tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50928016323433937842024-03-19T05:12:56.696-07:00Elder Holdaway in BrazilThe adventures of a missionary in the Brazil Natal Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsJDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-20530017719850348972019-01-01T16:58:00.000-08:002016-11-28T17:56:41.375-08:00Who am I? Why am I (or this blog) here? (pinned to top)<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hi, my name is Elder Cash Holdaway. I am currently serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Brazil Natal Mission (ie., the big bump in Brazil). This is my blog, where I will share my comings and goings -- the people I meet, the foods I eat, and the things I do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This blog is managed by my family back home in Maryland and is based off of my emails and letters to them. It will be in my voice, but I'm not actually putting this together. I look forward to letting you know about all the fun I am having hear, along with the struggles and challenges of serving the Lord in such a different place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am grateful for this opportunity to serve and to share my testimony with the Brazilian people. If you want to know more about why I left the comforts of home to be here, you can find out more information <a href="http://mormon.org/">here</a>.</span>JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-77202844928586791922017-10-30T16:34:00.005-07:002017-10-30T16:34:55.049-07:00Catching Up on Blog Posting<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[Editor’s Note: We’ve been a little lax in updating the
blog. It doesn’t help that Elder Holdaway
writes very little. He’s been better, so
here are some comments of his from the last month or two]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">September 18-25th<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wanted to send an email last week, but it didn’t work
out. Last week we went to eat dinner at the Costas which was really
really good. That same week I ran into a young man I baptized in my first
area, he said he wasn’t going to church but wants to serve a mission. I
told him he needs to start going to church again, I hope it works out, I’ll
keep in contact with the missionaries in that area. Last Thursday we had
a zone conference and Elder Carboni of the 70 came to speak to us, he was
companions with President Colleoni on their mission. He said he and President
baptized 25 people in a month in Manaus. freaking crazy. The conference was
really good, and I learned a lot. I went to my first area to say hi to
some of the people I taught when we went to go eat at Brother Costa´s house, it
was weird to be in my first area again. It’s sad to see a bunch of
friends that are ending their missions this transfer, we heard their
testimonies at the conference. A lady in my ward, Fatima Medeiros, recently
came home from a visit to Utah. I gave her 20 bucks and asked her to
bring steak strips beef jerky from Costco, she complied and now I am enjoying
some delicious beef jerky. I am
currently teaching the grandmother of a recent convert of my old companion and
her adopted son who is 9. They received the message really well and she
is really nice, we brought them to church on Sunday and plan on baptizing them
this Friday, and a member brought his brother and maybe we can mark his baptism
for Saturday after conference. I’m really excited for General Conference
and it couldn’t come at a better time. Wish you all well and stay cold
for me, because now it’s about to get hotter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">October 2-9<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday 2/10 - Nothing important happened that I
remember.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 3/10 - I woke up and went to the zone leaders room
to see if they had the transfers, which they did. I was not to thrilled
with it, and waited for the ZL to tell me it was a joke, which he didn't. After
a while I came to accept it and began to prepare for the transfer,
mentally. My new area is Pombal, Paraiba, a different state then that of
Natal. It’s a 9-hour trip with a 3-hour layover in another city. I
also got a really difficult companion, which didn’t help my situation, but the
APs called me and said I need to take care of him and help him along, he’s
a good guy, works hard, but has some difficulties. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday 04/10 - We went to the bus station and caught
our bus at 10 to the end of the world. I got the quick rundown of the
area from the last elders, who both left, which means i will be opening the
area. They did nothing. Left only 2 people, a couple, in our teaching
group. We got to Sousa at 6 at night and met up with the zone
leaders. I talked to them and they said that basically we would be
opening a city, no elder has been really working there for at least a handful
of transfers. we got to the apartment at 10 at night and crashed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday 5/10 - We started the work and left to make
contacts and find people to teach. We had lunch and continued to work.
then we visited a member that night. Based on what the members say,
there’s a lot of problems and disunion in the branch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday 06/10 - We worked, went to lunch, and then
visited the couple that were on the teaching list, they need to be married to
be baptized but the man has a problem with his birth certificate, so we are
working that out. While there we talked to a lady who walked in who is a
daughter and we found out that she’s been to church and received the lessons.
The other missionaries literally left nothing about her. I invited her to
be baptized and she accepted. To be safe I marked it for the next Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday 07/10 - We returned to the house of the daughter
of the couple, Raquel, to try and baptize her this Sunday. We talked to
her and she accepted. We made sure she knew everything and didn’t have
any problems and then filled out her baptism form. Then that night I
realized the city cut the water off and we wouldn’t be able to fill the
font. I talked to the counselor of the branch and suggested baptizing her
in the river, but he said it’s a mess there on Sundays because it’s the only
attraction here in this small town. No one thought that the water reserve
in the church was big enough for the font. We tried with the military and
the firemen to get someone with water, but they don’t work on Sunday and
nothing worked. But I felt like it would all work out. We went home and
after three days of hard work to close the weeks numbers were dead, and went to
bed at 9:45. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 08/10 - We woke up and went out to pick up investigators
but didn’t have any luck. Then we went to church and met the Branch president
who lives in another city. He was like just try and fill the font, so we
turned on the water and let it fill until church ended. Thanks to the
blessings we received this week we were able to baptize here in the little
water that we had. I told my DL and soon after received calls from my ZL
and the APs congratulating us. It’s not every day someone arrives in a
dead area, knowing nothing, and having a baptism. The ZL said that the
whole mission would know about this and that the President was really
happy. It was a good week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That’s about it. Just counting down to my birthday and
hump day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">October 21-30<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday-Thursday:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nothing much happened, but we worked on preparing a young
woman and her younger sister for their baptisms on Friday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we left the house at 10 to get to a neighboring city
where the ZLs live for zone meeting and interviews with the president. We
ate lunch at a restaurant which was really good, then met up at the chapel to
have zone meeting. The president showed up and conducted interviews. He
is very happy with the work my comp and I are doing here in this area that was
once dead. After the interviews we went home and went straight to the
chapel in Pombal and had the baptisms of the two girls we prepared. then
we took them out to eat pastels. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I woke up a little late because of the exhausting day before
and I didn’t sleep well. We ate lunch, planned for the day, and after appointment
after appointment fell through we went to the central park and i suggested we
get a milkshake. while we were waiting for it to open, a guy went up to
me and asked me if I was from the Mormon church, to which I replied yes, then
he asked how he can learn more about the church, so we took him to the chapel
and taught him the restoration, he was very intelligent and knew a lot of
doctrine, and said he believed that the Book of Mormon was true. Then we
invited him to go to church the next day which would be in Sousa, another city
for District Conference. He said he would. A real
miracle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We went to the chapel and waited for the young man, named Lucas,
to arrive. when he wasn’t showing up we called him and said he would be
down in 10 minutes. We waited and waited and waited but he didn’t
show. The vans had to leave to get to the stake center in time for the
conference to start and the couldn’t wait for him. I knew that God wouldn’t
guide Lucas to us and everything to happen just for us to leave him. I
asked the driver to go the other direction to see if he was on the way, and at
the last minute we saw him with his bike coming towards the chapel. We hurriedly
grabbed him and left for Sousa. The conference went well and was really
spiritual. We held the confirmations of our baptisms in a separated room
after the meeting. Then we took the vans back to Pombal. I talked
the whole time with Lucas to see how he liked the meeting, then I shared with
him the Articles of Faith because he was curious about some doctrines.
When i shared the part about Adam’s transgression and I explained why Adam had
to fall, he stopped me and said, oh I don’t know the chapter or verse but I saw
a scripture that says something like Adam had to fall for men to exist. I
couldn’t believe that he was quoting the Book of Mormon. He said that he
was studying the Book of Mormon the day before. A true golden
investigator. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday 30/10 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME WOOHOOOOOO<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m gonna go to a pizzeria tonight in Sousa to
celebrate with the other elders as well as celebrate 1 year on the
mish. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[Editor's Note #2: Pictures from the last couple of months can be found on the Photos page.]</span></div>
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JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-1030070298585967722017-07-16T17:13:00.006-07:002017-07-16T17:13:51.330-07:00Week 5, Transfer 5 -- Bautismo! Milagres! Casementoooo!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NOTE: This is from the week ending July 2nd.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nothing much happened earlier this week except I got stung
by a wasp which felt like a blow torch on my hand, and it’s been raining for
two weeks straight. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday, we went to
another ward party for São João where you basically eat a bunch of corn. I had
popcorn, a kind of corn pudding called canjica, corn on the cob, and cake. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday, we had the baptism of the
investigator we have been working with named Nedson, who is 21. The service went well in the end, but I
freaked out on the inside when after we went in the water he asked if he could
use the bathroom beforehand, we went and I thought he wanted to back out at the
last second, but everything went well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
got a phone call from the elders in Nova Repúplica asking if I would be going
to the wedding of one of the families that I taught, whose son I baptized. Then they asked if I could baptize him after
the wedding which really came as a surprise and I said of course. I can't really explain just how happy I felt
that I would have the opportunity to baptize the father of the family I helped
bring into the gospel and who I taught about eternal marriage and families
which I know affected them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got
picked up at 5 to go eat dinner at the Costa's house before the wedding. We had chicken, sausage, beef stroganoff and
chicken stroganoff (different kind of stroganoff), and lasagna. It was all really good. The wedding went really well and the baptism
even better. I'll never forget that
day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday, we finally saw the sun so that’s
cool I guess. There is a lady in the
ward here who is going to Utah next weekend which is weird to think that she
will be there and I will be here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
learned an interesting fact the other day -
There is a slang word we use here in the north-east of brasil: Oxente
"oshench". Apparently, because
of the US naval base here in Natal, people started saying "oh shi*"
because of the Americans, but after time it turned to oxente, which sounds the
same. You say it in the same context. Just your little history lesson
today. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Até mais!</span></span></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Élder Holdaway</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P.S. OXENTE! i have 8 months already!!!</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh1dDFLcvgnd5MEhn6NdZJ2Jszut9WzuywXcNvey40I-quf_UxOe8FoF0UAYUPl4OfDI7c5sM0l2SCfH6YSW5xXnUdxotXRAz_54FQrLGzrLhzmJkBtyEfXRgND6LyqBy4pfAJKSr85gI/s1600/DSCN1173%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh1dDFLcvgnd5MEhn6NdZJ2Jszut9WzuywXcNvey40I-quf_UxOe8FoF0UAYUPl4OfDI7c5sM0l2SCfH6YSW5xXnUdxotXRAz_54FQrLGzrLhzmJkBtyEfXRgND6LyqBy4pfAJKSr85gI/s400/DSCN1173%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">First baptism of the day -- Nedson</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqT09faoBfS2ZIsutQ_r7-0kL4EQdm00gYKAtgdfgJdS_bbcLnOMV655G8hIXKkmPKMY5uBstxJ2nHG5iR7QVG-voazxktMXk40iUDxVo-SEQctNLsezEfEoynIfyBVWDwoNf4UbfJNgg/s1600/DSCN1180%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqT09faoBfS2ZIsutQ_r7-0kL4EQdm00gYKAtgdfgJdS_bbcLnOMV655G8hIXKkmPKMY5uBstxJ2nHG5iR7QVG-voazxktMXk40iUDxVo-SEQctNLsezEfEoynIfyBVWDwoNf4UbfJNgg/s400/DSCN1180%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1S08YCihLqUgbi5AjUKOBFh7H70GcjQLt7kNZRnvexYtiKogZjMmqYSJvZL764wUIVzGdhtr-odf9WCpnWMpy6ucCJsI99ziF2ggClD0f8KE7c7WHGF7upqbp7Tgmf0MvM2n6K88mze8/s1600/DSCN1186%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1S08YCihLqUgbi5AjUKOBFh7H70GcjQLt7kNZRnvexYtiKogZjMmqYSJvZL764wUIVzGdhtr-odf9WCpnWMpy6ucCJsI99ziF2ggClD0f8KE7c7WHGF7upqbp7Tgmf0MvM2n6K88mze8/s400/DSCN1186%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The food -- oh, the glorious food!</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-GyNrW-SMjhAVUn8kMkaRm9uqDSqbsI_FrPZXKS1Oak17Qe8K_f6V8y9GF6OCjsB_-H_4c4GVugS-m1T4IbmkzVcNVX4uVo0fOu2DHwx2zLVZqN2zLjXB5Nlmf4phKQdwL1BGnH3-S7A/s1600/DSCN1188%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-GyNrW-SMjhAVUn8kMkaRm9uqDSqbsI_FrPZXKS1Oak17Qe8K_f6V8y9GF6OCjsB_-H_4c4GVugS-m1T4IbmkzVcNVX4uVo0fOu2DHwx2zLVZqN2zLjXB5Nlmf4phKQdwL1BGnH3-S7A/s400/DSCN1188%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Costas, the best family here. Bro. Costa was in the Brasilian Special Forces</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqWJz8LUqIcDLQTjH9n2l9UuFi0MWc1go9D4ranRXIcy4PyWF6VhRwLdQw-T_-47KRNzf9l9FM6pykqZHIc2D9BIJwkg18hqMl9WZjll08GhBKbLS18dc38nLVsv35Qc_1BnadNC8JQUA/s1600/DSCN1198%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqWJz8LUqIcDLQTjH9n2l9UuFi0MWc1go9D4ranRXIcy4PyWF6VhRwLdQw-T_-47KRNzf9l9FM6pykqZHIc2D9BIJwkg18hqMl9WZjll08GhBKbLS18dc38nLVsv35Qc_1BnadNC8JQUA/s400/DSCN1198%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The baptism of Tiago, I baptized his son in my 2nd transfer. My clothes are still wet from the baptism earlier.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTEOcHfvJoxZOTZyELiEBiTSoJZA_NGEe02RU1ODkUKV87rkP8_2eO2RjZ_ZdiHDoGrKk0qY-IrQEIIPDtbOEhodMATMYruXx3qSvOpNCB2xtVidGJ1UWHDp8w3JjC4Iu1PnjKGmKE6I/s1600/DSCN1202%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTEOcHfvJoxZOTZyELiEBiTSoJZA_NGEe02RU1ODkUKV87rkP8_2eO2RjZ_ZdiHDoGrKk0qY-IrQEIIPDtbOEhodMATMYruXx3qSvOpNCB2xtVidGJ1UWHDp8w3JjC4Iu1PnjKGmKE6I/s400/DSCN1202%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Next step, temple marriage!</span></td></tr>
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JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-6140099126942062282017-04-17T14:56:00.001-07:002017-04-17T14:56:34.716-07:00Transfer 3, Week 5<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 11/4 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, we met with the Zone Leader, Elder Melo, and his
companion, Elder Rocha, at the bus station at 9:30 am. We chatted for a bit until Elder Melo and my
companion left for Caicó. I will be
spending the week with Elder Rocha, who is from Cape Verde, Africa. We worked a lot today, made a bunch of
contacts, and taught several lessons in-house.
It was really great to work again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday 12/4 – <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, we worked hard again, but caught a bunch of rain. I'm
really enjoying working with him, he knows the doctrine really well and the
bible really really well. He has only
been a member for about 3 years and will go home in October. He said he didn't read the bible or anything
before the mish, I'm really impressed at his knowledge, study skills, and work
discipline.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday 13/4 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nothing much happened today.
I started the Old Testament this week and am now in Leviticus which is
really, really boring. So far I've read some pretty strange things that have
happened. At night, we went to a less
active member's house, Duiji, who served in Colorado and speaks English, he
also cooks. He made us Asian chicken
stir fry which was delicious. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday 14/4 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, while eating breakfast, I cut my thumb pretty bad
cutting a mango. I probably need
stitches but a band aid will do. The
mango was good. A member brought over a
pizza for lunch that they sell. We
didn't work that much today because it is Good Friday. I read a bunch of Liahonas [local church
magazine] and read an article about institute that mentions Brent L. Top, and
an article about opening a mission in Sweden, I think, where President Russell
M. Nelson and President Monson worked with Elder Hans Ringger to open the
mission there. Proud to have Ringger in
my blood, and my personality. We managed
to teach a lady, and argue with her very Catholic friend when she showed up
half way through. My companion said that
not one person in the Bible was baptized on the head or as a baby. She said that our bible was wrong. He said that it was wrong because the Catholics
changed it. At least that’s what I took
from the situation. It was very
entertaining. Then we got milkshakes
with the sisters, then saw some members (who are apparently rich, the husband
owns a bank) and they bought us (good) pizza.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Domingo 15/4 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we had an investigator show up and a member brought
his friend. After church, we went to the
sisters house (outside) and ate cinnamon rolls that the American sister
made. Then we went to Duiji's house
again to eat orange cake, tapioca crepes, and avocado smoothies (with milk and
sugar) which was all very good. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week was really good and we were able to make 72
contacts, teach 25 lessons (in-house, not in the street) and do much more. Elder Rocha taught me better working habits
like working in the morning and leaving the house earlier, and all in all I had
a great time with him. Today I am in
Caicó to eat churrasco with the zone, and tomorrow is zone conference in
Mossoró. A few days with Elder Cassiano,
and then transfer day. I'm feeling
pretty good and hoping for a baptism next Sunday, but we'll see. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P.S. My thumb healed fine...and no pics :( <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And if you want to know how to do a Law of Moses animal
sacrifice properly, shoot me an email.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-13603281735743837862017-03-21T19:00:00.004-07:002017-03-21T19:00:58.562-07:00Week 1 Transfer 3 -- Currais Novos!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">Buckle
up for this one. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday 13/3 - <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, I didn´t really do much except that night I met up with
some other elders to get burgers. Everyone was talking about transfers
and one elder told me that he knew the transfers and that I would stay and
Elder Prado would be transferred. Another elder, an American, told me
that he felt that I would be transferred to Caicó and when he said that I felt
it too. Despite what the other elder said and the other rumors I heard saying
that I would stay, I somewhat knew that I was going to be transferred to Caicó
specifically. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 14/3 - <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, the news about the transfer came later than usual, about 11:00.
The ZL said "Elder Holdaway will be transferred to Currais Novos, Zona
Caicó, and his new companion will be the DL, Elder Cassiano." Except
for the news about my new companion, I wasn´t surprised at all. Elder
Cassiano is from Ribeiro Preto and was in my zone in my first transfer; Elder
Nhantole was my DL and Cassiano was the other DL. The zone Caicó is about
4-5 hours inland from the state capital, Natal, and is actually spread across a
few cities. Where my old area was a borough of the city, Natal. Currais
Novos is its own city and is actually two hours away from Caicó and the
ZLs. My new area has 4 missionaries; Elder Cassiano, Me, Sister Newman
(an American), and Sister Noble (a Brazilian). I´ll talk more about my
area later. I spent the rest of the day packing, and I visited some
people including Nathanael; the boy I baptized Sunday and his family,
and Ismael, my Ward Mission Leader, who is awesome - he served in Ribeiro Preto
and was called as Branch President in his FIRST AREA!!! I can't imagine doing
that. He served in various leadership roles on his mission and when he
was an AP, Elder Oaks visited the mission and spent the day with Ismael doing
divisions. He taught me a lot in these 13 weeks and he cried a little
when I said goodbye. Then we went to the Costa's for dinner.
Brother Costa and I talked a lot about our time in the military and I showed
him a little pin I have of the Special Forces unit patch with airborne wings.
He was a Brazilian commando which is kinda like the Navy Seals. He did a
lot of underwater demolition and he also parachuted; static and freefall.
He said that the military here has the upmost respect for the US SF unit patch
and anyone wearing it. He said he did a lot of work/training with
them. Dinner was great and it was hard saying goodbye to them, the best
and kindest family I’ve met yet here. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday 15/3 - <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today at 7:30 I said my last goodbyes to my
"birthplace" and we headed for the rodoviário which is a big bus/taxi
station where all the missionaries met up to travel and exchange
companions. I enjoyed talking to the other missionaries before my bus
left at 10:30. It was a small A/C-less bus as opposed to the nicer
buses that others got. We stopped at a pretty nice restaurant for lunch
and continued our long journey. The countryside here is beautiful and
green with small mountains jutting out across the land. It looks like a
greener version of Arizona. We got to Caicó and met up with our comps and
ZL's. We went to the ZL's house and chilled. We went to go out and
eat dinner, and walking around I saw THOUSANDS of stink beetles and the whole city
smelled like beetle. My shoes still smell like all the beetles I
massacred with my feet. The ZL's said it's not normal for them to be here
and they arrived whe</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">n we came. We at dinner (I had tapica recheado, which
literally means stuffed tapioca. It's meat, eggs, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.,
stuffed in a crepe or tortilla made of tapioca – Its pretty dang good) and
crashed. I didn't sleep that well because it was hot and those stupid
beetles kept jumping and crawling on me. The next day we had zone meeting
and afterwards we played Mafia which was fun. Then we ate lunch at a member’s
house from the ZL's ward which was an hour away in the hot, hot sun. The
members are bakers and they make little cakes, or scones and biscuits for a
living and they sell to markets. It was interesting to see how they
work. Then we went home to grab my things and went to the rodoviário to
go to our area. Another boring trip. After being here for a few
days (it's Sunday right now) I'll explain more about the area.
Currais Novos, translated, means New Corral. With that you can guess that
there’s plenty of ranches here. But, actually, this city, or town, is an
old mining town. The city is in the middle of nowhere with one road in
and one road out. The nearest city is at least an hour away. I love
it here, and one reason why is because the landscape and climate here is like
northern California or northern Arizona. There are shrubs, cacti, and
rocky hills everywhere. The nights are a cool 70 degrees. The culture here is
like that of the American Northwest as well. There is a local motorcycle club
here and, at the moment, a motofest in the town square. I love it here
and if given the choice, would never leave. That night we ate dinner with
the sisters at an outside churrascaria.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday 17/3 - <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We slept in to get needed rest after 2 long days of travelling
(and 2 weeks of sleeplessness for me) and went to get lunch at a restaurant
that a member works at and he paid for our meal. Then Elder Cassiano
showed me the area and we met a couple members. I went to the local supermarket
to get groceries. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday 18/3 - <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After lunch, we went to the chapel to visit with the branch
president, who wasn't there. We went to go to his house but met him on the way
and talked. He wants us to speak on Sunday. Then we went to
take açaí and then checked out the Motofest which was awesome. Hundreds
of bikers from different clubs were walking around with their cuts on, like the
Brazilian version of Sturgis. Luckily, I didn't see any
"one-percenters." I bought a pin of the state flag, Rio Grande
Do Norte, and a pin of an eagle with the words "motociclista" written
beneath it. Then we ate dinner at a snack shack that the branch president
owns and chatted with him. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 19/3 - <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, we picked up some members and went to church. My
comp and I had to give talks, and I prepared what I thought was a pretty dang
good talk on how we can grow our testimony of the BoM, that would fill the 10
minutes allotted. I was first and wasn't too nervous to talk in front of
25 people. A little more than halfway in and right before the good part,
the 1st counselor nudged my leg and gave me the thumbs up like that was
enough. So, I quickly wrapped it up and closed. I don't think I
talked all that long or even went past the 10 minutes. He apologized
after I sat down and said something but I didn’t understand him, I still don’t
know what happened, but I hope it means they won’t ask me again. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That’s all folks, until next week. More
pictures in the blog. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy1Y-hm_c_obGBFizV9IPNeoou2TRUQC0txYf1j2LY0R_j1hfZ_O4HfoyqqgT339FabLZg_mx4yr8kHRo4YH3v4Me91lRgIr8zH1FMK064BWcgUgStOoc6YxbBi21rfDXe_I25UslOG54/s1600/DSCN0799%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy1Y-hm_c_obGBFizV9IPNeoou2TRUQC0txYf1j2LY0R_j1hfZ_O4HfoyqqgT339FabLZg_mx4yr8kHRo4YH3v4Me91lRgIr8zH1FMK064BWcgUgStOoc6YxbBi21rfDXe_I25UslOG54/s400/DSCN0799%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">You have arrived . . .</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOelublRWRCG9Es8zC8CVJ4uaIBrgBrytqZKQW1yXD-4KjgbZBZv1ZZIACqMcrgWnz6G3Sf8etbg2zxVIYpRW0XW8tRLPwzmiYk5kHGiRUaihEWSICDP90xH8zxzyuhpNygA632z1SZAA/s1600/DSCN0815%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOelublRWRCG9Es8zC8CVJ4uaIBrgBrytqZKQW1yXD-4KjgbZBZv1ZZIACqMcrgWnz6G3Sf8etbg2zxVIYpRW0XW8tRLPwzmiYk5kHGiRUaihEWSICDP90xH8zxzyuhpNygA632z1SZAA/s400/DSCN0815%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-12059904329434389312017-03-13T18:09:00.000-07:002017-03-13T18:09:03.241-07:00Transfer 2 -- Weeks 4 thru 6<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 21/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, my companion and I divided with the District Leader,
Elder Alfaro, and his companion, Elder Martins.
I went with Elder Martins in his area, he and I are good friends already
so I was excited to spend the day with him.
For lunch, he made ham and egg breakfast tacos which were good. Then we went out and did some street
contacting. They have a small sand dune
in their area, so he took me there and we hiked to the top and watched the sun
set, but I forgot my camera. We talked a
lot and he really opened up about his life before the mission and what
not. Then we went to take açaí for
dinner. Side note - their house is like
the best missionary house I have seen in the mission and I am super jealous of
them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday 22/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We woke up and Elder Martins made fried bananas. You fry bananas in oil, put on a plate, and
top with sugar, powdered milk, powdered chocolate, and sweetened condensed
milk. Super easy and super good. Then we
returned to our areas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday 23/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This morning, President and Sister Colleoni came over to our
house to look at the place and tell us that we were going to move houses to
live with two other elders in another zone.
I am not too thrilled about this change, but the good thing is that the
house is right next to our chapel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday 24/2 -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have to be careful in the streets at night and shouldn't
stay out late because of the Carnaval parties.
Everyone is drunk. We taught a
boy named Gean that we met on the street the other day, and he invited his two
older brothers, Mateus and Leandro to listen in on our first lesson, the
Restoration. It went well and they all
seemed interested. We committed them to
church on Sunday, but who knows being that Carnaval is this weekend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 26/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They didn't come, in fact no one came except for a handful
of people. I went to stay the night at
the DL's house to spend the next day with them.
The power was out in their area but we had a fun time playing Uno and
other games. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday 27/2 -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, I stayed at the district leader's house last night
and we are going to go on a tour of Natal and the beach and what not with a
member. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We went to an activity at the church for Carnaval and we ate
feijoada, rice, and barbeque. Then we
went with a member to the beach which was really cool. We went to a place where the sand dunes met
the water. I saw camels there and the view
was just amazing, I think the beaches here are my favorite that I have been
to. I was surprised that not a lot of
people were there though. We went down
near the shore and walked 3-4 miles down the coast. My favorite P-day yet. On the way there we passed a Carnaval parade
while we were on the bus. It was like a
mix between Mardi Gras and a San Francisco gay parade. I didn't realize it was
so gross and dirty. Maybe there's a
better part to it. There was a guy I met
at the church activity that had a GoArmy key chain that made me look
twice. It was weird seeing that
here. I talked to him and he said he
went on his mission to Idaho and he planned on joining the Army there in the
states, but it didn’t work out for some reason.
Thought that was pretty interesting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 28/2 - PARA BENS MAMÃE !!!!!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nothing special really happened today except that I'm
getting sick and Gean and Mateus weren't there for their appointment. Vai dar certo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday 1/3 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, we passed by Gean and Mateus again (Leandro doesn't
live there) and we taught them the Plan of Salvation. Mateus shows more interest than Gean, but he
is 3 years older than Gean at 15.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday 2/3 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, we went to visit a 13-year-old named Alan who just
got back from the church youth camp. He
liked it and wants to be baptized, in fact he has wanted to be baptized for
quite some time. He has already been to
church several times, but hasn't been taught.
He leaves for a city near Mossoró next Tuesday, so we are working to get
him baptized on Saturday. Today we
taught him the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, and Gospel all at once and
scheduled to teach the commandments tomorrow.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday 3/3 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, we taught the commandments and filled out the
membership/baptism document and got it signed by his mother. Now just an interview with the DL and the
baptism tomorrow night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday 4/3 - PARA BENS KAELIN!!!!!!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, we received a call from the bishop and he told us
that we can baptize Alan if we want, but he will not confirm him because Alan is
leaving, and the bishop doesn't want another inactive member on the
records. We plead his case and he said
he would call us back. The other problem
is that there is no church where Alan is going.
Next, we got a call from the Mission President saying that for the sake
of good relations between the ward and stake, he would not be authorizing this
baptism. I wasn’t feeling well, so I
returned to bed after personal study and got up in time to go out and work for
the day that afternoon. We taught Mateus
today (Gean lost interest) and committed him to baptism and church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 5/3 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, Mateus actually showed up and we had good
meetings. In Sunday School, the teacher
taught about gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and shared a video of
Elder Holland talking about it. I
thought it was the perfect lesson for our investigator and he seemed really
interested. We went to eat lunch and the
member told me about an American who passed in this area who was a really good
singer and had a band back in the states.
I asked her more about it and she said that there’s like 12 members of the
band and they wear blue. I was a bit
confused and asked if there was a video of it on YouTube, and she pulled up a
BYU Vocal Point video singing Silent Night.
He is the first one singing. I
thought that was pretty cool. We went home
and I tried to catch up on sleep that I lost the previous night due to not
feeling well, but it didn't come. Then
we went to a meeting that ended up being cancelled and so we did some street
contacts for the rest of the night. On
one contact I presented the message of the Restoration and asked the lady if
she would like to hear more about it this next coming week. She pulled up an empty chair next to her and
told me to share it now, and so we did right there on the street (a lot of
people just sit in front of their houses outside) and afterwards we set up an
appointment to teach them the next one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday 6/3 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, we went to Alecrim so I could get a suit from another
Elder who is leaving soon. I felt so
sick that we just we went to the LAN house and stayed home the rest of the day.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday-Saturday - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was pretty sick and couldn´t sleep that well this week and
it was hard to find the energy to do anything. As a result, work was slow,
especially with most of our appointments falling through. The only really good thing that happened was
teaching this one family. The mom,
Kayla, was baptized 23 years ago but is inactive. Last Sunday she had the sudden desire to return
to church. She brought her 13-year-old
son, Nathannael, and his cousin who is a member. We talked to her and set a day to teach
Nathannael to baptize him. The day we
went, we talked to the step-dad, Tiago, and had a good conversation with
him. Throughout teaching the family, we
found out that Tiago has a really strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and
Restoration. By Saturday, we committed
Nathannael for baptism for Sunday, Tiago for baptism after he gets married
(people here aren´t usually married), and Kayla and Tiago will work on going to
the temple. Saturday night when we were
teaching about eternal marriage and families, Kayla became very emotional. She gave the closing prayer, and it was one
of the most powerful and sincere prayers that I have felt. It was truly special. Friday night we went to
the marriage of our WML at the chapel.
It was boring but the food was good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 12/3 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The night before we had a conversation with the bishop over
the phone and he almost blocked the baptism again. I decided we should open a fast for our work
here and leave it in the Lord´s hands. I
felt like everything was going to be ok, but my companion was up all night
thinking about what he will say to the bishop the next day. Today, I brought my baptism clothes even
though it was still up in the air. I sat
down in the 1st block and the bishop came in and sat down next to me and said
we will have the baptism like normal. My
comp was very surprised. The baptism went very well (it only took one time this
time), the whole family was there and once again the mom was very
emotional. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tomorrow is transfer day, I think I will be transferred but
we will see. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL3nD9RBqCPBv8H69sMhO1uweAKzXtrvvD4lvW76bLcVdoDApBBu2N2lnhh-ynCble7Y81B34Pf4uU5zhzIRtyAutaZr3Me8JNws6owuWdWSnyP_k4OjW21HWZH7F42y2SE4lDYXZ3ymc/s1600/DSCN0730%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL3nD9RBqCPBv8H69sMhO1uweAKzXtrvvD4lvW76bLcVdoDApBBu2N2lnhh-ynCble7Y81B34Pf4uU5zhzIRtyAutaZr3Me8JNws6owuWdWSnyP_k4OjW21HWZH7F42y2SE4lDYXZ3ymc/s400/DSCN0730%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3wG9KRELv_HrXQqXcWeEH0bcFk_ZsFZ_XXwPxr4drmnjE3_eppqDVmaugSckDblhOr13Rf-onD4LPnIfDNWA22LmNieLYZoQPtIPxZixwyWID-FN2eYJKRCwMq08InklYTn00Zm-R2U/s1600/DSCN0654%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3wG9KRELv_HrXQqXcWeEH0bcFk_ZsFZ_XXwPxr4drmnjE3_eppqDVmaugSckDblhOr13Rf-onD4LPnIfDNWA22LmNieLYZoQPtIPxZixwyWID-FN2eYJKRCwMq08InklYTn00Zm-R2U/s400/DSCN0654%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-75491943669197873192017-02-20T07:46:00.001-08:002017-02-20T07:46:31.995-08:00Weeks 2 and 3, Transfer 2<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday 6/2 -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, we spent most of the day at the internet café
downloading church movies from YouTube like the best two years and the work and
the glory. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday - Friday <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nothing really interesting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday 11/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we held the interview for a 10 yr old girl named
Flavia. Her parents are members but are
less active. I have been working hard
with them to reactivate them and hopefully the baptism of their daughter will
help. They came to church last week and
the week before. We had lunch with the
Costas which was super good as always.
The baptism service started at 5:30 and went well. She was baptized by
her uncle. I told the father that the best thing he can do now is be a good
example to his daughter and continue going to church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 12/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, João Victor almost didn´t go to church because he was
partying all night last night. He was
confirmed today with Flavia. I am happy
to see the many blessings from the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday 13/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I tried to resolve a problem I had with a package that
was sent to me and didn't get that far.
We had to go to Alecrim which is a burrow of Natal across the river in
Zona Sul. While there I decided to buy
an official futebol A.B.C. team shirt. ABC is the team from Natal. We spent the rest of the day at home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 14/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we had to wake up at 3:30 for zone conference. We took a bus to a chapel in Zona Sul. The conference was really good and we had
some good food and I got to meet a bunch of friends. We got home at 6 and went straight to bed and
didn´t wake up until the next morning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday 15/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we went to Carrefour (kinda like Walmart) and got our
allowance from the church and I bought some food. I also bought food to make tacos Mexican
style to make for my companion and I. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday 17/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I got my garments that I ordered in the mail a couple
weeks ago. The nylon mesh and the silk
type are awful here. I bout a 50/50 cotton/poly mix garments that they don’t
have in the states. Super comfortable.
For dinner, I made the tacos. I
cooked up some ground beef and seasoned it with I'm not sure what because the
spice names are different here. I mixed
in some pinto beans and hot sauce. it smelled really good but tasted way to
salty. The beans I bought had a ton of
salt that i didn't know about. I decided
to level it out with some sugar and it turned out really, really good. My mom used to make taco meat with ground
beef and baked beans, what I made tasted just like that. I made a simple salsa with tomatoes, onions,
cilantro, and lime juice. topped the tacos with cheese and lettuce. They were really good, and it was my companions
first time trying it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I invited some elders over to my place today for lunch to
make tacos again, one of them is Mexican, so I hope he approves.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7hmwfZUK-lMuO9UPTBkkdhh2-voSFrjtZnNYG48LA1-TRt9Vr8jomhBnYD7FE49wHQJ6PtASMlCPRWWSagTaGf3FWozSJT_sBHLvXYINmau7VoIUUKcG4oTx2md8qKfMZVjFUVhDqnY/s1600/DSCN0590%255B2%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7hmwfZUK-lMuO9UPTBkkdhh2-voSFrjtZnNYG48LA1-TRt9Vr8jomhBnYD7FE49wHQJ6PtASMlCPRWWSagTaGf3FWozSJT_sBHLvXYINmau7VoIUUKcG4oTx2md8qKfMZVjFUVhDqnY/s400/DSCN0590%255B2%255D.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-14122880758570712512017-02-11T09:32:00.003-08:002017-02-11T09:32:21.460-08:00Week 1 Transfer 2: BATISMO<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tuesday
31/1 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today,
we got the news that Elder Nhantole was to be transferred to Parnamirim and
become zone leader. I loved being his
companion, and he taught me a lot of things that aren´t in the manuals. We spent the rest of the day getting ready
for the transfer and then had açaí with the zone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wednesday
1/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today
we took a taxi to this big bus/taxi station where all the missionaries meet
up. we got there early but I had to wait
until 1 p.m. for my new companion because he was coming from Mossoró which is
about 7 hours inland. My new companion
is Elder Prado, who is from south of Brasil, near Curitiba. He is 22 yrs old and likes anime, Japanese
stuff, and has 2 pet fish that he brought with him. Interesting guy. He also likes analyzing peoples handwriting
and asks every person we meet to write their name so he can analyze them. I took him back to the apartment and he got
settled in. I showed him around the area
and we taught the commandments to João Victor, who we are preparing for baptism
next Sunday. Then we got açaí with some
other elders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Friday
3/2 -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today,
we taught a boy named Alan and his two friends the Restoration. João Victor
wasn´t there, but I hope he will be there tomorrow so we can interview
him. We had dinner at the Costa´s and I
brought my guitar to play for them at their request. We had a good time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Saturday
4/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today
we found João at his house at 10:30 and he had his completed baptism form
completed and signed to my delight. We
scheduled a time later that day to hold his interview. The interview went well and he is excited to
be baptized. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sunday
5/2 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
went to pick up investigators including João Victor, but he wasn´t home. His family said he already left for church
and I hoped they were right. We arrived
at church and I was glad to see him in Elders quorum. After church, we held the baptism service and
I had the opportunity to baptize my first investigator. One thing I forgot to mention, he was a bit
taller than me. I ended up having to
baptize him 3 times because some part of his body was out. I felt kind of bad because he looked
nervous. But everything went well and he
was really excited. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
our second lesson with João, he mentioned that he saw the movie "Other
Side of Heaven" and he wanted to serve a mission. He turns 18 in August and I am eager to see
if he will. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-65020236731659325622017-02-04T10:38:00.000-08:002017-02-04T10:38:09.211-08:00Week 7<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday 23/1 -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we went to the mission office so I could get my
passport to authenticate some documents to receive my refund for the baggage
fees I had to pay. Well the place I went
to authenticate them didn´t accept my passport as identification. They need a document from the Federal Police
that says I am registered that I am still waiting for. We went to McDonald’s for lunch and went
home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday 25/1 -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we had a transmission from SLC with Elder Oaks, Elder
Anderson, and other authorities from the missionary department. In the conference, they revealed the new
worldwide missionary schedule, and they got rid of all the key indicators
except for Investigators Baptized and Confirmed, Investigators with a Baptismal
Date, Investigators Attending Church, and New Investigators. After the conference, we had the other
District Leader in our zone interview Luiz for his baptism this Saturday. Then we taught Rafael the Law of Chastity and
told him his options concerning marriage and baptism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday 27/1 -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we started teaching a 17-year-old boy named João Vito
who is really interested in our message.
He watched The Other Side of Heaven and wants to serve a mission. We received news today that our baptism with
Luiz got postponed for next week because he is dealing with some problems with
the police. He was going to run away
with these two girls but he decided not to go at the last minute. One of the girls went to Fortaleza and the
other went to João Pessoa. The parents
of the girls went to Luiz´s house to find out what happened and they called to
police to get them involved. So, we are just waiting for this to blow
over. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday 28/1 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we had João Vito, his friend, and two girls under 11
with their two brothers around their same age come to church. The mom of the kids would have come but she
was sick. Yesterday I decided to fast
for investigators to come to church and I can see the blessings from the
Lord. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, no pictures.
We should have a couple baptisms this weekend if everything works
out. And its transfer week this week so
I may get a new companion but we will see. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-33757638582573944622017-01-30T14:16:00.003-08:002017-01-30T14:16:25.249-08:00Week 6<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 17/1 -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We started teaching this one guy, Rafael, who´s the
boyfriend of the daughter of a member, and the daughter is less active. They are really nice and he is really
interested in the church. Then we taught
a boy named Luiz who is the brother of a member. We taught the 3rd lesson, the Gospel, with
our Ward Mission Leader, who really likes to talk. I taught faith, my companion taught repentance,
the WML was just supposed to teach baptism, and then I was going to teach the
Gift of the Holy Ghost, and then finish with “endure to the end.” The WML taught baptism, the Holy Ghost,
priesthood, temples, tithing, and so on and so forth. He asked Luiz´s brother to share his
experience with baptism, and after he shared that I quickly cut in with my
experience with baptism and then I invited Luiz to be baptized, which he
accepted. I ended the lesson before the
WML could start on another discussion and we scheduled his baptism for next
Saturday. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday 18/1 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we were supposed to go to the Costa´s to eat, but we
had to get out of the street because it was too dangerous. We went to the Costa´s early so we were in
before the 7 o’clock curfew, after dinner the dad drove us home. It is dangerous because something happened in
the prisons here and the gangs inside are fighting and it’s pretty bad and a
lot of people are dying because the police aren´t doing anything about it. The gang members on the outside are mad and
are protesting. They shot and killed a
bus driver and set the bus on fire. Some
of the prisoners escaped and we saw a couple in the street. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday 19/1 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I taught English in the morning which went well. We taught Rafael again and that went really
well. That night we had to return home
at 7 again and so English class that night was cancelled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday 21/1 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we taught Rafael again and he asked us questions about
what he read in the Book of Mormon that I invited him to read in the last
lesson (Alma 12) which means he really is interested. He accepted to be baptized but he lives with
his girlfriend so he needs to either move out or get married. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday 23/1 - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we had to go to the mission office across the river
and we saw that the government deployed the military. I saw at least 15 personnel carriers carrying
soldiers pass us in our area. Across the
river, I saw 10 or so armored personnel carriers and soldiers patrolling the
streets everywhere because of what’s happening in the prisons. I don´t know exactly what’s going on so look
it up on the internet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway that´s all for now, no pics this time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until next time!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-50507688636892620032017-01-21T17:27:00.002-08:002017-01-21T17:27:26.320-08:00Week 5<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">Monday
9/1</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we went to the other Elders’ house in our district to help
them move houses for a couple hours. Then we emailed, then we picked up
an investigator, a young boy, to play futeball at the church. Then after
we ate at the Costas, always good. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 10/1<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we had splits with the other Elders in our district, which
went well. Then one of the other Elders and I ordered pizza. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday 11/1 <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we had zone meeting where they revealed the new missionary
schedule. Instead of the "white handbook" schedule, we have
personal/exercise/shower and breakfast time from 6:30-8:30. 8:30 is
daily planning for 30 minutes, then its personal study until 10, then we work.
After lunch we have training for 30min, companionship study for 30min,
and language study for 30min. We really start work at 3 o clock. Personal
study got taken away on P-day which now starts at 8 am and not 10
am. I like the new schedule. We had interviews with the president
that night, which went well and was pretty basic. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday 12/1<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, I taught English class in the morning and the same one at
night for an hour and a half. Only three people turned up to both classes
and they were all teenage girls. I wonder why.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday 13/1<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we had an appointment with a man named Antonio, but he wasn’t
there, instead we were welcomed by his wife, who was baptized when she was
young. She told us her uncle just died and they were very close. Then
she asked about the spirit world and if we could explain it better (our last
lesson was the Plan of Salvation). I explained it in greater
detail. She then asked if it was possible for the spirits who have died
to communicate with us through the veil, and I said it was possible. She
told us a dream she had where she saw her uncle in a room with a bunch of other
family members she knew who were dead and they were all dressed in white.
The family members took her uncle and then they left. She then woke up and
heard the news about her uncle’s death. Then she told us about a dream
she had where she saw a stairway come out of heaven and she went up and saw a
man who was dressed in all white and long hair, but she couldn’t see his face
because it was super bright. She thinks this man was Christ. Behind
the man she could see 12 kingdoms, and we explained that those 12 kingdoms were
probably the 12 tribes of Israel and that the work we are doing today is to
gather the 12 tribes in preparation for the Second Coming of Christ. We
talked about some other stuff and it was a good conversation and she said she
will go to church next week. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That´s pretty much it for this week, no investigators showed up
to church yesterday, so no baptisms this week which is frustrating. I
asked the president and he said I could buy a guitar, so I bought one today,
and a hammock. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until next week, Vai dar certo<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Elder Holdaway <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhx2InNdD_mTIFsnehWCuUtc6KQDh91GUyUR9St_saMelWcNGHoEAvi4QB-FSsApUs1klvT9gfn-4KrTEN8aWKSA_2D4ZwMP-0YE9qxzuRfyc88047i7foVXPIEfoJ5kdE3vDHcSSRg4Y/s1600/DSCN0438%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhx2InNdD_mTIFsnehWCuUtc6KQDh91GUyUR9St_saMelWcNGHoEAvi4QB-FSsApUs1klvT9gfn-4KrTEN8aWKSA_2D4ZwMP-0YE9qxzuRfyc88047i7foVXPIEfoJ5kdE3vDHcSSRg4Y/s400/DSCN0438%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Elder Vargas and I with too much pizza, but hey teusdays are 2 for 1</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-78144416788099030732017-01-12T19:40:00.000-08:002017-01-12T19:40:01.077-08:00Week 4, I Guess<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Monday
2/1</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nothing special happened today until we went to play paintball
with 6 other elders and two sisters. It was pretty fun and pretty cheap
as well, only 50 reais which is like twenty something dollars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Wednesday 4/1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For dinner, today we had some other elders come over to our
house and we made homemade french fries and topped them with cheese, herbs,
onions, sausage, and bacon. Super good. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thursday 5/1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Today we invited a member to teach with us, and on the way back
from the lesson, we saw 6 sagui monkeys run across the power lines from roof to
roof! I was probably more excited than I should have been. That night I
was supposed to teach English but it was cancelled. I am going to start
teaching English every Thursday in the morning and at night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Friday 6/1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Today we didn´t have a lunch appointment so we called the Costas
and they happily accepted us. We ended up spending two hours there just
talking, but we ate really really good. They told us we could stop by any
time any day and grab food or a snack or water or whatever. I think we
will take them up on their offer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Out of our six or so promising investigators, only one showed up
for church, and we later found out that she doesn't live in our area so we can’t
baptize her. So, no baptizing for the next week. <span style="font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://braziliancash.blogspot.com/p/photos.html"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photos over on the photo page!</span></a></div>
JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-45810989620560220942017-01-08T14:24:00.002-08:002017-01-08T14:24:15.370-08:00Week 3<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week was pretty good! We were able to teach some
powerful first lessons and I think we will have several baptisms in the
upcoming weeks. People just have to go
to church. Wednesday I had to go to the
mission office across the river to do some visa stuff. I went with the two secretaries to the
federal police building and spent a couple hours there doing paperwork. Then the sisters in that zone came over to
the office and brought some food that they made. Rice, chicken stew, mashed potatoes, and
passion fruit mousse. All very delicious.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We also exchanged our cell phone for a "better"
one. Well it ended up not working so we
went back the next day to fix it. We got
a new phone and then we went to McDonalds for lunch. I never thought I would be that excited to go
to McDonalds, but I was. I got a club
burger, a big mac, fries, and of course guarana. It was my companion’s first McDonalds and he
said it was really good. The rest of the
week was pretty normal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday afternoon we cleaned the kitchen of our apartment
and I bought some provisions for the next week and for cooking. It feels good to be able to cook in a clean
kitchen. then we had some other elders
meet up with us that night and we ordered pizza. we hung out for the rest of that night and
one of the elders taught the security guard most the night. I am looking forward to a new year of
faithful service to my Lord.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3MbQBx1TPWh9hjo3YBfQR_fnHoDgX2hIFSfX1JaB5s3aWTgZG0tXlNk5_UNyQmHMoxaNGJ81zeqRV_XZ3yGIgxwIA34xWtb3fIoA5_a7WPnNbV32I8PQk0zRT7SaLIiYS8rFNG4t0bys/s1600/DSCN0405%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3MbQBx1TPWh9hjo3YBfQR_fnHoDgX2hIFSfX1JaB5s3aWTgZG0tXlNk5_UNyQmHMoxaNGJ81zeqRV_XZ3yGIgxwIA34xWtb3fIoA5_a7WPnNbV32I8PQk0zRT7SaLIiYS8rFNG4t0bys/s400/DSCN0405%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My foot looking much better</span></td></tr>
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JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-1108303983284004392016-12-29T20:17:00.001-08:002016-12-29T20:17:12.469-08:00First Two Weeks<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday 14/12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday I woke up at 4 to get on the bus to the airport.
we got there and the information that the CTM gave me was wrong and I had to
fly on a different airline. As a result,
I had to pay R$1400 in overweight baggage fees for me and another elder whose
card did not work. the maximum was 25
kilos for two bags. I couldn’t believe
it. The flight was less than
stellar. we had a short layover in
Brasilia. before we landed in Natal, we
hit some really, really bad turbulence and the emergency lights popped on, not
very relaxing, all I could think about was the Colombian flight that crashed
just weeks before. the area by the
airport looks kinda like Arizona or Australia, not what I really imagined it to
look like. the president, his wife, and
the AP´s were there to meet us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We then went to the mission office where they fed us McDonalds
and the president conducted interviews and orientation. That night for dinner, we went to the president’s
house. He has an ocean-front condo with
an amazing view of the beach. they hired
a chef to make us beef wellington, chicken casserole, potatoes, and salad. it was all really good. then we had this mousse like stuff for
desert. After we had a testimony meeting.
we slept at the AP´s house with about 20 other elders because it was
transfer night. I didn’t get much sleep.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next morning, we had a really good breakfast at the
church with hot cheese sandwiches, quiche, fresh fruit, and mango juice. Then we got our new companions. My companion
is Elder Nhatole, who´s from Mozambique. everyone says he’s a great missionary.
We went to our apartment in our area, Nova República, and I settled in. For lunch, we went to this member’s house who
lives in very humble circumstances. We
had rice, beans, chicken, and macarão, which is spaghetti. The rice and beans were good, the macarão
smelled like fish and the chicken was difficult to get down. Baptism by fire. I thanked them and managed to eat it all but
I didn´t feel good for the rest of the day.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My companion showed me around the rest of the day and we
talked to people. When we returned home,
we found that our electricity bill hadn’t been paid for the month of October,
and we had no lights. He then took me to
meet the ward mission leader, or LMA, who´s a really nice guy and the fed us a
really good meal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday 15/12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We woke up and went to the chapel to practice for a play we
are doing as a zone for the mission Christmas conference. we had a short meeting and introduced
ourselves. I am in a scene about the
three Magis but only say like 2 words, and I didn’t really understand anything
that was going on. we grabbed lunch and
went to the building office to pay the bill but they didn’t accept Nhatole´s
card so we went to the mall to withdraw cash and then we paid the bill. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then we went to our chapel to help set up for a missionary
event where nonmembers and investigators show up. while we were waiting for it to start, a guy
named Fillipe showed up needing help. He’s
addicted to weed and other drugs. We
taught him about the Gospel and he accepted to be baptized, but he lives far
away, so we won’t work with him. After
that we ditched with two other elders and got açaí, which is like sorbet. We
returned home and were pleased to find that the electricity was on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday, December 16<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we practiced more for the play, then we had lunch at a
member’s house, a young adult who lives alone.
He used to work in a mine, which is cool. Then we went to a market to buy some
stuff. We chilled and planned for a bit,
then went back out to find a contact.
She wasn’t there, so we went to this 16-year-old boy’s house – his name
is Michael. He said he was reading in 3<sup>rd</sup>
Nephi. I talked about how when Jesus
said he wanted to heal the sick an afflicted he also meant our souls and
hearts, and we have to turn to Him to accept His invitation to be healed. This I talked about the Restoration and about
the 1<sup>st</sup> Vision. I’m not sure
he’s promising, but I hope he accepts our message. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then we made our way back to our chapel and I suggested we
get fresh coconut water. It was super
good! For only R$2 (60 US cents)! We went to the chapel to get ready for the
ward Christmas party tomorrow night. Then we got Coke with the two other Elders
and split. We stopped by some other
investigator’s houses. We went to this
one house where the boy is a member but his mom isn’t. I showed him and his friends a card trick and
they all freaked out. Our main focus on contacting right now is inviting people
to the Christmas party and church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday, December 17<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we went to practice again, only to find that they
canceled it without telling us. So, we
just went to another missionary’s house.
My companion talked with them and I took a nap in a hammock. Then we went to lunch at the ward mission
leader’s house, which was super good.
Then we returned home to find some Elders in our house and hung out – I took
another nap. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then we went to a guy’s house to teach him, but he wasn’t
there. Then we walked around a bit and
we found an investigator we are teaching, Raissa – she’s 13. We taught her a bit and invited her to church
on Sunday. We walked around a bit more
and went to the chapel to help set up for the party. No one was there, so we sat and talked until
it was time to pick up the investigators, who ended up not being home. But there was a 13-year-old kid who was a
member, so we took him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While we waited for him to change, a slightly drunk man came
up to us and we started talking. He then
said a bunch of stuff about God that I didn’t understand. My companion told me that the guy said that
when he saw us, he saw angels from heaven and he needed help. He looked sad and said that he can’t cry
because he’s a man. I told him that God
sent us to help him and he was trying not to cry. We took down his info and we’ll teach him
next week, hopefully he has the same attitude sober.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Christmas party went well and some of our investigators
showed up that we didn’t think would. We
have to work hard at earning the trust of the members her because of the bad
behavior of a past missionary – when my companion first got here, he felt like
was opening the area for missionary work for the first time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know that there is evil on this earth. I am here to overcome that evil with the light
of Christ. My companion, from
Mozambique, grew in a religion called Spiritualism. This is a very dark and powerful religion
with its roots in Africa and is also here, especially in Northern Brazil. He said that his grandma would dress herself
in animal skins and perform dark rituals.
If you steal something in the village, she would have the power to make
you physically come back and return it.
This is interesting, because wasn’t that Satan’s plan in the first
place? Forced obedience? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday, December 18<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I woke up and we went to pick up investigators for
church. No luck. Church here is way different, and I’m not
sure what a branch is because a ward has 30 members. After church, we went to lunch at a member’s
house pretty far away, but it was really good.
After that we just chilled for the rest of the day until we went to the
other ward’s Christmas party because we didn’t have food. At the party, they did a Secret Santa thing,
where you pick a name out of a cup and say something nice about them. I only knew one person there, the ward
mission leader. The first miracle on my
mission was me picking his name. I said
in Portuguese, “he cooks good and I’m grateful for his help.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday, December 19<sup>th</sup> – P-DAY<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We slept in and “cleaned” the apartment until eleven. Then I spent some time at the internet café emailing. After that, we grabbed lunch and went to the
chapel to practice for the play with the rest of the zone. After we practiced, the 16 of us downed a big
box of acai. We went home and my
companion and I shared a pizza.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday, December 20<sup>th</sup> – Natal Mission Conference<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We woke up at 4 am to catch a taxi to the chapel for the
mission Christmas conference. We met up
with our zone at the chapel and then took a bus to the place of our conference,
about an hour away. There we had
breakfast and the Mission President, his wife, and a few others, spoke. I had an Elder translate for me. Then we had lunch, which was bomb. We had rice, cheese potatoes, brisket with
BBQ sauce, another meat, and lasagna.
Lasagna here is different. We did
our plays, which went well. We went back
to our chapel and drove by the beach, which was sick. Then we downed another box of acai.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday, December 21<sup>st</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We accidentally slept in this morning, but we got up and got
ready for the day. We grabbed some lunch
at a member’s house and then went to this big super market in a mall so I could
buy stuff. Then we returned home and
went to teach. We made a few contacts,
but didn’t have much luck until later that day.
We were walking and my companion told me we should stop at this guy’s
house we’ve been trying to teach, but is never there. We passed it a few blocks back, so I just
said we can do it when we return. After
walking a few steps, I felt like we needed to go now. We went to the house and he was there watching
UFC. He invited us in and we were able
to teach his family about faith, repentance, and baptism. They are big alcohol addicts and don’t seem
like they really want to stop. But they
said they will come on January 1<sup>st</sup>.
I told them that getting over this addiction will be hard, and I shared
some personal experiences when I used the atonement to help me overcome
addictions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then we stopped at another house to teach them for the first
time. The father, Paulo, wasn’t there,
but his wife and son were there and she invited us in. We briefly explained the Plan of Salvation,
left her the pamphlet, and decided on a date to return and teach the whole
family. Then we went to go find the
house of Roberto, the “drunk” who stopped us needing help. After 45 minutes of asking people where his
street is with no luck, we finally met someone we knew, who knew Roberto, and
who took us to go find him. We found him
at an outside BBQ place eating churrasco.
He seemed happy to see us and we picked a date to teach him. The guy who helped us bought me a skewer of
meat, which was nice. Then we went to
the ward mission leader’s house to talk about our investigators. His daughter was watching Legend of Karra, so
I was distracted most of the time. They
fed us egg and veggie pancakes, like a frittata, and rice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday, December 22<sup>nd</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This morning, I went to the clinic to switch my bandages and
get a new x-ray of my foot. It was a
relief to finally take the bandages off for a short time. My toe still looked really swollen, but it
looked better. When my toe broke, the
doctor said it would take 3-4 weeks to heal.
So, I wasn’t expecting much. The
doctor told me today that the toe healed fine and I would return in 5 days to
remove the bandages completely. I was
really surprised, but I knew the Lord blessed me. When I first got here, my companion said we
had permission to take it easy, but I wasn’t going to let a petty thing like
this get in the way of the salvation of souls.
Even after walking all day every day, my toe healed and I barely have a
limp. I don’t think it would’ve healed
that fast if I sat around all day. It
still hurts a little, but I’m sure in a couple of weeks it will all be good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We then went to grab lunch at a salgradinho, which is kind
of like a bakery. Everything they sell
is some form of fried or baked dough with meat inside. It’s really good. Then we taught for a bit and then we went to
teach a little girl who is about to be baptized at her parent’s request. We arrived at 7 and we had a dinner
appointment 20 minutes away at 7:30. I wanted to cancel, but it was too
late. We finished at 7:35 and called the
family to say we’d be late. Everything
worked out, but I was mad. I later
discussed with companion the issue of missionaries teaching children of active families
who are being baptized at the age of 8 – especially when it put other
investigator appointments in jeopardy or where we could be teaching real
investigators. The dinner was really
good – probably the best one we’ve had.
I love the family. Something
about them reminded me of home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday, December 24<sup>th</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We went to go teach a family, and on the way called some
members to help us teach later in the day.
One agreed and we made the arrangments.
We taught the family, but the rest of the appointments fell through for
the rest of the day. We tried to contact
people, but everyone was either drunk or had their mind on partying. So we went home. There were 2 Elders from another zone who
needed a place to crash and shower, so they stayed at our place. My companion, 2 other Elders – Orizinto and
Flores, and a guy from the ward chilled for a couple of hours. Then we went to the ward mission leader’s
house for a Christmas message and we started eating at 10:30. We had lasagna,
rice, chicken stew, and chocolate coconut cake.
Then we returned home and crashed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday, December 25<sup>th</sup> – NATAL!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I slept in and we went over to the ward mission leader’s
house to Skype my family. I had a nice
conversation with them. I also Skyped my
grandparents who just woke up. It was
nice to talk with them. Then we watched
Return with Honor and went to church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had church at 4 instead of 8:30 in the morning. After the sacrament meeting we went to our
house to get a change of clothes because we were going to go to the zone
leaders house that night to make churrasco (bbq). I went to get some shorts on the top shelf in
my dresser, that I haven’t touched since I put them there 2 weeks ago, and when
I lifted them up these really small ants started pouring out and I found an ant
nest in my clothes. I took each article of clothing, shook the ants off, and
put it in a plastic bag to be washed. I
then took bleach and doused the remains of the nest with it which killed most
of them. Oh well. I grabbed the only shirt and shorts that weren’t
affected and we walked the long way to the zone leader´s house. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We finally got there and we built the fire for the bbq. I thought we were just gonna cut up some meat
and put the skewers over the fire, but the zone leaders bought a rack of cow
ribs. We made a make shift spit and put
the ribs on for three hours. I slept a
little in between and finally (at an undisclosed time) the ribs were
ready. It was pretty good but it needed
bbq sauce, not something that’s common here.
I managed to sleep a bit more until we had to leave the next morning at
7:30 because we had to meet a guy at our house who was going to but insecticide
in our apartment for cockroaches and fix our fridge. we got to our house late but luckily the guy
was late as well. I change, showered,
and then we left and I got my haircut. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2_4bTlKqhnTXNaLTQi03TfZDY2h3tdis6xmK_d0kS68CkxmUpjTg8TwWOej927Cl9Hpd3U8Km930Zf-G8oML4xBk4uFG2D4dtYZOqczORd0rf7ekkZC2dbelzzpXvqxxlR6-iEdR4h4c/s1600/DSCN0287%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2_4bTlKqhnTXNaLTQi03TfZDY2h3tdis6xmK_d0kS68CkxmUpjTg8TwWOej927Cl9Hpd3U8Km930Zf-G8oML4xBk4uFG2D4dtYZOqczORd0rf7ekkZC2dbelzzpXvqxxlR6-iEdR4h4c/s400/DSCN0287%255B1%255D.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">At the Mission Conference</span></td></tr>
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JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-14417939935456399352016-12-19T18:37:00.000-08:002016-12-19T19:25:18.353-08:00Premeiro Semana no Campo<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bom Dia!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I forgot my journal which had what I was gonna say, so you’ll
get it next week. I love it here but I
know it is going to be very difficult, and a huge change in lifestyle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I work a lot in the favelas so I see a lot of poverty, but
the people are happy. The first lunch I
had with a member here was one who lived in the favelas, and let’s just say I
surprised myself on what I could eat, but I thanked them profusely for bringing
us in. Every lunch with members since
than has been really good. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My toe is doing fine and it feels a lot better. My companion said that the president said
that I don’t have to work hard or walk a lot these first few weeks, but I told
him I wasn’t going to let it hold me back and we’ve been hard at work and the
Lord has blessed me that I can walk as much as I have. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My companion has 24 years and is from Mozambique which is
cool. He is a good trainer. The apartment we live in is pretty dirty, and
I thought that that’s just how it was, but I saw other ones in the same complex
and theirs were really nice. So this morning
I told him we had to clean up. I swept
everywhere and he laughed when I moved the beds to sweep and said we didn’t
need to mop and stuff. I told him we
need to buy bleach and cleaning stuff but he doesn’t care. I’ll buy stuff and clean it. You’ll hear about the rest next week but I’ll
just focus on sending pics today. [Editor's Note: <a href="http://braziliancash.blogspot.com/p/photos.html">You can find all of his pictures here</a>.]</span><o:p></o:p></div>
JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-25607051446654736682016-12-11T20:38:00.002-08:002016-12-11T20:38:11.929-08:00Last Posting from BMTC!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OI! </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So I´ll start off with a couple funny stories that happened this
last week, and then I’ll share what I learned here, and finish it off with my
testimony.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last week, my two companions and I were praying before a lesson
with a “fake” training investigator, when I felt something on my head and then
my neck and all around. I thought it was a mosquito or fly because that´s
what it felt like and I just kept brushing it off during the prayer. Right
after the prayer I turned around and there was a cockroach scurrying away from
me. I was uncomfortable the whole lesson knowing that thing had been
crawling all over my head and neck. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last Saturday we went proselyting at some downtown square in São
Paulo. Our goal was to place 15 copies of the Book of Mormon. We
approached these older ladies who were wheeling around these carts and started
talking to them about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. We asked them
If they wanted one and they looked at each other, laughed, and removed the
covers from their carts. They were Jehovah’s Witness missionaries!!!! We
all just kind of laughed it off and stayed away from where they set up. Their
carts were full of JW propaganda. We ended up placing 16 copies of the Book of
Mormon, which beat our six the first time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Anyway, as my time here is quickly coming to an end, I´ll share
what I have learned here, besides the language. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In my notebook, I have a page dedicated to my metas
(goals). Every once in a while, I would write down something I should
start doing or stop doing. Here is my metas:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Don´t Complain - </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No one likes someone who complains. It takes the Spirit
away and distracts you from the task at hand, and it weakens your will and
strength. One way I learned this is through fasting. Besides the
two fast Sundays I had while here, I felt the need to fast three other times,
usually the day I went to the temple. I learned that to be dedicated to
your fast, you need to be focused on your reason always and know that through
your fast you become strengthened the gospel and as a missionary. I can’t stand
when the other elders would always complain how hungry they were on fast Sundays.
Blessings require sacrifice and complaining takes that away. Not once did
Christ complain during his mortal ministry. So, that is something I
worked to gain as a trait.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Don´t talk bad about other people, always show Christ-Like love
to others-</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This was a hard one. There were a couple missionaries here
who would get on everyone´s nerves. I realized that talking about someone
behind their back drives the spirit away instantly. My district would
talk about the missionaries who came from Provo and how they thought they were
better than everyone else. I made it a district goal to not do that, no
matter how much we thought they deserved whatever we had to say about
them. Whenever my first companion would get on my nerves (which was quite
often) I would try and serve him in some way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Try and serve each person in your district every day-</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This kind of goes with the last one. Every time I felt any
negative feelings about anyone in my district I would try and serve them.
Serving people is the best way to be their friend and have them know you care
about them, especially as a leader. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Take upon yourself each attribute of Christ and walk how He
walked-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The more I tried to do this the better I felt. All I want
to do is be a powerful instrument in God´s hands and there´s no better way to
do that than to be like Christ. Last night we were given a talk to read
by Spencer Kimball called “Jesus Christ, the Perfect Leader.” I highly
recommend reading it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Meu Testemunho-</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Eu sei que esse trabalhar é dedicado de Deus, e que Jesus Cristo
estendeu meu chamado para servir através de seu profeta, Thomas S.
Monson. Eu aprendi a seguir o passos do melhor missionário que andou na
terra, Jesus Cristo. Élder Holland disse que trabalhar como missionário
não é facil, porque salvação não é barato. Nós (missionários) temas
obrigição andar os caminhos que Ele andou. Quando nós somos desprezados,
rejeitados, cuspes, e sozinho, nós estamos lado a lado com Cristo. Eu sei
que esta igreja é verdadeira. Eu sei que a profeta Joseph Smith viu Pai
Celestial e Seu Filho Amado, Jesus Cristo. Eu sei que eu cumpre endo as
profecias preditas nos Testamentos e no Livro de Mórmon, trazendo a ovelha
perdida para o Senhor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/26?lang=eng">See Alma 26:28-30</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I love you guys and I can´t wait to get to the field in six
days. I hope everything is going well and it’s nice to see that girls
still like Reuben, Find someone who knows Portuguese or just use google
translate for my testimony. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Love,<br />
<br />
Elder Cash Holdaway<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-87005924656999432142016-12-02T16:34:00.003-08:002016-12-02T16:34:53.717-08:00Week 5!<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OI!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wow I can't believe it’s
already week 5. I feel like I just got here but I think the progress is
really showing. I can hold full conversations in Portuguese and
understand people pretty well and I can teach lessons without a written
script. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One cool thing the American
missionaries do here is the leaving districts hold “American Night” the Sunday before
they leave. There they sing the national anthem, <i>Called to Serve</i>, and <i>God be
with You</i>. Its super cool, and ours is in two Sundays! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The live devotional we
had from Elder Renlund was pretty cool. One thing I noticed is that I
could sense when he was about to enter the room. About 10 seconds before
he came in I felt a huge surge of the Spirit and it really testified to me that
that man is an Apostle of God. He also gave us an Apostolic blessing which was
awesome. The temple trips we have to the Sao Paulo temple are super cool
even though I fall asleep every time, and today I did the whole last part in Portuguese
which was cool, and i did a bunch of confirmations in Portuguese while we
waited for the session to start. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It looks like Reuben
is glad to be back home and I hope he’s adjusting well! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Something that I heard
from somebody is that one reason I was called to Brasil is that I personally
can teach the gospel best in Portuguese and that I come the closest to God
through Portuguese and I thought that was really cool. I bought a Portuguese
quad today at the distribution center so i can start studying and marking it
up. Two Saturdays ago we went proselyting which was awesome and my two
companions and I placed 6 copies, but it was just sweet to finally be able to
teach real people and try out your skills. Anyway, I love you guys and I know
with a firm testimony that the work that I am doing comes directly from God and
that my small sacrifice of being away from home for 2 years is 100% worth
bringing God´s children home for eternity. This is the true restored
gospel, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and the Book of Mormon came from the mouth
and record of the ancient prophets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Love, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
Elder Holdaway<o:p></o:p></span></div>
JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-61365401329702881482016-11-28T17:56:00.002-08:002016-11-28T17:56:09.357-08:00Week 3 at the MTC<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oi!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Classes are going
well. I’m in a trio now with a guy from pleasant grove and another elder
and its pretty tight. P-days are chill, we go to the temple in the
morning and then email and then go out and walk around until 5. last week
we went to a grocery store and got a bunch of stuff and then I got Açai which
is like acai-flavored froyo with fruit on it and I got kiwi and it was sooooo
good. There’s a mango tree in the courtyard here that might be ready by
the time we leave. I was reading a letter Kaelin sent me a couple years
ago when she was on her mission that I haven’t read in a while. There’s a
really cool part I wanted to share:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"This is a
serious work and opportunity. there is a family that, in two years,
will be waiting for Elder Holdaway to come to Brazil, Korea, Kopenhagen,
Dallas, etc. and introduce them to be baptized."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So I guess Kaelin kind
of won my mission guess.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We got two new elders
from Provo in my district yesterday which is cool. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-48549001998274452152016-11-17T19:47:00.000-08:002016-11-17T19:47:28.325-08:00Getting into the Swing<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</span></span><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">jk</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OI!</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everything</span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"> is going pretty decent. Last week we went to the Sao Paulo temple which was awesome and again today. Last week I thought I accidentally threw my locker key down the chute so I spent an hour trying to negotiate with temple workers who didn't speak English to try to find my key. After going threw every article of clothing in the chute they told me they had a master key, so we went up to my locker and my key was in it. I have no idea how it got there, but it probably fell out of my pocket and someone picked it up. I thought I was the last one to get to the bus but thankfully the Brazilians take forever in the distribution center. Last week my class and the Spanish class next door had a nice-contest after I gave them extra sandwiches that we had that were frankly kinda gross. They gave us chocolate back and it went on and on and we all became friends. The language is coming along. My companion went home last night and I think it was for his best. Anyway I don't have much time so until next week. </span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tchau!</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love,<br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Elder Holdaway</span> </span></div>
JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5092801632343393784.post-48464003098701495702016-11-09T17:08:00.003-08:002016-11-09T17:08:28.617-08:00Week 1<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bom Dia familia!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday/Tuesday 01/11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I met an Elder at the airport, Elder Giles. We talked a bit and I mentioned I was in the
army and whatta ya know he’s in the navy!
We talked a lot and it was nice to have a buddy to talk about the
military with, a little piece of home. He
works in intel with special operations so we got along well. He and I talked
mostly but we met all the other new missionaries about 12 of them. The flight was ok. When we arrived at the CTM (MTC) we were
oriented and got our companions and rooms.
My companion's name is Elder Franklin from Layton, Utah. Elder Giles is in our room too with his
companion, he’s from American Fork and his companion is from Texas. I’m so mad because we have bars on our
windows that let the air in but we can’t see out because there’s a clothing
optional swimming pool next door, everyone else has sweet views of the
city. We had a bunch of orientation
classes and a devotional that night that was pretty good. All I can say about the food here is that it’s
a gamble. Its super weird and it can be
either good or bad. Every single dessert
is some form of gelatin. The best part
is the endless guarana on tap. I drink
it every day for lunch and dinner. They
also have fresh juices and yoghurt drinks like kefir but better. There´s some really cute sisters here! like my
dad used to say if he actually said it was that when you go on a mission the
markets not closed, your just window shopping.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday 02/11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I woke up at 6 instead of 6:30 to work out with elder Giles. We ran some laps and did pull ups and pushups. I thought it was sea level here but I can
feel it in my lungs that it’s not. Also Don Winter said I should do squats every day but I won’t need to at the CTM
because we live on the 6th (really 7th) floor and we can’t use the
elevator. Every day for breakfast we
have paninis which are just a roll with cheese and ham. It’ll get old quick. We had a class and we took pictures with the
CTM president, Presidente Grahl. Then it
was just orientation classes all day and introduction to Portuguese. That night we had interviews with our branch
presidency for district leader who´ll lead about 12 other missionaries. When my turn came I tried to speak as much Portuguese
as possible which actually turned out pretty well. When he came up to us after everyone was done
he said the person he chose was chosen by the Spirit and wasn’t his
choice. In broken English he said Elder
Holdaway will be your first district leader.
I had to double check to make sure he said the right name :) As excited as I am to take on this responsibility,
I just hope I can lead my district to success, progression, and
righteousness. They serve us a snack
every night at 9 which is pretty cool, like a juice box and chocolate. We got two new Brazilian roommates today; one
can speak pretty good English and the other not a lick. Hopefully they can help us learn quickly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday 03/11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Language class all day.
Imagine taking a language class in high school but you don’t learn the
basic grammar or words on you first day, they just talk to you in Portuguese
and hope you catch on. Like a big game of charades. And instead of one hour its 6, my mind is
muita cansada. We also had to prepare a
lesson to an "investigator" in Portuguese. Batismo de fogo. We taught him about baptism which went ok but
we forgot to actually ask him to be baptized.
Oh well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday 04/11 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we were in class all day. The lesson with our investigator went pretty
well and I was able to teach him things in Portuguese from memory without it
being written down. Our Brazilian
roommate shared an amazing thing with us that night. He said that he knew all of us before, and I
was like yeah the premortal life, but he said he had a dream that he was at the
CTM and he recognized us all from the dream and that’s how he knew to serve a
mission. He said that growing up he was
always in trouble like street fights and stuff (he’s a mui tai fighter) and he
always felt the dark spirits around him all the time. But now he feels the
Spirit of God all the time. He also said
that his sister can see angels since she was a kid, which used to freak him out
but now he gets it, He said like if she
saw you in a room she can see the angels that surround you. Elder Lira is going to be the prophet someday,
mark my words. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday 05/11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another long day of studying. We get an hour for exercise every day for
like volley ball or basketball. We
prepared a pretty good lesson for our investigator about baptism by authority
(because he was baptized catholic) but when we were teaching him I pulled out
the restoration pamphlet and didn’t realize it was the English one until I
started reading it. I tried translating
it on the spot but only said "john baptism apostle priesthood authority
joseph smith" it was embarrassing. Despite
that I committed him to baptism and church!
My companion’s not doing so well.
the other day he was really down about the language so I talked to him
during companion study and shared with him D+C 58 3+4. I decided to do a
district fast for fast Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 06/11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Conferences and meetings.
My companion is not feeling well, so I gave him a blessing before dinner to comfort him. I’ll
try to be there for him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorry my grammar's so bad I have limited time to write. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love you all and it is hard here but I try and strengthen
those who need it more than me. Until next time! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Elder Holdaway</span><o:p></o:p></div>
JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04655590944533178653noreply@blogger.com0