I'm kind of sad. One of my favorite missionaries of all time, E. McOmber (whom you guys don't know) went home because he had broken one arm and troubles with the other. He had served a good half of his mission with his right arm in a sling because he just wanted to work work work...and he's a really good missionary. I don't know I could ever be like him, but I'd really like to have the same positive impact like he had on the mission. It'd be really great to be able to help other missionaries out like he did, because the divisions he did with me were always very valuable and unforgettable learning experiences.

 

But I dunno. All I know is that I'm really happy because our district finally broke the baptismal curse that's been on it since July and somebody was finally baptized in Viçosa (a reaaaally far out countryside town). I took a bunch of pictures - I think Dad would like them in particular. It's Northeastern Brazil, Dad! Whatcha think? If you guys come out here, you guys can see it too...wink wink. Just saying, don't mind being your tour guide here.

 

The new guy that got transferred to Viçosa's a Brazilian - he's a laid back guy, but I believe it's what that little country town needs. After doing a split with him, he seems like a capable missionary who relates really well to others. His name's E. Barros - he served in the Brazilian army before coming on his mission. Cool, huh? Military guys are getting more respect from the Gubler.

 

Last week has been an interesting experiment with sunscreen. I believe that sunscreen from here is designed to make people sweat - because that's all I do when I use it! I ran out of American stuff here, and I never had any problems with it. But it's alright! I'm just applying it carefully so that it doesn't turn my collars orange - that's what sunscreen does to shirts here. Weird, huh?

 

Bandannas are another thing that are weird here. Nobody uses them. But everybody that's heard that E. Gubler has a bandanna wants one. I've gotten some pretty nifty trades with some spare bandannas I brought here on the mish - they're excellent for staying asleep when the sun comes up at 5 in the morning. Perhaps an order for more wouldn't be uncalled for - it may very well result in some more excellent missionary tech coming my way. :3 Right now I'm in the business of giving basic stuff to the newbies - I'm making tie fasteners right now for 3 new Elders that happen to get to know me in the future.

 

Splits with people that AREN'T missionaries are also pretty awesome too. We've done 2 days of division for each of the last 2 weeks, and man...it's awesome. I really like getting individual members trained and excited to do missionary work. I just gotta figure out how to do it with the women/young women safely, and I think this ward will be a baptizing ward again. We got 10 (!!!) references in the last 2 weeks, so I'm feeling pretty good about life. I'm gonna be having a big activity soon that I've masterminded and delegated to people in the ward (though it looks like I'm gonna have to annoy a few people into doing their part). It'll be cool! The "trained" members will give trainings to the "untrained", and we'll be focusing on just getting out of one's shell and doing member-missionary tasks. I've got some high hopes for this activity, though it'll probably require a little personal money - I'm gonna go to a graphics solution store and buy a bunch of stuff we can hand out at the end as both momento and something to remind people of the trainings we gave.

 

I could theorycraft all day about it. But dude. It's awesome. I'm really excited for this transfer and the possibilities that exist.

 

This week, I also have a personal quote I'd like to paste here:

 

"Nobody gets qualification [from God] against their will."

 

Remember the book of Jeremiah, anybody? He got qualified. He was a stuttering boy that was called as a prophet. In the same way, every day I'm seeing Elders get qualified for their callings because God helps them make 100%. But some...don't. Because they don't want it. And they wonder why they don't. This is the primary lesson I've learned this last week - there's something called "sacrifício" ("sacrifice" in Portuguese) and then there's something called "sacrifácil" ("fácil" means "easy"). You don't have any guarantees until you're sacrificing until it wears you out. The sacrifice will require "all [our] heart", as it is said in the chapter 29, verse 13 of the same book.

 

Anyway. </rant>. I'll be seeing you all next week! Don't forget to WRITE and send this missionary some love. For those who don't know my address...it's on the top of the blog page!

 

Love,

 

-Erich

 

Speaking another language ROCKS

SPEAKING ANOTHER LANGUAGE ROCKS

Know why? Because thinking in another language isn't weird. It's actually pretty cool. And now the barrier that existed between me and Portuguese speakers is largely gone. I only have difficulty with really fast speakers, and music/video. Cool, huh? I'll have plenty of time for the last two after the mission - I just hope that everybody at home doesn't go crazy for it. I wonder if speaking a new language means I might be traveling a lot between Brazil and the US in my future...I certainly want to keep this language after I've abused it so much on the mission. Thanks for the updates and thoughts, Mom - it's not easy to keep a commitment to write somebody every week! I just hope that it's worth everybody's while to read what I've got here. I certainly do type a lot. :P

This week, I've learned several lessons. The last week of a transfer is always different, because many missionaries kind of slump and let the guy that entered. Transfers are very frequent in this mission because cultural familiarity has very different dynamics from even the surrounding states here in the Northeast. My comp was so convinced he'd be leaving that he even packed his bags before receiving the call...and bam. Nobody in the house was transferred. I ribbed him a little bit for it, because he needed it.

Still...I laughed when E. Gage called to give us the transfer info.

Anyway. Looks like I'll be in Bariloche with E. Estephánio for 6 more weeks! I'm starting to like this ward a lot, and now that I'm buddies with everybody it's getting really easy to just say "Hey guys, let's do splits tomorrow!". It's getting easier to find people that are prepared for baptism too - we got 8 references last week, and 4 of them was a family that's been surrounded by Church friends for a really long time. I'm REALLY hoping to baptize this transfer, and I'm willing to work my butt off to just get somebody new into the ward. It's been a few months since anybody new came in...and that's a long time for a ward in Maceió.

I have a newfound testimony of working with the members. We have 7 hopeful people right now, and they're all member references. Prez. Gordon B. Hinckley's quote about a "better way" for missionary work is absolute truth. The happiest parts of my mission have involved getting members and non-members in the same room, and I'd just like to let you guys know that there are some seriously cool people in some locations in places most of the world will never hear of. It's really neat to see God's gifts in people that are "normal", but so very extraordinary.

It's these sort of people that are "good farmers" - they are the people who are analogous to a story that Sis. Gonzaga told us in a leadership meeting. There was once a farmer who was very successful with his production of his corn - every year, he won prizes at the local fair because of his superb crop. At a certain point, a TV interviewer learned that he actually gave out his good excess seeds to his neighbors, to which the reporter replied "But sir, don't you worry that others will be able to compete with you as you give out your good seeds to your neighbors?"

"On the contrary, my good friend, the winds pick up pollen from my neighbors and comes into my own field. If they grow inferior crops, it weakens the quality of my own crops - so to grow good corn, I need to help them grow good corn too."

Same thing with the members. If you ignore them and just go workworkwork, you might baptize - but you're there to build up the kingdom of God. Anything you can do to strengthen the ward's capacity to sustain itself spiritually will only help the Lord's cause in that area. Working with members is different from working with the tracting cycle - it requires much more effort, and it changes in every ward you go to. If you make a mistake at a door, no worries: the chances of you seeing that person again are minimal. But if you make a mistake with a member, you have potential complications for the next few days/weeks/months of your life. Yes, it's tough. But I view it as the milk and the meat - if you're willing to man up and spend the extra effort working with the kingdom of God that's already in your area, you are making the effort to eat the meat - the food that Jesus proposes in John 4:34. Doing His work.

I also found a Liahona article I'll be sending your way soon in my next snail mail. I cried a little bit when I read it, and I'm sharing it with many members and investigators because it's become a part of how I view God's love for us. Hint: hide-'n'-seek.

Last thing I'd like to comment about this week is brainwashing. I hadn't really realized that what almost all missionaries call "brainwashing" is really a normal product of a person trying to rationalize the world around them, in conjunction with that they know of the churches they may or may not go to. I've been modifying my teaching style slowly to reduce the shock from the power-statement type of teaching I've been doing until now. This might come as a shock to my own missionary parents, but I talk about baptism in the first lesson - at the very least to let this person know that we're there to help that person progress to baptism.

Anyway. I've got lots of small things I could mention, but I'm healthy and happy - and really hoping I've got a package or two in the mail for me as this transfer comes to a close! Don't forget to write if you haven't, people - I only get the accumulated mail on my mission occasionally! Just remember that while it is easy to forget the missionary, the missionary does not forget you! Love y'all!

-Erich

Bro Cleiton and the joy of serving

Dude, food in the US is so stinking awesome. Everybody on the mission looks forward to the Wal*Mart stores here (called Bom Preço), because although it's more expensive than the street vendors it's generally of good quality. I think it's kind of funny, because all of the normal US-standard fact charts and stuff have stickers over them with the Brazilian-standard ones. They even have Sam's Club here (see photo!), but I don't see most normal people going into it. P-Day was pretty good after we left, though I really want to visit a Catholic church sometime during the next transfer. 

 

I've learned a lot this week about completing my purpose through something I call the demand cycle, which God probably uses up to even the Prophet. It's used in many parts of the church as I understand it, and I plan on using it as long as I live (provided I don't develop something better!):

 

1) Make goals

 

2) Execute your work!

 

3) Evaluate your results honestly. What was good, what can get better?

 

4) Make new goals, and try your darndest to apply your new resolutions!

 

Unfortunately, not everybody (in fact, hardly anybody!) uses goals or personal organization of any sort with the people I work with. It's frustrating sometimes to have a lot of people flop out of going to church and giving up just because it's early, but alas...it happens a lot. We've made over 60 new investigators here this transfer, and only one of them went to church once. Welcome to Northeastern Brazil! ç_ç I do a lot of demanding, burning, and correcting with the evangelical influence here, especially to the less-active members. I have a good relationship with them, thank goodness - they trust me when I tell them that certain discrepancies in their belief they want to maintain are wrong, or when they're just needing to repent and DO things differently. That doesn't mean they'll do it, but I think fellowshipping the less active is importantly as a missionary. I'm actually going to be doing splits with the less-actives who have (relatively) strong testimonies, but have something else stopping them from getting to church (i.e., work). It'll be good for them, because right now they're excited.

 

I more worried about a super activity I came up with that I call CTMM (Centro de Treinamento para os Membros Missionários). It'll be a big training with rotating classes that will give hints and do brief practices with the members on doing "member missionary" tasks, like inviting friends, participating in lessons, helping out less-actives, and so forth. It'll be roughly an hour and a half, and right now the clock's ticking. I feel confident, though, that with delegation it'll be a delight to execute. Right now...I'm just enjoying P-Day. :P

 

The man who hosts the missionaries, who reminds me of Uncle Steve, passed by Itabaiana the other day when he dropped off a missionary couple that had just arrived on the mission. He told me about Cleiton, the one firm person (man!) I baptized there. He's currently on the amtrak to getting the Melchezidek priesthood, and will be doing baptisms for the dead in November. Dude! A convert of mine's going to be going to the temple while I'm still on my mission!

 

I'm...just so happy. I literally cry with tears of joy when I think about that. My mission's already worth it. As Elder Holland said: "You bring me that one convert, and then the rest is icing on the cake." I just...wow. I feel light and ready to just workworkwork. I just wanna help other people like I helped that one guy - though really, it was he who helped himself the most! He was the guy who decided to just stop smoking after we taught about it, after going a pack a day for 12 years. He was the guy who almost literally told us "Look, you guys are messengers of God, right? So what you're telling me are His commandments, and I'm gonna do my part." He even accepted being a home teacher before being baptized, without being informed of the system of callings we have in the church.

 

Wow. I think he had more faith than I did at that time. :P

 

Now I just...I dunno. I love being a missionary. I love everything that my friends have family have done to help me get to the point I'm at, and I'm really looking forward to...well, the rest of my life! One step at a time, though, right?

 

My final lesson for this last week is not to even tempt people to Bible Bash. We taught this one lady this last week who was so determined to tell us about her beautiful thoughts of Jesus that she almost forbid us from making a closing prayer, and this went on for roughly an hour and forty minutes. I had to finally stand up and tell her we were leaving, because I could have been out searching for people who God had prepared for me at that moment. She went quiet and finally let us out. I was pretty stressed by the time we got out. But it was certainly a noteworthy lesson she inadvertently taught me. Did you ever have a lesson like that, Mom and Dad?

 

Anyway. Thanks for the letters, Mom! I got a letter with photos of Shawn and...Mitt Romney?! Big surprise, I guess. But Shawn's getting an afro! Dad, is it possible Shawn has more of your genes than Mom's? I'm not sure how I'd feel if I had an afro right now. It's be kind of cool, though. Hey, maybe this means I'm less likely to go bald? :D

 

So...I've gone and blabbed a lot. But I love you guys so much. Thanks for all your sacrifices to get me here and keep me here, and giving me the opportunity to meet really neat people like Irmã Borges! I hope you liked her, because I don't know many people who're currently planning visits like that to Utah! I hope everything's going well at home, and that everybody's happy and healthy. I pray for you guys every day, and hope that Shawn will have at least as many opportunities as I've had to grow and become a vessel of God's light that he gives freely. Don't forget to write, everyone! I love emails and snail mail! I also love peanut butter. 

 

Até a próxima, gente! Amo-os!

 

42 - Sam's Club. Squeee!

45 - Big ol' Evangelical church that's close to the Bom Preço. The people didn't like me and Elder Gage visiting, though we were very polite.

58 - My comp bought (16 rolls of!) this toilet paper because he "liked it". He's probably going to be transferred next week, and he already knew that. o_0 Whee, companionship.

 

Love,

Erich

 

Dinner. Yum!

Greenie Elder Estephanio

General Conference

This week had a TON of meetings. First we had the Leadership Meeting, which was epic - the new assistant convinced Prez. to use themes from Gladiator and Star Wars. It was the best meeting EVER. And I left that church building feeling super excited about LIFE.

 

After this, I went on a division. It was weird, traveling to the country (literally had to travel 2 hours by bus to get to that part of the district) of Alagoas, but it was super pretty, and very peaceful. I can see now why people would like to live in the country...and I when I got back to Maceió itself I felt pretty harassed by the constant hustle and bustle. Even everybody's attitude there is different - and it's one of the closest country towns in Alagoas! Weird. But it was a really good mission experience. I just regret not having a camera with batteries!

 

The highlight, of course, was General Conference. GC in English was SO great...I was way more focused on getting something out of it, instead of struggling to understand the slightly different language that the GC translator uses. Super-formal speech, like English, is rather different in Portuguese - unfortunately I don't have a lot of practice with it yet. Right now I'm more focused on being spiritually edified than proving myself by surviving GC in Portuguese. I really liked the talks that were given, and I hope that the next time will be just as good. I think the first session especially was aimed at me, with Prez. Eyring's talk about the carvings, titled "No One is Destined to Fail".

 

I'm really grateful for my Mom and Dad. They didn't carve me anything, but they left me with something a lot more precious: my vision of the future. Dad'll deny he had any part of the good in it, but I know that without the combined influence of the both of them I wouldn't be the same person. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

 

This transfer is turning out to be really good. I'm learning how to handle a lot of new things as DL, and now it's getting less stressful. It's like all parts of my mission - stressful and hard at first, but as time passes it gets easier because of the development I had to undergo. I know that as I continue on my mission, I shall continue to be refined. I'm grateful to have the restored gospel strong enough in my life that I have the desire to share it with the whole world. It's the best gift I've ever gotten in my life.

 

It's kind of weird to realize, in the meantime, I'm liking GC. And super-young missionaries?! Dude, what are we gonna do with the flood of greenies? I agree with the decision, though. People having an earlier opportunity to go on a mission gives Satan less time to work on somebody with doubts and other interests. I'm really excited to see the newbies that'll be getting here inevitably.

 

Anyway. Dude, Spanish is almost exactly Portuguese. It's easy, especially after spending a transfer with a Mexican. It's useful, though I never plan on giving up on Portuguese. Perhaps I'll get a job with it! Certainly I'm using it a lot when I talk to other Elders every week on the phone. I just hope that the newbies aren't so fresh they go giving the older ones a bad name. :P But we'll see! I believe the church is guided by inspiration!

 

So. Gotta run! But thanks for your constant letters. Don't forget to bother everybody else about writing!

Love,
Erich

Ups and Downs and Ups

District meeting this last week was a LOT better. As luck would have it, the APs decided to drop in at the last minute and really gave the district the much-needed boost of excitement. All in all, I really enjoyed basing my training around the figurative part of 1 Corinthians 12 - anybody who wants proof that Christ organized a church oughta check it out!

 

Another novidade (Portuguese word for "new thing") is that I've discovered I have some weird quirks in the way I work that I'm barely noticing. First is that I hate actually writing in my planner that I'm going to apologize to somebody. I mean, yeah, it's necessary, but I dunno...doesn't that seem a wee bit ridiculous? Setting a time and date for apologizing? I've also discovered that in my time here on the mission basically every scrap of paper I decided was worth keeping I went ahead and laminated.

 

Blaaargh. I'm streeeeessed. But...the gem can't be polished without friction, right? Thankfully my companion just tries to support me with the weird stuff I do when I get stressed.

 

New first of my life: giving a 20-minute talk. Add-on details: it's in my second language, and I was designated to give said discourse with less than 48 hours to go. When I finished with my talk about family, I looked up and realized I'd actually hit just about perfect with my timing. I must be getting better at this whole talking in public thing. Or perhaps my inhibitions of speaking whatever comes to mind have just diminished? I'm not sure there's much of a difference. :P

 

Please don’t forget to write me.

Love,

 

Erich