Independence Day

Hello everyone,

    

Happy Fourth of July!!  One funny story we walked out of our house yesterday morning and a little girl, no older than 7, said today is your Independence day! It made me laugh that she would know that.  It just kind of made our day.  We have had a great week.  I feel like Elder Jones and I have a great companionship we teach with a flow and a spirit that is incredible.  I'm so grateful to be here in Petrolina. This is one of the best wards in the mission. Everyone is so willing to help us. It really is amazing how a member with a smile on his face can make your day ten times better.  This week we have been teaching a 16 year old named Victor he is just amazing.   In testimony meeting on Sunday, he sat there with tears rolling down his face.  After church he told the members that talked to him that he would be baptised next Sunday. I’m so excited for him and to see his progress. 

One story that touched me this week was that on Monday night the other missionaries asked us to go pick up a cake at a members house.   When we passed by the cake wasn’t done.  The family invited us in, to wait and participate in family night, with them.  As I sat there listening to this family, one by one share testimony and say what they had done in the past week I almost teared up.  Sometimes as missionaries you stay so much in the world, teaching people who don’t care about the gospel, who don’t have the desire to follow Christ and when I saw this family together, following the counsel of the prophet, it was just a beautiful thing it helped me remember my purpose here.  I know that I have to go out and use every possible second to help bring families to a knowledge of the truth.  How I love this gospel.  I hope that we are doing the small and simple things to bring about great things.   Small things like family night, reading the Book of Mormon, prayer, and going to church.  I know that these little things bring about great things.  It’s these simple things that got me on a mission.   How I am grateful for my parents and their diligence in doing these things as I was growing up.  I know that my investigators are also grateful for their diligence.

Last night for our Forth of July party we had a churrasco and made chocolate chip cookies.  We had four American Elders and two Brasilian Elders it was a lot of fun to come together and celebrate a wonderful day.  We also decided to have a wrestling competition after we got done eating and don’t worry Dad, I didn’t let you down. I didn’t lose one match. haha it was a ton of fun. 

I sure love you guys,  I hope you all are doing great! Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Mender 

Memorial Day

Well Mom how are you doing?  I can't believe you're all home and it is Memorial day. Some family barbeque time seems amazing right now.  Well everything is just dandy here in Brasil.  So today is P-day because tomorrow we have a meeting. We are pretty excited.  The work is going great.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get the package you sent.  I hope so.  Well in other news we are working really hard.  I'm pretty happy with life. Did you ever get the pictures I sent home?!!? I'm a little worried its been a few weeks.   Well have a great Memorial day say Hi to the family. Have a great week. Love you mom!!

Hello, Hello, Hello - what a beautiful day to baptise!!!

Well... I would like to say we baptised this week but satan seems to be working triple time on our investigators.  We have one woman named Vanalusia who is just a power house.  I swear when she gets baptised she is going to be the next relief society president of the church.  But she always has work getting in her way and when she doesn't have to work, her family isn't there or some problem.  So She decides to wait one more day but I know this week is going to be the week.  We just have to be strong.  

We also have another family that we are teaching that is just amazing the Grandma is Vania.   She is a well known woman here in Salvador and just amazing.  She has two children Eros and Luana.  Eros is married to a member and is probably one of the smartest guys I have ever met.   He can rap freestyle like nothing else but also is book smart as well.  He is really into philosophy so we have been able to talk about that.  When he read the Book of Mormon he felt an answer that it was true. Now the tricky part is helping him realize it.  I love this family so much.  His sister Luana is also another amazing woman she is single with a 7 year old daughter that has a medical condition which has made it so she couldn't walk her whole life. Her name is Samara. She is just a princess, last month she had a surgery which will help her to walk in the future.  I just love this family.  It is interesting how all three of them have said they can see how God has led us (the missionaries) into their lives.  I'm so grateful for the miracles I have seen with this family.  Last Saturday we had the chance to go do a service project and paint two rooms in the house. It was so much fun to be with the family.  Afterwords they made dinner for us.  I'm pretty sure that's like 100 celestial kingsdom points right there! haha it was amazing.  Sunday the whole family showed up at church.  I'm pretty sure I started crying when I saw that.  They looked like they just fit in the church. I love this work.  You know everyday I wake up tired but something just makes me get out of bed excited and happy.  I love teaching this gospel. It's one of the best feelings in the world.  I know that as we just keep working hard we will see more and more miracles happening in our work. I testify that Christ lives.  He is the son of our loving Heavenly Father and He loves us.  The plan of salvation is perfect. We just gotta do our parts and eternal life is promised to everysingle one of us.  Have a great week everyone.  I love you all!

 

Love,

Elder Mender

Not One Card

Mom,


So here everything is amazing.  We just go out everyday and teach the Gospel. I'm with Elder Ercek.  Its been a blast, its really funny because he thinks he is a profesional comedian.   So every night he does stand up routines for us.   It's pretty wonderful.  We are seeing improvements with the langauge (his).   I feel like this transfer I'm working my hardest.  I definately feel good about life right now.  Like all pistons are running 100%.   Just gotta teach and work with the spirit and all things will work out for my good.   So one bit of sad news.  Last week we had a training with President and I didn't ONE CARD!!!   This is trhe first time on my mission I didn't get ONE CARD.  Do you know what that means? people have forgotten about me.  I thought that would never happen to me, but as it happens to all, it happened to me.  Haha but at least I had an email from you,  dad, and Owen!!!!! Probably the best p-day of my life today.   I dont think its ever happened that I got an email from all three of you on the same day.  I feel good Mom,  I feel like everything is just working out how it should.  I know the Lord has got it all covered.   Can you believe I turn 21 in two weeks?! Man my life has just passed by way too fast. No... its passed by at JUST THE RIGHT speed. I'm happy! No, I'm more than happy with my life! Thanks Mom. have a great week!!!

Love,


Mitch

Three in ONE!

29 March 2011

Hello all!!!

What a crazy couple of weeks. Lets start off with two weeks ago. We had a party for two of our investigators where I made two cakes and bought soda we filled up balloons and had a sweet little get together at the church it went really well and was a lot of fun and then on that Saturday was their baptism!! His name is William and her name is Sandra they are two of the most special people I have ever met.  He told me the on that Sunday that he would serve a mission in New York. It was a very fun day. 

   One night as my comp and I were walking home we found a stray kitten in the road and you know me! We couldn’t leave him in the road so we picked it up took it home gave it a bath and food.  We kept it in our house for the next few days as we found a new home for her. It was the a ton of fun to watch this little kitten learn and grow. Lucky for us, she has a wonderful new home and is quite happy. 

  This last Saturday we had the chance to go out to a farm and do a service project building a new house but the farmers here are so nice they just want to go around feeding you and showing their fruits that we didn’t really get a TON of work done at the house... ha-ha I had to tell him about a hundred times "irmao we are here to work on the house what can we do to help?"  And he always said shut up and eats this fruit. Ha-ha I got to eat cocoa…. did you know it was a fruit? I didn’t... java, sugar cane, coconut, tangerines, oranges, banana and a bunch of other fruits that I don’t even remember the names but it was a very fun day and I learned a lot about a loving people I’m pretty sure they would give away all their fruit and end up with nothing to sell...

    This week we had the baptism of irmao Dina she is the mother of a member and she was also baptized with her other son. It was amazing to see their baptism after we spent so much time teaching them.  They are so special.  The son Eder, won a modeling contest this week... he is 10! Ha-ha I’m so grateful foot the chance I had to serve is Santo Antonio de Jesus because well... it ended.  Today was transfers and I got moved to Barbalho a neighborhood in Salvador. Which should be really interesting. It has a ton of hills and is kind of like the ghetto of Salvador.  I’m excited to serve here since I’ve spent my whole mission in the interior. My new companion is Elder Gross, he is from Idaho!  Yep an American. This will sure be am interesting transfer. Well last night we had to take a bus from our area to Salvador at 2:30 in the morning... well it broke dawn at 3:30 and we had to wait on the highway another hour for the second bus then another bus broke down and we had to wait another two hours to help the second bus that was broken down.  That turned our two-hour bus ride into a 6-hour bus ride and for some crazy reason they decided to not turn on the air conditioning, which normally isn’t a problem, but this bus didn’t have windows that you could open up!!!!! How lame is that. I’m pretty sure I lost about 5 kilos in sweat on the bus ride but hey I guess that’s a good start on my new years resolution huh? 

   Well people I’m super duper excited for conference this week and I hope you are too! It isn’t everyday that we get to hear the words of living prophet.  Take advantage of it and don’t fall asleep like I used to do!!! You miss so much!! Have a great week I love you guy’s tons thank you so much for the support.  I hope to get letters out next week folks so hopefully here un 3 or four weeks you’ll get some cards.  te ammo

Love,

Elder Mender

5 April 2011

Hello all!!!

Well I just want to let you all know I think my area is CRAZY. I swear there is some parts of my area that is worse then rock climbing.  So let me explain real quickly how they built Salvador they took an area of steep hills and built houses on them.... crazy huh? So there are some parts where you literally feel like you are rock climbing.  It’s an adventure. The good news is my legs are getting way strong. I'm quite proud of them. 

   But the good news is we have a pizza place in our area that if you buy ten pizzas you get one free!  So our district has become addicted to pizza I don’t know what it is about missionaries but we love free stuff!

    This last week was general conference and it was amazing. We got to watch the four normal sessions with investigators.  It was just amazing.  I love listening to the words of the Prophets.  It was a lot of fun because I understood everything! I remember my first conference when I didn’t understand anything.  It truly is a miracle to think that now I can kind of speak Portuguese or at least enough to get through teaching people.  Speaking of teaching people we have amazing people that we are teaching here.  We have a man called Luciano who is joining the marines but preparing for baptism this week he is just a complete stud. We have a member named Ceju and his wife that are preparing to get married next month and then they will be baptized. I love teaching people here.  It’s the only time in my life when I know exactly what to say and how to help people.  I’m so grateful for my chance to be a missionary and I love the chance that I have to testify of Jesus Christ ever day.  I know that he is our Redeemer.  I testify that He loves us and is here to help us we just have to go to him.  I love you all hope you have a great week!!  Hopefully next week I can write more. 

Love,

Elder Mender

12 April 2011

Hello all,

Well it’s been another amazing week her in Salvador.   The new area is kicking my trash but I think ill get used to it.  For example one night we were hiking up Mount Everest and when I got to the top I was out of breath ….  for real its crazy! And for a sign the woman that were at the top said, "look at the big one he is dying!!"  I just stopped looked at them and said "yep its true" and we laughed but its not really that funny.  I’m sure I’m going to lose a ton of weight here but I guess that’s a good thing.  Since we heard this week from our President that we are supposed to get married in less than year after my mission.  So I guess now is the time to start that LGN diet. 

   Our investigators are amazing.  Elder Gross and I are teaching like crazy. He is a spiritual power giant.   I love teaching with him.   Last night we taught a lesson to a man who didn’t want to get baptized because he didn’t want to give up relations before marriage and Elder Gross just started dropping what we call spirit bombs on him it was amazing. I'm learning a ton with him.  By the end of the lesson the man said he would prepare for baptism this Sunday! Always a good sign.  My favorite part of a new area is meeting the new members.   And boy do we have some great members here.  This week we ate lunch with a 75-year-old woman and she piled my plate a mile high with food and made of me when I couldn’t finish it!!  She is so funny.  Her husband lives in another state and I said oh that’s sad she said "nope its perfect I lived with him for 50 years if he doesn’t want to stay here now that’s fine with me!!!" it cracked me up hard core.

    Well I sure love you all I hope you have a great week.  And remember READ THE BOOK OF MORMON it’s the best thing in the world. 

Love,

Elder Mender

A Really Happy Week

BOM DIA!!!!

How is everyone doing today?  I'm doing great this last week was a really long week and a really happy week. This Sunday was the baptism of a young man named Crislam.  He plays soccer semi-professional.  He is such an amazing guy. I was so happy he decided to be baptized. He will be an amazing missionary.   We are preparing a man named William and his girlfriend Sandra to be baptized this Saturday. They are so special. I love teaching them they just soak up everything. William told us the other day how Sandra would have to wait for him because he wants to serve a mission. It was such a powerful lesson.  Im pretty sure we all cried.   I love this area when i got here we had a bad rap because the missionaries before us did some pretty bad things but i can tell the mood of the ward is changing and people are starting to trust us more.  I love this work and i can’t imagine a better thing to do with my time. 

   The past few weeks we have been working a ton with the members.  And man has it been helping.  Everyday we do a division with a young man or we do splits with the quorum of elders. And they bear powerful testimony.  They don’t always know how to teach perfectly but you can tell when they bear testimony that the investigator feels the spirit. I love this work. I love that we have to work closely with the spirit or nothing happens. We have to teach people how to gain a testimony of Christ.  I have to run but just to wrap up i want to say read the Book of Mormon. It should be an IMPORTANT part of our lives. Family and personal. We need to read it love it and use it.   I can’t stress it enough and we can’t stress it enough for our investigators.   I hope everyone is getting ready for general conference it will be a great few days when we can refill our spiritual batteries.  I sure love you guys. Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Mender

Updates from Brazil

Heloo everyone!!!

How are you all this week?  Well this week was amazing for us here in Santo Antonio de Jesus.  We had the baptism of a man who is amazing. His name is Rafael and is has 20 years old.   He told us this week how he started going to church because of a girl (see why its good to "flirt to convert"!!!)  But then he realized that Heavenly Father was using her to bring him into the church. Yesterday he went to a family night with us and bore an amazing testimony about the gospel of Jesus Christ.   We also had the baptism of Adriano he is the young man who has been going to church for over a year and his mom didn’t want him to be baptized.  This week he surprised us by saying he got the signature of his dad.  It was a complete miracle and the baptism service was one of my favorite services here on the mission.   They asked me to sing the music from EFY "one voice" in Portuguese and it went really well.   This Sunday they both received the priesthood and Adriano told me that in two years he would serve a mission.  It’s always nice to hear that your converts have an eternal perspective.   It seems like the Lord has been pouring out his blessings on our work the last few weeks.  It is an amazing time to be a missionary here.   

   We are teaching two families who are really amazing. One is a young man whose brother is already a member and he has a lot of problem with the commandments but has made a ton of promises to himself the lord and his family. It is the most amazing thing to see the changes that are happening in his life as he studies the Book of Mormon and is praying. I can really see his testimony growing.   The other family is a family from Argentina some of the family are members and others now.  It has been so much fun to teach this family. Sometimes i have no idea what they are saying but im grateful for the spirit that helps me know what to say!  We usually have really fun lessons full of laughter and the spirit.

    Well this week is Carnival and luckily here in this city it doesn’t mess-up our work.   The only thing that happens is the city completely shuts down and the people who don’t leave to go to Salvador get really drunk but we still manage to find people to teach. Im loving the work.  Hope you all have a great week.   I’ll write more next week. Love you!  

Love, 

Elder Mender

I LOVE the Mission

Bom dia,

Well it’s been a crazy week here. It’s been a crazy transfer. Probably my favorite transfer on the mission. I have learned so much and am thankful for my time here in Santo Antonio de Jesus. You know I always thought that the best transfer on the mission would be when I baptised a million people and saw the numbers that prove that I was a good missionary. This transfer I didnt have any of that. We baptised one person and inspite of all our hard work had about 10 other baptisms fall through. I once heard a missionary say he wondered who was really winning the battle - Satan or us. Well this was one of those transfers were I had to stop and ask if we were really winning the battle. Is my work here in Brasil worth anything? If I’m not bringing people into the church what am I doing here? I’m not trying to be negative it is just a question that I used to analyze my work. Let it be known, I LOVE the mission, I LOVE this work, and I know that there is NO better place on for me on earth than this beautiful land called Bahia. This transfer I had the chance to really get to know the people here. I spent many hours talking to people I now call friends and learning about their pasts. I’ve heard things that I never thought possible that I never imagined was possible. Things in horror movies and tv shows.... but its real and its been a part of my life the past few weeks. I’ve seen peoples lives and families destroyed because of drugs, alcohol and abuse of all sorts. Many of our baptisms fell because families wouldn’t let or wouldn’t support them in their decisions. I often cried myself to sleep wondering how it was possible that our loving Heavenly Father could let things happen. Why a young man of 16 years couldn’t be baptized because his mom wouldn’t let him after more that a year of going to church, being more of a "priesthood holder" than the other young men. Why some of the most faithful saints I have ever seen had to be born into families that beat and abused them. Why loving moms have to live poorer that dirt because some drunk decided to abandon his family, why kids that when you look into their eyes you see the pure love of Christ have to be born to mothers who are drug addicts and can’t take care of them properly. I spent many, many hours struggling with this... of course the simple primary answers came to my head (because our Heavenly Father loves us and knows what he is doing/we have to learn from our trials/ the Lord doesn’t give us more than we can handle) You know, I would love to say that I found out the answer and I came to peace with this problem but the truth is I haven’t. I was told a quote from an apostle who said "sometimes in life we have to be like a stick and not a rock, when a rock is placed in a bucket of water it sinks. When a stick is placed in a bucket of water it floats. Being a stick or a rock you are in the water, a part of the problem but the difference is the rock becomes overcome by the problems while the stick manages to stay a float in the problems and help from the top" as a missionary I’ve had that struggle and I think I’m doing ok. I’m so grateful for the things I have learned and seen here. I know I will never forget my time here in Santo Antonio de Jesus.
Yesterday was transfers and.... drum roll please.... I’M STAYING!! I’m really excited to be staying. My companion, Elder Araujo was transferred and I have a new companion Elder Castro he is from Rio Grande do Sul. I’m pretty excited for this transfer and know that we will have a lot of success. We have been teaching some really good families and are excited to continue working with them. This week we found a woman who just moved here and is recently married she has always wondered why we don’t have prophets today and was really excited for the chance to read the Book of Mormon and pray about Joseph Smith. I know that my calling here is so much more important than a missionary but we are really just tools in the hands of the Lord delivering a message of the gospel. A message of eternal hope.
I sure love you guys hope you all are enjoying a winter with snow because the summer with sun is sure killing me! I don’t see why we cant just get a little snow here in Brasil. I don’t think I’m asking a lot! Remember to study the Book of Mormon EVERYDAY and pray EVERYDAY. It’s really important. It’s how we get the strength to continue on even when you don’t think you can. It’s how the Lord guides us in our day to day life and it’s how we show our love and respect for our Heavenly Father.
Have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Mender

Not a Great Week

Mitch did not write a letter to share this week so I'm taking an exerpt from the letter he wrote to us....

So Monday night/Tuesday morning was really, really rough for me. While we were sleeping our house was robbed. The robber came in the house through the bedroom window, just by my head. He took all our technology...my companion and I are now without our cell phone, ipods, cameras, and watches....but that is not the bad part. We had borrowed a laptop from a member and were making a program for a church activity and it got stolen too! I feel horrible, I never imagined something like that would happen. But I'm so grateful that we are alive, usually robberies don't go that smoothly here in Brazil. But I need to buy this member a new laptop. He is really poor and has done so much to help us and will be starting school again in February. I know I have a few dollars in the bank so please put it in my account. (We just told him to replace the computer)

Sorry I didn't send an e-mail yesterday but we spent the whole day trying to find a phone that worked (to call President Toledo) and looking for a new house...I'm really stressing out right now. I just want to get back to work. We had so many good people lined up to teach and ths is totally screwing up my life. But it is OK, I know it will all work out.

No Energy

12 January 2011

Hello my friends!

How is everyone on this fine day?

So first off I was transferred from Passe to Santo Antonio de Jesus it is a city, in the middle of nowhere, about three hours away from Salvador.  I’m really excited to be here with my new companion Elder Corriea, he is from San Paulo and everyone just says really good things about him!  That’s always good right?  So lets talk a little bit about why I love transfers, especially this one.  Remember the first transfer I had when I got to the home and it didn’t have any toilet paper but I really had to use the bathroom?  I think this transfer might be better.  We got here at 7 at night and  it was already REALLY dark at 7 and well…. we didn’t have any energy.  Wait you ask, Elder Mender, why didn’t you have any energy?   GOOD QUESTION!!!  The answer is because the secretaries forgot to pay the bill!!!  Oh alright, the secretaries are busy guys….that can happen, but here in Brazil they don’t shut off your energy until you don’t pay THREE BILLS, which means the secretaries forgot to pay since last OCTOBER!!  So I got to spend all morning running around a city I didn’t know.  Trying to get the bills paid so that I can have light and water to shower and OH YEAH…..to SEE with!  It was definitely an interesting night unpacking in the candle light.   Let’s hope we don’t have to do that again!

Other than this life is really good and we are excited to start off this transfer strong.   Last week some fun things happened, I got to speak in church and it actually went really well (last week was my first time giving a talk here in Brazil).  I guess that means my Portuguese is getting a little better!  It was interesting because I remember as a youth getting asked to talk for 5 minutes and only taking two!   Sunday I was asked to speak for 20 but with how things went I ended up having 30 mintues and I’m pretty sure I could have kept going for another 30!   I don’t know why when I was younger I thought it was so hard to speak.   There is just so much to share and say!  I love it!  I found out I get to share another talk this week.  Two Sundays in a row!  Woot! Woot!

Well I guess that is about it.  Sorry I don’t write an email every week but life has been really, really hectic lately and sometimes I forget or don’t know what to say.  I hope you all know I love you.  Sorry if you haven’t gotten a letter from me in a while….I blame the mail service here in Brazil because, I promise, I really am writing! 

Have a great week and remember, if it is not already a habit, you have to read the Book for Mormon everyday!!!  Just like Nike says “Just do it”!

Love to you all,

Elder Mender

Happy New Year

28 December 2010

Hello Friends and Family,

First off, I hope you had a Merry Christmas and I wish you happy New Year.  Just so everyone knows I respond to every card I get. So if you write me and don’t get a card back you can know one of two things, I did not get it or some Brazilian postal worker decided to try and read English (your card from me) sorry if you have not heard from me but know that I love you and I am grateful for all your support.  Really I am.  So the past few weeks have been amazing.  We have been working really hard and seeing a ton of blessings. One of these blessings is a man named Christian. He is super humble and super spiritual he bore his testimony at his baptism and told everyone how he knew the Book of Mormon was true from the very first time he read it with us. It was amazing.  Today the zone played soccer so we decided to wake up way early and go play (we live in the middle of nowhere) well I’m no Brazilian but I’m definitely learning this tricky game. It was a lot of fun.  Then as we were coming back we passed a store called "cacao show”, which is without a doubt , the best chocolate in the world. If you’re lucky I might bring you back some in two years.   So that was fun.  I’m trying to think of other stories to tell.  I’m extremely tired, we have just been going non stop this transfer, which is amazing.  We have so many lessons that most days we have to do divisions with members or we can’t teach everyone.   We are teaching a family the mom is named Lenina.  She is a single mom and has four boys, 11 to 17, and they are such a humble family and way fun to teach.  Because of Christmas and everything we didn’t have a lot of people at church this Sunday but I know in the next few weeks we will have a lot of people.  Speaking of Christmas I think I gained about 100 pounds in two days. The sisters here just feed you, and feed you, and don’t let you stop eating. If you try and stop they just pile it on your plate for you.  Christmas eve and Christmas day was rough but I guess I can’t complain because I love the food here and they really do their best for Christmas.  I’m so grateful for the chance to be here.  Our district decided to go caroling in the town square last week and it was a lot of fun. We had some people stop and listen but we usually had to chase people town and tell them we had a present for them (a pamphlet, DVD, or Book of Mormon) to get them to listen to us.  I’m so grateful for this time of the year when we get to remember the birth of Jesus Christ.  I know that he is the Savior and Redeemer of the word.  I am honored that I was considered one worthy to be a representative of Christ.  I love Him and am grateful for his eternal sacrifice, which makes it possible for us to be clean of our sins and, if we endure to the end, live with our families with our Heavenly Father for eternity. 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful end of the year. 

Love,

Elder Mender

Have I Told You It's Getting Hot?

8 December 2010


Hello Meus Queridos Amigos,
This week was another great week! Have I told you it’s getting hot here? Yeah it’s a whole different kind of heat I think my body is mad that it has been hot for ten months straight and hasn’t had one cool day but it will survive. I hope...
We are teaching a ton of amazing families! We found a family who some Sisters have taught in the past. We also found a man named Ruam who wanted to get baptized when he was younger but his mom wouldn’t let him and now that he is 20 it’s his own choice. It has been really neat this week as we have been prompted to walk a different direction then are normal pattern and in these moments we find these people that seem elect.
I’m so grateful for this month of December and for the chance to be a missionary we are using the birth of Jesus Christ in our contacts and seeing a lot of Success I love the spirit that this season brings.
I do have one cool story that I want to share. The other night me and my comp were walking in the street and a woman stopped us and was talking to us as she realized what we do she asked, "Are you happy? Because I don’t believe two young men like yourselves could truly be happy doing what you’re doing." As I thought about that question I was hit with huge sense of peace and joy and I was able to testify that I really was the happiest vie been in my life and that I could think of no other place I would rather be. I know that I was called to serve here by a prophet of God and that as I sere with all my heart might mind a strength I will continue to be blessed. I hope that during this month we all can seek to strengthen our testimonies of Jesus Christ and then go and share it with others for this is what really brings us joy. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Thank you so much for all your support!
Love,


Elder Mender

Thanksgiving

November 23, 2010

Hello everyone!!

Well this week was a great week.  We got a lot done and have a lot of fun stories.  The first one starts out Saturday night we were sitting in a lesson with a woman who had a baptism date for next week and I felt like I needed to invite her to be baptized the next day...  It’s really hard to try and convince someone to be baptized the following day but I thought hey why not she is ready!  So I gave her the challenge and at first she said no, I'm going to be baptized next week.  But it was really cool to be able to respond to everyone one of her concerns, and finally she just stopped sat there in silence for what seemed like three hours and then she said "ok I'll do it"... with a huge smile on her face it was the most exciting thing in the world!  So cool. So we hard her baptism this Sunday which was one of the best baptisms I have ever been to very spiritual everything just went together perfectly.  The branch here is really starting to come together here and it is a very neat thing to witness I am very excited for this area.  We had another cool lesson where we sat down and instead of the lesson we had planned we just got out our hymnbooks and would sing a hymn and then share a message about it and then sing another hymn and share a message about it. It was a very fun lesson and also really spiritual it was just what the investigator needed on that day. I'm so grateful for the hymns and the spirit they bring when we sing them as a praise to our Father in Heaven, we taught another lesson last night actually which was one of the most powerful lessons I or my companion have taught.  As we walked in the door we both knew that we needed to talk about the word of wisdom so as we asked him about it he told us he had a problem with the word of wisdom with smoking and coffee.  I swear the whole lesson I was just sitting there writing in my planner scriptures and outlines of messages that came to my head and I saw the word of wisdom in a whole new way. I'm so grateful for this commandment, which really blesses our lives more then, we can know.  It was interesting the week before he had told us he wasn’t baptized because he hadn’t felt the "desire” we were able to bear strong testimony that it was because of the word of wisdom that he hasn’t felt that desire.  Its like this we know that the spirit touches our hearts and that’s what gives us the desire. Our bodies are temples of Heavenly Father and that is why we can have the spirit touch our hearts but if we are doing everything in our power to keep these bodies clean (drugs, alcohol, smoking, coffee) we aren’t showing respect for the temple of God and the spirit cannot and will not be with us and for this reason we don’t feel the spirit.  For a long time I always thought the word of wisdom was so that we could have energy and health but it’s so so much more than that. That’s why one of the blessings is hidden treasure of knowledge or a testimony!!  The law of chastity is the same exact thing and every other commandment that God gives we have to keep them BEFORE we get that witness or testimony of the trial of our faith.  And then he told us well ill try to stop smoking but I don’t want to make a promise I cant keep. Well that doesn’t fly!  You can say that about anything and stay promise free and never have a responsibility the rest of your life but we have to learn to make promises and commitments. It’s that way of our Heavenly Father only he calls them covenants.  SO we got to share a story with him of a man who kept the hardest promise of all who made a promise and kept it even thought he was scared and didn’t know if he could keep it but he did!  And it is because of this man that we are all here and have the chance to one day return and live with God for eternity it is because of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Yeah we are going to mess up we are going to make mistakes but it’s ok. Its part of the plan.  The question is are we going to let the atonement of our Savior be in vain or are we going to do everything we can to repent and use that sacrifice in our lives.  We can use it for anything to stop smoking, to stop bad habits, to repent of a sin, and to get back the joy and happiness that we are supposed to have in the life.  I know the Jesus is the Christ. I know that God is our Heavenly Father and is just waiting for us to keep the commandments so he can bless us.  I hope you all are reading the book of Mormon because that book is key it can become our personal liahona it is how we can receive the personal revelation. Never forget that the last part of the gospel of Jesus Christ is endured to the end.  Never stop just keep pushing on and you will be blessed.  Im so grateful for the chance to be a representative of Jesus Christ for this short time.  I know this is where im supposed to be and I love it here.
I love you all and I hope you have a great week and a great thanksgiving!!

Love, Elder Mender

Hey, Hey, Hey

October 27, 2010

Hey, Hey, Hey!

So I have a ton to tell today so lets just jump right into it!  What an amazing week we had! It was super busy, super happy, and super sad! All at the same time!  Já pensou?!   So lets start off with last P-day. So that night we went to teach the family we encountered who had the doubts with coffee and marriage.  When we started the lesson he told us he quit coffee and was going to get his marriage papers the next day!!!  This family is so elect.  I absolutely love them!  Whenever they learn a commandment from God they just do it.  As I was thinking about the differences between this family and others families I’ve taught the only thing that stuck out is they kept their commitments!  They read every night as a family they prayed together as a family and when they had doubts they didn’t ask us to explain more. They just prayed and asked God they are the most amazing family.  This Friday Elder Merrell and I went to Pilar to help our investigators prepare for baptism.  This is when it gets sad.... well Daisy, one of the women we have been teaching, who was marked for this Sunday got told a bunch of lies by her "friend" so she decided not to be baptized this week. I get so sad when I hear people who are scared to be baptized because of what their friends say.

Have a great week.

Love,  Elder Mender

Just Do It

October 19,2010

Hello hello,

So how is everyone?  I’m doing great, thanks for asking!  This week was an amazing week. Elder Sato and I had some great great greeaaaat experiences.  We tracked into an ELECT family.  Cool story about how we found them we were walking down the street and Elder Sato heard Japanese anime and got all excited saying it was a sign that we had to knock on the door. So we did and bam we found them.  They went to church and we are helping them prepare for baptism they love the church but aren’t sure about marriage and coffee.  But we will get that sorted out in no time.   We also have another young man who we are working with who just accepts everything and is excited for his baptism this Sunday.  Also, in exciting news--the group of members out in Pilar, Elder Merrill and I had a chance to go out and visit them Saturday and we got stopped by another woman who is a member but didn’t know the church was there in Pilar, well she brought her husband, who isn’t a member to church, and we have three possibilities for baptism this week there. Elder Merrill and I will go there Friday and work until Sunday.  This week was just amazing and this next week is going to be even more amazing.  I’m sad that it is the end of the transfer but im so glad I got to be here for this transfer. I have learned so much and grown a ton.  One of things that we have been focusing this week is helping our investigators understand that they can receive answers to prayers. This is such an important part of the gospel. I hope everyone is praying. I know that God loves hearing our prayers and that he is ready to answer and will answer.  I have received so many answers in my life and especially here on the mission.  Prayer is real; prayer is powerful and prayer works. In the words of an important man "just do it"

Love, Elder Mender

I Like to Think I'm Tough

Well how do I say this... this week was... AMAZING.  I swear every week on the mission just gets better and better.  It was funny we were talking as a district and saying how before the mission no one tells you how a mission really is.  They so oh it’s amazing you’re going to love it the best two years of my life. You know the normal stuff. Which is all-true!  But they give you the idea of a Disney land mission not the real deal that’s hard and hot and a lot of work. Now some of you might be asking why I would say something that is hard and hot and a lot of work makes up the best years of my life? Well its because that’s exactly what it does!  You learn so much on your mission that you can’t learn anywhere else you are happier on your mission than you can be anywhere else.  To have the spirit with you and to be able to help others find this happiness is truly what makes life enjoyable.  So this week we taught some amazing lessons.  We are teaching a man who is just amazing.  Every time we teach him he gets more and more excited with a bigger smile on his face.  We are also teaching a single dad who has a ton of questions but is just progressing amazing.   I can just see how the Lord is preparing this area.   This branch here in Senhor do Bonfim is amazing. This past Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and I think it was one of the most spiritual meetings of my life.   I’m so grateful for the chance to be serving here in Brazil.

We did have one funny story this week.  So we live in an apartment complex thing and our house is at the end of a long dark hall.   With only one light, that is motion sensitive, but of course it’s at the other end by our house.  You have to walk all the way down the dark hall just to have the light turn on, as you are about to walk in your house.  Well, one night this week we got home as a district and the 4 of us were walking down the hall.  Right as the light turned on a bat started flying around us.  No to set the scene, there is me, Elder Mender a big, tall, I like to think tough, man. Elder Mota, a professional soccer player, Elder Sato the Japanese missionary, and Elder Merrill, the country farm boy. Well the light turns on and Elder Merrill is just like whatever and doesn’t move. Elder Sato kind of turns off to the side all cool like but off course me and Elder Mota, we grab on to each other, (try and picture this) and give our manly screams, and then we start running down the hall as fast as we can.  As we reached the end we looked back and saw the bat right behind us so we both jumped at the same time and landed on the ground with what I thought was a pretty beautiful dive. Elder Merrill said after that it looked like something from a war zone.   If you tell this story to anyone I will deny it, but it was pretty funny night and to this day we still laugh our heads off about it.  Well that’s about it.  My time is up so I hope you all have a great week and I love you all.

Love,

Elder Mender

Just One More Lesson

Well I don’t have a ton of time but I'm going to try and fill you in on the good stuff.  It’s getting hotter and hotter here in Brasil.  And well, I’m not a fan of the heat, but I am a fan of this work! We have been so busy this transfer teaching and finding new people. Just last night we were about to go home when we thought, no, just one more lesson, and we knocked on a door and two brothers were home who let us in and just seemed like they were elect.   We got home a little late, but we were so happy to have found these two brothers who were ready to hear our message.  This week we had a pretty cool experience happen.   We were preparing a baptism and the energy went off in the city and all the lights went off at the church and it was getting dark.  We didn’t want to have the baptism in the dark, but as soon as the other Elders walked in the door with the man who was going to be baptized the energy turned on and stayed on until the closing prayer, when it shut off after just a few minutes. It was really a little Brazilian miracle.  

I hope you all are excited for this next week, which is General conference!!!  Woot Woot.  I am so excited.  I’m ready for that spiritual boost because we as missionaries can definitely use all that good spiritual love and messages we can get.  The gospel is true, and all is well, because we are winning the war.  I can see it every day here in Brasil. 

So this morning Elder Merrill and I woke up really early to take a bus to small city called Pilar we will spending the week here teaching people and trying to help start a branch here it is going to be really fun.  The weird thing is we get to stay at a "hotel" which is more like a room in some random persons house.   But we are having fun and excited to see what will happen the next few days. I hope you all have a great week and don’t forget to watch conference.  Love you all!

Love, Elder Mender

The Best Two Years

Hello every one!

I love P-day because it gives me time to write this weekly letter to you all.   During the week we don't have a lot of time to think and relax but as I'm writing this letter I am able to see all the blessings that happen  daily and even hourly in my life.  This week has just been an amazing week!  We have a woman who is marked for baptism this Saturday and her husband is an inactive member and all her sisters are members.   As she has been on this journey preparing for baptism we have seen the excitement growing in the ward and in her life.  It really is such an amazing thing.  We also have an young man who  lives about half an hour from town but is preparing for baptism and willing and happy to make the sacrifice to come into town every sunday to go to church.  I remember something....I think I learned in the MTC about why we have the right to ask people to make these drastic and hard changes in their lives or why they even should make these changes! And the answer is because its true, every single little part of this gospel is true, and when we live it our lives are blessed immensly.  This is the best week of the transfer because you and your companion teach "perfectly" together you have already had a lot of time together and you know what they will say, what you need to say, and you just let the Spirit guide the lesson it is really amazing.
I have a joke which I read in a coloring book that one of the crazy churches down here puts out.   It was a cartoon strip and in it a man asked the other man what was all powerfull, rules our life, and starts with a "D"  and the other man answered "dollar!" (the word for God in portuguese is Deus).  I thought it was funny, but also sad, how true that cartoon can be in our lives often times the hardest part about a person accepting the gospel here isn't if its true or not, but the fact that they don't want to give up the things of the world.  That is one of the saddest things to watch as a missionary.   Well my time is short today but I want you all to know that I know this Church is true!  And I know it not just because my parents told me, but because I recieved an answer myself  and it's for this reason I'm here in Brasil having the time of my life preaching this gospel.  I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love, Elder Mender

Better than Duct Tape!

Hello everyone!
  Publish Post
Well this week has been another crazy fun week in Brasil! To start off with… we absolutely destroyed (I think this is a good thing?) in lessons and new investigators this week and then no one went to church.  It always seems to work that way, it’s sad because you have to wait a whole week to get them to church but we know that this week will be good and that with time it will all come! So the work is good and we are tired but extremely happy.   We are teaching a family whose son has epilepsy?  I don’t know but it’s close to that in Portuguese.  And it is really hard to get them to church because of that but this family is elect. We have some amazing lessons with them this week. We watched Together Forever (not a good movie for Elders to watch because it has cute young newly married couples that sometimes might make you trunky as your watching it...) but as we watched it and talked about eternal families the spirit was so strong you could see how interested they were in this idea.  I love watching investigators interest grow because you can see the progress and you know that they will really try hard to pray and do the things you ask them and you know in time they will get the answer they are looking for. I think one of the reasons I love teaching this family is the son is always so happy and funny as I look into his eyes I swear I can feel the love of the Savior and our Heavenly Father. I always leave that house happy and ready to teach the world.

This week we had a special training on Joseph Smith by President that was just absolutely amazing.  I have such a testimony of Joseph Smith.  I love him and am so grateful for the sacrifice he made to bring us the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  Then after the training we found out that next month Elder Oaks will be visiting our mission!  We are so excited it is going to be amazing. Such a special day.  Also it is sweet because the transfer will be extended another week because of it!! So we have a seven-week transfer.  That is amazing!  I have at least another week guaranteed with my companion and here in Senhor do Confirm. 

So as for the interesting Brasil stories it goes like this...  I have been using the same pair of shoes my whole mission (Rockport’s are amazing) but lately the sole of the shoe has been slowly coming off and rather then bringing them to a store to be fixed I went out and bought some crazy Brazilian super glue and fixed those puppies myself.  I’m pretty sure I can get a few more months out of them! And if you think super gluing your shoes is lame I say its better than ductape!  Also the other day Elder Merrill and I were on a division walking through the center of the town and we passed a mom with her daughters talking to another women and she said "yeah I think ill try and marry my girls to the Mormons" I guess she didn’t think we spoke Portuguese because they stated laughing but I thought it was pretty funny because we knew exactly what they said. Jokes on them. Hah

Well my last "fun" story is that me and my companion were talking the other day and he told me how he hated cats and he said "they don’t show love, they don’t listen to you, and they only play with you when they want something but dogs are faithful, show love, listen intently are your best friend and will never leave you” and of course I responded " are we talking about cats and dogs or women and men because it sounded like you just described women and then men...." sorry if that offended anyone but we laughed our heads off. It kind of reminded me of that computer joke where that class described if the computer was feminina or masculino. 

Well I hope all is well I love you all and im so grateful for your support.  Keep the letters coming and know that I love you. Have a great week!

Love, Elder Mender

Hump Day

Hump Day Poem --

The Camel is the Symbol of the Seasoned Missionary

As you come to the one-year mark of your mission, I am sending you a camel

to remind you how far you have come, and where you are going.  There are

many similar characteristics of a great missionary and a camel.

The first is the "hump"

Yes, you have crossed the mark and now are over the hump of the first year.

But remember, the hump of a camel is used to store food for the long

journey.  Camels can go far for long periods of time without food, but a

wise missionary will store the knowledge he has gained and put it to greater

use the second half of his mission.

Another important characteristic is what the camel does to be prepared to

carry his load for his Master.  A camel sometimes protests his heavy load,

but he drops to his knees for his Master and once started, he patiently

carries his load.

As a missionary, sometimes the load seems heavy and difficult to carry.

But when you drop to your knees and succumb to the Master's will, he will

carefully lead you and you can bear the load patiently, and do your Father

in Heaven's work as he would have you do.  This is why the camel's knees are

heavily padded, as a missionary; your knees are calloused from many hours of

kneeling in prayer.

The camel has high set eyes, which enable him to see long distances.

A missionary has his eyes set on higher things, he follows the Spirit that

enables him to see the Children of God, those who are seeking answers, and

he teaches them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The camel has broad, two-toed feet, which keep it from sinking in the desert

sand.

A missionary has a broad knowledge and a firm testimony of the Gospel.

This enables him to teach with boldness and stand steadfast and immoveable.

The people you teach do not yet have the blessings of such a sure-foot, but

as you teach with love and the Spirit, you will help them gain their own

testimony, that will help them walk on firmer ground, the path that will

lead them back to their Father in Heaven.

So you see, a Missionary has a lot in common with a camel.

Put this camel where you can see it often.

Dedicate yourself to do as the camel does. (No spitting) Serve your Master

well and patiently over the long journey.

You have come a long way; there is still much ground to cover.

Continue to move forward, serving with love, until your mission is complete

and your Father in Heaven will say, "Well done, thou good and faithful

servant."

No One Notices the American

I hope all is well up there in North America! This has been an amazing week!  We got to work hard this week and have been ridiculously busy! It has been a fun week. I have a lot of crazy stories to tell but of course we just came from playing basketball and I left my planner home... I’ll try and remember some of the fun stories.  To start on Sunday we had a man show up at church so we got his address and set up a time to go teach him last night. Well last night we went to find his house and of course he lives in the middle of nowhere half way up a mountain so we hike up the mountain for about 40 minutes and when we get to his... shack? He wasn’t home. Claro. So we decided to wait fifteen minutes hoping he would come home.  And wouldn’t you know it, just my luck, while we were waiting a ridiculously drunk guy came up and started talking to us. He really liked the fact that my companion is Japanese (I love having a Japanese companion because no one notices I’m American anymore! It’s all about him! BEAUTIFUL) Well, I thought we were up this mountain, we might as well try and preach the gospel, you know…. do our job, so I asked him why he was drinking and I got a long winded answer saying that its what he does with all his money.  Oh great.  I then asked him if he had work tomorrow and he said of course but he would get drunk tonight and then work tomorrow because he was a tough guy.  That sure impressed me.... not. I asked him if he had a family, he said yes, and five kids but his ex wives took care of them so he didn’t have to worry. He then went on to tell us that his dad had five houses but wouldn’t give him one and we told him that we thought we knew why maybe if he stopped drinking he would be responsible enough we then told him how God commands us not to drink and at this point he zoomed out of reality and started singing crazy drinking songs.  I was blown away that he was content to live his life like that and even though it was really funny at the time it made me sad to think that his five kids didn’t have their dad that this man was not fulfilling his obligation to his family.  How much happier they all could have been if he could just put away the bottle.  

Another fun story is this week we had to take a bus to lunch but the bus driver didn’t want to stop so he just opened the door and I got to jump on my first moving bus!  It was quite the adventure. Luckily he decided he could stop to let us off.
What else oh this chapel here is so beautiful!  It has air conditioning and a piano that plays by itself!  It is so nice to finally sing with a piano again.  Oh when I got here I was told we had a firm baptism for this week!  So went to go teach him and from the first lesson I could tell something was off.  And in the second lesson I knew why. He told us he was worried about tithing because his tithing would be thousands of dollars every month...?  (He is living with his grandma.) He then went on to explain that he found a way to create electricity from leaves and that he was going to create a house in which people could enter and pay fifty dollars to take a light bath. The idea being they would walk in between the light bulbs powered by the electric leaves. He told us he figured out the idea while he was on about six different (illegal) drugs after he got out of the mental hospital. He was in the hospital for five years.  Well as it ended up our firm baptism wasn’t so firm after all.  It was probably one of the craziest lessons I have ever taught. 
To wrap up this week we had the chance to study the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon.  It is such an important book I love the quote by Joseph smith that calls it the keystone of our religion.  On of the first things we need our investigators to answer are if the Book of Mormon is true.  Once we know that the Book of Mormon is true everything comes into place! Joseph smith was a prophet, the restoration really happened, Jesus is the Christ, we have answers to the most important questions in life, and we know that we can receive personal revelation all this is so important to our salvation.  Its not just another book or another bible but it a book that has the power to help us in our lives if we will study it and apply its teachings in our lives.  I hope you all take time to study the Book of Mormon and use it daily because it is amazing.
I love you all and im so grateful for your support! Have a great week. 

Love, Elder Mender