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[Finding Purpose]
7/12/2021
Hey everyone! It's been a really good week here, lots of humbling myself and forgetting myself in the work.
I had a really touching experience with my companion Elder Boize this week that kind of opened my eyes a bit. It really helped me double down my focus on where I am, where I'm supposed to be, and how I can fulfill my responsibilities as a district leader and trainer for my companion. In mission slang, the relationship between a trainer and his trainee is referred to paternally, i.e. Elder Boize would be my mission "son." I usually would rather use proper, non-slang terms like trainer and trainee, but I discovered that me being Elder Boize's "father" actually caries a lot of meaning. He's had a pretty rough go during his first transfer in the field, and I feel blessed, honored, and humbled that the Lord has chosen me to be his support, his anchor, his companion, his "dad."
This week was filled to the brim with lessons, a huge blessing. We came up with an idea to go through all of the names of members of the Church in our areabook to set up some lessons. We ended up meeting some really awesome people who are less active or inactive in the Church. We also finally got in touch with Igor, a referral passed to us by Bishop Zanini, who originally asked for a priesthood blessing. Well it turns out he's actually a member who has been inactive for a long time as well. All in all, Elder Boize and I have been finding purpose here in our area, despite difficulties in finding new investigators to teach. We are helping these less active members recognize that they are loved, by us, by those around them, and most importantly, by God.
Alright that's it for this week. A lot more stuff happened, but I felt it would be better to keep this one shorter. We're heading into the last week of the transfer here. Not expecting any changes in our companionship, but we'll see what happens. Thanks for reading, and hope you have a great week.
Love,
Elder Bird
-Stopped on this staircase again on our walk home after we helped someone in the ward move
-A member gave us these gift bags!! Awesome!!!
-Last week at the emergency room waiting for Elder Boize to come out (don't worry he's fine, just an infection)
[Weekend of Birthdays/Other Important Days]
7/6/2021
Hey! Happy 4th!!
On Tuesday we received a referral for a guy named Artur (sans 'h') and ended up having a really spiritual lesson with him over a video call. He was so humble and willing to learn. He told us later that the scripture we shared with him that night, about faith, was exactly what he needed to hear. Really cool.
Our district council meeting was moved to Wednesday because we had interviews with President and Sister Hirschi! Interviews are always so great, a real kick in the motivation, and this one was no different. They pull people from our meeting while district council is going on, and so it was like a double whammy in terms of the spirit.
Thursday morning we had a training about making your companion your best friend by Elder Koplin from the missionary department (I think). He didn't speak any Portuguese, so one of the APs translated for him. It was a good reminder that I'm literally functioning in a different country and with a different language. Huh, pretty cool. The training was good as well! Elder Boize and I are going to make some more time to play games together (like chess) and talk more, which will really boost our friendship!
In the afternoon we had some free time and noticed the church hasn't been getting cleaned regularly with the rise of church attendance after the pandemic. So, we spent a couple of hours sweeping and mopping the chapel, the bathrooms, and a few other major rooms of the church building. It was a good service project!
Friday was kind of a slow day, but good nonetheless. We've been going to the church more often when we have slow times, and I've noticed a difference in my attitude. I just feel better when we spend time there instead of spending time at our apartment. Friday was also Sister Hirschi's birthday, so we recorded a little video of us singing "Parabéns pra Você" [Happy Birthday] and sent it to her, which she really liked.
Saturday was my wonderful Mom's birthday!! I was able to call home and have a quick chat with her to wish her a Happy Birthday! In the afternoon, we had a really good lesson with Valter. We talked with him about the principle of baptism and he said he would pray for an answer to setting a baptismal date and whether or not Joseph Smith was really a prophet. He loves reading the Book of Mormon and already feels the spirit really strong when he reads. We have no doubt that he will be able to recognize the answer he receives about Joseph Smith and baptism!
Sunday was July 4th! How fun! We didn't really do anything to celebrate though because this is Brazil - haha. But it was also Elder Boize's birthday! How awesome! Unfortunately all of our lessons we had planned for the day fell through, and Elder Boize was in some pain - his nose was hurting him. Kind of a bummer of a birthday, but we'll make it up this week by buying him a cake or something.
Like I said, all of our lessons fell through, which included going to Gabrielle's house and talking to her parents about her baptism. Her dad had to work. BUT, we invited her to write a letter to herself containing her testimony and why she really wants to be baptized. We asked her to show it to her parents and try to help them understand how she truly feels about this important step in her life.
Today, p-day, was pretty chill, we didn't hang out with the district or anything, just chilled at the church, played some ping pong, and talked with our families. In the evening after our Mission Huddle (a brief Zoom call with the whole mission), we talked to Sister Hirschi and then walked to the emergency room for Elder Boize's pain. Which is where I am sitting right now writing this email - haha.
Valter and Gabrielle are two of the people we're teaching that are most progressing in the gospel right now, and they both have so much potential! I'm excited to see how these next few weeks play out. We have faith that everything will work out with them!
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Bird
-Brazilian hotdogs, yum!
-On our way to clean the chapel, (also, my shirt commemorating US Independence Day!)
[Attitude of Gratitude]
6/28/2021
Hey y'all, another great week here in Santo André! (My subject line doesn't rhyme too well in Portuguese, but it does in English - haha.) Had a lot of ups and a couple downs throughout the week, but I'm choosing to focus on the ups and see how my attitude changes!
We started off the week great on Tuesday with a service project in the 4th ward. One of the members there has a little store where he sells some bits and bobs, and some pieces of furniture. The Sister missionaries who cover that ward asked us and the ZLs to come and help them move and arrange some of the items for him, and clean and organize the store a bit. It was pretty fun to do some service after a bit of a hiatus, and he bought us all snacks and lunch!
On Wednesday we had Zone Conference, woohoo!! It was Elder Boize's first zone conference in the mission, and it was great to see everyone in the zone. I saw Elder França there, my old companion, and I talked to an American who had just arrived, and thought his Portuguese was already good. Anyway, I had the opportunity to play the piano during the conference, which was really fun because I finally learned how to play the Missão São Paulo Sul Mission Hymn for the meeting. All the trainings were inspiring and in the middle they provided pizza for lunch! President and Sister Hirschi love to give out chocolate bars (Hershey's of course) for birthdays within the last transfer and for other things they ask missionaries to do in between conferences, so I ended up with two! What a treat!
We talked with Valter again on Thursday. He invited us in and we talked about the whole Plan of Salvation with him. We spent almost 2 hours talking about all the points, and he was really into it. He also mentioned that he actually stopped drinking coffee, which was unexpected! He's making great progress and it's really cool to see the Spirit being manifested in him.
Friday was a big day with our lesson with Gabriele. We asked if her parents were okay with her getting baptized, and she said they had some doubts about if she's old enough to get baptized yet. But she talked it through with them and we are still going try to shoot for an official baptismal date. For the lesson, we talked about all of the commandments with her, and the importance and blessings of each one. She was really interested and good with it all. She even asked for a list of scriptures to go along with each one, so she could do a bit more studying on her own! What a champ!
On Saturday we had another lesson planned with Edilene, the one who lives straight up the mountain, but it ended up falling through. However, we received a couple of pretty solid referrals, one from the Areabook and another from the Sister missionaries.
Sunday morning we had a bit of a sickness scare. I woke up in the morning with a sore throat, but didn't really think much of it because that happens sometimes when I wake up. But today I had a runny nose as well. And here's the kicker, I took a cough drop to ease the sore throat and I didn't taste the flavor at all and barely noticed the menthol feeling. I checked the bag and they weren't supposed to expire for another year. Obviously a bit strange, no? I was thinking it might be Round II of Covid. So I texted Sister Hirschi my symptoms and they said we would have to stay at home until we could get a Covid test. We ended up missing our Sacrament meetings, but then the mission office called us an Uber to go to a nearby pharmacy. There they had a rapid Covid test
where we could get the results in just a few minutes. It turned out that both of us tested negative, which was a huge relief, and we were able to avoid the 10-day quarantine. Then we let all of our people know that we were fine.
Today for p-day we got to go bowling with most of our district. It was super fun!
Alright, that's all for this week! Hope you guys are doing great wherever you are, and focusing on what you're grateful for! I really saw a difference this week as I shifted my own perspective.
Love you all!
Elder Bird
-Elder Boize and me at the church for Zone Conference
-Our Zone
-Our District
-It is getting cold here heading into Winter - super foggy day
-Elder Boize and me at the mall on P-day
[From House to House]
6/21/2021
We got word this week that we are now allowed to go into people's homes if people invite us in or we have pre-planned lessons. So things have been picking up around here!
On Tuesday we had a Mission Leadership Counsel meeting, in-person, with just our zone, which included the District Leaders and their companions. It was a great, very spiritually uplifting meeting about how we can better work with our members. President Hirschi wants every companionship to set a goal to have lessons with 6 members/families every single day. We are supposed to ask for referrals from the members and to build up trust with them, in order to boost the amount of solid people who are really looking to change their lives for the better. He also asked us to not do Facebook contacting this week to see how our in person teaching improves. It was a pretty interesting meeting.
In the evening, Bishop Zanini of the 5th ward sent us the contact info of a man named José who was looking for some help in his life. We ended up meeting with him and his wife Analice that night at the church building to talk more. We had to opportunity as well, to give them both priesthood blessings of comfort and counsel. We left them with our testimonies of the power of faith and how it can give each of us the strength to push past the difficulties and challenges we face in our lives. It was an amazing lesson and we all felt the spirit really strong. We set up a day to meet with them again, next week at the same time.
Wednesday started off great with an amazing district council meeting, but then we had a couple of hiccups throughout the rest of the day. After the meeting. we realized that the member who was providing us lunch lived pretty far away from our apartment. I suggested we try taking a different bus home that would pass by her house on the way back to our terminal, or so I thought. It's the same bus we usually take to get to district council, and I thought it would just do a big loop and bring us back home, but it turned out not to do that. There was a final stop that was even farther away from home than where we started. Sooo Embarrassing! Elder Boize and I shared a quick laugh about it, but it put me in a not-so-great mood for the rest of the day. To get where we needed to be, I called my mission office secretary buddy and he called an Uber for us. We had to spend a bit more time and money on travel than we planned on, but that's okay. Then, on the long walk home from the member's house, we got splashed with mud by a car passing by. It's funny now, looking back at it, but in the moment, it worsened my mood. I was stuck in this mindset of "everything is going wrong today."
I was wondering how such a bad day (or so it seemed to me in that moment) could start off with such a spiritually rich district council meeting in the morning. To feel better, I started to read the "Adjusting to Missionary Life" booklet to help me deal with the anxiety I was feeling. I was thinking about my inability to say exactly what I mean and to understand people to the fullest extent, and then something caught my attention. It said, "Let go of what you cannot control (things like the past, the culture, your own limitations) and focus on things you can do something about, such as your behavior, your current choices, and your attitude." I realized then that I hadn't really been in good control of my attitude during the afternoon. I'm learning more and more here in Brazil what it means to truly put my trust in the One who is in control. With this in mind, I pushed forward through some lessons I was still a bit anxious over, and we ended up finishing the day where we had started, with the Spirit in our midst.
On Thursday we did a lot of traveling. In the morning, we had the chance to deliver a copy of the Book of Mormon to a person we are teaching named Valter. He invited us in to talk a bit about it. He told us he had done some "reading up" about some things we believe, so we had a good chat about the Word of Wisdom. We were able to bring the conversation back to the pattern of prophets in the lives of the God's children and the Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel with Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He told us he would read and pray about whether it was a good thing for his life, so everything turned out well.
Next up we walked from Valter's apartment to pick up lunch from a member. She invited us and we were able to share a quick message with her. This was the first time in a while since I'd been able to do an in person member lesson.
In the afternoon we were supposed to visit with a person who was referred to us and who we had set up a lesson with. But, it ended up falling through. Although we were sad to have a lesson fall through, her house was really far away, like a 30 minute walk from our place, and in a bit of a sketchy area, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise.
In the evening we had the opportunity to visit with a less active young man named Luis in the Guarará ward. He lives way down south in the Parque Miami/Vila Riviera area by the reservoir and the damn. So we took the bus to get there and had a great lesson with Luis and his friend Luan, an active member in the ward. We talked about the scripture reading from this week's "Come, Follow Me" Sunday School, and then invited Luis to give a copy of the Book of Mormon to a friend with an explanation of what it means to him in his life. Elder Boize was really good at being friendly with them (probably because he speaks Portuguese) and they were close to our age, so I think we made a good connection with them both, Luis and Luan.
On Friday after lunch and the EnglishConnect class for Elder Boize, we started our first exchange of this transfer, with the ZLs. I went with Elder Silva to their area, while Elder Larson stayed in our area with Elder Boize. While there, I was able to do a baptismal interview for a person they were teaching named Paulo. Everything went great with his interview, and he is ready. I'm excited for him, to be dressed in all white, for his baptism on Sunday. I won't be able to be there in person, but it's tradition for us to share pictures of our baptisms every week in our WhatsApp mission group chat, with their permission of course. Afterwards, we went back to the apartment and ordered a pizza to celebrate.
On Saturday we got up nice and early (the usual time-haha) to get ready and switch back companions for another successful day of missionary work.
The lesson that fell through on Thursday, was with a referral named Edilene, and we were able to teach her on this day. She lives on the border of the city to the south, the last road before it turns into a park/nature preserve, and straight up the mountain. Her house was in a favela [hood] but, we made it there after a while of hiking up the road. She nicely invited us in for the message we wanted to share with her. We taught her a few different things and she shared with us a bit about her life there. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and invited her to read about when Jesus appears to the people in the Americas. She seemed very excited to read and learn more. It was a great lesson, and she said she'll have some other family members over the next time we come to teach. Hurray!
Sunday-- Happy Father's Day!!!
We started our day off with our normal church meetings and Elder Boize gave a great talk during the 5th ward's sacrament meeting. In the Guarará ward, Marina brought her friend Gabriele again, and we followed up on the things we talked about in our video call lesson earlier in the week. She is really close to accepting a baptismal date, we just need to make sure her parents are aware that she is looking into the Church and that it is okay with them.
We had a couple lessons planned for the late afternoon, one by phone and the other in person, but they both fell through. Oh well. At least we got a good walk out of it. It's always so much better to be out of the apartment and seeing people on the street and getting some exercise.
In the evening, I was able to call my parents and wish my dad a Feliz Dia dos Pais! So grateful for my dad and everything he's taught me over the years.
Today for p-day, the ZLs organized a barbecue for our district and a couple of other missionaries. It was super fun! We bought some meat to grill up and then met at the chapel across the street from the ZL's apartment. We got there a bit early, so we helped set up and got the grill all fired up.
When the Sister missionaries arrived, they had a new American Sister with them, who must have just arrived on Saturday! How exciting!! Always good to see more Americans having the chance to come back to Brazil! Also, super nice to have another person I can talk to and relate to. Anyways, Elder Silva started grilling and we got a game of Uno going, and everyone was laughing and having a great time. It's been so long since I've had such a rejuvenating p-day like this one, and it was really amazing to feel like I was hanging out with friends again. We'll have to see if we can do stuff like this more often.
Hey all, I know it this was a really long one, so thanks for sticking with me! Overall it was an amazing week here and I can't wait to get started with this next week! We already have lots of lessons, and plans, and service projects set up. Plus we have Zone Conference! Super exciting to be getting back into the mission groove of things, and I just know my time here is gonna fly by with how busy we're becoming again. I'm trying to do my best to make the most of it by fulfilling my missionary purpose of helping others come unto Christ.
Love you all,
Elder Bird
-Elder Boize and I in front of the church, new profile picture for WhatsApp
-In front of a little park on the way from Valter's house
-Celebration Pizza with Elder S. Silva
-Me on a tall ledge overlooking a favela [poorer community]
-Crazy horse casually walking down the city street
-Me in front of the nighttime lights of our area - our street at night
[Bouts of Busy]
6/14/2021
Hey my people! Sorry for not getting an update out last week, it was a crazy p-day with transfers happening. I ended up spending the day with the APs [assistants to the President] because my new companion wasn't arriving until the next day. But, I will recount a couple of things during the week leading up to it.
So two weeks ago I left off with the account of Elder Vivanco coming to be in our companionship for a while. As it turned out, after talking to various counselors, President Hirschi, and his parents, Elder Vivanco decided to return back home, after only just a couple of weeks here in Brazil. He let Elder França and me know Monday night that he would be leaving us on Thursday to stay with the mission office secretaries, and then flying home on Friday. From a few of the conversations I had with him, it seemed like he's never really seen extreme cases of poverty up close before, and I guess he wasn't prepared for the reality of some rash decisions people choose to make in desperate situations. It was sad to see him leave the mission knowing he'd be missing out on a lot of personal and spiritual growth and development, but ultimately it was his decision to make and I know all things happen for a reason (see 2 Nephi 2:24).
Speed round:
-Tuesday was the last District Council meeting of that transfer, the Sisters made a cake to celebrate.
-Wednesday, we helped teach part of a seminary class online and Marina brought Gabriella again. It was a great lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel.
-Thursday we left early in the morning to take Elder Vivanco to the Mission Office and then returned to our area, just the two of us again.
On Sunday we received news about the upcoming transfer. In the morning we got a text from the APs saying that Elder França would be leaving our area for another area in our zone. This caught us somewhat by surprise because we thought I would be the one leaving because I've had more time here. Then in the evening President Hirschi called and asked me if I would be willing to train a new missionary. That was pretty exciting! He said my new trainee was Brazilian and knew no English, so even more opportunities to improve my Portuguese was coming. Then he told Elder França which area he would now be serving in. He said he would decide how he wanted us to move the next day - Monday morning.
Last Monday (p-day) we got the apartment all cleaned up and ready for the new guy, and Elder França ready to head out to his new area in Mauá. We got a call from the APs in the afternoon saying how our part of the transfer would go. I would go with Elder França to drop him off to his new area and with his new companion (turns out it's Elder Pontius from my MTC group), then go with Elder Pontius' old companion to another missionary house. Then from there I was to get an Uber and go to the Mission Office where I stayed with one of the APs, Elder Erickson, until about 9pm when transfers were over. It wasn't until then that I could call my family for quick chat and then we headed back to the APs house. The reason for all this was because my trainee wasn't arriving until Tuesday and as missionaries we need to be in a companionship or with other Elders. Also, it helped that I was close to the office for when my new companion arrived.
Tuesday morning, I woke up with the APs and a couple other missionaries who were finishing their missions who had flights home. We had a normal morning of exercise/stretching and personal study, and then an Uber picked me and the APs up. We headed back to the Mission Office where I waited for my trainee to arrive. So, I had plenty of time to document the happenings of the previous week.
Turns out I would stay there at the office for the whole day, because my new companion's flight got changed. He finally arrived around 6pm and we met, and I learned his name is Elder Boize. President Hirschi then took us in his car to the mission home where Sister Hirschi made a lovely dinner for the four of us. After dinner, each of us shared our testimonies, which was a very spiritual moment for me. It had been a while since I felt the Spirit so strongly. After testimonies and a couple of quick pictures, it was back to the office for a couple of short trainings from the APs. By this time it was already about 9:30pm, and the APs were having some trouble finding an Uber that could fit both of us and Elder Boize's luggage, or that would accept the long drive back to our area, so we ended up splitting up. I went with Elder Erickson to stay the night in the AP's apartment once again, and Elder Antônio, the other AP, stayed the night in the secretaries' apartment (which is right next to the Mission office) with Elder Boize and his suitcases.
Wednesday morning we woke up, joined the Zoom call for our morning mission leadership prayer, and then I finally got to go back to my own area with my novinho [brand-new] trainee, Elder Boize. It turned out to be one of the most busy days on the mission in Brazil so far, which was really interesting. We had a ton of meetings, with the mission, with leadership, with the ward leaders, with the Stake presidency, and also three member lessons and weekly planning sprinkled in.
Thursday was our district council meeting which was pushed because of transfers on Monday and Tuesday. Right after our meeting, the Sister missionaries had a referral for us. His name was Valter and we had a lesson together so they could introduce us to him. We get to teach him because he lives in our area not theirs. We stayed at the church building with the ZLs (Zone Leaders) and the other set of sisters, to join another mission leadership call. After our meetings, we finally got back to our area, and went to the bank and to the store to buy some much needed breakfast and dinner foods. In the evening, we had some good text conversations with some of the people we are currently teaching.
Friday was much more relaxed and the first full day spent entirely in our own area. We didn't have so many meetings. Something kind of funny happened as we were going through our area book, contacting some of the people who were taught or had talked to the missionaries in the past. One woman we sent a message to said to us, "Hey you guys disappeared, what happened?" After we responded, she said, "I'm already looking to get baptized." Elder Boize and I looked at each other in excitement and I was thinking, "Wow I'm finally being blessed for all the hard work I've been putting in." So we took a screenshot of the conversation and sent it to our district chat with the caption, "Aqui só milagres," which means "Only miracles here." After some congratulations from the district and trying to set up a lesson with the woman, she told us, "Well, I can't do a lesson tomorrow because I have something at another church I'm getting baptized in." Dun dun dun! Hahahaha! We spoke way too soon on that one. We're still gonna try and keep in contact with her though, and teach her about the Priesthood and proper authority. And hey, now Elder Boize and I have our first inside joke, Aqui só milagres! Haha
On Sunday, we had a great couple of first-Sunday-of-the-mission sacrament meetings for Elder Boize. He was even asked to give a talk next week in the 5th ward, haha. Classic! Other than that, just business as usual, lots and lots and lots of contacting.
Well that oughta do it for the past two weeks. Thanks for sticking with me and reading to the end (which if you're reading this, means you probably did that, yay!). It was great to feel busy again for that short burst of time around the transfer, if not a slightly bit overwhelming, after a while of not having too much to do. But I'm yet very happy to be here, improving my Portuguese day by day, doing my part by having no fear and just opening my mouth to share what I know to be true.
Love you all. The support you have given me is so much appreciated. Catch y'all next week!
Elder Bird
-Elder Boize with President and Sister Hirschi
-Elder Boize and I at the mission home x2
-Door of the mission office, with the mission logo!
-The state of São Paulo is trying to have everyone vaccinated by September. Only three months away, exciting!
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