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!

 

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!