christian says he made it to the Promised Land!

I finally made it to the field! I spent 5 days in Sao Paulo, Uncle Brad, when I get the chance I will send pictures that show what the MTC there looks like, but it is pretty beautiful, and also, while you are there they let you go out and tract, which was a blast. The best was one night I walked into a room with my companion in the MTC, one of my friends said "We are about to do something very spiritual" then we sang a beautiful raggae version of Minha Luz. My time at the MTC was pretty cool, but yesterday I came to the field with some of my friends from the Brazil MTC. President Beynon picked us up and we went over to their house where we did interviews and got our senior companions, or our "Pais." "Meu Pai" is an American who is called Elder Eggett, he is the man! It is real wild too because he looks like Uncle David (Chop Liver) to me, he also has a similar sense of humor. I looked at his planner while we were tracting and the time when I was supposed to arrive said "Dando Luz." He is an awesome "Pai" when we returned home from prosselyting there were big pieces of paper from our 2 brazilian roomates, Elder Gonc,alves, and Elder Pianca. Above our study desks we had posters congratulating me on making it to the field, and one on my companion's desk that said something on the lines of "Congratulations, it's a boy." I love the field, and I love my companion, everyday is an adventure, I am so happy that I am able to serve here in Brazil, in the best mission in the world!

Para Caterine: Voce ja tem minha carta para voce? Se voce tem mais conselho para mim, por favor, envia para me!! Eu esto muito feliz que eu esto em Brazil. Em a semana pasada eu foi no CTM(Centro de Traniemento Missionario) em Sao Paulo, uma professora la´ contou me que eu digo minhas R a mesma que alguiem de Rio de Janeiro, Eu Riu, e contei ella sobre voce e como eu aprendi a leer em portugues. Agorra eu sou em Maceio, eu gosto morando aqui, Maceio e´ muito bonito aqui, mas muito quente tambem!! nenhuem dos homens vestem em camisas aqui. eu vou falar com voce no futuro mais sobre meu experiencias aqui no Brasil. Eu me sento a mesma que os missionarios no Livro de Mormon, eu sou muito grato que eu posso servir neste pais bonito! E por favor se voce tem conselho para me, envia para mim!! Boa suerte com seus Filhos, e seu ajuda com a escola deles! Vai com Forca!!
-Elder McOmber

CHRISTIAN GOT HIS VISAAAAAAAAAA! Yay!

First of all I want to say thanx for the letter that Uncle Jesse sent, that meant a lot! Also, I ran into someone who knows you who works for the MTC, I asked him if he was "feelin the love"

I GOT MY VISA!

I am going to Sao Paulo MTC next thursday. So, it looks like I´ll be able to tell Uncle Brad what it is like! Sorry, they say that I can call home but we have zone conference in 2 hours, so iv been a little busy. This week has been awesome, Elder Gage and I have been real busy, but it has been a blast! It is really wild, Elder Black is going to Boston, they have so many portugues speakers there, I am real excited for him. Elder Galbraith is heading for Portugal in a couple of days, I really feel like I was meant to meet him here, I am so glad to have a dad that told me mission stories, it has helped me so much in the MTC, and I have no doubt that it will help me in the field. I am also glad to have such a strong mom, and as far as family goes, I can´t imagne a better family for me, I just hope I can share some of that magic and love with the people of Brazil.To be honest, I don´t have a lot of time to write this letter, but I want everyone to know that I love them, and I am so glad to be blessed with so many great people to look up to and to learn from throughout my life. I am so glad to be a small part of my Heavenly Father´s plan, and I hope that I can serve him well. Vao com Forca!!

Kleber and Juliana,,,,, Desculpe, porque eu nao falo perfeito portugues, mas eu espero que voces entende minhas palavras. Eu amo voces, Eu nao posso esperar ate eu vejo voces de novo!!! Eu sou um poco differente porque eu sou um missionario, mas eu quero para voces sabem que eu sou seu amigo, e eu quero o melhor para voces. Eu sei que Maceio vai sempre ser um lugar magical paras me, e voces vao ser sempre em meu coracao!! Eu tenho voces (I Got You) ;)

Kleber e Juliana, then to all! :)

Kleber e Juliana-

Oi! Muito obrigado para seu diccionario, eu uso todos os dias! eu ouvi que voces vao sair para maceio de novo. Eu esto muito animado a ver voces de novo! Quando eu tenho meu visto eu vou a algum lugar em Sergipe o Alagoas e durante meu missao eu vou mudar a otros lugares em sergipe e alagoas. Eu vou email voces e conto voces onde eu esto. Eu nao sei, talvez eu pudesse enviar a mesma lugar que voces. Mas, eu sei que cual quer lugar que eu vou, meu Pai Celestial Enviaria me la'. Durante meu missao eu quero compartilhar as coisas em meu coracao com voces em portugues. Por toda minha vida eu tenha preparado para compartilhar este mensagem com as pessoas no Brasil. Mas, talvez eu estava preparando a ensinar voces sobre como podemos ter familias para eternidade, e vivimos com nosso Pai Celestial em Ceu.

Eu quero para voces sabem que voces sao meus amigos, e eu quero o melhor para voces. Eu nao posso escercer quando nos fomos a Cidade em Seattle, e quando vimos o jogo de Seahawks e quando voces foram a minha igreja para ouvir meu discorso. Eu espero que fo'ssemos amigos para sempre. Voces sempre vao ser em meu Coracao.

Teu Amigo,

-Elder McOmber (Christian)

This week has been amazing, I am so glad to be able to serve. One of my teachers, Irmao Shaeffer lost his dad and so he has been home for 2 weeks, but he came back to finish his time with us, but it sounds like we will be his last class. It was amazing because we believe in families for eternity, so he has been comforting his mom, but when he came to us he was not sad, but he knew how much we love him and he knew we wanted to teach him, and so he gave us the gift of allowing us to serve him by teaching him a lesson. It was a very amazing experience, once it was over he told us that if we teach everyone with the level of love that we taught him, we will be able to help others to come unto Christ and find happiness. I am so glad to have him as a teacher, and it is so nice to have him back.

My other teacher, Irmao Dodge has been doing awesome with us, he has convinced our whole class to only speak portugues from now on, it has been a blast! Irmao Dodge is so wise and always know exactly what to tell me in order to continue to improve, and he is a perfect example of teaching me through asking questions so that the spirit can teach me. I am so grateful for my time at the MTC, even though it is coming to an end it has been a blast!

I am so proud of my family! I hear such great things about all of them, please tell Gregory that I love him! Justin and Heather, I think about you all the time everyday, all three of you are constantly in my prayers! I will try to get more time to write more letters to you individually, iv been a lot busier than before, we have had 5 new districts come in during the last 3 weeks so I have been a little busy, but I still had enough time to teach Johnathon in the TRC in Portugues!!! My dream is to someday speak portugues like him, and maybe il be able to be as cool. But it was still an honor to be able to teach one of my heroes in Portugues!!! I want to finish by saying how grateful I am to have my family, my mom is amazing, and I can't think of a better Dad to prepare me for the mission field. I also want to say thanx to Grandma and Grandpa and Grandy and Grandad, for all of their letters and advice, and all of my Aunts and Uncles for all of their advice and good examples. Also, my cousins, I have been so blessed to grow up in a Clan and also I am so glad to have my young cousins on the arnesen side, I can just see them praying as I go to sleep at night. Well, I ran out of my 30 mins. bye!

Deus Vos Guarde (God be with you til we meet again)

	Uncle Brad, thanks for the advice with the spelling, and your letter. Mom, just so you know, I have no idea when my visa is going to come, I just know that the Lord knows, I quess that will be good enough for me. Dad, I keep forgetting to tell you, Elder Galbraith is going to Portugal, he leaves in 2 weeks, we have been swapping stories, if you could give me a story that would be a great thing for Elder Galbraith to have, btw he said that his dad says you were legend! I have been so blessed in my service in the MTC, I wouldn't mind going to Brazil, but I am happy where I am. I have really learned to love the other missionaries that I serve. This past week has been awesome, but it has been bitter sweet. The portugal district in my zone has been very close to my heart, they left this past week to their mission, since they have left I have missed them greatly. Before they left I had many good talks with them, and when we did "contacts" they would always be creative new people, they were also very fun, we didn't know it until we left but the week we gort here they gave us a box of candy and a districty tie, we have in turn done this for all of the new districts. But the sunday before they left they got up in front of all of us and sang Deus Vos Guarde (God be with you til we meet again) I cannot describe how I felt, I have loved serving them so much and visa versa and now they were leaving to a totally different continent, but when they sang I felt comforted, also in portugues that song is more beautiful to me. I thought about how grateful I am to be here, to meet people like this, and to be able to have experiences like this. Since then we have recieved a new district into my branch this past wednesday, one of the members of that disctrict is an Elder from Belgium, he speaks a little english, and at the same time is trying to learn Portugues. I will never forget him standing there and telling us that his parents are seperated and neither of them like the church, he has been a member for a year and he has payed for his mission by roofing, but he told us, struggling with every word, that he wishes that the whole world could feel the love of Heavenly Father. His story is one of many who have made great sacrifices to be here, all so that we can serve the Lord and benefit the lives of others. I hope that whoever reads this letter will want to invite their friends to hear the words of the Lord, because I think that many times we don't think of how much it can change someone else's life, just look at how much the Kyiv temple blessed people as far as Khazakstan. I am so proud to be here, and that I grew up in a family that has prepared me so well for this work. Once someone said "I am afraid to talk to other people" My companion said, "Thats ok, I bet everyone but Elder McOmber, his father, and his grandfather had to go through the same thing." I love all of you, thanx for all of your support, until next week Elder McOmber

Christian is called to be a Zone leader in the MTC!

This week has been amazing, as always. We started a new tradition this week, we have a rock of English, it weighs 10 pounds. Whoever speaks English has to carry the rock, I have been very blessed, I have been praying throughout the day that I won't speak English, but so far it has gone well, I have only had to carry the rock once this week. Also, I forgot to mention that my companion and I were chosen to be zone leaders a couple of weeks ago. This has kept us very busy, but it is an honor to serve our fellow missionaries. The highlight was this week when I showed up to welcome the 29 new missionaries into our branch and I saw an old friend, Elder Krulish!! It has been fun showing his district around and seeing him again, I can't wait to hear his first talk in Portuguese!!! Maybe I will ask the branch president to give him a talk in a couple of weeks. This week has been really cool. I have spent a lot of time thinking about how I can better myself as a missionary, I have been working on obtaining more virtue, the best way of doing this is to keep working constantly, on top of my new responsibilities as zone leader my companion and I have taught 26 lessons and did 20 contacts this week, we are working hard to help our district achieve a new goal of over 100 contacts and a total of 100 lessons, it has been a blast!! It is just like the stories I have always heard of missions, setting really high goals and working until you drop, luckily it is fun work. The best thing is, the more we practice the more prepared we will be to teach and preach the word in Brazil. I wish I could transmit all of my feelings, excitement, and joy of missionary work to all of you. The closest thing that I could find is a video on LDSW.org: Kyiv Temple cultural celebration video. I love watching this video, I can't wait to share my talents with the people of Brazil, I hope that if I keep working hard Heavenly Father will be proud of the work I have done for Him. I am doing the best I can to make an affect on as many people as I can now, and to assist in preparing the other missionaries as best I can so that we can better serve Heavenly Father. Please watch the video on the Kyiv temple cultural celebration, I promise it will make your day, and it wouldn't hurt to share it with a few of your friends, everyone needs some light every once in a while. I just want to finish by bearing my testimony: eu sei que a igreja de Jesus Cristo dos santos dos ultimos dias e' a verdade. Eu sei que um dia podemos ser com nossas familias para sempre, e eu sei que quando temos fe em Jesus Cristo e em pai dele, Pai Celestial podemos fazer todos as coisas na terra, e eu sei que un dia eu vou falar com Gragory a mesma que meus otros irmaos, e ele nao precisa ter seizures e otras coisas dificil eu digo estas coisas em nome de Jesus Cristo, Amem

4th letter from the MTC-he is getting his visa :)

Uncle Paul and the fam, thanx a million for the package!! And Grandpa, thanx for the letter. Also, Uncle David and Aunt Danny, I read over the note you guys gave me in the front of my portugeese kids book of Mormon, I was very touched, thanx a million! I am glad to get the letters from my family, I am glad that Heather and Justin are doing awesome in sports, I am also glad that Gregory is doing well in school, I hope he knows I am on a mission. I miss everyone, but I promise that I am all about the work, also I JUST SENT MY ONLINE VISA APPLICATION!!!!!! I am real excited to get to Brazil, it has been awesome, right after I got it I was like a celebrity, And since then a lot more online applications have come.

This week has been real awesome, I have learned a lot but probably the greatest lesson I have learned is from my teachers about teaching lessons. We have a tradition here at the MTC, our teachers all just came back from missions and one thing that we do in order to practice to teach the people of Brazil is that we teach our teachers and they pretend to be the people that they taught on their missions, all down until their smallest mannerisms, this has brought me even closer to my teachers in so many ways, because now I think night and day about how my companion and I can better teach my teacher's old investigators. My favorite person to teach is someone that Irmao Shaeffer taught, one day my companion and I showed up for an "appointment" to come by and teach this young man, he invited us in and told us to sit on the couch, he tossed us a couple of air freshners disguised as beers and told us to watch the game. The week before we had spoken to him about prayer and feeling the holy spirit and that he can connect with his Heavenly Father, and that his Heavenly Father wanted to speak with him.

When we came in and this was happening it was very disheartening, I felt defeated the moment I walked in, but never the less my companion asked him to turn off the TV and that we wanted to speak with him. He did, and then he asks us why we don't like watching soccor, which was especially hard for my companion who is probably the biggest soccor fan in the MTC. This hurt my heart at first because I realized that this guy thought that people who love him come to his house and watch the game, and now I looked like I didn't love him after I had done so much to become his friend. We began to talk to him about how much God loves him and asked if he prayed as he promised he would, he did not. We started asking him questions and after a few minutes he asked, "Why do you believe in this?" After this I explained to this boy that we are a little different from his other friends, I told him that I would live to do nothing more than to watch a game with him after my mission, then I told him why I believe what I believe. For the first time, I told someone in a lesson about Gregory, and that how I knew that someday I can be with him, this boy has a brother who is off at war and I explained that he can be with his brother forever, then I explained to him that I knew that he was a great spirit, meant for great things, and my companion and I taught him about Jesus' love for us and we explained to him how he can be with his brother in the afterlife.

He realized that we told him these things because we cared about him and that we wanted the best for him, he said that he would read some passages from the book of Mormon and that he would pray to his Heavenly Father to know whether or not Heavenly Father was really there. I was so happy, after I left I came back in the room and looked into the eyes of my teacher, Irmao Shaeffer, I realized that he was trying to teach me an important lesson, that on your mission you can only teach through love. I have loved my time at the MTC, I have loved being connected to my teracher's missions by teaching their friends, and I am so glad to be a part of this great work. I know that there is no way that after 3 weeks I could have done all of that experience in Portugeese except through the power of God. I want to take my last minute and 11 seconds to tell everyone back home, thank you. Thank you to everyone who has helped me to get here, thank you for all of the love, and sacrafice you have all given me, I have been very blessed in my life, Elder McOmber

3rd letter from the MTC

Hey, everyone, thanx for the package, and Nick from Mail post, thanx for the little note haha.

I have really enjoyed my time here in the MTC, I have been thinking a lot about the kind of missionary I want to be. Ever since I was in this interview on sunday where I sat down with a counselor for the branch president and he explained to me the difference between a leader with position and a leader without position. He explained to me that some of the most valuable leaders are those without position. After that meeting I thought a lot about everything that has happened since I have been here and how my time at the MTC has affected me. I find it funny that my branch president has only known me for 2 weeks and already knows how to throw the world on my shoulders. But in many ways I think that he is right, it is important that everyone does their part. I am so glad that I have grown up in the family that I have, my parents have always taught me to do missionary work my whole life. At the MTC they show us videos of people from the NYTimes One campaign to show us all of the different people out there and all of the lives that we can touch. I am so excited to see the change in someone's life when they recieve the gospel and they leave all of their guilt and pain behind.

My district is the biggest portugeese speaking district, and whenever we watch these videos I can see that some of the other people in my district are sad that they did not teach tjhe gospel to their friends back home, because from these videos and then our discussions afterwards we can see how we can help these people. I can only imagine how sad they would be if they were sitting in the afterlife watching others and thinking of how they could have helped them more. I would admonish anyone who has a desire to help their friends and especially my family to not just mention the gospel to others but to really try to teach them, you owe it to them. I would challenge anyone to invite a friend to hear the first disscussion, even if they say no, at least they know that you care about them and you want the happiness that they can get from it.

But as for myself, in the MTC I feel unsatisfied with the missionary I am now, I know that Brazil needs a better missionary, and so I have been praying for revelation on how to be abetter missionary. Then one day my companion and I got "contacted" by a trio of cantoneese missionaries going to Hong Kong. We went to their room to hear what they had to say. We walked down these stairs into a little room, we asked them where their district was, they said that they are their district, then they asked us questions and testified of Joseph Smith and that if you poor your heart out in prayer that you can recieve answers to any of your questions. Something about them seemed different from every other district, they had a genuine look on their faces that spoke to my heart, so I told them that I would pray especially fervently that night. The next day my companion and I went to a large meeting with everyone in the MTC there, of everyone we could have sat next to my companion and I sat next to these three missionaries. During the meeting I just thought of how I could be a better missionary, then I recieved my answer, I could see in my mind the kind of missionary I wanted to be, it was the ultimate gift from my Heavenly Father, my prayer had been answered. I was so touched, when we left the meeting I wrote down all of the names of those three missionaries and then I thanked them for everything that they had given me and I told them of my experience, I will always have a special pl;ace in my heart for those three missionaries. I want to testify to everyone back home that the greatest thing you can do is become closer to your father in Heaven and the best way to do that is by helping others. Those three missionaries have brought me closer to my Heavenly Father, I hope that everyone back home will do the same for at least one of their friends.