24 August 2010 - letter

A lot of things happened this week. Our district made a goal to practice contacting people, so we started a contact-o-rama. It was more about practice than a real competitions, but it was so much fun. We got a lot of practice and I felt really good about our preparation.

We went out on Friday and gave out copies of the Book of Mormon to people in the historic downtown of São Paulo. First, there was no one we could get to listen to us. But after a while we started to get more people to listen. Probably the best story was when we were talking to this woman and we found out that she had been investigating the church a few years ago and then she had joined the Jehovah’s Witnesses. But now she no longer attends the church and she wants to know more. So while we were talking about the Book of Mormon, a man ran up shouting “Elders! Elders! Vocês têm um Livro de Mórmon?” It turned out that he was inactive and wanted to go back to church, but he had moved and didn’t know where the chapel was. We gave him all the information we had and a Book of Mormon.

Not long after that, we ran into two Americans studying abroad. They had a returned missionary friend so they wanted to take pictures with us to send home. We gave them a Book of Mormon and promised that if they read it, they would both understand the Portuguese language and Jesus Christ better. It was really weird to be speaking English to people on the street in Brazil.

I love you all!

Historic downtown São Paulo (not taken by David)

24 August 2010 - email

Today we went to a churrascaria and if the one in Portland is as good, we are so going after my mission. We got a buffet of salads etc. and then they come out with huge chunks of meat on skewers and sliced them off with huge knives (yes, I flinched a few times) while you catch them with tongs. I ate so many different types of meat I have no idea what they were. But (Rosie stop reading right now) I did eat about 5 chicken hearts, and they are surprisingly good. They're a little fattier and a little more tender than normal chicken (Rosie you can read now). It was so much fun.

I also decided that when I get back I'm going to write a book on the Armor of God (so if anyone has titles, let me know) so I got a notebook and I am going to fill it with notes and scriptures and as much stuff as I can find. I think it'll help give me a direction when I get stuck inside for carnival and study.

So, we went to Campinas again today (city set on a hill - look at the pictures of the temple and then imagine it being about a thousand times better) and then sat on the bus for forever.

I can't believe that in 8 days I will be out there preaching. I have no idea if I'll have a P-day next week soooooo...we'll see if you get mail next week. Also, if anyone sends me mail, tell them to send it to Recife (starting a week ago). I am starting to feel like I can make people really understand me in Portuguese, so I can't wait to get out into the field (I almost wrote 'campo', that's weird).

I also got a notebook that I put 'non-mission' thoughts in (quotes, funny experiences, etc.) so that I can have a few memories besides the super spiritual ones that go into my journal. I call the book "All Things That In Them Are".



Elder Page

Campinas Temple (not taken by David)

17 August 2010 - letter

The English fast is done! I have now realized that I actually do know a lot more about Portuguese than I thought. I don't want this to sound arrogant, but I think I've been given a gift with languages. I've never really noticed how much grammar I just understand. The professors here have told me that I understand grammar better than some teachers. They've started calling me "Professor Pasquale" because of it. Prof. Pasquale is a tv grammar teacher kind of like the random buy who does calculus on public access at home.

Earlier this week, our district did "Super comb-over" day (we also all wore blue ties). It was fun, even though no one noticed but us. We slicked our hair to the side and every one with glasses wore them. Our district is awesome. Later that morning, Irmão Brandão told us that we were teaching the law of chastity to Brazilian sisters ...yeah... It actually wasn't very embarrassing...at least until after the practice when we found out that she said she broke both the Word of Wisdom and the law of chastity the night before adn we had told her that she was good to go for her baptism the following day...yeah.

On Saturday we had our TRC (sorry I have no idea what that stands for). We were teaching real Brazilians (members) in normal clothes in a "living room" and we were filmed and corrected by the teachers watching. We got told that we did perfectly and actually the investigators got corrected! It was such a confidence booster. The only problem is that my companion doesn't seem to think that he doing as awesomely with Portuguese as he is. I need to figure out how to help him...

Today we went to the Campinas Temple (5th Endowment, 6th total) and it so much better than São Paulo (not that any temple is really better). It's one of those temples where you move from room to room. It was awesome!

I love you all!

Elder Page

17 August 2010 - email

Como vocês vão?

Ummmm...so this week was insane! English fasting when so many people are speaking it is really hard. Out in the field I think it would be easier to just speak Português than it is here.

This week a lot of things happened: Elder Rogers and I aced our TRC, finished our English fast, had super-crazy comb-overs, and taught the law of chastity to native Brazilian sisters (yes, that was the first time we talked about it).

We also went to the Campinas temple today and it is pretty awesome. it's rather large and it's on the top of this hill overlooking the city and the surrounding forest (really dense). I think I told Missy that I'd email about the flavelas as soon as I saw them, so I'm sorry: I saw them on day one, but not to the scale I saw today; This whole valley was covered with the shanty houses built with plywood and tin. They're stacked on top of each other and the whole structure looks like it could come down in a hard rain. Almost all of the flavelas that I've seen are near a dump and it's hard to think of children of God living like that so close to people living in excess.

I love you all so much!

Elder Page

Campinas Temple (not taken by David)

Flavelas (slums) (not taken by David)

10 August 2010 - email

Elder Rogers decided that this week he is going to be English fasting the entire week, as his companion that means that I have to as well...it's been...interesting. But I think that I am learning a lot!

I absolutely love Jesus the Christ (I only have 50ish pages left) and I can't wait to be able to study it more slowly with the scriptures. The goal that has fallen by the wayside is that of reading O Livro de Mormon; I need to get that started before the fowls of the air devour it (see Matt parable of sower). Wow! My sense of humor has totally gone bizzaro-scriptural. The other day I laughed really hard at a lame joke (loke) about Ammon that involved him "giving the king a hand"...yeah...I love you all.


Elder Page.

10 August 2010 - letter

The following is from an email David sent on 10 August 2010:

Elder Rogers decided that this week he is going to be English fasting the entire week, as his companion that means that I have to as well...it's been...interesting. But I think that I am learning a lot!

I absolutely love Jesus the Christ (I only have 50ish pages left) and I can't wait to be able to study it more slowly with the scriptures. The goal that has fallen by the wayside is that of reading O Livro de Mormon; I need to get that started before the fowls of the air devour it (see Matt parable of sower). Wow! My sense of humor has totally gone bizzaro-scriptural. The other day I laughed really hard at a lame joke (loke) about Ammon that involved him "giving the king a hand"...yeah...I love you all.


Elder Page.

The following is from a letter David mailed on 8 August 2010 (he is set up to mail it to MissionTies in Brazil and they scan and email it to us - much faster):

This week was incredible! We went proselyting on Friday (6th) and we were given two copies of the Book of Mormon each and we were sent out the front doors. Elder Rogers and I quickly learned that our Portuguese is very limited. We talked to this great spiritualist woman and invited her to the open house. Later we met Sergio in the park. He had a friend who was a member and he showed such a huge interest that we gave him a Book of Mormon and an invitation to the open house (we also got his address). Then we hit a dead spot. No one would talk to us, not even to say "Good afternoon". I was starting to get down when Elder Rogers asked if we could say a prayer. We did and the next street we walked down we saw a group of people unloading a truck. As we walked past, I opened my mouth to say "Boa Tarde" and instead I said "Podemos ajudar?". When the woman I was talking to responded like she was confused, I said "Tudo bem. Tchou!". At least that's what I thought. Instead, I said "Podemos ajudar vocês con isso?". Next thing I knew, we were unloading huge rolls of vinyl tarping and asking them if they believed in God. When we finished, we asked if we could talk to them for a few minutes about a book. We ended up giving away all three of our copies of the Book of Mormon to them! I've gotten a strong testimony of D&C 84:85 (Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man).

Friday was the best day of the mission so far. I can only hope it goes up in the future!

Elder Page

Street scene in São Paulo (not taken by David)

3 August 2010 - letter

Sister Clark (wife of the mission president) is awesome. She's from the Czech Republic and she speaks seven languages, five fluently! She's like a mom for all the missionaries. I tell you this, mom, not to tell you that you are replaced, but that I am in good hands!

So last week one of my neighbors from BYU showed up! It's kind of cool because I had no idea that he was coming! It's been nice to see that our district is improving by seeing where we were a few weeks ago.

They remodeled the cafeteria, so it looks great now! It's cut the time waiting in line by half!

We started teaching in Portuguese this week and the teachers "can't understand" English. I'm finding that the language is coming faster and faster!

This Friday our district is going to be placing copies of the Book of Mormon (notice how I avoided the "Books of Mormon" v. "Book of Mormons" issue!) OUTSIDE THE CTM! GASP! I'm so excited. I got told on Saturday that my accent is fairly authentic.

Well I'm out of time, but I love you all a lot!

Elder Page

Sao Paulo Missionary Training Center (MTC -- or -- CTM in Portuguese)

(not taken by David)

27 July 2010 - letter

How are things at home? Things have been pretty good here. I've been adjusting to the routine of things. I think I'd have a really hard time if I hadn't met some of the "dork dot" missionaries. It felt good to see how far I have progressed and to help ease some of their concerns.

It's been weird saying goodbye to almost everyone on our floor. Now it's just us and a Brazilian district on our floor.

We got two Brazilian roommates three weeks ago, Elders Buarque and Jesus Santos. They were pretty awesome. Elder Jesus Santos could only say "Shut up!" so that forced us to speak Portuguese. Both of them left this morning and so we took a ton of pictures last night.

I started re-reading Jesus the Christ (I didn't finish it the first time). It's pretty amazing! He phrases things that make me think of things I've never thought of before. The way he talks about the Fall is powerful. I've never thought of interpreting "sin=death" so literally before.

Soon I'll be out on the town in São Paulo enjoying the "cold" weather. (It's 23° C out there!) It actually is starting to feel a little chilly if it's under 22° C so I'm getting used to it.

I love you all so much and I hope I didn't ramble too much!

Elder Page

São Paulo (not taken by David)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

We've started teaching in Portuguese and Friday we escape the CTM. Yeah, Elder Rogers and I have an extensive plan involving fake mustaches, and tear gas, and possibly a schizophrenic parrot! Ok really on Friday we get to go out and place copies of the Book of Mormon. I'm pretty excited but I'm worried about our Portuguese. I am starting to feel like the progress I'm making is real and not just half-memorized ramblings.

I realized that in my previous letters I have failed to adequately describe São Paulo, so here is my attempt: The streets are pretty narrow and the buildings flow with the hilly countryside (from the air you can see that the roads are like the contour lines on a map). All of the shops and stores have open fronts; I don't mean that their doors are open but that they don't have doors. Many of the larger shops have a couple of parking spaces partly inside the store itself! I've mentioned rather briefly about the roads but I don't think I did them justice. I have tremendous respect for anyone who manages to drive in Brazil; It's a little scary! Motorcycles don't have a lane, they just weave in and around traffic and the lanes are so narrow that I don't understand how we don't hit cars on the way to the temple. The worst was when our bus driver was learning how to drive a stick. End result: Three near-misses, two traffic jams (that he caused), and a partridge in a pear tree.

The people here are either really friendly or completely ignore you; If you say "bon día" to someone, be prepared for them to not look you in the eye or start talking about their grandchildren and asking what Florida and California are like!              

Eu sei que O Livro de Môrmon é verdadeiro e que deus nos ama. Eu sei que esta missão vai ser difícil, mas eu sei que será o melhor manera para gastar dois anos. Eu amo todo vocês e quero enviar fotos mas não pode no CTM. Então, conserva tua rota!                 

PWoL: arbítrio - agency          

Elder Page

                      This is a picture of the CTM (or MTC - Missionary Training Center) in São Paulo