Christmas on the Mission

This week was amazing! Had everything from talking to the fam, going to Porto Alegre, having investigators at church, and celebrating Natal. This week just had so many highs – spiritually, mentally, and physically. There wasn’t a ton of work because of all the traveling and interviews, but we managed to meet with all our investigators. This week Oruildo and Douglas came to church…Miracle because we all know it was Christmas and our attendance dropped from 108 to 57. But I was stoked that our investigators made it out. We also marked a baptism date with a girl named Elen. We’ve been teaching her family but she’s the only one who has been accepting the message. She knows her baptism in the catholic church wasn’t valid so she wants to get baptized.

We had an awesome Christmas Conference in Porto Alegre with half the mission. Probably the coolest part (for me) was a slide show of the mission. While watching, a photo of one of the families I was teaching in Erechim popped up on the screen. It was a picture of the mom of the family’s baptism. I was soooo stoked. Turns out the whole family was baptized and Gabrielle’s, the oldest daughter, boyfriend was baptized too. It was so cool seeing a family that I had grown so close to get baptized. They are planning to go through the temple in a year. That was for sure the highlight of the week. Also, another great part was when 100 missionaries walked the streets of Porto Alegre singing hymns. I totally lost my voice the next day. The whole conference was amazing. Our President of the mission, Presidente Campos, is so loving, funny, and enerjetic. He is a 2^nd father for all us missionaries out here.

Saturday, we had an awesome dinner at a member’s house with turkey. Man it’s been a long time since I’ve eaten turkey. We also sang some Christmas hymns and carols. Sunday was great with investigators at church, and it was amazing talking with the fam. 6 months have flown by so fast. I’m loving every second of the mish. I miss my fam, friends, but I know what I’m doing out here is what I need to be doing. I know Christ lives, he is our Savior, and that he will help us in any difficulty that we have. I love you all and the support/prayers that you have for me. I hope you had an amazing Christmas and know that I’m praying for you.

Love, Dave

Our zone with predsidente campos in porto alegre

so stoked to see santa this year

Outside our palace mansion

day in the fog

Merry Christmas

December 19, 2016

I can’t believe we’re at the end of this year. This week, I hit six months on the mish, which is just crazy cause it feels like I just started the mish a couple of days ago. First off, Merry Christmas everyone. I hope it’s a sweet one. Please have a great time with family, making memories, eating delicious food, and thinking about Christ. I’ve been trying to focus on Christmas, but my mind is always focused on our investigators. This week was super frustrating, because we put in a ton of work, passing our group of 20 investigators almost every day. Man did we walk a lot. Anyway, by the end of the week, we had 11 people confirmed for igreja/church. When Sunday rolled around, there were 2 investigators. I was pretty discouraged cause the next two weeks will be even more difficult to have investigators because of Christmas and New Years.

But I got to look on the bright side, we had 2 great investigators at church. One of which, Orindo, is set on baptism. His wife and daughter are members, and have been waiting years for him to receive his answer. This past week he committed to baptism and that he’s finally received his own answer from God. He also wants to be sealed to his family for time and all eternity. Orindo is the miracle of the transference.

Another highlight of the week was going to an old person’s home and singing hymns for them. The spirit was super strong and even when a Catholic priest interrupted our program and blessed a sacrament, we had the chance to sing I know that My Redeemer Lives. Ba. The spirit was strong. It was an awesome experience and made me think of Jenn…haha. But, it was awesome to have a day of service.

This week I was studying John 10 thanks to my Uncle Howard (shout out). It is an awesome chapter. I love verse 9 in which Christ says he’s the door, and if we enter it, we shall be saved. But what do we have to do to enter the door? We all need to do our best to be a little more like Christ everyday. Acts of service, a silent prayer, reading scriptures, and so much more will help us enter Christ’s door. I know that Christ is the Good Shepherd. Only through him can we return to the presence of our Father. Christ laid his life down for us, and the best way we can show our appreciation is through becoming more like him. This isn’t easy, in fact, it’s a constant battle, but I know this constant conversion is worth it. Continue to follow Christ, know that He is our Savior, and have a very Merry Christmas.

Love, David

Woo so cool

p-day at chocolate world

got a sweet new haircut

aladdin and jasmin

The Zona

Personal Revelation

This week flew by!! We have investigators who are progressing, others who slammed their door in our face, and found many new families to teach (yes!) Douglas amazingly changed his hours, so he starts work at 2:30, which means he’ll go to church this week! Also, a member in the ward named Irmã Peach told us some exciting news. Everyone assumes that her husband is a member, but to our surprise, he just attends every week with his wife. Irmã Peach told us they want to get cealed in the temple, which means baptism first! We are going to start teaching him this week. On Sunday, Elder Soares and I were clapping doors, when we found an awesome family of 3. We start to talk and Elizane (the mom of the fam) explained to us how she had a Book of Mormon, LDS bible, and had gone to church 2 times! She also explained how her sogra/sogro (mother/father in law), who live across the street are members, and how almost every day she goes over to get a priesthood blessing. My jaw dropped, and I’m super excited to teach this family.

Sunday, there was a general conference in Brazil. Jeffrey R. Holland spoke, and everyone was amazed as he started his talk in Portuguese. He spoke how we need to bring the spirit of the temple into our house, and to show the importance of fast offerings/tithing to the rising generation. The most powerful part was when he bore his testimony off script in Portuguese. The gift of tongues is real, and the spirit was incredibly powerful. Many tears were shed in that congregation. One of my favorite comments was from Elder Maynes of the Presidency of the 70. He explained how we need to remember. Remember the laws of God, that we are children of God, that we have an eternal Savior, and that one day we can be like him (Moroni 7:48). Most importantly, he explained how we need to pray to remember our spiritual experiences. If we can remember those experiences that helped our testimony grow, our testimonies will be solidified. This hit me pretty hard, and I can only hope to remember my testimony builders.

After church, we did Divisão. I was with the LZ Elder Karchmarsky. I had some of the most powerful spiritual experiences with this elder. We were in my area, and I honestly had no idea what to do, so I prayed and followed the spirit. We received many personal revelations throughout the afternoon. One that I want to share happened at the house of um novo (1^st time in their house). We were teaching this 40 year old man, and honestly he had little to no interest. At the end of the lesson, Elder K decided to give him a Book of Mormon. He told him it was a present, and immediately, this man lit up. He got us water, bread and an orange, was searching the pages, and told his sister and niece to come hear our message. He was completely different…He had felt the light of Christ. Sunday, I learned the importance of personal revelation, and how it is the best way/tool to help the investigator to feel the spirit. We have the gift of the Holy Ghost, and everyone has the Light of Christ. Our job is to find this personal revelation through the Holy Ghost and apply it/follow it to help the investigator feel this peace, tranquility, and happiness of the light of Christ. Elder K and I decided there are 4 ways to prepare yourself to receive personal revelation. 1. Pray daily (every morning, every night, when you walk down the street, eating lunch. Always pray for opportunities to receive personal revelation). 2. Diligent Scripture Study (don’t study to say you study…study with a purpose. All of us have needs and know others with needs, so finding this purpose shouldn’t be too difficult). 3. Never disobey the spirit (if the spirit tells you to do something, we must follow. Through following, we build trust, increase our ability to recognize, and experience the spirit more). 4. Believe (believe with all your heart that you can receive personal revelation, and miracles will happen).

The best part about this is we can use personal revelation in any aspect of our lives. Now that I know the steps, I’m going to try with all my heart, might, mind and strength to find personal revelation for my investigators. Sunday, I had many spiritual experiences that I can all contribute to personal revelation. I love this work and the opportunity I have to grow closer to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ everyday. Thank you for all your love, support and prayers.

Love, Dave

Amazing hot sauce!

Espião!!!

This week was filled with just about every missionary experience possible. Being called names, spiritual high/lows, baptisms, new investigators, and so much more. First off, the news you’ve all been waiting for…my new comp. So, Elder Robert and I had a last supper last p-day, and then he headed to Passo Fundo on Wednesday, and I went to pick up my new comp in Porto Alegre. Drum roll….Elder Soares is my new greenie comp. Thank goodness he is a Brazilian from Espirito Santo. He’s 24 (almost 25) years old, super timid, yet super chill tambem. He loves reading, Japanese/Korean anime, and animals. We’re kinda different as you can see, but we have been getting along super well. Most importantly, we’re putting in work finding new people to teach, opening bairros, and teaching through the spirit. Now, let’s hit some of the highlights of the week.

            I’ve been called a plethora of names out here on the mish (good and bad). One day, my comp and I were walkin down the street in a rich bairro, when a white fiat slowly pulled up next to us. The driver rolled down his window, stuck out his arm in a fist pump motion, and yelled in a deep, super low voice, “Espião!!!” (translated = spy), honked his horn and then sped off.  Not gonna lie, it was hilarious. Another highlight from the week was finding Douglas. Elder Soares and I were walking down a road when something told me to take a steep turn on a road that look deserted. But I followed the impression, and we found a house with a dude chillin on the front porch. So I talked to him. He gladly accepted to hear our message. Turns out that Douglas, 23 years old, would be an investigator of gold. He loved the first lesson and willingly accepted all of our convites (prayer, read Book of Mormon, baptism). The next time we visited him, we sat down on his couch, and he explained that he had done some research on the church. This usually means we’re done for cause research on the internet never leads to good. But turns out, he found a video/article on how the Mormon church is one of the most giving and humanitarian focused organizations in the world. He then showed us how much he read of the Book of Mormon. We showed him the Christmas video of the Church, which he loved, and then told us he has been trying to trade his day off for Sunday (church). So pray that he gets his foga traded to Sunday. Also found a mother/son who loved the first lesson and wants to get baptized. And lastly, we found Luciana, who shed many tears as we explained that she could have an eternal family. Her husband is a Lutheran preacher so we will have to see what happens with that, but she wants to get baptized.

            I was reading in 3 Nephi 7 this week, and some scriptures had strong impressions on me. Principally, verses 14-21. Nephi is preaching repentance and faith in Christ. I love how Nephi testifies boldly of Christ with power and great authority. Nephi is in such a spiritual state that angels minister to him daily. With all this spirituality and focus, his word and teachings have so much power that, “It were not possible that they could disbelieve his words.” These verses opened my eyes to how we need to be bold testifiers of Christ. We all, know, love, and trust in Christ, so why shy away from an opportunity to testify of Christ. I remember in the beginning of the mish, my testimony was presented in a timid, shy manner, I now see the important of staring the investigator in the eye, letting the spirit guide my words, and showing my love for Christ, the investigator, and this gospel. I challenge you all to boldly testify of Christ. Like Nephi, you might not have huge success in converting others (21), but I promise that your testimony will grow leaps and bounds and that you will truly be more converted unto Christ.

            Thank you for all your love and support. Know that I’m learning a ton training Elder Soares and that I love this gospel. Have a great week, I miss you all, and don’t forget to boldly testify of Christ.

Love, Dave

last supper of robert and i

Baptism of the other dupla (I've taught these guys a bunch, so I considered it our baptism too)

Me and Big Poppa throwin our hands in the air like wes a true player

            

The Big Change

Oi,

This week flew by!! And I can’t believe the transfer is already over! I feel like I arrived in Canela just about a week ago. The next transfer will be a little different, but I’ll talk about that later. Finally in Canela, we had a week of heat. Ba walking around in the sun with high humidity was brutal. Plus, Canela has been cutting everyone’s water, so every time we asked pesquisadores, members, or anyone for water...they didn’t have it.  This week was a little slow for work, but I know I just gotta keep working hard.

Language update:  This week Elder Amorin and I had a conversation in Portuguese in our sleep. Haha. Elder Robert told us that we were having a convo about what we would eat the next day. But I’m feeling pretty confident with my language abilities, but I can always learn more and improve just a little bit.

The Big Change: Sunday, Elder Cerrano went to Porto Alegre to catch a plane to Argentina. He finished the mission. It was kind of surreal seeing all of his lasts (last contact, lesson, lunch com membro, and Sacrament Meeting). I’ll miss Cerrano a ton. He is such a chill, funny dude, yet focused on the work of the Lord. The other big change is that my comp, Elder Robert, is leaving for Passo Fundo (my last zone), and I will be taking his place and train here in Canela. You could say I’m excited, nervous and everything in between. This next transfer will be a huge learning experience for me. I will meet my new companion this Wednesday in Porto Alegre. Could be Brazilian, Hispanic, or American. Only time will tell. Elder Robert was an amazing companion. We were always laughing, conversing, and learning together. This most important thing I learned with Elder Robert was teaching through the spirit. Elder Robert is a spiritual powerhouse and always uses inspired questions and teaches to the needs of the investigator. He was a huge example to me, and I hope that I can have the same influence he had on me for my next companion. No one likes change, but we all need it to improve, see our weaknesses, and step out of our comfort zone. These changes will put me out of my comfort zone, but I know that’s what I need and God’s plan for me right now. I trust in the Lord, so I know this will be an awesome transfer filled with miracles, spiritual highs, trials, learning experiences, opportunities to improve and opportunities to grow closer to my Savior Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. This gospel is true, so live it! Thank you for all of your love, prayers and support.

-Elder Bodine