The week flew by!

Man the week flew by! We traveled to Porto Alegre and other cities nearby Santa Cruz. Overall, we spent just 3 days of our week in our area. Some of the highlights of the week included helping with 2 move ins of in-active members, a brownie/ice cream FHE, an amazing Friday night English class, a district attack (10 missionaries in our area) in a small city called Vera Cruz, and last but not least the baptism of Bira.

Let me tell you more about Ubirajara Freitos Soares. Bira is highly intellectual, successful in his work, and a born leader. People look to him and see power, authority, and success.  He is also an amazing father and husband doing everything to benefit his family. He was born and raised Catholic and had been a practicing Catholic for more than 48 years of his life.  About 20 years ago, Bira received a visit from the missionaries. After going to church and listening to all the messages, almost to the point to be baptized, Bira decided that he would stick in the Catholic church. 15 years after, his son Bruno began to investigate the church because of a close friend. After going to seminary everyday and Sunday church meetings, Bruno received/gained a testimony. When he decided to get baptized, his parents fully supported him and made him promise that he would stay active in the church. From then on and out, Bruno began to be a humble example for Bira and Helena. After 4 or 5 years of membership, Bruno began to fill out his papers for the mission. After his decision to serve a mish, his parents became more interested in the gospel. One week after getting to Santa Cruz, my companion and I could teach and mark a baptism date for Helena, Bruno’s mom. Her baptism was wonderful, and she is now a young women counselor. Bira, on the other hand, was quite a bit more complicated. After teaching for several months, bearing many testimonies, promising many blessings, resolving doubts, and imploring Bira to follow the feelings of the Holy Spirit, Bira decided to get baptized. The priest surprised him and told him to follow his heart and do what was best for his family. This family is easily my family away from home. They treat us missionaries like family and do anything for us. That is why on Saturday I felt so happy as Bruno baptized his father Bira. What a special moment that was to see a family filled with such great joy. Bira bore his testimony on Sunday that the joy was indescribable and that in one year his family would be sealed in the temple.

The gospel is so great because it makes families happy. Overall, the week was great. I was saddened to hear that our beloved prophet had passed away, but am thrilled to know that God will never stop calling prophets in these days. What a great blessing that is. One scripture that impacted me this week in thinking of how God, the prophet, and my leaders look to me was 1 Samuel 16:7. Here Samuel goes to the house of Jesse to choose the next king. After looking at and feeling nothing special with Jesse’s first 6 sons, Samuel asks if exists another. Jesse makes comment of his shepherd son David. I loved what the Lord says to Samuel, “Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” May we all learn to look and treat others as God would treat others. I love you all and I love this gospel. Dave

Baptism of Bira

10 Missionaries 1 area/ 1 lunch

House chapel

Elders of the District

 

The new band

Zone Activity

Happy New Year!!!!

“Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me forever: but now saith the Lord, Be it far from me; for them that honour me, I will honour. “ (1 Samuel 2:30). This scripture left me with a strong impression, that this new year I should do my best to honor God. But how do we honor God? I have learned that honor is a daily process of being honest and worthy to others, yourself, and God. We honor God through serving him and others, keeping the commandments, and living his gospel. It’s funny cause in these days honoring God is criticized, ridiculed, and mocked. (2 Nephi 18:20). But I know this promise is real, when we honor God, he will honor us. I encourage you all to read “The Abundant Life” a talk given by Joseph B. Wirthlin. The talk is super inspiring as he tells us, “Who knows of what we are capable if we only try? The abundant life is within our reach if we only drink deeply of living water, fill our hearts with love, and create of our lives a masterpiece.” I’m striving to have an abundant life in 2018!

This last week was abundant with 2 baptisms of converts. Last Wednesday, we had the privilege to baptize Irma Maria.  Maria is incredible, she has amazing faith. With 76 years of age, she had an incredible desire to follow Jesus Christ and receive forgiveness for her sins. I loved seeing her great smile every time we greeted her and taught her. Our other baptism of the week was Diogo. Diogo and I have quickly become great friends. He reminds me of some of my younger cousins. He is 13, 6’3”, 230 lbs. and loves basketball. His dog’s name is Curry!!! Man we talk a lot of basketball to say the least. He also plays on a travel team. I played some 1 on 1 with him and it was fun. He was pretty obsessed with my Lebron’s. But the coolest part has been seeing his testimony grow. I remember the second time we taught him he told us he had prayed with so much faith to know if the things we had taught we true. From that moment he has been interested in his conversion wanting to return to Christ/God’s presence one day. He also already has a friend at church. So he is doing great. His baptism was amazing, and I loved his happy/positive attitude. He is always happy. The week was filled with many other miracles. Overall, I am already seeking to live the abundant life and help others as well. Be honorable and the blessings will flow. To end this letter, I challenge you to think, to share, or even write what your membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints means to you.

Love, David

Baptisms of Diogo e Maria

Santa Cruz Sunsets

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