Two Missions from President

This week we were faced with two difficult missions. Normally, I start the week saying, man that passed by fast. This week it was kind of the opposite. Luckily, time stood still. Maybe you’re thinking why is that a good thing?? Well, it is because I have two weeks left on the mission, and I want to take advantage of every single second. I love Porto Alegre and this states people. I don’t know what I’m going to do without this people, their culture, their food, and their language. The other day, my comp, Elder Shell, and I wanted to speak some English. In all honesty, it is easier for me at this point to just speak Portuguese. Haha. I guess I can say that I will miss Brasil. But, I still got 2 solid weeks left, and you best believe they are going to be the best 2 weeks!!!!

We started the week off with a surprise. Honestly, I didn’t think that I would get to work with my comp in this transfer because we are always on splits. Then last Monday, Pres. arrived and told us we would open an area. Open an area means that the city or neighborhood doesn’t have missionaries, and you and your comp open or reopen the area. So we reopened the city of Esteio. Pres. Campos told us that the ward had a list of 30 referrals for us to visit. This meant that I would be working with Elder Shell for an uncertain amount of time. Pres. told us if we found investigators who would be baptized to stay in the area. So I was thinking that I would be there until the end of the mission. We got to the small city of Esteio, which is located in between Porto Alegre and Canoas, and the ward was stoked to have missionaries once again. We had an amazing lunch, got a tour of the city, got keys to our house, and finally got the Golden list of 30 referrals!!! Man I was thrilled, foaming at the mouth, 30 referrals is a missionaries dream. We then started to visit the families 1 for 1. Unfortunately, we quickly realized that these were not the type of referrals we’d be hoping for… so after 30 visits, we only saw a couple of people with potential. We called for Pres., and he gave us a new assignment. He decided to send us to Caxias. We were a little disappointed with the results, but had one amazing lesson with a less active family. They felt the spirit super strongly and decided that they needed to start reading the Book of Mormon and go to church. It was a lesson based on Alma 5:38. Christ is our good shepherd, and we must be on his team when he calls out in the final day. It was strange returning to Caxias for a couple of days. We stayed in a neighborhood called Cinquentenarice. Caxias is huge. It’s the 2^ndlargest city of the state. So I wasn’t able to visit some recent converts, but Elder Tate sent a hi to all of them. We did splits with Elder Costa de Portugal and Elder Layton from Utah. The split was awesome and ended with 3 baptisms. Let me tell you it was a challenging but rewarding week. This week I wanted to give one counsel to all you missionaries because everyone is a missionary. It doesn’t matter how tall you are, or how pretty, or the eloquence of your words. Effective missionary work happens through the spirit. It is my prayer that we always invite the sprit when we teach, talk, or present the gospel to others. Through the spirit all will be converted (Corinthians 2). The Lord told Oliver Cowdery in Doctrine and Covenants 68:4, “And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon the (spirit) shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of the God unto salvation.”

What a promise that is!!! For this reason, I crave to teach with the spirit. The spirit changes us and lifts those around us. If you aren’t feeling the spirit in your life, you must search for it! If you already feel it, let it influence you to feel it more and help others feel it. It is my promise that through the spirit we will be converted, and those we serve shall be converted as well.

Love, Dave

Glory in my Jesus

“And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born unto God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;” Mosiah 27:25. Over the last 22 months, I have seen a lot of change. Change in others, change in myself, and change in the way I look at those around me. Everyone of us is weak until we let Christ’s atoning sacrifice enter into our lives. With Christ, we can escape our carnal, prideful attitudes, and be born again entering into a state of righteousness. For me, a righteous life is a happy life. Let us all be righteous and inherit God’s eternal kingdom.

Let me tell you. This week was tiring. We did splits in 3 areas and traveled by bus, car, and train throughout the mission area. On Monday, we had an awesome meeting with Presdiente Campos. We could learn many precious teachings and feel a wonderful spirit with him. He invited my comp and I to be full of love, patience, charity, and the spirit during this transfer. He then gave us our weekly assignments. On Tuesday, we headed to Cachoerinha, which is a city next to Gravatai. We went on splits with Elder Lacerda, da Bahia, and Elder Guimaraes, de Fortaleza. I did splits with Elder Lacerda. He is hilarious. Before the mish, he was a zumba teacher. So our morning exercise for 2 days was zumba to EFY music. The division was amazing and super spiritual. In one day, we found 10 new investigators all of which firmly accepted baptism dates. Truly incredible. One of my favorite experiences was when we were in the grounds of the chapel and an 11 year old boy greeted us. He told us he was dying to get to know the church. We taught him and his parents, and they appear very interested. Many other awesome experiences occurred because we were following the spirit. On Thursday, we traveled to Novo Hamburgo and divided with Elder Naciemento, de Belem, e Elder Carvalho from Tocantins. I did splits with Elder Carvalho who is friendly. He literally is always smiling. We made it a goal to say at least 1 prayer as a companionship per hour. We found some awesome people. On Saturday, we went to Campo BOM. We helped a branch visit all it’s members so that they can form a ward. I went out with a member and found 2 families ready to return to the Lord’s flock. There are so many great things that happened this week! I wish I could write more but this post is already too long. I’ll end with a spiritual thought:

Of late, I have been studying the final words of Book of Mormon prophets. Overall, it has been amazing reading these great testimonies of spiritual giants. All of them testify of Christ’s eternal love and infinite atonement. This week I particularly loved Nephi’s last words, “I glory in plainness, I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed by soul from hell.” How are we glorifying Christ? Are we constantly showing him gratitude for his sacrifice? Do we really love him? As I pondered on these questions, I felt a wonderful spirit. Although I have much to improve, I know that I love the Lord and glorify him! I love you all, have an awesome week.

Elder Bodine

campo bom with 20 missionaries

About one year ago. I had the chance to teach Ezequiel the 5 missionary lessons in preperation for baptism. Shortly after I left the area, Ezequiel entered into the baptismal waters. This Sunday we went to a nation wide FHE and guess who I found... Ezequiel. He is prepping for a mission and is dating a young woman from the stake. He is super active in the church, and it was amazing to catch up with him. He is sooooo happy. What a difference the gospel makes in our lives. 

 Me and my comps man crush... Cristiano Ronaldo

Brazilian chapels are insane

Can you spot the mormon chapel

Pizza and that good ole neck tan line

Division with the Elders of Cachoerinha. Elder Lacerda e Elder Guimarães

Can you spot the mormon chapel

Elder Carvalho and some crazy brazilian fruit 

New Assignment

Another sweet week in the books!!! I cannot believe how fast time is flying. I’m down to my last month on the mission. But I don’t want to think too much about that. Yesterday, I got news from Elder Tate in Caxias that Jose and Santina were baptized! He said that the baptism meeting was amazing. So that made me happy. (I will try and send photos). But let me tell you how the week went.

I arrived in Porto Alegre on Monday. On Monday, I met my new comp Elder Shell from Texas and headed to the mission office. We met up with Presidente Campos who told us what we would be doing this transfer. He then told us we would get to participate in the arrival of the new missionaries. Man this was a blast from the past. Seeing the new missionaries in the airport, greeting them, taking them to the mission office, and to the temple, was all surreal. About two years ago, I was getting off the plane in Porto Alegre getting to know Pres. And Sister Campos. They were all extremely excited and nervous to get to the field. We then prepped a mini training for the next day and ate dinner at President’s house. It was great hearing some funny stories with them and the new missionaries. The next day was filled with training and the departure of the new elders/sisters for their areas. After the meetings, Pres. gave us our first mission. Elder Shell and I learned that we’d be traveling to Gravatai, a city super close to Porto Alegre. We’d be helping the Elders of the Monte Belo Ward. We spent 3 days in their area, and it was a blast. I spent the division with Elder Gois from Curitiba. He has been on the mish for two months and has a big desire to learn. I was amazed at how receptive the people of Gravatai were. Everyone was letting us in their houses, talking with us in the street, and treated us well. What a cool area! Finished the splits with 2 baptisms of Christiano and Jennifer. They were the first baptisms of the new Monte Belo Ward! We then headed back to Porto Alegre on Sunday, reported to Pres, and we are now waiting on our next adventure. Thanks for all the love.

Elder Bodine

The Office Staff

Tchau to Caxias and elder Tate

Gravataí morning rise

Splits with Elder Gois e Elder Favoretti, and my comp Elder Shell

Baptism of José e Santina

The Crew

Back to Porto Alegre

Let me tell you about one of the craziest weeks of my mish: Why was it crazy? Because nothing went right. Overall, my comp, Elder Tate, and I laughed cause of how everything spun out of control. Yup, it was one of those weeks. But these weeks help us grow. So overall, I’m trying to be positive. Let me tell you about the main event: Jose and Santina. Jose and Santina are a couple I’ve been teaching with Elder Tate since January. They’ve been wanting to get baptized for awhile, but some wedding documents have been making the whole process tricky. Finally we got everything resolved, and the baptism was marked for Saturday. One rule of missionaries is on the week of the baptism, you need to follow up your investigator everyday. So on Monday we headed to their house. Everything was great. Santina told us she was praying for everything to go according to plan. Tuesday, we returned and learned that Santina had cut her eye with a brush. She was in incredible pain. We could give her a blessing and make some awesome promises. Wednesday we spent the day in Porto Alegre so on Thursday, we returned. Well, this is when it got fun. Jose and Santina are some of the most loving/serving people I’ve ever met. They are the most popular couple in the neighborhood. So they always have visitors. We got to the house, and Jose greeted us. He simply told us “Santina’s brother from the church is here.” “Don’t talk about baptism.” We were confused. We then met an extremely evangelic couple. At first, there was a awkward silence after a little chit chat. Then the couple said, “Well one of us has to start talking.” And boom they started to anti or criticize everything we had taught. Man, I won’t even tell you what they said, but it was heavy. We tried to defend/testify, but they didn’t let us talk. When I finally got a chance to talk, two more families arrived, one catholic and the other spiritism, and a 4 religion bible bash happened. Man that was a first, and let me tell you it was a bunch of yelling. I left the house confused, so imagine Jose and Santina. We returned on Friday, and Jose was in doubt. We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon and ask God if he needed to be baptized. He accepted. On Saturday, in the spirit of fast, we returned to their house to prep for the baptism. What occurred was unbelievable. We got to their house, and we found 20 people. We entered, Jose was crying, and Santina sat us down. She explained that 30 minutes before we arrived Jose had received a call from his dad that his mom had passed away from a surprise/sudden heart attack. They traveled to the funeral and the baptism was cancelled. Moral of the story: Opposition is real. The enemy wants us to give up on them, but we are determined! We won’t give up. I thought I would be here for the baptism, but last night at 10 pm, I got a call from president saying I’m ending my mish in Porto Alegre! Craziness!!!!

Bodine

P-day shenanigans

Teachin in the mato of Brasil

After 1 year and 10 monthes in Brasil... I found a tarantula 

Our visit to Juventude... Caxias pro soccer team

Kaeytln´s baptism from last week

Conference!!

“E agora, meus amados irmãos, e também judeus e todos vós, confins da Terra, dai ouvidos a estas palavras e acreditai em Cristo; e se não acreditardes nestas palavras, acreditai em Cristo. E se acreditardes em Cristo, acreditareis nestas palavras, porque são as palavras de Cristo e ele deu-as a mim; e elas ensinam a todos os homens que devem fazer o bem.” 2 Nephi 33:10

Man, I love conference. It is a time to listen to the words of prophets, apostles and leaders of the church. We must believe in their words because Christ our Savior and King inspired them with these valuable teachings. These teachings will influences us to good. I love the counsel of Job: “Hear diligently my speech and my declaration with your ears.” I tried my best to diligently hear my leaders and seek personal inspirations. What an inspiring conference! As I raised my right arm to sustain Russell M. Nelson as a prophet, seer and revelator, an overwhelming feeling filled by body, a feeling of surety, peace and warmth that the Lord has once again called a living prophet. How great my joy was in that historic moment. The immense changes and inspiring talks showed me of the Savior’s love and awareness of current times and our current needs to hasten this work. Here were some of my favorite take aways:

I loved Larry Echo Hawk’s remarks on forgiveness. As he spoke, I learned that as we forgive and are forgiven, we are spiritually strengthened. Lynn G. Robbins complemented these thoughts showing that mistakes are a part of life. We can’t have fear of being wrong or of our weaknesses but we must confront them, learn, and grow. The Savior will always permit second chances. David A. Bednar helped me better understand the importance of being meek. Those who are meek will inherit the Lord’s kingdom. I loved Taylor Godoy’s talk on daily sacrifice. It was my favorite. Sacrifice brings blessings and creates success in our lives. We must fill our days with sacrifice to become the Lord’s disciples. Dale G. Renlund showed me the incredible importance of temple work and family history. I had no idea that there are so many blessings promised to those who make temple work/family history part of their lives. Larry Y. Wilson’s remarks on the importance of being guided and directioned by the Holy Ghost helped me realize the importance and need to be obedient and to recognize these inspirations. Henry B. Eyring complemented by adding that we must be desirous to have the Holy Ghost constantly in our lives. Dallin H. Oaks’ talk on salvation through small and simple things was a masterpiece. I loved his example of many little drops versus dumping a bucket of water. We must give value to all our decisions small or big. Pres. Nelson’s talk on the importance of seeking and receiving personal revelations strengthened by testimony on constantly seeking and following inspiration given from the Holy Ghost. Like the prophet said the heavens are open. God will speak to us. I loved Elder Uchtdorf’s talk on beholding Christ! We must celebrate life, gain our own testimonies of the man of all men, behold the Savior, and become disciples of him. If we do so, eternal life will be gained. Overall, I’m extremely grateful to hear our leaders inspiring words. I feel ever more that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of Christ on this earth!

Love you all, Elder Bodine

Singin in the rain grafitti

Easter bunnies

Zone t-shirt

Boonies de Caxias

Me and the misson leader of Caxias

Milk shake

michael phelps dave

Me and my buddy the hulk