Atabaia

Zone Conference at the temple!

Atibaia City

This week I was with Elders Ashton and Bryan in a city called Atibaia. The week started off a little rough. We spent the night in Ouro Verde, and the elders got home after 10, because they were calling their families at the chapel. So, we talked to the zone leaders whom they lived with, and told them they would have to talk to them and make sure it doesn't happen again. Then we learned that they do that every week and the zone leaders say nothing. While we were resolving that, they got a text from another companionship saying, "Hey we'll get there in 20 minutes"... This is at 10:40. Keep in mind that as missionaries we need to be in our house at 9:00. It's a big rule. If you're teaching, and only if you're teaching, you can be get home before 9:30. You can call your family on Mondays until 6. The amount of thoughtlessness in this night shocked me. So around 11 these other elders get there. They had planned an exchange with the zone leaders, and decided to leave their house at 8:30 and get there at 9:30, 30 minutes late. That’s assuming every single bus arrives on time, and they don't miss any, which has never been the case. Then we told the zone leaders to go talk to them and see what happened and let them know it wasn’t ok. It’s hard to give corrective feedback, but this frustrates me. So we were the bad guys of the night. I guess all’s fair in love and war.

The exchange was good, but we definitely needed more time. The elders are both new to the mission and have one transfer each in Brazil. So, while they're good elders, they are in way over their head. They don't speak the language, and they’re taking care of what used to be 3 areas last transfer. Their area book had about 50-100 people marked as being taught, but most of them hadn't been contacted in over a month and some of them more than 5 months. And every single person was taught, "God is our loving heavenly father" and that's it. Then there were 100's of people marked as interested who also had basically never been contacted. It wasn't their fault; they inherited 3 sloppy area books that turned into one big mess, but wow. Elder Ashton is so much fun, he was with Elder Lima. In the first 5 minutes I met him, he said the word ‘healthy’ at least 20 times. And he has this perfect laugh that kinda sounds like he's faking an evil laugh, but it’s genuine and warm. The first 5 minutes, "Ya, I'm REALLY healthy, ha ha ha." "I love being healthy ha ha ha." "My favorite food is spinach, I know I know haha, I'm really healthy." It became the joke of the week, he's so fun haha. Elder Bryan was my companion. He has 4 months on a mission and 1 transfer and a half in Brazil. He's working really hard on his portuguese and is trying his best. We had a lot of fun calling people on area book, making ‘healthy’ jokes and rich laughs to each other. I knew he hadn't eaten anything other than spinach and kale for 4 weeks, so I let him know that wouldn't be a problem with me. We ordered a large pizza that was half 4 cheese and half bacon turkey. Then a large dessert pizza that was half strawberry with nutella and half caramelized bananas. We ate the entire thing together then the next day got all you can eat sushi. 

We were able to put two people on date this week. One was with Elder J Lima and I! The first time we've taught together. It was my dream lesson. He had no concept of religion. He didn't have any belief about God, had heard about Jesus Christ but didn't know anything, didn't know what the Holy Spirit was etc. For the past two weeks I've been studying the ministry of the Sons of Mosiah, so I was perfectly prepared for the lesson. It’s a dream I always had, and he agreed to get baptized if he got an answer about the Book of Mormon. The other person who accepted a date was Cita. Elder Bryan and I went to her house on Saturday and taught her about the restoration. While I was teaching, I had no idea, but I felt like I needed to talk about ordinances. So I spent 5 minutes explaining the ordinances of the gospel, and that its by them that the power of God is made manifest. I don't know why I needed to talk about that, but I'm positive it’s something that God told me to teach. And she accepted the invitation to be baptized on the same day as Fábio when she receives an answer about the Book of Mormon. 

Church was a little rough, in the entire ward 4-6 people were paying attention. Everyone else was turned around talking and laughing including the branch president and his counselor. It was like those 15 minutes before church when the prelude is playing but the bishop hasn't gotten there, only during testimony meeting. And I didn't hear anything, because I was fixating on the noises. So I got up and bore my testimony on the importance of our testimony, and how the difference which our church is it’s one where each and every member can testify that they're here because they received an answer from God... And that's a sacred thing that separated our church from others. And I talked about how in other churches people yell and shout but we don't. Then I talked about Elijah and how the voice of the Lord wasn't in the earthquake or the fire or the wind, but it was a still small voice. And I said that still small voice speaks to us but only when we listen carefully. It was essentially a mini talk. And I'd love to tell you everyone was immediately stopped the side conversations but sadly no one even heard me, haha. My bad. anyways.... that’s the week.

Elder Silva

Elder Targino

A sign that was stupid for so many reasons. Buffalo aren't clean. Buffalo is spelled incorrectly. That's not a buffalo; it's a bull.

Divison in Itupeva São Paulo

So this exchange was pretty uneventful to be honest. I was with Elder Me.. and Elder Ma... Elder Me.. is a zone leader with about the same time in the mission as me. And Elder Ma.. is a greenie. It was an interesting division; we had some good moments, but the entire week we only taught two planned lessons and everything else was in the street. Elder Ma.. was really excited to work. He said it’s the first time he's really worked hard in this area. Elder Me.. is a great elder but he's having a pretty rough time (his father passed away recently). He's been a great missionary for a lot of his mission, but has hit a wall. It’s sad to me for two reasons: Elder Ma.. and the area. Elder Me.. has had his experiences, but Elder Ma.. is new in the mission field and still has a lot to learn. This time that could be preparing Elder Ma.. to live an obedient, happy, and spiritual mission/life; instead, is teaching him that the gospel is kind of gray; whatever you do matters, as long as you’re on the mission. I can't really put it into words. But it’s like Elder Me.. went to the gym and got ripped, but now he's comfortable with where he's at, tired and wants to settle down. But Elder Ma.. is just a young buck; he doesn't know how to work yet, and without an example it’s going to be significantly harder for him to build the muscle, do the workouts right, have the right diet, etc. 

Then there's the area. The missionaries have an AMAZING area. The members are SUPER excited for missionary work, the street contacts are super strong, and 6 of every 10 door approaches let you in. But at the same time they are opening the area, which is a huge responsibility. And it’s hard seeing the positive side when you're trying to start over again. 

I don't blame Elder Me.. though, he's had a really hard time recently, and during the exchange we were able to set some meaningful goals on how to improve. We talked about Abraham sacrificing his son, and how he did that not to prove anything to the Lord, but to prove to himself that he had what it took to be obedient to the Lord; that because he trusted the Lord when it was hard, he was able to live the rest of his life having a much higher degree of inner peace. Then I compared it to the mission, and how we are not really here on the mission because God needs a bunch of 20 year old’s to do His work; He could easily do it Himself. But He wants us to learn what it’s like to be obedient, to trust in Him, to understand the principles of His gospel and how they can change lives. He wants us to willingly sacrifice everything so that when we get home we can live the rest of our lives knowing that during those 2 short years we gave it all, and when we were called we answered, we were strong enough. The missionaries who just go on the mission to go on a mission sacrificed 2 years, too. But when they get home, are they going to feel the same joy? Will they have the same depth of conversion? The short answer is no. Same thing with the guys in the middle, who go and work a little, keep the big rules, but then blow off the small ones. They are going to have some joy when they get home, but it’s not going to be the same joy. It may be harder to remain faithful and endure to the end. Then we compare it to this life. In this life we pass through a lot of hardships, and we have a lot of responsibilities. But at the end of the day, it’s not about how much we did, it’s about how much we gave to God, how much we loved Him and put Him first in our lives. If we tried our best in this life, even though we had a lot of hardships, we can live for all eternity in peace. But the people who went down to earth, but made no effort to keep the commandments, to give their heart to God. Well, they will receive happiness, but when they reflect on their life, what they learned from it, and what they became, are they going to feel the same joy as the people who loved God with all their heart, who gave everything for their families and friends? No, they aren't. And the people who coasted by life, and kept the big commandments but ignored the little ones, or gave 60%, they will have a lot of happiness, but will they have the same comfort and joy looking back on their accomplishments? No. God loves us, and He wants to us to be happy, but He can't/won’t make us happy. He can only teach us how to be happy. He can only put us in the circumstances where we have the opportunity to prove to ourselves that we're strong, resilient, and that we love God more than ourselves. 

I know this is a lot, but I will finish up with this example. I asked Elder Me.. if he's ever run a race, a really long one, and asked him how it felt taking his socks off at the end. He said it felt good, and I asked him if it felt the same when he put socks on, walked to the other side of the room and came back to take them off, and he said no. It's a grimy example, but it’s pretty effective, ha-ha. It all comes down to whether or not you believe God in D&C 121:

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

I've always disliked sharing that scripture, because it’s overshared, ha-ha. But there's a reason for that. I went through and read it after this conversation and found a lot of cool stuff I'd never noticed before. It’s definitely worth the read if you have free time, assuming anyone other than my mom reads this essay. This was like a two-hour-long talk, and at the end of it we found an agreement, and I hope he's going to apply it a little bit and that it helps.

Everyone at the office has covid, so we went straight to our next division which is too bad. I love sleeping in my own bed. Air mattresses aren’t my favorite. But it’s all good. We played spike ball this morning and hearts during lunch ha-ha. I miss playing games. But I'll take my socks off two years from now, for now it’s just put on your shoes, and get out the door. 

Talk to you next week, love you guys

Divison with Elder Goodsell and Elder Johnson

This week, as you may have guessed from the title, I went on an exchange with Elders Goodsell and Johnson. (Division and exchange are the same thing. When I write division, just pretend I said exchange.) But it was great. They are the two best looking elders in the mission. That typical stereotype of a tall, blond, blue-eyed, square-jawed American that Brazilians go crazy for. So, it’s kind of a joke in the mission that street contacting is always a lot easier for them because everyone wants to say hi. And while I can attest that that is true, it also has a lot to do with the fact that Elder Goodsell talks to everyone he passes. Including people in cars, chases down people, doesn't let them walk away, ha-ha. He's really good at that. I have a hard time starting the conversation, but once I'm there I'm a pretty strong contacter. So together we were able to make some really good contacts. We would have less contacts, but each one would be really solid. Elder Johnson is really awesome. He's super funny and has a super big desire to improve his Portuguese and his standards as a missionary. I think that's a thing I've seen from many of the American greenie's I’ve been with my mission; they are always asking, "But what can I improve." I don't know if it’s a culture thing or not, but it was an observation I made. But the division was really good. The mission is focusing on something called ROTA right now: Retidão, Obediência, Trabalho, e Aperfeiçoamento de ensino através o Livro De Mórmon. aka worthiness, obedience, work ethic, and teaching skills especially with the Book of Mormon. They were both really worthy, obedient elders, with a strong work ethic. The only area they really had to improve was on using the Book of Mormon, so we focused on that. I feel like it was a pretty valuable exchange for that reason. But we definitely could have used time better ha-ha. A lot of lessons fell through, and we ended up losing a lot of time just talking and laughing. 

We also had a leadership council. It was funny, because the leadership council is only zone leaders and the assistants, and I was district leader for almost a year, so I never went. Then the second I turned assistant they decided to invite all the district leaders. So, we were joking with the other elders about how it’s not even special anymore, ha-ha. But it was awesome. We talked a lot about obedience and the little details of the mission, not making excuses, more effective following up; the mission is definitely headed in the right direction. I do need to learn to talk less though in these meetings. I just love burning missionaries ha-ha. But the elder that talked the most also happened to be an elder who is really disobedient but covers it up really well. Elder Lima did a division with him this week. It’s better that it was him and not me since I was frustrated with him. The fact that he can go home and do whatever he wants, not work, not follow the rules, not care, yet in the meeting talk all about obedience and how important it is and how missionaries need to try harder, etc.  So Elder Lima was the best to help them.

Elder Lima had a harder division. Every single point of ROTA was a problem for the elders he was working with, and one of them is someone who has 20 months in the mission and kind of refuses to change because he thinks he knows everything. It’s hard talking to him about obedience, because he makes a LOT of excuses, "It’s not possible to be perfect, you think your better than me because you wake up earlier, you don't need to be perfectly obedient to teach with the spirit, what can you teach me that I don't already know, I have 20 months in the mission." It was definitely a more stressful week for Elder Lima, but he said that he had a breakthrough, and at the end of the week this elder started to show the desire to improve. It’s hard, because this elder is a Zone Leader and Training. But he is also showing a desire to change. If we leave him as zone leader he may continue on as a bad example, and lead the mission further down in progress, but little by little he'll progress. But this elder also happens to LOVE being in charge. And if he is returned to being a normal missionary, I'm 98% positive that any personal progress he could have had will not happen, because he will be bitter. It is a really hard situation, and I have no idea where to go with it. We need to talk to the president in a bit and advise him on a recommendation. It's a tricky situation, ultimately, president will decide.

Oh, fun fact. My visa needed work 6 months ago, and I've been trying to get the executive secretaries to renew it for at least 9 months. Elder S… kept on saying he was just waiting on the government, and that he did it and was just waiting for an answer. I talked to Elder Gonçalves, the new secretary. Ya, turns out that Elder S never even sent the paperwork. He either forgot or just was lazy, and every time I reminded him, he was just like, "Ya ya I'll get to it." Luckily, Elder Gonçalves is amazing and helping me out now, but it's really annoying. I want to be on good terms with the government, so I can come back to Brazil after my mission.

Bianca was baptized!

Hey guys, this week has been great. We had a zone conference at the temple, and all of us got to pass through!!! It was such a cool experience, and only the second time I've visited the temple in my mission. I was the last one to leave, so the assistants were mad at me for being late to lunch, but it was worth it ha-ha. The Zone Leaders had me participate in the training. That doesn't make sense, because the District Leaders aren't supposed to usually, but I did as I was told. They told me to help plan and sent me the verse it was about. So I quickly read D&C 4:2 for 30 seconds then came in and outlined my thoughts for a training, and they said sure. That was basically all the planning ha-ha. Then we just assigned everyone to talk. The basic idea was talking about the connection between sin and guilt. In D&C 4:2 it uses the phrase “held without guilt”. Guilt is something that comes about when we know there was something we were supposed to do, and we don't do it. So, then we went in and talked about a bunch of examples of how the prophets expressed anxiety, stress or sadness when people made the wrong choice, but how that inspired the prophets to be more diligent in their missionary work. I gave examples of how we could do the same by inviting people and following up more because we are anxious about whether or not they're keeping commitments. It was good training. Elder Medeiros talked for a really long time, so I only had like 2 minutes and had to rush through. But it was all ok. 

Another big thing is that we had Bianca's baptism this week! It was really cool, though the day of I have to admit I forgot so much: to fill the font, set up the chairs, update the program, bring a towel and more... But in the end it turned out all right. This week was really busy just because we were getting to know Bianca and helping her get to know the ward. Plus, our friend Julia also accepted a baptismal invitation for next week. We had to remark (reschedule), because she takes care of her sick mom who had to go to the hospital, so she couldn't go to church. We did have a super spiritual lesson with her and a return missionary named Paulo. He's a good friend of mine and had some really helpful tips afterwards. 

 

We had a lesson with Mila this week! We met with her while doing an exchange with a 16-year-old named Ruan in our area. He's a really dope kid who asks the most genuine questions I've ever seen in my life. But he's also very hyper... ha-ha. We got to her house and were going to walk to a park. It was packed, so we walked to another park, and only sat down for the lesson after well over an hour. Then it was IMPOSSIBLE to start because every time I said "So Mila," Ruan jumped in and asked something like,

 "If you're companion was drowning, would you jump in to save him?"

"We can't go to the beach; it’s against the rules"

"Let’s say a member took you."

"Elder Serdoski can't swim, why would he go into the water?"

"I don't know but just imagine..."

and so on. Imagine, trying to teach a lesson where about every 36-7 seconds he asks, "What happens if you put a fork in the microwave?" "Can you beat me in an arm wrestling match?" "Have you seen Star Wars? I haven't but I just was curious if you have?" 

Elder Serdoski was struggling to be engaged. When I asked him if he wants to explain about something he laughed and said no. That is what anxiety sounds like ha-ha. Eventually, I made everyone get up. We just walked around the park and Mila, and I chatted about all the stuff she read and all her problems. Then Ruan asked her to race him to see who has faster and so forth. When we got home Elder Serdoski complained to anyone who would listen about how I made him walk so much today all around the park for no reason. This is just a taste of mission life folks. 

 

Buuut on the way home, we were stopped by a guy named Vitor to take a picture of him and his motorcycle. He then immediately asked where our church was and gave us his number. Even crazier, he then went to both hours of church; asked what baptism for the dead were. He explained that his dad was never baptized, and he wanted to go for his dad, but there were so many baptisms and so many churches, he had no idea which baptism was authorized of God... Ya, I know... We are just as excited as you!!!

 

And that’s all folks. We had district P-Day today which was a blast. We went to the Martin’s, ate churrasco, played magic the gathering, card games, a little fute mesa until their son kicked the table and split open his foot. It was dope. This kid is the next Steven Erwing. It’s crazy how much he knows about animals. Literally any animal. I always ask people who would win in a fight, a Tiger or a Lion. People are always wrong and say tiger. I asked him and he explains in extreme detail why a male lion would win. I casually said what about female. And he says well let’s just talk about the facts. Then he said them... All the facts. He talked about tooth size, claw size, claw curve, average weight, height, length, muscle ratio, daily diet, maximum eating capacity, maximum sprint, mating habits, raising habits, the differences in the psychology of the animals, the difference in their hunting habits, and much much more. Long story short, it was the lioness, by a very, very large margin. Oh and this kid is 13, by the way, and can do this with basically any animal. 

 

Milagrão!

Hello to all my subscribers, 

How are you? I'm great, this was a great week. I've stopped taking notes on what happens which makes it really hard to remember at the end of the week. It was an interesting one for our area. 6 of our investigators are moving, which is too bad, especially in the case of Isabelle, because she really wants to get baptized. But as it happens, we got to go over to their house Friday morning to help them move. I woke up at 5:30, and we got there at about 8:00. Then there was nothing to do yet, so we ate breakfast with them and helped wrap plates for an hour and waited to be told what to do. In the middle of plate wrapping, I burst out laughing, and her 11-year-old daughter thought I was crazy. I just thought about how it’s someone’s profession to write all these newspapers, and somebody else’s to collect the data, and someone else’s to make the graphs, and someone else’s to make the title. All this work just for one newspaper. And all people use them for is to light fires and wrap glass plates. It just cracked me up. 

We only found a couple new friends this week and all outside of our area, but one was Bartholomew. (Definitely didn't spell that right.) He is a 17-year-old who's really shy. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and it really captivated him. The good news is that he lives in the Zone Leaders’ area, so I can still keep an eye on him! We even got two references this week. Mikaelly, who had a baptismal date then moved to our area. She is really busy but really nice. We talked a lot, and I'm really excited to get to know her. The office elders also passed the contact of someone who has a date for this Sunday! So, in 7 days we have to introduce her to the bishop and make sure she knows the ward; that'll be exciting!

And the big miracle of the week. I was in the car with a member on Sunday. We had gone to church in the Costa and Silva wards. He asked us about, "That girl who went to church a couple times way back." Mila... I told him about how she was really cool, but blocked us and expressed that she wanted nothing to do with us out of nowhere, because of stuff she read online. Then a couple minutes later, Claudia sent us a message. She's the member we invited to the lessons with Mila. She said that Mila and her had been talking, and Mila asked when church was coming back. She then went to church and said she felt the Spirit, and asked if she could hear the messages again, and apologized to us for being rude! How cool is that? It's the first and probably only time in my mission someone who was marked as do not contact has had a sudden drastic change of heart. The funniest part, I was talking to Elder Frost earlier in the week about a story dad told me. Where some missionaries contacted people marked as do not contact, and one of them ended up getting baptized. But I talked about how you don't hear about the hundreds or thousands of do not contacts who react in... different ways, and that that never actually happens... Well, I was wrong ha-ha. We will see how this next week goes, I love you guys, talk to you next week!

 

Conference Week

 Hey guys, so conference was a blast wow! All the talks were amazing that I listened to. Third hour didn't start here until 9, so the other elders didn't watch it until Sunday. I was really confused about why they were all watching the women's conference session until afterwards they told me that they didn't do women’s and men’s separate anymore at third hour. Whoops. But I'll get around to watching it tomorrow. 

 

The big theme I focused on was on not judging others, learning to rely on the Spirit, and having charity for all those around you. I had an especially strong reaction to one talk on Sunday afternoon. It struck me on the importance of obedience in the mission field combined with charity. It was Bishop Budge's, and it struck me powerfully. 

 

I was thinking about the nature of the mission and its relationship with happiness. I wrote in my notes that we can have 100% obedience/diligence, but if we are doing it, because we want pride or glory or any reason other than because we have charity, it's the same as if we have 0% obedience and diligence. Something the Spirit added to his words that I really liked was that if you're a consecrated missionary, then the mission isn't a sacrifice; it's a pleasure. Now let’s add onto that a little bit. The mission requires sacrifice; that is fact. We sacrifice our time, our health, our desires, our dreams (sometimes) and our plans. That is not happy in and of itself. But discomfort comes from sacrificing that which you love for that which you don't. That's just a bad deal. It’s a value trade. If you don't love the people you teach, if you don't love the members, if you don't love the Lord, there is no ultimate reason for you to serve a mission. You will sacrifice your might, mind and strength, but not your heart. You're trading that which you do love, (yourself) for that which you don't. Now that might be obvious to some, but it didn't always click to me. 

1 Corinthians 13:2-4

2 And though I have the gift of ^aprophecy, and understand all ^bmysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the ^apoor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4 ^aCharity ^bsuffereth long, and is ^ckind; charity ^denvieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

This really puts it into better words than I could. It doesn't say that it’s not possible to do good without charity, it says that it profiteth you nothing. Mormon took this to the next level and said if you have not charity, you ARE nothing. Turning the phrase of Gordon B. Hinckley, "There is no point of doing missionary work if we don't hold onto the fruits of our labors." No point, 0. That's because baptism without persevering until the end is nothing but a checkmark in a missionary’s to-do list: a statistic, nothing more nothing less. You can baptize without loving, and maybe it will work out well for the people you teach, but the harsh truth is that at the end of the day you will still be nothing. Now all this isn't a cry to stop being obedient and diligent because if you don't have charity there's no point. The opposite, "pray to the Father with all the energy of thy heart, that ye may be filled with his love," is Mormon's simple invitation. Once you have charity, you will want to be obedient, want to be diligent, and want to be humble. Your might, mind, and strength will follow your heart. 

Or in summary

If, Love of things sacrificed > Love of Lord, then missionary = sad

If, Love of Lord > Love of Self, then missionary = Happy

... that simple 

And guess what, the scriptures say it, too!!!

1 Samuel 15:22

"To obey is to better than to Sacrifice"

Why is obedience better than sacrifice? Doesn't obedience denote sacrifice? Yes, but obedience is a measurable effect of our love of God. Christ said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." He didn't say if ye loved me. Love comes first, then obedience, which will lead us to willingly sacrifice to Him. God does not need us. Sorry, that's the unfortunate truth. He is capable of doing His own work. He doesn't just want us to sacrifice our time and our talents because He needs Elder Bassett to help Him out as He is just WAY too overwhelmed. He wants us to fulfill our callings out of love, and He wants us to do it with a willing heart, because we need it.

It says in 2 Nephi that Nephi lived "after the pattern of happiness," not a happy life, but Nephi followed a pattern. Alma says that the two times where the Nephites were the happiest were when they followed Nephi, and when they followed Captain Moroni. (Alma 50:23) The people who followed Nephi were at war against their brothers and nephews and cousins. The Nephites at the time of Captain Moroni were in a constant state of war and bloodshed. Surely happiness didn't come from their circumstances. What then? Well, when Moroni called the faithful to fight for their God, what happened?

Alma 45:15

"And those who did belong to the church were FAITHFUL; yea all those who were true believers in Christ took upon them, GLADLY, the name of Christ...the people came RUNNING together with their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they WOULD NOT forsake the Lord their God." 

Or Nephi, "I did persuade my brethren, that they might be FAITHFUL, in keeping the commandments." He didn't convince them to keep them, he convinced them to keep them faithfully. What’s the difference? Have a fun personal study. 

This didn't make a lot of sense. If I write a talk, I'll work out the thoughts a little better, I'm just in a hurry. Gotta go, a lot happened this week, but it’s kinda the same old stuff. Bye!

 

 

Ensaio

OK, so this week was the mission tour with the General Authority for our mission, Elder Koch (hope I spelled that right). We had a striking 9 lessons the first two days, including one ending in a baptismal date with Rosy. I made the comment to Elder Targino that this was going to be a great week... then literally 100% of our lessons fell through the rest of the week, ha-ha. But still a great one! 

Jiselia sent this conversation between her and Sister Koch to my mom

Ok, so, first off, the ensaio. Last zone conference a bunch of elders got together and were playing the piano and singing some songs. As a joke, I came in with Elder Targino's recorder playing really badly to mess them up. It got a lot of laughs but one thing led to another, and now we are performing a musical number for Elder Koh. We have a 170,000 dollar piano, a 1000 dollar violin, and the creme de la coop, a 6 dollar recorder played by Elder Targino. Then a bunch of elders singing. Elder Targino has been practicing at least an hour a day every day for the last 3 weeks on the recorder. Today was the big show. The microphone at the pulpit was strategically turned off, you know, to let the other instruments take the forefront. But Elder Targino, this madman, notices and mid note stops playing, calmly walks over to the controls and not only turns on the microphone but turns the volume up all the way. When he walks over and starts playing again, I'm trying to keep a straight face while singing, because the sound of the recorder echoes through the church halls. At the end, Elder Koch went up and thanked everyone, "Especially the elder playing the recorder, or the 'sweet flute' as it’s called in Portuguese." That was ta highlight for me, but there were still plenty of good moments throughout the conference. It was all about following the Spirit and focusing on helping the people we teach find happiness. Plus, because it was at our chapel, we got to eat lunch with the other zone as well, which means twice the ribs. 

And other than that, it was a straightforward week. We found out why Milton hasn't been responding. He went into a smoking and alcohol recovery program. That makes me so happy, especially because it means that when he gets out, he has a real shot of changing his life if the other elders can give him the right support. We also met with Milla at the chapel on Sunday. I gave a talk about the importance of bearing testimony and afterwards responded to all her questions about what music, movies, and video games are allowed. It was pretty weird, but it's cool to see that she's really considering becoming part of the church, and we haven't even invited her. She's really concerned about what's gonna distance her from the Spirit and how she can have God in her life. It's awesome!

Other great news, Noemi is getting baptized!

Up and Down

Up and Down

So, as you can guess this has been a really up and down week ha-ha. But luckily for me it ended on the up, so I’m in a good mood writing this email. This week we went to Barão Geraldo to resolve some stuff. We received a reference with a number that didn't work, so we went to her house so get the new one; then Milton stopped responding, so we wanted to see what’s up; and Nadir has been having problems with someone talking bad about the church, so we marked an in person lesson. We got dropped off by our Uber at Milton’s, but no one was home, so we walked to the Reference's house. It wasn't hers, but it was her cousin’s. That’s where we met Mila and her Mom in my first ever knocked door. We talked to them for about 20 minutes and ended up getting their phone number. We haven't talked to the mom yet, but we taught Mila the restoration, and she loved it! She even went to church on her own! At church someone gave a talk about the blessings of missionary service, and she asked if she could be a missionary, too. (She's 18.) 

The craziest part: the thing that kicked off the conversation was they asked where I was from, and when I said California, they told me about her brother-in-law that lives in Folsom!!! What are the odds of that?! I can realistically bet that they are the only people in all of Campinas who have even heard of Folsom, California. After the lesson she went to her grandpa’s and talked about the lesson. Her grandpa pulled out a Book of Mormon and gave one to her that was given to him by missionaries a long time ago. What a cool story. While we were walking away, I asked Elder Targino how he felt, and he said, “Like a real missionary.” 

After that we went to Nadir's, and that's a sadder story. Someone talked a lot of bad about the church including but not limited to, "It’s a church only for rich people; they are evil; they sacrifice children in the temple; and more..." Sister Eliziane her friend tried to talk sense into her, but she refused to hear any more of the lessons which is ridiculous but, I can’t control the agency of others. We took off her baptism date and stopped teaching her. We can hope and pray that she will have a change of heart. 

The next day was Elder Targino's birthday. The day earlier I went to the store and bought him a ton of candy and a cuscuzeira which is a type of steamer made to cook food from his region of Brazil. Then when he came out of the room in the morning, we surprised him. He was really excited. Later in the day I bought lunch for him at a GREAT restaurant called Big Jacks, and he spent the rest of the day calling his family ha-ha. At least 4 or 5 hours. But we decided not to press him. Pick your battles! Then we played hide and seek in the dark at the church which was a TON of fun. As I'm sure you all know, I am the hide and seek expert. 

That reminds me of a funny Elder Targino moment. Elder Targino was on the computers with headphones and Elder Mons asked if he wanted to play hide and seek for his birthday. He took off his headphones, looked at Elder Mons and said in English, "Test". (He doesn't speak English) Then he put his headphones back on and went back to the computer. Elder Mons looked at me and said, “Was that a yes or a no?” And then asked again. Elder Targino blew out his nose and turned around and yelled it louder. So Elder Mons yelled back, “What does that mean.?” And Elder Targino yelled, “Test,” again. Elder Mons asked if he meant to say triste (sad), and he said no I meant test. Elder Mons said that doesn't make sense, and Elder Targino just said, “I said test, you asked me if I said triste, so I was clarifying that I said test." Keep in mind that Elder Targino is furious that no one knows what he’s trying to say. Elder Mons said, “I just want to know if you want to play hide and seek. What do you mean test?” And Elder Targino takes off his headphones looks up to the heavens and gives the loudest sigh you've ever heard and says, "Test! Exam! Proof! Quiz!" To this day we still don’t know what he was trying to say. Stuff like that happens every day on the regular that was just an example. It’s interesting. Then we realized, HE's Dwight from the office! He also doesn't let anyone stand behind him because attacks come from behind. 

At the end of the day, I asked him what he thought of his Birthday, and he shrugged and said "eh" ha-ha. I said "Really, nothing good happened today." And he said, “No, nothing.” The other elders were pretty peeved, but it’s whatever. Apparently back home he celebrates his birthday for a full 2 weeks, so I can see how this is a downgrade. 

There was another sad story with a member this week. Someone sent us a message because she was going to come bring us lunch. And she sent us an audio message saying "It’s my day to give you the Lunch. I’m going over and you're going to be waiting at the Gate. At the Gate. The GAAAAATE. Not the door the Gate. I get there give you the food and Goodbye" We have no idea why she doesn’t like us; we have no idea who she was. We then sent her a message asking what time she would be there. And she ignored us and told us to wait outside. We couldn’t wait all day, so we went in to do a lesson. An hour and 40 minutes later she came by while we were in our lesson and when we weren't there, she threw the food over the fence and called us 6 times. We kept on telling her we were in a lesson, and she kept calling again to complain about how we weren't there and tell us she threw it on the ground. I still have no idea what caused all of this or who she is. 

OK back to a funny/sad story. Elder Targino and I were studying Edapp, and there’s a question that says, "This quote from President Monson says that you are a special spirit of God who was reserved especially for these days. You've probably heard it before, but do you believe it?" Elder Targino read that out loud and then without skipping a beat said no in a really absolute obvious way. And I don't know, it was funny/sad. 

We found 6 people today, but other than Mila I only want to comment on 2 others. Rodrigo is a really cool guy that we met online that is super elect. We taught him about the restoration, and I was saying "Joseph Smith wasn't called to create a new church, but to..." and he said the next word for me "Restore Christ’s church." I thought that was really cool. 

The other person is Rosy. I sent her a friend request, and she sent me a message saying she was so glad I sent her a request. She said she's looking for a church that can give her direction in life! I got to know her on the phone, and apparently, she met missionaries 4 months ago in Barão Geraldo and told them she was looking for a church and direction; they took her number but never called. I talked to Elder Mons, and he said he had never been to Barão Geraldo when he took care of the area. So, what we think happened is a couple of missionaries were sneaking off and ran into her. But didn’t want to call her because they would have to explain to Elder Mons and Elder Pompeu why they left their zone. I hope that’s not it, but it makes the most sense. I’m trying not to be annoyed and hoping there’s a better explanation. But the exciting thing is, that we found her again. 

And that’s the week. There’s some other little stuff but this has been long enough as it is. 

Tchau gente!

4 Transfers, 3 Areas, 5 Companions, 1 District

Tuesday:

Transfers are always a blast, and my transfer predictions were right! I'm staying in the district and replacing our old district leader who went home. I'm really happy about it, especially about being in a 4-elder apartment. But the area got opened last transfer which means basically starting from scratch again, ha-ha… right when things in Cosmopolis were coming together, but it’s all good. My companion is Elder Targino; he is the funniest person I've ever met without trying. Elder Mons explained it the best; it’s like every single word he says and decision he makes, he thinks, what is the most hilarious thing I could possibly say in this moment? Also, I'm back with Elder Lima from Pouso Alegre, and he is the new Zone Leader. When we got back from transfers, we didn't have a very productive day. I was trying to get Elder Targino to daily plan with me for a solid 3 hours, but every time we started, something would happen or we would get a text, or he would get distracted. I finally got us to say a prayer and open daily planning when the Zone Leaders walked in laughing and started talking again. No sweat though, transfer days are normally a little less stressful on the calendar. One of the main thing I'm excited for in a 4 Elder... card games. I taught the Zone Leaders hearts on one of our divisions, and they played every day. When 9 o´clock rolled around I said, "All right, let’s play," and Elder Mons said, "Ooooh, actually I'm doing a 40 fast from cards," and Elder Targino as well, ha-ha. So there goes that dream. I appreciate the consecration. 

The new area is awesome! We have 3 wards and get lunch AND dinner every day from members which is cool. I'm a bit worried about the Cosmopolis area, because Noemi sent me an audio message where she sounded like she was on the verge of tears and asked if we could email on P-Days. She had a lesson with the other elders, but Elder Silva didn't talk. When she asked questions about the Book of Mormon, they didn't know the answer. But I have faith it'll work out. I already talked to her a bit, and she was just panicking in the moment. We invited the Cosmopolis elders to the Zone Family night, and they gave a lot of sass. The new elder over there is a friend of Elder Soares and therefore not my biggest fan, ha-ha.

Wednesday:

So, I brought a recorder to the mission and apparently, it’s a very distinguished instrument; the other elders are obsessed with it. I was messing around in the morning and Elder Lima walked in and was just staring at me. I stopped playing, and he just said in his broken English "Don't kill the beautiful sound of the Flouta," and walked out ha-ha. It killed me. I had some great preparation for the first district council of the transfer. I prepared a training about obedience, then when we were in council got a strong impression to throw it out. Instead, I just had everyone read a couple scriptures and asked questions about the atonement of Christ; how we feel about His suffering; and how we can show gratitude to Him. It was much better than what I had planned. After that, I had my first ever lesson in Spanish. I did ok, but wow is it hard, ha-ha. It made me really want to learn Spanish though! But first up, I need to learn Portuguese. After that lesson, I got to meet the Bishop of one of our wards! He was a really awesome guy! He has a huge family, and all the kids were eager to participate in the lesson. It didn't stick with all the members, but the Bishop is the most important relationship to build. 

Thursday/Friday (got mixed up on the days):

Our daily schedule got messed up, because there was a fair in the morning that we went to. It was cool to try sugarcane juice again, but it was the 5th day in a row my personal study got cut short, so I was a bit grumpy about that. When we got to the chapel, I had another episode of trying to get Elder Targino to focus on daily planning for around 2 hours. At least we shaved off an hour this time, ha-ha. We had a member coming to drop off dinner at 6, but she didn't end up getting there until about 8:30, so I spent the time teaching Elder Targino English. It was hilarious, because in the North of Brasil they pronounce R's as H. So, the 3 of us were trying to get him to make the R sound for an hour with no progress and all dying. After that I had another District Leader training, and guess what they asked about the entire time? What movies we can watch on P-day. Apparently, it’s the same elder, and he’s asked for clarification about the movies the past 3 District Leader Conferences. He's really holding out for something. 

Later we had a ward council. I asked the Elder's Quorum president for a list of families that were part member, and he immediately started flaming me. He said he passed it to us two weeks ago; I explained that all the mission phones had been erased. Then he said, "Well I passed this list to the other elders last transfer, and they were 'too busy to call it,’ so explain to me why I should go around collecting this list, if you elders are just going to 'be too busy' to call any of the members?"  I tried to explain that in the quarantine, finding new people who would progress was proving to be a significant challenge. The best and most meaningful work missionaries can do is through members. I explained that I had only been here for 3 days and was a hard working missionary. Without promising anything, I mentioned that we had seen a lot of success working with members in my old area and that caught his attention. Turns out, he served his mission in Artur Nogueira, so that definitely won me some points. The end story is that I was not excited for our next ward council. It didn't end up even happening though. We called and the ward mission leader asked for 15 minutes to get ready, then after 15 minutes the president of the Elder's Quorum wasn't ready, then after 15 more minutes it was the ward mission leader again, and eventually we threw in the towel. But the day ended on a plus, Noemi sent a nutella strawberry crepe out of nowhere with a note that says, “I hope you can remember today as a happy day.” I didn't talk to her or mention any of the other stuff to her, so that definitely made it a happy day!

Saturday:

So today is the day of Denis's baptism. I sent him a text message asking when it would be, and he sent a message saying the other elders hadn't given him a time or a location. Then he was upset I couldn't go, because he wanted me to come baptize him. I went to ask permission from the Assistants and long story short it made it to President's desk. President wanted to know why Denis had never met the other elders. I explained that Denis moved to Campinas 2 weeks back, and the other elders canceled the pass off lesson on Monday, because they wanted to pack for transfers. That brought the other elders into hot water, so I explained that Denis was a really hard guy to arrange stuff with. When all was said and done, we had a new baptismal date for next Friday, and president gave me permission to come down. We were also able to schedule a new lesson for him to meet the other elders. So ya, 6 days in a row with no full personal study... Rough. But after that we had another lesson with the Bishop’s family, and his kids were an absolute blast. They are the same age as some of our investigators' kids, so they offered to have a family night with them!! Another fun thing of the day, I found this guy on Facebook named Paulo, and he is MASSIVE. Tree trunk neck big. And he calls me 'Irmãozinho' which is literally 'little/small' brother; it makes my day every time, ha-ha. Around lunchtime, we had a member bring us a massive amount of food. A full on feast, I'll send a picture, but I won't be able to get everything.... chicken, rice, pasta, cake, juice, and salad. We finished the day with a zone family night that was really good. To prepare, we all read "Let God Prevail," and we all spent the first 15 minutes getting to know each other, then bore our testimonies and talked about the talk. The district is pretty great; we have 4 Elders in Campinas, 2 in Cosmopolis, plus Sisters in Mogi Mirim and Paulinha. When we finally got home, Elder Mons started having some calf cramps and was begging me to massage his calf. I did but made him promise he would return the favor. Then when we switched, he just couldn't force himself to do it; he was too weirded out ha-ha. He offered the other Elders 10 reals, 20, 30, 50 to do it for him, but I yelled, "NO!!! It has to be you!" We were all dying of laughter, and I learned for sure that I can never be put into a position of power in the mission. My poor district. 

Sunday: 

Sooooo, I finally got to go to church again!!! 1st time in more than 2 months (no in person or online church). There was a family with like 6 little kids, and I sat with them beforehand and played a game where they tried to clap your hand and I tried to dodge it. They were all giggling and taking turns, and it made me miss playing with little kids so much. But I had to cut it short to prepare the sacrament. There were a ton of people, so I wanted to put more than two trays out. Elder Targino was insisting that we wouldn't need more. Every time I tried to get more; he wouldn't let me. I'm telling you it was the parable of the fish/loaves, there was not enough to go around, and a blind man could have seen it. Eventually, we had to start. When the time for sacrament came around, Elder Targino looked at the Sacrament, then counted the people, and slowly turned to me with a super wide-eyed expression. I asked him if he thought we needed more cups, and he just said, "Definitely," So while people were singing the hymn, we rushed to get more trays set up. Following the sacrament, we had another Ward Council, and in it I talked about how it’s not just our job to find new people to teach, but to support the ward and the members. I said we were available to help them in whatever aspect they needed, and if they ever knew of a member who was struggling, inactive, or just needed support, they could send their numbers over, and we would give it a shot. Boy oh boy was that the wrong thing to say. The president of the relief society then proceeded to unmute and do that thing where someone talks in a fairly normal voice, but you feel like they are yelling at you. She talked about how we had to Thank the members for lunch. She said "I don't care what it is! Whether it's money or food you are to send a video thanking them." I completely agree. The thing is we always send a text message thanking them and asking if we can call to thank them over the phone and share a scripture. When I said that, she said she didn't care, "We don't want to talk to the missionaries, we have other things to do. If you send a video, we can watch it at our own convenience throughout the day. The 15 times I've given missionaries lunch only 1 time I was sent a video." I agree with her so much about the fact that missionaries need to show more gratitude, but the other wards asked specifically that we not send videos and instead call, because videos are impersonal, and nobody watches them. Plus, let me remind you this is my 6th day in the area. How much stuff am I going to get yelled at for that wasn't me, ha-ha? The other elders sure loved teasing us about it though. We are going to do videos and hope, but we also know that we can't make everyone happy. After that mess... members came to bring us food, ha-ha. (from the other Elders’ ward.) They brought crates of milk, bread, etc. Enough food for 2 weeks! I'm super grateful, but also feel like we don't deserve all this support and kindness. But beggars can't be choosers.  

Oh, and I forgot about the ghost story. This was yesterday. So normally we keep the gate to the chapel locked and shut, as well as the door of the church. Because it was Sunday; however, both were wide open the entire day. We left early and the other Elders stayed. It was around 9:00, and Elder Lima decided to go to the backyard. While he was walking, he thought he saw a guy pressed against the door trying to hide, but he didn't know what to do, so he kept walking like he didn't see anything. He went to the other side of the chapel. Elder Mons was walking down the hall looking at his phone, and he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He said something like a shadow on the other side of one of the doors like someone had just snuck past. Neither of them knew what to do, so they met up at the front, turned on the alarm and started to leave.  While they were at the gate, the church's motion detector went off. They unlocked the church and did a quick look through, and then set the alarm and left again. When they got home, they both said, "I had the weirdest thing happen," and told each other the stories. We were deciding whether or not to go to the chapel and check it out. But after I got dressed, they said they didn't want to anymore. We called president and don’t know what happened next. What we think happened is that someone snuck in and was in the chapel watching us and waiting for us to leave, so they could rob it. Then when the alarm went off, they panicked, waited for the other elders to unlock the door, and look around, then sprinted down the street. Either that or their investigator who says he's possessed by demons decided to stick around after church and follow through on his threat to destroy Israel... but that's another story.