November 19 - December 31

December 31, 2012: Happy New Year!

This last week was great. I was awesome talking to the family on Skype. I was great seeing everyone. Im glad its snowing a lot too, hopefully you guys save some for me. Christmas was good. We had a baptism this week. Monica. We contacted her a few weeks ago and she has gone to church for the last month. The other elders in our ward baptized a senior couple and their granddaughter it was a great baptism. Monica had a dream of her baptism and she dreamed that there was a red carpet and a choir singing. So, when the real day of her baptism came around we put down a red carpet for her and had a choir singing when she came in. The elderly lady has respitory problems and has a fear of water so it was a little bit of a challenge to baptize her. I went into the font also and the two of us held on to her to help her feel secure. But beforehand the man that was going to baptize her showed her how it would be done with me as the person being baptized. When we got home all the missionaries congratulated me on being baptized again. =) So I am now the cleaning missionary in the world. I hope everyone has a happy new year. Até mais! Tchau!

Elder Siemers

December 24, 2012: O fim do mundo

So this last week was good. Our Christmas conference was a blast. It was great seeing everyone, well those who havent already gone home. There were a lot of new faces at conference. The program was really good and everyone enjoyed it. Our zone did a secret santa gift exchange which turned out great. My poor comp is pretty short so the other elders are always joking with him as if he was a child. His present was a toy airplane. I told my zone that I am the most handsome elder in the world and the Sisters got all worked up. So when I drew one of the sisters' names I knew exactly what I had to give. It was the the most beautiful present ever. So the end of the world was last week. The 21st of December. So on the 20th of December we all put on our Rexona deoderant because it has 48hr protection. Somebody called all the missionaries in the zone late at night around 11:30pm to ask them if they had Rexona deoderant. Some people claim it was the zone leaders but this is an umconfirmed rumor at this time and should be regarded as false. We had a barbeque with the Stake President with the whole zone. That was another great night. We finished the week off with a night in bethlehem. It wasnt quite the same as the night in bethlehem we have at home, but it was good. It was definitely Brazilian. Well, I hope everyone has a great Christmas. I will write again next week. Feliz Natal!

Elder Siemers3

December 17, 2012: Bejo

Week 2 in São Carlos was good. We found some new investigators which we were despretely needing. We have a few preparing for baptism of the next few weeks. The ward is going to do a Night in Bethlehem activity here this saturday so it will be a little like home. There is a lady here who makes american dinners for the missionaries. She said she'll make me some mashed potatoes and gravy. The gravy wont be as good as Brian's wake up at 4:30 am make it from scratch gravy, but it should be good. We have our Christmas Conference tomorrow. That will be a lot of fun. The whole mission gets together it will be great to see everyone I know. If they are still around. I'm getting pretty old on the mission. Most of the people I know have already gone home. Things are going well here. I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Elder Siemers

December 10, 2012: Sao Carlos

Well, my first week in São Carlos was good. Im still trying to get to know the area and the members, but things are going well. The ward is really big so we should have lots of help in the work. There is a super good ice cream shop right next to our house. The ice cream is really good and really cheap. That is going to be a huge temptation during my time here. =) My companion is a really awesome and words really hard. We should have a good transfer. Well thats pretty much it. I will talk to you all next week. Tchau!

Elder Siemers

December 3, 2012: LZ

Well, I got transferred. I'll be heading to São Carlos. Its fairly close to Ribeirão Preto. But any area is closer than Ilha Solteira. My 

last companion Elder Magno will be training. I had a good last weekend in Ilha Solteira. The people there are super awesome and a few people shed some tears. I'll be a zone leader in São Carlos.   We'll see how that goes. Ive only got two transfers left so it will be quick. Im doing great. My new companion served in Palmares in Ribeirão Preto also. Well thats pretty much it for this week. Until next week. Tchau!

Elder Siemers

November 26, 2012: Turkey Day

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. Our week was good. Elder Miller and I decided to do thanksgiving in style and made a huge dinner for everyone. We went all out. We made chicken, mashed potatos, cheesy bread, corn on the cob, various puddins jellos, brownies, cookies, and much more. We couldnt find any turkey so we bought turkey flavored potato chips. We then made leftover sandwiches with them the day after. The rest of the week was good. Until next week!

Elder Siemers

November 19, 2012: Excuses

this week was pretty good. we got a lot of lessons in. there are a couple holidays right now so we were able to find lots of people home. we lost a couple of investigators this last week but we still have great people to teach. we heard some pretty good excuses this week. we have heard pretty much all of them but this week we heard some new ones. heard and saw a lady in the window when we knocked and she hid really fast and sent a young man to make up an excuse. he came to the window and said 'she's not home, shes sleeping...' it was great. I was about to tell him we just saw her in the window but I was so shocked that he combined the two that I didnt even respond. we are doing great. november is flying by. have a happy thanksgiving everyone.

elder siemers