One More Time!

One more time! We´re gonna celebrate! Oh yeah, alright, I feel like dancing! I am with Elder Bryan for one more time! This will be our third transfer together which will bring us to a grand total of over four months together by the end of this. I will probably never ever be in sight and sound of someone like this for the rest of my life, but we are really excited to keep at it. Across the mission there was very little movement, our zone for example only had five leave. The Lord has been really blessing us this last week with many people prepared to hear the gospel. We are tracting farther and farther every week because we have already tore through everything around the church. We were walking down a dirt road near pretty much nothing and we decided to knock at the only door in sight. A man answered and the second he started talking, I felt the Spirit flow over me. That happens very rarely to me in just a contact, but through the gift of the Holy Ghost, Brigham Young taught we are apply to determine who is righteous and prepared just from being near them. An apostle once said that he could know everything about someone from just a handshake. Anyways... he let us in and we began to teach his family. They were receptive to the message and will go to church this week. One of them, Marcos, works as security from midnight until 8 in the morning. He got of the bus this last Sunday at 8:30 and went to church without sleeping and then went to work immediately afterwards! And he loved it! He said he hard never felt so much peace in his life and accepted to be baptized this Sunday already! We are so stoked. Another lady named Josi also went to church this Sunday with her two children. They loved it as well and the ward as already started integrating her with a family night and with moral support. She as well wants to be baptized! Another investigator we had recently returned from a trip to visit her sick grandmother. She was being a little weak about our messages, but decided to take the Book of Mormon with her. Her uncle is an active member of the church and was really happy to hear that she was thinking about becoming a member. Her grandmother asked her to open the book and read from it to her. Marcia opened to a chapter that talks about war, mourning, and the spirit world in Alma 28. Her grandmother and her began to cry and she this really impelled her to secure her place in paradise. She is preparing to be baptised in a week from Saturday! We were going to show her the baptismal font, but there was a dead cockroach and a giant spider in it so we decided that wouldn´t help so much. My companion, Elder Bryan, is pretty dang funny. He come from a small town in Nevada where hunting is the thing to do. He said they have killed hundreds of bunnies, but never eats them... What a waste. There is about 15,000 people there and a bunch of desert so I guess they are limited on what they can do. He cracks me up when he starts talking in a hick accent or almost hits his head on things because he is 6´6´´. Here´s some pictures of our area, my meat meal when food ran out, etc. Well that´s all folks. Come on really, Elder Healy

Marriage, Marriage is what brings us together today!

Oi! Long time, no see. And it will be like that for another year :) How are you doing? I am so glad that you have taken a couple of minutes out of your busy week to find out more about my mission experience. So let´s get started! This week has been pretty dang good. Last P-Day, we marked the marriage of two investigators who have relatives that are members. They are super excited to be baptized, but it wont happen until a month from now because of the required 30 day wait time. Without us even teaching the Word of Wisdom, they started trying to keep it on their own. We also had a division this week where I went to another area to help train a missionary called Elder Willits. It was kinda funny because we were teaching a family who couldn´t really understand his accent so I had to re-teach alot. We missed the bus after the division because we were waiting at the wrong spot so we were late to the marriage of an investigator with a member. This was a really special event for me because we found this giant less active family just hitting doors and now all of them are firm in the church and preparing for marriage in the temple. They already received temple recommends to go into the baptismal font in the temple tonight! We then had some nice barbecue Brazilian style (called churrasco). It is pretty much different kinds of meat grilled over charcoal, rubbed with salt. We left Alma 40 with the family which talks about resurrection and the Spirit world, among other things, and the seven year old girl in the family started crying because she really did not want to go to hell. Thought it was kinda funny... We are still working with Carlos to stop smoking so he can be baptized, but he is being a tad resilient. He has progressed immensely and we will try to help him stop by tomorrow. While we were contacting someone in the front of his house, his phone rang and he answered saying ´´Yeah, I'm here in the front with the apostles.´´ We thought it would be too much work to correct him. We have a Missionary of Well-Being in out ward who helps us immensely. His name is Elder Dobre. After our English class yesterday, we said that this Sister could carry him and he weighs about 260 lbs. I misunderstood and thought he wanted me to flip him from back to back with intertwined arms to in the front of me. So he wasn't ready when I just bucked him over mustang-style. He almost hit his head on the ground but is fine... I probably will explain it better next time I do it. Elder Bryan cut my hair and I his which was fun. I think they turned out pretty well for a first try. On Sunday, the Bishop pulled me into his office and said, ´´Elder I need you to give a 10 min talk.´´ Problem was, I had to go and get investigators by car with a member and didn't have as much preparation as I would have liked. I talked about how the Lord calls each and every one of us to the work. I felt inadequate and unprepared when I went into the mission field and incapable of having much success. But what I learned is that many of the greatest prophets and missionaries came from humble, or even sinful backgrounds. I shared the stories of Enos, the Sons of Mosiah, and Enoc. Enos had never really put into practice the gospel before in his life and felt touched to pray. It was a great fight to receive a forgiveness of his sins and only later did he receive joy from preaching the gospel (Enos 1:3-4,26). The Sons of Mosiah had such faith and such desire that they baptized thousands and could not bear the soul of one to be lost, yet they had been the vilest of sinners and enemies of the church just years before (Mosiah 28: 2-4). Enoc was hated by the people, and like Moses, was slow and untalented at speaking. But the Lord told him to essentially ´´Just do it´´ instead of addressing his fears (Moses 6:31-34). The Lord calls the small and simple to the work (D&C1:23) but through them the great and marvelous things come to pass. As I said on Sunday, I reiterate today, you are called to the work and through the work you will find more happiness and forgiveness than in any other task. My mother shared an experience she had with bearing her testimony this Sunday for investigators that brought her to tears and I know you all may have experiences like as well. If you truly desire to serve God and have faith in Christ, the Lord will ´´grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of they faith´´ (Enos 1:12). I love you all and wish you the best. Come on really, Elder Healy

Temple

GOOD DAY! Elder Healy once more writes you from the Zion of Brasil, the area around the temple in Campinas. I have alot to write and not much time to do it, so come on now and let´s get right down to it. In the last week or so we have several different people talk to us about why they are frustrated that they cannot enter into the temple. They cite various reasons such as the Lord´s house should be for everyone, we shouldn´t hide things, churches are for the sick, not the healed, you think you are better than everyone else, etc. So I decided to do an extensive study of the temple in the Bible and through conversation with Elder Bryan. We reached the conclusion that these people don´t really know what they are talking about. In the Old Testament it talks about the Tabernacle being built (Exo 36:5-7) and then how people where unable to enter when the spirit of the Lord entered (Exo 40:33-35) people could not anymore. The Lord went so far as to kill a man unworthy (1 Chr 13:9-10) and an elaborate sanctification process was necessary (1 Chr 15:12-14). The Lord purified the temple on two occasions (John 2:14-17, Matt 21:12-13) because it is the house of God (2 Sam 7:5-6). The temple is not an ordinary building, but the place where the Lord may dwell. The impure afast the Spirit of God and negatively influence the Spirit for all. We do not go to the simply to worship, but to learn (Isa 2:1-3). If you do not understand the basic principles of the gospel, you cannot hope to understand the complex. You teach calculus AFTER arithmetic. We go there to make covenants or promises with God. If we are not worthy or ready for these promises and we break them, we only bring condemnation on our own heads. I hoped that helped to clarify why only those who are baptized, worthy, and prepared should enter the temple. Rant Complete. We had a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader this week. We was an assistant on his mission and taught us a ton of techniques. Because of him, we are now planning and interacting with others better. The ward has really started helping us with the work. We have people leaving with us almost every night, more references, and houses to do family nights. They even went with us to set a marriage date for investigators today. We are trying to baptize a man this Sunday who will marry with a member on Saturday. He just needs to stop smoking. We have a lady we met Sunday night who has been church hopping most her life and loved our lesson and the members. We hope to help her be baptized here in two weeks. Another man´s brother is a member and is sincerely preparing to be baptized on the 26th. We just need to teach him more! The final is a family who I talked about last week. We will teach the mother and son tomorrow. The son has already received an answer about the Book of Mormon, we just are having trouble finding him at home because he lives a bagillion miles away. That´s all folks. Come on really, Elder Healy

HUMP DAY

Yes, it has finally arrived. That pinnacle moment in every missionary´s career, Hump Day. The 3rd of August marked one year from when I was dropped off curb side at the Missionary Training Center, one year from when I have seen family and friends, and one year until I see them again. It was a day of mixed emotions, of highs and lows, hopes and memories, but most of all, gratitude. I am so glad that I have been able to serve thus far and that I still have one more year to serve. I am glad for the friends I have made, the people I have met, and the lives I have touched. I am thankful that the Lord has given me this time to give my all. I know that I haven´t been a perfect missionary and I know I can improve, but I am amazed to look back and see how far I have come from and how little it seems I have to go. To commemorate this important event, I decided to burn a shirt I had that was destroyed due to an ink pen explosion. The only problem was that the video camera ran our of battery part way through so the movie did not save. But such is life. The photos of before hand are attached. This last week has been great. We started really starting to work again on Thursday, but we are already recharged and ready to go. We had an interesting, and wonderful day yesterday. We did a contact on Monday night with a man who told us to stop by his house the next day at 10 AM. It was like a 45 minute walk. And the number didn't exist. So we were a little upset, but decided to keep going and tract along that street. several rejections later :) we knocked at a door and a woman answered and almost immediately invited us in. She had moved to Sousas with her two sons and husband recently and had almost been baptized in the church 18 years ago in the Amazons!!! So we taught her and her 19 year old son the first lesson and she was bearing her testimony of its truthfulness all throughout. It was nuts. Most of our investigators don't remember what we taught after two days and she remember after two decades. She said that she could remember why she wasn't baptized, but thought it was because she didn't understand our views on the afterlife which we explained and she agreed with. We will go back there on Friday to teach again, but she travels a lot so it will be a little hard to teach her. Her son doesn't seem to like the Church he is in and is excited to visit ours! The Lord prepared someone else for our message nearby. A woman stopped us and asked us to explain what happens in the temple and had a million other questions about the church. She has changed religions at least once and does not like the pastor where she goes and is really open to hear more. We will teach her whole family tomorrow. Elder Bryan and myself have been praying and fasting for someone to baptize and these I believe are the answer to our prayers. I hope you all have a wonderful week and stay classy. The Lord really does answer our prayers if we ask with faith for something just. Come on really, Elder Healy

Swine Flu Scare!

Howdy! Down here in the South of America we got some hooligans running ramped! We got cold, flu, fever, cough, headache, and malfunctioning digestive tract all making a big ol´ mess. But we are doing are best to get them under lock and key. I have been sick for over a week and Elder Bryan has been down for the count sense Thursday. I have just had the basic cold. headache, and cough going on for a while, but I think I gave it to Elder Bryan and his system isn't as resilient? He got a fever of almost 102, was coughing up his lungs, and his eyes had so many veins popping it looked like they had gone a gym :P We had a meeting with our ward mission leader on Friday and Elder Bryan could not even participate due to the amount of attention he had to give to his sprinting nose. So then a member called the ward doctor and the doctor our President and we ended up at the hospital with an IV in Elder Bryan´s arm. We didnt get back until 2am. The doctor said Elder Bryan should not work for a whole WEEK! But I think we will try and go out tomorrow. We weren't allowed to go to our investigator's confirmation! One time Elder Bryan woke up with his eye sealed shut by a kind of goober. Hehehe. He is almost at 100% already due to four different kind of pills he is taking. We are working on building up a new teaching group and a new ward mission plan. But the sickness has caused everything to almost come to a halt. We did a division last night, Elder Bryan stayed at home with a member and I went to work, and we met this marvelous investigator who I hope will be baptized next week. She wants to find a church, loved the English class I did, and really enjoyed the lesson we shared. We will go back tomorrow. I wanted to share a scripture with you today about the tree of life. In 1 Nephi 8:12 it reads, ´´And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it; for I knew that is was desirable above all ever fruits.´´ In 11:21-22 it reads,´´the tree... is the love of God... wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.´´ It says here that God´s love is the most desirable thing one can obtain, the best of all fruits. This implies, however, that there are other kinds of fruits which all bring varying degrees of happiness. This could be friends, cars, books, sports, mind modifiers, etc. I am not saying that people are not happy outside of the gospel. I am saying that I am the happiest I have ever been within the gospel and wish that you might feel the same things that I do. Search for the pure love of god, search for the most desirable of all the fruits, and I promise you can be happier than you ever were before even as I have become. I love you all and with you the best. Come on really, Elder Healy