Monday, January 23, 2012

   I got some letters and our house received a lot of stuff from the mission. They bought something like $72,000 worth of stuff for us missionaries. So now we have new garbage cans, a new blender, each one of us has a fan now, and a lot of other stuff I don't remember, lol.  

   Don't be sorry it is getting hotter. I actually found out my area is one of the cooler ones because it always has a nice sea breeze blowing through. Other areas are much much hotter, so maybe I don't want to transfer this transfer period.... but wherever I am called I will work. My companion has been here 6 months already, and I have only been here for 3 so it is likely he will get transferred as well. I think I will not stay because usually you do not stay in the area you were trained in too often. My companion thinks I’ll be made a trainer already next transfer. We will find out next Monday. I really hope not because I can barely speak the language. But everyone compliments me on how I barely speak with an accent. My goal with the language is to get people to think I am from Brazil natively ;) but it will be hard with my golden hair. Yes I am drinking my crystal light but not too frequently. Yes they drink lots of soda but I think more juice than soda. They have some crazy fruits down here!!! Like there is this one where it is super sweet if you suck on it. But, if you bite it, it instantly becomes overpoweringly bitter. Weird huh? I haven't tried it yet but I want to.

   Well, thank you for your prayers and everything. We still aren't having too much success but it's mostly because of the new area. We feel like we are wasting our time there because we can't focus there while we have investigators in the favela still, so our numbers have suffered. But we are finding new people still in the vila and they seem interested in the Gospel.

  The family we were teaching? We invited them to be baptized in 2 weeks and we think we scared them with it. The husband said "we have been catholics for 33 years, we aren't gonna change everything in less than a month." After he said that Elder Ferreira and I really sat down and thought about the way we were teaching investigators. We discovered it is not the way that Preach My Gospel teaches us to teach. Because we taught our own way we scared them. Because really, through the Gospel they CAN change in just 2 weeks flat! So Elder Ferreira and I changed the way we teach people. We are following Preach My Gospel a lot more closely now. For example, we found a new investigator whose mom is living with him in the Favela. We taught him and his mom the new way we decided to change to, and by the Spirit. The change was completely visible. They both accepted baptism when the Spirit confirms to them it is true.

   So... the work continues and we learn and better ourselves every day, and find new people to teach every day.

Love you all lots and hope this week is a good one for you!

Elder Baldwin

   This week was good because I went to a specialist and he cleared a lot up. The other doctors thought I had something a lot worse so I had to buy all this expensive medicine that wasn't working. Turns out all I had was an allergy to something. We don't know what but it is far from serious so no worries.

   It is HOT here, and only gonna get hotter. Transfers are coming up in 2 weeks so I hope to get sent somewhere cooler than here, but it is more likely I’ll get sent somewhere even hotter.

   In our mission we just count contacts. We meet someone on the street or knock on their door and talk about the gospel, and ask them if they want to hear our message. We don't really have golden questions that I am aware of we just talk to them about the Gospel. The whole point of a contact is to get an address or something to teach them. We are supposed to do 10 each every day, so 20 per companionship and 140 per week. In our area no one wants to be rude, so everyone will let you

teach them so it is actually pretty hard to get all these contacts because we have to teach too and it takes time. Normally we do just a few per day each. But this last week we went to a new place in our

area besides the favela we normally work in. We didn’t have any references or investigators in this area so we basically contacted all day. This last week we had a little over 50 contacts. We did not do
this every day, just a few days this week so 50 is pretty good for us. With regards to Book of Mormons... we do not count how many we give out because we are not supposed to give out Book of Mormons to people on the street. There are a TON of churches here. Literally, it's like Texas but in a city setting. Imagine San Francisco or Oakland with a different church on every street corner. So a lot of other churches do not like us because our church is true, so they tell all of their members to ask the Mormons for their Bible. So we get a lot of people here who say "oh! the mormons! can I have one of your bibles?" We were given talks from members of the seventies who said we are not walking free bookstores. We are teachers. So what we do is we give Books of Mormon to people who we give the full first lesson to. It's pretty funny, these people who ask for a Mormon bible. We say oh sure we'll give you one. We can give you one and your whole family too! Can we drop by your house sometime, leave a message, and give you one? It's pretty funny. Almost everyone will walk off angrily because they do not want the lessons, just the book to give to their preachers. So the preachers read the Book of Mormon and find solitary scriptures such as the eat drink and be merry scripture and say that this is what we teach in our church and such. Many people do not like us because their preachers have done this.

  Ok, as I said before we proselyted in a new area of our area this week so we have lots of people we are going to visit this upcoming week. We hope they become new investigators. We did find one new family in Vila Juaniza who is actually married! We were so excited because this is rare in Vila Juaniza. The only hard part is they are pretty firm Catholics, but they love our message and said we can come back whenever we want. Not too many spiritual experiences this week, just trying to feel the spirit to find the houses that have people we can baptize. It's been really long for us since we had a baptism and this is not normal in the mission. Usually missionaries average one baptism every few weeks here, and most more than this. So it's been tough emotionally and spiritually because no one realizes how important this is. We teach them and show them but nothing will happen if they do not help themselves and pray and read.

The address of the Internet Café I am in right now is:

Rua Comendador Bastos 279; Ilhã do Governador

Well I hope all is well, Lots of love from my end.
Elder Baldwin

Monday, January 9, 2012

   This week was pretty bad, we did not have too much success. The problem with vila juaniza is that everyone will promise to do something but never do it. I think it is because they do not have to keep commitments in their lives normally, like with paying house payments or water and electricity. They just steal it, lol.

   I had to buy 80 reais worth of medicine this past week and now don't have any more money. They reimburse me but it takes awhile so I am using personal money right now and will probably put money from the mission back into my personal fund when I get more money. Don't worry about what the medicine was for. Just so you know Mom, when I am sick I will not always let you know exactly how sick. I will write in my journal every little detail though, so when I come back from the mission I can show you all the things I went through. I don't want to worry you though. Know that I am in good hands with Sister Lima (President's Wife).

   So we haven't been having success lately because we have been focusing a lot of our attention on these two people who were baptized but never confirmed. It is very very frustrating.... but now I think we will start to focus more on lessons and other people. They haven't been confirmed yet but one basically said he doesn't want to anymore and the other we just need to find her awake one Sunday. It's difficult because she doesn't wake when we call to her.  I'm getting along great with my companion. We had 1 lesson with member, 12 without, and 5 recent converts this week. 18 lessons. Definitely not great but it will get better now.

   It's very frustrating, but the mission president wrote us and told us he is watching our numbers and  progress and he told us even though we do not have good numbers he is glad we are not letting it show in the goals we set. We are still setting really high goals in hopes that we achieve them. Not goals that are ridiculously high, but we are not changing the goals we set to be lower so we can achieve them. This is the key to success, when we are tried by God to not lose hope.

   Right now I am reading in Alma 22. It’s hard, I’m not reading fast because I’m reading in Portuguese to better my understanding of the language. I've almost got it. I think three more weeks and I’ll be able to talk and understand almost everything.

   My mosquito bites are.... still there. I get new ones every day. I've just come to accept them now. I scratch sometimes but not much, so they go away within a few days. But it's like the least of my problems, lol.

I love you all and appreciate your prayers.

Elder Baldwin

Monday, January 2, 2012

   It has been cloudy and raining all week like I had hoped. The only problem is that last Sunday I forgot my umbrella at a member's house... so I have been without an umbrella for the whole week. This always happens, whenever I need my umbrella I always forget it, and whenever I have it I do not need it.

   Well, my first New Year's Eve in Rio was a little depressing and bad. I was a bit ill. And everyone was drunk. We even had investigators who said yeah, ‘I’m gonna drink. It's New Years’. Even though we taught them about the word of wisdom. It's frustrating.  The day of proselyting was the same but in the favela it was horrible. Everyone was lighting the huge fireworks right there in the street so my ears were often ringing because of the constant explosions. everyone was drunk. There were 15 year olds in the street with beers in their hands. It's illegal here but no one in the favelas follows the law really.  The work is really slow. This week was really bad because everyone was traveling and/or drunk and going to parties and stuff like that, so not too much success this week.

   We have a mission roster online now. Transfers are really weird because we are not actually given transfer orders now. The roster online has pictures of everyone in what area they are serving in. When we have transfers, we look online for our photo. If our photo is in a different area, that means we are transferred. Most of the time though our zone leaders will call us and spill the beans before we get a chance to look. The language is going fine, I just have trouble understanding people sometimes because they speak with a lot of slang. No one can understand me because Elder Ferreira says I speak so formally, and we proselyte in a favela so no one can understand formal speaking. So I have to learn the slang to understand and speak better.

Lots of love family!!!

Elder Baldwin

Monday, December 5, 2011

     So I can speak alright.... it's just a matter of all the vocabulary now. And all the slang people use. It's tough when people are supposed to say (Como é que você está?) and what they really say is (Como é ke cê tá?) It's just shorter like saying what's up rather than what is up, but it's what I’m trying to get used to hearing right now. My trainer thinks I’ll have the language almost fluent in just two more months. That's what I am hoping and praying for.
   Basically, no matter what, I'm gonna be hot and I'm gonna sweat. I've accepted that. My face is starting to break out from all the sweat lol, even though I wash it twice every day. I have a rag I keep with me to wipe my face and head because I don't want to look completely gross for the investigators. But it's all good because most of them have fans and stuff that they turn on for me. Another good thing is summer here is the rainy season I hear, so the rain every week or so will give me some cool days to enjoy. Oh.... and when it rains it usually goes on for days! We haven't had a huge torrential down pour yet, but I can't wait until we do. But, for example, the past three or four days have been rainy and cloudy. And it all started on a day that was 38 degrees celsius! By the night time it was only 20! In one day!

  My companion got Gripe (Portuguese for a cold) but I haven't gotten anything yet. And I eat a lot, it's just all at lunch with the members ;) they make really good food I’ll have to make some of this Brazilian food for you when I get the chance. For breakfast we will just have some bread or cookies. Store bought cookies here are very cheap and common and easy for mornings. Most mornings we don't eat much. We have a big lunch, and we get home and eat some little stuff for dinner again.

   So when I first got here to my house in my area, I almost freaked out. I almost started hyperventilating thinking that I had to live in a place like this for the next 2 years. You may want to cut this paragraph out if you want to share it with everyone else, especially the women, but there are ants everywhere in our kitchen. Everything is dirty, only one elder really does dishes. The bathroom is always dirty because the shower leaks, and so it is always wet. My feet look like I have chicken pox because of all the mosquito bites, I’ve just come to accept them now lol. And, the most overwhelming thing of all was how small this tiny house was. So yes, that first week I was praying a lot for comfort to just be able to do this, to accept this and move forward with the work I have to do. For the most part I have. I've just kind of accepted that I’ll probably be dirty and covered in germs all the time. It's kind of life in Brasil. I've accepted the mosquitoes, though I still kill them. I've accepted that I will sweat all the time. So yes, the Lord has blessed me so much, and I find when I concentrate on scripture or the language and not on home I do much better. The homesickness is almost gone completely. I feel, from the spirit, like it will be completely gone once I learn the language.

   But yeah everything is going fine. The heat actually isn't too bad once you get used to the humidity. It's almost the same temperature as Concord in the Summer to be honest. I just sweat all the time cuz we are constantly walking up hills and so far. But almost everyone has a fan so it's all good. Yes we visit inactive members and recent converts. We try to get one every day, and often we get more than one. We are really good with that goal. We do some service but not necessarily every week, just whenever people ask us to. We do not do much tracting. Almost all our investigators are from references or street contacting. Thomas S. Monson taught how to ask for references without actually saying (do you have a reference for us) because most members will say no when they think like that. But if you ask (do you know anyone who recently had a baby or who had a family member pass away) then you get more. Anyways, yes I bought a hymn book in Portuguese and my companion loves singing to ALL of our investigators, so we sing a lot.

   District meetings are just the Elders that live with us. The District is 4 people, and I am the only American. The District meetings are every Tuesday at 2 and they are tough to do cuz we have to go to lunch first and then head back for the meeting, and then head to our area again. So, we have only had one district meeting. But the other reasons are also because we have had other stuff going on on Tuesdays like interviews with the president. Zone meetings have actually been taken out of the missionary program by the First Presidency I hear. They want to focus more on the districts. Every three months we will have a multi zone conference or something, and we almost always have something going on otherwise with our zones in those three months too.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Yesterday I had my first Baptism!!! It's the same lady I wrote about last week who didn't get baptized. We worked with her a lot this week and she got baptized yesterday! Here in our area we baptize on Sundays because it is the day that members are already here for church, so people can watch the baptism. Everyone has to pay for transportation to go to church every Sunday because the building is not in the Galeão area, so expecting them to come Saturday for baptism and Sunday for church is pretty much out of the question, cuz everyone is so poor.

   Count your blessings that it is getting cooler up there, cuz down here it's only getting hotter. Lately it's been raining so the real heat has been held off, but all the Brazilians I talk to say that it's not really summer until December, and then the heat lasts till February. Already I sweat all day every day, mostly because my area has a ton of hills and we walk all the time. I carry a little towel with me to wipe my face with, but it's bad.

   Don't worry, I always wear flip flops. I have two pairs with me just in case and I never go barefoot. Living conditions are... different than America lol. No one here has screens on the windows, even the rich people. I have no idea why. But it means mosquitoes and flies can have free reign of the house if they want. They are only really a problem if we don't clean the house (which no one does cuz I live with three Brazilians) but all is good. It was hard adjusting to living here but now that I have the hang of it I think I can make it ;). I hope Thanksgiving was good! Everyone is gearing up for Christmas though. It is weird seeing Christmas lights on houses, and it being like 90 degrees outside.

  Everyone in the wards here ask me for pictures of my family. It's funny, they all say I have hair of Gold and it's so pretty. I tell them they should see the rest of my family ;)

   If you send packages to the mission home it will get to me eventually. That's all I really know. Eventually is used for a reason. It sometimes takes 6 weeks to get to the mission home, and 6 weeks to get to me because the home will hold it until transfers or something. Don't feel like you need to speed it up to get to me. I will get it eventually. OH! And very very very important: do not use any other system to send stuff to me other than United States postal service. If you send a package by FedEx or something, customs will hold it until I pay them like 200 dollars or something.

   To be honest I'm not sure what the streets are called down here... we don't use the names too often. Or at least I don't. Signs are hard to find, they aren't like the signs in America. They are obscure and like stapled or something to the sides of buildings, rather than on the streets. So we kind of explore and look where to go. The church is not on the same street as us and it is an actual building, not an apartment.

   But we live in a house... sort of. It's ridiculously small. I'm taking pictures. We live behind the Bishop's house of the Ilha ward (the other ward we share a building with) so I'm not sure if you can even see where I live. It only takes about 30-45 min to get to my area. It just gets expensive after awhile, and if we have extra meetings to go to in the two weeks we get money then we often have to skimp on things. For example, in the past two weeks I have had to make three extra trips to places pretty far away, like when we had a conference with Elder Bednar. I won't get money until this Thursday, which means I won't be able to buy food to eat lol. I'll have to survive only on the lunches the members give me. But it's all good, and part of being a missionary, and I am starting to really love it.

   The ward is decently sized, but there a few that are inactive. As I said in a previous letter it is hard for them to go to church every week cuz it's so far and they don't have the money. When we eat lunch usually it's the wife and kids, but it all depends on if that dad works nights or days and stuff like that. Lately the people we have eaten with, the father's have been home. 

  Alright well have fun, and tell everyone I love them. Pray for me to get the language, it's coming slowly but surely. I love you all and pray for you every night.

Monday, November 21, 2011

  It's weird to think almost three months have passed since I left. A missionary who was coming home in the airport said he saw someone with a "big ipod." We assumed he meant an Ipad cuz he left before they had come out and had never seen them. It was pretty funny. I wonder what will come out while I am gone. 

 On Sundays we work. After church is over we go to our lunch appointment and after that, we proselyte for the rest of the day. I don't remember if I told you in the last letter but on Sundays we make the trip twice to our proselyting area. First to pick up our investigators and take them with us back to the church (because the church is not in our area either it is right next to our house) and again after church to proselyte. It is really taxing on our funds; even with the extra 60 reais they give us a month. It isn't enough to cover the trips we take every day. I haven't needed to delve into personal money yet though, for which I am thankful. 

   So every day we get up at 6:30 and we go to bed at 10:30 like normal. We work out a little, eat breakfast, and get ready. Then we have personal study at 8, companion study at 9, and language study at 10. At 11 we are supposed to go start proselyting, we go to our lunch appointment, and then we prosleyte to the end of the day. We are supposed to get home at 9 or 9:30 plan for the next day, update the area book, and go to bed.

   My trainer is a great missionary and knows how to teach. Also, he is very good at helping me learn different things in Portuguese. He is from Curitiba in Brasil but thankfully knows English pretty good. If nothing else he can help me learn Portuguese. He is also very good about making me teach parts of the lessons and sharing messages with the members. This lets me practice a lot. We also do a lot of practicing teaching the lessons and different situations. All is good we will learn everything together and do the things we have to.

   Well, I would have had an amazing spiritual experience this past week but no luck. We invited and committed one of our investigators to Baptism, an older woman. She was interviewed and we met with her everyday this past week and we were so excited, and she said she was too... but yesterday when we went to pick her up for church she wasn't home. She didn't come home all day. We are not sure what happened, we are going to go talk to her today. Well... I think that's about it for now. I love you all! Pray for me to have success.