May 19, 2014

Ollo! This week Elder LaPray left to become the companion of Elder Sol, my other companion in Brasil! I just thought that was kind of funny. My new companion is Elder Dias; he is from Manaus (the big city in Amazonas Brasil) and joined the church when he was 14 years old, he likes to eat fish and likes the Avengers and can draw stuff really good.

We also organized an open house at the chapel, but no one came. That was sad, but we practiced showing the chapel to the seminary kids and set up to try again next week; hopefully, with more success. ;)

Irmão Glenio has now read the whole Book of Mórmon, his baptism should be on Saturday when all goes well with his stopping smoking and drinking alcohol. 

Also Thainan's confirmation and recieving of the gift of the Holy Ghost went well on Sunday. 

One thing that people who are looking into the church get a little angry about here is that the missionaries are always being transferred out of areas with new missionaries coming. But I think it is a good thing because it means when they come to church it will be because they actually believe and not just because they are friends with the missionaries.

In the mornings and in the night it sometimes gets cool now which is nice, the climate here can get to just barely in the negatives using degrees Celsius, and is humid and rains a lot, but snow, if it happens is extremely rare (essentially it doesn’t snow and people go on trips to other places in order to see snow).

One food people like here is linguiça, it is essentially a giant brawtwurst that they cut up and then eat, it is yummy. I haven’t had liver or panelada, but I have eaten heart on a couple of occasions.

I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting about how with revelation and testimonies they both normally are processes and not instant things and how with the temple, even when we have troubles in life, the temple helps us feel the peace that Jesus Christ brings into our lives.

Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :)

Sincerely, Elder Vernon

Mother's Day Call and a new companion

This little blurb is from Cory's Mom.  It was so wonderful on Mother's Day getting to actually even see Cory while we talked.  Skype is really a blessing.  Mother's Day is ALWAYS extra special when you have a missionary who you only get to talk to twice a year.  Mother's Day  and Christmas are the days we get to connect.

May 11, 2014 Ollo! :) Feliz Dia Das Mães! :)

It was cool talking with everybody on Mother’s Day. It was funny watching all the missionaries freak out talking to their families. :)

Thainan had his baptism this Friday! It was really good. Yes, before the baptism when we were filling up the font there was a lot of smoke and it was really stinky, but there was a guy at the church that knew what to do so he bought more gas to heat up the water and everything worked out alright. He is 16 years old, he had to move before he could be baptized because he lived at his girlfriend’s house. His parents have drug problems. He wants to serve a mission! Talking with him afterward he said how he felt renewed. Also, the cookies I made were promptly eaten by everyone at the baptism; they don’t have cookies like we do in the states but they really like them when the Americans make cookies for them!

Mother’s Day was also the district conference so we went to São Gabriel for church on a bus. Irmão Aúreo brought a bag of meat for snacks that he shared with everyone when we waited after church to return to Rosário because the branch president had a meeting after the normal meeting block. President Parrela talked about how awesome Moms are and how we always remember Mother’s day.

There was also a Zone Conference in Santa Maria that was really good. While there a recent convert gave a talk on how love and charity need to be the very first thing in missionary work and how it is Christ like love that helps people realize how much the gospel can bless them in their lives. The other talk was a family history specialist guy that served his mission in Brasil 50 years ago that shared a story how our mission calls are divine assignments and about a senior couple that after rejecting a mission call to Mongolia the first time (they didn’t want to serve in the cold) they accepted the call a year later, and while they were there they found their prodigal son in a prison who had been praying that his parents would find him.

There was other stuff too, but like always I can never write everything!

Com muitos Sorrisos! :) :) :)  :)

May 5, 2014

Ollo! This week Irmão Aúreo fed us churrasco! It was funny because after eating 4 platefuls of meat, rice, beans, and potatoes slathered with mayo he still wanted us to eat more! He said how he likes people that eat a lot and that there was plenty more food to eat! He then went on to say how he will let the people that wander the streets come into his house to eat his food and how one time a guy ate not 3 plates full of food, but 3 platters full of food! :)

There were three of the people we are teaching that came to church this week so we are hoping to have 2 more baptisms this week (assuming all goes well.

I have started reading through Isaiah in the bible now, a goal I have is to to read all of the Standard Works (Bible, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants) in both English and Portuguese. One thing with Isaiah that is nice though is how the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and covenants have stuff that make it easier to understand, because when I just flat out read Isaiah I don’t get much out of it (normally).

We also gave away some copies of the Book of Mormon to people who had refused to even stay in the same room as the missionaries in the past, so that was really cool too!

Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :) Sincerely, Elder Vernon

Irma Regina's Baptism!

April 22, 2014

Ollo! :)

I wrote a written letter since nothing was open on p-day that says more about the week. Also I got my first package and it was awesome! The pictures are of Irmã Reginas baptism, some cookies I made, and my hand with flaming hot cheetoh stuff on it.

Irmã Regina was baptized and confirmed this week! She was so excited for it that for both her baptismal interview and her baptism she was about an hour early! It was also cool talking to her during the week because she has already noticed how life is improving and her family is becoming more united just with her decision to be baptized.

Easter was good too! Bunches of people came like they said they would! It is really exciting when people keep their commitments that they make with the missionaries and the Lord. People gave us a bunch of chocolate stuff that we promptly ate joyfully. 

There was a drunk guy that asked for our help that we helped walk (it was more like we carried him) several blocks of the city to a house he said he lived at. It is sad how people destroy their lives with stuff like drugs and alcohol. But it was the house of his Aunt who didn’t want him there, and when Elder LaPray handed me the drunk guy *thud* I accidently dropped him. Eventually the drunk guys brother came and picked him up.

Love ya family! Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :)

Sincerely, Elder Vernon

Steve the Frog and other Frogs

Steve is small, but the frogs we see on the road are huge, they are like the size of plates almost (lots of them are road kill too).

April 2014

April 7, 2014

Ollo! :)

This week started off with P-day, it was a little different than normal because President and Sister Parrela visited our apartment to make sure it is clean and to give us stuff (like new mattresses). They liked our house so much that they gave us frosted flakes (essentially, they are a little different and from Uragary).

One highlight of the week was with Tainá; he prayed about being baptized and roughly translated into English what he said is as follows: When I prayed and had a conversation with God he told me that baptism would be a good thing for me. It is really neat to see people when they receive answers to their prayers, especially when their faith is growing! :)

For General Conference (two times a year when the prophet and other people called of God by priesthood authority tell us--the world-- what we need to hear and do and stuff!) all of the American missionaries in Rosário do Sul made treats for us to eat while watching it. It was in English and live too which was cool (though in Portuguese for the Brazillians). It was spiritually awesome! I really liked how it seemed to me like one theme of the conference was how obedience and agency (choice and accountability) have the ability to help us amplify ourselves and help others as well because of what Jesus Christ did and does for us. I also liked how they talked about God being our Heavenly Father! :)

Irmão Aúreo went to Conference too and he loved it! It was cool talking with him between conference sessions because he said how much he liked what the prophet President Thomas S. Monson said!

It was sad that none of the approximately twenty other people we invited individually to come to conference did not come, but we invited them and followed up with them between sessions and stuff. We just cannot force people to do the stuff that will make them happier and help them out with stuff in general. So I pray for them! :)

There is always more to write than I have time to do and want to say! Anyway, if anyone has questions or stuff for me about anything I am always happy to try and help out (even if I am always behind on letter writing!)

Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :) Sincerely, Elder Vernon

April 14, 2014
Ollo Família! Como vocês estão! Espero que vocês sempre são ótimo como normal! :)

I got transfers and I am staying in Rosário do Sul with Elder LaPray! Transfers are normally every 6 weeks but this transfer is 4 weeks and I think next transfer is 7 weeks.

This week Elder LaPray and I started doing family home evenings with people in an effort to try and meet new people and to work with people more. I shared about the articles of faith in one famaily home evening that went well! :)

We also went to the main plaza of the city and (fizermos contatas) talked with a bunch of people  with the Branch mission leader. It is funny seeing the different reactions people have when you go up and talk to them as a missionary, because soem literally run away, others are happy but keep walking away, and others will talk and be freindly. :)

I went on Exchange with the Zone Leaders in São Gabriel (another city about 1 hour by bus away from Rosário do Sul). It is always fun to see how other missionaries are working; I bore my testimony in one lesson about how our answers to our prayers are normally small and almost unrecognizable if we do not look for them.

At church was crazy but good because some families we invited came! it basically turned out being my companion and I babysitting the kiddos as they ran around the church and stuff like that. It was tiring but good, the kids are learnign slowly but surely how to act in church! :)

There should be a baptism next week if all goes well!

Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :) :) :)

Atentamente,

Élder Vernon

So this is Steve the Frog, he lives in Cory's bathroom, he is Cory's friend.

This Frog was in the road outside. Sounds like there are lots of Frogs in Brazil!

A Big Moth!

Doing well in Brazil!

March 24, 2014

This week we did an activity for the two branches in Rosário which was a dessert competition. I made a permutation of French toast for it that I dumped sugar and sweet and condensed milk on; it tasted pretty good, it was just strange. The activity turned out really well! Everyone enjoyed the yummies and everyone won a prize for something; we also related it to the gospel because the fruit of eternal life like in Lehi’s dream of the tree of life is the sweetest thing we can have and share with others. Some of our investigators were there and they brought a friend too!

Then the people that were at the activity came to church too! The friend they brought Luis said he wants to be baptized and he missed the bus to church so he walked all the way there!

I ate capybara again this week, it is actually pretty good! 

March 31, 2014

Ollo Família! :) Como vocês estão!

This week we kept working and inviting people to come to church and be baptized! I think we invited 10 people this week to set baptism as a goal!

After church Elder LaPray and I went to the branch council meeting. I did not understand very much but i think it was cool to see how they held the meeting with almost the whole branch in attendance. It is crazy the differences between how many members of the church live in Utah compared to home and then home compared to here in Brasil.

There was one guy we talked to on the street that had a bunch of questions and was excited to be talking to Americans who spoke Portuguese; we talked through practically the whole restoration and gave him a book of Mormon and talked about the plan of salvation with him.

We try and do visits to people with members in the ward which is always good too.

The meat is yummy, but sometimes I get meat stuck in my teeth until at night when I floss or brush my teeth.  There are street vendors, small shops, and big supermarkets. We normally shop at Nacional, the Brazilian version of Wal-mart because it is open during the lunch hour of 12-1.

The bread people feed us is normally dry white bread that is in the homemade style, but sometimes it is sweet like cake and every once in a while is like cornbread. One time me and another elder (Elder Rogers) made banana bread and ate it.

I finished reading the Book of Mormon in Portuguese all the way through for the first time! It was Awesome!

Com muitos sorrisos!

Elder Cory Vernon