Day 452

Hello my friends my family and maybe my dog, if she has learned how to read! My name is Elder Rich and this is my 452nd day in the mission field in the Brazil Natal Mission. Today I wanted to relate a story to you about days 438-452. Day 445, last Saturday, was an amazing day! I got to talk to my family and to touch a shark all in the same day, which was pretty sweet! I think my mom sent photos last week of our adventures in the aquarium. Our experiences of the week were mostly related to getting work done in the office, here with my new companion, Elder Ferreira. We have been working super hard because this week, day 448, we had transfers, so everything was super busy running from one place to another. It looks like I have another 42 days ahead of me in the office, which is going to be AWESOME! I'm finishing up the last of the visas for the missionaries here in our mission...which I have been working on since day 321! It’s going to be a giant relief when i finally finish all the visas for the missionaries because last year the laws changed as far as the visas go, so I had to redo a lot of the visas for pretty much all of the foreign missionaries in our mission. I’m working super hard and doing a lot of the same stuff day in and day out...that’s why i don’t have a lot to say in a lot of these emails. I do a lot of desk work, but I am liking it a lot! It reminds me of The Office! Working in the office carries a lot of responsibility, not going to lie, and it’s a WHOLE LOT of pressure to take care of everyone in the mission. Our mission has about 150 missionaries and we have 2 secretaries taking care of everyone’s needs. It’s great having all of this responsibility because I am learning a lot about how to get things done on a larger scale. I am so grateful for the opportunities that I have every week to grow into the man that I need to be and who God wants me to be. I love you all and miss you tons and tons!!

Elder Rich, day 452, 17:58 BRT

The Aquarium-Zoo

Coulson didn't write an email, but he sent these pictures from his adventure at the Aquarium/Zoo! 

New Friends at the Federal Police!

Bom dia! I finished a bunch of stuff this week and we had mission conference which was cool to hear! I got to translate for a new missionary which was way harder than i thought it would be but everything worked out well Love you all!!!!

The Office Episode: 1 year and 1 month

Hello everyone and welcome to one more record of the mission here in the office of Brazil Natal! This past week was super exciting for me because I finally finished my first 2 (of many) Visas that I renewed all on my own! Woohoo! Everyday I'm learning more and more here in the office, things that I wouldn't learn in any other place. I am learning how to organize my responsibilities in a way that is super effective and I'm learning a LOT about the Brazilian government, hahaha! It's a great challenge and its fun to figure this stuff out. Plus, there's a huge pay out when you finally are able to do something big, like I did with renewing those visas! That was the best part of my week, by far, haha! Being here in the office might not provide the same experiences as other missionaries, but it truly is amazing to see how God helps me specifically to stay on top of things. I was the worst procrastinator back at home, but now I see myself working ahead rather than running to catch up. It's really cool to see the promises of Ether 12:27 coming true. Really, when we humble ourselves and try to do the Lords work, he helps us to do it. There is no way I'm doing all of this with my own forces and ideas, but it really is God helping me in my life. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!   

p.s. My family is awesome and thank you so much for the package!

Just Real Quick...

So I just wanted to send a message real quick to everyone saying that I am alive and good and the best part of the week was when I had some recent converts come to the office and give me presents for having one year on the mission which was cool! Other than that everything was pretty normal running around and trying to get everything done that I need to... Not much to tell but have a great week everyone! Love you all!!! Also a photo from Zone Conference!

Follow the Spirit, SURE why not!

Today was amazing! It really was a day that I truly felt the spirit of the Lord. I realized that it's through the Lord that I can help in his work. The day started with a long day at the office. Every Monday is super duper long because everyone is in the office. I got some work done, sure, and started making some spreadsheets, which was exciting (its kinda sad that making spreadsheets excites me now...)! The day was super long and I got done what I needed to do in the office for the day. We went to a family's house of a recent convert of ours, Luana, and taught them about the commandments and they loved it! It's always super cool to see the Lord touch the heart of our investigators. Afterwards, we had to use the bathroom because we had drank a TON of Terere...which is like a herb that you add with lime juice...something like that hahaha! It's hard to explain, look it up! We stopped by to use the bathroom real quick cause it runs through you faster than....well, something really fast. Anyhow, we decided to visit some of the people that we had made contacts with, so we started walking. Elder Pará, my companion, decided that we needed to take another path, so we did...and we saw (wait for the intensity to build)...nothing.  So, we went on another path, thinking huh maybe its the spirit guiding us, but we didn't meet anyone new....until we got to the end of the road. We passed a lady that was laying on the ground, totally out of it, almost blacked out drunk! And she was with her young daughter. I didn't feel like I had to talk to them because, to be honest, its not SUPER rare to see a situation like that here. But, Elder Pará felt like we needed to talk to them, so ...(another pause for intensity) we didn't. We kept walking and then we saw a car stop in front of us and AGAIN, we felt like we should talk to them and we also didn't! BUT! This time we eventually did turn around and we went to talk with them to see if they needed help. Turns out they had stopped their car to help that same lady that Elder Pará had felt like he needed to talk to earlier! All 4 of us went over to talk with this lady and see if she needed help and how we could help get her and her daughter home safely. Elder Pará kept the woman awake on the ground trying to find out where she lived and just talk with her so she wouldn't pass out. In the meanwhile, I went over to the 9 year old daughter and started trying to find out any information. She knew where she lived, but the people in the car didn't have space for them in their car (it was a tiny truck with a billion chairs in the back so they really didn't). I talked to the little girl about who we could call and who else lived in her house and she helped out. We got a hold of her stepdad who could come and pick them up. We all thought he would have a car! After the call we waited and I talked with the daughter trying to distract her from the situation and ask her about what she likes to do, eat, play, whatever I could to distract her from her mom´s state of being. While we were waiting, a member from a different ward passed by and stopped. Their car was full of his family and asked us if he could help in anyway. At that moment, the stepdad showed up without a car and without a way to take this woman and daughter home! The church member told us he would drive home and drop off his family and then return with his car. In about 5 minutes he returned to drop them off and we continued walking to our appointment with our recent contacts. While we were walking there, we ran into the same church member without even meaning to and he showed us the house of these people. We entered and obviously the stepdad was mad with his wife for being so drunk and so disoriented. We went in and I swear this was the most drunk person I have ever seen in my life! She passed out 3 times while we were talking to her! We didn't know what to talk about, but all of their kids were super friendly and all younger than 9. The stepdad didn't have a lot of patience with the kids, so I kept the kids attention and showed them photos of our pamphlets while Elder Pará kept the adults attention...talking about Christ and his love for us. Being in that house and situation was hard to feel the spirit but we started with a prayer and everyone! Even the little ones listened closely and I truly felt the power of the spirit and power of prayer. We stayed for a bit and talked about Christ and how we can have a happier family. I don't think our teaching got through very much but the stepdad calmed down and understood that he needs to have patience with his family before he does anything drastic. I left them with the most sincere prayer that I could give and pleaded God for the protection that he could give to those kids and to give patience to the stepdad. We left the house and started thinking about the miracle had happened. Maybe during the lesson it was hard to feel the spirit, but afterwards I knew that I was an instrument in the hand of God. It just so happened that we stopped to help the people in the car, it just so happened that a member stopped to help the missionaries, it just so happened that we ran into him to find the house of these people and help give the stepdad time to calm down before he could react out of anger about the situation. I am grateful for the time I have here and I am grateful for the life of a missionary. If you feel like you should do something don't wait, just do it!!!

I'm sorry its been a while since I've written, but sometimes life is boring here in the office!

Love you all and don't forget that God loves you also!

Here are some pics from Christmas time...I know I'm super bad at this whole email thing and I always forget to send an email... SORRY! Some people from my first area gave me the Harry Potter shirt and SO MUCH CANDY! They really are great! Have a great week!

Taking Off the Training Wheels!

So this week, my trainer for the office (part of my mission) left to go back out to the field! Elder Dixon was an amazing companion and was super good at playing the piano which was super cool! Now that the year is closing out, I have a lot of responsibilities to handle haha! We had the opportunity to baptize yesterday too! Woohoo! The secretaries baptize too! Hahaha! We have been teaching Leonarda for like 3 weeks now and she loved the message that we had. She also loved the Young Woman's program, which was awesome to see because that means that she is going to stay in the church and be a strong member! Its crazy here in Alecrim! The other night we were walking down a main road and heard a loud BANG and saw people running towards us. We didn't really know what was going on, but later on we found out that it was a gun shot! (Yes, we also ran away with all the other people and we did not go looking for danger...don't worry mom!) but it does get a little dangerous if you don't know where you are. Fortunately we know all the safe parts of town, so we are all good here, haha! I am super glad that I have the time here on my mission to learn how to be responsible for so many things. I love you all and I hope the Holiday season is going SUPER! Love you all and have a great week!!!

Life in the Office

So, there isn't much to tell about my life here in the office... But! I am learning a ton of the behind the scenes in the church and all of the help that we offer to people. Its pretty neat to learn all of the ins and outs around here. I am learning how to buy plane tickets for people leaving and all of the documents that the people need in order to come into and leave Brazil. It's strange doing all of it in Portuguese!  But, yeah my life is pretty repetitive now here in the office. We are getting ready for a Christmas meeting about the mission, which is going to be super cool. Not much to tell, but I am actually liking my time here being a helper to every missionary in the Natal mission! Hope everything is great back at home! Love you guys and have a great week!!!

This week in the Secretary´s office

So, this week was my first here in the office as part of the staff of the mission! Woohoo!! I have learned so much about how things work behind the scenes in these past 5 days its crazy. I have to practically start from the begining again though as far as learning goes cause everything is a different vocabulary here. Its all about office supplies and how to deal with some legal things about Foreigners staying in Brazil. Its pretty crazy and I feel like I'm starting all over again! It kind of sucks I'll be honest but hey its the life of a missionary! My new P-Day is on Saturday so if you want to send me an email than Saturday is the day I'll be able to respond! Lots of learning of new vocab here in the office of Missão Brasil Natal! Love you all have a great week!!!!

Hymns are scriptures too!

So, it's the end of transfers and looks like my time here in Potengi is all up! This transfer training taught me a lot about patience and hard work, that is for sure! It is a lot of responsibility to train a new missionary cause literally everything they know about the mission is from you...so you have to be a good example or you are effecting the future of that missionary! But in the end, it was a great growing experience and it got me going with really serving the lord with all of my might mind and energy. This last week was amazing and I will send some photos of this little old lady that we baptized. She is amazing and her name is Francisca. Francisca is the mom of a member, but was never baptized in the church because she was very strong in her own faith.  But, after a while, she moved in with her daughter to help her out because she was not able to help herself with some things. Well, we went to her house and right from the beginning this little old lady was thanking God for sending us because she had been feeling lonely and wanted someone to keep her company. At first, she wouldn't pay attention to the lessons we would teach, but I learned that she loved the hymns of the church, so we made an audible. We decided to teach her the story of the church through hymns. So, my companion and I would go there and sing then explain the lyrics to her so she would understand our message. If I learned something during this experience, it is the power of the hymns and the power of the spirit when it touches the heart of people. It was truly an amazing experience and i am super glad i got to be a part of it. I'll send some pics if i find somewhere that i can... Where i am right now doesnt have a place for a usb or a sd card so it kinda sucks, but I'll send some as soon as i can. 

Love you all and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

SOOOOO!!!!! This week, for the first time in my life, I got to meet a General Authority sister! Her name is Sister Aburto and she is part of the Presidency of the General Relief Society! She talked a lot to us about our responsibility and how important it is to spread the gospel to everyone! Not only to spread the gospel, but to spread the love of Christ. It’s weird to think about, but I really have grown a love for the people here in Brazil and a love for Jesus Christ that I never thought that I would have. It was pretty awesome to be able to talk to her! She is a Hispanic, but spoke to us in English, but then she translated into Portuguese! It was pretty funny because she would occasionally slip back into Spanish and then apologize because she spoke Spanish, but it was all pretty funny to me. Also the elections of Brazil just finished up and the new President, Bolsonario, was elected. It interesting to see how politics work in another country, but it’s cool to compare! Anyway, still training out here and working hard that’s for sure!

 Love you all and have a great week!!!  Also like 2 weeks ago it was Elder Pace´s b-day so here are some pics of that too! (He got a little bit burned when we played soccer oops!)