May 22, 2017 Letter - Jequie

Good week again this week. we have been seeing a lot the blessings of our prayers and fasting this week. President gave a us a goal for this week to do twice as many contacts and try to find twice as many new investigators so it goes without saying that we talked with a lot of new people this week. it is a huge blessing that most of the people here in brazil are super out going and love to talk about Jesus. also people love to just sit in the street outside of their homes, they might not always accept a visit or even let you talk but they will tell you their point of view... or at least what their pastor thinks hahaha

On tuesday and wednesday we were able to give baptismal dates to a pair of sisters Catiele and Naiele. they have a lot of interest and questions but they also have open minds and they are set more or less in the right direction. Our investigators Felipe Sandro and Lelis are really prepared for their baptisms this wee so please keep them in your prayers that everything will go well!! Usually when we teach felipe and sandro we teach them in the street outside of Felipe's house and we alwasy have a couple of their friends tune in for the lesson but they kinda run away when we ask who wants to pray so it feels kinda like when mom tries to gather the family for family prayers haha. It is so awesome to see the interest and desire to learn more about Christ that theese kids have because i certainly did not have this much when i was 13 or 14. 

This week we were also able to visit sandro and his family at their home and their mom told us "you need to take all my kids to church and baptize them as fast as possible because they are sinners" just the way she said it made me laugh so hard but she was so serious so we are gonna start working with them. they were able to come to church on sunday and they loved it so im super excited for the next few weeks!!just another blessing of fast and prayer. We did an exposition on saturday night in the big public square in downtown jequie so us six misionaries set up a table with book of mormons and passalong cards to give out to people. We spent the night trying to get people not to buy ice cream or beer and come reaad our magazines about Jesus. It was pretty fun and we talked to a lot of interesting people. 

We did some really good practices this week in our district meeting about promissing blessings to people and the commandment of keeping the sabbath day holy. in DC 59 the Lord gives us a great promise if we go to church and keep the sabbath day holy. "Verily I say that in as much as ye do this, the fulness of the earth is yours" so who doesnt want all the blessings  and treasures of the earth?? i KNOW THAT if we make the effort to get to church this week we can all be more happy and have more peace and unity in our families.  have a good week.

I LOVE YOU ALL

May 8, 2017 letter - Jequie, Brazil

Hey everybody! 

So it turns out that in our mission there is a place even hotter than Salvador! Jequie is too hot to handle (just like me) hahah i have never felt a sun so strong in my life, you can literally feel yourself burning as soon as you get out into the sun. The plus side is that its not too humid here so if you can find some shade the temperature drops about 10 degrees instantly. But i think i brought the rain with me from salvador because it rained pretty hard for the first few days. this week was way sweet its been pretty fun to get to know the new area and the new companion Elder Washington. Jequie is a 6 hour bus ride from salvador so i spent all of monday night on a bus. 

Jequie is a city set in between some "mountains" (big hills) but my part of the city is very flat so thats awesome. I think all of the roads here besides the main roads are dirt and cobble stone so thats a big change from salvador but its also really cool. The second day here i thought to myself "wow i feel a whole lot more like im in brazil right now hahah." There are lots of frogs and real life vultures here!! Like condors but smaller and all black they're cool.

Elder washington is from Nicuragua and he is in his final transfer of the mission (not too trunky yet) I feel really blessed because he still has the fire to work really hard. He doesnt want to get lazy and he wants to help me to learn from him so im really excited for this transfer! he also wants to be a fluent english speaker by the time he goes home so we are working hard with that!

The group of investigators here is awesome. we have been working hard with a group of young men and they love hearing our messages.. and playing futbol with all the rest of the kids in the branch. They have made some really good friends and one of them actually asked to be baptized before we could even give him the invitation to be baptized! he still has to have all the lessons so we gotta give it some time. One of the others is Israel, he has a date for this saturday so please keep him in your prayers! Lelis is a man progressing in our area, he had some problems with the word of wisdom but he had an accident so he has dedicated himself to put off his old habits and get in the church! 

On saturday we had a mini mtc with all the ward missionaries in our branch. It went really well but we only had 3 people of 15 show up haha it was way cool to teach members how to teach the lesson and i felt like i learned a lot.

This week i thought a lot about the importance of listening. Listening is a really important skill in missionary work but also in life. Everyone is surrounded by loved ones but they may not recognize the importance of talking and listening to the concerns or problems they might have. Give someone in your life someone to talk to this week and really be there to help them!

"if we listen with love we won't need to wonder what to say, it will be given to us by the Spirit and by our friends"  - Jeffrey R Holland

i love you all! have a good week

sam

PS: I got sick this week because i ate too many hot dogs. also they don't eat the whole hot dog here they cut them up in little pieces hahaha. I have over 21 bug bites on one arm and my face is red from sunburn i will be using bug spray and sunscreen from now on hahahahah

Pictures from the Pelourinho (Historic Center of Salvador) before Sam got transferred.

Elder Cruz and Elder Gifford

Map of Mandacaru, Jequie, Bahia, Brazil (May 2 - July 24, 2017)

April 30, 2017 letter - Amaralina (but getting transferred)

Hello everyone 

We had a pretty good but busy week this week! our zone is working really well at the moment so we had to go around and do a bunch of baptismal interview this week! Our water finally came back for the whole city on monday night so i have been very grateful to be able to shower this week hahahah.

Tuesday we had a weird encounter with one of our investigators Valmira. She does bible study with kids from the neighborhood and we showed up during one on accident! During the study one of the kids was acting up really badly and so when the study finished Valmira offered a prayer just to ask God to cast the devil out of the kid and then started laughing way hard still praying haha. She´s real interesting. 

One thing i have noticed during my time here in Brazil is how slowly everyone sings. Its literally like the hymns are at half speed. I always catch myself starting to sing the next note way loud before everyone else even thinks about it . 

We had some really good lessons this week about the Gospel  of Christ and it really made me think about the importance of the sacrament and the importance of attending church! Weekly meetings give us the chance to use the redeeming power of the sacrament every single week, We have the chance to receive a remission of our sins and renew our baptismal covenants. 

We talked a lot this week about the importance and power of our prayers. The story of Enos is so cool to me and I really love how it shows the power of prayer not only for ourselves but for anything/anyone we are praying for. I know without a doubt that heavenly father is listening to every single one of our prayers and answering them! have faith! Enos 1:12

Today is transfer day but still no one in our house has received any news so we are just waiting to hear about that!! 

love elder prince

[Elder Prince is being transferred to the Mandacaru area in the city of Jequie.]

April 24, 2017 letter - Amaralina

Hello to all my fans!!!

this week was awesome! the first thing i wanna mention is our new recent convert Rebeca! her baptism yesterday was super spiritual and awesome, we got to sing I am a Child of God in 3 different languages it was so so sweet. She has been so prepared to be baptised and changed her life so much but she keeps having things come up! When she got home from church yesterday after the baptism she was kicked out of her home and is living with some members for the moment so please keep her in your prayers!! She is already asking to go out and visit people with us and talking about serving a mission.

Elder Cruz, Rebeca, Elder Prince

One huge thing that was highlighted for me this week was the plan of salvation. WE had three of the greatest lessons teaching the plan this week and our investigators love it. Paulo and Grazyele were really touched by the perfection of the plan and the knowledge we have about our purpose in life and how we can improve so much. Both of them really opened up about their lives and how they want to change so much. its amazing to see how fast a person can find this happiness and change their lives. Testifying about the plan of salvation and the opportunity that we have to life with our families again is alway so special for me. I can truly feel the spirit so strongly and the truth of these things. The spirit always rings a familiar bell for me and for investigators too.

We had an awesome mission tour this week from President Costa of the 70 and he/his wife gave such awesome training and talks. It was all in portuguese but i really was able to understand a lot of it. My language is getting better, I've started to get complimented by investigators and ward members. His wifes talk was my favorite part i think. She talked about the power of the priesthood and how everyone has a different role and benefits so much from the priesthood. WE need to be worthy and prepared to use our priesthood at any moment to better the lives of those around us and fufill the will of our Heavenly Father. The priesthood really is the power to allow us to return to heaven thru our saving ordinances. She and elder costa also talked about having more charity in our work and the importance of developing lots of love for everyone. 

Love thy neighbor as thyself!! i love you guys so much

Elder Prince

Sam and his district went bike riding today for P-day

Sam and his district: Elder Prince, Elder Silva, Elder Gifford, Sister Maia , Sister Humani and Elder Cruz

April 17, 2017 letter - Amaralina

This week was prettty awesome. Tueday we started off with a really good lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Crhist with Fernando. He really loved the principle of the Holy Ghost being the cleansing by fire after a remission of our sins. The spirit really was there to testify of the redemptive power of the atonement!! Everytime we start our day with Fernando the rest of the day seems to go perfectly (knock on wood). We found a new investigator Paulo! He is a reference from another investigator and he has a ton of interest/questions! He lost his job recently and he´s been going thru some tough times so he´s really looking for some spiritual guidance. The restoration lesson was going really well until I forgot the first vision hahahaha. We sat there for like 20 seconds of pure silence which is extremely rare to find in Brazil, while I was trying to remember the first line. hahaha. It was pretty embrassing but the lesson ended really well and he was really interested in our message. 

We were finally able to meet with Fabiana again this week, it had been awhile since we had seen her. She's super close to getting married to a less active in our ward and pretty much all they need to do is pick a date for the wedding (probably in May). She and the boyfriend were both in church yesterday and participating a ton so I was super hyped about that!! 

Our baptism with Rebecca is pretty much set for this weekend so please keep her in your prayers! She has come a long way with a ton of opposition from her family but its been so awesome to see how much the gospel has changed her life and brought that light to her eyes. 

One thing i want to share with everyone: Never be afraid to share the gospel or think that you can't because you don't have the right authority or calling! Our recent convert Eduardo was telling us this week that he wants to share the gospel with his family but he has been waiting to get permission from someone at church. We then explained that he doesn't need to get permission and he just needs to spread his wings and share it!! Every member a missionary. 

Spiritual note: Because of Him. Mosiah 16:8-9 is an awesome scripture. 

"But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world, yea a light that is endless, that can never be darkened. yes, and also a life which is endless that there can be no more death."

With Easter yesterday, I have been thinking a lot this week about the Resurrection of Christ. There is always hope for us and our loved ones, the gift of the Savior makes it possible for us to all be together again. 

love elder prince 

April 10, 2017 letter - Amaralina

We had a good week this week! On Monday night we had a really awesome FHE all about a conference talk "it works wonderfully" by Elder Uctdorf and about having eternal perspective for ourselves and for others. The theme of really seeing others through the Lord´s eyes and showing them the love that He would has really been on my mind this week.

Tuesday I did a division with Elder Silva because of mission council and I really enjoyed it! I think it was the day where I did the most walking in all of my mission so far because we were trying to work in two areas! We had two awesome lessons about the Book of Mormon and 1 Nephi 8. 

Wednesday we had a really spiritual lesson with our investigator Cristhina about the vision of the tree of life and where we see ourselves in that vision. She has really poor eye sight and struggles to read on her own so we read thru the chapter and drew a little picture for her. She is showing so much progress and just needs a little push over the top for baptism so keep her in your prayers!! 

Thursday Friday and Saturday were pretty normal days, either soaking wet from sweat or from the rain!

Sunday we gave a date to our investigator Rebeca and she is super excited and wont stop talking about it! its so awesome to see the Gospel give people hope and change their lives!! 

Invitation for everyone this week is to strenthen your testimony of the Book of Mormon! In chapter 10 of Moroni he gives an awesome challenge for everyone that reads the book to pray with real intent about the book. if we pray with true desire to recieve an answer we will receive! Our Heavenly Father loves us and wants to give us answers. A little prayer never hurt anyone and everyone can use a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon and a little chat with their HF. I know the book is true and that God hears our prayers! He lives and loves every single one of us individually. IF you are ever having a bad day don't be afraid to call on them for help and peace and HE will lift you up!! 

love 

elder prince