New Year and Such

Hello again.

 

Last week I was finished shopping, eating, and sending emails by this time and so I had time to exercise, take a short nap, and tidy up the apartment.  Today, it is already almost 1:00pm and I am not done with most of the things I need to do.  This is primarily because we were on the last computer slot today.  Last week we were first.  There are only three computers and there are 8 missionaries as well as the other people from the complex who want to use the free Internet on these computers.  I like being here in the clubhouse however, it is cozy with big couches.  I have been writing letters and I played a game of pool with a stranger.  I lost.  Both times.  Anyway.

 

We had some progress this week.  We taught Fatima and Luca several times.  Luca is helping out at home.  Fatima said that one day this week she came home exhausted, but to her surprise the house was all clean and he was there to surprise here and hug her!  He is ten years old, you see.  This is not regular ten year old behavior.  He said he greatly enjoyed doing it.  He is excited about church.  He brought his friend yesterday to church.  Fatima has also told us that he has been a lot happier in general since we have started teaching.  It's pretty miraculous especially when I can tell that it is not us that are making the difference.  Fatima had an absolutely great time coming to church and Luca really enjoyed Primary despite admitting boredom during Sacrament Meeting.  We had two confirmations (Tania & Edilberto--who were baptized two weeks ago) that I got to participate in.  Also, there was another Portuguese baptism.  A 21 year old named Isabella.  It was a great Sunday.  We had a record number of 47 at Sacrament Meeting!  Another baptism and Isabella's confirmation slated for next week.  The mission president also came for Sacrament Meeting and the baptism.  It's exciting to see such progress, especially after having exerted such incredible work and hours to keep the ball rolling.  It's a good feeling to be in a group of happy people, who despite having imperfect lives and multitudes of personal concerns, are united in their committment to follow God. 

 

In the news, Brazil inaugurated their first female president ever on New Years Day.  Hopefully she likes giving visas!

 

I had a delicious dinner with a member family that is worth making mention.  It was bowtie pasta with homemade alfredo sauce and real parmesan cheese sprinkled on top!  Lovely.  Simply lovely.  Mmm.  Also, perfectly steamed brocolli and delicious garlic bread.  And root beer floats for dessert!  The family had a lot of young children and they all wanted to play with us, so it was kind of reminescent of home.  The six-year-old especially reminded me of Jake.  He was crazy and funny and very hyper.  (He also ended up getting sent to his room before we left...you see, it is possible to be a little too hyper).

 

We had a New Missionary Training Meeting.  I am not exactly too new here anymore, but we flew into Georgia one week after the last such meeting.  It was nice to drive to Lilburn again.  The meeting was both spiritual and informative.  I also got to see one of the Athens missionaries.  Everyone sleeps on the way there and back except for me and the driver so it is beautifully peaceful, and I got even better views of downtown Atlanta because the weather was clearer than last time.  We drive right by a pair of buildings called the Concourse Corporate Center in Marietta that are kind of neat too.  We nickname the King and Queen buildings.  If you look it up you will see why.

 

I forgot to mention that we had a lesson with Fatima with a member of the Portuguese Group who is a native Brasilian.  That was especially awesome, because well, simply, a Brasilian woman can relate to another Brasilian woman better than can a nineteen-year-old missionary from the States can.  Plus, they became quick friends and the Sister was able to show Fatima around church and such.  When things actually work as a missionary it is just excellent.  Joy. 

 

 

We had dinner with a member family on New Years Eve.  They were really nice.  They fed us on what was probably my third day in Marietta as well.  They tried to make dinner especially cool in honor of New Years Eve.  We all wore party hats and had noisemakers, and we lit off some fun little fireworks on their driveway after eating and having a scriptural discussion.  We weren't allowed to proselyte the night of New Years Eve, so we came back to the apartment and I caught up on my journal writing.  I had plans to wake up just before midnight to briefly celebrate the official New Year, but the cell phone alarm that I set didn't go off.  This is because our phone is, hmm...how does one say it?  Ridiculous.  Yes, that's it.  But, in the end I was exhausted and got a good night of sleep that was uninterrupted.  That's the news.  We found a new Portuguese speaker and a new English speaker.  We have some appointments this week.  Things are looking well.  Onward.

 

It rained all day New Years.  I brought my umbrella around all day and had actually had fun in the rain.  It was unexpected. 

 

It seems like we meet a lot of people who are not very happy.  In general.  I hope that we can all find time to appreicate, embrace, and enjoy life ACTIVELY in this new year.  It's been clearer than ever to me here on a mission that happiness must be sought out!  It doesn't come in consequence of laziness, selfishness, or indifference.  Sit on the couch with some hot cocoa and calm piano melodies, have a conversation with someone you love, really spend some time thinking about someone you could help out and how.  Then do it.  Be creative.  Mix things up and have a good time with life.  And don't forget God in the process.  He's the one who wants us to be most happy of all, and has more than shown us how.  Happy new year.  For real.  Get out there and make it happen! 

 

Tchau folks,

Elder JOSHUA BODILY

Christmastime in the City

Joshua's "roomies"...this threesome are a companionship,
and Joshua's two companions live in another apartment with the
two english-speaking elders.

Feliz Natal!

Last Tuesday was our Mission Christmas Conference.  We had a nice collection of talks from the mission presidency and some musical numbers.  Then we had a lunch catered by On the Border.  Afterwards, we had a performance from our mission president on the bagpipes.  And then we broke two pinatas.  It was kind of like a conglomeration of culture for Christmas.  <-- alliteration

We then did a white elephant gift exchange.  I gave a $5 gift card to WalMart and an astoundingly irritating music-playing tie (which I had received two days before from a member, and which I promptly re-gifted at first chance).  I received a toy dinosaur.  Interesting...better than the ancient pair of sneakers with a smell like unto a long-dead animal that the Elder two down from me got.  I was jealous of the bright blue waist-length wig another Elder was privileged with.  It was fun.  I spent most of my time at the conference with the Elders and Sisters with whom I worked in Athens.  It was good to see them again and be in their company.  Also, on the way to the conference, I caught glimpses of downtown Atlanta (our area is on the border of the Atlanta North mission and the Atlanta mission).  That was exciting.

An anonymous member gave each companionship in our zone $100 to use for service before the end of the year.  So, on Wednesday Elders McGregor and Gneiting went with me to Kroger where we bought everything to make an Italian Sausage Soup (which recipe I brought with me) for the single mom we are teaching who I mentioned last email.  Her name is Fatima [FA-chee-muh].  Her sons are Luca (10) and Rafael (2).  She works long hours and then has to come home and fix dinner, which often prevents her from doing anything with her children, or for that matter much else.  So, we cooked that up-- sausage, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, in a delicious beef broth.  We also cooked rolls.  It was fun.  I was the only one who could peel a potato in less than a minute.  I was ashamed of my fellow Idahoan, Elder Gneiting.  To his credit, he specializes in growing them, I simply peel and eat them.  I can't complain.  We delivered it to Luca in the late afternoon.  Turns out on our next visit that she was very appreciative of the meal and that it actually tasted good (and truth, when she answered the door, she had half a roll in her hand and was chewing a bite of it).  She said that it had been a long day and she was especially un-excited to come home at 8pm after 12 hours and cook something.  Instead, her and her sons warmed the food and then played games before going to bed.  That was a cool experience!

The man who was baptized last week wants to receive the Priesthood, so that will probably happen this coming Sunday, which is exciting.  The main barrier we are facing before becoming an official Portuguese branch is the number of Priesthood holders.  Good news.

We spent some time in a Brazilian bakery and found some Portuguese-speakers who are interested in hearing from us.  We also got to eat these tasty chicken and cheese dumpling type things whose name I forget...let me go ask Elder McGregor.  He doesn't recall either.  Anyway, that and papaya juice.  Yum.

Then came Christmas Eve.  We spent three and a half hours in the morning raking leaves for a service project.  It was very pleasant weather.  I wore a light jacket and wasn't cold, nor did I sweat.  We got a lot of work done.  Our ward mission leader then treated us to lunch at Subway where I ate my customary Meatball Marinara sandwich.  Delicious.  We went and bought needed items for Christmas gifts for some of our investigators at WalMart (madhouse to the max) and then we wrapped them.  We doorbell ditched them anonymously at their houses.  Then a member family had us for dinner and we had a nice program where we all played Christmas songs on chimes.  (Like wind chimes but all separate.  Each chime was numbered, and the order of the numbers was on sheets of paper.  We had to work together to hit our notes in the right order, in accordance with the rhythm and melody of the songs.)  Then they asked me to play some hymns on the piano, and then we went home.  The family, in whose house we were visiting, has no more kids at home.  Their youngest is on a mission right now in Alaska.  There were a couple other members they had invited.  It was a very nice day.

Christmas Day.  We opened packages and gifts.  Excitement.  I got among other things, a sweater, gloves, a calendar, a memory card reader, lots and lots of fabulous CHOCOLATE, new pens, a tie, popcorn, etc etc.  Fun stuff.  Then five of us went caroling at a Rest Home.  I played the piano.  The other four Elders attempted to sing.  Let's say that I just smiled and felt happy as we shared hymns as best we could, which wasn't very musically impressive, but was heartfelt and warming.  We visited with some of the residents for a time before we departed.  We then visited a member of the English ward whose wife died several months ago, who lives alone.  We brought him gifts and chatted with him.  Next, we went to a different member's home to Skype home to our families!  That was exciting and enjoyable for all of us. 

The member and their family provided us an awesome Christmas dinner.  We then talked, ate desserts, and held a massive ping pong tournament which spanned about five hours.  I took third place among the eight Elders and the ten family members.  It was fun and comfortable.  Round about 1 o'clock in the afternoon it started snowing (the first time it has snowed in Atlanta on Christmas since 1993).  The remarkable thing is that it stuck to the ground and accumulated two inches!  It was the first time that measurable snow has been on the ground on Chrismas in Atlanta since 1882!!!  Over one hundred years since the last white Christmas in Atlanta.  I saw it!  The snow is still, in large measure on the ground.  It is chilly again outside.

Yesterday I wore my new sweater, my coat, my new gloves, my suit, pajama pants under my slacks, and borrowed a scarf from Elder Mundt and was comfortable though.  We had a really powerful lesson with Fatima last night.  It was quite a mind-boggling, busy, hodge-podge of a week, but I've come out alive, and happier than before.  Easier said than done.  A special thanks to all those who sent me Christmas cards and gifts.  I am still glowing with gratitude.  Thank you for your love and support, all.  Have a delightful New Year! 

Tchau e Feliz Ano Novo,

Elder JOSHUA BODILY

Onward and Upward!

Hello All.

As I hoped, things are slowly improving here and I am feeling more comfortable as time passes.  I struggle with major change, it seems.  I can't believe that Christmas is in five days!  This should be an interesting week.  Today is preparation day, tomorrow we have a mission-wide Christmas Conference in Lilburn, and on Christmas we have been invited to spend the day with a member family to celebrate (we aren't allowed to work on Christmas unless someone makes a specific appointment with us--which, surprise, hasn't happened for Christmas Day yet).

Yesterday, the first two Portuguese Group baptisms took place.  We had a special Christmas sacrament meeting that went for 90 minutes (English and Portuguese combined--Elder McGregor interpreting via neat wireless headsets for the Portuguese).  Directly after the sacrament meeting, we had the baptismal service.  I got to play the piano.  Then there were talks and then they were baptized!  The Elder who taught them, and by whom they wanted to be baptized was transferred to another area (about 10 miles away) the same time I was transferred here, but they had permission to drive over and for him to do the baptism.  However, their car had a flat when they pulled out in the morning (30 minutes until sacrament meeting was starting)!  So, Elder Bl and I had to jump in the van and rescue them.  We were luckily only about 10 minutes late.  It was hectic, but all worked out.  The baptismal service itself was really an excellent and spirtual experience.  And the entirety of the baptismal service was in Portuguese.  Elder McGregor, Elder Gneiting, and I dropped by to visit with them and teach them again last night and they both were still glowing from the experience.  They are really fantastic individuals. 

Being in this area is quite interesting because of our sharing the van.  Also, we live on the extreme edge of our area, far from any Portuguese speakers.  So...for instance on Wednesday, there was a training meeting for the leaders of the mission, so Elder Mu and Elder Bl (English) from our area took the van to Lilburn for the day.  We were more or less stranded.  We kept busy doing some tedious map work that has been needed for a long time, and doing studies, but it was hard.  We walked for twenty minutes one way to try and visit the nearest Portuguese speaker we are teaching, but they didn't answer their phone or answer their door.  Elder Gneiting went with the other English Elder on the two bikes we have to try to get to their appointments (all far from home, aka five-ish miles).  They got a flat tire three miles out.  It was a bizarre gaffe of a day.  Sadly, we are very short on allotted miles this week as well.  And since we are driving to Lilburn and back tomorrow, we will be even more strapped for car use until January when we get more miles.  Fun stuff.

The Paper Mill Ward had their Christmas Party on Saturday, so we got to attend.  That is the third Christmas Party in three weeks for me!  It had a nice dinner and some musical performances.  I am starting to recognize faces and remember names again.  One thing that is very difficult about being a missionary is remembering names simply because you have all kinds of interaction with hundreds of people each day.  It requires real effort.

We massively cleaned the apartment last week and so, fortunately, the roaches have been less frequent visitors.  We still set aside a special giant wooden spoon with which we exterminate any that we see.  The weather has also been letting up lately.  The pattern seems to be super cold snap, followed by a half week of chilly but mild weather.  The pool at our apartment complex froze over (I have no idea why on earth they haven't drained it).

I have been very grateful for the letters that have been sent to me.  Especially last week. 

A lot of the members are very kind to us here.  Apparently the Relief Society put on a food drive for us missionaries and delivered what is, essentially, a minivan full of food- cereal, granola bars, candy, fruits, cans of a variety of soups, and all manner of non-perishable foods.  Plus razors, toothbrushes, body wash, and shampoos.  And some random postcards.  We are going to have a massive dividing up party tonight to allot it all among us. 

I have had something re-emphasized to me this week.  Life is simply challenging.  It demands a lot from us, and to be successful one must do much more than just keep up with the challenges.  You have to keep up and also press forward, learning, growing, and improving despite circumstance.  We are teaching a single mom with two sons-- one is two years old and is super hyper and struggles with anyone watching him except for his one babysitter, who just moved back to Brazil.  The mom can scarcely work and sleep, let alone find time for recreation, free time, or time with her children.  A member family we had dinner with just lost their 3 year old son to cancer after a lengthy struggle.  In other words, the challenges of life abound.  Be grateful for what we have, what we enjoy, and always press forward to become better people in life.  Help others.  Face fears, and trust God.  No cliff is insurmountable, no gorge impassable, no dark too dark to be escaped.  When we put ourselves where we know we should be and do what we know we should be doing things fall into place. 

Go out of your way to enjoy Christmas!  I miss everyone!  Até próximo!

Feliz Natal,

Elder JOSHUA BODILY

Wintertime...and Lots of Change

Bom dia todos.

 

Things have been a changing here in Georgia.  I was transferred to the Paper Mill Ward in Marietta, Georgia.  The Paper Mill area has a concentration of Brazilian Americans, many of whom are here in the States temporarily to work, and hence speak very limited English if any at all.  The other four visa waiters were here last transfer.  We actually have permission from both mission presidents to cross from our mission (Georgia Atlanta North) to the Georgia Atlanta mission if it is necessary to find Portuguese speakers.  We haven't done that since I've been here.  Our goal, basically is to establish a branch of Portuguese speakers.  Right now it is called the "Paper Mill Portuguese Group".  Yesterday I attended.  It consists of sacrament meeting and a sunday school class.  All in the Relief Society room of the Paper Mill Ward's building.  I played the piano because the only other person that plays is a member who is only semi-comfortable playing hymns.  It was a group of about 30, including us six Portuguese missionaries. 

 

Which brings me to another point.  We don't really have companionships.  We are assigned to be a group of six by the mission president.  We have decided to work in two threesomes.  Remember, there are four visa waiters and two missionaries actually assigned to this mission. 

 

Here's the break down:

Elder Mu:  He has been on his mission for about 20 months.  He spent all of it up till three months ago as a Spanish missionary, but was changed to a Portuguese missionary a few months ago when he was transferred here to Paper Mill.  District leader (us six Portuguese are our own district).  From Vegas.

 

Elder McGregor: He was origianally called to the Brasil Rio de Janeiro Mission.  He attended the Sao Paulo MTC and spent eight months in Rio.  He was forced home by unfortunate circumstances, spent several months back at home, and is now finishing his mission here.  He is the best Portuguese speaker among all of us.  From Sacramento.

 

Elder Gneiting:  Remember this name?  We were roommates in the MTC, he flew on the plane with me to Georgia.  He was in Winder, GA until this transfer.  Visa waiter headed to Vitoria, Brasil as am I.  From Aberdeen, Idaho.

 

Elder Ni:  Also on the plane with Elder Gneiting and I, another visa waiter.  He is already 21.  From South Jordan, UT.

 

Elder Vi:  A native Brasilian from Recife.  He is called to the England London Portuguese speaking mission, but needs a visa first.  So, I guess technically he is the best Portuguese speaker among all of us.  But he speaks English all the time, because he needs to learn it to survive in London.  He is pretty good.

 

The threesomes as of this time are Elder McGregor, Elder Gneiting, and I.  Then the other three.  There are two English speaking Elders in the apartment complex with us.  We have two apartments.  Four people each.  I actually live with the other Portuguese threesome.  The English and my "companions" live in the other.  It is weird.

 

It has been interesting, but frankly, it has been brutally difficult already.  It is massively difficult to find the Portuguese speakers, and to find them home.  We scour apartment complexes.  Those Brazilians we talk to forget about appointments easily.  We find more interested English speakers to teach than Portuguese, but we have to "hand them over" for lack of a better term to the English Elders to teach.  Suffice it to say, the English Elders see great benefits from this assistance.  They just baptized and confirmed two people this weekend.  Since the Portuguese speakers have been here (around about June) there have been no baptisms for the Portuguese Group.  But, there are two very very solid baptisms coming up on Sunday.  They have been being taught since September.  We are going to teach them again tonight.  They are a couple, and are amazing folks.  Then we have another baptism coming up the week after.  But, those are the result of the former Elders' work.  We are excited though.  I haven't been to a baptism since being here. 

 

It is cold cold cold here.  It's snowing outside right now.  I will be buying some warm clothes today.  Frigid.

 

We had our Portuguese Group Christmas Party.  It was a lot of fun.  I talked to a lot of native Brazilians.  Some of whom are only family of those in the Group who are up here to be with family.  They actually live in Brasil.  That was cool, because I was talking (in Portuguese, mind you) with real Brazilians.  It was in the home of a member of the high council in the stake we are in who served his mission in Brasil.  Brasilian cuisine and desserts were awesome as well.  The members of the Group are very spread out though.  We had to drive forty minutes to get to the Christmas Party.  The nearest members to us live a twenty minute drive down the freeway.  Things are very elementary right now.  It's interesting.

 

President Alba, the first counselor in the Mission Presidency lives in the Paper Mill Ward.  Strange because President Monsen, the second counselor in the Mission Presidency lived in my last ward (Athens 2nd).  We ate dinner with President Alba last night.  He is really nice and is actually going to be flying to Boise for the Humanitarian Bowl and to visit family this weekend.  Lucky him.  It was great to be in a nice warm home all decorated for Christmas with people to chat with.

 

Elder Gneiting and I had to go out tracting (knocking doors searching for Portuguse people) by ourselves for two hours yesterday).  Elders McGregor and Elder Mu.  were teaching the lady that is getting baptized a week from Sunday.  So here we are, both only with three months since starting at the MTC, with nine weeks of Portuguese training behind us and most recently four months of English speaking service all alone trying to speak Portuguese.  Some people laughed at us after we left, we could hear them though the door.  Our Portuguese on the doorstep needs some work, you might say.  IT was scary, because Elder Gneiting knows even less than I do, so I was basically in charge.  It was hard.  No one let us in to teach.  We did set up an appointment with a Brazilian for Saturday.  Also, we found two interested English speakers.  Just really scary to be by ourselves.  We haven't even been in the mission for six weeks yet.

 

So, in other words.  Things are extremely difficult here.  It is cool to see the Portuguese group, which seems to be growing slowly.  It is freezing.  I am very homesick for Athens and for Elders Mortenson and Arnett.  While Elders Gneiting and McGregor and I get along alright, we just haven't been hitting it off as well as any of my previous companions.  Oh, and there are roaches in our apartment.  But things really are going okay.  It's been a long five days.  I feel like I've been in Paper Mill for an eternity already.  I hope everyone is enjoying their December especially as school gets out and Christmas comes closer.  Keep pressing forward.

 

Love,

Elder JOSHUA BODILY

Time for a TRANSFER!

Greetings Friends.  I hope you are enjoying the Christmas season.

Things are, as usual, pretty crazy here.  Yesterday transfer calls came in.  Transfer calls inform all Elders who will be changing areas and companions that they need to pack and be ready to attend the transfer meeting at the mission office to swap companions and then be taken to their new areas.  Transfers happen every six weeks.  The last one was on October 26 before I had arrived in Georgia.  As of Wednesday the 8th I will have been on my mission for three months.  That is one eighth already over!  Hard to believe.  However, there is progress on the visa.  I feel my prediction of being in Brazil by early to mid January is going to be just about right on.  The times they are a changin'.

On Tuesday, the rain came down.  It was incredible.  It came down all afternoon and into the night.  It flooded the freeways (thank you very much autumn leaves, you are grey and ugly and have overstayed your welcome), and drenched everything.  For the most part we had the opportunity to stay out of it, but we had to knock doors for an hour and a half just after dinner.  I was wearing a "waterproof" rain coat that another missionary lent me.  The rain coat is a fraud.  I was soaked.  The rule in this mission is that you must wear a suit jacket if you are going to wear a rain or winter jacket.  My fraudulent raincoat was soaked, my suit was soaked, and all the way down to my skin was drenched.  My planner was completely water-logged.  I did a really good job of keeping the Book of Mormon I was holding dry by painstakingly sheltering it from the rain (I don't know how with a drenched coat).  Then right before we got back to the car I tripped, and though I didn't fall down, I dropped my Book of Mormon in a puddle.  It sounds dreary and like I'm complaining, but it was actually very fun.  The whole situation was pretty laughable and I felt like a little kid dancing in puddles and walking in the rain.  I laughed about the book, though of course, scripture deserves to be treated better if possible (it was not possible Tuesday night.)

Lake by Athens, GA apartment

In front of Provo, Utah temple

With mission flag in front of Provo, Utah temple

We finished helping the people move who we helped last week.  They are off to Florida.  We also helped again at the independent living center.  This time they finished the Christmas decor, so part of our time was spent washing the bus they have to be in the Christmas parade happening the next day.  Yes, on December 3 I was outside washing a bus in short sleeves.  Georgia is a little warmer than Idaho. 

There is a restaurant chain down here that is called Waffle House.  It is on every corner it seems.  One of the members took us out there, and it was delicious.  That's all about that I guess.  I was pleasantly surprised.  It is kind of like a cheap version of IHOP.  Yum.

On Wednesday I had the chance to go on exchange with the Spanish Elders again.  We actually had three solid teaching appointments and although they again carried the bulk of the lessons, I was able to understand and contribute.  We met a man from Ecuador who is a business man and he told us all about how he is going to re-model his home next year and all of the bargain-hunting he has been doing at every store.  He is an expert comparison shopper.  We met two women, sisters, who were really interested in the Book of Mormon and we read some passages with them in Spanish and had a good discussion with them.  It was a long day, but really rewarding.

Remember that investigator I wrote about last week.  He committed to live the Word of Wisdom and made much other progress this week.  But.  But then he didn't come to church and he missed the Ward Christmas Party.  Even though he said he would be coming to both and we called to remind and everything.  So, we visited him Sunday afternoon.  Turns out, he is tired of his life here in Athens and so he is packing up his stuff (he was almost done packing) and was going to move.  He doesn't even have any idea where he is going other than "south".  So, he is leaving tomorrow.  Bang.  We told him how to find missionaries where he is going, but now we are without any serious investigators here in Athens 2nd.  I wish we could have helped him more.

Oh, remember transfer calls from up above?  I guess I will end the suspenseful waiting now.  I am going to be transferred, so I have to pack all my things.  We don't find out where I'm going or who I will be with until Wednesday morning.  So I am sad in a nostalgic kind of way.  I really will miss Elders Mortenson and Arnett. They will be staying in Athens 2nd.  I like our apartment and our area, and I am just starting to feel at home in the ward.  On the other hand, I am very excited and curious about where I will be in the next few days.  You'll find out next week.

Our Ward Christmas Party was interesting.  Remember the 50ish year old lady who went teaching with us a couple weeks back in the week I titled "kidneys by the way"?  She was chosen to lead some of the kids in some Christmas carols just as side entertainment for rowdy children.  She had a microphone, and she sang really loud, but she was super off tune and did NOT know the words to almost any songs so she kept apologizing and telling the pianist to start over.  That was probably the highlight of the party, for me and probably me only.  She is just super hilarious.  The theme was Christmas Around the World so people brought in foreign dishes from places they had either lived before or been to on missions.  There was Hawaii, Philippines, Vietnam, Guatemala, and of course Brazil.  That was fun.  I had some guarana.  Yum.

We had a mission wide meeting.  We learned about mormon.org and all of the features so that we can refer interested people to specific parts of the website rather than just a vague "go to mormon.org".  We are also required to make profiles to put up on the website, so we have been working on those.  Mormon.org basically explains all the beliefs of the church, has a vast array of profiles from members of the church with their testimonies and personal convictions.  It is actually really neat, even for members.

That's about all.  The Christmas Devotional last night was cool, but I only got to hear about one half because there were technical difficulties at the chapel we were watching it at.  And throughout the second half it kept freezing.  That was nice though.  I love the Christmas Devotional.  I believe that's all the most notable events.  We'll see where I get put on Wednesday.  Have a happy week.

Elder JOSHUA BODILY

Wood Floors, Turkey, and an Independent Living Complex

Hello All.  Hope your holiday was fabulous.

This has been a looong week.  We found a new investigator with whom we have taught two lessons and who came to church yesterday.  He seemed to enjoy it, though he arrived forty-five minutes late and was more or less confused throughout the Sunday School lesson on temples.  He wants to quit smoking and agreed to a baptismal date early in January.  He has a long way to go, but I think if things continue as they are going now, he will surely succeed in being baptized.  You don't realize how much goes on in church that would be confusing to someone new-- terms and vocabulary (quorum, relief society, Rameumptom, etc), topics of discussion (home teaching, etc).  We answered a lot of questions.  On the other hand, we just got a call from a nice woman we've met with a few times--and with whom things seemed to be going really well--saying that she is no longer interested in meeting with us.  Ups and downs.

We had the chance to help a family in our ward pack up most of their heavy furniture into a U-Haul.  We also helped to set up decorations at the Iris Place, a large complex for independent living.  We have been visiting an older woman who is a member of the Church who just recently moved there from across Atlanta.  She is lonely, but we were able to get her a ride to church yesterday and introduce her to her new ward.  She found some people she knew from when she used to live in Athens about 40ish years ago.  It was really neat to see her enjoying herself. 

We went on exchanges with the Elders in Elberton, Georgia and Washington, Georgia.  These towns are tiny.  Tiny.  They are both about forty minutes from Athens, which is about an hour from Atlanta, so they are not even technically suburbs.  Just blips.  We worked with the Elders there and stayed the night in Washington.  The apartment they have there is actually above a flower shop called Miss Fancy Plants.  That name made me laugh.  A lot.  I took a picture of myself by the sign.  We had to sleep on their hardwood floors.  Not comfy.  Both towns were quaint, historic, and interesting.  However, a good percentage of the residents living in both areas are in very poor living conditions.  I visited some folks in extremely humble circumstances including one man who just got electricity in his mobile home again after over a year since losing his job.  He just received a disability check which allowed him to afford electricity.  I am doubly grateful for my blessings now as well as grateful to be working in Athens.

We have been "kicked out" of several neighborhoods.  One angry person just puts their foot down and demands we leave and then follows us to our car.  The pattern is remarkably uniform.  Usually someone comes out and tells us that there have been a lot of break-ins in the last few weeks in their neighborhood and they don't want strangers walking around.  People get mad at us for soliciting too, although--despite our admittedly similar work--we are doing ANYTHING but soliciting.  Some folks just aren't very friendly.  The sad thing is, before we are forced out we find others who are open to our message.  Oh well, it makes things exciting.

Thanksgiving was okay.  I chose not to participate in the Turkey Bowl that the two wards in Athens put on.  Pretty much all of the missionaries participated except Elder Mortenson and I.  He passed his kidney stone the evening of Thanksgiving you see.  I had a premonition of being injured and being kept from Brasil if my visa came, so I played it safe.  Then we ate Thanksgiving with three different families in the ward.  It was a little awkward, and the food was not all delicious.  However, I was fortunate.  The foods were pretty traditional.  I started eating what they called green bean casserole and was surprised that I liked it until with horror I spotted a piece of mushroom in it and realized that green bean casserole is made with cream of mushroom soup.  Of course I finished it, but it wasn't as yummy after that.  We had some good conversations with different people.  One sadness, though! There were no candied yams!  And no one served corn of any kind!  Lamentations!

On Saturday night was the final football game for the University of Georgia.  All the Athens missionaries got together nearby the stadium because we are discouraged from contacting people during the game.  I must explain.  These people are obsessed with their football.  All across the city and in most of the surrounding areas well over 50 percent of homes have little ceramic bulldogs with red shirts.  That is the Georgia mascot, you see.  Few if any are interested, and many are annoyed when we try to work during the games.  So anyway, we were on a road on the west side of the stadium and we could almost see in.  We got to see the football shoot up into the air on kickoffs and such.  The game was against their rival Georgia Tech from Atlanta, so the fans were out in force.  It was neat.  We took pictures and when we left the score was 14-0 Georgia but I understand that although Georgia ended up winning, it was a close call.

We got to teach early morning seminary this morning.  That was an...interesting experience.  After their opening song and prayer we only had to teach for thirty minutes.  It was hard to teach very drowsy teens who are just so thrilled to be back at the grind after a whole week off.  We made them close their eyes and hold out their hands.  We smeared peanut butter over each person's hand.  This was an object lesson for forgiveness and sin.  I would be interested to hear what they report to their teacher when he gets back into town.
I am not disappointed to be in Georgia.  I am enjoying things here most of the time.  I am happy to feel cool temperatures, have hot showers, and understand the language 100% (except when you are talking to someone in an independent living complex and their top teeth literally fall out, yes this happened to me) for as long as I can.  My companions are still nice.  I am excited to go to Brasil eventually, but for now I am content. 

I love your letters!  They always make me super happy!  I appreciate those of you who take that effort on my behalf!  I am in the process of writing back to everyone! 

Have a lovely week,
Elder JOSHUA BODILY

Kidneys...By the Way

Hello Everyone.

Another week has passed and it has been an adventurous one.  I got to go on splits with the Elders who work the University of Georgia campus.  Sadly, it was on a day off from school so virtually nobody was on campus.  It is a really big campus and pretty nice.  That was fun.  Got to see the stadium which seats 92,000 where Idaho State University played Georgia a few weeks ago.

Elder Arnett and Elder Mortenson went to a Leadership Training in Lilburn two days in a row last week which meant that I was left behind in Athens.  It ended up that one of the four Spanish Elders was assigned to go to the meeting too, so I took his spot.  We were on bicycles.  Yay, right?  And it was raining the first day.  So, imagine me on my first day of bicycling, wearing a rain coat that is too big lent to me from the mission home's closet, riding down the white line of a road with cars going by as it rains, I am sweating, and I am humming Let Us All Press On.  Quite a picture.  The weather got really nice within a few hours though.  The biking was nice, but when we would bike somewhere for an appointment and no one was home (this happened several times) it was especially painful.

I got to exercise my Spanish skills, you see.  The Elder I was with entered the MTC in April, so while he is definitely comfortable with Spanish, he wasn't an expert.  This put on some pressure.  Most of the people we visited with and talked to spoke only Spanish.  It went really well though.  I still spoke a Portuguese/Spanish jumble, but by the second day I was more or less fully in Spanish mode.  It was a very challenging, very engaging two days. 

We taught a fabulous first lesson to a woman named Sharon.  She had LDS friends several years ago that she worked for.  She was happy to see us when we knocked on her door.  She even offered to make us lunch when we came back for our appointment.  I am very interested to see what happens with her.  She is out of town for the holiday this week so our next visit will be a week from today.  It was very nice to finally sit down and teach a lesson since we have had to be focusing so heavily on simply finding people to teach for so long.  Very happy about this.

John Bytheway came and gave presentations this last weekend in Lilburn.  Youth from all the stakes in the mission were invited (President King organized the event) and all of the missionaries were also invited.  So on Saturday morning all of the missionaries in Athens (13 of us) piled into a 15 passenger van.  Two members (who owned the van) drove us to Lilburn.  It was a fun trip.  There are some excellent missionaries here in the area.  John Bytheway gave a very nice talk to us missionaries alone and then we had a pizza lunch followed by the hour and a half presentation to the youth.  It was fun to break routine.  I got to shake his hand too in case anyone cares. 

Then the drama began.  Elder Mortenson started experiencing incredible pain in his lower left back.  He was in tears, we had to stop at a gas station and let him walk around.  We gave him a blessing in the van.  He was really really distraught.  So we dropped him off in the emergency room with Elder Arnett when we arrived back in Athens.  I went back to apartment complex and retreived our car and I carpooled with the Spanish Elders so they could drop me off with our car and then they all drove off in their car.  That didn't make sense, but it's beside the point.  I got there and he was still waiting for treatment (EMERGENCY room, yeah right), but the pain had subsided. 

They gave him an IV, and pain meds (which made him considerably loopy), then took him to get a CATSCAN.  Turns out, he has a kidney stone in his left kidney.  This entire process took about 3 hours.  Then we left the hospital, Elder Arnett driving (because Elder Mortenson's pain meds are narcotics and made him crazy and he would fail a DUI test if he had to take one).  We got his prescription filled and went home for dinner.  It was a wild day.  He is still waiting for the stone to pass.  Still on the medication whenever it starts to hurt him.

Elder Mortenson and I had the chance to go out one night and do work with a member while Elder Arnett went down to a suburb of Athens with anther member to teach a lesson.  Turns out the Sister we were with is one of the funniest people on the planet.  We were in her car.  She is about 50 years old and lives alone.  We visited four different people with her (two of them were scheduled appointments) but they all fell through.  So we were driving all over town with her.  For instance, there was a road we were on with four speed bumps.  Every time, her poor little car would scrape them no matter how slowly we traversed them.  She laughed so hard every time it scraped.  We went so slow over one that we stopped moving before we rolled over it.  She kept saying "I am a looooww rider" and cackling.  After we cleared all the bumps she said "I'm going to have dents for days under my car!".  She also said hilarious things like "Oh, and my oldest son is Pentecostal.  Yeah, he is kind of way out there.  Oh well, you win some and you lose some."  Followed by cackling.  So basically we were laughing all night with her though we ended up, sadly, without much that actually worked out.  However, we returned to one of the homes where we had an appointment earlier that had fallen through on the way back to the Sister's house.  We found them home, re-scheduled, and found out that the Sister we were with used to work with the lady with whom we'd had the appointment and they liked each other.  It was kind of cool and made the night worth it I think.

I saw Elder Gneiting (the one I traveled down here with who was my MTC roommate) at the John Bytheway event.  We are so excited to be here.  It has been a long two weeks.  Yet is has been amazing.  What a whirlwind.  Thanks to those who have written!  It is a blessing!

Have a fantastic week.

Elder JOSHUA BODILY

A Week in Georgia

Hey y'all.                                                                                                                                                              Monday, November 15, 2010

After arriving at 3:00 pm on preparation day last week (Monday) I had to wait until this Monday to finally email.  So here it is.  There is lots of news, as you could probably imagine.
First.  Five facts about Georgia.

     1.  People are really serious about church here.  There are more churches here than in Utah.  I had read that about the South (more churches per capita than anywhere in the USA, but only now do I believe it.  Lots of variety in belief, lots of passionate believers.
     2.  People use pine needles instead of bark.  Yes, pine needles.  And not just here and there.  I haven't seen any bark.  Just pine needles.  This whole town could go up in flames because it is decorated with tinder.
     3.  Fire hydrants here are metallic silver with neon green tops.  Interesting.
     4.  The autumn weather here is absolutely gorgeous.  It has literally been between 60 and 75 degrees this entire week.  Today was the first day that it rained.  A light drizzle, but still not cold outside.  Beautiful autumn leaves on all the trees.
     5.  People really do say "y'all" as much as you think they do.  True.  Its not "How are you" or "How are ya?"  It's always always "How're y'all?"  And it's possessive too.  As in "How was y'all's dinner?"  Also true.  No exagerration.
                I am in Athens, Georgia home of the University of Georgia.  I am serving in the Athens 2nd Ward, which is essentially the west half of town.  It is a really pretty area.  It never occurred to me, but Georgia is mostly full of trees.  Deciduous style.  In those places where the forest has not been cleared away, it is so thick that I don't think you could walk through it and if you did, it would rip your clothes and scratch you up.  They aren't really big trees in height or width, there are just a lot of them.
                I am in a threesome because we came in on week two of a transfer.  My companions are Elder Mortenson and Elder Arnett.  Let's just start by saying that I have so far been immensely blessed in the category of companions.  All three of my companions have been aces so far.
                Elder Mortenson is the senior.  He has been out fifteen months, he is from Lindon, Utah.  He crochets.  He has made three beanies already this week.  He is teaching Elder Arnett and I how to do it.  (He is making them for Christmas gifts for his family, you see.)  He is a self-described drama queen.  Basically, he is absolutely hilarious.  At the same time, he is very motivated and dedicated to the work we are out here to do.  He has an excellent old lady voice and tells good stories.  He plays piano quite well and is super good at making sure we are working effectively, but also having a good time while doing it.
                Elder Arnett is a little quieter like me.  He has six months in the mission.  He went to the MTC the week I got my call letter...weird to think about.  He is from Gilbert, Arizona.  He likes singing, but not as much as Elder Anderson.  He is very nice and very level-headed.  I enjoy being around him.  Which is probably a positive thing seeing as we have to live together.  I am very very happy with my companions.  We have a car with 1500 miles a month because Elders Mortenson and Arnett are zone leaders.
                We live in an apartment on the second floor.  It has two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and laundry room, and bathroom.  It is a little bigger than my Wyview apartment.  Very nice.  Has a tiny balcony overlooking a gorgeous parking lot.  Love it.  Actually, it is in a very pretty area.  There are a lot of trees surrounding the complex, and in order to get to the apartment you have to go through a gate (type in a code and all that) and then drive around a small lake that Elder Arnett calls Walden Pond.  It is beautiful.  We went running a couple mornings ago--after I persuaded and convinced both of them to do it.  We ran past the lake and it was all steamy and awesome.  They never want to go running again though.  It's okay, it's quite chill in the morning time.
                I flew from SLC to Dallas to Atlanta.  I sat next a lady while waiting at the gate to board who, with her husband, owns the Tupperware franchise.  She was quite an interesting character.  I sat next to a really nice but long-winded LDS lady on the flight to Dallas.  I had an aisle seat.  On the back row.  And the window in our aisle had a perfect view of the jet engine.  I got to chat with folks waiting to enter the lavatory, however.  Then we had a fast layover in Dallas where we ate lunch and tried to use the pay phones, but the first minute cost six dollars in change and a quarter every minute after that and none of us had that much change.  So...that was a little disappointing.  The flight to Atlanta was not full, though all the window seats were full.  I had a middle seat next to two of the missionaries I was travelling with.  One was Elder Gneiting who was my roommate at the MTC.  One was Elder Nickel from my branch.  The other was some other Elder who is waiting for a visa to...get this.  PARIS.  He is the first French speaking Elder to serve in Atlanta so far as the mission president was aware.
                We met President King at the airport after searching for about twenty minutes.  He is an awesome individual and yes, his wife is Michelle King the famous KSL 5 News Anchor for any of you familiar with Salt Lake City area news anchors.  The assistants to the president took us out to dinner at a place called Atlanta's Best Wings where I ate my first ever BBQ wings and fried okra.  Interesting... 
                (Sidenote:  I have eaten dinner at five different houses.  And I have done super well at eating things.  I ate spanish rice, black-eyed peas, mushrooms, salad with tomatoes in it, chili (first time ever), apple crisp (the hardest thing to swallow all week), etc.  Also, one of the meals was with an older man whose children are long gone and whose wife is not a member.  She was at work the whole time.  They live in a beautiful townhome.  Really, I wanted to live there.  It was very stylish and comfortable.  And to our surprise, this Brother apparently has a PhD in food science and spent several years at chef school.  He also worked in a five-star restaurant for part of his schooling.  So, he didn't even eat with us.  He simply served us a five-star, five-course meal like a waiter.  We talked with him as he cooked our filet mignon steaks, warmed our butternut squash soup, served us our salads with three cheese balsamic vinegar dressing, Italian olives, parmesan cheese, and green onions in them, a twice-baked potato, etc.  Amazing.  And he offered to go out teaching with us whenever we needed him.  I like him.)
                I got assigned here.  There are three Spanish elders and a Brazil visa waiter who live in our apartment building.  I was acquainted with the visa waiter at the MTC. 
                It's been good.  A lot of tracting because both Elder Arnett and Mortenson are new in this area as am I (go figure) and the missionaries before us didn't leave too much to go on.  It has been scary, but not as hard as I thought.  Meeting nice people who are interested makes up for the scariness.  Also, many people are religious (as I said above) so they are at least interested in hearing who we are, even if they don't want to talk to us past that.  No one has been super rude so far.  However, it is a relatively common thing to just yell thru the door "Who is it?" and it sometimes develops into whole thru the door conversations.  At yelling volume.  Odd. 
                I have given a blessing to a lady in the hospital who had a terrible skin lesion but who is now recovered, taught a lesson to an awesome lady who came to church yesterday and whose boyfriend's kids are planning on being baptized soon, met a lot of good members.  PS I had to speak in church yesterday on how missionary work can strengthen our testimonies of Christ.  I received the assignment on Saturday night and it was for a ten minute talk.  I had a bad headache Saturday too.  And church starts at 9:00am.  So it was interesting, but turned out really really well.  So much I could keep saying, but I have to go.  Here is the address to send mail to.

Elder Joshua Steven Bodily
1150 Cole Drive SW
Lilburn, GA 30047

Please mail, I've had nothing since arriving in Georgia!  I am having fun.  It is good to be here.  So many stories already. 

Tchau for now,
Elder Bodily

Safe Arrival

We received this photo and the assurance that Elder Bodily made it to Atlanta yesterday.

His new address is:

Elder Joshua Bodily

Georgia Atlanta North Mission

1150 Cole Drive

Lilburn, GA  30047

FINAL WEEK

Hello hello.

 

So much this week.  So much.  This is the last week that I will be in the MTC.  I have scarcely two and a half days left.  I have received a temporary reassignment to the Georgia Atlanta North Mission.  I will be there until my visa comes through.  Then I will fly to Vitoria.  It is pretty unbelievable.  I hadn't really thought about or imagined serving an English speaking mission.  Now I will.  There is word that Atlanta has a large Brazilian community, and so it is possible that I will get to use my Portuguese a little bit, but Georgia isn't Brazil.  I am excited to "graduate" the MTC, and am excited for Georgia, but I am still most excited for the time that I will actually get to Brazil. One other Elder in my district is going to the Georgia Atlanta North mission as well.  We will be companions on the plane rides over.  Another two Elders in our district (including Elder Anderson!) were temporarily reassigned to the Virginia Richmond Mission.  All the rest have been temporarily reassigned to the Alabama Birmingham Mission.  Except, of course, the three who were called since the beginning to the Portugal Lisbon Mission.  There are 26 missionaries leaving the MTC on Monday that are destined for Brazil but have received temporary reassignments.  One is going to Billings Montana.  There are three of us total going to Georgia, about 6 total going to Virginia, and then the rest (a big majority) headed to Alabama.  It is going to be quite the adventure.  I have almost no idea what to expect. 

 

Elder Anderson and I played horseshoes the other day just to change things up during gym time.  I had a couple awesome throws.  I won one game, then he the other.  That tends to be how everything happens when we compete.  Pretty balanced.  It was a good time.

 

Temple walks were banned for a time because of missionaries leaving trash behind there and organizing meetings with family members during their time to walk around and study on the temple grounds.  However, just in time they were re-activated last week.  Elder Anderson and I found an isolated spot up on a hill overlooking the temple and wrote in our journals.  (We cleverly brought towels so that our slacks would not get dirty nor wet.)  It was peaceful and invigorating.

 

On top of everything else, another apostle came to visit us.  No one knows when the stream of apostles will end, and it's too bad we are leaving before the next devotional, but how could you have picked three better devotional speakers to go out on?  It was M. Russell Ballard this week.  We sang the most beautiful arrangement of Precious Savior Dear Reedemer by Brett Stewart (you should look it up) in the choir.  He spoke on becoming master communicators and taught that we communicate with much more than just words.  We communicate with behaviors, feelings, service to others, body language, and the Spirit we bring with us.  Even though the Spirit is what witnesses to people of truth, we have to effectively convey that truth and be well-practiced in delivering the message of Jesus Christ and His Church before the Spirit can confirm and testify of the truth of it.  It was an inspiring and down-to-earth message at the same time. 

 

I had a good experience in Priesthood Meeting on Sunday.  Elder A and I were the only ones sitting on the front row, so to "reward" us we were asked to give the opening and closing prayers.  Naturally, our branch being a Portuguese-speaking branch, the prayer had to be in Portuguese.  I gave the closing prayer without too much difficulty (we learned the basics of offering prayers in week one, and have branched out from there).  As I went to step off the stage, the Branch President (a native of Porto Alege, Brasil with a heavy accent when he speaks in English) grabbed my sleeve quite literally and pulled me back.  He said "Elder, your Portuguese is beautiful.  You are surely ready to go.  When are you scheduled to leave?"  I responded next week.  He replied, "You are well prepared."  Then, a member of the District Presidency who was visiting last Sunday (a former mission president in Brazil who is, of course, fluent in Portuguese) said, "You are more than ready for sure."  I'm pretty sure those comments were coming from reliable sources.  Made me feel good, to say the least.

 

I cannot belive that this is my last email from the MTC.  This time next week I will be in Georgia.  My preparation day (email day) will probably not continue to be Friday.  We will see what happens.  New companion next week too!  Everything is going to change and I am going to feel just as new at this as I felt the first day here.  Joyful how that works.

 

As always, I appreciate your mail and your thoughts.  I will try to have fun if you will all try to have fun.  I'll write from Georgia as soon as i can!  Until then,

 

Have a lovely week--  Elder JOSHUA BODILY

tchau tchau