In the Field - Pyro Punk Punts Puny Pesquisadores!

Holy effetch goodness. This week was awesome! I'm learning Portuguese and teaching English to Brazilians. I'm baptizing men. I'm helping people get closer to Christ. I'm...I'm...

Ohey. I'm a missionary.

It's weird to realize that I'm in the swing of a missionary lifestyle. I don't question how I'm doing stuff now. I just do it. Gaaaah. I also realize...it's way the heck simpler than real life.

That said, time to report in on what's been going on in that "simple" life.

So. First thing's first: ELDER HOLLAND IS GOING TO COME TO OUR MISSION ON THE 25th. FEEETCH **foams at the mouth and claws at the air**. We're gonna get a freaking apostle here. One of only twelve in the world...and the one that tends to be the most fiery in his discourses. Many of the Elders here are telling each other "Repent, repent! The fires of judgement are at hand!" There's almost certainly gonna be a little burning here in the Maceió Brazil mission. I just hope I can snap a few pictures of it!

I also need to take pictures when other awesome things happen too. Like going to the churrascaria (which is a Brazilian steakhouse, and incidentally one of my weaknesses) with a member. Or when we BAPTIZE OUR FIRST MAN EVER ON THE MISSION.

Fetch. Yes. It actually happened. Luis Carlos is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - and is my first baptism of an adult male ever. This is awesome, because proportionally there are many more women converts on our mission than with men. These men also become critical parts of the Church, as they become holders of God's Priesthood and ministers to their (sometimes future) family, and best of all their lives are blessed in ways that are otherwise impossible to obtain.

There's also three announcements I would like to make. The first is to my brother, Shawn! It's his birthday on the 24th (if memory serves), which is tomorrow! He turns 16 - and that means he's DATEABLE. Bahaha. I love you, my bruh!

Second is a congratulations to Chad Schirmer, one of my teachers at the Provo MTC. If something didn't change his plans, he's getting married on the 26th! Irmão Schirmer! Send me some pictuuures! I want to see the results of that photobooth rental you told me about!

The third and final announcement occured sometime last Thursday:



Yup. Elder Holland and the missionary leadership aren't the only ones burning stuff! I do believe I'm going slightly crazy in a good way. I keep waking up in the middle of the night...and I'm teaching a lesson in Portuguese. Perhaps it was my lack of baptisms for the last five weeks before Saturday?

So. With that faintly coherent post for this week out of the way, I'll leave y'all back to life. BUT. As usual, it's time to humbly grovel for mail! I love it when you guys are willing to take the time to update me! Just remember: all shall be justly rewarded once the missionary returns from the land of beans and rice.

HOLY FETCH CRAZINESS

I think I might do a bi-weekly program. Yeah. Mebbe. We'll see. But I've recorded what I want to say for this week, never fear! The content isn't lost, just...not here yet! :P

Also. Just because I have to every week:

http://www.ywconnection.com/Lesson%20Help/pageM2L21thefirstepistleoftheelderstothedeadletterwriters.html

Erich's post address is:
Elder Erich Gubler
Brazil Maceio Mission
Av. Dom Antonio Brandeo, 333 Sala 402
Ed. Work Center, Farol
57021-190 Maceio - AL
Brazil

In the Field - Vol. 7 of 95(ish?)

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW AWESOME THE LAST TWO WEEKS HAVE BEEN.

Nope. And neither do I, because there's always so much that's it's hard for me to piece it all together from recollection alone. BUT. This is why I have a journal. *whips out the journal*

So. First thing I want to discuss are the things that actually happened. The past two weeks have had a lot of ups and downs. The end of the last transfer was a lot of working on member references that didn't end up too well, and a lot of effort went down the tubes. It was kinda frustrating. BUT. We got our butts off the floor, and we started doing some serious knocking of doors. People got pulled over on the street by us every minute because BY GOLLY WE WERE DETERMINED TO GET THAT WEEKLY BAPTISM.

Well. Okay. That weekly baptism didn't happen this last week. BUT BY GOLLY WE'RE DETERMINED TO BAPTIZE THIS WEEK.

We've got a bunch of investigators now that are actually interested in hearing what to say. One of them actually pulled us over and told us to go to his house so that he could learn more about the Mormon church. We starting establishing appointments for teaching, and in two weeks he's stopped drinking, giving up coffee, and taking steps to get married so that he can get baptized. The other had his door knocked, got taught a very small bit, and was interested enough to get up less than 10 hours later and go to the same church some weird white Americans told him about. Less than 3 hours after that, he welcomed those same weird white Americans into his home AGAIN and was like "Dude. This is awesome. Sign me up."

This, my friends, is exactly why I'm here. In BRAZIL. Because I know that this stuff changes lives, and that those changes are immediately obvious if you just let 'em come.

So. It's also time to discuss stuff as they stand with the blog. As I understand it, people actually read this blog - sorry for not updating again! A little discipline with my priorities goes a long way in respect to actually getting stuff done here...so I'll try to improve. As usual, don't forget to write! I'm able to much better respond individually than with just mass-updating here. Have a good week, everyone!

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In the Field - Vol. 5 of 95(ish?)

"Feeetch." - E. Biddulph, meu treinador

Yeah. This gets said a lot because I tend to do some dumb things as I'm learning how to be a real missionary. I felt like this last week, when I realized that according to my communication priorities on P-day I couldn't afford to write another blog post. The question is...what am I gonna do about it?

The answer's simple. I've gone three weeks without posting something legit (notwithstanding my mother's publication of context in family correspondence...o_0), and thus I've got to write the boatload of things that I want to say. Know what that means?

EPIC TRIPLE POOOOOOST

I can't really put into words just how much STUFF has gone on these last few weeks. I have to read my journal just to remember everything that happened yesterday, there's so much going on. Every night. I come home and I just want to sleep...but hey. I don't have a servant like some of the rich people have here. Somebody's gotta keep record of what's going on!

SO. I'm going to discuss many things, and I'll try to present the most exciting stuff first. This is, of course, about everybody that isn't me - the investigators of the Church! Last week, Elder Biddulph and I baptized for the first time this transfer. I carried out the ordinance myself for our oldest one. On 3/17/2012, roughly 7:14 PM, in my timezone, in Siqueira Campos, Aracaju, Sergipe, Brasil, I baptized Bruno Piedade de Souza. He's 15 years old, likes video games, and is a really intelligent guy. Bruno, if you're reading this right now, I just want to let  you know that you've made a great leap in a great journey - one I'm still going on. It starts with your decision to listen to your heart, and it ends...well, never, if you're always listening for His guidance.

It reminds me of when I was in the CTM. When I first arrived on this mission, I had doubts - in reality, I had a weak understanding of the gospel, though now I pretend no mastery. However, when you understand enough of it to be able to help others feel it's true, to help them understand well enough that they can explain it to their friends...that's when I feel I've hit a milestone. I'm real proud of our investigators' decisions to seek the answer they will surely find, and to have the courage to follow through with the things they can only understand in their hearts.

Also, I'm reminded of the scrutiny that non-intellectual matters receive back at home. In the US, everything seems up for questioning - we are constantly reminded that the existence of God is an assumption. We're also reminded that religion of any kind is a certain set of assumptions that physical observation does not support directly, and as such is an antiquated, arbitrary tradition that serves little purpose in a modern, industrious world.

It's such a contrast with here. The only person I've met here in my month (WOOT. FIRST MONTH.) of serving in the field that's actually expressed

any doubt in God or in Jesus Christ was a super-depressed kid who we're still teaching. I don't know what's got him down yet, but the fact that he was willing to be taught how to pray and to at least try to communicate with the only being who loves him more than his mother indicates to me that he really is just starved for a little hope.

This thought leads me to two others. First is hope. The people that we find are the most teachable are the ones who are hoping - for something better, that it's not worth giving up and settling for the level they're at. The people that will humor us in the hopes they might gain something new are usually the ones that end up getting taught everything we've got - and let me tell you that I can see a difference. I can see a difference in the faces of the converts in this church, who remember the before and the after. The basic sentiment never varies: they're glad to be in a church that offers what none other has. What that actually is tends to differ. Some people are excited to know how to finally receive guidance that comes from without and is received within. Others are happy to know that they have found a spiritual family, people who are doing what they know to be right, and that they can be surrounded by good influences. Others still are grateful for the continual flow of knowledge in the scriptures and the words of modern prophets.

Myself, I'm just glad I'm at the point that I can assist others in finding this gift. This mission here is one of the most important parts of my life, and I'm determined to make it worthwhile.

1st care package:

Amidst the sweets and myriad personal noms my mom included, the only thing I really can say is this: it's been three months since I've had a mommy, although Sister Gonzaga (President's wife) tries hard to take care of us. I love them both, but nobody knows me like my dear mum. I love you, Mom! Thanks for the care package!

Aw, man. I've barely scratched the surface of what's been going on here. But time's a-tickin'!

So. This is my trainer, Elder Biddulph. He's actually not anywhere near this lazy when it's not P-day. I hadn't really had that much of an appreciation for his work ethic until I went on splits in a trio in my area the other day. Usually it's hard to teach well in a trio, simply because it's harder to stay in sync between the three of you...but that ended up not mattering, because one of the missionaries actually took a nap while we and the other tag-teamed the lesson. I was a wee bit nervous about this, as the other Elder didn't speak any English because he's from Bolivia. BUT. It all turned out okay in the end.

My trainer:

He's pretty adept at surviving on a missionary diet. Whenever we don't feel like living off varied combinations of bananas, yogurt, cereal, oats, leite em pó, chocolate em pó, and/or water.

So! Yeah. Life be good here in the Siquera Campos castle. My legs are beefing up now that I walk for roughly 4 hours of the day (if we're having an okayish day). Health is good, though I'm hoping my heels won't turn into callused lumps. I can't write about every little thing like I know I want to, but to finish off this monster of a post I'll give a condensed list of quotes intermixed with happenstance (maybe):

- "Northwest Brazil. Where you leave the cookies

out, and they get softer." -Me

- "That's great, Elder. Now let's plan so we can

discuss [what would happen if we married] our cousins." -E. Biddulph

- "Team Poptarts for the WIN." -Me, playing basketball with an investigator and the other three missionaries. And yes, our half won. :3

- "I'm so glad the gift of tongues is choosy." -E. Biddulph, commentary on a "hottie" in our area.

- "If your mother died and you went on a double date with your dad, would that be a bad thing?" "Depends. Is he paying?" -E.'s Biddulph and Chandler, no idea how this came up.

Bahaha. The Elders are always saying hilarious stuff. But time's starting to run out...and I'll leave you with another plea for updates! There are some of you whom have yet to contact me at all on this mission, and I speak to those of you in particular. Are you alive?

Oh. Yeah. And I saved the best quote for last, of course.

"Victory is not when your circumstances changes, victory is when your heart changes." -Nick Vujicic, motivational video shown at the last Zone Conference.

Testing!

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