Week 61: Baptism from heaven!!

Hey everybody!!

So, its been quite a swell week here in Jaraguá with Elder Marciano. Weve had good stories, good experiences, and above all, a baptism this week! Heres the story, along with other things:

Antônia (baptism!)- This is Patrick's mom. For those of you that I didnt tell, Patrick is a convert of 4 years in the church. Hes incredibly active, and hes actually leaving to go on a mission in Recife this Wednesday. In the past 4 years, Patrick managed to baptise his brother Shaggy, but his parents, not being legally married, couldnt be baptized, seeing as they were breaking the Law of Chastity. I cannot express how many teaching records I have found for Patrick's parents. Dozens and dozens of missionaries have tried to get them married, only to arrive in vain. But, a miracle happened this week. We heard through the grapevine that Patricks parents were separating, although we didnt know why. But, when we heard it, we didnt waste a single moment. We went to their house on Thursday, and asked her what the situation was. Antônia was very calm and said, "Eh, it wasnt even a fight of a separation. We just decided that it wasnt right for us, and there was a wrong feeling about it." We brought the convo to baptism and asked, "So what is preventing you from being baptized?" "Now? Absolutely nothing." "Do you want Patrick to baptize you before he leaves for his mission?" "Yes. Patricks going away party is this Saturday. Lets do the baptism right afterwards." So, thats what we did. It was a beautiful and very emotional service for all of us. Looking back, we recognize that God wasnt necessarily focusing his blessings on us (although this was a giant blessing in my life,) but also on Patrick, who has practically given up the last 4 months of his life to help us missionaries 3 or 4 days a week, and basically the past 4 years to help this work go forward. It truly was a blessing to see Patrick baptize his own mom, 4 days before he leaves for 2 years.

Ronni- We had plans to baptize Ronni this week, but they were in vain. Until Wednesday, Ronni was good and comfortable, but from Thursday to now, hes been avoiding us. But, were gonna try to talk to him on Tuesday, see what happens.

Denise (new!)- I actually dont know her, but I helped find her. Between the conference sessions, I did a division with another American Elder that was listening to conference with me in English (Elder Jacobs), and we found a group of kids playing. Trying to do quick contacts, we invited the group of boys to visit the church. The next week, while I was on a division with another area, the mother of 2 of these boys came into the church while Elder Marciano was there, saying that the boys told her about the church, and she just wanted to know what time the services were. So, he gave her a tour of the church, which she was hesitant to accept at first, but then she accepted. And Elder Marciano said that she loved it, adn became emotional, particularly when she saw the baptismal font. She said that she believes that this is the right church for her and her family, so were gonna teach her, her 4 kids, and her mom tonight (shes recently divorced.) So pray for these people!!!

Other notes:

Im finally at a LAN House where I can send photos, so Im gonna try and send a few. If it works, Ill try to send more next week. But todays just a test, dont hold me to it.

To make my mom feel better, Im getting a bit fatter!! After being in this area for enough time (where EVERYBODY feeds you), Ive managed to gain 3 kilos (6-7 pounds). So well see what happens! My goal is to get strong and beautiful by the time I get home. Itll happen. Im already beautiful, so I just need to get strong.

Alright, thats it for me! Have a great week! Love you!

Elder Youd

Week 60: Here we go again! 6 more months of spiritual invigoration!

Hey everybody!!

So, as my last email to you all stated, I am still here in Jaraguá. We got the transfer call, and Elder Berrios went to Itú, which is pretty far away in the country. I am now here with Elder Marciano, from Rio de Janeiro. He was actually the Elder that trained Elder Ashford, my MTC companion. So, weve been working pretty well together, and we have a ton of prospects for the future! Here we go:

Luan: Weve set a new goal for Luan. Actually, he set it for himself. Luan recently fell back on his old habit of smoking, so weve set a goal for him to stop smoking for 15 days. When he is able to do it, he will recognize that its time to be baptized. So, so far, were 4 days in or so. Our goal is for the 18th.

Ronni- Ronni tried to be kinda nasty with us this week and tell us that were just taking advantage of him and trying to baptize him to get more people into the church, and that hes an adult and should be able to decide for himself what he wants. We agreed wholeheartedly that this is his decision, but then we told him that its his decision that will decide his salvation. Our salvation doesnt depend on his, but we are simply helping him because we want to help people. We then told him that, by giving up 9 days before his baptismal date, that he is telling God that God shouldnt help him, that he doesnt want Gods help. We then told him that Jesus Christ will never give up on him, but that he needed to do his part. But, we have Ronni back! Hes still going strong to be baptized, hopefully this weekend!!

Veronica- Doing super good. Still not married, but we marked to help her be baptized in a long time, November 29. Perhaps I wont even be here for that, but its alright.

Patrick's mom (new!)- Patrick is a kid who has been working a ton with us. Hes a recent convert of 3 years or so, and hes actually leaving in two weeks to serve a mission in Recife, Brazil. His mom, although she goes to church every week, is not baptized because shes not married. Missionaries have been trying to help her for years, with no success. But, we just learned yesterday that she is separating from her husband, but she is staying here. So, theres a chance that we could have a miracle baptism happen before Patrick leaves for his mission!! Please pray for my investigators!!

Other notes:

Today, before coming here, I went to a place called the Pico de Jaraguá (Jaraguá's Peak). Its the highest point in São Paulo, and it has a beautiful (albeit polluted) view of the city. It was a pretty long hike, but we made it there! Ill send pics when I can!!

We also got to watch General Conference this weekend (thus the subject of this email). It was absolutely lovely to hear the words of a living prophet and apostles of the Lord!! If any of you wish to hear what prophets and apostles have to say to us (hint: you want to), go to lds.org and watch it.

Alright, everybody have a great week! Love you!!

Week 59: Its that time of every 6 weeks again!

Hey everybody!

So, as I write this, we are again waiting for our transfer calls. It seems (to me) that every transfer passes by faster and faster. So, as per usual, we await the call from the Assistants to tell us who is going, who is staying, and who is coming. So, there really isnt a whole lot to say this week. Weve basically been prepping the area for the next transfer, depending on who stays, who goes, etc. Our idea is likely that Elder Berrios will go (hes been here 6 months), Ill probably stay (Ive only been here a bit more than a month), and aside from that, we have no idea. But, here are our top investigators:

Ronni (new!): Hes an ex investigator who is back in the picture. A long time ago, he was almost baptized, but then decided at the last minute that he didnt want to. However, he always is at the church hanging out with his friends (hes 25ish), and we finally decided to talk to him again. With the help of a member of our Bishopric, Ronni accepted to be baptized on the11th of October!! WEve just gotta help him feel more ready for baptism this time, but I think itll all go well.

Luan: Well, we tried to warn him against breaking the Law of Chastity, but he didnt want to listen. And, it seems like he is now realizing that he should have listened sooner, seeing as now hes going to be a daddy! Hes actually been a lot more receptive ever since he realized that his girlfriend was pregnant, and were just trying to help him make the right choices, because hes wanting to have dumb reactions. For example, he finally decided to get his first tattoo that day. On his neck. And the worst part is, it has a spelling error. He wanted to say "Tudo muda", which means "everything changes", but it ended up reading "Tudo mudar", which means "everything to change" or "everything change". So, were helping him out.

Other notes:

Divina and Tainá are doing great. Tainá went to the temple for the first time this weekend, which is awesome, and Divina not only went to church again this week, but she was at the church with other people during the week! Its awesome to see how everything good is happening in that family.

Also, our mission has been having a competition (per zone) to see who could get the highest number of a few types of things (People with baptismal dates at church, people that visited church, and lessons that we teach with a member of the church present.) Weve been competing all month, and somehow, our zone won! So, while the details arent that important, what is important is that we are all gonna be going to President Farnes' house tonight to eat pizza with him and his family.

Well, if Im still on when I learn about transfers, Ill write a second email. If not, youll know next week! Tchau!!

With love,
Elder Youd

Week 58: The most emotionally exhausting and satisfying weekend of my mission.

Hey guys!!

So, as the subject reads, its been a CRAZY week, especially this weekend. I know that I normally have the same format for my emails (how my investigators are doing, other notes, etc.), but this week, Id like to do something a bit different, which is basically just to explain this ridiculous weekend. Just know that, aside from this, there wasnt a whole lot of progress with my investigators. But here we go.

So, the whole week was planned around getting Debora and Leandro married, and subsequently baptized. We were visiting them almost every day, and things were going incredibly smoothly. We just lost a bit of progress on the way. While we tried to visit our other top investigators at the same time (Luan, Tainá, Matteus), we werent able to get ahold of them during our very short time working close to them. But, on Thursday night, Debora and Leandro were interviewed, passed, and they told us that they were ready for baptism. We had to continue getting everything together, including getting some members at the church to watch the wedding (a lot of people in the ward, not realizing that they had been going to church for 3 months straight and just missed 2 Sundays recently, said, "Well, how can we support people that we dont know?") But, by the end of Friday night, everything was going well. We had members helping us, and it was all good. Leandros family was coming to the wedding, but Deboras family wasnt able to make it.

Then Saturday morning comes. Our lunch was with a woman, Maria Rosa, who, with a heart of gold, loves to talk. A lot. Shes been coming back to church recently, and she loves the missionaries gets angry when we go there and dont spend a lot of time there, so we went to her house on Wednesday night to explain that we would be eating quickly on Saturday, but giving her some of our time on Wednesday to make up for it. But on Saturday, she seemed to forget that we had a wedding at 2:00. So she talked. Until 1:30. We ended up having to RUN to get to the wedding in time, and although we showed up late, when we got there, Leandro was talking to the Bishop and Debora was still getting ready. Leandro came out and talked to us, saying that he didnt want to get baptized today. We asked him why, and he gave the excuse that he simply wasnt feeling like he wanted to that day. Hed still get married, but he wouldnt get baptized, but perhaps Debora still wanted to get baptized. But, we werent able to talk to Debora before the wedding started, so we watched the whole wedding, incredibly nervous. The wedding was simple but nice, and the happy couple seemed to like it. There was cake, coke, and salty snacks, so we were all pretty happy. But, Elder Berrios and I found the right time when people stopped congratulating the bride, to ask her if she was ready to switch into baptismal clothes. Incredibly casually, Debora told us, "No. Me and Leandro are moving today to a different town. We dont have time to get baptized." This was a giant surprise, since they had told us that they werent moving until the end of the month. "Well, the baptism is just 20 minutes, it wont take too much time." "No, I dont want to get baptized today." She then stopped talking to us. She honestly wouldnt have told us this if we hadnt have asked Honestly being a bit enraged, we both left the room and went to cool off. It was one of the lowest and worst feelings that Ive had on my mission. Speechless, we watched as Debora and Leandro, 2 people that Ive been working with for over a month and the missionaries have been working with for 3 months, left the chapel, with a free wedding, not even making eye contact with us as they left. Luckily, we got their new address, so well send the missionaries over there, but it was honestly a horrible feeling, almost as though we were taken advantage of and abandoned.

Me and Elder Berrios stayed at the chapel for a bit, as he had to play piano for a baptism of a child in the ward. While we were waiting, I did a prayer and simply recognized that this isnt my work, but the Lords, and the idea came to my head that this weekend wasnt over yet, but I didnt know how. Then we talked to the Bishop as the ward was preparing for a ward dance. Somehow, the subject came to how we were feeling. The Bishop then said, "So how are the other investigators? Hows Tainá?" We told him about how she wanted to go to the temple on the 27th, but that her Dad still hasnt let her be baptized (as he hasnt let her do for 3 years.) The Bishop then said, "You know, Tainá is here right now helping prepare for the dance. Why dont you guys go talk to her? Just give it a try, you never know what will happen." We went and talked to Tainá, and asked her if she had talked to her dad recently. She said that she asked him recently, and that he had started to seriously consider it. At that moment, Elder Berrios and I didnt waste any time, seeing a last opportunity. We called an Elder to come and do an interview for her at the church, which he did and she passed. We gave her the baptismal form and said, "You are going to call your Dad TODAY, and tell him that you want to be baptized tomorrow. Its going to happen." But, we went home, and prayed incredibly hard that we could see this miracle happen.

The next day, we went to church, and incredibly nervous, we called Tainá to see what happened. And...her dad finally approved. After 3 years of hard work, her dad finally let her be baptized!! We got incredibly excited. The Bishop, who has been pushing for this for a long time, decided that he wanted her to get confirmed during that sacrament meeting, so we ended up doing the baptism during the Sunday School class before sacrament meeting (the Bishop ordered it, so we followed.) It was such an incredibly rewarding experience. And, to top it all off, Divina, her grandmother who weve been trying to get back to church, finally came in for the first time in a long time to see the service!! Tainá was baptized, confirmed, and shes going to enter the temple this weekend. Without a doubt, I was able to see the glorious hand of God in our lives this week as we came to understand that, through simple things (faith, obedience and diligence) that we were able to see a giant miracle happen. It was phenomenal. God is good.

So yeah, with that, while it was an incredibly rewarding weekend, it was also emotionally exhausting. It was like being on one of those roller coasters that you only go on because the line is short, and then you see that its short because, while fun, it also whips you around a lot and you feel exhausted afterwards. So Im going to have a very relaxing P-Day.

Alright, thanks all for your support! On to individual emails! Love you!!

Elder Youd

Week 57: One of these days, we'll have a week where everything goes right!

Hey guys!

So its been a pretty good week for us here in Jaraguá. We unfortunately didnt have any baptisms (more on that later) but weve got some good things going for us, and I continue with the hope that were gonna have success super soon! Here is some of the information of our area:

Matteus: So, he wasnt baptized this week. We visited him on Monday, and he was acting super different and said that hes not ready to be baptized. We tried everything, but he wouldnt budge on the fact that he didnt want to this week. We ended up talking to his adoptive dad, and it seems like theyve been fighting about stuff recently. We gave them some space this week, and were gonna try to visit him this week.

Tainá: Basically shes ready to be baptized in whatever moment. The last thing that we need to get is her dads signature. Her grandma, Divina (who is the funniest old lady in the world, and yes Mom, she takes super duper good care of us missionaries) told us that shed "put a hit in his face and get the signature" or that she wouldnt let him back in the hosue. So well see what happens.

Luan: Still the same. Were still working with him :P

Debora, Leandro: Our bright spot for the week. Weve been helping them get ready for their marriage (this Saturday!) but theyve been skipping church the past few weeks. We called them on Sunday morning to confirm that they were coming, and Leandro said that Debora had a fight with her family about the marriage, and she didnt feel like going to church today. After this rough week that we had been having, we went over to their house to talk to them. We talked a lot about how, even if her parents arent happy with her decision to follow God and get married, that God is incredibly happy with her, and that she doesnt have to feel alone in this, that there are a ton of people ready to comfort her at church. They still said that they wouldnt go to church on Sunday, but we told them that, if they felt like they really wanted help, that church was until noon. We got back, super upset that they didnt come with us to church...when 20 minutes later, they show up!! Its an uphill fight to get these two married and baptized, but we know that its possible! Please pray for my investigators!!!

Other notes:

The zoo was freaking awesome last week. I took a ton of pics (sorry, these computers are sketch so Im afraid to put my pictures into here), but it was a super nice day. Today, were going to a place called 25 de Março, basically a street where they sell a bunch of super duper cheap stuff. So its gonna be a fun P-Day!!

Sorry that this letter is a bit short, but were a bit short on time. We had a service project today that we were promised would be 5 minutes of our P-Day, but we all know how service projects go. But, its all okay! Im happy! Have a great week everybody! Love you all!!!!!

Week 56: Every day a different place to be

Hey everybody!!

So, as the title suggests, this week has been ridiculously busy for us. Weve basically been to the opposite sides of our mission, having some sort of situation every day. Ill explain this weeks adventures, then our investigators, then other things:

Monday- Normal work day, but we were exhausted because we didnt have our normal P-Day.

Tuesday-We went to the temple, which isnt even in our mission.

Wednesday-It would have been a normal work day, but Elder Berrios got super sick. Basically, he has this thing where he cant eat fast, but that day, he forgot about it and started eating fast. And then 1 hour later, he was in our bathroom, letting everything out. I wont give you any more details, but we stayed home that day.

Thursday-We had a meeting with mission leadership in Sorocaba, the city where I was for 6 months (Júlio de Mesquita).

Friday-We went to a different area/city right outside of São Paulo (called Franco da Rocha) to do a baptismal interview.

Saturday-We returned to Franco da Rocha to do yet another baptismal interview.

Sunday-We went to a different area (called Perus) by request of the Stake President, to talk to less actives in preparation for their ward conference.

So its been nuts. Due to this extreme lack of time to work, we unfortunately werent able to get anyone baptized. But, we still have people that are ALMOST ready. Here they are:

Matteus: Hes completely ready to be baptized. He knows the stuff, he believes, and he wants to be baptized. We just have to help the parents out. His father doesnt want him to be baptized until November (for his birthday, but a LOT of things can happen in 2 months) and his mom is an incredibly busy woman, so weve gotta work around her schedule. I miss the days when I focused on the spiritual preparation of people. But we have his date marked for this Friday, if everything goes right.

Luan: He was supposed to be baptized this Sunday, but he has been panicking, in particular about the Law of Chastity. In his (very, very blunt words): "Look, I have a strong desire to be baptized. I really, really want to be baptized. But I also really, really want to have sex. I feel bad, but I dont feel repentant!" "So why dont you marry the girl?" "I dont want to marry her! I dont love her!" So weve gotta help him.

Nicolas: He was all ready to be baptized this Sunday with his friend Jaqueline (who would be part of another ward) but Jaqueline freaked out at the last minute and didnt want anything, and Nicolas has been in hiding since then. Well see what happens.

Debora, Leandro: Leandro finally openly said that he wants to be baptized with his wife. Theyre happy, and excited for the wedding on the 20th. I am also excited for them.

We have some other investigators, but those are the most important in this very short week. Other notes:

-Im going to the zoo today! Actually, after we write these emails, were gonna head over and do whats called a Safari at the São Paulo Zoo. Ill send photos when Im at a less sketchy LAN House that wont try to get rid of all of my photos on my camera. So well see what happens.

-The meeting I had with Elder Aidukaitis 2 weeks ago was super good. He talked about a lot of things to us, but here are some of the ones that I remember the most:

-When you get married, find somebody that loves God more than you. If he/she loves you more than God, theyre not very intelligent.

-Planning is a necessary part of our lives. Everybody, including God, has success only through making plans and fulfilling them to the best extent possible.

-God is happy with the obedient, but that doesnt mean that He is satisfied with our work. He always wants us to be doing more, and working harder than we think that we can work.

Alright, so thats been my week! On to individual emails! Love all of you! 

Elder Youd

Week 55: Running Late!

Hi All....Michael wanted me to convey his apologies for not writing a regular weekly letter, but he had spent the day at the temple and they didn't have much time at the LAN house for emailing. He has asked me to send a few of the highlights from the letter he wrote to me (because he knows that no matter what lack of time he has, he'd better write to his old mom!!)


Its been a super busy week. Ill give more details next week (again, a lack of time is at hand here), but we had 2 different meetings with Elder Aidukaitis (he spoke at the last conference, with a funny accent and said, "One shouldnt roam in garbage."). He was kinda burning the fact that nobody is using their time super wisely, but it was still a super good 2 days, and I learned a lot. And, he has a funny accent in Portuguese too.

As Tiffany has experienced, I am just a little bit sick this week. Basically, the weather keeps on switching between blazing hot and freezing cold, so my throat is starting to hurt. But its alright.

Well, we didnt have any baptisms this week, but we have at least 2 people planned for this week (one of which is super duper firm), so keep on praying for me!  I like my new companion a lot.  We're getting along well. He's super obedient, which is good, albeit at times tiring because he also likes to walk a lot. But, Im keeping up and doing good. And he's funny, and he loves to speak English, so Im happy with my life :)  He was born in Honduras, lived in Belize, but then lived for most of his life in NYC and North Carolina. 

Being a Zone Leader is basically the same thing as District Leader, but President Farnes trusts in me more. I have more responsibility, and he even talked to me specifically about what my job here is. He said that Jaragua was the highest baptizing zone a couple years ago, and for some reason its gone to crap. And now its my job to repair and turn it into a monster again. So, he trusts me, so thats cool.

Sorry that I havent sent pictures lately! The LAN Houses in this area are trashy, and Ive heard rumors that these computers have erased memory cards, so Im honestly afraid to send pictures while Im here! 

Something that we learned this week from the visiting General Authority... If we dont establish specific goals, asking God to help us with these goals, we should have nothing to be sad about because we didnt have any expectations ruined. So make a goal, and decide what youre going to do to achieve that goal.

I will write a longer letter next week!