July 24, 2017 letter -- Jequie (Mandacaru)

hellllllooooooo family!

we had an awesome week in this last week of the transfer and we were able to see huge miracles. its amazing to see how just doing the very basics diligently can provide miracles and success in our efforts. we felt really strongly that we should try hard to focus on finding new investigators this week so we started knocking doors on streets we hadnt worked much yet. and we knocked and knocked and knocked.. just keep knocking knocking knocking.. except in brazil you dont knock on doors you just stand in front of the house and clap.. as loud as possible because they gotta hear you inside the house. we were able to find some awesome men and families who were ready and excited to accept us and our message. 

tuesday we found willma and her family who have been bouncing around from church to church and we were able to have a spiritual lesson and really explain the importance of the restoration to them. as well as visit a less active part member family who have a true desire to come back to church and recieve all the blessings that the priesthood and atonement have for us. 

wednesday we found hebert natalicio and cleiton who are catholic but really enjoyed and understood the importance of the organization of the church and the restoratoin of the priesthood they were full of questions and really wanted to understand more about joseph smith and how the priesthood was brought back by elias as the bible says. its really interesting to teach people who have a good knowledge of scripture and religion. they all accepted baptismal dates and are really excited about it! 

thursday we were able to also teach alan´s parents and sister about the restoration. lets just say we taught the restoration a lot this week and it is incredible the spirit that we were able to feel everytime we teach this lesson. the restoration of the fullness of the perfect church of Christ invites the holy ghost so strongly to testify of the truthfor those who have an open heart and mind. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and Christ is at the head of HIS church leading us to happier lives and peace in our homes.

I was reading in the book of mormon in the book of enos this week. its only one chapter long but has such an amazing principle to be taught. PRAYER PRAAYER PRAAAAYER. as enos prays for a remission of his sins and protection for his bretheren the nephites and lamanites he describes his prayers as.. " my soul hungered, crying in mighty prayer and suplication, pour out my whole soul... struggle in the spirit... prayed and labored with all diligience..and i had faith and did cry unto God."

i think this example is so amazing and it really made me reevaluate my prayers. are we doing enough to show our HEavenly Father our love and gratitude for him and our blessings? are we praying ferevently enough to help our families? this week we can all do a little bit better to truly put some love and meaning into our prayers. we dont need to just pray but to plead and converse with our Father in Heaven. and after we pray we need to have faith that our desires will be fufilled in accordance with the Will of God. He loves us and will provide us with what we need when we need it. HAVE FAITH PRAY HARD

i will be leaving mandacaru tomorrow morning and going to Vitoria Da Conquista in the area Aeropeurto with elder do vale!

love elder prince

a really awesome family in our branch

our district - Elder Carvalho, Sister Gama, German, Elder J Souza , Brito

a cool work of art of the Last Supper

a sweet page from a training book about electronics in our lives that the church gave to all missionaries. 

July 17, 2017 -- Jequie (Mandacaru)

heyyy doooods

well this week was another week here in jequie. intersting animal of the week was two dead cats being eaten by the vultures on our streeet hahahaha now that you all have that beautiful image in your mind onto the gospel. we had zone conference this week and an awesome activity with our branch! the zone conference was super cool but because it was in a different city we lost some proseliting time to travel but a nice bus ride is good for the sleeping purposes. but the zone conference was awesome and always really recharging!

monday night we had a great family home evening with felipes family for damianas birthday! it was a really fun night and i think that it really helped the non members in their family feel the spirit and bond a little bit! 

Elder Carvalho and investigators

tuesday we were able to really get to it and get some good work done. we ha an awesome lesson with alexandre, jeans cousin, abou the gospel of Jesus Christ. as you can imagine lessons with teenagers arent always the most reverent of times but one thing i thought was so cool was the strength and power of the spirit we were able to feel while we bore testimony about the power of walkig the straight and narrow path. we also went to visit some less actives and this old lady went on for about an hour about how she loves the church and knows its true but it was just too far away (down the street) so she decided to move even farther away out to the farmlands and start a baptist church in her house... 10/10 people would not recommend doing this and hey just go to church but okay. 

wednesday we had a way cool leesson with a part member family about the restoration. we ha been teaching the less active sister and this HUGE dude walks in and was like "why is it called the book of mormon?" so we explained it all then at the end he asked if we spoke in tongues( screaming in jibberish) and rolled at our church(literally rolling around on the ground) when we feel the spirit. so im just kinda trying to imagine this dude who is the size of ray lewis  rolling around on the ground in a church so we asked him if he thought that CHrist rolled around on the ground when he felt the spirit. then he got really quiet as if he never realized that Christ probably did not roll around n the ground. 

our activity with our branch was so cool! we had all the young men and young women write questions to ask returned missionaries about their missions and preparation then turned all the chairs around and did like a press conference type of thing with all the returned missionaries it was really inteersting and funny! i got to stand in the back and hold up the sign that said " stop talking you have been rambling on forever" but it was way awesome to hear their experiences"

at the zone conference president talked a lot about D+c 4:5 " and faith hope charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God qualify for the work" and how we can be better missionaries by developing these attributes and qualifying ourselves more!

i love you all!

sam

July 10, 2017 - Jequie (Mandacaru)

and the rains came down! it was a very good and interesting week beginning with all of our bathrooms losing hot water for a few days so we still arent really sure what happened but we are just grateful that the water came back so we arent doing the polar bear plunge everytime we take a shower. aside from a few interesting beetles and big spiders we had no interesting animals this week but we had a huge weather change! jequie is the hottest city in our mission but we had rain and rain and rain this week and some nippy winds  every day and night. i was actually cold for the first time this week when we had to take elder silva to the bus station in the pouring rain but then missed the bus ahhaha

tuesday started off pretty crappy with kaike dropping us. everything was pretty much set for his baptism this next week but we showed up and he was just like yeah i dont wanna go to church or hear the lessons anymore thanks now go away hahah we figured out after a sec that he has got himself into the wrong friend group and doesnt really want to leave them. i was pretty bummed because the gospel is what gives us happiness and a firm foundation!  but after we had a really awesome lesson with aleide about thw word of wisdom! it was nice and spiritual and she was really excited to try and stop drinnking coffee because of her headaches and addiction she thinks shes developed. but she has been doing really well with her goal to stop and im super happy for her! elder silva got called to be moved to porto seguro on wednesday and i got the card from the grandparents which was super good haha.  

Elder Carvalho and Damiana

we had a really interesting week planning and preparing damiana for her baptism hahahah. she had a few things she wanted to do before the baptism but we were just like heck no you gotta follow Christ and she was like oh yeah you is right. and It was really just like you need to do what God whats for you and not what will end up hurting you in the end. We taught her about the plan of salvatoin again and she was pretty much sold and super excited for saturday! her baptism went really well and almost their whole family was in the church for it! but we had one slight problem in the font. no i did not fall in again. but the water straight up ran out.. in the whole church... we got the font like halfway full and then the entire church went completely dry. so we ended up doing the baptism kneeling hahah. sunday there was still no water and everyone blamed us and i was just like oops. its so weird that its been raining so much and theres not water at the church. 

we found a couple young men alan and paul who are super sick and in terstested but they have some work to do. they both want to be baptized after seeing damianas baptism but had some trouble at church on sunday when they made some chick cry during sunday school so we have our work cut out hahaha but "all things are possible to him that believeth"

proverbs 23:7 " for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." as we try to be positive and eliminate negativity we will perform better in everything we do! try to eliminate negative phrases and words and dont even think negatively! its easier said than done but why not give it a try!

i love you guys

!!

July 3, 2017 - Jequie (Mandacaru)

6 MONTHS

Well lets all be honest who knew i would make it 3 days without mom let alone 6 months so ya im pretty proud of myself. but it has been truly blessed 6 months. i have had so much oppurtunity to grow and have so many new experiences on the other side of the world! brazil is such an amazing place filled with amazing people! the mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me. i might not admit it while im scratching my legs covered in mosquito bites or while im walking thru the pouring rain but its a privilege and honor to serve the Lord. 

this week we was a whole lot better we were able to come out of the gates at a full sprint because elder carvalho got off his bed rest and seemed to have a lot more energy. our little trio has been working really well together and the adventures of 5 missionaries in one house continue. this week alone we raised the count of animals found in our house with 3 birds and another froggy friend that we were eventually able to chase out of the house. 

this week we experiences some really good things but also some disappointments. We were able to teach caique and his grandmother some really solid lessons about the importance of strudying the scriptures and did some reading with them. they are really cool because his grandma doesnt know how to read so he reads for her and she is super ontop of him to read. the only issue with caique is the baptism. for some reason he loves the lessons and reading the scriptures with us but as soon as we talk about baptism he turns into a statue and shuts down. we literally cant get him to talk with us. he was totally ready to go to church this week but then just decided he was feeling to lazy to go when we passed by his house and though i felt like just dragging him to the church i feel like it might have looked kinda bad to everyone in the street lol. 

Damiana, felipes grandmother, was gone all week visiting some familbut saturday we were able to visit her and teach their whole family about the family a proclamation to the world and she asked for a priesthood blessing. the next day she came for fast and testimony meetin and was so impressed with all the testimonies she said she wants to bear hers the next month.. but she wants us to bear testimony about how we cured her with a blessing because shes too scared to talk in front of everyone. she is really progressing and excited to be baptized but we arent sure when it will be because she has to have surgery on her hand this week so it might be next saturday! please keep her in your prayers. 

matthew 5 16  " let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

SHINE bright like a diamond as our friend rihanna says (also Jesus said it)

i love you all

June 26, 2017 - Jequie (Mandacaru)

To be quite honest this week was not great. 

Tuesday we went to the doctor because elder carvalho has been having hip pains and after some x rays we found out that he has a genetic problem in his femurs because the head of the bone is too big for the socket or is missing some indent or something thats not actually that serious. idk the doctor is even more confusing when they use big words in portuguese instead of just big words in english ahha. so yeah hes never gonna be able to do the splits v sad day for him and then to top it all off the doctor put him on a weeks bed rest!  kms lol. lets just say that neither president bangerter or I was very happy to hear about that. we set up an mri for him that we wil go to super super early tomorow morning. 

so the more round one is my comp, the tall one is elder brito, his comp is the other short one elder j souza and they are the zls. elder silva is the other one.

Wednesday we spent the day at home because comp "cant walk" while we waited for a curto praso or part time missionary to come so we could get out and do some work. we were able to get some visits in while he stayed with some members. Elder silva (part timer guy) is staying for us for the res of the transfer i think but we will see. its been really nice to have someone in the house who actually has a desire to be on a mission and work hard! then to make the week even better the other missionaries in jequie got their water shut off so they have been staying at our house! yay crowded house. elder carvalho then proceeded to waste all of his money on hamburgers and diet coke suuuuper healthy after the doctor told him that he needed to eat better and lose weight or the problem in his hips would get worse so i bought his medication twice this week.

Also this week was the holiday sao joao celebrating the beheading of john the baptist. way cool holiday... not. there have been lots and lots of firecrackers and bonfires in the streets here so thats actually kinda cool until the kids start to throw fire crackers at you lol. 

Elder silva and i were able to get out and work when we could find someone to stay with elder carvalho. we have been working hard for the baptism of kaike but he has his date on the 8th of july. we had some really good lessons with him about the book of mormon but then he went off the mapand didnt come to church so please keep him in your prayers. we have been working really hard iwth the family of felipe our recent convertand his grandmas has a date for the 8th of july and shes actually super excited! when we explained the true baptism and restoration of the priesthood she immediately was way more interested lol. the rest of the family kinda needs a kick in the pants to get to church but it should all work out. 

We had some really good lessons about he plan of salvatoin that really reinforced my testimony and i was able to bear testimony about how i will see my grandparents and ruth again. families are forever. 

john 16:33 "these things i have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. in the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer, i have overcome the world!"

listen to Christ he knows exactly what we need!

please keep kaike damiana aleide and babina in your prayers

i love you guys!

sammy

June 19, 2017 - Jequie (Mandacaru)

well we had another week this week with another new companion! elder carvalho from manaus! monday we sent off half of our district and got ready to recieve our new companions. tuesday elder brito and i got up v early to pick up his new comp and breakfast at 5 am never tasted so good. my comp had still not arrived so i stayed the day in a trio with them, runnin the town like the celtics big three before all this miami heat business. there was some crazy guy trying to preach to us while we bought some food. He walks up and says " at first i thought you were jehovahs witnesses and i thought you needed some Jesus but now that i know you're mormons i think you need to listen to me even more!" I kinda just laughed in his face and we had a sweet convo but moral of the story dont believe everything you read on the internet! elder carvalho arrived wednesday about lunch time and we were able to get to work. its been really strange introducing him to the area and kinda leading everything hahah. i kinda feel like the senior and holy cow its a lot more stressful but its exciting cuz the hardest times are the times where we see the most growth. just gotta get out of the comfort zone and have faith!

Elder J Souza, Carvalho, Brito

thursday we did some serivce at the church to prepare for a little party on saturday for the branch. we taught a really good lesson about the BOM to jeans mom and she said that she would change her life and give upp  her religion if she recieved an answer so we are praying super hard out here. friday we had a good district meeting and we had a sweet lesson with felipes family . during the lesson his little sister ripped the biggest fart at a really quiet moment and i dont know why but it reminded me so much of jared because she just burst out laughing and yelling hahah. its been awesome to work wit their family because i see little changes in their home and lives even since felipes baptism.

we taught them the word of wisdom and law of chastity and challenged his parents to get married! now the big project is get them married as fast as possible hahaa. im super excited to see how marriage will improve their lives!

message for the day. in chapter 4 of matthew Christ is tempted 3 times by satan after 40 days and 40 nights of fasting. he was given the opportunity to make rocks into bread and have power over all the kingdoms of the world but he would not bow down to satan. he was strengthened during these 40 days ad nights to have the power to resist theese temptations and follow his father. fasting prayer and scripture study are the basics but also the most important things in our lives. 

matthew 4:4 "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"

i love you all so much!

June 12, 2017 letter - Jequie (Mandacaru)

well this week was alright. being the last week of the transfer everyone was a little tired and a little stressed out and on top of that it was the last week of elder washingtons mission! so we spent a good portion of the week trying to get him all ready to go home. tuesday we had a trip to conquista for a leadership meeting since elderwashington is still our district leader to get some new training. it was raining really hard when we left jequie and didnt stop until like friday haha. when i got to conquista my birthday packages were sittin all pretty waiting for me!!! i was so dang excited and happy to see all the awesome stuff and eat the candy. the hi chews are already gone and i may or may not have made myself a little sick a few times this week. oops. buuuut i also loved the conference ensign and the back scratcher. scratching my never ending mosquitos bites gives much more satisfaction when done witha back scratcher. 

Jean's Baptism

Jean's Mom, Elder Washington, Jean

WE finally got back to jequie with just enough time to meet with jean's mom about his baptism on saturday. She had a bunch of questoins about the BOM and the restoration but it was late so we had to go and teach her another day. thursday we had a good district meeting but it was the same training i recieved the daybefore so you know how that goes. im already super good at paying attention for long periods of time especially with repetative informaiton hahahahaheheheheh. then we were waiting to go to lunch and this crazy dude (the same one who threw the sandwich at me a few weeks ago) started follwing us around like all up in my grill almost touching us so we used some strategy and serpentine movements to get away from him. elder washington had to go to the bank and we waited awhile. it was a long day. friday was also a very long day. we had to go some more things for elder washington and we had weekly planning which is always sucha blast for me!! but we were able to teach the restoration to jeans mom and she had lots of questions and critizims but we shut her down hard with some good scriptures and we were able to bring the spirit really well to the lesson. i think she really enjoyed it. she tried to argue that other churches have apostles but only like one singular apostle in the whole church and we just straight up asked her, well where are the other 11? lol she got super quiet after that.

then saturday. oh saturday. we did a division to do the interviews for baptism and fill up the font but then we got to jeans house and no one had a clue where he was. after a failed wheres waldo attempt we marked to come back later and went to go figgure out the font and our lunch. no i did not fall in the font this week all of my catlike reflexes have returned and i have stayed on my feet. we had our lunch delieverd two hours late after marking super early to bring it to us. then as soon as we got the food literally the same minute jean called and siad he didnt want to get baptized anymore. we dropped everything and went to figure it out with him and everythingw as all good. we were super late for the meeting but saw some super miracles when the branch pres just happened to be driving down the street where we were walking already late for the meetng.then some lady died in the hospital without a priesthood blessing while we were in conquista so sunday was pretty much just everyone fighting and blaming one another for not going to the hospital. it was a wild weekend

we got the transfer a little early this time and i will be staying here in mandacaru with elder carvalho (brasileiro that i havent met yet) for his last transfer in the missino! its pretty much like i am out here serving with one of the boys who will be going home soon!

i was reading the cnference talks this week and i really liked elder renlunds "good shepard". he said " as His disciples, let us fully mirror his love and love one another so that no one feels abandoned, alone, or hopeless" it really is a powerful talk and i lvoed it so much! go read it and then hug someone and tell them you love the. imagine me hugging you all!!

i love you all so much

sammy boy