You may say I'm a dreamer

August 9, 2010

My dearest family,

E aí! Como vai, gente, beleza!

This week went pretty well. From Wednesday to Sunday, my companion and I had our district leader working with us. He hasn't had a companion for about a week and a half or something, so he has been hopping around from ward to ward so he has someone to work with. It was actually a pretty good experience to have him here with us. Something that I learned in the MTC is that missionary work and trios don't really mix with each other, but we managed just fine.

We had a couple people drop us this week. That's always a bummer, but I've kind of gotten used to it. One of our best investigators is living with our ward mission leader's daughter, who is an inactive member. He really took to heart our challenge to read: he read all the chapters we marked for him in the Book of Mormon, and then he started from the beginning and made it to 1 Nephi 11! We were all pretty blown away by that. Anyway, he told us the other day that he still hasn't felt anything while reading or praying. And he hasn't gone to church yet. And he told us that he's pretty uninterested now. So...

We taught another twentysomething dude last week who was really good. We read in the Book of Mormon with him and he said right there that he felt the influence of the Spirit as we read. And then he said that he wanted to read the entire Book of Mormon before even making a visit to the church (which I think is a little preposterous, but wutevs). That would be fine, but we passed by his house the other night and he still hasn't read a single verse yet. And he told us that he's kind of uninterested right now, too. So...

BUT,

We taught a super elect girl this week. A young woman who is a friend and neighbor of a great member family went to church last week. She also went to a fireside, ward activity, and children's choir event thing. Apparently she has really been liking the Church a lot. We taught her for the first time this week in that member family's apartment. WOW, guys. It was so great. We taught the message of the Restoration up until Joseph Smith, and then we watched The Restoration (the film) and taught about the Book of Mormon. And, like, she got it. No one ever gets it, guys. But she did! And she's excited about everything and she has a lot of friends in the church and her mom has already given permission for her to be baptized which means that they have talked about baptism and man I'm excited! She didn't go to church yesterday because she was staying at her aunt's house, but we're going to have a family home evening there tonight and teach her the GOSPEL and she's going to LOVE IT and it's going to be wonderful.

Other than that, our week was pretty normal. I'm getting a little tired of talking to people who don't care about what we have to offer them, and I'm reeeeeeally tired of hearing people's excuses. I'm also pretty tired of all the apostate churches down here, but fazer o que, né? Então. Anyway, things are going well. My companion and I get along and we've become good friends. We work hard and obey the mission rules. I'm still doing my best.

I love you guys. For real. Good luck with all the traveling and moving and all that.

Let me know how you're doing!

luv

elder wiggins

August of next year, before the leaves disappear

August 2, 2010

I can't believe it's August already.

So I'm in a LAN house at a giant bus station in scenic São Carlos, Brasil (with an "s") with a bunch of other missionaries. One of our chapels is close by, so we all came down to play soccer together. Big surprise: I still suck at soccer. It was fun, though.

This week went pretty well. My companion and I are still working our butts off. We're still teaching the first lesson to a TON of people, almost all of them being married couples or at least adults, in their houses, sometimes with members. We still haven't found any investigators who really want to progress. But wotevah.

Actually, we had a pretty strange experience this week. We came into contact with a family who lives in some government-funded apartments a few weeks ago. We had been looking for a less active member when we were led to this apartment. We met a woman named (take a guess) Maria, we went into her house and said a prayer, and we marked a follow-up appointment where we could teach everyone. We went back a while later and taught the first lesson. Maria's husband, Natalino, was a bit of a character. He'd talk really loud and interrupt us at times and just had an aggressive air about him. We challenged them to read and pray.

The next time we went there, we showed up a little late, so we didn't have time to teach them. But they said they had read and prayed and everything.

So we go back this week. We asked Natalino how the reading went. And he kind of exploded. He freaked out because the Book of Mormon doesn't say anything about the god of riches and wealth. He said he has searched in multiple churches to try to find out how he can get rich, and he still hasn't had any luck. I thought he was joking, so I didn't really respond seriously to his questions. But we started teaching the Plan of Salvation, and it became clear that he was being serious. We couldn't even make it past our life on earth before he insisted again about the god of riches. And he brought up Nossa Senhora Aparecida (Catholicism, Mary statues, all of that) when we were talking about Adam and Eve. We were kind of at a loss for words.

My companion just decided to have each of us kneel right there and pray, asking if the Book of Mormon is true. My comp prayed. And then I did. And then Natalino asked God for riches and wealth, which is what he truly desires. Dude's nuts, guys.

So that story took way too long to tell. I guess it's just because I don't have much else to say this week.

Actually, I thought I received a package this week because the mission secretary called and said that the postal service had taken another one of my packages, and that I'd have to pay to get it out. So I went through all the hassles of taking money out of the bank and giving it to someone who was going to Ribeirão Preto, only to find out in the end that the package was actually addressed to a different elder. I guess my name popped into the secretary's head when he found out about the package, so he thought it was for me. Buuuuuut it wasn't. Oh well.

This email has turned out really underwhelming for all of us, so I'll end it with a little treat. Everyone who reads this should go on Youtube right now and look up some Brazilian music. Restart (you say it kind of like "Heh-starch") is all the rage these days with the scenesters. They have a song called "Recomeçar," which, oddly enough, means "restart" in Portuguese, that you guys need to hear. And there's another super-scenester band called Cine that has a song called "Garota Radical" ("Radical Girl") that you also have to check out. Emo pop + auto-tune! Give me a break, gente!

Anyway, I'm doing great. I love all of you and hope you're doing well. The Church is true!

booga

I never thought I would come of age, let alone on the moldy page

July 26, 2010

E aí, família! Como vai?

Hey guys. I'm writing you after one more week in beautiful São Carlos! That's in Brazil, which is also where I happen to be! Who knew that some city in Brazil that no one's ever heard of and I would be in the same place at the same time, huh? Que coincidência!

Anyway, this week went really well, but it also kind of sucked a little bit. My comp and I are both pretty much dead now because of all the walking and teaching we've been doing. Unlike the first few weeks that I spent in this area, we have been teaching like crazy. I don't even know how many times we taught the first lesson this week, but I do know that I feel completely drained mentally and physically. It was really great that we were able to mark so many appointments and get into so many people's houses to teach them, especially considering the lack of success that we had been experiencing in the past.

But then nobody went to church, even though we went to their houses before the meetings started. In all my ten months (!) in the Holy Land, I have never been able to get very many people to church. For some reason people just don't want to get up in time for a nine o'clock sacrament meeting on Sunday mornings. And yet all the crazy garage churches that just have "pastors" yelling into microphones with bad PA systems are always full to bursting. I guess people just like taking the easier path.

It was probably just as well that they didn't go yesterday because there was a ton of noise going on outside the chapel during the first forty minutes or so of church. I still don't know exactly why, but it sounded like every single car that drove by the church was blasting its horn nonstop. It was impossible to maintain any kind of reverence during the meeting. Coincidentally, I gave a talk yesterday about patience. It turned out to be an appropriate topic. I just sort of blabbered on until I was told to stop and the noise was really distracting, so who knows if anyone actually took anything from what I said. I'm all like wotevah about it, though.

I'm starting the Book of Mormon over again this week and I'm going to read it before this transfer is over in five weeks. I'm reading it in English this time because I want to fly through it, but I'll probably do a speed reading thing like this in Portuguese at some point in my mission. I've only read the first twenty-ish pages so far, but I've already learned some new things and felt my testimony grow!

Mas pois é, gente.

I'm doing well and I love my companion and I love the people and I'm doing my best to be obedient. We're still not BAPTIZING THE WORLD like our leaders want us to (that's not to say that I don't want to, though), but I'm learning every day and having important experiences, I think. I'm learning about compromise and patience and things of that nature. Still working on trying not to be shy or too self-critical.

Anyway. I love you guys! The Church is true! Sorry I can't write back to all of your individual emails every week! I hope we can still be friends, guys!

luv

booooooga

Because if you throw a light on something magical, it disappears

July 19, 2010

Transfers, transfers, transfers! New mission president! Everything is changing!

Actually, my companion and I are both staying here for this transfer. In fact, we're the only missionaries in the entire city right now. Everyone in our zone, including our zone leaders, was transferred except for a sister and one other elder. We're going to meet all the new folks at the bus station this afternoon. I hope I get some mail!

I'm excited about this transfer. I am blessed (I really mean that) to have an obedient, hardworking companion, and even though we have had plenty of difficulties in this area, we're in a good place. We know the area now, which helps. And all the basics are taken care of here: we have a good house, the members are very nice, the ward leadership is the strongest I've seen on my whole mission, the chapel is nice, and we don't have to spend a lot of money on buses or anything.

We still don't have much of a teaching pool, though. Our best investigator, Fernanda, is perdida (lost) now. We went to visit her and she told us that she wanted to stop "studying" with us for now. People just don't get it. Anyway, my tender little heart was broken again. Hopefully one day she comes around someday.

Since we lost all of our progressing investigators (although they were more like "progressing" investigators), my companion and I pretty much started over this week. We're launching a concentrated attack on the less active members of the ward, of which there are A LOT. We got a list from the bishop of all the members of the ward, with the active members highlighted. We created a little numbering system for all the people we planned on visiting and located them on the big city map that is hung up on our wall. We stuck little pins into the map to plan our visits. We turned our study room into WAR ROOM! We have been going to all the people's houses, with mixed results. Most people have moved or weren't at home, a lot of them were too ashamed to come talk to us, and some of them were genuinely cool people who just stopped going to church for one reason or another. Now we're going to try to reactivate them and teach their nonmember siblings and relatives and neighbors and the whole world!!

That's pretty much all that's going on. I'm going a little bit crazy because of our lack of success and all that, but I'm all like wutevs about it. We're working hard and I'm learning a lot and growing up and being an adult and speaking Portuguese! I love you guys! The Church is true!

Abraço,

Elder Bwoggins

P.S. Have there been any marriages or deaths or births or crazy happenings back home? Or abroad, I guess? Just curious.

Our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up

July 12, 2010

Oi, family! How are you guys doing?

This week was pretty insane -- not because it was really eventful or anything, but because my companion and I are working like crazy and not seeing any results from our efforts. For five weeks we have been talking to as many people as possible and trying to be smart and effective in our planning. But nothing is happening! I guess this transfer is supposed to be the one where I learn patience, because I'm definitely not learning how to bring people to church or baptize them.

On Saturday my companion and I went to somewhere between 16 and 20 houses to try to teach people. We didn't get into a single one. Either no one is home or they're too busy to let us in. This week we made 180 contacts and only got 35 addresses (the mission standard is 160 contacts with 40 addresses per week). People just don't want to talk to us! And they don't want to go to church, either. We've been fasting and praying and studying and being obedient and working and working and working, and nothing's happening. This week was pretty rough.

I'm actually not discouraged, though, even if it might sound like I am. I know that everything will happen in due time, and that it isn't for us to decide when people will be ready to accept the gospel and that no work is wasted and all that. It's just hard. It's like, I just want to find the people who already are ready, and then teach them and baptize them. I'm tired of hearing people's excuses of why we can't teach them.

I really am doing fine, though. This is the last week of the transfer, and my guess is that my comp and I will both stay here for at least one more. I've been really fortunate there, actually -- Elder Gillespie has been a great example for me, and he's a hard worker. And the members here are great; the ward leadership is the best that I've seen on my whole mission, and the people here really do have testimonies of the gospel. It has just been tough getting their friends to church.

Anyway, that's pretty much it. I discovered the other day that I had eaten liver on my mission without realizing it. It was pretty nasty.

All is well out here. I love you guys! The Church is true!

-- Elder Bworggins

I heard a voice calling from down inside the well

July 5, 2010

Hey everyone!

So, Brazil was eliminated from the Cup by the stupid Netherlands this week. It was fun while it lasted.

We started seeing some results this week from all the work that my companion and I have been doing since we got here. We managed to get into some people's houses to teach them and invite them to read, pray and go to church. Unfortunately, even after you teach someone the message of the Restoration, they still get kind of wishy-washy and try to wriggle out of any commitment.

My companion contacted a super elect lady named Fernanda last week, and we started teaching her on Tuesday. The first lesson was so great! Sometimes you can really tell for real (really) when an investigator understands what you're teaching. I mean, sometimes they get it, and you know that they have felt the Spirit testify to them of the truthfulness of what you're saying. That's how it was with Fernanda. We taught her, her two daughters and her son-in-law, and it was like a nice little family home evening. When we suggested that we say a prayer after the lesson, Fernanda herself offered to pray. It was nuts, guys. She thanked the Lord for sending us to her house to bring a renewed hope into her life that had previously been lost. We marked a chapter for her to read, which she did. We took her to the other ward's baptism the next day, and she loved it. She became pretty emotional, and obviously was getting an answer to her prayers. And since then she has been acting really weird and trying to avoid us and stuff. She didn't go to church yesterday. It seems like someone said something bad about the Church to her or something. We're going to send the Sisters over there tonight to try to rescue her. I hope she comes around because she has been easily our best investigator so far.

Cleber is a thirty-something year old guy who was really receptive to the lesson until we invited him to read the Book of Mormon. It wasn't until then that he told us that he goes to another church and just wants to read the Bible and blah blah blah. People just don't get it, I guess. If I had a flux capacitor, maybe I would go back in time and teach him differently. Or I'd go back in time to when I could eat at In-N-Out whenever I wanted.

Great Scott!

Anyway, we taught a middle-aged couple named Silvana and Luiz, as well as their son Ivan. The parents hardly even paid attention to the lesson, and Ivan was recently baptized in one of the many apostate churches down here, and he's pretty dang firm there. But we found out that he read in the Book of Mormon, so maybe he'll come around. I'm kind of scared to go back there, though, because Ivan looks like a big German dude who wants to beat me up and we told him indirectly that his church is false. Hey-o!

Madalena is a really sweet old-ish lady who I contacted last week. We found out that she had been an active member of the Church for three years before she fell away for I-can't-remember-how-long. It sounds like she still doesn't really know why she fell away in the first place. Anyway, we went over there last week and taught her the first lesson, which went really well. She didn't go to church last week or answer the door at all when we passed by during the week, so we thought she had given up on us. As it turns out, she had just been away from home since last Saturday. We spoke to her yesterday morning, and she went to church yesterday! She only stayed for sacrament meeting because she had to go to a funeral or something, but at least she went to something! That's a little bit of progress, right?

So, we've been finding people to teach. Right now we're trying to find the people who will progress and be baptized and everything. My companion and I are still working our hardest and not getting discouraged (kind of) and everything. The work has been going slow, but it's going. I'm slowly going insane, and the mission has been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but I am doing well. I am happy. The Church is true!

I love all of you very much.

luv

booga

That's more than a dress; it's a Grace Kelly movie

June 28, 2010

Sorry that I'm getting to my email so late. I'm doing a division with one of my zone leaders, and we just finished watching Brazil play in the Cup. They beat Chile 3-0!! Everyone's going crazy! Vamos lá Brasil!!

This week was a little crazy. With zone conference on Wednesday, the Brazil-Portugal game on Friday, and this division going from last night to today, we didn't have tons of time to work. And before you think I'm a slacker for not working during the Brazil World Cup games, you have to understand what it's like down here. I guess the closest thing to it back home is when you're in a college town on the day of a big football game. Except it's crazier down here. And it's like that across the country. Everyone watches every Brazil game, and no one is in the streets. Plus, we're allowed to watch the games.

Anyway.

Zone conference was pretty crazy this week because it was my mission president's last one. I'm pretty sure the new president is getting here on Wednesday. Everyone, including yours truly, cried like a baby when it was time to say goodbye to President Vieira. I'm sure the new president will be great, but it's going to be weird having to adjust to how things change. I'll let you know how that goes.

Oh, so I guess my package got here. My companion went with the other zone leader to Ribeirão Preto because my LZ had to go to the doctor. While they were there, they got my package from the post office because, once again, the Brazilian government robbed me. This time I got to pay R$175 (about 85 dollars) to get my package out of their claws. We're going to meet up with my comp again soon, and I'm stoked to see what you guys sent me!

Our work in this area is moving reeeeeeeeeeally slow, but it's moving. We're doing our best to find good people, but so far we haven't seen any results. I mean, we don't have any progressing investigators at the moment. It has been pretty hard not to get discouraged. But whatever, we're working diligently and being obedient and all that. I know that the results will come, even if I'm not here to see them.

I'm going to have to end this. Sorry for making it so short this week. I love you guys! The Church is true!

luv

booga