So let me start this letter with the funny story of the week.
Let me see, it goes like this: [AHEM…]
Everyday we get up out of bed and fall on our knees in companionship prayer when the stupid cell phone goes off at 6:30. Right after that we keep right on praying in personal prayer. When we are all done praying the fun begins. 30 minutes of sweet exercises. Elder Rhodes and I have had a lot of fun doing exercises these last weeks. We do push up competitions (I lose), we have arm wrestling competitions (I lose), we spent a week doing handstand competitions (it is a variation of the game “chicken”. We both lose), and a number of other ridiculous ways to pass a half-hour exercising in our tiny study room. Anyway, this last week we did an awesome pushup game (that I lost), and afterward I was catching a breather. I had my back to the window and was just resting a little before the next round. SUDDENLY, this giant white thing flew in through that window and landed on my head. Needless to say, I freaked out and ran to the other room. As I came back to see what it was, (elder Rhodes was in tears laughing on the ground) I saw the mighty duck. In reality, it was a goose. This giant spotted goose flew through our window and landed on my head. Well, as we regained composure we began to think about what the heck we were going to do with the beast. We both decided that it was best to send it back to whence it came: The window. Then the chase began. We chased it from room to room, trying to catch it so that we could throw it out. (I filmed some of this chase and I will send it to you next week) finally elder Rhodes grabs it and before he throws it out he decides that he wants a picture with it. So, we snapped some pictures. Apparently the flash was frightening to the goose, because it went crazy again and the chase started all over again. After many laps of the apartment we got it again and elder Rhodes chucked it out the window. We live on the second floor and some members of our ward live underneath us. Long story short, we ended up throwing the goose on our neighbors.
The other funny DUCK story is really about a parrot. A sister in the ward made us lunch and she had a parrot at here house. Elder Rhodes asks if the parrot bites. She says of course not and that he just has to put his finger out and the bird will step on it. Elder Rhodes, still apprehensive, slowly put his finger out. The bird shuffled over and promptly bit his finger taking a good chunk of skin with him. It was hilarious, I was laughing so hard. So the sister comes out of the kitchen and is like what happened? Elder Rhodes hides his hand so she can’t see the blood and says, “ oh, he just gave me a little bite. That’s all.” She wanted to see, and when she did, she flipped. She ran inside and got some kind of cleansing stuff and began pouring it on elder Rhodes finger. He was like does that stuff sting? And she said of course not. Just put your finger out. Once again he listened and found out the hard way that the sister was wrong. It stung like crazy. He had this face of extreme pain as she was pouring and cleaning the wound. I was laughing the whole time. Birds here are insane!!
Well enough for dumb stories. This last week was WAY MORE AWESOME than a few run-ins with some funny fowl. We are teaching several families now. They are so cool because we get to talk about how the gospel blessed our families and how it will bless theirs. It is a little strange too because the investigators trust us so much that they ask us for solutions to their difficulties in their marriage. I think that it is a great tribute to you guys that I tell them all the stuff that I saw you guys do. (MOM and DAD :-) ) Stuff like praying together every night, “date nights”, and family home evenings.
On Monday that family that got baptized had their first family home evening. The mom prepared this awesome lesson on prayer. I had told them one time how at our house it rotated who was giving the lesson. That my dad liked doing activities and my mom was famous for her marathon lessons. How we would usually have to wake dad up during our lessons. (I didn’t tell about how alyce usually left crying. He he he . just kidding :-)
Anyway, on Monday a few hours before the FHE we called to see if there was anything that we could do to help. She was stressed and had us come over so she could “practice” on us. (she was worried because she had invited some of her other family members to come as well as some members of the ward. This is one of the missionary plans we helped them make.) she told us when we got there that she would probably teach a lesson like my mom, she thought that she would talk a lot. Actually she prepared a lesson that was like a leaf out of the sister helland lesson book. She had made little lists of ideas on cardstock paper, and little handouts of things for people to read. It was an excellent lesson, and one of the neatest parts of my mission. To see a family doing their own family home evening, I was so happy.
So you know the other daughter didn’t get baptized because she has a 12 year old attitude. A little rebellious, you know. So she goes with the grandma to church just to get her parents goat. We are currently trying to work with her. She loves us to death, but doesn’t was to do anything that would make her parents happy. That is the way that I see it.
MOM- thanks for the article, looks awesome! Um, I liked the pens that you sent me this last time, the ones first time were great too. I really use pens a lot, so just about any would be awesome. Also, another thing that would be cool is maybe a tie or two. I still have all the ones I had, BUT they get really dirty and there is no really way to clean silk. Also walking in the rain without an umbrella ruined some ties. Oh well. The apple pies was a request of some members who said that if I could get the recipe they would make it and have a family home evening at their house to eat it, and they would invite their friends. That was too good of a bargain to pass up. Apple pie, AND member referrals!! WHOA!! If you want to make missionaries happy give them good food AND let them teach a friend in your house!!! THAT is the recipe for success!!
PS what was the deal with article about your students? I am not allowed to open the hyper link.
DAD- elder Rhodes and I decided that if we can’t watch the Olympics that we are going to have them in our own house. We are currently taking ideas for stupid competitions that we can have. I have lost pretty much all of the ones that we have done so far, but practice makes … you tired. Actually I am getting better and more competitive with all the stupid push up stuff we do. That really doesn’t mean I have got all the fat off yet though. That MTC fat is killer. 2 months of all you can eat with almost zero exercise still shows on me. But I am going to get it.
POLICE- sorry that I blew that whole boy thing out of proportion. Just do me a favor and keep on letting me know what is going on. I don’t want you to stop talking about them just because I was like “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” when I started seeing a lot of it.
Anyway, enough weirdness. When the heck do you start school, what classes are you taking?
Anywho, I got to scat, I think that this was a pretty dang long letter, which means you guys owe me good letters next week too.
Love elder helland.
PS - Also, hang on to the those pictures tight!!!!!!! The ones of the baptism. I don’t have any of them. My batteries died and all of those are e. rhodes´ pictures that I sent.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
SOOOORRRYY!!!
Actually I did TRY and send an email last week, and I thought that it went through…
I guess it didn’t. I looked right now to see if I could re-send it, BUT, the computer doesn’t seem to recognize any kind of email to you guys for last week. Oops.
So let me sum up these last few weeks for you guys:
It has been pretty much one miracle after another here. That family got baptized yesterday, and it was the COOLEST EVER!! There were a lot of trials that they had to overcome, but the Lord helped them through. It was funny; their biggest worry about the baptism was the cold water. But at least they were right, that water was really cold! When I stepped in I tried not to let it show on my face that is was way cold, so when Anderson stepped in, he was like, “Po, cara! A agua tá fria, hein!” :-)
We also started teaching another family. They have had tons of problems in their lives, but they embraced the book of mormon and LOVED church. We went back the next day and the father cried as he told us how he felt when he was listening to the testimony meeting. Another family was doing really good, but then they didn’t go to church. It has been really great being able to teach so many families.
Also the new president came. We had a zone conference with him on Wednesday last week. He introduced his family. He has 2 sons, 17 and 9, and a daughter, 13. Then he and his wife spoke. It was really great. I liked it even more because I didn’t have to give any training during the conference. :-)
Then on Friday we had a special mission counsel with him. All of the zone leaders sat down and he taught us out of the scriptures for a few hours. It was so awesome. He also led a big discussion about what we thought that the mission needed to change. It was incredible too. I really gained a testimony of our new president on that day.
We had some funny experiences this last week. For the baptism we tried to make a pudim. (if apple pie is the all-american dessert, then pudim is the dessert of brasil) we made it with strawberries and it turned out great… except that we burned the topping. The topping is pretty much this sauce that you make by heating up sugar until it becomes liquid. If you burn it it suddenly becomes SUPER-bitter. So when we took it out and tried it, found out that is was awful, we scraped all of the topping off. Then when the members saw it without the topping they asked if it had been hit by a truck. They ate it and liked it. Well, I liked it anyway…
Hey, guess what I just found out? This computer is filming me. It takes constant pictures of me like this: while I am typing. Maybe I can make some funny faces to send in the email.
(The silly pictures of his face he embedded in his e-mail did not transfer over - sorry!)
Alyce: hey, that sounds cool, teaching a class in church. I still get nervous sometimes and I teach the gospel principles class every week. :-)
MOM: In other news, elder Rhodes’ older brother got a mission call to campinas brasil. Elder Rhodes is so excited!!
Things that I need are:
Ø pens. I got the cool pens that you guys sent me, BUT while we were teaching that family their toddler managed to destroy or loose all of our pens. Mine and elder rhodes’ (we would let him play with them so that he would be quiet and we could teach)
Ø red pencils. Or some kind of scripture marking pencils. I seem to be all out.
Ø The recipe for apple pie. There is a family in our ward that wants it, and if I get it to them they will make it for us. …J I would like that next week if at all possible…
Ø Socks. I am good on everything else, and probably will be for the rest of the mission, but my socks are shot. But to tell the truth, I think that it would be a lot cheaper to buy them here. If you want you could send me a few pairs and I will just buy the rest. (BLACK this time, please.)
Ø That is it. Love ya.
DAD: sounds like you work more than I do. (except that you get to golf in-between)
Hey, I have been studying the pearl of great price lately, and WHOA is that book deep. I am loving it and all the insights that is gives to our premortal lives. We get to study for one hour every morning and I feel like if passes in 5 min. another thing that I thought was cool was the angelic hierarchy as it is described in the scriptures. Turns out I learned a lot about how the heavens are super organized and there are lots of rules for the angels too (not just missionaries). here is a good question that I started looking at the other day: did the nephites have the aaronic priesthood? Why or why not? The only stuff that I can come up with is that we know that under the law of moses you had to be levite descent, and we don’t have record of a levite going with lehi. But there are still the mulekites to think about. I am still looking at it. Maybe I will know by next week.
Well, I got to scram. I hope that this one makes up for the lack of one last week.
Love elder HELLAND
ps. I had fun with this stupid computer today and put all of these ridiculous pictures (Silly Adam picture was inserted here) in the email. Elder Rhodes was laughing at me the whole time.
I hope that you like it because now everyone in the store thinks that I am a weirdo. Pois é.
Pictures:
all of the baptism.
father- anderson
mother- viviane
daughter- maria alicia
son- joão gabriel
daughter not in the picture- maira eduarda (12yrs) (she didn’t get baptized..)
Also some pictures of our funny pudim story
I guess it didn’t. I looked right now to see if I could re-send it, BUT, the computer doesn’t seem to recognize any kind of email to you guys for last week. Oops.
So let me sum up these last few weeks for you guys:
It has been pretty much one miracle after another here. That family got baptized yesterday, and it was the COOLEST EVER!! There were a lot of trials that they had to overcome, but the Lord helped them through. It was funny; their biggest worry about the baptism was the cold water. But at least they were right, that water was really cold! When I stepped in I tried not to let it show on my face that is was way cold, so when Anderson stepped in, he was like, “Po, cara! A agua tá fria, hein!” :-)
We also started teaching another family. They have had tons of problems in their lives, but they embraced the book of mormon and LOVED church. We went back the next day and the father cried as he told us how he felt when he was listening to the testimony meeting. Another family was doing really good, but then they didn’t go to church. It has been really great being able to teach so many families.
Also the new president came. We had a zone conference with him on Wednesday last week. He introduced his family. He has 2 sons, 17 and 9, and a daughter, 13. Then he and his wife spoke. It was really great. I liked it even more because I didn’t have to give any training during the conference. :-)
Then on Friday we had a special mission counsel with him. All of the zone leaders sat down and he taught us out of the scriptures for a few hours. It was so awesome. He also led a big discussion about what we thought that the mission needed to change. It was incredible too. I really gained a testimony of our new president on that day.
We had some funny experiences this last week. For the baptism we tried to make a pudim. (if apple pie is the all-american dessert, then pudim is the dessert of brasil) we made it with strawberries and it turned out great… except that we burned the topping. The topping is pretty much this sauce that you make by heating up sugar until it becomes liquid. If you burn it it suddenly becomes SUPER-bitter. So when we took it out and tried it, found out that is was awful, we scraped all of the topping off. Then when the members saw it without the topping they asked if it had been hit by a truck. They ate it and liked it. Well, I liked it anyway…
Hey, guess what I just found out? This computer is filming me. It takes constant pictures of me like this: while I am typing. Maybe I can make some funny faces to send in the email.
(The silly pictures of his face he embedded in his e-mail did not transfer over - sorry!)
Alyce: hey, that sounds cool, teaching a class in church. I still get nervous sometimes and I teach the gospel principles class every week. :-)
MOM: In other news, elder Rhodes’ older brother got a mission call to campinas brasil. Elder Rhodes is so excited!!
Things that I need are:
Ø pens. I got the cool pens that you guys sent me, BUT while we were teaching that family their toddler managed to destroy or loose all of our pens. Mine and elder rhodes’ (we would let him play with them so that he would be quiet and we could teach)
Ø red pencils. Or some kind of scripture marking pencils. I seem to be all out.
Ø The recipe for apple pie. There is a family in our ward that wants it, and if I get it to them they will make it for us. …J I would like that next week if at all possible…
Ø Socks. I am good on everything else, and probably will be for the rest of the mission, but my socks are shot. But to tell the truth, I think that it would be a lot cheaper to buy them here. If you want you could send me a few pairs and I will just buy the rest. (BLACK this time, please.)
Ø That is it. Love ya.
DAD: sounds like you work more than I do. (except that you get to golf in-between)
Hey, I have been studying the pearl of great price lately, and WHOA is that book deep. I am loving it and all the insights that is gives to our premortal lives. We get to study for one hour every morning and I feel like if passes in 5 min. another thing that I thought was cool was the angelic hierarchy as it is described in the scriptures. Turns out I learned a lot about how the heavens are super organized and there are lots of rules for the angels too (not just missionaries). here is a good question that I started looking at the other day: did the nephites have the aaronic priesthood? Why or why not? The only stuff that I can come up with is that we know that under the law of moses you had to be levite descent, and we don’t have record of a levite going with lehi. But there are still the mulekites to think about. I am still looking at it. Maybe I will know by next week.
Well, I got to scram. I hope that this one makes up for the lack of one last week.
Love elder HELLAND
ps. I had fun with this stupid computer today and put all of these ridiculous pictures (Silly Adam picture was inserted here) in the email. Elder Rhodes was laughing at me the whole time.
I hope that you like it because now everyone in the store thinks that I am a weirdo. Pois é.
Pictures:
all of the baptism.
father- anderson
mother- viviane
daughter- maria alicia
son- joão gabriel
daughter not in the picture- maira eduarda (12yrs) (she didn’t get baptized..)
Also some pictures of our funny pudim story
Thursday, June 26, 2008
romeo and juliet...
(Letter from 6-25-08)
is the name of a common dessert here that is pretty much cheese and fruit-roll up together. yep, i don’t think it is very good either.
BIG transfers:
The good news is that elder Rhodes is my non-stop companion for at least 5 more weeks. The other news is that we get a new president next week. We had a really cool meeting today for transfers. President and sister brinton spoke and it was really powerful. I could feel the spirit there so strong. I left the meeting no longer nervous about what the future holds, what with a new president and all, but excited for new opportunities and challenges. Sister brinton was so sweet. She started crying when she was talking, and so did a lot of missionaries. At the end president gave me his shoes. They are a pair of brand new eccos that he said are too big for him. He made me promise to remember him when I wore his shoes and to baptize and to serve people with them. A lot of people in our zone were transferred. Every pair had a transfer, and we got two new district leaders. We are pretty excited about it.
About the families here: let me tell a story about how fasting brings miracles. So last Sunday we decided to fast and pray for Viviane and Anderson so that they could receive a spiritual confirmation that the church is true. They were at church and loved it again. So the next day they called us at night. Vivane was talking and here is pretty much what she said. : “we can’t get baptized on the 28 of june…but we are going to get baptized. When is the next available date?” so now they are going to get baptized on the 5 of july. After the phone call I was like- “EXCELLENT!”
There is another family that is pretty cool. (Marley is the name of the mom) We taught them about three months ago, but they never went to church, so we stopped going there. Then we went over there on a whim and invited them to church one night. They went. Now we are working full time with them again.
Mom- I like your mantra ‘focus on the staff’. Ours is ‘focus on the family’. In PMG ch 1 under the gospel blesses families, it says to dedicate ourselves to finding families. (at least the is what is says in port.) so that is what we are trying to do. And the lord is blessing us with lots of families to teach. Thanks for giving me such a great example of what a family can be so that I can carry that model to the people here who sincerely want their family to be eternal too. (that is what Marley always says.)
Dad. - a little above sea level, 30 degrees Celsius. Have a “hole” lot of fun up there. (spell check your letter, you meant to say WHOLE. )
Alyce- hey that sounds fun. And what they heck is Yo Gabba Gabba?
Well, I guess you guys know the gig, out of time because I have a lot of things to do today, but know that I love you.
Love elder helland
.JPG)
The Bezerra Family
.JPG)
is the name of a common dessert here that is pretty much cheese and fruit-roll up together. yep, i don’t think it is very good either.
BIG transfers:
The good news is that elder Rhodes is my non-stop companion for at least 5 more weeks. The other news is that we get a new president next week. We had a really cool meeting today for transfers. President and sister brinton spoke and it was really powerful. I could feel the spirit there so strong. I left the meeting no longer nervous about what the future holds, what with a new president and all, but excited for new opportunities and challenges. Sister brinton was so sweet. She started crying when she was talking, and so did a lot of missionaries. At the end president gave me his shoes. They are a pair of brand new eccos that he said are too big for him. He made me promise to remember him when I wore his shoes and to baptize and to serve people with them. A lot of people in our zone were transferred. Every pair had a transfer, and we got two new district leaders. We are pretty excited about it.
About the families here: let me tell a story about how fasting brings miracles. So last Sunday we decided to fast and pray for Viviane and Anderson so that they could receive a spiritual confirmation that the church is true. They were at church and loved it again. So the next day they called us at night. Vivane was talking and here is pretty much what she said. : “we can’t get baptized on the 28 of june…but we are going to get baptized. When is the next available date?” so now they are going to get baptized on the 5 of july. After the phone call I was like- “EXCELLENT!”
There is another family that is pretty cool. (Marley is the name of the mom) We taught them about three months ago, but they never went to church, so we stopped going there. Then we went over there on a whim and invited them to church one night. They went. Now we are working full time with them again.
Mom- I like your mantra ‘focus on the staff’. Ours is ‘focus on the family’. In PMG ch 1 under the gospel blesses families, it says to dedicate ourselves to finding families. (at least the is what is says in port.) so that is what we are trying to do. And the lord is blessing us with lots of families to teach. Thanks for giving me such a great example of what a family can be so that I can carry that model to the people here who sincerely want their family to be eternal too. (that is what Marley always says.)
Dad. - a little above sea level, 30 degrees Celsius. Have a “hole” lot of fun up there. (spell check your letter, you meant to say WHOLE. )
Alyce- hey that sounds fun. And what they heck is Yo Gabba Gabba?
Well, I guess you guys know the gig, out of time because I have a lot of things to do today, but know that I love you.
Love elder helland
New Mission President - President and Sister Bezerra
.JPG)
The Bezerra Family.JPG)
listen to your heartbeat...
(letter from 6-18-08)
...and dance.
lame i know. and it is way too cheezy, but i thought that is was clever and i found it on one of those chocolate wrappers in the chocolate that i got for my b-day.
well, i have got to be really fast, because the first time that i wrote you an email, i lost it. i had very little time the first time.
so let me update you on the week:
last sunday the family went to church along with two others. i am super excited because we have a few really great FAMILIES that we are teaching right now. FAMILIES can be ETERNAL!!! i feel like shouting it sometimes in the lessons, but i think that that might scare them. they don’t understand English anyway. but really, what wouldn’t someone do to have their family forever?
i will tell more about the families next week, (if i am not transferred :))
sorry this letter is terrible, the first had a lot more to it, but now i GOT TO RUN!
love
elder helland
...and dance.
lame i know. and it is way too cheezy, but i thought that is was clever and i found it on one of those chocolate wrappers in the chocolate that i got for my b-day.
well, i have got to be really fast, because the first time that i wrote you an email, i lost it. i had very little time the first time.
so let me update you on the week:
last sunday the family went to church along with two others. i am super excited because we have a few really great FAMILIES that we are teaching right now. FAMILIES can be ETERNAL!!! i feel like shouting it sometimes in the lessons, but i think that that might scare them. they don’t understand English anyway. but really, what wouldn’t someone do to have their family forever?
i will tell more about the families next week, (if i am not transferred :))
sorry this letter is terrible, the first had a lot more to it, but now i GOT TO RUN!
love
elder helland
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
tag, you're it
(letter from 6-11-08)
Boy, am I glad I´m not a dog…
We saw this dog yesterday, and wowzers!!, he looked like he had leprosy! He only had hair in patches, one of his ears looked like broccoli, he had this big bloody nose, he breathed super raspy, and didn’t have any teeth. I don’t know if I can (/should) describe how hideous that dog was. And so I thought to myself, “Good thing I’m not him….!” Just one more reason I am grateful to be a missionary. :-)
So I should probably tell about the coolest family on the planet earth, besides ours of course. (we won the prize for weirdest, and hey! , you can't win ‘um all!). Let me tell you about them. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. (-princess bride)
Her name is Viviane. We met her in the street one day and she said that we could come over another day. She also said that she had a family and was legally married. (we usually ask questions like that in the street around here. It is a bit uncomfortable sometimes to walk up to someone and be like: “Good afternoon, we are the missionaries of the true church of Christ. God called a prophet once again on the earth. This book is a proof of this message. By the way, are you guys married?” Well, that is really what you have to do sometimes. And what we did this time.
About a month later we were planning a training for zone conference about using the area book to find people to teach, and we were practicing what we were going to teach by planning using the area book. One of the families that we pulled out of the “old investigators” section was the mom of Viviane. We didn’t know that at the time. But as we planned to work in that area, we found that both of this names that we had were at the same address. The mom from the area book, and the daughter from the address we got in the street. So we went there. We taught Viviane and her husband Anderson, and they accepted the commitments that we gave them. We were excited, because at that time we had found a lot of new FAMILIES and this one was pretty cool too. As the week progressed they read some of the Book of Mormon, and had a lot of questions. The key was Sunday. Who would go to church? We wanted to continue with the people that went to church. I don’t think that I can accurately express that excitement that missionaries feel when investigators go to church. I was like COWABUNGA!!
Here is the best part. Two more families ended up at church. Anício’s family and Marcelo. We ended up with a BUNCH of people at church with us. It was the best blessing EVER!! wait, here is the real best part:
At sacrament meeting we gave several families responsibility to sit next to them and help them. Those members were SO AWESOME! They went and sat by them!! They talked to them! Really, my joy was full. There was this one girl who is like 14, who went and sat by the dad and daughter of the one family. She helped them know how to sing that hymns, pointing with her finger. She explained what the sacrament is. She helped them feel comfortable. Then after the meeting several families got up and went over there and talked to them, set up familiy home evenings with them in their homes, invited them to mutual and seminary, EVERYTHING!
This ward pretty much rocks.
So anyway, Viviane and Anderson have two daughters, 12 and 9, and one son, 2yrs. They are reading the BoM and had FHE with 2 other families Monday. We are going there today to teach about the plan of salvation. I will tell more next week.
One more thought:
Yesterday we went to talk to this lady in the street, something that we do all day long, with EVERYONE. She was dressed like an Amish lady, so I knew that whatever happened, she certainly already had some strong religious beliefs. She kindly told us no, so we tried to give her a pass-along card. She took it and look at the picture of Jesus on the other side and said, "No I cant take this, I don’t worship images." Then we were like, "Great, us too. This isn’t a idol, it is a painting. So, don’t worship it." Then, she kind of decided to tell us what we were and what she believed. She started saying all kinds of stuff in a weird language that WASN’T Portuguese, and started telling us what she believed. Then she said, nós acreditamos que voces são anticristos.(she called us the anti-christ) Elder Rhodes, knowing full well what that meant, but looking for a little help was like, WHAT!?, I don’t understand that word. She then explained to us the we teach lies, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Usually I would have left her there, but there were a lot of people around and she was still talk calmly to us. I looked at her and said, "I am sorry, you are wrong. Have a good night." I left kind of ticked off. Like, "smokes, you would think that someone that really believes in Christ would recognize His authorized servants.” We talked about it later and I thought about the Savior. He suffered for the very people that rejected him and said that he was of the devil. He really was the son of God, and people said all kinds of stuff to Him. He even told the apostles, that if the truly followed him the same thing would happen to them. Take up your cross, is not just an invitation to leave the couch, but to enter the battle. I felt really sad for the woman, but happy that I could learn a little bit more about the great love that the Savior has for us.
Anyway, sorry, I will answer questions next week.
Love
elder helland
ps: THANK YOU to gma and gpa helland for the package. Me and elder Rhodes are loving the American goods. I also got the package from you guys. You guys even wrote Buzz lightgear.
About a month later we were planning a training for zone conference about using the area book to find people to teach, and we were practicing what we were going to teach by planning using the area book. One of the families that we pulled out of the “old investigators” section was the mom of Viviane. We didn’t know that at the time. But as we planned to work in that area, we found that both of this names that we had were at the same address. The mom from the area book, and the daughter from the address we got in the street. So we went there. We taught Viviane and her husband Anderson, and they accepted the commitments that we gave them. We were excited, because at that time we had found a lot of new FAMILIES and this one was pretty cool too. As the week progressed they read some of the Book of Mormon, and had a lot of questions. The key was Sunday. Who would go to church? We wanted to continue with the people that went to church. I don’t think that I can accurately express that excitement that missionaries feel when investigators go to church. I was like COWABUNGA!!
Here is the best part. Two more families ended up at church. Anício’s family and Marcelo. We ended up with a BUNCH of people at church with us. It was the best blessing EVER!! wait, here is the real best part:
At sacrament meeting we gave several families responsibility to sit next to them and help them. Those members were SO AWESOME! They went and sat by them!! They talked to them! Really, my joy was full. There was this one girl who is like 14, who went and sat by the dad and daughter of the one family. She helped them know how to sing that hymns, pointing with her finger. She explained what the sacrament is. She helped them feel comfortable. Then after the meeting several families got up and went over there and talked to them, set up familiy home evenings with them in their homes, invited them to mutual and seminary, EVERYTHING!
This ward pretty much rocks.
So anyway, Viviane and Anderson have two daughters, 12 and 9, and one son, 2yrs. They are reading the BoM and had FHE with 2 other families Monday. We are going there today to teach about the plan of salvation. I will tell more next week.
One more thought:
Yesterday we went to talk to this lady in the street, something that we do all day long, with EVERYONE. She was dressed like an Amish lady, so I knew that whatever happened, she certainly already had some strong religious beliefs. She kindly told us no, so we tried to give her a pass-along card. She took it and look at the picture of Jesus on the other side and said, "No I cant take this, I don’t worship images." Then we were like, "Great, us too. This isn’t a idol, it is a painting. So, don’t worship it." Then, she kind of decided to tell us what we were and what she believed. She started saying all kinds of stuff in a weird language that WASN’T Portuguese, and started telling us what she believed. Then she said, nós acreditamos que voces são anticristos.(she called us the anti-christ) Elder Rhodes, knowing full well what that meant, but looking for a little help was like, WHAT!?, I don’t understand that word. She then explained to us the we teach lies, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Usually I would have left her there, but there were a lot of people around and she was still talk calmly to us. I looked at her and said, "I am sorry, you are wrong. Have a good night." I left kind of ticked off. Like, "smokes, you would think that someone that really believes in Christ would recognize His authorized servants.” We talked about it later and I thought about the Savior. He suffered for the very people that rejected him and said that he was of the devil. He really was the son of God, and people said all kinds of stuff to Him. He even told the apostles, that if the truly followed him the same thing would happen to them. Take up your cross, is not just an invitation to leave the couch, but to enter the battle. I felt really sad for the woman, but happy that I could learn a little bit more about the great love that the Savior has for us.
Anyway, sorry, I will answer questions next week.
Love
elder helland
ps: THANK YOU to gma and gpa helland for the package. Me and elder Rhodes are loving the American goods. I also got the package from you guys. You guys even wrote Buzz lightgear.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
one-eyed dogs and yellow jellow...
Letter from 6-4-08 - (Sorry family - Alyce and I were in Virginia and NYC for the past two weeks and were unable to post Adam's letters! This next weeks will be over due too, as we're off to Girl's camp!)
This week we had the incredible opportunity to go to the hospital. Elder Rhodes had a foot problem. His toenails had rebelled and seceded from the union, and then declared open war on his foot. I didn’t bring the camera today to send the awesome bloody pictures of his toe. Let me give you an idea. FIRST, take a look at your left foot. (or if you prefer, your right) THEN, imagine that the big toe is two times the size that it is right now. NOW, then take a knife or a fork or a well sharpened pencil, or anything that comes to a point that happens to be near you right now, and plunge it into your toe. That is pretty much how elder Rhodes says that it felt to have the toe surgery to take off the nail. They didn’t num it. They just took out a pair of pliers and some scissors, …
To tell the truth, I thought that is was pretty funny at the time. Every time that the lady even TOUCHED it he would make this face of extreme pain. The whole time she was just looking at the toe and asking questions like, “does this hurt?”, to which elder Rhodes responded through clenched teeth, “YEEEAAAGGGHHRRRR!” his faces were priceless. He now regrets not letting me take pictures while we were there. (Am I sick or what?) Anyway, because of that, we spent a whole day at home reading the book of Mormon and PMG. It was weird. Nowadays he is using the other pair of my doc martins, b/c they are WAY too big for him and that means more room for his poor little toes.
So enough foot talk.
This week we really took a hard look at our group of investigators and we said these ones are progressing, these are not. We had to cut a lot of them. We are looking for some families that will go to church this Sunday. We have taught a few so far this week, so we’ll see if they go. If they do I will surely tell you.
We have taught a few lessons lately to what may be considered relatively crazy people. It has been neat to see that as this people that have some sort of mental problems (nothing extreme- just slow or… really slow…), they invite us to their apartments and listen to our message, they recognize the spirit. I keep thinking, ‘these are children of God’, and ‘inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these…’. As these thoughts came to my head, I really felt the spirit and enjoyed talking to them. We invited them to church, and we will see what happens from there.
Bulletin!!!!
I just called the secretaries and they said that I got one or two packages and a letter or two. I don’t know who yet, but I will get them this Friday for interviews. Cowabunga !
Well, I am low on money until we get our allowance tomorrow, so I will have to wrap up soon, the computer time is almost up and I still have to write a letter to president.
So have fun in you various travels, and dad, maybe you can keep it real back at home alone doing something cool, like reading the book of mormon. That is what I do when I have to stay home.!
LOVE elder helland
-enjoying a stawberry smoothy.
-with the president and his wife and the assistants.
The Tale of the Ingrown Toenails:
This week we had the incredible opportunity to go to the hospital. Elder Rhodes had a foot problem. His toenails had rebelled and seceded from the union, and then declared open war on his foot. I didn’t bring the camera today to send the awesome bloody pictures of his toe. Let me give you an idea. FIRST, take a look at your left foot. (or if you prefer, your right) THEN, imagine that the big toe is two times the size that it is right now. NOW, then take a knife or a fork or a well sharpened pencil, or anything that comes to a point that happens to be near you right now, and plunge it into your toe. That is pretty much how elder Rhodes says that it felt to have the toe surgery to take off the nail. They didn’t num it. They just took out a pair of pliers and some scissors, …
To tell the truth, I thought that is was pretty funny at the time. Every time that the lady even TOUCHED it he would make this face of extreme pain. The whole time she was just looking at the toe and asking questions like, “does this hurt?”, to which elder Rhodes responded through clenched teeth, “YEEEAAAGGGHHRRRR!” his faces were priceless. He now regrets not letting me take pictures while we were there. (Am I sick or what?) Anyway, because of that, we spent a whole day at home reading the book of Mormon and PMG. It was weird. Nowadays he is using the other pair of my doc martins, b/c they are WAY too big for him and that means more room for his poor little toes.
So enough foot talk.
This week we really took a hard look at our group of investigators and we said these ones are progressing, these are not. We had to cut a lot of them. We are looking for some families that will go to church this Sunday. We have taught a few so far this week, so we’ll see if they go. If they do I will surely tell you.
We have taught a few lessons lately to what may be considered relatively crazy people. It has been neat to see that as this people that have some sort of mental problems (nothing extreme- just slow or… really slow…), they invite us to their apartments and listen to our message, they recognize the spirit. I keep thinking, ‘these are children of God’, and ‘inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these…’. As these thoughts came to my head, I really felt the spirit and enjoyed talking to them. We invited them to church, and we will see what happens from there.
Bulletin!!!!
I just called the secretaries and they said that I got one or two packages and a letter or two. I don’t know who yet, but I will get them this Friday for interviews. Cowabunga !
Well, I am low on money until we get our allowance tomorrow, so I will have to wrap up soon, the computer time is almost up and I still have to write a letter to president.
So have fun in you various travels, and dad, maybe you can keep it real back at home alone doing something cool, like reading the book of mormon. That is what I do when I have to stay home.!
LOVE elder helland
-elder rhodes with his foot up, after foot surgery.
-enjoying a stawberry smoothy.
-with the president and his wife and the assistants.
Its my birthday, I can baptize if I want to
Letter from 5-28-08 - (Sorry, Alyce and Jill were in Virginia and NYC for a couple weeks and unable to post Adam's letters!)
you would baptize too if it happened to you!! (i made up this pretty nifty song all by self, so... copyright, all rights reserved.-- [that must be the publishers version of calling "shotgun"])
Actually, for my big b-day, me and elder Rhodes did a division with some elders in our zone, and so I spent my b-day with elder nascimento. It was pretty cool. You know, we did the usual birthday stuff, knocking doors, talking to random people in the street, walking several miles in the scorching sun, … you know, partying all over the place! Just kidding, we did have a good family home evening with a few families in our ward and they invited their friends over for us to teach and then they made a cake for me and everyone sang and stuff. It was really cowabunga! (can I use it like that?) Then yesterday we had another family home evening with Irene’s family, (remember they are all strong members), and they invited our investigators too. They made a cake for us, and Irene gave us presents. She made each of us a box. Pretty cool, huh! No, just kidding, but it is a box, I just don’t know how to describe it. I will take a picture of it and send it to you guys next week. I thought it was really sweet. Irene really loves us and would do anything for us. She is such a neat lady. It is weird to think that she will always remember us, that we have truly made a difference in their family.
It was a awesome birthday, all things considered.
Anyway, so far I have got a package from jay and elle and a package from alyce. but don’t worry, we have interviews next week on Friday, I will probably get the others then.
THIS WEEK IN INVESTIGATORS:
Well, the one family that I told you about, they talked to their pastor instead of to God and he told them some ridiculous stuff about us. When we told them that that stuff wasn’t true they got all confused, not knowing who to believe, us or their pastor. I guess part of the problem is that if they leave their church, the pastor will be REALLY mean to them and say bad stuff about them to the congregation, and then all of the neighbors won’t like them anymore and they will lose all of their friends. And here it isn’t like there, where if things are bad you can just move. People live in the same house for GENERATIONS, so pretty much the pastor made a pretty big threat to them, without actually threatening them.
We also found a whole bunch of new investigators, but no one that is going anywhere fast. I will give the update on the ones that make through to next week.
MOM-
Yes I can watch DVD’s, for crying our loud!! I can watch almost more movies here ON the mission than you let me watch before!! (he he he… I am kidding, but not entirely)
Nope, we didn’t catch the rat. We decided on the more practical route later in the day. (it was elder Rhodes idea, I thought the idea of a sweet rat trap made of the garbage that we have at home was a great project) we ended up just cleaning the house real good and then putting cardboard under all of the doors to keep the rats out. We still built the trap, but… the trap went off unexpectedly and broke our clothes iron. I guess that is just the way things go. Well, no I didn’t have the same SS class as you guys. I taught the GP class instead. (Gospel Principles) we talked about faith. I think I did a pretty good job though, because this time elder Rhodes wasn’t in the back laughing at me. (we trade off every Sunday for who gets to teach the GP class.)
DAD: what?!? 5 temples ????? that is almost as many as brasil!! I had heard about the other two already. Last transfer we had 3 other missionaries in my zone from mesa and Gilbert; they called me Elder West-side. That was cool, b/c that was all of the missionaries from Arizona in our mission in the same zone.
ALYCE: WHAT!!!! Going on a date w/a returned missionary!!!!! I thought that I made the rules clear that you were not even to TALK to boys for two years!!! Just kidding. What I meant to say was … cowabunga. Was the Indiana jones movie cool? How about prince caspiean? I don’t think either have been translated into Portuguese yet, or at least, I didn’t even know they were coming out!! Well, you are old now too! No more school. Do you remember when we used to dream about the day there would be no more school? Not as fun as we thought it would be, huh. I remember that I used to think that the mission would be good because I wouldn’t have to go to school everyday. The mission is WAY better that school, and I am learning way more. Well, stay away from that hicky boy at work.
Until next week, adieu.
love
Elder Helland, 20 years old
Ooone MOOOrrre thing...
(that one old guy in jackie chan adventures)
tell kory "hi" for me, and that: "ele é o cara, e que eu tenho tanta saudades
dele. "
Regarding the mission council picture:
man, i look dumb!! well, i guess that is just the way that i look. ... wait a minute... that is YOUR fault! yup, it is your funny look'n genes that made me this way. humph! now looking like a goof ball is an entirely justifiable complaint.
ps "conselho da missão" is code for mission council. or is it counsel? man i feel like alyce. ... dang, how IS IT SPELLED? grrrrgh!! oh well, i don’t need that pathetic language right now anyway. portuguese is WAY superior!
you would baptize too if it happened to you!! (i made up this pretty nifty song all by self, so... copyright, all rights reserved.-- [that must be the publishers version of calling "shotgun"])
Actually, for my big b-day, me and elder Rhodes did a division with some elders in our zone, and so I spent my b-day with elder nascimento. It was pretty cool. You know, we did the usual birthday stuff, knocking doors, talking to random people in the street, walking several miles in the scorching sun, … you know, partying all over the place! Just kidding, we did have a good family home evening with a few families in our ward and they invited their friends over for us to teach and then they made a cake for me and everyone sang and stuff. It was really cowabunga! (can I use it like that?) Then yesterday we had another family home evening with Irene’s family, (remember they are all strong members), and they invited our investigators too. They made a cake for us, and Irene gave us presents. She made each of us a box. Pretty cool, huh! No, just kidding, but it is a box, I just don’t know how to describe it. I will take a picture of it and send it to you guys next week. I thought it was really sweet. Irene really loves us and would do anything for us. She is such a neat lady. It is weird to think that she will always remember us, that we have truly made a difference in their family.
It was a awesome birthday, all things considered.
Anyway, so far I have got a package from jay and elle and a package from alyce. but don’t worry, we have interviews next week on Friday, I will probably get the others then.
THIS WEEK IN INVESTIGATORS:
Well, the one family that I told you about, they talked to their pastor instead of to God and he told them some ridiculous stuff about us. When we told them that that stuff wasn’t true they got all confused, not knowing who to believe, us or their pastor. I guess part of the problem is that if they leave their church, the pastor will be REALLY mean to them and say bad stuff about them to the congregation, and then all of the neighbors won’t like them anymore and they will lose all of their friends. And here it isn’t like there, where if things are bad you can just move. People live in the same house for GENERATIONS, so pretty much the pastor made a pretty big threat to them, without actually threatening them.
We also found a whole bunch of new investigators, but no one that is going anywhere fast. I will give the update on the ones that make through to next week.
MOM-
Yes I can watch DVD’s, for crying our loud!! I can watch almost more movies here ON the mission than you let me watch before!! (he he he… I am kidding, but not entirely)
Nope, we didn’t catch the rat. We decided on the more practical route later in the day. (it was elder Rhodes idea, I thought the idea of a sweet rat trap made of the garbage that we have at home was a great project) we ended up just cleaning the house real good and then putting cardboard under all of the doors to keep the rats out. We still built the trap, but… the trap went off unexpectedly and broke our clothes iron. I guess that is just the way things go. Well, no I didn’t have the same SS class as you guys. I taught the GP class instead. (Gospel Principles) we talked about faith. I think I did a pretty good job though, because this time elder Rhodes wasn’t in the back laughing at me. (we trade off every Sunday for who gets to teach the GP class.)
DAD: what?!? 5 temples ????? that is almost as many as brasil!! I had heard about the other two already. Last transfer we had 3 other missionaries in my zone from mesa and Gilbert; they called me Elder West-side. That was cool, b/c that was all of the missionaries from Arizona in our mission in the same zone.
ALYCE: WHAT!!!! Going on a date w/a returned missionary!!!!! I thought that I made the rules clear that you were not even to TALK to boys for two years!!! Just kidding. What I meant to say was … cowabunga. Was the Indiana jones movie cool? How about prince caspiean? I don’t think either have been translated into Portuguese yet, or at least, I didn’t even know they were coming out!! Well, you are old now too! No more school. Do you remember when we used to dream about the day there would be no more school? Not as fun as we thought it would be, huh. I remember that I used to think that the mission would be good because I wouldn’t have to go to school everyday. The mission is WAY better that school, and I am learning way more. Well, stay away from that hicky boy at work.
Until next week, adieu.
love
Elder Helland, 20 years old
Ooone MOOOrrre thing...
(that one old guy in jackie chan adventures)
tell kory "hi" for me, and that: "ele é o cara, e que eu tenho tanta saudades
dele. "
Regarding the mission council picture:
man, i look dumb!! well, i guess that is just the way that i look. ... wait a minute... that is YOUR fault! yup, it is your funny look'n genes that made me this way. humph! now looking like a goof ball is an entirely justifiable complaint.
ps "conselho da missão" is code for mission council. or is it counsel? man i feel like alyce. ... dang, how IS IT SPELLED? grrrrgh!! oh well, i don’t need that pathetic language right now anyway. portuguese is WAY superior!
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