Nova Venécia - Week One

Well, I wasn't really happy about being transferred.  I have actually been missing my last area a lot.

 My district.  My new companion is on the far right.

One of the hills in town.  

I am now in a small town in the north of the state called Nova Venécia. And its really small. Basically downtown is in the middle of a bowl, a river goes through the middle of the town, and its uphill on all sides. It's just a small branch here as well. President took me out of a huge ward and put me in a tiny branch.

My new companion is Elder W. Silva, who is pretty new on the mission, he only has a few months. He was in the Brazilian army before the mission. He doesn't talk all that much, which is a lot different from my last companion. Basically, everything is different! The people here are different from out in the bigger city of Vitória. I'm not really liking it as much as my last area, but during this week and the meetings that we had, I can tell that they need some help and that I can probably make a difference here. So I'm going to keep busy here.

This week we didn't have that much time to work,  Monday, we just said goodbye to everyone that we could, Tuesday, we had transfers, the bus going to my area left at 11 at night, so I hung out in the other elders there.

We got in late, and we started the work. This week we had a lot of investigators in church, a family that the other elders were teaching, We are also teaching some really good people this week with a lot of potential. We found a family of a mom, and her three kids, two of them are in the teens and are listening to our message. They are really great.

Unfortunately, this week, we won't be able to work that much because we have to travel to zone conference. But that's all right.

I'm just going to try to do my best here before the end.

To dad, about the young men and the mission, I know a lot of elders here who are on the mission just because of the family or because it's what the church expects, but they all have found purpose here on the mission. There are a lot that come without testimony, but it's something that the gain here. It's definitely worth going just because it's what the prophet says we should do. That alone should make us go. But the elders who come with desire are one step ahead. It's all about humility and doing what god wants us to do.

But yeah. I guess that's it for the week. The pictures aren't working, but I'm trying to send them

Love ya

Cariacica - Final Week

 This is an older photo on the train track 

Division açaí with Elder Cruz. I was on a conference call with the other zone leaders

Hey family, how's it going?

Well, this week has been a really busy week. First off, the bad news. I was really not expecting it, but, I was transferred. =( I was pretty disappointed, but what can I do? I was really hoping to stay until the end here. My companion and I, and one of the other missionaries in my house were transferred. Lame. That means I'll only have one transfer in the next area, which will be my last. Next week you'll find out where I am.

The good news, we baptized this week!

Remember how I was talking about Edilson and his family? Well this week his mom, Sueli decided to follow the answer that Heavenly Father gave to her, and she was baptized on Saturday, with her other son, Edimilson. Edilson was baptized on Sunday because he was working on Saturday. But it was really great. We were happy that they decided to be baptized. It was a great way to end a transfer.

We also had a really great activity this week at Natalia's house. We have been trying to help her be baptized since we got here. We had a "family home evening" with some of the other youth of the ward. It was really good. We talked about the importance of being an example, and then we ate! But the best part was that we were able to talk to her dad, and gain his trust, basically. Because the only reason why she's not baptized is that her dad wouldn't let her. So its lame that we were transferred. Now others will have to carry on with the work.

We worked really hard just for that baptism to happen. Now that it did, we're really happy. I'm glad that we were able to help the people out that we did. We also had some good experiences with the members this week. We talked with a couple about being casual in our church activity. It was just a normal conversation, but it really helped them and they thanked us for our visit. That's the kind of work that I like to do with members, =) and they promised to give some referrals and start (again) helping out more in the work.

One other cool thing this week. We were led to teach a family. Last week, we were walking by, and I felt like I needed to knock on a certain door. We talked to a woman there named Gloria, and she told us to come back later. So this week we did. We found out that they had already talked to the missionaries, they really liked the church, but weren't baptized, and this last week, her grandson had died, and they were needing some uplifting. We talked to her, her son (the father of the one that had died) Joel, and Wallace, another family member. It was a really great lesson where we talked about Jesus Christ and the Atonement. It was really great, and I know that doors will be opened for them as they receive the message of the gospel again.

I guess that's about it for this week. I have to pack my bags one more time before the end. I'm going to give my best these last few weeks and not slack off like I could be doing.

But yeah, I'm probably going to be traveling all day on the 24th and I'll only get home on the 25th. I'm going to arrive in the San Diego airport. I'll get more details in a few weeks.

It's crazy to think how big the other kids are. I'm going to be the shortest in the family. Except for you mom. haha But that's fine.

Love you all!

Cariacica - Week Five

My comp and I having some açaí.

  I've been with my old comp from Paraguay, Elder Delgado!

 We had burgers for lunch this week. They were goood. And I got a hair cut. 

We cut it at home because I didn't have money. We weren't going to cut it so short, 

but the cutter was lame. So we took it all off. haha

Well, this week has been a really busy week. This week we didn't travel all that much so, yeah we did have time this week to teach in our area. We actually found some really great people to teach this week too.

We had a lot of people in church as well. We had 8 people at church on Sunday! It was a lot. And it was good because it was testimony meeting.

Well, Edilson, who I talked about last week, went to church with his family, Ramon, and Edimilson and his mom, so we're going to for baptism this week. We'll see how it goes. But they really liked church, and we've been having some really good lessons with them.

I also told you about Richardson last week as well. He and his mom went to church this Sunday as well. He really liked it. He payed a lot of attention to everything. We had taught him the day before about the restoration. He really wants to find the truth so that he can follow and serve. Which is awesome. Something that was really cool that he said was that he knew that we had a testimony and that we knew that our message was true because of our invitation to pray and ask God. He wants that confirmation as well. We'll try to mark a baptismal date with him for this week as well.

We found a really good family of 6 this week as well. The father's name is Claudio, and he was really receptive to the message. He said that when we were teaching him about Joseph Smith and the first vision that he got goose bumps. He was really funny, was talking about how if he prays and sees God and Jesus Christ that he will be a faithful servant like the prophet. haha He couldn't come to church this week, but he will come this next week.

Well we're working really hard here, I'm trying to give my best for the last 7 (=D) weeks of the mission. I enjoy feeling the spirit and helping others come to know the truth.

Love you all, thanks for everything. =)

Cariacica - Week Four

 My comp and I went to the beach!

Not really.  We had to come to this beach city to do an interview.

There isn't anyone at the beach because in Brazil, it's WINTER!

All right, so here's what's going down this week. So we had a lot to do in the zone this week. It was really rushed.

So about the zone, its pretty dang big. It's the biggest in the mission. We have 23 missionaries, nine of them sisters. The zone has like four cities, Cariacica, Cachoeiro de Itapemerin? We just call it Cachoeiro, Anchieta, and Guarapari which are beach cities. So we have done a lot of traveling the last two weeks.

This week we went to Anchieta in the morning to do an interview with a guy named Wesley. He was baptized this Saturday.

As an LZ, I have to call a lot of people. That is about it. haha. No, we do some training at the start of the transfer, that's why we had two zone meetings. We had to do it in two different cities.

This week we found a lot of people to teach. The zone baptized a lot this week as well. We could have had more, but we faced some setbacks.

We found one guy who was just prepared for us. It was really funny. His name is Edilson. We did a contact with him in the street. He's only 16 but had gone to church once by himself and really liked it, but never went back. That same day we went and taught him, his brother, and 18 year old that lives there, and Edilson's mom. It was really good. In the upcoming weeks they will be baptized. =)

We worked hard this week.

Sorry I don't really have anything super cool to share this week.

Thanks for everything fam. I'll be home soon.

Cariacica - Week Three

Well, I have noticed that I have grown a lot here on the mission. One thing that I have learned on the mission, I always thought that the mission would make you a different person. That's always what everyone says, “oh you come back different!” But what I have come to realize on the mission is that you don't change. You are still you. What the mission does is kinda filter out the parts about you that aren't that good, and helps the good things, (a.k.a. Christlike attributes) become more apparent in your life. And that's how I've changed.

One of the big things that I have come to realize as well, Like the children's songbook says, "by this shall men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (I guess that’s in the scriptures, too!) I have really tried to apply that in my life. I know that I'm still not perfect. I'm still the same person, just a better version of me. =)

This week we had zone meeting twice. My companion and I had to travel to another city, it was like a 3-hour ride there and back, but it was a really great meeting. The Spirit was there really strong.

Toward the end of my mission I am really learning to recognize the influence of the Spirit, the moment that he is present. And that really helps in the lessons. Our investigators know that they are feeling the Spirit too. It's really good.

We have a few investigators that are progressing, and we just got some really good references yesterday for some families that have a ton of potential.

Do you help the missionaries out? If you don't, you should. Because the work doesn't go forward really quickly without the member's help. And that's what the prophet is wanting to change. Remember Elder Anderson's conference talk: Paint a missionary tag on your heart!

We are having fun, and feeling the Spirit.

Looks like you're all having fun. If we don't do fun things when I'm around I'm leaving the family and finding another that includes me in the fun activities. haha kidding.

Love you all.  I'm doing my best here.

Cariacica - Week Two

Well, this week has gone pretty well, I guess. I'm working really hard, but we're still having a few problems here with the area, a.k.a. we don't have a big teaching pool yet. So we are walking a lot and talking to a lot of people to try and see if someone wants to talk to us.

So, last week, we helped a woman named Raquel up her hill with grocery bags. She appreciated the help, and we taught her really quickly and marked to come back. Anyway, she went to church yesterday, and she really liked it. We have been teaching her a lot, and she Knows that what we teach is true. She accepted to be baptized, but didn't want to mark a date yet. She is really awesome. And she's really using her faith because Satan is really trying to get her to not go and stuff like that. The night before going to church she had a dream and saw the church exactly how it is but people were doing weird spirit things in the chapel, and it really scared her, but she went anyway, and saw that it was nothing like what she dreamed. She was impressed by everything in the church. We have been teaching her son Felipe as well, and he will progress as well. He really likes what we're teaching him.

Other than them, we have a few new investigators, but we don't know how its going to be. I'm going to make a lot of cookies today for our zone meetings that we have to do in two different places, because the zone is really big. But its going to be good. We're going to lose a day of work in cachoeiro (another city close) to do the meetings there, but the bus ride is a few hours long. we'll spend the day doing a division with the other elders there.

We're working really hard, and the ward here is really big! I've never seen any other this big on the mission! It really helps in the bringing investigators to church part.

We also had our zone counsel this week, with president. It was pretty good. They talked a lot about how the prophet has asked to speed up the work.

I guess that's it with the mission work. We're working hard here. There are some days that I'm just super tired, but I get through it.

Love you all.

Cariacica - Week One

Well, my week has been really busy so I haven't really had time for much thinking about anything but missionary work. haha

This transfer, to my disappointment, I was called as a Zone Leader. My new companion is Elder Tavares, he's from the south of Brazil and only has 11 months on the mission, but he's really cool. We've had some really good talks about some things, and I can tell that we are going to get along. We have some of the same opinions about missionary work and about the Lord's way of leadership. So I'm kind of getting used to being a zone leader and using the chance that the Lord gave me to improve a little more before I go home. I also think that it will help me work hard until the end.

So a few things, what kind of haircut is that Zack? I can't tell if its like Mexican, or like UFC fighter . . .  Anyway, Mom, I also think that the pizza sandwich is the most effective way to eat a pizza. At least Little Caesars. Way to go Drew. Like a boss. Good job on having spiritual experiences. Now you just need to work up the personal desire to go on a mission. The Elders that are here because they want to are one step ahead of the ones that go because someone else wants them to.

Anyway, we've had a good week of work. It's actually been really spiritual. And the ward here is huge. Pretty cool.

We have been teaching a girl named Natalia, who is 15 and has been going to church for a while. She hasn't been baptized yet because her dad doesn't agree with it . . . yet. =) she told us that she had never actually received an answer about the church or the Book of Mormon. We taught a really good lesson about faith and the Spirit was really strong. I asked her if she felt a difference between before we showed up, and now. And she tried to describe how she was feeling. And I helped her see that the feelings of peace and warmth that she was feeling was the Spirit. We challenged her to pray and ask if we are representatives of the Lord and if the Book of Mormon was true. We came back the other day to follow up with her. When we asked her, she was really excited because she said she got an answer! She was happy because with the other elders she never recognized getting an answer.

We have taught some really spiritual lessons this week, and we are finding some really good people to teach. I like it here. I think it's a great area for the end. Oh and I'm in Cariacica. In a ward called Itacibá. It's a really big area, but I like it.

But yeah. I guess that's all for now. I'm doing my best, and I'm feeling the Spirit doing the Lord's work.

Have fun in the summer. It's cold(ish) at night here. Love you all.