25 July 2011 - email

Hey there!

I did like how you sent me poems and songs because I sent one. That was kind of cool. I am dying to get that letter from Chelsea Francis and find out where she's going, why do letters sometimes take forever?

Well, I am staying in Jenipapo with Elder Xavier for another transfer, but our companionship has gotten a lot better. We finally talked things out and we are both working on our faults. I really hope to be able to help him prepare to be an excellent missionary, but I've also learned that I can't keep beating myself up when I do everything that I can and he doesn't want to. That is when it depends on his free agency!

Well, all of my good friends got transferred out of the zone, so now I have to make some new ones, that's one of the things that I like about the mission: you are forced to make new friends. If you don't, the two years are going to pass very slowly and sadly.

That family, Moisés and Beth and their daughter Mariana, that I've been visiting since I got here had some rough times this last month. They lost their job and he couldn't get a new one. That is weird because he has WAY more experience then someone his age should have. A ton of other personal things happened (it's weird how much missionaries know sometimes) and he started to go inactive. We found out later that he thought of divorce or suicide while this was happening. After trying and failing I don't know how many times, he finally got a job. The only problem was that all of the money that he had had to go to save their apartment. They had nothing to eat at home and had only eaten bread for three days. [They were also offended by the bishop.] That was the last straw and they cancelled the baptism of their daughter and decided to never set foot in the chapel again and Beth gave us her materials for seminary to give to the bishop.

I was so sad. I just went home depressed. When the other elders got home they asked what had happened and so we told them. One of the elders suggested that we all put some money in an envelope and run over to their apartment and leave it under the door. We did that hoping to help in some small way. We knew that they would know that it was us, but we have been denying it since. The next day they called me over, said that they had uncancelled the baptism of Mari and that they wanted me to baptize her. Beth took back her seminary materials and they both went to church. Both have decided that on a personal level, they won't have anything to do with the bishop, but respect his calling in the church. It was one of the most amazing signs of genuine conversion that I have seen. And my testimony of the power of a little service given has grown immensely.

God then blessed us with seven new investigators in the chapel. I believe that he was testing us to see how we would act.

I love you all!

Elder Page

18 July 2011 - email

It actually felt a little cold this week!

Hey there all you beautiful people...and the people who I usually write...I'm kidding, gosh!

So this week was a lot of rain and it got cold in the mornings! I also forgot to tell you that today we would listen to a seventy! Elder Mazzagarti spoke to us (his accent is really weird: he says R's like R's and not like H's!) and it was really good. He talked a lot about our calling being sent from God and how we need to talk to everyone we see on the street. He said that he found out that he has had every leadership calling from bishop to seventy and he still feels like a new member! He was very dynamic and gave us some homework to study.

Wagner went to church finally and stayed the whole time. He is still really iffy about baptism but at least he's reading the scriptures and praying again. If he keeps doing that, the spirit will touch him and he'll be baptized for sure. We also met a really nice family, I just don't know about their 'real intent' to search for the truth, but we're going to visit them tomorrow.

I have started noticing what makes the difference between the lazy elders, the really uptight ones, and the really good ones: it's all about attitude. The lazy elders think, "How bad can I be without getting in too much trouble?" This attitude leads to disrespect of the leaders, self-righteousness, anger at those who follow the rules, and overall failure in the true purpose of the mission. These elders have a nick name here: GH or "Glória dos Homens" "Glory of Men"

The up-tight elders think, "How good do I have to be?" Which leads to judgemental behavior and pride. These elders have a nick name too: Crentão "Big believer"

And the really good elders think, "I want to be valiant!" Which leads to success and happiness. Now I just have to put that in practice. These elders have a name too: Representatives of Jesus Christ.

Elder Page

11 July 2011

Hey Family,

So this week we met the new President and his wife! It was pretty awesome! She spoke first and she is an amazing person. She is super-animated and their story as a couple is amazing! He is more serious, but I think it's because he's starting and he wants to show that he wants obedience from the missionaries.

Elder Page

27 June 2011 - email

Hey!

So I got some new white shirts today! Wooo! Clothing that fits! Today is my Hump-day (and Mom's birthday; HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) which means that I am going to that Churrascaria again (I remember when it was hard to spell that word!) and this time I'm training, not being trained.

So, for a week we were living (against rules, because of some major lack of communication) in a house with six elders. It was crazy. The elders from Macazeira moved out. Now I'm the only elder that cleans the house and I'm the one that complains the least about how dirty the house is (what?).

We marked Wagner for baptism this Saturday. He's awesome and has already told his mom that he wants to serve a mission.

Not much of interest happened this week because of São João (Saint John - a holiday) and all of the drinking. This holiday is a little weird. First of all it is a festival of the country (like hillbillies/hicks not farmers) and corn...lots of corn. Everyone (even the little kids) dresses up in straw hats old overalls and paints their faces like they´re hicks. Then on top of that for one night everyone lights a ton of fires. When we asked people why they do that and where the tradition came from, a man said, "It's a tradition that comes from many years!" ... Thank you for the definition of 'tradition'! It turns out that it's something about São Pedro being celebrated at the same time and he has the keys to the heavens. They send up the smoke to make it hot so that he'll send rain to cool down...Is it just me or does that sound super-pagan?

Anyway, I don't have much patience for stuff like that. But it explains why our week was sooooo slooooow...

I love you all, and less than six months until I talk to you again on the phone!

Elder Page

20 June 2011 - email

Hey there,

So my companion's name is Elder Xavier. He's from São Paulo and he's pretty excited about the mission. He's going through first-month-trunkiness (most elders pass that), but he wants to do everything. He already knows how to bring the spirit into a lesson. I just have to help him learn the techniques. The new program for training new missionaries is a twelve week program (which makes it likely that I will be here for another three months).

I don't think I told you, but I'm also a District Leader now. Yeah, talk about throwing everything at you at once: New comp, new training method, new trainer, new district leader, new ward mission leader, etc. It's a lot! Thankfully my district is small (me and one other area) and they are hard-working, obedient missionaries.

Well, that pretty much describes this whole week; running up and down with a new missionary showing him everything and trying to pretend like I knew what I was doing. I remember what that was like, needing to trust that your comp knew everything. (Elder Wells was good at that. Two weeks in the area and he pretended pretty good.) New missionaries already have too much to worry about without their trainer showing discomfort or uncertainty.


Elder Page

6 June 2011 - email

Hey yáll,

So we're still working on Camila and Estela's baptisms, but it's come to a near stand-still until Raul does something, so we're working more with other people right now. That left us with very few things to do, so we started trying to get new investigators.

Then almost all of our investigators fell through with every appointment and commitment, so we had to take about 7 people off of the teaching list. I was pretty down in the dumps and Elder Sousa was too. So we decided to fast for the area to progress and that the people would soften their hearts to the message. So we started.

Then out of the blue 10 people went to church! 2 were investigators that went to the wrong chapel, two were Estela and Camila, 3 were investigators that we had given up on, one was Caroline the eternal investigator (AKA "dry Mormon"), and two were relatives of a really active girl whose family we are trying to re-activate.

Then after church we taught and all but marked three new investigators for baptism (they just want to get the answer before mark the date, but they agreed that receiving the answer they will follow!)

I am super happy except for one thing: transfers are coming! One of us will be transferred; I have never heard of two Elders staying as companions for more than 2 transfers, so either I'll stay or he will. I really would like to train, but I am sad to see this time end. One more week! We'll have to use it well!

Elder Page

30 May 2011 - email

Hey there!

So...we had another one of those weeks where at the end I can say that it was the most upliftingly depressing (yeah, that doesn't make sense) of the mission. So we had Estela and Camila marked for baptism and they were excited. Then on Tuesday Estela told us that she didn't want to be baptized; I'm still not 100% sure what it is, but I think it's because she doesn't really have any friends that she knows in the church and is relying on logic rather than praying to know if the church is true. We read through the baptismal interview questions and even she said that she was ready. Then Camila was the most perfectly ready, excited young woman I've ever seen...

Then when we had gotten both to pass the interview and Estela was feeling better about the baptism, the mom and dad got involved. The mom misunderstood that if her daughter gets baptized that she will not be able to visit her on Sunday anymore. (She seems to think that she has to be locked inside all day)

To make a long story short they weren't baptized. We are trying to talk to the parents and clear up the concerns. I have to go now, but I love you all. Bye!

Elder Page

Elder 'Skinny' Page - he has lost some weight (nearly 50 lbs.!)

David with giant Q-tip

Elder Page - after a fall in the mud