TWO YEARS on the 18th, Elder Vernon will be home SOON!

               Elder Vernon is getting a little bit trunky- excited to come home.

September 21, 2015
This week it rained. It rained and rained and rained so we got a little bit wet but we still worked well. Rain feels good. On Sunday it was gaúcho day so we ate churrasco.

The most spiritual lesson we had this week was on Sunday after church. One of the people we are teaching lives in Porto Alegre but visits our ward for the weekend. He said that he would not be able to come to Santa Maria next week so I bore my testimony about how I hope that he will pray about being baptized aso that one day he can go to the temple and have a forever family. Later that same day we went to where he was staying and had a lesson a little bit differently where everyone said a prayer as if it were a personal prayer; we felt the spirit and after wards reinvited him to prepare for his baptism next month.

Another cool thing that happened was that President called us this morning (to our surprise) and said that a brother from Alegrete had talked to him at a church meeting that was in Santa Maria. It made me happy. :) Another funny thing that happened is that for a while I had been searching for doughnuts because I wanted to eat one. After passing by 3 or 4 bakeries that didn´t have any where they even laughed at us for wanting to eat doughnuts my companion decided to ask at one more bakery... We entered the bakery and to celebrate my 2 year mark on the mission we bought some doughnuts and ate them.

Sounds good about the event- the food could be Brazilian hot dogs because then those that want to eat Brazilian can eat Brazilian but those that want to eat American can still do it. One food I want to eat is creamed sausage now that we are on the topic of food.

September 14, 2015
This week my companion and I were able to teach a lot more this week. We didn´t really do anything differently but this week the people we talked to on the street let us in their homes to teach them. It was awesome! :) In one lesson we read Second Nephi 31 verse 4 which takes about Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist to take away the sins of the world. We then talked about how with baptism we accept Jesus Christ´s sacrifice for us and become clean from all of our sins and hurts. We then handed them my backpack that I carry around and said that it was like sin and when we took the bag back they said that they felt relieved. We promised them that following our savior will bring us a relief that is better and bigger that the relief that was felt. I finished reading Jesus the Christ again which was cool as well. It is cool because it explains in detail the life of our Savior.

The church in Santa Maria Brazil

September 7, 2015
Today was Brazilian Independence Day so we nearly didn’t find a lan house that was open. Eventually we found one that was off in a far away neighborhood because other missionaries called us and told us about it. We did a family home evening with American pancakes and talked about the questions of the soul that the Book of Mormon has answers too. It was yummy and spiritual.

New Companion & on his last transfer before coming home!

August 31, 2015
Hello Family. This week I made cookies that I ate. They were yummy. We found some new people to teach visiting some houses that had the records of people who were baptized about 25 years ago. We had a ward family home evening about the atonement. We helped an old lady bury her cat that died too. There were two exchanges this week.

August 24, 2015
This week I got my new companion and we had stake conference. My new companion is Élder Muniz. He is from São Paulo São Paulo and likes art and he is 20 years old. When we were working this week lots of stuff were falling through and we are working on finding new people to teach. At the end of a day knocking doors we decided to say a prayer and then we found a new family to teach! Also we contacted a church website referral (we never get church website referrals so just getting one was a miracle!) and found another family that wants to learn more about the restored gospel.

At stake conference I got to see everybody from São Pedro that I worked with which was awesome. They are all doing well and are happy and when I talked with Irmão Dion he said that he has already gone to the temple to do baptisms for the dead and is excited to go again! He is also working on growing a Brigham Young beard which I thought was cool. Some of the stuff I learned in stake conference was that there is a fable about trees in the old testament about leadership and also that the happiest place on earth is not Disneyland but the temple. :)
:) Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :) :) Sincerely, Élder Vernon :)

We got Elder Vernon's itinerary for coming home, new companion!

Cory's mission president gave all the missionaries permission to Skype for Brazilian Father's Day which was August 9th so we got to talk to Elder Vernon and he asked his brother's and Dad who have served missions for advice for when he comes home. It was a very special visit! We felt blessed that it all worked out as we were on vacation and only had limited time to access the internet. We got Elder Vernon's itinerary for coming home too! He will be home in 6 weeks! He gets to go to the Porto Allegre temple before he comes home. Pretty AWESOME! (this note was from Tina)

Ollo,
This week was transfers. Élder Albuquerque was transferred to Alegrete but I will stay in the same ward that I am; my new companion will be Elder Muniz, and I do not know anything about him yet but will write next week.

I finished reading ´´el Libro de Mormón´´ this week. Even though I don´t speak Spanish or anything Portuguese is similar enough that I could read the whole book and more or less understand everything. I thought that is was cool and it was also neat because the English, Spanish, and Portuguese all say the same thing but with the specific words used the spirit can teach even more than just reading in one language. One example is the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy. In English its easiest for me to understand, but in Portuguese it is Saturday --because of the law of Moses-- and in Spanish it is the day of rest. So bringing together everything it gives a cool view on what the scriptures are saying.

Èlder Albuquerque also bid farewell to everybody that we were teaching together. It is neat to see how the Lord brings us into people´s lives exactly in the moments that they are prepared to receive the restored gospel or are needing help for something. It makes me super grateful for heavenly father and Our Savior.

There is an atividade in Preach my gospel to ask the family to write about the blessings of keeping a commandment in their lives. I thought it would be cool to ask the family about keeping the Sabbath day holy and the blessings that each get for living it.
Next week is stake conference.
Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :) :)
Sincerely,
Élder Vernon :)

Elder Cory Vernon is transferred to Santa Maria

July 6, 2015
Ollo  :) This week we got transfer calls and I am being transferred to serve in Santa Maria in the Itaimbé ward. My mailbox will be the same address that I had when I was in São Pedro. Also there was Irmão Alex´s baptism and confirmation. It came as a bit of a surprise because we had invited him to prepare for his baptism on the 11th, but Elder Souza Silva felt that we should invite him for this week so he did. It turned out really great and spiritual at the baptism and confirmation. It was the 4th of July so I gave Irmão Alex my little American Flag. The stake president bore his testimony at the end and remembered his own baptism. Also on Sunday after his confirmation Irmão Alex bore his testimony about the Book of Mórmon and shared a scripture that had been an answer to his prayers. I also started bidding farewell to everyone. It is sad to leave when there is a transfer, but I know that the Lord sends us where we need to be to bless his precious children.

July 13, 2015
This week I have started to get to know my new area and my new companion. His name is èlder Albuquerque and is from São Paulo and he played soccer professionally as a goalie before the mission. My new area is in the Santa Maria Stake in the Itaimbé ward, and we got a new bishop and bishopric this week so everybody is excited to work and invite everyone to come unto Christ. One cool thing in Sacrament meeting was that the stake presidente talked about John 2 in the bible and how the Lord gives us blessings that we do not recognize, that we need to do our part to receive blessings, and we need to ask the Lord for help because when we cannot do something The Savior can. We need to ask him to do stuff for us. I liked it. One of our investigators really loves the church and is super excited for her baptism. My first full day in the new area we went to her house and gave her a blessing.
Com muitos Sorrisos! :) :) :) Sincerely, Élder Vernon :)

June 22, 1015
I will be officially old when I turn 20 this week... :) Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone! :)

This week Presidente Parrela came and interviewed us. It was cool because I was reading in 3 Nephi about how Nephi approached the lord when the savior visited the Nephites and felt the spirit strongly. I am grateful that the lord lets us know when we are doing his will and how we can always do better. President told me that my plane ride home will be on September 29th, so it looks like I will get to serve 2 years and a still little bit more.

Also this week lots of the people that we invited to come to church came. It goes to show that the lord really is doing his work and helping his restored gospel fill the earth. We found some new people to teach doing contacts and also went to the cartório to help people get married. One of the coolest things we saw as well was that some of the members were doing their home teaching visits which made us super happy (new home teaching companions and route were assigned in the ward). We also taught Irmão Nilo and Irmã Gladecir about the plan of Salvation and some of the commandments. Com muitos sorrisos! :) Atentamente, Élder Vernon :)

June 14, 2015
Oi estou bem e come vocês estão? :)
This week was stake conference. Some of the stuff that was talked about in the meeting was how we need to live the small and simple things of the gospel like reading the scriptures, praying, and going to church every Sunday and that if we pay our tithing, have family home evenings, read the scriptures as a family and pray as a family that our families will be protected. We are doing a joint English/kung Fu class to find new people to teach. Élder Souza Silva teaches the kung Fu and this week there was 6 non-members that we invited to go to stake conference. I do not think any of them went but they all really liked the class and are getting to know a bit more about the church now.

Teaching Rinato´s family is going well because they all went to stake conference! :) This week we were talking with them about how they want Rinato to stay firm in the church (Rinato´s the only member in his family) so we taught about the plan of salvation and how the Lord wants us to do things as a family. We also read john 3:5 and talked about how reaching the celestial kingdom is more than just faith but also obedience and doing what the Lord asks of us.

We also had some good family home evenings; on Sunday we had a family home evening where we talked about the articles of faith and watched Elder L Tom Perry’s last conference talk-- I am grateful that the Lord inspires good people to lead us and teach us by the spirit. We are running back and forth to try and teach everybody about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ! :)

A little bit about Alegrete is that it is about 100,000 inhabitants and is a stake with 5 wards; however it is more like a district with 5 branches because the wards have about 20 to about 60 that go on Sunday. My ward is kind of funny because it has nearly all of the stake callings. Our apartment is good and we have a microwave and a gas oven and stove. Love ya family! :) Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) Sincerely, Élder Vernon :)

Note from Tina. .Elder Vernon actually got his birthday package BEFORE his birthday. All mail takes about a month to get there and packages usually take longer but this one only took about 3 weeks! He always likes Flaming Hot Cheetohs, I think that is the food he misses most from the U.S.

Elder Cory Vernon's 20th Birthday is coming!

Pictures in Alegrete, Brazil May 18, 2015

Penguins Cereal

 My MTC Companion lives in our same house

Family Home Evening!

In my personal study I made a list of scriptures that we can use to invite people to follow our savior´s example and be baptized. It was cool because I realized that in 3rd Nephi there are whole bunches of scriptures inviting us to follow Jesus´s example so that we can be happy with our families forever. Another cool thing that a member showed us was that with the book of Mormon in Portugues the book cover spells the invitation to pray ´´orem´´ (O livRo dE mórMon).