Monday, November 5, 2012

Hey Mom and Dad,

So lots of stuff happened this week. It's kinda hard to know where to start. I guess I'll start with, I got a new companion. We had emergency transfers on Tuesday morning this last week, so this whole week I have had a new companion. Another American, his name is Elder Roberts. He is from (you guessed it!) Washington lol. I thought it was hilarious that all my american companions have been from there. Apparently an Elder got sick on the mission and President got transfer happy switching a few people. He even switched out an assistant for a new assistant. Pretty crazy. Anyway... more news... We got a baptism this week! Bishop came up to us on Wednesday and said hey, there is a girl here who has been to church a lot, and she wants to be baptized this Sunday, but she hasn't been taught by the Elders yet. We said, ok. So we taught and baptized her. Her name is Lorena. We also met her parents and this week we are planning on going there and teaching them as well. They were fine with her being baptized.

So, then above that we also had a more successful week. We taught 18 lessons, and got 13 new investigators. There are a few investigators who we are planning on baptizing this wek as well. We have planned a really spiritual lesson with Marcio and Joana, and we will invite them to baptism. We will see what happens. Pray that they will feel to accept. Also, another girl was at church who has been a few times who also wants to get baptized. Her name is Bruna. We will be working with her this week as well. The Young Women in this ward are amazing! They bring all their friends to church! lol.

Lots of Brazilians want to talk to us about this hurricane and the Election. They see two Americans and want to know our opinion on everything. Its weird cuz I have no idea what they are talking about. Like this week they were like "did you guys see the hurricane in New York?" And I was like "What hurricane?" lol. They don't believe we don't watch TV as missionaries.

This family already are really great friends with a couple of families in our ward (that we have been bringing over there) and they have been to a few activities as well. I'm not sure if this ward does service projects. But we are going to ask inspired questions and try to discern what is keeping them back right now. That's our plan.

Dad, I have been reading in Mosiah lately. I read Abinadi today and payed special attention to his words, how it is that he teaches the wicked priests and uses the scriptures. I also thought it interesting how he says after reading the ten commandments that there will come a day when the law of moses will no longer be lived. There are some denominations here in Brazil who still believe and live many of the laws of moses. It's weird. But yeah. Oh and I still haven't read those scriptures you gave me last week, but I should have some time today, so I'll get on that. And I attend the Gospel Principles class with my investigators. My District Meeting I thought went pretty well. Elder Roberts said it did anyways. I went in without a training session planned and asked what they thought their problems were, and we all discussed and talked about stuff like that. Like asking questions, faith, and stuff like that. Alright Dad look at Rua Piúna 351. This is the house of the family we want to baptize this week. Ok I love you guys and hope you have a great week :) let me know who wins!! (Election)

Elder Baldwin

Monday, October 29, 2012

Hey,
I'm doing alright. Haha, Dad is right the Winter weather is over. It's only been mid 80's? It feels like much hotter. Anyways, this week was a bit better. We were able to visit many of those references from the activity of pass along cards. We still have about 40 left to visit though lol, so this week is still going to be busy. We didn't have anyone come to church this week, sadly, but we are making plans on how we can change that. Elder Cerda and I are really trying to change some of the results we have been having these past few weeks.

 

Wow, you guys went to Apple Hill? That's cool. I miss real apple juice lol. The only thing I have found here is apple juice powder. Juice mix, ya know. Anyway, I also miss Apple Jelly lol. Jelly is rare here in Brazil. Almost no one wants it so it is expensive. Not a very demanded item.

 

What happened with the visas, I got my call literally in the time when visas stopped going through. Lots of stuff since than has happened, including Obama liberating more visas for them to come to the United States, so Brazil liberated more visas for Americans. Now it is much easier for the church, who have a man on the inside who helps them. (This guys name is, literally, Moroni. He is a member who works there lol.) So now all the new misionaries coming into Brazil get their visas really fast and without delay. No one has passed through The MTC in Provo for awhile.

 

This week we found a couple of new families with whom we will be trying to work. No one as firm or as interested yet as were Marcio and Joana. Actually we passed by them the other day and they said they were still interested in recieving the lessons, they just got scared cuz the baptism was so close and their pastor was talking bad about our church and stuff. We will try and see if there is still any chance with them. But we are starting to get other investigators as well to come to church and recieve the lessons. These references really helped. How long has it been since you guys have given a pass along card?

 

Haha, Brazil is weird with Halloween and Thanksgiving. They technically don't celebrate either. Neither is a real holiday here, but everyone knows that it is in the states so sometimes they dress up or something like that. For example, the church had a dance this last saturday that was a dress up fantasy dance, like our halloween. But that's about it. No special plans for today. We are gonna measure our fingers to buy a CTR ring, and Elder Cerda will sleep lol. He likes to do that on P-Day. But other than this no. Thanks for the pictures by the way, it looks really pretty with snow and all that. I miss snow. It's so hot here.... Only one more summer!!! lol. Transfers are in two weeks, so we will see what happens. Friday I had my first interviews as a District Leader! One of the groups in the district married and baptized a family. It was so cool, my first interview for baptism and it's a family. They were baptized and married on saturday and confirmed on sunday. The whole district became happy. So far they were the only other ones who have had success in my district. The Zone Leaders are working on a couple of people, but no one yet.

 

I took notes on your suggestions on what I should do in District Meeting. I'll put some of them into practice this week and see what happens. Thank you Dad.

So anyways that is what's happening. It's hot, I'm sweating like crazy, and am envying Tanner who is probably in the snow right now lol. But everything is going good here so far. What has been going on there? Do you guys have plans for Halloween? Alright I hope you guys have a good week. Let me know if the Giants won! Tchau!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Hey,

Only sadness this week. We invited Marcio and Joana to baptism, and they accepted! We were so excited. It has been 4 years since a family was baptized last in this ward. We told the entire ward, including the Bishop and the Ward council. We were visiting them this week all fine, we even marked their interview and then Friday out of the blue they said they did not want to get baptized anymore. We found out that thursday night they went to their church (Methodist) and asked the pastor about our church. Wow... I think they never really wanted to get baptized and they were looking for a reason to not be baptized. We have already taught them so much in this respect, what the other churches would say, the importance of asking and following god and not man. They have even each recieved answers for themselves, and recognized their own answers! I told them, look. This decision you made shows God that you are throwing away His council, spitting in His face, and following after the council of men. Joana said she had never thought about that, but her decision was still no. It's sad when you watch someone walk away so condemned.

Denise has been a little lighter, but has been dodging us. This week she has not been answering our calls, or has been making up excuses and saying she is busy. We hope it's not excuses, that she really doesn't have the time. But if we can't meet with her this week as well, we are probably going to have to cut her. I hope not, because she truly is an elect.

The pass along card activity went well! We had about 20 members show up and leave with us to distribute the cards. We had asked everyone before hand to bring a notebook to tell people if they want the DVD sooner they should leave their address and they would give it to the missionaries. We got 66 references! Wow, we were blown away with how much work the members did. They were so happy and excited for missionary work too after the activity. The only problem... we only have 5 DVD's! we are already sending an order for more from the secretaries office. But yeah, the next few weeks are going to be full. The Bishop liked the activity so much he has made plans to do it every month!

I don't know, it's possible that I will miss beans and rice when I come home. But it is so easy to make that I can just make it when I come home. Question, do you own a pressure cooker? It cooks beans way faster than soaking them for a day lol. That is how everyone cooks here in Brazil, with pressure cookers.

But yeah, this week was a little slower because we were so focused on getting this family baptized that we didn't focus too much on anything else. But we have plans to do better this next week.

P-Day is only from 10-6 in the day. So we get up like normal, 6:30, and study and do everything normal until 10 when we can use the computers and do our p-day things. At 6 we have to leave and work as normal until 9, return, plan, and everything is normal again. My companion now, Elder Cerda, loves to sleep on his p-day. He will sleep 3-4 hours. I don't like to sleep so often I will use it to study more or write letters or clean the house. It's not very exciting. We can only visit stuff that is in our area of work, and as our area is so small and my companion cherishes his time to sleep so much, we don't do anything more than computers, store, house. It's kinda annoying but whatever. Yes I wash my clothes on P-day but I use whatever day that I need to as well.

I don't know what would be my favorite brasilian food. They have food so similar to ours and I have already forgotten what america has and doesn't have lol. But there are some cheeses here that do not exist there and stuff like that. Also fruit. They have 5 different kinds of bananas here. But honestly.... I'm not sure what is brazilian and american anymore.

District meetings I think are a teensy bit different now Dad. We have a set program that we have to follow, that includes practices and talking about our investigators and numbers and stuff like that. My part is really only about 15 minutes, I give a training session on something in the scriptures and Preach My Gospel. There would be no way to give a cheeseburger or milkshake because we immediately leave for our areas to work.

Tell grandma thank you for the money lol. I'm already thinking about ways I can use it for good and fun. I know there were a few things I wanted to buy. Oh, and mom? Can you send me more deoderant? And maybe another bottle of eye stuff? I still have one extra and the one I am using, but just in case. I am running dangerously low on deoderant lol. Anyways thankyou.

I just finished reading Jesus the Christ and started Doctrine and Covenants for the first time. I am still reading the Book of Mormon, I'm in 2 Nephi 33.

Alright I will go attend other necessities now. I love you and wish you guys a good week in Lake Tahoe! :)

Elder Baldwin

Monday, October 15, 2012

Hey,

This week was actually a really good week. Through our missionary efforts, we grew the wards frequency by 12 people this week! That means that 12 people came to church who were either recent converts, less actives, or investigators. The family that we are teaching finally came to church! And they loved it! We have a family night planned for tonight and we will invite them to be baptized this next sunday. Their names are Marcio and Joana. It will be amazing I'm sure :). As well, a woman named denise came to church for the second time. We are helping her overcome a smoking habit but we will invite her to be baptized this next sindau as well. So it's possible that we will have 4 baptisms this sunday! Also, we reactivated a family that has been out of the church for 3 years already. They came to church for the first time. We will continue working with them to help them return to full activity. As well the woman who was baptized last week came to be confirmed and brought her family (all who were baptized already be other missionaries) So it was a good week.

The weather has been cold this week, and rainy, which is perfect because I hate being all sweaty. Yeah the Zone Leaders are helping but I think I'm geting the hang of it. Elder Cerda and I have our differences but he is a hard worker and so we just try to lose ourselves in the work. No major problems yet lol.

Hmmm, I think everything I ate this week was normal. Normal brasilian food. I finally got my present from the mission for my birthday so I ate a bunch of chocolate. But other than that normal beans and rice, every day.

This week the ward has this huge activity. Everyone is going out two by two to pass out pass along cards to the entire neighborhood close to the chapel. It will be awesome. Hopefully this will get a lot more investigators for us to teach this next month or so. Has the ward there done anything similar recently for missionary work?

Yes mom, we have the same training program. It was a program that they started a teensy bit before I came into the field and the first presidency liked it alot, so they are keeping it. They will also reduce time that a missionary will stay in the MTC by a third, cuz they want them to get out and into this program already. I was trained using this program.

Alright mom, I asked a sister in the ward to sew my pants for me, but if you could send another pair that would be awesome. The brand is croft and barrow and the size is 38x30. you can pick a pretty one if you want. That would be awesome :)

Anyways, I don't think I'm needing anything. It's been awhile since I've taken anything out of my account so I don't know how much is in there so I dont know if you need to put any more in there. I will be sending a package to you guys soon so I'll need some money to send it I think but only that. Alright I love you guys and hope you have a good week :) this next week should be good for us. Keep us in your prayers!

Elder Baldwin

Monday, October 8, 2012

Hey,

Alright so this week I did not write you guys first I wrote Tanner and it ate up a bunch of time. Sorry! But I don't have time to write much. This week was really cool. In the first district meeting I taught everyone how to do PRP and talked about the importance of the holy ghost and recieving revelation. I think it went over well. Everybody liked it. It's a bit different being DL because you have to always be thinking about a million things, and I can't talk to my district because the cell phone of one of the duplas is broken and can't call. I need to talk to him every night but he is not doing anything to try and call me. It's frustrating.

Anyways, Ii think my favortie talk was maybe Elder Uchtdorf in priesthood session. IDk because I was going in and out and was watching in portuguese half the time so i need to read the talks again. But I remember he talked alot about the priesthood and what it is and what it means to be a bearer of the priesthood. It was good.

This week we were also able to baptize a woman. Her name is Ana Paula, and she was atught months ago by the missionaries but couldn't be baptized because she wasn't married. She called saying she had seperated from him and wanted to get baptized! It truly was a miracle and helped animate me and eLDER cERDA AND GET US EXCITED FOR THIS TRANSFER. aLRIGHT i LITERALLY DON'T HAVE TIME LEFT bUT eLDER cERDA IS FROM sÃO pAULO and I don't have time to correct that error. Dumb computer with a gigantic caps lock button.... anyways he is a hard worker and teaches really well. Practically the opposite of my last comp lol. Cuitado ele. But yeah things are going pretty good.

Have you considered sending tanner off earlier now that he can on a mission? Just a thought. Alright love you!

Elder Baldwin

Monday, October 1, 2012

Hey,

Today was transfer day. Elder Sousa was transferred to a place called Santa Cruz, (pretty funny, hunh?) But this Santa Cruz aparently is not as pretty as in California lol. It's pretty ugly from what he says. But I'm sure he will be fine. One of my old companions, Elder Mimary, (not sure if you guys remember him) is now my Zone Leader! I thought that was pretty cool. And he lives literally in my area, so I'll be able to chill with him a bit. He has been baptizing like crazy so he was sent here to try and help out our zone. My District Leader, Elder Ramos, was made a Zone Leader, and in his place I was called to be District Leader. I'm pretty nervous, and not sure what I will do. But here I go.

My new companion is an Elder Cerda. I think he is a Brazilian. He was trained by my current Zone Leader, Elder Richardson, and only has good things to say about him. I'll let you guys know how he is next week.

I'll answer Mom's queston first, Christmas wishes. I keep remembering things I want during the week but then forget when I sit down to write lol. But I think I will need some new pants. Two pairs have wholes in the crotch. Really cool to have when you're teaching someone, not. I'm gonna take them to a seamstress to get re-sewn maybe, so just one pair of pants I think is good. I also think I want my Danish book of Mormon, if you can find that in my room. And my cologne if you can find that too. I'll think of more stuff this week.

So this week was really dissapointing. We taught lessons and we had some huge success with our family we are trying to baptize, Joana and Márçio. We taught them and convinced them to come to church this sunday. We had it all planned out to have the Bishop take them by car to the church... when they called and cancelled. It was very sad. Thanks for the scripture dad, because I am a little depressed right now lol. But I'll keep going.

I'll look into my favorite scripture for you. But one of my favorite chapters of all time is 2 Nephi 33. Nephi's last words. I really like it, the entire chapter is marked up with notes and colors. Nephi is probably one of my favorite prophets, with Alma as a close second. and Mórmon as third. I don't know I just really really like the Book of Mormon prophets. they are all really cool. I'm just basing this on some of the doctrine they write.

I don't think i took any money out in september.... I'm really trying to save that money and use only money on the mission. My area is a small area so it's easier to save up money. yes I think I still want to be a lawyer, and eventually a Judge. but I have also considered the possibility of being a translator. I really want to learn alot of languages. but learning lots of languages will halp as a lawyer too so I dont know lol.

Alright I'll let you guys go now. I love you and pray for you. Have a good week! And stop getting trunky dad lol, it's making me trunky ;) lol jk.

Elder Baldwin

Monday, September 24, 2012

Hi!
This week was really good. Elder Sousa and I were able to always be teaching this week. We got in 20 lessons, whether with investigators or less-active families. The church is really focused on reactivation right now as well, because it doesn't matter if you baptize and then they go inactive. But yeah. We also were able to get quite a few references from people, contacting almost all of them. We even asked for a reference from a guy on the street, and his reference led to 5 new investigators! Even though he didn't want a visit from us, he still led us to people prepared to hear our message. It was a really good experience. Unfortunately, we committed 9 people to come to church but only 1 person came. A friend of a young women in the ward. But she really liked it so we will talk with her more this week.

This mission used to be the most baptizing out of all the missions in Brazil, one month even being the most in the world. This is when the missionaries were doing literally whatever they could to get baptisms. I knew missionaries who had over 300 baptisms in these 2 short years. With President Lima, the mission has now turned to getting families, because even though the mission baptized para caramba, they had a real growth of about 5 people per ward. This is almost nothing. They were last in retention in all of Brazil. With President Lima we are 8th in retention now, reactivating like crazy all kinds of families. In this month alone, the mission has reactivated 38 families who had been baptized and then left the church. Almost every month we have numbers like that. The frequency is going to skyrocket here in Rio if we keep going with this. This month we were able to get 80 baptisms in the mission thus far. This is pretty normal, and for now is hovering around there. It's funny, because some missions in the United States have a goal of 80 baptisms per year!

We are not supposed to write negative things about our area but the ward I'm serving in is really weak, and the members who are active are struggling. It's rare to find a family who has family night every week. Scripture study as a family is almost unheard of, and is rare to have family prayer as well. Lots of establishing to do here. I try to help by asking the members to do these things, but it's difficult with such little authority I have with them. This is why so many leave the church, because these simple things aren't being done. Anyways, the people love the church and the book of mormon and especially the missionaries. Everyone has a really close relationship with the missionaries because almost everyone is a convert to the church, so that's cool. Yeah, the first half of the week was 106 degrees, and no mom it was still winter lol. It wasn't even spring. The last half of the week is when the cold weather hit. That was a relief. So now winter is over and spring is starting. Technically, summer doesn't start until december. If it's already getting hot here, I am not envious for january.... lol. The flash flooding comes more in the spring and summer so we will be getting a lot more of that here soon. The other day a huge rain storm hit and there were huge puddles in the street in just minutes. They have flooding problems because the sewage system in Rio is horrendous. They have sewers, but only about the size of my fist. Not like our gigantic ones where you can almost walk through.

Alright, question. I guess now it's valid cuz I'm already a year and almost a month on the mission. I think my return date is about september 3rd of next year. But if I return this day then I will not be able to go to BYU until january, staying home for like 4 months. I don't necessarily want to do that. Sorry, I love you guys, but there isn't gonna be work there for me for just 4 months. I have the option of coming home early like Elder Lambson. The transfer behind that one I think is July 23rd or 25th or something like that. I would have some time at home and go to college as well. However I also think it's an option to come home mid transfer, sometimes in August. What do you guys think? Alright I love you guys and I'll let you guys worry about this while I work. Até mais cara!

Elder Baldwin