Weekly Letter-Oct. 21, 2019

Olá Família,

   These last two weeks went really well. The new Venezuelan family arrived well and they are really excited to start their new life here. We have helped them know the city a little and showed them how to get to the church and the center of the city. They have been learning portugues quickly and have been able to make comments during our church meetings, so that is really good. The weather is a bit crazy here, so it gets hot, and then cools down, then rains all over again, so we have been taking quite a few flu medications haha. Elder Leonard did hev to make a trip to the hospital but it wasn't that serious so we can keep working. haha. We have been working quite a bit to try to receive more referrals from the members and we were able to teach the mom and sister of a recent convert, Pablo. He is preparing to serve a mission to and has already sent his papers so we are pretty excited for him. His family is really nice and they always get pretty emocioned during the lessons. We have already taught them the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, and the word of wisdom. They also have accepted baptismal dates! They are excited to learn more, even though there have been lots of missionaries that have tried to teach them,but never had much luck. We are super happy for them and excited for them to join the church and become a better support group for Pablo, for when he leaves on his mission. We also had a mission tour this last week with Elder Parrela, who is in the area presidency. It was really good to get trained more on the importance of constantly finding and teaching people. Not just keep teaching the same people hoping that they will change, but always finding and teaching the most people as possible. These last few weeks have flown by, but they were filled with great experiences. i´m so happy to be here and always learn a little more each day about the atonement and God's plan for me. Thank you guys so much for your support! I hope everyone has a good week!

    - Elder Child

Another picture from Oct. 14

I can't seem to rotate this photo (thanks for understanding) but the Bishop lives in the house at the top of the hill...notice the stairs leading to it.  Who would be up from this trek every day? And how many times a day?

Oct. 14, 2019 Pictures

This week we got to talk to Jake and he shared the experience of the family from Venezuela. They are teaching them Portuguese and showing them around the city.  The family consists of the parents, their 3 boys and both sets of parents.  Because of the unrest in Venezuela, members are migrating to Brazil and Chile, learning how to become self-sufficient in a new country, and then rebuilding their lives.  Jake said this family sold their car but didn't have a chance to sell their house before they left.  They came with a suitcase and 3 gunny sacks. When they took them to exchange their money, they walked away with $80...What an amazing example of faith and love for the gospel.  Sound familiar?

Weekly Letter-Oct. 7, 2019

Olá Família,

  This last week was really good. We only had 2 full days to work because of general conference. We also had a service project that took all day. The ward here is adopting a Venezuelan family this week, so we were helping get the house ready for them. They are a family of 9, the parents and their 3 children and both sides of grandparents. We are all excited to get to know them. My new companion is great. He is from Chile but has lived in Brasil for 6 years so he already talks well. He also has a little over 3 months in the mission so he likes it when I joke with him. haha. We were working this last week and found a form in our house with some names and addresses in a specific neighborhood, so we decided to visit all that we could throughout the day. We knocked on a door and asked to talk to Fernanda (one of the names). But, when we introduced ourselves and asked if she remembered the missionaries that talked to her, she did not remember. She said that she had never talked to missionaries before and that she had moved into her house a few days ago. She also said that the person that lived there before was an older man that had passed basically his whole life in that same house. So we got a little confused on how there could have been an address of a person that didn´t live there at the time, and that now there was a person with the same name that had moved in recently. It was really cool that the Lord has everything planned out. Even though we may not have found the same Fernanda that was contacted a few years ago, we found one that is interested and excited to hear our messages. I was able to strengthen my testimony on how the Lord´s plan works in our lives and that each one of us is priceless. He never forgets or neglects us because of our flaws or imperfections. He will always make it possible for us to repent, change our lives and know a little more of his Son Jesus Christ. Just like what happened this last week with Fernanda, I have no idea how we had her address noted years ago, or how we were the first missionaries to talk to her, but I know that the Lord is always behind the scenes and making our lives better and better each day. I hope that everyone is well and was able to enjoy general conference. I am grateful to have you r support and love. Love you guys!

- Elder Child

 we got another jack fruit haha

Weekly Letter-Sept. 30, 2019

Olá Família,

    This week was good. We had splits with some Elders from another city for a few days. 

One had finished his mission and was going home and the other would be transferred to 

another city. So we had divisions for 3 days. Our house had 3 more Elders than normal 

because of transfers so that was fun. I will be staying here in Juiz de Fora and Elder Accioly

 (my old companion) will go to another city 6 hours away. I am excited to stay here and keep 

working. I had the opportunity to interview two people for their baptisms this last week too. 

The first was an eleven year old boy called Daniel, that was pretty energetic and was excited 

to be baptized and keep going to church. The second was his Aunt; Miriam who had stated to

 me when she entered that she did not feel ready and did not want to be baptized with her

 nephew. However when she shared her testimony and that she loved to come to church and 

everything, I knew that she was ready but hesitant and perhaps a little nervous to take that first 

step. We read some scriptures together but she still hesitant. I was trying to find something that 

I could share with her that would spark her faith and help her be baptized. I felt like I needed to 

share an analogy, that I hope makes sense to you guys...

     the analogy was to imagine that I was in a snack shack and I spilt some ketchup on my white

 shirt. No matter how many times you wash the shirt there will always be that little pink stain, 

until you use bleach and the shirt will become spotless and even more white than before. The  

same happens in our baptism, Throughout our lives we are constantly staining our souls

(white shirts) with sin(ketchup). And it doesn't matter how many times we pray for forgiveness 

we will always have the little pink stains, and we must be baptized(washed with bleach) to 

become pure and worthy to enter the kingdom of God. Even after our baptism we will still 

stain our shirts and need to repent and use the sacrament to wash them again and again 

until we are made perfect. 

   The analogy is a little strange but here it makes a little more sense, at least to me. haha. 

it was really an amazing experience and she was baptized with her nephew Sunday morning. 

Miriam thanked me a lot for our conversation and felt like I was really a servant of God and that 

she felt God´s love for her. She explained to the Sisters after i had left that she had dreamed about 

her interview the night before and that I was the same Elder that interviewed her and that the room 

and everything that happened was exactly like her dream. It was definitely an experience that i will 

not forget. i love oyu guys tons and am happy to hear that every one is enjoying the cold weather. haha!

   - Elder Child

PS. I will need to know what airport you guys want to pick me up in. haha also, Elias the man I baptized 

a year ago, was sealed to his wife! 

Pictures from Sis. Barbosa

Achei na praça e trouxe pra casa

Sequestrei

Weekly Letter-Sept. 23

Olá Família,

    This week was good. This week we did a few splits with the other Elders in our district and we were able to learn a lot. We have a lot of people to visit and teach and so that is good. We are always finding new people and getting to help them learn more about the gospel. During our splits, we sat down to rest a little while my companion looked for our nest address in his planner. As we sat there I looked around and jokingly said that our next appointment would be in a certain yellow house a short distance away. When he found the address and we looked at the house number it matched exactly with the house that I had said. I surprised myself and learned one more time that the spirit can give what seems like tiny impressions, to help and guide us. It was a cool experience, because it wasn´t like we were lost or had lost the address or anything, but the Lord was showing us were we needed to go and confirmed to us that we needed to knock on their door. Side note that the person we were searching wasn´t home, but we were able to talk to her mom and marked another date to return. haha. But we never know how the little things and choices will effect the future of the people we teach. I love being here and learning small truths of  the gospel and growing my testimony little by little here in Brazil. Even though it is hot, the food is always the same, and I don't have any personal space, I wouldn´t trade the mission experience for anything. Love you guys and wish you the best!

- Elder Child