Transfers and Miracles

Well then.... What can I say... Overall, I'm super sad to be leaving Taquara. Transfers are always the worst... I will let you know why I'm not too psyched to leave Taquara after a week of amazing work. First off, Taquara has been an amazing challenge for me. Over the last 3 transfers, I have been discovering how I can effectively work here to baptize converts. This week was one of my best weeks in the city. First off, I remembered a family that a member had showed me one time and said that maybe we should try to teach them... He told the 2nd week I was here in Taquara. The other day I had a dream that we needed to go there. When we arrived, we found a woman who was one of the first members here in Taquara and her three kids. One of her children, Lucas, who is 22, is amazing. He almost died last year from a brain virus and said he is willing to do anything to follow Christ. We marked his baptism for next week, and he loved church. Also I was able to do a division with Elder Silva one of my office buddies because my comp went to POA to paint houses. On the division, we found a Haitian  Emanuel,who was amazing. He accepted everything that we taught him, and I even got to teach in English. The lesson was super interesting because we had to teach super simply. I was wishin I could make a phone call for Mads because he speaks French. But through using a ton of scriptures in his French bible, he was able to understand the message and accept being baptized. We also taught a couple, Julia e Fabricio, who loved our message. I had already taught them one time, and they have already gone to church. Fabricio is super quiet but when we taught aabout the gospel of Christ, he opened up. We asked him what he wanted to learn in the lesson, and he said how to pray. In the end of the lesson, we kneeled on the their humble houses floor, and he offered the most amazing prayer, asking God for forgiveness for his sins and that he could be prepared to be baptized and start a new life. I couldn't stop smiling. Also, we received an amazing reference of a family who recently moved to Taquara from Fortaleza. They loved church and have a desire to follow what we are teaching. Their 3 kids are super cute also. Lastly, a inactive member who I have visited during my stay here went to church Sunday and brought his son who hasn't been baptized.... he will probably be baptized next week. It always seems like many miracles come at the wrong time.... haha jk. But I'm just happy that i could play a part in these peoples conversion. The transfer was crazy. We live in 4 here in Taquara. One elder will train and his comp will take my place in Taquara with Elder Santos. I'm heading back to Porto Alegre to the area parque dos maias. Pray for me cause I'm excited to see more miracles... thanks for all the love and support.... 

love 

dave

Wedding of Rafael e Patricia

Baptism of Patricia and Rafael no rio

Baptism of Deandry

This week Elder Aidukaitis

Let me tell you, this week was a week of a lot of news.  New investigators, new neighborhoods, new members, and new missionary skills. To be honest, I never thought I would learn so much more than 1 year into the mish. Why did I learn so much you may ask? Because I participated in 2 meetings with the Area President of Brazil, Elder Aidukaitis. All I have to say is that General Authorities are truly inspired and that the spirit was so strong during the meetings.  Elder A gave us all ideas, knowledge, and desire to double or triple the number of baptisms in the mish. Here were some of my take aways: In the 1st meeting, he told us and focused on chapter 8 of Pregar Meu Evangelho. He told us the importance of plans and goals and how learning to establish plans and accomplish goals will help us in all aspects of our life. He was always referring to our last day on the mish and our last day of this life. Did I make a big or small difference in the lives of others and myself? Could I have done more? He told us a successful missionary is a dedicated missionary in all aspects of missionary life, especially creating plans/accomplishing goals. He asked us “Do you want the people you teach to receive the greatest blessing in their lives???” He made an amazing comparison of the liahona to the area book (a binder where we keep important information about investigators), and told us it is the best place to receive revelation for the area. So treat it with respect!!! He also told us that we need to set high goals. On the next day, he talked a ton about our faith. How our faith needs to be like the missionaries of the Book of Mormon. He told us that we need to have this great faith and works. He emphasized about the characteristics of Christ – love, diligence and patience. Most importantly, we need to have this desire to serve others. There are many other scriptures and infos that Elder A declared, but his remarks on our desire to serve, our desire to open our mouths, our desire to look back on the mish saying I put everything out there is what will get our mish to the success that we want. All of this desire will come through planning and goals and constant focus on our purpose. This week was an awesome energy boost on my desire to serve. I can’t wait to put these teachings in practice. Thanks for everything.






Dave

A little p-day churrasco

Our mission group 1 year after

New Tie That I made p-day

Birthday Elder Gomes

Rockiin doorag

Buddism e Baptisms

This week was crazy!!! I saw so many miracles and had super fun. Honestly, one of the fastest weeks of my mish. First off I’ll hit on the fun highlight of the week and after the spiritual notes.

So this week, we traded our p-day for Wednesday so we could visit a Buddhist Temple in Tres Coroas, a city nearby. So we got our x-mission leader to drive us there. The temple was sweet. It’s on top of the mountains here so it gave a great view of our area and many other cities. I have never been to a Buddhist temple, so it was pretty fascinating seeing the sculptures, statues, temples, and practices of a different religion. Haha. I thought the 21 taras were pretty cool. After the Buddhist adventure, we had plans to go to another tourist site, a waterfall that our mission leader told us about. So on the way there, his car broke down, but he didn’t want to ruin our p-day and said it was close by. So we decided to walk. So after walking up a giant hill with food, frying pans, and a guitar, we found a sign that said 8 km to the cascata (this was after walking 5 km).  But we still pressed on. We got to the sweet waterfall, ate chicken that we fried over a campfire, played guitar and headed back hoping to hitchhike. But no one picked us up, so we ended up hiking another 15 km to the house…but in the end, all worth it. One of the coolest p-days of my mission career. But let’s move on to a more spiritual note.

So, remember how I talked about Junior the other week. Well, this week, he got baptized!!! Super cool. But I think I tell you a little more about him. We first met him about three weeks ago when he called us out in the street. We ended up setting up an appointment, and he loved the message of The Book of Mormon. After two weeks, we became super tight, and he was loving church. He has had a rough life, but is fascinated by God and religion. So last week the Pres of the mish came to interview Junior for his baptism, and in the interview, he asked if Pres could baptize him.  And Pres. Campos said yes. So this week, Pres. e Sister Campos returned to the branch for Junior’s baptism. It was awesome. So many people were there, and the spirit was so strong. Fosho a great missionary highlight watching Pres baptizing your investigator. We also started to work in a new neighborhood on the other side of the city. We found 2 couples who are awesome and are progressing a ton. Only problem here in Brazil is that no one gets married. Super frustrating. But I’m excited to work with them. Thanks for all the prayers and support. I know diligence allows and creates opportunities to see miracles. Have an amazing week. à Love Dave

Fun fact: I sang the national anthem in the ward activity to celebrate the 4 of July.

21 taras

cascata dos italianos

Junior's baptism

Pres. Campos baptized Junior

Cheerleading

Well, another week in the bag, and I’m feelin’ better than ever. My comp and I put in so much work this week; my body is aching from the pain. But, it’s all worth it cause I know miracles are coming. This week had many highlights, but first off, I’d like to give you some deets about my comp. First off, his name is Wenderson (never heard this name in my life.) He has 4 years in the church.  His pre-church life was pretty crazy if you ask me. Let’s just say he spent most of his time in the street, but when he was baptized he never looked back. He told me the 1^st year and ½ of his time in the church, he didn’t have a single friend, but he went every Sunday. As you will see by the photos, he is hilarious. Always cracking jokes, singing Bob Marley Portuguese style, and loves anything that is free or a present. He also loves to use scriptures, which is great but sometimes leads to a good old Bible Bash. Haha. I’ve never bible bashed so much in my life. I’m getting along with him though because he’s all about being obedient so we’re retidoive and the Lord is prepping so many people to hear our message. This week we found tons of teenagers and young adults. Junior is progressing a ton and had everything ready for his baptism, but he has still got some things with Word of Wisdom to resolve. But next week is his week.  We are teaching this awesome couple named Lorissa and José They have been praying, reading the Book of Mormon, and have been wanting to go to church. Only problem is she is more than 9 months pregnant, so we got to have a little patience. We found 2 awesome part member families. One part member fam has 7 people, and they love Elders, so they have been treating us super well. We just got to reactivate them. We taught a teenager named Leonardo this week, and he loved the message. We said he would pray, read the Book of Mormon, and when we asked him to go to church he said it would be hard to get him to go to church because he is pretty active in his current church. So frustrating, I can’t tell you how many times this has happened to me. The people you teach say they understand, but in reality, their hearts are closed off. But that always will happen, so you just got to accept it and pray to find those who are prepared. This week had many funny moments. My comp is trying to learn English so in the street we converse very basically. He asked me “How are you?” I replied, “Good, how about you?” and he said, “Sergipe.” (which is where he is from). Pretty classic. Also we were walking on the highway when a motorcycle screamed past us, a minute later the same motorcycle had u-turned and was slowly approaching us. The motorcyclist stopped and said, “You’re an American.” I replied, “Yes.” He then explained how he was an English teacher and needed my help. He took out his phone and showed me a picture of a phrase and told me to translate it: Have you ever not accepted someone’s apology? LOL I tried my best, but there isn’t really a direct translation for apology in Portuguese.  Then he started to ask questions about the present perfect tense, and let me tell you, I was lost. I’ve forgotten all English grammar rules. When he left, I thought to myself, “That was so random.” There were many funny experiences including singing Akon with 5 Brazilians, trying to be male cheerleaders, and just being with my comp is a laughing experience. Overall, another awesome week. Please pray for Junior that he can be baptized this week and avoid temptation. Thanks for the prayers, love and support. This gospel is perfect.

Love, Dave

Omni 1:25-26

Recent converts who are amazing

6 Missionaries for one branch = poder

lol my comp is such a fool

We tried to be male cheerleaders

round 2

arroz e feijão