Storms of Brazil

 

This week we had some crazy stuff happen. We had the craziest storm I've ever seen, had a bunch of stomach problems, and stuff with our house go off. But it was still a good week, and we had a great time, my companion Elder Andrus has 3 weeks in the field and already has some of the craziest stories. 

 STORM

So, this storm we had was absolutely crazy, the day started off with super sunny and hot I got a good burn. But in that same day it started to rain, and we love Rain, so we were hoping for more and we definitely got it, it started hailing then had super strong winds and tons of lightning super close. We had to run home in the middle of the worse part, we got to our area and all the roads were flooded and we had water up to our calf. It was so fun though we were living our best lives. 

 SICK 

So, we got a pretty bad stomach bug and we're out of commission for a day or 2 then just had a little bit of suffering but we got some really good food given to us to help and also some açaí that always helps. We also made some homemade doughnuts. Having the power and water go out made it a little worse when trying to get better. 

 I can't really remember anything else but there's a lot going on that I'll fill you guys in better next week.

-Elder Amata

 PHOTOS

So, we've been doing a lot more videos that don't load so I'll make a Google photos for everyone. 

Forgot to Send This Last Week

 Ok so first this email didn't send because last week we were having lost of trouble with the Internet I did not miss it. 

 This week I've had a lot more to do. With training my companion, he is already talking really well but he doesn't understand everything so it's been a lot more dependent on what I can understand. It's been a little more challenging, but it's been a great growing opportunity my Portuguese is sky rocketing. 

  PUTTING IN THE WORK

So, this week we've been absolutely working our butts off. We have been having to go around and confirm all the addresses of the people we have on our map because everyone was wrong, so we were running around doing that. Then we also found a lot of new people too that are really cool. Unfortunately, none of them could make it to church but they said they wanted to so that's good, we'll find out next week. 

 TRAINING UPDATE

So Elder Andrus has been picking up Portuguese really well and can almost do a contact with people alone now. It's been a little difficult to know what to teach him, but we've been getting it done. I've had to talk a lot and really make sure I focus to not miss anything, so it's been super helpful for me too. 

 Honestly, that's pretty much it not a whole lot to update on just been getting up and getting out to everywhere. Had a cool meeting with the leaders of the church here and told them our plans and what we need help with it went well.

 PHOTOS

Training an American

 This week was crazy we had a lot happen we had transfers so went spent have the week saying goodbyes and the other half meeting new people. I'm trying Elder Andrus from Lehi, Utah and we moved to a new area. 

 NEW AREA, LAGO AZUL 

This new area has a lot of people, and the area is giant. We came into it having no one to teach and are going to have to basically start new. There is lots of hills and we have people in the north then 2 hours down we have people in the south, so we are already walking a lot I hope I don't kill my newbie. I think the weirdest part is that in English it translates to blue lake but there are no lakes here. 

 TRAINING

So, my companion finished the missionary training center Friday, and we started working on Saturday. His Portuguese is pretty good speaking wise but it's hard for him to understand what the people are saying and sometimes he asks me, and I don't even know so these next few weeks will be fun. If any of you have tips or tricks send them my way. 

 HELPING WITH TEMPLE ORDANCES 

On Wednesday we were walking around the temple, and we decided to talk to a lady that was walking around. It turned out to be the temple president’s wife and she said they need people to help with some of the ordinances that happen in the temple, so we were able to help her. The ordinances that happen are to help people who have passed away receive an opportunity to make covenants with God because we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to learn about God and receive his glory and promises. This is one thing I thought about a lot when I was inside and we need to be doing more on both sides, we need to start giving people the opportunity to learn about God right now, but also people who are able to and have the ability to do temple work need to be helping. We have people who have died and are waiting to receive these ordinances. (If this doesn't make since reach out to me or the missionaries and we can explain more about what we believe) 

 That's pretty much it a lot happen but we're running out of time, so I'll see you guys next. 

 -Elder Amata 

A Week of Special Experiences

 

So much happened this week I don't even know what to write. We had a lot of special experiences, and we had some crazy things happen. General conference happened this week and it was really good. Long story's but I think it's worth a read. :)

 

CRAZYNESS

So, this week we had a lot of crazy things happened. We were teaching a lesson and the guy we were teaching started to have a seizure, so we were able to catch him before he fell and give him a blessing, and he turned out OK. It was really cool experience and we’re going back tomorrow to check on him.

Also, we were sitting down waiting because all of our lessons fell through and no one was home, so we said a prayer asking that we would be able to find someone and out of nowhere who we hear a voice, and it was a lady that we did a contact with but couldn’t find her house so we didn't return. She asked if we were waiting for her, and we were like yes absolutely and she invited us to her house to teach a lesson. But I kid you not we said amen and she was like oiii meninos and I swear she came out of nowhere. 

 

BEING ABLE TO HELP

I'm not sure if this will make sense but it's hard to explain because it happened in Portuguese so good luck. And I know it's long my bad. 

This week I was able to help a lot more with one of the people we are teaching, and it means a lot to me because I can’t always understand or help people as well as others. She has read the book of Mormon and has a strong testimony, but she really likes the church she's going to. Her mom and her sister are both members. And she really likes the church, but she didn't know what to do. In between sessions of general conference, we went to visit her to invite her to watch. She ended up coming with us and watching the night session on Saturday. After she said she had a question for one of the other missionaries and she wanted him to be sincere but would ask him the next day. So, the next day in between the afternoon and evening session, we went back to answer her question. We were at her house talking to her and her mom. trying to answer this question for about an hour. Her question was why we kept coming, why we kept teaching and weren't giving up. After one of the missionaries responded the best, he could he told me to tell her what I thought. The first thing I did was, I asked her why she had this question in her head. She said that she felt a spirit, a good feeling about us visiting her and about the church and the things we're teaching so I told her that she already had her response it's because of this feeling, the spirit. She has a lot of questions and doubts and wanted a response right away, so I told her that sometimes we don't always receive responses right away. But with the prophet and the apostles speaking to everyone it might be a way for her to receive an answer. I reminded her that we loved her, and the savior loves her more and we are here to demonstrate the savior's love for others. And this is the work that we need to do as missionaries and as members of the church, we need to be able to demonstrate this savior's love for others because sometimes people have a hard time feeling the savior's love. I know for a fact that the holy ghost helped me to say these things because I know Portuguese, but she understood everything I was saying exactly. Before we entered, we didn't know what the question was, what we would say, or what we would do, but we were able to respond the best we could and she is still having a hard time she's really confused and I know with time she will figure these things out and she will find happiness. Sometimes we need to just do everything that we can, and the Lord will take care of the rest, but until we give it our all we cannot stop. She came to the night session for about 20 minutes and after she had to leave because she had other things to do but she came over and told me thank you for inviting me I don't know what I feel but your heart can be calm I will continue to look for responses. This was very special to me, and I wanted to share it because we cannot give up on people even if we can't help them anymore, just showing love for them is the least we can do. 

 

PHOTOS

We ate jackfruit. 

Got pizza after conference. 

It's Hot Here

 

This week went by so fast we did so much this week. Had some cool experiences and worked our butts off. Forgot to take more pictures but I got a few. 

 SERVICE PROJECT 

This Thursday we had a service project and it turned out to be way more than we were told, and I got fried, I looked like a lobster after. But it was good because she gave me a tie that's pretty cool and did a BBQ for us, so it was sweet. 

 

WORKING IN THE HEAT 

It's been in the high 90s this week and it's been killing us. But also, we've been going a lot further in our area and working more so it's kind of our fault. But with going further in us we found some really cool people. One Lady said she had a Dream or received revolution that 2 men in white would visit her and then the next day there we were. So good stuff in hot works. 

 

EXPLORING 

We found a lot of cool places this week. We went to a mini waterfall, found a cool mural with fish and stuff, and we explored a route where it's dirt roads and pretty much abandoned we've been 3 times and seen 1 person so it's relaxing. 

Loving Others Regardless of the Situation

 

This week was good, it went by super-fast, and I was able to learn a lot. We also had interviews with our mission president and were the last ones, so we didn't even have the interview until 11:45pm 

 Zone Conference

Zone conference this week was great. All the missionaries got together, and we learned a lot about what our mission president wants us to do and change. He wants a lot to change about the mission but all good things he is a really good president and has some really good ideas. One of my favorite parts of the zone conference is talking to all the missionaries to see the experiences and what they have been succeeding with and what difficulties they have been having to try and learn what I might be able to do better. Also just hearing some of the crazy stories too. 

 

Temple dedication 

The Brasilia Brazil temple was dedicated this week so this Sunday we had an opportunity to watch the dedication and hear words of opposites and why temples are so important for us today. We all got cool little white handkerchiefs too.

 

Loving others 

This week we had a lot of contention in our work, the families were teaching and some conflicts between missionaries in our zone (my companion is a zone leader and I've been trying to help him resolve some of these conflicts). The biggest problem I've noticed in all of the arguments, anger, and contention is that people just aren't having love or joy, so that's what I have been studying this week. With my studies I have found lots but the main things that popped out to me are, "It is not always easy to love people for what they are." -Ulisses Soares. This reminded me that no one ever said loving people will be easy but that doesn't change the fact that we need to love others. Elder Neil L. Andersen once said, "We genuinely love and care for all our neighbors, whether or not they believe as we do." From this I related it to what Ulisses Soares said and realized that even if it's hard and even if people won't always think we love them it is much more important that we try to love everyone and demonstrate this love for them, even if it is not accepted. 

 

Didn't have a lot of time this week but hope everyone has a fantastic week. 

 

-Elder Amata