March 4th letter

Bom dia família! [Good morning family!]

So, yesterday I heard that in a national report done recently, Vinhedo won the title of best city in Brasil to live in. Então pode ficar tranquilo, estou vivendo bem! [So you can rest assured, I'm living well!]

So this week was normal. Good day, bad days, lessons that went well, lessons that didn't. Let's see (looking through planner). Bento was confirmed, we talked with a Jehovah Witness pastor, and we committed four people to be baptized.

The first is a girl who lives behind the house of some members (In Brasil it's common to have a house behind a house) with whom we had the lesson. She gets home really late from work, in fact the night we had marked with her she got home almost 9pm. So I was like, we'll just share a brief message about the Book of Mormon. I started talking about prophets and then it just kind of slid into the 1st lesson, and before we knew it we were talking about the Restoration. It was a very spiritual lesson and I think the first time I heard on my mission 'Eu quero' [I want to] in response to the convite batismal [baptismal invitation]. The second was a lady we had met a good time ago but never got around to passing by her house. One night our appointments fell through so we decided to pass by her house. We gave another spiritual lesson and she accepted baptism.

Then yesterday, these two ladies went to church and liked it a lot! We had other appointments fall through so we had nothing to do, and we were walking down this road and I asked Elder Alencar how long it'd been since he had knocked doors on this road. So that you guys understand, Vinhedo is pretty much divided in three - the Nova Vinhedo ward which is to the East, the Vinhedo ward which is in the middle, and then a little ways off to the West is a place (almost another city) called the Capela, which is a little confusing because we also call the church chapel the capela. The members in Capela belong to the Vinhedo ward but they meet together in a rented building in Capela because it would be too far away for everyone to meet at the church building in the center of the city. Every other day we work in the Capela, and the other days we work in the middle of the city. The missionaries before me focused more on the middle of the city, so when I got here almost every single road had been knocked through. These last few weeks we've managed to knock through the rest of the streets, so Elder Alencar has literally tracted on every single road in our area except for the Capela. So now when we work in the center of the city its a matter of, which road have you tracted least recently, Elder Alencar?

So anyways we were on this road that is pretty much a block away from the church and I asked Elder Alencar, hasn't it been a while since you tracted here? He was like, forget it, I've talked with everyone on this road, no one is interested. I said you couldn't have talked to everyone, so I stopped and clapped [Brazilian way of knocking] at a house. No one answered, I went a little further until I heard someone behind a house, I clapped there, a lady came out and we talked with her. She was very friendly and we marked an appointment with her. So I think Elder Alencar got the idea and he clapped at the next house, out came a lady who had never talked with the missionaries. We shared with her and her husband the Restoration and they agreed to be baptized. Her husband told us that he was really needing to hear our message and is searching for a church, as he knows the church he goes to is corrupt. So that was pretty cool to see that God is preparing all sorts of people to hear the good news!

I'm glad to hear that I inspire you mom. That makes me feel important and that I'm doing a good job! Really though, you guys are an inspiration to me. All we have to worry about here on the mission is studying, paperwork and missionary work. There on your side there's less enjoyable work, school, bills, taking care of the house and cars, and church responsibilities on top of that, and you still manage to study the scriptures and have that spiritual power with you through the day even though life demands that you don't focus on spiritual things 24/7. That's tough.

Well, that's it for now.
Elder Bradford

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Our mission district (yes, those are the Reeses Pieces you sent - they disappeared fast!)

Almoço hoje, bom demais! [Lunch today, too good!]

February 25th letter

Oi Família!

So we heard about the new Brazil Piracicaba mission yesterday as one of the 58 newly-announced church missions. Also, that's pretty awesome they're opening a mission in our little city of Vancouver! Here, they will divide Campinas and Riberão Preto missions to make the new mission.. They've explained which zones will go to the new mission and it looks like all of the areas that I've passed through, except for Vinhedo, are going to the new mission! We haven't heard anything about who's going where yet. I think the change will happen in June or July. I was thinking it's possible to have us three [AJ, Sam McKague, and Tanner Nelson from our ward] in the same mission. Or it could end up being Sam in Riberão Preto, one of us in Piracicaba, and the other in Campinas! But we'll see what happens. It's all in God's hands.

Vinhedo ['Vineyard' in English] supposedly has (or used to have) a lot of vineyards. Every year there's a Festival da Uva, which ended about a week ago. It's like their version of the County Fair, with little rides, those booths with games, and food, performances, that kind of stuff. We didn't go but last week we passed by and saw it.

So living in four has indeed its pros and cons. It's good because you can talk freely with the other missionaries and get their input on difficulties in your area, or how to improve your teaching. We also chat a lot and laugh about things so it helps with the stress. The not so good part can be explained by looking at the kitchen. It seems like sometimes I'm the only one who washes dishes or cleans. But it's not a big deal because most of the time we all do our part to clean the house. Also sometimes we get to talking or goofing around and we lose track of time.

I think when I said that I don't feel like I'm giving 100% it's because I don't follow the schedule PERFECTLY. Like, we're supposed to do 30 minutes of exercises every morning. It's been very few times on the mission that I've been able to do that (not because 30 minutes is too much - it's because I wake up, pray, go to the bathroom, maybe sit there on the bed for a few minutes, and it's already 6:50 and there isn't time to exercise for 30 minutes and still be showered dressed and have eaten breakfast and be ready by 8:00. Well, looking at it now maybe if I got myself ready more in a hurry in the morning it'd work out. :) Also after studies we kind of take a while to get out the door. And lunch is supposed to be only an hour long (achieved this very few times also). And sometimes our lessons take 2 hours. Just things like that. I would feel better if I was baptizing more, but this has nothing to do with giving 100%. Except that we were promised by Presidente Perrotti that if we give our all, we will baptize every week. I really liked what you said mom, that all that God asks from me is that I ask him what I can do better and he will show me, little by little I'll improve. And that is the 100% that I want to reach.

So the package came without problem, I didn't have to pay any fees. Also looks like no one tampered with it. My Brasileiros here like the peanut butter, but they get all grossed out when I start putting it in/on other things like pancakes and apples and bananas and milk shakes.

Regarding the pictures, I included two of our 'cake' that we tried to make for Bento's baptism. The cake baked well, the frosting turned out well also, but Elder Alencar wanted to make a two-layer cake, so I was like sounds good. So, we put one chunk on top of the other and it kind of fell apart, so we ended up putting it back in the original pan and tried to cover up the patches with the frosting that was left which we mixed with milk.

As you can see, It didn't turn out looking very good. I was like, let's just bring it and show the members we tried, and they'll be like, oh just call us next time and we'll make a cake. But the other Elders expressed concern we could begin an apostasy here in Vinhedo by bringing that thing to the baptism. So, we ended up just eating it at home.

Baptism of Bento

The other picture is the baptism of Bento! He was smoking 4-5 cigarros a day, we did a fast so that he could stop smoking in preparation for his baptism on Sunday. We talked to him on Thursday and he hadn't touched a cigarro in the 2 days in which we fasted. So there was really a great change that happened in him this last week.

Ok, é só isso para esta semana. Que essa semana seja cheia de experiências e oportunidades de melhorar e crescer no evangelho! [that's it for this week. Let this coming week be filled with experiences and opportunities to improve and grow in the gospel]

Elder Bradford!

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I took some pics of the area. The first one has a house on fire or something...

First Week in Vinhedo

Alô!!

Thank you so much for the package! Man, I've missed peanut butter so much! I'm really excited to try the awesome brownies you sent me. Right now I'm boarding with 3 Brasileiros missionaries, and there gonna love the brownies. I'm also gonna try to trade the T-shirts you included.

Vinhedo, São Paulo

So I've been assigned to serve in the town of Vinhedo in the Vinhedo ward [Portuguese for vineyard], which is considered the rich area in the mission. Well, actually it was the rich area until the Novo Vinhedo area was recently opened. Also Elder Mazzagardi from the church Area Presidency lives here. He lives in the Novo Vinhedo ward. The other Elders went to have lunch with his son's family today (his son is the bishop). This last Sunday he came to church and we shook his hand and everything. He doesn't attend the ward here often because of travel.

Me and Elder Alencar

My companion is Elder Alencar, from Petrolina, Pernambuco in Brazil. Meu primeiro companheiro brasileiro! [My first Brazilian companion!] I'm already learning a lot more Portuguese and getting a better accent (or, losing my accent I should say). He's been just 3 months in the mission field.

So our pesquisadores! [the people we're teaching]. There's Bento, who is awesome. He understands the lessons pretty well and asks a lot of questions. He's excited to be baptized but has to stop smoking first. He used to smoke 10 cigarettes per day but this last week he got down to 2-3 per day, but now he's going back up to 4-5 per day. So today after P-day we're going to really give him a lot of encouragement (what will be that encouragement, I don't know because we've been working with him for some time now). We also have two families that are really progressing right now. One is Eurico and Simone, who have already been taught everything, already love the church, already received a testimony but they have to get married. That's the only thing preventing them from getting baptized. But were going to pass by their place tonight as well and see if they've received the documents they asked for so we can go to the cartório [registry or notary] and mark their wedding!! They are a super cool couple and have a daughter who is 12 years old who reminds me of Ellie.

The other family is Rafael and Fabiana. They are a little more hesitant to get married. Unfortunately, Rafael works Sundays so that makes things a little difficult. Please include these children of God in your prayers so that they can feel the Spirit prompting them to make the right choices.

So, I'm still learning my way around being the senior companion. I'm trying really hard to reach 100%...meaning, giving 100% effort for a whole day. I was reading the email from Elder (Addison) Reeves that you sent me, and he said that in that week he gave 100%. Not 99%, but 100%. And even though not everyone went to church, not everything went perfectly, he still felt good, he felt like he did his part. I'm jealous. I want to feel that way. I want to give 100%! It seems like I'm giving a good 85% or 90% and if I try to go further there comes the obstacles: stress, companion telling me to relax, mis-communication, my perfectionism, etc. Even though I don't feel like I'm giving 100%, I can see the development that I'm passing through. I was thinking one day as we were walking to lunch, that really the Atonement can be applied instantly in my life. It can be applied every second. Or it can be applied only every Sunday when I go to take to sacrament. When I apply the atonement I don't have to worry or be preoccupied about my past mistakes or what I was like in the past, I just decide what I need to do and from that moment try my best to do it. If I made a mistake in a lesson, I don't have to be thinking about it the whole rest of the day, instead I can repent, correct the problem, and move forward, seeking to do better next time. I decide whether I want to carry that burden of guilt with me the rest of the day, or whether I want to lay it at the feet of Christ and keep going. I turn myself into a new person every time apply the Atonement. People talk about some great experience that changed their life and we think that it's only those kind of things that can change our life. But in reality we can change our life every day, every second, just by refusing to stay stuck in our previous habits or mistakes. Our life doesn't change until we change it. And it will change as fast as we change it. Those were some of my thoughts that I thought about this last week, and actually this last month. I hope you can make some sense of them :).

Okay, só isso mesmo para esta semana. Eu amo vocês! Tenham uma ótima semana! [that's it for this week. I love you! Have a great week!]

Elder Breu Forte

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The view from our front door.

Some pics of Jundiaí, while we were passing through there for a zone meeting [note the Burger King near the bottom]

 I think this was from Carnival (last week). 

Final Week in Limeira

ALÔ MEUS QUERIDOS,

So both myself and Elder Mora are being transferred to a new area! Yeah! Right now I'm having a bit of stress because we have to update the Livro de Área [book about the area] and get everything organized so that when the new Elders come in they won't be lost without any idea what to do. Also, we both have to pack! So I have very little time to write today. I don't know where I'm off to yet, nor Elder Mora.

Let me just respond to your perguntas [questions]. I think the change in the style of teaching for the Sunday School for youth is awesome. I remember vividly some teachers who just followed through the manual during the lesson, and others who actually taught and focused on our spiritual growth, and what a difference it makes! I paid much more attention to those who tried to teach the gospel like the Savior taught. I think it's also good with the new program it will be impossible to teach without having prepared before, which will help the teacher and students learn together.

Also, Elder Mora says hi. He wants to say "ustedes crearon un excelente hijo!" [Spanish: you created a great son!] No, that's what he said, I didn't make it up. What, are you to doubt your own son!?!?!

[Responding to a question about attending baptisms after a transfer] I think on occasion the Mission President would let missionaries attend baptisms in other areas, but I don't think I've ever heard of this actually happening, so I don't know. I've heard that he lets missionaries attend marriage sealings of families they have taught.

Also, I did receive the letter in the mail with the signatures of the members in Harmony ward. Tá joia então. Eu vou começar escrever uma cartinha para a ala de harmonia! [Yeah, a gem. I'll start writing a short letter back to Harmony Ward!]

Okay, that's all I have time to write! Hopefully I'll have a bunch of stuff to write to you next week! Tchau Tchau! EU VOS AMO MUITO!! [Bye, bye! I love you a lot!]

Elder Bradford

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Today we ate at a member's house (José e Cláudia), homemade pizza! It was awesome.

Zona Rio Claro! [Missionaries in the Rio Claro zone...being serious as usual for a photo]

Bus terminal in Limeira

Graffitti around Limeira

February 4th letter

Hello my family!

Baptism of Bárbara

So everything worked out with Bárbara! She was baptized yesterday. It was a very special baptism. Especially since we've been working with her for more than 3 months. Like I said in the last email, it's quite a miracle that she was baptized. A little after the first day that Elder Mora and Elder Oliveira Souza met her while tracting, she went and visited the temple in Campinas. She had a spiritual experience there, and it was so powerful that she declared in that moment to the missionaries that she would be baptized in this church - even after 80 years in the Catholic church. And for 3 months we've helped her learn about the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation. At one point about a month ago she told us that we didn't need to pass by anymore because she was going to stay in her church. We got real discouraged but felt like we needed to pass by, seeing how she was doing, talking with her, and mentioning baptism if she was ready. I'm so thankful that she decided to put her faith in God and take this step. Bárbara chose Elder Mora to baptize her, and he was like super excited, super pumped during the whole day. I was happy, but I tend to get really stressed out during baptism Sunday, making sure everything is ready for the baptism and that the members know what to do. But it all turned out good.

Thank you for the comments...I liked reading about a bit of your experience on your mission Dad. It's actually comforting to know that even you weren't a perfect missionary! :D I've figured out something recently. I still get on my own case a LOT when I make a mistake or it seems to me like I'm not doing my best, not giving 100%. I think its because 1) I'm still a perfectionist and 2) over my 19 years as a prospective missionary I was pretty much like, I'm going to serve a mission and I'm going to be a perfect servant of the Lord, giving my all, 100% of the time. But then I get here and I learn that it's harder than I thought and I feel disappointed and discouraged that I'm not that perfect missionary I always intended to be. But it's a great thing that we have the Atonement, and we don't have to be perfect to make God proud. This is what I'm still learning.

Responding to your questions - Our mission hasn't really been affected by the lower-age requirement for missionaries...yet. We'll have our transfer this coming week and perhaps we'll get more Sisters from the MTC. Actually, we have very few Sisters now that I think about it. In the past every single Zone except for Botucatu had at least one pair of Sisters, but in our last zone with Botucatu, Piracicaba and Rio Claro there were no Sisters.

Ok thats all I have time to write!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Uma ótima semana para vocês! [have a great week]
Elder Bradford

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Another example of Pannettone. This one we got was pretty much half bread and half chocolate cream.

Ursinho Puff [Winnie the Pooh]