Celebraceo (Celebration)

This week I was very loved! Two little surprise parties from members here in the ward, a package with souvenirs from Campo Grande (where my companion is from), plus a tie and a bunch of cupcakes from our baptism Andressa! All because of my birthday. Neat.

I went to Cachoeiro yesterday. Again. We got back at 11:00 at night. That meant we had to wake up early to make all of the phone calls we missed to our missionaries last night. Things are wild this week.

We had interviews with President Araújo. He is happy with the work that we are doing and gave some new tips for us to confront the challenges we are facing. We have to help one companionship in our zone move houses. President gave us a ride from our chapel to the mission office to pick up the keys of the new house. We got to ride in his pickup in the air conditioning. I didn´t want to get out.

I did a division with Elder Anderson. Funny that we have had a lot of opportunities to see each other and work with each other on the mission, even serve in the same ward for a few weeks. They had two miraculous baptisms in their area this Saturday. A couple that they are teaching, after weeks of indecision, called them and said they wanted to be baptised that very day, Saturday. They were interviewed, and baptised that night! Always fun to remember the good old days with Elder Anderson.

I ran into Alvino the ward mission leader from Serra, and my good friend while on the divison with Elder Anderson. He gave me some updates and we took a picture together. Neat to see that at least a few people remembered my name! Alvino was there by chance, visiting his relatives and saw me passing from the window of the house and called my name. Way funny.

We were not blessed with a very spiritual week this week. This week was just blood, sweat, and tears, and a LOT of sweat. My feet have fungus and are splitting open. My companion was hit by a car- low speed, he rolled over the hood of the car. His leg is aching. We walked a lot, had almost 85% of our appointments fall through.

On the good end, Andressa opted to miss the wedding of her cousin to go to church. She is really focusing on the right things and we are happy with her progress.

That was the week.

Hope EAster was great for all.

Abraço (hugs)

21

I am now 21 years old. It is my birthday today. Conference was great. My companion and I get along great. We speak very frankly about the things that we don´t like and like one about the other. And then we fix what is wrong. Now the only thing that is lacking, is people to teach and baptize. I spoke too soon. While the summer is fading, it alternates between blazing hot and rainy. It is starting to cool off though, and by 5pm it is not so hot. Just when the sun is up.

This week we visited a lady that I had talked to in the street and she got so excited to learn about the Church. She said that she has always wanted to learn more about the church and always has had curiosity about the misisonaries. I just happened to talk to her on the street and invite her to recieive a visit from us. When we went, she got very excited and happy when we presented her with a Book of Mormon. She loved the message we left and we are going to go back tomorrow to visit her. Her name is Sandra.

That´s my good news moment! Thanks for your birthday wishes! It is a good day today, p-day, I like the missionaries that I am with and we have a good area. I hope you all have a week to remember. Don´t forget the value of the conference messages! Review them! I have to wait for the magazine to arrive here (I expect to wait two months), but yáll can check it out online.

Tchau!

Elder Bodily

Batismo

E aí gente, (And there you have it folks)

 

All went well with the baptism. Andressa was more than ready and the baptismal meeting was really simple and spiritual. A lot of the leaders of the ward were there because the baptism happened between the church meetings and a leadership meeting. Elder Rocha did the baptism. This is a bad picture of us three before the baptism. Elder Rocha´s pictures are better, and I am going to copy them. Andressa´s mom, cousin, aunt, and neighbor came to see the baptism. It was neat.

 

Now we are asking ourselves, What´s next?

We had a good week and we taught many different people, but we gained few new investigators.

 

We went to Cachoeiro to do a baptismal interview. I got to go inside the new chapel there. It is very fancy, though small.

 

We are excited for General Conference. It´s funny, this will be my last general conference on the mission. Also funny that the first I saw in the MTC, the second in the stake center of Estaca Vitória, the second in the stake center of Estaca Vila Velha, and this one I will see in the stake center of Estaca Cariacica. There are three stakes here in the greater Vitória region.

 

I found a sheet of paper on the ground in the church that had a whole bunch of dates and events and history about the church in the state of Espírito Santo. Fascinating. The first missionaries arrived in Vitória in 1965. The first branch, made up of one family had been officially established only a few years before. From there, things blossomed and now there are three stakes. The first baptisms were realized in the ocean, just off the beach where the mission house is now. All in less than 50 years, it went from having one family to having 15 wards and a mission headquarters. And that is ignoring all of the progress in the state outside of Greater Vitória. (Cachoeiro, Guarapari, Linhares, São Mateus, Nova Venêcia, Colatina, Guaçuí, Aracruz, etc.)

 

I also learned that the Caricica Stake (in which I am serving right now) was established in 2005. It is a very new stake.

 

It is really interesting and rewarding to be part of the history of the church here. So many people are having the chance to hear and accept the Gospel.

 

Elder Rocha and I have become good friends. Healthy friendships make life very pleasurable and protect against depression. What a blessing it is to have all the friends that I have, here in Brasil, and at home.

 

Have an awesome week. The next time I send an email to you will be on my 21st birthday! (I´m olllddd! I´m like the crypt keeper!)

 

Elder Bodily

What a Life

Friends e entes queridos, (Friends and Loved Ones)

This life we are in is a crazy one, but it is wonderful too.

My week here was the best one yet here in Itacibá. We marked a baptismal date together with Andressa for the 25th of March, this coming Sunday. She went to church with us and went by herself to the fireside that we hosted yesterday night in the chapel. Her grandmother is a very devout follower of a certain other religion I will not name and she believes very strongly that we will go to hades for what we believe. She is in uproar since we marked the baptismal date with Andressa. She mocked us as we left her home together to go to church. She ´´warned´´ us all that we would be punished in the judgement day and other such stuff. We are teaching another family on Andressa´s street and they went to church with us. Their grandma is mortal enemies with Andressa´s grandma and they almost started fighting out on the street as we passed by going to church. I found the whole scene quite entertaining, and was happy that all six of us arrived happily at church.

Our fireside yesterday was a success. We had a neat presentation and a speaker from the high council in Vitória. We focused on new and creative ways to share the Gospel and help out the missionaries. It turned out really neat. About 45 members showed up in all. We focused on how sharing our beliefs and testimonies is SWEET. Sweet is the work was the theme. Technically, the theme was Doce É O Trabalho.

We are teaching a young man, 14 years old who is OBSESSED with all things from the United States. That means he wants to know everything about my life and past and asks all kinds of questions about English. I hope that he listens to the lessons and not just to my accent.

We worked with a lot more enthusiasm this week and renewed our commitment to have success here in the ward. The whole week shone because of our extra force. It is so rewarding.

This week was chilly! Chilly by Brasilian standards. I am very happy. The summer has surrendered and fallen down before the rainy and breezy fall.

We had a zone conference and zone meeting this week and everyone in the zone is excited and ready to have a good time this transfer. Elder Rocha and I are getting along very well despite our very opposite personalities. All of us four that live together, Elder Furrows, Elder Dance, Elder Rocha and I are very united. Especially because of our teamwork on the activity two weeks ago and the fireside yesterday night. Só festa.

Funny experience. At church yesterday Andressa sat by my side. One of the speakers was talking about Ammon and told about how he was tied up, mocked, and brought before the king. Andressa leaned over and whispered ´´Be careful that my grandma doesn´t do that to you two!´´

Well, one more week has gone by. Live well!

Have a wondrous week,

Elder Bodily

Not So Good Week

Well well well.

We had a very difficult week here. Basically, we only have one person we are teaching. Andressa. She went to a concert Saturday night that started at 8pm. She left at 6am to pass by her house, get ready for church, and catch the bus to meet us in the terminal. That is dedication. And she is not even baptized yet. Faith, when it is really really FAITH, when it isn´t just words, when it isn´t just a feeling, when it isn´t something wishy-washy that comes and goes, when it isn´t just something good, MOVES PEOPLE TO ACTION, TO SACRIFICE, AND TO DO WHAT GOD WANTS US TO DO--REGARDLESS OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES. NO EXCUSES.

When we really love God, we will do anything He wants. Read John 14 if you doubt it.

I have an enormous and profound respect for those who have that type of faith. We work with a lot of people who do NOT have that type of faith, nor are they interested in cultivating it.

We went to Cachoeiro again this week. I worked with Elder D. Oliveira there again. It was a neat day. We taught a pastor from another church. We taught a family that hasn´t been to church in a few months. I love it when the missionary work happens the way it is supposed to happen. When we have people to visit, when we find people we can help that want help.

A new American arrived in our zone. His name is Elder Powell. He speaks practically nothing of Portuguese. And his companion does not speak any English. My companion did a division with him and stretched his English abilities to the limit to be able to communicate with him. I am praciticing English with Elder Rocha all the time. He has background knowledge because he actually wants to learn and learned something in school about English. He wants me to speak more English with him. Funny, that that is being a difficult favor. Sometimes I am just telling stories about my life in English and then he tells me what he understood.

There are little mini-libraries in the bus terminals. We donated O Livro de Mórmon to the library in our terminal.

Elder Anderson is the assistant to the president. He is in charge of accompanying and caring for our zone. So... I talk with him frequently now. Neat.

We are reading the Book of Mormon every Tuesday and Thursday night with a family of recent-converts. It has been really rewarding and really neat. Everyone reads and then has to talk about something they learned. Meaningful study of the scriptures keeps our lives on the right track.

I don´t believe that we are in the year 2012.

Be grateful for cars. The bus system here is in upheaval because of the protestors breaking and blocking the roads. We pass a lot of time waiting for buses in terminals, at bus stops, and in traffic. What would take 5 minutes in a car becomes a 55 minute ordeal of walking to the terminal, waiting 30 minutes for the right bus to pass, then entering with 70 other people into the bus like sardines in the heat, then the bus goes, in traffic stopping and going, people loosing their balance, falling, complaining, yelling at the bus driver, etc. just to get off at a stop close to where you want to go, and then walk for 5 minutes to get to where you want. It is an adventure.

Have a good week.

Elder Bodily

Transferencia Tranquila e a Actividade Amazing (Quiet Transfer and Amazing Activity)

Gente,

There is going to be a transfer tomorrow. However, nothing is going to change in our house. All four of us stayed on another transfer. Only four in our whole zone were transferred. My companion played a joke on me and pretended that he had been transferred. He let me think that for about a half hour. Very funny.

I am glad that we are not going to have much change. The last transfer was sweeping in the zone. More than half of the zone was transferred last time.

So, our two baptisms DID NOT happen. Edna fell into the trap of Internet searches, despite our warnings. She then did not express her doubts and they exploded on Friday and she cancelled her baptism. 

Joelma was inviting people to her baptism, sharing parts of the Book of Mormon with co-workers and all, but on Friday night she arrived home and there was a man threatening to kill her son because her son had ticked him off doing something. She became desperate, didn´t sleep and started smoking again! When we went by Saturday morning, it was awful. 

We are going to do everything possible to fix what went wrong, and clear up questions, and strengthen weaknesses.

On the bright side, we had an excellent activity on Saturday night. We organized a dinner, decorated the cultural hall, invited members galore, worked with the ward leadership to organize a tour of our gorgeous church building here in Cariacica and even prepared a fifteen minute skit about the day-to-day life of the missionaries complete with lights, sound, props, and all. There was a huge turnout. We nailed the estimations on how much food to make, the skit went flawlessly, was funny and spiritual at the same time, and the tour was excellently coordinating. Don´t get me wrong, the night was stressful and difficult, but everything turned out great. The Bishop said it was the best activity in his eleven years as a member. Many others said that it was the best activity hosted in the chapel since it was dedicated four years ago. We were very happy with the turnout, the 20+ visitors, and the phone numbers we gathered.

I had a neat experience on the bus on Thursday returning from the zone leader council. A man getting on the bus behind me said ´´Hey Elders!´´ I assumed he was a member, and started a conversation despite the fact that both of us were on foot on a LOADED bus in rush hour traffic. Turns out, he had a member friend years ago, always wanted to get to know the church, and then ran into us in Vitória. The funny thing is, he lives in OUR area in Cariacica. Coincidence? I think NOT!! We talked about a lot of things. He already vacationed in the USA, he loves English, he talked about his member friend, he asked questions about the church and how missions work and everything. It was neat. I got his address and his two phone numbers (proof that he is actually truly interested) and we are going to visit him on Wed.

Tchau, love,

Elder bodily

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