Subject: Subject?... hmm... I give up! Multiple-choice is so much easier than fill-in-the-blank.
Hello Everybody!
This last Sunday during sacrament meeting Sergio was confirmed a member of the church and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost! A year from now, he can go to the temple to be sealed with his wife (already a member) and son. After church, David (16 year-old son of a recent convert) and Raquel (18 year-old sister of a recent convert) were baptized.
David had to overcome serveral problems to achieve this blessing. His life was full of consequences for adolescent mistakes, yet through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, he received a remission of sins that is promised to the penitent who accept His gospel.
Raquel finally decided to be baptized after being taught by the missionaries for quite some time now. One of her little sisters was baptized a few months ago by some missionaries that were here before Elder Tavares and I arrived. I personally think that she has had the desire to be baptized for quite some time, but that her parents altered their stance to oppose the church. I base my reasoning on the fact that she turned 18 years-old two days before the baptism, and was thus able to sign the authorization herself, rather than needing sactioning by her parents.
We´re teaching someone who already wants to serve a mission. His name is Anderson and he´s 20 years old. He´s going to be baptized a week from Sunday.
Evelyn has a goal to be baptized this Sunday. Unfortunately, she found out that giving up smoking is a little harder than she had hitherto assumed. But, as always, we´re expecting some miracles to happen this week.
Not much is new. We work despite difficulties and fall like dead men onto our beds each night. Last night, Elder Tavares was too tired to change clothes and slept all night with a white shirt and tie.
Oh, I almost forgot! Great news! We bought a spray to kill and prevent cockroaches (cocroaches, cokroaches - however you spell it).
Goodbye for now!
-Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
3-11-08
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 2:35 PM
Subject: School Project? I thought I was done with homework for a while.
Hello everybody!
Sergio got baptized this last Sunday. He´s a pretty big fellow, and it took some effort to raise him back up out of the water, but everything worked out perfectly.
Sunday was also Scott´s birthday. Happy birthday Scott!
The other day when I went to put on my shoes, I discovered one and a half caterpillars inside. That struck me as odd, but I dumped them out and attempted to put on my shoe, when I discovered the other half of the other caterpillar. It turned out to be a cacoon! Did I spell that right? caccoon, kacoon, cakoon? English is so confusing!
I spent most of my time answering the following questions for Sheresa´s school project, so I´m including them in the email so it doesn´t look like I didn´t type very much.
What was your most memorable childhood moment and how did it affect your life?
Wow! Tough questions! I´d have to say that my most memorable childhood moment would have to be my baptism. Without my baptism, I wouldn´t be a member of the church, I wouldn´t enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost, I wouldn´t qualify for eternal life, and I definitely wouldn´t be here in Brazil serving a mission.
What do you think you need to do before you die?
Well, first of all, I need to finish my mission so that I can get married. Marriage is probably the most important on the list of things to do before death.
Who was/is your hero and why were they your hero?
Wait a second... I only get to choose one? Well, because this is Sheresa´s school project, I´ll choose James Madison (you know, the one they call the father of the constitution). He´s my hero because of his willingness to do that which he was inspired to do while valuing and accepting aid, opinions, and input of others to provide a more perfect constitution.
Tell me an experience that influenced your life.
Well, once upon a time (the spring of 1820 to be exact), there was a boy named Joseph. He had a question to which he couldn´t find an answer. Then he read a book (which happened to be very widely accepted at the time) that told him what he needed to do to find his answer. He did what the book told him to do, and something wonderful happened. That special experience would have to be the thing that most influenced my life.
What is your favorite quote/motto?
Have Fun and Choose the Right! (at the same time of course!)
In the past ten years, who has influenced your life the most and how did they influence it?
Drum roll please... and the winner is - Mom! That´s right, my mom! In fact, this is the second decade in a row that she´s won this award. You´d think that after winning the award for the first ten years of my life that she´d take a rest and let someone else have a chance at the next ten years. But once again, my mom has painstakingly given every effort to influence my life for the best.
What do you want to do with your life when you come home?
Well, I want to take it in my hands and squeeze out of it every drop I can. I´ll continue studying Computer Engineering, while looking for the Future Mrs. Elder Allred. Then the Future Mrs. Elder Allred and I will get married and we´ll raise a family.
Can you describe yourself in one sentence? If so, please do so.
Well, of course I can describe myself in one sentence, but then the sentence would be really long like this one, and it would take forever to read because I would have to include millions of adjectives that describe me with amazing accuracy like handsome, smart, witty, funny, strong, good-looking, and attractive, and then I would have to spend some time talking about how much people like me, and of course I would have to throw in some talents, and just to make sure people don´t get the wrong idea and think that I´m just bragging because of pride, I´d have to talk about how humble I am, and so the list of things that I would have to write about would just continue to increase, and then the sentence would get so long with conjunctions and commas that it would probably end up being grammaticly incorrect (which would be completely ironic in and of itself because this sentence is supposed to be decribing me, yet I would never write a grammatically incorrect sentence), and so you see that the entire purpose of such a task would be condemned as futile and no one would even understand what I was talking about, so why would I try to describe myself in one sentence, especially when I really don´t have time to spend writing such a sentence because I only have one hour to use email before we get to leave and start teaching people in Portuguese because that´s the whole reason I´m here in Brazil in the first place?
What advice would you give the people if you were the president?
Keep me in office! Vote for me again!
What would you do if you were the richest man in the world?
I´d buy a lot of bananas. Here in Brazil, bananas can be bought for about a nickel each. Thus, as the richest man in the world, I´d sure be able to buy a lot of bananas. Then, I´d give the bananas to all the poor people that don´t have anything to eat.
Well, goodbye for now!
Subject: School Project? I thought I was done with homework for a while.
Hello everybody!
Sergio got baptized this last Sunday. He´s a pretty big fellow, and it took some effort to raise him back up out of the water, but everything worked out perfectly.
Sunday was also Scott´s birthday. Happy birthday Scott!
The other day when I went to put on my shoes, I discovered one and a half caterpillars inside. That struck me as odd, but I dumped them out and attempted to put on my shoe, when I discovered the other half of the other caterpillar. It turned out to be a cacoon! Did I spell that right? caccoon, kacoon, cakoon? English is so confusing!
I spent most of my time answering the following questions for Sheresa´s school project, so I´m including them in the email so it doesn´t look like I didn´t type very much.
What was your most memorable childhood moment and how did it affect your life?
Wow! Tough questions! I´d have to say that my most memorable childhood moment would have to be my baptism. Without my baptism, I wouldn´t be a member of the church, I wouldn´t enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost, I wouldn´t qualify for eternal life, and I definitely wouldn´t be here in Brazil serving a mission.
What do you think you need to do before you die?
Well, first of all, I need to finish my mission so that I can get married. Marriage is probably the most important on the list of things to do before death.
Who was/is your hero and why were they your hero?
Wait a second... I only get to choose one? Well, because this is Sheresa´s school project, I´ll choose James Madison (you know, the one they call the father of the constitution). He´s my hero because of his willingness to do that which he was inspired to do while valuing and accepting aid, opinions, and input of others to provide a more perfect constitution.
Tell me an experience that influenced your life.
Well, once upon a time (the spring of 1820 to be exact), there was a boy named Joseph. He had a question to which he couldn´t find an answer. Then he read a book (which happened to be very widely accepted at the time) that told him what he needed to do to find his answer. He did what the book told him to do, and something wonderful happened. That special experience would have to be the thing that most influenced my life.
What is your favorite quote/motto?
Have Fun and Choose the Right! (at the same time of course!)
In the past ten years, who has influenced your life the most and how did they influence it?
Drum roll please... and the winner is - Mom! That´s right, my mom! In fact, this is the second decade in a row that she´s won this award. You´d think that after winning the award for the first ten years of my life that she´d take a rest and let someone else have a chance at the next ten years. But once again, my mom has painstakingly given every effort to influence my life for the best.
What do you want to do with your life when you come home?
Well, I want to take it in my hands and squeeze out of it every drop I can. I´ll continue studying Computer Engineering, while looking for the Future Mrs. Elder Allred. Then the Future Mrs. Elder Allred and I will get married and we´ll raise a family.
Can you describe yourself in one sentence? If so, please do so.
Well, of course I can describe myself in one sentence, but then the sentence would be really long like this one, and it would take forever to read because I would have to include millions of adjectives that describe me with amazing accuracy like handsome, smart, witty, funny, strong, good-looking, and attractive, and then I would have to spend some time talking about how much people like me, and of course I would have to throw in some talents, and just to make sure people don´t get the wrong idea and think that I´m just bragging because of pride, I´d have to talk about how humble I am, and so the list of things that I would have to write about would just continue to increase, and then the sentence would get so long with conjunctions and commas that it would probably end up being grammaticly incorrect (which would be completely ironic in and of itself because this sentence is supposed to be decribing me, yet I would never write a grammatically incorrect sentence), and so you see that the entire purpose of such a task would be condemned as futile and no one would even understand what I was talking about, so why would I try to describe myself in one sentence, especially when I really don´t have time to spend writing such a sentence because I only have one hour to use email before we get to leave and start teaching people in Portuguese because that´s the whole reason I´m here in Brazil in the first place?
What advice would you give the people if you were the president?
Keep me in office! Vote for me again!
What would you do if you were the richest man in the world?
I´d buy a lot of bananas. Here in Brazil, bananas can be bought for about a nickel each. Thus, as the richest man in the world, I´d sure be able to buy a lot of bananas. Then, I´d give the bananas to all the poor people that don´t have anything to eat.
Well, goodbye for now!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
3-4-08
Subject: Modern-day Pioneers
Hello Everybody!
Well, I guess it was a well kept secret. William didn´t find out that he was supposed to be baptized last week. Each time we went to his house to tell him, he wasn´t there. But some good news is that he wasn´t there one of the times because he had gone with some youth to the temple and he stayed out in the gardens with some of the youth while others did baptisms for the dead. He went to church again on Sunday as well!
Our goal of faith is to baptize William, Evelyn, and Sergio this Sunday. Evelyn is 15 years old (Kristie´s age). Since we´ve started teaching her, she´s stopped drinking tea and coffee, she hasn´t smoked for a week, and she broke up with her boyfriend/fiancé who had previously forbid her to listen to the missionaries and/or go to church. Can you believe someone Kristie´s age with all those problems? Well, they used to be problems, but because of the gospel, she´s been overcoming each obstacle one at a time.
Sergio is the husband of a member. He´s been going to church now and then for some time. Two weeks ago, he decided that he´s ready for baptism, so all we have to do is finish teaching him all the stuff he already believes, interview him, and dress him in white.
Modern-day Pioneers:
I was thinking about all the sacrifices that our investigators have been making to join the church, and it reminded me of the early pioneers when they joined the church. We want to tell people that by joining the church all their problems will go away, but sadly that isn´t the case. Problems will still come. Usually right before and right after something very important like baptism, the adversary is working his hardest to tear us down. But making covenants (like at baptism) we receive help to resist evil and qualify ourselves for peace in this life and eternal life after death.
Ana Claudia (who was baptized a week and a half ago) was kicked out of her choir that she studied two years to join. It was her life long dream to be in this choir, and she finally made it. After her baptism, the choir director told her that she had to choose to leave the ´Mormon´ church or leave the choir. She made the right choice, but it was very difficult and caused her a lot of pain.
Juciane (who baptized two weeks earlier) lost one of her jobs and has said that all her friends do is try to get her to leave the church and drink and party like she used to. But her testimony has been helping her stay strong. She bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon this last Sunday in church and told everyone that being a member of the church and having the gift of the Holy Ghost is worth all the sacrifices she´s had to make.
Everyone that I´ve taught that has decided to join the church has had some sort of really dificult trial to overcome beforehand. But, the miracles come after the trial of faith.
Goodbye for now!
-Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Hello Everybody!
Well, I guess it was a well kept secret. William didn´t find out that he was supposed to be baptized last week. Each time we went to his house to tell him, he wasn´t there. But some good news is that he wasn´t there one of the times because he had gone with some youth to the temple and he stayed out in the gardens with some of the youth while others did baptisms for the dead. He went to church again on Sunday as well!
Our goal of faith is to baptize William, Evelyn, and Sergio this Sunday. Evelyn is 15 years old (Kristie´s age). Since we´ve started teaching her, she´s stopped drinking tea and coffee, she hasn´t smoked for a week, and she broke up with her boyfriend/fiancé who had previously forbid her to listen to the missionaries and/or go to church. Can you believe someone Kristie´s age with all those problems? Well, they used to be problems, but because of the gospel, she´s been overcoming each obstacle one at a time.
Sergio is the husband of a member. He´s been going to church now and then for some time. Two weeks ago, he decided that he´s ready for baptism, so all we have to do is finish teaching him all the stuff he already believes, interview him, and dress him in white.
Modern-day Pioneers:
I was thinking about all the sacrifices that our investigators have been making to join the church, and it reminded me of the early pioneers when they joined the church. We want to tell people that by joining the church all their problems will go away, but sadly that isn´t the case. Problems will still come. Usually right before and right after something very important like baptism, the adversary is working his hardest to tear us down. But making covenants (like at baptism) we receive help to resist evil and qualify ourselves for peace in this life and eternal life after death.
Ana Claudia (who was baptized a week and a half ago) was kicked out of her choir that she studied two years to join. It was her life long dream to be in this choir, and she finally made it. After her baptism, the choir director told her that she had to choose to leave the ´Mormon´ church or leave the choir. She made the right choice, but it was very difficult and caused her a lot of pain.
Juciane (who baptized two weeks earlier) lost one of her jobs and has said that all her friends do is try to get her to leave the church and drink and party like she used to. But her testimony has been helping her stay strong. She bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon this last Sunday in church and told everyone that being a member of the church and having the gift of the Holy Ghost is worth all the sacrifices she´s had to make.
Everyone that I´ve taught that has decided to join the church has had some sort of really dificult trial to overcome beforehand. But, the miracles come after the trial of faith.
Goodbye for now!
-Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
2-26-08
Subject: This last week contained the fruits of several miracles.
Hello Everybody!
This last week was amazing. Saturday we had four baptisms! Wilton (age 20), Wilson (age 16), and Jailson (age 14) were all fellowshiped by the young men of the ward. All we had to do was teach them, interview them, and through much fasting and prayer, convince them that they needed to be baptized. Wilton´s brother, William (age 22), is still not feeling prepared enough to be baptized, but soon he´ll overcome all the obstacles that stand in the way of his baptism.
Shhhhhhh... Don´t go spreading this around because he doesn´t know yet, but he´ll probably be baptized this Saturday! Maybe it´ll be a surprise. wink wink ;)
The other person that was baptized was Ana Claudia (age 17). Her mother (Ivone) got baptized in December after being taught by the missionaries for over a year, and now she´s one of the biggest helps to the missionary work. Ana was always quite stubburn and didn´t want to change even though she has had a testimony of the Restoration. Ivone said that I was the first person ever to get her to change her mind about anything, but it wasn´t me. I remember two distinct occasions when I was prompted on exactly what I needed to teach her. One of the times, I was prompted during personal study, and wrote out exactly was I was supposed to say to her. Then I used my notes when we went to her house to teach her. Missionaries hardly ever use notes when they teach someone, but I didn´t want to forget what I was supposed to say. It reminds me of when Joseph Smith read the dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple. The other instance, I was prompted in "the very hour" and all of us ended up in tears as she committed to be baptized. I had the honor of baptizing Ana on Saturday, while the 3 young men were all baptized by members of the ward.
We found out about transfers on Sunday. Neither of us will be transfered! Elder Tavares will be my first companion that I´ve had for more than one transfer. This is really good news, because we are teaching some really amazing people right now that have been prepared by the Lord, and I don´t want to miss out on the wonderful changes they will be making in their lives.
Well, goodbye for now!
-Élder Jason Morgan Allred
(Previous letters are posted at www.elderallred.blogspot.com)
Hello Everybody!
This last week was amazing. Saturday we had four baptisms! Wilton (age 20), Wilson (age 16), and Jailson (age 14) were all fellowshiped by the young men of the ward. All we had to do was teach them, interview them, and through much fasting and prayer, convince them that they needed to be baptized. Wilton´s brother, William (age 22), is still not feeling prepared enough to be baptized, but soon he´ll overcome all the obstacles that stand in the way of his baptism.
Shhhhhhh... Don´t go spreading this around because he doesn´t know yet, but he´ll probably be baptized this Saturday! Maybe it´ll be a surprise. wink wink ;)
The other person that was baptized was Ana Claudia (age 17). Her mother (Ivone) got baptized in December after being taught by the missionaries for over a year, and now she´s one of the biggest helps to the missionary work. Ana was always quite stubburn and didn´t want to change even though she has had a testimony of the Restoration. Ivone said that I was the first person ever to get her to change her mind about anything, but it wasn´t me. I remember two distinct occasions when I was prompted on exactly what I needed to teach her. One of the times, I was prompted during personal study, and wrote out exactly was I was supposed to say to her. Then I used my notes when we went to her house to teach her. Missionaries hardly ever use notes when they teach someone, but I didn´t want to forget what I was supposed to say. It reminds me of when Joseph Smith read the dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple. The other instance, I was prompted in "the very hour" and all of us ended up in tears as she committed to be baptized. I had the honor of baptizing Ana on Saturday, while the 3 young men were all baptized by members of the ward.
We found out about transfers on Sunday. Neither of us will be transfered! Elder Tavares will be my first companion that I´ve had for more than one transfer. This is really good news, because we are teaching some really amazing people right now that have been prepared by the Lord, and I don´t want to miss out on the wonderful changes they will be making in their lives.
Well, goodbye for now!
-Élder Jason Morgan Allred
(Previous letters are posted at www.elderallred.blogspot.com)
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
2-19-08
On Saturday we had two baptisms - one for the mission and one for the ward. Dalila (the wife of our ward mission leader) and her 8 year-old daughter. Our ward mission leader got to baptize his wife and daughter. He confirmed his daughter Saturday after the baptism and his wife Sunday in Sacrament meeting. Here in a year they´ll get to go to the temple to be sealed! On Sunday, I got to confirm Jú (Juciane) a member of the church. She was baptized last sunday evening, so she had to wait an entire week to complete her baptism with the baptism of the spirit. After church on Sunday, a few members told us that they could see a difference in her.
We were planning on baptizing Cida as well. We arranged for a member that lives on her road to drive her to the baptism (We have to go to the stake center to do baptisms because our chapel is a large warehouse that the church is renting while they reconstruct the other chapel and it doesn´t have a baptismal font). The member showed up to the baptism without her. He said that she told him that she decided not to get baptized. The members have told us that this is the fourth time she has marked a baptism with the missionaries and fell through. We´ve decided to stop teaching her for now. Hopefully she´ll gain a firmer testimony to help her overcome her obstacles.
We´re about to go teach 4 young men have been preparing for baptism. Because they have already been going to church, we originally set a close date for baptism with them - last Saturday. To prepare them, we taught them the second lesson on Tuesday, the third lesson and part of the fourth on Wednesday, and the rest of the fourth on Thursday. After the lesson on Thursday, they we´re all interviewed for baptism and passed! After the interview, they told us that it was too soon, that they wanted to wait another month or two before being baptized. I went there Friday night with Elder Homer (an american) because we had to make a division. I prepared that morning to teach them a lesson of power about baptism to help them meet their goal and be baptized that Saturday. It went very well. During the lesson, I was focused on showing them that baptism for someone who is prepared is something that shouldn´t be put off. I was focused on helping them feel the desire to be baptized that following day. During the lesson, they kept explaining to me that they thought it was better to wait. They wanted to wait another couple months to be baptized. After we taught, I was prompted to lead everyone into the living room to pray and ask God who knows everything to help us know the best day for them to be baptized. We all kneelt down, and each took turns individually praying asking the Lord to help us know the day that they should be baptized. As I listened to them pray, I noticed that they each suddenly changed desires and included something similar to the following: "God, please help us know when we should be baptized and bless us that we can be baptized AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE." After everyone prayed, we all stayed on our knees and pondered a little. After a while, we discussed a little more, and we all felt that the best day for them wasn´t in a couple months and it was´t that Saturday, but this next Saturday. It turns out that if it had been last Saturday, Jailson´s father wouldn´t have been able to attend the service, but he will be able to this next Saturday!
On Sunday, Ana (the daughter of a recent convert) finally decided to get baptized. She too will be baptized this Saturday. That was the date I had given her some three days earlier to be praying about.
Well, times up. Until next week...
--
Elder Allred
We were planning on baptizing Cida as well. We arranged for a member that lives on her road to drive her to the baptism (We have to go to the stake center to do baptisms because our chapel is a large warehouse that the church is renting while they reconstruct the other chapel and it doesn´t have a baptismal font). The member showed up to the baptism without her. He said that she told him that she decided not to get baptized. The members have told us that this is the fourth time she has marked a baptism with the missionaries and fell through. We´ve decided to stop teaching her for now. Hopefully she´ll gain a firmer testimony to help her overcome her obstacles.
We´re about to go teach 4 young men have been preparing for baptism. Because they have already been going to church, we originally set a close date for baptism with them - last Saturday. To prepare them, we taught them the second lesson on Tuesday, the third lesson and part of the fourth on Wednesday, and the rest of the fourth on Thursday. After the lesson on Thursday, they we´re all interviewed for baptism and passed! After the interview, they told us that it was too soon, that they wanted to wait another month or two before being baptized. I went there Friday night with Elder Homer (an american) because we had to make a division. I prepared that morning to teach them a lesson of power about baptism to help them meet their goal and be baptized that Saturday. It went very well. During the lesson, I was focused on showing them that baptism for someone who is prepared is something that shouldn´t be put off. I was focused on helping them feel the desire to be baptized that following day. During the lesson, they kept explaining to me that they thought it was better to wait. They wanted to wait another couple months to be baptized. After we taught, I was prompted to lead everyone into the living room to pray and ask God who knows everything to help us know the best day for them to be baptized. We all kneelt down, and each took turns individually praying asking the Lord to help us know the day that they should be baptized. As I listened to them pray, I noticed that they each suddenly changed desires and included something similar to the following: "God, please help us know when we should be baptized and bless us that we can be baptized AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE." After everyone prayed, we all stayed on our knees and pondered a little. After a while, we discussed a little more, and we all felt that the best day for them wasn´t in a couple months and it was´t that Saturday, but this next Saturday. It turns out that if it had been last Saturday, Jailson´s father wouldn´t have been able to attend the service, but he will be able to this next Saturday!
On Sunday, Ana (the daughter of a recent convert) finally decided to get baptized. She too will be baptized this Saturday. That was the date I had given her some three days earlier to be praying about.
Well, times up. Until next week...
--
Elder Allred
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
2-12-08
Oi todo mundo!
Hello everybody!
Jú (Juciane) foi batizada domingo passado. Foi muito bem. Muitas pessoas da ala assitiram a ordenança. Ela vai receber o dom do Espírito Santo domingo agora na reunião sacramental.
Jú (Juciane) was baptized on Sunday. It went very well. A lot of people from the ward attended the ordenance. She will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost this Sunday in Sacrament Meeting.
Tem mais duas pessoas que vão se batizar sábado agora. Uma delas é a mulher de nosso LMA (Líder da Missão da Ala). Ela se chama Dalila. A outra é Cida. Cida tem duas filhas que vão frequentar a primária. Ainda, a família dela (seu pai, seus irmãos, etc.) não gostam da igreja. Mas, ela vai ser um bom exemplo para eles.
There are two people that will be baptized this Saturday. One of them is the wife of our Ward Mission Leader. Her name is Dalila. The other is Cida. Cida has 2 daughters that will attend primary. As of yet, her family (her father, her brothers, etc.) don´t like the church. But, she´ll be a good example for them.
Marcamos um data de batismo com Ana Claudio (a filha de um recem converso). Ela ainda não se batizou porque tem medo de perder suas amidade na sua igreja atual. A gente falou com ela sobre fé, coragem, e sacrifício. Agora, ela decidiu se batizer no sábado que vem.
We marked a baptismal date with Ana Claudio (the daughter of a recent convert). She hasn´t been baptized yet because she´s afraid to lose all of her friendship in her current church. We spoke with her about faith, courage, and sacrifice. Now, she has decided to be baptized next Saturday (not this Saturday, but the next).
Estamos trabalhando com 4 rapazes que estão muito próximo de batismo. Eles têm ido para igreja já uma mes. A gente não sabia que eles não eram membros! Eles têm um pouco medo de batizar ainda, mas eu sei que eles estão prontos e quase tenho certeza que eles vão se batizar no mesmo dia que Ana vai.
We´re working with 4 young men that are very close to baptism. They have been going to church for over one month now. We didn´t know that they weren´t members! They have a little fear of being baptized, but I know that they are ready and I´m almost certain that they will be baptized the same day as Ana.
Tivemos a conferência das zonas quinta-feira passada. Conferência das zonas é uma conferência com todos as zonas de sua região. Minha região é ABC. Só tem três regiões na missão, então, a terceira parte da missão estava lá. Eu, Élder Tavares (meu companheiro), Élder Patterson, e Élder Presença cantamos a música "Não Saberão" do hinario de primária. Síster Teixeira gostou dela com tal maneira que ela pediu que a gente cantasse de novo no fim da conferência. "Boas coisas são para ser repetidas," ela falou.
We had "conference of the zones" last Thursday. Conference of the Zones is a conference with all the zones of your region. My region is the ABC region. There are only three regions in the mission, so a third of the mission was there. Elder Tavares (my companion), Elder Patterson, Elder Presença, and I sang the song "How will they know?" from the Primary Children´s Songbook. Sister Teixeira like it so much that she asked us to sing it again at the end of the conference. "Good things are to be repeated," she said.
Depois a conferência, eu tive minha entrevista com Presidente Teixeira. Élder Cruz (meu último companheiro) me ensinou como utilizar essa oportunidade. Com freqüência, no final do dia, Élder Cruz me ensinava alguma coiza que ele apredeu de Presidente. Para fazer isso, ele abria um dos diários de estudo dele e lia o que ele registrou das entrevistas que ele tinha com Presidente. Presidente não tem muito tempo, então eu decidi antemão uma pergunta que eu ia fazer, e depois, eu registrou tudo que President me ensinou. Eu acho que eu vou voltar da missão com uma biblioteca das coisas que eu terei aprendido.
After the conference. I had my interview with President Teizeira. Elder Cruz (my last companion) taught me how to take advantage of this opportunity. Often, at the end of the day, Elder Cruz would teahc me something that he learned from President. To do this, ele would open one of his study journals and read what he recorded from his interviews with President. President doesn´t have a lot of time, so I decided beforehand one question that I would ask him, and after I recorded everything he taught me. I think that I will return from the mission with a library of the things that I will have learned.
Até mais!
See ya later!
-Élder Allred
Hello everybody!
Jú (Juciane) foi batizada domingo passado. Foi muito bem. Muitas pessoas da ala assitiram a ordenança. Ela vai receber o dom do Espírito Santo domingo agora na reunião sacramental.
Jú (Juciane) was baptized on Sunday. It went very well. A lot of people from the ward attended the ordenance. She will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost this Sunday in Sacrament Meeting.
Tem mais duas pessoas que vão se batizar sábado agora. Uma delas é a mulher de nosso LMA (Líder da Missão da Ala). Ela se chama Dalila. A outra é Cida. Cida tem duas filhas que vão frequentar a primária. Ainda, a família dela (seu pai, seus irmãos, etc.) não gostam da igreja. Mas, ela vai ser um bom exemplo para eles.
There are two people that will be baptized this Saturday. One of them is the wife of our Ward Mission Leader. Her name is Dalila. The other is Cida. Cida has 2 daughters that will attend primary. As of yet, her family (her father, her brothers, etc.) don´t like the church. But, she´ll be a good example for them.
Marcamos um data de batismo com Ana Claudio (a filha de um recem converso). Ela ainda não se batizou porque tem medo de perder suas amidade na sua igreja atual. A gente falou com ela sobre fé, coragem, e sacrifício. Agora, ela decidiu se batizer no sábado que vem.
We marked a baptismal date with Ana Claudio (the daughter of a recent convert). She hasn´t been baptized yet because she´s afraid to lose all of her friendship in her current church. We spoke with her about faith, courage, and sacrifice. Now, she has decided to be baptized next Saturday (not this Saturday, but the next).
Estamos trabalhando com 4 rapazes que estão muito próximo de batismo. Eles têm ido para igreja já uma mes. A gente não sabia que eles não eram membros! Eles têm um pouco medo de batizar ainda, mas eu sei que eles estão prontos e quase tenho certeza que eles vão se batizar no mesmo dia que Ana vai.
We´re working with 4 young men that are very close to baptism. They have been going to church for over one month now. We didn´t know that they weren´t members! They have a little fear of being baptized, but I know that they are ready and I´m almost certain that they will be baptized the same day as Ana.
Tivemos a conferência das zonas quinta-feira passada. Conferência das zonas é uma conferência com todos as zonas de sua região. Minha região é ABC. Só tem três regiões na missão, então, a terceira parte da missão estava lá. Eu, Élder Tavares (meu companheiro), Élder Patterson, e Élder Presença cantamos a música "Não Saberão" do hinario de primária. Síster Teixeira gostou dela com tal maneira que ela pediu que a gente cantasse de novo no fim da conferência. "Boas coisas são para ser repetidas," ela falou.
We had "conference of the zones" last Thursday. Conference of the Zones is a conference with all the zones of your region. My region is the ABC region. There are only three regions in the mission, so a third of the mission was there. Elder Tavares (my companion), Elder Patterson, Elder Presença, and I sang the song "How will they know?" from the Primary Children´s Songbook. Sister Teixeira like it so much that she asked us to sing it again at the end of the conference. "Good things are to be repeated," she said.
Depois a conferência, eu tive minha entrevista com Presidente Teixeira. Élder Cruz (meu último companheiro) me ensinou como utilizar essa oportunidade. Com freqüência, no final do dia, Élder Cruz me ensinava alguma coiza que ele apredeu de Presidente. Para fazer isso, ele abria um dos diários de estudo dele e lia o que ele registrou das entrevistas que ele tinha com Presidente. Presidente não tem muito tempo, então eu decidi antemão uma pergunta que eu ia fazer, e depois, eu registrou tudo que President me ensinou. Eu acho que eu vou voltar da missão com uma biblioteca das coisas que eu terei aprendido.
After the conference. I had my interview with President Teizeira. Elder Cruz (my last companion) taught me how to take advantage of this opportunity. Often, at the end of the day, Elder Cruz would teahc me something that he learned from President. To do this, ele would open one of his study journals and read what he recorded from his interviews with President. President doesn´t have a lot of time, so I decided beforehand one question that I would ask him, and after I recorded everything he taught me. I think that I will return from the mission with a library of the things that I will have learned.
Até mais!
See ya later!
-Élder Allred
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
2-5-08
Hello Everybody!
Last Tuesday after P-day, we had an appointment to teach a family that has been going to church and we didn´t even know they weren´t members. P-day ends at 6pm and then we work until 9-9:30. It took us almost an hour and a half to walk to their house and then another hour to walk back, so that was the only lesson we taught that day, but it was worth it. We´re going to teach them again tomorrow and set a firm baptism date with them.
This last week we had a two-day division (split) so our District Leader could do some baptismal interviews in our area. I spent those two days in another area here in Mauá. After the division, we had three firm baptisms set and ready for this coming Saturday, 9 Feb (Cida, Dalila, and Jucieve). But then by Sunday Jucieve (Jú) found out that she has to work, so her date moved to this coming Sunday, Dalila´s friend that she wants to watch the service won´t return until Sunday night, so her date moved to the Saturday after, 16 Feb, and Cida had an excuse not to come to church. At first on Saturday, 2 Feb, she told us that she decided not to get baptized because she´s probably going to move to St. André soon and she has so many important things that are taking up all her time and giving her to many worries. She asked us if we didn´t think it was better to wait. We told her (like any missionary would) that it´s not better to wait - the best thing to do is to get baptized as soon as possible, especially when she has so many problems in her life. We told her of the blessings that she will get when she gets baptized to help her with her problems. By the time we left, she agreed that it was best for her to be baptized this Saturday, 9 Feb. But then she didn´t come to church, so we´ll see.
Well, goodbye for now.
--
Elder Allred
Last Tuesday after P-day, we had an appointment to teach a family that has been going to church and we didn´t even know they weren´t members. P-day ends at 6pm and then we work until 9-9:30. It took us almost an hour and a half to walk to their house and then another hour to walk back, so that was the only lesson we taught that day, but it was worth it. We´re going to teach them again tomorrow and set a firm baptism date with them.
This last week we had a two-day division (split) so our District Leader could do some baptismal interviews in our area. I spent those two days in another area here in Mauá. After the division, we had three firm baptisms set and ready for this coming Saturday, 9 Feb (Cida, Dalila, and Jucieve). But then by Sunday Jucieve (Jú) found out that she has to work, so her date moved to this coming Sunday, Dalila´s friend that she wants to watch the service won´t return until Sunday night, so her date moved to the Saturday after, 16 Feb, and Cida had an excuse not to come to church. At first on Saturday, 2 Feb, she told us that she decided not to get baptized because she´s probably going to move to St. André soon and she has so many important things that are taking up all her time and giving her to many worries. She asked us if we didn´t think it was better to wait. We told her (like any missionary would) that it´s not better to wait - the best thing to do is to get baptized as soon as possible, especially when she has so many problems in her life. We told her of the blessings that she will get when she gets baptized to help her with her problems. By the time we left, she agreed that it was best for her to be baptized this Saturday, 9 Feb. But then she didn´t come to church, so we´ll see.
Well, goodbye for now.
--
Elder Allred
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