August 30, 2010

Dear Family,

Today i'm in benfica for a bit, we had zone leader council, it was really great. But i don't have a whole lot of time, so i'll be quick. This week was good, some great stuff, and some dissapointments. Araujo, who was doing so great, decided out of nowhere to go to brasil, and is now there for a month. It was sort of a shock for us. Graziele and Tiago are doing well, but they're not going to be baptized this week, we're going to talk to them tonight, if we get home on time, and try to set up a new date for them.

On saturday, we did a really cool experiment. Elder Rivera is a great missionary, he's very excited to work, but one of the most impressive things is his courage to try new things. We went to a park and drew the plan of salvation on the wall in chalk and then contacted families that were walking by. It was a cool idea, and in the end we got the address of a moldovian family who was super nice. We're going to try it again this week, and try to find a more populated area to do it in, in the park there weren't a whole lot of people, but that chalk, if we don't scrub it off, will stay there until it rains, and it's been pretty hot and sunny, so who knows what will come out of that. I was afraid to write our number because you never know when you're breaking some minor law, so we just left a couple pamphlets next to the mural. I'll try to get a picture of it and send it for you.

What else happened...Francisco is doing great. He's said today is the day he quite smoking, he's been coming to church on time and on his own, which is spectacular. We're teaching a bunch of families and couples, we marked a lesson with this beautiful little family who are friends of some of our members. We're going to teach them, Edson and Daiane, tomorrow afternoon. We're excited for them. It's always fun to teach people for the first time. In the first lesson, you're so full of hope and faith for the people.

I gave a talk in sacrament yesterday, among other things, i talked about the power of member in missionary work. I commented about how i'm excited to be able to do missionary work as a member and not as a strangely dressed foreiner who barely speaks the language. I always wonder, giving talks, if it really makes a difference to people. Teaching lessons we can tell if people got it when we invite them to do stuff and then follow up on it, but in church you just hope that something you said can touch someone. I had a lot of good experiences this week, we gave a blessing to Leolinda's daughter, who was struggling in several things. We heard from leolinda later that week that they had seen miracles happen in her daughter's life. The mission really is great. I've been thinking a lot about this last month and how i want to finish. I want to finish well. Today i got my "anti-trunky" papers, with some instructions for the end of my mission, and a few talks to help keep me inspired. I'm pretty inspiried, this month ought to be the best of my whole mission, but that basically requires me to work better than i ever have before. But Elder Rivera has a good influence on me, and we have a lot of potential in this area. This thursday we have a lunch-lesson with a member and her daughter and grandchildren, none of whom have been baptized, so we're praying that that goes well. This is basically the perfect opportunity, which doesn't happen as often as it ought to.

Anyway, i'm out of time, so i'll talk to you guys more next week.

Abraços para todos,

Elder Ammon

August 23, 2010

Dear Family,

This week was good, we're seeing a lot of people coming out of the woodwork. Araujo and Graziele are doing well, they're excited to come to church and activities, and are reading and praying. They always comment on how good they feel, the peace and relief and joy that the gospel brings to their lives. It's such a blessing to teach them, i told them this week that we also feel joy and renewed energy every time we teach them. It turns out Araújo is married, but has been having a hard time with his wife recently. I didn't really know what to tell him, but i explained to him about the bishop and why he's there, and he's excited to talk to Macsuel on wednesday at the activity. It would be incredible to see not only Araújo get baptized, but his marriage saved because of the gospel. I just realized that here in a couple weeks, you're going to be able to meet these people. It's a shame you don't speak portuguese, you should look into that over the next few weeks. Francisco came to church again, all by himself. He's still struggling to quit smoking, but he's making some progress. We made him a little box of scriptures to read when he's tempted to drink cigarettes. Also Isabel came to church this week. She got there at the beginning of sacrament meeting and in the commotion right after church i didn't even get to talk to her, but she sat with Leolinda, who is being a friend, and sort of a mom to Isabel. We're hopeful for her, we've never actually taught her because her work schedule is tough, but she's come to a few activities and then came to church for the first time this week.

Speaking of activities, on wednesday, our integration night (this week, Jell-o) went crazy. Between Elder Mateer's last day, Elder Seraim passing buy (to pick up Elder Mateer) and the kids from EFY teaching us EFY dances and games, some which are just waiting for a perkes family reunion, it was sort of absurd. It was a lot of fun though, this ward is so great. It was a really special last day for Elder Mateer and probably a sort of shocking first day for Elder Rivera. Elder Rivera is doing well, it's his first time being zone leader, he's excited to serve. He brings some needed excitement to the area and the zone. We're still getting to know each other. The mission is weird, i had a dream last night that we got home and Elder Oram, and a bunch of other missionaries that have already gone home, were hiding in our house and jumped out and tried to scare us. It's just strange how these people you really only know for a few weeks or months become such an important part of your life.

We've been seeing some good results of member work. It's not very quick, but it's getting there. On monday we had a nice little family night with Leolinda's two daughters who aren't baptized yet. And Leolinda's going to invite them again today. Also, Neusa came to church on sunday, Neusa is Dora's sister. I don't know how much of this story i've told already, but Dora and her family were baptized a while ago, and when we first got here, we went to their house and talked to them about their friends and family, and at some point Dora called her sister and handed me the phone, i was sort of caught off guard, but she was very nice, and she accepted a lesson with the missionaries there on saturday. In the end her daughters, dora's neices, both got baptized and have been doing great. This was the first week Neusa came to church, and the first time i met her in person, so that was cool. I've also been noticing that we're teaching a lot of couples and a few families. I've been trying to focus on finding families, i'm now in the habit of checking for rings whenever we meet people to see if they're married, and we just keep running into people that are legitimately married, with kids and such. It's been great.

The mission got 20 greenies this week, one of them is serving in our ward, Elder Knuth. It was fun to talk to him, i realized that he has more years left than i have months. He's from Oregon. Elder Rivera, by the way, is from Kearns, Utah, i don't remember why that city means anything to me, but i recognized it and feel like i know someone from there or something.

Lets see, I can't think of much else that's going on. The Mission is just going. I'm excited for the people we're teaching, we have a lot of good people right now. Rude and Fábio finally are back from vacation, so we're excited to see what happens there. I say we, but Elder Rivera is sort of lost, he's doing is best, but he's having a hard time keeping track of everybody we know. Especially because, as i'm sure you guys have noticed, people here have the craziest names.

have a fantastic week,

abraços all around

Elder Ammon

August 16, 1010

So, the transfer news is in, and in the end i'm staying in Alverca for my last transfer. I'm going to be serving with Elder Riveira, who's coming up from Campo Pequeno. He's one of the district leaders in our zone, so i've talked to him a lot this transfer. He's a good missionary, and has been doing impressive work in Campo Pequeno. Elder Mateer is going to the Açores (to São Miguel, not the air force base), so he's pretty excited. It's weird. On friday i filled in my planner for my last transfer. Usually things slow down a little bit during the beginning of the transfer, so hopefully the next few weeks won't go as absurdly fast as the last three weeks. It's weird.

This week was good. We (mostly me) made a goal to not knock doors this week, wanting to plan more intelligently and work with the members. It was different, we didn't find very many new people, and didn't teach too many lessons but for the most part the week was a lot more effective, and the lessons we taught were real lessons. We visited the members and made plans with them to teach their friends, we talked to ex-investigators and followed up on the potentials and new people we've been finding over the past few weeks. For this last month and a half i want to work hard to work with the members and teach their friends with them. Today in a couple hours we have a family night (more of a family afternoon really) with Leolinda's daughter, Marisa.

Francisco came to church again, this time without us having to go pick him up. He's still struggling to quit smoking, we're going to teach him again on tuesday and make a plan with him, but there's no real trick to it, he just needs to have faith to stop. But he's doing well.

Yesterday we had one of the most powerful lessons of my mission. We taught Graziele, Tiago, and Araiujo, three brasilians we found a couple weeks ago. We taught them last sunday afternoon but we didn't get much time to talk to them. We had left a book of mormon with Graziele and she had started to read, but said she wasn't understanding it at all. All we did with them yesterday was read together 3 Nephi 11, explaining things occasionally, but mostly just reading. The spirit was really strong, when we finished the chapter she said, "I understood it perfectly, why did i understand it this time?" We talked about how the holy ghost teaches us and helps us understand scripture and things. We were there with Otávio (who is a champ) and he also taught and testified about the restoration. In the end we invited them to prepare for baptism on the fourth. There's still a lot to do between then and now, but it was a great lesson. It's amazing, we left that lesson happier than we've been the whole transfer, not just because they set a date, but because of the spirit we felt there. As we were leaving, Araiujo thanked us, and said that we had taked a great weight off his shoulders. It was a very good end to our day and our transfer, neither of which had gone exactly as planned.

We also taught Jocylane a couple times this week, i talked about her last week i believe, she's doing ok, she's bummed out because her boyfriend broke up with it, and she doesn't quite get it. Today i was reading king benjamin's talk, i was impressed with the way he invited his people to listed and pay attention so that they will understand. I feel like a lot of times in our lessons people don't do that. They listen, but they don't open their hearts, nor their minds. We had that with Jocylane, who it didn't seem like anything got in. Her daughter, however, is back from porto and continues to be sharp as a tack and understands everything and asks very good questions when she doesn't.

We tried to have an activity in the Vila Franca chapel, but in the end it didn't get approved and we got moved back to alverca, but we had a good little Noite do Gelado, a more or less active member brought his girlfriend, Isabel, who seemed liked it and had a nice conversation with Leolinda. There are some superstar recent converts here in Alverca, on saturday the whole ward went to the beach (we didn't feel confident enough to ask president to go, nor did we feel like it would be the best use of our time) and a lot of good integration.

We also ran into Tucha again, you'll remember that she dissapeared about a month ago. She's been working two jobs and hasn't had a whole lot of time these days, but we had a good lesson with her. It seems like right now isn't her time.

In retrospect, i learned a lot this transfer, and i'm glad to be able to stay here until the end. Yipes. I'm doing my best to stay focused, and i feel like i'm doing well to keep working and not get lazy or slack off. It's just sort of a fact now that my mission is nearly over. Even president, in our inverview this week, said that i was nearly at the end. And our interview was almost more reminiscing than anything else. I'm realizing it just depends on the way you let it effect you. You can't just ignore the fact that your almost done, it's not possible. The idea is to look towards the finish line and let that motivate you to give everything. At least that's what i'm thinking. We'll see how that goes.

So that was our week here, it flew by, like always. You guys have a great week. It'll be interesting to see what happens this week. I think things are going to start going now, not because Elder Mateer was holding back, but i feel like we finally figured out what we need to do here, and now we just need to work.

Um Grande Abraço,

Elder Ammon

August 9, 2010

It was cool to see pictures from the atlanta vacation. Isaac looks rather old, This week was good. I learn and re-learn the fact that when we get home on time and plan our days go well, and when we get home late and don't plan, our day goes poorly. This week we made a goal to get home at 9:30 always, so that we have time to plan our day. We're still striving to get things moving here in Alverca. We're still finding a bunch of people, it's just a question of finding the right people. We had a good lesson on Saturday with a man named Francisco, his mom is a member and he used to go to church, but he's never been able to quit smoking, we're trying to help him quit smoking. Throughout my mission, i've had a hard time helping people to quit smoking, but Elder Mateer is pretty good at it, so we're hopeful. We had a good lesson with Rudi, and almost invited him to be baptized, but then his cousins came home and it got sort of hectic. It's possible he'll be going to the algarve for a couple week with his cousins, we're hoping, however, that he stays so that we can teach him. I suppose in the grand scheme of things, it won't necessarily make a huge difference, but i'd like to be around for when he gets baptized. Some other people that we've been teaching are starting to progress, so we're hoping to see things change this week.

All of our youth went to the first EFY in portugal, and now they're back and in EFY withdrawl. I sort of regret never having gone to EFY when i was younger, but i guess things worked out ok. We had another integration night this week, Noite da Salada da Fruta, that went well, it was a bit calmer because a member of the church had died and would have the funeral the next day, so there wasn't as much crazy partying as usual, but it was still good. This week went by really fast, and looking back nothing too momentous happened. We did find a house for Vila Franca, so they are moving out. It'll be nice to have our house back, they're great, but that house isn't made for four missionaries.

We tried something new this week, on thursday, we prayed, and chose a street, and knocked all the doors on that street. It was the first time i've done that in my mission, and i'm probably not going to repeat it, however, in nearly the last door on the street, we met Yara, who was cool. We had a little lesson with her and we're going to go back this week. Last week we spent a lot of time knocking doors, this week we're going to work harder to work with the members. When we got here we were focusing a lot on working with the members and following up on a bunch of names, but as we went we found that most of them lived outside our area and we didn't see much happening there and we sort of gave up on that, but in the end about 10 people were baptized in another area because of one of the references the members gave, so we're going to try to get back to doing that. I think these weeks have been to teach me a lesson i haven't learned until now, that missionary work doesn't revolve around me. I'm realizing that it's not really a question of me being blessed with people to teach and baptize, but people being blessed with learning and recieving the blessings of the gospel in their lives. It doesn't, and shouldn't, make any difference if someone lives in my area or in the açores, i should work just as hard for them to have an opportunity to learn about the gospel. As i've been learning this, it's been changing the way i think about my responsibility and my role as missionary. Hopefully as i re-evaluate my motivation and work, we'll see success in general and in the ward here in alverca. The elderes in Vila franca had a baptism this week, a guy named Manuel. I was able to do his baptismal interview. He was very well prepared. He came to church on sunday with a while shirt and tie, and you'd think he'd been a member for all his life. This week the Vila Franca chapel is opening for the first time in 2 years to have a Noite do Gelado. The plan is to soon open up a satelite group out in vila franca. This ward really is incredible, the Bishop, Macsuel, is on top of things, and has a very sincere love for everyone, and Otacílio as ward mission leader has a vision like President Torgan. Recently they called a new Elders Quorum President, Rui, who is also a great example of service and love. At the end of every meeting he takes a few minutes to follow up with home teaching and assigns people to talk to those that missed church for whatever reason. This sunday the jovens all bore the testimonies from EFY, including Jony, who got baptized a few months ago and was struggling for a while. There were pictures from EFY and i got to see youth from my other areas, including some people that i found and taught.

Next week is transfers, time is going faster than it ought too. At this point i don't really feel trunky, i just feel old. Next week, there won't be a single missionary who's been in the mission longer than my group. I've been in the mission for along time, and my pants, my socks, my shirts, my ties, my tag, and my sweet neck-tan line all show it. There are a bunch of new kids in the mission i don't know. There are 20 greenies coming in next week, and Elder Mateer thinks i'm going to train again. At this point i just want to be where i need to be, and work. It's extremely unlikely that i stay with Elder Mateer (who, by the way, has about 7 months left), but it wouldn't be the first time. I'd love to stay in Alverca one more transfer, but if i leave i'll be ok. I just have this increasing feeling of coming to the end, and i really want to finish off strong. I don't remember if mention this, but when Elder Teixeira came, he interviewed most of the missionaries, including all of the zone leaders. One of the first thing he asked me as where i was in the mission. When i told him i only had 2ish months left, he asked me if i had any plans for going home. I realized that i have basically no idea what i'm going to do with my life. School is going to happen, but other than that, i hadn't really thought about it. Anyway, i can worry about that as time goes. As far as BYU stuff goes, this week i'll take care of the endorsement with President Torgan, we have interviews, and i'll have to bite the bullet and write those essays. At this point i feel much more prepared to give a 20 minute talk with little or no warning than a 100 word essay. The book of Mormon reading is going well, i'm almost done with 2nd Nephi. In portuguese i have to read a little more than 10 pages everyday, and yesterday i didn't get around to it so i had to read 20 pages today. All in all, life continues, we're working hard, being patient, and standing still, with utmost assurence, to see the salvation of God.

Have a great week everyone, place your transfer bets, and don't get too trunky.

~Elder Ammon

August 2, 1010

This week was great, and as it happens it's cooled down a bit, last night we had to shut the window because it got cold and windy.

We started the week off with two conferences with Elder Teixeira, one on tuesday with all the zone leaders, and one on wednesday with half the mission. We learned a lot, i filled up about 20 pages in my little study journal. One of the biggest things we learned, was the importance of working; although we obviously knew, i think both I and Elder Mateer realized that we needed to work a lot harder, and be more obedient to mission rules and such. Also, he told a story about how when he was a mission president in brasil, when he got there the missionaries only taught 6 or 7 lessons a week, he invited them to work to get 21 lessons. Although he didn't directly suggest it,Elder Mateer and I left the conference determined to teach 21 lessons. Until that point we had only taught 1, so wednesday night we realized we needed to teach 5 lessons a day, which isn't too absurd (although it's a lot more than the 10ish lessons we've been teaching the past few weeks). We prayed and decided some places to go, Elder Mateer had this idea to leave a pamphlet in a bunch of mailboxes and then come back a bit later to ask people what they thought about it, we did that in the morning, and then spent the rest of the afternoon looking for people. At around 6 o'clock we had taught 2 lessons and found a couple people, elder Mateer felt like we should go back to that street and talk to some people. The first door we knocked opened, and we talked to this girl, Graziele, who's about our age. She called her sister, Fernanda, over, and then two of her friends Araujo and Alayana got home. Interestingly, we had talked to Alayana just the day before, and were planning on teaching her later, but we didn't have her address yet, it turns out they live in the same house. We had a quick lessons with them, and marked to come back on saturday to help them move. Then we kept following our plans, but nobody was home, and then Elder Mateer suggested we go to Leda, and investigator from a while ago, we went and talked to her, and she was home, and we had a really good lesson with her, and then left. At that point it was about 8:40 and we still needed to find one more person. Elder Mateer saw a light on up in the 9th floor of a building, and so we tried to talk to her, she was busy, but we talked to the neighbors, and at about 9:00 we found two guys, Magno and another Araujo, who were very nice and let us in a talk to them. We finished off the day with 5 lessons, which was great. At the end of the week, we did not quite get 21 lessons, we fell short by a couple, but we found lots of other people as we worked, and in the end it was one of the most successful weeks since we got her.

Just one more story, We decided to go work on this one street that i think looks vaguely like New York (not with giant buildings, just a bunch of small houses stuck together) as we walked down the street these two little girls shouted "São os nossos Amigos!" They were the daughters of Carlos, who we taught a couple weeks ago, but haven't managed to get a hold of since. They quickly invited us in to meet their mom, who is separated from the dad. It's sort of sketchy to have two ten-year-old girls present you to their mom, but the mom was super nice. They were in the middle of dinner so we just talked to them for a while and said a prayer with them, we're going to go back on saturday.

It's been really impressive to see the difference as we worked just a little bit harder and tried to be more obedient. We're also trying to plan better, especially to know what to do if a lesson falls through. As we've been following our plans, i've seen the Lord filling in the rest, and putting people in our path to teach.

At the moment, we have two people that are progressing. We had a great lesson with Rita on saturday. She wasn't going to be able to come to church, and in the end we didn't have a lot of time to talk to her, but she talked about how she wasn't sure what to do, because she really likes the church and what we've been teaching, but she doesn't know if she can leave the Catholic Church. Her mom is a die-hard catholic, and Rita's afraid of how her mom will react. But she (Rita) really wants to know what path she should follow.

We're also excited for Rudi, he was out of town this week, but he got home yesterday, and when we called him he asked if we could come by tonight. His mom talked to Otacílio (they're neighbors) and told him that Rudi's really excited about church and everything. Tonight we're going to invite Rudi to be baptized. Pray for Rita and Rudi, that they can have the courage to change their lives.

Sister Teixeira was also very cool, she invited us to read the Book of Mormon in the time it took to translate it (about 60 days). As it happens, i had exactly 60 days left, so i decided to do that one more time. So far it's been great, i've been reading 10 pages a day. I'm having a hard time studying everything i've been wanting to, i need to organize things a little better, but i will.

Oh, another really great experience. On tuesday, after the Zone Leader Council, we stayed in benfica for a while because we had a meeting with a member of the High Council in Lisbon. While we were waiting, i got to go visit Mariazinha and Jessica and Céu (jessica's mom) and Alberto (jessica's cousin). Jessica and Alberto got baptized on Saturday, and it was unreal to sit there with all of them, all of them having been baptized and confirmed. As we were talking, there was a knock on the door, and Elder Fernandes arrived. It was the first time he's been able to go by there since he left for the açores back in october. That family is incredible. This week Jessica and Alberto are going to the first EFY in portugal, along with Aylton, and a bunch of other youth from around portugal. I couldn't have imagined this when i knocked the door almost a year ago.

So, that was my week. We're working hard to keep the fire going and not forget about what we learned and felt at the conference. We're excited to see what will happen with all these new people that we met this week. Elder Teixeira also told the story of his son, who is finishing his mission today in New York, they're going to pick him up. Time is flying by, but we're enjoying it. We have transfers here in a couple weeks, it's unlikely that we'll stay together another transfer, but i said that with my first comp, so we'll see what happens. You guys have a great week,

abraços,

Elder Ammon

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." D&C 123:17