Meeting President and Sister Pavan

So we took off and left the CTM and headed to Porto Alegre where i am now. Crazy! I was assigned to Venâncio Aires. Really cool place. My companion was waiting for me here, Elder Cavalcante, such a great missionary! He's native from Brasilia and speaks English, too!!! Crazy huh? We live by ourselves in our small apartment but it has everything we need. Its great. So our first week was awesome i kinda am just trying to grasp onto how everything works here and just following in the footsteps of Elder Cavalcante. He's a great teacher and great worker. Hes been out 1 year now. The members here are very nice and were trying to work with them and things are kind of hard with them and showing them the big picture of missionary work and we are trying to resolve the problem so just pray for us and the members. We are the only two elders in this area so it makes it quite hard to get to everyone cause its a huge area and all we can do is walk. I love the work. I just am trying to do better at talking to people cause im really shy - not shy to share our message, but shy to talk because I might sound really dumb in Portuguese saying the right thing or not. haha We have found alot of new people to teach this week and 4 of our investigators are really progressing. We have a baptism this week! First one! Bruno who's a 10 year old kid who is going to be baptized Saturday. I'm very excited! We had a very cool spiritual experience the other day; it was awesome. Our investigator Adroaldo is doing well and he needs to gain a testimony so we went over to teach about Joseph Smith again and he has already had all the lessons already but hasn't come to church. Anyways, we were there and we noticed he had a Liahona (Ensign) that a member had given him the day before and so we were inspired to change our lesson and go over one of the talks in there about baptism and missionary work. It was a great lesson and at the end we challenged him to kneel down with us along with his wife. We knelt down and had him say a prayer asking God if the church was true, if Joseph Smith was a prophet, and if the Book of Mormon was true, so he said the prayer and then at the end just stayed kneeling down in silence. There was such a peaceful feeling there. We didn't say anything but kept sitting there forever! We were on our knees for 20 minutes before he said anything. It was crazy but i felt sooo good after and he said he was going to come to church next Sunday. He had never said that to us before. It was awesome. Things are going great; the members feed us lunch EVERY day so it's awesome. We eat oatmeal for breakfast pretty much everymorning or nothing if we are short on money haha dinner is very scarce here too. So all is well here just trying to be more brave to say things to people so I can really start participating in the lessons.
We got to teach in a school today. It was so cool. Everybody was looking at me all big eyed and stuff cause I'm from the United States. They got quite a kick out of it when I tried to speak Portuguese and say stuff about the church; it was so fun though. I loved it! Everything is going great. I'm just trying to work hard so i can baptize and bring people to this gospel. It truly does bring so much joy in our lives. I looove the Brazilian kids; they are so nice to me already. We had a family home evening with a members family last night and all the little kids ages 2-10 sat on the couch with me and Elder Cavalcante . It was quite crowded but they are so innocent and love the missionaries. The conditions here in some of the houses are quite poor, but the people are so humble and willing to give everything for the missionaries. They are so very nice to us and im so grateful. Keep the faith!
Love Elder Halford!
They have a new address to send packages letters and everything to us...
the address is:
Elder Skyler James Halford
Caixa Postal 13008
Cep: 91010-971 – Porto Alegre - RS – Brasil

So, let me tell you, like right after I e-mailed you guys last week we went outside and it started raining SOO hard!!! I have NEVER seen rain like it in my entire life! Never ever...I took the coolest video that I want to send you in the mail before I leave the CTM here. We had proselyting this week! It was sooo awesome! Elder Bond and I were sooo nervous when we went out and our instructor was like open your mouth and don't disappoint the Lord. Now that scared me...my legs felt like jello! We started walking around and talked to everyone. I don't even remember half the things I was saying but I just told them all I knew about the gospel and that it can bless their families and all sorts of stuff...or at least I think that's what I said- ha, ha. We each got a Book of Mormon to hand out and the second person we ran into spoke English?!? We talked to him he was only like 16 or 17 and he was awesome...Cardio was his name. Then Elder Bond challenged him to read and he accepted and the Spirit was so strong. Then we just walked around talking to everyone. Of course we got rejected but that happens whatever, but we also got a lot of people to really listen to our message. We had this guy walk around with us for like 20 minute talking about religion. He spoke German too- ha, ha I tried to say a couple things to him, but it was hard for me to remember stuff. Then we had gone for a while without anyone accepting and I still had my Book of Mormon and I was trying so hard to get mine out. We were kind of discouraged so we saw this kid and wanted to just talk with him about whatever cause it was hard to talk about religion with him. But then I just felt eyes right on my back and I just stopped and there was a lady right behind me and she was just staring at my Book of Mormon. Then she was like, "Please, please, I want your book, please." I guess her friend she was with had gotten a Book of Mormon from some missionaries and read and prayed but didn't know where to find other missioonarires to teach her. Elder Bond took down her address and I was talking to the other lady to make sure she really knew what the book was and what it was about. She was nodding the whole time and saying, "Yes, yes, I will read and call the missionaries." It was so awesome! I felt so great after. We talked with tons of people. Our goal for the day was to hand out 2 Books fo Mormon and then 4 referrals and we actually gave out 3 cause we met a guy right in front of the CTM who really wanted a book and so I yelled inside and a Brazilian missionary brought one to the gate and we gave it to him. The 4 referrals we barely got at the end when we were walking back we met these two ladeis who had been taught by some sister missionaries before and we convinced then to listen to the missinaries again and so it was just overall a great day! TRUST IN THE LORD IN ALL THINGS! He will show unto you all things! Read scriptures, study them, pray, and always strive to think about Christ and his example for us!
I love you all! Tchau!
Love, Elder Halford

“I'm sitting in a computer room at Mr. Cheneys Cookie store with a bunch of other Elders and we're all writing letters to our families! It's crazy that I've been out here a week already! We love it here so far. Upon arriving in Brazil, we had to check in with the federal police. I felt like Jason Bourne! The first week has been awesome. We've learned how to say our prayers (oracaos) and our testimonies (testemunhos) in Portuguese and that's been a lot of fun. It is hard and grueling from 6:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night, but our district is having so much fun at the same time too. It just helps when you try and put a smile on and make it fun. Then all is well. I love the Elders in my room. We have been having so much fun. I'll have to send you a picture of the view from our room - it's awesome! We got to go to the temple today on our P-day. We did our first session in the Sao Paulo temple and it was awesome. I loved it. It's kinda crazy to think that the church still operates just the same clear out here in Brazil and everywhere else in the world. The rumors are true about the pineapple. It's super gooood! Looooove it! I love all of you and just know I am doing good and we love the work out here. The spirit is AMAZING! The church is true!!”

As time goes by...

Hey, so this week flew by soooo fast! It's crazy how time flies....Oh ya, I got a letter from Geoff the other day. I can't believe he is flying to France right now! That's so awesome! Brets birthday was yesterday. I wish I could have somehow sent him a birthday present. I'm so glad you guys got to go hike to Stewart Falls! I loved that hike. It was so fun with all my friends when we went. So, we are working on our fourth week and yeah in two weeks we go proselyting in the city?!? I can't believe it. I sure hope and pray that I'll have enough of the language down to at least place one Book of Mormon. ha,ha That's awesome Cody and CJ are getting ready to leave. I can't wait til Cody gets here. It will be fun to show him around. I just took some pictures today of our NBA gym, oh, boy... ya I'll have to send them to you guys next week or something. Elder Bond and I are the only ones from our district that are going to Porto Alegre. I'll do my best when we go proselyting in a couple of weeks to be bold. We have been talking a lot about that here lately. Hopefully we learn alot and this week flies by as well. Say hello to any of my friends for me if you see them! Tell them I would love an e-mail or letter. I love you all!! I love this gospel and know it is true! Talk to you next week.

In the beginning....

Skyler flew to Sau Paulo Brazil on July 14, 2009. At the airport he met an Elder he had played basketball against in high school. They immediately had a connection and made the transition much easier.
I'm sitting in a computer room at Mr. Cheneys Cookie store with a bunch of other Elders and we're all writing letters to our families! It's crazy that I've been out here a week already! We love it here so far. Upon arriving in Brazil, we had to check in with the federal police. I felt like Jason Bourne! The first week has been awesome. We've learned how to say our prayers (oracaos) and our testimonies (testemunhos) in Portuguese and that's been a lot of fun. I love the Elders in my room. We have been having so much fun. I'll have to send you a picture of the view from our room - it's awesome! We got to go to the temple today on our P-day. We did our first session in the Sao Paulo temple and it was awesome. I loved it. It's kinda crazy to think that the church still operates just the same clear out here in Brazil and everywhere else in the world. The rumors are true about the pineapple. It's super gooood! Looooove it! I love all of you and just know I am doing good and we love the work out here. The spirit is AMAZING!
We can email our friends if we email it to you (family) and then you forward it to their email address. The church is true!!

Skyler's district. The Elder on Skyler's left is the one he met at the airport and knew from playing b-ball against him in high school.
It is hard and grueling from 6:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night, but our district is having so much fun at the same time too. It just helps when you try and put a smile on and make it fun. Then all is well.