Yup, the work and the language are definitely coming along nicely.
The biggest news around here is that the mission has only baptized 48 people this month... so president has been a bit....irked about that. Especially since we normally baptize between 100-200 people and this is the month we had Elder Nelson visit. So everyone is trying to baptize someone this weekend. Our zone has a goal to baptize 30 people on the 9th of May, to be all cool like that, so we´ll have to sacrifice someone and baptize them this week to escape the wrath of Pres. Tobias.
The conference with Elder Nelson was way sweet, we got a big picture with him, and the talks by him and Elder Costa, and Elder Elis were all pretty sweet. Took some notes and they´re chillin in my journal. But the best part.... we had burgers after... mmmmm.
We got a few investigators to church this week, and one kid we took, Rafael, got there just in time for the principles of the gospel class. But afterwards, he made a jail-break to his house.....criminal. So he didn´t make it to sacrament meeting.
We´re teaching a man named Alberico too, is is already paying his tithing and going to church every Sunday by himself even though he can´t get baptized cuz he and his wife aren´t flippn´ married. Sheesh... people down here.
Wow, I definitely miss some rugby, but good luck this week, it sounds like you guys should do pretty good against highland this time. so....don´t mess up :D
And we´re dong pretty good on our march-madness so far, we kicked butt yesterday, we talked with pretty much everybody we met on the street and marked a lot of dates for the 9th, but we´ll see how many actually keep them... or remember them. But pretty much the biggest obstacle down here for getting people baptized is marriage, people are so darn lazy down here. Or poor..... or both.
Other that that we´re just trudging along all day, teaching lessons, kicking butt, and stuff like that, cuz we´re pretty much the best in our district. :D
oh and everybody wrote emails.. except Josh.... BEATINGS!!!!
*it´s time to kick butt and chew bubble gum.... and i´m all out of gum*
Elder Webber
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
"An Awesome Week"
Well well, this week was pretty awesome.
Firstly, we had divisions this week, and since my comp is DL, he went to the Flamboyant area, and Elder Lunceford (the same from the mtc) came here for 3 days. But somehow I ended up with the phone for our area cuz Elder Erikson left his at their house, so I was DL for about 3 days, which was interesting. I had to do all the calls every night to our areas and then to the ZL. fun stuff. And I ruled with an iron fist!! I took some awesome pictures and sweet videos with Elder Lunceford, and we worked pretty hard as well. We sang the star-spangled banner each morning. We decided to take an abandoned-road one time, just for fun, with the grass about 10 feet tall on both sides, then the next thing we know a pack of dogs flies out of the brush ahead of us, so.....it was chaos for about 15 seconds. A fun week indeed.
We saw some dude totally get owned by a cop too, the military cops were tailing to some guy, then they took him to the bathroom so they could do a search or something, and they were in the doorway, the next thing we know the cop chuck-norris-round-house-kicks the dude in the head. Crazy stuff. Cuz the cops, especially the military cops, get away with pretty much anything down here.
And I´m definitely speaking Portuguese better than pretty much all of the other elders that arrived around the same time I did. Oh yeah. I kick butt.
We were also teaching the family of Aldair, to get him and his wife baptised this last sunday, we gave some pretty intense lessons 3 days in a row, i´m pretty sure it was the equivalent of slapping him around with the Book of Mormon. He didn´t get baptised, and we´ve decided to give him a breather before we go back in guns blazing.
We found a family too, with a dad that already believes the Book of Mormon is true, and at least 1 kid who is 8 years old. so that was awesome, and we´re gonna be working with them a lot. The thing is, I talked to the guy in the road while I was walking with Elder White, got his address, but Elder White never wanted to visit him. Bahahaha. Amateur.
We´ve also got orders to paint our houses this week, so that´s what we were doing this morning during study time, not really fun, but it changes things up. But they´re just gonna be white, which is a bummer, we wanted like hot pink or something, spice up our lives a bit.
And thank you for sending a letter and a new package, this transfer is only gonna be 5 weeks though, so we´ll see if i get it before I leave eh? If I leave that is. I don´t really wanna. Haha,
The zone has decided to do a kind of march-madness thing for the rest of the transfer. We get points for every baptism, confirmation, lessons with members present, contacts, new investigators, dates and so on. And since my comp is DL, we know about the game before the rest of our district, mmhmmmmm, we is gunna win. THIS IS OUR HOUSE!!!
Well I´m pretty sure that´s about all the news for this week, we have to wake up tomorrow around 5:30 or six to catch a bus to Goiania to make it to the meeting with Elder Nelson, so that should be....fun. Me and my comp are leading area Anapolis in bap/conf. with 1 baptism and 2 confirmations. I know, pretty high numbers right? This month has been pretty sad for the whole mission. but we´re teaching 2 families who are married (finally!) and we´re planning to baptize soon, so that should go well.
Salutations from Anapolis
"These are not the droids you´re looking for"
Love you, Miss you
Elder Webber
Firstly, we had divisions this week, and since my comp is DL, he went to the Flamboyant area, and Elder Lunceford (the same from the mtc) came here for 3 days. But somehow I ended up with the phone for our area cuz Elder Erikson left his at their house, so I was DL for about 3 days, which was interesting. I had to do all the calls every night to our areas and then to the ZL. fun stuff. And I ruled with an iron fist!! I took some awesome pictures and sweet videos with Elder Lunceford, and we worked pretty hard as well. We sang the star-spangled banner each morning. We decided to take an abandoned-road one time, just for fun, with the grass about 10 feet tall on both sides, then the next thing we know a pack of dogs flies out of the brush ahead of us, so.....it was chaos for about 15 seconds. A fun week indeed.
We saw some dude totally get owned by a cop too, the military cops were tailing to some guy, then they took him to the bathroom so they could do a search or something, and they were in the doorway, the next thing we know the cop chuck-norris-round-house-kicks the dude in the head. Crazy stuff. Cuz the cops, especially the military cops, get away with pretty much anything down here.
And I´m definitely speaking Portuguese better than pretty much all of the other elders that arrived around the same time I did. Oh yeah. I kick butt.
We were also teaching the family of Aldair, to get him and his wife baptised this last sunday, we gave some pretty intense lessons 3 days in a row, i´m pretty sure it was the equivalent of slapping him around with the Book of Mormon. He didn´t get baptised, and we´ve decided to give him a breather before we go back in guns blazing.
We found a family too, with a dad that already believes the Book of Mormon is true, and at least 1 kid who is 8 years old. so that was awesome, and we´re gonna be working with them a lot. The thing is, I talked to the guy in the road while I was walking with Elder White, got his address, but Elder White never wanted to visit him. Bahahaha. Amateur.
We´ve also got orders to paint our houses this week, so that´s what we were doing this morning during study time, not really fun, but it changes things up. But they´re just gonna be white, which is a bummer, we wanted like hot pink or something, spice up our lives a bit.
And thank you for sending a letter and a new package, this transfer is only gonna be 5 weeks though, so we´ll see if i get it before I leave eh? If I leave that is. I don´t really wanna. Haha,
The zone has decided to do a kind of march-madness thing for the rest of the transfer. We get points for every baptism, confirmation, lessons with members present, contacts, new investigators, dates and so on. And since my comp is DL, we know about the game before the rest of our district, mmhmmmmm, we is gunna win. THIS IS OUR HOUSE!!!
Well I´m pretty sure that´s about all the news for this week, we have to wake up tomorrow around 5:30 or six to catch a bus to Goiania to make it to the meeting with Elder Nelson, so that should be....fun. Me and my comp are leading area Anapolis in bap/conf. with 1 baptism and 2 confirmations. I know, pretty high numbers right? This month has been pretty sad for the whole mission. but we´re teaching 2 families who are married (finally!) and we´re planning to baptize soon, so that should go well.
Salutations from Anapolis
"These are not the droids you´re looking for"
Love you, Miss you
Elder Webber
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
A GREAT Update... We love Elder Webber
News. Apparently Elder Nelson, another from the Presidency of the 70, and another area authority are coming to the Goiania mission for some reason. They´ll be here the 20th, so the President wants us to all baptise a complete family by then. So pretty much we´ve never been so nervous, we got a family to church last week, so now we just have to get them there again, and we can baptise them this week. Every day that passes is another day towards victory, or horrible, messy failure. Either way, it will be interesting to hear what he´s got to say.
My new comp is pretty sweet. We definitely get along much better than I did with Elder White, But since he´s only got 3 months left, I think I can see him dying more each day. It´s not so bad, but we do spend a bit too much time just sitting around sometimes, it´s weird I actually want to get up and get to the next house so we can work. not that he´s lazy or anything. I spent most of last week visiting all the investigators at least once to show him where everything is, who is who, who we like and who we don´t, who is usually drunk, who gives us food, where the cheapest cookies can be found. and so on, you know, the important stuff. I actually laughed a lot this past week too, kind of strange, I know. but good times.
Answers to your questions:
About baptisms, I´ve got all their names and dates written down in my PME and notebook, which is 7 so far, but apparently on the mission records I have 13 already (Elder Casey was an assistant, so he knows everything apparently) so I´m not complaining about that. It has something to do with my first Sunday here.
Which reminds me of another song, one that Elder Casey sings while we´re walking though dodgy parts of town. It goes a little something like this:
Please don´t rob me
Please don´t kill me
Please don´t rape me
Just let me be.
We live in a house, I took a video tour of it, so you guys will be receiving that someday. It´s street level with 4 rooms and a bathroom. Not too shabby. And it´s safe, with the first wall about by the sidewalk, and a 20 meter walk to our house after, so 2 locked doors aint too bad.
We walk forever each day, and it either always uphill or downhill in this area, my area is the biggest in the zone, so yes, we do walk a bit. No idea how far though. If we want to get from one side to the other, we´re usually inclined to take a bus.
We´re told to approach 10 people every day and commit them to be baptized, sometimes we do, and sometimes we don´t. Other times they just come up to us instead.
I did not excersize any unrighteous dominion during my short reign. the definition of unrighteous dominion´ would be Elder White, bwahaha.
The church building is pretty nice, especially in comparison to the other churches around here. we managed to have 71 people in church this week, which was great! including 6 investigators.
and about the store, depends which one we´re talking about, the one we usually go to is pretty small, and doesn´t have much, but I like it, and the guy there likes us, and trusts us i.e. "oh, it´s ok, just come back tonight and pay for it, i don´t have change for a 20" yup.
But there´s another called Super Vi, which is like the wall mart of Brazil, but it´s far and uphill, so I don´t like going there.
I usually bare my testimony every day to our investigators, so yes, I do quite a bit. No worries.
hmmm... I think that´s about it for now. Miss you all, love you all, and my address is still the same, yup.
Peace, love and happiness,
Elder Webber
My new comp is pretty sweet. We definitely get along much better than I did with Elder White, But since he´s only got 3 months left, I think I can see him dying more each day. It´s not so bad, but we do spend a bit too much time just sitting around sometimes, it´s weird I actually want to get up and get to the next house so we can work. not that he´s lazy or anything. I spent most of last week visiting all the investigators at least once to show him where everything is, who is who, who we like and who we don´t, who is usually drunk, who gives us food, where the cheapest cookies can be found. and so on, you know, the important stuff. I actually laughed a lot this past week too, kind of strange, I know. but good times.
Answers to your questions:
About baptisms, I´ve got all their names and dates written down in my PME and notebook, which is 7 so far, but apparently on the mission records I have 13 already (Elder Casey was an assistant, so he knows everything apparently) so I´m not complaining about that. It has something to do with my first Sunday here.
Which reminds me of another song, one that Elder Casey sings while we´re walking though dodgy parts of town. It goes a little something like this:
Please don´t rob me
Please don´t kill me
Please don´t rape me
Just let me be.
We live in a house, I took a video tour of it, so you guys will be receiving that someday. It´s street level with 4 rooms and a bathroom. Not too shabby. And it´s safe, with the first wall about by the sidewalk, and a 20 meter walk to our house after, so 2 locked doors aint too bad.
We walk forever each day, and it either always uphill or downhill in this area, my area is the biggest in the zone, so yes, we do walk a bit. No idea how far though. If we want to get from one side to the other, we´re usually inclined to take a bus.
We´re told to approach 10 people every day and commit them to be baptized, sometimes we do, and sometimes we don´t. Other times they just come up to us instead.
I did not excersize any unrighteous dominion during my short reign. the definition of unrighteous dominion´ would be Elder White, bwahaha.
The church building is pretty nice, especially in comparison to the other churches around here. we managed to have 71 people in church this week, which was great! including 6 investigators.
and about the store, depends which one we´re talking about, the one we usually go to is pretty small, and doesn´t have much, but I like it, and the guy there likes us, and trusts us i.e. "oh, it´s ok, just come back tonight and pay for it, i don´t have change for a 20" yup.
But there´s another called Super Vi, which is like the wall mart of Brazil, but it´s far and uphill, so I don´t like going there.
I usually bare my testimony every day to our investigators, so yes, I do quite a bit. No worries.
hmmm... I think that´s about it for now. Miss you all, love you all, and my address is still the same, yup.
Peace, love and happiness,
Elder Webber
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Another Update.. a little late, Sorry
Ah well I´m glad everyone had a good Easter. We didn´t really do anything for it here, we did get a small chocolate egg from President though, which we split, so I guess that´s something haha. There were a bunch of dodgy catholic traditions and things, people marching down the street waving all sorts of plants in the air....yeah.
But we spent it walking to and from the chapel in between sessions of conference. We got to watch conference yeah, but we had a choice: we could watch it on the projector with the members but hear it in Portuguese, OR we could watch a static screen in another small room, but hear it in English. I chose the latter. Priesthood session was a recording though, which we watched Sunday morning, so there was no English option...oh, the suffering. I did really like conference though, good stuff, good stuff.
And charging more for doing the same thing always sounds good to me, haha, so I see no problem with that. Wish I could charge for what I do :) "I have your salvation in my briefcase here buddy, do you want it or not? and no, I don´t accept credit"
I got the two packages last week wooooo!!! :D they both came on p-day last week, a couple hours after I had just finished writing my last email. So thank you for the candy and mostly for the pictures. Loved them. It was like Christmas all over again.
Well it´s transfer week this week, and I´m sticking around in my area, YES! So I´ll be with the same address for the next little while. My new companion will be an Elder Casey, and he´ll be the new district leader here. So we´ll see how that goes, I actually stayed with him for the week when I first arrived in Brasil, and he ain´t too shabby. He´s already completely bald, and only has 3 months left on his mission. He should be arriving tonight or tomorrow, so I´m chillin with Elder Steffensen for today.
We had divisions for a couple days last week because of some big meeting with the president, but I went to the area of Morumbi for about 2 days, and was senior companion, which was kind of fun. The area there is really small, hard, veeeery poor, and apparently the branch is being shaken up because of some pyramid scheme, tsk tsk, so lots of people are mad at lots of other people. That´s pretty much all I could deduce from my time there.
We also had another baptism last week. Her name is Jessica, and she´s the daughter of a member. The dad is really active, the mom is wishy-washy, and the son is a flippn fruitcake. So it´s good that she´s really close to her dad. She was supposed to be baptized 6 years ago, but didn´t cuz she was afraid of the water, or the people, or something like that. So we got to teach her, and her dad got to baptize her. So good times, good times. The family also has marked their height on the wall as they grow ( like most people) but they decided to measure me as well, and.... I´m the tallest one of them all, bahaha. I´m about 180 cm I think. I also found I´m only 92 kilos now, so I´ve lost 2 since I arrived here, I´m wasting away to nothing.
Joseph´s drawing is hanging up on my wall in front of my desk, just so he knows. :)
I´ve also noticed that it´s almost impossible to determine the difference between a handicap, and a drunkard. Half the people I pass by that I think are retarded turn out to just be drunk when I can smell the alcohol on them, just thought that was interesting. Just say no.
We have 3 people with dates to be baptized this Sunday, 2 teenagers, and the mom of a member. So we´ll definitely have at least one baptism this week :) Things are definitely getting ´easier´ though, I don´t want to just curl up in a ball anymore. haha. And at night when I pray before bed (you know how you kind of pray in a half-thought half-whisper, well I do) I realized that I was switching in between English and Portuguese, and it was frustrating trying to keep my language straight. :P
Well I´m glad everyone had a good Easter, and conference. That´s about all that happened this week for me this week. Do you have any other questions or things I havn´t addressed?
Until next time children,
Love you all,
Elder Webber
But we spent it walking to and from the chapel in between sessions of conference. We got to watch conference yeah, but we had a choice: we could watch it on the projector with the members but hear it in Portuguese, OR we could watch a static screen in another small room, but hear it in English. I chose the latter. Priesthood session was a recording though, which we watched Sunday morning, so there was no English option...oh, the suffering. I did really like conference though, good stuff, good stuff.
And charging more for doing the same thing always sounds good to me, haha, so I see no problem with that. Wish I could charge for what I do :) "I have your salvation in my briefcase here buddy, do you want it or not? and no, I don´t accept credit"
I got the two packages last week wooooo!!! :D they both came on p-day last week, a couple hours after I had just finished writing my last email. So thank you for the candy and mostly for the pictures. Loved them. It was like Christmas all over again.
Well it´s transfer week this week, and I´m sticking around in my area, YES! So I´ll be with the same address for the next little while. My new companion will be an Elder Casey, and he´ll be the new district leader here. So we´ll see how that goes, I actually stayed with him for the week when I first arrived in Brasil, and he ain´t too shabby. He´s already completely bald, and only has 3 months left on his mission. He should be arriving tonight or tomorrow, so I´m chillin with Elder Steffensen for today.
We had divisions for a couple days last week because of some big meeting with the president, but I went to the area of Morumbi for about 2 days, and was senior companion, which was kind of fun. The area there is really small, hard, veeeery poor, and apparently the branch is being shaken up because of some pyramid scheme, tsk tsk, so lots of people are mad at lots of other people. That´s pretty much all I could deduce from my time there.
We also had another baptism last week. Her name is Jessica, and she´s the daughter of a member. The dad is really active, the mom is wishy-washy, and the son is a flippn fruitcake. So it´s good that she´s really close to her dad. She was supposed to be baptized 6 years ago, but didn´t cuz she was afraid of the water, or the people, or something like that. So we got to teach her, and her dad got to baptize her. So good times, good times. The family also has marked their height on the wall as they grow ( like most people) but they decided to measure me as well, and.... I´m the tallest one of them all, bahaha. I´m about 180 cm I think. I also found I´m only 92 kilos now, so I´ve lost 2 since I arrived here, I´m wasting away to nothing.
Joseph´s drawing is hanging up on my wall in front of my desk, just so he knows. :)
I´ve also noticed that it´s almost impossible to determine the difference between a handicap, and a drunkard. Half the people I pass by that I think are retarded turn out to just be drunk when I can smell the alcohol on them, just thought that was interesting. Just say no.
We have 3 people with dates to be baptized this Sunday, 2 teenagers, and the mom of a member. So we´ll definitely have at least one baptism this week :) Things are definitely getting ´easier´ though, I don´t want to just curl up in a ball anymore. haha. And at night when I pray before bed (you know how you kind of pray in a half-thought half-whisper, well I do) I realized that I was switching in between English and Portuguese, and it was frustrating trying to keep my language straight. :P
Well I´m glad everyone had a good Easter, and conference. That´s about all that happened this week for me this week. Do you have any other questions or things I havn´t addressed?
Until next time children,
Love you all,
Elder Webber
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