April 15th letter

Hallo!

I don't have much time...I'll just talk about Fransisco today. About 4 weeks ago, at 7pm we were walking up and down this street trying to find this one address. We decided to go up one last time to find this house, didn't find it but as we were going up this guy in the middle of the road was walking toward us. We went right up to him and started doing a contact - but turns out that he is a member of our church. He was baptized 25 years ago as a kid, and grew up in the church and everything. He was about to serve a mission but ended up marrying someone who wasn't a member of the church and become inactive. He raised a family but apparently something didn't work out, and he ended up separating and became an alcoholic.

Fast forward to four months ago, Fransisco moved here to look for work or something. He gained a desire to return to church but he didn't know where church was held or anything. So he prayed that he could know, and sure enough, he ran into us. He expressed a lot of desire to return to activity in the church and to be worthy to go to the temple. So we passed by his house to talk to him. He lives in a place called a 'kitinete' which is a super small, super poor apartment. If you removed everything from our house in Vancouver except the entryway, the living room and the bathroom, you'd have a bigger sized kitinete than his. All he has is a moldy mattress and some clothes, a pair of shoes, some documents and the Bible. We brought him a Livro de Mórmon [Book of Mormon] and a pair of socks, we still need to buy him a toothbrush. He needs a lot of help. He isn't able to resist beer when handed to him. Fortunately, he's been able to mostly avoid the bar but sometimes he still goes. We've brought him to the Alcoholic Anonymous place, which seems to have helped.

I get pretty upset at Satan when I see stuff like this. Fransisco is exactly how Satan wants him to be. Miserable and without hope. Satan really uses the little things to drive people to be the worst. And he even is able to get the most elect to follow this trail. I thought a comment by Elder Bednar at general conference was interesting - the hypocrisy that Satan uses as his main weapon, something that he does not have - a body. I can testify to you that when people say there's a war on Earth, they're not exaggerating. There is! And it's brutal. I have learned a lot of things from Fransisco. He is very humble. Whenever he gives a prayer after one of our visits, he starts with something like, "Father, now I enter into your presence. I know that I am not worthy of this privilege, but I also know that I am your son, and you will hear me." I don't know what else to write about him. We've already talked with the bishop and priesthood leaders and are working on a solution. Maybe he'll have to go to another state where his siblings live.

That's all for now.  Eu amo vocês!
Elder Bradford

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Three 'generations' of missionaries in the field
Elder Hill (left) trained AJ, who is now training Elder Zacheu (right)

April 8th letter

Hello everyone!

Yeah, what an awesome general conference! That was the fastest one I have ever watched in my entire life! When I was younger the session would start and then after forever I'd look at the clock "Aw man, there's still an hour and a half". It was a task to sit through the whole thing. But it must be a growing up thing because this time it flew by. Some conference talks I liked were from Elder L. Tom Perry (man I felt my hair catch fire in that one), Pres. Uchtdorf, and Pres. Monson in the Priesthood session. There were a few others but I don't have my notes with me.

I was able to get all the names down of the speakers (thank goodness they show them three times) but for some speakers that was all I wrote down because they finished their talk before I knew it. I was wanting to rewind it at several points. I ended up watching 3 sessions in English and 2 in Portuguese. Watching it in Portuguese, I can understand 98% of the words they use, but I have to pay a lot of attention. I noticed that immediately when the translator said a phrase or word I didn't know, if I wasn't trying hard my attention got lost and I started to think about other things. I wrote down a big list of new words. I liked watching it in English a lot more because I didn't have to pay as much attention to the language - I could pay more attention to the Spirit and my learning. But I watched the ones in Portuguese because for one session we didn't have English hooked up, and for the other we had a very special pesquisador [person we're teaching] come.

We actually had a lot of pesquisadores who promised to come to the church to watch conference, but I don't know why I was fooling myself in thinking that all would come because that's never happened in one year of experience! But it doesn't hurt to have faith! I know I should be patient and do what Christ would do. Also, we don't have very many people to teach anyways!

The training of Elder Zacheu is going fine. We're getting used to each other still. He's a bit critical of me, more like with my messy desk and my clothes seeing as our washing machine broke again and we have to wash everything by hand. I believe we will call someone today to have a look at it. I'm wanting to train him certinho [just right], but there always seems to be something blocking us from doing it. Sometimes the other missionaries we're boarding with sit down wanting to talk to us during study. I also have a hard time with getting out the door on time. So many things to improve! But the other missionaries are still super cool. The other day they complimented me for some habits I have shown during the last few weeks.

I haven't heard anything more about the mission boundary change. It's right around the corner! I have a feeling I will be going to the new mission, but it's just a hunch. I could stay here for all I know. I have so much more to write but Presidente restricted us to 2 hours for email. Tudo bem!

Eu amo vocês muuuuiiiiiiiito! [I love you much!] Have an awesome week!
Elder Bradford

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We had pizza to celebrate my 1-year mission mark
(actually, a church member by chance bought us a pizza and we used it as our celebration)

Priesthood pizza thing! (just that here in Brasil, it happens before the conference sessions)

We went out to eat sorvete com salada de frutas [ice cream with fruit salad] with Brandão, the ward mission leader
(left), his wife, and our good friend Fransisco. Hopefully I'll have time to talk about him next week

April 1st letter (1-year mark)

One year older and wiser too!

So my one year mark is this Thursday! Wooo! It hasn't felt like a year. It's felt like 6 months. I feel like I know a bunch of stuff but still I'm learning new things everyday. I told Presidente that I've learned more about the doctrine and about Christ than about how to baptize (meaning how to find and prepare people for baptism).

I've been thinking about what I've given to the Lord this last year. In our mission there's a lot of emphasis on baptism = success. I do believe that the Presidente has the right to revelation and he told us that a companionship doing all that they can will baptize weekly in our mission. I've witnessed 9 people baptized in the 43 weeks I've been in the mission field. Yes I know it isn't about numbers, it's about how hard I worked and how I have grown, and blessing others lives. I know there are missionaries in other parts of the world who don't experience a baptism during their entire mission, but I trust that our President as well as any other has the right to set the bar for us as missionaries in his respective mission. So, I feel like I haven't reached the bar just yet. I've worked really hard, I can honestly say that without a doubt, but I haven't reached this bar. So this next year I'm going to try really hard to reach this bar, meaning I will continue to work hard but in a different way, more effectively.

Sorry for the super short and lame email, our Líderes de Zona [zone leaders] just called saying that we have a meeting tomorrow in Bragança, meaning we have to take the bus in an hour.

Have an awesome week! Next week's email will be gooder!
Elder Bradford

March 25th letter

Hallo!

Elder Zacheu and AJ

My new companion is Elder Zacheu (za-KEU) from Florianópolis, Brasil. I think I hardly could have asked for a easier missionary to train. Before being assigned to a companion I was worried about being put with a newbie who didn't want to follow the rules or talk with people on the street or do what I say. But he's doing really well. He talks with everyone on the street. He even can kind of joke around with people to make them feel more comfortable. It's kind of weird because I don't do this easily. He's teaching me a bit more than I'm teaching him. If only my Portuguese was perfect, and I understood the Brasilian culture completely! I've always wanted to be that super awesome companion that is remembered forever. I'm trying to be a good companion but I think I can do better. The training is at least going well. I'm worried about running out of things to teach him! And about constantly being an example.

So this week we did indeed work super hard, but we actually had less pesquisadores [people we're teaching] at church than last week. We marked 8 appointments this last Saturday and EVERY one fell through. One of them was "taking a shower". One was leaving to go to her church meeting. One of them was busy. The rest weren't home. I'm not exaggerating, a lot of people mark an appointment with us for an hour when they know they will not be at home. It's really frustrating. But we'll just keep on working. Even though this happened, I feel still kind of good because we did our best to be on time to every appointment. We did our part. But sometimes I get stressed because even though we did our part, we don't have much to show for it.

To respond to your questions...unfortunately, I haven't seen many referrals from new church converts. Here in Vinhedo we haven't had any. Well, actually the family we had the family activity night with invited a bunch of people but only those two cousins came, so we need to follow up with them. We also need to emphasize this with our recent converts - thank you for reminding me about this. The other missionaries didn't change in our house. Que bênção [what a blessing]. In regard to cooking, I don't do as much as in the past. It's hard to find time, and usually we don't have the money to buy a bunch of stuff. Other than pasta or hot dogs or cake, I haven't cooked anything here in Vinhedo. Oh wait, I made pancakes one time with that delicious buttermilk syrup. But that's all. Hahaha, I think by the end of my mission I will have used 5 of the 30 or so recipes that you've sent me! But who knows, I may have the opportunity to make something fancy at some point in my mission.

Ok, this week's email was a little brief...not much happened. Well, we were walking by a bar and some drunk guys were playing with fireworks, pointing them at other people, but we managed to walk by without incident. THANK YOU FOR THE PRAYERS.

Boa semana! Eu amo vocês MUUUUITO! Feliz Páscoa! [Have a nice week! I love you soooo! happy Easter]
Elder Bradford!!!!!!!!!!

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So on Páscoa [Easter] here it's tradition here to get a gigantic chocolate egg.
It's a pretty good idea! We received one from a church member and then devoured it.

Spider Man Pizza! (you won't see this in the US)

March 18th letter

HELLO!

Wow, I completely forgot about Saint Patrick's Day. That means I am losing myself in the work! Actually this week was kind of a downer. I mean, we had another baptism! YEAH! But we didn't work hard as hard as we could with finding more people to teach. Right now we have no one with a baptismal date. To be successful you have to be always finding and teaching at the same time so that your teaching pool never gets small. We focused a lot in getting Léia ready for the baptism and neglected to find more people to teach. So this week we'll be bater muitas portas [knocking many doors]!

So Léia is Diógenes' sister. Last Sunday when Diógenes was baptised, it was the first time she went to church. Before then, she had received a response, a very clear response, that the Livro de Mórmon [Book of Mormon] is true and that we were true servants of God and that this was the path she was looking for. She was wanting to be baptized, but was still a little uneasy about it and had some doubts still. We talked with her on Tuesday and she was still unsure, she presented us with her doubts. This has happened a few times on my mission already...someone receives a response from God about everything, but they are unsure or unwilling to follow the response. I can be frustrating. Usually as a missionary when this happens I try to use the scriptures and show them that God expects them to follow the response he has given and to be baptized. But this Tuesday, it didn't work out that way. I don't know why. I ended up inviting her to read and pray everyday during the week to get an assurance from God. I usually don't like to do this because I see it as testing God. I don't know if I was inspired by the Spirit to say it, or I just didn't feel like reemphasizing about following the response she'd already received, but I instead decided to convey something else.

Baptismo de Léia

We came back on Wednesday, and when we sat down she said "I made a decision! I'm going to be baptized!" She had reserved the whole day to meditate about the subject, and she received another response from God that she should be baptized! That was a super faith builder for me. Want to know something interesting? The first response she received about the validity of the Church was from the Book of Mormon, but the second about the baptism was from the Bible! I still need to ask her how exactly she got the response. I want to know if she read something that could potentially help touch other people who have the same hesitation. But anyway, she and Diógenes are both super happy and seeing a lot of blessings come in their lives.

I got to thinking a lot about them. They were both really prepared. I think if any pair of missionaries were here in my place, they would still be baptized. I don't think it had anything, or very little, to do with my or Elder Alencar's ability. I just feel so blessed that God let me be here and be a part of their lives. It's a true tender mercy that God gave me.

So, this week is area transfers (this last transfer and the next are only 5 weeks long). Elder Alencar was transferred and will be a trainer already! Makes me think that I should have tried harder to teach him some techniques, but he's already a good missionary. He was freaking out a little yesterday when they announced the transfers. As for me, I will also train a greenie [a newbie to the mission]! Yaaaay! I've been imagining about this for quite some time. I'm excited! And also pretty nervous! A good part of this new missionary's success will depend on me. I'm hoping he'll be an American, but seeing as there are 3 americanos and about 12 brasileiros, I don't think that will happen. But we'll see. Whatever happens will have a reason. I'm going to give an extra effort to keep the rules and be a good example to him. Man I'm excited! Please pray for me that I can know what to do to help my little filhinho.

Obrigado por tudo!!! Continue orando por mim! Eu amo todos vocês! [Thanks for everything!! Keep praying for me! I love you all!]
Elder Bradford

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Missionaries serving in the Itatiba zone!