Subject: 2009!
Hello Everybody!
Our apartment is pretty close to the beach, where thousands of people passed the New Year eating, drinking, being merry, and putting off fireworks. We went to bed at 10:30 like normal. And, amazingly, the fireworks only woke me up once at 11:40. Luckily I was able to fall back asleep quickly and pass the new year dreaming of a white Christmas just like the ones I used to know (which by the way, my next Christmas most likely will be white).
These last two weeks were extremely difficult in regards to missionary work. Because our city is a tourist town, most of the people that were here don´t even live here.
Ex:
"... we would like to pass by your house this week, explain a little more about the Book of Mormon, and leave one with you as a gift."
"That would be wonderful! I´ve always wanted to know more about your church!"
"Do you live around here?"
"Kind of. Actually, we're from Amazonia, on the other side of the equator. I hope making a 12 hour flight across country to our house isn´t out of the way for you guys. But I heard that Mormons are rich, so it shouldn´t be to big of a problem for you guys."
It seems that all the really interested poeple happen to live out of our area. Also, during the holidays, the people that live here like to rent out their houses for tourists. So, we've been out of touch with over half of our investigators for the last 2 weeks.
João Paulo and Antônio were our only investigators that made it to church on Sunday. João Paulo is really prepared for his baptism on the 17th. He was really prepared to receive the gospel, so he never has doubts about what we teach him. Antônio, on the other hand, is a lawyer, and has to have a good explanation for everything that is said at church. Ironically, both of the times that he was at church, the lesson in Gopsel Principles mentioned man´s potential to become like Heavenly Father. We had an awesome lesson at his house last night to answer his questions, and he´s feeling the truth. All of his doctrinal questions were easy to answer. But his questions about LDS custums were all little more difficult. "In testimony meeting, why did everyone get up there and bear the same testimony that they know the Church is true, etc...? In a court of law, you only need additional testimonies if the fact is disputed. But it seems that everyone in your church agrees that it´s the true church, so what´s the point in everyone giving testimony of the same thing? And why in the world did that one lady bear testimony of her husband? I didn´t come to church to hear how special someone else´s spouse is." :)
We taught the first lesson to our Stake President Renato Barbosa on Saturday. He said that it was the first time he had received the lesson since Preach My Gospel came out. He got pretty excited to help us with missionary work in the stake.
Goodbye for now!
--
Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
12-16-08
Subject: 9 days!
Hello Everybody!
Let's see how much I can fit into this email. I've been trying to get a lot done. President is having us make zone plans and goals for the new transfer so I´ve been getting those typed up and emailed.
On Friday, we went up to São Paulo again. This time it was to President´s house for a council meeting. President taught us a lot about helping our investigators repent before being baptized. He quoted a few parts from the church handbook that says that the best way to show repentance is righteous action over a long period of time.
This Sunday, Elivira came to church for the third time. She´s planning on her baptism this coming Sunday. She's made it over 3 weeks without drinking coffee! In fact, everyone in the house has succussfully made the switch to hot chocolate.
Desidério came to church for the first time. He said that next time he´ll be sure to come in a tie to be more prepared for his baptism next month.
We´ll do the final presentations of "Another Christmas Story" this week end in São Bernardo and Riberão Pires.
This week we´re going to try to get in a meeting with Stake President Renato to consider creating a branch in the stake.
Thanks for everything!
Goodbye for now!
--
Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Hello Everybody!
Let's see how much I can fit into this email. I've been trying to get a lot done. President is having us make zone plans and goals for the new transfer so I´ve been getting those typed up and emailed.
On Friday, we went up to São Paulo again. This time it was to President´s house for a council meeting. President taught us a lot about helping our investigators repent before being baptized. He quoted a few parts from the church handbook that says that the best way to show repentance is righteous action over a long period of time.
This Sunday, Elivira came to church for the third time. She´s planning on her baptism this coming Sunday. She's made it over 3 weeks without drinking coffee! In fact, everyone in the house has succussfully made the switch to hot chocolate.
Desidério came to church for the first time. He said that next time he´ll be sure to come in a tie to be more prepared for his baptism next month.
We´ll do the final presentations of "Another Christmas Story" this week end in São Bernardo and Riberão Pires.
This week we´re going to try to get in a meeting with Stake President Renato to consider creating a branch in the stake.
Thanks for everything!
Goodbye for now!
--
Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
12-09-08
Subject: There has to be music at Christmas time.
Hello Everybody!
This week was quite a rush!
On Saturday we did our first musical performance of "The Other Christmas Story." I played violin and sang in the choir. Elder Shumway (Millie´s second cousin) is a music genius and organized everything. We´ve practiced only during two p-days, but the performance was a sucess. Many of the Investigators that attended felt the spirit so strong that they accepted baptism. Saturday was our performance in São Paulo. I took a bus with Elder Karr and Elder Machado stayed with his companion. The performance ended at 8:30pm. Because we would get home late, President didn´t want us traveling by bus the normal way, so he rented a van to take us all the way to our homes. But to make it worth the price, he put us in the same van with 4 sister missionaries. (Don´t worry, the driver was a male member). But we had to drop one set off sisters in Guarujá and the other set off in Santos. On top of that the driver got lost a few times. (Cool side note - we took a ferry from Guarujá to Santos). Anyway, we got home at almost one in the morning. I haven´t stayed up so late in over 15 months! Then we had to wake up even earlier than normal to get to the church and fill up the baptismal font for José's baptism. It was great! However, because of water problems, we had to fill up the font half the way with buckets, and the baptismal meeting got a little behind shedule. It ended at 9:05, and Priesthood opening excersizes started 5 minutes late.
Because he was baptized before church, we were able to confirm him the same day. His wife (Ivone) is a recent convert, so here in a year they can get sealed in the temple!
Then Sunday night we went to Santos to perform once more. Next week, we´ll perform in São Bernardo and then in Riberão Pires.
Today we had transfers. Elder Machado went to São Paulo. My new companion is Elder G. Santos from Pernanbuco. This is my first time having a companion with over a year and a half on the mission.
It´s going to be a great transfer!
Merry Christmas!
--Elder Allred
Hello Everybody!
This week was quite a rush!
On Saturday we did our first musical performance of "The Other Christmas Story." I played violin and sang in the choir. Elder Shumway (Millie´s second cousin) is a music genius and organized everything. We´ve practiced only during two p-days, but the performance was a sucess. Many of the Investigators that attended felt the spirit so strong that they accepted baptism. Saturday was our performance in São Paulo. I took a bus with Elder Karr and Elder Machado stayed with his companion. The performance ended at 8:30pm. Because we would get home late, President didn´t want us traveling by bus the normal way, so he rented a van to take us all the way to our homes. But to make it worth the price, he put us in the same van with 4 sister missionaries. (Don´t worry, the driver was a male member). But we had to drop one set off sisters in Guarujá and the other set off in Santos. On top of that the driver got lost a few times. (Cool side note - we took a ferry from Guarujá to Santos). Anyway, we got home at almost one in the morning. I haven´t stayed up so late in over 15 months! Then we had to wake up even earlier than normal to get to the church and fill up the baptismal font for José's baptism. It was great! However, because of water problems, we had to fill up the font half the way with buckets, and the baptismal meeting got a little behind shedule. It ended at 9:05, and Priesthood opening excersizes started 5 minutes late.
Because he was baptized before church, we were able to confirm him the same day. His wife (Ivone) is a recent convert, so here in a year they can get sealed in the temple!
Then Sunday night we went to Santos to perform once more. Next week, we´ll perform in São Bernardo and then in Riberão Pires.
Today we had transfers. Elder Machado went to São Paulo. My new companion is Elder G. Santos from Pernanbuco. This is my first time having a companion with over a year and a half on the mission.
It´s going to be a great transfer!
Merry Christmas!
--Elder Allred
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
12-02-08
Subject: We´re singing Handel´s Messiah!
Hello Everybody!
Well, my email will probably be short because the internet went down because of the rain, and just came back again. Well, José is getting ready for his baptism on Sunday. He already let us annouce it in Sacrament meeting, so it´s pretty firm.
Not much new to write. We´ve been teaching quite a bit. This area is a little harder than my last area because it´s richer. Everyone lives in apartments, but we finally reached our goal of 30 lessons in this area. We´ve been focusing on families. Over 90% of the people with whom we´ve been talking on the road have been potential priesthood holders.
Have fun everybody! Choose the right!
Love, Elder Allred (The one in Brazil that´s from Rexburg).1!!!!!
Hello Everybody!
Well, my email will probably be short because the internet went down because of the rain, and just came back again. Well, José is getting ready for his baptism on Sunday. He already let us annouce it in Sacrament meeting, so it´s pretty firm.
Not much new to write. We´ve been teaching quite a bit. This area is a little harder than my last area because it´s richer. Everyone lives in apartments, but we finally reached our goal of 30 lessons in this area. We´ve been focusing on families. Over 90% of the people with whom we´ve been talking on the road have been potential priesthood holders.
Have fun everybody! Choose the right!
Love, Elder Allred (The one in Brazil that´s from Rexburg).1!!!!!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
11-18-08
Elder Jason Allred
Brazil São Paulo South Mission
Rua Dr Luiz da Richa Miranda, 159
8 Andar, Parque Jabaquara
04344-010 - São Paulo - SP
Brazil
Subject: 2 elephants? Check. 2 tigers? Check. 2 mosquitos? Check. Wait? Is this one male or female?
Hello Everybody!
João and Marilda were confirmed! João is already helping us teach other investigators. When he bears his testimony during the lessons, one can tell that they really feel the spirit. We took Iraci to their house last night to teach her about tithing. They helped us a lot. Marilda told her how she too struggled with coffee for a few weeks before succeeding.
We started teaching a great family. A family of 11! The wife (Ivone) had one child and the husband (Ivonir) had 3 before they got married. Then they decided to adopt 5 more. This is really hard to find here in Brazil. Most people don´t believe in large families. They don´t know what they´re missing. They live really close to the chapel. When we passed by their house on Sunday morning to get them to church, they were already ready and ended up getting to church about 20 minutes early. At least they were able to get to know some members before the meetings started.
We had zone conference on Friday. It´s always such a neat experience. We always come back home invigorated, inspired, and excited to do the work. It´s amazing how much revelation we can receive when we are taught by our leaders.
Sunday night, President and Sister Richardson spoke at a fireside in one of the wards in our stake. We took Edvaldo there to watch. He ended up getting to meet them and was all excited to tell them that he was going to be baptized in 3 weeks. He´s come a long way.
Last night before going to bed I started studying Genesis chapter 6 quite thoroughly. With all the rain we´ve got the last 2 days, I´m sure it´ll come in handy to know the details of ark construction.
Thanks for everything!
Love, Elder Allred
--
Christmas wish:
-Two mini english hymnals
-Two mini english primary children´s songbooks
-One mini portuguese primary children´s songbook
-Face Wash
-Short sleeve white shirt (Not too fat - Brazilians don´t feed us enough ice cream.)
Brazil São Paulo South Mission
Rua Dr Luiz da Richa Miranda, 159
8 Andar, Parque Jabaquara
04344-010 - São Paulo - SP
Brazil
Subject: 2 elephants? Check. 2 tigers? Check. 2 mosquitos? Check. Wait? Is this one male or female?
Hello Everybody!
João and Marilda were confirmed! João is already helping us teach other investigators. When he bears his testimony during the lessons, one can tell that they really feel the spirit. We took Iraci to their house last night to teach her about tithing. They helped us a lot. Marilda told her how she too struggled with coffee for a few weeks before succeeding.
We started teaching a great family. A family of 11! The wife (Ivone) had one child and the husband (Ivonir) had 3 before they got married. Then they decided to adopt 5 more. This is really hard to find here in Brazil. Most people don´t believe in large families. They don´t know what they´re missing. They live really close to the chapel. When we passed by their house on Sunday morning to get them to church, they were already ready and ended up getting to church about 20 minutes early. At least they were able to get to know some members before the meetings started.
We had zone conference on Friday. It´s always such a neat experience. We always come back home invigorated, inspired, and excited to do the work. It´s amazing how much revelation we can receive when we are taught by our leaders.
Sunday night, President and Sister Richardson spoke at a fireside in one of the wards in our stake. We took Edvaldo there to watch. He ended up getting to meet them and was all excited to tell them that he was going to be baptized in 3 weeks. He´s come a long way.
Last night before going to bed I started studying Genesis chapter 6 quite thoroughly. With all the rain we´ve got the last 2 days, I´m sure it´ll come in handy to know the details of ark construction.
Thanks for everything!
Love, Elder Allred
--
Christmas wish:
-Two mini english hymnals
-Two mini english primary children´s songbooks
-One mini portuguese primary children´s songbook
-Face Wash
-Short sleeve white shirt (Not too fat - Brazilians don´t feed us enough ice cream.)
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
11-11-08
Subject: One Way!
Hello Everybody!
Wow this week went by fast!
João and Marilda were baptized on Sunday! It was a really spiritual experience. They invited their whole family to watch the baptism. Usually we have to worry about the water being too cold, but this time was different. We left a member in charge of the baptismal font while it was filling up so we wouldn´t have to waste time waiting in the chapel when there are thousands perishing in unbelief. He got the water to the right level, but forgot to check the temperature. Either he forgot, or thought it might be more efficient to do the baptism by water and the baptism by fire at the same time. :) When Brother Rildo (counselor to the bishop) entered the water to baptize Marilda, he hopped right back out. We had to delay the baptism for about ten minutes to let out some hot water and add some more cold water.
After the ordinances, we had some very spiritual experiences. After leaving the font, João entered the restroom, fell on his knees, and offered a prayer of gratitude for being able to make the changes that allowed him to take this great step. While João and Marilda changed clothes we showed a church film that touched the heart of the family members, who later accepted the invite to learn more of the restored gospel. Both João and Marilda were invited to bear their testimonies at the end of the meeting. The both testified that they knew the Church is true. Marilda said that she felt quite warm in the baptismal font, but that the warmth she felt wasn't from the boiling water but from the spirit that she felt "coming from above." To end the baptismal meeting, 5 primary children sang "I Like to Look for Rainbows" while Elder Machado played the piano. The sound that filled the chapel was angelic and I´m certain that I heard the voice of more than 5 children.
Here in a year João and Marilda will be sealed in the temple, together with their son who passed away 2 months ago in a car accident. Marilda said that the Plan of Salvation was what opened her heart to the restored gospel.
We´re teaching a 28 year-old man who has trouble understanding and remembering all that we teach. When we teach investigators like him or when we teach a family that has little children, I always recognize how blessed I was to learn the simple truths of the gospel ever since I was young. The ways that Mom and Dad taught us, I now use frequently to teach. Preach My Gospel says that master teaching is when you can take something complex and simplify it until a child can understand it. I often remember and utilize simple Primary lessons, such as using my hand and a glove to explain how the spirit enter in the body, has the same form as the body, and gives the body life.
Edvaldo is one of our investigators that is really progressing. Because of how big his changes have had to be, we asked President Acácio (President Richardson´s counselor) to do a pre-interview to help us set goals with him and support him in the repentance process. The interview was Sunday night after the baptism. Edvaldo said that is was a very spiritual experience and that now he has a hope that he didn´t have before.
Thursday was a really neat day. We had interviews with President Richardson, and then Elder Machado and I took Sister Richardson to do inspections of all the missionaries' homes. We didn´t really have to show her the way because her car has a really advanced GPS. It was only wrong once, when we entered the wrong way into a one way street and almost died. Luckily Sister Richardson had asked me to offer a prayer before leaving to make sure we wouldn´t get in any wrecks. I felt really special because I got to act as translator for Sister Richardson when we visited each companionship in their homes.
I made another Book Of Mormon CD today. We´re teaching Iraci, a school teacher that ironically can't read because of pore vision. She´s really progressing, but is having trouble giving up coffee. The problem is that she doesn´t yet believe in the Word of Wisdom, which is because she doesn´t have a firm testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith because she hasn´t been able to read the Book of Mormon yet. But now our problem is solved!
Thanks for all the prayers, love, and support!
--
Love, Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Hello Everybody!
Wow this week went by fast!
João and Marilda were baptized on Sunday! It was a really spiritual experience. They invited their whole family to watch the baptism. Usually we have to worry about the water being too cold, but this time was different. We left a member in charge of the baptismal font while it was filling up so we wouldn´t have to waste time waiting in the chapel when there are thousands perishing in unbelief. He got the water to the right level, but forgot to check the temperature. Either he forgot, or thought it might be more efficient to do the baptism by water and the baptism by fire at the same time. :) When Brother Rildo (counselor to the bishop) entered the water to baptize Marilda, he hopped right back out. We had to delay the baptism for about ten minutes to let out some hot water and add some more cold water.
After the ordinances, we had some very spiritual experiences. After leaving the font, João entered the restroom, fell on his knees, and offered a prayer of gratitude for being able to make the changes that allowed him to take this great step. While João and Marilda changed clothes we showed a church film that touched the heart of the family members, who later accepted the invite to learn more of the restored gospel. Both João and Marilda were invited to bear their testimonies at the end of the meeting. The both testified that they knew the Church is true. Marilda said that she felt quite warm in the baptismal font, but that the warmth she felt wasn't from the boiling water but from the spirit that she felt "coming from above." To end the baptismal meeting, 5 primary children sang "I Like to Look for Rainbows" while Elder Machado played the piano. The sound that filled the chapel was angelic and I´m certain that I heard the voice of more than 5 children.
Here in a year João and Marilda will be sealed in the temple, together with their son who passed away 2 months ago in a car accident. Marilda said that the Plan of Salvation was what opened her heart to the restored gospel.
We´re teaching a 28 year-old man who has trouble understanding and remembering all that we teach. When we teach investigators like him or when we teach a family that has little children, I always recognize how blessed I was to learn the simple truths of the gospel ever since I was young. The ways that Mom and Dad taught us, I now use frequently to teach. Preach My Gospel says that master teaching is when you can take something complex and simplify it until a child can understand it. I often remember and utilize simple Primary lessons, such as using my hand and a glove to explain how the spirit enter in the body, has the same form as the body, and gives the body life.
Edvaldo is one of our investigators that is really progressing. Because of how big his changes have had to be, we asked President Acácio (President Richardson´s counselor) to do a pre-interview to help us set goals with him and support him in the repentance process. The interview was Sunday night after the baptism. Edvaldo said that is was a very spiritual experience and that now he has a hope that he didn´t have before.
Thursday was a really neat day. We had interviews with President Richardson, and then Elder Machado and I took Sister Richardson to do inspections of all the missionaries' homes. We didn´t really have to show her the way because her car has a really advanced GPS. It was only wrong once, when we entered the wrong way into a one way street and almost died. Luckily Sister Richardson had asked me to offer a prayer before leaving to make sure we wouldn´t get in any wrecks. I felt really special because I got to act as translator for Sister Richardson when we visited each companionship in their homes.
I made another Book Of Mormon CD today. We´re teaching Iraci, a school teacher that ironically can't read because of pore vision. She´s really progressing, but is having trouble giving up coffee. The problem is that she doesn´t yet believe in the Word of Wisdom, which is because she doesn´t have a firm testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith because she hasn´t been able to read the Book of Mormon yet. But now our problem is solved!
Thanks for all the prayers, love, and support!
--
Love, Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
11-04-08
Subject: Taxi!
Hello Everybody!
The week went by really fast.
Last Saturday we taught Iraci for the first time. She's a 50 year-old P.E. teacher. The next day on Sunday, she went to church all by herself.
This week, João and Marilda will be baptized. They moved their baptism to this Sunday because they want their family to be able to attend.
On Friday, we had a council meetting in São Paulo with President. We were supposed to be there by 10am, and it takes about an hour and a half to get up there by bus. We had it all planned to get there at 9:30 catching the 8:05 bus. Unfortunately, when we get to the bus station, we realized that we had left almost all of our money at home. We caught a van home, grabbed the money, and realizing that we might miss the 8:30 bus, we caught a R$7.00 taxi to the bus station. We barely missed the 8:30 bus. The next was scheduled to go up to São Paulo at 9:05, which would make us late for the meeting. We called the assistants an told them that we would be late. They told us that it wasn´t an option and ordered us to get a taxi. We then had to spend R$150 on a 2-way taxi trip to São Paulo. Luckily the assistants lent us some money to get home and we fit another companionship in the taxi to split the cost on the way home.
Now we´re going to baptize the taxi driver.
--
Elder Allred
Hello Everybody!
The week went by really fast.
Last Saturday we taught Iraci for the first time. She's a 50 year-old P.E. teacher. The next day on Sunday, she went to church all by herself.
This week, João and Marilda will be baptized. They moved their baptism to this Sunday because they want their family to be able to attend.
On Friday, we had a council meetting in São Paulo with President. We were supposed to be there by 10am, and it takes about an hour and a half to get up there by bus. We had it all planned to get there at 9:30 catching the 8:05 bus. Unfortunately, when we get to the bus station, we realized that we had left almost all of our money at home. We caught a van home, grabbed the money, and realizing that we might miss the 8:30 bus, we caught a R$7.00 taxi to the bus station. We barely missed the 8:30 bus. The next was scheduled to go up to São Paulo at 9:05, which would make us late for the meeting. We called the assistants an told them that we would be late. They told us that it wasn´t an option and ordered us to get a taxi. We then had to spend R$150 on a 2-way taxi trip to São Paulo. Luckily the assistants lent us some money to get home and we fit another companionship in the taxi to split the cost on the way home.
Now we´re going to baptize the taxi driver.
--
Elder Allred
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