Week 39 Letter

Monday, November 28, 2011

Sounds like you had a great week. We had a good week too, although I am a little bummed that I did not get to play football, but I guess that there a many more turkey bowls to come, right? I am hoping to play a little bit today. I am going crazy without some sports in my life.  Today I think that we are going to play bats, a game like baseball, but because all of the equipment is a lot of money they play bats which is like cricket, using some kind of ball, a 2 x 4 board and a 2 liter pop bottle as home plate. Something like that. I have never played, but I have seen it on the streets. This week we also had a baptism.  Douglas, a friend of a member was baptized and confirmed this week. Elder Santana baptized him and I confirmed him. It was awesome. He is a great guy. He is 16 years old, and he is really excited about the idea of serving for a mission. He is really cool.  

Also, we have a baptism marked with an 18 year old girl for this Sunday so we will work with her this week. What else is there to report? I love the new area. The people here have been missing missionaries so they were really excited to have us. Also, the city is big.  It is not like our city, much older looking but it is improving quickly. It is a big area for just 2 missionaries but we are doing our best. We have to walk a lot, but God is blessing us greatly with success. For example, to walk to the house of the kid we baptized we have to walk about an hour and a half. It is a lot in the sun. There is a lot of sun here. Sometimes I think that it is hotter than Cuiaba. It is also really humid. Luckily, it cools down during the night which is different than Cuiaba. But all the same, it is hot here. It is super far north man. Awesome though. So, what else... I think that that about sums it up. Oh, and this member whom I am with right now is Val, she has two daughters and she is in a wheel chair.  She is so awesome, and she helps us so much. She has ton of references and she likes to go out with us to teach people which is a huge help. She says that I am the first American that she completely trusts to push her in her chair on the street. Hahaha.  I wonder what happened with the other Americans that were here... but she is awesome, a mom to everybody in the branch and to all of the missionaries. You would love her mom, and she already loves you. So, that about sums up my week. I am really excited to continue working here and doing all that I can in this area. I think that I am going to get transferred the next because it will be the last transfer for Elder Santana, but I am going to enjoy these next few weeks and work hard. So, I love all of you and I am glad that you are all doing well. Have a great week, and I look forward to hearing from you all again.

Love Elder Lee!

Week 38 Letter

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Alright, I am here in Ji Parana but it was complicated getting here.  The secretaries, other missionaries assigned to be secretaries got us a flight to Ji Parana because it is super far away.  So that they did not tell us anything and left us without a cell, and what they did tell us was wrong.  They said that the flight was taking off at 9 30 to 10 but it left before 9 00 and so we missed it and then we ended up taking a bus that night, which was really 2 00 in the morning but the bus did not arrive until 4 00 in the morning and we traveled to Ji Parana which is over 20 hours of bus time.  We arrived the next night at about midnight or a little later.  Still, we are without a cell which is complicated and also with limited money because Elder Santana left his wallet with his money and card in Cuiaba.  So, that is the story.  Yesterday we could not enter the email site or any site of the church which was weird.  It looked like it was all closed down, so this is why we are emailing now, although we have very limited time because we are running to a family home evening of the branch here.  Right now, by the way is 6 30 pm.  The hour changed here because we moved states and they go of the time in Brasilia I think.  So, there it is in a paragraph.

I could not watch the video you sent because we are using a computer of a member and it is really slow.  I am in an apartment here and Elder Santana and I are the only ones here which means that we have a lot of area to cover which means we have to walk a lot.  Elder Santana served here a year and 2 months ago, so he already knows some of the members but with investigators we are starting over, but we are excited and the members are excited that missionaries are returning.  We are working really hard for a baptism this week.  We already have some possibilities, but we have not closed anything yet.  We are still trying to contact people and have not had a lot of luck.  Anyway, Friday the missionaries in Matto Grosso, the state (one of the three states in my mission) had a special meeting with Elder Bednar which was awesome.  I loved it and learned a lot.  He is an apostle of Jesus Christ.  It was so cool and he is a great teacher and he says it as it is.  It was awesome.

Well, I am off, so that is it until next week. But I love you and wish you a great week.  Love you mom!!!

Elder Lee

Week 37 Letter

Monday, November 14, 2011

Hey family, 
Another week has flown by and this week took the rest of this transfer with it.  I think that this transfer was the fasted transfer of the mission for me.  We had a great transfer.  This week we worked hard, but a lot of the work happened outside of the area trying to help other missionaries that were not having the successes that we have been having.  We did have a baptism marked for this Sunday, but it fell through because Rudolf has not talked to his mom yet who lives in Spain.  We will help him this week.  I am not completely convinced that this is the only problem, but we will see.  This Sunday we had 3 investigators but also a lot of less actives and recent converts that have fell off the wagon a little bit.  Also, this Sunday Waldo was confirmed which was awesome.  He is doing great.  What else happened this week... we have started teaching a lot of new people and therefore I am really excited that I get to stay in the area for one more week to work with them some more.  The other day we were teaching a 19 year old girl in the house of a member that we reactivated and she said, hey, have you ever stopped and just thought to yourself, what church is really the true church?  It was awesome.  We are going to teach her some more tomorrow. She lives with her mom and 2 brothers so we are also excited to get to know them.  Wow, this letter was really short, but that really is all that I can think of at the moment.  I am really excited to learn from elder Bednar this week.  He is going to do a night with married couples, single adults, missionaries, and everyone.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Friday will be a special meeting with the missionaries and so I am really excited for that.  We are also doing a lot of inviting of investigators and less actives because this is a perfect opportunity to get them back to church.  The church is growing rapidly here in my mission, but especially in Cuiaba this last month.  They have had a lot of baptisms and less actives returning to church.  It is awesome to have had the opportunity to work here, but I am really excited about my new area too.  It is way north, close to the amazons and it looks like a large city which means more people which I think is good.  Also there is a river, which means crocs, and maybe on p-day we will do a little fishing.  That will be fun.  So, that is my week in a letter, but I love all of you and hope that you all have a great week with Shiloh and Addy, and the next is bound to be good with Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for all of you!!!  I love you all.
Elder Lee
P.S. the other day I convinced somebody that I was in the FBI and this was why I could not reveal my first name, and for evidence I showed the scar on my arm and said that I could tell the details.  Everybody believed me because apparently anything is possible; they are talking to an American. Hahaha

PS - We did get our transfer calls last night.  I am being shipped out and my companion is staying here.  I am going to serve in an area way north, more north than my first area Sino.  It is called Ji Paraná.  I think that you will be able to find it on the internet.  My companion will be Elder Santanás, whom I have never met before, but I here that he is a great guy, but he has hit a point on his mission where he is unexcited and not working well and frustrated.  I am excited to help him.  I know that I am ready to be the senior companion right now, and my leaders in the district and zone told me that they really though that I would be this transfer, but I feel like I am needed to help this missionary.  I am also really excited about the area because it has a lot of natives to Brazil and we will be reopening this area after it has been closed for a long time and so it should be awesome.  We will start with nothing but the Lord will provide for us.  As for this week, President promised me that I would be able to go to the stake meeting with Elder Bednar so I am staying here in Morada da Serra in Cuiaba for this week and I will go to my other area next week.  I am excited to have another week here to work some more with some people that I have been helping and preparing for baptism.

Week 36 Letter

Monday, November 7, 2011

Hello Family,
So, this week was great and I am excited to start another great week.  This week I had the opportunity to baptize Waldo (Valdo is how you say it) and he is awesome.  He also has a really cool story.  On morning, I and another 3 missionaries were waiting to take a bus to the center for a district meeting when he approached us and asked for an Elder Lee, an American missionary.  I stood up from the bench and introduced myself, and asked how I could help him.  He introduced himself as a historian and professor in the University that we have here in Cuiaba and said that somebody told him of an Elder Lee that has a material that teaches about the natives of Cuiaba, and that he was interested because he is currently working on a project of the history of Cuiaba.  (I do not know who mentioned my name to him, but I think that it was probably a contact that I did on the bus or something).  I smiled as I saw the opportunity to teach a new investigator and told him that I indeed do have this material and that I would like to present it and introduce it to him in his home were we would have more time to discuss everything.  He accepted my offer, gave me his address, and asked if I would be willing to do an interview with him on his television program that runs for an hour 4 days a week.  I told him to wait to hear what I had to say about my so called material and afterwards we would discuss doing an interview.  He seemed content and jumped on his bus to go to the university.  I returned my attention to the other missionaries who were all laughing at what had occurred.  I must admit that it would seem rather humorous.  Anyways. I found his house that night to pay the promised visit.  I was doing a teaching division with Elder De Abriu, a Brazilian missionary that is 3 months into his mission.  We found his house and Waldo eagerly invited us in.  After discussing his day I asked him, so, what is it exactly that you are expecting of us tonight.  Once again he talked about this material and his project in which he is involved.  I once again confirmed that I do have this so called material, and that it is a book, but I said, Waldo, you must understand that I know that this book is true, and this book really does contain the history of the natives of brazil, and the America in general, but you should also understand that nobody can prove this book false and I will not try to prove that it is true.  This book is a volume of scripture that can only be appreciated if read from a spiritual point of view, and the truthfulness of this book can only be revealed by the power of God.  Waldo understood well, and from this point everything changed.  Waldo became much more interested in his spiritual wellbeing than his project that had previously consumed in expectations of us.  We taught a powerful lesson of the restoration of the gospel and church of Jesus Christ.  I remember that towards the close of the lesson he asked, so Elder Lee, you are saying that this is the only true church on the earth today, and only this church truly has the power and authority of God?  I felt the Spirit speak through me as I replied, Yes brother Waldo, that is exactly what we are saying.  Now that you understand our message to the world, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ in being baptized by his authority that is once again on the earth?  He firmly and quickly responded, yes, I will, and again after moment, yes, I will be baptized.  It was so awesome.  I continued to visit him again and again, ironically always on a split with an elder from a different area.  I found that he had been prepared.  He was living the commandments, he was ready to hear our message, and he was excited to join Christ´s church on the earth.  He is so awesome.  His baptism this Sunday was really cool, and he said that he felt so good. 

He is also really excited to work.  He told me the other day, I know that I am older (he is 49 buts looks like he could be under 40) but I want to work.  He also wants all of the books of the church because he wants to study and learn.  He will be a great help to the word.  I am going to talk with the bishop to put him to work.  Anyways, it was really awesome teaching him, and I am excited for him to be confirmed this Sunday.  So, that was for sure the highlight of the week.  Also, we are teaching many others and helping reactivate members that have been lost in the crowd.  This Sunday we had a full house that went into the overflow.  We had 5 investigators and at least 10 less actives from my area.  I was so happy to see everybody there.  The ward is becoming very excited about the missionary effort.  This Sunday is as of right now already promising to be even better.  That catches you up with me, so until next time.  I love all of you and I am so thankful for your prayers and your letters.  Have a great week!
Com amor, Elder Lee

Week 35 Letter

Hello my family!
So, everything here is great.  We have received some new instruction at the beginning of the week of how President Oliveira would like us to work.  We are now to work much more with recent converts and less active (or non-active) members.  We have been doing that this week.  We have already reactivated one family here in the area and we are looking at helping many more.  There are a lot of people who have been baptized in the last 2 years, but have been lost in the rush it seems.  We have started to look for, find, and teach them.  It has been good.  Sadly, this week was a rough week with getting people to church Sunday.  We did have 3 investigators but we were planning on much more.  We even tried to pick them up as planned, but many were sick or not home.  We will try to contact them this week again.  Elder Aidukaitis is great and we are working hard.  We are also having to walk a lot though because we are finding that area is huge.  Before we have been trying to focus on one area, but now that we are working from a list of less actives and recent converts we have been all over the area.  But it is good.  I often think that missionaries focus so much on baptisms that they forget about leaving them well embraced in the arms of the members.  Unlike our stake and ward, here the members need some help and guidance when it comes to retaining baptisms.  But I am really enjoying the work.  Also, working with less actives will help us find people that are ready to hear our message and show their faith by entering the waters of baptism.  So, I am really excited to get to work this week and really get my hands dirty.  So, that about sums everything up.  It really seems like I have just written to all of you yesterday and not last week.  Time flies when you are having fun.  So, I love all of you and wish you all a happy Halloween and a great week!
Love Elder Lee