Letter 4/16/12

Well we almost hit our goal this week of 5 baptisms, but you know what, I'll take 4 baptisms any day! It was a great week....probably one of the best weeks since I've gotten here to Abreu e Lima. I got a few funny things to tell first....

While walking on the streets, I saw a lady giving her little naked baby a piggy back ride on her shoulders....that was too good to be true.

While talking to the owner of our new apartment, we started to share a little bit of the plan of salvation with him....he was getting really interested, and we started to feel the spirit, when one of his buddies showed up and started talking about some rather uncomfortable things....I would talk about the nasty stuff (I really don't know why he wanted to share those things with us), but he quickly advanced on to Genghis Khan (the ancient Chinese "gadianton robber"), and how he was a great contributor to society and put a lot of kids in school....people are crazy here! It was too bad....there always seems to be a distraction or a difficulty anytime we start to teach a lesson or talk about the Gospel with people....the adversary doesn't take a day off that's for sure!

My dad would be very proud of me. He always told me a story from his mission of a time when he went to teach a lady at her house who tried to hide from him when he knocked on the door. She sent her little daughter to go answer the door, and tell the missionaries that her mom wasn't home. My dad (maybe it was his companion) then said "ok, can you go ask her what time she'll be home?". Not knowing that she had been tricked, the little girl ran into the other room and asked loudly "Mom, what time will you be home?".....well the point being....the EXACT same thing happened to me this week! A lady was standing in the doorway and then hurried and ran away when she saw us coming....we asked the daughter if her mom was home, and she said no....I asked the same question my dad did, and she went and ran into the other room to go and ask her...her older sister was sitting there on the computer, and realizing what I had done, tried to save her little sister....too late! I got a good kick out of it, but it really is too bad that people feel that they need to flee from us....I know I look like a menacing tall white monster, but really we just want to bless your life through helping people live and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Abreu e Lima has a lotttt of Evangelicos (I don't even remember how to say that word in English anymore....evangelicals?) anyways....people that are very very strong in other churches....all of the pastors generally don't say very nice things about the 2 Mormon missionaries that are always walking on the street giving "bom dia's" to everyone. As a result, a lot of people like to ignore us when we say hello to them! Whenever this happens, for example, whenever I say "good morning!" to someone and they don't respond, Elder Bochio just responds for them, "good morning Elder!, how are you", and we will going on having a nice little conversation....it cracks me up...I would think that the people feel a little bit guilty afterwards, because we are usually within earshot when it happens.

Well down to business. On Tuesday, we went to Tejipió (ta-jip-ee-o) for the second time, but this time with Xavier and Branca to sign for their marriage. It's a long trip, but it was worth it....while crossing the street, Branca started to run to cross in time and ended up eating it big time....her soon to be husband yanked her up and without a seconds hesitation ripped off the torn skin on her arm....Brazilian efficiency....don't even give em a chance to cry.

On Wednesday we had a zone meeting in Paulista....Zone meetings are conducted by us, the zone leaders. Zone conferences are always directed by the mission president and the assistants. It's pretty cool, because we have quite a bit of leeway to talk about the things that the zone is needing. We decided to give separate trainings (Elder Bochio and I)....but we both ended up feeling impressed to talk about the attitude of a successful missionary (we did not plan for that....pretty cool how the spirit works huh? I really do like talking about the Gospel with others who are already familiar with it....don't get me wrong, there's nothing better than seeing someone light up after seeing the restored Gospel for the first time, but there's something that gets me going about talking with other missionaries and members. The spirit was very strong during our meeting. We all felt uplifted and motivated to go out and get to work. My 3 main points (that I attributed to a successful missionary) are diligence, resemblance to Jesus Christ, and unity....I used Preach My Gospel a lot in my training....I really felt the power of that book as I was preparing and deliver that message. It really is modern scripture for anyone who honestly reads and applies it.

After the zone meeting, I started a 2 day comp exchange with Elder Markham, who was my district leader in the MTC, and is once again district leader here in Abreu e Lima. He is from Banks, OR. He is a good Elder....in fact, a great Elder. I see a lot of myself in him. He is very dedicated to the work, and expects a lot from himself. More than anything, he is OBEDIENT, my new favorite 8 letter word. It's been a while since I've been with a companion that I've felt is self-motivated with the obedience subject. We worked our butts of for 48 hours....I was exhausted, but oh how I was refreshed! (funny how that works huh?)

 I was reading Elder Kevin Miller's letter about him and his companion, and how well they are obeying the rules together. I got a good 48 hour taste of that. While I was with Elder Markham in Caetés (Caetes to Abreu e Lima is kind of like a Ruby Hills to Pleasanton....not that it's a closed to community, but a little bit off to the side...and oh yeah the only difference is that they actually have a grocery store in Caetes......zing to all those P2ers who live out there!) I got to reading some of the talks that he collected while he was serving in Texas. One was from President Kimball titled "Lock you heart"....it's a famous one. It talks about love and avoiding romance as a missionary, but the part that I liked focused on being an obedient missionary. It was such a refresher to hear someone (especially coming from the president of the church!) talk about how much is expected of you as a representative of the Lord. You really do have to walk and talk like he would if he were here. This week my companion called the missionary handbook a "porcareia" (more or less a "pig sty" in english)....btw we are getting along a lot better....he is willing to obey the rules....he's just not very happy about it usually.

Anyways, as with all good things, that 48 hour paradise came to end, and we returned to Abreu e Lima. We had everything set up for 4 baptisms Friday night! The first was for Junior, a 19 year old boyfriend of a member....he's a strange one....really anti-social, but I'm starting to see that seed of faith grow inside of him. He didn't want anyone to see his baptism, so it was just him, his girlfriend, and 4 missionaries, but hey, a baptism is a baptism! About an hour later, we had a marriage ceremony in the church for Xavier and Branca. There was a really good turn out at the chapel. There were about 25 people there (that's an amazing turnout in Pernambuco). Afterwards, Elder Bochio baptized the whole family. He has been here since the beginning with this family, and so I think they really trusted him. It was so great to see them all get baptized (and later confirmed on Sunday!) after so much work and effort that we have put in to help them make this sacred covenant with the Lord....The Lord really did help us out a ton....we did nothing in comparison with how much he does to prepare and follow up with our investigators when we aren't with them.

Well we had one more AMAZING experience. Sunday, some of the young women in the ward were wanting to accompany us to visit some of our investigators....we weren't planning on it, but we ended up going to visit Raquel, a 12 year old girl who is actually really pretty impressive with her understanding and progression in the Gospel....I didn't think it was possible for someone her age to progress so fast. Her grandma, Mical, is also progressing quite well, and should be baptized along with her....but this story isn't about either of them...it's about Mical´s 20 year old niece, Cintia, who we weren't even planning on teaching. We started teaching her about the restoration...as I began to explain the atonement of Jesus Christ, I felt prompted to ask the young women who were with us to bear their testimonies for us. It turned out to be an inspired decision. One thing led to another, and Cintia opened up to us about how he has been passing through a real difficult time with her boyfriend of 8 years (yes since she was 12), and how all of this has really pushed her towards finding God. As we continued to explain the restoration, and the first vision that Joseph Smith had, she began to cry...she said that in her entire life, she has never felt such love or such peace as when we were visiting there with her. She said she was willing to do whatever it would take to follow and pursue these feelings that she was having....cue baptismal invitation. She accepted. An elect of the Lord without a doubt.

It was the strongest that I have felt the spirit since I arrived in this area in February. All of the difficulties and shenanigans that I've been going through were all swallowed up in those last 10 minutes of that lesson. The Lord really does know when to give us a little boost....and today, I got a huge one....I know it was nothing in comparison to what Cintia got....there really is NOTHING to describe or to communicate the satisfaction, joy, peace, thrill, and happiness that comes from this work! If someone were to ask me to describe about my mission, I would just respond the following: IT'S ALL WORTH IT. I know that that translates over to our daily lives as well. We are all serving missions here in mortality. I testify that it is ALL WORTH IT. Don't give up. Don't get down. Don't feel sad.....It all comes around in the end....I still have 15 months left in my mission, and who knows what's going to happen between now and then, but I can already tell you the ending right now....It's going to be a happy one.

Until next time,

-Elder McKinley