I left for Brazil the morning of July 26, 2005 and after many hours in a plane, I and several other missionaries arrived in Sao Paulo where we were taken to the MTC there. We spent two months there, doing little more than studying and eating. My companion, Elder Feuz of Nebraska, enjoyed running so I attempted to run with him around the 240ft track. It didn't take long for him to start lapping me. After the two months were up, we headed out on a flight to Porto Alegre where we would enter the mission field. Our mission president, Sergio Antunes, greeted us at the airport and in his very excited manner, told me to do a contact with him. As I started in broken Portuguese, "We are representatives of the church..." "No, no, no." He interrupted, "Say, 'We are representatives of Jesus Christ!'"
Soon enough, I met my trainer, Elder Baier of North Carolina and we headed off to Gramado and I stayed there for three months, during which time I saw Claudio, Carina, Leniol and Maria baptized. I left Elder Baier to train for his last transfer. My next companion was Elder McCardle of Washington and he had been in Caxias do Sul for the previous four months without any baptisms. Summer was coming on strong by then but we found many new investigators, baptized a family (Maria, Artur, Jaqualine and Viviane) and a very friendly couple, John and his wife. We even received an extra two missionaries to help in that ward. Elder McCardle left after his seven months in that ward and Elder Bevell of Arizona came to help with the work. We did loose that extra set of missionaries after only two transfers and the Elders were taken out altogether for a season after I left, but Elder Bevell and I taught likely a hundred people in those three months and baptized two.
After being in a mountainous city for a time, Lagoa Vermelha, a small town in the country, was a nice change. Elder Page of California and I worked hard to help build the small branch there. We baptized four individuals, including Milton, who read the Book of Mormon in two days and came to church for his first time during fast Sunday and testified that he knew the church is true. After Elder Page left, Elder Howe of Texas had only five weeks to work in Lagoa but we held the best baptism I ever attended just a week before I left.
After that, I was transferred to the neighborhood of Guajuviras in Canoas with my first Brazilian companion, Elder de Jesus of Araςatuba, Sao Paulo. Being his last transfer, he was a bit trunkie, but we kept working. Elder da Silva of Sao Paulo took his place and we worked in that tiny, humble area as the heat increased. He stayed only six weeks and Elder Zuniga of California came. With no baptisms in months and feeling that every door has been knocked, we tried our best to stay excited. We finally went to the house of a woman who had been baptized as a youth and she wanted her children to be baptized and they were baptized my last week in that area. With only three transfers left, I was suddenly startled with how little time I had left. That, and I expected my next area to be my last, which was not the case.
In four months, I was transferred from Montenegro to Gravataì, and within Gravataì from Parque dos Anjos to Bom Sucesso. Elder Galani of Campinas worked to reanimate the ward in Montenegro and visited every address in the ward directory. In Parque dos Anjos, Elder Feuz and I were once again companions and we helped a wonderful family to be baptized. My last transfer in Bom Sucesso was with Elder Ferreira of Salvador.
My mission has been a help to me in indescribable ways. Without it, it would have taken an inordinate amount of time to understand the power of the Atonement and the guidance of the Spirit, both of which I was privileged to see daily while serving as the Lord's servant. Because of my mission, I know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and that because of Him, I can be happy, and without Him, I am inevitably lost and fallen. He accepts me notwithstanding my many faults because He wants me to accept Him into my life. I know that the prophets, past and present, speak the words of the Lord and that we must study and follow their teachings to better understand Christ. There is no substitute for feeling the effects of the Atonement in our own lives and in the lives of our dearest friends. This is the work of the Lord and it will go forth.
I liked this post a lot. Partly because it reminded me of the concluding scenes of Clue (same pace) and mostly because it is awesome to be a missionary.
I left for Brazil the morning of July 26, 2005 and after many hours in a plane, I and several other missionaries arrived in Sao Paulo where we were taken to the MTC there. We spent two months there, doing little more than studying and eating. My companion, Elder Feuz of Nebraska, enjoyed running so I attempted to run with him around the 240ft track. It didn't take long for him to start lapping me. After the two months were up, we headed out on a flight to Porto Alegre where we would enter the mission field. Our mission president, Sergio Antunes, greeted us at the airport and in his very excited manner, told me to do a contact with him. As I started in broken Portuguese, "We are representatives of the church..." "No, no, no." He interrupted, "Say, 'We are representatives of Jesus Christ!'"
Soon enough, I met my trainer, Elder Baier of North Carolina and we headed off to Gramado and I stayed there for three months, during which time I saw Claudio, Carina, Leniol and Maria baptized. I left Elder Baier to train for his last transfer. My next companion was Elder McCardle of Washington and he had been in Caxias do Sul for the previous four months without any baptisms. Summer was coming on strong by then but we found many new investigators, baptized a family (Maria, Artur, Jaqualine and Viviane) and a very friendly couple, John and his wife. We even received an extra two missionaries to help in that ward. Elder McCardle left after his seven months in that ward and Elder Bevell of Arizona came to help with the work. We did loose that extra set of missionaries after only two transfers and the Elders were taken out altogether for a season after I left, but Elder Bevell and I taught likely a hundred people in those three months and baptized two.
After being in a mountainous city for a time, Lagoa Vermelha, a small town in the country, was a nice change. Elder Page of California and I worked hard to help build the small branch there. We baptized four individuals, including Milton, who read the Book of Mormon in two days and came to church for his first time during fast Sunday and testified that he knew the church is true. After Elder Page left, Elder Howe of Texas had only five weeks to work in Lagoa but we held the best baptism I ever attended just a week before I left.
After that, I was transferred to the neighborhood of Guajuviras in Canoas with my first Brazilian companion, Elder de Jesus of Araςatuba, Sao Paulo. Being his last transfer, he was a bit trunkie, but we kept working. Elder da Silva of Sao Paulo took his place and we worked in that tiny, humble area as the heat increased. He stayed only six weeks and Elder Zuniga of California came. With no baptisms in months and feeling that every door has been knocked, we tried our best to stay excited. We finally went to the house of a woman who had been baptized as a youth and she wanted her children to be baptized and they were baptized my last week in that area. With only three transfers left, I was suddenly startled with how little time I had left. That, and I expected my next area to be my last, which was not the case.
In four months, I was transferred from Montenegro to Gravataì, and within Gravataì from Parque dos Anjos to Bom Sucesso. Elder Galani of Campinas worked to reanimate the ward in Montenegro and visited every address in the ward directory. In Parque dos Anjos, Elder Feuz and I were once again companions and we helped a wonderful family to be baptized. My last transfer in Bom Sucesso was with Elder Ferreira of Salvador.
My mission has been a help to me in indescribable ways. Without it, it would have taken an inordinate amount of time to understand the power of the Atonement and the guidance of the Spirit, both of which I was privileged to see daily while serving as the Lord's servant. Because of my mission, I know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and that because of Him, I can be happy, and without Him, I am inevitably lost and fallen. He accepts me notwithstanding my many faults because He wants me to accept Him into my life. I know that the prophets, past and present, speak the words of the Lord and that we must study and follow their teachings to better understand Christ. There is no substitute for feeling the effects of the Atonement in our own lives and in the lives of our dearest friends. This is the work of the Lord and it will go forth.
2 comments:
I liked this post a lot. Partly because it reminded me of the concluding scenes of Clue (same pace) and mostly because it is awesome to be a missionary.
I want to be a missionary like Bret!
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