Life! 2-22-16

Zone Meeting

P-day lunch

 

Hello,

 I need to be quick... So lets get to it.

The jerky in the pic was from the ward Christmas package. I also got a yo-yo that I'm basically obsessed with trying to learn to do crazy stuff with it. It's a blast to learn new things! I was able to get the mail earlier than I thought because there was an elder that went to Floripa to renew his visa; so he brought back some stuff for us! tHATS HOW THAT WORKED.

Yes, we have 3 sets of elders in our apartment. So that is always a show. The house always has someone doing something... Also it gets dirty very quickly.... Dangit.

Last week we had a zone meeting so we had everyone together from the zone. That made it so I got to see Elder Stahn again!

So we fianlly met with M and S. They are super elect! He works at a gym and is really strong. They asked about baptism and how that worked and how they could prepare better. We explained various things and that we would help them understand the doctrine and they were excited! It went well and we went with a member. Perfect!

About the ward activity last week which was on Monday night. So anything that has to do with a member and on Monday we cant go. It's becasue that day is supposed to be JUST FOR FAMILIES FOR FAMILY NIGHT. Even if its a ward activity.

President will still come this week and I'm feeling okay. Interviews never was a time to be super nervous. It should be good.

The obedience in the zone? The best thing for me, as I have been serving as a Zone leader, was recognizing that if you cant be good, do good. For a while I was bitter at certain people becasue of the way they acted. Now I just set my mind to try to help them and grow to love them. It has worked and because of this the obedience has changed. It looks like people have a new desire to do the right thing. So that has made a difference to me.

I found DR PEPPER on THE DESERET BRAZIL WEBSITE AND BOUGHT SOME!!!!!!! IT'LL COME SOON!!!! I was soooo incredibly happy to find it that I HAD to buy it. IT'LL BE SO AWESOME TO TRY IT AGAIN! I CAN'T WAIT!!!

That's all I have time for this week. I hope that you have a great week!

Elder George

YUM! American Snacks!

 

Something new from Brazil

 

Fast and Furious! 2-15-16

Elder Reis and me

Me and my companion

Hello! Once again, I have very little time to write!

In the pictures, Elder Chavez is my comp and Elder Reis just got here and is living with us now. I met him in Chapecó and was transferred so now he is here with me again! YAY! Elder Chavez is from Argentina and Elder Reis is from São Paulo. Chavez has 4 months left and Reis has a year left. Elder Reis is a great guy and very humble and I enjoy living with him this far.

S. isn't really progressing unfortunately. We invited them to the ward party tonight and hopefully they'll go. That would be amazing since we cant go because it's Monday. We have 3 or 4 families that we will start teaching this week and they are all super prepared to hear the Gospel so we are excited for them and I'll have more info next week about them. The family we baptized are doing SUPER WELL. They are attending church and learning more every day. Their testimonies are growing and developing everyday and I am thrilled at their progress.

District meeting is every week, Zone meeting once a month and conferences and interviews trade off every transfer. Every time there is something with the zone in a week we cancel the district meeting to save money and time. My responsibilities as a zone leader are basically handle all the organization and try to make everything run smoothly. For the zone meetings we have to give the training to everyone so that is what we do.

Bob's friend, Sergio, has been traveling quite a bit and that has made it hard to visit with him. We want to go back but I don't know if we will be able to because President has cracked down on the rules. He doesn't actually live in our area so that makes things a bit tougher. But we'll see.

The best thing that happened to me is that this week I have been able to recognize the Spirit and know when Heavenly Father is talking to me. It's odd when he "yells" at you. It really makes you feel like someone is shaking you by the throat and telling you DO THIS!!!!! So that was something. Also, I was reading the Book of Mormon and I continue to recognize the cycle of wickedness and righteousness. As I was studying, I felt the Spirit again when He told me DON'T BE LIKE THIS! So that's something I will work harder on. Doing what needs to be done, one hour at a time, one day at a time.

Well have a great week everyone! Stay happy and stay healthy!

Elder George

February 8, 2016

Hello everyone!

So we have Lizards in our house again.... Well at least we found them once... So that is an interesting thing here. We are almost in the city and somehow a lizard found us.... weird.

So, last week were transfers, and I stayed here again with the same comp. We were both kind of hoping for a change, but that's part of the mission. i'm kinda curious to see how this transfer goes because Elder Choate was transferred. He was my link with the US. BUT Elder STAHN is coming to my zone again! So that'll be great to see him some more. 

So I found out that I leave in August because we have a calendar with everything that will happen in the mission. Conferences, Interviews, transfers. etc. So I looked at the transfer closest to the date that I came on the mission and it was August. I wasn't too sure about that so I asked the secretary and he said I would go in August! So that's how I found out.

S. is going well. Her husband seems to like us and seems to be basically a dry Mormon; Like he believes that it's true and wants to join but doesn't want to give up the past. He likes to drink alcohol and do things on Sundays and that's gonna be a problem for him to give up basically. So that's where we're at with him. They are really nice but its hard to make changes.

I didn't have any interviews this week. Generally we don't travel to do interviews. There's only one area that we have to travel if there's an interview. Last week was in the city but a little ways away. So we just took a city bus and that was it.

Money stretches WAY more because of the exchange rate here. Sometimes I just get a little carried away and spend.... But yeah it's good with the exchange. I'm glad it isnt the other way around!

I'm reading the Book of Mormon again and I love the book of Helaman. When you get there you'll know why. I love the parts where the people are just trying to defend themselves from evil and when things go wrong (most of the time) They go straight to Heavenly Father. I know that he strengthens us when we oppose difficulty. And when we humble ourselves, He will grant us power through Christ's amazing Grace. 

Well today we had to get up and go to the bus station to make sure no missionary would be left alone during transfers so that has been a task. We have to go tomorrow to make sure those coming aren't alone. And we have to be there at 7 AM. So that has been tiring. But it'll be good.

But thats it this week. I should get good mail toward the end of this month when President comes to do interviews. So that'll be that! YAY!!! 

Elder George

Transfers! 2-1-16

Friends and Family,

Well once again 6 weeks have passed and we enter into the transfer week. It's funny to think but it has been 6 weeks since the Christmas call! I realized that today as we start this week. Time is just movin along! 

Anyway, This week I dont have a ton of news... We went and visited that Less active sister this week. She has wanted to come back to the church but her husband is kind of a problem for her. He doesn't like church in general so that makes it hard for to take her kids to church. He has genuine respect for the Elders and admires their work but other then that he doesnt really want to have anything to do with church. We are gonna talk to him this week and see if we cant help him out a bit. 

Other then that we had a few baptismal interviews this week and I got to do them in the Bishops office this time; I felt super professional! It was awesome to listen to them and and their stories as well. Apparently, on the way to the interview their car burst into flame and the man driving pulled to the side of the road and walked the rest of the way ro the chapel which was about a mile away! I was impressed by his resolve and they were baptized on Saturday.

Well as I said this week is transfers and so I'll have news about that next week. I'm almost certain that at least something in our house will change. Knowing President he'll take several of us out and put everyone else in new. But we'll see.

Well I love you all and i hope that you all ahve a great groundhog day! I hope you enjoy yourselves and Happy Birthday Cammy! And happy early Birthday Dad! I'll say it again next week!

Love you guys,

Elder George