"Holy" Shoes

"My foot was literally rubbing on the road."

Curtis told me he had worn out his shoes walking around Brazil. Here's the picture to prove it.

The Good Old Days

"You were talking about that pond by the Post Office. One time me and Zac and Jordan were floating on the raft, Zac with his fly pole out making art out of fishing, Jordan talking on his cell phone to Jessica, and me sitting back and looking up at the clouds, thinking of how cool life really is. And isn't it? One time at the pond Jordan fell off the raft into that water. I don't know if you saw the water up close but it is horrid. I think Jordy wanted to walk to the hospital afterwards to make sure he didnt have any life threating diseases. Also, one more funny Jordan Wilson/Post Office pond story. Once me and him caught a few catfish in that pond and put them in a bucket and took them to Jordans house. His dad, Tim, instantly gutted one and fried it up. We didn't know what to do with the others so we released them in Birch Creek. We made up a story of them mutating really huge and eating all the kids that play down at Glassman Park. Sweet huh?"

I asked Curtis about the pond by our house. Alyssa, Jaimie, and I took the dogs for a walk there one day. I have lived here for 17 years and have never been to the pond.

Early Christmas Phone Call

Curtis is allowed to talk on the telephone to his family twice a year - Mother's Day and Christmas. Since I'm not going to be home at Christmas time, his mission president gave me permission to call him early. Our family, his grandparents and aunt, and several friends were able to talk to him. Listen to the audio tape we made.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Happy Thanksgiving

"Also, with the Jones Turkey Soda, me and my buddy Jordan Wilson got that stuff once and I think Jordan may have thrown up. I don't remember."

I told Curtis that I wanted to send him and his companion bottles of Jones Turkey and Gravy Soda for Thankgiving. I didn't send them because I was afraid the bottles might break on the way to Brazil. It's a good thing that I didn't. I wouldn't want Elder Costa to think this was the way we celebrate Thanksgiving (or possibly make him throw up!).

Baptizing Michelle

"This is Elder Costa, Michelle, and I before her baptism outside of the Centro da Estaca Guarulhos, or the Guarulhos Stake Center. It was so sweet! Nothing is like it in the world. The day was just way happy and exciting and now Michelle is a member of the True Church. We went over there the other night for a Family Home Evening and made French Toast (a USA original!) and this pineapple juice that's made by boiling the "skin" or "crust" or "shell" (???) of the pineapple and then adding like a gallon of sugar. It's sweet. But yeah, enough about juice, the baptism was a good one."

Remembering My Teenage Years

Curtis sat up late the night before his 20th birthday and reminisced about his teenage years. I think he was having a hard time making the change from a teenage boy to a 20 year old young man. He talks about lots of fun things he did with family and friends as he was growing up. Listen to what he has to say, you'll probably hear your name mentioned. Leave a comment and I'll make sure Curtis reads it.

Audio Part 1

Audio Part 2

Audio Part 3

Elder Mervyn B. Arnold

"Yesterday we had Zone Conference with Elder Mervyn B. Arnold of the Seventy. He was mission president in Chile a few years back, now President of the Brazil South Area. So he was speaking a mix of Spanish, Portuguese and English to us. But man, that guy lives for missionary work. I learned so much from his training."

Mervyn B. Arnold
Sustained to the Second Quorum of the Seventy April 5, 2003, at age 54. Former president of the Costa Rica San Jose Mission, counselor in stake presidency, high councilor and bishop. Received bachelor's degree in business and master's degree in public administration, both from BYU. Founder and co-owner of a building and development company. Following retirement from business, became director of Training and Field Services in the Church Missionary Department. Born July 19, 1948, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to John E.S. and Jasmine Bennion Arnold. Wife, Devonna Kress Arnold; parents of six children.

Read his April 2004 talk about The Wayward Surfer.

Bom Clima - A Neighborhood In Guarulhos

(click image to enlarge)
When I heard that Curtis had been hit by a car, I thought that it was in the downtown area of the city. He wrote to me and told me it was in the suburbs.

"Guarulhos and Sao Paulo are huge cities, but we don't work in the city part of the city, you know? Like say we were working in SLC, which is about the same size as Guarulhos, the area we occupy would be like, West Jordan, out by my brothers house. Just houses and houses and houses. Seriously. But our area is really small and the huge international airport in the middle of the city takes up quite a large chunk of space. The area where I got hit is just a normal neighborhood, which at times has the completely random crazed drunk teenager hitting missionaries with Fiats."

Guarulhos is a city in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2003 was 1,160,468. The name comes from the Tupi language. It is a suburb of São Paulo. Guarulhos is the 2nd largest city in São Paulo state and one of the biggest cities in Brazil.

The city is accessed by a major airport for São Paulo, the largest in South America, São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport (GRU). The airport is 25-50 minutes from São Paulo's downtown, depending on the traffic. Most international flights landing in Brazil go to Guarulhos airport (with a small fraction landing directly in Rio de Janeiro).

DearElder.com Website Of The Month

Before Curtis left for Brazil, we made a website together on DearElder.com. I received this email last week:

"Hi Stephen,

We would like to congratulate you on the great job you have done with Elder Curtis Tonks’ Website. We’ve selected your website as the website of the month for November. This means that a picture of Elder Tonks and a link to your website will be on our home page for the month! We hope that you enjoy using DearElder.com, and that you find your missionary’s website a fun way to share your missionary’s experiences with others. Have a great Day!

Sincerely,

Peter Henrie"

It's been a lot of fun for me to make these two websites for Curtis. I feel that doing this helps me to stay closer to Curtis while he's in Brazil. Thanks to all his family and friends that take the time to look at them. Curtis and I both appreciate your interest in his mission.

To see the Website of the Month click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Dia dos Mortos

"Last week was Dia dos Mortos, or in English, Day of the Dead. It's when everyone goes to the cemetaries and leaves flowers and tries to make supernatural contact with deceased persons. It's like our Memorial Day but a little more strange. We just worked like normal."

Following All Saints Day (November 1st) the public holiday of "Finados" (Day of the Dead) is celebrated in Brazil on November 2nd.

The idea is to remember the life of loved ones, so many people will go to cemeteries and churches, and take flowers, light candles, and pray. Despite the morbid subject the celebration is intended to be a positive one, and the day is set aside specifically to celebrate the life of, and remember those who are deceased.

The origins of this celebration are a little lost in time, but it‘s a holiday that has been celebrated for thousands of years in Latin America and clearly stems from there. Most likely the origins are from cultures such as the Aztecs and Mayans who revered their ancestors, and wanted to honor their memory. It was a common practice to keep the skulls of ancestors as trophies, and then display them during rituals such as this and also those that symbolized birth. Hence skulls are a potent symbol still used in countries like Mexico.

The holiday is celebrated throughout Latin America, but is also celebrated in growing numbers in parts of the USA, principally those areas that have large Latin American immigrant populations.

Elder Costa - Bom Clima Revolution

"He is going crazy on contacts and teaching in this area. We are for sure tearing this place open and spreading the word and the work. Elder Costa is from Minas Gerais and has been a member of the Church for 2 years and is way good at the work already. And if he keeps it up, he may just convert everyone here. He is the Bom Clima Revolution, that's for sure."

Minas Gerais is an inland state of Brazil. It is the storehouse of the mineral riches of that country, as is indicated by its name, which means “general mines.” It is the second most populated Brazilian state, exceeded only by that of São Paulo. The state capital and largest city is Belo Horizonte. Minas Gerais is often recognized abroad as the state where the soccer star Pelé was born and raised.

Pictures From Bom Clima

Curtis sent home a bunch of pictures from his current area outside Sao Paulo - Bom Clima. Take a look at them.

Bom Clima Pictures

"Greenie" Missionary Joke

You're walking along the street when an airplane flies overhead. "Hey, Elder," you say. "How far away do you think that plane is?" "I dunno, five miles?" "No, about six months for me, about two years for you." Pretty cruel, actually, but always fun.

"Yeah, that's a funny joke. Today I have like 15 months left on the mission. But the best thing to do is not think about it and right now I'm enjoying it so much that leaving never crosses my mind. Not that I forget you guys, just physically leaving Brazil doesn't. We do have lots of planes fly over though. It's crazy."

Elder Brody Ray Wight - The South Side Eskimo

Curtis' friend Brody is serving a mission in Argentina. He sends me a weekly email to pass along to Curtis. I thought everyone would enjoy reading this email I received on October 26, 2005:

"This evening I'm getting on a plane, not to go back North but rather to go South. That’s right, I'm going to Ushuaia! That is officially the area furthest south in the entire WORLD. I'm so way incredibly stoked I can barely take it. I don’t know if you realize this, but my new area is easily the most desirable in the entire mission. I'm so incredibly way super extra extrodinarly stoked to the bone! I never thought I would make down to Ushuaia. You all should look up pictures there. I think it's super awesomely sweet. Plus how many people in the world can say they’ve been to the END OF THE WORLD? Part of my area is this little island with 2400 people on it that’s actually part of Chile, and it's even further south. President told me we might go there. How sweet!"

Ushuaia, capital of Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina, is considered to be the southernmost city in the world. Ushuaia is located on the southern coast of the Tierra del Fuego island in Argentina, in a setting surrounded by mountains and overlooking the Beagle Channel. It is 745 miles from Ushaia to Antarctica. The city has about 50,000 inhabitants