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.