trainer and district leader...whoa!! that was wicked AWESOME!...

Wed. 2-20-08
trainer and district leader...

whoa is this an exciting day!

today i wont be able to write, but i will write tomorrow!! i read the emails already, so fell free to send a little note for tomorrow :)

elder helland

ps. my greenie´s name is elder soares!!! (from sao paulo)

Thurs. 2-21-08
whoa!! that was wicked AWESOME!...

just remembering my favorite quote from the incredibles.
tuesday night we got the call that would say who would go and who would stay. the zone leaders called and said that i would stay and elder pereira was transferred. I was sad. Then they said that i had to go to transfer meeting too. Usually, if your comp leaves and you stay, you do a division with someone else and stay in the city. BUT, I HAD TO GO TO TRANSFER METTING!!! That could only mean one thing - i was gonna train! So i was pretty nervous, and the trip to Rio from here is about 5 hours by van, so i got to sweat it a long time, thinking of all the possibilities that would mean i WOULDN’T have to train. Training is a HUGE responsibility, and i was more than a little scared.
So i got to the meeting, and was spaced out until president got to my name and said
“elder helland - treinador e lider de distrito- bairu. Vai treinar elder soares.” Ahhhhhhhhh!!!
So today i have started to realize just how much there is to teach a new missionary. Things that i take for granted, being as old as i am in the mission : )> things like missionary schedule, teaching lessons, and a whole slew of unwritten rules that pres gives at zone conferences. It is really exciting. (os: jay-i could use some advice right about now!!)

Elder Soares is from são paulo (sion paulo J) and has been a member for one year now. So, he is REALLY green. He is also AWESOME. He speaks english, which is to say that he is the first companion i have had that speaks good english. He is the only member in his family, but his parents like the church.

Yep, we’ve got great investigators, but i think that i will have to tell you about them next time.

Transfers were great in respect to letters. I got letters from claudia, legrand, the estes, camille, and more!! I also got three packages!! Valentines day, one with pictures in it and another with christmas stuff. you guys are AWESOME!!! thank you, thank you!

I also got a bunch of cool letters from family members. THANK YOU!!! The faith in the nation speech was gnarly radical!

Mom- i think that i will use that brownie training tomorrow in mutual. The missionaries are teaching the youth, and we are going to do an activity of street contacting too! The kids will love it. (also, we are going to have a few investigators there!!)

Dad: way to keep it real dude!! The shirt is SO COOL!! Thx a bunch!! Good luck
finding cars.... ( ps-shaq is the man, but i am sad about marion...)

Alyce: your email filled me with happiness- i love to hear that the boys are keeping their distance...i am too far away to approve them for you, so maybe it is better if you just wait, and start liking boys when i get back... (ps- work is awesome!! Remember why you do it. That is how i get through the day!- singing all the way!)

Sorry got to go-

Love elder helland

pic 1 us with the bishop and his family.; we eat lunch at their house once a week!! the mom (sandra) is the YW pres and she reminds me of you-- she is so cool!!

pic 2 me pigging out on a division. it was the weirdest mess of stuff and hot in a pan- but it tasted pretty good... later that night, i spent a few hours in the bathroom because it…(passei mal, sabe)

pic 3 our last meal together- we made burgers and fries and shakes. sounds great, right? in brazil, this is NOT considered a "lunch". oh well, i loved it!! (do-do dodi-doooo- im lovin it) [mc-smile]

pic 4 an investigator named lucas. he will be baptized in a couple weeks.

p-day to p-day

Letter from 2-13-08

since pday came early last week, this has felt like a long week. i remember the "pre-mission-life", and how we measured weeks by the weekend. well, in the mission- EVERYDAY is the same. the only different day is p-day. and this week was 9 days long :)
actually, we got permission to read emails last week-- we just didn't have time! seriously! we have the most awesome pool of investigators EVER! we are constantly running from appointment to appointment-- it is so AWESOME! thanks for the emails anyway.

mom- you threw a load of questions in there- so here goes:
- no, still no packages or pictures- we live really far away from the mission home- but nest week is transfers, so maybe next week.
- carnival was great! we pretty much missed it! the only effects that i saw were all the drunks during the day, the loud music during the night, and a few floats from the parades parked in the street. it was more difficult to visit investigators, but we did.
- this last sunday we had planned 17 investigators at church. we confirmed with
17 investigators to be at church. we ran all saturday night and sunday morning from investigator to investigator- and they all fell through. in the end, we had 4 at church, which was pretty good.
- our companionship is pretty good. the key is patience. elder pereira is newer than me, but he thinks that he should be the senior. sometimes he is kind of rough with me, but the truth is that i like him anyway. my goal is to try and just always be positive with him, even when he is pouty. :) mostly, i have learned just how good of friends elder everton and I became. maybe a truer measure of how elder pereira and i are doing is the success that we are having. on the 24, we have 5 investigators that will be baptized! ne thing that i have learned is that i can be happy regardless of how other things go. i am a missionary of Jesus Christ. i wear His name. 2nephi 2:25- i am supposed to be happy! and so i am.
- (We told him about LeGrand leaving and asked if he was nervous when he left on his mission) truthfully, i don’t think that i felt nervous, or anything, until i got on the
plane. and that feeling continued for a day or so. (actually, i was on that
stinking airplane "for a day or so" :) ) then i felt it again on the next plane from the ctm to RJ. THAT feeling lasted for a few weeks. :) maybe i am just afraid of airplanes.
- with respect to charity- IT IS AMAZING!! we find people that i have never met before on the street, and offer to do ANYTHING to help them. we go to peoples’ houses and suddenly i am filled with a desire to help these people "come unto Christ". filled with a love- it is inexplicable. charity isn’t my love. it is the pure love of Christ. it is a gift. I don’t love this people, but He does and he gives me a portion of that love to show me how to help. LEGAL, néh!
> i went to the pharmacy the other day (to buy shampoo- which by the way was an interesting experience. in brasil, they stock, like 400 kinds of shampoo, and you have got to find the one that fits your hairs type. my companion was shocked when i just grabbed the cheap one. he made me put it back, and then helped me pick one for my hair. I thought is was ridiculous, but he seem so disgusted with my lack of education that i bought the one that is for (translation:) brunettes with straight, smooth, dry or normal hair. ...now my hair is brilliant. :) ...
anyway, that pharmacy had a electronic scale. i removed the shoulder bag this time, and i weigh, officially, as of yesterday: 83.9 kilos. or 184 pounds (thank you claudia)
- i think that i sent letters to everyone that sent me a package. i mailed them all snail mail because of the hand drawn pictures and stationary. sorry, i have been a fubeka (slacker) about writing letters recently. i will repent and do better.

agora---
alyce-----WHAT!!! you got a job at the hobby lobby!!! AWESOME!! now you’ll be rich!

mom- thanks for all the memories.

dad- yeah, i heard all the way down here that giants won. must have been a good game. for you guys is really was like "backyard football"

sorry, no pictures. my batteries are dead, and new ones are expensive. i will have to buy some today.

well, i got to go, pday, y´know!
love
elder helland

desculpe, a veio cedo essa semana...

(note from Monday, February 4, 2008)

so, turns out that i am e-mailing on monday- surpresa! sorry, that i didn’t tell you, i thought that we would still get to e-mail on wed! we are going to ask permission to read emails on wed, so be sure and write anyway!!! the news here is .... carnival. there is really no comparison for it in the states. for a week solid almost no one really works, and there is a TON of drinking and weird costumes and loud music in the streets! bizarre to the max!! its rad! the problem is all the new rules that come for this week. it really makes working a lot harder. we start the day at 9 and we have to be home by 7, which is when most of our investigators can meet with us. so, we end up just calling them to see how they are doing and mark for next week. it really stinks. nobody is home in the mornings, and those that are, are sleeping. also- everybody travels, so few investigators came to church we us. SIGH... just a few more days of this...

in other news, we actually did really good this last week. se não for carnival, nós provavelmente poderíamos ter consigido MUITO mais. mas, vida é assim, né. (If it wasn't for carnival we probably would have had much more success - but that's life, right?)

well, i will write more Wednesday-- SO BE SURE AND WRITE!!!

LOVE elder helland

Farfumpas

(Letter from 1-30-08)

is what my comp calls me- i guess i mispronounced the word for slippers too many times!

howdy family-

pic 1 picture of me in the van on the way to zone conference!!

pic 2 the river sidon after capt moroni beats all those lamanites!... actually i think that a kool-aid truck probably fell in the river... i hope, anyway, that it was a kool-aid truck...

pic3 minha bela área- tá vendo os morros??? (My beautiful area – can you see the hills?)

well, this was a cool week, we taught a grip of people and walked all over town looking for more! big news: at interviews i got two packages... the long anticipated packages from jen and jay! e. pereira liked the presents for e. everton :) THANK YOU family for the GREAT presents! You guys ROCK!

we found out about president hinckley on monday in our district meeting. our zone leaders came in and told us. at first i had the same feelings of sadness, but just for a second. it was actually a neat experience- i looked around at the other missionaries- there was a neat spirit in the room- then there was this very clear realization that came to me: nothing really had changed for us. sure, the prophet that we loved was gone, but God would call another- that really is our message to the world - that God has called prophets again and revelation continues. the message is the same, and the work goes on. during the day we told members that we saw about the news and taught them about how God would call another.

sorry, i am being rushed again this week...

mom: i don’t really know if i have gained weight or not. i am not sure what i weighed before and now i weight about 87 kilos. do the math and tell me if i am fatter or not. i have NO idea what the conversion is. oh, by the way, those teenagers went to church with us- and brought their girlfriends and little cousins too. they liked it!!!

alyce: you are a little dating maniac!! love you!!

dad: hmm, i don’t know... if you go there could be trouble, BUT... if you stay it could be double. yeah, well, you’ll have to let me know if you ...went or stayed :)

sorry not a good letter.

love elder helland