If I could do it again, I'd make more mistakes

September 27, 2010

Hey family.

This week was pretty amazing for us. We had another baptism! Hurrah! We baptized a girl named Larissa on Saturday night. We have been teaching her for a while, and she has progressed very well. She's actually a friend of the first girl we baptized here, so the two of them are both very excited to participate in the Church together. Our ward's Young Women's organization is actually pretty strong, so the two of them are already getting well-integrated into the ward. We actually went to their apartment yesterday (the two of them live in separate apartments, but they're both right next to a member family's apartment) and talked to them about General Conference and the importance of following the prophet. The young women in our ward are currently selling (enormous) truffles to make money for their camping trip / youth conference thing in February. My companion and I promised to buy five truffles from each of the two girls we baptized and their friend who was already a member if they go to all four sessions of Conference and take notes. We'll see if they follow through with that.

Speaking of which, I am going nuts in anticipation for General Conference. Word is that there will be an English room at the stake center here, and if everything goes according to plan, I'll get to watch all five sessions. I am so excited it's stupid.

Anyway, at that same visit, Aline, the first girl we baptized, asked me if members of the Church are allowed to marry nonmembers. That led to a good discussion about the temple and eternal marriage. We ended up teaching about baptisms for the dead and committed both of the girls we baptized to prepare themselves to go to the temple next month. I really can't believe that that is even a possibility for them now.

Aside from Larissa's baptism and confirmation, there weren't two many noteworthy occurrences this week. The rainy season is getting here, which I love in spite of it screwing up everything we do.

Oh, there was something big that happened: for the first time so far in my whole mission, my companion and I were forcefully asked to leave someone's house on Saturday. Right before lunch, we went to the house of a guy that I had contacted a few weeks ago. He and his wife were both at home, but he was the only one who was happy to see us. We went in and made some small talk. The guy's wife didn't want to hear a message from us because she was making lunch (and, we found out, she was suuuuuper Catholic). So we started teaching the Restoration to the guy. The lesson was going fine, even though he wasn't paying too much attention. We made it to the point in the lesson where we talk about Joseph Smith, and my companion read James 1:5. He asked the dude who we should go to when we have doubts about religion, and the dude said God.

And then everything went nuts.

The guy's wife stormed into the room and started yelling at us. She said that she had been listening from the kitchen the whole time, and that she wanted us to leave. We agreed to, and started packing up our things. As we did so, she kept shouting at us. Apparently she thought that we read James 1:5 to speak out against the Catholic practice of praying to idols or statues. She thought we had gone into her house to tell them about how wrong Catholicism is and that Catholics don't believe in God or Jesus Christ or whatever else. We assured her that we didn't want to offend her, and that that wasn't even what we had been talking about. And she said that she was offended all the same, and that we should leave. So we did!

It was nuts.

Anyway, that was this week. I am seriously so dang stoked about General Conference. I hope you are, too! I love all of you with all my heart, even though you guys don't really seem real to me anymore (a year is a long time)!

luv

elder booga

Are you with me? Are you with me?

September 20, 2010

Greetings from the other side of the mission hill! I now have one year and four days on my mission, but it only feels like ten times that long. What did you guys do to celebrate Hump Day? Because I just worked.

We had zone conference this week. It was our first one with my new mission president because we had a general authority speak last transfer. Conference was awesome. My new president has such a strong conviction of the gospel, and he talked a lot about how he wants us to forget about the past and devote the rest of our missions, however much time that may be, to the Lord. President said he wants us to be 100% missionaries. He hit the pulpit a lot and gave such a powerful pep talk that I just wanted to go out and proclaim the gospel to every living creature in the whole wide world. Or play some football. I don't know.

He instated a new mission-wide rule, too: every missionary now has to have a copy of the Book of Mormon in his or her hand at all times. I have mine right next to the computer monitor right now. I haven't noticed much of a difference yet with this change, though I do feel like I have greater authority when I make contacts with people. I guess the idea is to use the Book of Mormon more frequently and sooner in our teaching, or it's just to get people to ask us what book is we're always carrying around. I don't know.

This week was pretty nuts for my companion and I. Zone conference gave us a renewed motivation to do our best, so that's what we did. We taught a ton of lessons and worked continuously with the investigators we already have. After a visit where Manoel spoke to us nonstop for two and a half hours, he informed us that he will be traveling to Curitiba and probably won't be coming back until next year. So...that one kind of fell apart. There's this other senhor who we've been teaching who said he'll be moving to another part of the city that is outside of our area, so that one kind of fell apart. We have some investigators who are really progressing, though. We're trying to teach a friend of the girl we baptized, but we haven't managed to talk to her mom yet. We're going there tonight, so we'll see if anything happens.

I've been studying about what my mission president calls "the formula of success," which is obedience, diligence, and humility. I'd recommend reading about each of those attributes in Chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel and then studying the scripture references that are listed for each one. I'm trying to apply what I learned from my studies during my daily work, and so far it's working pretty well. I don't think the formula of success applies only to missionaries, so maybe you guys would like to study it a little, too. Sei lá.

Anyway, not too much going on over here. I guess after a year of doing the same thing over and over and over again, the things that were once new and exciting just turn into the routine. We're working a lot and helping people learn about the gospel. I'm trying to focus on thinking positively about myself and others because negative self-talk is something that I struggle with. And I don't know why I'm telling you guys this. That was stupid.

I love you! The Church is true!

luv

elder bwoogins

I could have been a famous singer if I had someone else's voice

September 13, 2010

So usually my companion and I send our emails from this one LAN house (they're all over Brasil) near our house. Last week we were near the chapel trying to find somewhere to eat because our lunch appointment fell through, and we found a little place that sells salgados and stuff. The dude who runs it is from Bahia, and he loves rock 'n roll. He has a bunch of CDs and pictures of famous rock stars that he clearly printed out himself glued to the wall. And he has two laptops that he said were really expensive, so we're sending our emails from here today. And the dude is blasting a Linkin Park DVD on his TV. I feel like I'm in Babylon.

Aaaaaaand I just heard the f word for the first time in a year. I just want some peace and quiet! It really is hard for me to concentrate right now, so sorry if I sound weird or I write choppy sentences or something.

Speaking of which, I kind of make a year this week. On Thursday, it will have been ONE YEAR since I reported to the MTC in São Paulo. One year! I seriously have no idea where all that time went. A year ago today I reported to the high council, gave my farewell-but-don't-call-it-a-farewell talk, and had my open-house-but-don't-call-it-an-open-house. A year ago. I'm sure this week will be full of reminiscing and self reflection and stuff. I know I've changed and grown a lot over the past year, but it can be kind of hard to tell how. I guess the biggest changes have been with my testimony. I knew that the Church was true when I got here, but now I know that it is, you know?

This week went by pretty slowly, but that's all right. We're doing what we can to work more with the members, and it's kind of a slow process. An idea that we had was to give each member family a Book of Mormon at our lunch appointments so that they could pray to know who they could give it to, give it to that person, and get back to us about how it went. We haven't seen any immediate results from it yet, but every family has someone in mind, and I'm pretty sure that something will come of it. Because we've been focusing so much on working with members, my comp and I kind of lost steam in making contacts this week. Teaching members' friends is so much more productive than trying to convince strangers to let you into their houses. So help the missionaries in your ward out! Invite one of your friends to church or something! And if you can think of a more effective way for us to work with members, tell me!

We did have three people at church yesterday, which was great. My companion and I did a little division with the bishop and another irmão because they both have cars, and we went to pick up some investigators and take them to church. One of them was Manoel, who we have been teaching for a while now. He's progressing nicely (it's been almost three months since he did anything contrary to the Word of Wisdom!), but we need to work hard to get him some friends in the ward. The other is a twentysomething named Jorge. We found him when he and his wife were moving into their new house. We offered to help them move their stuff in, and they accepted (no one ever accepts our help)! We taught him the first lesson, and two weeks later, he went to church! It was actually pretty cool: he stayed for all three hours, and apparently he told Elder Gillespie as he was leaving that he wanted to talk to us this week about baptism. So that's cool. We'll see what happens!

The third person we had at church was a young woman. Her name is Larissa, and she's a friend of the girl we baptized. We kind of told a member family that they should take her to church, and then we kind of told her that she was going to church with that family, and she went! We're going to teach her this week, and then we'll just throw her in that darn water!

Everything's going well out here. We are really having to be creative with our work and think of new ways to find people because we've already tried all the old ways. I want to talk more, but my time's up! I love all of you so dang much! The Church is true!

luv

booga

And since then I've been so good at vanishing

September 6, 2010

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey family! How are you guys on this beautiful Labor Day morning? Dad told me a second ago that it was Labor Day. It seems like there's some obscure holiday every week here in Brazil, but apparently Labor Day isn't today in this half of the globe. I think it has to do with moon cycles.

Anyway.

My companion and I baptized someone on Friday!! Yay!! And she was confirmed yesterday!! Yay!!

We baptized that girl, Aline. I know I've mentioned her a couple times in past emails -- she's a young woman who we have been working with for the past few weeks. We had taught her everything, and she was a great investigator. She lives in an apartment that is about eight feet from an active member family's apartment. She has friends in the church. She understood what we taught her and kept the commitments we extended to her. She read, pondered, prayed, and received an answer about the Book of Mormon.

Her parents didn't want her to be baptized yet, even though she passed her baptismal interview with flying colors. But then Elder Gillespie and I (I feel like I can just say his name like that and you'll know who he is since he's been my companion for the last three months) went back to Aline's apartment last Monday. Our only intention was to see what her parents had decided concerning her getting baptized -- we were just going to see how their family conversation went. Well, they never had a family conversation like that. We went there and asked her mom what their decision was about baptism, and we just talked a little about it and ended up marking a date for last Friday so she could be confirmed on Sunday and the mom signed the baptismal form and we were set!

She was baptized on Friday night, and everything was pretty much perfect. There were a lot of members there to participate in the baptismal meeting and to show their support for her. Aline's nonmember parents were there. Manoel, perhaps our best investigator at the moment, was there. Everything was great! And then she was confirmed yesterday in sacrament meeting, and everything was great! I almost can't believe how little opposition we experienced with the whole thing. It all went so well.

I know that success as a missionary isn't just based on baptisms or things of that nature, but man, it feels good to see something through to the end for once. We finally reaped some fruit from all of our efforts here. We're going to spend the next while doing everything we can to work with the members better, so hopefully we can get some more good investigators that way.

My time is just about up already, so I guess that will have to do for this week. I love all of you guys so much it's stupid! The Church is true! I mean, really, it is.

luv

elder wiggins

ps happy late birthday shawn

God takes care of the little things

August 30, 2010

Oi gente! Tudo bom!

So, the mission is having transfers today. And the big news is that I'm STAYING in my area! The other big news is that my companion ... is also STAYING here! Yup, we're starting our third transfer together here. That means that by the end of this transfer right now, we will have been together for four and a half months. I really lucked out, though; I don't want to kill him or anything. We actually get along really well. It's still weird that we'll be together for so long -- I've never seen two missionaries serve as companions in the same area for three consecutive transfers like this. I guess it's just one of those things where the new mission president does things differently than the old one (this was his first time doing transfers). Just something to get used to, I guess.

I was actually pretty relieved when I found out that both of us would be staying here. At this point I've almost forgotten what it was like to serve in other areas with other companions.

We had a mini conference this week in Ribeirão Preto. An Area Seventy named Elder Araújo came and spoke, and he had a lot of great counsel that Elder Gillespie and I are trying to put into practice with our work. One of my favorite parts of his training was when he referenced the question and response found in 3 Nephi 27:27, which is when the Savior says, "Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." We then went on a scripture chase through the Bible and found a bunch of situations where Christ Himself described what manner of man he is: the bread of life, living water, the way, the truth, and the life, etc. Elder Araújo asked us if people see those qualities in us. As authorized representatives of the Savior, others should easily be able to notice those kinds of qualities in us as missionaries. It's something that I've been thinking about a lot lately, and I'm trying to develop my Christlike attributes more because of that training.

On Friday, our best investigator was interviewed for baptism. Her name is Aline, and she's fifteen or sixteen years old. She is a good friend of a member girl, and she has shown great progress as we have taught her: she reads, she prays, she goes to church, tudo. And she passed the interview with flying colors! But neither of her parents think that she's ready to be baptized yet. We're going to keep working with her and her parents to try to help them see that baptism would be something great for Aline. I think it will be good that my companion and I will be here for the next six weeks because they won't have to deal with new missionaries or anything (yet). I don't know. I just really hope things work out. I'm sure they will.

Manoel, that guy who I talked about last week, is progressing nicely, but he's complicated. He has a lot of questions and doubts about the Church, and he said that he thought the members were arrogant or something. I wish he would have gone to church yesterday.

We're trying to work better with the members so that they can get more involved in the work. Any ideas?

I love all of you so much!

wif luv

boooooga

oh, BIG P.S. THE MISSION ADDRESS IS CHANGING!!

The mission office just moved to a new building. Anything that anyone sends to me from now on should be sent to the following address:

Elder Jefferson Wiggins
Missão Brasil Ribeirão Preto
Rua São Sebastião 1003
Centro - Ribeirão Preto - SP
14015-140

*I guess the mission office is in the same building as the Church Institute office or something, so make sure you write "Missão Brasil Ribeirão Preto" on any mail that you send to me.

**Dad, I'd be much obliged if you changed my mission address on Facebook, too; that is, assuming that anyone ever looks at that anymore. Thanks!

Between the click of the light and the start of the dream

August 23, 2010

Dear everyone,

I'm so sorry to hear about Lucy. My mind hasn't really processed the fact that she died yet; being away from home for so long kind of makes stuff like this seem even more surreal. It sounds like the nucleus folks back home (especially Sam) have really been mourning
her loss. My heart goes out to you guys. I wish there was something I could do to comfort you, but I only know how to think in terms of gospel doctrine now, and I don't know if the Plan of Salvation applies to animals. Too soon?

This week was pretty nuts, kind of. That guy who went to church last week, Manoel, was really the entire focus of our work for this week. It turns out that he's kind of a genius; that is, he knows a ton about the Bible and has seriously investigated five or six other churches before. He is also working on his doctorate degree in human genetics or something equally insane. Anyway, we have been teaching him every day since we met him, and things are going pretty well. He read all of 1 Nephi in one day, and then reread it the next day. And in spite of his biblical knowledge, he is really open to everything we're teaching him.

Our biggest challenge has been to help him start investigating the Church instead of just studying it. He seems really afraid to keep commitments and live the commandments and all that. Oh, and my companion invited him to allow us to prepare him to be baptized, and he sort of freaked out. He used to go to a church and then fell away because people were discriminative against him (he's black) and treated him poorly. And he says that he doesn't want to join another church only to fall away again, even if for other reasons.

He has a lot of baggage like that, you know? But he's easily one of the smartest people I have taught on my whole mission.

We didn't have much else going on this week because my companion got sick for a day and a half. We figured out that in 36 hours, his face was in his pillow for 24. He slept like a rock through Thursday, so we didn't get much else done. We're also having some minor problems with discouragement and low morale. Last night we had a sleepover with the other Americans in our zone, and we're having a barbecue today with everyone. I think stuff like this has been good for both of us. It really helps to get out of your area every once and a while and talk to new people, even if you get along well with your companion.

And my comp is having some complicated girl problems that would take too long to explain here. They aren't helping with the discouragement, though.

Anyway, concerning the work: I'm just trying to learn what the Lord wants me to learn from all this. This area has been so hard; we have worked like crazy and exhausted every idea we can think of to find new people who are ready to accept the gospel, and nothing has worked (yet). I'm not giving up or anything, but it would be nice to figure out what I'm supposed to figure out from what has (and hasn't) happened here in the last eleven weeks. I dunno.

Transfers are coming up next Monday, so who knows where the heck I'll be when I write you guys next week!

I hope you guys don't think I'm depressed or anything. I went through a reeeeeeeeeeally diffcult couple of weeks here, but I'm doing fine now. I'm happy. I'm learning the importance of applying gospel principles into what we do and who we are instead of just memorizing what they are.

Anyway. I was going to close this email with a powerful scripture, but I couldn't think of one that would be just right. Just remember that we become disciples of Christ when we love others (John 13:34-35, I think); in fact, we are supposed to love them as we love ourselves (John...15? I think?). That means we have to love ourselves before we love others! So do everything you can to do both!

I love all of you so much.

luv

booga

I'm not a boy, I'm a big fat balloon

August 16, 2010

So, I turn eleven months old on the mission today. Does that blow your mind or what? I can hardly even remember what America is like.

This week was something of an endurance test. We had zone conference on Saturday, so my companion and I spent this entire week just trying to survive until then. Most of our time was spent trying to teach people who don't really care about what we have to offer, but we did make some progress with that girl who I mentioned last week. We taught her the third lesson, and everything is going well with her. I mean, she reads the Book of Mormon and has a testimony of it, and she understands what we teach her, and she has friends in the Church, and she really gets it, you know? Anyway, we still need to get her to go to church every Sunday and we need to convince her mom to let her be baptized. Mas faz parte, né?

Zone conference was pretty good. It was actually a special conference called Mission Tour, which is when a general authority comes to speak. This time it was Elder Tobias, a Brazilian Seventy who I had never heard of. I barely got any sleep the night before because my zone had to catch a bus to Ribeirão Preto at 3:30 AM, so I was pretty zombified throughout the whole thing. And conference lasted f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Other than that, it was great. Elder Tobias talked a lot about practical teaching techniques like making eye contact and showing interest in what people have to say and stuff like that. He had a lot of helpful counsel that I'm going to start applying to how I teach.

I got a letter from Ximmer at the end of conference. So he's really going on that mission, huh? I can't believe it. Speaking of which, has Adam Sayer gotten back yet? Anyone else leave or come back from their missions or get married or anything?

We had a pretty cool experience yesterday. My companion and I slept in a little bit (I'm so sorry it was because I had hardly slept at all in almost two days and I was so tired I'm so sorry), so we didn't have any time to go pick up any of the investigators that we don't have. As we started walking to church, we passed a guy on the street. We said good morning to him and kept going on our way. My companion hesitated for a moment, turned around, and invited the guy to church. He introduced us to him and asked if he'd like to make a visit to the church with us right now. And he said he would! And he did! He only stayed for sacrament meeting, but he actually was pretty good (meaning he isn't completely poisoned by all the apostate churches out here). We're going to go teach him tomorrow. It was crazy, though, because we talk to hundreds of people every week and teach them and invite them to church and bear our testimonies and EVERYTHING and people always just shrug everything off. But a simple invitation to go to church to this guy worked. I swear, I will never understand missionary work.

I'm going through a crazy time in my mission where the high ups and suuuuuuuuper low downs are coming at a daily pace. I'm trying to find a good emotional stability in here somewhere. Things are weird. I always feel better when I study the scriptures, pray, and teach, and I love hearing from you guys. I love all of you! The Church is true! Have a great week

luv

booga