Some Big Changes are Going Down!

Hello all!

So some big changes have gone down. Basically the following has
changed: We used to have an interview with the mission president,
every 6 weeks. Now it's being changed to once every trimester. We
have zone conferences now every 3 months as well. Every month, we
have 4 days of intensive training for 8 hours and we practice in
proselyting for the rest of the day. We're doing this to help prepare
the mission field for when the MTCs switch over to a new curriculum.
Basically it focuses heavily on teaching techniques to help improve
our lessons. I'm really excited, because this is something I'vealways tried to improve, but it's a little harder when I try to do it
myself. I like to have steps and guidelines that show me what it is I
need to do. I'm just weird like that I guess.

So these 4 days of training start tomorrow and go to Friday. Luckily
I'm in Teresina now, so I don't have to travel anywhere. Other Elders
have to travel from all the different areas and stay here in Teresina
for 4 days.

We had a pretty good week. We're helping a member with his addiction
to alcohol and cigarretes. I'm really excited to help him. It's been
going really good so far. He really wants to change, but he's just
heavily in this addiction. He's tried to quit before. But I hope as
we apply the Atonement to his efforts and help him avoid the triggers
and such he'll be able to overcome this addiction. Helping him really
makes me want to be a therapist. I've been thinking about it in the
past, but this is just steering me toward it even more.

So I sent 3 pictures today. The first one is Elder Manning on the
left, Elder Banks after him, ME in the awesome Rome soccer team shirt
(GO ITALY!), and Elder Santos! Elder Manning has a million and a half
soccer team shirts so we had fun taking pictures of them. The other
two are from Parnaíba. It's this place called Porto das Barcas. Ask
David what it means, because apparently he can understand Portuguese
but I remain in doubt ;) just kidding! It's where all the boats camein and docked. So they mantained it and it looks really cool at
night. I had fun taking pictures of it!

Anyway, I'll let you know how the training went!

Love you all!

Elder Rackham

Hello Ya'all!

So I'm here in Teresina and I've forgotten how hot it is here! At
least in Parnaiba we had some wind! But here it's just hot all day.
It's been an interesting week, trying to figure out what's going on in
our area. Elder Loureiro and I arrived here together, so we are both
completely new to the area. We got a map, and a list of the members,
so that should help us, but the first few days were interesting to say
the least. We're going to have a lot of fun though and we're going to
work hard to make a difference.

I'm learning so many things now! One of my biggest weaknesses has
always been organization but I've decided to make it become one of my
strengths. Like it says in Ether 12:27 as I humble myself, the Lord
will bless me and help it become a strength.

Unfortunately I ran out of time again. So many things to do! I'm
learning how to manage my time better, so hopefully next week will be
a bit longer!

Until next week!

Love,
Elder Rackham

Whoa, I did not expect that!

Hello everyone!

So I'm running a little short on time, but basically some big changes
went down. Ones that I did not expect at all! I was so sure I was
going to stay in Parnaíba! But we got a call this morning and I'm
being transferred to Teresina. I'll be serving in Ala Teresina
(Teresina Ward). My companion will be a brazilian, Elder Loreiro. He
was serving in Imperatriz before. I've only talked to him a few times
but I'm excited.

I'm really sad to leave. I really grew very close with the other
Elders in our house, Elder Banks, Elder Manning, and Elder Santos.
They've helped me so much. I was really liking Parnaíba too. But hey
this is part of what the mission is. Now I have another great
opportunity to continue the work in Teresina. But I'm not going to
lie, it's going to be hard without this lovely wind that Parnaíba has.
Teresina is hotter and I'll be lucky to get any wind.

So anyway, I hope everyone is well and healthy! I'll let you know how
my first week went next monday! Until then!

Love you all!
Elder Rackham

Another Week!

Dear Everyone!

I've probably mentioned it before but here in Brazil lunch is the
biggest meal of the day. Not dinner. And us missionaries always have
lunch with the members, every day except Monday since that's our
P-Day. But this week, we only ate lunch with the members twice,
because the other days fell through. I learned one thing from all
this: it's not a good thing to eat half a pan of brownies as lunch and
think nothing will happen.

I guess I should elaborate. Thursday our lunch fell through. I
didn't have a lot of food left. But I wasn't worried because the next
day we would be getting a bi-monthly allowance. And brownies sounded
really good at the time. Luckily my mom sent me a recipe and believe
it or not, Brazil has everything I need to make it! So luckily I had
all the ingredients on hand. I make it quick and easy like because
I've become quite the pro at making brownies from scratch if I say so
myself. And then I cut up half the brownies put them on a plate and
eat them! It was delicious to say the least. I can't deny that. And
I was totally fine until around... 4 PM that day. Then I was just
plain nauseous for the rest of the day. That's when I learned my
lesson. Don't do it, it's a trap!

It's been a frustrating week getting our investigators to church. We
have some really good investigators that are so great, but the time
comes to go to church and things start going downhill. We have these
two boys who are just so awesome, but this week we couldn't get them
to come to church. We're going to have to try different things I
guess.

So the pictures I've attached are long overdue. They're of Elder
Harmon, my trainer and first companion. I guess I had two first
companions actually, because there's a picture with Elder Cook! So
Elder Harmon is the one in most of the photos. The one with the third
missionary is Elder Cook. Elder Harmon finished his mission while I
was his companion. Elder Cook is about 8 months into his mission. So
he's out there still being awesome!

Well apparently this computer is choosing now to be obnoxious. There
may or may not be a picture of Elder Cook with Elder Harmon and I.
And there may or may not be a picture of Timon, my first area. It may
or may not be a picture of our street. And all that dust you may or
may not see, yeah that's a theme in Timon. It's everywhere. Not fun
to clean uor white shirts. But anyway, there are definitely pictures
of Elder Harmon and I!

I hope all is well with everyone, until next week!

Love,
Elder Rackham