Week 26

Monday, June 11, 2018

This last week was really tough... I had to leave my first area. I spent a good almost 6 months here and made many friendships and have a lot of recent converts. But change is something that shouldn’t be feared but an opportunity to grow and help other people. My companion is a Brazilian finally, but he is leaving home in one week so I’ll have to get another one. My city is called Gaurapari. It’s full of beaches and my house is on the third story and we have a nice view. My companion and I are both new to the area so it’s been a real challenge figuring things out. But trials and challenges are good. I was really having a hard time leaving but my first night here we met a man and marked a date of baptism with him. His name is Joao. We baptized him and confirmed him Sunday. 

The bishop here is really cool. He speaks fluent English because he lived in Utah for a few years. I met a member here who knows heather (served in the same mission) and lunches here are wonderful. The beach is nice to. It smells like fish everywhere we go. 

Our church does an activity every night because the bishop isn’t working. He has only lived here for 3 months. He isn’t working right now. But people had accused him that our church is always closed and not open to people. And now it is. 

I hope everything is going great for you all. Remember that trials are a gift from god! We can do hard things! 

Com muito amor...

Week 25

Monday, June 4 2018

This week was amazing. Remember the amazing man Douglas!? Well this week we helped his girl-friend enter into the waters of baptism and they both received the Holy Spirit Sunday. Her name is Raine. But when you try to say it, remember that the R in Portuguese makes an h sound.... It was such an amazing experience to see people change and hold so fast to the gospel. I really don’t want to leave my city. I’m so excited to see how they progress together. We also marked another date of baptism for this next Saturday that is pretty firm. Her name is Jaiza. She has already passed the baptism interview. She was getting baptized yesterday but she is only 15 and we need her mom’s signature that lives outside the city. But the crazy thing is she already has a one year old daughter and is legally married...  Katie and Becca... don’t get any ideas... But she is very excited to be baptized. Her mother in law is the only other in the family that is already a member. But she was less active and we helped her return. 

The riot is continuing so we are not allowed to travel which means that transfers are going be later. Luckily for me it means more time in my city. But other than that everything is fine. A few stores shut down and the city is out of certain products. It is about 16 dollars for a kilo of potatoes right now because they are running out. But the problem is resolving I think. 

Not much else to report. Working hard and receiving mitos tender mercies. Love you and miss you all. Enjoy the pics!

Week 24

Monday, May 28, 2018

So this week was really crazy. There are a lot of things going on right now in the country that have a lot of people worried. So basically gas is really, really high and so is diesel especially. So all the truck drivers are on strike... They are refusing to drive and also blocking the roads for the others who are not. Was this means is that there is no way to receive transported goods in our cities. Like gas, food and stuff like that. So we are running out of food. But luckily president is in tune with the spirit and told us to buy a bunch before. So obedient missionaries won’t have as big a problem. But the military here is waiting until the last second to take control. Because the government is corrupt here so the military has power to kick them out. But if they do this the whole government becomes powerless and only the military has power. It is led by one man who is apparently respected. But still scary none the less. So the president of my mission officially stated that he is canceling all meeting and transfers so I might be stuck in my city more time which is okay with me. But yeah so crazy stuff right? 

But on the more bright side we had a baptism this week! His name is Douglas and I’d like to tell you his story so get comfortable...

I was walking home after a zone conference from the bus station and was really tired and sick. But I have a prompting that came to me in a weird way. It said to me, Elder Lee, you need to buy a trampoline.... And I was like what the heck!? I said it out loud and my comp thought I was delirious. But I got the same message again so I said okay lets go. We went to the next store and I saw a mini trampoline through the window. So I went over and started checking it out. When I heard a voice say in English. Hey elders how are you? I turned around to see a big ripped bald guy with tattoos. I talked to him a bit and invited him to church and left. I forgot all about him. Then Sunday arrived 5 days later and he was waiting for us there. After sacrament he left but said that he loved to read and asked for a book or something he could study so I gave a book of Mormon. We visited him a few days later and he asked what he needed to do to be baptized. I gave him all the pamphlets and taught chastity... Because his schedule wouldn’t allow us to visit him in home because he works and studies at college. We came back again and he asked me... elder lee, I love you. Is there a way to be baptized before you leave? So we marked a date with him. And then we moved his date three times each time more and more closer. And now we are also baptizing his girl-friend who he separated with to keep the commandments. 

It is people like this that make a mission so much more worth it. People that have a hunger to improve and become better people. I learned more from Douglas than he learned from me. It would not at all surprise me to see him as the next bishop. 

But this week was great and full of miracles. God is better to me then I deserve. I also bought a hammock with my son so I could take him camping. Also gave a talk for 25 minutes because they needed me to stall... Almost got trapped in a defend city because of zone conference. But everything is great! I love you all and miss you tons! Keep up the great work!!

Week 23

Monday, May 21, 2018

So this week was good in marking dates for baptism. But the problem is when you mark a date you have to visit them every day. So our biggest problem is that we are always running and trying to visit our people. But there are worse problems to have...

But the spiritual thought for this week...

Sometimes in life it feels like we are taking two steps forward and one step back. But if we continue we will eventually reach our desired location. But it our job to be willing to move and change and work. Because no matter how long it takes we will reach our eternal goal. Key word... eternal. We will have an eternity to progress and learn.

So we have a guy we teach everyday who is in love with the gospel. But his wife left him in the house locked without the keys. Because here in Brazil you have gates not doors. And so he pulled us in after climbing up through a second story window so we could enter his house and teach him. So I went first and then helped him then pull my comp through the window. Its people like this who make getting out of bed in the morning easy. 

Other than that I’m excited to work with the 7 baptisms that we have for these next two weeks. Also started cooking Brazilian food which is good. Also guitar is still fun to calm down and take my stress out. And I found a place that sells frosted flakes by the kilogram so I’m set for life ;)

But I love you tons and hope everything is going well for you!

Week 22

​Monday, May 14, 2018

For all of you wonderful woman out there happy mother’s day!

This week was great in finding new people to teach... But everyone we found and needs to get married first. But the lord is wonderful and has blessed us with a non-member who is married to a member who will help us speed up the process. And so right now we have to have faith that everything will work and keep our people firm. But that’s okay. Everything will all work out in the end. 

It was wonderful getting to talk to the family Sunday! Fabiano the member who I skyped with was very impressed with you all. I didn’t really realize how much I missed you until I saw you all. But it’s okay because Christmas is only 7months away right? 

Spiritual thought of the week,

Mother’s day is an opportunity to reflect on the wonderful things that the woman of this world do for us and realize how essential there role is in gods perfect eternal plan. But one day is not enough to express our gratitude. Every moment of everyday we should live our life in such a manner to show our appreciation for the teachings and service of our mothers. And with that being said it is important to remember that we have a heavenly mother. I want you to know that I have such a testimony of the love that mothers have for us and our heavenly parents as well. 

This week was shorter because I talked to a lot of you... But I really do miss and appreciate you all. I hope that all is going well and that you are all still being rock-stars. 

Commuito amor,

Elder Lee

Week 21

Monday, May 7, 2018

This week was super full and fun! The highlight was the baptism that we had on Saturday may 5th. But what is cool is that I was baptized 11 years ago may 5th and it was my fifth baptism on the mission on the fifth day of the fifth month and it was Becca’s birthday too ;)

But we baptized Dianna Fraga Pires who is with 9 years. Her father is brothers to the bishop. The Father, Welington went inactive for 10 years and the rest of his family is active and amazing in the church. So imagine the surprise of bishop when I told him we were baptizing his niece. He told me that it wasn’t possible that they had already tried. But the lord had been working with them and gave us the perfect set up. I love the family so much! Welington also is a pro at guitar and they have been teaching me a little. For the baptism I played with my comp a special musical number that I wrote comping I like to look for rainbows. I also made cookies and Jell-O (cause everyone here loves Jell-O). Everything went perfect. But because she was a convert baptism we had to wait until Sunday to confirm her. So as we waited for them to show up they didn’t and my heart fell. But as we said the opening prayer they showed up. So this is cheesy I know... but I opened my eyes to see my family walk in and sit down and everything ended up perfect. 

Another bonus to this week... So our investigator Ana Rita is a principle for a school. And one night I taught her a lesson and she cried and loved it so much that she brought me and my comp to give a lesson to her whole school! I was thinking 30 people but it ended up being over 300. And I had a cool blue tooth microphone and walked through the crowd giving an inspirational speech. Then after that, we visited every classroom. They had never seen Americans before and it was really the weirdest thing. We were like rock stars. Kids legit tried to get our autographs... But the best part was that Ana Rita loved seeing her kids like that and now likes us even more. She is really a blessing in our lives. I think that a lot of times people forget that missionaries aren’t the only ones who are capable of blessing people. They receive so many blessing from non-members. But this week was good. I made some steak and brownies, crapes, and am learning guitar still. 

Big change that happened is transfers are no longer 6 weeks. President will randomly decide when we have transfers, which is honestly kind of hard for me. But it makes sense because unfortunately we have people who know they don’t have time to baptize so they don’t work. But my son and I will use this as an excuse to only work harder because we don’t know when we will leave. But just this for this week, I’m excited to skype you all this next week. 

Week 20

Monday, April 30, 2018

Hey family so my key board isn’t working very well and I don’t really speak Inglis anymore so please forgive me. But this last week was amazing! We marked four dates for baptism and saw some amazing miracles. For example we had been walking everyday more than usual which is a lot and we finally got to a house and I sat down to start the conversation and the first thing that came from the mothers mouth was that she wanted her daughter to be baptized and herself as well in the church of Jesus Christ. Her husband is brothers with our bishop and they kind of left that family alone because they lost hope. But you can imagine the surprise on my face when I had a day full of rejection and walked into that. The 9 year old daughter will be baptized Saturday and the wife later after she gets legally married. But what a miracle from Heavenly Father. It was really a humbling experience and something that reminded me that realistically, Heavenly Father is who prepares the people and converts them through the Spirit. So that was wonderful.

Another fun thing was p-day. We had been walking so much and we both felt a little sick but I asked my son if he wanted to climb Zumbi Mountain. He asked WHY? And I responded ha-ha because it’s there. Definitely made me think of dad. So we climbed it and it was sooo worth it. The view of the city was breath taking. We found two pure quarts rocks at the top and brought them to struggling investigators and gave a lesson about how they can do hard things like give up coffee. We are all on a journey in life and are all climbing a mountain. When we get tired and think that we can’t continue it is sooo important to realize that Christ is behind us ready to push us up. 

Please pray for Anna Rita and her husband Rogerio. They are so ready to be baptized but coffee is hard for them. They have a date for the 12th of May and we get to visit them every day. They are such a blessing to us. They are wealthier here and have a car and give us a ride home so we can stay longer with them. Brazileros are so amazing. The charity that this culture has is unbelievable. I will be sure to send more pics for you all. 

But thank you all for everything and for your prayers. We really feel them out here. I love and miss you tons!

Com muito amor,

Elder Lee