Well, another week!!!!!! What happened this week? Well, first I´m just going to mention that my favorite fruits now are... Peaches, and Mangos. In that order, weird, I never liked peaches back in the States, but probably because I never ate them!!! I eat peaches and Mango every day here, literally every day! 

So, last week we painted another house, and with the sun, paint and sweat I got a rash on my arm, really small, not a big deal, but everyone here thinks I´m going to die, when the members see it they think it´´s cancer, I´m not joking, and I can´t explain what it is, and there´s no word here for rash  so they all say something like... If it´s not gone by next week you need to go to the doctor!!! So I just say, vou, I will if it doesn´t leave, bah.

This week I spent the morning (W/ Elder Viana) with Tiago, Tiago is a 21 year old that´s only home on the weekends because he´s in the hospital the rest of the week doing drug recovery (crack). Well, his mom had to go to the doctor, and he didn´t want to go, so the night before we said we´d stay with him in the morning (5-12) and make lunch, all the good stuff. (He can´t be left alone for obvious reasons.) So we did, First thing that happened, I was washing the dishes, but nobody told me that when you turn the water on high the thing explodes and water shoots all over you... So, about 3 minutes into it, the water shot all over me, all right, whatever no harm done... About 5 minutes later, I forgot and did it again, I was wet, and had to end up mopping. Well, about 3 hours later it happened to Tiago too... And he lives there so I didn´t feel as dumb after!    Tiago is great, he has a baptism date for the 12 of January, he´s recovered from drugs, but has a big problem right now... He smokes, not just a little, he smokes a ton, so we need to teach the WOW and start making goals. We´re not sure if he´s allowed to stop smoking though because well, it´s better than what he used to do. He went to church yesterday, didn´t smoke, loved it and it was great for everyone!!!

Speaking of church yesterday... IT was my favorite  Sunday of the year!!! Primary program!!! It´s even great when you can´t understand most of it! :D 

Yesterday we had lunch with the Lisboas (I´ll send a photo with them next week) well, lunch was good but at the end I ended up leaving the house with a hammock... Why? Well, let me try to explain, I still don´t exactly know why.

Every time we work in the apartments (a area we work) we see 3 guys going door to door selling hammocks, and every day I say to Elder Viana, I will buy a hammock before I leave, I´ve always wanted one... That´s that. Well, when we were about to leave lunch yesterday Elder Viana saw one of the hammocks, unused, sitting on their couch and he said... ``Ahhh, a hammock, cool, Elder Beary´s always wanted one`` Irmão Lisboa said, you can have it. After rejecting it, and saying I didn´t need it all that stuff, and he saying Ahhh, we don´t need it, we don´t have a place for it, I just bought it to be nice... I ended up with a hammock. I am very happy, very greatful but I feel a little bad because people here, would honestly give me their house if they could. 

My foot is taking a beating right now... I´ve got some nasty athletes foot and a nasty ingrown toenail... (I hope you´re eating while reading this so you can know my pain)

Hals (the sore throat stuff) here is basically candy, candy with the most powerful affect in the world. People eat it just for fun but it´s seriously so powerful here, way more that back home. 

My last story, sorry I don´t have any good ones like last week...

Well, a couple nights ago there was a huge moth flying around in our house, and I´´m so tired of bugs here so I smacked it out of the air... But being me, I couldn´t kill it, so I picked it up and started walking towards the door. Well, the stupid thing, not knowing how nice I was being... Bit me!!! With the most painful bite/sting of my life!!! Ya, I did end up killing it... But it wasn´t my fault!!!

Oh ya, one more thing, this morning I gave blood here, the needles are way thicker so it´s faster but a lot more painful... :(

I love you all!!!! Today is the end of my first transfer! I will be staying in Pelotas, with Elder Viana, but we changed districts! It´s now us and 4 sisters, Elder Viana will be the DL.

Elder Justin Beary

Well, this was the week of blisters and no money!!!!!!

 

I´ll start with the blisters, well, we did 2 service projects this week, both with shovels and hoe´s pulling up weeds. We did them Wednesday and Thursday so my hands were just a giant blister by Thursday, though it was fun and worth it, the 2nd service project was @ the house of Arlei (where I had my first chimarrão) well, there Elder Viana had the opporitunity to kill our lunch, literally. The chicken in this picture died just 2 minutes later to the hands of Elder Viana. I have a video but I can´t send it because it´s too big.      

 

Now the no money, well, my companion doesn´t know how to budget, and I had to pay R$ 30 to send something and I´m waiting for my reimbursement. So, I had R$ 20 to start the week, and Elder Viana had 0... Don´t ask me how. Well, we had to use the bus twice... When I´m paying for both of us that´s R$20.. So on Tuesday we had 0... Awesome right, pay day wasn´t until Friday. What were wer going to do, we definitely needed some money. Well, we had about R$7 in change so, that should last us right? Wrong, even with the 0 money Elder Viana needed to buy peaches... Every night. They don´t cost much but when you have as little money as we do it´s pretty annoying. We had an appointment far away Thursday night, we would need the bus but wait, we had no money, what were we going to do? Well, Wednesday night the lady we were supposed to have lunch with on thursday called and said ``sorry, I have to leave tomorrow afternoon so I can´t fix lunch, so come by my house and I´ll give you some money`` it´s strange how God works, and how everything always works out for the best. That´s my story for the week.

 

It´s weird how you won´t hear a single thing for the whole month hear but I heard this a lot the last week... ``Ahhh mormons, like Doctor Ray`` I guess the news just got out down here.

 

Yesterday (02/12/12) Was the day Pelotas stopped moving, there was seriously nobody out on the street, why? Because Gremio and Internacional had a game against each other. Every single person was in their house watching the game, or watching it on the street with 40 other people crowded around a tiny t.v, it was cool, I wanted to be a part of it, oh well.

 

We had 2 FHE´s this week, both with the same people. With the Lisboa family and with Bete and Arnold... All members, Alexandre Lisboa (the dad) is a recent convert so we talk with them a lot, no I don´t have any photos yet, I will though eventually.

 

I have 2 more stories, both with the same investigator (carla) well, Saturday we visited her just to visit and check up on her progress with the smoking... well, I was about to share a scripture (3rd Nefi 3:7) I said, ``this scripture is about a prophet Nephi, but we can apply it for us too, and for your smoking. I will read for...`` snap!!!! The chair I was sitting on snapped in half and I hit the deck, everyone else started laughing and the spirit was gone. Though, it was really funny and something I´ll never forget!!!!

 

 

2nd story if you´re young stop reading now... This is the story about Chasity (Carla and Luciano aren´t married... Shocker) Well, we started talking about it and we said ``today we need to talk about the lei de castidade before you can get baptized and Lucianos face just looked scared. We were a little confused but we found out after.... When we asked if they had any comments or questions he went on to say. When he saw the name castidade he though of (I don´t remember the word in Português but in English it´s castorate) and he said he didn´t want that. He said ``marriage is easy compared to what I was thinking I would have to do``

 

On that note, I love you all!!! Have a good week!!! I´ve been on the mission now for 5 months! (August, September, October, November and December!)

 

 

Eu amo vocês!!!

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