Serra - Week Sixteen

To answer questions first, transfers will be next week. Our mission will get 20 new missionaries, which is a ton! We have been getting a few more sisters, but not much. From everything that I've heard, its okay to come still, but I think that might be something to talk to the secretary about.

I had an experience this week that changed my mission and the way I see things in the gospel. Me and my comp have talked a lot about some things and I have felt that I have really grown.

To start, what helped me learn was our zone leader talking about how our purpose is only baptize and saying a lot of things that I didn't agree with such as there is no point in teaching lessons and getting new investigators if they don't accept the baptismal invite on the first go, or if they are having trouble quitting smoking or any other change, just stop visiting them and try to find the "elects." I got really frustrated because it's not the Lord's way. We are representatives of Jesus Christ. Our purpose is so much more than baptize. If I can help someone come closer to Christ, helping them have more faith, helping them believe more, helping them feel the Spirit, helping them change, even if they didn't get baptized,  I fulfilled my purpose. My purpose is to invite othesr to come unto Christ, helping them have faith in Jesus Christ and in his Atonement, repent of their sins, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. If I can help someone in any of these steps, I succeeded. A reactivation, a renewal of a covenant is just as good as one made.

Numbers, are not what's important. What is important are the things you can’t measure. Love, charity, faith, kindness, service, obedience, diligence, the Christlike attributes.  That is Christ's way. I thought a lot about Elder Holland's talk from conference about the first and greatest commandment. Lovest thou me? Feed my sheep. We are to emulate the Good Shepherd. We do this by caring for the flock individually, being sensitive to the needs of others and focusing on helping them. Our numbers will be reflective of our diligence, but only in a way. I don't need to teach 10 lessons in a day to have an awesome day, but if I helped just one person feel the spirit and come closer to Christ, my day was a success. Our job as missionaries is to establish the Church, and one way to do that is through reactivating. The church here in Brazil only has a 20% activity rate. I feel like that is because missionaries here focus so much on the number of baptisms, and not the quality of conversion.  That is what I have learned this week. Our work in the church shouldn't be so much, How many? but Who? Christ, the Good Shepherd knows his sheep, each one, and loves them. As servants of Christ in his church, we should do the same. Know those you work with, their needs, and focus on helping others reach salvation, and not just the number of people present, or not.

We have decided after studying Preach My Gospel that we won’t teach lessons without members. We will focus on only teaching lessons with members present, and working much more with less actives and part member family to work with reactivation, and to get more references.

I feel like the things I have learned this week will stay with me for the rest of my life, and I have also seen things that are almost the same in my patriarchal blessing, which helps me know that this was a lesson that I needed to learn. =)

We have a few investigators close to baptism, and a few we are starting to teach that have a lot of potential. We are still working with Daniela. We're trying to get her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon everyday. Because we know that if she does, she will get her witness.

Sometimes we just need to stand up for what we know is right.

The First sign of Love has always been Loyalty.  Loving Christ means being loyal to him and his gospel. It means helping others as he did. It means doing what Christ would do.

Everyday I think about that primary song, "If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do? Would I follow his example and try harder to be true? Would I think of his commandments? Would I live more righteously, if I could see the Savior standing by watching over me?" This song has become something that I can't forget. It helps me look for opportunities to serve, to do good works.

I know that this church is true, even though we have faults. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to be truly happy in this life. I love the mission, even with all of its difficulties, disappointments, and hardships. I love it because never have I felt so much joy, happiness, or Christ-like love towards others. Never at one time have I  grown so much. I know that this is where I am supposed to be, and that the mission is supposed to change me, more that it should change others. I really love Elder Holland's last talk. Especially after learning this lesson.

I love you all. Keep up the good work. =)

Serra - Week Fifteen

Eating pannitone

I found luck! (sorte=luck)

Well, this week went by pretty quick I guess. It was really hot this week and we had to walk a ton. It wasn't all that great. But, there were some good things that happened this week.

So, this week we met a couple, Silmara and Renan. They are really cool. We were Just knocking doors on a street, and we came to the nicest house there. THE nicest. We rang the interphone, and I was expecting no good answer, but as my companion said that we were from the church of Jesus Christ, she said, wait a minute! And came and opened the door. She had really wanted to know more about the church. She had seen tv ads about the church a long time ago, and had seen the church driving by in the neighborhood next to her. She let us in and we gave a quick spiritual lesson about the restoration. It was awesome. Later in the week we came back and met her husband, who was also really cool. They are inactive Catholics, but were interested a bit in our message. The second lesson, (which we also talked about the restoration) was more spiritual than the first. I'm looking forward to bringing a member there.

We are still teaching some of these families that we have been visiting, but some of them have taken a bad turn, not really having the desire to live the Word of Wisdom, or losing some interest in investigating the church.

We didn't know the hour had changed.  We actually got up at
5:30 for church at 7 when it starts at 9. 

Sunday was also a good day this week. Even though we didn't know about the time change, waking up much earlier than needed, we had a good productive meeting with the ward mission leader. Waiting for sacrament meeting to start, Marrone and his aunt came in, but we were sad that Daniela didn't show up. that was the worst. Until she did show up right before the meeting started. That has to be one of the best feelings ever. When your awesome progressing investigator just shows up by themselves, ready for church. The members received her really well also. It made me really happy. I love being a missionary!

Since we were early for church,
my companion tried to sleep and I
played the piano.

We had a really good lesson with Daniela last night also. We taught her about the holy ghost. She believes that it's all true, but she isn't sure that she wants to make the commitment. We had a really spiritual lesson, We challenged her to read the Book of Mormon every day this week, and pray every day to know if the church is really true. And we challenged her to be baptized. She said that if she recognized an answer, that she would. And if she really reads and prays everyday, she will.

I dunno. I guess that's all I really have to say this week. I'm trying to do my best. I'm working on getting better. I guess that you kind of forget about something as you get older on the mission because you know what you are doing and forget to remember that there is no perfect missionary. You grow in some areas, and forget some other things. It's like a constant battle. For example, you sometimes fall into a routine, and it gets harder to follow the spirit. There is just so much to remember to do, no one can really be doing all of it. But I guess it just goes to show that we could all use a little more work.

I know that this is where I'm supposed to be. I'm doing my best to be a good missionary. Thanks for all the support. Love you guys. Until next week.

Oh, and I'm going to the eye doctor again on Wednesday. Just fyi

Serra - Week Fourteen

Oh, and I think that's super cool that I'm on that scouting thing! I was excited!

Well, this week was rather interesting. So I couldn't send email on my normal day because the place was closed. This has been like the biggest holiday weekend ever. It started on Friday, and technically ended yesterday, but today everything still isn't open. It's the recovery day. haha.

Well, so here's some fun stuff that happened. We bought 10 liters of açaí last p-day, and we've been snacking on that for almost every day this week. That's what the photo is. We also got some chocolate "fruitcake" for super cheap that we have been snacking on also.

So, Something interesting, is that this week, we've been starting in a new bairro that the missionaries have almost never worked in. Out of the 5 houses that we've been in so far, All of them are married couples. It's a miracle! I was pretty excited about that.  One of the families that we found there was really cool. We were walking down the street, going to one of our appointments,  and some kids started talking to us, we stopped for a bit and their parents showed up. We started talking about the church and about what we do as missionaries, and then they invited us in. we found out that they were married too, and we marked to go back. It was great. We are also having success finding men to teach. Which isn't all that normal for us, because normally they're out working during the week, but with Carnival, there were a lot of people home so we found some really good men and their families that have a lot of potential.

We are working with a man named Agenor, he says that he wants to be baptized, and he is going to church and quitting smoking, but he can't read. That's one of his difficulties. But, if he has desire, we'll get him baptized.

We had some really great experiences with Marrone and his mom Adilena this week. Marrone watched a baptism at church, but is still saying that he doesn't want to get baptized yet. We are teaching his mom, (his dad is a member) and she is really liking the Book of Mormon. She just thinks it's great. We had kind of a family home evening there. We were there teaching and everyone decided to show up and participate. After we talked about the word of wisdom, we kind of hung out with the family, and they really liked it. They went to church on Sunday, and their other son, who is a member went also. It was the first time that I have ever seen him at church. The best spiritual experiences this week were with them. Last night we were there again, and we passed the 20 minute restoration movie, they liked it so much that we watched it twice. Adilena thought that it was really cool, and wanted it to have more. We are going to challenge her to baptism this week. =)

I guess other than that work was pretty normal. The streets were pretty dead. I think I'm losing weight. haha I look thinner, and I'm gaining muscle. Its amazing what 30 minutes of workout every morning will do to ya.

My comp is newer than I am, he doesn't have a year on the mission yet. But I do want to train again. I think maybe this next transfer because we'll get like 15 new missionaries.

So, I'm having a great time, I love the mission. I'm looking forward to the rest of this transfer. Looks like we'll have success!

I made a goal to take at least one picture a day, because I haven't been taking any. I'm sure you'll like getting the extra pics. =)

I guess that's it. Love you all. I'm doing my best here. =) Darcy should be watching all the soccer games that are happening in preparation for the cup.

See ya later.

Serra - Week Thirteen

I took hardly any pictures this week. I hit my comp in the face with a refrigerator snowball. In retaliation for the one he threw at my back.


Anyway. Still didn't get your other box, I did get a care package from the Relief Society, which was awesome. Kind of a surprise. But it didn't have Mike and Ikes. Oh well . . .


So, cool things this week. We are teaching a vampire lady! haha  :) She can only talk to us when the sun isn't super bright. So on cloudy or rainy days. But she's really good. Her dad was a member, but he was the only one in the family. She knows a little bit about the church. We taught her with a member which really helped because he really supported her in her desire to quit smoking. She is excited to read the Book of Mormon too. She is just overall a great investigator. But extended family is coming to stay the week of Carnival, so its going to be hard to peacefully teach her this week. (Stupid carnival . . . ) Anyway, a little bit after that lesson, we tried to teach another lady, who said she was busy, but made us some food. Salgados. yummmm . . .  I'm sure we can get this vampire baptized. I just hope she doesn't burst into flames when she takes the sacrament. :)

We are still teaching Daniela.  She is for sure going to be baptized. We just need to talk with her to get a good date, because she'll be out of town this weekend to avoid the Carnival madness. She'll for sure be baptized. She's just awesome. She's already super integrated with the ward. She's going to another ward activity next week too.

So here's a cool little tender mercy, Saturday, we had walked a lot. And it was Really hot. We were getting to the other bairro, and I commented to my comp, a cold soda would be reaaaly nice right now. Less that five minutes later, we walked past a restaurant on the side of the freeway, and someone called us over. He told us to sit down and he ordered us soda without asking us. Haha He had talked to the missionaries in the past, and had been to church. We talked to him for a while, he bought us more soda, and then gave us his address so that we could go talk with him about the Book of Mormon. Yesterday, we ran into him again. He's a really great guy too. =)

I guess that's it. We also had a lesson with a member's son about repentance and the commandments. We drew a cliff, put a railing on it, and then an ambulance at the bottom. The cliff is sin. His question was, why not just wait until before you die to be baptized? So we talked about true repentance. Just because there's an ambulance at the bottom, would you jump off the cliff? The commandments (the guardrail) are there to protect you. Stay on the right side and you won't need the ambulance (which is repentance.) He got the point. But it was a cool visual aid. You can't purposely break commandments saying "I'll repent later." Jump off the cliff.  You lose your agency.


Well I guess that's it. Never thought the 49ers would be in the super bowl. Carnival is this week. Work will probably be a bit slow. Love you all. Thanks for everything and all the support!

Serra - Week Twelve

So, in response to your letter:

No, I haven't gone to the eye doctor. The secretary will mark for me and then I'll go.

I guess I'm like the black sheep in the family because, I don't really like basketball that much. I'm more of a football and soccer guy . . .
Haha.

BTW, have you decided if you are going to come and get me, or if we'll just come back for the World Cup?

So, talking about standing in holy places, I saw a quote defining what is a holy place. It isn't just like in the church or temple, but a holy place is anywhere that you can feel the presence of the Holy Ghost. SO at home should be a very holy place. Talking about the internet, what you choose to look at, listen to, or the like, could influence very strongly the presence of the spirit. Standing in holy places could also be standing for what you believe in. Holy places are very often attacked, (could use the Book of Mormon for this) and when the people don't have the spirit in the holy places, they lose, and often are destroyed. So, They need to be spiritually ready to defend beliefs or defend against unvirtuous things or even others challenging our beliefs. That's my quick thought on it.

As far as the Plan of Salvation goes, we don't always teach the restoration first. Something cool in the pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation is that it has a little roadmap, and it says, “The Atonement makes salvation possible.”  I usually focus on the Fall and its effects, how the atonement overcomes the Fall, and what we need to do in this life to have access to the Atonement. Because all in all the Atonement is the most important thing, and the youth need to have a testimony of the Atonement.

Speaking about life is like a game, on Sunday, one of the youth totally talked about that. Because he likes video games, so he likened it to that. He talked about how the game master (God) gives us missions (commandments) to fulfill. When we complete them we’re blessed, and we "level up." We can choose not to complete the missions, we don't grow, and our progress is hindered. Really cool.

Anyway, this week went by really well. I get along really well with my comp, he's really cool and I really like him. We are working a lot with Daniela. She is an excellent investigator, and she is the one that is progressing the most. We brought a lot of members there this week, and one we just let a member teach the lesson and we just sat there. It was awesome! She even went to the RS activity on Saturday, and then went to church this Sunday It was really great. I'm pretty sure that she'll be baptized. =D

That's about it I guess for this week. We taught a lot this week. It's awesome.

Anyway, I love this work. I know that this is the right thing to do. I know that it's all true. All of it. I don't have any doubts. I know that this is the work of the Lord to save his children.

Although I haven't found all the people that I have to teach, I know that if I do my part, the Lord will put these people in my way. It's up to me. I know that the Lord will keep his promises.

Thanks for everything mom and dad. I'm thankful for all the things that you have taught me. =) Short this week, but next week will be better.

Serra - Week Eleven

 I bought a new flag.

 My new comp with a zombie dog.  It's the only picture I have of him.

I like graffiti.

Well. This week was pretty good.

Anyway, so my new companion is Elder Blackwelder from Florida. I really like him because he's a nerd too. xD something I found is that it's a lot easier to start getting along with your companion when you don't have a culture barrier. This is only the second American companion that I've had. The only other was my trainer. Elder Blackwelder worked at Universal Studios at Hogwarts, so he has a Gryfindor tie. Pretty cool.

This week went by pretty well. We had some really good work with some members, which helped a lot. I like a lot of the members here. Something that hit me this week, is that some of these members that I consider to be friends, are like a little younger than Drew. haha sometimes it's weird to think that I'm 21. Wow. That doesn't even seem right.

Anyway, something that's really going well is one of our investigators named Daniela. We talked to her on the street and asked if we could come by and she accepted. We went by and taught her about the restoration. It was great! We marked a return visit to also teach her husband, but when we got there he had already left because he doesn't really like religion...yet...but we also taught her the Book of Mormon and she understood, we are going to challenge her to baptism tonight!

We are teaching and planning to baptize a kid named Marrone. He is 14 and his dad is a member. We are teaching him along with two inactive members about his age (I think they are cousins? Whatever, they are family) who are really supporting him and are excited to go back to church again as well. Sometimes it gets a little out of control, having a deacon present is like having Doug from UP! He kind of has problems paying atten . . . Squirrel!! . . . tion. But we are planning on baptizing him this week.

We had a really great experience with Rafaela. She is the daughter of a member, and has only been to church a few times. She's already heard the lessons from a lot of different missionaries. But she likes when we are there. We were trying to discover what is holding her back from being baptized. We were talking about the Book of Mormon with the member, and she started to ask a lot of really good questions about the church and what we believe. While we were there, the home teachers showed up one by one. And the first started to share his testimony about the Book of Mormon and the church. As the second came in the door, she asked him to share his testimony. And he did. It was a really spiritual experience. After we left, me and my companion talked a little about it. We decided that she was like one of the members there who bore his testimony. She knows that it's true, but hasn't asked God yet, and she doesn't want to be baptized because she says she "doesn't have time" when really it's because she knows that if she joins, she won't ever leave. And that is exactly what happened with the member who bore his testimony. He did pray, and he hasn't left, but he was in the same situation. I still think its amazing how much you care for these people. When conversing with me about the church, she always says, but I don't want to be baptized. And I say, "I don't want to baptize you. Someone else can do that.  But I want to do is help you know how important these things are, and I want you to have the joy, happiness, and direction in life that comes from this gospel. And this only comes through baptism and enduring to the end." In the end, I know she'll accept the gospel. I just hope she does while I'm there.

I love the mission. I do know that it's where I'm supposed to be. I've always thought of the mission as tithing on life. You go at the years that should be your best. The two years you give are basically 10% of the years that you've lived so far. So, just like how tithing you get a lot of blessings, I believe that the mission blesses you a lot as well. From what I've heard anyway. =)

I love you guys. Thanks for all the support. I'm glad that you are my family.

The power went out for a minute, so I took a picture of Elder Blackwelder.

Serra - Week Ten

This week really had some ups and downs. Interesting week.

Here's something I know you'll love to hear. So, I’ve been having eye problems for a few months now, I always have red eyes, and stuff. I didn’t know why. This last p-day I went to the eye doctor in Vitoria, and he checked it out. Basically, I need glasses. And because I don’t have them, I’m straining and overworking my eyes, making them be red and having irritation. Just a heads up. He gave me eye drops which are helping with the redness, but this is just a temporary solution, and so I’ll probably need to get glasses before coming back home. So I don’t know exactly how we'll work that out. haha oh yes........

Anyway, we worked well some of this week. We didn’t do well some other parts of this week. Things that we did well, we left with a lot of members this week. It was really great; it helped us out a lot. I think that it helped some of our investigators as well. Another good thing that we did was that we marked a bap date with a young man named Jefferson. He's really cool. He's 17 but he understood our message and without a problem he accepted the invite. He also said that he would go to church without a problem, but, when Sunday came, his whole family was going to his grandma's house so he couldn’t go, and was a little disappointed about that. He promised that next time he will. I’ll keep you updated on him.

We (kind of-not really) got into a Bible bash....The family was really nice, but the man didn’t want to accept Joseph as a prophet because of the research that he had done (he is a historian) but never prayed to ask if the Book of Mormon is true. It was a really cool family; I liked them, except that when I was trying to bear my testimony they kept interrupting. haha Annoying. But that’s okay. When people already have an opinion formed, usually they don’t want to change. And I don’t like the way that so many people idolatrize the Bible. Many of the evangelicals here talk about the Bible like its perfect, and that literally it is all anyone needs. Interesting.

I had a division this week with the ZL Elder Aguaysol, the guy from Argentina that I was with in Linhares. It was really good, he helped me to do a lot of things that I have been forgetting to do. I liked it a lot.

Well, this week I had some more problems with the comp, but not really on my side. I was fine, and again he didn’t want to do a certain thing while planning because he thought it was too far. I tried to help him see the importance of working hard, and shared the mission experience of President Hinckley, "forget yourself, and go to work" but I still couldn’t get him to agree. So, after a day of problem solving and talking with the Zone leaders, we got everything worked out and the end of that day and the next we worked really well. It was excellent. Then yesterday, we got a call that he was being emergency transferred. =( I was kinda disappointed about that. So today I'll get a new comp.

and yeah, Vitoria is sweet. too bad I don’t work there. haha. There is a river somewhere here in Serra. It's not in my area either. Vitoria reminds me of San Diego. =) There is a beach close by to where I am. When we have zone conference we go to a chapel in Vitoria really close to the beach.

Well I guess that's about it.

Interesting that while I was talking with this man who was trying to have a bible bash, its seemed as though he was trying to convince me to stop believing in the things I know to be true. But thinking back at all of the spiritual experiences that I've had throughout my life, there is no way that it's not true. Especially my testimony of the prophet. Something that always comes to mind is Elder Holland's conference talk about the Book of Mormon. Something that I know to be true, and nothing would be able to convince me otherwise. No amount of study could change that. Because God told me that it was true. And so I can't change my mind about that. And that's what I told that man.

Sometimes I think that it's incredible that people don’t believe our message or even do the things for them to know like read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. It's SO much to know, and only requires a simple step of faith. But that’s what separates the elects from those who don’t want the truth.

Thanks for everything Mom and Dad. I've really been able to reflect on the lessons that you have taught me and I'm really glad that you are my parents.