Write a Birthday Letter to Zac!

February 25th 

is 

Elder Cetraro's 

20th Birthday! 

Use 

this link 

to send him 

special birthday wishes!
(Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.)

How is it going?! So I think it is funny that your week was slow as well. This last week seemed a little dreary here. So I got sick about 4-5 days ago and it is just kinda funny how much of a grump I kinda become when I am sick. Haha, I am willing to do the work every day, it is just my patience dies and if there are any difficulties, it is just a little harder to endure them.  Good news is, I think I am healthy again now.

I don’t remember if I told you but last week I went through all my journaling of 2012 and yeah it was awesome. I thought I would make a special entry of the things I am grateful for and yeah I filled up 13 pages I think. Ha, I finished that this week. Now I think this week I will do goals....for my full year in the mission. Have any fun ideas for me?

So what exciting things are happening down here?  I think it is really cool, especially this week that we can have these people that were so close to being baptized, but it doesn’t go right, so we end up cutting them, and leave them super prepared for another future missionary. But the Lord is so nice to us and we find new golden contacts to replace their spot of baptism. It is cool though because our Zone is really doing well, like some of the best in recent history. The ward is amazed that we are holding baptisms every week and each week we have at least 20 visitors, and I hear that the other area’s are doing well also. So that is pretty exciting. Also, for me, I can hear the time ticking for when I get transferred. I can’t promise that I will. But I am pretty sure February 4th I’m heading up to Fortaleza! Ha, the actual mission! It is going to be like arriving in a new mission all over again because I hear it is a whole new world up there!

Alrighty, muito amor!

-Elder Cetraro

MOM!!  I’m so proud of you!

You are fulfilling your goal! Yesss!! That makes me soo happy! You are the best investigator I have, Parabéns! Ha but really, that is great. I am more and more convinced that the Book of Mormon is one of the most powerful tools that God has given us to bring the spirit. I know that even though sometimes our little efforts to study the gospel don’t seem like much, Heavenly Father takes note and will send more of his spirit and love in our lives. Ha at this rate you are probably going to beat me reading the Book of Mormon. I started in October Cap to Cap and now I am at Alma 34 (goood chapter) no Livro de Mórmon. It’s been really funny, I am somewhat addicted to reading!

Wow. 200 days already eh? I remember when you told me about 100 days when I first arrived here in Juazeiro. Wow! Goes by quick eh? (I am pleased to tell you that I am struggling to type in English, I keep on thinking in Portuguese) Talking about journals, I think this year has been my best year at keeping a journal. Ha this last week I pulled out my College journal that I brought with me and I have been reading about 2012. WOW, what a year it has been! I don’t think I could ask for a better year. My year was PACKED even though half of it was normal life.

By the way, if you could post this on Facebook, that would be great. "My 2012. Trained the next generation of Ski/Snowboarding Olympiads. Had a second home at the U. Watched all 7 seasons of "How I Met Your Mother". Partied through the Pita Pit, a Dirty Thirty, a Silent, an Irish Pub, a Vegas High School Formal dance. Crowd surfed at the Festival of Colors and surfed for reals the shores in San Diego. CALI ROAD TRIP.  Lived through my 40 day Facebook lent (and then another 6 months) Fun Hot Tubbin Nights. Fell in love with running (I use to hate it). Played my fair share of Volleyball. Earned my Associate’s of Science at UVU. Returned to the Pit and the Pool. Had some epic golf matches with the Cetraros, the Fam, and friends, Yaaahooo! Had my first time landing in a plane. Explored Hawaii and all it’s wonders. Scaled the Wellsville mountains and beheld the Land of my Childhood. Left the country for the first time, became fluent in Portuguese, born and raised in Juazeiro do Norte, have seen many miracles, and have grown more than I could ever possibility imagined spiritually and in life skills serving an LDS Mission in Fortaleza Brazil. Wow, 2012 although the world didn’t come to an end, you would of went out with a BANG!"

Wooo... That will probably be my biggest post ever on FB but it will make up for the lost 6 months. Ooooh yeah. So guess what?  My Christmas package got sent back home. Slackers here in Fortaleza. So I hear just send them in smaller packages and say that it is filled with missionary supplies and not expensive things or they will hold it hostage again. Ridiculous huh? I did get one package from Gma Ronda. oooh myyy gosh tell her muito obrigado for the pod. (She sent him fitted bed sheets) With my sheets that would come undone every day I gave up on fixing that, and then I gave up on keeping the other parts of my room, and then I gave up on keeping my desk tidy, and then my brain gets all untidy, and then I can’t sleep as well in the night. It is amazing what a nice made bed can do for you! Also thanks for the chique ties and that (Cache Valley) calendar, OMG. I was showing everyone how pretty my home is and yeah. Thanks for the Trunkeza (home-sickness)

We had another baptism, Frank. He knew the Church before a year ago but once his girlfriend left him he texted us begging to get baptized. I really have been seeing so many miracles. God Exists. I see his Hand in my work everyday. I am so blessed and I can’t believe how I am receiving daily miracles. I blame Prayer =) and other things of course but it was definitely a week of miracles! Alrighty. That’s all I got this week. You are the best and I love you! Ciao ciao!

-Elder Cetraro

Hey Dad! Happy Holidays, sounds like it has been great for you guys! Vamos Ver?!  I never got to speak much Portuguese with ya, I wanted to n stuff. But it is all cool.

Thank you for the mission experience. I have been waiting a long time for that. What mission was it again? It is crazy how our faith gets us baptisms.

Anyway, in Mom’s email I talked about a dance party right? Well I thought it was funny that day, because I had a discussion with my comp about the Color Code. My Comp is a pure RED. It is ridiculous, I don’t think I have ever met a red like him. He is suuuper ambitious, ha! And I talked about how in our house we have one of each color. But I still feel like my yellow doesn’t really show a lot, but it was funny because that night my yellow burst and I was the most social person there!

How is your book coming along? I also thought it was cool I gave a message last night on goals. I wanted to do something different and I thought it was cool what all came together. I like Ether 12:4. I kinda used that as a theme - about how can we put an anchor on our goals (hope for a better world). We read about the Anti Nephi Lehi's who were super firm in their goal, even unto death. I asked what did they do to be so firm? And we looked back in Alma 24:7-10 and how they expressed a lot of thanks about what happened in the past (past year) and how they celebrated their goals. It was cool in the discussion with everyone, about how all the parts of the goal cycle came out. I then said how the whole BofM is set up like this. We have Nephi saying I will show the tender mercies in the first chapter and in the last chapter of the BofM we have Moroni saying look back at the tender mercies v.3 and ponder them in your heart. Then afterwards he goes into seek for the gifts of the spirit, which is basically telling us to make goals. So yeah, was interesting, but now I need to get going on my year goals.

Love ya, Dad!