Londrina, Brazil

Londrina, Brazil

Thursday, July 12, 2018

July 10

I am soooo glad to hear that you will be able to be there in Texas when I get back. Glad to hear that AJ was able to give a talk during sacrament meeting as well. 
This week went by rather quickly. Me and Simon did lots of splits in other areas in the zone to help out. Unfortunately lots of people fell through on us and we weren´t able to have the results that we wanted. However, it looks like this week will be quite promissable. We have one baptism already lined up for this saturday. We have another kid that we are preparing to be baptized as well this saturday as well. My area is proving to be quite difficult but we are finding sucess baptizing the kids of less actives. It is a great experience because the parents and other siblings get excited again about the church and end up wanting to come back and end up staying firm. It is a win win. Baptisms for the missionaries, and reactivations for the ward.
I am really enjoying my new companion Elder Simon. Without a doubt this transfer was done through the means of revelation. We seem to read each other´s minds. We are always cracking jokes, and we teach with the spirit. Normally when it is like this in the mission it doesn´t last more than a transfer, but I am hoping that he will be my last companion. It is possible after all. I only have this transfer, the next, and a half of the other one. Who knows. If God wills it, it will be done. But if not I will understand completely.
Well, I hope you guys enjoy these last few weeks of summer break. I love and miss you guys!

P.S. I got your package in the mail. THANKS!!!!

July 3

Thanks for the birthday wish! Birthdays are never quite the same when you aren´t surrounded by your family. But I was able to have a good day. On saturday, I spent the day in arapongas. I went to brother Gilberto´s and sister Nilva´s houses. The two family lest me know how much they loved me and made my day enjoyable. We ate a lot in the two homes and were able to smile and laugh a lot.  I had some freinds from other zones call to wish me a happy birthday and it was nice. Sunday night we took a bus to Londrina and we stayed until late last night for a zone leader counsel. We got back at 1 am this morning. Hence the reason I was unable to write you guys yesterday. My mission president let us watch the soccer game yesterday with him as well. Everyone went nuts when brasil scored the two goals, even president Pereira.  Brasil´s next game ought not be easy though. Belgium has a really good team this year.

Speaking about my mission president, He called us all up, those of my group that is, and let us know that we will be leaving in October on the 16th. So now it is official and will not be readjusted. It means one more month away from home, but it means one more month working for my Lord and Savior, and another month of blessings on my and your heads. I am sorry for all the confusion. My mission President had to call salt lake and do a lot of other things to figure our transfer date out. There was a bug in the system or something like that and being american doesn´t help make the situation easier lol. But it is a fixed date now. October 16th. 

My new companion is awesome. He is way friendly! He has got to be one of the coolest companion´s I have had yet. I have to reanimate him with the work and all but he is wanting to be reanimated as well which is good and makes all the difference. He worries a lot about the zone as well which is good. Sadly there are many zone leaders who don´t magnify their calling and just let things happen as they are without working that much to make things better. This transfer is going to fly by, I can already see it. When the work is good and your companion is good, time flies way faster than it already does. Before we know it, we will be in October.

This week we didn´t do too much physical labour but rather logistical labour. We had various problems happen in the zone and had to go be the peacemakers and resolve the problems. We even had to have some elders transfered around because of the problem. This week ought to be better though. I haven´t seen any problems that might arouse in the zone yet so that´s good lol. Just lots of working I hope! lol

I hope you guys have a great week! I love and miss you!

Elder Worsley

June 25

we took pictures with a giant hat as well because the city here is the hat capital of brazil. 

It seems like the entire country here is revolving around the world cup. The games are on all the televisions and all of our conversations with members and investigators revolve around the games that were played that week. It is insane. I have never seen an event have such a great impact on society. Not even the political depates match up to this lol. But yes everyone goes crazy during the games that Brasil plays. They like to through firecrackers and shoot up fireworks to celebrate goals and victories. When Brasil won this week everyone went running around in the streets like maniacs screaming, cheering, and dancing! Some people get in their cars decked out with Brasilian flags and go around the neighborhood or downtown to honk their horns with the rest of the city. It is awesome! And we don´t have restrictions. Not like we would need one though, I can´t imagine why that would be necessary. Weird that other missions aren´t liberating the missionaries to leave during the games. 
Well, today is transfer day. My companion left yesterday to Marília. My companion gets here today. His name is Elder Simon. He is from Aracaju Sergipe in the northeatern part of Brasil. From what I have seen of the guy, he is spiritual and a hard worker. That makes me happy. 

Besides that nothing much is new. Lots of splits and traveling resolving problems here in there in the zone´s respective areas.​

We didn´t bring our rain jackets to district meeting and had to improvise. And the four of us saying goodbye to Elder Rocha. And the zone taking a picture to support Brazil´s soccer team lol.






June 18

this week went extremely well. I spent most of the week in Arapongas! I took the chance to pass by my converts´ homes and the homes of the members that were kind and friendsly to me. Ana and Gilberto had us over for dinner and we had an amazing time. I had missed them a lot. They are like family to me. We cracked lots of jokes and just had a great time. I also passed by Nilva´s house for our lunch appointment the following day. They were way happy to see me. Nilva almost had a heart attack when she saw me. Man I would like to serve there again, even though it was my toughest area. Nilva invited my to her house on the 30th, the day before my birthday, to celebrate again lol. They made a super delicious cake for me last year. 
Besides my trip to the past, not much else happened. I am entering into the last week of the transfer with my companion. Elder Rocha was already advised by President that he would be being transfered. So we will see how next week goes.
Thanks for that quote! It was perfect! I have been preparing a talk that talks about light and this quote fits right into what I was wanting to get at. Thank you!
Have a great week! I love you!

June 11

Well my release date is complicated. Some of my group members that will leave with me are saying that we will go on september 19th and others are saying october 16th. There is a lot of confusion because of the group behind me. They served a transfer in the states and makes the transfer dates all wonky for them and for us. But I am thinking it will be in september. I will try to ask president the next time I get the chance to get the dates all lined up for you guys. But for sure it is between these two dates  september 19th and october 16th.
I heard that the Warriors won the championship! Wahoo!!! That is awesome! 4-0! That made me super happy lol!
This week we baptized a woman named Iaraci. She is the one I told you about last week. She was baptized on saturday. We had to do her baptism kneeling in cold cold water due to the fact that a member pulled the plug in the font and drained all the hot water. So we had to fill it up again as quickly as possible with just straight cold water. But it was still awesome. She got confirmed yesterday as well.
Nothing else really crazy happened to be honest. Oh! Caleb, Haley, and Claire from high school wrote me this week! That is a first! That made me quite happy as well!
I hope you all have a great week! I love you!

Elder Worsley




June 4

 I am doing pretty good. I caught a pretty nasty cold this week and lost 10 pounds! I am recovering though. Now all I have is just a pretty nasty cough. It sounds like I have smoked for 40 years of my life lol. And coughing is a great core workout haha. I had lost my six pack, but thanks to the cold and the compression and grinding on the abdomen due to coughing, the six pack has chiseled its way back into my life. Thank goodness. I have to come home looking good so that I can marry a babe. And so I dont die walking up hills like I have been here in the montinous area that I have. Geographically speaking, my area is pretty killer. 
Here there are a lot of good members, they like the missionaries. 
My companion Elder Rocha is pretty cool. I like him a lot. He loves to carry a conversation. That helps a whole lot with our bond that we are growing between each other as well as the bonds that we forge with members and non-members. It has been difficult to get out and work with me being sick, my companion being sick, and the other various tasks that we are assigned to do as zone leaders, always traveling, preparing conferences and meetings, and training the missionaries here in the zone. But we have an older lady to baptize saturday. The crazy thing is is that she was the one that asked to be baptized and marked the day and time of her baptism. For the first time in my mission, someone has made a contact with me instead of the viceversa, and it has been an amazing experience. She has been and is a truly elect woman that has been being prepared to recieve us and the blessings of the one and only true church on the face of the Earth. Iaraci is here name. Crazy right??? She will be baptized saturday at 4 o´clock. It will be an awesome day.
Today we had a zone conference with Presidente Pereira in Londrina. It was pretty spiritual. He talked about chastity due to some problems that have spurred throughout the mission lately. Later we played soccer and volleyball with the zone at the church´s sports court. It was fun. Now we are about to head back to Apucarana and our normal routine schedule.
I hope that you guys have a great week! I love you!

May 28

So the truckers in the whole country went on strike due to the ridiculously high diesel prices. The nation´s truckers are all taking vacation in the middle of the highways. As an effect, they block off the highways and dont allow anyone to pass, even the truckers that dont want to protest. So, nothing is being transported, food, water, gasoline, clothes, livestock, nothing. It is having a huge affect on the country. Here in Apucarana it has been difficult but that bad honestly. The markets have less and less things for purchase after each day, and members are without means of helping us with car rides and the investigators dont have anyway to go alone because the church is far away and even the busses aren´t circulating anymore. The intercity busses as well, which makes divisions and baptismal interviews difficult. Luckily the members are still able to help the missionaries with lunches for now, but President Pereira has already avised us about everything and we are following his procedures. Everything will be alright.
This week we had a baptism of a young man named Eduardo (Edward). He is 22. He was a reference from a member and just a pretty easy experience. Working with members on the mission is the best. Edward is my 50th baptism!!!! We bought two pizzas to celebrate! Wahoo!!!
I hope you guys have a great week! I love you!

May 21

Speaking about packages, I got the one that was made by the dude in Londrina last week. That really helps. My new companion almost cried. I have been sharing my stuff with him. The other missionaries in the zone as well have been enjoying the snacks lol.
So this week went by pretty fast actually. Tuesday I went to Londrina and stayed until thursday. Thursday I got unpacked and got to see a bit of the area. Friday we had a normal day of work, and saturday we spent the day interviewing the people that were in concideration of baptism. I greatful for this new week to start so that I can actually start the work up here in my new area with my companion Elder Rocha.  




So, Elder Rocha ended up being a rather cool guy. 
Saturday I got to go back to Arapongas for a baptismal interview!! There was a youth activity that involved the whole ward afterwards and so I got to see all my old friends. It was amazing! I couldnt stop smiling the whole night. Everyone had missed me. I was surprised by two things as well. One, nobody had forgotten my name. Two, almost everyone had thought that I had finished my mission already and was there just to visit the ward lol. i guess it is quite weird to see one of your ward´s missionaries after a year. It is probably incommon. But it was really nice to catch up with the good members that helped me so much while I was there.
I caught a cold this weekend. In presidente Prudente it was in the mid 80s everyday. I thought it would be the same here in apucarana. However it is not... It has been in the 40s and 50s all week. We are all dying cold. I go out with two layers of pants and three layers of shirts and jackets, and gloves and that weird thing that you put on your head in the cold. Who would have thunk that it would be so cold here when it was so hot just 200 miles north of here. But, I have been pretty sick these past few days and it hasn´t been fun. The members all got a kick out of the american that was cold in 40 degree weather. They think that everywhere in the states is utah lol. But we think that everywhere in brasil is jungly and hot. Funny right?
But I am looking forward to this week. Hopefully we can find some cool people and baptize them.
Have a great week. I love you!

May 14

Yesterday´s time passed so quickly, but it was absolutely wonderful. I can´t wait to be in your guys´s presence once again to take part of good times together and make more good memories. I love our family!!!!

So I thought I wasn´t going to be transfered, but what do you know, lol I have been transfered!!! I will be going to somwhere very familiar. I will be going to Apucarana the neighboring city to Arapongas, inwhich I stayed for 6 months.  I will be able to pass through Arapongas once again and see the members and recent converts that I learned to love, and I will be able to grow a lot more for sure.
And thanks for the talk. I will be sure to download it and listen to it this week.
I hope you guys have a good week. I love you all so much!! 

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

May 7

So we are still working out the logistics here about the skype situation. I am thinking that I will call at around 5 o´clock my time. I think that is like 4 o´clock in florida and 3 o´clock in Texas. so around that time I will be getting into contact with you all. 
This week was rather stressful. We worked a ton in our own area and in the other areas in the zone to try and help out but unfortunately we werent blessed with the results we were expecting. Ultimately it is the Lord´s will that is done on this Earth above all others´. So we will keep fighting and waiting for the Lord´s will to be done and exercised through our faith and the faith of those that we are teaching. 
The families that we brought to church are progressing rather slowly to our disappointment. They are wanting more time and giving a lot of excuses as to not keep the commitments that we are leaving with them. We even had two families agree to be baptized this last saturday morning but when we went to pick them up to take them to church there was no one home and no one would attend the phone when we called. but hopefully this week will be better. I am feeling that it will be. 
I have been enjoying the times I have been spending traveling and doing splits with my roomate Elder Lavering. He is a great listener and has been asking many great questions in which I have been blessed enough to have the answers to help him. Therby, the two of us grow together spiritually and the bond of our friendship likewise grows. We have great spiritual debates. We get principles of the gospel and start defining them and putting personal experiences into the equation and I have been able to see many new points of view on many subjects of the gospel. It seems as though when we focus on worldly things or things outside of the gospel with others and especially with your companions, the time seems to pass slower than usual. On the otherhand, when we teach and minister to each other and look to see the good in each other and in others and grow through one another´s words the time flies way faster than we would like it too. My lesson this week has ultimately been about this relationship, between the difference in God´s time and our own human time. We achieve God´s plane of time when we elevate our minds to the things in which God would have us see, hear, and think. We stay where we are, halted in time, in a time in which will ultimately run out when we speak of temporary materials, matters, and subjects. Ultimately it is for this cause that man ultimately falls away from the presence of God and halts temporarily their personal progress toward God´s principalities, domains, and kingdoms that He has planned for our eventual habitation. That is why our choices of thoughts, words, and actions mean so much to yourself, to others, and to the Lord. We are either raising or falling. There is no constance. Everything we do has an equal and opposite reaction, or in otherwords consequences. May we seek the better and best consequences that the world and the Lord has to offer us on this great journey that have been prepared for and embarked upon sense that great primordial counsel held so long ago in our Father´s presence. 
Have a great week! I will see you all sunday afternoon!





Apr 30

     What ? ? ? There is a new avengers movie ? I am waaaaay behind on all this kind of stuff Lol!!!! To me moana is still the next movie to comeout haha!
      And speaking about pants, I have been looking at mine recently. I realized that I have soley one pair of pants that aren´t torn in the middle haha. I will probably trash everything on the last week in the mission and just go home with the suit on my body lol. Some of the shirts are still wearable as well so I can take a few of those as well lol. Oh and I went dumpster diving in my suitcase full of my clothes that I never use (my Pday clothes). I found the pair of abercrombie jeans that I had brought with me here on the mission. I wanted to see how it would be like at home being able to wear jeans whenever I want. That was my mistake haha.... So I through my legs in the pants and start hoistering them up. So I get to my knees; no problem. But I get mid thigh and I cant get them up anymore. Then I started doing the whole girl thing where you start jumping and tugging and fighting against the jeans lol. I didnt work out too well. Needless to say, they didnt rise. I was awstrucken. I know that I have gained 44 pounds on the mission but it hardly even looks like it honestly. Most of my body is mooshy however now. But now I know that I have gotten a bit thicker. People are telling me that I am growing as well. Hopefully that is true and not just a nice compliment to win me over lol. So that was an eventful moment for me haha.
     My week went well it was pretty spiritual. Not just because I am a missionary but it was more spiritual than normal. Some pretty cool things had happened. We are with a good group of people that we are teaching. We brought 10 people to church this sunday. The branch was super stoaked to see it full of investigators. I would say we have a group of 20ish investigators. That is pretty awesome! this week however two of our investigators fell through on their baptismal dates. It was rather frustrating but the Lord prepares all of His children in His time and not in ours. Hopefully this week we will have lots of success with all these people that we are working with. Maybe the Lord will bless us and these investigators with the blessings of a few baptisms!
     The zone conference last week was canceled, so we will be having our conference with President Pereira tomorrow. Today we have a zone Pday planned so it ought to be an enjoyable day. It will be great for the zone to be able to get together as well and relax and get to know each other a little bit more. 
     Elder Lavering and Elder Reinoso were tennis players in high school. we are trying to plan out a Pday to where we can get rent some rackets and a court for an hour at the nearby tennis club. Hopefully it will all workout. I am for sure rusty, as I haven´t played in over a year and a half. But it will be fun all the same.
     I hope you guys are doing well. I am super excited to see you all again here shortly! Time sure is flying as you said! I love and miss you guys!

             Love, 

                      Elder Worsley

Apr 23

This week wet well. We had a lot of problems to solve with relation to other missionaries and some other problems. We worked probably one day. But we were able to be productive doing what we were doing. We were able to help with 6 baptisms this week. Sadly due to some problems here in the zone we lost a companionship and a district leader. Now the zone will be greatly crippled. at least until President works everything out or Gomez and I figure out a way to get around this new turn of events. We are having to do the district leader´s work and it is a little over bearing. We will have to travel to another city that is 3 hours away by bus twice a week now. That is going to kill two full days, then we have another day killed interviewing people here in Prudente. So we will have a good 2 days of work each week in stead of the normal 4 that most zone leaders enjoy. but God will bless us for our efforts and will guide our foot steps to the people that are needing us and God´s restored gospel. Hopefully we will be able to sustain the baptizing pase. Now that I only have 5 months left in the mission, it is a race against time to achieve my goals and help God´s children enter into the waters of baptism and into his fold at His right hand in the kingdom of God. We were however, able to baptize this week a 41 year old man named Ney. This week we will baptize his wife and one of their kids.

This weekend we had a bidistrict conference with the two districts of Tupã and Presidente Prudente, the area autorities and Presidente Pereira. It was a good weekend and we were able to be spiritually edified greatly.

Tomorrow we will have a tetrazone conference in Marília. That will be fun! It will be cool to see my last area. I am excited.


It is starting to cool off now. It is in he 80s in the afternoon and in the 60s at night. That surely helps both the missionaries and the investigators. The misisonaries because it is easier to work, and the investigators because they are more willing to leave their homes. 

As for the skype coming up, we dont know where we will be doing it yet. But we will find a place.

well, I hope you guys have a great week! get feeling better mom! I love you!






Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Apr 16

       Hey guys!!!!!! I have scary news!!!! EEEEEEEEEEE...... President pereira told me when my departure date would be to come home!!!! man it seems so close. Here´s the date. September 19th!!!! Here in 5 months and 3 days I´ll be catching my flight home! Sweet!! All I need to know now is to where i will be returning to tell my son, elder Nicolau the executive secretary so that I fly to the correct place, wether it be Texas or Florida. You guys decide and let me know as soon as possible please.
       This week went pretty well. We had transfers and i am really enjoying the two new elders that are living with us. Elder Reinoso is Ecuadorian and Elder Lavering is from seattle washington. They are pretty crazy and love to work hard! They are super motivated and will help the zone a lot. Reinoso just completed 1 year in the mission and Lavering has 6 months. We also got some new sisters in the zone that are pretty pumped. i am loving that even with all the bad rep that the zone has the people aren´t letting that get to them and are working hard and having great success. One thing that I have noticed is that I ave passed the hardest areas in the hardest zones. I havent been to the Pilar zones or areas of the mission. I may not have the most baptisms but considering all that I have passed I have truly been having amazing success and i am thankful for that. President loves to challenge me to make the weaknesses in the mission stengths like ether 12:27 says, and so far I have been able to overcome the challenges placed upon me. i thank the Lord so much for all my many blessings and for the strengths he has given me and the lessons that i have learned.
This week I had a pretty crazy experience doing contacts with Elder reinoso in our area. We were knocking doors and I went to knock a door and a man in a wheelchair calls over saying that there was noone at that particular house. i went over to him to thank him, and to make a contact. There is a common rule here in Brasil that if someone calls out to you or looks at you for a more than average amount of time it means that they want to be baptized. So i went over to him not knowing how it would be possible to baptize him because of his wheelchair but I went anyways knowing that God would provide the way. We sat and conversed quite a bit and then reinoso got there and then the man´s wife. (their names are carlos and karin btw). Carlos asked us to share a message with them. He said if we didnt God would condemn us and that if he and his wife were to be judged on something that we would have said and didnt that they would be in an innocent state and would accept it gladly on the otherside of the veil. They made a very strong point that we had to share something. Reinoso gave me a look like, "man i dont have a clue what to say." so I said a quick prayer and followed the spirit. Carlos had said that our eyes were full of a spirit of victory and that we were in the command of many hosts of angels. I used that to my advantage and opened up to 1st John and read about love and victory. I related it obedience and baptism. The woman started crying and said that she was like a dry fig tree. Then i opened up mathew 21:21 and shared the stroy about Jesus drying the fig tree and teaching about faith. I taught about the lesson based on faith and Carlos broke down crying as well and reassured his wife that we were heavenly messagers. then he had us respond to a few of his questions. he asked us about our service and our ministry. I knew that this was meant to mean, "How much do they pay you and how much do have to pay weekly to your church ?" I explained that we receive no payment and that we rather pay to be here and that at the church no one asks you insistently to pay the church money. Carlos shouted for glory saying that our church was a church that he had been searching for for some time now. They loved it and invited us to go inside their home and prayer for them. We entered into the home and Carlos had us pray. reinoso prayed. carlos and Karin loved the prayer and said that it was exactly what they were needing to hear. we invited them to church and they accepted. I invited them to be baptized again and they accepted with great passion. However they aren´t married. I invited them to prepare for marriage and they accepted. they even invited us to be their best man and witnesses at the wedding cerimony. It was awesome. The spirit was so strong that no one could deny that it was true and that we had been sent by God to deliver the message that we had to deliver them. They invited us to eat dinner and we refused eventhough we had not eaten all day, so as to leave them felling that great spirit and wanting and yearning for that spirit to return. Upon leaving carlos shouted out to us, "next time you see me I will have smoked and drank less and at my baptism i will be free of these addictions. We went home feeling satisfied. I felt like daniel of old. That was one of the coolest things that I had ever done.
I hope you have a great weak! I love you!!!!
Elder Worsley

Apr 9

This week was pretty chill. As it was the last week of the tranfer we kind of let things settle down in aspiration for the transfer. we were able to baptize this week a young woman named Christina. She is 24 and has 2 young kids who are of the age of 2 an 6. The weather down here is still pretty hot. It is cooling down but not noticebly by much. I wasnt transfered, nor my companion so I am pretty stoaked. gomez and I will be able to baptize more people together. We might just be the only companions ever to serve together for 6 months. that is a whole quarter of my mission together with Gomez. god must want me to learn something important or teach something important. Whatever it may be I look forward too it with eagerness. 6 more weeks! wahoo!


Monday, April 2, 2018

April 2

   well I was able to see a little of general conference in the rush of a misssionarie´s life. I Enjoyed the talk given by the dentist, Brian K Taylor in the saturday morning session lol. There were a few others that I enjoyed as well. I will have to down load the audio transmitions of the sessions so that I might be able to hear what I missed. I was able to baptize this week. The woman´s name is Dora. She is like 72. Now we will look forward to our next week´s worth of work.
     This week was spent doing a lot and a lot of travelling. We went to a neighboring city, Tupã,  that is 2.5 hours away by bus 3 times. That is 15 hours of bus riding in total this week. I am super exhausted. But this week ought to be pretty layed back and relaxed as it is the 6th week in the transfer. Everyone will be working hard to accumulate the last baptisms of the transfer with what could be the last week with that specific companion or in that specific area.
     A mission will change any young man or young woman´s life for the better. We come not for this selfish gain but as we naturally seek the perfection in christ and seek to be 100% charitable we find ourselves at the right hand of God. Serve a mission AJ. And anyone else who reads this who hasnt served a mission and is capable, I encourage you to serve. The Lord needs you, and will make many miracles with you and many miracles within you.
     I love you all! I hope this week goes wellfor you! And happy birthday lil bro! I wish I could have been with you on your birthday. You will always be my best friend. 
     Talk to you all later!!!

March 26

Wow sounds like spring break has been a blast and that the party hasnt stopped quite just yet! And I cant believe that Lakota broke the school record for the mile and the 2 mile! That is awesome! It makes me a little sad to remember that I came so close and didnt break it. But it wasnt God´s will so I take confort in that. Who knows why that wasnt in God´s plan for me with the parasites and sicknesses and all. But I am happy with who I am and what I have done in my life.

This week nothing to crazy in particular happened. We had a zone conference with President Pereira on tuesday and a normal week´s of work afterwards. Sadly we faced many oppositions this week and were not able to have a lot of success in bringing many people to church and even less having baptized no one. I need to Baptize!! lol... It rained quite a bit this week and that got in the way quite a bit as well.
we confirmed our baptisms from the week before. we are looking for miracles so that we can baptize again. I am pretty excited for general conference this weekend. I am excited to hear president nelson´s inspired words above all else. It will sure be a spiritual delight. I really have learned how to live the gospel on the mission for myself and love the gospel in a way I had never known before. I am super greatful for the scriptures and my studies that I have done and am doing therein. I am greatful as well for the chance to have the prophets and apostles to guide and direct us. I hope you guys will be able to watch all the sessions this weekend as well.

I hope you guys have a great week! I love you!

March 19

so this week was pretty sick! Elder Gomez and I didnt have anyone to baptize at the beginning of the week. And the zone was looking pretty weak as well. Wednesday I prayed in the middle of the road with elder gomez that the Lord might be able to put a family in our path that need us and would accept the invitation to be baptized. We were walking towards the bus stop when i felt prompted that we shouldnt take the bus to our usual neighborhood in which we work. We started walking towards the church not knowing where to go and we felt inspired to work close to the chapel. Normally here in brasil this is not always the adviseable choice due to the neighborhood standard of the church. in other words the churchs are always surrounded by the richest of the rich people in most cities. But we went and we were led to a few kids playing in the front of a pretty poor looking home. We asked to talk with their mom and she invited us in. We talked for quite a bit just trying to help her through her problems. She said that ever sense friday she had felt the worst that she had ever felt in her life and had attempted various times to commit suicide. We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and she accepted the invitation to be baptized. She and her 10 year old daughter were baptized friday. Then we were in need of more people to visit the church for sunday so that we could baptize next week. We were working close to the church and it seemed that everyone was rejecting us. No one wanted anything to do with the church. So we hopped the bus to our old neighborhood just to see it for one last time. Gomez and I were led by the spirit to yet another person in need of the blessings that come through the ordinance of baptism. We passed an old investigator that Gomez had and she still didnt want to accept being baptized. As we left her home her neighbor called us over asking for a blessing. We then entered her house gave a blessing with oil and everything and felt the spirit immensly. I then proceeded to invite her to be baptized on sunday and she accepted. I was unable to be there for the baptism as I had to interview another companionship´s investigator, in which also was baptized. Thank goodness we were worthy of the spirit. Otherwise the zone would have only had 1 baptism instead of 4. Truly their are elects to be baptized in all parts of every area.
Hopefully this week will be just as good if not better!!!
we are also having to sleep outside because it is so hot 

March 12

This week went pretty well. we had a pday with all of the zone leaders in the mission and president pereira in londrina monday. Then we had our leadership council on tuesday. Wednesday and thursday I did splits with Elder Modesto. Then on friday and saturday I travelled a lot to do some baptismal interviews. Then I went to church on sunday with Elder Gomez, this one is from Argentina lol. It is hard when their are two and they are from the same area. Then there is a sister Gomez as well in the district lol. But this week was super crazy and rather exhausting. I didnt even get to work in my area. Hopefully this week I will be able to work in my area. I need someone to baptize in my area!!!
I had a really spiritual experience in a baptismal interview. I met the man to be interviewed and found him to be a very humble and faithful man. H didnt really say much but the spirit was crazy. Hopefully this spirit doesnt fade away after the mission or I would be seriously depressed... Anyways Manuel is a 54 year old man. I asked him the simple questions and he replied simply with a yes or an umhum or a nod of a head to respond to my questions. When i asked him about the word of wisdom he told me about his fight that he has been fighting to quit smoking for the past 40 years. We read mathew 21: 19-22, ether 12:27, and mathew 9:20-22. Out of no where my tone changed and it was purely the spirit speaking. I dont know what I said, all I know is of the unforgettable spirit that we felt in that room. We both cried. Then I promised him that jesus would hug him as he arose out of the waters of baptism. we left the interview and the man was so happy. He was baptized by a huge 6 foot 4 loving Brasilian named Rafael, and it was one of the cleanest baptisms that I had ever seen. Whe Manuel came out of the waters Rafael gave him a huge hug and I busted out crying and the spirit reminded me of the promise that I had given to Manuel. The sisters even mentioned that they had never seen one of their leaders cry because of a baptism in which the leader had never even met 10 minutes beforehand. Man the mission is awesome. Hopefuly this week will be just as much of a spiritual feast and a delight. 
have a great week! I love you guys.

Mar 5

Down here in Brasil it has been pretty good. Suuuper hot but good. This past week it was hitting 100 degrees every day. Here in my new area it is way hotter than my last area. Even in the shade it is ridiculously hot. The missionaries in the states are sure lucky for cars and airconditioners. At night we all sleep with a fan at the foot of the bed and even still we wake up all sweaty. They say that Presidente Prudente is one of the hottest cities in Brasil.
Elder Gomez and I are hitting it off super well and will have a lot of success this transfer. Hopefully we can spread this success with the zone as well. 
This week we had 10 families say that they would go to church but sadly nobody went and that made us a bit sad but we will keep fighting for the salvation of these families. However we contacted a reference from Salt Lake and he ended up being a pretty cool dude. He went to church so hopefully he will be baptized this weekend. 
I had my first experience with someone that trash talked the book of mormon and expelled us from his home. It was a pretty awful feeling because the family was super awesome and they were so prideful that they wouldnt even agree to pray about the Book of Mormon. It was pretty sad. But it is just The Lord showing us who is ready to accept the gospel and who isnt quite ready yet. Hopefully here in the future they accept the Book of Mormon as a scriptural text.
We taught this one family this week and it was a super spiritual. We were on the bus and we started talking to Adrianna and we were talking and talking and she accepted a visit and as we had nothing scheduled at that time we got off the bus and went with her to her home. We were teaching soley based off of the spirit and she started crying. She said that everytime that I opened my mouth it was as if I had seen her life before my eyes and saw all the things that were happening and that what I was saying and the scriptures that I was using were exactly what she needed to hear. It was awesome! Then we took advantage of the moment and invited her to prepare to be baptized and she accepted. This was Friday. then saturday we went back and had another super spiritual moment. We went into her home and she was with 2 of her kids.we went in and could tell that she was pretty sad and frustrated about something. I dont really recall how I got into speaking about school, friends, and drugs, but the spirit compelled me to talk about these things with Adrianna´s 11 year old son. Then Adrianna started crying again. She said, that we were truly sent from God because she had just finished talking about these things with her son. she had received a call from her son´s school and one of her son´s friends saying that he was skipping school and messing with drugs and kids that do drugs. It was insanely spiritual. So what did we do?? We invited him to be baptized of course! And he accepted to repent of his sins and be baptized. It was awesome! Adrianna´s daughter accepted as well. So we are going to hopefully have some success with them. Truly the spirit is everything in this gospel.
well, I hope you guys have an awesome week! I love you guys!!!

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

New area

Just think that here in a few months AJ will be able to drive himself around and you will be able to chill a little bit more. They seem to be like best of friends. Tell AJ to tell the kid about the gospel! Here shortly AJ will be able to baptize him!! 

TRANSFERS are today and I will be being transfered to a city nearby. I will be companions with one of my previous companions, ELDER GOMEZ. I am super stoaked for this opportunity. It is exactly what I was needing. It truly was inspiration. The area that I am going to is in the city of Presidente Prudente. The area´s name is Everest A. I am super excited for the change that is about to take place! I will sure be able to grow a lot more again which excites me the most. The harder it is here in the mission the better prepared I will be for my life post mission. I am super greatful for being on the mission. The mission truly is something that is pricelss and that all worthy young men and women ought to do.
This week was pretty chill. Not much walking hardly. I did a lot of splits and was able to help 9 people be baptized throughout the zone and then 2 others were baptized. So it was a pretty exciting week for us here. I was really happy to be able to teach so many good people and see them enter into the waters of baptism. 
Well this week ought to be a fun one, getting lost, meeting new members and new missionaries, and the usual work. I hope you guys have a great week! I love you all tons!







Feb 19

This week was pretty good. It was a pretty relaxing actually. I took a leader vacation doing splits in various cities and not having to touch a phone or having to resolve and serious problems. I was traveling around doing splits most of the time in two different cities, Assis and Ourinhos. I was able to baptize in my area as well as see a baptism in the two other areas as well. What I learned a lot this week was about the strong and simple truths of the gospel bring deep and everylasting happiness. You can be sad momentarily bad the gospel and Christ´s atonement changes not and will always be a sure foundation that will provide for you in all of life´s challenges. But it was just a nice week to reflect on the happiness that I have fore being a member of the church and serving as a full time missionary. My life is going pretty good. The mission is the same old same old at the moment. That is what happens when you have been in a single area for the past 6 months. Luckily transfers are next week and I highly doubt that I will be here any longer. Transfers are next week, so I am pretty excited for that. It is almost a 100 percent chance that i will be being transferred.   It is crazy to think that I have only 8 more months left. Crazier is that Justin only has 4 more months left. That is like nothing!!! Time is sure flying! i am just as excited to go home as I am nervous I think. But super excited for the progression that will take place. 
I love you guys! have a great week!

Feb 12

Hey guys how´s it going?
I actually have been accumulating a lot of brasilian recipes over the course of my mission. I have a note book that one of the sisters of the ward in arapongas made me. It may be hard because there may not be some ingredients there in the states. But I think florida ought to have a brasilian market that sells brasilian goods due to the large population of brasilians there.
But Yeah those members are stellar. They always help us by giving car rides to our investigators and recent converts and they invite us over for family home evening to teach Aline´s mom who isnt member, or to just have dinner. They really understand that serving a mission is really hard and I am thankful for them. 
We were able to confirm John this week. It was awesome. I gave him one of my white shirts, a pair of pants, a belt, and one of my ties. He was super shocked when I gave him all that stuff. he was completely speachless. He is super elect. he is wanting to serve as a missionary.Tomorrow he will go with the youth to Bauru and go to the zoo with them. Then wednesday he will be interviewed to recieve the aaronic priesthood. Now we just have to help his family receive a testimony and accept to be baptized with more assurity. We have about 5 people that we are working with that could possibly be baptized here in the next few weeks. Hopefully they will accept the warm touch of the spirit and accept his testimony. 

Have a great week! I love you all!
This week was a fun week. It went by really fast as well. It went by really fast due to the amount of splits that we did with the other areas. It was also a fun week because we actually had a really elect investigator family that we are working with inwhich one of the sons was baptized yesterday. His name is John. He is actually interested in serving a mission as well which is exciting. Now we just have to keep working with the rest of his family this week which are 3 more people. We are hoping that they will accept to be baptized this week. We also found some people that have moved into the ward boundaries that had been going to church for a few months in another state and they hadnt been baptized. We are going to work with them in hopes that they will also be baptized here in the near future. We didnt walk too much this week. All of our appointments were close together luckily. This week I learned about the sadness that Christ has for those that refuse to follow chirst´s example being baptized in the church of God. I did a bpatismal interview and the poor guy wouldnt accept to be baptized for anything. It struck me deep to the very depths of my soul how sad God was feeling. So we must do our best to help these people feel the love of christ that he has for them. And that is about it. Have a good week! I love you guys!!
Tell AJ this phrase: "Bronchitis?? Aint nodody got time for that!" lol but I hope he gets feeling better. That must be pretty terrible.
Tell Lindsay happy late birthday for me! Wow 24 years old!
This week went well. I was able to do some splits with the elders in Palmital and Parati and help them with their investigators. It was really succesful. We marked 4 baptismal dates and were able to help those people greatly. In my area we marked four dates as well with an elect family. I am grateful that God bless the obedient and diligent. God really is bound to bless us when we do His will. We will take the family to church and we will baptize them this Sunday. We had zone conference on friday and it was good for the missionaries in my zone. It was what they were truly needing. Now I hope that they apply what was learned.
We are going to play basketball and soccer here in a little bit. That should be fun. It will definitely help unite the zone. But the real treat will be when we baptize this family this weekend. I am super stoaked!!!
Well I hope you guys have a great week and that everything goes well. I love you all!!!!
This week went really well. We had transfers and a lidership council with my mission president this past week. My new companion is really cool. His name is elder nascimento. He is from praia grande (Big beach) in são paulo. Mom would sure love to visit a place that has big beach literally written in the name lol. But I am super glad that Elder Nascimento is my companion. He will definitely be a great help to me. God definitely answered my prayers and sent me a miracle. He is a hard worker and a super chill guy. He wants to baptize at least 15 this transfer. THe dude is super optimistic and faithful. He thinks I am crazy in comparison with the other Americans here in the mission. We worked a ton. We probably walked 200kms this week in the blazing hot sun. It was in the upper 90s eeryday without a single cloud in the skye. I am looking like a lobster. Hopefully it will all be tanned soon. We didnt baptize anyone this week but I have faith that this week we will be able to baptize a few people. This weekend we will be having stake conference which is exciting. We are trying to get the whole zone to baptize on the same day. That would be pretty sick! At least 10 simultaneous baptisms. IT should be a prett exciting week full of fruits for us to harvest. Well I hope you have a great week. Good luck with the cooking course! Sounds fun! Good luck AJ! Healthy food normally means tasteless food lol jk!!! I love you all!