Week 40

Monday, September 17, 2018

This week was super tough but good. A lot of hard work and sweating... 

We had another baptism together this week which was super awesome! He was huge and so two people got in the water to baptize him.... He and his wife will be sealed in a year from now, hopefully in the Rio temple and that will be done

We had a leadership meeting that was super spiritual... President is changing a lot now. The mission was horrible in regards to people breaking rules but now is sooo much better and he can now show his loving side. We might be getting two elders with smart phones to text the entire mission’s investigators who live far away to send videos and answer questions. Our president shows us all the mission president training seminars with all the apostles and prophet so that is amazing. The work is really coming along. And technology is becoming an ever growing tool to touch the lives of others. However I’m super against the entire mission getting smart phones because 1 it can become a distraction and we would all get shot and robbed... people already try to steal our cheap garbage phones...

This week I was walking through the church and I heard hey American come here. They were trying to install a fire wall but the Brazilians in salt lake were out of the office. So I called the US to talk to salt lake and translate for the tech support here. The funny thing was that I had an easier time communicating with the Brazilian... when I went to say good bye I said muito thank you... no... thank you muito.... no.... and the American I live with was laughing over my shoulder and telling me what to say... I don’t know how I’ll come back to the USA after another 13 months of this... I’m only getting worse. 

Yesterday I went to the hospital (dramatic pause) not for me but to give food and a blessing to some sisters that were there. But it was really cool because the sister I gave a blessing to was in my district in the MTC and was the second blessing I gave her. She is suffering a 4th concussion and was forgetting everything. But now she is better and only has pain in her head. But they will release her tomorrow. 

This week will send more pics because my computer is finally working. But I love you all and hope you have a great week!

1. first baptism of my son

3. brown hair for two days...

4. Llider de Zona sign we found in the road

Week 39

Monday, September 10, 2018

This week was amazing and stressful all at the same time. It started with a pday that we worked because we had people who could only meet on that day. And so it felt like two weeks without a break. But we got a lot done. We had a baptism of one of the twins yesterday and I think the other twin and their cousin will be baptized this Saturday. That way they will all be confirmed together. It all came through in the end though and we will continue to witness miracles with them. I shared the account of Alma the older and the waters of Mormon. The book of Mormon really has a power that is unlike anything else. So that was the highlight of this week. 

Funny story... This family we are teaching convinced me to dye my hair brown for a few days because everyone here calls me Ken the Barbie... So we ended up doing it and it actually didn’t turn out to bad... (I see why God made me blonde though...) 

Our older lady with 85 years before was a witch... and she yelled during sacrament for things inside her to leave... it was interesting to explain to our 5 investigators what happened. But the power of the sacrament is real and after bishop almost forgot to confirm her but we got it taken care of. She is such a powerful example of the atonement’s power to change people. 

This week we had transfers and my brazilero comp from a few months ago will be in our zone so I will get to call him every day. That made me super happy. This week I will have another leadership council with president and it should be intense and good at the same time. My third son finished his first full transfer and is growing soooo fast. I can’t wait for the miracles he will achieve throughout his mission. 

Not much else to say... This week is hard and God is storing up blessing to show us. This week we will really focus on finding and teaching more new people. I love you tons and miss you all! Hope you have a great week!!!

Next week will have more pics.. I changed memory cards and only have pics from today... But we visited an abandoned building that was going to be a prison...

Week 38

Monday, September 2, 2018

This week was really good but really tuff. You know what they say about difficulties... I must really need to grow a lot. This Sunday we were able to bring 7 people to church with us and we and the other elders helped baptize an 84 year old woman. I did the interview for her. She is super funny. She was scared to be baptized because she doesn’t know how to swim. But she is amazing. She has issues with memories and always asked us if we already ate lunch 30 times per lesson. But when asking her to sign her papers to make sure she wanted to get baptized she said something I’ll never forget... she said, I may be 85 years old but I'm no idiot. I know That Jesus Christ is the only way back to living with God and I know that you are the only Church with True authority of God..... 

This week everyone has decided to start calling me Ken the Barbie. Including half of the members in the ward. But I think they know I hate it and they are just teasing. 

I got to do a division with Elder Nerdin this week who is the other American being trained by my Zone leader comp. We put up some great numbers and had a blast together. I forgot what it’s like to be out with an American. Ha-ha everyone wanted to talk with us and when we went to buy fruit the lady gave us tons for free. So we ended up giving her money anyways and she just gave us more fruit. Miracle of this week was getting my Brazilian mom to come to church with us this week. I really love their family. She and the daughter have a date for next Saturday in the next week. 

We also made cookies with a family this week and taught about all the ingredients coming together just like the gospel principles. That was a fun and tasty lesson. And Sunday a member made us panda express for lunch!!!! SOOOOO GOOD. And we had a day that got down to 65 degrees and I couldn’t leave the house without a jacket, hat, scarf and I wanted to use gloves but it would have looked really ridiculous... so I don’t know how I can return to the USA. You’ll have to pray for me here in 14 months. 

Over all, a good long week of working and praying and little miracles every day. I miss you all tons and hope that you are all doing well. Have a great week!

Week 37

Monday, Aug 27, 2018

This week was really hard in the sense that I’ve been sick... I’m doing on day number 8 without a voice. But we have to continue inviting everyone to come unto Christ so I can’t stop. But this week we had a huge tender mercy after some storms. 

The first storm was when our firmest family’s dad told us he didn’t want any more of the messages. It came as a huge surprise and really took us of guard. But after a long debate/council we got him to allow the twins and other 17 year old daughter go to church and eventually be baptized if they wanted. So we left sad and defeated but determined that God was waiting to bless us ran to have enough time to mark one more date of baptism. We found a house and felt prompted to stop and found Wesley. He is 18 and moved from a different state and accepted a date for baptism after a quick first lesson. Miracles are real when we are willing to work until they come.

The rest of the story with the twins is that they called us to see what time church started. We responded 9 and they responded that they would be there 8 to receive additional study with us and the pamphlets we left for them. They arrived and taught us word of wisdom, chastity, plan of salvation and a few topics from the strength of youth. They taught better them most missionaries here in the field... they did the best practice and left the room to re-enter after knocking and pretended they were sisters. They asked if we could start with prayer and everything. And the invited us to baptism. 

We had another family council and showed the uncle and aunt that they had a real desire to be baptized and asked them questions. Their responses were filled with power and the spirit. They will be baptized this Sunday after church and receive the Holy Ghost next week. We are super stoked.

Funny story of the week... I climbed a coconut tree because I wanted to try green coconut water and my companion filmed and laughed at me. After getting super dirty and scraped up I managed to grab two for us. He being Brazilian and the professional told me there wasn’t any water inside. I got mad and threw it at the tree and when it hit it exploded with water and we drank up. It was super good. I brought the other to the twins’ house to smooth over the aunt and she said the same thing. She wacked it with a giant knife and it exploded with even more water. She said she only let us into the house because we had coconut which she loved... 

I also broke my bishop's couch... I sat down and the wood part broke... it was only a little and he was super cool about it... but I think I will buy him a new one. And I will not eat any more dessert.... 

But yeah that’s my life. I love training my son and my zone is doing well. The ward is also growing bit by bit and I have a pretty good relationship with them all. I do magic for all the kids. But it’s funny because magic doesn’t exist here so the parents like it more than the kids... 

Love you all and hope you have a great week! Pics will maybe come after. But this place hates me and it’s always such a huge battle to send them. Hopefully they will come!

Week 36

Monday, Aug 20, 2018

This week was filled to the brim with miracles...

One story that happed that was a bit funny and ironic occurred when I was entering a house to teach a contact we made in the street. I was thinking that we could find maybe two or three baptisms out of it and when I entered I found the biggest family in Brazil. 9 people live together in the house!!! And what was funnier is there was a 17 year old girl who is super excited about the gospel. And while talking to her I quietly asked my companion why we couldn’t find more people like her. And then right after her identical twin sister walked in the room to see what was going on... This family is super amazing. They say the prayers for us and today we will return to bring them all book of Mormons. They have researched a lot about the church and while teaching them we answered all their questions before they could ask them. One said the prayer thanking god for sending us to teach them the truth and about how the gospel is now on the earth. Our date for baptism with this family is in two weeks because they have not been to church yet. But it was an amazing experience... 

And on our way home we found a man who asked us where a different church was. I explained that I didn’t know where it was but if he wanted I could lead him to the one true church that Jesus himself established was... he took us to his house and again... a family of 8. But their date for baptism is for next month because he and his girlfriend who live together are getting married next month... But families are now appearing from nowhere and are ready and excited to hear the gospel. 

I got to return to mine first city where I lived for 6 months to do baptism interviews. It was amazing to visit the members and see all the people who remember me still. I really love my first area and all the people there. My ZL comp was marking tallies at all the people who stopped us in the street to say, hey your came back!!!

But I interviewed a family and got to see the joy in people’s lives when they know they are changing and entering the path that leads back to our heavenly father. 

This is our Mission impossible 6 team here in Brazil...

Week 35

Monday, August 13, 2018

This week was crazy. It’s weird to see the mission from a different perspective. I have to call the assistants and sometimes president every night to talk about every single missionary in my zone. It helping me see the importance of accompanying. We also had a conference all day just for leaders of zone that is every month and it really was good to see what I needed to do to help my missionaries. The next day we had a zone conference with three zones and I and my other ZL comp gave training. It was super scary at first because you are looking at president waiting for him to explode and say that you taught something wrong. But all went well. After that we rode on a bus for an hour with 10 missionaries and about 40 other people. So my comp and I called everyone’s attention and explained who we were and had the missionaries go around passing card and making new investigators. It was a super great experience to show the elders and sisters that we can really preach the gospel in every situation at any time. But overall it was good but spiritual experiences can sometimes be draining and I was super tired after. 

Sunday we made a contact with a man who was a gift from god. He had never been baptized and I marked a date with him on the first contact and we will start teaching his family. He works for the police and loves guns. We were originally trying to find a family in a dangerous area and it was late and while walking the lights went out... so I wanted to continue because this family is super solid but my comp had a prompting that we should turn back and walk down a different road. So we listened and went a different way... found out last night there was an assault in that area and luckily we were not there. But as we walked a different road I felt a prompting to stop and enter a police base and the3 security guard that was there didn’t shoot me. But we started a contact with him, taught him and prayed with him. He is the one who accepted a date. Moral of the story is super important to always have the spirit in our lives. And if we want him to dwell with us we have to be worthy to keep him in our lives. 

I love you all tons... this week I’ll try to send pics... internet here is horrible... but I love you all tons and miss you. Shout out to my new bro-in-law Jason! Love you!

So I’m waiting to fix the computer to send photos so I’ll send this now... hopefully photos will follow...