Email from November 28, 2014

Bom Dia!

All is well here in Brasil! Things are going so great here! It's been a fairly normal week. Nothing like getting here to Brasil was. Not too much crazy to report on.
We got some rain the last couple days here! And that made it so so hot and humid! Even though it wasn't even hot here. In Teresina, it will be far worse! But I am so looking forward to heading to the field in just 4 short days! It's really crazy to think that I've been in the MTC for 6 weeks now and am about to head into the field... It's gone by quite quick! I couldn't be more excited to finally get into the field and start teaching and continue learning!
Like I said, not a whole lot to report on this week. Just plenty of class time, gym time, chow time, teaching and devotionals.
OH! There was a devotional yesterday afternoon broadcast from the Provo MTC! The speaker was David A. Bednar!! It was so good! What he did was they passed out cellphones in Provo to the missionaries and the MTCs around the world had iPads. And anyone who had a question could text\email it in to him and he would answer them over the pulpit in the devotional! It was super cool! I would encourage everyone who reads this to find it and watch it because there was some very good stuff in there!
Also, I want to invite everyone who reads this to watch 1 other devotional and listen to another. The first is "The Character of Christ" from David A. Bednar. It will change your life! And the other is a BYU-I devotional given in either 1988 or 1998. I think it was 88. But it's called "The Restoration" and it was given by Hyrum Smith. It will blow your mind! Have a pen and paper ready and write fast! All of them are super good and just mind blowing!
I am going to be sending the next email from somewhere in my mission! And by that time, it will be much hotter than it is here in Sao Paulo! But I am very excited to get into the field and serve the people of the Brasil, Teresina Mission!
Stay safe! And stay warm everyone! Have a great week and find those devotionals!!!!

Love,
Elder Gunnoe

Email from November 21, 2014

Wow! What an adventure it has been to get here and to be here in the beautiful country of BRASIL!
Flight from Salt Lake to JFK in New York city went smoothly! No problems at all!
Flight from NYC to Brasil on the 12th, not so much. Actually not at all. We get on the plane for Sao Paulo and all seems fine. We go onto the runway to prepare for takeoff, all of a sudden we turn around to go back to the gate... Captain announces that one of the generators for the left engine wasn't working at all. So we go back to the gate for maintenance to fix it. 3 hours (!!!) later, we head back onto the runway. This time we actually get off the ground! Then we start flying in circles. Captain announces that the generator went out again, So we have to go back and land to switch planes. He also informs us that the plane weighs too much to land safely. So he tells us that for the next 30 minutes or so we will be dumping the majority of our fuel into the Atlantic ocean so we can land. An hour and a half later, he tells us that it'll for sure only be another 30 minutes before we can land. So we all think Okay that's not horrible. An hour and a half later!!!! He finally says that we are headed in to land. At this point, we had been on the plane for 5 hours. We land and there's firetrucks everywhere and they ended up doing nothing. They just left. So captain tells us that they are taking the plane out of service and that we will be put on a different plane at 1030 the next morning... In actual terms, what was happening while we were in the air was pretty serious. They just weren't telling us that. But we made it safely to our destination... Wait. Nope! We are still in NYC. We then spent a very sleepless night in the airport waiting for the flight the next morning.
The next morning, we got safely on the plane and headed off for Brasil. Made it here 10 hours later!
That night, it was raining here in Sao Paulo. So as soon as we got off the plane, we could feel the moisture in the air. It was tangible! And it was pretty warm too! We got on the van to come to the CTM and got here at 1 in the morning. VERY long couple of days.
The schedule here is a lot like Provo was. Classes, studies, teaching investigators, practices, all that good stuff. Teaching is going pretty well! Both of our investigators accepted the baptismal invite! So that's really good! Both are very interested and progressing well!
Portuguese is coming along quite nicely! Still a long way to go, but I can understand what people say and have a conversation with them. I can also teach pretty decently! So that's always good!
The CTM is awesome! The food is SOOOOO GOOD!! Fruits are amazing! The meats and desserts and breads and juices and everything! The CTM is just a 6 story building with classrooms, bedrooms, a cafeteria, some offices and a couple courts for volleyball and basketball. Pretty small space. But it's awesome! I love it here in Brasil so much! But I can't explain why. There is just something inside me that loves it so much. Even though it's super dirty and smelly and poor and humid and HUGE, I just love it! It's so amazing! I love the people and everything about this place!
If there are any specific questions, just shoot me an email and I'll have to wait until next Friday because I am basically out of time. Only 45 minutes here.
Anyways!
I hope all is well in the US of A and that everyone is doing well!
My address for the mission home in Teresina is:

Elder Cole Joseph Gunnoe
Brazil Teresina Mission
Rua Tersandro Paz N^o 2129
Salas 105-108, Centro
64001-380 Teresina- Piaui (PI)
Brazil

So that is my address for the mission home.

Have a great week! And stay awesome!

Love,
Elder Gunnoe

VISA HAS ARRIVED :)

From an email we received from Elder Gunnoe on Monday, November 10, 2014:

"I have a firm and unshakable testimony of the power of Fasting and Prayer.

I GOT MY VISA TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I leave on Wednesday Morning at 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7 out of 9 people in my District got their Visas today!  And we all leave on Wednesday morning!  We fly from Salt Lake City International Airport to JFK in New York.  Not sure how long we are there.  But then we fly to Sao Paulo!  It is such an amazing thing to be able to go to Brasil to experience the next part of this chapter in my life.  I know that I have been here in Provo to learn and grow in ways that could only have happened here.  And the same will be true in Brasil!"

From email on November 3, 2014

Hey! Don't have super long this week. But it's been a great week!
Super good devos on sunday and tuesday this last week! A lot of talk about being fully dedicated to the work and giving it all to the Lord. We had another Devo this morning with David F. Evans, a member of the first quorum of the 70! He is the one that prayed for "Our strength to be Faithened" hahaha. So funny. He's a great speaker! And the Devo tonight is going to be broadcasted, which translates to It's a general Authority. So check BYU TV for that! Not sure who the speaker is, but it should be good!
Portuguese is coming along very nicely! Other missionaries tell me that I'm so good with Portuguese, but I'm really not. I can't say a whole lot and what I can say is all similar. So it's nothing really that special. I could and should be working much harder though. So I am really going to buckle down this week.
So sad to hear about Mr. Bellamy! He was an amazing guy and I will miss him much!