Letter 2: October 30, 2009

Hey Family I am writing from another Elders Email in my district because we are only allowed 30 minutes on P-Day to email our families and I wrote an email on my time and then when I went to send it, it closed on me and deleted my email. To answer some of your question really quickly so I dont use all of his time, My companion is from Shelley Idaho, he is the youngest of 8 kids. No I am not gaining weight but the food is pretty good. Not as good as moms but its alright. My P-day is on Friday not Saturday it was only on Saturday last week because it was our first week. Things are going good here in the MTC I am learning the language and we had a devotional on Tuesday and Elder L. Tom Perry came and spoke to us. It was a very good talk and he gave us 5 things to learn as a missionary. We have gym 5 days a week and it varies on the time but I REALLY enjoy my gym time. As far as packages go you can send me anything and speaking of packages I need mom to send me one of my hoodies or a sweatshirt because I am most likely going to be here for 9 weeks, and its getting colder. I also could use more stamps for letters, and some more black socks. They dont need to be from Dougs dads store i just need more because I can only do my laundry once a week and I run out of socks before then. How is Missy doing without me? I would love to hear from Jessica and Justin so tell them to Please Email me I really want to hear from Everyone including the grandkids. Please send me letters and tell me whats going on. I really love to hear from you and It makes my day SO MUCH BETTER when I get a letter. I only get to check my email once a week too so I wont write back until Fridays. I love you all and cant wait to hear from you Love Elder Crittenden

First Mission Letter

The following letter was sent home, by e-mail, on Saturday, October 24th.

Dear Mom and Dad,
I am writing you on my first P-Day. It was fun today we went out to the field and played soccer. I am having a good time in the MTC thus far. But they definitely were not ready for all of us here at the MTC in Provo. Here is the reason why. There are 11 Elders and 3 sisters in my district, 4 of us are going to the Teresina Mission, 4 of them are going to the Belou Hor-azonte mission and 6 of them are going to the Belem mission. All 4 of us that are going to the Teresina mission were all called to the Belem mission first but we all got transferred. So to go back to why they were not prepared for us on the first day the 14 of us in our district after we got our nametag and everything else like our 20 pounds of books to help us learn Portuguese. they put us in our classroom and we were supposed to have a teacher but we didn't so we all sat in that classroom for about 3 hours waiting for a teacher. The first day went by really slow and long but these past two days have gone by faster and faster. We finally got our teacher problem figured out and we have two really cool teachers. They are Brother Hardesty and Brother Pena. I am really loving the language of Portuguese and I think that I am learning it fast. My companions name is Elder Cook, he is very cool and we are getting along really well. I havent heard much of anything about my Visa but we will go in due time. I really miss everyone already but as I said the days keep going by faster and faster. Dad if you could forward this to everyone in the family or something like that. There is also a website that they told us about for you to use and it is www.dearelder.com. It is a way for you to mail me faster. I love you and I will keep you updated with as much as I can. Keep me in your prayers.
Love Elder Crittenden

Mission President

From the Church News on March 14, 2009: Mario Aparecido Dias, 41, and Carmen Lucia Goncalves de Sa Dias, five children, Brazil Teresina Mission; Jundiapeba Ward, Sao Paulo Brazil Mogi das Cruzes Stake. Brother Dias is a high councilor and a former stake mission president, ward mission leader, bishop, counselor in a stake presidency and missionary in the Brazil Porto Alegre Mission. Institute director, Church Educational System. Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Leolino Dias Dos Santos and Maria Catarina Gabriel Dias. Sister Dias is a visiting teacher supervisor and a former stake and ward Primary president, ward Relief Society president, ward Young Women president and regional Young Women camp director. Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Antonio Virginio and Raimunda Goncalves Sa.

Mission Call change

President Case received an e-mail from the Church on September 11th, indicating that James' mission call had been changed to the Brazil Teresina Mission. He is still scheduled to report to the MTC in Brazil on October 21st. He received the official call from the church a few days later. One fun thing that happens here in Heber is a call from the post office early in the morning when a mission call comes in. James had been called when his first call came in and we called all of the family in a conference call when he opened that. It was really fun for him when he was called again to go get the new packet for his new mission assignment. As we investigated a little further, we learned that his new mission was created in July, from a division of his original mission, Brazil Belem, and the neighboring mission, Brazil Fortaleza. The following is a quote from the Church News in July: Missionaries in northern Brazil report that a new mission will be created in July 2009 from the existing Brazil Fortaleza and Brazil Belem Missions. The new mission will be the Brazil Teresina Mission and will comprise the state of Maranhão. This will be the 28th mission in Brazil and the 349th worldwide. Very few of the cities in the new mission currently have a Church presence in them. This mission will likely allow the opening of dozens of remote cities which have 50 to 100 thousand inhabitants. As we have learned more about the mission, it sounds very exciting. He will be able to work in areas that have not had a church presence before now. It will be a wonderful and spiritual experience for him. The Lord will bless him with many opportunities to bear his testimony and grow.

Mission Call

James received his mission call on July 7, 2009. He was called to serve in the Brazil Belem Mission. He was scheduled to report to the Brazil Missionary Training Center on October 21, 2009. The Brazil Belem Mission is in the northeastern part of Brazil. It sits right on the Amazon River. It is very hot and humid.