Elder Jason Allred
Brazil São Paulo South Mission
Rua Dr Luiz da Rocha Miranda, 159
8 Andar, Parque Jabaquara
04344-010 - São Paulo - SP
Brazil
Subject: O Man! I left my pajamas in the kitchen ... again!
Hello everybody!
That subject line is from our quote board. :)
One of the most exciting things about transfers is that we get new agendas! After five weeks mine always seem to fall apart and it´s great to finally get a new one. The first thing I did when I got it was unbind it, laminate the covers, and then rebind it. It should last longer and stay pretty this time.
Well, over the past few weeks, our closest candidate for baptism was Sílvio. But then he finally got a job and now we have lost all contact with him in over 2 weeks.
Throughout the entire week we were working on helping our investigators come to church. By Saturday night about 8 of them had promised on coming. We generally try to stop by their house and walk with them the first time, so early sunday morning we headed of to their homes.
It was kind of disappointing when we ended up walking alone to church. The only investigator that went to church this last Sunday was Leila. Leila has been an investigator for more than 8 months. She has read more than half the Book of Mormon and comes to church about 3 times a month, but had often told us that she didn´t plan on getting baptized for another couple years. However, much to our surprise, on Sunday, she came up to us and asked us when was the next time we were planning a baptismal meeting because she wanted to be baptized! We set a date with her for the 7th of June. That should give us time to review the lessons and make sure she´s ready.
Last night we taught an amazing family! The Lord has been giving us a lot of families to work with. It´s amazing! However, teaching more people at once is often a little more dificult because each individual has his own concerns, doubts, and problems. The family only progresses as fast as it´s slowest member. So, it may end up being a longer process, but there is an internal support system that helps for a lasting conversion, and the blessings are so much greater.
This family we taught last night is golden! The family is Valdir (dad), Sónia (mom), (guess what! - they´re married!), Rogério (~age 25), and Rodrigo (~age 17). They all have committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and come to church on Sunday. We are going to take Eduardo and Dalila (our Ward Mission Leader and his recently baptized wife) to their house on Thursday when we do our follow-up visit.
Well, we spent all day cleaning up the house today. It is a lot more organized. I was able to get rid of a lot of things Elder Tavares had left behind.
Well, goodbye for now. Have fun and Choose The Right!
-Élder Jason Morgan Allred
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
May 20, 2008
Elder Jason Allred
Brazil São Paulo South Mission
Rua Dr Luiz da Rocha Miranda, 159
8 Andar, Parque Jabaquara
04344-010 - São Paulo - SP
Brazil
Subject: Maua! The city of Hills!
Hello Everybody!
Well, today was transfer day. Guess what! Elder Risenmay and I are both staying at least one more transfer in this area! This will be my 4th transfer here in a row, which will be almost 6 months. I remember when I first got the news I was coming here to Jardim Zaíra, Mauá. The Elders that had already passed through here said that after Jd. Zaíra, the rest of the mission is a piece of cake.
I already know this area like the back of my hand. We can´t walked down the street anymore without running into someone I´ve already taught. I was looking at the numbers and I´ve taught almost 300 investigators since I´ve been here. Take that and divide it by the 100,000 people that live within our boundries and that means I´ve taught only 0.3% of the people I should have in the last 4 months. Well, we have at least six more weeks to teach the rest before next transfer.
Actually, this transfer will only be 5 weeks because of when the new mission president is coming. This is our last transfer with President Teixeira. Did you all see his picture on the General Authority page of the new Ensign? That´s my mission president! You all are just jealous.
Do you remember that one family of nine people I talked about last week? Well, three of them were able to come to church on Sunday! Helena (the mom), Naílton (a son- 25 yrs?), and Bianca (a daughter- 13 yrs?) are those that went. They could only stay for sacrament meeting, but next time they want to stay for all of it. They´ve already said that they plan on coming regularly. Helena hasn´t received her answer yet. When we came back the second time to teach her, she told us her experience. She hadn´t had time to read the Book of Mormon yet, but she had prayed that night if what we taught her is true. She said that she suddenly felt a dark and cold feeling that overcame her, and she just felt terrible and could not sleep the entire night. She asked us to help her understand what happened. I felt prompted to read from the revelation in DC where the Lord tells what we will feel "if it be right" and also of the "stupor of thought" if it isn´t right. Then we read in Galations 5 where it talks about faith, love, and peace being among the fruits of the spirit. The feeling that she experienced is not how the spirit talks with us. We explained that the adversary would try to keep her away from something as important as the restoration.
She told us that that was exactly what she was thinking. During the night she felt that the enemy was trying to keep her family away from something good, and so she made a firm decision to come to church that Sunday, even though she wasn´t planning on going because of another appointment she had already marked. Hooray for triumphs! Now she just needs to find time to read the Book of Mormon and get and affirmative answer from the right source. I´m sure she already has, but we´ll find out tomorrow night. Before baptism, Naílton needs to get married with his "wife" Marcia who also lives in their home with their daughter (that makes 5 couples we´re working with now). Marcia was a little skeptic of the Restoration, but that´s why we´re here, right? Right!
Karina and Sílvio (José) didn´t reach their baptism goal. Karina´s family is telling us that she won´t be old enough to make that decision until she´s 18. Sílvio started working and we haven´t been able to contact with him in over a week. It kind of makes it hard to prepare him for baptism when we can´t find him. He usually gets home about 11pm, and we have to be home by 9:30pm. Well, the easiest way to solve problems is to get some miracles, so we´re praying for some.
Well, Goodbye for now!
--Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Brazil São Paulo South Mission
Rua Dr Luiz da Rocha Miranda, 159
8 Andar, Parque Jabaquara
04344-010 - São Paulo - SP
Brazil
Subject: Maua! The city of Hills!
Hello Everybody!
Well, today was transfer day. Guess what! Elder Risenmay and I are both staying at least one more transfer in this area! This will be my 4th transfer here in a row, which will be almost 6 months. I remember when I first got the news I was coming here to Jardim Zaíra, Mauá. The Elders that had already passed through here said that after Jd. Zaíra, the rest of the mission is a piece of cake.
I already know this area like the back of my hand. We can´t walked down the street anymore without running into someone I´ve already taught. I was looking at the numbers and I´ve taught almost 300 investigators since I´ve been here. Take that and divide it by the 100,000 people that live within our boundries and that means I´ve taught only 0.3% of the people I should have in the last 4 months. Well, we have at least six more weeks to teach the rest before next transfer.
Actually, this transfer will only be 5 weeks because of when the new mission president is coming. This is our last transfer with President Teixeira. Did you all see his picture on the General Authority page of the new Ensign? That´s my mission president! You all are just jealous.
Do you remember that one family of nine people I talked about last week? Well, three of them were able to come to church on Sunday! Helena (the mom), Naílton (a son- 25 yrs?), and Bianca (a daughter- 13 yrs?) are those that went. They could only stay for sacrament meeting, but next time they want to stay for all of it. They´ve already said that they plan on coming regularly. Helena hasn´t received her answer yet. When we came back the second time to teach her, she told us her experience. She hadn´t had time to read the Book of Mormon yet, but she had prayed that night if what we taught her is true. She said that she suddenly felt a dark and cold feeling that overcame her, and she just felt terrible and could not sleep the entire night. She asked us to help her understand what happened. I felt prompted to read from the revelation in DC where the Lord tells what we will feel "if it be right" and also of the "stupor of thought" if it isn´t right. Then we read in Galations 5 where it talks about faith, love, and peace being among the fruits of the spirit. The feeling that she experienced is not how the spirit talks with us. We explained that the adversary would try to keep her away from something as important as the restoration.
She told us that that was exactly what she was thinking. During the night she felt that the enemy was trying to keep her family away from something good, and so she made a firm decision to come to church that Sunday, even though she wasn´t planning on going because of another appointment she had already marked. Hooray for triumphs! Now she just needs to find time to read the Book of Mormon and get and affirmative answer from the right source. I´m sure she already has, but we´ll find out tomorrow night. Before baptism, Naílton needs to get married with his "wife" Marcia who also lives in their home with their daughter (that makes 5 couples we´re working with now). Marcia was a little skeptic of the Restoration, but that´s why we´re here, right? Right!
Karina and Sílvio (José) didn´t reach their baptism goal. Karina´s family is telling us that she won´t be old enough to make that decision until she´s 18. Sílvio started working and we haven´t been able to contact with him in over a week. It kind of makes it hard to prepare him for baptism when we can´t find him. He usually gets home about 11pm, and we have to be home by 9:30pm. Well, the easiest way to solve problems is to get some miracles, so we´re praying for some.
Well, Goodbye for now!
--Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
May 13, 2008
Subject: Mom´s Day!
Hello Everybody!
Happy Mother´s Day one more time for my mom! Happy Mother´s Day to Grandma Allred and Grandma Thompson!
Right now we´re working with José Silvio and Karina. They have both stopped drinking coffee and have come to church 3 times now. They are our investigators closest to baptism.
Yesterday was pretty amazing. Before lunch, we taught Irene. Her husband wasn´t there, so we left a quick message in her "quintal" (translation: yard? - except it´s not a yard at all really) because we can´t enter the house without another man there. After lunch, we contacted a family with whom I had spoken on the street a couple of weeks ago. We had been going to his house every couple of days because he lives close to another investigator. Yesterday we finally found him at home. We taught Reumar, his wife, and two children (They´re already legally married! - rarity). They have already accepted a baptism date! Then we stopped by a member´s house (Irmão José Gomes), and he agreed to come proselyting with us. Preach My Gospel says that sometimes the Lord directs you to an area, not to visit the person you planned on visiting, but to help you find someone else near by that He has prepared. So, after a few appointments fell through, we started knocking doors in the area. While doing so, the thought came to my mind to go to another road that happened to be quite far away. We went specifically to that road, and after knocking only 3 doors, we found a family of 9 that now has a goal for baptism and has agreed to come to church on Sunday. The mother of this family had the missionary discussions many years ago, but then moved to this area and didn´t know where the closest church was. Another blessing is that she already had a Book of Mormon and we had just given out our last copy to Reumar that very morning. We hope to get more next district meeting, but until then, we´ve just been telling people to pray about the prophet Joseph Smith and telling them that we´ll come by another day to leave the Book of Mormon with them. We´re also out of the pamphlets that we usually leave with investigators.
Last week, we decided to focalize most of our teaching pool into one area so we wouldn´t waste half the day walking. In doing so, yesterday we were able to return to over 8 houses near our home all on the same street that had agreed to a return visit. When we came back to these houses yesterday, of course in a few no one was home and a few decided that they didn´t want to listen, but we were able to enter into 3 homes and teach the first lesson. We taught two older ladies (Cida and Edeusita); we could enter into their home because we had that male member with us. Then the member needed to go home. Afterwords we taught a man named Edita, and then another man named Anderson. Anderson also agreed to a goal of baptism next month.
Today I was feeling a little sick (don´t worry Mom - just a fever and headache), but it was quite a blessing because I happened to get sick on P-day, and we didn´t lose any teaching time.
Well, this transfer is almost over. Next Sunday night, we´ll find out if we´re are both staying here or it one of us is leaving. After our success yesterday, I really want to stay this next trasfer, but I´ve already been here for almost 4 1/2 months, so who knows. I guess you all will find out next week.
Until next time!
-Élder Jason Morgan Allred
Hello Everybody!
Happy Mother´s Day one more time for my mom! Happy Mother´s Day to Grandma Allred and Grandma Thompson!
Right now we´re working with José Silvio and Karina. They have both stopped drinking coffee and have come to church 3 times now. They are our investigators closest to baptism.
Yesterday was pretty amazing. Before lunch, we taught Irene. Her husband wasn´t there, so we left a quick message in her "quintal" (translation: yard? - except it´s not a yard at all really) because we can´t enter the house without another man there. After lunch, we contacted a family with whom I had spoken on the street a couple of weeks ago. We had been going to his house every couple of days because he lives close to another investigator. Yesterday we finally found him at home. We taught Reumar, his wife, and two children (They´re already legally married! - rarity). They have already accepted a baptism date! Then we stopped by a member´s house (Irmão José Gomes), and he agreed to come proselyting with us. Preach My Gospel says that sometimes the Lord directs you to an area, not to visit the person you planned on visiting, but to help you find someone else near by that He has prepared. So, after a few appointments fell through, we started knocking doors in the area. While doing so, the thought came to my mind to go to another road that happened to be quite far away. We went specifically to that road, and after knocking only 3 doors, we found a family of 9 that now has a goal for baptism and has agreed to come to church on Sunday. The mother of this family had the missionary discussions many years ago, but then moved to this area and didn´t know where the closest church was. Another blessing is that she already had a Book of Mormon and we had just given out our last copy to Reumar that very morning. We hope to get more next district meeting, but until then, we´ve just been telling people to pray about the prophet Joseph Smith and telling them that we´ll come by another day to leave the Book of Mormon with them. We´re also out of the pamphlets that we usually leave with investigators.
Last week, we decided to focalize most of our teaching pool into one area so we wouldn´t waste half the day walking. In doing so, yesterday we were able to return to over 8 houses near our home all on the same street that had agreed to a return visit. When we came back to these houses yesterday, of course in a few no one was home and a few decided that they didn´t want to listen, but we were able to enter into 3 homes and teach the first lesson. We taught two older ladies (Cida and Edeusita); we could enter into their home because we had that male member with us. Then the member needed to go home. Afterwords we taught a man named Edita, and then another man named Anderson. Anderson also agreed to a goal of baptism next month.
Today I was feeling a little sick (don´t worry Mom - just a fever and headache), but it was quite a blessing because I happened to get sick on P-day, and we didn´t lose any teaching time.
Well, this transfer is almost over. Next Sunday night, we´ll find out if we´re are both staying here or it one of us is leaving. After our success yesterday, I really want to stay this next trasfer, but I´ve already been here for almost 4 1/2 months, so who knows. I guess you all will find out next week.
Until next time!
-Élder Jason Morgan Allred
May 6, 2008
Subject: Learning on the Mission.
Hello Everybody!
Last Friday we taught Jorge for the first time. We met him on the train a few weeks ago and got his address. He came to church on Sunday all by himself, and he has a goal to be baptized on the 18th!
Last Friday we also taught Mercia for the first time. She also came to church and has the same goal. We´ll need a few miracles because she needs to get married to her "husband" of three years within the next two week. When we went back to her house yesterday, she had read the parts of the Book of Mormon we marked and prayed and got an answer! She said that she felt a different feeling that she had never felt before - a wonderful sensation that feeled her heart with a lot of peace and gave her goosebumps. We quickly explained to her that this was the Holy Ghost answering her prayer and testifying of the things we had taught. As soon as we left her house my companion just said, "Golden!"
José and Karina also came to church. It was their second time. They´re working on giving up coffee. They´re also preparing for baptism the weekend after this.
Sunday morning we ran into an old investigator (Eliane) that told us that she finally read the Book of Mormon. I asked if she prayed. She said yes! (RM). I asked if she got an answer. She said, "Yes. It was really good."
Quick disclaimer for people to whom sarcasm is a foreign language: the following is sarcasm.
<sarcasm>
Things I didn´t know before the mission, but learned from my investigators:
-The correct title of the Book of Mormon is the Book of the Mormons or the Mormon Bible.
-The correct name of the church is the Church of the Mormons or Church of the Latter-day Saints.
-Mary, the mother of Jesus, was perfect. Eve, on the other hand was the most sinful woman on earth.
-In order for someone to be a prophet, his name has to be in the Bible.
-We can each be a prophet if we read the Bible enough.
-You can get the priesthood by taking a theology class.
-We should all strive to be our own apostles.
-You shouldn´t pray with your arms folded.
-Women have to pray with a viel.
-We really can beleive everything we see on TV (as long as it says something bad about the Mormons or displays rehearsed miracles for other church).
-It doesn´t matter which church you go to as long as you believe in Christ.
-It´s not important to be married even after living together for 30 years.
-Coffee is really healthy.
-If we already have faith, we don´t have to continue to develop it.
-When we tell people that we have a free DVD for them, we actually are after their money.
-The Mormon church only lets white, rich foreigners go to church.
-The Book of Mormon is rascist.
-It´s a sign of pride to say that our church is the only true church.
-The Catholic church has 12 living apostles.
-The more tithing your church requires the more true you church is. (We never really have a problem teaching tithing. Other church around here charge up to 50%.)
-If you get baptized a second time, you deny the Holy Ghost and commit the unpardonable sin.
-Efesions says that there is only one baptism, so any baptism counts. (Does that mean you can also baptize with milk or even bricks? -That´s an inside joke my companion and I have).
</sarcasm>
If you recognized that that is html coding, give yourself five points.
That list is just to show how confusing the gospel can get without living prophets receiving modern-day revelation. How grateful I am for a living prophet and the restored truths of the gospel!
--
Elder Jason Morgan Allred.
Hello Everybody!
Last Friday we taught Jorge for the first time. We met him on the train a few weeks ago and got his address. He came to church on Sunday all by himself, and he has a goal to be baptized on the 18th!
Last Friday we also taught Mercia for the first time. She also came to church and has the same goal. We´ll need a few miracles because she needs to get married to her "husband" of three years within the next two week. When we went back to her house yesterday, she had read the parts of the Book of Mormon we marked and prayed and got an answer! She said that she felt a different feeling that she had never felt before - a wonderful sensation that feeled her heart with a lot of peace and gave her goosebumps. We quickly explained to her that this was the Holy Ghost answering her prayer and testifying of the things we had taught. As soon as we left her house my companion just said, "Golden!"
José and Karina also came to church. It was their second time. They´re working on giving up coffee. They´re also preparing for baptism the weekend after this.
Sunday morning we ran into an old investigator (Eliane) that told us that she finally read the Book of Mormon. I asked if she prayed. She said yes! (RM). I asked if she got an answer. She said, "Yes. It was really good."
Quick disclaimer for people to whom sarcasm is a foreign language: the following is sarcasm.
<sarcasm>
Things I didn´t know before the mission, but learned from my investigators:
-The correct title of the Book of Mormon is the Book of the Mormons or the Mormon Bible.
-The correct name of the church is the Church of the Mormons or Church of the Latter-day Saints.
-Mary, the mother of Jesus, was perfect. Eve, on the other hand was the most sinful woman on earth.
-In order for someone to be a prophet, his name has to be in the Bible.
-We can each be a prophet if we read the Bible enough.
-You can get the priesthood by taking a theology class.
-We should all strive to be our own apostles.
-You shouldn´t pray with your arms folded.
-Women have to pray with a viel.
-We really can beleive everything we see on TV (as long as it says something bad about the Mormons or displays rehearsed miracles for other church).
-It doesn´t matter which church you go to as long as you believe in Christ.
-It´s not important to be married even after living together for 30 years.
-Coffee is really healthy.
-If we already have faith, we don´t have to continue to develop it.
-When we tell people that we have a free DVD for them, we actually are after their money.
-The Mormon church only lets white, rich foreigners go to church.
-The Book of Mormon is rascist.
-It´s a sign of pride to say that our church is the only true church.
-The Catholic church has 12 living apostles.
-The more tithing your church requires the more true you church is. (We never really have a problem teaching tithing. Other church around here charge up to 50%.)
-If you get baptized a second time, you deny the Holy Ghost and commit the unpardonable sin.
-Efesions says that there is only one baptism, so any baptism counts. (Does that mean you can also baptize with milk or even bricks? -That´s an inside joke my companion and I have).
</sarcasm>
If you recognized that that is html coding, give yourself five points.
That list is just to show how confusing the gospel can get without living prophets receiving modern-day revelation. How grateful I am for a living prophet and the restored truths of the gospel!
--
Elder Jason Morgan Allred.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
4/29/08
Subject: A little taste of American enterprise - Brazilian bananas are definitely better.
Hello Everybody!
Guess what! We just went to McDonalds! We decided that we were tired of eating mashed potatoes every P-day, so my companion said he wanted to eat out. We went to the center of town and found a McDonalds in the mall. The moment we walked in the mall I felt completely lost. I´m not really a mall person. Besides that, the mall didn´t feel anything like Brazil. Once we entered, I told my companion that I felt much more at home in the middle of the street market where we bought our fruit this morning. Anyway, McDonalds is a lot more expensive than I remember. It was R$11,00 (about $6.00) for a BigMac meal. I tried to tell Elder Risenmay that for that much money we could buy enough bananas and potatoes to last us the entire transfer, but he said we deserved a treat.
Last week we worked really hard. By the end of the week, we had 22 investigators with a baptism date marked. The real dissapointment was when not one of these people came to church on Sunday. Maybe everyone gets lost with the directions that I give them. It´s something like this: "You know the really big and pretty church on Rua Santa Helena? That´s the wrong church. We´re temporarily located in the warehouse right next door." We do spend as much time as possible trying to personally pick up our investigators before church, but they´re all too spread out.
Well, have fun everybody!
--
Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Hello Everybody!
Guess what! We just went to McDonalds! We decided that we were tired of eating mashed potatoes every P-day, so my companion said he wanted to eat out. We went to the center of town and found a McDonalds in the mall. The moment we walked in the mall I felt completely lost. I´m not really a mall person. Besides that, the mall didn´t feel anything like Brazil. Once we entered, I told my companion that I felt much more at home in the middle of the street market where we bought our fruit this morning. Anyway, McDonalds is a lot more expensive than I remember. It was R$11,00 (about $6.00) for a BigMac meal. I tried to tell Elder Risenmay that for that much money we could buy enough bananas and potatoes to last us the entire transfer, but he said we deserved a treat.
Last week we worked really hard. By the end of the week, we had 22 investigators with a baptism date marked. The real dissapointment was when not one of these people came to church on Sunday. Maybe everyone gets lost with the directions that I give them. It´s something like this: "You know the really big and pretty church on Rua Santa Helena? That´s the wrong church. We´re temporarily located in the warehouse right next door." We do spend as much time as possible trying to personally pick up our investigators before church, but they´re all too spread out.
Well, have fun everybody!
--
Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
4-22-08
Subject: I could use about 5 P-days in a row.
Hello Everybody!
So, quick review of last week:
We spent a few hours of our free time on P-day teaching again. My companion is telling us that we have to get our priorities straight. "Sleeping and writing letters are much more important P-day activities," he says. We´re actually an amaz/ing companionship. Both of us are still very new on the mission and still learning Portuguese. It has been making us rely much more on the Lord to keep the work going.
Last week was really amazing. We found 19 new investigators and we also have 19 investigators with a baptism date.
We´re teaching a new family (José, Iolanda, Karina, and Maria José) that went to church all by themselves last Sunday after we had only taught them one time. Their baptism date is the 17th of May.
Last Sunday night, all of our appointments fell through (again) and I asked my companion what we should do. I had decided to give him more chances to lead.
"You´re supposed to receive half the revelation in this companionship," I had told him.
Then he pointed down the road to some people in the distance. "Them."
"Ok."
We ended up finding and teaching one more family that week and set baptism dates with all of them on the first lesson. I have recently dubbed my companion "Co-Senior" to replace his title of "Junior." I think it´s a little more fitting.
Well, all of our baptisms fell through last week. Milaine and Anderson had to postpone their dates to this coming Saturday. Lucas´ mom heard some reports about the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The one with Polygamy and stuff). She thought it was our church and wouldn´t let him get baptized, or even let us explain to her. We´re praying for the Lord to soften her heart so she will let Lucas be baptizes and so that we can end up teaching the whole family.
Evelyn has fallen back into some practices that are preventing her from being baptized. Her problem now is that she has lost the desire to change. :(
We had interviews with President Teixeira last Thursday. He brought us mail and the package with peanut butter! He told me to start preparing spiritually for a special blessing that he will give me next transfer. This will be my first blessing from a General Authority! (He was set apart as part of the First Quorum of the Seventy last General Conference.)
On Saturday evening, we decided to do a "church run". We went through as much of our area as possible visiting any investigator we have every taught to give them a special invite to come to church. To anyone who was not at home, we left special invites with the address of the church. It wasn´t too successful, but we enjoyed it, and at least we´re giving people the opportunities.
Well, the work is amazing. Keep sending letters even if I don´t have time to write back. Choose the Right! Endure to the End! The Church is True! ... You know, all those short quick phases that work as good letter enders.
-Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Hello Everybody!
So, quick review of last week:
We spent a few hours of our free time on P-day teaching again. My companion is telling us that we have to get our priorities straight. "Sleeping and writing letters are much more important P-day activities," he says. We´re actually an amaz/ing companionship. Both of us are still very new on the mission and still learning Portuguese. It has been making us rely much more on the Lord to keep the work going.
Last week was really amazing. We found 19 new investigators and we also have 19 investigators with a baptism date.
We´re teaching a new family (José, Iolanda, Karina, and Maria José) that went to church all by themselves last Sunday after we had only taught them one time. Their baptism date is the 17th of May.
Last Sunday night, all of our appointments fell through (again) and I asked my companion what we should do. I had decided to give him more chances to lead.
"You´re supposed to receive half the revelation in this companionship," I had told him.
Then he pointed down the road to some people in the distance. "Them."
"Ok."
We ended up finding and teaching one more family that week and set baptism dates with all of them on the first lesson. I have recently dubbed my companion "Co-Senior" to replace his title of "Junior." I think it´s a little more fitting.
Well, all of our baptisms fell through last week. Milaine and Anderson had to postpone their dates to this coming Saturday. Lucas´ mom heard some reports about the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The one with Polygamy and stuff). She thought it was our church and wouldn´t let him get baptized, or even let us explain to her. We´re praying for the Lord to soften her heart so she will let Lucas be baptizes and so that we can end up teaching the whole family.
Evelyn has fallen back into some practices that are preventing her from being baptized. Her problem now is that she has lost the desire to change. :(
We had interviews with President Teixeira last Thursday. He brought us mail and the package with peanut butter! He told me to start preparing spiritually for a special blessing that he will give me next transfer. This will be my first blessing from a General Authority! (He was set apart as part of the First Quorum of the Seventy last General Conference.)
On Saturday evening, we decided to do a "church run". We went through as much of our area as possible visiting any investigator we have every taught to give them a special invite to come to church. To anyone who was not at home, we left special invites with the address of the church. It wasn´t too successful, but we enjoyed it, and at least we´re giving people the opportunities.
Well, the work is amazing. Keep sending letters even if I don´t have time to write back. Choose the Right! Endure to the End! The Church is True! ... You know, all those short quick phases that work as good letter enders.
-Elder Jason Morgan Allred
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
4-15-08
Elder Jason Allred
Brazil São Paulo South Mission
Rua Dr Luiz da Rocha Miranda, 159
8 Andar, Parque Jabaquara
04344-010 - São Paulo - SP
Brazil
Subject: P-day is way to short!
Hello Everybody!
So, it has been a little different having an American for a companion. Lately, I´ve been using phrases such as: "Are you sure that doesn´t make sense in English?" But, Elder Risenmay and I have been working so well and so hard together. Right now we have 14 investigators with a baptismal date marked for this transfer. We come home completely exhausted each night, having used every spare second during the week to teach. We even taught 2 lessons during P-day today.
Last Wednesday we got word that Elder Tavares (my old companion) returned to the mission. He left us a lot of problems, but I hope he takes advantage of the last part of his mission. I had been fasting and praying for him the last few weeks before he left. I´m still not quite sure why he left, but that was definately the most worried night I´ve had on the mission. I´m sure I´ll find out more when I have my interview with President Teixeira this Thursday.
This last week was really rewarding. Elder Risenmay and I found 16 new investigators throughout the week. It´s a little harder being senior companion, but the Lord always helps us. We have a goal to talk to over 300 people on the street this week to increase our teaching pool.
William got confirmed last Sunday! Sunday was pretty much amazing. We woke up early to catch a couple buses and pick up a family of 6 that we´re teaching. The parents (Gilvano and Neusa) have to get married before they can get baptized, and the four kids are waiting to get baptized with them. Marraige is a pretty complicated process here in Brazil, especially because Gilvano has to divorce his first wife first. He hasn´t seen her in 11 years. It will be quite the miracle when they can get all this worked out and be baptized within the next 5 weeks.
Our goal is to baptize Evelyn (age 15), Anderson (age 20), Milaine (age 22), and Lucas (age 16) this Sunday. They have all made real progress lately. They will all be interviewed tomorrow. Milaine completely stopped drinking alcohol, coffee, and tea, and completely stopped smoking even though she used to smoke over 4 packs a day!
Yesterday was pretty frustrating. We had 7 appointments marked and 5 of them fell through, including our plan to take Gilvano into town to get him divorced. He lives very far away. We had to wake up early and catch two buses to get there. Usually we walk because they don´t give us money to ride buses, but we had to get there early and it´s over an hour of walking one way. We got there and he ended up not being able to go because of work, but he said he was going to go today. That reminds me - I need to call him and see if it worked out.
Well, goodbye for now!
-Elder Jason Morgan Allred.
Brazil São Paulo South Mission
Rua Dr Luiz da Rocha Miranda, 159
8 Andar, Parque Jabaquara
04344-010 - São Paulo - SP
Brazil
Subject: P-day is way to short!
Hello Everybody!
So, it has been a little different having an American for a companion. Lately, I´ve been using phrases such as: "Are you sure that doesn´t make sense in English?" But, Elder Risenmay and I have been working so well and so hard together. Right now we have 14 investigators with a baptismal date marked for this transfer. We come home completely exhausted each night, having used every spare second during the week to teach. We even taught 2 lessons during P-day today.
Last Wednesday we got word that Elder Tavares (my old companion) returned to the mission. He left us a lot of problems, but I hope he takes advantage of the last part of his mission. I had been fasting and praying for him the last few weeks before he left. I´m still not quite sure why he left, but that was definately the most worried night I´ve had on the mission. I´m sure I´ll find out more when I have my interview with President Teixeira this Thursday.
This last week was really rewarding. Elder Risenmay and I found 16 new investigators throughout the week. It´s a little harder being senior companion, but the Lord always helps us. We have a goal to talk to over 300 people on the street this week to increase our teaching pool.
William got confirmed last Sunday! Sunday was pretty much amazing. We woke up early to catch a couple buses and pick up a family of 6 that we´re teaching. The parents (Gilvano and Neusa) have to get married before they can get baptized, and the four kids are waiting to get baptized with them. Marraige is a pretty complicated process here in Brazil, especially because Gilvano has to divorce his first wife first. He hasn´t seen her in 11 years. It will be quite the miracle when they can get all this worked out and be baptized within the next 5 weeks.
Our goal is to baptize Evelyn (age 15), Anderson (age 20), Milaine (age 22), and Lucas (age 16) this Sunday. They have all made real progress lately. They will all be interviewed tomorrow. Milaine completely stopped drinking alcohol, coffee, and tea, and completely stopped smoking even though she used to smoke over 4 packs a day!
Yesterday was pretty frustrating. We had 7 appointments marked and 5 of them fell through, including our plan to take Gilvano into town to get him divorced. He lives very far away. We had to wake up early and catch two buses to get there. Usually we walk because they don´t give us money to ride buses, but we had to get there early and it´s over an hour of walking one way. We got there and he ended up not being able to go because of work, but he said he was going to go today. That reminds me - I need to call him and see if it worked out.
Well, goodbye for now!
-Elder Jason Morgan Allred.
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