Photos from Christmas

day in the life of Elder Bodine e Elder Queiroz

Rainy days 

Group shots

Puzzle and Christmas pajamas

 American bud Elder Southwick

I love to serve

Hi fam,

Another solid week in the books. I didn’t write yesterday cause the mission was in Porto Alegre for the Christmas celebration. Man 176 missionaries together was crazy. We were able to have a great celebration together. It was also sweet seeing all my comps and good missionary friends. Overall, a great day with many funny, spiritual, and exciting moments.

The week was also solid. I had my first splits with a fellow Californian, Elder Tullis. We had a solid day together and learned a ton together. This week was full of growing experiences. Also, it was one of the hottest weeks of my life. I’ve never had such a hard time sleeping in my life. At night, it stays hot and humid. So that’s always fun. One of the highlights of this week was when we fond a joven named Diogo. Diogo is awesome. He is 13, 6’3”, 220 pounds and loves basketball.  It’s been awhile since I’ve found a person that loves basketball as much as me. But the kid not only loves basketball…He is super interested in our message. After teaching the restoration, Diogo promised a church visit and a sincere questioning of God. Upon returning, he told us that he had asked God with faith. He described how he desired to know if our message was true. He felt unresponded, but described his strong feeling of peace, power and love in his fervent prayer. We helped him recognize his answer, and now he is determined to follow Christ.

One other moment or a variety of moments that I enjoyed came from a simple prayer and personal study. This week I was pondering the famous Gordon B. Hinckley missionary quote, “Forget yourself and go to work.” I began to ponder this quote and realize the best and most productive moments in my mish were when I forgot about my past, my future, my family, my friends and just served. Focused 100% on the people we serve as missionaries. Many scriptures and prophets/missionaries of the scriptures teach us how to serve. In Joshua 24:15, we learn that it is our choice to serve God, and that we should serve him today. King Benjamin teaches us to serve with love, because as we serve others we serve God, and Doctrine and Covenants shows that God delights and is honored by our daily service to others. What great opportunity I have to learn how to forget myself and serve others in need. In this wonderful Christmas season, I invite you all to forget about yourself and serve someone in need of your love/service. If you do so, your love for others and the Lord will increase, and your holiday season will be more joyous. I love to serve, I love my Savior, and I love this gospel.

-Elder Bodine

PS I let my good friend Elder Abretch cut my hair. I let him cut the style he wanted…Not sure I am a fan but it grows back.

Five dollar Christmas tree special... with lights

Crying after Elder Abrecht cut my hair...

Santa Cruz Sunsets

In the streets with the comp

Missionaries who arrived with me in the field

Reunited with old comps

Santa Cruz the best zone ever!!

Spread the Light of the World

This week I don't have much time.... but I wanted to wish everyone a wonderful season and invite you all to shine your light. This week I had the chance to sit down with the branch president and talk aobut members who needed a visit from the missionaries.  We were able to concentrate the week entirely in visiting members, active and inactive. Man what a crazy week. I have never seen so many people who have fallen away from the path. It was sad seeing previous Branch presidents, young womens leaders, and seminary teachers who had no interest in heading back to the church. But we also found others interested to come back to the church. We were able to teach a mom of an active member who hadn't been to church in more than 20 years... to my suprise she was one of the first people at church... Many other miracles filled the week.. honestly I love this work... I love sharing my testimony... and I love being a representative of Christ... Spread the light of the world and you will be happy!

Love 

dave

Feliz Natal Elder Queiroz

Feliz Natal Elder Queiroz e Bodine

Before the lesson inside look

Return to the Gruta

These are the moments my testimony strengthens.

Another transfer gone and out. And the big news is that I will stay one more transfer in the Santa! It will be my 3^rd transfer here, and I’m pretty stoked because we have some awesome investigators who will be big leaders in the church. This past week was crazy as normally weeks are on the mish. There are always so many highs and lows. But as we learn in 2 Nephi 2:22-25, it is impossible to know happiness without knowing sadness. So we must continue on and search out living this gospel.

Let’s start off with a low. Man the low of the week was when my memory card reformatted, and I lost hundreds of photos and videos. Luckily there were only photos/video from the Am and Santa Cruz. Also, the majority of these photos I have already passed onto the cloud, but my videos no. If you know me, you know that I like to make videos. Man the videos I lost crushed me. There were many special moments saved on that card. But, it’s all good, just gotta keep on shootin video. Let’s forget about the lows and move on to the highs.

Man the high this week was a high of highs, 100% miracle. Let me tell you about Michelle da Luz Santos. About 6 weeks ago, we arrived at the church building and found a woman who was extremely stressed out. She then explained her story. She had arrived in the Santa Cruz that day with her 4 children. She explained how she had run away from her house and ex-husband in Canoas. In Canoas, her ex-husband had been put in jail for drug trafficking. As Michelle lived in Canoas peacefully, slowly things got rough. She met a few church members, and she started to get to know and go to church. When her life seemed fixed out, her ex-husband sent his drug trafficking friends with the mission to find her and take her life. After several attempts and several near deaths, the church helped her take refuge and bought bus rides for Santa Cruz where her oldest daughter lives. The first thing she did upon arriving in Santa Cruz was seek out the church. We were able to calm her down, get her address, and mark a visit. When we got to her house, she was in tears. Michelle, her 4 children and 3 other family members were living in a house with 1 bathroom, 1 room, and kitchen. After a prayer to calm the family down, because the owner of the house threatened to kick them out, we taught the message of the restored gospel, read scriptures of comfort, and testified of eternal families. The spirit was so palpable, the spirit of peace circulated in that small wooden house entering the heart of every family member. In that moment, I felt as though every word that left my mouth wasn’t said by me but the spirit. We challenged them to read the Book of Mormon, ask God of the truthfulness of our message and to follow Christ being baptized in his church. Michelle and her two older daughters, Natalie and Raisa, accepted the challenge. They went to church, we taught them 2 more times, and then they disappeared. We learned that she returned to Canoas because her son-in-law kicked her out of the house. Well, in the moment, I was sad, but I knew that they would continue to search out the church. Almost a month after, this Saturday, I received a call from the assistants. I answered, and they passed me to a conference call. I began to speak with a sister who is in a city called Bento Goncalves. The first thing she said was, “Your investigator is getting baptized…” “Huh? I never worked in Bento.” “Remember Michelle???” In that moment, I dropped to the floor and let out a shout of rejoice. She then passed the phone for Michelle who was 15 minutes away from entering the waters of baptism. She explained to me what had happened, how she was threatened by her ex-husband again, and how she had to move to Bento where she lives one street away from the church. She thanked me for my testimony I shared with her on that first day and how her life has never been the same since. I congratulated her on her decision and learned that one of her daughters would also be baptized. These are the moments that show me the importance of being a missionary. These are the moments my testimony strengthens. These are the moments of joy. When the time comes, we need to raise our voices and testify of this ever-lasting gospel. I love you all and wish you the best! Take advantage of the holiday season to share this gospel.

Love, Dave   

me and monitcheli

Sunday Lunches

 lago dourado... de novo

Joy!

Today my letter is going to be on the joy of being a missionary. Every single day at least one Brazilian asks me, “Why did you leave the USA to come to Brazil?” always with a face of  “This American is crazy.” Every time I have the opportunity to bearing testimony and share how I love this gospel and love sharing with others. I love Doctrine and Covenants 28:16 which states that in all moments one must declare this gospel with a rejoicing voice. People ask me, and I am sure people think, “How can 2 years separated from your family, friends, country, hobbies, and so much more be fun or a time of such pleasure?”  I have found that when I forget about these things and forget about myself, I am better focused on those who need this gospel. There is no feeling better than a recent convert bearing their testimony, seeing a light in a person who was surrounded so thickly by the darkness, or who finally knows that they can be eternal. These moments are priceless, these moments make the mission joyous (joyful), and these moments make me see change in others and also in me. For sure, the most astounding thing the mission has done for me is make me into a better servant of Christ and holder of the priesthood. I love placing my name in section 31 of the Doctrine and Covenants.  Verse 3 always hits me, Lift up your heart and rejoice, your mission has come and you will announce the good news of great joy to the people of Brazil. Overall, the week was great. I found myself laughing a lot. Whether it was a pancake party with Bira and family, exercising on a sketchy bridge in the pouring rain, or teaching 20 students in our English class, I found myself laughing with a smile and happy as a missionary. This week had some downs, but we were always finding the positives.  One of my fave moments of the week was participating in the choir for the Stake Conference. Man the spirit was strong as we sang oh how wonderful was the morning. Our 7 investigators enjoyed the music and the messages.  Be happy, be a light, find joy in every waking moment.

 Sacolé.... On the streets of Brasil, people sell sacolé which is a popsicle in a bag.... decided to make 100 in house of the flavors: avocado, mango, grape, chocolate, chocolate peanutbutter, papaiya, orange, and strawberry.... Peanutbutter was the crowd pleaser... 

Apple crisp to celebrate Thanksgiving