Emilee

"Emilee is Olga's daughter. Crazy story. Olga was visiting her hometown up in the north of Brazil a few years back and a teenage girl came up to Olga and says, "Hey lady, take this kid and keep her, I'm not old enough to support her", and pretty much just gave 1 yr old Emilee to Olga. Yeah, now Emilee hangs out with me and "throws up the rock", of which she is doing in the photograph I have. Her hands make a diamond shape and Jay Z does it, or so Elder Borland says."

(Olga is one of the members in Curtis' ward.)

Challenge to Read the Book of Mormon by 2006

"I finished the Book of Mormon last Thursday, the 29th of December. The one thing I really learned this time through was the importance of "showing your faith to the Lord." Anyone can say that they have faith, but the thing everyone needs to do is move mountains by showing the Lord that they have faith. He can't give blessings to anyone without faith AND works on their part. The next day I started the Book of Mormon again, but I'm also reading the Doctrine and Covenants as well."

A letter from the First Presidency was recently sent to all wards and branches inviting members and friends to read the Book of Mormon by 2006.

First Presidency Invites Members to Read Book of Mormon

LDS Scripture Reading Charts

Native Missionaries

Curtis' companion, Elder Costa, is a native Brazilian.

With 80%+ of the 60,000 LDS full-time missionaries still coming from the United States and Canada, efforts to encourage large-scale missionary service as the standard for young men worldwide have experienced only limited success. Mission service rates for eligible young men are approximately 25% in the U.S. and Canada and less than 10% in most of the rest of the world. In the Eastern Hemisphere, only Mongolia produces enough missionaries to meet local needs.

Compared to native missionaries, foreign missionaries are always the last to enter and the first to leave in areas of political unrest or restricted religious freedom. Local missionaries are frequently permitted in countries or areas where foreign missionaries are forbidden or restricted. Native LDS Ukrainian district missionaries opened cities in Crimea to missionary work at a time when they were forbidden to foreign missionaries.

There are many effective ways to inspire large-scale full-time missionary service for native missionaries, although these methods may not be well-understood by most Latter-day Saints. A landmark book in this regard is "Revolution in World Missions" by K.P. Yohannan, an Indian-born Protestant missionary who has singlehandedly organized the "Gospel for Asia" foundation and fielded a force of over 10,000 full-time native volunteer missionaries currently serving in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and other nations of Southeast Asia. Yohannan's missionaries establish an average of 5 churches a day -- over twice the number established by LDS missionaries worldwide. Although not all of Yohannan's points are directly applicable in an LDS setting, there are many valuable items nonetheless.

Revolution In World Missions

Feliz Natal Curtis

"I hope you all have a merry little Christmas. It's not gonna be the same without all my friends and family around, but as long as we all remember the true meaning of Christmas it's gonna be OK. Then one day we will all reunite, drink gallons of egg nog and watch Home Alone 2: Lost in NY. I love that one. Thanks for all your support and remember the real Light that shines on us. Christmastime is the coolest, and I'm really merry right now. Again, I love you all. Be safe this Christmas."

I sent Curtis a Christmas package with lots of presents inside but I think he'll enjoy the photographs the most. There's lots of pictures of him and his friends and family. This is the first time that our family has been apart at Christmas. Curtis is in Brazil and I'm in Iraq. We will both miss our family this year. I'll be home for Christmas in 2006 but he won't. I miss him very much. It's hard to be away from the ones you love.

Christmas Fish and Basketball

"Today I opened up a portion of my family Christmas package and the first thing we tried was the basketball hoop. So everyone, here is a Christmas Dunk from Elder Tonks and Elder Borland. Also, this fish is wishing everyone a Feliz Natal, or Merry Christmas, and so am I. Merry Natal, or Feliz Christmas to you all. I love you guys."

200th Anniversary of the Prophet Joseph Smith's Birth

"Friday was the 200th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith so to celebrate we made 20 contacts (one for each of the 10 year periods) and mentioned his name in each and everyone one. Some people were interested, others weren't. Then that night I sang all 7 verses to "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" out loud and probably made some of the guys I live with mad, but oh well, I gotta celebrate."

Joseph Smith (1805-1844) was the founding prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Smith was born of poor parents in Sharon, Vermont, on December 23, 1805. The family moved near the town of Palmyra, in upstate New York, where between the ages of 14 and 25 Smith experienced visions calling him to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ. An angel guided him to a set of golden plates buried in a hill near the Smith farm; these contained a narrative written in a hieroglyphic script, which he translated, “by the gift and power of God.” The result was published in 1830 as the Book of Mormon, which is a religious record of the ancient inhabitants of North America.

LDS Church's Joseph Smith Website

Brianna's 13th Birthday

Curtis' sister Brianna becomes a teenager today. Curtis left his teenage years behind a couple of months ago. What kind advice would he give his sister? She likes to write him email and is excited to receive email from him. I can tell Brianna misses Curtis. And I'm sure that he misses her also.

Portuguese Language in Brazil

"Cool Portuguese word--ACONTECER--the verb for "to happen...."

When Portugal first colonized Brazil, a process that began with discovery in the year 1500, Tupi, or more precisely the Tupinambá, one of the languages of the Tupi-Guarani family spoken by Indians who lived on the Brazilian seacoast, was used along with Portuguese as the general language of the colony. This was primarily because the Jesuit priests studied and taught the Tupi language. In 1757, Tupi was banned by royal decree, although the language had already been overwhelmed by Portuguese spoken by the large number of immigrants from the mother country. When the Jesuits were expelled in 1759, Portuguese became the language of the country.

In the 20th century, the split between the Portuguese and Brazilian variants of Portuguese heightened as the result of new words for technological innovations. This happened because Portuguese lacked a uniform procedure for adopting such words. Certain words took different forms in different countries. For example: in Portugal one hears comboio, and in Brazil one hears trem, both meaning train. Autocarro in Portugal is the same thing as ônibus in Brazil, both meaning bus.

At the beginning of this century, the nationalism and the individualism of the Romantic movement began promoting the creation of a language norm based on the Brazilian version of the Portuguese language. In 1922, the Modernists reintroduced this argument, promoting a need to break with traditional Portuguese models and to adopt the Brazilian speech pattern. This opening by the Modernists led to the successful adoption of the Brazilian norm in literature.

...and now look at us...

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"A few years back we were all sittin in O Town with no big plans at all, and now look at us..."

Curtis Tonks - Sao Paulo Brasil Cecilia Nelson - Paris France Jordan Wilson - Rome Italy Detrick Ward - Montreal Canada Brody Wight - Beunos Aires Argentina Kevin Wood - Sofia Bulgaria Brett Stephens - Sao Paulo Brasil Neal McGarry - Anaheim California David Clark - Everett Washington Ryan Holmes - Peublo Mexico Josh Jensen - Perth Austrailia Tommy Leninger - Copenhagen Denmark Stephen Tonks (Dad) - Iraq Rachel Roberts - Sao Paulo Brasil Sariah Wilson - Boston Massachussets Trevor Ward - Pusan Korea Ryan Allred - Lansing Michigan Randy Allred - Hartford Connecticut

TJ Worthen - Hartford Connecticut Jordan Skeen - Moscow Russia Jeromy Ivie - Independence Missouri Spencer Wheelwright - Omaha Nebraska James Swift - Gueatemala City Guetamala Matt Tribe - Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Andrew Rich - Portland Oregon Robbie Barrett - San Antonio Texas Dan Howard - Dallas Texas Darin Johnston - Madrid Spain Devan Nicholls - Porto Allegre Brasil Jesse Vaughn - Tegucigalpa Honduras Cory Christensen - Porto Portugal Lane Boyer - Lisbon Portual Christian Pieper - Beaver Dam Kentucky Gentry Moyes - Dublin Ireland Ben Christensen - Germany Jessica Junk - China (I don't know when she leaves) Eric Waterfall - Tokyo Japan

All I Want For Christmas Is...

"So I threw away my old electric toothbrush cause it doesn't work anymore and I opened up the Colgate 360 toothbrush that my dad sent me. It is so sweet. I get excited when I use it. It has a tongue cleaner and whatnot on the other side of the brush part. It must of costed like 13 bucks. But it's worth it. If anyone plans on sending me a Christmas package drop a Colgate 360 toothbrush in there. Thanks."

The New Wall of Fame

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"This is new face of the Wall of Fame. Ben Rothlesberger from the Steel Town, Hideki Matsui of the NYY and the family in a picture of I don't know where. But it looks cool, and we should go back there someday. Also, the "Raise the warning voice--10 contact per day" sign, the Nightly Planning checklist and the "Feel This" stickers from my Dockers socks. Also includes some random stuff on my desk including Eugene, the rockin wrestlin action figure that Christian sent me for my birthday and my alarm clock."

The family photo was taken last year in a sea cave on the beach at Otter Crest, Oregon.

"I'll Go To Yours If You Go To Mine"

"One time me and Elder Walker got invited by one of our investigators to her church. It was one of those "I'll go to yours if you go to mine" kind of deals so we ended up going to the Assembly of God church. It was a lot different than ours, even better than I first thought it would be. And she came to ours the next morning, and that's all that really matters."

Currently the Assemblies of God USA and Assemblies of God organizations around the world make up the world's largest Pentecostal denomination with some 51 million members and adherents.

--from Assemblies of God Website