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.

3 Oct 2011 - Jardim América Area (Mom)

I loved Pres. Monson [in General Conference]. His first talk he just walked up and said, "Hello!" What a hero. He gets more and more funny as he gets older. I loved the British guy too, Ardern. He is my new favorite General Authority. "We send tweets and tixs." It took me awhile to figure out what he was saying when he said 'tix' (texts). He's cool. I liked Uchtdorf's talk about the amount of God's creation. He talked a lot about how all of us matter to God our Heavenly Father and how important we are. Sometimes that isn't so obvious to me as it should be. People talked a lot about how the world is changing and stuff like that. Robert D. Hales got fat too, I came in late and I didn't even recognize him :) Poor guy. New temple in Provo, that'll be cool.

3 Oct 2011 - Jardim América Area (Dad)

I was able to watch conference this weekend. It was good, I liked it. Pres. Monson is crazy though :) He likes to joke around a lot. I love conference here on the mission and I'm sure that I will love it afterwards. I didn't pay much attention before the mission, but now it goes by super fast. As long as they keep cool British speakers, I'll keep listening. We had a crazy week with a lot of crazy things happening. Crazy members, crazy drunks, crazy bishops. It was good though. It made for good laughs. It's fun here, and for some reason things get a lot crazier when you have 2 americans together. 1 Brazilian and an American is generally ignored, but once you have 2 Americans people start talking to you and screaming swear words at you and crazy girls. We went to a bread store with a member to buy something for lunch and this crazy old guy on a bike just stared at us and shouted "Killers!" in English. .....Uh ok. We were minding our own business and we went to the cashier's to pay. Somehow, he was there and screamed "Killers" again. Who knows what was going on. He said, "You kill African babies and Iraqi babies". Apparently, he had seen me when I went to Iraq last weekend. Just kidding. Everyone was looking at us and the funny part was that they didn't even realize we were Americans. They asked us if we understood what he said. I thought it was hilarious. I love good mission stories. These kinds of things only happen with 2 Americans. We had a drunk guy feeling my face and telling me that I needed to use more lotion. He kept on telling me to get closer to the walls because you never know when a bus might come. Then as we were leaving he yelled at nobody and said "Let them pass, they are with me." Good times.

 

We had a baptism in between the sessions (which I will never do again, it's a headache). It was a really good baptism and the father that we baptised 2 weeks ago got to baptize his wife and daughter who were finally ready to be baptized. It was cool. I'm happy, really happy. The transfer was a battle and so was the conversion process. Satan worked HARD to destroy this family, but they succeeded. They will bring me eternal joy because of the faith that they showed and the love for God that they showed.

 

It's cool when people in conference talk about the missionaries because they are talking about me! I get all tingly inside when they say they are grateful for us. It'll end though, but I'll never forget it. I'll never forget the people or the lessons that the Lord has taught me. He has tried hard and sometimes I don't accept what He teaches, but I'll get better. I can't explain to you all how my mission has completely changed my life. It is wonderful. Don't expect a perfect Jeffrey Hawkes when I return, but I'm at least a smidge better ;) It is truly a miracle and I love my Lord and Savior with all of my heart!