April 15, 2013
Dear Family,
I’m now in Santarém.
Look for it on Google maps.
It’s in the middle of
the rain forest and has very few paved roads. There is a stake here that was
formed about a year ago. The zone is doing well with the exception of a
few areas, with whom I have done divisions with to help out. Yesterday I had
a really great experience helping a family prepare the papers to get married
they are really fun and where really excited to marry so that they could get
baptized. I attached two pictures.
One is of the family I helped get married (they are Raimundo and Jess,
and they live in Santarém) the other picture is the view from the super cool 3
story house where I live (the staff house). [The pictures weren’t
attached so I’ve put in a pic I found on Google.]
I also got to teach a
man (Rodrigo) that is was really prepared to be baptized about tithing.
It was really cool. Afterwards I did his baptismal interview.
It was amazing to get to know him and play a small part in his
conversion. He was a referral from a member. The member was old
friends with him and invited him to an Adult singles retreat, and the young
adults of the stake all helped him integrate into the church. It also
helped that he is 27 good-looking single and plays the guitar... he
probably won’t be single for long. So give referrals to the
missionaries!!!! Comparing my mission with the mission in Moscow, one of the
largest differences is that here the members talk a whole lot about the church
with others and are not as shy about inviting friends. There are a few
other differences but that is one that we can control regardless of our culture
of population. There is a part in PMG that says that "nothing
happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach". Before
my mission I preferred to bear my testimony with my actions, and be an example
to nonmembers. This sort of tactic in missionary work I have come to
realize is a little bit unbalanced. We
also need to invite. Without an invitation it is almost impossible for
people to change. So Dad, you talked a little about how there will be a
lot more missionaries in our area with few people to teach personally I think
this is one thing that is lacking that could help a lot. Our family is
really good at the example part showing others what we believe and that we are
Mormons but our family I think can improve a lot on the other side of the
missionary work that is the invitation. Remember to help the ward with
this they will need some strong leaders to show them the way. The best
leaders lead by example!
To finish up...
Ellis, my favorite
food here is Tacacá, and the craziest thing I have eaten is Turú (worms that
eat wood, you eat them raw)
Emma, I hope you took
don’t get nervous about the track meets, you just need to beet yourself the
others don’t matter.
Eliza, what did you
end up deciding about the mission?
Dan, I hope you passed
your belt exam!!!
So I’m a little out of
time to write.
Love you all!!!
PS. I sent a letter to
Quincey so I hope she will respond here in about a month.
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