Monday, April 29, 2013

Hey Mom,
  My companion is very good and wants to work a lot. It's his last transfer and he still hasn't met his goal for baptisms on his mission, so we are going after that goal. We got closer this week, cuz we got a baptism!!!!!!! Her name is Maria Eduarda. She is the girlfriend to the bishop’s son in a ward that doesn't have missionaries. She is already going to church for 4 months now. I went and interviewed her and I said has anyone asked you about baptism? And she said no, but that she was thinking about it and she really wanted to. The rest was easy. The bishop’s son got really happy and he was the one who baptized her. Her parents went to watch the baptism and they said that they would go to church next Sunday to see how the church was. If they like it, we may be going back here in a few weeks to baptize them too!!

   This week in terms of the work wasn't too great in our area. We did a lot of divisions in the new area that opened up,. Leopoldina. They exploded, and had a baptism as well in their area. First week there!! So we were very happy.
 
   Wow that's really cool, I never thought about that about the iron rod and the river. Rachel talked to me about Lehi's dream as well, and I told her about something that I studied recently in the dream. Ask her about what I told her.

   The sisters did not start off with the same bang as the other area, but we are trying to help them get their stuff together and get working. We are confident though that they will do really well in May. They are good sisters.

   Not much to report this week. Just lots of divisions and no one in our area progressing. That family is regressing, the woman that received the testimony. It always seems to happen this way. Satan just seems to attack with even more force when they have a testimony so strong.

   Well, I love you Mom and Dad and hope that this next week goes well, and the babies start learning how to sleep at night. Send them my love ;) I love you all!! And can't wait to talk to you Mom in two weeks :)
Elder Baldwin

Monday, April 22, 2013

Hey Mom and Dad,
   So... transfers!! My companion was transferred and is now an assistant!! He is being trained to be assistant for the new mission. Pretty cool, cuz now two of my companions were assistants. I took over as the senior zone leader now, and my companion is an elder named elder Ramos. He has already been my district leader before, so I know him. He is pretty cool, and a great worker. Only problem is... this is his last transfer!! uh oh.

   Also, two areas in my zone were white washed and now have sisters!!  But a couple of other areas opened up and now the zone is bigger. This is good. Let’s see how I do these next few weeks with these new challenges. Alright. This week we spent the whole week with the assistants, a surprise visit to get the other house ready for the sisters and to open another house in the zone for Elders. So not too much work. We had a baptism firm in a different area that's closed but the bishop started doing a bunch of stuff to keep us from baptizing him. The guy has been going to church for a month and the bishop doesn’t think he is ready!! We interviewed him and he was perfect. He really wanted to be baptized too. Dumb bishops. He did an extra interview after we left and asked a bunch of stuff that confused him and he didn't know how to respond, and the bishop said "see? you aren't ready" freak!? Where did he get the authority to interview non members? His keys are for members, ours are for the non members! He scared they guy and he didn't even go to church. So now if he is not baptized his blood is on the bishop’s hands. As you can tell I wasn't too happy about this. But we have hopes to try and baptized him this next week. Let's see how it goes.

   Our family basically stopped progressing, the woman who had a strong spiritual impression. It's sad seeing someone regress after they have progressed so much. But we will continue working with them and seeing what their problems are.

   The zone baptized.... one. It's better than none though. And it was an area that hasn't baptized in awhile. The new elder there is a beast and is getting over 20 lessons a week. He has been doing really well. Well, not much more to report. I love you guys and hope that all is well with you. I'm super excited for the bathroom and can't wait to see it!! until next week.
Lots of Love,
Elder Baldwin

Monday, April 15, 2013

The three boys baptized in the little pool

Hey Mom and Dad!!

   I'm glad you got my letter I was getting worried it would never get there! Friggin third world mail system here.... lol just kidding. But I'm glad you got it.

   Alright I'll let you know about the family. So Sonia has not denied her experience or the book of Mormon or anything like that. But, her husband thinks she should wait. She suffers from some things like depression and stuff like that, and he wants to see if it is something she really wants. We are working now to change his mind. If anything, she needs the blessings of baptism to help deal with these problems in her life. They were supposed to come to church yesterday so that everyone could be baptized together as a family this next Sunday, but they didn't come. They told us in advance, they had to travel because they have problems with their son who lives in a different city, and he just had a baby. I'm sure you guys understand that feeling. But we are working with the family. They should be getting baptized this week or next. Pray for the husband that he will feel like this is the right thing to do. He is having trouble giving up his Roman Catholic Obligations (like Our Father prayer and stuff like that).

     

   Haha, that sounds like a really funny show dad. It would be tough. What you were saying reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw here, that goes something like this. "When you came into this world you were naked, bald, ugly, short, and had no teeth. Anything that comes is a blessing!"

It uses a word in portuguese that is hard to translate into english and get the same meaning, but I think you guys understand.

   So this week we did a lot of divisions to help some missionaries in their areas. I went to one of our district leaders and helped him decide if he needed to cut some investigators. We cut almost all. They just stay with the same people who don't change and don't want to, and who just like the company of the Elders. Now though they have some good progressing investigators. Also, an area in our zone married and baptized a family!! It was the family that forever ago we were working on getting them married, but we got problems with the stake president. Remember? Anyways they went through the normal process, got married and baptized last Saturday! It was really cool. Apparently for the past three months they only missed like one Sunday, so they are pretty firm.

   Give Tanner a hug from me when you see him. And tell him to write me when he has free time!! Alright I love you Mom and Dad and can't wait to talk with you on the phone mom!!! 

Elder Baldwin

P.S. there is an elder in our zone going home next week that is making everyone trunky lol, including me a bit ;) I miss you all!!!

Monday, April 8, 2013

YYYYEAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
   I was so happy when they announced the temple for Rio de Janerio!!!! In Rio, the members shouted for so long that people could not hear anything more that the prophet said. They started hearing again when the choir started singing lol. Our mission president stood up and yelled as if his soccer team made a goal. It was awesome. Me and Elder Pimentel here in Juiz de Fora did not get the same reaction. It's about 3 hours away from Rio still. But everyone is happy because there will be a temple much closer to them now. Absolutely we are coming to watch it get dedicated! Depending on when that is and when I get married, I may want to seal in this temple as well lol. But I’m not decided yet. Probly not cuz my wife wont understand what they are saying. But yeah, I’m so happy right now. I have even seen come to pass a promise from my patriarchal blessing. In the paragraph about my mission it says, "you will even participate in miraculous works." I always hoped that meant the announcing of the temple.

   Alright, Muriaé has a few people but not enough for a branch. There are worthy members there but we are the closest missionaries. And they cannot be baptized until a missionary interviews them, so we had to go anyways. The way the keys of baptism of converts works is that members don't hold them, our mission president does and he only authorizes his missionaries to give baptismal interviews. I hope that clears it up a bit why we had to go. But yeah it was fun and I did write in my journal about this. oh, and another spiritual experience we had...

   So I don't remember if I told you we are teaching a family named Altair, Sonia, and Tiago their son. Sonia is firm in a different evangelical church, while her husband is not too interested in religion. They are referrals from Sonia’s sister, who is a member in the ward and has been for ten years. Last week we were teaching them and inviting to baptism when Sonia said she would not be baptized because she likes her church and doesn’t want to leave. We became sad but we decided to keep working with them maybe to baptize the husband and son. This week we went there and started teaching about authority to baptize and the restoration using 3 Nephi 11. While I was talking all of a sudden Sonia got dizzy and her husband ran to take her to her bedroom. She suffers from some health problems so we thought it was just that. Next thing we knew she asked us to go into her room with everyone. When we went she was crying and said she could read the page. She has horrible eye site and even with glasses can't read too good. While we were teaching she said she grabbed the book of Mormon and opened it to the testimony of Joseph smith. She said all of a sudden she could read and reads his experience. She said she felt the spirit so strong, and then all of a sudden while she was telling us this lying on her bed she passed out. Straight up passed out like King Limhi!!! When she woke up she told us everything again, she had not forgotten, and said she knew that Jesus was in every single page of the book of Mormon, and that it was true. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted for the 14th. We are now working with the rest of her family. We will go tonight and teach the commandments. I am so happy, we are so close to baptizing a full family! The ward will love it.

   Yes I get along really well with my companion. I am experimenting serving him. Making his bed, ironing his shirt, making breakfast, and it is working really well. We have an awesome companionship, and we are having lots of success. I don't have too much more time so I’ll go now, but I love you and thank you both for teaching me to be who I am today. It is through your examples and diligence in keeping the commandments that makes me who I am. I love you both.
Love your son,
Elder Baldwin

Monday, April 1, 2013

Hey Mom and Dad,
   This week was good... cuz we got baptisms! This week we went on a trip to literally the very last city in the whole mission. I'm pretty sure the route our bus took, took us out of the mission boundaries a few times. Way out there. It's a little town called Muriaé. We got a call from them saying there were a few people out there going to a group that was having meeting out there, and who wanted to be baptized. So we did something I never thought I would do on the mission... I bought a swimming pool!! Haha, just a kiddy sized one that we took there to baptize the people there. There were three young men who were going who we baptized. It was really funny because they had to be baptized sitting down and had to completely lay down in the water for it to cover them. I baptized all three and had to do it on my knees. Man that hurt getting up. There wasn't enough water in the pool and it wasn't covering them all the way so all of them went at least twice. One had to be baptized three times cuz his foot kept popping up. But it was fun. The bus ride was 4 hours to get there and 4 hours back. Horrible. But a good opportunity to catch up on some lost sleep.

   The zone also did really well. Almost every single area in the zone baptized bringing this month’s results up to 10! Just one short of the goal. We were so sad about this. But we are really happy cuz it has been years I think since this zone has baptized so many people. That was always a goal of mine, take a zone that was considered a hole and make it a successful zone. So Elder Pimentel and I are happy. Today we are off to Rio to have the Mission Council and talk about our results. I am interested to see how the rest of the mission went.

   Yesterday we had Easter Dinner at our Relief Society president’s house. She had invited so many people that she was really afraid it wouldn't be enough food, but we said a prayer that the food would multiply just like the bread in the bible ;) just kidding lol. But everyone ate until they were stuffed and there was still food to spare!! So it was a good Easter. We ate chicken and a lot of stuff that I don't know how to explain. There were rice and beans though, and fish. Then, for dessert she made this huge three type chocolate cake thingie. It was really good. She said there was even a piece of her hand in it, then she showed us where the grater got her when she was grating a 1 kilo chocolate bar. It was funny. My companion gave a talk yesterday and included an experience from Orson F. Whitney about a dream he had. Have you read this dad? It's really interesting. It's in a talk that Jefferey R. Holland gave. I think you would like it.

     Alright Well I hope you guys have a good conference we are eagerly awaiting the Rio de Janeiro temple to be announced lol. Yes mom we will go to the stake building to watch. I'm excited it's been too long, and this is my last one on the mish! Sad thought. Alright, I love you guys! Until next week!
Love,
Elder Baldwin

Monday, March 25, 2013

Hey Mom and Dad!
   Well that family we were talking about we cut. They stopped progressing, the dad refused to live the Word of Wisdom, they prohibited their daughter from being baptized, and said they wanted to go to a different church. We left some strong words with them (words of love and truth. Unfortunately these are pretty strong) and cut them. They simply won’t do what we ask them.

   But! We found another excellent family!! They are legally married and the mom already came to church this last Sunday. We marked a date for next week for the family but not everyone went to church and they will be traveling, so we have to move it forward. But it is a golden family, the sister of a member in the ward and her husband and son. We have faith they will be baptized.

We went to an area that doesn't have missionaries (our responsibility  and suddenly a guy stopped us on the street, said he and his wife were baptized but inactive, but he wanted to come back. We went and visited them and found out the mom wants to come back, and they have 3 kids not yet baptized!!! We have a family night with them tonight.

   Well Dad it's good to know you got to see the babies. You are no longer a fake grandparent! lol.
   The singing went great it was a great ward conference. Lots of people brought friends and stuff, it was excellent. No I’m not the choir director or anything like that but the bishop had wanted to sing a solo and asked for help, but i don't think he will anymore. He got too shy lol. He thinks he sings bad.

   This week the companionship had a problem again. I think it's just cuz they have very different personalities, and none of them are trying to love the other one. Unfortunately one left the other alone on the street last night, and now it looks like tomorrow he will be transferred. It's sad but expected. You simply can't leave your companion. Ever.

   Transfers are not until the 22nd of April, so I still got a lot of time in this ward. I don't think I will be transferred cuz my comp is already here like 5 months now. So he will go first probably. Unfortunately while Cali is in a drought of water we are in a drought of baptisms. Everyone thinks they can mark "for next week." The thing is this happens every single week, remarking. It's sad but we are doing all we can to be an example for the zone and help lift and inspire.

   Haha that's true Dad, I had forgotten about your trust and love doctrine. It's cool because it's true. I will try and integrate that into our teaching and teach to be trusted. Sometimes it's tough to be on time though when we don't have any money for buses and no car lol. We have to run. But it's all good.


   Well Dad, the bathroom sounds like it is getting to be real nice looking. I'm excited to see it when I get back. If I were there I could help you with all the stuff that young guys should do ;P haha just kidding. But I would help you seriously on that part.   Alright Well I love you both. Oh, I wanted to talk about my package. Please send a package earlier than my birthday. Who knows when I will get it? Preferably with candy from Easter :) That would be great. I love you and hope you have another great week!
Elder Baldwin

Monday, March 18, 2013

 Hey Mom and Dad!
   Yes I heard that we can now write friends and stuff. That will be a huge help in communication. I have already written David and Paul and they responded to me lol. Thanks for letting me know.

   Wow I didn’t even realize it was St. Patrick’s day. They don’t have that here. I haven't gotten a ticket home yet. That's good cuz I don't want to get too trunky lol. I don't know when I’ll get mine but I’m thinking not until way later. I know they buy them way in advance but I don't think my mission president gives them to us so we can concentrate better. I thank him for that.

   Alright this week started off looking good and in the end turned into a nightmare. We had a girl all set up for baptism, the daughter of this family we are trying to marry, but she invited her grandparents to the baptism and they (are from an evangelical church) went crazy saying she can't be baptized she is only 10 and their church says they can't baptize until 15 and blah blah  blah and the parents started doubting and in the end completely hid from us. We will visit them this week to see if there is any hope but we don't want to waste time with them. They are not progressing very well either, and not living the word of wisdom.

   This week we also visited a city close by here in the region. They have a ward that we are responsible for. The only problem is there are people there that want to be baptized but the bishopric is telling them they can't be. It's annoying when members interfere with something that they don't have keys in.... but yeah. Those are my troubles.

   This week we had some Elders in the Zone almost fight each other. They got into an argument and ended with threats and stuff. I was able to talk to the senior comp and calmed him down. It turned ugly. His comp called president and president called us and told us if they fight they will probably be sent home and a bunch of stuff. But we talked with them and their district leader and all is good now.

   We aren't the top baptizing zone yet dad, but we are getting there. This week we suffered a set back but we are hoping and praying for better results next week.

   Good luck with the singing dad! We have ward conference this week in Nova Era and I am singing with the choir. I am also helping the Bishop train and sing for a special music piece he wants to do on Easter. Cool stuff. My developing the singing ability has helped me out a lot on the mission so far. Never thought I would do this when I was ten years old and tone deaf huh? lol. I love you guys and hope you have another good week. I will try and give the baptismal challenge on the street this week. I'll let you know how it is :)
With Love,
Elder Baldwin

A picture from Elder Baldwin right before Christmas 2012. That is equal to 113 degrees Fahrenheit!