Week 43

It seems like each week this transfer gets better than the last one. On Tuesday we visited a contact I´d made the previous week named Natacha. She is a 16 year old young woman that was having a few health problems recently. She told us that she had been searching for a church to join but hadn´t found anything that she´d liked. As we taught her and her mother the Restoration, everything made sense to her and she became excited. Later that day we visited a very poor lady named Seloni that lives with her depressed cousin Ivonette. After we taught them they accepted to be baptized. I talked with Élder W. Silva afterwards and we made plans to do the same thing I´d done with Élder Diamond in Carazinho for Daniele. We wanted to get the members´ help in gathering clothing and food for them.

On Wednesday we brought the other missionaries to Jacira´s house so they could interview her to be baptized. Up until the interview she had kept putting it off and saying that she´d waited 10 years to be baptized and she could wait a little longer. After almost 2 hours of talking with the other elder she came out almost in tears and shouted, "Yes! Yes! I have to be baptized this Sunday!" The rest of the week she had the firmest determination to be baptized that I had ever seen. She realized that it was in the midst of trials and tribulations that we need to seek out and come close to Christ, not when everything is going well.

We visited Natacha again on Thursday and taught her about the Book of Mormon. She told us that she had prayed to know if our message was true and she had felt the same feeling she felt when we were describing the First Vision. She knew without a doubt that she had received an answer to her prayer. We committed her to baptism and she said, "Not even my boyfriend will stop me from going to church and getting baptized!"

Friday morning we had District Meeting and I gave the 10 minutes of English. I made a game similar to charades where there are 2 teams, and they take turns sending one of their teammates to act out an animal or insect using actions and sound only. The catch is the names of the animals are in English and the first team to shout out the name in English gets the point. I had already done this many times and so this time I´d chosen super difficult ones like Humming Bird, Praying Mantis, and Dolphin (as opposed to Dog, Cat, Cow, etc.).

Friday afternoon we visited Angelica, the contact we´d made last week that had already been taught by the missionaries in Santa Cruz. We´d already taught her several times and so we challenged her to be baptized. Unfortunately she´d chosen a different path and didn´t want to give up the world to be baptized. She told us, "It´s always been my dream to get 2 tattoos and to be a magazine cover model and I know that I won´t be able to do that after I´m baptized." The saddest part is that she is only 12.

The same night we visited our recent convert, Lucas, that had been baptized 2 weeks ago. We gave him the picture of his baptism and he showed it to his friend, Luan. He also showed Luan the Book of Mormon picture book I´d given him and began to explain to Luan all the things that he had learned. I was super impressed with our 9 year old convert when he explained what his CTR ring meant, showed his favorite parts of the picture book, and then pointed to a picture of Joseph Smith and said, "If you´re going to go to church you have to know who this guy is!" Before we left Luan came up to us and asked if he could be baptized. Lucas leapt right up and showed him exactly how to be baptized in the water and even remembered the words that I had used haha!

Luan took us to his house nearby and we talked with his mom, and 9 other siblings. The next day we returned and taught them the Restoration. What surprised me the most was that everyone paid attention and even told their friends waiting outside to wait because they wanted to listen to our message. They are very poor yet there was a different spirit about their home. They recognized the importance of what we were saying and asked very intelligent questions for a bunch of kids, the oldest being 16.

Saturday night we went to the farewell of a young man here that will serve in Argentina. His family lives right in front of our house.

On Sunday as we were opening up the chapel an older couple walked up and asked us if it was the Catholic church. We told them where it was but invited them in to attend the services. They accepted and walked right in. Soon after, a member rolled up in front with Luan´s family, the back door opened, and kid after kid hopped out, I didn´t know that 9 kids could fit in the back of that car! We picked up Natacha and her cousin Tamirez who were waiting all ready at their front door, and even Lurdes walked to church. The bishop´s jaw dropped when he saw the 17 investigators we´d brought to church. After church we held Jacira´s baptismal service and Élder W. Silva and I sang a special musical number. Later when we visited her at home she said she´d only cried from joy twice in her life: when her daughter was born, and when we sang at her baptism.

This Sunday marked the last Sunday that we have President Wright as our mission president. The mission had made a goal to have baptisms in every area as our thank-you and farewell to him, and the majority of the 100 some areas did so!

Week 42

Last Tuesday we had the opportunity to go to the temple in Porto Alegre. For lunch before the session we ate with a family that seemed 100% Americanized. They all speak English fluently, and all the kids were going to school in Utah and returning to Brazil during the Summer. Their son is even serving a mission in Salt Lake right now. They served us nachos with brownies for dessert! At the temple we were able to see the missionaries from other Zones which was cool. When we returned to Feitoria, our bishop sent us pizza delivered for dinner. He´s starting up with a pizza business and told us that he´d send us pizza every Tuesday night. He´s the best.

Tuesday evening as we were on the bus a contact I´d made the week before named Sabrina passed us and recognized us. When I´d contacted her she´d shown a lot of interest and even given us the cell number that she usually uses. On the bus she talked with us and we set up a time to visit her. Unfortunately she works two jobs and doesn´t have a lot of free time but she continued to show interest. She´d been through a bad marriage and was trying to figure out what to do with herself now. I thought about the contacts I´d been doing and realized that this week especially it seemed like every contact was a golden one. The Lord sure is blessing us in this area.

On Wednesday we visited an older lady named Jacira. She had been living with a less active member for years but something happened and he moved away. She had always wanted to be baptized (it´d been 10 years that she´d been saying that) yet she kept putting it off saying, "I need to be more prepared." She´d also been attending church for 10 years, had a strong testimony, and had already been reading D&C, and the Pearl of Great Price as well as the Book of Mormon. The last week she´d told us that she would be baptized this coming Summer (December-ish). However, we visited her and after sharing a message about the importance of baptism and not putting it off, she accepted to be baptized on the 27th of June!

Thursday night we had an FHE with Lucas´ family (he was baptized last week). For dinner I taught them all how to make American Pancakes and made Buttermilk Syrup to go with them. At first they were hesitant because the pancakes they eat are thin and eaten with ground beef. They questioned the large amount of batter I had made. However, they understood why after they had their first bite. The 50ish pancakes I´d made for this family of 5 were devoured in less than 10 minutes with cries for more! I would say it was a success. Earlier in the week I had stopped by to give Lucas a CTR ring and Book of Mormon picture book that I´d bought at the temple and while I was making the pancakes he proudly showed me the ring he hadn´t taken off yet and how his sister Evelin had read all the way to chapter 11 with him every night.

Also last week we had made a contact with two women walking the opposite direction. While we were talking one of them asked, "are you guys the elders?" When we said yes one of them told us that her husband is a member and the other woman told us how she had been taught by the missionaries in Santa Cruz but hadn´t been baptized because she moved here. Talk about golden contacts! We visited them several times during the week and helped the husband (Madesson) re-activate himself and taught the two young women.

On Friday we visited a contact I´d made that lived in a closed community. When I found the house, number 17, it was empty. Just as we were about to leave, an older lady came out of the neighboring house, number 16, and asked us who we were looking for. We were a little surprised but we told her that we were trying to get in contact with Dirse and her daugher Brenda. Without hesitation she invited us in telling us that Dirse was her daughter and Brenda her granddaughter. When we entered she told us how she´d been praying for help in her life for many days and had felt that she should step out of her house at the very moment that we were knocking on her neighbor´s door. She said that when she saw us she knew that we were 'good men' and that we would help her. When Dirse and Brenda arrived, they told us that when I´d contacted them at the bus stop the other day, they felt something they´d never felt before. She told us that she never gives anyone her address because of security, but she had seen "a light about us and knew that we were really servants of the Lord." We couldn´t believe what we were hearing but she went on to say that Brenda had turned to her after we´d left the bus stop and said, "They had the Holy Ghost with them, there was something different about them." Apparently they´d been waiting for our visit anxiously. The lesson about the Restoration that we taught was one of the most spiritual ones I´d ever participated in. The next day when we visited them again they accepted the Book of Mormon without hesitation and told us how they´d read the pamphlet we´d left with them (usually investigators don´t) and received an answer that our message was true after they said a prayer that night.

Saturday evening we were called by the Zone Leaders to do and interview for them in their area. As we grabbed the tram in São Leopoldo we saw three deaf men in the middle of the station arguing in sign language! I´d never seen something like it before, they were arguing heatedly yet not saying a word.

On Sunday I we had an FHE with a less-active family and I made cookies for them. After they were all baked everyone in the family was trying to hide them from everyone else because they wanted them all to themselves!

Week 41

This past week was the beginning of a new transfer. I stayed in Feitoria and got a new companion, Élder W. Silva, from Natal, Brazil. It was cool because during my first transfer on the mission I did a division with him for one day and so we´d already know each other. He is the oldest in his family and only active member. He has about the same amount of time on the mission as I do as well. Throughout the week we hit it hard and got a lot done.

On Tuesday we visited the older couple that had been to church a few times. Their names are Macário and Vera. Turns out he had already been counselor to a few bishops and even the president of the stake young men, but had fallen away during the past 3 years. In those years he met Vera and they live together now. We got to know them better and we taught them the Restoration, one the most spiritual lessons I´ve had. At the end we asked Macário, a real quiet guy, to bear his testimony to Vera. We could definitely feel the Spirit in the room when he bore his simple testimony of what he knew. We committed them both to pray in private and ask if our message was true.

When I found out that I would stay for another transfer here, I had begun to make plans and think of what we could do for the next 6 weeks here. As I was doing so, I would say that I was hit with revelation/inspiration. I talked with the secretary of the ward and he helped me print off an updated list of all the members in the ward. We went through the whole list and marked who was active and who was less-active. From the less-actives we printed off all their baptism certificates and planned to visit them during the transfer and re-activate them as well as teach the other members of the family that hadn´t been baptized years before. We created a goal to re-activate and complete many families here in Feitoria.

The first miracle that came from this inspiration was on Wednesday, when we found a boy named Lucas who was the only one in his family not baptized. We invited them all to come to church on Sunday (which was Ward Conference) and invited him to be baptized which he accepted without hesitation. As we taught them the Restoration and the Gospel of Jesus Christ they were very excited and eager to respond to our questions because everything was similar to them and we were igniting the fire of the gospel that had been dormant so many years.

The next day we went to the house of a contact I had done the last transfer. When we entered the house and began to teach, his wife joined us and asked, "you´re the elderes right?" We responded in the affirmative and we discovered that she too was a unactive member from another nearby city. I marveled at how the Lord places people in the missionaries´ path to lead us to his lost sheep. We invited them, Luis and Gislenia to the Ward Conference as well and she was very excited as she heard our message as well.

On Friday we visited Vera and Macário again and much to our happiness they had prayed and felt that our message was true. We taught them about the Book of Mormon which she accepted right off the bat. We committed her to read a part we´d marked and pray about it as well. Then came the challenge, will you be baptized? To which she said, "don´t I have to be married with Macário first?" We said yes and so she decided to do everything to get married so that she could be baptized in a few weeks!

Recently a new Ward Missionary Leader was called and we set up an appointment with him when we had lunch at his house. The meeting was very productive and I saw that he was eager to help and do everything he could to help the work go forward in his ward. On Sunday we really saw his enthusiasm as he tried everything to get the water heater working for the baptism of Lucas. Unfortunately it still wasn´t working when the time came so as we threw buckets of boiling water in the font to heat up the ice cold water we brought Lucas to the font to test the water and see if he still wanted to go through with it this week. I´ll never forget what he said back, "Oh I´ve taken many baths much colder than this!" He made us all laugh. After church we held the service and there were more people there than I´d ever seen at a baptism before. We assigned a few less actives to give the messages and prayers which helped them a lot.

Throughout the week I had been sick with a pretty bad cold, it had rained 2 of the days straight, and the weather had dropped down to the 40´s but we didn´t even notice it because of all the miracles we saw each day.

Week 40

This week we worked a lot with some of the members in this ward to make a choir for the ward conference this coming week. We chose two songs and have been working with them for a few weeks. There is a young man here that is coming back to church and preparing for a mission that has helped us out a lot. He works with bands and records them in his studio. He recorded us singing one of the songs so that we could show the choir how to sing it. It was super cool and because of it the young man is helping us teach his friends.

Oh Saturday I got a really awesome opportunity to give a presentation at an English School called TopWay. A traveling professor had talked to me beforehand in the church which is close by and given me an overview of the slide show that I´d base my presentation on. I talked a lot about the culture differences and what life is like in the States. I was really impressed with the level of English they spoke, and the professor even helped me out with a few words that I´d forgotten after 9 months of straight Portuguese!

The best part of the presentation was the end, when I explained why I was here and about the Church. I told them all about what missionaries do, and bore my testimony to wrap it up. At the end I gave them all pass-along cards and they were very interested. One young man even asked me if he could have the Book of Mormon. Thankfully I always carry at least one with me so I was able to give it to him and for the first time on my mission I explained what the Book of Mormon is in English! I really felt the Spirit testifying of what I spoke.

Before we left they all invited us back and gave us shirts from the school. As we were grabbing our bus we ran into one of the students that had been at the presentation, and during the bus ride we talked about what we do in more detail. He was a 17 year old young man and actually lived really close to our house. We grabbed his address and plan to visit him soon.

At church on Sunday we were very surprised and happy to find that Nicole had come to church all by herself and had even brought the Book of Mormon we´d given her! She loves the Primary and has made many friends there. The older couple that had come to church two week ago also came again and thanked us for passing by last week even though they weren´t at home. After Sacrament Meeting they gave me both of their numbers and asked for us to swing by this coming Tuesday. We see a lot of potential in them.

It´s transfers week this week and so I will stay while my companion goes to another area. I´m excited to stay and have many plans for the next transfer here!

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Week 39

Last P-day we called up a few of the young men in the ward and hit up a soccer field made of sand to play some futebol. I came away from that experience realizing that I knew nothing about soccer compared to 8 year old Brazilians! While we were playing some neighborhood kids stopped what they were doing and joined us. Something I love about the culture here is that soccer is the second language of the country after Portuguese. The cities here are dotted with these sand fields with grass fields as well and whenever anyone shows up with a soccer ball everyone that lives nearby drops whatever they´re doing and comes to join. It doesn´t matter who you are, how old you are, or how well you play, if you like soccer you join. After playing for a few hours I also realized that I´m super out of shape. We talked with the people that had played with us and visited them later in the week.

A few of the people that played with us:

On Wednesday I celebrated 9 months serving! For 4 days straight beginning on Tuesday, it rained non-stop. Needless to say, our clothes hanging out on the lines ended up getting wetter than they were in the washer. Saturday we were saddened to hear of the passing away of Elder L. Tom Perry. Also on Saturday we traveled to Sapucaia to interview a man for baptism that my trainer, Élder Nielson, had taught and prepared for baptism. He was a middle aged man, disabled because of a work accident, and had been keeping all of the commandments for a month already.

We had marked Jenifer´s baptism for this Sunday but it fell through due to opposition from her boyfriend. He is a batuqueiro (messes with black magic and spirits) and threatened her family if she got baptized. On Sunday we attended a baptismal service that the sisters in São Leopoldo had arrainged. They helped a family of 3 be baptized and right after the service they received home and visiting teachers from the ward. It was one of the more spiritual baptismal services that I had been to.

Week 38

This week, due to our hard work in gaining the trust of the members and less-actives, we were asked many times to give blessings to family members and friends. I was very happy for this opportunity to use the Priesthood more and bless other people. Almost daily, during our lunch visits with members and throughout the day, we were asked to give blessings for the sick or stressed family members at home. One of the more spiritual blessings was with a small child of 3 years. He was super energetic but during the blessing he was very calm. I had been working on the more formal way of speaking in Portuguese and it came in handy during the blessings. From all these blessings and opportunities to serve we were able to find people to teach whose hearts had been softened from the results and increased spirit.

On Thursday as we were waiting for the weekly District Meeting I was able to do many contacts with the people passing in the street. I was humbled as I spoke with many of the people as they came from very poor backgrounds. One man with whom I talked with actually asked for us to visit him the following day. He lived right next to a woman that was a reference from a member that we had received the day before. I also contacted someone very promising, but unfortunately for us he lives in a neighboring city. The only problem with these areas close to Porto Alegre is that you get contacts from all the neighboring cities.

At church I was sitting with my companion when the bishop asked that I sit next to an older couple that had just arrived and looked a little lost. We jumped right up at the opportunity and helped them find a place to sit and we got to know them better. The man was a less-active member that hadn´t been to church in years, and his wife is not a member. I got their address to visit them later this week. I was happy to see that the other members also jumped right up to get to know them and guide them around the church to where they needed to go. The woman was very receptive and enjoyed it a lot.

We were also able to go to the temple on Tuesday! What a blessing it is to be able to attend the temple on the mission.

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

Week 37

​This week was quite productive. We worked closely with the members and gained their trust and now we recieve a lot of help from them in the work. Last Monday we were walking to a far away appointement at night and we had an interesting experience. A bus passing by us stopped and an older lady got off. As we passed her I noticed that right after she got off she stood there staring at us while the bus drove away. I thought nothing of it and we continued on our way. 10 minutes later we heard some weird noises behind us and saw someone walking 500 feet away. The person called out to us and we stopped to let him or her catch up to us. When the figure reached us we recognized her as the woman who had stared at us after getting off the bus. She told us how she was trying to visit her daughter but had never been to this part of the city (it´s a big city) and due to the darkness had become lost. She had followed us because she felt like we had something that she needed. She knew that we were Mormons (she had had contact with missionaries before) and knew that she would be safe with us.

Unfortunately she didn´t know her daughter´s address and so we weren´t able to help her locate the house. We helped her call her daughter and arranged for her to come with us to our visit to a less active´s house and wait there until her daughter could come pick her up. At the house she was welcomed warmly and they became quick friends. During our conversation we talked to her a little more about the church and she showed interest. She told us she is a strong Espírito (another church here) but that she never denies the mormon missionaries. She was familiar with the Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and Book of Mormon already. She had also read the Liahona once and asked if she could have the most current one. We gave her the May Liahona and the family paid for a year´s subscription. Before her daughter came to pick her up she felt at home in that house and we were able to write down her address to visit her in the future. After the day my companion and I talked about the many different ways that the Lord places people in our path.

The following day we attended a Noite Familiar for the São Leopoldo Stake. President Wright was there as his farewell to the Stake and missionaries serving in it. There Sister Wright played 2 amazing songs with her violin, one with the President accompanying on the piano. All the missionaries of the Zone sang Be Still My Soul in Portuguese, a hymn that isn´t part of the Portuguese hymnbook. At the end they made 50 pizzas for everyone. While there a member that does many splits with us and helps us out brought one of his non-member friends. We taught her the Restoration and the Spirit was very strong among all the members.

On Wednesday we went to the hospital because Élder Moreira was feeling pretty sick. We ended up waiting there for 3.5 hours for the nurse to eat lunch and then tell him that he was sick. He spent 30 seconds in the room to be prescribed 5 different medications. Thursday was a really productive day, beginning with District Meeting in which I gave part of the training, and ending with us almost being assaulted on the way home. On Sunday Nicole was confirmed a member! After 2 weeks I´ve become accustomed to the area and am loving it.

Nicole´s baptism!

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

Week 36

So last Monday when we used the computers to email our family, we also received an email from the mission home telling us who would be transferred. When I read the list, I didn´t find my name. However, 5 minutes later one of the Assistants called me and told me that I would indeed be transferred! The next day I was sad to leave Élder Lemes, but in the bus station we learned where we would be going and who would be our next companion. I was assigned to Feitoria in the São Leopoldo Zone with Élder Moreira.

On our way to the area we got to know each other and I learned that he´s the youngest in his family, only member, and from São Paulo. Because of his example, his family will be his last baptisms at the end of his mission! When we arrived at the house, he showed me something I had written in his notebook 2 transfers ago when we´d been in the same Zone. I had written "I hope that we will be able to work together in the future," and 3 months later my hope was realized! In this area there is a ward (instead of a branch like Vera Cruz) full of members that love to help us. We´ve already made great friends with all of them and they´re excited for this transfer because they know that we´ll do a lot together.

On Thursday we had a Zone Meeting and we had our last interviews with President Wright. The next one will be with President Campos after July. While there I saw my old companion Élder Diamond and we talked about our time in Carazinho. From him I heard the wonderful news that a less active member named Giovani that we´d worked with a lot is now active! We had done many Family Home Evenings with his family in our transfer there. After we´d left he put his life in order, got active, married the woman he was living with and she is planning her baptism shortly. From what Élder Diamond said, that family only talks about us every Sunday.

On Sunday we ended our week with the baptism of one of our investigators. She is a young woman that is incredibly intelligent. We´d been teaching her that week and she had memorized everything because she wanted to pass the interview so bad. Because my companion was feeling really sick, I baptized her. To top off the week we were able to Skype our families for Mother´s Day! I was told by my companion that I speak English like a Brazilian, and I struggled a few times to find the right word while talking with my family. I have a firm testimony that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. He lives!

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 34

Today I´ve been a missionary for 8 months! About a year ago I received my call to serve. Yesterday we had dinner at the house of a really cool member. It took a while for the food to be ready but it was totally worth it. We took a picture with them because it would be potentially the last time we ate at their house due to the approaching transfer next week.

Unfortunately we weren´t able to baptize Brenda and Bruna on Sunday because their dad was a little hesitant. But we got all three of them to attend church and they loved it! We´ll try to help them make the decision this coming week.

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 33

We had a really rainy week! The best part of it was Sunday, when we had District Conference. The branches Santa Cruz, Campus, Venâncio Aires, Rio Pardo, and Vera Cruz participated. During the conference President Wright spoke and both him and his wife gave a beautiful musical presentation. Brenda and Bruna, our baptisms for next week, were able to attend with their grandma and I know they had a great experience. After the conference a member decided to photo bomb our picture:

The day before President Wright attended our district meetings and afterwards interviewed us. I always enjoy the interviews because I´m able to ask questions and learn how to be a better missionary. He is a powerful leader and it´s a wonderful experience to learn from him. We also received letters that had arrived for us. Thanks for all your support!

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 32

Not much to report from this week. We finally located a less-active family and taught them a few lessons. The father (Henrique) is a member for quite a long time, but fell into inactiviy after the death of his wife. He has two daughters ages 9 and 10 that we are helping him teach so they can be baptized here in a few weeks. It was cool when we told him that he could baptize his own daughters after a few weeks of activity. Henrique became emotional when we commited him to work towards that goal. The only problem is that we can only teach them on Saturdays because he works a lot.

Yesterday was a great experience as Fast and Testimony meeting. I had been working on making my fasts more effective and felt very good after completing this one. I bore my testimony in church on the absolute truthfulness of the gospel. There is literally no other way to return to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father. What a glorious plan that has been presented to us and how blessed we are to have the opportunity to follow our Saviour Jesus Christ!

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 31

Another week in the field! Work was a little difficult this week due to the Easter Festivities. Because many people traveled and closed up shop for the week, we were hard pressed to find many people in the streets and in their houses to teach them. Despite the difficulties, we were able to get the word out about the Church´s initiative to almost the entire town.

On Thursday we taught a really cool family. They had been brought to church by some members, they enjoyed it, and we had begun to teach them afterwards. The mother had a lot of questions about the church which was refreshing after a long period of investigators who didn´t even pay attention and who simply wanted us to leave so they could get back to watching TV. Her daughters Souellen and Evelyn also listened attentively to our message. We spent some good time explaining in detail how the Church works, about the Book of Mormon, and how she could come to know of its truthfulness. On Saturday we showed up again at their house at a pre-determined time to interview them for baptism but no one was at home. Unfortunately the father is quite a bit of opposition and so it might take longer.

We enjoyed watching General Conference live at the chapel in Santa Cruz with the other members of the district. It was my first one completely in Portuguese (the last had been in English at the MTC) and I was pleased to find that I understood most of what was said. One of my favorite talks was given by Elder Nelson in the concluding session. He spoke of the importance of the Sabbath day. He gave personal experiences of his youth and used the scriptures to teach us how we can make our day of worship "delightful". It truly is a day to focus on strengthening our testimonies, set aside a portion of our time to the Lord as we do with our income, and spend time with our families.

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 30

This was the first week of my thrid transfer here in Vera Cruz. This is the first time for Élder Lemes and I to be with the same companion a second transfer. Yesterday at church all the members were expecting a new missionary but they were very happy to see us both here still. They had really grown to like us the previous transfer. In fact the branch president liked us so much he assigned us talks in church!

On Tuesday while we were planning the week, we were discussing what we could do for Maria & Sebastião to help them get married seeing as they missed the last opportunity. Right in the middle of our conversation we received a call from the business that does marriages. The lady on the phone told us of a marriage previous missionaries had arranged months ago that never ended up happening. She wanted to know what we wanted to do with the money that had been paid, and after a few minutes we were able to transfer the marriage for Maria & Sebastião.

Later in the week we faced the problem of getting their birth certificates from distant towns. While we talked about it a less-active member told us that he knew people in both of the towns and could arrange something to bring those documents here. Miracles happen!

Also during the week we found a fox living in our attic... Apparently he wasn´t privvy to the rule that only missionaries can be in the missionaries´ house!

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

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Week 29

Last P-day all the elders in our zone grouped together and we visited a park in Santa Cruz famous for caves, waterfalls, ruins, and free-roaming monkeys. It was quite a cool experience. I can now say I´ve seen my first wild monkey in Brazil! During our hike around, I was impressed with how dense the forest is. It would only take 10 steps in to get lost. One of the coolest parts was that we could hear a ton of different wild birds, insects, and animals as we explored. We took with us a young man from the Vera Cruz branch who helped us around because he´d been there before.

On Thursday we visited Maria & Sebastião and found out that their marriage hadn´t happened! They missed the date scheduled and so they have to reschedule for another date. Sunday we had a good turn out at church with 3 new investigators. With the Lord´s help this branch will have a good amount of baptisms the next transfer.

Speaking of transfers Élder Lemes and I will stay in Vera Cruz for the next transfer beginning tomorrow. It´s the first time for both of us that we´ll have the same companion for 2 transfers. We´re excited to work together for another 6 weeks, and we have quite a few potential baptisms in the future. Happy Páscoa (Easter) everybody! 

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 28

This week was full of miracles. Even though I was sick in the beginning, I didn´t notice it much because we worked so hard. We made a goal to be more diligent, obedient, and have more faith the first day of the week, and the Lord blessed us right off the bat. In order to find more people to teach we scoured the area book for former investigators and for less active members. The very first day we added 15+ people to our group of promising investigators.

On Tuesday we began our plan to visit all our conrtacts, ex-investigators of previous missionaries, and less-active members in a certain neighborhood. We were very blessed to find a house of 6 that are elects for sure. They paid a lot of attention during our lesson and asked great questions. A lot of the ex-investigators were awesome as well, we´re hoping we´ll be able to work with them and help them prepare to be baptized soon.

Thursday was the weekly district meeting as usual. After it we did a division with me staying in Santa Cruz with the district leader and Élder Lemes taking the district leader´s companion to our area in Vera Cruz. During the day we found many new families to teach for Santa Cruz. One young woman was really attentive and actually asked us how she could know for herself if our message was true. I would be very surprised if she isn´t baptized this coming week. The next day we returned to our own companions and areas.

This week Élder Lemes and I were very happy to find out that Maria (baptized 5 weeks ago) and her boyfriend Sebastião will be married next week! We´re helping him to stop smoking, and his baptism will be next week if he stops. They will help out this branch a lot if they stay firm. 

On Saturday we met Maria´s daughter when we went over to visit her family. The next day she was at church with Maria almost before we were! If the marriage happens, we´ll baptize the whole family next week.

Here is my companion, Élder Lemes, and I with an American flag we found!

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 27

On Monday half the Zone ate at McDonalds for lunch. Man I´d never seen such high prices there. The cheapest burger there was R$20 (~8US Dollars). In Brazil it´s more of a fancy restuarant, quite the contrast to the States where they have the dollar menu. I was able to spend R$45 and still be hungry!

Wednesday we had a Zones Conference in Porto Alegre. Half of the zones were there, with the other half meeting on Thursday. We woke up at 4am to travel by bus and arrive at the designated chapel in Porto Alegre at 9. During the conference we received training and instruction to help us be better missionaries. One of the presentations was by the president of the health department for all the missionaries in Brazil. At the end both President and Sister Wright talked to us. In between their comments, Sister Wright played the violin while President Wright played the piano. It was the best rendition of "I Know My Redeemer Lives" that I´ve ever heard. I´m bummed because I will only have one more conference with them before they head home in July.

The next day my companion had a really bad stomach pain that took a while to be relieved, so we ended up spending a few day at home. After it became almost unbearable he asked me to give him a blessing, the second one he´s ever head in his life. Right after the blessing his condition improved rapidly, with the worst pain leaving immediately. Faith really works miracles. Unbelievably, when he´d improved to a point where we could return to work, I caught a nasty cold that hindered us further. 

On Sunday we were able to bring a good amount of our investigatros to church. To our surprise, Christofer (Wesley´s older brother) showed up out of nowhere and attended all the meetings without having been encouraged by anyone. We´re hoping this means he´s having a change of heart and becoming more open to what we have to teach him. He could make a good missionary and bishop someday. I hope we can help him chose the right path.

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 26

Like we did last transfer, we tried working in a new neighborhood this week. Unfortunately the results weren´t as good as we´d hoped. The majority of the houses we found there were closed up and empty, waiting for their owners to return from work much later at night. The few people we found at home that allowed us to share our message with them were disinterested, with other priorities demanding their attention. It´s true that when life is going well for us and we don´t have many problems we are generally less humble and desirous to follow our Saviour.

This week it rained almost every day again. From what I´ve been hearing from everybody, that means that it´ll finally cool down soon as Summer ends. I also hit the 6 month mark of my mission last Friday! I can´t believe a 4th of it is over already. I will be very sad when my 2 years are up.

We visited the young woman that asked us that funny question mentioned last week. Her name is Letieli, and she is cousin to one of the recent converts in the branch. She´s super humble but lacks faith. She told us one day that she doesn´t really believe in God, which is super rare in Brazil. I invited her to begin praying daily with a desire to know that He exists and promised her that He would respond. We hope she does that with a sincere heart and real intent as it says in Moroni 10:3-5. She even came to church with us yesterday, which was good as it was Fast & Testimony meeting. I´ve come to realize the importance of fasting, giving a generous fast offering, and bearing testimony the first Sunday of the month. It´s a powerful combination that really brings learning by the Spirit in a one-of-a -kind way. 

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 25

Because of the holiday Carnaval, the beginning of the week started off slow. Especially on Tuesday we were hard pressed to find anyone in the streets and in their houses. For small towns like Vera Cruz, any major holiday shuts the whole place down. It was quite an interesting feeling being the only ones walking down the streets, almost as if it were a long abandoned ghost town. However, the next day everyone returened from their vacations and everything was back to normal.

The week continued to be slower than usual due to a lot of rain, sometimes raining for 2 days in a row. Having grown up in zero percent humidity, it was quite different to experience a time when nothing dried. We´d wake up in the morning and our clothes would still be damp from the previous day of work.

We had a funny experience one day as we were answering some questions about missionary work from some of our investigators. They´d already asked about various things such as communicating with family, if we could play soccer, if we could wear regular clothes, etc. The answer to the majority of these questions was that we could on Moday, Our Preparation Day. We were with a young man (a member of the branch here) that had a hard time not talking and so they learned that we also don´t hug the opposite gender while seving these 2 years. To that one of the young women sincerely asked, "But you guys can do that too on Mondays right?" Despite trying our hardest to contain ourselves we all burst out laughing! We explained to them that no, not even on Monday can we hug haha.

Yesterday we totally forgot about Daylight Savings Time and so we showed up at the chapel an hour early. After waiting around we thought that maybe church had been cancelled somehow. It was really odd because we didn´t hear anything from the people the week before, mentioning the change in time. Despite our confusion, we were able to bring our investigators to church. Maria and her soon-to-be husband were all ready waiting for us to pass by when we went to pick them up. That was the easiest I`ve ever had it getting people to church so far!

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 24

The beginning of another transfer brought me a new companion! His name is Élder Lemes, from Campinas, Brazil. I´m excited because he is my first Brazilian companion. Already he has helped me a lot with my Portuguese. So far he has a year and 7 months serving, so he´ll be returning home pretty soon. As we were talking and getting to know each other during the week, we were surprised to learn that we both want to pursue a career in aeronautical engineering, and that we´ve wanted that since the age of 4!

This week we found many new investigators, starting the very first day. Even though it poured rain both day and night for the first 2 days, we didn´t notice it much because we were hard at work. The first thing we did was present the new elder to the members here to gain their trust and help. Then we visited our investigators from the previous transfer and found many new ones on the way.

Despite their busy schedule, we were able to visit Wesley and Christofer this week. They seemed to be hesitant still so we spent a little time building trust and opening them up. It might take a while but we hope to get their parents married and baptize the whole family.

Due to the holiday Carnival, there weren´t very many people in Church yesterday. Almost everyone was traveling. As a result my companion and I taught Sunday School, blessed the sacrament, and both gave talks! It sure makes me grateful for wards when I serve in small branches.

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 23

After a long and tiring battle against the adversary, Marli was baptized this week! It was quite a surprise for us actually. We went over to her house last Monday to see how she was doing and as always, doubts and tempatations had crept into her thoughts. With the Spirit´s aid we swept them away and replaced them with a conviction of what she needed to do. To our surprise she walked into the back room and returned seconds later with all she´d need to be baptized (towel, sandals, and extra under clothing). We organized a service immediately and I baptized her the same day. The next challenge will be confirming her in church, the adversary certainly hasn´t stopped fighting against her.

This week we focused mainly on Wesley and Christorfer, 2 brothers (13 and 15) that attended church last week. They are very intelligent, already having read parts of the bible on their own. They´re hard workers, assisting their mom and dad build an extension to their house. Christofer has already said he wants to serve a mission! We had to tell him to slow down and focus on baptism first. During one of our lessons with them we asked, as we do every lesson, if there was anything we could do to help them. The mother of the 2 boys jokingly responded that her walls could us some washing. On the way back to our house Elder Garcia and I reflected on how the lesson went. While we discussed our future plans with them and how we could best aid them in coming unto Christ we received a distinct impression to take their mother´s offer, even though it was only a joke on her part, and show that members of Christ´s church practice what they preach. 

We put our plan into action the next morning, showing up on their doorstep ready to work. The surprise on their faces was pure gold! After insisting that we wouldn´t leave without doing some work, we started off by mowing and trimming their lawn. Luckily due to years of practice at home, I was able to teach Elder Garcia how to work the mower and trimmer and we made their lawn look  better than it ever has before. To finish off before we had to catch our appointment with lunch, we washed their car. That was one of the best service projects I´ve done. We felt so accomplished for doing that simple act of service, and we witnessed the results the rest of the week. They opened up and the dad began joining us each time we came over to teach. In a private conversation with us he teared up as he expressed his gratitude for what we were doing (really it´s the Spirit but he doesn´t know the difference yet) for his sons, something he said he lacks the knowlege for. He wants them to take this opportunity that already passed him by. We assured him that it hasn´t passed him by and that he is still very able and qualified for eternal life with his small family. We want to batize the 4 of them together in the near future. For now we need to work on getting them married, which can take a lot of time unfortunately.

So we just received the transfer email and I will be staying in Vera Cruz for the next 6 weeks with a new companion! The time is passing by so rapidly.

--

Elder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

Brasil

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 22

I sure have a testimony of the importance of members in missionary work. Oftentimes as members we think, "What can the missionaries do for us? Why aren´t they baptizing more people?" I promise that this isn´t the way the Lord has organized successful missionary work. In Preach My Gospel (a missionary manual for every church member, leader, and missionary) we read,"Church members are essential in helping new converts remain active and faithful" (pg213). I´ve seen miracles happen when members do their part and fellowship new converts. That is because every convert needs a friend. The missionaries will be transferred sooner than you think, but the members won´t. If members want to see their own ward or branch grow, help the missionaries. If they don´t, help the missionaries anyway, they´ll see the blessings the Lord has in store. As President Gordon B. Hinckley taught, "It will be a great day when our people not only pray for the missionaries throughout the world, but ask the Lord to help them to assist the missionaries who are laboring in their own ward." We missionaries have felt the power of your prayers on our behalf, we would be hard pressed to work without them. We challenge each and every one of you to ask the Lord how you can be of assistance to the missionaries serving in your own ward, and then put those words to action. For those living in Moab, Utah, help Elders Sanders and Braun out! Treat them as you would any one of us from your ward whom you have sent out to serve in other states and countries.

Because of help we received from the members here, we baptized our investigator Maria yesterday! She was well received, and is no longer our investigator, but a member of the Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias. 

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We were also blessed in our work to have many of our other investigators attend church, with potential baptisms next week. One is a 13-year-old young man named Wesley who walked to church 2 hours early, and waited on a bus-stop bench until we showed up to unlock the chapel. He is an elect, truly humble and ready to receive the gospel. The best part is he already has friends that are members!

This week I experimented making French Toast with Buttermilk Syrup. It was a success! I was able to locate difficult ingredients and even make my own buttermilk. I brought some to our members neighbors and after inhaling what I gave them they didn´t stop questioning me for more! It´s been a great week, and I´ll hear from you all next Monday!

--

Elder Joseph Andrew

Porto Alegre North Mission

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP 91010-971

Porto Alegre-RS

Brazil

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Week 21

It´s been a great week! Last Mondy we arranged to hold a Family Home Evening with our member neighbors. For the activity I taught them how to make Chocolate Chip cookies. For not having the correct measurements (my recipe is in cups and tablespoons while they use mililiters and grams here) and substituting a few ingredients for others that are difficult to come by in Brazil, the cookies turned out very well. Some of the best ones I´ve eaten. The family also enjoyed them a lot as you can tell.

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The rest of the week had some ups and some downs, but overall was quite good. Unfortunately Marli´s baptism fell through. We tried everything in our power, even filling up the font and filling out the baptismal record, but when it came down to it, her daughter had quite the negative influence on her and she wasn´t there when we went to pick her up. The adversary´s power is real! The up side is that we found a family and two other young men that have potential to be baptized in the coming weeks. We´ll be working closely with them to prepare them to make their first covenant with the Lord.

One of the times we went over to Marli´s house to teach her, we were surprised to find her daughter´s pastor there. It´s always annoying when this happens because all they want to do is Bible-bash and try to prove how so hopelessly wrong and lost we are. As missionaries and members we know that there is a much better way to clarify doctrine and invite the Spirit to provide an environment of learning, instead of contention; that is, by bearing testimony and honestly seeking truth. We changed our plans and instead taught my favorite lesson: The Restauration. At every point he challenged us, and attempted to talk over us and spew out scriptures to try and confuse all in the room. At one point he tried saying how because he is married and we´re not that he somehow knows more about the scriptures. Of course as it always does and always will, the conflict came down to Joseph Smith. Never can anyone try to slander and discredit that man to our faces withouth being born "down in pure testimony" (Alma 4:19). We bore solemn witness of the divinity of his calling as the prophet of the last dispensation. He saw God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ. Of that I testify. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the same Church that Christ himself established when He was on the Earth, was restored through Joseph Smith. Praise to that man. As has already been said, "Joseph Smith has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it" (D&C 135:3). I love the talk that was given by Elder Neil L. Andersen in this past conference titled "Joseph Smith," and I encourage all of you to study and ponder the truths found therein.

Yesterday in church we focused on Elder Ballard´s talk last conference about staying in the boat. It was funny because I´d already shown all of them my guiding pictures from the Colorado River so they all looked at me when the analogy was given. It was cool because I was able to give more insights and explain in more detail how the river works and how well the analogy applies to our journey through life. Stay in the boat!

Até o próximo semana, tchau tchau!

--

Elder Joseph Andrew

Porto Alegre North Mission

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP 91010-971

Porto Alegre-RS

Brazil

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

Week 20

Each day feels like an eternity due to all the work we do yet at the end of each week we look back and it feels like it´s only been a few hours! We were quite blessed this week in terms of finding baptismal canidates. Starting on the first day of the week (Monday), we ran into a 50 year old lady named Marli. It was as we were waiting for the bus to another city that we began to talk with her. Turns out she had been taught by other missionaries almost 6 months ago, been to church various times, read a good amount of the Book of Mormon, and even passed an interview to be baptized. But the time hadn´t been right and the missionaries lost contact with her. Then a week ago the Lord blessed us to encounter her on here way to work. She had been through some humbling trials during those months and was now more than ready to accept the gospel. We visited her almost every day following, each time leaving her house stunned at how ready she is. As always the adversary made an appearance and has been trying to halt her progress in the form of her daughter who is a devout (a little too devout) member of the Evangelic church. She tried and succeeded a few times to cart her mother out of the house before our teaching appointments but Marli´s testimony and determination to be baptized has come out on top. If it´s the Lord´s will, she´ll be baptized this coming Saturday.

We also had the opportunity to be interviewed by President Wright this past Saturday during our District meeting. I love him and his wife even more every time I have occasion to speak with them. I´m sad because I will only have 2 more interviews with him before he leaves back home to Draper, Utah this coming July. Our new president will be José V. Campos, from Brazil at that time.

Last week my companion and I also visited the Catholic Cathedral of Santa Cruz, the main city 15 minutes away from our area, Vera Cruz. It´s quite the building, with many statues and ornate decorations. As I exited the building after touring the interior I had the thought, what a blessing it is that we have temples that dot the face of the earth. Like this Cathedral, they are open to all that wish to enter, the only requirement being worthiness and a desire to "be in the world but not of the world."

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Have a wonderful week and read the scriptures daily!

--

Elder Joseph Andrew

Porto Alegre North Mission

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP 91010-971

Porto Alegre-RS

Brazil

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

Week 19

Unfortunately our baptisms fell through. As missionaries we can do everything just right, teach all the lessons, respond to all questions and doubts, and get people literally to the waters of baptism, but when their free will comes into play, the story changes. It´s so sad for us, because we sacrifice our time, serve them, come to love them, desire their eternal happiness, and then when it actually comes to choosing the path to the Kingdom of God they reply, "Save it for another day," or "I´m comfortable where I am right now." What they know plainly but somehow don´t comprehend is that we´re not here to simply be their friends. We didn´t leave everything in our lives for 2 years just to sight-see. We´re not getting paid to be here. We´re here because we know the secret to eternal happinesss, we have the key to eternal life with our families, and we want everyone else to join us and enjoy the wonderful opporutnity they have to follow the example of their Savior Jesus Christ.

Like I did in my previous area, we decided to try something new. We studied the map of Vera Cruz and selected 2 neighborhoods that missionaries hadn´t touched for a very long time. Starting this week we visited them and made a goal to knock on every single door and to talk with every person that we passed. It might take to the end of the transfer but we´re determined to do it. We want to make a thorough sweep through those neighborhoods and find those who are prepared to hear our message of happiness and hope. Due to rain storms every day, it was a little difficult to find and teach a lot of people but we still managed to have success.

Yesterday I gave the obligatory new-missionary-in-the-area talk during Sacrament Meeting. I´m still surprised that I can speak and communicate in a way that people can understand me. Every week I have moments when I stop and think, "Did I really just carry on a meaningful and intelligent conversation with that person?" I can see blessings from the Lord for what I´m doing here. I based my talk on 2 Tim 4:7, one of my favorite scriputres. I challenged everyone to live in such a way that at the end of their lives they would be able to echo those words spoken by Paul almost 2000 years ago.

Unfortunately we´re having problems with the computers here so I´m not able to send any pictures this week. Hopefully we´ll have it figured out by next!

--

Elder Joseph Andrew

Porto Alegre North Mission

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP 91010-971

Porto Alegre-RS

Brazil

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

Week 18

So this week I was transferred out of Carazinho and now I´m in Vera Cruz! This is the smallest and quietest town I´ve passed through so far. It only has a small branch. It´s really hard to find people walking on the streets too. But I´m now living in the only apartment in the whole mission with air conditioning! Granted it´s only for one room and it´s a little slow but it´s air conditioning nonetheless. My companion is Elder Garcia from Bolivia, and he´s been out serving for 11 months. He´s really cool and super friendly as hispanics are. He´s the first non-American companion I´ve had so far. It´s nice because he knows very little English so I´m finally forced to speak Portuguese. I´ve already seen a leap in my progress of learning the language.

Unfortunately this week I was plagued with a mix between a fever and a cold, so I had to stay home a few days due to some pains and lack of strength. On New Year´s Eve we got to stay out a little later, so we spent the evening with a member family that lives right next to us. Brazilians love New Year, they go crazy with their fireworks. The fireworks here are quite different than the ones in the States, while in the States it´s more about color, here it´s more about sound. They sure have perfected their fireworks to be loud holy cow.

Yesterday it was my opportunity to play the piano for sacrament meeting. Even though I made numerous mistakes, I´m afraid I´ve doomed myself to playing every Sunday until I´m transferred! I´m not sure if I should be thankful or not for having practiced all those years at home. This branch is sure thanking my Mom for that.

The best part of the week was getting to know our investigators. There are two young men in their 20´s that we hope to baptize in the coming weeks. Both of them are so ready too. João is 21 and newly married to his catholic wife. He is unbelievably intelligent about the gospel and remembers every little detail we teach him. He already studies the bible every day, and not just Psalms like many others. He told us yesterday that he´s conflicted in what he believes, part of him wants to believe in the Book of Mormon and part of him rejects more scriptures. But we got him to church yesterday and we know he felt the Spirit. It was a good meeting for him to attend: Fast and Testimony Meeting.

The other investigator, Marcio, has one 6 year old son and will be baptized this Friday if everything goes well. He is a physical trainer, and my companion and I are actually taking classes from him every P-day which is super cool. I´m super excited to work in this new area and I can´t believe the first week has already passed!

--

Elder Joseph Andrew

Porto Alegre North Mission

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP 91010-971

Porto Alegre-RS

Brazil

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

Week 17

This has been one of the best weeks I´ve had on my mission so far. On Monday we had churrasco with Pamela. She´s one of the only female cozinheras (cook/chef) in Carazinho. She´s really good too, she made some of the best steak I´ve had. The next day my companion and I put into action the best idea we´d had this transfer. The previous Sunday we had talked with members in Church about our investigator Daniela and how her boyfriend had left her with 3 kids (ages 9, 6, and 1), no work, no money, and no food. So with the members´ help we gathered food, clothes, and toys for the kids. We were astounded at the result:

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Even visitors from a neighboring city, Passo Fundo, donated things for them. Then on Tuesday, together with the youth and leaders from the church, we stopped by her house, dropped everything off and carolled to them. That made the best gift all of us had ever given someone for Chrisatmas. Later this week we stopped by her house and were pleased to see her previously bare shelves stocked full of food. The whole family was the happiest we´d ever seen them. Her son Fayneos is 9 but after teaching him and watching the change in his maturity he seems like he´s 14.

On Friday we visited Pamela again. As always she had many questions. I always love answering them because she is so curious and hungry for more knowledge. During some of the responses I gave I could feel the Spirit´s help in assisting me answer in a way she understood. I never said anything I didn´t understand myself, but I saw the Spirit´s help in bringing to my memory the words I needed. I love being an instrument in the Lord´s hands. We set a date for her to be baptized on the 11th of January.

On Christmas day we headed over to a member´s house and Skyped our families! It was so great to see them. I´ve been blessed to have them as my family. They showed me the skimpy snow Moab had received and I showed them how I was sweating as we talked! I was also able to see by brother Chris and new sister-in-law through a double Skype call that my parents set up. At the end of the call I was asked to bear my testimony in Portuguese. 2 days later was the 4 month mark for me as a missionary in Brazil. Happy New Year!

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Elder Joseph Andrew

Porto Alegre North Mission

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP 91010-971

Porto Alegre-RS

Brazil

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

Week 16

Well summer began just a few days ago! Last P-day my companion and I set up a Family Home Evening with a less-active family. While there we got to feed their parrots! We were quite excited to do that. We shared a message with them about how the 12 apostles, the Prophet, and the Priesthood makes up the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During the Great Apostasy, many people picked out principles that they liked from the Bible (i.e. baptism, tithing, etc.) and constructed a church out of it. However, we have the fulness of the gospel (ALL the principles) today and can enjoy the blessings of continued revelation. This is just one of the many examples that shows how much Heavenly Father loves us and desires to bless our families. To our surprise and excitement, this family is now going to church and holding FHE on their own!

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Pamela, one of our investigators, is making leaps and bounds in her progress. She devours everything we teach her. We´ve seen such a change in her this week. Before, she sat silently listening, but now she actively participates, being motivated by the results of her own progress and is excited to learn more. We´re constantly surprised by how close her beliefs are to the church´s standards already. We know she has been prepared by the Lord beforehand. Keeping her commitments and doing her best to be prepared to be baptized, she is now down to only 2 cigarettes per day and has stopped drinking coffee and wine! She told us how what we promised is coming true: she is feeling a difference in her life because of her efforts to follow the Lord´s commandments. She is feeling the increased sensitivity to the Spirit. I was so happy when she told us how she went to the store and told the cashier that she was buying her last pack of cigarettes from him. To that he and her friends responded with their disbelief, but she replied confidently, "Just you watch, I will be a Mormon yet."

We´re very excited to Skype our families this coming Thursday for Christmas, it´s been 4 months since I left them and 8 for my companion. Merry Christmas and I hope to hear from you all next week!

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Elder Joseph Andrew

Porto Alegre North Mission

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP 91010-971

Porto Alegre-RS

Brazil

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com

Week 15

This week was full of different things. For starters we decided our apartment didn´t have enough Christmas spirit, so we made tons of paper snowflakes to hang around and borrowed a light-up star. Whenever we´re in the apartment we play Christmas music to add to the environment. I finally got tired of slipping all over the place in the rain because of my worn-down shoes so I found this shoe professional tucked away on a back street to fix them up. When I came to pick them up I was quite impressed: he´d put hard-core boot soles on my shoes and replaced the laces. Now I could go hiking in these shoes if I wanted! The best part was it only cost 30 bucks (60 reais). The other companionship also had a division with the Zone Leaders, so Elder Sorenson came to our city to be with the District Leader for a day. It was funny because he is from Salt Lake City so the three of us Americans started talking about all the restuarants we missed. The top 3 were Cafe Rio, Papa Murphy´s, and Golden Corral.

This is me at a member´s house this week ´helping´ them cook the churrasco (Brazilian Barbeque) for lunch. They know how to do it right!

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The highlight of the week was getting to teach one of our prized investigators, Pamela. She is the most interested investigator I´ve ever seen. Every visit she has a ton of questions about the Church for us. I always love answering them because I´m excited to share the gospel to those so eager to learn more about what I know to be true. Its truthfulness is re-affirmed to me every time I teach it. Another investigator we have is in the pits of despair because her abusive boyfriend left her with 3 kids and no way to support them. We want to do everything we can for her. We know the gospel can and will change her life. Another investigator told of how she had been having killer pains in her head and how her home had always felt filled with bad feelings. But when we first visited her, the pains stopped immediately and never returned, as well as the atmosphere in her home. She said we brought a light with us, and always felt peace and warmth when we taught her. We really hope they continue following the promptings of the Spirit and be baptized soon.

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Elder Joseph Andrew

Porto Alegre North Mission

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP 91010-971

Porto Alegre-RS

Brazil

Read my blog at elderandrewinbrazil.blogspot.com