Hello! Boa Tarde! [good afternoon]
So continuing with João from my last letter...we went back the next Saturday after the Sunday I mentioned. He felt that the Book of Mormon is true. He didn't go to church the next day. The Saturday after, we went again, he told us that because of the way he felt when we talked with him, he has already changed a lot in his life. He used to have little patience with his wife and daughters, but he just felt like this was wrong and he gave an effort to be kinder. He decided to spend less time away from home. He all of a sudden felt bad when he went to have a drink with his friends. He told his wife about what he felt, and she told him that it was nothing, he was just in an emotional state. She went quite against us, as João explained. As we were talking I got the idea to have a member pass by and encourage him to go to church. So we left, talked to this member, he passed by and it all worked out, he went to church!!!
That Sunday was a very special experience for me. In Priesthood meeting we had a gospel discussion that was kind of wandering into whatever topic (like it can at times) and João contributed and bore his testimony a little bit. It was cool to see how fast the members attached to him and praised him. Since it was Fast Sunday, João got to hear testimonies from members during Sacrament meeting. Elder Mora was sitting next to him and João asked about what was going on. He explained "So anyone who feels like it can go up and bear their testimony about the gospel, but it's not obligatory, you don't have to if you don't want to." João said "I don't know, I'm scared that I'll start to cry or something". "Yeah, you don't have to go, just those who want to". João took a breath and said "Ok, I'll go". He went up and just talked about his feelings - it wasn't the average testimony of "I feel this, I feel that, amen." It was about his experiences and from his heart. We felt pretty good because here he was telling everyone in the ward we helped him feel the Spirit during the lessons. And from there, the ward got a little burst of energy. Suddenly we had members interested in making visits with us. It was cool.
However, from there it went downhill. That Tuesday, we were going to pass by with a member but a rainstorm hit...I think it was God's way of having just us go into the lesson. We had a long discussion with João. The problem is this: What he wants to do and knows is right, is bring his wife and daughters to church to feel the same thing he felt and be converted. But his wife said she does not want to visit our church, and their daughters pretty much follow his wife. So, he wants to check out the church that the rest of his family is going to, and see if it's possible to have a happy, united family that way. He feels torn between what he knows is true what God has told him, and his obligation to unite his family. We promised him that if he is baptized and continues to work with his wife and daughters, they'll eventually be converted and be able to have an eternal family. But his faith isn't quite at this point yet, to be able to trust God that all will be well if he pursues this route. We passed by with the bishop and were able to teach the entire family and gave a copy of the Book of Mormon to João's wife, but after the lesson from what João said, she just tossed it aside and ignored it. We talked more about it Sunday (he went to the other church instead of ours), but he told us that he will walk away from the right path for a little bit and hope that God sends a sign to correct him. We told him that was not advisable. ugghhhhhh. We don't know yet if we should continue to work with them or not. At least later that night, we found out that his daughters are crazy for American treats, and they want us to come back to bake cookies some night (FHE!!!).
Yeah, so that's all I have time to write. I was excited to hear that Greg Gillespie is bishop of the new ward in the stake! [Bro. Gillespie taught the missionary preparation class AJ attended before leaving to Brazil]. He's not young at all, our bishop here is only 31 years old.
EU AMO VOCÊS! Eu oro por vocês cada dia! [I LOVE YOU! You're in my prayers every day!]
Elder Bradford
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
January 7th letter
Bom dia todos! [Good morning all]
So I wasn't transferred! Both Elder Mora and I stayed here in Nova Itália. When they announced it I was like, okay that's fine, let's work hard and find someone to baptize! This week we worked pretty hard.
We had only one new person we're teaching come to church, but this guy is awesome. His name is John and he lives with his wife and three teenage daughters. When we started to work in this neighborhood, we decided to tract on this one street, and when we knocked at their gate we talked a little with two of his daughters, and they were pretty cool but they said we could only visit on Saturday. When we get contacts like that we usually write them down and perhaps come back later. A few weeks after we pass by this house again, I don't even remember what day it was but we clap our hands [the method for 'knocking' at a home in Brazil], and John's wife answered and was really nice, but there was just her at home if I remember right. So anyways on the 22nd of December we were walking by the house again and it happened to be Saturday, everything was all working out so we decided to stop by. John was sitting out in front and we hadn't met him yet and I thought, oh great, here we're going to meet their controlling dad who won't even let us speak one word about religion, but we talked to him, asked if his daughters were at home, and he was like, yeah, I'll go get them. He returned with his wife and they were like really, really shy and he said they didn't want to talk with us right now. Then I said to him, call them again and tell them we have a Christmas present for them. So he returned and he was able to get one of his daughters to leave the house and talk to us. So we ended up sitting in the garage teaching the 1st lesson to John and this daughter. They are really smart and were understanding the lesson well. Then Elder Mora gave the lesson on the First Vision and John began to cry. He got all embarrassed, he was like, look at me, I'm crying! We were able to testify about Joseph Smith being a Prophet with power and they agreed to be baptized. John described what he felt (later he told us that he had never felt anything like it before) and asked us what it was. We explained about the Holy Spirit. It was a great lesson. They got really excited to read the Book of Mormon (the Christmas present I promised!).
When we finished it was pretty late and we were going to take the ônibus [transit bus] but he offered us a ride home, and since it was really, really late we actually accepted, and told him that we would show him the church building which is really close to our house. Unfortunately, John's daughter wasn't able to come with us to see the church building, but at least we went with John. We entered the building, showed him some of the rooms and then lastly we went to the Sacrament Room (I forget what it's called in English now) [Chapel]. Why did we do this? One of the training movies we had illustrated this with Sister missionaries taking a lady to tour the church building, and at the end they go to the sacrament room and as they stand there the Spirit touches her and testifies to her about everything the missionaries had taught. So we decided to put that to the test. We go into the room with John, we chat a little, explain a little, we weren't feeling anything but we decide to do a prayer. I asked John to offer a prayer but he initially didn't want to, he felt unprepared, but we gave him a little confidence, in the end he gave a prayer and got emotional again as he asked God for help with his family. He explained to us that there has been a lot of contention in his family because of religion, his wife is really committed to another church and he doesn't really follow any religion. I won't include all the details but his family is needing a lot of help. We promised him that he could be the example, the way to change his family for the better by going to church and living the gospel. He told us that he would try to go to church the next day. He didn't go. TO BE CONTINUED!!!!.....(mostly because I'm out of time)
So about Maria, the lady who saw the light by my head while we were teaching her. We passed by Saturday and she was with a visit, her daughter answered the gate. I asked her to ask her mom if she would be able to go to Church with us Sunday. She returned and her mom said that she wouldn't be going because she already has her religion. :-[
Yes, it's been getting pretty hot here. Although the weather is still unpredictable - sometimes when we leave the house the sky is filled with black clouds and we're sure it's going to rain, but not a drop falls. Other times we leave and there are clouds few and far between but during the day it finds some way to pour rain during the late afternoon. The hottest months in Brasil from what I've heard are January and February. It's not as hot here as you're probably imagining. Like, it's hot but it's not unbearable at all.
About goals, yes we make goals (or at least we're supposed to...) every day, every week, and every transfer. I also made some goals for 2013. One thing about goals - sometimes we start to fail in a long-term goal and we think, aw man I've already broken my habit or pattern, there's no use in trying to return to do it. We always have to remember why we decided to commit to the goal in the first place. Will I complete this goal just to say I completed 'x' goal, or will I complete it because there is some growth, some knowledge or improvement that I'll gain from completing the activity? One example is reading the scriptures everyday. I get going for a good few weeks and then one day I get real lazy and I don't read. Then I think, I've already broken my goal, why should I continue to strive to read everyday? I won't be able to say that I read every day in 2013, true. But the point of the goal is the spiritual growth that comes from reading. I think this has something to do with the Atonement. We sin and, filled with guilt we think, why should I try to return to the path? This is what Satan wants us to think. But if we can have that attitude of always returning to the path of righteousness every time we slip a little, then we will understand the power of the Atonement. I won't be able to say that I lived a perfect life, true. But the point of the Atonement is to learn to confide in God and let Him turn our weaknesses and failures into strengths. Yeah, just some thoughts I had :). My, oh my, I've learned a lot on the mission.
Okay, wow I wrote a lot today! Hope you all have a good and healthy week full of enriching experiences! Go tell people about the gospel!
Elder Bradford
So I wasn't transferred! Both Elder Mora and I stayed here in Nova Itália. When they announced it I was like, okay that's fine, let's work hard and find someone to baptize! This week we worked pretty hard.
We had only one new person we're teaching come to church, but this guy is awesome. His name is John and he lives with his wife and three teenage daughters. When we started to work in this neighborhood, we decided to tract on this one street, and when we knocked at their gate we talked a little with two of his daughters, and they were pretty cool but they said we could only visit on Saturday. When we get contacts like that we usually write them down and perhaps come back later. A few weeks after we pass by this house again, I don't even remember what day it was but we clap our hands [the method for 'knocking' at a home in Brazil], and John's wife answered and was really nice, but there was just her at home if I remember right. So anyways on the 22nd of December we were walking by the house again and it happened to be Saturday, everything was all working out so we decided to stop by. John was sitting out in front and we hadn't met him yet and I thought, oh great, here we're going to meet their controlling dad who won't even let us speak one word about religion, but we talked to him, asked if his daughters were at home, and he was like, yeah, I'll go get them. He returned with his wife and they were like really, really shy and he said they didn't want to talk with us right now. Then I said to him, call them again and tell them we have a Christmas present for them. So he returned and he was able to get one of his daughters to leave the house and talk to us. So we ended up sitting in the garage teaching the 1st lesson to John and this daughter. They are really smart and were understanding the lesson well. Then Elder Mora gave the lesson on the First Vision and John began to cry. He got all embarrassed, he was like, look at me, I'm crying! We were able to testify about Joseph Smith being a Prophet with power and they agreed to be baptized. John described what he felt (later he told us that he had never felt anything like it before) and asked us what it was. We explained about the Holy Spirit. It was a great lesson. They got really excited to read the Book of Mormon (the Christmas present I promised!).
When we finished it was pretty late and we were going to take the ônibus [transit bus] but he offered us a ride home, and since it was really, really late we actually accepted, and told him that we would show him the church building which is really close to our house. Unfortunately, John's daughter wasn't able to come with us to see the church building, but at least we went with John. We entered the building, showed him some of the rooms and then lastly we went to the Sacrament Room (I forget what it's called in English now) [Chapel]. Why did we do this? One of the training movies we had illustrated this with Sister missionaries taking a lady to tour the church building, and at the end they go to the sacrament room and as they stand there the Spirit touches her and testifies to her about everything the missionaries had taught. So we decided to put that to the test. We go into the room with John, we chat a little, explain a little, we weren't feeling anything but we decide to do a prayer. I asked John to offer a prayer but he initially didn't want to, he felt unprepared, but we gave him a little confidence, in the end he gave a prayer and got emotional again as he asked God for help with his family. He explained to us that there has been a lot of contention in his family because of religion, his wife is really committed to another church and he doesn't really follow any religion. I won't include all the details but his family is needing a lot of help. We promised him that he could be the example, the way to change his family for the better by going to church and living the gospel. He told us that he would try to go to church the next day. He didn't go. TO BE CONTINUED!!!!.....(mostly because I'm out of time)
So about Maria, the lady who saw the light by my head while we were teaching her. We passed by Saturday and she was with a visit, her daughter answered the gate. I asked her to ask her mom if she would be able to go to Church with us Sunday. She returned and her mom said that she wouldn't be going because she already has her religion. :-[
Yes, it's been getting pretty hot here. Although the weather is still unpredictable - sometimes when we leave the house the sky is filled with black clouds and we're sure it's going to rain, but not a drop falls. Other times we leave and there are clouds few and far between but during the day it finds some way to pour rain during the late afternoon. The hottest months in Brasil from what I've heard are January and February. It's not as hot here as you're probably imagining. Like, it's hot but it's not unbearable at all.
About goals, yes we make goals (or at least we're supposed to...) every day, every week, and every transfer. I also made some goals for 2013. One thing about goals - sometimes we start to fail in a long-term goal and we think, aw man I've already broken my habit or pattern, there's no use in trying to return to do it. We always have to remember why we decided to commit to the goal in the first place. Will I complete this goal just to say I completed 'x' goal, or will I complete it because there is some growth, some knowledge or improvement that I'll gain from completing the activity? One example is reading the scriptures everyday. I get going for a good few weeks and then one day I get real lazy and I don't read. Then I think, I've already broken my goal, why should I continue to strive to read everyday? I won't be able to say that I read every day in 2013, true. But the point of the goal is the spiritual growth that comes from reading. I think this has something to do with the Atonement. We sin and, filled with guilt we think, why should I try to return to the path? This is what Satan wants us to think. But if we can have that attitude of always returning to the path of righteousness every time we slip a little, then we will understand the power of the Atonement. I won't be able to say that I lived a perfect life, true. But the point of the Atonement is to learn to confide in God and let Him turn our weaknesses and failures into strengths. Yeah, just some thoughts I had :). My, oh my, I've learned a lot on the mission.
Okay, wow I wrote a lot today! Hope you all have a good and healthy week full of enriching experiences! Go tell people about the gospel!
Elder Bradford
Monday, December 31, 2012
December 31st letter
FELIZ 2013! QUASE!! [HAPPY 2013! ALMOST]
So, it was really cool to talk to yall on Natal [Christmas]! This week there's going to be a looot of fotos [see previous post].
I'll just talk about our pesquisadores [people we're teaching]. M isn't doing much to get rid of his addiction, like I said in the chat he has not changed really since we met him. He still is super willing to go to church every week, so we have him walking with a member who lives close. We haven't given him the "commitment" discussion yet (to determine if we keep teaching). I think we'll talk with him this week.
We met this other lady called Maria, and the first time we met her she seemed not very interested and very attached to her beliefs and her church. We returned there the next day to mainly talk to her friend who is kind of spiritually lost and seemed to us she would accept the Gospel, but her friend wasn't there so we just talked briefly with Maria. Afterwards, I was thinking about if we'd pass by there anymore and Elder Mora felt we should. Maria had told us that 11 years ago she talked with missionaries from our Church, and that she owned a bar and had no interest in religion or anything. One missionary promised her that he would return after his mission, and when he returned she would have completely changed her life and devoted herself to God. So, she didn't think much about it, and time passed and her bar began to fail. She kept losing money until she had to close the bar. She realized that she didn't want to give this kind of example to her kids, of having to sell beer to make a living. She realized that she needed God in her life. So, she began to go to a church and became converted to Jesus Christ. By living the Gospel she was blessed and obtained a good job and the means to take care of her kids. And then, this last week she met us, and upon seeing us she was reminded about the promise of the other missionary (she had forgotten). I agreed that we should go back and teach her the Restauração [Restoration] discussion, so this last Saturday we went there with a member and taught her. While Elder Mora was teaching about the First Vision, I saw Maria look over at me really fast and then back at Elder Mora. After Elder Mora finished, he invited her to be baptized and I couldn't believe it but she said yes. I began to bear my testimony and she pointed her finger at me and said, "I know that everything you guys have said is true, because while Elder Mora was recounting the story, I looked over at you and saw a bright light to the side of your face. God is with you. Do not stray from this path that you're on, because God is with you." I was taken back and didn't know what to say. I continued to bear my testimony and the member bore his testimony and we left. Unfortunately, she didn't attend church like she said, but we're going to pass by this week. that was a really cool experience.
During my call home on Christmas I mentioned about how we make contact on a bus...so, there's three types of things we like to do:
Elder Bradford
So, it was really cool to talk to yall on Natal [Christmas]! This week there's going to be a looot of fotos [see previous post].
I'll just talk about our pesquisadores [people we're teaching]. M isn't doing much to get rid of his addiction, like I said in the chat he has not changed really since we met him. He still is super willing to go to church every week, so we have him walking with a member who lives close. We haven't given him the "commitment" discussion yet (to determine if we keep teaching). I think we'll talk with him this week.
We met this other lady called Maria, and the first time we met her she seemed not very interested and very attached to her beliefs and her church. We returned there the next day to mainly talk to her friend who is kind of spiritually lost and seemed to us she would accept the Gospel, but her friend wasn't there so we just talked briefly with Maria. Afterwards, I was thinking about if we'd pass by there anymore and Elder Mora felt we should. Maria had told us that 11 years ago she talked with missionaries from our Church, and that she owned a bar and had no interest in religion or anything. One missionary promised her that he would return after his mission, and when he returned she would have completely changed her life and devoted herself to God. So, she didn't think much about it, and time passed and her bar began to fail. She kept losing money until she had to close the bar. She realized that she didn't want to give this kind of example to her kids, of having to sell beer to make a living. She realized that she needed God in her life. So, she began to go to a church and became converted to Jesus Christ. By living the Gospel she was blessed and obtained a good job and the means to take care of her kids. And then, this last week she met us, and upon seeing us she was reminded about the promise of the other missionary (she had forgotten). I agreed that we should go back and teach her the Restauração [Restoration] discussion, so this last Saturday we went there with a member and taught her. While Elder Mora was teaching about the First Vision, I saw Maria look over at me really fast and then back at Elder Mora. After Elder Mora finished, he invited her to be baptized and I couldn't believe it but she said yes. I began to bear my testimony and she pointed her finger at me and said, "I know that everything you guys have said is true, because while Elder Mora was recounting the story, I looked over at you and saw a bright light to the side of your face. God is with you. Do not stray from this path that you're on, because God is with you." I was taken back and didn't know what to say. I continued to bear my testimony and the member bore his testimony and we left. Unfortunately, she didn't attend church like she said, but we're going to pass by this week. that was a really cool experience.
During my call home on Christmas I mentioned about how we make contact on a bus...so, there's three types of things we like to do:
- Sit next to someone and have a good conversation. It's the hardest actually to do, but it usually results in getting the address of someone.
- Hand out cartas de amizade [pass-along cards]
- Stand up in the front and yell to everyone to go to church. Elder Mora and I like to do this thing where I yell in English and he translates to Portuguese. It's actually really hard to do because I speak Portuguese every day to talk about the church. I don't know if it actually works because I have never seen anyone go to church just on a brief invitation.
Elder Bradford
Christmas pictures
Below are several pictures AJ emailed to us this past week...
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| We had a Fraternização de Natal [Christmas Activity] two weeks ago with half the missionaries of the mission (the rest of the missionaries had it the next day). It was awesome...we had a spiritual part at the beginning, at one part we watched this video called Missionary Work and the Atonement. It is really good...it actually made me cry :D. Afterwards, we had lunch and every zone did a presentation; for ours we sang a hymn. |
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| Yeah, the package!!!!! [we lucked out and a family headed to Brazil were kind enough to pack items for AJ in their luggage, which then shipped from Sao Paulo] |
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| Papai Noel [Santa Claus], our mission president, distributing presents (our missionary packages) |
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| Our apartment with the Christmas items you sent us! Obrigado [thank you] |
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| Elder Mora and AJ holding the clever Christmas stockings made by his mom - AJ also enjoys some of his mom's homemade toffee |
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| The family with whom we spent Natal! [they provided AJ and another Elder a computer for their Skype call home] |
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| Panettone is the equivalent of Christmas fruitcake, but waaaayy more popular (Laurattone is a brand of Panettone). When you go to the supermarket during the Christmas season, there are literally aisles filled with boxes of Panettone. It's like this sweet bread with pieces of fruit, but also there's versions with chocolate chunks or jelly or doce de leite [sweet milk]. It's really good. |
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| You know that group of cool dudes in every ward that always hang out together? |
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| A market in front of a fruit farm |
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| There's this guy in our ward who owns a banana plantation and every Sunday (except for Fast Sunday, of course) he brings a ton of bananas to church for everyone to eat. |
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
December 17th letter
Boooooooooom dia [goooooooood morning]!
This week was good. We had a few miracles this last weekend. On Saturday we just decided to follow-up with as many contacts as possible in this one neighborhood and commit people to go to church on Sunday. Pretty much everyone was like "uhhh, if it works out I'll go tomorrow" or "someday I'll make a visit to your church". However, we ended up running into this guy named Leonardo, who said that he would like to go to church with us. Sunday morning we went to pick him up but he told us that he was going to a wedding or something, so we were pretty disappointed. He even gave us the wrong address at first, so we were thinking about forgetting him, but I felt we should pass by his house Sunday evening. So, we went by there and he was really receptive. At the start of the lesson I asked him "What does it mean to you to know that you are a child of God?" And he explained to us that he doesn't really feel a sort of connection with God. I asked him if he would like to have this sort of connection and he said yes. From that we were able to teach him personally rather than a standard first lesson. I like when we are able to do that! The lesson was very spiritual and positive, especially during the First Vision. We marked his baptism for the 30th! I am excited to see how his relationship with God will progress as he studies and prays.
You guys are certainly right about how our main purpose is not necessarily to baptize, but to bring souls to Christ. It's just that as imperfect missionaries sometimes we need a material, measurable goal to keep us going strong until the end. I think it would be very difficult to serve in Japan or Russia or some place where baptisms are very rare. Here, in the Campinas mission, we are told that if we work in the Lord's manner it's possible to baptize weekly.
So, the Christmas package you sent has arrived! I haven't got it yet, but our zone leaders said that it's at the mission office. We receive letters and packages usually weekly in the district meeting, after the zone leaders pass by the office some time during the week. But in this case I will receive it on Wednesday when we have our Mission Christmas activity.
Also, I was going to talk about what I studied today, but we're actually leaving right now - maybe you guys can study it and see how it relates to the mission and the faith and prayers of those waiting back at home (1 Nephi 4; 5:1-7)
Ok, that's all for this week!
Elder Bradford
This week was good. We had a few miracles this last weekend. On Saturday we just decided to follow-up with as many contacts as possible in this one neighborhood and commit people to go to church on Sunday. Pretty much everyone was like "uhhh, if it works out I'll go tomorrow" or "someday I'll make a visit to your church". However, we ended up running into this guy named Leonardo, who said that he would like to go to church with us. Sunday morning we went to pick him up but he told us that he was going to a wedding or something, so we were pretty disappointed. He even gave us the wrong address at first, so we were thinking about forgetting him, but I felt we should pass by his house Sunday evening. So, we went by there and he was really receptive. At the start of the lesson I asked him "What does it mean to you to know that you are a child of God?" And he explained to us that he doesn't really feel a sort of connection with God. I asked him if he would like to have this sort of connection and he said yes. From that we were able to teach him personally rather than a standard first lesson. I like when we are able to do that! The lesson was very spiritual and positive, especially during the First Vision. We marked his baptism for the 30th! I am excited to see how his relationship with God will progress as he studies and prays.
You guys are certainly right about how our main purpose is not necessarily to baptize, but to bring souls to Christ. It's just that as imperfect missionaries sometimes we need a material, measurable goal to keep us going strong until the end. I think it would be very difficult to serve in Japan or Russia or some place where baptisms are very rare. Here, in the Campinas mission, we are told that if we work in the Lord's manner it's possible to baptize weekly.
So, the Christmas package you sent has arrived! I haven't got it yet, but our zone leaders said that it's at the mission office. We receive letters and packages usually weekly in the district meeting, after the zone leaders pass by the office some time during the week. But in this case I will receive it on Wednesday when we have our Mission Christmas activity.
Also, I was going to talk about what I studied today, but we're actually leaving right now - maybe you guys can study it and see how it relates to the mission and the faith and prayers of those waiting back at home (1 Nephi 4; 5:1-7)
Ok, that's all for this week!
Elder Bradford
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| A Berimbau, traditional instrument of Brasil. One of the people we are teaching gave us two - I don't know how to play it yet though |
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| The t-shirt reads 'There will Always an island in a sea of hope so BIG' [nice Engrish] |
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