November 5th letter

Hey, so it's P-day!

So L got baptized yesterday! It was awesome! Unfortunately, the only person that was able to come to support him was his younger brother, W. He said that he might be interested in being baptized also! So we're going to work with him on that starting today. Man, it would be soooo nice to have the whole day off for P-day instead of a few hours! But whatever, the schedule was inspired by God and everything.

I was thinking about as a missionary we have the opportunity to see the power of God manifest through our authority - God likes to keep us humble and faithful, so unfortunately we aren't able to see this power 24/7, but still sometimes we have cool experiences to see Him work through us. Like one time this past week, we were teaching this one family - husband, wife and one of their daughters that was 14 or so anos [years old]. We were doing the 1st lesson (the Restoration) and everything was going pretty smoothly.  It was my turn and I explained about José Smith and his predicament, when I began to introduce the First Vision I could immediately feel a warmth envelope me and the Spirit continued super strong all the way through when I was reciting the First Vision. It was so strong I almost messed up the words of the Vision. When I finished, I asked something that I usually hesitate to ask, but I said "Esses sentimentos que todo mundo está sentindo agora, eles vêm de quem?" [These feelings that everyone is feeling right now, they come from whom?]  I could see even the dad, who seemed the least spiritually in-tune, nod his head in agreement that he had felt something. The mom without hesitation replied "Jesus". Unfortunately, even after feeling something they didn't completely accept our message, but it was still cool to see that God helped me out there. I have a testimony that the Spirit testifies of truth.

I've heard a little about the hurricane disaster lá nos Estados Unidos [there in the United States]. Sometimes we meet random people and upon finding out that we're Americans they ask us about it. I didn't know it was up in the North East! Sign of the times, isn't it?

Typical Brazilian churrasco: flank steak, top sirloin,
chicken heart, sausages, bread with garlic sauce,
sliced top sirloin with garlic, and chicken legs

We had a churrasco [barbecue] in the center of Piracicaba today, so right now we're in a kind of questionable LAN house [internet cafe where he reads/writes email]. I'm worried about hooking up my SD card here, so expect a tooooon of photos next week (Seriously, I have a lot). Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of time to type and stuff today because the churrasco took a long while to get started.

Speaking of the churrasco, so what we did to make a barbecue was get this metal barrel, fill it part way with coals and put a sort of iron grate on top - classic churrasco Brasileiro.

Here's me cutting up some meat on the churrasco

I decided that I needed to learn to do a churrasco sometime, so I was standing there cutting up a piece of meat on the grill when suddenly the whole setup just explodes with this loud BOOM - the barrel jumped in the air and the coals and grate and meat were all tossed to the side.

Even though I was the closest one to the explosion I wasn't hurt a bit - all the Elders were like "are you OK?" - it must have looked pretty bad for me but really not much happened. So thank you for your prayers and everything...you've saved me from an exploding barbecue :-)

You can see to the left that the explosion actually
broke up the concrete under the churrasco

Oh yeah, my comp reminded me that I was bit by a dog yesterday (sort of) - we were walking by this one house with some tiny dogs barking, jumping, and growling at us. Elder McCann likes to kind of stick his hand in a fist towards dogs to irritate them or get them to lick his hand, so I was like I'll try that -- I stuck my hand out at one and chomp. It was a tiny dog like I said so it didn't really do anything, just cause a bruise more than anything. Tchau Tchau!

Elder Bradford

October 29th letter

Opa todo mundo!

Yeah, so it's starting to heat up real good here in Piracicaba [94° forecast for the 31st]. Sun beating down during the day, and believe it or not thunderstorms during the night. We have to keep the fans blowing on us the whole night to keep cool. One thing that I like about Brasil is you can go up to any house and ask for a cup of cold water. It's even easier to do after making a contact with someone, talking with them for a while in front of their house.

L is set for his baptism this Sunday. He is super excited. He's been making a lot of changes in his life to reach this point, both before the day he met us and after. He is quite determined to let go of his past life and continue forward. He's really an awesome guy. He sometimes struggles with retaining information we've taught him, usually when we ask him to read a scripture.  I'll ask 'What did you understand from this scripture', and he just looks up and shakes his head. Sometimes he doesn't remember stuff from previous lessons. I've focused my study these past days on chapter 10 and 2 of Preach My Gospel, which talk about focusing on teaching people and not lessons. So I've been trying to make my teaching style more simple, and I think it might be working...or we just have the Spirit helping us out more :) The other day we taught L the Plan of Salvation, which we were worried about because, well, it's a lot of stuff in one lesson. But after we finished teaching, Elder McCann asked him, 'So, from what we've taught you, what is the purpose of life here on the Earth'. L turned to him and said 'To follow the path of Christ'. It was such a simple answer but I couldn't help but feel so happy that he had understood this principle.

One day about a week and a half ago we went over to L's house and his mom was sitting outside the front gate. We got closer and saw that she was crying. Elder McCann asked what's wrong but she just turned her head away from us. L came to the gate and we went and had our lesson a way from the house. He explained to us what happened, long story short his mom and dad had been fighting these last few days, and I guess that night they had been fighting and his dad made reference to something painful in the mom's past, and used it to attack her and all this stuff. We talked over it a little and encouraged him to talk with his parents about the problem. After the lesson we decided to do a prayer with the family, so we entered the house and his dad was there shaking a cup of beer in his hand yelling 'Minha vida é mentira! Todo mundo mente a mim!' [My life is a lie! Everybody lies to me!] and whatever, we calmed him down and finally did a prayer and left. I think it was the next day or the day after we met with L and he told us that he had sat down each of his parents and talked with them and now things have settled down. So that just goes to show how awesome he is.

Oh yeah, yesterday was the Primary Program in our ward. The Primary here is only about 12 kids, but the program was still pretty awesome. I couldn't help but think about the Primary back at home... ai que saudades. [Oh how I miss them]

Muito Obrigado por tudo! Infelizmente não tenho fotos esta vez. Eu arrumo algumas para a próxima semana! [Thanks for everything! Unfortunately no photos this time. I'll arrange some for next week!]

Elder Bradford

October 22nd letter

Opa gente! [Hey folks!]

Infelizmente [unfortunately], I don't have a lot of time to write today. Getting the absentee voting ballot organized and sending the audio clip (see below) took longer than I thought! Mas, tranquilo, aproveito o tempinho que tenho [But that's okay, I will make good use of the little time I have].

Beans, rice, sweet & sour sauce, and Asian deep-fried chicken -
one of AJ's favorite dishes (as well as his dad)

As for the photos, we made freaking sweet & sour chicken for lunch last week!! Deu certinho! [It turned out just right!] THANK YOU for the recipes Mom! And also thank you for the hints you sent me this last week! About cheese, I know for sure that they have mozzarella, parmesan, provolone, and something like "Danbo cheese" (or at least that's the translation). They also have cheddar/american cheese, but it's not very common.

Thank you for your responses as to what makes the letters more enjoyable to read! Unfortunately, this letter is kinda poopy, but don't let that make you think I didn't read and enjoy your comments. Also, thank you for the comment Mom about remembering that Christ could very well come in my lifetime [as commented by President Shafer during stake conference this past Sunday]. It made me think about how I want my life to be like the moment he arrives. And really, I need to try right now to be that person I want to be, instead of putting it off for later. It makes perfect sense that Christ would not reveal to us the date of his arrival, because He knows that we would put off applying His doctrine in our lives until the end, and He knows that it is through constant improvement in His doctrine that we become better.

Well, Elder McCann's already finished, so I guess I need to wrap it up :(  I will have to write a lot more next week. Please include in your prayers a kid named L.  He will probably be baptized this weekend, but first he has to pass an interview with our mission president tomorrow.

Eu amo vocês! Tenham uma boa semana!! [I love you! Have a good week!!]
Elder Bradford

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I recorded myself one day in Botucatu for a little bit as Elder Hill and I went out to go to lunch:



We were waiting at a bus stop talking to some guy who approached us (asking about America), then the bus came and it so happened that one of the people we were teaching got on the bus with us. I hope you enjoy it! [AJ later sent a translation of the conversation, which is available here]

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More pics of AJ's sweet & sour feast:

First Week in Piracicaba

Opa Família!

I've been thinking about what makes a good letter home recently. I really, really liked the letters that you sent from Elder Reeves and Elder Russell. They expounded not only occurrences on the mission but also talked about their very personal struggles and growth. I'm going to try to talk about this more. I know that it doesn't really matter that much to have a super engaging letter back home, but I would like it to be the case because (I hope) people are reading the blog and I want them (and you) to get the right impression that the mission is awesome, and that I am growing spiritually and emotionally, in ways I haven't before imagined in my wildest of dreams.

Elder Hill and I agreed that we'd get Água de Coco [coconut water] sometime,
so on our last day in Botucatu we went and got some real quick.
It wasn't super good but it might not have been a very good coconut

So, what happened this past week? Lets find out. After emailing you guys last week, Elder Hill and I went and had lunch at Irmã house, she made a really good lasanha [lasagna] (in Brasil they usually put a deli meat called presunto in the lasanha, it's actually really good). After, we took the bus to Piracicaba, spent the night there at the house of some missionaries. Then, Elder Hill realized he had left his backpack with his money, ID, camera, everything in the taxi we took to their house, so we went back to the Piracicaba rodoviária [bus station] early the next morning and fortunately found his backpack. Then we took another bus to Campinas for the transfer. It might be different for some missions, but for us every single missionary that is involved with transfers goes to the rodoviária in Campinas. I forgot to take a picture as it's pretty crazy with how many kids in white shirts and ties get all grouped together (and not to mention piles of suitcases) in the middle of the bus station. I was able to talk to some Elders from my group including Elder Conner and Elder Doggett, so that was pretty cool.

Elder McCann (from Boring, Oregon) and AJ

My new companion is Elder McCann.  He and I went to our area and from there we've just been working this past week. We are serving in the Piracicaba 2nd Ward. Elder McCann is pretty cool, we get along really well. I was hoping to have a Brasileiro companion, but he's fine with speaking Portuguese 24/7. He's from Boring, Oregon. We are starting to work in a new neighborhood, Santa Rosa, so it's kind of nice not having to play catch up too much. When I was in Botucatu I had excuse not to be familiar with everyone and everything because my Portuguese was kinda weak, but now that I can speak and understand okay I can only blame myself for not paying attention. Don't know if you knew this, but I daydreamed a lot at home [yep, we pretty much knew that one!]. Or, at least I think I did :-). Recently when we're walking around or when Elder McCann is doing a contact, I catch myself just thinking about food or music. Then I just have to shake out of it and try to get lost in the work. Let me tell you, getting lost in the work is really hard to do! It requires more than a change in actions or habits, it's a change in attitude, an attitude which I am trying to develop.

So, about the missionary minimum-age change - when I heard about it I was excited, but not completely surprised - In fact, weeks earlier we had heard buzz from one or two members "yeah, so they changed the age for missionaries, women can leave at 19 years." We were kind of doubting them when we heard this, not sure if they had heard from a reliable source, but maybe it was something that changed in Brasil a few weeks before it was changed worldwide in general conference. Elder Hill and I agreed that there will definitely be a lot more Sister missionaries in the field. I think it's also going to change the cliché view of missionaries in the field. I also think that it will definitely help with the fulfillment of the promise that the gospel would be spread to all nations, tongues, and people.

Respostas às suas perguntas [answers to your questions]:  We don't get the Liahona church magazine sent to our homes, but the mission office always has the latest copies. I know why you thought about asking about writing in my journal - because right now I'm doing really poorly at keeping it up-to-date! I was on a roll for a couple weeks, but the last two weeks I haven't written very much. It's kind of funny - Whenever there's a lot of stuff going on in my mission life, it becomes more important to write in my journal - but ironically I have less time to do so! Also, Elder McCann and I actually do a planning session at night so it leaves even less time to write. Our P-day will be pretty relaxed today so I will have to write a bunch today.

Eu amo vocês bastante! Continuar orando por mim! [I love you guys a lot! Continue praying for me!]
Elder Bradford

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McDonalds in Botucatu.  It's actually really chique in Brasil.

Our room in Piracicaba

Picture from Google Streets of AJ's new humble home -- their apartment is the right-half of the house

Final Week in Botucatu (6-month mark)

Oi familia!!!

Location of Piracicaba city

Yeah, 6 months have passed by sooo fast, it's crazy!! So transferências [area transfers] are this week! From what I've heard I'm going to a city called Piracicaba!! We will be taking a bus later today and spend the night there. Elder Hill will be training a new missionary...he's assured me that it's not my fault he's not excited to train again...he compared it to a long hike...you're satisfied when it's over, but you're not ready to do it again right after you finish. So, apparently I gave him a bit of work! Normally I wouldn't know about transfers until later today, but Zona Botucatu [his area] receives word of transfers early, I guess because we're so far away from Campinas and we need to plan out our travel.

I was hoping I would be transferred, just because I was needing a change and if Elder Hill was transferred I would be left as the expert missionary of Botucatu, and I do know the city pretty well, but not nearly as much as I'd like to. I didn't spend as much time as I should have with paying attention to directions and figuring out the orientation of the city...as if this wasn't a problem before my mission, it just cropped up out of nowhere :D. I am pretty nervous though, as I'll have to adjust to a lot of change all at once. Different house, different companion, different teaching style, different city, different people.

I will have a lot of saudades [miss seeing] some folks here, especially Irmã [Sister] B and her family. I don't know if I've talked about her yet. She's the mom of P, the rapaz [guy] we baptized three months ago. She's pretty much our mom here in Botucatu. She's done a lot of things to help us. Elder Hill was super sick one night about three weeks ago, she took him to the hospital at 10 at night, stayed with him and took him back at 4 in the morning. We helped her and her three boys return to church.  They aren't completely active yet but we're working on it. We were most recently helping M and L prepare to be interviewed to receive the priesthood. I hope they still remain active after I and Elder Hill have gone!

To answer your question, I have dreamed in Portuguese a few times already! And also I'm at the point in the language where I can identify almost every word when people are talking to me. 6 months is indeed the magic number like every missionary says. I'm not quite fluent yet but I'm getting closer. It's something that I'm really excited about right now! I need to be careful also with keeping my pride in check, always recognizing that it's not through any of my own so-called talent or skill that I'm learning so fast but by God's help. It just amazes me how much God is helping me learn this language.

Ok, Tchau tchau vocês! Muito obrigado pelo amor, ajuda e paciência!!  [Bye bye you guys! Thank you for the love, help and patience]
Elder Bradford

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We were knocking at this one door and I decided to
snap a picture of this huge dog peeking through.

I found peanut butter here! It tastes a lot different though.
It's a lot sweeter. That little jar was about $4 dollars,
so its actually pretty cheap here.

I tried the banana bread recipe, it turned out really good!
I think next time I'll try without yogurt to see if it becomes less spongy

My messy desk