It's all about Love!

It was great seeing you guys and hearing your voices yesterday! I had not realized how much I missed the sound of your voices. It was great seeing how happy you guys were! You do not see that much happiness that often here. You guys are greater than you probably think you guys are. Our family has an amazing foundation and I hope to model my future family after the same manner. I am really glad you guys are all doing so well, it was very comforting to hear. Thanks for incluiding me in the family prayer. That was reallay special to me. I was feeling the spirit super strongly.You guys are awesome and are a shinning beacon to those around you. I can see that a lot clearer now. You guys are wonderful examples. Thank you so much. But Yeah I am teaching my comps more than I am teaching our investigators it seems like. I had to teach my comp. and my zone leaders last friday how to have our weekly planning session lol. I also have to teach a lot of the missionary rules and standards. I have been noticing as of late how different of a missionary I really am, even when compared to the other american missionaries. Exact obediences truly does bring blessings. I am always reminding my companions these things. I use Dad´s saying `you´re right` all the time. After I try to correct or help them the pull the, how long have you been a missionary card. And how long have I been a missionary? It is actually a humbling experience for me. You can take good from all things even when people are telling you you are wrong. My companions always say that I am super serious. They like to speak about worldly things and joke around and kick your feet. When they see that I do not participate they say I am no fun and that I will not be liked by many people. I do not take offense to these things because I think of the savior. Would the savior do these things? If someone saw or heard me right now could they imagine christ doing the same? So there is comfort in being obedient and focused. I definitely have to be the example to them. I am like their moms lol. Always reminding them and trying to help. I am learning many things I did not think I would learn on my mission and am gaining a lot of respect for the things we have back home and for how I was raised. I am keeping in touch with my friend from the ctm. We email each week. He is doing pretty good. I also talk to my district each week so that is fun as well. It is cool seeing the gospel change the lives of missionaries as well as the lives of our investigators. I am also learning a lot about love. Loving strangers, loving to help people at any moment, loving when it is hard to love, loving your companions, loving your situations, good or bad, and just living in love. There is love everywehre. You can always give love and recieve love. A mission is truly a wonderful experience in ways that you cannot experience except by participating in one personally. I am realizing why love is the first 2 and the greatest commandments. Without love there is nothing. Reflect on your life, your surroundings, and your experiences and think of the love you have either given or recieved. Focus on these things and build on them. When you do so you will have more appreciation for these things before and be able to recognize the love that is in the world better. It will be a great experiences. Love opens hearts, and changes lives. Thanks for the quotes each week. I sure do love them. I hope guys have a great week and that Aj gets better and enjoys one more week of break. Keep on keeping on. I love you guys!

Lots of working

We are doing lots of working and my Portuguese is getting slightly better each day. A few grains of sand at a time but over time with the sand i will have i can make a beautiful beach (be fluent). We have not been having much success with our investigators as of late. The people here do not really want to change. Lots of devote catholics and evangislists. So i read this book on how to be a better missionary and it was awesome. It is called Member Missionary Work and Finding the Elect of God. I read it in one night. I started using the techniques and it has helped a lot. I went from contacting 7 people a day and 27 as a companionship to contacting 27 and having 42 as a companionship a day. We are also getting more referalls and contacts and teaching lessons now. We do not have any investigators ready for baptism yet but we are trying. We are opening a lot of oysters looking for pearls. A few things we take for granted in the states. Air conditioners, couchs, curtains/blinds, houses without walls, dryers, cars, and three meals a day.

Doing Better This Week!

Hey guys! How is it going? I am doing much better this week. It has seriously been 2 months? wow... Time seems to never move when you are thinking about now, but when you look back it is like a blur. Crazy! I heard that coach Ramos had his leg amputated from mandy. Ouch. And that my friend Savanah got in a bad car wreck and is in the hospital. What is crazy is that in the ctm when we went to the temple, I was putting their names in for the prayer role. I always do the prayer role and always pray before doing so, in order to recieve revelation. Personal Revelation is so real. I am glad to here that all is well at home. I miss you guys. 2 years will fly by in a blur, I am sure. I am kind of ready for a good winter. It is super hot here. You are either drenched from sweat or from rain. Or both... lol It has been raining for the past 5 days now so the work has been a bit different. The rain will not stop me from sharing salvation with God´s children. It has been like 100 degrees everyday, and we walk super far everyday. thank goodness everyone here is willing to give us a cup of water. My companion knows a little english but not much, and the other two in my house do not know anything. They are trying to speak with me in english and it is kind of cool. Oh and when we are in public or in a lesson and my comp wants to tell me something privately, he will speak in english lol. Oh and he keeps offering people an english class taught by me, so i may become an english teacher here in the future lol. There are two sisters and one elder in my zone, and the elder is in my district. We have a zone meeting once a month and district meetings once a week so i get to talk to him a little. His name is Elder King. He is from Las Vegas and is really nice. He knows a bunch of Portugese but insists that I speak better than he did. The Brazilians say I speak better than most americans too. I am trying to belive that still lol. It is hard to think you are better than you give yourself credit. The routine here is pretty easy. I do not have any problems. However I do wish that I could have a language study each mornng. We do not get a language study until after the 1st 12 weeks. I do not know why. Oh and I am the only one that exercises in the morning. I want to run. Maybe with my next comp I can. Being exactly obedient truly is a blessing for sure. I like the city life here. I am not in down town however. I am in whatwould be like kingwood is to houston but way more impovrished. We walk, everywhere. We only take the bus when we have meetings down town. Each time we get on the bus it is 3.60 reals. Pretty spendy for our budget. We usually walk 20-25km a day. I have five things for AJ, and for the youth in general i guess, but mainly for AJ. Take seminary seriously. Memorize the scripture mastery scriptures. take language class in high school seriously. Develop good study habits. These things will help you very much on a mission and in general. Read the book of mormon all the way through by yourself. I do not have any baptisms set up, but we are always teaching. I can practically teach all the lessons in Portuguese and testify. My comp and the members here say my testimony is very powerful. I cry almost every time I bear testimony in Portuguese. The spirit is very stong when you are living worthily as a missionary. I love you guys! Chão! Elder, Worsley

Hey guys! How is it going? Life here is pretty nice, but it is super hard learning Portuguese. I can barely understand anything. I pray almost every second of the day for help. I want to help the people and share the gospel but it is pretty hard. Miracles come after the trial of your faith right? That is what I have been clinging onto. I am learning a lot about faith here. I cannot wait for the day I can understand the people and speak back about anything. I only get 30 minutes of language study 3 days a week and so that makes it difficult as well. The people here always complement my portuguese but I feel like it is not very good. Thank you for always emailing me and giving me quotes. That really helps me. I am glad you guys had a great week and got to go to the temple. I will not get to go until I get back home. That was kind of sad to here for me. I am so greatful I worked in the temple before serving here. Always repeating the initatory blessings helps. I am also super greatful to have an amazing family and amazing parents that raised me so well and taught me to be firm in the gospel and always try to be positive and hope for the best. I really do love you guys. So yes I live with 3 other missionaries. My companion and my Zone Leaders. I do not cook. We only eat one meal a day here and that is lunch. Luckily we have members that feed us lunch every day.The food here is awesome, but the water is sooo bad lol. Everyone here likes to drink juice because the water is bad. For me at the house, when I drink water, I have to have like a piece of candy in my mouth or food to get rid of the taste of the water. Generally the rich people have good water so theirs is nice. We get 150 Reals each month for grocies but for the first two months we only get 100 so we can have enough for our reserve fund if we need to get to the mission president. 1 Real is like 3.30 Dollars so we do not get much to live on. Hence why we eat only once. Food here, well everything, is pretty expensive. I think I get to watch the devotional at church this saturday but I do not know. It is hard to translate and understand.People here do not go all out for christmas, but they do celebrate it. The rich people have little two foot christmas trees and presents and everyone else just has a big meal. We will get to skype on christmas so that will be nice. But we have not been really celebrating it here. We sang christmas songs in church, but that has been the only thing. Everyone here has gates and walls because everyone is insecure so we clap outside the wall as if it were a knock. That is weird to me. Everyone is catholic here so proselyting is hard. We ask every house we knock for a cup of water and they always give it. This way we can share a message without them running lol. The culture is pretty different but not in a bad way. Please pray for me to learn the language. I am struggling pretty bad with it. I have cried a lot for not knowing the language and could use the extra boost. Thanks, I love you all so very much! Elder Worsley

Found these gems in my junk box!

Arrived!

Hey guys! I arrived to my first area! I am in the city of Londrina in Antares. My companion´s name is elder Oto. He is from Fortaleza. He has only been out for three months and he is already a trainer. I am his second companion. He speaks super fast lol. The field is already difficult and I have only just arrived and have not started teaching lol. However it is a process. Sometimes it is hard to stay calm because you wish to know all the words and be able to speak perfectly but do not have the ability yet. However I am doing well. Just have to stay calm and do my best with the language. My companion is really nice so that is a great thing for me. So our flight was at 7:30 yesterday morning, and we had to get up at 3:00. So yesterday was a long day. Especially because our flight was delayed until 11:30. Then we got to Londrina at about 12:20, and were greeted by the APs and the Mission President and his wife. They are super cool and very nice. We had lunch with all the trainers and the mission president and his wife upon arriving at his apartment. Then we got our companions and had like an introduction to the brasil londrina mission meeting that seemed like forever. It probably was only two hours but two hours of focusing on each individual word that is spoken and show is pretty hard. The day I can passively understand everything will be so great. They say it only takes 3 months. I guess I will find out. Then we went to a bus station and waited there for an hour for a ride to our new homes. Then we unpacked and went to bed at 1:00. A long 22 hour day. Then you wake up at 6:30 and go again lol. The house I am staying at is pretty nice. However we do not have warm water, so my shower this morning was great lol. Like the Samoan showers we took. But everything is nice. We have a ceiling ang a floor and a smal plug in fan. That is vital for survival. It is very warm and there are no air conditioners anywhere. Not in the home, the church, the stores, anywhere lol. I will always appreciate warm water and air conditioning now. lol I am very excited to be here and desire much to help others and have baptisms because they apparently have a lot here. I just hope that the language will get easier quickly. So I guess you can pray for me to help me learn the languge and have the gift of tongues. Thanks. My Pday is on Monday each week now so you will always know when I will write. Same as in the states. I am glad that everyone is doing well and you had a good holiday week at home. Must have been weird being home. Well I got to run. I love you guys and stay safe! ,Elder Worsley​