When you see the arrow coming...

Adam DID send a letter last week - just a day late. :-) This is from 11-25-08

“When you see the arrow coming you are less surprised when it gets there.”

I think that that is my favorite quote for this week, but I will put in a few others anyway. So this week was really great. We had 3 baptisms in our ward, and I did two of them. There names were Leonardo and Leandro (brothers, 10 and 9 years old.). The water was pretty cold because even though this chapel has a font, it doesn’t have a water heater. Actually NO ONE has a water heater in Brasil, so I guess that is normal. Both of the boys were a little shocked when they got in the water, but I told them that I would be fast, and not to worry. :-)This last week was marked by several incidents that I had to resolve in the zone. I guess that I always thought that all missionaries were good and had the same desires as the others, BUT some missionaries don’t really understand their purpose. I had to do an emergency division late one night to separate a few missionaries and then yesterday at interviews there was a few emergency transfers. As always, when there are troubles there is help. I think that it is easier to see and recognize the Lord’s hand in things when the difficulties make it so that we know that we NEED Him. So with the turbulence this weekend I learned a lot - a lot about how Christ-like leadership works, a lot about charity, and patience.

"In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil, and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike--and they will--you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection (see 2 Kgs. 6:16-17). They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham's seed."
Jeffrey R. Holland, For Times of Trouble
Man, I like that quote. Sometimes I think that I just need to open my eyes a little bit more. We are also working with another family that is doing well - a mother and daughter (13yrs). They are having some really tough times with their family, we have the ONLY thing that can cure and SAVE their family, in the only real sense. The gospel of Jesus Christ is designed to SAVE families and support them too. Men are that they might have joy is not just a promise in the celestial kingdom, but for now. We are helping them pray together every night and read the scriptures together everyday. Just these two simple things, along with weekly church attendance has already made a HUGE difference in their lives. They still have the same problems- BUT they have more power to deal with them.

Here is another good quote:
"You are called to represent the Savior. Your voice to testify becomes the same as His voice, your hands to lift the same as His hands. His work is to bless His Father's spirit children with the opportunity to choose eternal life. So, your calling is to bless lives. Your call has eternal consequences for others and for you. In the world to come, thousands may call your name blessed, even more than the people you serve here. They will be the ancestors and the descendants of those who chose eternal life because of something you said or did, or even what you were. . .You see, there are no small callings to represent the Lord."
Henry B. Eyring


In other news- this week I ate MOCOTÒ for the 2nd time in the mission. YUCK!!! It is this weird soup stuff full of weird pig stuff- fat, ears, feet, tail, intestines, and if you are lucky- pig snout. And then there are the beans, carrots, and peas in it too. I don’t know what some members think, that they have a responsibility to present the worst that Brasil has to offer to the Americans so that they will write horror letters home (like mine)? It is WAY easier for them to make some black beans and rice and an egg, but I still get the weird stuff sometimes. Most Brazilians don’t even like mocotó. Sheesh, they don’t waste anything. Every part of the pig is put to use. In the U.S. we use the bacon and skin; “I think that I will just go out back at toss around the ole’ pig-skin after dinner tonight.”

MOM= Christmas is coming and several families have already asked us to go to their house. BUT, we just don’t know if we will be here for the big day. I THINK that I will be here, and there is a risk that elder campos may not. BUT until the 3 of Dec we just can’t say for sure (the next transfer day). I will see about sharing… :-) but just telling the others that we need to pray for the packages from the states- they got so excited and promised to pray, even fast, for them to get here. :-) jk

I brush my teeth once a week, mom. I have got it under control. :-)

I went to the doctors last week because my comp needed too. And since he was going and I am having trouble reading the words from the projector at Zone conference, I set up an appointment too. And SURPRISE, I have some kind of problem in my eyes. Tell Alyce that for all the carrots she ate as a kid her eyes turned rotten and her hair stayed blond. Carrots-shmarrots. The real secret to good eye sight is ROBOTS. Anyone who just “naturally” has good eye sight is a robot and a human-impostor.

And, thanks for all the help with the BYU application. I don’t know what the username and password is.
ALYCE- MAN, You have the best dating stories. I can't wait to hear you tell your kids these stories and then tell them to be nice :-) he he he he I am still laughing about that story.

Now you are in the “holiday season” and the great holiday craft supply store. I do not envy the mess you get to clean up. I mean for folks like us that never got the hang of cleaning our rooms- a STORE is a big place. I remember, however faintly, that …shoot, I can’t even remember the name of the store that you work at… anyway, I remember that it was ALWAYS a HUGE FAT MESS at the holiday time.

I think that maybe your cool idea for NERD glasses just won’t go good on me. But I will give it a look.

DAD- yep they have this saying in brazil that you only get to play because the ball is yours. Implying that if it weren’t, you wouldn’t play. But you always do alright. I remember that one time you scored. … see, you are the MVP. Hey take it easy on the knee. That is an essential part of the body. Without it we would walk like penguins on stilts.
These last couple of weeks I have been the MVP of chess. One day my comp was talking trash about how he was smart and everyone else is dumb and he started saying that only those who knew how to play chess were smart like him. So he started asking everyone if they knew how (just other missionaries). I said yes and he asked if I was good, I said that I didn’t think so, anyway, after he got on everyone’s nerves in the house about this we bought a 2 dollar chess set. I was the first to play him. I was afraid bc the way he talked, it sounded like it would be good. I won. I was feeling pretty lucky. Since then I have won 15 in a row and not lost one yet. Elder campos still hasn’t won. It think that it is pretty funny, bc I am NOT really good. I am MVP
Well, I got to roll.
Love elder helland

Latitude (Y): -22.759438

Longitude (X): -43.458701
this is where i live. good luck i finding it.

These are the other missionaries that I live with.

elder correa

Elder carvalho