31 Oct 2011 - Jardim América Area (Mom)

[Mom wrote about a baptismal service we attended on Saturday.] Baptisms are good. I like to watch them too. People here don't really see them as that important since they happen more often. It would be nice to get more people to watch the baptisms. It is good though. There is always a special feeling when people get baptised. It makes us missionaries the happiest people ever. I was thinking yesterday, since we had a baptism too, why missionaries like baptisms so much. It's not because we get more glory, or more baptisms under our belt. It is because we know without a doubt that the baptism is the right thing! It is the start to salvation. We know after the baptisms the people will feel the spirit testify to them that they made the right choice! Before, Satan tempts them so much, but afterwards they are sure! Sadly, we lose a lot of people before they can feel the surety. They are looking for it, but they just don't make it past the trial of faith.

31 Oct 2011 - Jardim América Area (Dad)

Well we had a fun weekend since it is Halloween! We went trick or treating as you can see in the pictures. I dressed up as a gangster and my comp dressed up as a drunk Brazilian, just because they are so nice to us. Also, there is a picture of a cashew so now you all know where the nut comes from. It is by far the nastiest fruit in existence and it is obvious why they also send the nuts to America. The skin feels greasy and it feels squishy like a dirty diaper. ewwww Oh yeah, I put my fly ride in there. I'm rolling on 20' s in my ole Beetle.

We have conference here on the 12th and 13th. They have a few big names coming here but Bednar is going to another stake. We have our meeting with him on the 14th. Too bad that is my P-Day ;) He gave us a few talks to study and stuff. It is about time an Apostle comes to the best mission in the world, literally. :) More good news too, he is going to do the ground breaking for the temple on the 15th. I doubt we are going, but at least it'll be done in the next 4 years. However, I won't be here for all of the excitement of a Stake Conference. I got transferred already, emergency transfer. I'm getting butterflies just setting this all up for you...Pres. Souza called us this last Thursday and told my comp that he was going to be the new Exec. Sec. of the mission. Then my comp hands the phone to me and Pres asks if I'm doing better blah blah. Then he said that he was going to get some medicine for me so that I could get better. Then out of the blue he said "Elder on the 2nd of November I want you and your companion to come to the mission office because you are going to train the new Elder that is arriving." HUH!?!! Yep I'm going to train some poor kid ;) He doesn't know what he is getting into. I'm pretty sure he is coming from a mission in the US rather than straight from the MTC. I don't know what I'll do. It'll be intense, I'm scared out of my mind. I'm praying all the time for help. I know that the Lord has called me to do it, I'm just praying that I can be humble enough and that I can remember that God called me. We'll see how it goes. I just kept thinking about the conference talk when they were talking about the Lord preparing us for calls. I thought it was in this last conference but I looked in my notes and couldn't find it. I know that I will grow 34234234 times more than my companion will. Whew....

24 Oct 2011 - Jardim América Area (Mom)

I'm still sick, and I called Sister Souza (Mrs. Mission President) and I took some of the medicine that she told me. It hasn't really done that much yet. It's funny because everyone thinks they are a doctor, and they tell me all of this random stuff that I should be taking. Whatever...

 

[I had some questions about the pictures you sent. The one where you are "slam dunking" the ball, there is an apartment building behind. Is that your apartment? Is yours similar (if that isn't yours)? Do you even live in an apartment? Are there just two missionaries in it or 4?] That is the apartment building behind the church. It isn't like my house. I live in a house right now, but other missionaries live in apartments. That is a nice apartment complex, for Brazil, so I don't think that any missionaries live in places like that. The bishop of our ward put up a wall in his house to make another 'house' for the missionaries. So our house is really small and narrow. Right now I just live with my companion. I have lived with 4 missionaries, and I think that is better/more fun. However, we are low on missionaries right now so more and more people are just living with just their companion.

 

[In the one of you drinking an acai Slurpee, why does the top appear golden? Was there something added, or does the acai have a golden part to it, or was it just lighting?] They put granola on top, so that is why it is golden. Açaí itself isn't very tasty, so they put honey in it to make it sweeter and granola just adds to the taste. It's magically delicious though.

 

[In the muscle juice squeeze, that "orange" you are squeezing had a green skin like a lime. What fruit is that?] Oranges here have green skins. When they turn orange they apparently are bad. I don't know why. They also don't have lemons here, just limes.

 

[Your chapel is 2 stories in the picture. Why so big? How many congregations meet there? Do you have overlapping blocks like we do? How large are the wards?] I don't know why it is so big. We have 4 wards in this chapel and it is the stake center but when they built it, they didn't know that. It is the nicest chapel I have seen here in Fortaleza, but it isn't the biggest. When you get inside it doesn't really have that many rooms. Half of it is the Institute building too, so maybe that is why it is so big. We have overlapping blocks here too. Each ward is SMALL. They like to divide quickly here to grow faster. I counted the people in the ward in the last sacrament meeting and they only had 90 people. They had the primary program and had to grab kids from another ward too. They just divided this ward, so that is why the numbers are low. I doubt they ever let a ward go above 200 people though. We work in 2 wards so we go to church at 9 am and again at 4:30 pm.

 

I have a lot more photos. I don't know how many I have exactly. Probably around 1000. I'm taking more pictures with my American companion. Brazilians don't have the same sense of humor and they don't like to take pictures it seems. I take pictures of all my baptisms. I think I might be missing one or something like that. I was thinking about making a book when I get back home especially for my baptisms. Not to show to people, but for me and myself :) Before I leave an area I usually go around taking pictures with members that I like and stuff like that. I always want more pictures, I can't get enough but sadly I can't just carry around my camera. I always have that worry in the back of my head that I don't have enough pictures, stuff like that.

24 Oct 2011 - Jardim América Area (Dad)

[Thanks for the pictures. I assume you shared the pitcher of acai with a family of 12 and I was surprised that the Brazilian basketball standards are 20 feet high, but the orange juicer looks like it could fill up a few barrels.] Har har, I should have shared it with 12 people, but instead I ate it all myself. Hey I was just starting the jump! The Elder didn't take a picture when I was hanging on the rim. I did 3 back flips after my running start, that is why I'm so close to the hoop.

 

[I was reading the October Ensign this morning. The entire issue is about the Book of Mormon. The last article is by Elder Holland....] I have that talk and we listen to it quite a lot. I love Jeffrey R. Holland. I'm kind of sad he came 2 months before I got here but we have some good news because Bednar is coming the 14th of November with Claudio M. Costa (Area Pres. of Brasil). It will be one and only chance to touch an Apostle ;) Apparently my companion is best friends with Russel M. Nelson's grandson and they have gone skiing together. Who knew that Russell M. Nelson still skis. I guess you know a lot of cool people when you live in SLC. Anyways, that is a good talk.

 

We had a few crazy things happen to us this weekend. One day we were walking a lot and starving a lot. It was at night and we were trying to get a few more new investigators to reach our goal. I was thinking about how hungry I was...staring at the floor. Some lady stopped in front of us and asked if we wanted a sandwich that she had just bought. FOR SURE YES! She couldn't eat it because she has stomach problems (ulcers) and she said that she knew that we walked around in the sun a lot. It turned out to be a huge hamburger so that was cool. It was also delicious. Just a random/unique story that I wish happend more often.

 

There are a lot of Africans that live in this area too because they come here to study and then they go back to work in their country. They are really cool people, and for some reason I like them a lot. I have talked to a few of them in other areas, and they are really nice. Plus they speak English. However, these Africans don't. They are from Guinea Bissau. We have taught a few, but they never really progressed. We talked to  a special one the other day. He is different than the rest. He lives in a one room apartment with his cousin and his bed takes up most of his house.We taught him and he loved it! He said he wanted to follow and be baptized and endure to the end! He went to church on Sunday and liked it. He just showed a desire and the motivation to endure to the end that some members don't even have. He was worried that they didn't have the Church in his home country. I hope they do.....but I told him there was probably, at least, some members there and that God would help him to follow His path. I told him that if he showed the same determination that he showed us, that he could even be a leader/example in his home country. I already feel good about him, and I already love him. I have this weird love for African people. All of them that I have met are so nice and peaceful. I have this weird desire to know them better. If I didn't serve here, I would've loved to serve in Africa! They are all children of God!

17 Oct 2011 - Jardim América Area (Dad)

I'm sending some legit pictures...one of our chapel yeah it's big, another one of my ballin and dunking, drinking açaí from a pitcher! and squeezing oranges to make juice the cool muscle-man way.

This week was a good week. The zone had made a promise to reach the mission goal of news for the week. We worked hard and taught lots of people. We pulled out all the stops and searched and found a lot of good people. We also found some not so great people :) After all was said and done...we didn't reach the goal of new investigators. So that was lame, but we had a baptism this week. That was one of the reason why we weren't able to reach our goal. We spent all of Saturday trying to resolve the problems. Okay all day after lunch, because that's an important step, it's necessary. One of the biggest problems here in Brazil is lack of water when we want to baptize somebody. That is what happened on Saturday. So while the lady was getting interviewed I was calling everyone, trying to find a chapel close that we could use. We found one, and had to go there and clean the font and then let it fill up with water. While we waited for it to fill up we played with some snails we found in the garden and drew on the chalk board. Normal waiting things. People were wondering why we didn't just do it Sunday or next week. Sometimes it just seemed a lot easier to do it Sunday, but then she couldn't be confirmed. Satan was trying his hardest to stop the baptism. The bishop could barely open the door to the chapel. It was just intense, and there were only 5 people at her baptism: the bishop, his wife, me, Elder Howland, and the Ward Mission Leader. It was a good baptism though.

After it all, I was explaining to the Ward Mission Leader, who never served a mission, that baptisms are sometimes the hardest things on the mission. Satan tries his hardest to mess up baptismal services. I looked back and saw all the things that went wrong. I know that the Lord will ALWAYS prepare a way. It is ALWAYS possible to follow His path. He will ALWAYS be on the other side waiting. We just have to bust through to meet Him. We can't walk around the obstacles because we will leave the path. We just go straight through them. No matter what Satan tells you, The Lord our Saviour is ALWAYS waiting for you. It is impossible for us to overcome a trial or obstacle and have nobody waiting for us on the other side. Imagine the sadness that we would feel, the betrayal. Now imagine how the Lord feels when we don't make it through the obstacle, when we just give up because we don't believe He is there. He is calling for us over and over, begging for us to make it, assuring that He is there. Unfortunately, we don't hear or heed that call.

Therefore, do it. Never give up. I know without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord is there. He has always been there for me. I have learned that better than ever here on the mission. I know that He lives and that He can help us overcome anything in this world. I was studying in Moses this week and I know that the Lord has promised us free agency. We have power over anyone that doesn't have a body. We have power over any urge or addiction in this life. I know that God promises eternal life for anyone who heeds His call to come and follow. Why do we hesitate? Why doesn't eternal life inexplicably compel us to be perfect. It should, for it is the greatest gift to mankind.

That just came out of me. Read it, and do it.

10 Oct 2011 - Jardim América Area (Mom)

It was a good week. We had already downloaded the [General Conference] talks so we were able to listen to them at home too. That was nice. Dad sent me the picture from the vacation. Everyone looks old :) Josh looks like he is 23 and I didn't even recognize Chelsea.

I've been sick too and I have been taking this HORRIBLE medicine that tastes like rotten Robitussin. But I haven't gotten any better. I'm hacking up my lungs like I have tuberculosis and it has been going on for like 2 weeks. Maybe one day I'll call Sister Souza and ask her what I should do.

I have bad news for you. The postal service in Brazil is on strike so it might take awhile to get the package no matter when you send it :) I don't need any Christmas decoration or anything. I still have the one from last year.....I think :) Whew time flies by,

10 Oct 2011 - Jardim América Area (Dad)

I have no idea where my future is going. Right now June 2012 is the end of my life :) I don't really think about what is going to happen after that. Besides the world is ending 2012 anyways :) The future is a swirly cloud of despair and uncertainty for now at least. Who knows what is going to do down. It is hard to always keep your head up though. That is probably the hardest thing to do. Pres. Uchtdorf (hey he talked about Uncle Carl didn't he? ;)) helped me a lot though. His talk was majestic. It was really good and powerful. He is an Apostle of God, he cannot lie! Therefore, we must believe him when he says God loves us, He knows us. That was good. Sometimes it doesn't have the same affect when your friend says it or someone like that. You think  "Well how do you know?" But when an apostle says it you are like "Yeah, for sure!"

 

The real reason that I don't think much about life after the mission is because I'm so happy here. This week was killer and I'm starting to feel the pains of old age and 1 year 4 months walking in the blazing sun. Older missionaries always complained that they were tired and hurting but I never felt that. Now I felt it :) I'm sick too, so that doesn't help. It's just so good here on the mission. Life isn't easier, but it is more complete. You have a purpose, you have the desire and all you do is work to fulfill it. You don't have to worry about balancing family, work, and church. It's a paradise. It goes by relatively fast though. Sometimes it's a long day, sometimes it isn't long enough.