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

Modern Day Prophets

 

This week was great we've had a lot of progress with the people we are teaching, we had a baptism, and my studies have been getting a lot better. We also had divisions and I trained a new missionary for a day it was pretty cool. 

 

MODERN DAY PROPHETS 

This week I have been focusing on reading 1 discourse every day from general conference sessions (where the prophet, apostles, and church leaders preach about topics the feel necessary by the receiving of revelation). Reading and taking notes has helped me significantly because you can find knowledge about almost any topic you could think of. Then I have been able to apply the principles I learn into my work, helping others, and in daily life just in general. 

 

JOY AND SPIRITUAL SURVIVAL- Russell M. Nelson 

This is one of the discourses I studied this week, and it focuses what we can do to feel joy in every situation, good or bad. One of the most important things I learned/remembered from reading this is that all trials will pass and when we focus on having joy it makes trials and difficulties much easier. Presidente Nelson said, " His joy is constant, assuring us that our 'afflictions shall be but a small moment'(Doctrine and Covenants 121:7) and be consecrated to our gain.". From this I remembered that trials are temporary and are here so that we can learn. When we can have joy in these trials, they will pass by a lot faster. 

 

 

STORY AND BAPTISM OF CARMELITA 

Carmelita is amazing and was just waiting for us to find her. The story of Carmelita is amazing, me and my companion were out on the rode teaching people, and we went to a house and started knocking on the door. We were there for a minute or so and we were just about to leave but then the garage started to open, and a car pulled up. That's when we met Carmelita, she had 1 experience with the missionaries in the past but hadn't received and lessons and only visit the church from the outside. We started to teach her and after a few visits and lessons we were teaching here, and she told us that the day we showed up at her door she was amazed because earlier that day she had been praying to know what church she should go to. This was a huge answer to her pray and from there on everything was golden. On Saturday we had the baptism and Sunday the confirmation and she has been loving church and the member. Very grateful for this experience. 

                                        

Just a Normal Week

 

We are starting to enter into the rainy season in Brazil and it is crazy. The thunderstorm is way stronger then in California. It's crazy to think how powerful thunder and lightning are. 

 Normal week 

Not a lot happened this week we had some good lessons and are teaching and finding a lot. We did more visits on the outskirts of our area and there is a lot of nothing in these areas, but we did find some cool people. Lots of rain and thunder we are very grateful for uber. 

 BOOKS ABOUT FOOD

We were out visiting people and we found a lady who is a member but hadn't been to church in years. When we were talking to her, we found books about medicine and cooking and I started to read a little and told her that I like cooking and the books were very interesting, then she said I could use them so now I have 2 books. They are very interesting and one of them has a lot of information about how we can be healthier it is very cool. 

 

That's pretty much it for this week hopefully everyone is doing good. I'll try and do something crazy and put it in next week’s email.

 

PHOTOS

Someone shaved their husky it was so sad. 

                                                 

The Importance of Small and Simple Things

 

This week was good we had transfers and I'm staying in the same area for the next 6 weeks. We had lots of lessons and have a lot of people were teaching right now. Not any major updates this week. 

 

TEACHINGS

Right now, we have people we're teaching who are progressing very well. The lessons we've been teaching have been getting a lot better because my Portuguese is a lot better so people can understand what I'm saying and don't have to ask my companion to translate (even though I'm speaking Portuguese in the moment). But him not having to repeat things has made it easier for us to teach well and people can feel the spirit stronger (I think).

 

SMALL AND SIMPLE THINGS

This week I was reading the Book of Mormon and came to a realization that a lot of times when we can focus on prioritizing the "small and simple" things in our life great things will happen. I read Alma 37:6 and it says,

 

 "6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."

 

This helped me because I feel like the small and simple things can be the easiest things to forget, but if we can make a foundation with these small and simple things, we can do great things so much easier. 

Then there is that part that says, " by small means in many instances doth confound the wise". At times even the wisest of people can't understand how great things happen by small means. And honestly sometimes we don't need to understand we can just be grateful and continue doing the small things even if sometimes they seem useless or annoying.