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