FIRST OFF!!!! Happy 8 months Elder Beary!!!

Ahhh, thanks everyone!

Tuesday: We had a training with President Castro in the morning. THen we had lunch at home (Bishops wife gave us food) Then we worked... We went to help Andreia with smoking... Nothing has worked the last 2 weeks of trying. So, we tried the ciggarete tea... It did it´s part. We put two smashed up smokes in hot water, she drank it... She spilled her guts all over the floor and hopefully that will help her!!! Then we went to Tamiris´. Then we went home, cool right!?!!?

Wednesday! Was a pretty boring day.We had lunch with Irmão Alexandre (Tamiris´uncle) Then we made our trips visiting people... NOthing worth noting.

Thursday: Lunch was at home, so we had a churrasco! Then we had another training with President Castro and the AP´s. Then we waited at the church until about 7 because we went on splits with the AP´s. Pres. Castro went with the other two. Elder Barros went with my comp and I went with Elder Lindsey. Remember that name? He was my first LZ in Pelotas. Well, we left the stake center at about 7 after president Castro did interviews. Then President stopped the car to buy us food. Then we got to our area at about 8:10. Didn´t have a lot of time to do much. Oh well! 

Friday: We taught a 1st lesson for Simone like none other! Elder Barros and S. Silva made a contact in the splits and marked an appointment. So we went there. During the lessons she started crying and evertyhing... We took a member with us to help and it was a textbook example of what members should do! WOW"

Saturday: WE received money for lunch. Then we worked a normal day... Found 1 new special family (Débora, Jominho and Nicolly)  that was a reference from a member... But, didn´t have a great lesson.  :(

Sunday: We had stake conference... It was cool, about 12 stakes in Brasil had it, so they sent a live video like general conference from SLC. One member of the 70, The presiding bishop and the 1st conselor in the Relief society talked... Then, Elder Scott got up and gave his talk in Portuguese... That was kind of cool to see! Well, Simone didn´t show up... Sister Andreia even went to her house to pick her up but nobody was home. Ç( We´re going there today to find out what happend... Though, about 5 minutes into it Débora and her family showed up!!! What? I was not expecting it at all. But, I´ll take it! 

Now it´s P-day a day of monopoly and Tereré!!! 

This week I burned my arm on the iron... I learned to love tea (Sorry mom) but it really does help when you´re sick. :) Everyone in our house was sick this week.

Missionary goal:  be this tall spiritually

Well, another week!

It´s been pretty hard finding stuff to do here... We have our 2 solid investigators, and other than that we like to walk around in the sun having doors slammed in our face... That´s life I guess. But, as ya´ll can see I´m loving it! :D

Tuesday we had a Zone conference, I got cards. So, I can´t say it was a bad day! :D We then visited with Tamiris and Andreia (our 2 solids) Andreia has a problem with basically every commandment but, she really want´s to be baptized so we´re working with her.  And all day Tuesday I was being told about what happened in Boston... 

Wednesday: Elder SIlva did some service installing some kind of water heater for a family in the ward, so I sat there playing with the dogs, since I have no idea what was going on. Wednesday the Boston news continued.

Thursday: We had an apointment with Carol, but she cancelled. The worst part is, we don[´t have a cell phone, so we didn´t know that she cancelled because of work until 9:30 when we got home and elder Ferreira told us... Ya, it´s difficult working without a cell phone.

Friday:We had Distrito amigo in the sisters area... Again, always the sisters. Then we walked about 5 miles to our house... We stopped at the store to buy some food, and while we were there some lady made a contact with us. She started saying that her friend is in the church and that she would like to accept our visit. Well, all of us (4) were there, so we asked where she lived... She said in the Cecília! Perfect, that´s my area! So, we marked a day to go visit her and we were excited to see our miracle! Then we got home, looked at that map, and saw... She lives across the street from our area... She actually lives in the other ward... So, we passed the reference and continued on.

Saturday: Ferreira and Nascimento had a baptism so we went to that. Our lunch went late so we had time to visit 2 families less active. We then came home, prayed and I had one of the weirdedst most spirtual experencies of my life... During  the prayer with Elder S. Silva I started crying after I asked for a miracle in our area.... I don´t know what it meant but after thinking that maybe I´ll lose my goal of a baptism every transfer that until now God has accepted my work not just in (basically opening) this area but in the entire 8 months.

Sunday we went to church, had lunch at home, visited Tamiris, she completely spilled the beans about whyt she doesn´t want to be baptized right now. She still thinks that it´s all true, but doesn´t want to be baptised that break a commanment. That´s good, but she said that all her friends do is go to partys and stuff, so it´d be hard, she´s a little scared... She needs friends her age in the church. The biggest problem with this is, every girl her age it leaving for a mission right now. After that we had our reiunion with the Ward Mission Leader. 

Churrasco last week, My comp is the darkest one. Elder M. Nascimento is in the middle

Well lets start with what you all want to know..

My comp, Elder S. Silva is from Bahia, Salvador to be exact.   He´s been on the mission almost 9 months (1 more transfer than me) He was down south for the first 8 months, most recently in Arroyo Grande close to Urguay. This is his 1st transfer as Senior comp. Ummm, that´s pretty much it. No, I forgot to take a photo with him. Sorry. He was baptized at 10, fasted from the church for 2 years with about 17 years then came back, He´s 21 now. 

Tuesday we spent the whole day at the bus station waiting for people to get here, then we took a 100 $R Taxi to our house... WE got there at about 7, went and confirmed lunch then came home to eat and prep the room and stuff.

Wednesday we had district meeting in the morning, Elder S. Silva lost his camera there, good start in the area right? Then we came home and worked.... We´re still working with Tamirys, trying to find the problem, and help her overcome her fear. WE taught the 10 commandments and The sabbath day at the same time. We then tried to contact our reference from President Castro but she was sleeping.

Thursday: We went back to Tamirys, read Alma 34 with her and with Brother Alexandre and family, man was it good, she was definitely feeling the spirit. WE all were... Until her cousin said ``Ãh Tamirys, don´t cry`` Ya, that was kind of a bummer. Talked about baptism and same thing, still not feeling completely ready. Then we contacted the ref. From Presdient Crastro. She´s been going to different churches for quite some time, but she finally decide that mormonism is for her. She went to the temple, bought all of the young womans madalions and everything else (she´s 32) and we started teaching her. She knows everything because she´s been going to a church in POA for about 4 months.  She has a 10 year old son, so we´re working with him too. All we need is Word of Wisdom, we´re making goals with her tomorrow to stop with everything... Coffe, alcohol, drugs (weed) and smoking... The only thing she doesn´t use is Black tea and that´s because she doesnt like it... 

Friday: Distrito Amigo!!!! Well, Zona Amiga! We had our whole zone go work in the branch SÃo Tomà because the elders there left, and sisters are working there now. 1 american that doesn´t speak too well, and she´s training... With all the sisters joining the force now, if you´ve been here more than 2 transfers you´re training. The elders left with 0 progressing investigators, a broken cell phone and a dirty house... So we tried our best to get investigators for them and mark baptisms. Good luck to them.

Saturday: There was a training for all the missionaries and ward mission leaders in our stake but... WE don´t have a cell phone, and we didn´t have lunch with the other 2 so we didn´t find out about it until 9 when we got back and R. Ferreira and M. Nascimento told us. They also told us that it was a waste of time and some old guy from the stake gave a training on how to make contacts on the street... Something that we do... Alot.

It´s starting to get cold here at nights, and without heaters I´m looking forward to it! With all the people I´m living with being from the North East part of Brazil where the coldedst it gets is 70, I´m sleeping with just my jazz blanked while they´re completey covered with clothes and blakents. Well, what better way to celebrate than by sleeping on the roof right?:!?:!

Sunday We had church, a meeting with the presidencies in the ward, then we ha dinner with a family... We then got ready to sleep on the roof!!! IT only got down to 48, but the wind made it feel a little colder. We slept with a ton of clothes and blankets so it wasn´t too bad. Oh ya, yesterday for lunch we had a churrasco! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!"
I love you all!! I hope this email was a little bit better than the last 2!

Tebowing on the roof

Well, lets try to write an email... I literally have 0 minutes to do this because of the crazy schedule we have for Elder F. Lima this week. I killed him (slang for being his last companion), he´s going home on Wednesday. I´ll be staying in Montanha, Elder R. Ferreira is staying and Elder M. Nascimento is staying too. My new companion will be Elder S. Silva... I don´t know him, I don´t know where he´s at right now... The only thing I know is that he´s brazillian... Conference was great! One more time Elder Holland dropped the hammer! I didn´t get to see all of it because conference isn´t a priority for the people here, so our lunches went late, I basically didn´t watch the morning sessions, but what I saw was good!!!

I´ll write something useful next week!!! Maybe.

Lets go fast!!!! I don´t have a lot of time today becuase we went to POA again so Elder F. Lima could buy all his stuff to take home with him.

Tuesday: We worked, made contacts and nothing special happened, I don´t knwo if I wrote anything special down and Elder F. Lima has my planner right now, so I´ll get back to you

Wednesday: We had a training with President Castro!!! All day, we got there at 8, and left at 6. Then Elder F. Lima gave his LIBRAS (Brazillian sign language, yes he´s fluent) class and we went home. During the training I saw Elder Marques and Elder Viana again. It was 3 zones, so I was able to see people! We had lunch at the same resturant where we went when Elder William left. With more than 50 missionaries... Now I know why it´s so expensive to go on a mission. ;) But, we didn´t do the same buffet thing, so I´m sure it wasn´t AS  expensive.

Thursday: Back to a normal day of work, our last one before the crazy weekend started!!!! One more time I don´t know if anything special happened because I don´t have my planner. Sorry

Friday: Good Friday! Which people actually care about here!!!! Why? Becuase everyone has work off so it´s an excuse to BBQ and drink!!! So, our DL still wanted to do Distrito Amigo, we tried at least... We walked, and walked, and walked and walked, we made good contacts becuase everybody was happy, but nobody would let us enter becuase everybody was having parties and stuff. So, that was our whole day... Random fact, here Easter is 3 days Friday until Sunday and everybody buys giant way overpriced easter eggs... Well, nobody buys them until after Easter when they become half off. Today was supposed to be yoki, but Mara didn´t want to make anything with meat (good friday tradition), so it was Saturday! 

Saturday: One more day of the same things, we were able to talk to members, because everybodeis party was still going, ya, you guessed it, it will be continuing tomorrow. So, today was Yoki, and that´s about all we got done!!!!

Sunday: We were able to teach a lesson with Thamirys (I guarentee you´ll hear more about her) and that was about it, nobody was drinking today but everybody was hung over, so the few people that got out of bed were to sick to talk to us... But, 1 more time the people from the other churches that actually went, gave us their address to talk a different day, everybody was in a good mood, so it wasn´t a complete loss!!!

Random things... Everyone is asking about Elder F. Lima... Just picture a Brazillian Jared Tuckett... Seriously, that´s exactly who he is... About General Conference... The area presidency allowed us to watch conference only on Sunday... Though during our conference with Pres, someone asked about it, and everyone was sad, then someone asked if we could go saturday if we had an investigator... then he said ``Man, you guys really like Conference don´t you?`` We replied with yes... and he said, ``All right then if you have an investigator you can go Saturday... and if you don´t, you can still go`` So everybody is happy and ready for the weekend!!! :D Today in the Central of POA there was a pastor preaching, and our feet were tired so we sat down a good distance away from him, but then by some weird coincidence he started talking about how the mormons are wrong... Uh huh, then a bird pooped on my head, so we decided it was time to leave. For anyone that´s going to serve a mission and buys there clothes at Mr. Mac, don´t get the glue in the pants. It comes out... Just get in the suits where you won´t be washing them every month.

That´s my week in a nutshell! the next time ya´ll hear from me I´ll know my new comp, and be 10 pounds heavier because of all the cake I´ll eat! (It´s Elder F. Limas birthday this week.)´

Te amo!!!! 

Elder Justin Beary