July 29, 2013

So I don’t really know what happened to the month of July... it just kind of passed by super, and I mean SUPER fast.

this week was kind of not too much that happened, like honestly most of the week I was in Teresina or on the bus going/ returning from Teresina...but I did make the best of the bus trips and finished Jesus The Christ, a good light read hahaha.

The man that we met at the barber shop (Carlos) invited us to lunch and it worked out. We taught them a bit about prophets and then Sunday they went to church!  It was so awesome!! I feel really blessed to have met this family. They are such a good family who is honest and really just wanting the best in life.  So they are progressing and this week we will mark their baptism date.

We had our monthly planning Sunday, and we were very worried about the ward frequency... this month the average dropped down to 55 people. Like I’m almost embarrassed to bring investors to church, but me and elder Rais were seeking some answers to how to help out the ward and at the very same moment we both had the same idea! It was crazy! So we are going to start writing down the members who are no at sacrament meeting and visit them ALL during the week just quick little visits to let them know that they are missed. I think this will have great results this month. And I’m excited to apply it!

Also our house had the energy cut... when we got back from Teresina our house was without power!! Hahah all the food in the fridge was bad and then to sleep at night was almost impossible because there wasn’t any fans and IT WAS SO HOT!!!!  But this morning they turned it back on because the bill got paid hahah. It was a neat experience to not have light because then when it comes back your like 1000x more grateful for everything thing even cold water! hahah

Well I love you all have a great week!!!

July 22, 2013

Well this week was SUPER AWESOME!!! I feel like me and elder Rais are finally clicking with the work in our area, we found a bunch of new investigators this week and had a good number of lessons, its great having such a good comp. The best part is that the transfers arrived and I'll be staying at least one more transfer with him here!!! WOOOO 6 more weeks!!! The only thing with this transfer is that they moved around a lot of Elders in our zone!

We had a baptism this week, Carol was baptized... we did the baptism in another ward because that's the ward her fiancé goes to, (in the picture she is the younger one). Basically her story is cool because her fiancé is a return missionary who stopped us on the street and was like I have a reference for you guys, let’s go there now? Ha-ha we went and a few weeks later she is baptized. What an awesome reference!!!

We went and taught a man that we had contacted a few weeks ago and he told us I will go to church" like all 100 other people do each and every week, but the difference is that HE ACTUALLY WENT!!! We showed up to church and he was already there!!! He loved the meeting and everything, yesterday after church we went to teach him, he understood the restoration and we invited him to be baptized he responded, "well I was baptized in January but like you guys explained about authority it wasn't done with the correct authority then it was not correct... yeah I'll be baptized by the correct authority." YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha-ha so Cicero will be baptized in August.

Last p-day we went to cut our hair and we did a contact with the barber, at the end of the hair cut we invited him and just at that moment a man entered to get his hair cut and said “oh I have always wanted to hear about that church, "pass by my house this week". We went there Saturday and he was not home but we talked to his wife, she said that he had talked to her about meeting us and everything. She said they want to visit the church. We passed my Sunday morning and he had just left so they didn't end up going to church but we returned Sunday night and taught a lesson to the whole family, they invited us back and even better to eat lunch with them this week!!!  So we will go and teach them some more and help this golden family start the journey to be an eternal family!!

We also had lunch with the Stake President... IT WAS CRAZY!!!  He took us to a shopping mall's food court and was like whatever you want go for it!! I got some like Arabian food thing it was good then afterward he showed us the mall and like all the stuff in the mall... man I felt like things and shopping and the world has changed so much in these two years that I have been away.   It was a cool little treat break from missionary work to see all that stuff and just to browse.  The best part was that it was with the Stake President, he really likes us and is happy with the work that is going on here in the stake.

Well, I love you guys! Have an awesome week!!

July 15, 2013

We had a good week. 

 We went to Açailandia for district meeting and also to do a division, I stayed with the district leader there who is this awesome newer elder (like 8 months in the mission). I sat with him and we talked about the work he was doing and all this stuff. He is really doing great work there his district is full of excitement and love for this work. He taught me many things in the 24 hours that I stayed with him about being bold, and Excited for the work. At one point we were coming back from his city to end the division in a van with 12-13 people and he got up told them who he was, what he was doing in Brazil and where the church was. He paid attention to the reactions of the people and those he saw who were interested he got the addresses at the end of the tip. Truly an elder devoted to the lord.

This week the members from the stake left for the temple. The met at 8am at the stake center on Sunday morning and will return Saturday (20th). All were excited and happy to have the chance to go to the house of the lord to there be taught from on high. I have truly learned a great deal about the temples and their worth even though, or maybe in part because I have not had access to one for almost 2 years... It is the house of the lord. Go to the temple as often as you can.

One night as we were walking home we passed a bar that was playing Michael Jackson music and were then even more enthused when we realized that on the other side of the street.. Not completely out of the traffic there was a man dressed up and dancing like the king of pop. It was a good memory of American culture and just another reason why I love Brazil.

I hope you all have a good week!!!

Vai com Deus!!

July 8, 2013

Wow what a week, it honestly time will never slow down.

So first off WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!! André who was an ex-investigator when we arrived here. We visited him a few times and it turns out that his baptism was supposed to be last December of last year. He had been interviewed and everything and was even at the baptismal Meeting, just that the meeting got delayed by an hour and a half, he eventually got nervous and left. But this Saturday it all went well and he was baptized. (In the photo is us and him and the bishop.)  André has a really cool testimony he said that he had gone to many churches and always had a problem with something in the churches wither it was the members or the Pastor or 1000 other things then quite simply he said, "but in truth it was just because I hadn’t found the true church yet, now I know." ...I love the work I am doing.

We had our meeting with president he was very happy and gave us some new ways to find people he mostly spoke of finding through our teaching group and also he spoke a lot about baptism!!! Like make sure we invite to baptism!!! 

Our ward had a party called "fiesta Juilna" it’s like a cultural celebration for the time of harvest here in the north east of Brazil. Member invited some friends and family and we got some references!! YAY!!! There was a bunch of food and games and it was really a cool activity, I will have to get some recipes for food so that I can make a Brazilian meal when I get home hahahha!

There was this awesome kid that we met last Saturday night. He has played soccer a few times at the church and he and a friend of a young man in the ward and this Sunday was the 2nd time he went to church he is just like loving it. He always has questions and wants to learn more. We marked him for the 20th this month. We are also working with his mother. 

We also met this other 17 yr. old who was taught some time ago by the elders, so far we have only taught him once, but he showed up to sacrament meeting yesterday and bore his testimony in front of everyone!!! He said that he knows this church is true. The only thing is that his mother is one of the founders of another church here in the city... and she is not too accepting of the Mormons... but mericals happen. So we will work with him this week.

Well I miss you all have a good week!

July 1, 2013

Happy 4th of July! Eat some extra pancakes and hotdogs for me! haha

This was an AWESOME WEEK! So we went to Araguaina at the beginning of the week to do a division it was a good trip the elders there are goofs. One elder and the member had an eating contest with cake... the elder lost after he threw up all over the table. haah I have the video but it’s really big so you’ll just have to wait till after the mission to see it ahhaha.

We also were able to baptize Talita on Friday! It was a good baptism that we had to rush and do some things last min so that it happened. Like we had to run (literally) to another area to get some baptism jumpsuits because someone locked the closet in the church with the jumpsuits and NO ONE had the key! So it was an adventure. But it all ended well!! ha-ha

We also were able to take a family to church! It was the first time this year that an investigator family went to church so that was AWESOME!! The family is truly looking for a church to join and just hasn’t found "the right place" yet. we will visit them more this week explain the restoration and make a date with them... the only rough par tis they have to marry but in this city it is really easy like 8 days and it’s also pretty cheap.  

We also had an awesome member reference. Just listen to this story if you need motivation to be a better member missionary. A member gave her friend a book of Mormon last Monday, her friend was raised in one church baptized in another and now currently goes to another with her husband, and she (the friend) didn’t believe a word that her friend was saying about the book of Mormon, she didn’t like the idea. But she trusted enough to read it think about it and then pray to see if it was really the word of god. On Tuesday the member called us and said elders I have a friend for you to visit tomorrow. We taught her on Wednesday about the restoration, she asked questions the whole time
 we answered them and explained to her about authority, she asked if she need to be baptized in our church. We explained to her that it was necessary to be baptized by correct authority and she accepted a date for the 20th. We now are going to meet her husband this week and teach him, hopefully have another family on their way to being together forever. All because one member invited her friend to read the book of Mormon. I know this is god’s work and he helps those who do his work. If you haven’t already watched go and watch the talks from the world wide training seminar last week http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/a-new-vision?cid=HPL1P01W01031&lang=eng and get more involved in doing the lords work.

I love you all!!!

Elder Howe