27 October 2014 - Santos Dumon, Brazil

Come one, come all! This may very well be the last e-mail we receive from Elder Frogley, who comes home on November 5th. If you're available, drop by the Salt Lake City airport at 10:30 AM to help us welcome him home! I believe the family is taking him to lunch afterwards, probably at Sette Bello, a very authentic and delicious Italian pizzeria in Farmington (Dad asked Elder Frogley if they eat pizza in Brazil, probably in preparation for this lunch). Also, we helped Dad celebrate his 60th birthday yesterday by grilling up some steaks. Also, Dad got himself a new gun safe that weighs 400+ lbs and needs to be moved into the basement. I think that about covers it.

Happy birthday Dad! I promisse i didnt forget! Im glad it was a success! Save me some stake! Im totally down to help you move a fat safe. I havent had to move anything heavy for a while. That should bring back some memories. You might have to dethaw me first. Im probably goin to die the second i step off the plane. haha, also im pretty skinny these days. I expect help getting ripped again. Im goin to try to hit the gym as much as i can.
Anyway, this week was pretty cool! My official last day of the mission is Thursday. Friday im goin to Maceió for my last interview with Pres then hes letting me loose on the city with my bud Elder Gross. He told us we could do pretty much what ever we wanted. Im stoked. But because of that id miss my last baptisim that we had marked for Saturday. We met young Man named Venecius. Hes a members uncle. Hes 16, has a mohawk and gaged ears and looks like a thug, haha, but we taught him and he was actually really open. After we finished teaching the restoration, he asked some questions but understhood everything very well and wanted to be baptised. He started asking what he couldnt do and what he needed to change. We told him he could keep his hair but would have to eventually take out the ear gages. The next time we talked to him he had already taken them out. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and he accepted them with no problems. He asked about a girlfriend he has whos 14 still and decided to brake up with her because shes not 16.
came to us ready for baptism. Really a blessing. His baptism was marked for Saturday but we asked him if he wanted to just be baptised on Thursday. His answer was (litteral translation) ´´young man, I do!´´ so it will be. He also asked me to baptise him, and that will be a great way to finish off the mission.
Also this week, we woke up early to make breakfast for a recent convert and her family that weve really taken to. Really cool people. We made pancakes with kiwi and bananas and yogurt with eggs and bacon. It was awesome.
Were teaching a few other people but all of them have baptisms marked for after im home. Theres still lots of work to be done here. Im just going to leave it easier for another missionary.
Yes Dad, they eat pizza here, but you probably wouldnt eat it. Its really nasty. There are very few pizzas ive eaten here that i enjoyed, and ive eaten in some nice places. Ill definately want some pizza when i get back. 

20 October 2014 - Santos Dumon, Brazil

I have nothing to add this week by way of explanation other than the fact that I don't know what a "lanhouse" is, though I suspect because of context that it is what some might call a "cyber cafe" or "internet cafe." And we only get one more of these from the current Elder Frogley, so ENJOY!

Wow! Sounds like it was a great week! My week was pretty awesome as well. I dont have a lot of time because we got in late to the lanhouse, but ill try to fill you in. 

Durring the week we were really running after our two baptisms. Ane and arenilson. Ane has been firm all week. Her only problem was that she didnt think that coffee was against the rules. Wwe had a good lesson with her about being perfect and interpreting the ten comandments. She stopped drinking and we had a great baptisimal service with her. The recent converts that live close to her family helped a ton. And her daughters were a great help too. Theyre both baptised.

Now arenilson was a little tougher. He had a huge problem with drinking but he got passed it, but didnt want to be baptised so soon. He was scared of change in his life and through up a lot of excuses. He has multiple sclurosis and was saying he wouldnt be able to go to church. We talked about repentence and his opportunity to progress after the baptisms. After we finished bearing testimony, he said he felt the spirit testifying to him while we were talking. That was a cool experience for me to see that we were teaching effectively. But he still decided to wait. That was a bumber. 

We were also invited to give blessings to two sick neighbors of a member. One had câncer and was supposed to have died two years ago. In the blessing he was comanded to be healed. Hes very catholic but were going to go visit him this week. The other blessing was to a women with cancer. She was also comanded to be healed so well go visit another day. 

Today i tryed to climb a coconut tree! Its hard! Haha but im stoked to go home. Next week will be my last email. Love you all! 

Elder ian

13 October 2014 - Santos Dumon, Brazil

So Elder Frogley has been invited to speak at two sacrament meetings--one in Providence (the ward he left from) the Sunday after he returns (so November 16th, I believe), and again in the new ward in Layton on December 14th (not November 14th, as Elder Frogley mis-types at the end of his e-mail). So he has two homecoming talks to prepare.

Haha, im already preparing my homecoming talks. Are they all going to be on Tithing? Or is he giving me a green light to do my own thing? Doesnt matter, im not to worried about it. The mission is good at helping people talk in public, haha. I hope i can keep doing the things i learned on the mission after the mission. Thats one of the scariest things about coming home. I want to sit down with you and Mom to have a goal setting meeting when i get home. That would be excelent. 

Anyway! This week was interesting! I dont know why im bothering to keep you all updated now. I can just tell you in three weeks! Haha, but ill give yall a quick run down on whats been goin on. 

Were helping two people at the moment work towords baptisim. Arenilson and Ane. 

Arenilson is a 37 year old man whos life has been destroyed by alcohol. He has two kids and and ex wife, none of which live with him. He also has Multiple sclerosis (i dont know how to spell that). He realizes the efect that alcohol has had in his life and has been really been trying to stop drinking. As of now hes been clean for two weeks! Thats huge progress for him. Were getting lots of help from the members with him. He cant exactly walk to church but the members agreed to help us go pick him up every sunday. He reads the scriptures every day, and when he started that was when he really started his clean streak. Its amazing the power a little spiritual guidence every day has. His baptisim is marked for this Saturday. Only 3 more baptisims and ill have hit my goal! 

Ane is a single Mom. She has two daughters, both of them baptised. She said she really wants to leave her old life and enter into the church. She just has some doubts and shes having problems drinking coffee. Weve had some really good lessons with her. Her daughters help her too, a lot. She has a great spiritual compas, but shes a little scared too (and lazy). She was firm on her baptisim for this Saturday though. She had doubt about her need to be baptised again, because she was baptised in another church. We used D&C 22 (I think). haha, im bad with remembering numbers. But we turned it into a really good leson on sacrificing our will to God. Ill probably use it in my homecoming talk. 

Other strange things this week. My comp had to have a surgery on his toe. So he got transfered back to Alagoas and now im here with Elder Dias and we´ll be a trio here in a little bit again when his original comp gets here. Haha, this is turning out to be a strange transfer. But its my comps birthday today so were probably goin with some members to the beach to get something to eat. Im stoked!

Anyway, Dad, November 14? Isnt that when you scheduled our three day shooting school thing? If not yea im down to talk whenever. Doesnt matter to me. 

Love you all!

Elder Ian

6 October 2014 - Santos Dumon, Brazil

We are quickly approaching the end of one journey, and anxiously anticipating the start of another. Truly, the Lord blesses and rewards those who joy in his work and put forth their best effort. But no matter the field of labor, the servant with a good attitude will always find joy and satisfaction in a job well done! Oh, and we also have pictures. :)

Hey Family! This week was chill. We had two baptisims! Weve been focusing on two grandkids of a recent convert for the past week. Franciel and Franciele. Theyve been to church a few times and really enjoyed it, they just never wanted to be baptised before. When we started talking to them (last Sunday) Franciel said that he wanted to be taught again and that he had a sister who also wanted to be taught. So we went over there and taught them a lesson! It was a good lesson (it helps that there are three of us and were all old experienced missionaries). then we invited him to be baptised, which he readily accepted! The next time we went to visit he said that he had read the pamphlet we had left and had also taught his sister about the Restoration. She also wanted to be baptised! It was very cool. We taught her all the lesons in ONE day. Haha, it took about twenty minutes and we just cruzed through them all. Nether of them had any problems with the comandments and Franciel was already reading the scriptures. This was on Friday by the way. We marked both of their baptisims for Saturday (the next day). Their Mom gave her permission, they had their interview, and Saturday inbetween the sessions of conference they were baptised. Their Mom was there and it was a great experience. Ive almost reached my baptisim goal for my mission! Just three more and we´ll be there. We´re still workin our tails off, and since were in a trio and both our areas are together for a while, that means that we have a HUGE area to cover and that means lots of walking.

Conference was excelent! I really enjoyed hearing the Brazilians talk in Portuguese! Did you get to watch that one? The whole time i was thinking about you guys watching it trying to understand. We had 6 investigators in all go to conference and one really great recent convert named Andreza whos helping us alot with the work here. they all said that they had prayers answered and faith strangthened. I love it when investigators go to conference! 

We also went running up at the zoo and city park the other day! We went with our recent convert and her friend who wants to hear about the church, so we marked to start teaching her. I have some pics which i will send. It was a fun jog. 

The members here are really cool, im loving my last area, and im stoked to finish strong here and come home in 4 weeks! Not much else to tell! Love you all! 

Elder Ian

And here are some pictures of jogging in the park with a recent convert and her friend, plus Elder Frogley's two companions. And the first one looks like a local ward picture or something--not sure.

29 September 2014 - Santos Dumon, Brazil

Well, if there's any truth to the idea that hard-working missionaries are rewarded for their efforts by the Lord, then this week's e-mail is evidence for it. Elder Frogley is in the home stretch, and we're all encouraging him to finish strong and make a sprint of it (according to Dad, using some track analogies that I think I more or less understood).

Haha, sounds like Dads excited with life! Keep up the energy Dad! Haha, im here in one of my favorite cities, in one of my favorite zones, in the best area of that zone with a cool american comp that i know! Actually were in a trio, but only for three weeks. Were havin fun here! The tough part is we have to work two areas. that means a lot of walkin and on these worn legs, thats no fun. Our area is half of the capital of Sergipe. Its called Santos Dumon and its much different then my last area. Its in a huge city, with a very well organized ward and very old, born in the church, type of member families. We actually get help with our investigators and, best of all, we have lunch!! I was missin the taste of food sooo much... haha, the members here take care of us very well.

Also cool, we started running! We have a park/zoo next to our house and we went joggin through it. Im REALLY out of shape. Ill have to work on that when i get back. Itll be even worse in Utah. But they have lions and tropical birds, and a jaguar and stuff! Its really cool! Theres also this sweet over look where you can see the whole city, next to the river with a huge bride! Its so cool! Ill send pics next time cause i didnt bring my camera last time.

We have a few investigators, but its been hard to really get to know them because our area is so huge, and both my comps take control in their areas, so i just kinda sit content in the middle and talk when i feel like something needs to be said. We did have a pretty cool lesson yesterday with a young man who was visiting his member grandma yesterday. Hed been to church a few times and enjoys it every time. We taught the restoration to him and we all took a turn teaching something. Im pretty sure he didnt really catch the magnitude of what we were saying, but he felt the spirit and accepted baptisim without hesitation. Hes goin to be living with his Grandma every week end so hell be attending church in our ward.

Im so greatfull for this chance to just relax and teach people in a calm ward with a cool comp in a place i like. Its such a huge change of pace from the screaming women with knives and dinky branches with no members where all the people in the city hate the church and us and every lesson is a battle. Itll be excellent to finish my mission here. Ive discovered something. Im one of the most easy going chill missionaries on the mission. Every comp ive had said that he was really stressed out with his previous comp and that he was praying for a chance to work relaxed, then he got me! haha, its a good thing to be i think, and ill try to keep it up after my mission. Work, but in a way that makes people smile and not get all tensed up all the time.

Not much else to report! Love you guys!

Elder Ian

22 September 2014 - ???, Brazil

OK, make sure you're sitting down for this one! Honestly, the most violent thing that happened on my mission in Spain was an old man threatening me with his umbrella, so for me this is nuts! Also, Dad invited Elder Frogley to go to Frontsight training with him and Mom, which teaches firearms training similar to what is taught in police academies. Also, Elder Frogley got transferred, but he failed to tell us where to, but apparently it's somewhere he really likes. Hopefully he'll tell us next week.

Gun class for a few days? Sounds fun! Im down! But anyway, sounds like you all had a fun week full of general authorities! My week was a little more violent then yours was odly. I have some interesting stories and some awesome news! so lets get to it!

First off, that women that we were teaching, Ana Cleide, had some tough times with her ´´boy fried´´ (married guy whos cheating on his handy capped wife with our investigator). We went over there on Tuesday afternoon to talk to her about the future, and baptisim. She was set on keeping her child and was looking like she was progressing. While we were talking to her Sabasteão started callin her, over and over, and over again. We turned her phone off so that she could focus. Shes scared of the guy and when were not there he dominates her. We hadnt really met him yet but when ever were not there, he visits and yells at her about us. After we turned off Ana Cleides phone, we talked for a little while in peace. Then Sabasteão comes bursting through the front door, yelling that he wants to talk to us. We were both sitting and he was angry, so we stood up to shake his hand as he was getting ready to yell at us. Once he saw our size, he decided it would be a better idea to yell at Ana Cleide about us. Shes slightly handy capped and she has brain damage from alcohol use, so she started screaming and treamoring and getting verry angry. He just kept screaming and trying to drag her out of her chair and she got so angry that she started to hit him. At this point my comp and i were close by to prevent anything crazy, so after she hit him in the chest, and he retaliated with a haymaker to her face, forced them apart. He tried to get me out of his way but i wouldnt let him pass and we told him to leave the house, which he did. He went out side the front door and she sat on the chair crying. Her mom came to the front door (its a gheto duplex. Her mom shares the ceter wall and the house is tiny. THe door is split in the middle so you can open the top or the bottom. Only the bottom was closed.) and I told her to call the police but shes scared of police, seeing as shes from a more criminal back ground, so we were kinda by ourselves. Just Ana Cleides daughters were helping. After Sabasteão left i closed the door and latched it, then stayed in the front door to keep him out. He decided he wanted to come back in but i wasnt letting him so he started getting mad and said he was goin to push me out of the way. WHich was an obvious bluff. He couldnt even say it lookin me in the eyes. He started speaking badly about us and yelling, which made ana cleaide even madder. She got up and went to the kitchen. I still had my back to her keeping Sabasteão out and trying to ask him nicely to just leave. Next thing i knew her daughters were yelling ´´shes got a knife!´´ I turned around and ana cleide was trying to sneak past me with a knife to get at Sabasteão. We stopped her and wrestled the knife out of her hands. AFter that every one started to calm down and we went next door to talk to her Mom a little. That was a crazy episode. After that, Ana cleide got really drunk and ended up aborting her baby. Im ready to get out of this area. We made some good knew investigators this week, but most of our old ones all dropped off the map or stopped progressing. But the silver lining? We prayed for help to make news and we made more news this week then in the last 4 weeks combined! THat was cool! 

This week was Zone Conference and i gave my farewell testimony with the rest of the missionaries leaving the mission. It was a strange sensation being in front of everyone for the last time. It was a sad moment cause the fact that im almost done hit me when i was gettin ready to give my testimony. Soooo weird! But i am excited to start my last transfer.

I got transfered, probably because of the episode above, to one of my favorite cities and areas in the mission! Also with a chill comp! Im so stoked just to be happy for the end of my mission! 

My good friend Elder REams went home yesterday and now were all in a trio for today. Were goin to say goodbye to members and im goin to update our records of our investigators for my comp. I told the pres (of the branch) that we got transfered thismorning and he said something that i appreciated. He said that hed be sad to see us go because he sees so many missionaries that pass through and do nothing, but we some of the few that made a difference in the area. I didnt reach my goal of baptising in all of my areas, but its good to know that i made a difference in my time here.

I love you Fam! We had some other run ins with Sabsteão durring the week but he showed us more respect then the first time, i wont tell all the sories because it would take forever, but im thankfull for the pacience i learned her in Viçosa. Through members, to the investigators, to just crazy people in the street to my comp. I learned to realy talk and work out problems. If I had had this experience earlier in my mission, in think i would have punched Sabasteão in the face, instead of calmly telling him to leave and lovingly trying to help him leave Ana Cleide. I think thats what i was suppose to learn here and im thankfull for that.

I love you soo much again family! Shooting camp sounds fun Dad! I get it signed up for! 

Elder Ian

15 September 2014 - Viçosa, Brazil

You know as a missionary, working with investigators can bring some of the most amazing testimony-building experiences of your life. It can also be a source of seemingly never-ending frustration, and this week Elder Frogley shares a little bit of both. We also hear about how a district of missionaries comes together to strengthen a struggling elder, as well as Elder Frogley's plans and goals for his district over the next few weeks before his own release, which is quickly approaching.

Alright! Hey family! This week has been interesting and full of growing experiences (or in other words, it was tough)! Thats awesome about Christians ordinations! I dont really remember mine that well... Do you have that typed up too? Id love to read that again. haha, im excited to see the kids and ill do my best to take some weight off of moms shoulders so she can sleep in more ;). haha. Im glad that Christian will be there when i get back! Im goin to need people to watch movies and play videogames with! haha

So lets get to the week! 

This week has been a battle in the house and with our investigators. In the house, one of the missionaries in the other companionship has been trying to go home 4 months early for the past several weeks. He finally got permission to go and talked to his Stake Pres and was all ready to go, but his comp and i felt like we hadnt done enough to help him stay in the mission. So we sat him down and had a really heavy talk for a while. We said some tough stuff to him, and to his credit, he took it well. At the end, he called Pres and told him he dicided to stay! That was cool. His Stake Pres hadnt called his mission Pres yet so he caught it just in time. But now hes firm in staying until January. Now we just have to get him to want to work again until January, haha. 

My comp has been having some tough times. I found out that hes chronically depressed and extrememly paranoid. he thinks that everyones against him. Anything we do that he doesnt like, he calls Mission Pres. behind her back. Pres told me that i needed to help him talk to us more and new that he was a tough comp, but also asked me to help him as a personal favor. Were really trying to help him as a district, but we could do better. Its tough to help someone who doesnt want help. We had a pretty intense talk the other day with all of us and he got really quiet. hes getting a little better now, but any suggestions?

Our investigators are REALLY annoying. We have a few breaths of fresh air but on the most part its just crazy. 

Ana Cleide, that women who is trying to stop drinking and smokin to be baptised, is passin for some tough stuff. We found out that she is pregnant and the father is a married guy that she use to work for. He doesnt leave her alone and he told her if she leaves him he´ll kill her. She doesnt want the baby, so she decided to abort it. We spent the past week trying to convice her not to abort her kid and to stop drinking. I heard the sadest prayer i think ever. Her daughter prayed in the closing prayer and asked God not to let her Mom kill her baby brother. I feel so badly for her kids. They think that all this is normal. We also found out that shes already had 4 abortions with other men. We talked to Pres about her and he told us he´ll have to talk to her, and that it would be hard for her to be baptised, which we already knew. We´ll keep workin with her though. She decided not to kill the child again but shes realy ficcle.

Juliana is still really firm but she missed her baptims date again! This time it was her time of the month, which was what happened the first time we tried to baptise her three months ago. She didnt go to church later, but we think she might have gone to Maceió to go to the hospital because she wasnt home at night either. but she still reads the scriptures every day and she really wants to be baptised. Ive never had a baptisim this crazy. Pres said he wanted to talk to her too, but her baptism is marked for next week again.

João was doin great. We visited him with his uncle whos a member, and he promised that he´ll double his efforts to get an answer from God. But then he didnt go to church Yesterday. When we went to his house, he told us that he was thinkin last night, and decided that he didnt want to study with us anymore. He told us that it wasnt because of the church, because he believed its was true, but its because hes goin through some psychological problems. Hes depressed like i think i said before, but hes started seing a shrink and he wants to wait till hes better to continue with the church. We marked Ether 12 for him to read and told him that he could get better more quickly studing with us then goin to a shrink. He promissed to read and think again but we´ll see what he wants tomorrow. 

Ana Lucia met up with the Father of her kids and theyre goin to get back together. Thats good i guess, as long as they get married, but theyre also moving away. So were goin to lose her, and she was one of our only progressing investigators. That was a bumber. We´ll get her address though and send new missionaries to her house.

Finally, Larisa was tough. Shes the girl whos been trying to get bapised forever but her Dad is super Catholic and crazy (litterally). She got permission, but her Dad REFUSED to sign her permission form for baptisim. He said that she can be baptised but he ´´wont sighn anything!´´ We tried to reason with him, but hes crazy. After that we went back to check up, and found out that he had been attacking his daughter for her choice and Larisa told us that she didnt want to be baptised any more. Her Dad after she said that decided to argue with us and with some, I think, rightous anger, we burned him to the bone. We testified and corrected and taught from the scriptures until he shut his mouth. That was satisfying. But i think it helped Larisa because she talked to Branch Pres and said she wanted to be baptised the 27th again. He´ll go there and try to get her paper signed. 

As far as my plan for the District Dad. Its to find as many news as we can and change the was missionaris are viewed here. Most people hate the missionaries and the members are used to constant persicution from other churches. We started teaching members how to pass references and how to help us more effectively. We´re having a tough time finding news here. So were goin to go around and visit all the members until we have a large pool of news. We also started a reference sheet on the announcement board at the church. To make it easier for members to give references. So our plan is to make friends and get references! Any suggestions?

Thats about it for this week! Im holdin, and your prayers are appreciated! Love you all!

Elder Ian 

8 September 2014 - Viçosa, Brazil

For those who may not be aware, my younger brother Christian (the youngest sibling in the family) will be receiving his own mission call in the near future. Also, Grandma Harrison (our last surviving grandparent) had a minor accident recently while at home that seems to have addled her mind somewhat. If you feel so inclined, please include her in your prayers.

Im soooo excited to see where Christian goes on the mission!!!!!! What if he goes portuguese speaking!? We could speak Portuguese together! That would be so cool. Somebodies gota learn Portuguese to speak with me. Haha, Ill be sure to pray for Grandma. I gota hang on to my last grandparent! I dont wana be that old guy who doesnt have grandparents. 

So this week was epic! Weve really been seeing the blessings of working hard in our own personal worthiness, the only down side is that people have their own free agency. João has been awesome! we visited him several times last week and hes really doing well. We visited him Friday night and he told us hes been having a problem with depression. He takes pills and stuff. We hopped on that and decided to talk about how we can be truely happy. We taught about the comandments and how obeying them blesses our lives. He promissed to obey and has been really doing well. He´s still praying and has started reading the scriptures. We have his baptisim marked for the 13th and its lookin like he´s goin to make it just fine.

Juliana was suppose to be baptised on Saturday and she was all ready to go. The only problem was that the church didnt have water on saturday to fill the faunt. NOOOO! we´ve been trying to baptise this women for the past 3 months and it just never happens. She didnt go to church too because she was scared that her cat would die because shes sick. We marked her baptisim again for this Saturday or Tuesday. We´ll try to talk to her today ortomorrow. Shes really good though. She reads the BoM every day. 

That family we found from the reference from the girl from the store is lookin good and bad at the same time. We´ve started focusing on two of the women in the family. A sister; age 28, and a sister age;14. Theyve both revieved answeres to their prayers and both expressed a lot of desire to be baptised. THe older one said that she wanted to leave her old life behind and told us that she wanted to get baptised imidiately. We taught them the comandments and told them about the seriousness of baptism. They promissed to go to church and were getting ready to go and everything, but never showed up. Later yesterday we passed by to see what happened and we found them at a birthday party at their house, both drunk. We were a little frustrated to say the least, but we´ll return to visit them today to burn them. My comp likes doin that so ill leave him to it.

Larisa is goin to be baptised on the 27th. shes that little girl who always goes to church but her parents didnt want her to be baptised. She decided she wants the baptisims and her parents finally let her, but her Dad always tells her how bad her decision is and everything. Hes really annoying and really ignorant. He got in a showting match with my comp yesterday. 

AnaCleide, who use to have a problem with drinking, has stopped drinking and only needs to stop smoking now. Shes helping her family and taking in sisters in trouble so she couldnt go to church on Sunday, but shes goin to be married the fist week of October and shes really progressing well. She cant read so she has her kids (who are members) read to her.

Friday we had a mission tour with the second councelhor of the Brazil area Presidency. He burned us to DEATH about our planning. He told us we had to have a planning on Friday for the next week, every week, and he said that it needed to be at least 3 hours long. I felt like that was a LOT but we tried it out. It was so hard to stay focused. But he was really cool and we felt the spirit a lot.

My comp is being tough. Hes a little desturbed and the Pres told me to try to help him. He gave me this comp on purpose to try to help him, and ive been trying to but the dudes crazy. He always gets mad about the littlest things that i do and then i have to go appologize even though i did nothing and he thinks that he should be senior and thinks im dominating him. Sooooo annoying but hes teaching me pacience. Good skills i can use with my future wife!

Any way thats about it! Love you all! have a good week!

Elder Ian

1 September 2014 - Viçosa, Brazil

It's MONDAY!! So seriously, the only thing I enjoy about Mondays is e-mails from Elder Frogley. They are always a treat and help bring the Spirit and a sense of hope and positive attitude. Good stuff.

Wow, so much changing and sooo many people getting old! Sounds like yall are doin great though! im actually doin really well now! Last week was a little tough becaus of my comp, but we got things worked out more or less and now were workin it up and we have some awesome investigators. The only problem is im getting really tired of writing these HUGE emails! Only 7 left though. I can do that :)

So this week started off with a District meeting that was pretty awesome if i do say so myself! We talked about chapter 8 of preach my gospel, which talks about Christ-like attributes. We talked about diligence and we talked about things we could do better as a district. We´re workin to help this Branch become a ward and were almost there! We have 11 men now and we need 15! Were teaching two new men now so were sneakin up on it. 

With investigators, we started teaching João, that man that went to church last week. He is very inteligent. We taught him and his sister about the Restoration and he understhood very well and asked questions after! That doesnt happen to often! Hes lost a brother recently and his sister is married and has lost 6 babies. So we also taught the Plan of salvation to them. When we went back to teach the second time he brought out his Restoration paphlet and showed us the questions it has to answer in the back (every one has a bunch of questions and scriptures to study in the back) and he had answered every single one in detail! We marked their baptisims for two weeks from now. Their only problem is they have a hard time realizing the Holy Ghost when they pray. They are praying and reading though.

We also started teaching a women named Ana Claudia. We´d met her a couple other times and every time we had met her she was drunk to the point of not functioning. Pres passed by her house the other day and talked to her, because all of her kids are baptised. he told us she wanted a visit so we passed over just to say we did. We walked in and she wasnt drunk which was strange. Then she started to tell us about how awefull her life was and all this stuff. She told us about this man who abused her and wouldnt let her leave the house. Hes married but hes ´´dating´´ her. She was just a mess but she wants to get out of it. We talked to her about the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. She promised to talk to the Man and also to stop drinking and smoking. Usually a promise like this is temporary, or that was what i though. She hasnt drinken since, and that was 5 day ago. Thats huge for her. Were goin to continue to help her and we´ll see where she gets to. 

We also taught Dameão and family again. Dameão is getting a little lazy but his family is determined to go to church. His sister told us that she wanted us to pass every night because she felt something different in the house with us there. She would have gone to church, but she has a fobia of going outside. She got traumatized a while back when her friend got shot by the police while she was with him. But the real progress was in his little sister. By the way Dameão is the guy who recently got out of prison and ´´found Jesus´´ in the joint. But the younger sisters name is Mayara. She was taught about the Restoration and believed it, and i taught her about the Doctrine of Christ and how it applied to the Restoratoin . After the lesson she said how she just felt a pull to go to the church and she said that she knew it was the holy ghost. She only didnt go to church because she had to work. 

Saturday we had a church dance and me and Elder McMahan danced around like crazy fools! It was good to get a little energy out.

Heres a funny story! Have you guys ever felt like Rock stars? Cause i have now! Today we went to a school in a neighboring city to talk to the students about the United States and Africa. After the class people started to attack us! People were asking us questions, asking to take pics with us, asking for our names and stuff! They didnt even let us leave for like 15 min! We were wading through a crowd of 10 to 17 year olds thrusting papers into our hands to sign and takin pics of us. Haha, it was crazy. When we left they tried to bar the front door so we couldnt leave! The principal came and thanked us and an English teacher came and talked to me a while. We were a hit. There were like 300 students there. A bunch promised to go to church and we handed out a lot of pass along cards. 

Anyway, thats about it!

Love you!

Elder Ian

25 August 2014 - Viçosa, Brazil

Hello friends and family! We're so glad you could join us for another week in the adventures of Elder Frogley in Brazil. This week brings us some more challenges that missionaries often face, including absent-minded investigators, doubts and fears, and strange food. Enjoy!

Thanks Dad! Sounds like life continues to be relaxing in Utah! Is it starting to cool off yet? Im kinda dreading coming back to the cold. I think ill freeze solid the moment i step off the plane. haha, but this weeks for me was a little un eventfull. We did have a supprise visit from the Pres! That was stressfull! Our house was a little dirty and the only warning he gave us was asking us to come open the door for him. He called me on my cell but my comp answered the phone, talked for a sec, then hung up and started cleaning like a crazy person, haha, that was funny. 

Tuesday i gave a sweet training to the missionaries! It was about working until the end and i made them do push ups. Its an importants subject for our district seeing as three quarters of our district willbe home in two months. Were working everyday and trying to help some people get baptised, but the other missionaries almost never work and im getting a little worried about them. 

Me and my comp worked a ton this week but were having a hard time finding our investigators home. Thats frustrating. Everyone seems to be traveling or something. but we did find a whole family to teach and they all excepted baptisim! thas was crazy! It started with a trip to the market where we found this girl working there. She stopped us and asked us to teach her family. She was from Rio de janeiro where she talked to the missionaries and liked them a lot. She sent us to visit her family because her brother had recently gotten out of jail where he had ´´accepted Jesus´´ as she said it.  We went to visit them and, not goin to lie, they were kinda crazy. They live in a tiny little house without a ceiling (normal) and with only three rooms and a kitchen. There are four adults and about 6 kids living inside. It was a little hectic trying to teach all of them but we finally got our message across. The son really wants to know which is the true church but has a hard time understanding that we were there for the percise reason of answering his question. He was a little slow. Probably because of drug use. It was kinda sad. But he was attentive and he was reading the scriptures with us and everything. THey all promised to read and pray about our message and they promised to go to church. They didnt end up goin to church because one of the kids got sick and one of the adults had a bacterial infection. But they promissed to go next week. 

Our other investigators are having a rough time. Juliana is working in Maceio durring the week now so we cant teach her. She promissed that if shes here on Sundays shell go to church. Also Jessica is giving up all together on church and trying to stop smoking. And Marcio didnt go to church because he was drinking and didnt want to go to church when he had just broken a comandment. But with all of these sad stories and no one goin to church, we had a silver lining. A young man went to church with his two less active friends! His name was João and he really liked the church. Were goin to go visit him today and hopefully hes still as excited as he was at church. 

In other news! Yesterday for lunch we had Feijuada! In other words they make beans and put everything in it. Yesterday they put intestine in it. Like a diced up intestine. It was even in the form of a ring and everything. It was like eating a hose. It was really gross. Haha, good stories to tell!

Love you guys!

Elder Ian

18 August 2014 - Viçosa, Brazil

Missions are amazing things, not only for the tens of thousands of lives touched every year, but also in what they do to the missionary. Our dear Elder Frogley has undergone quite an amazing transformation, and it shows even more clearly every week as he writes to us about his experiences teaching the gospel and building his testimony. Christian, our youngest brother, just had his bishop interview to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, and he should have his mission papers turned in very soon, so we're all quite excited to find out where he will be sharing and building his testimony as he preaches the gospel as well.

Man! Im sooo excited Christians almost ready to get on the mission! Im pumped to know where hes goin to go!!!! What if he comes to Brazil!! We could speak portuguese together and have secret conversations like Mom and Dad did with Italian and French! Thatd be sweet! Sounds like your week was succesfull! Lots of stuff goin on! And the house looks amazing! Looks like an excelent Christmas house! I look forword to bumbing out in it until January ;) haha. 

Anyway, i had an eventfull week! We had transferes on Tueday. no one in my district got transfered, but we had leadership switch and i got a new comp because Harris went home. Im now comps with Elder Pires! Hes from Africa, which is different and pretty cool. he´s kinda weird but its cool to talk to him about his country and culture. He lives on a Volcano in Cabo Verde of the coast of Western Africa. Its pretty sweet. The other change was that of District Leader, who will now be yours truely! Again! haha, theyre just throughin me all over the map. At least im use to it now. Ill most likely stay here as district leader until the end of my mission. Ill be a good way to help me finish strong. A young comp and a leadership possions. Itll be good! 

This week was good. I was mostly trying to widdle down our investigator pool to just the really good ones. We´ve really had some good lessons with a few and some sad disapointments with others. I think its interesting, in the teaching aspect. I always hear people say that they learn more teaching people then being taught, and i never thought much of it, but really when i have a real lessons guided by the spirit, i learn a lot and fortify my own testimony. Also i prove to myself how much ive grown. I was always impressed how people could just talk about doctrine topics in talks for ever, but now i know. When i really feel the sprirt, i can just talk and help people feel the spirit. But to do it, you have to be prepared. Im just reminded of things i learned like ten years ago from Dad and its something that really helps the investigator. Im just so greatfull i was prepared from my youth to be able to teach people.

Anyway! We taught Marcio quickly, he was doing well with readng the scriptures and the pamphlets we left him, but hes having a tough time building up the courage to talk to his ´´wife´´´. I dont know how he can stay with her. She wont even talk or even look at him. He seems miserably. Its so sad. On the upside, We started really teaching his Mom! She seemed at first like she didnt want anything to do with the church, but when we talked to her, she just was elect. She showed the same level of understanding as her son and she understood the importance of the Restoration right away. The only concern she had was how early we marked her baptisim for! It was awesome. The didnt go to church though, it looks like her son had a motorcycle accident. Were goin to go back to she how he is and how shes doin. But she was amazing. 

Juliana was in Maceio ALL week working, so we werent able to visit her until yesterday. She missed her baptisimal apointment. When we talked to her yesterday she said she still belived everything but that she was a little down on baptisim because she didnt know if she was ready. Were talked to her about prophets, about preperation and about baptism. There was a great spirit in the room and she smiled and accepted baptism again for the sixth. were not givin up on her yet! 

Gabriel and Maria are still doin well! We taught a lesson to Maria and her son and he LOVED it. He asked lots of questions and took our pamphlet to study from the back. Hes very smart. 

Jessica is having troubles like always, but shes doing better. She decided to mark her own baptisim and make her own goals to stop smoking, which is excelent. She wants it to be a supprise so didnt tell us her goal. The real breakthrough we had was with her husband Tiago. We´ve been teaching him more then usual recently. We had a talk yesterday about his standing with helping Jessica. He never really wanted anything to do with the church. He thinks its more important for us to teach Jessica and thinks that he doesnt need help. We sat him down and explained to him plainly exactly how wrong he was. Sometimes people dont understand unless you just say in bluntly to their face and weather or not they get mad will show if theyre elect or not. We told him he was just as needing of the gospel as his wife and said that he could be helping her a lot more to stop smoking by lifting her spiritually through his example. He didnt get mad. He tried to deny it for a while but in the end he started crying and promised to try to help her a little better. You could tell how much he loved her and it was cool to see. Theyre really good people.

I taught Elders Quorum on Sunday! That was fun! Ummm... I think thats about it! 

Love you family!

Elder Ian

Hey Dad, I revised my plan. I live at home until January then move out to Logan to work in the house that will hopefully be ready by then. Then ill work until August when ill start school. Sound all right?

11 August 2014 - Viçosa, Brazil

We had a great time reading Elder Frogley's e-mail home last night as we joined my parents for Family Home Evening--they have been gracious enough to allow us to stay with them while we close on a house here in Layton. Also, as many of you may know, Elder Frogley has planned for a number of years to join the ranks of the chiropractors in the family, and I know Dad is excited to have him join him and Cory at the office in Bountiful someday. In any event, lots more exciting things happening in the life of our beloved missionary, including the fact that he has only TWO transfers left!! Wow!

Hey Family! Thats awesome that Dave lives close now! I can go hang out with him and stuff! Perfect! When i get home, i think yall will be pleasently suprised when i get home, i tend to clean for fun sometimes! Weird right? Haha, i like to think i changed a lot on the mission. Its weird to think im off to get my last comp tomorrow. Elder Harris went home yesterday, sad day. We took a pic with the whole branch and Jessica (our investigator who smokes) was crying, and it was sad. No one got transfered though. We Did have that emergency transfer and we have three Americans living in the same house now. We´ll see who pres sends to be my comp for my last two transfers. Who ever it is, i feel bad for him, if he´s not american. Livin with three Americans is tough. We´ll try to speak a lot of portuguese around him.

Our week was fairly uneventfull, sadly. We tried to get Juliana baptised, and she said she was ready. She was sooo close! but on Wednesday she traveled and we havent been able to visit her since. Our other baptisim to be also fell through. We were waiting for Pres. to visit her (branch pres.), but he never got around to it.

Alright, now that i got the sad news out of the way! Lets talk about something cool that happened! Jessica has made some great progress on her path to baptisim! We gave her a little time to ponder and to set her own goals to stop smoking. Her spirituality is growing again! She said that she had some depression the other day, so she started smoking, and as she was she started feeling some epic chest pains. She felt like if she kept smoking shed die. So she decided to stop smoking, and to call us to tell us she was ready for baptisim. Sadly she tripped up again, but she doesnt smoke on Sunday, and only every once and a while the other days. Shes soooo close! She reads the Book of Mormon every day, and shes been going to church. I think she´ll be baptised soon, along with Juliana who we havent given up on yet. 

We also taught a couple Saturday. Gabriel (inactive) and his girlfriend Maria (non-member). THey live together and we taught both of them sepperately several times. Maria wants to get marreied to Gabriel and be baptised. THe only problem is Gabriel is  heavy drinker. We had a great lesson about the Law of C and the Word of W. At the end Gabriel promised to stop drinking. And their getting ready to get married. 

Marcio is going to have a tougher time. He still hasnt made it out to church. Hes really intelegent, but a little dominated by his ´´wife´´. They definatly dont love eachother, but they have kids, so we cant tell them to just break up. its going to be tough for them. He reads everything we give him and hes making a lot of progress in everything else.

This week there was a LOT of rain and the river in the city got really high. Some guy that has a shack made out of old wood and cardboard right on the bank of the river, almost got his house washed away. It looked like the wate was washing through his ´´living room´´. 

Not much else to report! 

Ill get my last comp tomorrow!!!!

Love you!

Elder Ian

Yea it sounds a little expensive, but im looking for lots of stuff to do, and places to work when i get home. Im planning on donating blood frequently. Ill have a full time job, or two part time jobs. I was even thinking about moving to LA with my buddy here to work there from January until June. I really want to live close to the beach for a while and learn how to surf. Dont worry though, im making sure to plan money into it. He has some conections and hes looking for possible jobs for us. Ill make sure ill be able to afford school with an extra cusion. If he cant find a job that would make it worth it, i wont go. We´ll probably have some long talks when i get back about my futures. I have a plan bruing that sounds like my dream life. I still want to be a chiropractor and work in youre blossuming clinic, but my final goal is a clinic in Hawaii so i can be close to the beach in a warm place. Ill want some advice when i get home. Anyway. I also found possibly cheap of even free housing in logan for school. The Americans im living with are going to be my room mates. Ill need a car, i was thinking a fuska (bug) the old fashion ones. Haha, that would be awesome. Anyway, tell me what you think! Love you! And yes you can send my card. Thanks so much!

4 August 2014 - Viçosa, Brazil

Well, it's another beautiful day with the opportunity to read more about amazing spiritual growth and the blessings of the Lord to those who strive to follow him. I didn't get a copy of the e-mail Dad sent--the response I received was a reply to Jami's e-mail to Elder Frogley, but it doesn't seem that there are any references to clear up. Just remember, "news" refers to "new ones" (new investigators).

Alright! Sorry this email will be fast family! We´re in a different area and we need to run to visit people so were making it fast. This week was pretty awesome! Biggest news! Juliana accepted baptisim again! For next week! We went to talk to her and she was having some doubts about Joseph Smith, so what we did was looked up several scriptures in the Bible and the Book of Mormon for her to study. She was having problems believing that anyone could see Gods face. After we had talked for a little bit, it was realy cool, because i really felt what we said was guided by the spirit. We kept calm, and not frustrated when she didnt understand things, and after we had taught and bore testimony, the lesson had really strengthened my own testimony of Joseph Smith and Prophets. It was a great lesson. She promissed ot read, pray, and she accepted baptisim for next week. We went back and visited her again on Saturday and she was already with questions from the things she had read. It was great! Shes progressing again, and that was great to see. 

We also taught Marcio and his Mom twice this week. Theyre the miracle golden news from last week we found (or were guided to). He loves the lessons and listens so humbly. Its so good, teaching him. Every time we finish giving a lesson, he just smiles, and says ´´thats one step closer to baptisim.´´ The guy is awesome. We taught about the Word of Wisdom and The Law of Chastity with the Branch Pres. Last week. Marcio lives with his girlfriend in his Moms house. He said he wants to live th Law of Chastity but itll be the hardest one for him. You can tell he and his wife arent on th best of terms. Theyve never talked while weve been there. They have two kids too, so he cant just kick her out. He promised to talk to her and figure out a plan. 

Oseias´s Dad is getting more relaxed with the church! Oseias is that young Man we were teaching a few weeks ago who wanted to be baptised but his Dad didnt like the church. We went to talk to him and there was that old guy who decided to yell at us who i almost punched in the face but restrained my self. Remember that story? Well now Oseias is hanging out at the church, and going to English class again! We even slipped in a leson about baptisim durring English class! Hopefully he´ll be baptised soon.

Jessica is falling into her old bad habits and thats sad to see. But we´ll keep visiting her. Shes not smoking near as much as she use too, which is good. Shes hard to visit too becasue she works all day and studies at night.

Hopefully we´ll have two baptisims this week! One Juliana and the other a girl whos been taught and has been going to church forever, but whos Dad wouldnt let her get baptised. We went back and her Dad is more relaxed now and looks like he´ll give his permission! 

Also there was an emergency transfer, the Peruvian went home and another American came! Four Americans in the same house and the worst part is were all going home in less then 3 months! But were all still working so were surviving. And were making some great plans for the future that ill have to talk to Dad about.

Anyway! Love you everyone! 

Elder Ian

PS Dad, could you possibly renew my debit card? Its out of date now... 

28 July 2014 - Viçosa, Brazil

OK, folks, this week we have some great stories of how the Lord blesses his humble servants as they listen to the Spirit and their priesthood leaders. Also, to help you decipher Elder Frogley's English, when he says "news" he doesn't mean journalistic articles about the goings on around the world, but instead he means "new people" or "new investigators" (literally "new ones" when said in Portuguese, I believe). Anyway...

Hello family! This week was a great one for finding and helping new investigators! We´ve had some great teaching experiences and helped some wonderfull people accept baptisim! On the down side, we havent had the opportunity to teach Jessica and Juliana again because theyre both traveling. But ill fill ya in on that later.

This week weve been praying for God to provide some news for us. We´ve been having a tough time finding people who want to go to church and be taught. Mission Pres. told us to work with the less actives and wed find people to baptise because there are a lot of less actives here. So thats what we decided to do. We have a list of all of the inactive priesthood holder in our area and we decided to visit every single one. Tuesday we visited a Man who was living with his brother who was an inactive member. His name is Marcio and hes just a really large guy, but super chill. He told us that the missionaries use to pass by his house all the time and he really liked them. Hed even been to church a few times. But never was baptised. His brother, the member, didnt want anything to do with the church any more, but Marcio said that we could teach him and his nephew, so thats what we did. We entered into the lesson with little enthusiasm, because he told us that he lived with a women and they werent married, and marrages are tough here. Not the best way of thinking but we realized it half way through the lesson. We were kind of running through the first lesson just to get it over with, not worrying about his understanding, and we started to feel like he really needed the lesson. I think the Holy Ghost chastised us a little. So we stopped and tried to listen to the Holy Ghost to teach him and help him understand. Honestly i think ive never had anyone understand the Restoration so well. He said he would definately pray and search for an answer if the church was true, and he promissed to be baptised on the 19th when he found his answer. That was humbling. Its amazing the things the Holy Ghost can hide from people. When a person wants to understand, The Holy Ghost reveals the trueth. When a person doesnt care, it doesnt matter how clearly you explain something, they dont understand a single principal. But through that experience we we found three more news and marked three baptisims. Already an answer to our prayers.

On Thursday, we took the whole day to visit everyone on our list. We had all four missionaries on our side of the river working our area to get it done, but we finished it! We got them all! Now we can clean up the church records and update the member lists. And we also found some other great people to teach. 

One of those great people was a Man named Gabriel. He moved to another state and stopped going to church, but has come back to Viçosa to stay. When we knocked on his door, he imediately invited us in and told us to sit down. He said hed love to go back to church but hes fallen into some back habits (drinking, and such) and hed have some troubles. He was also living with a women, unmarried. We promissed to come back and visit to teach him and his wife, which we did on Sunday! We stopped by after church. His girlfriend answered the door. He was apparently drunk and assleep, which was sad, but his wife said we could for sure teach her. We taught her about the restoration and we took care to explain verry clearly for her. Shes was full of desire to learn but she was having a hard time grasping the importance of prophets and a restoration. We taught her for a solid hour doing our best to explain the importance of a prophet and we taught about the Book of Mormon. When we challenged her to be baptised, she didnt even hesitate to say yes. She said that earlier that same day shed been challenged to be baptised in the catholic church but she never was and she didnt accept. But she accepted baptisim in an instant with us. I feel like that means she felt the Spirit and understood.

Thats about is as far as our week! It was good and we continue enthusiastic!

Elder Harris (my comp) has two weeks left of his mission Dad, so ill be getting a new comp soon. Probably my last. Theres a weird thought. Also i havent gotten my new plane ticket but ill let you know the times when i do.

Love you!

Elder Ian

PS Dad, keep your eye out for some jobs. Ill need one right away when i get back.

21 July 2014 - Viçosa, Brazil

Yay, I got the e-mail and some more pictures! So here you go. And please don't ask about the comment at the end of Elder Frogley's e-mail about the sad story involving a baby--I don't do sad stories involving children and infants.

Well i have some sad news this week family. But first off! Hello! It was overall a happy week! But neither Jessica nor Juliana were baptised. But the experience of fighting to help them feel the spirit really helped me grow. Lets start from the beginning of the week.

Tuesday we visited our usual investigators. Jessica, Juliana, and Jorge, and weve been focusing a lot on finding new investigators to teach, because weve been having a rough time with that. Jessica was pretty down on herself because she smoked again. She had fallen spiritually and she told us that she felt like she was letting God down, making promises and goals then just smoking again. She was having a rough time. We Did our best to teach her and we tried to mark some new goals with her to stop smoking. More on her later. Juliana was awesome. She appologized for not being able to be baptised last week but affirmed that she was 100% ready. Jorge was fast. He was working so we just stopped by, talked really fast, confirmed that he would go to church Sunday and left. 

We visited Juliana durring the whole week, we visited her with members, we talked about almost all the lessons again, we helped her with questions every day, and she said that she was really excited to be baptised. We even read Lehis vision and she understhood all of it and was even able to explain it to us after. She was doing sooo well, even Friday before her baptisim, she was ready to go. Saturday at around three o clock we went to go visit her to see if she was ready for the baptisim. We got there and she said that she couldnt be baptised. Do you guys remember that pastor that kicked the other missionaries out of their converts house a few weeks ago? Julianas mom is part of that church. When she found out that Juliana was going to be baptised, she started saying a ton of stuff agains the church, and told Juliana that she couldnt be baptised. Julianas 28! I was a little annoyed by that. Juliana told us that she wouldnt be able to be baptised because of her mom. We talked about Lehis vision again and how Lehi had to taste the fruit first before he could call his family. Then we talked about the people making fun of the people holding to the rod from the great and spacious building. She started off not wanting to be baptised, and she even said that she felt sad about her decision, because she new that God wanted her to do it. After an hour, she finally agreed to ask her Moms permission again. Her Mom got home right about that time. Juliana went back and talked to her for about thirty seconds and came back ready to be baptised again! We were so happy and she said that she felt happier too. She recognised it as the Holy Ghost testifying to her that she was doing the right thing. By then it was almost 5 o clock. She promised to be at the church by 6 for the baptisim. We ran to the church to fill up the font and get clothes for the Harris and everything. At about 5:40we got a call again from Juliana. She said that she wouldnt be baptised again!! What!? We ran to her house to find out what happened. We got there and she told us that we had wasted a trip and that there was no way she was getting baptised. She said that while she was getting ready, doubts apeared in her head about Joseph Smith and a modern day profet. She said that she believed in it all yesterday but suddenly she didnt believe anymore. She said all these random things about how men cant see God and these random doubts that usually new investigators have. we tried to teach her paciently but she was verry against baptism at that point. Harris decided we should have a prayer at that moment to see if She should be baptised. Through the whole prayer i was feeling as though she shouldnt be baptised yet, but i was so set on baptising her i ignored it. After a while on our knees, i finally did my best to humble my self and accept that she wasnt ready. The moment that i accepted that and we all sat back down, the spirit came back to the room, and it was much easier for me to help her and teach her, because honestly before we were just burning her. But we started making goals with her for the future. She thought it would be over right there and that we were going to leave, but when we said we were going to try to keep helping her, she accepted. We asked her if she had any more doubts, and she said that if she had an answer about Joseph Smith and a modern prophet, shed be baptised. A Little frustrating especially since shed already recieved soooo many. But we promised to keep working with her on prophets. Shes got her baptisim next week now.

Jessica like i said was having a tough time all week. She didnt even go to church yesterday because she got home saturdayfrom work at 2 in the morning. On Thursday she had a real spiritual boost. We had a family night at her house with half the branch. It was great! We talked about eternal families and the couples in the ward helped a lot. The spirit was awesome there and Jessica and her husband Tiago were really touched. you could tell she want to be a better wife and Mom and she wanted an eternal marage. She was crying after and she said that she was so happy. After the tough week shed had, it was good to see her back with her old spirit. She said she didnt smoke at all thursday and only 1 Friday. But Firday night she was all sad again. We kept talking to her about the atonement and about how God loves her and every time we pass by shes happier after, but then she smokes and gets sad again. Sunday she told us that she even drank a little alchohole again. Sunday night we sat her down and decided to have a real talk. Almost an ultamatom. We talked about how she was feeling, how much shes changed, where she was spiritually one week ago, and how she is now. We talked about her happiness, and everything. She didnt think that she could stop smoking and she didnt want to make more goals to stop again. But then we had a hard talk about how we progress in our lives. And the difference between making a goal not making a decision at all. If youre making goals, even if youre not achieving them, youre still progressing because youre showing your faith in making them. We asked her if she honestly has given 100% in trying to stop smoking. She said that she could do better reading the scriptures and praying when she felt the desire to smoke. So she promised to read a scripture we marked (Alma32) and to make her own goals again to stop smoking. I hope she did what she promised.

Apart from that, this week was pretty chill! Weve gotten some nice references that were going to visit this week, and we worked alot visiting less actives in the city. We visited a bunch of people who can definatly come back to church! 

Thanks for all of your prayers family, i just want you all to know that i see the effects everyday. 

Thats soo sad about that baby Dad. Send them a hug for me. 

I love yall! Oh by the way Dad! My flight got changed to the 11th instead of the 4th. is that a problem? They can change it again if it is. Let me know!

Elder Ian

some pics i forgot to send of the hike

some pics i forgot to send of the hike

coconut and machete

21 July 2014 - Viçosa, Brazil

Well friends and family, I don't have an e-mail yet, but I do have these AWESOME pictures to share. As always, I just copy and paste the text. Please note that I did add the "v" en "even" and the "s" at the end of "glasses" just for clarity.

coconuts, ill show ya how when i get back maybe

epic borritos that we made! We even made home made tortillas!

and finally me and my comp during study time with cool Brazil binis and glasses

14 June 2014 - Viçosa, Brazil

Hey all! So the Lord continues to bless Elder Frogley in his righteous efforts, and this week we see quite clearly how the Lord cares for each and every one of his children, even to the point of inspiring righteous priesthood leaders to go to their aid. Also, for clarification, since Mom and Dad moved, Elder Frogley will likely be speaking both in his old ward and in the new one. Not sure about the interviews with stake presidents, though...

Anyway...

Hello family! 

This week was a sad day for Brazil, and most people were actually cheering for Germany for the final, weird right? Its because they have a huge rivalry with Argentina. They hate eachother. But after tuesdays game, we didnt leave the house. People were crying in the streets and drunk guys were lookin for fights and two German lookin guys would have been prime targets. Even Wednesday was sketchy. But despite that sad loss and the loss against Netherlands, we still got some awesome work done! Jessica passed her baptisimal interview and she was marked to be baptised on Saturday. On Saturday morning, the branch Pres. stopped by our house to tell us that he caught Jessica smoking Saturday morning. So we had to pospone the baptisim. It was sad, but when we went to talked to her that night, she really impressed me. She said that she was embarressed to come talk to us and was scared wed be mad. So she prayed saturday that a messenger of God would be sent to stop her from smoking because she couldnt stop by her self and she was scared to call us. She went off to a quite place where no one usually passes to smoke, and who appears there? The Branch Pres! She tried to hide the cigarret at first, but then she told him that she had tripped up and smoked, and she didnt think she was ready to be baptised. She also said that she wouldnt give up and said that shed definately be in church every sunday. Sunday she came to church and appologized to us. We talked to her, and told her she didnt need to be affraid to tell us anything and she said that she wanted a blessing. It was a really great experience because she had enough faith to come to us and expected results from it. She had an eye infection and headache. After the blessing she thanked us. And went home. When we visited her again later on Sunday, she said that her eye was better and her headache was gone. She said it totally without suprise, just like she was expecting it. Shell have to wait to be baptised a little more. Were going to try for this week, but shes really amazing. She has a lot of faith and the members are really helping to integrate her into the branch already. 

Juliana was going to be baptised on Saturday too, but she had some feminine problems and couldnt do it. We visited her after church to see how she was, and she appologised, but promised she was as firm as ever. Shes really good and shes already accepted to recieve a calling in the church. She doesnt have one yet, but we visited her with the Reliefe Society Pres and she told them shed do whatever she was called to do. She was such an unexpected blessing. We didnt think she was that excited and we didnt know how much she was understanding because shes quite and a little shy, but she can answer questions very well and knows everything. She said we changed her way of thinking about God. Even with the pressure of her Mom and other people including a pastor, shes still firm. Shell be baptised Saturday.

The members here are really helping us a lot. Were planing on doind several family home evenings with investigators this week and were leaving with Pres. Were focusing more on Men now because if we can baptised enough men, they can become a ward here and they can get a nicer church, because the one we have isnt much more then a house. Were excited for them.

On saturday we had a service project were we continued destroying a housewe had started a different day. Today we were destroying a bathroom, and since here, everything is built with clay bricks with plaster over it, we used a sledge hammer and smashed everything!!! Its was SWEET! Haha, and for a brake, we climbed a coconut tree and got a knife and chopped open coconuts to drink the milk. Like natives! were so awesome. Ill send some pics but i dont have my camera today. Also it was Elder Reemses birthday Saturday and we made a Brazilian bbq for him. Im turning into quite the chef here. Ill cook yall something Brazilian when i get home! 

Thats all for now, im cool with two talks when i get home Dad, no problem. And i definately want to meet the new Stake Pres. 

Love yall!

Elder Ian