I gave my first talk in Portuguese this Sunday. The bishop called up sunday night and asked if we could give talks, so of course we had to say yes. It was only 10 minutes so it wasn´t too long. I talked about the atonement and I only wrote down about 3 sentences for notes before I spoke, and I ended up speaking longer than I should have so the bishopric started tapping my shoes to let me know to wrap it up. I didn´t think it was too shabby if I do say so myself. It´s interesting whenever a missionary gets called to give a talk, you really have only to choose between two different topics: 1. call the members to missionary work to help you out, (which I chose) or 2. call everybody to repentance, REPENT YOU SINNERS!! THIS IS THE WORST WARD I`VE EVER SEEN!!! STRAIGHTEN UP!! I think I´ll leave the second choice until next time. I left my notes at home, so if you want to read what I said it´ll have to wait until next week.
Things are going alright here, me and my companion get along better than I have with the other ones. But it´s definitely frustrating when your new companion doesn´t care about the investigators the way you do. I don´t want to sound like a fault-finder with all my companions, I like serving with him, but if we´re gonna baptize we have to focus on the right people. Just a bit frustrating. It doesn´t bug me if someone´s heart isn´t in the work, as long as you DO the work and have results. It´s like what President Tobias said: *It doesn´t matter to why you came out on the mission. It matters why you STAY on the mission*
But i´m sure we´ll get around that, we´ve got a new whiteboard in our house now so we can plan out more visually our strategies and battle plans for baptizing the world. And we´ve got a few people lined up already, and we´ve got 6 weeks to do it. So pretty much if we don´t baptize at least some of the 7 people we have listed, it´ll be pretty embarrassing.
I´m glad you liked the pictures, haha. There have been many pretty fun days, and some others where you wake up, or go to bed saying *oh please, just kill me now, TAKE ME SWEET HEAVEN!!* or something like that.
Also, if anybody at home is complaining about the milk there, smack em a few times and tell them what we have down here. Our milk comes in boxes, and it tastes so bad that you HAVE to drink it as chocolate milk or it just makes you shudder. And this milk is mutant or something, because they sell it on the shelf, not in a fridge, and you can keep in on the shelf, or fridge forever and it´ll never go bad.... until you open it, and then you only have 2 days to drink it all before it goes rotten. yeah.
ah ok ok, confession time, I may or may not have watched the last 15 minutes of Night at the Museum 2 at a member´s house while waiting for lunch. But the weird thing is that it was all in Portuguese and I understood most of it and was laughing just as hard as if it were in English. mmhmmm. "Check out the gun-show goin on over here, Boom, Boom, Firepower!"
So yeah, I´m pretty sure that´s about it for now. We get to use the internet here for free every week because the guy here is our friend and really likes us. Oh yeah, thanks to me.
Thanks for shedding some light on how Joseph Smith was praying to know which church to JOIN, never realized that. I´ll have to apply that somewhere. And thank you for the Preisthood line of authority, awesome.
Enjoy the 4th of July, it feels like it´s the 4th every day down here whenever Brazil is playing (and winning) in the world cup. Spaced out of course by eerie silence when nobody is out on the streets.
Good luck to Josh in Canada. :)
Love ya´ll, Miss ya´ll
*It is my belief that if we were good people in this life, and lived well, God would allow us to be pirates*
Elder Webber
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
A New Companion
My my my, this week was pretty good indeed.
Elder Casey has gone home, he´s just waiting in Goiania for now until it´s time for his flight. And I´m sticking around here in Anapolis :D My new companion is Elder Pattie, ANOTHER American, and so far i don´t think he´s too bad, but we´ll see eh? And i´m just a junior in a normal companionship this time, no chillin with the District Leader. yup. We spent the whole day yesterday and most of Sunday just going around so that Elder Casey could say bye to everybody. But the big news is what happened on Saturday because......................................
We baptized 4 people. wooooooo, oh yeah! haha. A guy named Jorge (29) who is the boyfriend of a member, and then 3 children of a family we´re teaching. The parents weren´t ready to be baptized yet, but the mom asked if we could still baptize the kids, and of course we said yes. I got in the water with the two older kids of hers, so that was way awesome. We don´t have to worry about Jorge, because he´s already friends with everybody and works with a lot of members, and he wants to get married in the temple, we just have to work with the parents of the other 3 kids now otherwise all that work will be for nothing. But they all came to church by themselves on Sunday to be confirmed, which is even better, so we don´t have to go walking around Sunday morning looking for everybody
And then afterward we had the ward talent show that we organized. We started organizing it the first week elder Casey got here and now 11 weeks later it finally happened. haha. So that was sweet. And apparently when you say *talent show* to Brazilians it just means *music show* everybody and their dog brought a guitar and sang, ugh. The bishop had a band with the stake president, with the bishops son and presidents nephew as well. pretty rockin´. so that ended up pretty well indeed.
Hmmm... I seem to have left my other planner in the house, so i forgot what else I´ve had to write about.
I´ve had chances every once and a while to play around on the piano in the church, and i´ve managed to play the beginning parts of: some Zelda songs, Mission impossible, star wars, Lord of the Rings, Corpse Bride, Jurassic Park, and Halo. It´s fun to play i just don´t have anything to play cuz i can´t remember the songs I´ve learned and so on because I stopped piano lessons, and also cuz no one´s got the sheet music for anything but hymns. But yeah, I´m pro.
So yup, we´re got a couple families we can teach and hopefully baptize during this transfer, so that´ll be good. And we´ll be getting our new President the end of this month, holy nervous batman. We have no idea what he´ll be like, but it´s kind of hard to imagine having a President more strict that Pres. Tobias.
Plus the best month in the world is coming up: JULY!!
July 4: America´s Birthday
July 7: ***Bungie day*** The 7th on 7th
July 21: ME
How´s the 50 miler going? you bunch of wimps, why back in my day we hiked up to a lake that we didn´t even know existed, that´s how hardcore we are.
mmhmm, so that´s what happened this week, sent Elder Casey home on a good note, and gettin ready to baptize some more souls. bring em on.
Love, Elder Webber
Elder Casey has gone home, he´s just waiting in Goiania for now until it´s time for his flight. And I´m sticking around here in Anapolis :D My new companion is Elder Pattie, ANOTHER American, and so far i don´t think he´s too bad, but we´ll see eh? And i´m just a junior in a normal companionship this time, no chillin with the District Leader. yup. We spent the whole day yesterday and most of Sunday just going around so that Elder Casey could say bye to everybody. But the big news is what happened on Saturday because......................................
We baptized 4 people. wooooooo, oh yeah! haha. A guy named Jorge (29) who is the boyfriend of a member, and then 3 children of a family we´re teaching. The parents weren´t ready to be baptized yet, but the mom asked if we could still baptize the kids, and of course we said yes. I got in the water with the two older kids of hers, so that was way awesome. We don´t have to worry about Jorge, because he´s already friends with everybody and works with a lot of members, and he wants to get married in the temple, we just have to work with the parents of the other 3 kids now otherwise all that work will be for nothing. But they all came to church by themselves on Sunday to be confirmed, which is even better, so we don´t have to go walking around Sunday morning looking for everybody
And then afterward we had the ward talent show that we organized. We started organizing it the first week elder Casey got here and now 11 weeks later it finally happened. haha. So that was sweet. And apparently when you say *talent show* to Brazilians it just means *music show* everybody and their dog brought a guitar and sang, ugh. The bishop had a band with the stake president, with the bishops son and presidents nephew as well. pretty rockin´. so that ended up pretty well indeed.
Hmmm... I seem to have left my other planner in the house, so i forgot what else I´ve had to write about.
I´ve had chances every once and a while to play around on the piano in the church, and i´ve managed to play the beginning parts of: some Zelda songs, Mission impossible, star wars, Lord of the Rings, Corpse Bride, Jurassic Park, and Halo. It´s fun to play i just don´t have anything to play cuz i can´t remember the songs I´ve learned and so on because I stopped piano lessons, and also cuz no one´s got the sheet music for anything but hymns. But yeah, I´m pro.
So yup, we´re got a couple families we can teach and hopefully baptize during this transfer, so that´ll be good. And we´ll be getting our new President the end of this month, holy nervous batman. We have no idea what he´ll be like, but it´s kind of hard to imagine having a President more strict that Pres. Tobias.
Plus the best month in the world is coming up: JULY!!
July 4: America´s Birthday
July 7: ***Bungie day*** The 7th on 7th
July 21: ME
How´s the 50 miler going? you bunch of wimps, why back in my day we hiked up to a lake that we didn´t even know existed, that´s how hardcore we are.
mmhmm, so that´s what happened this week, sent Elder Casey home on a good note, and gettin ready to baptize some more souls. bring em on.
Love, Elder Webber
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Companion Goes Home
So the biggest news down here is that the Wold Cup has started. And everybody knows it. All the cars are painted the Brazilian colors, horns going off 24/7, and every morning there are fireworks, and other illegal explosives being set off. Every TV has the games playing, and so on. I have a mini schedule in my briefcase so I can keep track of who is winning and losing and stuff like that. I keep telling everyone that America is going to win, but nobody believes me.
Last week was the last week of Elder Casey, and his birthday, so we had about four families make us cakes and stuff, so that was awesome, and at the district meeting on Wednesday we had another cake, and Elder Cortes made a coffin, and we held Elder Casey´s funeral. Yup I was just there for the cake. And we're part of of ANAPOLIS: DA NUMBA ONE ZONE!! WOOO!!
I´ve realized how bold I´m getting in some of my lessons and invites on the road. I´ll give you some examples of what I´ve done...
1. Meeting someone in the street the other day:
*Sir! look here! I am a travelling minister, and I have walked through rain, snow, desert places and mountain ranges to arrive here and save your soul by helping you be baptized in the One True Church, DO YOU ACCEPT!!?!*
And surprisingly enough, it actually works :D
2. We went into a guys house the other day after we got his address a few days before. And we basically just called him to repentance and told him to be baptized:
*Sir, you are a sinner, and sinners cannot get to heaven, don´t you agree?*
*yes*
*We are here to help you receive forgiveness for all your sins, don´t you want that?*
*yes*
*That is why God has sent me here to baptize you so you can be saved, do you accept??*
*of course*
*But you need to stop drinking and smoking first, will you stop?*
*I will*
*and I´m going to see you in church Sunday right?*
*yes you will*
*I thought so*
We´re tough, because we care :)
So pretty much, if I come home and anybody is sinning, prepare to feel the wrath of the bold but not overbearing Elder Webber. YEEHAW!
Obviously, I am not writing on Tuesday, because we had Zone conference yesterday. We went to Goiania with 2 other zones for our last conference with Pres. Tobias. It lasted all day and it was amazing. Took our last picture with him, got a last hug from him and Sis. Tobias, got a mysterious brown package that we can´t open until we´re on the plane home, had breakfast and lunch, and learned a bunch of stuff. I wrote it all down but I don´t have my book here, oh well. Elder Cortes made another coffin for Pres. and Sister, and we were all afraid to present it because we thought we were going to get burned alive, or smitten once he saw it, especially since it has a huge red christian cross on the front of it. But he thought it was funny and we´re all still alive.
What we really creepy, though, was when we left the chapel after-wards. Because during the whole day there were horns and fireworks going off because it was the day Brazil was gonna play against North Korea. And when we got out they had just won. So there were people all leaning out of the really tall apartment buildings there, strange explosives falling from the sky, we were hearing horns from all directions even though we couldn´t see who was blowing them. People yelling and screaming. We felt like we were in a war zone... and it was awesome :)
I figure here is a good place to mention some Pres. Tobias quotes:
*You never, ever, should get involved in a bible-bash. But, if you do, YOU DO NOT LOSE!*
* You want to know why you can´t watch the World Cup? Because it´s of the world, if it were the Celestial Cup, you could watch*
And I have no idea what I´d want in my birthday package. I´ll try to think of something. Maybe a star chart? That´s all I can think of right now. I would ask for books, but we´re not allowed to read outside of the missionary library.
The weather is changing down here as well, it´s actually pretty dang cold in the mornings, but the afternoons are still way hot. You know it´s getting chilly when all the Brazilians are wearing jackets, sweaters and scarfs. Wimps.
Well that´s about it for now, Until next Tuesday... I think, cuz it´s transfers next week, so we´ll see how things get shaken up then.
*You can get more with a kind word and a gun, than you can with just a kind word*
Love, Elder Webber
Last week was the last week of Elder Casey, and his birthday, so we had about four families make us cakes and stuff, so that was awesome, and at the district meeting on Wednesday we had another cake, and Elder Cortes made a coffin, and we held Elder Casey´s funeral. Yup I was just there for the cake. And we're part of of ANAPOLIS: DA NUMBA ONE ZONE!! WOOO!!
I´ve realized how bold I´m getting in some of my lessons and invites on the road. I´ll give you some examples of what I´ve done...
1. Meeting someone in the street the other day:
*Sir! look here! I am a travelling minister, and I have walked through rain, snow, desert places and mountain ranges to arrive here and save your soul by helping you be baptized in the One True Church, DO YOU ACCEPT!!?!*
And surprisingly enough, it actually works :D
2. We went into a guys house the other day after we got his address a few days before. And we basically just called him to repentance and told him to be baptized:
*Sir, you are a sinner, and sinners cannot get to heaven, don´t you agree?*
*yes*
*We are here to help you receive forgiveness for all your sins, don´t you want that?*
*yes*
*That is why God has sent me here to baptize you so you can be saved, do you accept??*
*of course*
*But you need to stop drinking and smoking first, will you stop?*
*I will*
*and I´m going to see you in church Sunday right?*
*yes you will*
*I thought so*
We´re tough, because we care :)
So pretty much, if I come home and anybody is sinning, prepare to feel the wrath of the bold but not overbearing Elder Webber. YEEHAW!
Obviously, I am not writing on Tuesday, because we had Zone conference yesterday. We went to Goiania with 2 other zones for our last conference with Pres. Tobias. It lasted all day and it was amazing. Took our last picture with him, got a last hug from him and Sis. Tobias, got a mysterious brown package that we can´t open until we´re on the plane home, had breakfast and lunch, and learned a bunch of stuff. I wrote it all down but I don´t have my book here, oh well. Elder Cortes made another coffin for Pres. and Sister, and we were all afraid to present it because we thought we were going to get burned alive, or smitten once he saw it, especially since it has a huge red christian cross on the front of it. But he thought it was funny and we´re all still alive.
What we really creepy, though, was when we left the chapel after-wards. Because during the whole day there were horns and fireworks going off because it was the day Brazil was gonna play against North Korea. And when we got out they had just won. So there were people all leaning out of the really tall apartment buildings there, strange explosives falling from the sky, we were hearing horns from all directions even though we couldn´t see who was blowing them. People yelling and screaming. We felt like we were in a war zone... and it was awesome :)
I figure here is a good place to mention some Pres. Tobias quotes:
*You never, ever, should get involved in a bible-bash. But, if you do, YOU DO NOT LOSE!*
* You want to know why you can´t watch the World Cup? Because it´s of the world, if it were the Celestial Cup, you could watch*
And I have no idea what I´d want in my birthday package. I´ll try to think of something. Maybe a star chart? That´s all I can think of right now. I would ask for books, but we´re not allowed to read outside of the missionary library.
The weather is changing down here as well, it´s actually pretty dang cold in the mornings, but the afternoons are still way hot. You know it´s getting chilly when all the Brazilians are wearing jackets, sweaters and scarfs. Wimps.
Well that´s about it for now, Until next Tuesday... I think, cuz it´s transfers next week, so we´ll see how things get shaken up then.
*You can get more with a kind word and a gun, than you can with just a kind word*
Love, Elder Webber
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Latest Update
Sheesh, wish we had somewhere to go fishing down here, but all the rivers a tiny little pieces of junk and they´re all polluted up the ying-yang.
But yeah. I was made District Leader for a day again, when Elder Casey went out to Goiania for some meeting or whatever, so I got to rule my district with an iron fist again until he got back and ended my reign of terror. I shall rise again though. But while I was in office, we went to a birthday party of one of the kids we baptized, and the dad was making churrasco (Brazilian barbecue like at Tucanos) and he cooked chicken hearts, except bigger and better than the ones in Utah, very nice. But we had to go so we couldn´t stick around for the Dragonball Z cake. bummer.
On saturday, we got up early so that Brother Mozair could take us out to a town called Campo Limpo. Because he does the Saturday morning program on the radio there. So we just sang a couple songs, and I did a bunch of the in-between-songs-talking stuff, in English of course. So that was pretty dang fun. Just chillin in the studio for 3 hours, oh yeah.
We had our last interviews with President Tobias yesterday morning. So that was sweet, you can ask questions, he asks about you, and if you´re sinning, he teaches cool stuff. And whenever you´re talking with him he´s always writing stuff down, and before we finished he told me: *now see here: I´ve put this dot next to your name, because I´m gonna be losing a lot of missionaries this month, and I need to find Elders who are qualified to be the next senior companions for when the nextPpresident comes in. So you´re on the list now.* pretty darn sweet if I do say so myself. And then he gave me a blessing, and sent me off. I´m gonna miss that guy.
We´ve spent some time in the area next door because the missionaries there were taken out because of some trouble in the ward, and they left behind a few people who the couldn´t manage to get confirmed after their baptism. and when we got there we realized why they never got confirmed.....cuz they´re both flippn´ kids! Sheesh, that ticks me off when we have to go clean up the mess because the missionaries there before were too dang lazy to teach a full family instead of some kids. Well short story one locked himself inside his house when we came by to take him to church, and the other one is too far for us to walk to Sunday morning, so we´ll just have to hope he´ll show up one Sunday, since he said he would.
And speaking of idiot missionaries, you always hear return missionaries mention *that one bad missionary* in the mission, well I dunno how it was in their mission, or if their measure of a good missionary is different than mine, but here there´s slacker missionaries all over. I mean, we have tons more hard-working good ones, but we have 2 in our district alone who slack off all the time, pretend to be sick, and just waste time. retards. Of course I´ve heard of worse, but still, if I get stuck with anybody like that I´m not going to have the patience to deal with him for very long. President Tobias sent TONS of missionaries home who were slacking off when he first got here, but I guess he´s loosened up a little. So we´ll see if the new President does the same thing. As far as I´m concerned, if you´re not helping the mission, you go home. That´s what me and Pres. Tobias talked a lot during the interview, he asked what I thought a complete mission was, because it mentioned it in my Patriarchal Blessing, and I told him as long as you leave the area better than when you left it after two years, you´ve completed your mission. If you´re just going out to sit on your butt all day, then you should just go home. Because I don´t want to have to clean up your mess.
OKAY, time for some happy news... you know how negro/nigger is offensive in America and ´black´ isn´t? ( well it sort of is now, but whatever.) Well down here it´s completely opposite, if you call someone a negro, it´s normal, but if you call someone black, it´s offensive. Just goes to show you that people get offended over the stupidest things.
It´s Elder Casey´s birthday tomorrow, and just about 4 families have said they´re gonna back some kind of cake, or barbecue for us.... so that should be fun, we´ll see if we´ll actually be able to leave the houses on time and teach some people. I can only imagine what it´ll be like for me, woooo!
And that´s they way the cookie crumbles, I´m pretty sure that´s about it for this week, gonna send up the CD with the picture on it this week, since i managed a massive FAIL last time. oh well.
*Do not try to bend the spoon, that´s impossible, instead only try to realize the truth*
*The truth? What truth?*
*There is no spoon*
Stay frosty,
Love:
Elder Webber
But yeah. I was made District Leader for a day again, when Elder Casey went out to Goiania for some meeting or whatever, so I got to rule my district with an iron fist again until he got back and ended my reign of terror. I shall rise again though. But while I was in office, we went to a birthday party of one of the kids we baptized, and the dad was making churrasco (Brazilian barbecue like at Tucanos) and he cooked chicken hearts, except bigger and better than the ones in Utah, very nice. But we had to go so we couldn´t stick around for the Dragonball Z cake. bummer.
On saturday, we got up early so that Brother Mozair could take us out to a town called Campo Limpo. Because he does the Saturday morning program on the radio there. So we just sang a couple songs, and I did a bunch of the in-between-songs-talking stuff, in English of course. So that was pretty dang fun. Just chillin in the studio for 3 hours, oh yeah.
We had our last interviews with President Tobias yesterday morning. So that was sweet, you can ask questions, he asks about you, and if you´re sinning, he teaches cool stuff. And whenever you´re talking with him he´s always writing stuff down, and before we finished he told me: *now see here: I´ve put this dot next to your name, because I´m gonna be losing a lot of missionaries this month, and I need to find Elders who are qualified to be the next senior companions for when the nextPpresident comes in. So you´re on the list now.* pretty darn sweet if I do say so myself. And then he gave me a blessing, and sent me off. I´m gonna miss that guy.
We´ve spent some time in the area next door because the missionaries there were taken out because of some trouble in the ward, and they left behind a few people who the couldn´t manage to get confirmed after their baptism. and when we got there we realized why they never got confirmed.....cuz they´re both flippn´ kids! Sheesh, that ticks me off when we have to go clean up the mess because the missionaries there before were too dang lazy to teach a full family instead of some kids. Well short story one locked himself inside his house when we came by to take him to church, and the other one is too far for us to walk to Sunday morning, so we´ll just have to hope he´ll show up one Sunday, since he said he would.
And speaking of idiot missionaries, you always hear return missionaries mention *that one bad missionary* in the mission, well I dunno how it was in their mission, or if their measure of a good missionary is different than mine, but here there´s slacker missionaries all over. I mean, we have tons more hard-working good ones, but we have 2 in our district alone who slack off all the time, pretend to be sick, and just waste time. retards. Of course I´ve heard of worse, but still, if I get stuck with anybody like that I´m not going to have the patience to deal with him for very long. President Tobias sent TONS of missionaries home who were slacking off when he first got here, but I guess he´s loosened up a little. So we´ll see if the new President does the same thing. As far as I´m concerned, if you´re not helping the mission, you go home. That´s what me and Pres. Tobias talked a lot during the interview, he asked what I thought a complete mission was, because it mentioned it in my Patriarchal Blessing, and I told him as long as you leave the area better than when you left it after two years, you´ve completed your mission. If you´re just going out to sit on your butt all day, then you should just go home. Because I don´t want to have to clean up your mess.
OKAY, time for some happy news... you know how negro/nigger is offensive in America and ´black´ isn´t? ( well it sort of is now, but whatever.) Well down here it´s completely opposite, if you call someone a negro, it´s normal, but if you call someone black, it´s offensive. Just goes to show you that people get offended over the stupidest things.
It´s Elder Casey´s birthday tomorrow, and just about 4 families have said they´re gonna back some kind of cake, or barbecue for us.... so that should be fun, we´ll see if we´ll actually be able to leave the houses on time and teach some people. I can only imagine what it´ll be like for me, woooo!
And that´s they way the cookie crumbles, I´m pretty sure that´s about it for this week, gonna send up the CD with the picture on it this week, since i managed a massive FAIL last time. oh well.
*Do not try to bend the spoon, that´s impossible, instead only try to realize the truth*
*The truth? What truth?*
*There is no spoon*
Stay frosty,
Love:
Elder Webber
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