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

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