Updates from Cody-last week

Tomorrow is Cody's day to write so I will post more! He has been doing more individual emails and letters, so if you want to hear more, make sure to write him! Oi family, well transfer ended. i will be staying in butia again with a new brasilian companion. my old companion is a Zone leader now. hopefully my portugese can get better with my new companion. what else? we had another baptism this weekend. that was nice. we also saved a wild parrot. funny story. anyways, i hope all is well in the states. i miss you all so much and love you all so much! be safe and love you all tons! Cody

Updates from Elder Buhler

Here are a few pictures Cody has sent these past two weeks. He is writing more individual emails and letters, so to hear updates, make sure to write him at the address below or his email at cody.buhler@myldsmail.net! He'd love to hear from you. He writes on Mondays!

Elder Cody Buhler
Av. Princesa Isabel 342-B Santana
90620-000 Porto Alegre, RS Brasil

thanks for all your love and support!

Elder Buhler

Me drinking chimarrão, the brazilian drink that tastes like grass ha. everyone here drinks it and missionaries can drink it and thats how i got sick probably. you take turns drinking it and then pass it to the next person.

the nice brazilian house ha.

Cody is in Brazil! Two emails to catch you up on!

Email him or write him letters! All information is posted on the blog!

1st Email:

Hey Family,

Well, its been a long week. Things have gotten better here though. I am just pressing through it. Less than 2 weeks till I leave for the field. I am ready for it. It was a crazy week. Lots of work. On Monday, I was playing basketball during gym time when my face hit another elders shoulder and somehow my teeth bit through my lip. It was crazy. I thought I for sure needed stiches or one of my tooth had been chipped. Luckily, none of that was needed and it is healing fast. Just a fat lip and a little cut. Need to be more careful though, I dont want to be sent home earlier for injury. Besides constant studying and the busy schedule, things are okay here. The outside world is awesome. Everytime we go out, a couple brazilan kids come over and try to scam us into buying some ties. Funny stuff. I got a sweet Brazilian soccer jersey for 10 or 15 U.S. dollars, which would orginally be like 60 in the U.S. (Let me know if anyone else wants one) The weather here has been nice. Cool and little rain. Perfect because we have no AC in our room. I feel bettter now because I am so close to done. Next Wednesday is my last P-Day in the MTC. Awesome stuff. I got your letter (Mom and Caitlin), so if you want you can send more, do it. I love getting them and they take around a week to get here. Not sure if it is the same for sending from here to the US though. Everyday, all we do is speak Portuguese. Portugese this and that and this and that. It can be frustrating sometimes. I got a lot to study and learn before I will be near flunent, but I can hold lessons well in the language. The rules here in the MTC still bug me, but whatever. That's life ha. I cant believe I hit one month this Saturday. Werid. Time is fast but slow. Not sure how to describe this past month ha. These last couple days have been tough. But I saw a Mormon Message that really helped me. In it, Elder Holland answered the question that many missionaries ask, "Why is this so hard?" "Why do many not join the church or get baptized?" "Why is there so much rejection?" (Think the message is called Atonement) His answer is "Because Salvation is not a cheap experience." I love that. I have already experienced challenges this past month and will continue to face them the next 23 months. But these challenges are just a token of what the Savior experienced. It really hit me. I am experiencing some challenges and yet that is just a token of what the Savior experienced. I would invite you to pray often. Your prayers will be answered. I am so grateful for your love and prayers. I feel them constantly. Thanks so much! I love you all so much. I will talk to you soon.

Love,

Elder Buhler

2nd Email:

Hey Family,

How is life going? How are you all doing? Well, as of today, I have 6 days left in the CTM and then headed to the field! Yes! I am so excited. I cant wait to be out in the field. Lots as happened this week. Try to fit it all in. Well, first of all, my companion and I had a goal to place a Book of Mormon during P-Day because we could go outside of the CTM for 3 weeks and shop. So, we were at a pharmacy buying something and my companion just goes up to the worker helping us and says, "Oi. Nos somos missionaries da igreja de Jesus Cristo dos santos dos ultimos dias. Voce sabe a igreja? Voce sabe o livro de mormon etc. etc .etc. Basically, it says we are missionaries from the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. Do you know about are church? Do you know about the book of mormon? After this investigator was interested in what we were saying, I explained how the Book of Mormon and Bible support each other. Then, we placed the Book of Mormon and even got a referral from him. Unfortunately, we cant teach him here, but the missionaries in this area can. It was way cool. My lip is healing fast and feels a lot better. One of my tooth was killing me and I wasnt sure why. My companion said that his hurt once when he had beef jerkey and I had that recently and it hurt between my teeth when I would floss. Not sure if that was the reason, but it is doing better now. This coming Tuesday, I fly out. I think it will be early, but I am not sure. I am going to really really really try to call you all. Not sure if I will have time, but be expecting it. I think it is about a two hour flight to Porto Alegre. I am ready for it. This schedule in the CTM is brutual. Lots of studying ha. I thought alot this week about past memories I had (ex. going to Disneyland, freshman year at BYU, etc.) and that made it rough. I miss you all so much. How is everything going? Did my BYU cougars beat the Longhorns? We got the opportunity to go to the temple today and man, crazy driving. Moving left and right around cars and motorcyclists. It is ridiculous ha. I get carsick really easily here. But yeah, that is about it. I would say this week was good, but tough. I am ready to be doing the work and teaching others. Be expecting a call on Tuesday. It could be early ha. I love you all so much and think about you all the time.

Love,

Elder Buhler

2nd Week in the MTC

Remember, you can write him on DearElder.com or email him at cody.buhler@myldsmail.net!

Oi Familia,

Once again, thanks for all your love. It is amazing and keeps me going hard at work. I miss-placed my e-mail list, so if someone can forward this e-mail again to Jacob and Katie and have them send me their e-mail I would really appreciate it. Well, this week was definitely tougher. Lots of frustrations and busy work. I was able to press through it though with the help of the Lord. The first of the large events that took place this week was some "Mail room mail." By this, I mean that I was with my companions at the mail room to receive one of your nice packages when one of the employees asked my companions and I how we would feel if we got this cool little paper-made suit and tie. I told her, "It would change me life" haha. To which her response was "What is your unit box #?" I jokingly told her "96" and never thought much of it again. Later that night, our DL came by and asked who I knew in the mail room and handed me the paper suit and tie. On it, it said, "To Elder Buhler and District, Love the Mail room." It was awesome to get something like that from a complete stranger. It shows how much love people have for the missionaries and makes me feel great!

   This was the first week in which we had to prepare a talk in Portuguese and be randomly selected to give one. Well, I was not selected this week (Thank goodness), but I was told at a last minute notice to give a talk in English at a Sacrament meeting for those who work at the MTC on "enduring to the end." Yeah, it was a shock. I had to put together a talk and then give it. It went well though and I felt good about it and was grateful for the opportunity.

   The final thing from this week was I was reassigned to a different companion. This was tough, really tough. I was so comfortable in my trio and this happened. The story behind it is my new companion had his old companion go home after a week because of personal issues and my Branch President does not like trios, so he reassigned me. I definitely told him I would be willing to do so, but also said that another big change would be tough on me so soon into the mission. Anyways, they said that my new companion was having a tough time and needed someone to help him out, so I got it ha. I will try my best to help him through the MTC.  He is a great guy, but definitely different than my other two. It was tough, but I just have to trust that what ever happens is best for me.

   Well, that is the summary for my week. It was a short, but long week ha. I will do my best to answer all your questions. Mom, the Portuguese word for "I" is "Eu", "please" is "por favor" and "we are going" is "nos vamos." Your Portuguese is definitely coming along though. I get to see lots of friends here at the MTC with more to come soon. This past Tuesday we got to see Elder Richard G. Scott at devotional. First devotional at the MTC and already an Apostle! That was awesome!

   A few favors to ask ya'll. Could someone tell me Steph's new address so I can send letters there? Not sure if you have moved yet. Also, I got a great idea to get a Brazilian Flag and have all my companions throughout my mission sign it. If someone could send me one (there is a flag shop in downtown Provo) that would be sweet! Not too big, just a good medium-sized flag. Maybe something similar to my Texas flag at home.

   Well, that is about all. The language is coming great. Class is a lot more understandable, I can hold conversions in lessons now, and I speak in full sentences. There is just a point were it "clicks." I have the Lord to thank for allowing me to speak the language better each day. I love you all so much! You mean the world to me and your letter, packages, dearelders, etc. mean the world to me! Be safe and look forward to hearing from ya soon. Love you!

Elder Buhler

P.S. I will be e-mailing/sending personal messages later on and Dad, I can't complain about the time now ha.

First Week in the MTC

Here is Elder Buhler's first email in the MTC! You can write to him on DearElder.com or send a letter to:

 Elder Cody William Buhler 
SEP16 BRA-PAS
2007 N 900 E Unit 96
Provo, UT 84602

Elder Buhler's first set of companions

His Room

His District

Oi Familia,

Let me first start off by saying thank-you so much for the dearelders, packages, letters, support, and prayers. They keep me going daily. Well, I have a lot to say and limited time to say it. The MTC has been a wonderful experience! The first two days were unbelievably hard. Lots of meetings, talks, etc. It really made me toughen up and get down to business. My daily schedule consists of rising at 5:45 am (we got 6:30 breakfast, lucky us), showering, getting ready, going to breakfast, then studying the majority of the day, as well as 45 minutes of gym, lunch, dinner, and teaching an investigator. I have had the opportunity to teach an investigator three times now. Man, it is tough. At first a lot of it was memorizing scripts and just saying "Sim" to his questions ha (Sim means yes). It is now understanding what his answers are and replying to them in broken sentences ha. Needless to say, I have learned a lot here.

I am in a trio (meaning two companions instead of one). It is really nice. Elder Stokes is from New Jersey and went to SVU for a year. He knows who Kimy Chatland is. I guess SVU is a small school ha. Elder Wiscombe is right out of high school in Colorado. He was a state basketball player in Colorado or something like that. Both are awesome guys and I am lucky they love to do the work. I was made the Senior Companion (meaning I conduct our daily schedule) which is an awesome responsibility.

The food here is great. I get to eat unlimited, so I will probably but on some pounds ha. It is all good though. I greatly appreciate all the support you have given me this week. My district laughs at all the letters I get! Thank-you! It has helped me through my trial as I have adjusted to the MTC. Steph, if you could put this and the pictures on the blog that would be awesome! Also, if someone can forward this to Jacob and Katie, I forgot my e-mail address list back at the place. I hope I have most of the e-mails attached to this one. Please ignore typos as well, I am typing really fast ha. And thank-you Brynn Clarke for the cupcakes! Those were awesome! I really appreciated it!

Each week in Church we have to prepare a talk in Portuguese and then on Sunday, 2-4 people are selected randomly to give a talk in Portuguese. Pretty intense stuff. Knowing my luck, I will be picked ha. It will be a fun experience though. I get to see a lot of people that I know here at the MTC. Elder Mansfield (reassigned to the Salt Lake City South Mission for six weeks because of his VISA. Leaves tomorrow), Sister Spencer (awesome, that is all I will say about that ha :)), and others from my ward and BYU. Not sure when my VISA will come, although a girl in my district got hers this week! I hear they are working on them. I'd prefer to stay here for all 6 weeks, change would be tough to go through again. Anyways, I appreciate all your love. I feel it daily. My P-Day is Tuesday, so expect replys then. I will mail everyone a personal letter this week. I will send them to Steph's since Mom and Caitlin are in Utah still. I think about you all often. I miss you so much. The work is true. I challenge you to read D&C 1-10. Great stuff and I have been comforted by it. Also, mom nice Portuguese. I see you are learning quick ha. Eu sei que o Livro de Mormon e verdaderio. Eu sou grato por meu chamando. (Excuse the typos with the Portuguese, I have no accents on keyboard ha.) I love you guys more than anything in the world! Talk to you soon!

Elder Buhler