Justin ordained a priest today, Christian's comments

Thank you for all of the advice and scriptures and support. I love you guys so much! I am so proud of justin in his football experience. I am glad I have a brother like him and a family that raised me to be a missionary. My heart has been touched by the help of president and sister gonzaga and my companions; elder faria, elder cardoso, elder bonini, elder langlois, and elder douglas. They have been with me shoulder to shoulder in this trial and many missionaries and members and recent converts are praying for me. Their sacrifices touches my heart. 

I have felt pains in my other hand and my shoulders. It is comforting to know that heavenly father will not give me something i cant handle. Heavenly Father is with me. This week we welcomed the newbies into the mission. I remembered when I came to the mission, and my heart was filled with the desire to continue and filled with love for the new missionaries. This week, I will travel with president to Lagarto to strengthen the church there. I will get to see my recent converts there, I am excited! And I will go to penedo this sunday to see their chapel get dedicated, that a year ago i watched as it was anounced in a little house, in a little city, that I loved. Now i will return to see the new chapel get dedicated AKA heavenly father super loves me!!!! ;D

Tell Justin That I love him and that his choices make my sacrifice worth it. I know that me leaving the house put more weight on his shoulders. I know it is not easy for him to live his standards in a world of half truths, but I want him to know that even though I am half a world away, we are together. Many of my life decisions and even my smaller choices were made with him in mind. I have always seen great potential in my little brother. I am grateful that we were born into this gospel that gives us an eternal perspective. I believe that I chose my brother for a purpose. I was so excited to see him again, that I dressed up in my best vest to see him. He is amazing. He always looks out for those around him and is a leader. When its hard to go on, and I feel discouraged and tired, I imagine him as a missionary and it gives me strength. I know that we will have an eternity together but I am grateful for the moments that I have had with him: moments that I will never forget. He will receive a higher priesthood with this power he will have more capacity to serve those around him and to love them. 

Justin.   Always strive to magnify your calling and your priesthood. Behind every sacrifice there is an experience that only you will understand. My greatest desire is for you to have these experiences. Always serve with all your heart might mind and strength, and you will feel like heavenly father is holding you in his hands. 

I love you, my mighty little brother.

Elder Christian McOmber

another great day!

Ma, I love that you are a worker!!  And Dad, thanx for everything and all of the love, the trial of this hand will pass, this week Sister Gonzaga will mark a time to go to the specialist with me where we will mark the surgery, she is researching him right now to see if we can trust him, but if everything works out I will get the surgery and be happy!!!        We are being super blessed in our area, and I mean super blessed!!  We have encountered really excited investigators, one day we went to visit a family that we would teach and there were 5 people in the house with them, we went there and taught everyone, and all 5 of them escepted to prepare to be baptised, it wasn´t til afterwards that my companion said, "We marked a specific time with that family, those 5 other people were waiting for us..."  I know that this work is God´s work and when he wants to bless us He does!!!  It is awesome becaus in our area there is a street that everyone calls Mormon´s street because almost everyone on that street is baptised, it is like Utah in the middle of Brasil, we baptise young women who were working on personal progress before being baptised!!!  It is awesome, and we are teaching a bunch of people that live the next street over and opposition always happens, but for right now they are way excited to be baptised.        Thank you so much for all of your prayers and help, and I am so happy that I am in Maceió where the church is strong!!!  It is so much weight off your shoulders, and I love you all, I am almost finished with my afflictions, after this surgery I will say Victory to us!!!

Thanx for all of the prayers and love and support I love you guys so much!!!!  Ma, no worries, Sister Gonzaga is taking care of me, she payed from her own pocket for a specialist to look at my hand!!!  And that is how we knew what the problem with my hand was, she is organizing everything with the missionary doctor, today I talked to her on the phone, she reminds me so much of you it is crazy!!!  She said that she feels really responsible for me, I told her that I wanted to do the surgery, she said she won´t let me do it until she can find a doctor that she has certanty she can trust, the doctor that we used she is looking into, but she is going to call people that know him, people that were operated on, his references, and she is going to look around and see if there is a better option, she is a super go-getter, but ma, I just want you to know that every little thing is gonna be alright, but keep up the prayers!!!       But I wanted to talk to you guys about the work, 2 days ago we baptised a man named Genilson, he is way cool!!!  We found him knocking doors, he found what he was always searching for in other churches, before his baptism he recieved a really strong testimony and in his baptism he cried with joy, he said that even though there were a bunch of people watching his baptism, in the moment he felt like he was alone with God, it was really cool, and after his baptism we brought him to a members house where they were having a party with a bunch of people,from the church. As we were teaching him he voiced concerns that if he left with his friends to parties he would drink, and this past week he declined an invite to a party, but a member we brought with us said "You don´t need to sin to have a good time, after your baptism, come kick it at my place"        While we were at the party they brought out so much Coca cola, I bet Genilson was thinking "what they don´t drink in beer, they drink coca cola"  But it was cool to see the men of the ward gather around him and tell mission stories, talk about sports, and joke around, the next day at church my friends from Rio Largo came to church and whatched church with me, Eliene, Cristiano, Fabio, JR, and Dany, it was awesome, I love you guys so much, but when I go home I am going to have Saudades of everyone here, but I will keep in touch, I love you guys, keep up the prayers!!! Oh, Heather, my hand stays about the same, but if I can get this surgery figured out I can get better before I go home, please pray so that the doctors and sister Gonzaga can find a way to help my hand!!  Eu amo voces!!!! -Elder McOmber

address

If you wish to write to Christian, this is how to do it...

Elder Christian McOmber
Av. Dom Avenio Branoao 333 sala 402
Ed. Work Center-Farol
Maceio-AL
57001-190

moved to Rio Largo

I am so proud of everyone back home, and I am really happy for Gregory graduating and Corban being baptised. And wow, Justin is doing awesome, I am so honored to be his brother, just like Gregory, I could always feel like Justin would be great, I am glad that God chose me to be his brother. I had the same feeling to have president give me a blessing, this week we will have interviews, when I go there to do my interviews I will ask president for a blessing. Other news, I have been transfered, for the first time in my mission I have been transfered away from the frontier of the church. I am in an area that is kinda close to Rio Largo, but still in the city of Maceió, The church is really strong where |I am serving, I feel surrounded by members and missionaries, there is a streat in my area that everyone calls "Mormon streat" because almost the entire streat is a part of our church, and the ones that are not are preparing to be baptised. I love my new area, and I am going to ask president to visit Rio Largo, this past week I have recieved a lot of calls from Rio Largo, it has been awesome!! I love you guys, and I hope the best for everyone, keep up the prayers for my hand, it helps soooo much, I can feel the difference!! -Elder McOMber

6/17/2012

I am so happy for Gregory, I am really happy that he has these moments to shine and make a difference in his own way.  And wow, Gracie is graduating, time goes by fast on the mission!!  I hope my hand gets better before I go home so that we can sing while I play the ukulele, Gracie is an awesome cousin, it will be cool to see her again in the future. 

     Tell Akosh that he is the man!!  I love that kid, he started making a difference at a really young age and I am sure he is going to have a bright future!!  Give him a hug for me!

       Hey send a hug to Derek too, that is awesome that he wrote a song and sang it, Tell him that I still think of the good times when we had our meetings in chairopolis and when I hung out at his house for a week, I miss S1 sometimes, but it is no big deal us splitting up is part of s1 going worlwide, we are already spread over 2 continents!haha

Well, I love you all, keep running, our time speedily cometh! haha

On Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 4:01 AM, seven.hearts@juno.com <seven.hearts@juno.com> wrote:

Dear Christian,

 Tonight was Baccalaureate For Gregory. He performed his sign song and had two paintings at it. Mom was a co chair. I helped a little with the program. Akosh was the MC. Gregory walks on Tuesday. If you send a message to Akosh I'll give him a copy. I told him I thought his name was Maiman Akosh because you always said My Man Akosh. He said you were the reason he stayed at SYB. He got the presidential scholarship. Derek wrote a song and sang it. President Tanner gave the benediction. The rest of the week has been Grease at XXX. and Peter Pan. Gregory had an art show at the Library for his senior project. We made amazing discoveries. Everyone came. He felt so special. He knew it was for him!!!!! He actually stood up and laughed at one point. Hre had about 15 paintings there. Gracie graduated yesterday. She and Aunt Katy Grandad,Jane Grandma,and Grandpa came.Grandpa recorded it so you can watch it when you come back.
 Efforts in sharing continue. I love love love love love you!!!!!
Dad

OH, Christian,

All the efforts for baccalaureate were so so so worth it!  I was getting some push back, but it was soooo great!  I feel so strongly that doing this is worth the effort and time.  It was brought to pass so well because we were involved.  I know that sounds prideful but it is not.  It is just the truth.  The spirit was brought into the meeting.  We worked so hard on a number that was absolutely amazing. You would be so proud.  Gregory did great on his signing song, and the program was really, really good.  You would be proud.  I made a lot of good friends from other churches, and it was meaningful to volunteer as chair for the event in something I truly believe in.  There are so many ways to volunteer, but this one really means something to me.  I am so happy to be a part of it.

We are having a ton of baptisms this year in our ward.  So many people are having discussions in their homes.  It is exciting to watch.  I am going to encourage someone to try it out.  I am going to start praying specifically about that tonight.

Gregory has his day to "walk" for graduation on Tuesday.  I hope it goes well.  We have a plan to have one teacher on one side of the stage, and another on the other, and the are hoping he will walk across independently.  It is at the Key Arena again.  A nice location.

I am now going to be able to do a bit more organizing at the house here and then go into summer after this week. I am so ready for summer.  This year has flown by.  I don't know if that is the way you feel, but when you are busy doing good things, time goes quickly.  Our time speedily cometh!

I did Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat at my school.  It was a lot of fun and a big success.  I love doing work while teaching about the Bible and Jesus.  What could be better?

I love you so much, Christian.  Every day this week has been a busy, crazy one, but every day I listened to you sing to me.

Thank you for being who you are. I have spoken about you so much and shared the good news of your mission.  You make me proud and just keep that up!

I love you and I look forward to going back with you and sharing joy, not just fun, not just a good time, but true JOY.

You are so wonderful, keep up the good work.

Make me proud,

MA

post Mother's Day call

I love you guys, it was awesome to talk to all of you and think of home, to be honest I don´t feel homesick, it is a strange feeling, I long to be by your side, but I know that home is not my place, I am needed here.  I was made for the mission, sometimes in the face of opposition I get tired and feel down, and sometimes I feel like I am carrying the world on my shoulders, but Heavenly Father always gives me family that I didn´t know that I had to be by my side.        I wanted to thank you all as a family, I know that you guys were made for me, you are such magical parents and I was blessed with the biggest support group in the world that stretched across continents, and a huge family that felt more like 2 clans.  And I am so grateful that you guys helped me to come on a mission, here my eyes are opened and I can see the magic and beauty of life.  But please tell the family that I love them and that I am fighting for them everyday and I am sacraficing everything to help everyone around me to follow our saviour,because I know that is what he wants me to do, stay strong Heather, in sports and in school, Mom and Dad don´t get tired, one day the battle willhave been worth it!!!  And Justin, We Are, Brothers to the End!!!! -Elder McOmber