O Fim Em Vista (The End in View)

Dear all,

What a wild week.

We are no longer teaching Fernando´s family. They decided to stop inviting for a time until ´´their lives calm down a bit.´´ We´ll see.

Joelma is 19 and has many friends that are members of the church. She went to church yesterday for the fourth time and we taught her two times this week with two different members. She has already been to Institute, she went to the ward activity on Friday, and she is reading and reading about everything. Her friend from the Ala Ibes (the ward with which we share the chapel) was baptized last week and she was there. However, for now, she is still in the investigation mode. We challenged her to be baptized on the 18th of August. I start to get dizzy when I think that that day I will not be in Brazil anymore.

Weverton. MWAhahaha! We tracked him down. It took some detective work and some good timing and some searching too. However, we found him and his house. We had always taught him in his brother´s house. We went to visit him with the Elders Quorum President (who will be leaving for his mission in Recife on August 23rd). It was an excellent visit, but this time he did not invite us back, and left his decision clear. This brought much closure to my life.

Jorge said he would go to church. He was not there yesterday.

Debora is 55 and she lives with her daughters, some sons-in-law, and some grandchildren. She made goals with us to stop smoking. She has been consistently diminishing her use of cigarettes and today is the first day that she is going to try to smoke NOTHING. She is going to do it. I know. She has been smoking since she turned 12. She is more than ready to change, and just needed the Spirit and some friends to help her. She accepted the baptismal date on 18th of August.

Elder Dantas received his patriarchal blessing yesterday! We had to continue calling and calling until we finally managed to mark a time. He almost gave up because we literally had to call 20 times over the past few weeks, but I kept bugging him and bugging him to keep trying. Finally, yesterday after church we met the patriarch in Itaparica and after a little more than an hour Elder Dantas emerged all awestruck and wide-eyed. I was so happy for him. It was a great experience for him.

I had another Festa Junina this week. This is a party that is supposed to happen in June. Remember that we had the party in Itacibá during my last week there. Our ward here in Glória is running a little late. It was neat. Lots of good tasty traditional Brazilian food. I am going to miss the food SOOOO MUCHCCHHCHH! And Joelma was there with her friends. It was great.

Last week was neat. We went to the docks and took pictures of downtown Vitória from across the water. There is a taxi service by canoe (is that how you spell it?). It runs between our neighborhood, Paul and the downtown Vitória. We tried to climb the hill that we live on, but...well...I´ll tell that story later. Let´s just set we met some not so friendly neighbors and we thought it best to descend quickly.

We are going to the chocolate factory today! í´M SO excited. I am wearing my brown pants, and a brown tie. It will be great!

Have a wonderful week. Next week will be my last email.

Elder Bodily

Homecoming

Elder Joshua Steven Bodily will be reporting on his mission on

Sunday, August 19, 2012. 

Time:  1:30 p.m.
Place:  Amity Stake Center (corner of Amity and Cloverdale)
            12040 West Amity Road; Boise, Idaho 83709)

Everyone is welcome to come.  We will be holding an open house from 5 to 7 at our home, 3039 S Canonero Way; Boise Idaho 83709.  We look forward to seeing all of you there!

Menos Uma Semana (One Week Less)

Dear all,

This week was quite difficult. We worked a lot and we sweated out every hour.

Fernando and Leidiane are basically stopped in their progress. Lots of excuses and lots of challenges. We are going to be there tomorrow to talk with them and give them the force and strength that they are going to need to make it to baptism. They did not go to church on Sunday.

The visit from Elder Jairo Mazzagardi was really neat. I got to see a lot of friends from the mission. I was the pianist as usual. As part of the fireside, he announced a few hymns that were unplanned. Thank goodness I knew how to play all of them. I only messed up a few little times. He talked to us for almost three hours and it didn´t even seem like it. No one wanted the time to end. I saw Elder Rossi for the last time. He was my last companion for those who forgot. It was very spiritual the whole time.

Our visit to the Convent was marvelous. It was a blue sky, bright sun, cool breeze day. We met members from the church from Vitória, Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, and Minas Gerais. I also met four Americans. Two from Pittsburgh and two from North Carolina. Tourist sites are always interesting. I remember all the times that I would eavesdrop on the foreign tourists when we visited national parks before the mission. This time I was the foreign tourist and I understood the foreign tourists speaking in English. 

Jane is doing well. She got her nephew to give her a ride to church, and is preparing to be independent from the missionaries. 

Jorge avoided us the whole week. I hope that is not his final answer.

Weverton is still hiding from us. Two weeks ago that he went to church and we never saw him again.

We are going to take pictures, write in our journals, and clean the house today. I am excited. Next week we are going to tour the chocolate factory here in Vila Velha. The company is called Garoto, owned by Nestle. It produces chocolate for all of Brasil and Portugal.

Have a wonderful week.

Elder Bodily

Busy Weeeeeek

Meus queridos  (my dear "friends")

 

We had the baptism of Jane this week. Remember how she had a stroke and lost most of the strength in one half of her body? That made things interesting. The process of helping her down into the font was slow and calm. Step by step. A recent convert of the Sisters here in the ward baptized her, but I was dressed in white and in the font too to help her down the steps and then to hold her legs under the water. It took three tries, but we finally succeeded. And instead of being scared or frustrated after being submerged three times, Jane was calm and happy. Did I mention that the President of the Relief Society also helped her down the steps and got her dress wet?

 

She was confirmed on Sunday. After church, some members invited her to lunch. She made new friends and when we visited her in the afternoon, she was more talkative than I have ever heard her. She smiled and laughed and was a much happier Jane. She is a strong and faithful woman.

 

We had a marvelous lunch at a members house today. We cut our hair. And we are going to the Convento da Penha, the prime tourist site of Vila Velha. Things are a little rushed.

 

We worked hard this week, but we had little to show for it. We started teaching a family of six that has been taught by the missionaries many times. They received us really well and we succeeded in establishing trust and friendship with them. We hope to set goals and see progress in them this week. For future reference, the parents are named Fernando and Leidiane.

 

We taught Jorge again. He said that he is going to decide this week if he wants our help to be baptized or not. He said he knows that God will answer his prayers, but that he has to put forward more effort. He said that he isn´t putting forward effort yet.

 

We are working hard. We feel that Jane is not the last person that we will baptize this transfer. Jairo Mazzagardi from the area presidency is going to speak to us on thursday and we have interviews with President Araújo tomorrow (last time!)

 

I had some funny experiences this week,

Talking to a drunk man that tried to teach us the ten commandments.

I had a division with Elder Salvador (who was my first junior companion in Serra, now he is my zone leader).

Probably my last division.

I left home without my nametag and didn´t notice for over an hour, that was weird. I felt so strange afterwards. That is the first time on the mission that that has happened.

 

Until next week. I know, I still owe you photos, but this lan house charges R$3 per hour, two times the normal price. Wish us luck on our outing to the convento!

Love,

Elder Bodily

Ficando Velho Em Vila Velha (Getting Old in Vila Velha)

Dear all,

I was not transferred very far from Itacibá. Now I am in Ala Glória (yes, the translation is Glory Ward) in Vila Velha. My companion is Elder Dantas, from a small town called Caicó, Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil. He is 24, and has a little less than six months on the mission. I am the district leader of the Distrito Glória. It is just us, and the other two missionaries that share our ward: Sister Dias and Sister Zeller. This is the only ward on the mission that has both Elders and Sisters. If you have good memories, you will recall that when I was in Anchieta, Sister Dias was in my district. I sent a picture at that time. Funny that Sister Dias is in her last transfer as well. Most of the time, all four of us have lunch at the same house. Ala Glória is a really neat ward. There are a lot of ex-missionaries here and the members are all really friendly and neat. The ward is comparatively small in geographical terms. Especially since it is divided into two halves, one for us and one for the Sisters.

So, this week was pretty much just the back-breaking work of getting to know the area. Lots of walking, lots of getting lost. Even though my companion has been here in the ward since he started his misison, he still gets just a bit lost sometimes, and doesn´t always pick the fastest route. However, he is really a great companion. He is humble, clean, organized, calm, and hard-working. He is the only member of his family that is a member of the church.

We live up on a hill, and you can see a little bit of downtown Vitória from up top, and you can see the Terceira Ponte (Third Bridge), and some skyscrapers from the neighborhood of the mission office. Ala Glória is on the mainland, just across the water from Ala Vitória (remember that Vitória is an enormous island), where I started my mission. There are a lot of hills in our area, but Vila Velha usually has a nice clipping breeze from the ocean. The gigantic chocolate factory of the chocolate maker Garoto is in our ward, across the street from the chapel. It is a touristic point here. I will surely be visiting and taking advantage of the ten minute all the chocolate you can eat without drinking water session that comes after the tour.

We marked a baptismal date with Jânia, about 45 years old. She had a stroke about 8 years ago and it has left the left side of her body almost useless. However, we got an Irmão to give her a ride to church, and she was ready and waiting. Her sister was baptized thirty years ago and is inactive. She is reading the Book of Mormon and is determined to be ready for her baptism on the 21st of July.

One complaint: We had to walk for half an hour to get to this LAN House and then, it was all full of little punk kids playing online games and cussing, so we had to wait to use the computers. Now we have to walk back and buy groceries and then we will be able to relax.

Funny stories to tell next week.

Love,

Elder Bodily

Por Do Sol Em Itaciba (Sunset in Itaciba)

Dear All,

What an interesting week it has been. We have come to the close of one more transfer here in Cariacica. We received news on Friday that all four of us are being transferred. Elder LeFoll, Elder Dance, Elder Rossi, and I. So, my time here has ended. Tomorrow at 3:00pm we are going to be in the transfer meeting in Vila Velha.

This is going to be my last transfer on the mission. My last six weeks. This makes me think a lot and feel kind of strange.

This week was hard again. However, over the weekend I had two experiences that were really amazing.

First, on Saturday night the ward had a Festa Junina, a tradition here. It is kind of like a square dance country themed dance and dinner that originally was a Catholic holiday focused in Saint John, but that now has nothing to do with that. The turnout was huge. There were people from the Estaca Vitória (Vitória Stake). Surprisingly, I ran into someone I know other than some members from Vitória and Serra. Her name is Malu, 22 years old. Over a year ago I was passing in front of her house and we stopped to talk to her and offer her our message. She was with her boyfriend, had a nose piercing, dyed hair, and it was raining. We ended up returning and teaching in her home four or five times. But, with time, we lost contact, her and her mom never went to church, and we never again found them at home. Then Elder Salvador and I were transferred from Serra.

Turns out, the Elders saw the record of her I left, went by her house, found her at home, and she was baptized. She is going to be serving a mission in December. Her papers are all ready and she is wating until she has one year as a member to send them. Fruits of the labor. It was neat. I recognized her, but she was completely different. I was grateful for the opportunity I had to talk to her, take a picture with her, and get her email address. I am still baffled. I can´t wait to see where she goes on her mission!

On Sunday, we had an investigator Edson that went to church again. He is not married, and he lives with a less-active member Erica that is returning to church. They both are about 24 years old. It was pretty normal.  It has been a while since we have been to their house, because he wants to be baptized but only after they get married, which is going to take awhile. Plus, they were out of town for over a week and I didn´t even know they were back. He got up in fast and testimony meeting, in jeans a black t-shirt and gave the best testimony of the meeting. He told the story of how Elder Rossi and I went to their home, taught him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and challenged him to read and then pray and ask the Lord about it all. He said that the instant he finished praying, he felt an overwhelming sensation of happiness and relief, and that when he woke up the next morning, it continued. He continued reading, and the feeling continued to grow. Many other members that bore testimony afterwards said that his testimony remembered them of their conversion and rekindled those feelings. We too bore our testimonies. We are leaving the area, but we are leaving seeds planted.

I am tired, but happy.

Have a good week. Wait with eyes peeled for the transfer news.

Elder Bodily

Novos Comecos (New Beginnings)

All,

 

What a joy this Sunday was! Our family of four was NOT at church! Guilherme, the future Elder was NOT at church! In fact, NO ONE WAS AT CHURCH! Joyful.

 

The family of four is not doing well. They are all discouraged and out of it and they said they didn't have money to catch the bus to church. We visited them after church and we discovered that their excuse was not valid, that they haven't been reading, studying, praying, or living the commandments, and that they have been avoiding us and cancelling appointments just because. Our lesson gave them new hope. We left them with the Book of Mormon in their hands, and told them to read together the moment that we left. We will see. We are only going to go back on Saturday.

Guilherme got a new job selling coconut water on the beach. In Vittoria. And so, the whole week, we have been out of touch with him because he always says that he will be at home tomorrow, but tomorrow never arrives. He was selling coconut water yesterday instead of visiting the church.

So, what I want to communicate isn't sadness or disappointment, but simply the news of what has been getting in the way of their progress.

 Elder LeFoll and Elder Dance have been trying to scare us the past few days, but they have failed three times.Maybe because they always call us mysteriously and ask us where we are so they can hide in the dark at the end of the day to try and startle us.

There was a fireside put on by the Relief Society last night that was pretty neat with speakers and a musical number by the missionaries. We sang Brilham Raios de Clemcia aka Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy. The Relief Society President in our ward is awesome, and she is only 23 years old! Everyone respects her as if she were 50.

I bought a towel with the emblem of my chosen Brazilian soccer team, Corintians. They are pretty neat. Look them up!

Andressa received a calling! She is a ward missionary now! She is excited and is still really active and is now coming to church in dresses that are much more elegant and modest. Progress. We read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with her this week together with her two cousins and her mother. They are respecting her and the church a lot more after seeing the wonderful changes that she is making in her life.

We ran into Mara on the street. Remember, her husband is not letting her go to church. She told us that she thinks that her husband will accept visits from women in the ward, so we talked with the president of the Relief Society and got her visiting teachers, and I am pretty sure they went to visit her yesterday. We hope to see her and Victoria confirmed.

Have a good week.

Elder Bodily

A Vida Louca (The Crazy Life)

Dearest all,

I just read my cousin´s email. She is serving as a missionary in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. She said that it is really cold there. Let´s just say that since I left the frigid winds and ice of Georgia in January of last year, I have not had that sensation. It doesn´t even sound like we are serving in the same country! Hilarious.

Just in case you wanted to know, I sweat through my shirts every day.

This week I did a division with Elder Henrique in Estrelinha, a ward in Vitória that belongs to our zone. Elder Henrique has been the district leader there since he arrived. He arrived in Estrelinha the same day that I arrived in Itacibá (January, five months ago). He is from São Paulo. We had lunch with a lookout over the bay. It was a French lasagna with chicken and then a peach flan for dessert. It´s always interesting to mix things up and get things done. The past three divisions that I have had with Elder Henrique have all been here in Itacibá.

Yesterday was a very hectic day at church. Only one person that we are teaching came to church. We had to give the class in the first hour. Everyone was together-- Relief Society, Priesthood, Young Men and Women. We had a lesson about seeking out the less-active members and presented the organized manner in which we will be coordinating the visits to all of the less-actives in the ward. The travelling assistants were supposed to be there to give half of the class as we had arranged, but they got caught in traffic and only arrived in time to see the AMEN. So we had to wing it a little.

Then, the other two Elders (LeFoll and Dance) forgot to turn off the baptismal font for their baptism and it overflowed into the bathrooms and the hall, so we had to use the whole time of Gospel Principles to squeegee the water down the drains, scoop water out of the font to pour into the sinks, and dry everything. The teacher of Gospel Principles seems to have offended various investigators and members that were in the class making jokes about matchmaking and marriage.

Then, the baptism of the other Elders arrived in the middle of Sacrament Meeting. Again. Then we had to arrange the whole baptismal meeting when the mission leader dropped the bomb on us that he had not prepared anything and would not be able to attend the baptism. All in all, an interesting Sunday in the church.

However, after church we made a special visit to a less active family together wit hthe bishop and the second counselor of the stake. It was really simple, but also spiritual and neat.

Our family of four did not go to church. They were supposed to get baptised yesterday, but they started drinking coffee again, and that complicated the situation. We are going to see what will be their destiny this week. Pray for them and us.

We have an investigator named Guilherme that is 18, and wants to be an Elder one day. He is changing his life. He was out of town this past week, but he is progressing really well. He asked for a priesthood blessing after reading about blessings in the Word of Wisdom pamphlet. He is a great person.

Once again, my time is short and my companion is in a hurry, so I will leave you for now.

Love,

Elder Bodily

O Sexto Templo (Our Sixth Temple)

Yesterday we were able to watch the dedication of the Manaus Brasil Temple. Elder Quentin L. Cook conducted and Presidente Dieter F. Uchtdorf dedicated the structure. It was a really neat experience. There were a few speakers including President Cláudio R. M. Costa, Area President of Brasil (he visited our mission in August or September last year). We arrived in the chapel around 8:20 and the dedication started at 10:00. There was a prelude being broadcast. It was music from the Tabernacle Choir and video shots of the exterior and interior of various temples. Mexico City, Panama City, Curitiba, Apia Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, Helsinki Finland, Twin Falls, Oquirrh Mountain, Draper etc. Really neat. It showed a lot of the baptistries, ordinance rooms, celestial rooms, the grounds, etc. The video repeated three times in 90 minutes, but I watched it the whole time.

 

 

 

On Friday we had a visit from an MTC instructor from São Paulo. Remember the story from general conference a few years ago about the leader who always went to pick up the young man for church, but the young man always tried to get away? Then the leader went after him even to the beach and entered into the water to grab him, even though he was wearing his suit? The man who came to visit us was that boy. He has been a stake president, a bishop two times, a seventy two times, and now works in the MTC. His talk was to all the misisonaries serving in Greater Vitória. I have never seen someone who captivated a group so completely for so long (he spoke for over two hours). Teaching is truly a gift and a skill that is so valuable. He talked about various subjects, from less-active member visits, integrating new members, diligence, Preach My Gospel, finding new investigators, referrals, etc. My head is still spinning from all the learning. I was taking notes practically the entire time.

Our family of four seems to be doing good and if all goes as according to our plans, they will be baptized on Sunday. We marked a baptismal date with a young man (18 years old) who wants to serve a mission. Hopefully he is willing to make the sacrifices to be able to.

We had a division with the assistants to the president. This time Elder Buttars came to my area. If you have really sharp memories, you will remember that I wrote this about Elder Buttars in the MTC:

 

Get this. I finally ran into someone from Boise. He is in the district that stole our teacher. So. He is from "Boise" or rather, Meridian. He lives near Linder and Cherry. He attended both Meridian and Capital High Schools. He took Spanish all through high school and speaks almost fluently. He studied Portuguese over the summer, and had several Portuguese friends so we is picking things up quickly. He is going to MY MISSION- Vitoria, Brasil. [PS I would add that I only know of 5 or 6 other missionaries out of the 2200 here at the MTC headed to my mission].

Then things get weirder. The suit he brought for his mission? The same exact suit as mine, bought at the same JC Penney during the same sale- this is a pinstripe suit, not some generic black suit. And! The first time we saw each other wearing the same suit, he was wearing a tie that I have! They are different brands, but they are literally identical. Candy cane looking ties. We basically have a lot in common. Strange. He sings tenor in choir. On top of everything else. And his last name starts with a B. You get the idea.

It was an interesting week. We have lots of work to do.

 

Have a joyful week,

Elder Bodily

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

One more week has gone by, and I am very glad that this last week is over. It was not a very fun week.

 

Monday and Tuesday we had many people to visit, like I said last week. However, as we visited them, very few showed potential, fewer accepted return appointments, and little changed. Wednesday was quite difficult. We worked in three separate neighborhoods, and still found very little to do. The highlight of Wednesday was the Family Home Evening with Erica and her family. Erica is 23 and her mom and sisters are members of the church. She has been inactive for about two years, but now she is full of desire to return. She organized the whole Family Home Evening and it was suprisingly spiritual. I say surprising because her nephews, son, and the neighbors were all making the most noise and the biggest mess and being punished by the sandal of Erica´s dad (not yet a member). We left edified, impressed, and full of refreshments. MMM.

 

On Thursday and Friday we had our zone meeting, in two parts. In order to save on bus tickets, we met with the Elders from our zone working in Cariacica, Viana, and Vitória on Thursday. Then on Friday we travelled to Cachoeiro to meet with the Elders and Sisters from Cachoiero and Guaçuí. The two meetings were a success. It was good to take care of yet another responsibility. I gave a training about working together with and fortifying members of the church. We had an activity centered on how well you know your companion that turned out to be pretty entertaining. I think we all learned some funny things about each other.

 

Thursday night the ward had an activity. The point was to invent new lyrics to a song and then present your new hybrid song on the stage together with karaoke music. We, as missionaries, were the judges. There were some pretty funny and some pretty ridiculous songs. All of them were based on Brazilian songs. The new lyrics were about callings, speaking in church, food storage, families, etc. There was some controversy about our decision as judges, but quite a few non-members were present. There are always a few members who do an excellent job of inviting friends to the activities. Even though most of them do not live in our ward, we were able to pass their information to the other wards and stakes responsible.

 

Friday after the meeting we met with President Araújo, who was on his way to Campos for a stake conference. Then we did a division with the Elders in Ala Cachoeiro II. I worked with Elder Caceres. Elder Caceres is from Argentina. He arrived on the mission when I was in Serra, and our wards shared the chapel there in Serra. I did a division with him a year ago in his area in Serra. Funny how things change, but stay the same.

 

Saturday and Sunday we pounded the pavement trying to make things happen, but we had little success. The family of four (Élsio and kin) did not go to church and we did not find them at home even though we took a bus way out to see them. And they didn´t answer their phone. So, we don´t know what is going to happen.

 

Sunday was Stake Conference. There was a special broadcast from Salt Lake City for stakes in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Espírito Santo. Walter F. Gonzalez from the Presidency of the Seventy (whose native language is Spanish), Elaine S. Dalton President of the Young Women, Elder Neil A. Andersen (he spoke in Portuguese), and President Thomas S. Monson all spoke. It was really neat.

 

Next week is the dedication of the temple in Manaus! All the Sunday meeting have been cancelled and in their place, they are going to broadcast the dedication. I had to renew my temple recommend with President because it expired last month. This will be a neat experience, but no investigators can come...which adds a complication. The temple will be the sixth in Brasil after São Paulo, Campinas, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, and Recife.

 

Wish us luck for the new week.

Beixo,

Elder Bodily