Weekly Email

Is anyone else getting sick of my weekly emails?

This week was fantastic, we went to my beloved Passo Fundo to do my last division with one of my favorite missionaries; Elder Barbosa. It was a blasty as usual full of mate doce (sweet chimarrão) and laughter. This time i divided with Elder Erickson from Draper Utah, what a stud, super hard worker, he completely wore me out!! I dont know why but i think the last 4 or 5 divisions i have done have been STRAIGHT knocking doors, I think God thinks I need to work harder... I have come to the conclusion that i dont like leaving my area, I don´t have control over what happens. Its a funny thing though watching younger missionaries, I told my companion after our division that about half the day i just wanted to be like "calm down! your killing me, there´s an easier way to do this!!" I dont know if Im just getting old and tired on the misison or if I´ve gotten used to my comfy chair in my heated office, but I was spent, and. Which is funny because i was watcihng Elder Erickson knock doors relentlessly for hours and seeing myself in Caxias and the start of Gravataí, doing that daily for months. I get frustrated leaving my area becuase i know how much differently i would do things If I could go back and how much easier it would be, and sometimes i think about telling young missionaries that-- but I then end up not doing so with the rational that it is part of the growing process. I am the missionary (and the person) I am today because i had ot learn for myself. I had to pass through just a little bit of hell and frustration to be able to figure out how things are done, and in my mind its a necessary step to become a leader. That is the basic logic behind the suffering of Jesus Christ, we don´t have to be crucified because he did it, but to a certain point we have to understand just  a LITTLE of what he passes, hence the answer to the classic quetsion; "Why does God permit suffering." Answer; Because he loves us and doesnt want us to return unchanged. 

I don´t want to return from my mission unchanged.

We have several good people we are teaching right now. It´s funny how the addictions we deal with here in Lindóia, a wealthier area, are more sophisticated addictions, but nontheless; addictions. Instead of getting people to stop smoking and using crack we have to get them to stop drinking wine and cheating on their spouses.. It´s intense. The world is messed up. 

You Stay classy Orem. You don´t need to change one bit.

Santa Cruz du SUI

Hello

This week was pretty normal, we traveled during the middle of the week and tried to finish up our divisions at the end of the week. I am growing weary of traveling, it is really starting to take a toll on me. I have grown a loathing for the bus, its the only time i am stationed and dont do anything, and thus the only time that my brain has to really wander outside of the misison. 

Stress is really something I am trying to avoid in my life. It does no good for me, and unfortuantely I was born into a family that quite frankly just cares about things. I have wondered to myself so many times why I can´t just "not care." Sometimes I want to have that attitude, to just not be so affected by things but I can´t. It´s not me. Something I have really worked on the mission is to be okay when I don´t get things I want. All of my life I think my biggest strength is being able to get what I want, it´s always been something I´ve been able to do. But especially on the mission when we affect the free agency of others and include gospel principles into the picture it becomes a little bit more complicated. I need to get to the point where I don´t need to control the situation, where I can be okay with others making important decisions, that i even may not agree with.

The mission is an incredible ground for learning about God, others, and most importantly yourself. I´ve made so many important discoveries about who I am and what things control my actions, that difficult part is being able to cannonize those things, and direct them for good, be it my will or not. Mostly I´ve just realized that I am a selfish selfish person, and each day I fight with myself to become a little bit more like Christ. And that is my sermon for the day. Sorry I didn´t give more details about the week but quite frankly I just dont remember. My mission is becoming a big blur, and I know it will all be over soon so I´m going to try to work hard and stay focused as to have no regrets.

Stay Classy Provo.

Manaus

Hello people-

The temple of Manaus gets dedicated tomorrow, we get to watch, Schweet!

It is SO cold here. People look at my like I am crazy when I tell them I am from Utah where it snows, and I am freezing. Humidity is the worst thing that was ever created, I don´t want to say God created it accidentallly cause I think that might be blashpemous but I have not discovered its hidden purpose yet other than to torment me relentlessly from the hours of 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. I finally broke today and went and bought a new Shower Head and a heater for our house. It´s brutal.

This week was good, it passed really fast. We went to Caxias and did our division there, (-1 degrees) enough said. I went with Elder De Jesus who had no idea about anything in the area and we were far from anything I recognized, so.... we knocked doors from the hours of 2 until 7:30. Then we went to our appointment at 7:30 which fell, so we did contacts. BEST DIVISION EVER. Seriously, if you have never tried to convince staunchy catholics to leave their warm house and come out to talk to strangers in the below freezing weather for 6 hours straight you have got to try it! It´s a blast. 

Anyways we got home from Caxias for me to quite literally "jump" in and out of the shower change clothes and get on a bus to Canoas for another division. This one went a litter better, and wasn´t quite as cold. Except that we got fed "muscle soup." I´ve learned to be much more tolerant in all aspects on the missoin, but I don´t reccomend it. (Neither do i recomend knocking doors in Caxias all day in the freezing cold, that was a joke, but I´m not as funny as I used to be) 

We have cool investigators. We are teaching a lady named Mathilda (name has been changed) (the area seventy is really cracking down on not putting details into your emails, as if you guys were going to remember that her name is really Rubia...) that is the lady that had the cool dream. Anyways she is progressing super awesomely and now our biggest barrier is Alcohol. Long story short she texted us yesterday after us having taught the word of wisdom and told she drank a beer and she didnt get any pleasure out of it, it had a wierd taste. i can´t express how many times that has happened on my mission be it Cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol. We marked a baptismal date with her for the 8th of July, now we´ve just got to get her rich doctor husband to fall in the water with her. He (She) accidentally blurted out in the last visit that he is a mason, so I told my companion It´s simple, we just drive him by the temple, tell him he CAN´T go in and see what happens until he gets baptzied, and he´ll beg US to get wet. 

We also have a cool dude named Carlos that we are teaching that is a total rocker! He plays lead guitar every saturday night at shows that go until ilke 5 in the morning and he still comes to church at nine! What a boss! His baptismal date is marked for the 24th but he´s starting to feel a little uneasy about it but im not worried, the ward loves him and we´ve already done visits with like 5 members. Vinicscius (the lawyer that travels to the U.S. and São Paulo) and Marcia are doing well but just too hard to find!! That´s the problem with well educated people, they are busy and dont just sit at home. He told us the last time we visited him and asked him if he had read and prayed that he is "fleeing from the answer", because he knows it will require changes in his life. I love intelligent people. His wife has already read to chapter 21 in 1 Néfi and described in detail Lehi´s first vision, I love intelligent people. 

The mission is good, life is good. I have enough time to teach the elects and enough money to buy a coke a day so no complaints.

Stay Classy, read the Bible. (And when I say the Bible, I mean the "Bible of the Mormons," as they say here.)

Pictures of our the Last churrasco for Sister and Prezz.