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.

Brazil?

Man, where to start, I'll be disorganized again and start on Friday

Friday: 

The big day, am I going to Brazil or not??? Well, it didn't have a great start. See, FedEx left my package in Memphis, so if I wanted to go I had to go 5 hours early to the airport to do a rapid test. I'd figured all that out last night and finally figured out how I could still go by taking a rapid test at the airport. I finally got it scheduled and went to bed waiting for the early start.That's exactly what I did, we made the appointment, and at 7:15 we left the house. Once we got there, I went inside to do the test, and they told me that they didn't offer the specific kind of test I needed rapid (last night they said they did). So Elder Bodily & Bradshaw, and I chilled for a while figuring what to do. They decided to leave me with Elder Feliciano again. I went over to their district counsel and saw the gang! Then borrowed a car and went to take a rapid pcr Covid test. Around an hour later, I got the results PLUS the original FedEx results, haha. Then the church booked me on a 5 pm flight to New York and then Brazil. It was a bug hassle getting there on time and redoing all my travel forms, but I made it! I lost the picture of me on the plane, but imagine me with a beanie, a mask, and the eye covers planes give out, haha. I had the whole row to myself though.

Saturday:

I arrived at 9AM on Saturday. It was great being back at the São Paulo airport. I even recognized the Superman mannequin they always have, only this time it had a mask and sunglasses. Once I got through customs, a senior missionary drove me an hour to the mission. Once I was there, I met our President, and he took me out to a churrasco! It was great, and the first meal I had had in well over a day (I don't count airplane food). After that, we went to pick up another American that would be living with me! Elder Kofford. He got in the day I was supposed to and was waiting for me to get here to go to our area. Then President drove us another two hours to my area in Pouso Alegre Minas Gerais. I got to meet my companion, Elder Silva, and Elder Kofford met his, Elder Lima. President and I built my bed, then he left. And I finally was able to relax, haha. I spent the night unpacking and went to look at the area-book planner app. Apparently, they don't really know how to use it, because I showed them the basics, and they were shocked, haha. They called the assistants and told them I should do a training.

Sunday:

Our ward is awesome! There are two sessions and each one gets plenty of people. In the first session, a member gave a 15 minute talk on how we should all be member missionaries; it's a big difference from my old areas, hah. That night we went for a walk, and I went into a favela for the first time on foot. When we got home, the day was done, Elder Kofford went to resew his tie, and was trying to say the word for fold but he couldn't remember it, and accidentally said a bad word in Portuguese. Oh also, I made rice for the first time, thanks Elder Bodily.

Monday: 

The other elders went to the chapel and talked all day with friends while Elder Silva and I just walked around the city and bought some stuff I needed. I have missed the streets of Brasil so much! Talking to everyone and saying, "Tudo bem," to everyone. Not much else to say other than it was great!