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...