takes a lot of Faith. But as I study and try to understand these things I have figured out that there are more things that I can learn and get better at. Obviously, I can always be better at speaking Portuguese and knowing the gospel more, but I have discovered that there are small and simple things that I could improve on. For example Opening the door up faster so my companion doesn’t go in somewhere else that isn’t the bathroom (pants…gross) Learning how to make this cool sound with your lips (that one is tough...Working on it) Have a better attitude (that one needs some work especially when the sun is super super hot) Etc… I hope you get the point. Learning things is awesome, but sometimes very hard, that is how we grow. Just by actually taking the time to learn this gospel maybe go back if I didn’t understand something that was explained to me. Has made a big impact in my life. Just by writing this I have learned that I need to set better goals and have a better desire to achieve them. If we honestly focus on the small and simples things our brains change that is how we become better. Sometimes it is very overwhelming, but I have a feeling that it will all just work out. If we keep at it. It will all work out.   

Grandpa and dad emailed me I don’t think I will have time to email them back personally today, but I received their emails.  Very Grateful for them.

Iz im glad you have stayed away from the boys keep doing it. You can be nice but not too nice. At least until I get back. Actually until you are 16…right Mom and Dad? Right!

Jake Congrats bud. You the man. Keep at it. Just have the time of your life! High school is fun!

Tell John good work! Give him a huge I’m sure he will like that.

Well I g2g I hope this letter makes sense

Love you all

Elder Ontiveros

May 18, 2011

Family, 
Hello! How are things going? They seem like they are going pretty well! Jake congrats on the record buddy! Good job! Well this week has been really good. We have been really working hard. It takes us a couple of years to walk to one place to another. And sometimes it is very hard to locate these houses. At times people don’t even have addresses or know what their address is. It gives me a big head ache at times. We spend 2 or 3 hours looking for a house. We are going to ask president if we can ride bikes because that would help a lot!
People are really nice and kind here in Brazil. They will always look for ways to help and I’m very grateful because most of them live in wood houses. They care about the more important things in this world. Which is food, church, and The missionaries. Being on the mission I have discovered that there are two different kind of happiness’s in this life and that is a happiness for your spirit and a happiness for your body( for example food, music, movies etc..). I find that  the spirit brings me more happiness and peace and that is why we keep the commandments or the rules on the mission, so we can feel and share this sweet spirit. That is something that stuck out to me this week.

Mom yes we have found a couple of less active members. Bishop, like I said is a really outstanding person.  During church he announced  that we will be meeting at a members home to go find less active members. So here we are the mormon gang at this members home everyone has their bikes, motorcycles and ready to work. We had a stack of papers that was thick we could have made a book. So they gave us a name to go visit and when we showed up we thought that is was a mistake, but no this member opened up a Bar. We felt really sorry for this guy. We asked if we could talk to him, but he said another day. Everybody has their own choices and agency. It kind of stinks sometimes.  

Well when we arrived in our new apartment we didn’t have a working washer machine and we are still waiting for the mission to put money into our account, so we can buy a new one. Until now we have been hand washing our clothes it is annoying sometimes, but it gives me another opportunity to have a good attitude because washing your clothes with your hands isn’t as fun as it looks.

I better get going. I’m sorry I forgot to bring my camera with me. This mourning we woke up early to go play soccer. It was very fun! I am not as good as the Brazilians, but it was fun. Love and miss you all.

Elder Ontiveros

ps love you all