April 21, 2014

Hey!

Yeah, this week was less exciting, haha!  We didn't really do much for Easter, but here in Brazil Easter means EVERY SINGLE CHURCH (there's one like every few feet) is open and shouting at the same time... except The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, haha!

Last week at district meeting a sister put together an Easter egg hunt, that was a lot of fun!

As far as investigators, this area has been really hard, we kinda don't have people to teach.  The area was divided and the other Elders have the part with all the people they were teaching before, and we were left to kinda start from scratch and find a new teaching pool but it's going really slowly.  We have one family that we have been teaching and has come to church the past two weeks. We are hoping they get baptized soon.  It's a grandma, her daughter, and her son. They're really great people and like to learn. They're very humble. 

Love you!

April 14, 2014

Hey!

So this week was easily the most messed up of my mission... I got my new companion, Elder Meline, who I am training!  Kind of.  He has been waiting for his Visa, serving in the States for a year!  Haha, I'm training a missionary with more time on his mission than me!  Unfortunately we had a really bad experience his first week. We got attacked and chased by a man with a big rod of wood and Elder Meline got hit 3 times, one of which was in the head and he had to get 5 stitches...

We were trying to visit a woman with a member who lives on the street and were at her door when a big shirtless man with a stick appears out of nowhere and asks what we're doing.  He was talking to me, because I was standing at the door, and Elder Meline was a few feet away.  The guy starts saying all sorts of crazy stuff about the church and Elder Meline starts walking in our direction to see what's going on. Then the guy just starts swinging at him... he got hit 3 times, twice he blocked with his arm, bruising it pretty badly and once right on his forehead which began to bleed immediately.  We just ran.  We went to the house of the member who we were with and she called an ambulance and the cops.  The event made a big stir on the street and now pretty much all of the women on the street don't like this guy, and they are going to testify against him in court and try to get him forced to move.  We went to the hospital and got a member to drive us home.  We spent the last few days just letting Elder Meline rest at home. He's really strong; President asked if he wanted to get out of the area but he doesn't want to, he wanted to go out and continue proselyting the very next day!

It was absolute insanity but I think it was a testimony builder for everyone!  And it will make one heck of a story!

Here are some pictures of the Elders I live with, The group ones are when I was with Elder Martineau for 2 weeks, us with Guaraná Jesus which is really popular in Maranhão where one of the Elders is from and me with Elder Meline.

Let me know if I missed any questions, haha

Love you!

The Elders I live with are awesome, we play ninja a lot at home, haha!

Some details about the Guaraná Jesus, its pink and tastes like bubble gum (tutti frutti) haha!

April 7, 2014

Hey!

So this week was really cool, we had the temple and General Conference so we really didn't get all that much work done...but I loved General Conference.  I thought there were some really home-run talks and I can't wait to study the Conference Liahona!  

Did you hear the new General Sunday School presidency?  John S. Tanner is going to be First Counselor, MY MISSION PRESIDENT!  His mission ends in just a couple months and he was called to be in a general presidency!  He's amazing, they both are, Sister Tanner is incredible and used to be the General Young Women's President!

I've been in a normal companionship with Elder Martineau, but tomorrow I will get my trainee, but the transfer will only go for like 3 weeks after that, haha.

Love you!

April 1, 2014

Hey!

So, crazy week!  

I was transferred to a place called Mauá, a city which is actually not part of the city of São Paulo. It's a little bit more rural but still way jam packed with people.  Really the only difference is there are no big apartment buildings in this area, which is a good thing. It's tough to do missionary work with apartments...

So I was in a trio, like I said, for a grand total of... one day.  The second day we got a call from our Zone Leader (who had been Assistant to the President for a YEAR, but he asked to be a ZL for his last transfer, so he's amazing) and he said that he wanted to have the two trios in the zone split up and put me with a guy from another trio so I could go ahead and split the area now instead of waiting in a trio for 2 weeks.  It was a great idea and my new comp, Elder Martineau, is great. We actually already knew each other from my other zone and so were already close, it's cool.   So now I'm working in Parque das Americas 2.  The area is cool because all of the street names are names of states or countries from America, for example, our house is on America do Norte, haha!  Also, my new house is literally the biggest and best house in the mission. It's incredible, I'll send pictures next week.

The reason I am sending emails so late is because our temple day got bumped up. It was supposed to be next week but instead we didn't get P-day yesterday and went to the temple today.  It was great but a pretty big journey.

I want to study another language.  I came here in my trio with 2 Brazilians and was excited to do my first language study with Brazilian comps in like 4 months, but after hearing me speaking and reading they said they have nothing to teach me, and when I would ask questions the technical terms I used confused them...  I had been thinking about studying Arabic or Hebrew  But, so, I've gotten interested in Japanese culture since I've been here, because it has a pretty big influence here.  What do you think about me learning Japanese?  I just feel like I really have the gift of tongues and need to take advantage as much as possible, haha!  

Love you, sorry my emails seem to always be in a rush!

March 24, 2014

Here are some pictures, of my zone from last transfer, and of us with Gabriel and Irmã.  He is a great friend and I have learned tons from him!

March 17, 2014

Wenes, Simone, and Carol were baptized!  President and Sister Tanner came to the baptism.  The service was awesome, tons of people came, the ward did 2 musical numbers, and there was cake afterwards!  They are a fantastic family and in 1 year I will be able to go and see their sealing, because I'll still be on my mission!

Our area is getting split, President is putting another set of missionaries here. I'm happy about it, it makes me feel that I've done something right here!  Transfers are next week. I've been here for a really long time. I'm kinda thinking I'll be transferred but I don't know.  I really like this place, and I've come to really be friends with the people and the ward.

There are some sisters in the ward that make and sell chocolates, so me and Elder Lincoln each bought a huge easter egg of chocolate, they are incredible!

March 5, 2014

Hey!

Sorry we didn't get to email Monday, literally all of the places for us to email were closed because of Carnival! Ha ha, but I got a call from Sister Joanna and she said she would let you know, so that's cool.  Honestly, Carnival for us wasn't a big deal.  Nobody celebrates it here, the people that want to go crazy and party all go to the beach or something.  So we just worked like normal but the streets were super empty.  Today was zone conference. I really love zone conference, its always super spiritual.  I especially love to hear the testimonies of the missionaries that are leaving soon which are always really inspiring! Our main investigator, Wenes, had an interview with President this week, it was a really good experience for him.  He should be baptized the 16th!  

All of the leaders have been pushing really hard to have a longer vision with our investigators and ourselves, not just teaching people to be baptized but getting them to persevere!  And a lot of the training today at the zone conference was about becoming true converts ourselves, which is one thing I can definitely say has happened  to me on my mission!  

We've got one phone between us and we're not even allowed to text!  I'm anxious to see if the whole technologizing of missionaries will hit my mission while I'm here!  

Love you and everyone back home!