Friday, March 23, 2012

Two week update....

March 12th:

Hey hey hey!!!

So the big news about transfers this week is........... I am staying in my first area Sitio Sao Joao, but My new Companion is....................ELDER BATISTA!!!!!!!!!!! And let me just start by saying we had a pretty interesting day at transfers today. So I made plans for a member to pick us up so we didn't have to take the bus with all of Elder Batistas bags. So we get there and we are talking, we decide it is time to go. So we go to get My comps luggage and they were not where he left his luggage. I thought it was a pretty big deal and so we went searching until we found out that someone that is leaving for their house took his bags. So some Elders at the airport found his bags, and we waited for them to bring his bags back. Until they were not the right bags! ha So Elder Batista has with him a guitar, scriptures, and what is on his back. And somewhere in Ceara his bags are lost..... Pretty exciting first day. I am beat from running all around. But he is pretty relaxed about the whole situation so we are just waiting for someone to recognize that they grabbed the wrong bag.

But I am super excited to work with him. I get to guide our area here and I'm loving that responsibility. But a little about Elder Batista is he has one year and nine months on his mission and so he is packing up his bags to go home....oh wait... he doesn't have them... :) and he is big into Japanese anime, and playing this card game magic. We grabbed a bite to eat la at burger king in downtown, and Elder Batista sat down and this other elder came to our table and they both whipped out their card decks and started playing.... It was pretty interesting :)

I'm getting to know the people here is SSJ really well and it is going to be really hard to leave this area. Everyone here is just like family and everyone loves telling stories of my first weeks here and how I tried to talk to people, but no one understood what I was saying ha

Yes I got both e mails last week. Sorry I'm horrible about writing back. I kinda just sit down and start typing. I don't know if you guys want stories, responses, what I'm thinking... but If there is something in particular let me know :) And hopefully the letters that we went will be arriving soon this week, because I have not missed one week this month sending letters. Did you move houses? ha

The weather here has been changing, ad it rains every night and every morning. I like it a lot, I think hearing the rain at night is really relaxing and I sleep a lot better. And during the day it sprinkles but doesn't really rain. But the HUMIDITY KILLS ME!!!!!!!!!!!! It is crazy hot! Dad you are exactly right, I shower here, dry off, put on new garments and I'm sweating still! I am pretty costumed with the weather but I still sweat like crazy! I think I always will.

Thanks for the sports update, I love hearing about something other than soccer haha The sports part of my life is striving on you dad! Thanks a ton for keeping me alive!

This last week we went in a Jungle part of our area which was pretty crazy. Elder Matos and I were doing a little exploring and we found some pretty crazy things. There was a sofa in the middle of all these bushes, and we found some really cool looking butterflies that were bigger than my hand! And we also saw some crazy Brazilian bugs that I was pretty sure were going to kill us. So we got out of there pretty quick ha

This last p day Elder Matos and I decided to do something new.... so we found this investigator that has a studio to record music. And we went there and professionally recorded some music. We did three songs and I played guitar, Matos on the drums and we both sang. It was super awesome and it was really nice to play guitar again too! We were a little out of practice and so it wasn't the best but we had a blast! I will try to send some pictures next week on what happened and how nice this studio is! When we opened the door it was like walking into America! Air conditioned room, with dry wall, wood floors, and state of the art equipment. It was pretty awesome! We are waiting to hear what we did for about a week. :) Elder Matos rocks the drums!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But everything is great here and we will see how week one goes with Elder Batista!!!!

I love you all and wish you all the best!

Elder Heath

March 19th:

Hola minha familia otima!

That is awesome that the letters finally arrived! I was getting a little worried that they would never show! But the mail system just is a little different, and we are pretty far away from each other. Sounds like we have a family of bakers at home! Pretty soon mom you wont need to bake anymore, if Danielle and Trev keep up the baking! It also sounds like you have lots of goodies around the house from the baking too, I bet dad is loving that :)

Mom you were exactly right! I am the junior guide here in Sitio Sao Joao! Ha Elder Batista is a really awesome teacher and he has lots of energy while we are in our appointments which is really cool! We are planning to have a talent show here in 3 weeks to get more people excited with church activities. And I am thinking about doing what mom did with Sister Stapleton and some other women with the swim diving to Adrea Bocelli ha We will see. But Elder Batista is a good guy, he is a little burnt out and so that is keeping me on my toes keeping track of time and where we are going. The first couple days we were marking appointments and he wasn't writing anything down so I asked him what was up. He said that he didn't need to because I was writing them down.... But when we are in the lessons he has a lot of good things to say which is awesome!

So you want to hear some mission experiences do ya? I have a great one for you! So 2 weeks ago this woman (23 years of age) came and visited church with her friend. So we started talking to her and we marked a date to go over to her house and leave a message with her. So we got there and she has a little 2 year old baby and her friend was there with her 3 year old and lets just say it was not the quietest lesson we have every had. The kids were running, crying, wearing our bags, wanting to read scriptures, and all the above. It was really difficult to keep the spirit there with us. But we taught the first lesson about the restoration through Joseph smith, and how we have the Church of Jesus Christ today. We were wrapping up and we invited her to visit church again this week and she said no...... I thought to myself really? (because she loved church last week) Then we asked why, and she said she didn't like the message we left with her and that she didn't want us to come back............. In my mind I was just like what! Serious? Am I getting punked? SO after we talked to her and we asked if we could just come back tomorrow to talk really fast about what she read and how she felt after she prayed. She said ok not really wanting us to come back. So we finished that day and we decided e needed to say a prayer to help her. SO together Elder Batista and I said a prayer and then after I prayed fervently for her, and I was pretty confused what happened, so I prayed for help. We returned the very next day and She opened the door with her baby, and we could tell she was stressed about something. So I was thinking oh boy.... this is going to be fun.... So we sat down and said a prayer and we started talking to Her. When we asked about if she prayed she said ya. And then she said she felt something different when she prayed. And EVERYTHING CHANGED!!!!!!!!!! She started smiling and she expressed that she felt peace and comfort when she prayed. And without asking anything she said that she wanted to visit church this week and that she wants to continue with the lessons and she asked for us to return the next day to talk with her! And again In my mind I was thinking, WHAT? SERIOUS!!? ha so she is coming to church this next week and she will be baptised this next week. But that is just proof of the power of prayer. She said one prayer and through this prayer Our Heavenly Father spoke to her and completely changed her mind on everything. The power in prayer is very strong, and will always help us in our lives. I am also reading in Alma 18 (i think) about Amon and how the heart of king Lamoni was completely changed when he said a prayer as well. It was a cool coincidence that I was reading that same chapter when It was happening in real life!

But I know that Our heavenly Father is always helping us in our lives and when we decide to ask him, that is when we will find the truth. We just need to act. :)

I love you all and I love being a missionary!

Elder HEATH

fotos
1 Elder BATISTA
2 crazy house in Brazil, the put the heads on the wall so noone would enter!
3 studio
4 studio
5 burning my 6 month tie!!!!!!!!!!!!

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