11-26-2012

Another week in the books!!!

Well, this week Paulina was baptized!!! Picture attached!!! I didn´t have the opporitunity to baptize her but I confirmed her!!! Ya, that was a disaster. I hope the congregation had the gift of tounges and understood the blessing because I think not... Well, I at least got the confirming and the holy ghost part down becuase I didn´t have to redo it so I guess all is well!!! The day before her baptism her old pastor (I don´t think I spelled this right) made 1 final attempt to stop the baptism... Well, he was telling her all about how they still loved her and why she isn´t coming anymore and all that stuff (he knew why but wanted her to say it) well, she told him she was going to be baptized tomorrow into the church of Jesus Christ... He responded, oh, the Mormons? After she said yes he said to her something along the lines of (while pointing to a Book of Mormon) that whole church is based off a lie. Well, being bold loving Paulina she said to him. and I quote (in english) You read that book, actually read it, and you won´t find 1 lie.    So, there you have it folks, she really was the perfect investigator that we had the fortune to run into. 

Mom: Can you email me a picture of my plack at the church, I want to see it. :D 
I don´t think I ever talked about ioio´s (yoyo´s) Every single kid here uses them, it´s cool, I want to buy one but so far I´ve been good and haven´t given in yet. The last couple of days have been burning hot during the day but freezing at night, ya, that´s been quite a bummer I don´t like the extremes both ways but oh well. Better than what Trevor is going through with the negative weather all day, count my blessings!!! :D

2 weeks ago (I forgot to tell ya´ll last week) I was fortunate enough to recieve my first Gaúcho C.D.!!! Irmão Diego gave it to me, and in 21 months, I will listen to it! And, hopefully by then, actually understand it!!! Can´t wait for the day where Português is just like Inglês, 1 day, 1 day... Though, I realized today how much better I understand people, I think that´s a big step!!! Now that I understand people I realize how they talk now hopefully I will start speaking the same way!!! We can hope right??? 

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!!! I didn´t, I had a good day but there´s no such thing as Thanksgiving down here... Plus, my companion knows about Black Friday so he would tell people about that and everyone was far more interested in cheap electronics than they were football and turkey... Psssh.

The ward boundries here are huge!!! At least 4 times the size of the stake boundries in SF... No joke, I did splits this week with Elder Staples and they serve in our ward too (Staples and Marques) Well, they´re area is so far away, they have to take the bus everyday to get there, then saturday we went to a birthday of 1 of the kids of our investigators who I had never visted before and it was a 30 minute bus ride away, no wonder we never visit them... 

I saw and held my first lightning bug!!! That´s the whole story but I was pretty excited.


Eu amo vocês!!! 

Elder Justin Beary

November 19, 2012

Well, first off!!!!!!!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!! (I think, I don´t actually know for sure but I assume.)

First news, rumor on the street is that Portuguese is the 5th hardest language to learn... I beg to differ, I think it´s the hardest. Second, it´s weird how our brains work... 2 nights ago I had a dream, and in that dream I was punched in the jaw... Don´t ask why, I just was... Since I woke up yesterday my jaw has hurt... Strange.

Here-s the biggest news out of Pelotas!!!!!!!!!!! 5 more days until my first Baptism!!!!!!!! This is the first you´ve heard about it because as of last MOnday we´d only known her for 3 days... So... Story time, remember the radio thing I did? Well, we took a LDM to Paulo he had zero interest but... His mom invited us in, we taught the Plan of  Salvation and invited her to church... The next day we called her to remind her about church, but we didn´t really think she would go... Well, she went!!! And we´ve s!!!!!! So, we visited with her every day since, she always makes us food (which isn´t always a good thing) it´s good food but contrary to popular belief missionareis don´t always have to eat!!! She has a very christian background and family in the church (1 sister). A couple days ago she told one of her friends from her other church (she´s evangelico) well, was. ``I´m not going to go to church anymore`` Her friend asked why? And she said ``Because I have a new church now! ANd I´m going to be be baptized on saturday`` Everyone knows about it, she told and invited her whole street. When we told her people will probably try to talk her out of it and tell her it´s a bad idea she replied with... I know... And I don´t care. :D She´s very sweet. She has... 76 years. 

Other than that not a lot more has happened! I will tell you more about Paulina next week because we´ll have a baptism!!! 

We´re walking a lot and not getting a lot of lessons taught... I don´t know why but it´s been slow... And hot... I got 8 letters today!!! Can´t wait to go home and read them all!!! Thank you to everyone who rights and emails me! I love ya´ll!!!!


Te amo!!! :D

typical dinner with Irmã Paulina

statue in the center of Pelotas

Another week!!!

I don´t really know what to say this week... Ummm, it was really hot, and even more humid. I don´t know the numbers but, I honestly felt like I was swimming when I walked. I got sunburned, but it has now turned nicely into my mission tan line. It´s been cloudy and rainy the last 3 days though which I like so much more, I say that now but we´ll see how I feel once July comes around. I forgot to mention my other nicname I got before I left the CTM, and I actually kinda dig this one because I love Spiderman. But, the brazillians that left the same week as I did called me Peter Parker, I will hear that every time I see them, and I´m okay with that. 

The mosquitos have finally started to leave me alone, maybe because I´m becoming a real Brazillian!!! Or, maybe because I´m using repellent, either way I´m happy with it. Too bad about Romney right??? Every time I walk some where I´m told that Obama won, I think because every Brazillian wants to be the first to let me know, but all they do is remind me, it´s nice down here. I love the ward, I had my first and second churrasco this week, the first 1 was for one of the brothers birthday (the same one that I had my first chimarrão), the second one was yesterday for lunch with one of our investigators and her family. (extended family).

Oh, we have 3 investigators with baptism dates now!!! That doesn´t mean they WILL get baptized but, it´s a good start! I think they will, :D December 22nd is the goal!  Though, we think 1 of them will be later this month. 

On Saturday we did a service project, we turned 1 of the nastiest back yards into one of the most organized nasty back yards! I don´t know how much you can see in the photo but hopefully enough to kinda know! 

We had a very very very good week, not just by my standards but also according to our numbers!!! Last week we had 4 people attend church... This week... 12. Ya, in case you were wondering that´s really good for down here! :D 

It´s nice getting an hour to email now but... Now I don´t really know what to say because I haven´t been writing stuff down, this week I will write down everything that I want to share!!!! I am doing pretty well with the language, got great, but better than I was expecting. My goal is to be comfortable with the language by Christmas time, that´s definitely reasonable. I still have a hard time understanding everything. And some people are definitely harder to understand than others. There´s a couple families that I can talk with fine, then others that I just sit there and listen because I have no idea what´s going on. Still drinking a lot of Chimarrão, and Guarará. I´m eating a lot more now too, I don´t know if that´s a good thing or not though, as of now I´ve lost 2 kilos since last P-day but I´m sure it´l start catching up to me. I want to go bowling, that´d be too fun. 

I hope everything is good at home!!! Almost happy tThanksgiving!!! (I actually don´t know what day it is) But while you´re eating a turkey who knows, maybe I´ll hold another one!!!

Te amo!

-Elder Justin Beary

Picture Time

Pictures from the CTM

Pictures from Elder Beary's first area.

First Week in the Mission Field!!!

Well, I don´t even know what to say about the last week in the CTM it seems so long ago but, I liked it a lot. There was a fair amount of tears and happiness... Now, to the field!!!

I woke up at 3:30 to finish packing and leave the CTM by 4:30, got to the airport at about 6, flight left at 8. We arrived in Porto Alegre at about 10, then got to the mission home at about 11. We did some orientation, interviews and then got our trainers!!! The new elders sat on one side, the trainers on the other then they would call our names and we would meet in the middle to hug and sit, we had a little advice given to us, then it was off to the bus station to go to our areas!!! Some of my group stayed in Porto Alegre but... Not me, I took a 3 hour bus ride to the beautiful city of................................................................. Pelotas!!!! I´m in the Pelotas Norte zone, serving in the Fernando Osórlo ward!!! The ward is too good, they´re all really nice and cook really well... That night I had my first experience with chimarrão... Not going to lie, not the best thing I´ve ever tasted, plus it burned my tongue a fair amount. Though now I love it!!! The best way I can think of how to describe it is... WHen you have a lot of original sunflower seeds in your mouth at the same time... But it feels like it´s on fire, ya´ll will have to try it in 22 months!!!  before this though (this was all at the 2nd counselors house) We went into his back yard where he has a bunch of birds and we held his turkeys... Ya, you read that right, I don´t know why but we did. My companion is a native, Elder Viana, I like him a lot, he´s been really helpful, I can´t wait to learn more from him for the next 3 months. He´s from Fortaleza, he´s been here just 7 months, he knows enough english to get by. It was weird being here on halloween because,,, very few people cared about it... The next day though we had a ward activity and it was a halloween party, we couldn´t do much because it was a dance but it was fun to be at! We have a couple investigators ready for baptism!!! But, 1 big problem... Not legally married, I think I´ll be running into this a lot, they´re close though, by the end of the month they should be baptized!!! They´ve been members, all but baptized for months now. 

Here´s my embarrasing portuguese story for week 1... While talking to the bishop I told him. ``Eu não falo muito bom, mas eu quero ajudar sua mala`` well, for all you english speakers that don´t know what I said I told him... I don´t speak well, but I want to help your bag.`` Mala is bag... I meant to say ala, which is ward... Oh well, I caught myself right after, not to much harm done! 

Everytime we go to someones house they give us juice, I´ve never had so much in my life, but I´m starting to like it!!! Though, sometimes I would kill for a glass of water. I can´t help a ton in the lessons because I don´t understand it all, but... I can bare my testimony... Plus, my lack of portuguese I think is helpful when we´re making contacts because people think it´s cute... Legit, I think it helps, plus they don´t want to make me feel bad. Mom, please send more afterbite. I hate mosquitos and I don´t think what I have now is going to last very long... Thanks! ÇD

I´m going to start teaching an english class next week!!! It´s an idea we have to get us new investigators and help the ward... I think it has potential!!!

Coolest story of the week time... So, one of the members in the ward is a DJ for a Saturday night radio show... Guess who was on the radio in Pelotas last Saturday!!! This guy... I didn´t say much but Good night Pelotas and I helped the Irmão say ``make fun of`` my name; Oh well, I can say I was on the radio in a different country, beat that Jordan!

I´m so happy to be here, even though it´s a lot of walking it´s worth it! I want you all to know that I have a testimony that Jesus Christ lives! That Joseph Smith restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Te amo!!!!

Elder Justin Beary