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[Orange Level]
4/26/2021
Hey everyone! The last week of this transfer is over, so this week I'm heading into another chapter of my mission. Exciting!
Restrictions here for Covid are getting a bit better day by day. We were actually allowed to gather together in person for our district council meeting this week, which was a huge blessing. It has been a long time since we have been able to see anyone else in person, and it was great for me to regain that energy, I usually get from being around lots of people.
A young woman from the Guarará ward reached out to us and asked us if we could help her answer some questions that her friend, who has been coming to seminary with her, has. What a great member missionary co-op opportunity! It was a great lesson with the two of them, and we were able to teach about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of the Church. After we finished and said goodbye, Elder França described feeling like he was on fire with the spirit during the lesson, and I felt it strongly as well. Hopefully we can continue to develop that relationship!
Also this week, we had follow up lessons with Gilberto and his wife, Dijaneide, and also with Meire. We reviewed the things we taught last time and shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon with each of them respectively. We are trying to ease our way back into teaching Deuzi again, without being overbearing. She is still mourning the loss of a close family member, so we're being as loving and as understanding as possible. We had a lesson planned with Sérgio on Sunday, but he was out of the house when we tried to call so we'll have to try again. We have gone through our entire online Area book and tried to clean it up. There were hundreds of people we contacted and sorted into categories of "not interested," "unable to contact," and "too busy." Now we are looking through our physical ones left on a list from a long time ago when the Sister missionaries were still serving here.
On Thursday we helped clean the baptismal font for an upcoming baptism. A member of the Guarará ward has a son who just turned 8, so he is being baptized! We got it all nice and clean, and on Saturday filled it up for them. They invited us to stay for the baptism as well, which was a real treat to be able to feel that spirit once again. I love the feeling that comes during such a special ceremony of commitment to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Our in-person church meetings are back! We loved having the opportunity to see the members of each of our wards and to be able to feel the spirit again during sacrament. It's just a bit different from doing it for ourselves in our apartment, to have a special place to go and be with people you love, and to show your love for God. The Bishop of Ala 5 (the 5th ward) asked us missionaries to be backup speakers just in case the people he asked to speak, weren't able to show up. I prepared a little something, but luckily the intended speakers made it to church, and we were in the clear, at least for this week - haha.
Thanks for reading, that's my update for this week!
Love you all,
Elder Bird
[Many Very Spiritual Lessons]
4/19/2021
Hey everyone!
On Tuesday we were able to get out of the apartment for a bit and help a member of the ward, pack up who is moving to a different state. I had actually met him a year ago. He is an artist, and he used to sell personalized leather scripture cases outside of the São Paulo MTC. I bought a scripture case from him last March when I was in the MTC here. What a coincidence, that I am now serving in the ward he lives in, right? He also had a couple of really cool leather-worked pieces of art, framed around his house - like pictures of Jesus and whatnot. Super cool!
Our online Zone Conference went well. It was a two-hour zoom call, led by the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders, training us on better technology use. President and Sister Hirschi talked with us as well. Along with conference, we had our interviews with President online also. He and I talked a bit about how my companionship is, how the district is doing, and stuff like that. Our stake is creating a new ward, which was announced in our Stake Conference last week, so we talked about which missionaries might cover that new ward.
In terms of people we are teaching, we currently are in contact with Deuzi, to whom we were able to deliver a Book of Mormon to, this week! She seems to be really excited to start reading it. She has a really hard trial over the weekend, so any prayers for her and her family would be much appreciated. We are also teaching a woman named Meire. In our lesson with her, she had such a vibrant smile, and Elder França and I felt the spirit very strong. We also started teaching a man named Gilberto, and his wife joined us today for our second lesson! We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them and they just seem so receptive! It's very exciting to be able to teach them all more.
We still do a lot of contacting via Facebook. We try to contact 50 people a day. I also am still doing a lot of language training every day.
That's all I got for this week. This upcoming week is our last week of the transfer (it was a short 5 week transfer), but we think we'll both stay here where we are. We'll know on Sunday, and then transfers are on Monday!
Have another great week wherever you may be!
Elder Bird
-Packing up the moving van
-The scripture case this same member made for me a year ago
-Our bathroom mirror has a crack in it - haha
-We were feeling luxurious one night and ordered some sushi!
[Infinite, Eternal and Perfect Perspective]
4/12/2021
Hey everybody! I had a few really difficult moments this week, but each left me with a positive perspective as I sought for peace in my Savior.
First off, we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week, and I ended up staying in our area with Elder S. Silva. We met up with them at the bus terminal close to their area, o terminal Celso Daniel, and then traded companions for the next 24 hours. The whole bus ride back to our area I could barely understand a word he said. And he asked me so many questions I didn't have the vocabulary to answer. Just a bit frustrating. He was using the same words I was used to hearing meaning one thing to convey a completely different meaning. I was so frustrated at the end of the day that I kind of broke down in front of Elder Silva. We read together from the "Adjusting to Missionary Life" resource booklet, a real lifesaver in terms of missionary mental health, I must say. The rest of the night he showed me some alternate, more fun ways to learn the language, like acting out words to better picture them in my mind and to listen to some Brazilian worship music to get better at my listening skills.
I felt better the next day after we switched back to our regular companions. Also, I realized I could actually understand Elder Silva by the end of our exchange. Maybe I just needed to constantly be around someone I couldn't previously understand, to get used to a new way of speaking the same language. I also realized that I have only been in Brazil for two months, and I actually have accomplished so much in just this short time. Just that thought makes me excited for the nine or so months I have left of my mission.
We met a guy who is trying to get his life together. He has had some problems with drugs, but is trying to overcome it. He asked us to drop off a Book of Mormon to him, which was very exciting. The address he gave us was in one of the barrios and we spent like 3 hours trying to find it, but were eventually unsuccessful. It was quite confusing up there. Hopefully we will run into him again.
On Saturday, in a bit of a lull in our FB contacting efforts, I pulled out a game I had brought with me called Carcasonne, to play with Elder França. We didn't have enough space on any of our desks or tables to play, so we ended up on the floor. I guess I wasn't sitting in a very good position, because after we finished playing about 30-45 minutes later, I tried to get up and pain started shooting down my back. Luckily, I had brought my back brace with me that I picked up in Colorado Springs, after straining my back there one time. I also had some back pain medicine that I brought with me, but I still had to stay lying down on my bed for a bit. So many thoughtless functions of our bodies we take for granted. I restarted doing my back stretches and we fasted this weekend, both of which have helped me feel much better.
Something I've been thinking about this week is that there will always be trials and hardships our lives, that's kind of the point. But in our lowest moments, when everything seems out of our control, the one thing we can control is our mindset. We can either choose to remain stuck in our limited vision focusing on the negative, or look past our obstacles to see what could be in store for us ahead. Sometimes having a weakness or going through a trial teaches us strengths like compassion, empathy, patience, humility, and reliance on the Lord. God has the infinite, eternal, perfect perspective of all things that have and will come to pass, and I know that all things are done in His loving wisdom. As we seek for this perspective for our own lives, we can push past negative experiences and enjoy life as it is meant to be enjoyed.
This week we have online Zone Conference, sounds like fun! Have a great week everyone!!
Elder Bird
I took some Pictures of our area:
-Our bus station
-Our church building
-Our scenery
[Brazilian Haircut]
3/29/2021
Hey everybody! I'll just jump right in to the most interesting parts of the week.
I got my first haircut here in Brazil! (This being one of the most interesting things about my week should tell you something - haha) I studied the vocabulary for it ahead of time, and was able to explain what I wanted to the barber, which I felt was a great accomplishment for me. Sometimes it's the little things you've gotta celebrate.
Each night this week, the mission had a "huddle" (zoom get-together) for our "knowledge bowl!" It was pretty fun. The winner every night had a pizza sent to them by the mission President. We never won, but it was nice to play and see other missionaries every night.
General Conference this weekend was awesome, even though I could understood very little of it - haha! Elder França and I watched it at our church building because it had the much-needed wifi. I was able to understand most of the words of the speakers, but wasn't really able to catch the overarching significance of the messages, if that makes sense. So I plan on listening to all the talks in English and then again in Portuguese. Being able to read along with the speaker will really help me understand the concepts better.
I hope you all had a good Easter. I am so thankful for the knowledge I have that Jesus died for me and then was resurrected. And because of the atonement we have the opportunity to repent and can live with Him again. I'm thankful to be a missionary and will hopefully be able to share that message of hope with others.
Well, nothing very new planned for this week, except for an exchange with the Zone Leaders. We'll see how that goes. Hope you guys have a great week!
Elder Bird
Pictures:
-Haircut looking fly
-A member was super nice and dropped off these chocolate Easter eggs! Also, you can kind of see our conference-watching set-up
-He has Risen!
[I Learned a Lot]
3/29/2021
Hey all!! It's been a hard, but really good week.
Thank you all for the prayers! The gift of tounges is real for sure, and I had some cool experiences with it this week. It wasn't nearly as bad or humiliating as I thought it would be. The District Council meeting (that I was in charge of) was a bit rocky in the goal setting portion, because I don't really know any of that vocabulary, but everyone was very supportive. I am much less stressed about the responsibilities of being DL now that I know exactly what I'm expected to do after a week of doing it.
My new companion is Elder França. He is from the northern part of Brazil called São Luís, in the State of Maranhão. He speaks only a little English, so it has been a great week of immersion for me and I feel like I've come further. He likes to walk instead of taking buses, so one day when we went to pick up lunch from a member who lived kind of far away, and we walked for an hour and a half to get there. Luckily, they were able to drive us home, so that saved us - haha! The good thing was that it was beautiful countryside that we were walking through. It was very pretty!
This week the mission is actually doing a competition of sorts in anticipation for Easter and General Conference! President Hirschi asked all the companionships to submit four questions (related to mission rules or scripture/doctrine) for a "knowledge bowl." Every day apparently will be a different focus or activity to prepare for a weekend of high spirituality. Very exciting!!
As for General Conference, hearing it in Portuguese will be a first for sure. I'm hoping I'll have improved enough in my listening skills to be able to understand anything being said - haha. If all else fails, I will be able to read the talks when the Liahona magazine comes out or when they are put up on Gospel Library. But I'm hoping I will be able to understand everything I'm supposed to, with the help of the Spirit and diligent preparation.
Hope you guys are excited about Conference! And hope you have a great week!
-Elder Bird
Pictures:
-Elder França and I
-Very pretty countryside on our walk to get lunch
-I love this picture of Jesus. I feel like it really depicts what it will be like after this life to see Him and embrace Him
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