30 September 2013 - Estancia Brazil

Hello, friends, and welcome back! We don't have any photos this week (that I know of), but we do have some great updates--and rants--from Brazil. Also, Dad mentioned in his e-mail to Elder Frogley that there should be a nice, solid, well-oiled machine for him to train in if he (Elder Frogley) still plans on going into Chiropractic when he gets home, hence the comments on medicine.

Lots to do back in the States! Im still focusing on medicin for sure when I come back! But I havent prayed about it yet, it just seems like the smart thing to do, and I like it. But that can wait another year for me to get back! So lets start at the beginning of my week! We dumped all of our investigators who werent progressing and we spent this week trying to find some new ones and accompany the ones that are ready for baptisim! We taught some excelent families and had some great discusions but didnt find anyone prepared by god to recieve our message and be baptised. No one is married here!!! They all just live together! Even old grandpa people! Its gross! I met a 15 year old girl the other day who was ´´married´´ not, she was living with her boyfriend of 20 years. And she was pregnant! Her boyfriend doesnt have a house! They live with her parents! I went on a rant to the nearest person to me after they left the house (who happened to be Diana our recent convert) about how its crazy to do stuff like that. She looked very confused and said it was very normal here. So I pointed out how poor so many people here are and all this rediculous stuff and she promised not to do something stupid like that. I was pretty chapped at that 15 yearl old girl. but anyway. We stopped by with a member Friday and she gave us a golden contact. This girl saw us on the road and she already new a little about the church. We didnt talk to her but she went and talked to this member. She said she wants to be baptised and serve a mission like were doing. She went to church yesterday and we marked to go talk to her. Shes pretty awesome! We also met a whole family living here from Sao Paulo! They all went to church with a member and they want to be baptised very much! They are super cool and very humble! We had so many members bring friends to church that we almost didnt have time to talk to them all! It was crazy! But we have like 5 solid baptism coming up! sweeeett! 

Diana went to English class on Friday and told us something that freaked us out! After the class I asked her about baptism and she said she wanted to wait another week. We all freaked out a little and we pulled her into another room away from her friends to talk. We talked for a good half an hour about past experiences with investigators and how it was important to get baptised now. She agreed and Saturday, our district through down three! Diana and two kids! Theyre Mom said she wants to wait a little for her baptisim. Out of the blue some guy from her past asked if they could live together. Why does that happen! The other elders where chapppppyyy. But theyre still working with her.

Ive never been so stressed for a baptism. Her name is rediculously hard to pronounce. Diana Scizerschando Dingalect. Something like that. It was a head ache to get out of my mouth. Ill send yall some pics. 

Thats all for this letter! Love yall! keep me posted on life and stuff! How goes the war in Siria? And all of Brazil is freaking out that the U.S. is spying here. I get weird looks on the street. More then normal.

Love!

Elder Frogley

PS whenever I write these letters I always picture Dad reading it with his animated voice, like when I write a word like tight or sick how he always use to do with Tyler. Haha, solid times! 

23 September 2013 - Estancia Brazil

Well this is exciting--it's the first time I'm posting one of Elder Frogley's e-mails during the same week I received it! I'm all caught up, so hopefully future posting will be much easier for me. At least that's the theory.

Me and my little friend. He bit me on the nose later.

The new district of Estancia! The white guy with the black hair is from Curatiba. a city down south where a ton of Italians live. Its like Italy that speaks Portuguese and its really close to Iguaceu falls which we need to visit. Thinking about living there.

A bunch of Brazilian kids.

Haha, Im glad you liked the pics, I would send more but Im on a computer that doesnt accept my disk. As far as what you need to travel, you need to apply for a tourist visa. But we´ll worry about it latter as you said. I wish I could be there to help you move your stuff! I hope you found some strong arms to help! Life sounds like its still going stong! I cant believe Scofe is home. Thats weird. It went soooo fast.Good luck with your inventory and figureing things out! Im praying for yall! 

As far as my explanation for things on the success/slacking side. I really enjoyed all of your responses. Ive learned several things about our mission in the past few weeks. The first presidency knows our misson by name as one of the most disobedient missions in the world. Third world south America is rough. But we still baptise alot. Wich confused me. But then I looked at our retention rate and around 80% of the members here are inactive. Most of the baptisims dont even know what the Law of Chastity is or The Word of wisdom. Im glad that most of my baptisims are still firm and strong in the church. Rodrigo (my first baptisim) is doing so well that the Stake Pres is trying to find away to let him leave on his mission before his one year of membership is done. Hes helping the missionaries alot there and with his help theyre baptising. A homosexual man hit on him right in front of the missionaries and he emphatically told the guy that he was strait and to not talk to him like that. The same with Jose Lito here. Hes working very hard to help his wife get baptised, and were teaching her. Hes been reading alot about the temple and wants to go. So overall, I thing that Daves alagory nailed it. Theyre are always easy people who will do anything a rich american in a shirt and tie will tell them to do. but to really continue the work it takes people who are ready. I just gota keep working. 

Alright its time for my week! We Had transfers! We took off on Tuesday morning at one o clock. That was weird. Anderson caught his bus to Macieo (7 hours) at around 3 and Candido (the other missionary with us) went to sleep at a mission house. but the mission house was very small and there were about 10 missionaries sleeping there so me and Elder Steele stayed in the chapple there, turned on all the fans, and slepped on the benches in the main room of which i forgot the name. I was woken up the next morning at 8:30 with an elder tapping me on the shoulder telling me it was time to listen to transfer meetings. We listened to it over the phone like normal and I got my comp. Ready? ´´Elder Frogley, Senior!´´ ´´and Elder Albaquerque, Junior´´ What! That was weird! Mom dad and Christian, yall know him. He was my Zone Leader in Maceio. He got stuck with a bumb companion and hes reaching the end of his mission so he got ´´demoted´´ and now Im his senior. Its just weird dragging him around. But hes tight, I like him, and hes very inteligent.

We got back Tuesday night and visited some members. Wednesday was our first day of work and who decideds to come do visits with us? The Stake Pres! He called us and said he wants visit a family with us. I though he was wanting to show us a family so we were like sweet. Then he pics us up in his car and says. ´´alright elders show me all the less active kids in the ward who should be in seminary or institute´´ I was all like ´´poop´´´So I got to try to direct him to some people that I almost never visit and it was a pain! We got lost several times but we found some good people that were now working with! Happy first day as Senior! The next day we visited a family that a missionary baptised a long time ago adn he asked me to pass by there cause theyre inactive now. We did and a lady answered the door and invited us in. She told us she loves the church but no longer believes in prophets. We didnt even have to drag it out of her. It was like the first thing she said when we sat down. So we were like sweet, we got this. She said that in doesnt say anywhere in the Bible that we need prophets now and we were all like ´´excuse me?´´ by the end she was throughly changed and said shed pray. In her prayer she asked for help returning to the church which was awesome. We went back to visit her two daughters with similar results. 

Diana was suppose to be baptised Saturday but she went to UmbaUba with her Family. But she came back by herself to go to church. She had her interview and passed and we rescheduled her baptisim for Saturday. Shes a very special young lady and Im very hapy for her! 

We also started visiting and teaching Amandas Mom! She had already looked up some stugg about the church on the internet and had a lot of strange questions. We answered them and gave her the church website for future reference. Were going back to visit them on Tuesday. Im living with three Brazilians now and Im starting to forget how to say alot of things in English. Someone asked me what the word was for Vulture the other day in English and it took me over a day to think of it. That was annoying. But Im learning portuguese alot faster now. Thats good. Anyway, Thats all for today! 

Love you fam!

Send me some more pics!

Elder Frogley  

16 September 2013 - Estancia Brazil

Dad has updated Elder Frogley about some friends of his--a young man by the last name of College (Elder Frogley isn't talking about his university experience). Elder College is in Germany. And between e-mails, our grandmother, Donna Lee (Woodland) Frogley, passed away in her home in Providence, surrounded by family on both sides of the veil. We had a wonderful time joining the family in celebrating her life. As part of the work after her departure, the family is fixing up and selling her house, which means Dad has to move his Providence office (which was in the front office of her house) to a new location.

Elder Frogley (and his mission president) are also somewhat disappointed at the seeming contradiction in how "successful" the disobedient missionaries appear to be versus the challenges and trials the diligent and obedient missionaries face. Many of us wrote sent him some scripture references, stories, and allegories to help him through his trials. I'll leave you to ponder the question yourselves.

New office hu!? Cool! Send me pics please! I remember college really well. Good kid. We were in the CTM together. I have a pic with him. Its good to know hes doing well. One difference between his mission and mine is that missionaries are inspired to keep comandments and rules in order to obtain baptisims and help people. In a hard area like Europe this is obviously necisarry. As it is in all missions. In most of South America Success comes so rapidly and easily that its hard for many missionaries to see the nacesity of obedience. We have one of the most dysobedeint missions in the world. Litterally. The confussion is obvious when you see the biggest slackers baptising the most people and the people whe follow every rule stressed, freaking out, and not having any succes. Im working hard to follow the rules but Id like an explanation to that if you have one please. Why do the happy slackers have success while the hard working, rule keeping missionaries get stressed out and have zero success. Its been ratling the brains of many a missionary and the pres. here in Maceio.

Now that thats out of the way! This week was happy and sad and happy again! Were still working alot with Diana and Suzana. Diana marked her baptisim for Saturday but never got permision from her Mom. When she finally asked her Mom said no! That wasWednesday. She called us and told us and we were CHAPPED. We asked if we could speak to her Mom and she said of course.On Thursday we went to talk to her Mom to ask permission and we turned the charm up all the way. We were very sweet and we busted out pics and everything of our families and had a good talk. When we asked about baptisim for her daughter she said she doesnt want her daughter to make a decision she would regret. Apparently when Diana asked for permission she wasnt that convicted. Dianas Mom said if Diana showed real conviction to be baptised shed let her. We were pretty pumped cause we thought her Mom just dropped the iron foot and refused baptism but it was pretty chill. We told Diana to talk to her Mom again and express her desire. She did and her Mom told her sho could! But only the next week. Which bumbed my comp out pretty good cause he got transfered today.

Suzana her sister doesnt need permission from her Mom but shes got some issues. We found this tight way of finding investigators concerns. We just read the artacles of faith with them and ask if they believe. We found Suzanas problem to be prophet. She doesnt believe that we can have a prophet today cause the world it too wicked. We taught a little about the times of Noah, the roll of a prophet and we testified. We told her to pray and taught a little more on prayer too. She promissed to pray to know again. Shes been doing it for a while with out success. After that day she left to visit her Grandma in the hospital and we havent had th opportunity to talk to her again. Were shooting for her baptisim on Saturdaywith her sis. 

Our other investigator is Amanda. Remember her? She accepted baptisim, shes keeping the comandments and doing everything right. Minus going to church. She just cant get out there! She promissed to go yester day for the third week in a row and didnt. We´ll pass again wednesday and see what the problem is. Shes been to a baptism though and liked it. This entire week Elder Hansen has been packing and getting ready to go home. Its been rough watching someone getting ready to go back to the US but were pulling through. He got on the bus to go to Maceio yesterday after church. It was sad to watch him go. He was tight and I hope to find him again after the mission. A lot of my friends just went home. I gotta make new friends now. Ugh. We also found out who got transfered yesterday! My comp takes off but me and the Brazilian stay here! This is a tight area. I like it. All the members said they wanted me to stay which was cool. Anyway! hey, are yall going to come pick me up after the mission here? Cause if you are I gota tell the secratary before 1 year and 4 months which is in 6 months. sounds like a long time but for me its flying.

Love yall!

Elder Ian

9 September 2013 - Estancia Brazil

More pictures!! This time we have a baptism and a beautiful Brazilian chapel. We also get another great look at the exterior of Brazilian dwellings and Elder Frogley's culinary adventures--this time, it was crabs. "Literally the whole crab. I ate its brain!" Then we are treated with a panoramic view of Maceió (Wait, is he still there? Is he not in Estancia?) and an evening of "integration" (?) with water balloons. And it seems like our beloved Elder took some lovely trips to the coast, so we get to live vicariously through him :)

P-Day Excursion

P-Day Sand Dunes

P-Day Coastal Trip

More Sand Dunes

Typical Brazilian Dwellings

Beautiful Brazilian Chapel

Eating Crabs... Whole...

Baptism!! Jose Lito!

Welcome to Maceió!

Water Balloons!

And here is this week's update! Just to keep you all in the loop, Dad sometimes sends his journal entries instead of trying to re-type all the events of the week. Thumbs up for efficiency!!

I got it. Thanks for the journal pages Dad. They were very touching. Now I know i have one more helper on the other side of the veil to help me find people to teach. I hope shes happy and I hope we can use her as an example in our lives. I know we never got along very well but looking back, im going to miss her. And because of her I have parents that taught me everything I know now. She really was amazing. Haha, im tearing up a little bit in the Lan House and these Brazilians are going to start looking at me weird.

Now on to the Week! Its an exciting one! So Tuesday we had a Zone meeting. AGAIN! Im getting SOOOOOO tired of riding on the bus. Our Zone leader is driving us crazy! But that doesnt matter all that much, were still working and baptising. Ill start with the baptisim! We had one Saturday. We met this girl on Sunday who had been going to church for three weeks with her Grandma who was the mother of the Branch Pres. We thought this girl was a member but when we talked to her Sunday at lunch she said she wasnt! So we invited her to be at that second and she accepted. Haha, good stuff! We taught her through the week and shes living everything and shes reading the Book of Mormon and shes understanding verywell and she was already living the comandments! We didnt have to do anything! We just told her to show up on Saturday and we baptised her. It was pretty chill! 

Next, do yall remember Suzana and Diana? Suzana took off to Lagarto or something and we didnt get the chance to talk to her last week but we´ll try this week. we really focused on Diana this week. She always said she read and prayed and felt good but she never took it as an answer. So we decided she was just scared to change churches and of the unknown. So we decided to teach her about the comandments and we read the Artacles of Faith with her. After we finished all that we asked her how she felt about it all and she believed alllll of it. We thanked her for her time and told her to pray one last time about what she learned. Two days after we got a call from her. Anderson picked up and she asked to talk to me. So I got on the phone (which is awefull cause portuguese is an awefull language to understand on the phone) and we talked about life for a few minutes and then I asked her if she had prayed. she said she had. I asked her how she felt after and she miss understood me and thought I asked about baptisim and said she wanted to be baptised next week! I was like, alright ill take that! So thats 3 baptisim back to back! First time in my mission! Were trying to get Suzana to be baptised at the same time! 

And finally Amanda. We met her through English class and went and visited her. She didnt make it to church the first time because of water problems in her house and the second time because she was traveling. But she went to a baptism and liked it alot and we showed the church off to her. Shell go to church on Sunday then be baptised the next week! I hope Im still here cause this transfer is finishing off! It flew by! Thats about it for us but I hope you al have a ballin week! Love you and theyre are a bunch of Brazilians here who love you too! They told me to send that! 

Elder Frogley

2 September 2013 - Estancia Brazil

So in this week's e-mail, Elder Frogley apparently learned some Chinese. Or at least, that's how the characters he typed got interpreted by the computer. Huh. And someday we're going to have to help Elder Frogley learn the difference between "through" and "throw." But it's good to know that Elder Frogley gets the opportunity to share and hear testimony on a regular basis. One of the best ways to teach is to testify, because it invites the Spirit, and the Spirit confirms the truth of what was shared.

Sounds like the family is throughing down the missionary work! This week has been a good one for baptisims! Lets start with the big news! We had a baptisim on Saturday! It was with Jose Lito! The father of Kyle and Douglas the two kids we were teaching and baptised. He finally accepted baptisim last week and this week we did the interview. On Thursday. Hes very firm. Hes reading the Gospel Principles book now and hes loving it and learning lots. He just reads everything. He bore his testimony yesterday and he said something awesome to me. He said 创I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Laterday Saints is the true church of God, and im thankfull for these two angels God sent me.创 It was awesome to hear. He could probably teach me by now. Very inteligent. Were working with the rest of his family now. His wife doesnt want to hear anything but were hoping now she磍l be more open. He said right after he was baptised 创磎y wife needs to be baptised.创 Great man. The whole ward was there. Soo goood. 

Weve also been working with two sisters. Suzana and Diana. 19 and 15. Theryre biggest desire is two 创find salvation创 theyve both been to church and Diana went to the baptisim. Theyre both feeling good but theyre having problems recognizing it as an answer different then how they feel in other churches. But we have high hopes for them. Were also teaching another girl, Amanda, who went to our English class. We stopped by her house a few times but she was never home, we finally caught her inbetween classes at the college and she let us teach her about baptism. I challenged her to baptism for the 14 and she accepted. Now she just needs to go to church cause she missed this week. She texted us before and told her why though so thats cool. Testimony meeting yesterday is awesome and P-day was great as always! I hope you guys come pic me up cause I have so much stuff I wana show you! Sorry I didnt get the chance to read the plan this week Dad! Next week! 

Love you all!

Elder Frogley

PS Mom, what do you sing in opera? Saprano what? I met some Brazilian member who wants to know cause hes set on doing a fat concert here when you all visit.

26 August 2013 - Estancia Brazil

So it seems there's some kind of feud between Brazil and Argentina... at least according to Brazilians. No idea what that's about. FYI, "alleviated" in Spanish (and probably Portuguese) means reassured, like a weight was lifted off your shoulders. Does it mean that in English, too? Now who can't speak English anymore!

Thanks Dad! It was much needed! You have a missionary going to Argentina! Haha, no one here in Brazil likes Argentina. If you mention anything about Argentina being better then Brazil in anything youll get a bunch of dirty stares. But lets get to the week! It was a good one!

So Tuesday we went to our English class but didnt have a lot to do after. After our lunch with the members we decided to knock doors. We knocked a couple but didnt have much luck. Then I had the awesome idea to visit some investigators that my comp taught like 3 months ago but after that they were never home cause she studdies like crazy. We knocked on the door and she was home! So we went in and talked a little. She still remembered everything! how to pray, baptisim and everything. We challenged her to be baptised again and she said shed pray for a response to be baptised and when she recieved it she would. Wednesday was pretty chill. We went back and visited the girl again (Suzana with 19 years) and her sister was there too. She said that she felt good and ´´aliviated´´ after she prayed. She wants a more concrete proof before baptisim so we were helping her realize that she had her answer. Her sister is 16 and she really likes to listen to us talk. Apparently our accent is awesome. But she was interested in our English class on Friday. She promised to go to that.

Thursday I had to do a division with the ZLs. Which is always good. Only my current ZL is a weirdo. Im really trying to like him but its rough. But he came right before lunch and my comp went back to his area. After lunch we went and visited our recent convert from 9 weeks ago. She hasnt been to church since her baptisim. I saw her cousin on the road there and he said that she had moved in with her boyfriend and his family. I was more then a little preturbed. So we got her address and went and visited her. She still said she wanted to recieve the gift of the holy ghost but was confused when we said she couldnt! Like she hadnt learned anything! We maked a time to come back and teach everyone about the Law of Chastity. But im losing pacience with her. Then we went to visit a member friend Mileide. We walked to the front gate and clapped for them and we saw a man sitting on the fron couch and when Mileide came she imediatly dragged us over to this guy. He was her birth father and he was pretty golden. He just wanted to be baptised and he understhood everything we told him. it was awesome. We marked his baptisim but he didnt make it to church. Still dont know why. We´ll find out tomorrow. The last thing we did was visit Jose Lito who I forgot to update you on. Wednesday we visited him and weve been working with him forever and he wants to be baptised but he says he wants time. Like a lot of time. We finally got him to comit to Saturday but he still said he didnt want to on Wednesday. We told him to pray for an answer and hed receive it. On Thursday durring the devision we went there and he hadnt recieved an answer. We resolved some problems, and marked his baptisim for the 31st but he was still iffy. On Friday we went to finish the devision and I took the bus out to the ZLs area and got my comp. We went to visit Jose Lito again that night. We walked in and he gave us the same thing. I wana wait, Im not ready. We were extremely bumbed and were praying to know what was stopping him. He always talked about needing to endure to the end after baptisim and wanting to know about the doctrine of the church. Finally durring that lesson it clicked. We both figured it out at the same time. He wants to know more a bout the comandments. We told him we could definatly do that and he accepted baptism firmly for the 31st. Saturday we went back with a member and talked about chastity and the word of wisdom. He told the member that the baptism was the 31, we even called Gubler (the LZ) right there and Jose told him that hed be coming down here to do his interview on friday! FINALLY! After 6 weeks!! Hes Kyle and Douglases Dad, remeber them? The two crazy kids we baptised? After the head of the house is baptised were going to try to get the whole family! Ahhh, good stuff. 

Durring our Friday English class Suzanas little sister Diana (16 year old girl who we taught earlier) visited early. We showed her to church and everything and the baptisimal font and taught about baptisim before the class started. She accepted for the 31st too! She went to Church on Sunday but not Suzana because she was sick. She said that we wants to watch a baptims before her baptism to make sure its right for her but were still working with both the sisters alot. There a little flimsy as far as baptism but they could definatly get there. 

Jose Lito brought his wife to church too! That was cool! 

That does it for investigators but on a final note we ate pretty well this week. For dinner Tuesday we made pizza and Wednesday we made a fruit bowl out of a holowed out watermellon. All for $8 (dollars not reis). Good stuff! And I got pics! 

Love you Fam! Miss you!

Elder Frogley

26 August 2013 - Estancia Brazil

More pictures!! Pictures, pictures, hmm-hmm... My pictures! (Anyone? Anyone?) This time we get a view of a typical rural road in Brazil and lovely example of a typical Brazilian dwelling, complete with satellite dish.

Typical Brazilian Dwelling

Taking a Walk After Lunch

Home-Made Barbecue

Home-Made Ping-Pong

The Missionary Appartment

A River Runs through Elder Frogley's Area

Rogue Horses Like to Eat Trash (Like Stray Dogs)

Travelling to the Beach

21 August 2013 - Estancia Brazil

Not sure when these pictures came (looks like they were taken on the 3rd), or if they're even of Estancia, but I got them on the 21st, so here you go. We have here a Brazilian sunset and "the four most awesome missionaries ever!"

19 August 2013 - Estancia Brazil

Apparently Elder Frogley treated the family to a few Brazilian treats, courtesy of the Brazilian snail-mail service. And you thought snail-mail took a long time in the U.S.!

You got the package! They guy told me itd be like 30 days! It was only like three weeks! Cool! Did you try the juice!? Its pretty good! Im going to send the bigger letter later cause were taking off to a Pria do Saco. Or in other words Sac beach! Im pumped! Were going to do some hyking! Love you all and talk to you later!

Fortunately, that wasn't all we got. Here's the rest, which was sent after the awesome "hyking" :)

Alright letter time super fast cause P day is finnishing! First the week! No much happened cause we had a lot of meetings and bus rides and Im short on cash. I already use up almost all for the beginning of the month and I cant send in my re embursment to get my bus fair back cause Im forever away from the church office. Saturday we were suppose to have a baptism but the women whos son was being baptises ´´forgot´´. she sent her son to live with her grandpa for the week too. SHe just doesnt want us to baptise her son.SHes a member and she want her son to be baptised she just doesnt want us to do it and that man she wants isnt worthy now. Shes nuts. Sunday I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. It was missionary sunday and the 3 Americans talked in sacrament meeting. Super fun! I talked on DandC 4 and how the field is white and we all have a resposibility to work and missionaries need the members help. It worked cause after we got three references. 

Now to the good part! Today was the most EPIC P-day ever. We decided to go to see one of the most beautifull beaches in the world. We hopped on a bus for an hour and a half and it was a gorgious drive. we got there and walked next to the ocean for a few miles and took some pics where there were rock outcroppings where we could stand! It was awesome! Then we were hungry and decided to go back home but on the way home I saw these random sand dunes next to the road so we told the bus driver to dump us there. He gave us a weird look but did it. We scaled the dunes and were supprised at the top. THe dunes just went on forever with random bunches of shrubbery! It was like the Sarrara. I felt like I was finaly in the Brazil I imagined. It was soooo wild and out back feeling. We ran around and jumped of sad cliffs (yes I have pics) and just partied! On one side of the dunes was the ocean and on the otherside was this FAT jungle that went on forever! Like a real jungle youd see in Amazon movies! Soooo tight! we then decended back to the road and tried to hitch hyke back home cause the bus was taking for ever. Didnt work so we just waited for th bus. Now were home but Ill send you pics next p day! I have TONS! 

LOVE YOU! Yall should be pumped to come visit with me! 

Elder Frogley

12 August 2013 - Estancia Brazil

This week we learn the Brazilian word for "Brazilian person" :) Nifty! And transfers have come again, but Elder Frogley remains in Estancia, which makes sense because he just barely arrived.

Ah man, sounds awesome! Im typing right now from an old beat up keyboard thats missing half its buttons in a little computer house where over half the computers dont work and they had theyre first internet upgrade in like four years yesterday.  its slow. But were happy! We just finished playing b ball with an investigator and he was better then we expected almost like a slightly awkward American but a lot better then most Brazileiros. Out week was pretty Rockin but quick question, are yall getting my pics? cause I sent a bunch last week  but it downloads slow .  

so Sunday we found out that  im staying in Estancia, Sergipe. Look it up on google earth street view. You probably wont think so but to me after 9 months it looks pretty dang fancy. we did get two more house mates though. I went down to Aracaju Monday night so my comp could take the bus to Maceio. I stayed in Aracaju with the rest of the missionaries. We slepped at the house in that area .( a tiny house and we crammed 10 missionaries in to it) I slepped on the hammic outside and it was a thousand degrees andI was covered with mosquitos. I woke up the in the middle of the night to let more elders who arived through the front gate. Needless to say not my best nights sleep . Hamics are not for sleeping over night. i learned that the hard way. THe next day we went back to the church and littlerally sat around and played cards for the whole day  until 6:30 in the afternoon. Minus when we were listening to the transfer meeting happening in Maceio over a cell phone. finally my comp got back with our new Elders (one being Elder Hansen, a good freind from Maceio when I was with Elder  Roland). We slepped in that same house and this time I slepped inside on a bed. But with three other missionaries squished on two beds on the ground and the brazilian got cold with the fan so he turned it off and the two americans (me and my comp) sat awake swetting all night. the next day we finnaly made it home. It was a rough few days but weve been teaching some good people and we marked some baptisims. the two kids we baptised, theyre dad had a problem wiht being baptised . We visited him Thursday and friday. He believes that his baptisim was valid and if he gets baptised again it will be a sin.  we have flat out showed him in the scriptures that hes wrong but he refuses to  pray for an answer. Saturday we visite d him again after we ordered him to pray   and he said he did and as we were walking him to the church for an activity he said we wants to be baptised too! Woooooo! Sunday he took his wife to church too! Were going for the whole family! We have a baptisim this week and well mark him  hopefully for next week. The members just got awesome out of nowhere and started bring their friends to church an initing us and friends to family home evening! Were about to through down! And  were getting new investigators from English class too ! were famous! Were lovin life here family! Love   you guys! keep me posted  and stuff!

Elder Frogley

PS Dad, I used all my emergency funds. could you put more on. Im not wasting it I promis . We litterally have bunches of bus fairs and stuff that we cant re emberce because were sooo far from the mission office. Sorry! Love you!

5 August 2013 - Maceió Brazil

PICTURE TIME!! This time we have an English Class: Before and After selection, a stuffed heart (colored green...), and the Godzilla Burger!! We also have a baptism and some pizza rolls (yum!).

Baptism time!!

Wow... My Mouth Is Watering!

English Class: Before

English Class: After

Gift from a Recent Convert

The Godzilla Burger!

5 August 2013 - Estancia Brazil

This week's highlights: sleep-walk robbery, sandwiches named for Japanese monsters, and the awesome feeling you get when someone you had the privilege of baptizing progresses on their journey toward the Celestial Kingdom!

Alright here we go! Life sounds amazing in the United States! Are you ready for life in Brazil! Lets start with events out of the ordinary. I saw and old crazy lady today sleeping on the street outside our house. She was laying in the middle of the crowd milling about in all the shops. She woke up and imidiately started trying robbing the street vendors. It was weird to watch from our perch. Also transfers is today and tomorrow. I didnt get transfered and neither did my comp so we get to chill here. Crazy thing happened yesterday. Elder Silvera went home! His two years were up! I couldnt believe it! It was so weird watching him pack up and then acctually get on the bus to maceio by himself. Without comps or anything! Weird day. Saturday and you can see, we ate a crazy massive hamburger!! Its called the Godzilla burger! I litterally felt it for the entire next day! I ate 1\4 of it by my self! I almost died.Tuesday was our first day of official English classes at the college! We had over 40 people! That was pretty amazing! Alright, its time for investigator list.

We had to abandon a few of our investigators because they dont want to get married and theyre not going to church. It was pretty heavy when we were talking to them for the last time. We just layed it all down. Why were married and if theyre not married what will happen. They said they understand and they dont care so, ah well. We did find several new investigators that are going to be good! We found an older man and his grandaughter that both want to be baptised. Were helping them out and we have high hopes. We have an older man from Sao paulo who wants to be baptised. The only problem is that no one here is married! It kills me! Our best investigator is the father of the two young men we baptised the other week. Hes very interested and goes to church every week now and really enjoys the classes. Were pretty excited! Alright, I think thats it for now! Oh! We also found a friend of a recent convert in our branch and she wants to be baptised to! And My first baptisim is getting the Melchezidech priesthood and hes finishing his mission papers! Hes soooo excited! Love you family!

Elder Frogley

29 July 2013 - Estancia Brazil

I guess when you consider an athlete (no, not a three-syllable word "ath-e-lete," despite what some people try to tell you) like Elder Frogley, everything's a competition :) And if anyone really cares about the numbers, score TWO points for Elder Frogley this week! Plus one attempt :)

Wow! Sounds like a busy week! Lets see if I can compete! And PS Mom doesnt have to worry about being an empty nester for to long. I plan on chilling for a month after I get back and then getting an appartment in the Valley. Yall ready for this week! TWO BAPTISIMS! Whoo! It was suppose to be three but the guy who was suppose to baptised the third baptisim couldnt come. So We´ll baptise him next week. Now lets start at the beginning of the week! We had a fairly normal week until Wednesday. Weve been teaching a memer in active and her boyfriend that shes living with. They promised to come to church three weeks in a row now and didnt show up. So I think were dumping them. Also the brother of a recent convert has been skipping out on church so I think were stopping with them too. We did a devision on thursday for our two baptisims. Kyle and Douglas. They were ready to go. Remember them? Daisys kids? Friday was the English class. Kyle and douglas (11 and 9 years old) were there and they were absolutely out of control. I think theyre both ADD and Douglas is Bipolar. They were so loud and abnoxcious durring the lessons that I actually forcefully removed them from the room. They werent to happy but I didnt have much of a choice. They refuse to listen to adults. And their littl sister was there to and shes the same way. After English class they stayed there and watched the baptisimal font being filled and when we went to check the hight, we opened the door and the girl actually jumped in! We through her out and gave her a very forcefull scolding. Shes got the attitude of a 20 yearold black chick in a 7 year old boddy. If somebody tells her not to do something she just looks at us like ´´ not you didnt´´ and does it anyway. But all things concidered we got the two baptised the next day. (Douglas tried to swim in the font after I baptised him. I had to forcefully remove him again) Their entire family was there and that ws pretty cool. Douglases Grandpa and Kyles Dad was there and he took them to church the next day. Were going to start working with him because he is the most interested. He was answereing questions and everything. It was cool. We baught a house. My first experience with that! And We´ll start a new area soon! Thats it! Dad! Read Ether 12 for me and tell me what you think! I use it alot!

Love yall!

Elder Frogley

Pics next week!

22 July 2013 - Estancia Brazil

Time to reminisce once again about the places we've been and the things we long to do one day. This time we cover Nauvoo--you may recall we once lived just up the river from that sacred place. We also receive wonderful news--Elder Frogley is fluent in Portuguese! His English is understandably suffering more than ever, but I guess that doesn't really matter at this point :) He mentions pictures, too, but I'm not sure what happened to those... But in the meantime, Elder Frogley is opening a new area in Estancia Brazil! Transfer time!!

No, please! Words of wisdom from a mission pres are always welcome! Im sending tons of pics today cause I finally found a decent lan house. Youre going to Navoo!?!? You cant tell me that!!!! Ah, when I get back Im going on an epic road trip with some friends. Mark my words. And Navoo is on my list. The cars are really going to make it that long? Wow, good stuff. Ya leave for to years and nothing changes. I feel like Im in a time portal over here. Time is flying.

Alright week summary time. My portuguese is finally fluent! I can joke around now, and understand pretty much everything. My conjugations are still pretty rough but people call me Brazilian some times and everybody thinks My portuguese is rockin. Some sad stuff and good stuff happened this week. Ill start with the sad so we can finish with the good. Almost all of our baptisims are falling like crazy! Icaro is living all the comandments but he just cant go to church. Hes missed 3 weeks in a row so were booting him off our list. Daisy doesnt want more. She stopped taking lessons. And the saddest of all! João! Our rock solid bapisim! We went to his house to prep him for his interview and he told us what we were pumped to hear. He said ´´I got my answer´´ we were really pumped for him until he said his answer was to stay in his church! We Were all WHAT THE POOP! We spent about an hour just teaching an testifying and he just couldnt get it into his head. We eventually proved with the Bible that his church was false. He still didnt get it. We asked how his answer was and he said he recieved a vision after meditation. We talked to him about the holy ghost and how we recieve answers through feeling but he didnt believe us. So we showed him a scripture in the Bible and he still didnt believe us! in the end we told him to pray one last time and pay attention to his feelings and he would know. We did a devision the next day for his interview with the ZL and he had left the city to travel. So hes gone. Little bumbed and REALY frustrated with his stubornes. And now for cool stuff!

Were opening a new area in Estancia and Anderson and I are in charge of prepping everything! Were renting a house and talking to people and everything! Its sooo cool to be in charge of somthing thats going to last for a while! Also, are you ready for this. WERE COLLEGE PROFESSORS! were going to teach english at the local college on Tuesday mornings to students. The head librarian there wanted he students to learn English and find Jesus and when she saw us she was pumped. We can talk about christ in the class and teach how to pray and everything as long as theyre learning English!! WHAT??!! Yea I know. Were awesome. And finally we have two baptisims marked for Saturday. Daisy didnt want more but her brother and her son are pumped to be baptised. They LOVE us. Like crazy. Kyle and Dougles. They went to a baptisim and Kyle said he didnt want to be baptised any more because we didnt give them the gift of the holy ghost like it explains in the pamphlet we gave him. We explained that it would happen on Sunday and he got excited again. Hes 11! People mature FAST here. We also have several baptisims marked for next week that should be pretty firm!  So thats all for this week! Any questions? Oh I also met a woman who use to be Catholic but quit that church and just learned from the Bible. EVERYTHING we taught her she already new from reading the bible except for priesthood authority being restored. EVERYTHING! She was very smart.

Love yall!

And if yall want to come visit when my mission is over ya might want to buy tickets now! 

Elder Frogley 

15 July 2013 - Maceió Brazil

WHAT TIME IS IT?! MISSION LETTER TIME!! So apparently Brazilians are fond of celebration. Who knew? :) And I guess these days houses get refurbished instead of remodeled. That just sounds like way too much work.

The fireworks have mostly stopped, but its Brazil, so they never stop completely. They fire off year round. Ive been praying for the same thing for Grandma. Give her a hug and a kiss for me. I Trev Daul getting ready to serve a mission? Just thought about that. This week was pretty crazy but less danger wise and more investigator wise. Lets start the investigtor list, this will be a more spiritual letter, hope you dont mind: Icaro- We met him while talking to one of our recent converts and asked if we could teach him. He was interested in soccer at first but when we taught him he accepted a baptisimal date after 10 min. Hes only 11 but thats like 20 in Brazilian years. He couldnt go to church the first sunday cause he was traveling with his family, and the second Sunday he didnt go and we were bumbed, but he found us on the street and told us that he was helping with his pregnant Mom and she didnt let him. If he doesnt go next week were going to put him in the area book. Hes really teachable though. When we taught the word of wisdom, he had a problem with coffee. We asked him if he needed help stopping and he said no, hed just stop. And he did. And law of chastity was thankfully easy, youd think for an 11 year old it should be, but weve run into 8 year olds who were already active. Its pretty depressing. Next. Daisy- We met her from a refference from a door knock. her husband died a while back and she was interested in baptisims for the dead. We taught and she believed everything we said. Her kids love us, she just needs to get to church. She always has an excuse. If she misses again were dumping her too. Next. João- he came to church with a member a few weeks ago and enjoyed it. We finally visited him last week and he accepted baptisim for this week. He has some doutds and concerns about authority and having one true church but were helping. Finally. Jose Alberto- We found him knocking doors and he let us in. He was really chill and cool and interested in learning. We thought that the spirit was best felt in the tranquility of nature and not in church, but hes been churching for the true church of Christ and praying for guidence. We taught about Joseph Smith and how he was the same. I told him that God sent us to answer his prayers and it struck him and his family who had arrived at this time. The wife cried. They promised to read and pray. They didnt make it to church cause we didnt have the oportunity to teach him last week. Well go past there soon. Its hard when people dont accept plain doctrine even when backed up with bible scripture. We taugth some Jahovas Whitnesses the other day and I honestly wanted to slap her in the face. She was soooo stubbern. We just ended up burning her and leaving cause we were mad. Any way. Hows life!? Started refurbishin the house!? Love you! Miss you! Elder Frogley

8 July 2013 - Maceió Brazil

We're all together again, we're here, we're here. This week, Elder Frogley reminisces about mowing lawns, the quick passage of time as a missionary, basketball with Brazilians, barbecue, and, of course, triumphs and trials with seekers of truth.

Wow, tell Christian I would do anything to mow some gass right now. Just to be able to walk through some real grass without worrying about broken glass or poop would be awesome. Im glad Alex got on the mission. I had my doubts. I got all the other emails. I cant believe They have kids already! It felt so recent that they got married. And schof coming home!? He just left! Ahh well, the mission is like a time portal. We had interviews with the pres today, right smack dab in the middle of our p day! What the poop. But I actually enjoyed them, it was chill and he was proud of me and the work we´ve been doing. Did yall see my head from last week? Well its all healed now. COMPLETELY. Wow right? One week. We played Bball with some brazilians today. We wone 40 something to 0 and then they made the Americans split up. It was pretty funny. Now to the work. Weve really focused on getting new investigateors this week. We hot 13 which is a pretty solid number. Our baptisim from last week told us that she is really feeling the spirit in her life and she is really feeling just a calm feeling in her entire life. And her grandma who watched is a lot more excited about the gospel now. She still has to get married though. We met this guy in the road the other day. He just stopped us and started asking questions about Christ and the scriptures. At first he was just testing us and trying to see how much we knew. We talked to him for a while and answered his questions but he was a bit annoying. when he finished his interview, he thanked us for listening to him and told us that he was really impressed. Turns out that he use to be a member but asked to be removed from the records of the church and has been inactive for a long time. Because we took the time to listen to him he promissed to come back to church on Sunday. We invited him to visit the church house that some day cause thats where we were going anyway. He came and we really felt the spirit together. And true to his word he was at church and were going to visit him tomorrow. We had alot of people who were suppose to be at church and didnt come. Even thought we visited them and they told us theyd come like 5 min before church. still nothing. We were a little bumbed. 4th of July was tight! We taught the entire day and told people it was 4th of July, no one really cared but we were pumped. That night we borrowed a little grill from some members and did churasca in our house on the back portch. Thats Brazilian BBQ and they eat it with rice and this bread crum stuff. Its was tight. We just sang patriotic songs right in the road at the top of our lungs. ]

Well thats all for now fam! Love you! How are the renevations coming? I expect pics!

Elder Frogley

24 June 2013 - Maceió Brazil

It's that time of the week again, and we're all excited. Elder Frogley is feeling a bit under the weather, and so was his companion. And perhaps we'll be seeing some Facebook posts from our favorite Maceió missionary?

Wow, sounds like a packed week! I loved treck and it sounded awesome! So before I forget, did it sound like Elder Perry gave the ok for Facebook durring the training meeting yesterday? Cause thats what it sounded like to me. Oh and by the way, all the pics that werent the US were in Brazil. All the stairs and grafiti and dirt roads and plains. All Brazil :). Plus Dad, could you possibly treat me for allergies? To masquitos or something. Alright so this week was nifty cause it was a holiday week. Sao Joao was this week which is like Christmas in the US. They all dress up in Plad and jeans and wear cowboy hats and eat corn flavored everything. Like juice and cake and pudding and seriously everything you can think. It was rediculous. My comp was sick with a 102 fever all week so we sat in the house a lot. Again. and the power went out on Friday so we just sat in the dark all day. But we went out at night to buy some food and ALL the power was out. Some kid had throughn a bomb into some power stuff. All the stores had cars parked infront shining headlight in side and stuff. It was weird to see. Our baptisim fell through which bumbed us out. Have you guys heard of the riots that have been going on down here!? THeyre nuts! We had one here in Maceio and everyone was warning us to stay inside, but we had lunch with a member so we went anyway. It was farely calm in our area. Both of our other baptisims are still going strong so thats solid. Im getting transfered tommorow so we´ll see where I go. Im kinda nervous cause I like this area alot and I dont really want to leave. Life heres been fun. I gota go say goodbye to people today and pack. So heres something crazy. Our APs are going home in a few weeks so the pres. released them early to do whatever they want. They went surfing and on a ton of dates and they stayed out as long as they wanted. Ones dating a girl that I know in one of the wards. THEYRE DATING!! Its so weird. Anyway! Love you family! 

Happy Fathers Day Dad! Miss you and love you lots! You were honestly the best Dad ever and were and are my best friend! I hope we can keep going on trips and doing fun stuff together in a year and a bit!

17 June 2013 - Maceió Brazil

Hello folks,

I'm not really sure what happened to the e-mail from last week, but we sure enjoyed the pictures of the birthday. Anyway, this week Dad told Elder Frogley about his trip out to see us for Kathryn's baptism and Ben's blessing. Mom, Christian, Jessica, Jami, Jason, Addi, and Caden all came, too. It was a blast. Meanwhile, Elder Frogley has a run-in with some gun-wielding druggies, one whom his companion had taught previously.

Wow, trip sounded pretty tight! Im jealous! Life here is pretty chill right now. Its been raining alot. Adding on to the house eh? sweet! Shoot me some pics! The Birthday party was pretty great! Ya dont need to worry about me, the members take care of me. Speaking of that I have a story for you and Christian that Mom wont want to hear! We were talking to some members out on the street in the Grota. We were on this tiny little stare case inbetween houses, then suddenly people in houses below us started running into their houses and closing the door, naturely we were curious. Then we see these 4 guys walking up the stairs, one with a sawed off shot gun and one with a hand gun. we just sat there and tried not to stare at them. They passed and one of them tapped my comp on the shoulder and said whats up, which my comp calmly responded to, cause hes pretty use to that from California. Apparently the guy was a guy he had taught one time. They were all looking for a guy that had stolen some drugs or something. Crazy stuff! I have some statistics for you when I get back, I tell you about the crazier stuff in a few years. Just know that people love us and were safe. So as far as the work, were trying to get this women to let us baptise her daughter. Her other, older daughter was already baptised, but she thinks that the younger one isnt ready yet. But the older daughter said that her Mom had changed since the last time we visited so were going back to mark the baptism. Hopefully all goes well! Im close to the end of the transfer and its verry possible that Ill train next. Im kinda nervous! Love you guys and Ive got some pics to send! 

Elder Frogley

12 June 2013 - Maceió Brazil

BIRTHDAY PARTY!!