The Week

Well well well,

I played soccer with the zone and I scored some goals. I proved to my companion that I know how to play. He didn´t believe me.

We climbed the hill in Vitória and I took some absolutely gorgeous pictures of the landscape. Blue skies, bright sun, cool breeze, green hills, blue ocean, glimmering skyline. It almost didn´t seem like the same place as a year ago when it was foggyish, humid, and gray. I really think that Vitória is a neat place.

This week we had some challenges. The people we are teaching aren´t doing as well as we would like them to, so we are searching the whole day long for new people. On Sunday I went to pick up Joelma (mom) and Tailan (son) to walk with them to church. When I got there they were both sleeping. Only Joelma´s other son was home. I had to wake them both up. After 50 minutes of getting ready, Tailan decided he wouldn´t go. Then we walked to the bus stop and after 20 minutes we got to church, over an hour late. But, Joelma saw the baptism that the other Elders had, and she really liked it. Her baptismal date is for this Sunday.

Andressa spent the weekend with relatives out of town. We kept in touch by telephone, however, and it seems like all is well. Her baptismal date is marked for this Sunday as well. She already read 1 Nephi and all of the pamphlets that we have left until now. The only challenge is that she got a job now and it is going to be difficult to find her at home. Just in time for the baptism.

We had a funny experience. There is a member of the church here. She is kind of crazy and really funny. She invited us to come and teach her brother at her house. We went there, but her brother hadn´t arrived yet. She had lost her glasses in her house. After an hour searching for her glasses, she went to the store and bought a magnifying glass and was walking around everywhere holding the magnifying glass in front of her face. It was one of the funniest most random things ever. At first I thought she was joking, but she was not. Desperate, she asked us to pray with her to be able to find her glasses. We did, and that night she found her glasses. Too funny.

I did another division with the Elders in Cachoeiro. It was hot and difficult, and they are having lots of problems, but I think things are going to get better there.

Have a wondrous week,

Elder Bodily

Carnaval

Notícias:

This was the week of Carnaval! There were a lot of parties and drunk people and crazy groups around town. We aren´t working at night here. And we had to come to the ´´downtown´´ of Cariacica to send email because everything is still closed. This weekend everyone is on vacation.

We had one shining day of gladness this week. We met a neat lady who was already taught everything by the missionaries and that went to church four times and really liked it. We are going to try to help her pick up where she left off. Then at night we set baptismal dates with a mom and her two kids. It isn´t going to be easy, there are a lot of obstacles, but we are going to do our best.

We also are teaching a young adult named Andressa. She is really neat. She went to church and loved it and already has a testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. She is excited to read the Book of Mormon that we left with her yesterday. She is the niece of the wife of the Bishop. She is on fire spiritually.

Our Sunday was wild trying to pick up everyone and go by bus to church and meet with other in the terminal and everything high speed. Afterwards, almost no one was home in the afternoon. Then we had to go way out to the far end of Vitória to do a baptismal interview. 35 minutes by bus. The interview was with a nine year old girl, the daughter of a member. She knows more about the gospel and the commandments than 95% of the adults that I teach. I was stunned. By some wild miracle, a member saw us waiting at the bus stop and took us all the way home!! 20 minutes by car, without stopping and going.

Brasil is normal for me. Sometimes I forget that palm trees, beaches, city buses, Portuguese, and all things Brazilian weren´t part of my life before the mission.

My companion and I had a great conversation this week. We were at home early by President´s command (remember Carnaval?) and there was a giant party happening down on our street. We just chatted about life, about the mission, about our families, and we looked at a ton of mission photos that we have taken. It was cool. Both my companion and I have strong personalities and we are extremely different, but we are both smart enough to know how to overcome the annoying things and remain united.

Today we are going to climb the hill above downtown Vitória. I went there over a year ago in my first transfer. It is going to be awesome to go back. I sent photos the last time.

Have a wonderful week,

Elder Bodily

Busy!

Family and Friends,

Just so you understand the interesting role of zone leaders, i just spent 48 minutes sending information and receiving information from the mission leadership. I have less than 12 minutes to write this email. But I will type like crazy and take advantage of all those years of typing games in computer class.

So...we officially decided to move our work from where the missionaries have been working forever to another neighborhood. This new neighborhood is a little closer to our house, a little closer to the church, and the members there are excited to finally have the work of the missionaries in their area again. We had success in bringing four people to church yesterday, all from this new neighborhood.

Elder Bodily

Wild Week

Phew!

We had a pretty exhausting week! My companion and I did not have one day working together. Just Sunday! I participated in four different divisions. I worked in four different cities: Cariacica, Viana, Cachoeiro, and Serra. On top of that, we had Zone Leader Counsel in the mission home in Vitória. It was a lot of travelling and a lot of packing my loaded backpack around (toothbrush, shaver, deodorant, shorts, socks, flip-flops, scriptures, pamphlets, etc.)

Tuesday I worked with Elder Henrique from São Paulo. He is a district leader in Ala Estrelinha from our zone. I stayed in the area and we explored several neighborhoods visiting less-active members, old investigators, referrals, active members, etc. We climbed lots of hills and had a good time. Elder Henrique is really positive and talkative in a good way. He makes friends fast.

Wednesday we had the Zone Leader Council, and due to heavy traffic (we had to cross the bridge to Vitória and then pass through the downtown district) we almost arrived late. But, luckily, we arrived just in time for me to play the opening hymn on the piano in president´s 12th floor apartment with a panoramic window view of Vitória, Camburi Beach, and the Third Bridge. Gorgeous. The Council was great. Elder Anderson is a great assistant to the president. After the meeting and lunch, I went with the other assistant, Elder Lopes Silva, to his area on a division (in Serra). This is his last transfer. He was one of the two missionaries that were at the airport with President Pickett to greet me in the airport when I arrived. We walked a lot, had a lot of things fall through, but had a good meeting with some of the leadership of their ward and coordinated the missionary work being done there.

Thursday morning we took a 30 minute bus ride in a bus loaded with people to Cariacica, where we had a Zone Meeting in our chapel. The big and beautiful one. Elder Rocha and I passed information from the Zone Leader Council, gave trainings, set goals, and had a few games and trainings from other missionaries. It was a success. From there, I started a division with Elder D. Oliveira from São Paulo in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim. Cachoeiro is almost three hours by bus from Vitória. Elder D. Oliveira is pretty new. Elder Gneiting was his first companion! We went by bus and then we had a few lessons with their investigators who are preparing for baptism. I stayed the night there in their tiny little house and then we worked until 5pm in his area. Cachoeiro is infamous for being really hot and having no wind. I did not pass sunblock, and so I burned a lot. But, it was fun. Elder Rocha and I did not get back home until 10:30 at night. Exhausted.

Saturday morning we woke up and I went to Viana to do a division with Elder R. Santos, also from São Paulo. This is his FIRST transfer. His SECOND week. We had a neat day visiting a lot of referrals that he and his companion had gotten because they have a lot of the trust of the members. We had a really neat day climbing the hills and seeing the green countryside of Viana. At night, we ended our division in the bus terminal, and I went home completely tired.

Church was great, and then my companion and I talked about everything that happened in our area this week, since neither of us passed a day together in our area, and we got on the same page. It was a pretty busy week, but we feel like we accomplished a lot and that we are happy. Yesterday we visited someone that the missionaries in Vila Velha contacted on the street and he is really interested. A pastor that has been inactive in his church for about 20 years. He was very happily surprised to receive our visit and a Finding Faith in Christ dVD. He was skeptical that the missionaries would pass his address. Happiness!

Have a great week,

Elder Bodily