Cell phone Woes

Dear People, This last week was teaching and humorous, at least from the perspective of a missionary. We received a phone from the mission as we opened this new area. What we didn't know however is that the chip inside it was an old one from a different area. So we were calling to confirm lunch one day and we called for Sister Andreia in our phone because she is our Relief Society President. A woman picked up and we asked her for where our lunch would be she passed us a number which we then called. The lunch appointment started describing where she lives and we just were really confused. Turns out the Relief Society President of the other ward is also called Andreia. Hehehe. We also called one member with a collect call and she picked up the phone, didn't hear that we were missionaries, and burned us about calling people without reason. She apologize later when she found out it was us. We are teaching about five couples, four of which need to marry, and all who will visit church this Sunday. We will have a super Family night tonight with three of them to help make friendships one with another and feel more at ease. If this works out, we will have many baptisms next transfer. I am wonderful in case you were worried. I am eating well and am happy and working. I love you all and keep you all in my prayers. The work is speeding up and I am feeling the presence of the Holy Ghost more and more. I am receiving personal revelation everyday as I continually ponder the things I learn and receive confirmations of what I learn. I love you all and would like to share a couple scriptures with you. While studying, I often come across interesting scriptures by chance. This one made me look at my eating habits :) ´´But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him´´ Deut 32:15 We ask people in the street at times for a cup of water to quench our thirst and to have an opportunity to talk with them. I decided to find a scripture to express our thanks. This is the best I got. ´´For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward´´ Mark 9:41 The last verse in Corinthians is inspiring for me. It explains the things we must help the investigators feel. If they feel the love of God, the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and the force that comes from the grace of Christ, they will be converted. ´´The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen´´ 2 Cor 13:14 Come on really, Elder Healy

Reactivation

Dear Family and Friends, I am super excited to be writing you a letter this week. We have been working really hard but feel as if we are spinning are wheels a little. We mark lots of appointments but they all fall through. But we will keep at it. We will have a baptism this week. A woman has been visiting the church regularly for more than 2 years and the first day we see her, she asked the bishop to be baptized the this Saturday. She is dating the Quorum President and is practically a member. We also received a reference from a member. This family is great. The Father accepted baptism without hesitation and we will be trying to baptize them this next Sunday if all goes well. There are many people less active here, but we are doing our best to bring them back. We hope that the members will see our effort and be more encouraged to help us. My companion, Elder Bryan, is great. He has such an earnest desire to improve and I hope I can help him and pass what I know to him. He was really worried about receiving money from members to buy lunch because he thought it was against the rules. I couldn´t help but laugh a little. I remember when I arrived on the mission and always complained about how everyone broke the rules and how many rules were dumb. I have humbled myself and just try to do my best and help those around me. It is funny that every less active we visit, it seems that they want to give us food. I have been studying recently about how to have the Spirit with us and pass this to investigators. This is one of the greatest gifts we can receive from God and without the Spirit ´´ye shall not teach´´. We must all strive to have the Spirit with us constantly. We do this through the ´´prayer of faith´´, through keeping the commandments, through remembering Jesus Christ and the atonement, through developing Christ like attributes, through fating and scripture study, among other things. I hope you can all study about the gift of the Holy Ghost and seek to apply it in your lives. I love you all so much and am so thankful for every package and letter you have sent me. Come on really, Elder Healy

Like a Phoenix

Good Day, I am sorry that I did not write last week. I have been spotty about this. I was really, really rushed. So this last week I had the most powerful lesson of my mission. We had marked the baptism of a father and a son for this last Sunday, but when we called them that morning to go to church, the father said his wife was sick with fever and it wouldn´t work out. We were crushed. We were sad during church because we heard that we would both be transferred and we decided to stop by his house to give it one last try. When we arrived there, I felt guided by the Spirit. We read in Mosiah 18 and asked him if he was willing to be an example of Christ in all places and he said he was. The story then poses the question ´´So what do you have against being baptized?´´ He talked about his fear he would fall away, his fear to not keep the commandments, his desire to have his family follow him. We solved every problem one by one through testimony, stories, and prayer. We showed he was ready through the baptismal questions and his own testimony. We then invited him to be baptized the very next day. I had the privilege of baptizing him and helping him enter the path of righteousness. What a marvelous way to end a transfer. I was then sent to serve here in Sousas, a suburb of Campinas. The area has been closed for almost a year, but we received a warm welcome upon arrival and am excited to get to work. I thing the going will be tough, so I might as well get going. Like a phoenix, I am having an opportunity to start anew. I feel so blessed to be ending the train of my new companion, Elder Bryan and help this ward. I truly am feeling so fly like a phoenix, like a phoenix. I will keep you guys updated on how the work goes and hope you all watch the Temple dedication in Manaus! I love you and pray for you. Come on really, Elder Healy Let´s see. We have got a photo from tranfers, me cooking up some S´Mores (thanks so much by the way, they were the best), me at the temple, me taking a photo of a Mason sign, me cleaning a pot, me drinkign sugar cane juice with a hint of pineapple (hmmm), and me helping marry some investigators. The man with glasses and the child were baptized! Choi

The Country Club

Elder Healy磗 back alright, Hello, hello wonderful people that have decided to remain updated on my life. I am writing you from an expensive English school owned by a return missionary here in Botucatu. I think they like the American publicity. Speaking of English, another American missionary in the city and I have started giving English classes for free once a week in the church. The first week was a little week, but we hope a better turn out tonight. It is really strange teaching a second language in a second language, but it was fun. We sung the alphabet, learned how to introduce ourselves, and practiced praying. I feel like everyone was uplifted. As missionaries we have to mark a lot of appointments. The problem is that it seems that we are the only ones who remember to keep them. Members and investigators alike simply aren磘 there when we mark a time and a place and it gets a little frustrating. So then we just have to make up new plans on the spot that are simply much less effective. If you dont want to learn, dont say you want to! But we should have some baptism this next week which is exciting. I am really having to apply the Christ attributes in my life this transfer. I have been having some compatibility problems with my partner in preaching. Whenever I talk about anything that I did before the mission or anything I am good at, he goes off and says I am super prideful. For example, I played chess against a member today and beat him relatively soundly and then he got mad when I talked about how I had won at some giant chess at the bus station. Then he says he is undefeatable at chess. Ugh... funny story, one time I went to the bathroom at like 6:20 and he changed the phones time to 6:15 so he could sleep 5 more minutes. I changed it back when he wasnt looking :) Patience, humility, love, charity, and hope for the transfers are all in play! I do like it when he tries to rap in English. I always bought some sweet, new flip flops because I lost one running to a bus. One of our investigators ditched a meeting so we went to hunt him down at the local gym. We felt ridiculous walking in white shirts and ties next to sweaty people in tank tops. We almost joined the gym, but the price was over 100 bucks entrance fee. Also, it required running in the morning which I really did not feel like doing. I have been studying recently about the process of repentance for the benefit of one of investigators whose mind was weighed down with sin. In D&C, it greatly simplifies forgiveness. 创Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same will be forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more. By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins, behold, he will confess them, and forsake them创 58:42-43. Everyone of us may apply this magnificent blessing in our lives, changing our thoughts and actions and confessing and abandoning the sin. I love you all so much and hope you can apply this wonderful gift in your lives so that your burdens might be lifted and your hearts purified. I love you all and hope the best for each of you. Come on really, Elder Healy

Apostasy

Hey everybody, I have heard several complaints about my inconsistency of updates this transfer and I hope you guys do not think of me as to lame because of this. I will try to do better. The reason I did not write a complete letter last week was because I was marking my call home, sorry :( And now a quick update on the work. We were eating a snack in a bakery when a man sat down at our table and began talking to us. He wanted to know what we do and also wanted to learn English. So we marked a visit with him and he accepted the baptism invite. He has read what we left for him in Book of Mormon and we will meet with him tommorow to remark his baptismal date. We found another man yesterday who works for the military and is an inactive Catholic. When we invited him to be baptized he was almost shaking. I have great faith he will be baptized next week with a little help ffrom us and Heavenly Father. We found yet another man on Monday who was worried about his wife who is several months pregnanat. So we tried to focus on how the family can be eternal and how the gospel can bless him. He also accepted the baptismal invite without hesistaion, and we will pass by there to try and teach his wife as well. We have a family of more anctient investigators who only faulted marriage. I decided to go to the marriage office and find out the policies in the city. It was so easy I couldnt believe they had not been married before. There marriage will be on the 28th and their baptism on the 2nd. One lady literally stopped my companion on a bus and asked us to pass by her house so that she could be baptized. Another anctient investigator for some reason had our phone number and sent us the occasional text. When he called, we invited him to prepare to be baptized. He accepted. We also had a less active mother of a recent convert try to destroy our faith by using an internet video that talks bad about the Church and the Book of Mormon. It was a stressful, but fortifying experience. I think I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith ten times during the lesson. I tried to help her through the scriptures and through logic, but nothing went through. One person there went so far as to accuse the member I was with of breaking commandments and being unworthy of the priesthood. At some point all we have to rely on is our faith and I know that the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith was a Prophet. I love you all <3 Come on really, Elder Healy

Esfilhas (mini pizzas)

Dear World, Just thought I would give you a shout from this cold end of the mission. We are now entering the Brazilian winter here. When we hit 60 degrees here they all act like they are going to die. My companion was literally shivering and said he could not feel his hands when it was still well above 50. So now he walks around in a camo hoodie. He looks just like a missionary... I tell people that it was -15 at my college and they think I am lying. I just walk around in my short sleeve shirt and my companion thinks I am nuts. I put on a sweater, and I know I am hot. So my companion is Elder Inacio. He has about 4 months out here, about half the time I have. He is from the North-East of Brasil and says that it does not ever drop below 80 there. He also weighs about 120 lbs so I can understand how adapting to the weather could be a little tough. He twisted his foot on Friday last week and until today he has been coplaining about it. There wasnt any swelling or bruising so the mission´s medic just told him to ice it, elevate it, and wrap it. He did none of these things and wonder why it still hurts. I just stay quiet and let him use my advil :) I am really excited to work in this area. There are like 20 people who have already visited church who I will try to contact and baptise. We slept at President´s House and Sister Tanner made us waffles. Best night ever! Then I had honey nut cheerios for breakfast, what what. The leadership meeting was a little dry, but the President´s words were really inspiring. He talked about the importance of doing our part. I must do my part if I want to see success here in this area. The Lord will see my effort and we will be blessed. So they have this place called Habib´s that sells fast food middle eastern style. So I bought some baklava, a hot dog, and esfilhas. It was super delicious. I think we are going to dry deep fried pizza this week. Yum! If you have someone in your life who is being really difficult to deal with or just rubs you the wrong way, dont worry because we all have people like that in our lives. Just love them, help them, and explain to them your feelings. And they will change. It is that easy and that hard. We have to do our part and try to accept them as they are. You cant force someone to do good. You can just let them do it them selves. I love you all so much. Come on really, Elder Healy

End of the World

Good Day My Faithful Family, Friends, and Fans, It feels like it has been forever since I have written a good letter to you. Well plenty fo things have happened between decent updates that i will let you in on. First and foremost, we just had transfers and I went from one end of the mission to the other. I was in the south of Mina Gerais with Elder Pires and then I left for Botucatu. One is 4 hours from the missions center to the east and the other 4 hours to the west. i was in the missions office from Sunday to Tuesday without changing, socks, shoes, ties, pants, or shirts. Still haven't had an opportunity to change. Ewww... I spent about 4 hours in the bus station and had a chance to play a giant game of chess. I beat every missionary contender and a guy who always plays there. I lost to someone who plays fast. I guess my brain only functions at slow speeds. I also had a chance to talk to the Duffster for like an hour. He is desperately waiting for a letter from an 18 year-old sister of mine (Morgan Healy). My last week with my companion was a rush. We had to go the temple on Wednesday so we left on Tuesday. We always had two days of divisions so we only worked in our area as an companionship for less than days. Needless too say our numbers our now low. Hope president doesn't chew me out... I love you guys! Thanks you parents and Grandma Jan for the packages and everyone for the letters! They make my week, but maybe send less sweet... I know an Elder who has already gained 45 lbs in just over a year. BYE! Come on really, Elder Healy