Week 39...Mogi Mirum

This week was crazy. I only had two days out of the entire week to work in my area. It was really hard to let that happen. I heard a bunch of good news but I´m super nervous about what is going to happen this next transfer. I feel like whenever I am comfortable at all that is when things always change.

To start things off, we are going to have a house in Mogi Mirim. For more than 6 months now we have been living in Mogi Guaçu and riding the bus everyday to Mogi Mirim(which I think is where half of my stories came from.) We had to walk 30 minutes everyday to go to the bus stop and then wait 10-15 minutes for the bus to pass. So at the end of the day we were losing about 2 hours of working time. I am really excited to see how it will be living in our area. Also with almost 7 months in the same area, I feel like I will be leaving this next transfer. So I´ll have the privilege of working super hard to find a house and finally when we get it, I will get to go to another area. It is lovely how things work out sometimes.

 

Also I was invited to attend a leadership meeting this last week. I was super nervous why but one missionary said that they were going to invite one missionary from all the zones to attend(I think he was just jealous because he wanted to go). I went with another Elder that I live with who is the District Leader. I thought it was for all the leaders of our mission but when I got there it was only Zone Leaders. There was 5 other people that were invited and I was the only one there that wasn´t a leader of any kind. Also when we had practices the assistants were listening especially to me. I am really nervous about what the Lord has planned for me. It´s cool to see that he trusts me but I feel super disqualified. That was pretty much my week. We taught some people but the rest of the weeks was literally all meetings and my companion being sick. Anyways I love you guys a ton and if you guys would pray for me and Ashley (our investigator that is scared of water) this week.

 

Love,

Elder Zachary

P.S. We decided to explore the chapel a little bit. With a ladder almost all things are possible.

 

Week 38....Mogi Mirum

Time is flying by. I only have 12 more weeks till I am halfway done with my mission. I also got some good news. My companion from the MTC has been waiting for his visa and he just got his visa. It would definantly be ironic if I were to train him. I am super excited to see him and any others that could be coming to the wonderful and great country Brazil.

I am really starting to love this place. I feel totally comfortable speaking the language and with the culture here. I also love the people and after 6 months knowing the same people, I feel like they are my family. I love to look at how much I have grown and have gotten better. To think that 6 months ago I could say very little and 9 months ago I didn´t know anything in Portuguese. Right now it is almost hard to speak in English and I am forgetting words. Actually, the other day we had a meeting with Elder Evans and I went to ask a question but I couldn´t remember how to say commitments. Then the translator that was translating helped me remember. It was a little embarasing.

 

We are expecting the baptism of Ashley this week. I have been saying that for almost 3 weeks but we are going to have her interview this week. Also this week was the start of carnaval so it was a little crazy. I saw alot of things that I really didn´t need to see but that is part of carnaval. I think the closest thing to it back home would be fake patty´s day and country stampede. This week we are returning back to our house at 7 till the end of carnaval.

 

This week was a little tough. I am really feeling the stress of being Senior. It is tough because I try to let my companion help but when he doesn´t want to it makes it difficult. Also I have had alot of time in the same area so creativity in finding new people is starting to lack. I will continue doing what I know till I find something different that works better. Also, I am going to ask the rest of our Zone how they find new people. It is a little tough because the people in my city are super closed till you get to know them. In fact the only people that we have found making contacts are people from other areas. In my struggles, I have grown more and have to listen more. I don´t like trials but we don´t learn anything without them. I´ll just remember something that I heard from a family that I miss so much from Wamego. Fake it till you make it. I love you guys so much. Stay safe

Love,

Elder Zachary

P.S. If you want to hear some awesome brazilian music look up Gusttavo Lima, Fui Fiel. We hear a ton of music walking on the street and I think this is my favorite.

 

Week 37....Mogi Mirum

This week was definantly different than any other week that I have had on my mission. This week we had the oppurtunity to listen to Elder Evans and President Costa. They are both from the Seventy. It was pretty funny though. They called last Saturday saying that they would be coming to visit our mission Tuesday and they wanted everyone to be there at 9 in the morning, which means at the latest 8:30. It was a pretty hectic day. We left our house at 5 in the morning so we could ride the bus for almost 2 hours and then walk quite a ways to the conference but everything we did was worth it. It was funny because Elder Evans is American and needed a translator. So it took twice as long to say what he wanted to say but it was really emphasized because I got to hear everything twice. Elder Evans is the chairman of the missionary work and knew alot about missionary work but strangely he decided to talk about families. He talked more about eternal marriage than how to talk to people on the streets. I found it really interesting when he said, "If we hold true to what we believe, starting with the family, thousands and even millions will come to the Church of Jesus Christ." He said, "this is doctrine not theory." Also he said that, "if our investigators do not meet the qualifications in DC 20:37 then we have a commandment that we can not baptize." It answered a ton of questions that I had. Also he said that he was at a conference with Elder Nelson and he asked Elder Evans, "How long after your mission were you married?" He responded, "3 months." He said that Elder Nelson gave him a dissapointed look and said that he married 5 days after his mission. He just left it at that and said that we could guess what we need to do after our missions.

Other than that our week was strange. We went and visited an older sister(75 years young) because she always has references for us. When we visited her at first she seemed normal but after she almost collapsed. She took medicine for knee pain and then for low blood pressure and had a reaction with the two drugs. Her blood pressure would go super high and then drop. It wouldn´t stay still. We ended up calling the ambulence and it took two hours to show up. During that two hours there was alot of praying going on. Then when she was in the hospital it got better but the doctor said that it was because of her faith and the faith of her "friends" that she was saved. Also one of her references was confirmed this Sunday by an inactive that came back almost 6 months ago.

 

So this transfer will be 7 1/2 months in the same area. This week when I got to church I was adressed as Bispo Zachary and Patriarcha Zachary by several members. One member even offered to start building me a house here in the glorious town of Mogi Mirim for me and my future wife. Oh and we painted our house this week!

 

We are also having alot of Elders leave the mission and to think that I have less than 15 months till I come back is crazy. I feel like it is going by too quick. Also this fruit is called maracuja. I think Brother Chandler would recognize it. It is super strong and looks like frog eggs but makes a super good juice. Also believe me I am still loving it in Mogi Mirm because next week is Carnaval and if I were in any other city I would have to stay in my house all week but Mogi Mirim will just have house parties nothing like Recife or Rio de Janeiro. Also I am excited to see you guys moving in the direction the Lord wants and how you guys are so willing to obey. The only problem that I´m seeing is that if you think Wamego is hard, I can´t imagine serving in Burlington with 30 people every week. I´m sure it will be great there though.

 

Love,

Bispo Zachary

 

Week 36....Mogi Mirum

This week went by pretty slow. I think it will always be like this when I get a new companion. His name is Elder Matheus. He is pretty good but is still super new in the mission and learning a ton. He is from the south here in Brazil. He has a desire to be good and I think that´s all I can ask for. Also, now I´m Senior companion. Last transfer I was co-senior so we shared the responsibility but this transfer it´s all on me. It´s alright though because when we have challenges the Lord prepares us for them and during them.

We started off the transfer really well. We had a baptism Sunday and are planning to have a baptism Saturday. Our baptism this last week was a women named Michele. She is super awesome. We actually started teaching her almost 5 months ago with Elder Lukas. She was super receptive but she had problems keeping commitments. She had to work every Sunday and couldn´t go to church. So sadly we had to put her a side till she would be able to go to church. Then about a month ago we passed by there and figured out that she wasn´t working anymore and could go to church. We invited her to church and that Sunday she went! Then she got another job and while she could go to church it limited when we could teach her. We had two options teach her in the morning or at night and return home late. We decided it would be best to wake up at 5 in the morning so we could get there at 8. We did that several times but everytime something happened and we couldn´t teach her. Then Friday we were able to teach her, so we taught her all the lessons in less than 40 minutes and had an interview Saturday. Also we are planning on baptising her daughter this Saturday. Her daughter is amazing. She was born with a problem, so she can´t walk but she has such a desire to follow the plan that God has for her. I really want to be more like her.

 

Also, it was super hot here. It hadn´t rained for almost a month and in São Paulo they are cutting water because of a water shortage. They said it hasn´t been this hot in almost 50 years(just my luck.) This week we were truely blessed with rain. Although it always came at inconvenient times it was good to feel it again. The weather has been super crazy! Anyways I love you guys a ton and stay warm!

 

Love

Elder Zachary

 

Week 35....Mogi Mirum

This week was pretty good but as always it went by super quick. The state where I´m serving, São Paulo, has been having really bad problems with heat recently. For all of you guys back home that would probably be nice for a little bit. It has been almost 100 degrees during the day and hasn´t rained in almost 2 weeks. This means that it is only getting hotter and hotter. It litterally feels like I´m walking into an oven when I step out of the shade. Also the sun is shining directly on our area because there is literally not a cloud in the sky. So it made it really dificult to work hard this week and my companion got sick this week too. Also this week we had Stake Conference. It was super good but we also lost alot of time with it.

 

The work is really moving forward here. We didn´t have a baptism last week but this week for sure we will be having one. Our investigator had a date marked for last Saturday but she was super sick the days before. We really didn´t think to call her. We figured out that after that she wanted to get a ride to Stake Conference to be baptized. She is super firm. Also her daughter has cerebral palsy so she can´t walk but she is super awesome and wants to be baptized. She just has a problem walking but she can think so we asked the Bishop and he said yes.

This week we will have transfers. I figured out yesterday that I will stay in the glorious, marvelous city of Mogi Mirim. At the end of my next transfer I will have 7 months in the same area. It is crazy to think that. Time is flying by so quick here. I was thinking that I would change cities and actually I had one suitcase packed and ready to go but I guess the Lord has other plans for me. Alot of other Elders think that I will be Bishop here or Patriarch if I stay a little bit longer. Also the Elders that I live with from Mogi Guaçu thought that I would leave too. So they decided to get all the pranks out before I left. This picture is them with my ties before they hid them all but luckily I can stay and teach them the meaning of the word revenge. One likes to steal our food from the refridgerator so I´m think that Laxatives in the orange juice or in the water sounds good (puts a new meaning to don´t drink the water.) Anyways love you guys a ton and stay warm (feels weird to say that.)

 

Love,

Elder Zachary