Nov. 22, 2010
I'm thankful for turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, Mom's homemade rolls, yams, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie, and I'm thankful that someday I will be able to eat (as opposed to dream about) all those things again on Thanksgiving.
My mission president recently said that on p-days we can wear regular clothes all day, so I feel really weird right now. I'm wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and it's raining outside. Where am I?
We worked really hard to prepare this girl, Daniela, for baptism. She was that girl that I mentioned last week that we have been teaching at the Relief Society president's house. She was interviewed for baptism this week and my zone leader said she's not quite ready. We are going to reteach some stuff and emphasize certain principles (namely, faith and repentance), and everything will work out in the end. I'm actually hoping that we can baptize Daniela and her sister on the same day. Oh, that would be so sweet. They both went to church yesterday, and things are going well so far.
Besides them and the Bruno (the Bruno) that I mentioned last week, we don't have too many promising investigators. We focused so much on Daniela this week that the rest of our work kind of suffered. It has been really difficult to find new investigators, mostly because Birigui (my city) is a city of commerce; actually, I believe it is the greatest producer of footwear in all of Latin America, so that's pretty cool. Anyway, everyone here always works all the time, so we can never find people at home.
We're actually having transfers today, but my companion and I are both staying; in fact, almost all the missionaries in the whole city stayed this transfer. I'm all right with that; I have a good companion, and I like my area. The city that I'm in has a pretty bad reputation in the mission, but I don't see what is so bad about it. I might be dying because of the mold that's eating away the wall next to my desk at the house, but that's just a minor setback.
Oh, I found out this morning that I'm being made a district leader this transfer. So that's something.
I was kissed on the chest by a crazy dude who wanted to donate plastic cups to the church. And honestly, it didn't even seem that weird when it happened. My life has turned into something of a circus, and I don't even notice anymore.
Anyway, things are going well out here. My companion and I are working hard, and I'm trying to work harder. It has become pretty easy for me to be obedient out here (it isn't even that hard to get up at 6:30 anymore), but I'm trying harder to be obedient with exactness. I'm doing my best, gente, I promise. And the Lord is blessing my companion and I a lot! The Church is true! I love all of you!
tchau
booga
ps Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
What a life I lead in the summer, what a life I lead in the spring!
November 15, 2010
Family! I received a package from Mom this week! Hooray! She sent me candy and shoes and colored pencils and a bag and now I can be a good missionary because I know that someone loves me! Thanks Mom!
There were also some photos in the package of all of you guys. I seriously cannot believe how different everyone looks. Things really are changing back home, huh? When I left, Collin was just a little (big) baby, and now he already looks like a little (big) boy. And since then all of the other nieces and nephews have been born and grown up without me! I was shocked to see how big Katelyn, Ellie, Jay, and Phoebe already are. I hope they don't get scared of me when I see them for the first time in a thousand years.
Anyway, I'm sitting here in a little LAN house in some city that no one has heard of in Brasil and sipping on some guaraná. Guys, life is good. This mission thing is so flippin' hard, but this last week was good. My companion and I are in a stage where we're just doing a lot of old fashioned, mule stress, nose to the grind stone (is that right?) hard work. We spend pretty much every afternoon just trying to find someone at their house, and ... the search continues. We've been making lots of contacts and meeting some good people, but things are going kind of slow.
We did start teaching that girl that went to church last Sunday. It has been going well because we've been teaching her at the Relief Society president's house with a strong member family. The girl has been progressing nicely, and we marked a date for her baptism for this Saturday (things move fast down here in América Do Sul, gente!). Her sister also went to church with her yesterday, so we're going to start teaching the two of them together.
The situation is a little complicated though, because this girl is pretty darn flirtatious, especially with my companion. She thinks it's very cool that we're from the States, and she thinks it's cute that my companion doesn't talk that much. Yikes! The thing is, she started showing interest in the Church and even went to her first sacrament meeting before she even knew that we existed, so I think she is going to church for the right reasons. We're being careful, though, so don't worry.
We have also been teaching this guy named Bruno who is going out with a girl in a different ward in the city. He's a cool guy, but he's pretty shy, and it's easy for the conversation to get awkward when we teach him. He's been going to church with his girlfriend for a few weeks now, and we marked a baptismal date with him for three weeks from now.
So anyway, things are moving out here, but not too quickly. We're just working hard and trying to find people. I'm still playing piano in sacrament meeting and getting really nervous about it. I think it's helping me, though. I'm really excited about having a piano back home to play for hours and hours after the mission. Speaking of which, I make a year and two months tomorrow. Not that I'm counting. Also, I have grown to love playing the piano out here, and I wish I had more time to play it.
Also, I am rambling.
I love you all so much! Today's a holiday out here. I just asked a Sister sitting next to me, and she said it's the Proclamação da República. Who knows what that means! Maybe you guys can read about it on Wikipedia and tell me about it or something. Anyway, happy Proclamação da República!
luv
elder wings
Family! I received a package from Mom this week! Hooray! She sent me candy and shoes and colored pencils and a bag and now I can be a good missionary because I know that someone loves me! Thanks Mom!
There were also some photos in the package of all of you guys. I seriously cannot believe how different everyone looks. Things really are changing back home, huh? When I left, Collin was just a little (big) baby, and now he already looks like a little (big) boy. And since then all of the other nieces and nephews have been born and grown up without me! I was shocked to see how big Katelyn, Ellie, Jay, and Phoebe already are. I hope they don't get scared of me when I see them for the first time in a thousand years.
Anyway, I'm sitting here in a little LAN house in some city that no one has heard of in Brasil and sipping on some guaraná. Guys, life is good. This mission thing is so flippin' hard, but this last week was good. My companion and I are in a stage where we're just doing a lot of old fashioned, mule stress, nose to the grind stone (is that right?) hard work. We spend pretty much every afternoon just trying to find someone at their house, and ... the search continues. We've been making lots of contacts and meeting some good people, but things are going kind of slow.
We did start teaching that girl that went to church last Sunday. It has been going well because we've been teaching her at the Relief Society president's house with a strong member family. The girl has been progressing nicely, and we marked a date for her baptism for this Saturday (things move fast down here in América Do Sul, gente!). Her sister also went to church with her yesterday, so we're going to start teaching the two of them together.
The situation is a little complicated though, because this girl is pretty darn flirtatious, especially with my companion. She thinks it's very cool that we're from the States, and she thinks it's cute that my companion doesn't talk that much. Yikes! The thing is, she started showing interest in the Church and even went to her first sacrament meeting before she even knew that we existed, so I think she is going to church for the right reasons. We're being careful, though, so don't worry.
We have also been teaching this guy named Bruno who is going out with a girl in a different ward in the city. He's a cool guy, but he's pretty shy, and it's easy for the conversation to get awkward when we teach him. He's been going to church with his girlfriend for a few weeks now, and we marked a baptismal date with him for three weeks from now.
So anyway, things are moving out here, but not too quickly. We're just working hard and trying to find people. I'm still playing piano in sacrament meeting and getting really nervous about it. I think it's helping me, though. I'm really excited about having a piano back home to play for hours and hours after the mission. Speaking of which, I make a year and two months tomorrow. Not that I'm counting. Also, I have grown to love playing the piano out here, and I wish I had more time to play it.
Also, I am rambling.
I love you all so much! Today's a holiday out here. I just asked a Sister sitting next to me, and she said it's the Proclamação da República. Who knows what that means! Maybe you guys can read about it on Wikipedia and tell me about it or something. Anyway, happy Proclamação da República!
luv
elder wings
We own the sky
November 8, 2010
Oi everyone, tudo bem!
Things are getting kind of frustrating out here. I know I'm probably preaching to the choir, but I have grown pretty tired of hearing people's excuses about why they don't want to hear what we have to say. We make contacts with people all the time who say they already have their religion, they already know everything we have to teach them, or they never stay at their houses. I guess I've been struggling with patience lately. It seems like, especially earlier this week, I just wanted people to stop talking about the "palavra" (that's what everyone calls the Bible because it's "the word of God") so that I can teach them the Restoration and get out of there. I don't know, I guess I just feel like I'm doing my best, but it's not good enough. Like, I try and try and try to get people to get it, you know? But, they just don't. People don't seem to understand what we mean when we talk about the Church of Jesus Christ, whether it be the primitive or the restored Church, or about divine authority or the Book of Mormon or any of that jazz.
I am trying not to complain, though. Something I'm going to focus on this week is having charity and love for people. Christ said that people will know us as His disciples as we love others as He loves them, so maybe that's what is lacking here. True Christlike love is a noble goal, but it's not one that is easily attained. I'm working on seeing other people as the Lord sees them, whether or not they accept us into their houses.
Most of our numbers were zeros this week. My mission leaders want us to go mark baptismal dates with people in the streets so that we meet the mission's standard of excellence, so they get mad when I have zero investigators with dates marked. Maybe if I marked five baptismal dates with some punk kids in the street, the Lord would see my desire and then I'd baptize people. Oh well.
We did have an investigator at church yesterday, which was pretty wonderful. The Relief Society president in my ward here brought a young women who lives across the street from her to church. It was great! Because a member brought her, she and her family were introducing this girl to other members and making her feel welcome there; it works so much better when someone besides us does it. We're going to start teaching her at the Relief Society president's house tomorrow, and it is going to be perfect! My zone leaders want me to mark a baptism interview with her already!
Anyway, things are going well. I played piano in sacrament meeting again yesterday. I was super nervous, but all the hymns sounded just fine. Even though it's such a simple thing to accompany the congregation like that, I really feel like it's helping me grow a lot and allow myself to accept my imperfections while doing something that I love. I'm actually going to the chapel after this to practice next week's hymns. Fun!
Sorry for writing boring emails lately! I'll contact more drunks and voodoo ladies this week to try to get some interesting stories!
(sorry for not having time to write back to you guys individually. thanks so much for the emails.)
luv
booooooga
Oi everyone, tudo bem!
Things are getting kind of frustrating out here. I know I'm probably preaching to the choir, but I have grown pretty tired of hearing people's excuses about why they don't want to hear what we have to say. We make contacts with people all the time who say they already have their religion, they already know everything we have to teach them, or they never stay at their houses. I guess I've been struggling with patience lately. It seems like, especially earlier this week, I just wanted people to stop talking about the "palavra" (that's what everyone calls the Bible because it's "the word of God") so that I can teach them the Restoration and get out of there. I don't know, I guess I just feel like I'm doing my best, but it's not good enough. Like, I try and try and try to get people to get it, you know? But, they just don't. People don't seem to understand what we mean when we talk about the Church of Jesus Christ, whether it be the primitive or the restored Church, or about divine authority or the Book of Mormon or any of that jazz.
I am trying not to complain, though. Something I'm going to focus on this week is having charity and love for people. Christ said that people will know us as His disciples as we love others as He loves them, so maybe that's what is lacking here. True Christlike love is a noble goal, but it's not one that is easily attained. I'm working on seeing other people as the Lord sees them, whether or not they accept us into their houses.
Most of our numbers were zeros this week. My mission leaders want us to go mark baptismal dates with people in the streets so that we meet the mission's standard of excellence, so they get mad when I have zero investigators with dates marked. Maybe if I marked five baptismal dates with some punk kids in the street, the Lord would see my desire and then I'd baptize people. Oh well.
We did have an investigator at church yesterday, which was pretty wonderful. The Relief Society president in my ward here brought a young women who lives across the street from her to church. It was great! Because a member brought her, she and her family were introducing this girl to other members and making her feel welcome there; it works so much better when someone besides us does it. We're going to start teaching her at the Relief Society president's house tomorrow, and it is going to be perfect! My zone leaders want me to mark a baptism interview with her already!
Anyway, things are going well. I played piano in sacrament meeting again yesterday. I was super nervous, but all the hymns sounded just fine. Even though it's such a simple thing to accompany the congregation like that, I really feel like it's helping me grow a lot and allow myself to accept my imperfections while doing something that I love. I'm actually going to the chapel after this to practice next week's hymns. Fun!
Sorry for writing boring emails lately! I'll contact more drunks and voodoo ladies this week to try to get some interesting stories!
(sorry for not having time to write back to you guys individually. thanks so much for the emails.)
luv
booooooga
Oceans never listened to us anyway
November 1, 2010
Oi everyone, tudo bem?
This week started out really strong and kind of fizzled out toward the end.
On Monday we read a chapter from the Book of Mormon with a middle-aged couple and tried to teach them from it. It's so hard to help people get it, though. Like, they just don't get it. They were nice people, but they talked about the Book of Mormon as if we were trying to replace their Bible or something. I did my best to explain things tudo certinho, but to no avail. And then as we were about to leave, they started talking about this class they're taking about strengthening your marriage. It's called "Casados para Sempre" ("Married Forever"). In spite of myself, I took the bait and talked a little about eternal marriage and how it is possible for a family to literally be together forever. And guys, they just don't get it.
I don't mean to pick on that couple specifically; very few people really do get it.
This week we taught a nice family a little bit. A teenaged girl ordered Finding Faith in Christ (a DVD) a little while ago, and we delivered it last week. We taught her and her grandpa at the time. We visited them again this week, and the girl's grandma was there (I don't know what the deal is with her parents, but I know that they don't live there). We ran through the first lesson again and read 3 Nephi 11 with them. And I invited them to be baptized. They didn't exactly accept yet, but hopefully they'll start thinking about it now.
There was a presidential election yesterday (Dilma won, which means Brasil will now have a woman president for the first time ever), so no one agreed to go to church, including some of the members.
My Halloween was actually pretty underwhelming. I went to church, ate lunch with a nice couple, played their piano a little bit (they have a piano! in their house!), worked, visited a nice little Japanese lady and her daughter and played with their giant pit bull named "Killer," and had a p-day sleepover with some other missionários. I wish I could have eaten some chili and watched some scary-but-not-too-scary movies.
Sorry if this email is boring. What do you guys want to hear about?
My area is cool, but a lot of the members are discouraged about missionary work. My companion is a really nice guy, and we're getting along well. I love studying the scriptures every day and learning about the important things in life.
I love all of you! I hope you're doing well! The Book of Mormon is true!
luv
booga
Oi everyone, tudo bem?
This week started out really strong and kind of fizzled out toward the end.
On Monday we read a chapter from the Book of Mormon with a middle-aged couple and tried to teach them from it. It's so hard to help people get it, though. Like, they just don't get it. They were nice people, but they talked about the Book of Mormon as if we were trying to replace their Bible or something. I did my best to explain things tudo certinho, but to no avail. And then as we were about to leave, they started talking about this class they're taking about strengthening your marriage. It's called "Casados para Sempre" ("Married Forever"). In spite of myself, I took the bait and talked a little about eternal marriage and how it is possible for a family to literally be together forever. And guys, they just don't get it.
I don't mean to pick on that couple specifically; very few people really do get it.
This week we taught a nice family a little bit. A teenaged girl ordered Finding Faith in Christ (a DVD) a little while ago, and we delivered it last week. We taught her and her grandpa at the time. We visited them again this week, and the girl's grandma was there (I don't know what the deal is with her parents, but I know that they don't live there). We ran through the first lesson again and read 3 Nephi 11 with them. And I invited them to be baptized. They didn't exactly accept yet, but hopefully they'll start thinking about it now.
There was a presidential election yesterday (Dilma won, which means Brasil will now have a woman president for the first time ever), so no one agreed to go to church, including some of the members.
My Halloween was actually pretty underwhelming. I went to church, ate lunch with a nice couple, played their piano a little bit (they have a piano! in their house!), worked, visited a nice little Japanese lady and her daughter and played with their giant pit bull named "Killer," and had a p-day sleepover with some other missionários. I wish I could have eaten some chili and watched some scary-but-not-too-scary movies.
Sorry if this email is boring. What do you guys want to hear about?
My area is cool, but a lot of the members are discouraged about missionary work. My companion is a really nice guy, and we're getting along well. I love studying the scriptures every day and learning about the important things in life.
I love all of you! I hope you're doing well! The Book of Mormon is true!
luv
booga
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