August 8th letter

Oiii família!

First of all, HAPPY FATHERS DAY! Dia Dos Pais is the 12th of August here.

Cookies made from mix brought from home

Also, thank you very much for the recipes! I made the buttermilk syrup again last night, another elder has a waffle iron so we had ourselves a feast. I also made cookies from that mix I brought from home, they turned out well. We brought the cookies to a birthday party of M, P's older brother. They were all eaten in like 5 minutes! I'm going to make the cookie recipe you sent me for P's birthday party which is later this month.

Yes, please send the recipe for scones! They have a popular treat here called 'sonhos' (SOWN-yoss), which is also the word meaning 'dreams' - so that gives you an idea how awesome they are. It's basically a scone more or less with either a bit of jelly inside, or cut in half and filled with cream. And then it's covered in sugar. Apparently powdered sugar is hard to come by here so they just use normal sugar.

AJ, M, and Elder Hill enjoying treats

Today I want to write about one miracle. Yesterday afternoon we were walking across town to meet with W, one of our investigators. By that time we had walked some  distance to another investigator's home, but she wasn't there. We had been making contacts, but no one was interested in what we had to say. Elder Hill was getting a little frustrated, and I was more just like, "pois é, acontece" [Whatever, it happens]. We were walking by this one house, and we don't normally knock doors, but Elder Hill decides to clap at this one house [in Brazil, clapping is how you 'knock']. There's this lady on the other side of the gate and she answers, and she's holding her granddaughter. We introduce ourselves and get to talking about the church, and after some time Elder Hill asks, "You look sad. What happened?" She starts to cry and talks about how her family is having problems and some bitter feelings. Elder Hill goes on to promise blessings by living the gospel, and then he invites her to be baptized. She continues to cry and immediately accepts. Then she picks up her cell phone and calls her mom. "Guess what? I'm going to be baptized!" And then she started to cry again "Yes, I'm sure. God has touched me in my heart." It was an awesome experience. We don't know all the details of her life, but we know that she has been humbled and touched by the Holy Ghost, which must have come from recent experiences. I mentioned to Elder Hill afterward, it's funny how only the people with lots of problems are those who readily accept us and want to follow Christ. He mentioned back to me that everyone has lots of problems, it's just a matter of having that broken heart and contrite spirit, that attitude of earnestly seeking the help of God. So, I am really really hoping that all turns out well with her. Maybe we will baptize her family also!

I'm a little unsettled because we've had many baptisms fall through. I may have mentioned to you about K. His mom won't let him be baptized until he turns 18 (3 years from now). We were going to have three baptisms this last Sunday - a mom, her daughter, and her nephew. But the mom really didn't have any desire, so it didn't happen. We had another lady who we couldn't get to come to church.

Things move really fast here in Brasil in regard to teaching those that are truly interested.  When an investigator misses a few commitments, they're placed in the area book for some other Elders to pass by some day. We've been focusing our time with people who are really willing to make commitments.

Well, that's it for today! Boa tarde! Eu amo vocês!!

Elder Bradford

August 1st phone call & letter

A couple of weeks ago, AJ emailed his dad about working out a surprise. It consisted of AJ calling home as a birthday present to his mom. He got permission from his mission president as a make-up call for Mother's Day (he was in the Missionary Training Center and unable to make a phone call home due to the large number of missionaries). So, we were able to have a Skype call with AJ this past Wednesday (and yes, mom was a bit surprised). Unfortunately, we weren't able to 'see' him due to lack of a webcam on his side, but had a great conversation.  He provided an entertaining missionary introduction in Portuguese, which was great to hear.  He sounds like he's in great spirits and enjoying the work. We received the following brief letter shortly afterward...

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First of all, Happy birthday to mom! I won't have a lot of time to write because of the call but I will try to write as much as I can!

In response to your question about our daily missionary schedule, I am pretty adjusted to it - except it is still really hard to get up at 6:30. I also really get into writing in my journal, so sometimes it's hard to get to bed by 10:30. Other than that it's fine. There are some things about the culture I'm still learning. Brazilians tend to be really open to sharing what they have. When we have visits with families they will often offer bread, cake or at least something to drink. The Brazilian missionaries are open to sharing their food and clothing and sometimes they expect the Americans to do the same. I used to keep the peanut butter I brought and the other goodies sort of hidden in my luggage, but I decided to just leave them on the cabinet along with the other food.  Stashing away food is seen as a rude American trait in the eyes of some Brazilians.

In regard to colored CTR wristbands, I think they would be cool to hand out. Elder Hill has some CTR rings and the kids love them.

Ok, I need to head out! Love you! I enjoyed seeing you guys!

Elder Bradford

July 25th letter

Bom dia pra vocês! [Good morning to you]

I don't have a bunch of time to type today - I got asked to take a language assessment test today, which might take an hour or so...yaaaay.

About a package - I was thinking about a couple things. You don't have to include everything here, but I just had some ideas. American clothing is really, really popular in Brasil. It's also really expensive here. If you could send some of my T-shirts (like, the Chicago one, or the Air Force one, or Immovable, whichever) or one of those sweatshirts or even one of my baseball caps that would be awesome. I could trade them for cool Brazilian clothing to bring home. Also, hehehe I promised a Brazilian Elder that I would try to send from the US authentic Nike shorts, in large. Like the black ones I brought.

As far as food goes, the candy here is really good, and they have some candies that are pretty close to the common candies in the states... but they don't have anything like Reeses or Snickers. They also don't have beef jerkey, real marshmallows or Airborne, as far as I've seen. [I didn't know it at the time but you can actually find Snickers and effervescent tablets like Airbone pretty easily in Brazil. You can also with some difficulty find marshmallows, but it`s very expensive. -AJ] A big bag of any type of nuts would be absolutely superb - nuts are for some reason pretty expensive here.

So the weather is improving a lot this past few days - well, by improving I mean we have more sun. But I don't know if I count the hot sun on my back all day an improvement. It has been getting pretty hot here, and I can only imagine how hot it will get during the summer...

Ok, sorry for the spiritually limp email! I will try better to include more spiritual thoughts next time. Tchau todos! Eu amo vocês! [Bye all! I love you!]

Elder Bradford

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More pics from AJ (click on them for larger image) - if you've been following his emails, you'll see he doesn't disappoint with more food-recipe results...

Me with Mission President Perrotti and his wife

A  get together in our mission district. Our branch put it
on and it was really fun! The occasion is called Festa
Julina, which is sort of a cowboy themed  event.

My attempt at Oreo Balls. I didn't get the timing right with all the steps, so it took a long time to make, but they turned out good.

So I asked a member what to make with the avocados we have, and she suggested I mix it with milk and sugar to make a sort of shake. So I tried that, didn't turn out very good so I added some more stuff - ended up being this green mess which I ended up tossing in the sink.

We got a recipe for Orange Julius in the CTM, I tried it out and it turned out a lot better than the avocado thing.

July 18th letter

Opa todos!

I want to respond to Dad's email first. Oh, I have already noticed how prominent a reputation is here in the mission. Whenever we have exchanges I try to be an example of following the schedule, and also with my companion. He's not really too bad with the schedule.

Haha, I don't know where you're looking, but these past few days have been freezing cold [we wrote him saying we noticed it will be 80 degrees later this week in Botucato]. Right now I'm trying to type with stiffened fingers due to the cold. It might just be that the houses have poor ventilation - many times the sun has been out and shining but its still chilly outside and even colder inside. I am so glad I brought sweaters! Especially the thicker gray one, which is for some reason uncommon here. I kind of wish I had brought sweat pants, but really that would just be more weight and less space for the majority of my mission. We don't really wear our suits at all, only with meetings with the Presidente and sometimes to church.

Okay, some other stuff - a member handed us two avocados. Elder Hill just wants to throw them away. I would like to make guacamole or something delicious out of them (btw, its true that here avocados are eaten with sugar, its actually really good). Mom could you include or send a guacamole recipe? For some reason I've become a lot more interested in cooking stuff. Today I'm going to try to make Oreo balls.

Okay, I neglected to mention this in last week's email but I'm going to share a funny experience. A member of our ward whose name is Z took us out to eat at this restaurant. It was really good, but I felt a little sick afterwards. I shrugged it off thinking I had just eaten a little much.  We walked around, visiting people, and I started to feel more and more queasy, my head felt clammy, all that jazz. I offered a silent prayer that I would be able to make it through the day. We were walking around and I told Elder Hill I wasn't feeling great. So we walked into a bar to get some Coca-Cola (the remedy for upset stomach here). Elder Hill pointed out the bathroom, I walked in and BLEEEEEGHHH threw up in the toilet. When I finished another guy came in wanting to use the bathroom. Uh, um momento. I walked over to the bartender and asked if he had any paper or tissue, and he said no. Oh well. I must have been really in a daze because I just returned to the bathroom, rinsed my hands off and left, the toilet still with puke all over the seat. When Elder Hill and I returned to give back the Coca bottle and cups the bartender handed me a roll of tissue paper, gave me a look, and told me to clean the mess up. So I wiped it up. What a memorable experience. I'll let you decide if you want to include that in the blog! [how could we not!]

Elder Bradford

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Some pictures from AJ (click on them for larger image)...

This is our zone. BOTUCATU!  We had transfers yesterday (Elder Hill and I both stayed)

This one is an inside joke. I found this at our local supermarket (the cheapest brand too). I have some friends who will appreciate this.

 Pictures of our chapel in Botucato. A nice building isn't it?

July 11th letter

Opa todos!

I don't have a ton of time to write today but I will write as much as I can. We're having a churrasco [barbecue] with the missionaries in our zone to celebrate Fourth of July (although it was last week).

So to answer your questions - I'd have to get out a map but I think we walk 8 or so miles a day. About P's family, they are all already members except for his dad. He isn't interested in taking the lessons. Right now we are also teaching two of P's cousins and they agreed to be baptized in two weeks!

KKKKK (kah kah kah kah kah - how brasilians write laugher, like our 'lol' or 'hahaha') and also my companion didn't cut my hair [referring to the picture he sent last week]. I'm fairly sure there is a missionary rule against that. [Actually there is no rule against that -AJ] No, we went over to a local salão de cabeleleiro [salon hairdresser] and I got my haircut there.

So we had a second orientation on Monday with the new Mission President, Presidente Perroti (pe-HOE-chee). It was all the same stuff we learned in the first orientation, but now that we can understand a little Portuguese it was easier. Presidente Perroti is pretty cool. Unfortunately, we had to leave in a hurry after the orientation so I didn't get a picture with him and his wife (Our 4 hour trip between Campinas and Botucatu only has two departure times each direction per day).

Thank you for sending that article about keeping our mind in the middle. Sometimes I use the fact that I'm new as an excuse for myself to slouch back and let my companion take charge in everything. But if I push myself even farther I know God will bless me and help me become the missionary I need to be - Going back to that whole faith thing. Uchtdorf is awesome!!

I want to talk about some of our investigators real quick, since I haven't really done that very much. J and S. An unmarried couple that was passed to us when we arrived in the area. They have already been taught all the lessons. When we arrived, S was smoking 15 cigarettes per day. We talked about the Word of Wisdom one visit and set a goal for her to slowly cut out cigarettes. J at that time did not smoke but drank socially. He agreed to give up drinking. Things were fine until about our fourth visit (about 3 weeks ago). I won't go into all the details but during our visit with S who was already in an emotional state, J stumbles in, drunk as can be, and S is in tears. They share some bitter words with us - and at this point I'm just frozen, I have no idea what to do. Elder Hill manages to very boldly, yet in a manner inspired by the Spirit, basically call them to repentance and promise blessings. I bear my testimony and we have a prayer and then leave. Two days later we were walking in the area and I suggest to Elder Hill that we stop by their house. He made a comment like "I really don't want to" but we decided to go anyway. When we arrive S is full of smiles. That night after we left from our intense visit with them, she decided to give up smoking for good. Till today she has not picked up a cigarette. The same can't be said for J, he still drinks (ironically, worse than before we started to visit him). But it is truly a miracle that S was able to stop smoking cold turkey.
[Near the end of my mission I found out that she got married to J and was baptized! -AJ]

Declaring repentance is one of the most difficult things to do on the mission - but can you count how many times the prophets and disciples declare repentance in the scriptures? I have a testimony from this experience that declaring repentance has its blessings, however hard it may be.

OK, tchau! Eu amo vocês!!   Elder Bradford

PS:  The picture I included is of the closest thing to Oreos they have here. We made dirt (crushed Oreos and chocolate pudding) last night. Oh foi bom demais! [it was really good]