MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM BRAZIL

Chrismas has passed in Brazil! Now we just have to survive the New Year! 

This week was really great. DUH. Christmas is the best, and even though we´re pretty far away from our families, as missionaries we still can feel that special spirit of Christmas. It does help that our Ward gave us a ton of chocolate. 

But seriously, Christmas was great! We got to talk to our families over Skype, eat a ton, and over everything else we were able to remember the birth of Christ, the Savior of all mankind. On Christmas day, every Zone got together (under the President´s directions) to host a special Christmas meeting. It was awesome.

Christmas Eve, the Bishop of our ward invited us to dinner, where we had a great time. At the end of the dinner, the Bishop and his family shared with us something very interesting that they did this Christmas. Starting at the beginning of the month of December, each family member sought to do acts of Christlike missionary service. With each act, the family would write out a description of the act on a piece of paper, and put it into this box. The box was then wrapped up on Christmas Eve (before we got there), and labeled as a Gift to Christ. And so we watched the Bishop´s family open the present and read these acts out loud. It was awesome to see the family remember about all the good things they had done this Christmas season. I feel my Savior was pretty happy with that.

Also, I FINALLY got to see the Christmas video made by the Church, ´He is the Gift,` so that was fun! It was wonderful to be able to remember the simple beginnings of the most important Life that ever Is. Based on my experiences here in Brazil, and in the teachings and guidances of my parents during my childhood, I could truly say this Christmas that I know that my Redeemer lives. I know with all my soul that He lives and that He loves us, and most importantly, that He, even God, suffered all pains, sins, and afflictions so that each and everyone of us here on earth can gain a life after death. Also, I can say that I know that if we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can experience the greatest life after death, which is Life Eternal. I am here in Brazil to share these wonders with everyone I possibly can, with the hope that they can accept these eternal truths and come unto Christ.

And that is it. Happy Holidays, everyone.

Elder Bispo

EMERGENCY TRANSFER SUCCESS

Merry Christmas everyone! Last week, when I recieved the message that I would be serving here in Dias Macedo, our p-day had already almost ended, so I had to run and pack my bags quick! However, my first week here in Dias Macedo has been great! My area is part of the Aerolandia ward, which is the oldest ward here in Fortaleza. It´s where it all started here in lovely Ceará! Our Bishop literally lives two doors down, and we have a few awesome recent convert families that are our neighbors. However, we all live really far from the Chapel. And so, the plan is to split the ward and start a branch here in Dias Macedo. Hopefully I´ll be able to help with this!

My new companion is Elder Calisaya, from Peru. I actually saw him arrive here on the mission, as his first area was in Estaca Litoral, in which Ala Ômega resides. Unfortunately, my poor companion was basically melting with fever the whole week. However he´s doing a lot better.

I am now the District leader of six Sisters, and the Zone Leaders here in Estaca Aldeota! It´s pretty cool. The Zone Leaders are actually serving in the Aerolandia ward also, only they live a lot closer to the chapel. We eat lunch with them everyday.

Also, this week we had our Mission Christmas Conference! It was pretty awesome.I FINALLY got to see Elder Brooks again! I haven´t seen him since he left Ala Ômega! Also, I got to see Elder Imperador. He´s doing great! Then every other Elder that I know was there, so it was pretty awesome.

And that´s it for my week! FELIZ NATAL!!!!

Elder Bispo

EMERGENCY transfer

Well, this was quite unexpected. I will be transferred to another zone, because I will. However its not even tranfers yet. So this is what happened.

This transfer, because some Elders and Sisters wanted to make it home to spend Christmas with the family, today was marked as an Emergency Transfer day. The thing is, though, is that two Elders left, which means just two other Elders would be tranferred in the whole mission of 100 or so Elders. I wasnt exactly expecting that I would be one of those two. So Im kind of freaking out right now. Whoo!

And that is really it.

TWINS!

Hey everyone! We got a fridge! I don't think I've ever mentioned it, but it's been five weeks since our fridge broke, and we just got a new one today. I thought you would have all liked to know. It's really nice to have a fridge.

Anyway, this week was pretty cool. We are contacting like madmen, and we are starting to develop a lot of techniques and suchlike so people don't run away from us (just kidding, that stopped happening). We also have a free baptism this week! Let me explain.

There is this kid in the ward, whose family is all members, and who recently turned twelve. So the Bishop of the ward went to search for his member record in the registers of the Church, so he could be ordained a Deacon, and guess what?! This kid doesn't have a member record! It looks like the Elders that baptized this family must have misplaced his membership document thing. And you know what that means? The Church basically doesn't recognize him as a member! So we have to baptize him again. Whoo!

Also, our investigators are progressing well, and we are expecting a lot of success in the future. 

That's the week! Tchau!

Elder Bispo

No turkey in Brazil.......

This week was SUPER packed! We are starting to really kick up dust in our search for baptisms in this ward, so we are working even more than ever! It's pretty awesome, because now we get to see a whole bunch of miracles and that stuff. I feel in my experience here in Brazil, that the harder you work, the more miracles you will see.

First off, our President set a new Standard of Excellence for our mission, which means that of all the work we do, there is a minimum of work allowed, and then there is the "Excellent" range. Elder Andersen and I have made it a goal to always be in the excellent. One of the numbers, however, is something that I think this mission has never seen. The "Excellent" for contacts is 20 per day, which is proving to be very fun. This week, we were able to meet that standard 5 out of 7 days! I was pretty excited. 

So basically, we had all these weird/funny/great experiences in our contacts. The first thing we thought was really funny was that we actually managed to scare some people off, on accident. In our zeal to complete our goals, we actually had about five or six people this week that literally ran away from us during the contact. Whoops. 

We also contacted some guy that knew a lot about the church, and in the middle of the conversation decided to try and speak Hebrew with us. Then he was all like "What?! You guys don't speak Hebrew?" It was awfully confusing. 

Lastly, while we were with a member named Borges (remind me to tell you all about him later) we contacted a middle-aged man, named Edvalder, that was sitting on the sidewalk, who then began to share that just the other day his sister had gotten into a big fight with him. She kicked him out of the house, called him a bunch of names, and stabbed him a few times for good measure (nothing serious though, just wounds on the arms and back). He had already gotten medical treatment, and he was very grateful that we had stopped to talk to him. We then felt inspired to say that God had sent us to him in his time of need, and then left him with a quick but powerful lesson. He promised that he would go to church the next day, and was very excited to see the results of the prayers and blessings that we left with him. 

The next day, when we got to church, we were very excited to see him there, and he was very excited to tell us that he had found a place to stay temporarally. He then said that he knew that his prayers, and ours, had been answered, and he then stayed to participate with all three hours of church. It's a little funny though how well he understood everything in church, considering that he had shown up to church a little drunk. However, the Atonement is the best thing to get someone back on his feet again!

Also, Lusyleine's husband, Alfredo, came to church yesterday. We were extremely excited to see him! He is a great guy, and we have been a little frustrated with him because he until yesterday he hadn't ever gone to visit the Church. By the way, if some of you don't remember who Lusyleine is, she's our super active recent convert that I'm really proud of. I know that the only reason Alfredo came to church was because he has begun to realize the change of spirit of his wife. This family is about to be very blessed because of the leading example of this great woman. 

And that's really it. See you all later!

Elder Bishop