P-day Com Presidente

Lol pw tennis taught me a lot

Glory days

The matching uniform do... Hawaiian californiian combo

Presidente with that serve

Uno in the house of presidente... it got pretty heated

A Week of Craziness

This week I have decided that I will give you a more detailed account of my week because it was absolutely nuts with transfers. The last 4 days have been crazy preppin all the materials for the group leaving, the group arriving, training of the new missionaries, and for all the people switching areas. This transfer had a ton of changes in the mission... It was super cool to see how it all went down and how all the changes seemed so perfect. I really gained a testimony this week that Presidente Campos receives revelation for our mission. But now that I have done a slight recap, let’s get into the details.

          First off, we had an amazing lesson with an investigator this week. His name is Roniel, and he loves football. He is so good that his parents sent him down to live with his aunt/uncle, so he could play for a club in Rio Grande do Sul. His aunt/uncle are members, and the missionaries have been preppin him for a while to be baptized. When Elder Castle and I arrived to get to know Roniel, we learned that he has been acting a little rebellious and that his aunt wants to kick him out of the house. We have been trying to help the family reunite and show their love for one another. Last Tuesday, we showed up to their house and all chaos broke loose. Everybody started to judge one another and the spirit was leaving the lesson. Finally, we explained how our purpose was not to hear all of the problems they have had between themselves, but to help them grow closer to one another and Christ. In one particular moment, a scripture popped into my head... Alma 39:12-13, where Alma is giving some advice to Corianton. The language is pretty strong, but it applied to the situation so well. We were able to calm them down and help them establish goals on how they all could improve themselves and their relationships. The spirit was super strong, and I pray that Roniel can continue to prep for baptism. 

        This week we had an amazing p-day with Presidente. Everyone in the mission office woke up and went to Parque Germania to play basketball and tennis with Presidente. Haha it was amazing. I never thought I would see Presidente Campos in normal clothes. It was super fun playing tennis with him because he´s actually pretty good. After playing tennis in the extreme heat, we headed out to presidente´s house where we got an authentic nordeste meal from natal made by Sister Campos herself. Lunch was amazing.... After we played some crazy board and dice games with Presidente and his family. And to finish things off, I made brownies for the whole crew, which turned out delish. Overall, an awesome p-day with Presidente, his family, and the office crew. 

        The next couple of days were crazy in the office. I had a bunch of policia federal errands to run, my comp had to buy a bunch of passagens and pay bills, we prepped transfers by calling everyone in the mish and telling them which bus they would take to which areas, and we got some more crazy info. The sisters in our district left, so we will now be working in two areas with two wards... I have never gotten the chance to work with two wards, so I´m excited for the new challenge. I have got a feeling that Castle and I have started to get a hang of things in the office so we should be able to get out more... plus it wont be quite as crazy cause Presidente got some more staff to help us out. Also, I´m stoked cause our new area is awesome to find people to teach and bring to church.

        Monday was absolutely insane cause Elder Castle and I were at the rodovaria in Porto Alegre helping everyone catch their bus. It was a major struggle with a bunch of people showing up late or getting on the wrong busses... but in the end everything worked out as planned and everyone got to their areas. Monday night I had to finish printing all the materials that missionaries take home from the mish. It was super weird seeing some great friends leave. One of the Aps, Elder Sousa, left yesterday, and it has been super weird without him. But I’m excited for this next transfer in the office and can tell you that time is passing by so fast. I’m losing track of the days. I was reading in 4 Nephi the other day and really liked verse 12 which says, "But they did walk after the commandments.” I love the wording of this statement. What does it mean to walk after the commandments?? The rest of the verse list actions of what the people of the church of Christ did to walk after his commandments. They fasted, they prayed, and they heard the word of the Lord. We all need to walk after the commandments of the Lord. Without a doubt in my mind, you´ll be happy when you walk after the commandments of our Heavenly Father. Thanks for all your love and support... I hope you all have an amazing week.

Dave

Elder sousa gave us a shoe shine before our first reunião de liders

Temple trip finally....

Fun fact the temple is one street outside of our area 

Outback run

The Office

The weeks are flying by in the office. I don´t even know how to describe the daily life here. One day could be dealing with important documents and taking money to the bank, and another day can be calling 50 missionaries about shoes that they had bought. Overall, it is a bunch of randomness. I´ll give you an example of one of this weeks "correrias". Context: We have a missionary from Argentina who leaves next week. Right now, she can leave the country, but she doesn´t have her foreigner ID, which means she will have to pay um mil reais if she ever wants to come back. For the past two weeks, I have been trying to figure out how we can get her ID. I contacted people in São Paulo and they said that I had to mail a bunch of important documents to São Paulo and they could get everything done. They also gave me a deadline of when everything could be sent in. Tudo tranquilo, I sent all the documents in with one day to spare. The next day I was reading through the mission´s emails at about 5:15 and saw a email that translates to, "Elder Bodine forgive me a thousand times... I forgot to include one other document that you need to send us... Can you send it to us today?" So at 5:20 Elder Castle and I ran to the house, got money, and than ran through the streets to arrive at the post office right at 5:30 to send a tiny piece of paper to a random dude in São Paulo. This happens on the daily haha. It’s crazy times here. We also have been able to leave and get out and teach a little bit. We found a family this week that have a lot of potential. The dad of the fam, Luis, promised to read the Book of Mormon and go to church the next week. So we're praying everything works out with them. We are also planning an English class because everyone in the street has been coming up to us and asking if our church has an English class... So we´re hoping that that will be a good way to find new investigators, unify the ward, and reactivate members. This week we were in a meeting with Presidente Campos, when he shared a super cool scripture with us. We were talking about how we could be successful missionaries. He told us to read Joshua 3:5, which talks about sanctifying ourselves and if we do so god will grant us with many blessings. I encourage you all to ponder what it means to sanctify yourself, than commit to sanctifying, and the blessings will come. I love you all and hope you have a great week... 

Dave

Secretario executivo

This week was different to say the least. In reality, it was a total blur. It was Elder Castle and I’s last week of training as the new secretaries of the missão. Now we "know" what we´re supposed to be doing. Haha. I will now give you the low down on what I’m officially in charge of as executive secretary. As executive secretary, I deal with passports, drivers licenses, foreigner identities, and the renewal of all these important documents. We have this giant safe or cofin in Portuguese in the office. I’m the only one with the password... Any mail that gets sent here, I’m in charge of (so now would be a great time to send me letters haha). I buy all the materials of the mission... whether it be pamphlets, BOMs, planejamentos, and many other materials. If you’re leaving or arriving in the mish... I’m the one who will buy your ticket. When missionaries make appointments with health, I’m the one that talks with hospitals, doctors, and farmacies to set up appointments and buy medicine. Any lost, stolen, or broken cell phones, I get to call the company to explain what happened and what we need. I schedule all the times for the missionaries to enter the temple. If you have a reference of a person who lives in the areas of our mission you call me, and I will call the elder in that area to tell the missionaries to visit that person. And last and most important would be fichas or the baptism records. All the baptisms that are performed in the mish, I get to digitize and send to São Paulo (thousands of fichas... muito chato). All in all, there is for sure a work load. I am still adjusting to the office life. I was pretty fed up with the office life when I got an email from a friend who told me how great of an opportunity I have to serve all the missionaries and my area. This friend sent me an excerpt from the Book of Mormon in Helaman 7. In this chapter, Nephi climbs up a tower and prays to the lord how he wishes how the times could be easier. He starts to complain about his circumstances. Then he composes himself and realizes that he has been consigned to those days. The days with much wickedness, trials, and iniquity. But if he continues to complain nothing will end up happening. Let me tell you, I was in the shoes of Nephi this last week. I was complaining and thinking that my work would solely be in the office. But this email changed my perspective. Now I realize that the three hours I get to leave everyday need to be completely focused in serving and finding others to share this gospel with. I have thought a lot about my new designation and truly believe that I will see miracles in the proselyting of my area and in the mission office if I remain worthy, be diligent, and focus on serving others and not myself. All in all, I’m stoked to get out and work in my new area ALA IV. The members are great here, and my comp and I are planning an English class. I think nearly every time we have been on the street some one has asked us if our church has an English class.... so I am thinking this will be the key to success here in the area. Thank you for all your support and prayers, and have and awesome week.

Dave

Week of Craziness

Was Good my friends/family!?!?!?

Haha remember how the last line of my email last week was pray that everything goes according to plan…. Well let´s just say that is the last time I will end an email with that phrase. This week I want to change it up a little bit and put pictures first and let you enjoy the wildness of my week.

The Crew enjoying p-day at caracol

 Taking in the beautiful view

 When I got the call from president that I was emergency transferred

 Pondering my new life in the mission office

 My new comp Elder Castle and I as the new and best Secretaries of the mish

 President Campos let me head back to canela for the baptisms

 Orildo´s turn next week to be baptized

Well I´m in the missionary office all day (until 6pm) every day. It’s weird being stuck in an air-conditioned office answering phone calls, filling out important visa/passport documents, buying airplane tickets, and much much more. I just love the work aspect of the mission field… Leaving the house every day to knock doors in the heat for hours. Now mission life is more like a job. I´m sure after some time I will get used to the secretary life, but for now it’s pretty brutal. 

One awesome thing about working in the mission office is that in the last week I have talked with president Campos more than I have in 7 months on the mish. He is an awesome president and always knows how to make us laugh. But now I want to talk a little more about my last Sunday in Canela. 

President let me head back to Canela for the 4 baptisms of Andreigina, Kimberly, Elen, and Douglas. It was one of the best days on the mish. Presidente Felipe, president of the branch asked me to give 15 minute talk on whatever I wanted. I was able to give one of my best talks ever without any preparation. The spirit was fosho helpin me out. After my talk, the branch sang God Be with You till we meet again. It was emotional. After sacrament many other miracles happened. Orildo let me know that he was going to get baptized the coming week, and three teenagers we are teaching were trying to get to me stay for their baptisms too. The end of church was super special… I wish I could talk more about every one of our investigators who were baptized, but I don´t have enough time. I was hyped because after church Douglas asked me to baptize him. We are great friends and he is prepping to go on a mission. If all goes right… he will enter the field while I´m here on the mish. Elen is awesome and has a ton of new friends in the branch. Andreigina is one of the sweetest senhoras I have met on the mish and has a powerful testimony. Kimberly was one of the specialist baptisms I have participated in because her whole family has been waiting for her to be baptized and she finally received an answer. Her whole family was crying as she was baptized. 

Overall, it was one of the most rewarding days of my life to watch others follow the example of their savior and be baptized like he was. I know that this church is true, and that every hard day and rejection on the mission is worth it because we will become ever more converted unto Christ and help others see his love. I love this work and I am excited for my new challenges on the mish. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Dave 

 

So get this andreigina doesnt know how to read or write but when you are baptized you need to sign your name on the ficha. So the LZ taught her to write at her house and she was able to sign the ficha... incredible story and she was so happy when she learned how to write her name with 73 years of age

Planning is everything

Ba tchê another week in the books. I can´t believe how fast my time is passing on the mission. I have really noticed that when I’m working hard... I lose track of time. This week was another busy week of work. Taught more lessons then last week, found more new people to teach, and had 7 people at church on Sunday.... so to say the least I´m really happy. I won’t give away to many details of what will happen next week, but I’m excited to say the least. One thing I have noticed on the mish is that planning means everything. We have been focusing on improving our planning. I have noticed a huge difference in our success of finding people to teach, and teaching through the spirit. My gramps always tells me to be prepared and organized in everything. This advice is huge on the mish and in life. My companion Elder Soares has really helped me see the importance of being prepared... Hopefully we will see the results in the next coming weeks. All in all, be prepared in all things. This week some funny moments include leaving an investigator’s house and hitting my head on their gate in the front of their house. As I was leaving, I turned to say good bye, and when I turned around, boom hit my head on the gate. Haha There was a huge crowd outside of their house so everyone had a nice laugh including me. Also huge news.... yesterday I ate burgers... like legit burgers from the US, but with a twist. The buns were garlic bread. I highly suggest testing this out. The burgers were bomb. 

I want you all to know that Christ lives, he is our savior, redeemer, and king. Planning is everything, whether it be work, family, or church. A prayer is a simple yet powerful way to figure everything out. In one amazing lesson we had this week, an investigator shared that the best way to escape any temptations, trial, or difficulty, is to pray and think about a place that brings you to the light. My challenge for you this week is to think about that place that brings you to the light (or happiness). Thanks for all your prayers and support.... Pray that my week all goes according to plans.

Dave

Gramado LZ and LD reppin the white tie for district meeting

New fave tie

When a sister gives you a giant bag of skinny pop

planejamento (planning is important)