A Time of Transition

Unbelievable--

So much has changed in the past week. President Pickett has come to end of his mission. He and Sister Pickett are flying back to the United States after one year as President of the Rio de Janeiro North Mission, and the first two years of the Vitória Mission. There was a grand fireside in Cariacica last night. The first time that I have been to Cariacica. It was very spiritual. They will leave everyone here missing them very much.

As for transfers. Elder Wilson went to the boondocks of the mission in Nanuque, way in the north of the mission. I stayed here in Serra-Sede. I also turned senior. This means that from here on out, my companions will have less time and experience on the mission than I do. In other words, I am in charge, I have a lot of responsibility, and I carry a little more stress.

My new companion is Elder Salvador. Or translated, Elder Savior. He is from Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul way in the south of Brasil. Where it actually snows sometimes. He has a heavy southern Brazilian accent. I don´t understand everything that he says the first time that he says it. He is my first Brazilian companion. He is awesome though. This is his second area on the mission. He misses his first area a lot, but I was able to comfort him a lot because I suffered when I left the Athens 2nd Ward way back in December. He is a really neat person. He is hard-working, has a passion for the missionary work, and he has a lot of patience with me. He practices English words with me in the street. He has particular trouble pronouncing the words ´´contact´´ and ´´hymn book´´. He does not speak English. Virtually nothing. I sat on my bed the other night and just thought, there is not a fluent English speaker (with whom I am acquainted) in my area. It is a twenty five minute trip to the nearest American elder, my zone leader, and I don´t even know him. Now, at last, my brain is starting to think almost purely in Portuguese. Basically, because I have no choice.

I feel alone sometimes, but I know that I am not.

My companion from the MTC, Elder Anderson, found out this week that his 18 year old brother passed away. I don´t know any details. He just turned senior as well, and he went to a new area very far from here. I know he is passing through way more than I am.

I am so grateful for the things that I have in my life. I am grateful for my family, my friends, and for my knowledge of the Gospel. I know that nothing is impossible or too hard with the help of the Lord. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is exactly what it is named: the Church of the Savior Jesus Christ here on the Earth in these last days. Greater peace and happiness cannot be found outside of the safety of obedience to the commandments and the security of covenants well-kept.

Thank you again for all of you who make an effort to write me. I love you. Know that I treasure your letters and hold very dear to me your words of comfort and encouragement.

Fiquem firmes na fé, (Stay Strong in the Faith)
Elder Bodily

Tardy E-mail From Last Week

THIS EMAIL DIDN´T SEND LAST WEEK, BUT I WROTE IT!

Well,

There have been transfers. Elder Wilson is leaving and I am going to stay behind and try to make everything work here. Transfers are tomorrow. I am worried and a little sick to my stomach. Who knows what will happen.

I was sick this week. I had a fever, chills that alternated with extreme sweating, an achy body, splitting headache, upset stomach, and sore throat. Never all at once but the headache and achy body were pretty constant. It was just a big mix of annoying sickness. On Tuesday afternoon I started feeling a little weird. Wednesday morning we had a celebration of the second anniversary of the Brazil Vitória Mission. I felt pretty bad on the bus there, but I evened out more or less. Thursday was pretty bad and I had to fight every hour. Finally on Friday it was too much. I got permission to stay home for five hours in the afternoon after a long session of talking to people in the street and going to appointments that fell thru. That helped. Then On Saturday we worked a lot with a member who had a car so that helped also. Then yesterday´s schedule was pretty light. Today is the first day I feel mostly recovered. Joy.

Elder Wilson and I made a visit to a church called the Maranata Church on Saturday because one of our investigators invited us. We sang songs, heard a sermon on a few Bible verses, and listened to them pray. Complete with drums, guitar, flute, keyboard, etc. The Maranata churches are wooden and are usually on lots with lots of greenery that are very well kept. The Church was founded here in the state and the world headquarters also is here. Just interesting to note. That investigator went to church with us the next day.

We got to play with a parrot in one of our investigator´s homes. It was crazy. It tried to eat my boot and flew right by my had and has a wicked laugh every time it does something it knows it is not supposed to like bite a flip flop, try to eat the chocolate cake that they served to us, or bite our investigator´s arm.

Have a great week,
Elder Bodily

Oh Brasil

Queridos,

First and foremost, Francismara was baptized yesterday. I don´t have time to attach photos, but it was an excellent baptismal meeting, complete with homemade cake and pop afterwards. She gave us a fair share of scares this week. To the point that she called us and cancelled her baptism...twice. I´ve never seen Elder Wilson so close to crying before. However, after talking to us and resolving to ´´pray doubly hard´´ she decided to be baptized. No one from her family wanted to attend, though we furnished rides for everyone. It was sad, but the ward once again rallied around her and made her feel comfortable. She is one quirky young woman. We are happy.

On Friday we visited Gilmar and Silvania. Silvania said that it wouldn´t work out for her to go to church this Sunday because she had to attend her boss´s birthday party on Saturday, and she wouldn´t have time to clean her house and do her laundry until Sunday. She works like crazy during the week in a variety of professions from hair doer to chef to working in a hospital to selling jewelry. We said we would come by Saturday morning and help her clean the house. She laughed and thought we were joking. We arrived on Saturday morning and both her and her husband were stunned. They were even more stunned by us being in work clothes, not white shirts and ties. I did all their dishes and cleaned their sink and cabinet. Elder Wilson cleaned the bathroom and washed the floor. Silvania did the laundry and Gilmar worked on the house (it is still under construction). They made us lunch because they felt bad. They were in church yesterday. Joy!

I did another companion exchange on Tuesday. It was hard, and I was glad to come back.

That´s all I have time for this week.

Elder Bodily.

Junho (JUNE)

Dear Everyone,

These days I ate a banana fresh from a tree. It was picked the day before, to be specific. It was...interesting. Remember that I´m not a big fan of bananas. It tasted like a normal banana mixed with the flavor of a pea plucked from the pod, fresh from the garden. The same member that has the banana tree on their property has sugar cane as well. She is going to give us sugar cane to suck on.

On Saturday, Elder Wilson and I were passing through the downtown district and talking with people on the street. One of them was of particular note. It went as follows.

Us: Hello! Good evening! How are you! We are...
Him: I´m in a hurry. Save it for next time.
Us: Just...
CRASH!!!

We turned around. Right behind us a motorcycle had rear-ended a bus. A bus!! Despite the racket, the bus was unharmed. Luckily, the man and woman on the motorcycle were not hurt, though the man hurt his wrist pretty bad and some of the groceries they were holding fell out on the ground. They weren´t going very fast, and they were wearing helmets. It was kind of interesting. It happened right right behind us. Oh. And the man we were trying to talk to got away.

I did two divisions this week. Elder Wilson had a training in Jardim da Penha, so I went to work with an Elder in the area of Jardim Limoeiro (Lime Tree Garden) with an Elder with only one and a half transfers on the mission. He was Brazilian, so I got to practice Portuguese for real. Understanding was difficult at times. It was nice to change things up. We met back up with our companions at 5 o´clock in the bus terminal in Carapina. Then we returned to Serra-Sede.

The second division, I stayed in Serra-Sede and the missionary from the neighboring ward, Laranjeiras, came to work with me. He arrived on the mission at the same time as Elder Wilson. He is American, from Provo. It was interesting to be the leader in the area, and say hi to people that recognized me even without Elder Wilson. Many people got really scared that Elder Wilson had been transferred. Remember, he is here almost seven months now, and virtually everyone is acquainted with him.

Elder Wilson said very randomly at one moment walking down the street this week: ´´Remember that one time when that ant flew in my eye and bit me? That was really awful.´´ I laughed at the randomness. You run out of things to talk about when you live with someone 24-7 and experience everything with them.

We have a baptism this week. She is the miracle girl. She is turning 18 years old this month. She was the girlfriend of our former investigator. She is pretty neat. She wants to be a missionary for real. This baptism will not fall thru like our last one.

Last night we had a neat experience. At the Integration/Missionary Meeting, instead of the normal and large group we typically have usually when things aren´t out of the ordinary, we had Elder Wilson, Alvino, Messias, Micaela, and I. In the house of Elizangela. Just us six. Yet, Alvino´s spiritual though was about unity. He touched on the fact that the presence of the spirit is more important than the number of people in a meeting. He shared that when we are edified and learn together, study together, and laugh together, we are truly unified. We had a very uplifting and edifying night.

That´s all. Tune in next time.
Elder Joshua Bodily