Oí minha querida Família!!!!!

 

Hey you people there in Utah! What's going on?! So life is going pretty good here and we are loving life. We have some very cool investigators right now. One that is a mom named Helena with 2 children. She is awesome and has a great desire to learn. We taught the plan of salvation and she loved it. We want to try and mark for for baptism this week and continue meeting with her. I got a letter from Bishop Clement and from the young men or the priests. Can you tell them thank you for me and that i will respond soon to the questions that they had. But ya we still are looking for more solid investigators and for people who will progress better and that are more solid investigators.

So today we had a 2 zone Christmas conference and party. It was really cool and we got a great meal form the sisters in my ward. Oh ya i have a dinner on the 24th and i am super excited for this because it will be amazing. Then on the 25th or Christmas all of us missionaries are probably going to come and eat with us on Christmas and it will be like a big lunch. So it is starting to get cold here now. It is especially cold with all the wind. But this is only at night. When it is light out side it is very warm and almost hot.  So ya that is pretty nice. I have been sick with a cold or something like that for the past week. It isn't bad or anything just super annoying and it seems like it is getting better right now. So i am happy.

Well it sounds like everyone is running their tails off working right now. So hopefully you will all finally have the chance to take a break and relax here soon. I know that i would sure like to have one. Well sorry but i think that is everything that i can think of right now. Oh ya you all need to  tell me when you want to talk on Christmas so that way i can be ready to talk and have it all planned out. So i love you all and hope you all have a great week and know that i am praying for you all! 

Love Elder Bascom

It's already December??

So I don't know what is happening to this year. It is already gone or just about gone. So my thanksgiving was a good one. We actually had a meal with a member so that was cool. And we woke up in the morning and we went to go throw around a football!!!!! That was the best part. But also today we went to a Brazilian Buffet and it was all you can eat! :) A missionary's favorite words when your hungry, ALL YOU CAN EAT!!! But Ya Thanksgiving was great and it was  a great chance to think about the things that i am really grateful for in my life. Principally the gospel and each one of you. I am so blessed to be here in Portugal right now and to be able to share the gospel with the people here in Porto.

Elder Davis is doing good. He is a great Elder and is working Hard. We have a few investigators that are progressing but it is still some really hard work. But we are up to the challenge and excited to work here. We had a family history presentation in the street. It was really cool. I have to thank all of you that have already done so much of our family history. I was able to show a fan chart of our family history to the people in the street and it was very helpful and made a lot of people very interested in learning more. Did you know that we have a line that goes to 1230 B.C.?! that is crazy! It was super cool to find that out. I want to start doing it for our family as well and see if i can find more people in our line. 

So earlier today we went out and explored a little bit here in Porto so the pictures that i am sending are all of Porto. It was really cool to go out and really see how beautiful this country is and also how old it is too! We went into an old cathedral that was crazy big and really cool. It was weird because of all the different pictures they have but it was cool just to think of how old it really is. I hope that you all enjoy seeing a little bit of this beautiful city!

As this year is coming to an end i have been thinking a lot about what i have done with this year and what more i could have done. I know that i could have and should have done much more. But right now i can't change this past yer but i can use this year to help me remember that i can do better that i can give more. It is the same for all of us. We have so much potential that we don't even know about. But Heavenly Father knows what we can do. He doesn't expect us to do the impossible but he does expect a lot from all of us. So a challenge i got from Dad is to reflect on this past year and see what we could do better and how we are going to do these things better. I have started doing this and i can say that i am starting to see a difference in my life and in this work. I still have a really long way to go but i am excited and ready to give it my all. We have one chance at life; let's take advantage of it and use it to have no regrets in our lives. One of my favorite quotes that many of you know is "Leave it all on the Field." I know that that came from football but it has stuck with me throughout my life. Don't let fear, doubt or anything else stop you or us from reaching our full potential that is our destiny to achieve. 

Well i want all of you to know that i love you all and am truely grateful for your love and your examples that always have guided me throughout my life. Your the best of the best! Have a great week and i will pray for all of you!

Love, Elder Bascom

 

 

 

 

 

white washed.

hey guys, its brittany. sorry for the delay of posting. college has my time stretched pretty thin. but I will try to start posting weekly again. here's the elder's letter from two weeks ago (it helps explain things)::

So exciting and plain crazy news. We had transfers happen today. We found out last night that i will no longer be here in this zone. I will be going to Porto.

the address is:

Rua 9 de Julho

N' 195  3' Esq Frnt

Porto, Portugal 4050-436

It is crazy and i don't know how it's going to be because i have never done a white wash. We had just moved our house here in Monte de Caparica and now i will be going to the other part of the country. But also i will be training a new Elder! So ya i feel a little overwhelmed and don't know how i should react right now. I am sad to be leaving this area and all the people here, but that's normal to feel this way. So i will stay here until Wednesday and then i will go to Lisbon for training and to pick up my comp! then Thursday we will head out for Porto. Speaking about that. I am sorry to ask but i really need some money to get up there. I have enough to get to Lisbon but not enough to get there to Porto. So could you please put like 25 dollars on my card. I can get a reimbursement from it but i need money to get up there. And we don't get money until Friday. So if you could put a little on my card today or tomorrow i would appreciate it a lot! I am pretty excited to train but also nervous. My comp will be Elder Davis. I don't know anything more than that about him. Well i know that he is in the MTC right now. That is really weird to think about! I will be sad to leave Elder Barnhart. He is my favorite comp till now and an awesome Elder. We had a stake conference yesterday and i got to see all of my recent converts that were there! It was awesome. I found out that one of them went to the temple this past week! I was so excited to hear that Ana went! I will be  sad to not see them anymore as well but i heard that my new area is great and in an awesome part of town. I will be living in the same house as my last comp Elder Lima as well. Crazy huh. Well it sounds like you all are doing great and enjoying life. Tell Bishop Clement congratulations for me! I know that he will do a great job! I think that is all on my end. Please if you can put some money on my card and i love you all and hope you all have a great week and know that i love and pray for you all everyday! And if you wouldn't mind sendin a few more prayers this way for me i would be grateful. haha love you all

Love Elder Bascom

and his latest::

SO my family how goes it? Good i hope. So i am doing good. This whole new experience is hard, as in training and white washing here in Porto. So it is very beautiful here though and i love it but the people are a little ~bit more closed with us here. I am just about out of time today. We had a few things to do so i don't have much time to write but sorry about that. Happy B day Tiff and i love you all. This is going to be hard here but i am up to the challenge! My comp is Elder Davis from Provo Utah. He is really cool and has a great desire to work. The pictures are Elder Barnhart and me, Elder Davis and me. and me eating fransizinhas. Amazing sandwich! I love you all and sorry this is short but you all have pictures so hopefully that makes up for it. Tchua and have a great week you all.

 

 

Oí whats going on my family?
So i am tired! This week was crazy. We have been working in all of Almada
this past week. So we have been running around all week. I just have been
looking forward to today for a little rest. So Baseball last week was the
funnest thing ever! We are going to play again today. I woke up the day
after though and i just wanted to cry. My body is not used to playing
sports haha. But it was really cool. So life out here for me is going good.
Really hard at times but good. I am kinda of hoping for a change though
from this upcoming transfers. It has been hard with this companion to work
hard and diligently. I am constantly trying to fight with myself to want to
work harder. And that is making it hard to stay focused. It has really been
making me think about why I am really here. So i am trying to just do
things even more obedient with everything to help me stayed focused and
working. But i am happy to be here on a mission. That much i do know. It
just is the hardest thing i have ever had to do in my life. I miss the old
atmosphere in Utah where it was just so easy to find good people and
surround yourself with them. Here it is different but there still are those
people here. Just are harder to find them. But one cool thing that has been
happening a lot is that most people here are saying that my Portuguese is
really good. I was excited when people said that. Well ya not a lot has
happened this week. Sorry that this is so short. But i am doing good thank
you for the prayers and for everything you all are amazing and i am
grateful for everything that you all have done for me! I am glad to hear
that you all are doing good and i hope that your all loving life and here
are a few pictures from baseball haha. Hope you like them. Also we found a
submarine in Cacilhas which was super cool. They just have it there on
display! Way cool. But ya I love you all And i really am glad to be out
here!
Elder Bascom

happy 20th elder.

So how it is going family? So my week was hard. This new area is kicking my butt to be honest with you all. But i like it still. Just really hard because we white washed it and sometime i have no idea what to do. But i am planning a lot more to help with that so hopefully that helps.  So the forth of July was a good day! We had ice cream at night time. Also i went to the doctors office because i was peeing blood a little bit. But the said that by the symptoms i was not having anything serious. But they said that they would run some tests. another day. But then i stopped and i haven't had that happen for the past few days and no symptoms what so ever so i will not have to go back which makes me excited haha. But in other words we sang the nation anthem like 4 times on the forth. It was a lot of fun. And right now in my area it is like 100-105 degrees everyday. Sometimes 108. Kinda stinks to be wearing pants shirt and a tie everyday. But that is part of being a missionary. And we have a match stick cupcake for the 4th of July. Which is a lot of matches tapped together and then you light the tops on fire and it gets big for like 3-5 seconds and then really small. So it was cool. Also an espada de fogo. Fire sword translated. So you wrap a ping pong ball in tin foil and light it on fire it shoots out fire for like 30 seconds and spins in a circle. It was cool and unexpected. Then for my birthday we had Burger King and some food with my district as well. So double lunch! and i drank a ton of water and sweated like crazy. I do not like the heat here!!! But it was a good day. I got a cake and a tie from one of my recent converts and her son that live in Miratejo. They surprised me with it! So that was super cool. Oh ya every night i have to sleep with a fan on me so i can actually sleep. Along with the other missionaries in our house. So we each have a fan that is just for us to use to try and not get too hot during the night! fun stuff. But life here is awesome or was yesterday we baptized two of our old investigators from the Miratejo area, Iolanda and her daughter Jessica. Sad that they weren't in our area after the transfers but really cool that Elder Harris and i got to baptize them. After the daughter Jessica walked up to us and said thank you for being the first ones who brought us the message. But really we didn't do anything. Because they were prepared by God and i know that with everything in my heart! But it was still really cool. And also i found an old addiction here... Orange Juice!!!!!!!!! I drink that stuff all the time right now. And i forgot how much i loved it! But today we went to a mall and i found my birthday present from you all! A new Portugal soccer Jersey! So i just would like to say thank you to everyone and that i really like it a lot. And mom i didn't spend it all in one place i still have a bit left over! But ya my Birthday was great i had fun. Strange to not spend it with you all and to also be in a different country but at the same time it was super cool to realize that i was in Portugal for my birthday! So all in all it was really cool! I love you all and i am happy to hear that life is going crazy for all of you. Because that means that life is good. But i pray for all of you every night and i hope that everything is going great for you all. Have a great day and know that i love you all a lot! And those pictures of the count down are crazy! I feel like i shouldn't have that much gone already. Kinda crazy.

Love Elder Bascom

PS everyone here says my name is Bascon or Bacon. So it makes me laugh and at least everyone loves Bacon haha.

PSS i want to see the great room or is it a surprise until i get home?

 

happy 20th!!!

HEY MY FAMILY!!!!!!!

So how y'all doin? Pertty good I'm reckonin. haha love you all and i had to you my red neck speech. So things are crazy right now. And mom your thoughts somehow are always what i need. I have not gotten the package yet, but i should this week like Tuesday - Thursday time frame. But ya and thank you for the b-day gift i am excited for that. I am planning on using it for something really cool. But i don't know what for yet. So i am still the district leader. But my district is now half of the size that it was. Also i kept my same comp and we white washed an area where the sisters were. So right now nobody wants to talk with us in the new area. But we did have a baptism yesterday of an eight year old boy named Rafael. He is super cool. and i got to baptize him! it was really cool. But i don't have any pictures of it. And if you would all pray more for me to have patience i would love that. Because i will need alot with my new ward. Because there is drama here. But other than that it is all great. My new area is in Almada and super cool. We have a part that is right next to a giant river and the ocean! So i can't complain about the scenery. SO it is crazy to think that for the first time in my life i wont be having my birthday with all of you. And no fireworks! That will be a little hard to bear. but i think i will live. Because then i just think holy cow i am in Portugal. And that usually helps with a lot of stuff. So this past week had a few rough spots. We had a guy say that we don't believe in aliens then tried to push me alot and just argue saying that we are stupid and have no reason to be here. Also he kept saying what are you selling and it was super strange. He was drunk for sure. And then we tried to leave and he ran up after we were leaving and stopped us and pushed me again. Then we just said we are leaving you don't want anything so bye. Little crazy and just a weird guy but i stayed calm for the most part with him. Until he pushed me then it was really annoying. But i didn't do anything to him. So ya fun mission life. But i wouldn't trade this time for anything. and then we had another guy that wouldn't stop arguing with my zone leader when we were on a split. But with that time i was 100% calm and was super proud of myself that i didn't get annoyed or anything. And in the end it was actually a good talk with that guy. But ya i am learning alot of patience right now. But i am grateful for that. But i want you all to know that i love you all so much and i have the best support and Family in the entire world. The church is true the book is blue and i love Portugal! I hope you all have a great day and know that i am praying for you all everyday!

Love Elder Bascom

Sorry that it isn't super long but i don't have a ton of time. Love you all and know that you all are the best!!

 

elder bascom is turning 20 this week!!!! so of course i had to give him a happy birthday shout out! cant believe my brother is all grown up! so proud of him and all that he is doing! love you elder!!

xoxo, britt

 

 

my all time favorite picture of the mission. what a lucky guy. i sure do miss him.

 

Transfers!!

Hey Family,

So hey this week was a great week. We found this really elect lady. Here name is Iolanda and her daughter Jessica. So we taught the first lesson and gave her a book of Mormon. And the way that we found here was that she came to the church and said that she wanted to have the lessons by the missionaries. So ya way cool! Then after the first lesson we invited her to pray about the book o Mormon and read 3rd nephi 11. So we called the next day and she said that she felt amazing after she prayed and that she was really happy. So we already had marked a next visit. Then we marked her for baptism for the 7th of July. it was really funny because when we were marking her she just kept saying yes and so we just kept asking the question so we could say the date. But it was  really cool and she is so elect. Also i sort of got transferred. My area got switched with one of the other areas in my district. So my new area is in Alamda. But the weird thing is that i will sleep in the same house and have to take a train to my new area every day. But it will be kinda hard to do all of this. But oh well and that's mission life. Also in my district i had the zone leaders and two groups of sister missionaries wow that was hard to think of in English haha. but now its just me, my comp Elder Harris we stayed together so we both have finally had a comp for more than 1 transfer. and then just one group of sister missionaries. So ya its alot smaller now. So i am pretty sad to not be in my old area any more because the people there are really awesome and i don't want to leave because we have alot of great investigators. But i will do my best to work and give my all in the new area. So ya that is my crazy life right now. But its good and i will see all of the people on Sundays because we have the same church building so that is really cool. And for all of you life sounds crazy but at the same time good. And Dad is everything going to be alright with your Elbow?! i hope so and i will pray more for you! But that is exciting that Kirsten and the kids are up in the house right now. It was great to hear from you all and i love you sorry this isn't super long but ya i don't have a ton of time. But i love you and hope that you are all doing great! And by the way is it hot there right now? Because here it is crazy with how hot it gets everyday! But ya things are great right now. Probably will be a little crazy for a while but still it will be fun. and hey i am on a mission right now in Portugal! Doesn't get much better than that! Love you all and have a great day!

Love Elder Bascom