it was like missionary matrix

This last week I was able to learn a bunch. We have been teaching this family of 3 (Sandra, Moises, and Sarah) this last couple weeks and this Sunday was supposed to be their baptism. On Saturday they were super excited but then after we left Satin had their parents call them and they talked about the baptism and then their parents told them how bad our church is and how bad of an idea that would be to get baptized! UGHHH I am so sad! We are going to do a family home evening with them tonight and I hope it will help out! Yesterday we were getting super stressed because nothing was working out and we were at that point where we just wanted to call it a day and go home. We didn´t do that and the Lord blessed us. We did a street contact with a kid that has 9 years and he brought us to his house and they have a family of 8, 6 of which have the age to be baptized! The spirit told me "just imagine if you would have given up" It was a good slap on the head for me to wake up. 

Oh funny story we were doing contacts and we did a contact with this girl that has about 20 years. Before I knew it she started to lean in and kiss me and I feel like it was like missionary matrix how I dodged it. It was a close one... We explained to her that we are missionaries and we can´t and she was ok so when you go home just take me with you and then before I knew it there she goes again trying to kiss me. At that point we just said to her peace out! (crazy woman!) As we were walking away she said "I will see you at church on Sunday. We will see if goes this Sunday...

Ok one more quick story so we found this Haitian guy and we went to talk to him and here in Brazil you say você é o cara which mean you are the face. Doesn´t make any sense in English but it is a good thing meaning you are super cool. so anyways I said that to him and I guess for Haitians it means you are the faggot. Yeah he gave me a super weird look because he only has been here in Brazil for like 3 months so he hadn´t heard that yet and he looked mad. I said sorry but I was super confused then his friend started laughing because he has been here in Brazil for a year and he explained to his friend that is was a good thing and explained to me that I shouldn´t say that anymore to Haitians...  I got pretty embarrassed.

Well that´s all, Love you all.

Halls in your mouth

Me on top of an ant hill

This last week we were doing a ton of finding to try and get more people for our teaching group. 

We saw a bunch of teenagers playing soccer in the street on Monday and went and joked around with them for like 5 minutes and then I had a kinda cool experience, we asked them if we could share a message with them real quick and they all went and sat down and I felt like a teacher. there were so many teens it was cool, I have never taught that many people at once. The majority of them didn't want anything, but one was elect. It is cool how the spirit tells you who actually wants to hear your message and will actually progress. This kids name is Moises and we got his address and went and taught his family, his mom´s name is Sandra and his sister's name is Sarah and there are two other baby girls but I don´t remember their names. They are super cool. The mom said that she had been praying for more peace and when we taught her it was the first time in a super long time that she had felt real peace. 

We started a new phrase to help our zone to stay excited working in the hot sun. We say "smile on your face, Halls in your mouth, Book of Mormon in your hand, and fire in your bones" so whenever people are feeling tired they put one of those candies Halls in their mouth to make them excited again and it is funny how well it has been working. People are calling us and saying Elder I was feeling super down so I put a Halls in my mouth and found a family of 4! It is funny how a little phrase and Halls makes everyone excited to work. I feel like the company that makes Halls should pay me for making so many people buy Halls now. Everyone is carrying Halls now it is super funny. I even told a couple people in a ward about it and on Sunday they pulled out a package of Halls and said the phrase. Ha ha it is funny how a stupid small thing like Halls can make a huge difference. So remember, if you are feeling down just stick a Halls in your mouth. 

So we had the baptism of a kid named Douglas this last Sunday. He was the only one that wasn´t baptized in his family but finally he decided to take the big step. His baptismal service was super spiritual, his mom went up there to give a talk and she said "I don´t get it, I always tell you to go to church with us and you never went, even once, then these elders come and you go to church and the next week you get baptized." it was funny but it broke the spirit. We had the idea to plan out how his baptism would go, like who would say the first pray what song and so on. That worked out so well as we were filling it out the whole time he would say I want him to pray but I am not getting baptized, then I want him to give a message but I won´t get baptized. We left the paper with him and he just got so excited about his baptism, it was a super cool experience!

Well that´s all I got to say for this week I hope this email is long enough for you mom. 

Love,

-Elder Messick

Douglas' baptism

don´t have a whole lot to say

So it´s not that I am being lazy or anything but today I just don´t have a whole lot to say. 
Our new ward here is awesome and they help out with a ton of stuff. This area is a little harder because the people here aren´t as willing to hear about the gospel. 
We were looking in the area book and found a Haitian guy that the paper said he loved the church went a ton just that he didn´t speak port. only English and french. I read it and was like wait a sec. I speak English! We went there and he was like yeah you came back. He understands Portuguese but responds in English. So I taught him in English. When we taught about the baptism he said yeah I wanted to be baptized but the last elders didn´t understand me. 
We visited him with the bishop who kinda speaks English and he said elder what are you waiting for this guy doesn´t smoke, drink, he lives the law of chastity what are you waiting for just baptize him. So that´s exactly what we did. He is super cool and even cooler I did my fist baptismal pray in English! I always wanted to do that! His name was super hard though. I will send a pic this next week my camera isn´t reading in this computer...
well love you all have a great week!

Back in Sorocaba!

Well here I am, back to where I started my mission, in Sorocaba! I am not in the same ward but I am in the same stake so I am super excited! It was super cool, at church some people from Trujillo came to my ward here in Jardim California and I had the opportunity to speak with them. It was super funny they were like, "Hey! Now I can understand what you are saying", it was pretty exciting. I found out that 2 of the people named Suzanna and Robson that I helped to get baptized moved to another state but are preparing to get sealed in the Temple!!! WOOT WOOT.

My new comps name is Elder A. Souza and no I don´t have a picture with him just yet, I know I am a terrible person. I was at the MTC with him so that is cool that now we get to be comps. He is a super hard worker and before the mission really liked to fight so I need to watch out. Haha. He is short and Brazilian that´s the best description I have. 

So I am loving this area, It doesn´t have very many hills and it is like half the size of my last area so that is super nice! The other 2 elders that were here before us left and my comp and I got here and are super lost! So that´s an adventure, they also didn´t update the area book so when we got here we had 0 investigators so that was a little frustrating. We worked super hard though and were able to bring 4 people to church and I am pretty sure that 2 will get baptized this next weekend, their names are Pamola and Adrian. They are super cool. Pamola is a niece of a member and Adrian we met on the street and invited him to go to Church and he got super excited and went, it was super cool. It was one of those street contacts that you think was just a waste of time but then Sunday comes around and yup there they are, waiting for you at church. It made me super happy. It is cool when stuff like that happens.

I should have taken a picture of our house when we got there, Oh man I don´t think I have seen anything more messy. Like my mom always taught me the spirit can´t be in dirty places so we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned a little more and finally finished. It is so true what my mom said. It is so much better to plan and to study now that is is clean.

Well that´s all I have for this week Love you all! Beijo

Brazil

So just to explain a little more how Brazil is, a dog just walked into the lan house where we are at right now and it is just normal, nobody gives a crap. Haha I love Brazil! So pretty much this last week was awesome! We had so many miracles! 

So the beginning of this week we had interviews with our president and wow he is an inspired man! He told me what I needed to do to make my mission better and it worked out so well, this last week was amazing! I don´t even know what changed other then this last week I was just a little happier to work. I guess it is like what my dad always said, " if you are going to do something, do it with a good attitude".

This last week we did a fast that we would be able to help this one family of 3 people named Maria, Erik, and Carlos Eduardo. It worked out, we have been teaching them for like 4 weeks now and because of a problem that happened with the interviewer we almost lost them but fasting has power! They just changed! The 2 kids were baptized and now the mom is finally trying to stop smoking so that she can get baptized as well. The best part is they all went to church alone this last week! 

So we got the transfer calls and I will go to Sorocaba again. It is sooo hot there, but I am super excited. I will be in the same zone as my first area so I will be able to do divisions and visit my recent converts there! My new companions name is Elder A. Souza I don`t know him yet but I am excited to get to know him! 

Oh best part so I really loved this ward of Engenhonovo and this one member bought me a slack line so I am super excited about that. I haven´t used it yet but I am super excited to try it out! 

Well love you all remember that the small things make the biggest changes!

Yet one more email

Another email from Elder Messick, I know what a surprise, it´s not like these come every week or something! 

Rain season has started again and guess who´s umbrella broke? Yup pretty much every day I just get soaked but it isn´t that bad because it is super hot, but don´t worry mom, I will buy a new umbrella.

So yeah there was this giant bug that entered our house and it wouldn´t die! we would hit it with a sandle and it would just get up and keep on flying! Finally after a ton of spankings the bug finally just sat on the ground and didn't move anymore so we threw it outside!

That´s all I have for this week sorry it is so short. 

Os novidades

Well I am trying to think and this last week we didn´t have a whole ton that happened. We have been having troubles finding new investigators that are good which is strange, that never happens here in Brasil. I feel like we are doing something wrong but I don´t know what. 

This next week we are going to try knocking doors and doing tons of street contacts in one neighborhood. 

Today I had the chance to play American football and it was AWESOME it was a great way to relieve stress. Well I am going to have to run the place we are at is closing right now because today is a holiday sorry! 

love you