August 28, 2012

Hello Everyone,

     It was a good week that flew by we lost one day because of the zone conference and it was gone like that! But we got a lot of work done and we got some good investigators to church and people are progressing so that is very exciting! I dont have too many interesting things from this week, one is that we are going to try and start learning capuera, eesh im not sure how to spell it but it is a martial art here that originated in bahia and we have some investigators that do it so we are going to watch tonight and will maybe take a short lesson when we have time, but thats doubtful, we never have tons of time. But thats a good thing! Something that was really funny we were walking to our next appointment and is started to rain, and there was one lady on the street walking towards us, and I wanted to talk to her, so I asked Elder CUrtis if spring or fall was coming next, down here spring is coming because we are in winter right now. So I stopped her and asked her when spring started and so we talked about the weather for a bit, then we talked about the church and she had some qestions so we answered them and invited her to church and that was it! Afterwards Elder Curtis says to me what would you do if someone stopped you on the street and asked you when spring started and I started busting up it just seemed like a good question at the time, but ya, it was good and the lady was very nice! I also can now say I really am a Krause, I was hungry one night and didnt really know what to eat, we didnt really have any snacks but the sisters had left a little bit of un popped popcorn, so I popped it and I have been eating popcorn ever since, I eat it all the time now, so mason and emily you guys can be proud I finally have developed a taste for popcorn! And the half popped ones really are the best! Something kinda funny at the zone conference President talked a little about the upcoming election which I had kinda forgotten about, but he said there are two people running, Mitt Romney and Obama.  He talked a little about how we can vote absentee, then he said I am not going to tell you who to vote for, but I will say one of them was a stake president, and it wasnt Obama! It made me chuckle.

      Well read the Book of Mormon, I studied the story of Nephi cutting off Labans head and I know that everyone knows that story but read it again and put yourself in Nephi's shoes, ask the question how would I know what to do and how would I follow the guidance of the spírit, the story will come to life!!! I love you all and I hope everyone has a good week! 

This is me and my second companion Elder Probst from Rio grande do sul brazil

 My Brazilian District at the MTC

   This is how I study!!!

 This is my and Elder Curtis my comp now and also trainer on top of the serrihna, that means little hill in portugues, and the city is named Serrihna because of the little hill by it you can kinda see the city in the back ground it was a foggy day.

 This is me Elder Jensen, Sis Stewart and Waite (left) and Sis Johnson is behind me, we were in the CTM pointing at our missions, roughly. 

This is me cooking! It is indeed cold in the morning and no I dont have any warm clothes except that sweater I found at the mtc!

August 22, 2012

 Hey everyone,
     I had my first zone conferenfce yesterday and it was phenominal, we had to travel into feita and met up with probably 40 other missionaries, Pres and Sis Hart were there and they gave us tons of good training and motivation, to baptize!!!! ALso sis hart gave a great talk on Lehi´s dream, which was really cool because we had talked to a woman we are teaching about that the day before. This week is week three in the transfer and is a critical week, so me and Elder Curtis decided to become crazy people this week "dâ um jeitem" find a way cause we are going to baptize someone soon and we are going to fill our little chapel to the brim with people this Sunday! So the work is going well we are working very hard, contacting lots of people everyday. I would like to share an experience that was really cool. First everyone needs to go read the 20 marc note talk by Elder Bednar. I was thinking of the talk monday night as we were walking home, and we told each other we needed to meet our goal for contacts that day. It was about 8:30pm, not the best time for contacts, but we had to do it! So we are walking down the street trying to fill our goal, be good little Elders, and I see a man walking down the street, and I said lets go talk to this guy, kinda thinking to myself that it would be a forced contact, we would invite him to church and he would walk away, but thats a contact and everyone deserves an invite, I was only trying to do what I had been told, talk to everyone! So I walk up to him, and I just came to say we were lost, and we asked a little about this street, ( we actually had a pretty good idea where we were but we were in an area we had not really worked in) and it flowed right into asking about the church (cause it was on that same street but way across town) then we asked him if he had heard of it, and he said yes and that he actually had a copy of the Book of MOrmon (which was good cause we didnt have one we were out of Books!) so we got excited and asked him about it and he said that he wasn't super religous but was very curious and that was why he started reading it, but had stopped just cause things had come up. This is what is called a loito, not really sure why we give them that name, but it means a golden person for the GOspel!!! If people have a open mind, like to read, and already have a Book Of MOrmon, they will find the Church to be True very quickly, in general. We are going to visit him soon this week, but I would like to quote and relate to Elder Bednar in this situation, in the moment, did I know what I was doing? kinda I was just trying to make a contact, fulfill a goal, (Behind every number is a person dont think I am totally heartless just focusing on numbers cause I am not!) but after a long day, I was just trying to talk to a guy, had no idea what I was going to say, just trying to be good. Looking back was it a spiritual prompting to talk to him YES! did I know that then NO! So like Elder Bednar says (read the talk!) dont worry about grand manifestations, or if you are feeling guided by the spirit or yourself, be a good boy, be a good girl, keep your covenants, and you will indeed be guided by the Spirit, thats the beauty of the Spirit, he is there and we dont even know it! Also my companion was a crazy man that night, I have never heard anyone teach Lehis dream like he did. Deus não creu pessaos  fracos e forças, não fies isso, há pessoas que segura o barro de ferro, e pessoas que não segura o barro de ferro! it sounds better in português so you guys can translate that, but its true, and life is easy when we read the Book of MOrmon, doesnt mean trials wont come, but the book of MOrmon is the power to overcome! 

            Ok cool stories now we get rain storms here everyday that are usually 20 minutes long then stop, but they happen every day about three times a day, so its pretty cool we have had overcast days mostly this week! It had been sooo nice!!!! 

     Also thanks to Amanda and roommates, I got you letter at zone conference and it was awesome!!! Also MOm, Dad, and Erin you guys are awesome too cause I got all you letters. Also Joe, Marites, Connor, Leilani, Austin, and Nika thanks for the card! I had so much mail it was aweseome!!! Letters are coming but just know, it will be a little while, but thanks so much it was really cool to get tons of mail yesterday!!! Emily and Mason, when I am getting letters from Erin and not you what is going on? Ha just teasing but that was kinda funny. 

     well thats about it here in good ole Serrinha Bahia, send me an update of what all is going on there! Shout out to Davis for going to the MTC THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dallas, TX watchout here comes Elder ..................... Pearson!!!!!! Ah I cant wait to hear about that!!! Tear it up man!!! 

     oh ya the lan house that we are at this week does not have a card reader so next week I will send pictures with my emails I'll have some good ones. As far as packages go, if you guys want to send me one that would be awesome!!!!! Things that would be cool but I will really love anything! Cake mixes the ones here are not good plain, yes I did indeed try it, chocolate, any kinda of candy! oreos, the ice cream kind or cotton candy kinds I can't really remember which but the pink ones, you know that were soooo good! And ya idk you guys send good stuff but thats just a few things, 

     Guys I really cant tell you how much I Love you, read the Book of Mormon, everyday and it will make all the difference, the killer thing  with investigators is they say they want happiness in life, and the source of the greatest happiness we could ever imagine is right in our hands!!!!! and some people dont read it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so read it love it! I love you all! 

com amor e abraços 

Elder Krause 

Second half of Kyle's email from last week...

     Well i have a little more times it turns out , Pres Hart is pretty lax with how much time we go to email. 
     We were going to have a soccer game with the young men today at the church but it has been raining all day so I think we are going to cancel. The kids love to play soccer here, before I left são paulo I bought a ball and a pump, they were kinda spendy I am thinking in reis now! LOL  But that pump has been a great thing, cause no one here has one and balls always need pumped up, so I pump  up a ball for some kids, then juggle really quick and they love it ah its pretty cool!. People play alot here there are fields all over the place! lots of people do judo too, its either soccer or judo. 
     Believe it or not it has been a little cold in the morning here, its is about like AZ in the winter, and it is winter here. 
Mom you would go a little nuts there are a lot of flies here! But I keep our house pretty dang clean so we dont really have them too bad there.
      I have to be pretty frugal, I get 125 reis every two weeks, they have about the same value of the dollar here, but in the world dollars are way more valuable but that doesn't really matter cause I'm in the middle of Brasil!  People are incredibly relaxed here. A lot of time we end up talking to people on the street just sitting there watching people walk by. Lots of people in no hurry at all just enjoying life. It is really nice here I love being a missionary, especially after some days where we have  taught a bunch of lessons with some good people then ah I get so excited! We are indeed working really hard! I get back the the house each night pretty beat, but thats good. 
    Elder Curtis is great! He is from Oregon and actually went to BYU for a year too and lived in Heritage. It is kinda wierd to think that he will be going home and I am just starting! Ah but its good, there are so many cool places here, my area is one ward in I think 3 or 4 stakes in Bahia. Idk I can't remember but I have some cool places that i will be working in!       
        Serrihna is awesome we have a small chapel here, a bit older, but it is indeed a ward. There is also another member, the first conselor in the bishopric that is outstanding here helps us a lot and is always so excited to see us. The members here really just blow me away so amazing!  We have lunch at members houses. That is the big meal of the day, so big that there is a very in portugues for eating lunch. Then for dinner we sometimes get something quick from a member or eat a little something when we get home. I cook eggs, rice, and oatmeal.  I think I am going to branch out but for this first week I just wanted something easy. I make rice patties pretty often and rice with milk cinnamon and sugar. Also mom remember that time for ilke a year we lived on powdered milk? And I didn't like it? Well I am learning to like it because that is pretty much all we have here for milk, except i think a member one time gave us milk from his cow. I'm not really sure he talked so fast I couldn't understand him but he acted it out and I got it was from a cow, so ya he poured in some nescao (nesquik stuff) and we drank it! it was not bad but definetly different from our milk back home. 

      Pops theres not much for dentist down here and peole have some jacked up teeth!! Not too bad, only some peope have it really bad. I have only seen one dentist office in the whole town! Also construction here is nuts! People in this certian bairro (neighborhood) have pretty uniform houses, all built by the government, but people build walls to surround their houses usually from bricks, ( they also build some houses that are like 3 stories high with these bad boys) then they have like a big metal gate. One door we called on the guy opened his gate and in his front yard which was 40 sq feet maybe he had a massive hole!! He was putting in a water reserve! It was kinda funny, but ya peeple have some pretty crazy houses. I'll have to send some pictures, and also our neighbors the doctor. Its a little ridiculus 2 story mansion with a pool, and electric fence!  In the midst of a lot of houses that are really about 300 sq feet. People are really happy here. One lady here we are teaching she lives with her daughter and son in law who are members, she gave us pineapple upside down cake that was phenominal. I am not sure if you rmember but I tried pineapple upside down cake once and didn't like it but I do now!!!!!! ok well I love you guys if you have any other questins ask away! and Ill tty next week at 1230!
Elder Krause

I just have to clarify...

So what Kyle is referring to in his letter is that a couple weeks ago his pday got changed and I didn't know it so he wasn't able to get one the computer on his usual day.  Well I started freaking out because the week before he had told me he was sick.  Well as the day went on and I didn't hear from him I really started freaking out and...don't laugh...I got super worried that he had died and they didn't want to tell us or that he had gone out for pday and gotten kidnapped and they didn't know where he was!
  Oh my, I know I'm crazy!!!  So I emailed the MTC and asked them to let me know that he was OK.  Yes, the next morning I got the email from him that they had changed his Pday.  So lesson learned for me!!!  I had to tell him that story because I knew he would get a good laugh picturing my freak out!!!  Man I love that kid!

August 14, 2012 ~ Week 1 ~ In the field

Hey mom!!!! Dad!!! Emily and mason!!!!

    Ok so first week in the field done!!! It already feels like I have been here forever it is so easy to get lost in the work. I love it the people here are great especially the members! Currently I am serving in a city called Serrinha it is about 2 hours by bus outside of Salvador and me and my new comp Elder Curtis are the only missionaries from this town, so we have a lot of work to do. We got here at about one in the morning last Tuesday and a member came and picked us up. Those particular members have been a great help in teaching an giving rides! Not many people have cars here and we walk a lot! Which is good, I don't mind it but we can get lot more done when we get a ride. They also always feed us when we pass by. We are currently teaching three family's, two kids and trying to teach the mom she is really nice and likes us but is always working so we will see with her.
      I can speak portuguese well, well more or less, its coming, my problem is understanding,  but I am getting better with each day. No one speaks a lick of English here! It is coming along very well though. The food for the most part has been really good. The members feed us well, but with all the walking we do it seems like I eat so much more now. Food is good, nothing too crazy yet. I will share when I get a funny story. 
    So my comp, this is his last transfer so he will be going home in a few weeks! Crazy he is a beast and speaks and understands portuguese very well. 
     Mom hahahha I knew you would be worried but I couldn't really get to a computer, but I am fine! I hope you got my email last Tuesday, I sent that real quick from presidents house. And yes I did get a good laugh out of the story cause I can see it happening. Don't worry so far I am feeing great my flu was pretty lame, but didn't keep me down for long, no they didnt say anything, but Sis Degn the wife of the CTM PRes, and ELder Adams the doc at the ctm came and visited me when I was sick which was really nice. 
     Health wise, I can't believe I never went to bed on time before cause I love it now! I can pop up and get so much done! Safety wise, this town is very chill. The dogs are a little scary at night but they do not bother us much. Elder Curtis has never gotten robbed and so ya not too worried about it but we are definetly very careful and follow the guidance of the spirit as best as we can. Next Pday (Tuesday) I will be on at the same time about 12:30 my time here in Serrinha Bahia so we can email. Try and get Tylers mail address, I'm unsure about if we can email other missionarys, my mission president said to only email family, I didn't have a chance to ask him about other missionarys. 
     Keep the letters coming! I only get them about once a month though because they all go to the mission house, then to us. I don't even really know my own address here in town, it is on a dirt road, and  just a small little house . We live right next to a doctor though and his house is like the nicest house in town pretty cool. Most houses here a quite humble and the people even more humble, very nice and many are prepared to hear the gospel.

       Something really good here is the juice members really make it fresh right in front of us and it is soooooooo good!!! Maracuja is one that is in season and I don't think we have it in the US but we have it here all the time and is is great. The key board I am typing on really is horrible so that is why there are a lot of errors.  Funny story one lunch this week we had lasagna it was soooo good, people here love it! They eat spaghetti here almost everyday not as the main dish but as kinda a supplement. But this lady also poured us some orange soda, and dad this makes me think of you cause as she filled up mine I saw 5 little black dots, and sure enough there were ants in my orange drink! Wanting to be polite though I just drank it and didn't drink the ants. SKILLS!!! Anyways I hope everyone is doing well I love you all and I'll talk to you next pday!

Oh and could you also send me Davis's mission address? Thanks mom!

I love you guys

com abraço Élder Kraüse

Ready to get to work!

What a treat!!!

Dear Krause Family,

We were delighted to welcome your son, Elder Krause, to the Brazil Salvador Mission on Tuesday, August 8. We can report that he looked great and had a smile on his face as we greeted him at the airport. We spent a wonderful afternoon together with him and our other new missionaries visiting over a Bahian lunch.  Afterwards we spent a few hours giving them important training and finally introduced them to their new companions who had been excitedly waiting all day to meet the missionary they would get to train. We shared dessert together and then sent them all off to their new areas to begin their great missionary adventure.

We’re excited to work with your son in this important calling to share the gospel. We love him already and appreciate his desire to serve the Lord and the people of Brazil, in this the “best mission in the world.” Thank you for supporting him. Your positive e-mails and letters will be so important for his success as a missionary.  

We will do our best to meet his physical and spiritual needs while he is away from your care for these two years.

With love and appreciation,

President and Sister Hart

I finally arrived in the field!!!

I finally arrived in Salvador today!!!!!!! We got up at 4 this morning and caught a plane to Slavador, and President and Sister Hart were there to meet us when we landed. Salvador is kinda how I imagined it and not at all what I imagined at the same time! lots of trees, lots of green jungle. It also is very wet it was raining as we landed. To my great dissapointment I found out that they do not use tons of pepper, here only really at the presidents house. We had a great lunch that was made by some native baihians, and all the other brasilians that it was really spicy, but it was just a little bit, shout out to Mckann, you would like the food here not spicy at all. But I will get over that! I already love being here, President and Sister Hart are very nice and loving, I am excited to work with them. I will be trained here at the Presidents house for the day then I will get assigned a companion either tonight or tomorrow. My language has skyrocketed, I can pretty much understand everything north americans that are fluent say, and most of what brasilians say as long as it is about the gospel. Speaking is coming, some of the people I travleled with said my accent was imporving. These guys also love to learn english, so it seems like I am always teaching a little phrase here or there in English. It really helps me realized what I know in ENglish and understand what I am saying when I say it in Portugues. I Love everyone and hope everyone is doing well. I will say as scary as it may seem the first day in the feild, I will describe it as like a first street contact, everyone is freaking out and scared inside of walking up to strangers and talking to them about that gospel, but we are here to walk by faith not sight (corinthians something) as Paul said, so you just have to do it, then after that, street contacts become amazing! so much fun! I think the field will be a little like this, first day yes, I am a little nervous, but there is really only one thing to do, keep working hard, listening intently, and enjoying the work of the Lord.

Com Abraço

Elder Krause

     So Elder Jensen and the other missionaries of that district left this past Tuesday!  Originally it had been decided that since the sisters I were with were a little scared to be with a Brazilian district that we would stick together and have a class of our own, me being a lone elder. But Monday night they told me that I was being transferred to a Brasilian district this week and would be with Elder Probst a Brasilian from Rio Grande do sul!! So my p day was switched to today! I have been speaking and hearing pretty much everything in portugues because no one in my new class speaks, English!!! so that has been really great I can understand it now like crazy and and getting better and better at speaking! For the most part I can understand all of what goes on in class, at times when more the one -person starts talking I get lost, but thats ok! We taught our first lesson together (me and elder Probst) and I thought it might be a little one sided, but I was able to keep up and actually contribute to the lesson, in what I think was somewhat correct Portugues!  Its is a little different when everyone around speaks smoothly and I'm choppy. But its is great I love it.l 

       I also went to the Temple today and that was all in Portugues because I was with brasilians!. Definetly have people start sending stuff to the mission home now because I will be there in 5 days!!! I am kinda freaking out but not really! I am the Elder that has been here the longest by far!!!  It will be 2 moths in 5 days so I am ready to get to work!!! I am totally over the sickness I had last pday so that is really good, I was really just mia for last pdayand miserable the next day but was able to keep studying and working! I also got my water bottle last night so that was kinda cool! We get a pretty nice water bottle that can filter pretty much the dirtiest water on earth and make it potable! So we get those for the field and Igot mine last night!!! 

       I have been getting all the letters and thanks to everyone who wrote them!!! Remember the mail is slow but I am in the procces of responding. I will attest the gospel is true in Portugues as it is in English! At first when I started here I could feel the spriti just a little bit because I couldnt really understand what was going on, but now that I can understand it I can feel the spirit just as strong! And this taught me that with understanding come an increased feel in the spirit, so if there is a concept of the gospel that you think is just ok, STUDY it because when you really attain an understanding of the concept it becomes so much more than just something that you hadn't really heard alot about before. I can attest that I didn't think the commandments were that cool, but they are amazing!!!! Really some of the coolest things can be found in learing about the commmandments and  keeping them, the blessing are unbelievable!!!

      I am not sure if people know this or if I said it before but the President of the ctm PRes. Degn was a concert pianist! He plays the Brasilian nathional anthem every sunday night and it is really cool!! But this past Sunday we had a devotional about Joseph Smith! And it was really cool but the cool part was the ending. Sis. degn spoke and then said that Pres. Degns part was to play a medley piece in honor of Joseph Smith, and he played one of the most amazing medley of Praise to the man, First Prayer and some other songs that I have ever heard!!!! it was so cool!!!!

  Well mom, Dad, Mason Emily I love you guys! I am not sure how things will be in the field but I'll let you know when I can, but for the next few weeks it may just be a few email until i get settled in! I'll keep writing a letter every pday. Sounds like from the letters I am getting you guys are doing really good !!!

    Also one other cool story, so we went prosyliting in down town Sao Paolu and it was really cool! We didn't talk to a ton of people  cause most people turned us down, l but we got some good contacts made. My favorite one though was on the bus. The sisters began talking to a boy sitting in the back but their portugues is still in its infancy so they had me talk with him, and he was really cool. He was 16 and on his way to work! He works in the area where the mtc is. He had never talked with lds missionaries before but he had seen them. They are all over around the mtc. so I talked with him for a good 15 minutes about lots of things then I started in about the Book of Mormon, bore a short testimony then I had to get off the bus, but he seemed really excited about the book I gave him! I  hope he reads it! That is the one thing about making contacts here I dont like is that we can't really follow up. But he has the power in his hands now.

   |Welll i love everyone keep the faith!!!

Com Abraco

Elder Krause