On Sunday a member didn´t attend the conference because he felt like he wasn´t worthy to hear from the prophet and apostles and was just having a bad day, so we went over and told him to go with us to contact people. And it was great we found this one family and taught them a quick lesson about families eternal and it was great. I was glad to help the member and I know that if we see people in need don`t be afraid to help them. Because when we reach out and let people know that we care about them it will only bless them. Sometimes when I think or ask my self why is this so hard? Why don´t the people just understand? Why can´t I speak better? And then I remember the path that the Savior went on. I am teaching his gospel and he was rejected. I to will go through some hardships and I too will have difficult times helping people to understand that this gospel is true. But when I remeber the words of Elder Holland, ´´Salvation was never a cheap price to pay``. Christ paid the price for us, He died for us, and He loves us, Salvation is not easy and it is not easy to apply these things to people´s lives, but when they see how the atonement helps them and how all sins are cleansed throught Christ I remember that I have the oppurtunity to let people choose to accept these things, and to live with the gospel in their lives. I will teach many but only a few will choose to accept the gospel, the atonement, and endure to the end. But those few that accept these things it will be worth it. It will always be worth it. I´m happy and I´m doing well, I know this is where I need to be. I feel as though I have waited many years to be here and now that I ´m here I know I have a great oppurtunity to teach and love these people. I know that life isn´t easy, we all go through challenges and trials and I don´t know these people, I´m only 19 but God knows these people and when they pray they can know of the power of revelation. I know these things to be true. I left everthing in my life behind to teach people these things. Many people lost there life to travel to Utah, to mobsters, to persecution, how thankful I am to lose my life for just two years to teach people and join the 80 thousand other missionaries. As Noah built a ship long ago there is another ship coming and as members of this church we have the opputunity to let people choose to get on or stay behind. These are the last days, and these are hard times, but stick to the teaching of the gospel, and remember that we are his children and he has a plan for us. I love you all and keep being awesome. There is an elder who has become more tan than his Brazilian companion and he loves you all.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
March 31, 2014
So this week was pretty great, I ate chicken heart pizza, six layers of cheese pizza and chocolate pizza all in one pizza yea it was crazzy. Then I had my first Brazilan milk shake. It is completly different from an American milk shake - no not really... Then I went with a zone leader to do an interview for a baptism but the person wasn't there.. So we taught a few more lessons and then the next day went to another city called Novo Hamburgo and did a interview for other missionaries since my companion is the district leader. We went into this house and they owned three dogs and there was poop everywhere and it was terrible and the woman kept giving me this red juice that left this bad after taste it was weird! And after that I went to a member's house and ate a huge pile of meat - the member grilled a huge barbeque! Then later in the week we found this man who is really poor and he was totally drunk so we scheduled for a time to return and we taught him the word of wisdom and the first lesson and he came to church with us! So my companion and I hugged the crap out of him and he stayed the whole three hours with us. So he´s doing great except that when we went to his house later he was totally wasted... but if we can stop him from drinking he deffinetly can be baptized and he wants to stop so thats good. I also bought Brazilian candy for 2 reals and it was almost like eating Starburst again. PS - candy in Brazil doesn't exist. It is really hard to find candy. I usually only find crackers, chocolate, and cookies. So I got to walk around Nove Hamburgo because the members put us on the wrong bus and we got lost so it was fun to walk around a little bit. And so all in all Brazilan pizza is awesome and I want to eat more chicken heart that problally sounds really weird but it is super amazing. And I love being on a mission finding new and interesting people to teach each and every day!
Pictures of Sapiranga, Brazil
Elder Barrus with his chicken heart, 6 cheese, and chocolate pizza.
This dog is evil
March 24, 2014
Thats crazy about the beach house! I was laughing when you were telling me about the description of the house! The pictures look crazy but the ocean is awesome! I miss the ocean! I got a hammock and relaxed today. I also got to eat at a Burger King. It was amazing - the best Burger King ever and that made my day because I've only have Brazilian burgers which are good but nothing like America. The buns are flat and they have corn, lettuce,mayo,tomato,no cheese :(, and ketchup, and other stuff - but no pickles. It was strange but really good. I also went to an English school and taught people English. That was pretty sweet. It felt really weird to talk in English. My English is going to be terrible in two years! I gotta new companion and he is awesome! His name is Elder Gabbaiand. He is a hard worker but he also knows how to have fun. Next week we´re going to the mountains with a member so that will be a lot of fun! And on the 15th of next month I can go to the temple so im psyched about that! And I finally got to take a small break today and it felt great. I got a hammock for free from my last trainer and it is aweome! The family I taught this week that are very interested are a family called the Nixons. They are very interested in the gospel and have friends that are Mormon. We are teaching a boy named David and he is awesome as well. He wants to get baptized this Saturday so hopefully it works out! And a girl named Jessica - she wants to get baptized but is having trouble setting a date because her boyfriend is a recent convert, and if she gets baptzed then she feels like she will probably marry him but I think she is leaning towards baptism so that is good. I deep cleaned the house, found two bottles of pee from prievious elders - ugh! That was gross but it made p-day official - haha! There was so much dust!! Now it's so much nicer and it feels like my own little home and I like it. My house is one of the bigger houses on the mission so I'm lucky. Today we made homemade potato chips with slices of potatoes and grilling them in oil, and we each ate a whole pot of rice and a liter of juice. Brazil is awesome because I can buy unlimited juice packets because they are super cheap and have tons of juice so that's sweet. Eating at Burger king was the greatest thing ever, when I get back to the US im going staight to the nearest burger place haha! Well serving a mission is awesome. It is so cool here! Also I'm offically a Brazilan - it is winter here now and the coldest it has gotten is 60 and I had goose bumps because I wasn't used to it. I'm used to 80+ and so I was bundled up in a sweat shirt and shivering. I'm literally going to freeze to death when it gets cold here in July!
Happy St. Patrick's Day! March 17, 2014
So this week went by so fast! We had a baptism scheduled for the past Sunday but it got cancelled because the husband said he would leave her if she got baptized so that was sad.
I had two divisions this week. One with the zone leader and one with an elder. Found two new investigators with the zone leader. When I went with the elder we found just one new investigator. It was a great lesson even though I couldn't understand a lot of it but my companion was teaching about baptism. And then my companion started crying and the woman did also and I'm just completely confused. And we have a member with us named Fabio and I look over and he's smiling and he tells me they're crying and he's smiling. And I'm just kind of laughing to myself because there are two people sobbing and Fabio smiling at me so that was an interesting lesson.
So then it's Sunday and we have to talk to 60 people so me and my companion split up and we both go with members who are each about 14 years old. So I go and talk to people and I did it. I talked to 58 people in an hour and a half, and the member wrote down all the addresses. And my companion did 6 lessons with the other guy so that was a super busy day. My companion leaves tomorrow so I will be getting a new companion.
Today it rained a lot and I helped a family move out with my companion and with the dad. We got all their stuff moved in an hour and a half. I'm hungry. Today I think I'll make hotdogs so that'll be good.
So I never told you the story of ______. _______ is a little strange. He likes to sing me Britney Spears and that's a little scary. He also says "Elder Barrus!!!!" super loud, and I look at him and say what and then he says hi. And he does it 3-4 times. Also when I'm headed for the bus station I see him and then I leave and like 15 minutes he is still there so I think he is following me…
TACOS: So this is a good story. We're walking and we find this woman who is inactive. So on Saturday we taught her and we had family night with them. Her husband served in New York so I got to speak English with someone and it was a miracle! AND he made tacos. Real tacos! I know right? Like who would think you could have tacos in Brazil? I was sooooo happy! Because you can't make tacos here. You have to travel to a big city like Porto Alegre just to buy flour tortillas. So I was way happy to eat tacos. And they're active now in the church and they are really happy and that's way awesome. So finding people to teach is important but I also like finding the less actives and giving them a reason to go back. So overall this week was good. I can't believe it's already been 6 weeks here in Brazil! I've already been on my mission for 3 months. Time is going super fast!
My teacher from the MTC is going to live in Ashburn this summer and he said he is going to come over and say hi. How crazy is that? I got a letter from Grandma Lipton but haven't had time to open it yet today. I wonder what other missionaries do on P-Day because I am always super busy and we work non-stop. Today we helped members move. It's raining a lot and feels great here! It's supposed to get really cold here like in the 30's which probably sounds nice for you guys. That's crazy how cold it gets!
I think I told you this but I got 4 Dear Elder letters and it was fun to re-read them!
I had two divisions this week. One with the zone leader and one with an elder. Found two new investigators with the zone leader. When I went with the elder we found just one new investigator. It was a great lesson even though I couldn't understand a lot of it but my companion was teaching about baptism. And then my companion started crying and the woman did also and I'm just completely confused. And we have a member with us named Fabio and I look over and he's smiling and he tells me they're crying and he's smiling. And I'm just kind of laughing to myself because there are two people sobbing and Fabio smiling at me so that was an interesting lesson.
So then it's Sunday and we have to talk to 60 people so me and my companion split up and we both go with members who are each about 14 years old. So I go and talk to people and I did it. I talked to 58 people in an hour and a half, and the member wrote down all the addresses. And my companion did 6 lessons with the other guy so that was a super busy day. My companion leaves tomorrow so I will be getting a new companion.
Today it rained a lot and I helped a family move out with my companion and with the dad. We got all their stuff moved in an hour and a half. I'm hungry. Today I think I'll make hotdogs so that'll be good.
So I never told you the story of ______. _______ is a little strange. He likes to sing me Britney Spears and that's a little scary. He also says "Elder Barrus!!!!" super loud, and I look at him and say what and then he says hi. And he does it 3-4 times. Also when I'm headed for the bus station I see him and then I leave and like 15 minutes he is still there so I think he is following me…
TACOS: So this is a good story. We're walking and we find this woman who is inactive. So on Saturday we taught her and we had family night with them. Her husband served in New York so I got to speak English with someone and it was a miracle! AND he made tacos. Real tacos! I know right? Like who would think you could have tacos in Brazil? I was sooooo happy! Because you can't make tacos here. You have to travel to a big city like Porto Alegre just to buy flour tortillas. So I was way happy to eat tacos. And they're active now in the church and they are really happy and that's way awesome. So finding people to teach is important but I also like finding the less actives and giving them a reason to go back. So overall this week was good. I can't believe it's already been 6 weeks here in Brazil! I've already been on my mission for 3 months. Time is going super fast!
My teacher from the MTC is going to live in Ashburn this summer and he said he is going to come over and say hi. How crazy is that? I got a letter from Grandma Lipton but haven't had time to open it yet today. I wonder what other missionaries do on P-Day because I am always super busy and we work non-stop. Today we helped members move. It's raining a lot and feels great here! It's supposed to get really cold here like in the 30's which probably sounds nice for you guys. That's crazy how cold it gets!
I think I told you this but I got 4 Dear Elder letters and it was fun to re-read them!
Monday, March 10, 2014
March 10
This week we taught lots of different people. We baptized a boy named Gabriel and he is doing great! His dad attended church yesterday so that was awesome, and we had 8 investigators attend church which is crazy! And there was a boy there that we didn't even teach who came to church and stayed all three hours and listened the whole time and he said it was great. We are going to teach him this week.
For meals we eat mostly rice, beans, and meat. The rice and beans are separate side dishes, and then there is a separate meat like chicken or steak. Very rarely I'll have pasta with the rice and beans. My new favorite food is a Brazilian hot dog just because it is something new. What you do is get a roll and hollow it out with a knife or spoon. Then you fill it up with sliced up pieces of hot dog. But first you cook the slices in a pan and then add a special tomato sauce that is only in Brazil. And then after it is cooked you put it into the bread and add mayonnaise and it is awesome.
I found out there is an animal called a baisho shaka and it's like an angry yellow porcupine that likes to attack hands and knees and it comes out at night time. And I think one lives in the roof because my companion says they like to live in areas with lots of cockroaches. Lucky me! We've heard scuffling in the roof. Later today I am taking the light out of the ceiling and cleaning the interior of the ceiling. So cockroaches are going to probably fall out of the ceiling along with angry yellow porcupine creatures! Se eu morto, the amo - haha!
I'm staying here for my transfer and my companion is leaving. I don' know more than that. Only the zone leaders and the mission president know. I got to see my mission president at a zone conference with four other zones. I ran into my first companion from the MTC so that was fun!
I got all the Dear Elder letters and I'll probably get more things in two weeks. I wasn't able to send anything last week because there is a horrible Satanic holiday here where people celebrate bad things. It's called the celebration of the flesh and parents here send their kids away to camps to get away from seeing any of it. It's all through Brazil and it's pretty crazy. SO I can finally send a letter today. That's good you got my first letter. Yay!
I'll probably get the Easter boxes in a month and a half or so so not too bad! I love Brazil so much it is awesome here. I wish I could take more pictures but there is a high risk of theft! And I can't look like a tourist and I stand out as it is a mile away! People here love my American accent! So that's fun. There are a lot of poor people here. I've learned that people here think the war with Iraq was fought in the United States so that was interesting. Also people often think we are bus workers and they will stop their cars and ask us for directions!
Baptism for a boy Gabriel. It was such a great baptism and the spirit was so strong.
The trees here are very lush and there are lots of pretty flowers. Brazil is beautiful.
For meals we eat mostly rice, beans, and meat. The rice and beans are separate side dishes, and then there is a separate meat like chicken or steak. Very rarely I'll have pasta with the rice and beans. My new favorite food is a Brazilian hot dog just because it is something new. What you do is get a roll and hollow it out with a knife or spoon. Then you fill it up with sliced up pieces of hot dog. But first you cook the slices in a pan and then add a special tomato sauce that is only in Brazil. And then after it is cooked you put it into the bread and add mayonnaise and it is awesome.
I found out there is an animal called a baisho shaka and it's like an angry yellow porcupine that likes to attack hands and knees and it comes out at night time. And I think one lives in the roof because my companion says they like to live in areas with lots of cockroaches. Lucky me! We've heard scuffling in the roof. Later today I am taking the light out of the ceiling and cleaning the interior of the ceiling. So cockroaches are going to probably fall out of the ceiling along with angry yellow porcupine creatures! Se eu morto, the amo - haha!
I'm staying here for my transfer and my companion is leaving. I don' know more than that. Only the zone leaders and the mission president know. I got to see my mission president at a zone conference with four other zones. I ran into my first companion from the MTC so that was fun!
I got all the Dear Elder letters and I'll probably get more things in two weeks. I wasn't able to send anything last week because there is a horrible Satanic holiday here where people celebrate bad things. It's called the celebration of the flesh and parents here send their kids away to camps to get away from seeing any of it. It's all through Brazil and it's pretty crazy. SO I can finally send a letter today. That's good you got my first letter. Yay!
I'll probably get the Easter boxes in a month and a half or so so not too bad! I love Brazil so much it is awesome here. I wish I could take more pictures but there is a high risk of theft! And I can't look like a tourist and I stand out as it is a mile away! People here love my American accent! So that's fun. There are a lot of poor people here. I've learned that people here think the war with Iraq was fought in the United States so that was interesting. Also people often think we are bus workers and they will stop their cars and ask us for directions!
March 3
Sounds like you and Blake had a lot of fun with all the DC stuff! I want a burger so bad! I'm craving mac and cheese and Mexican food but mostly mac and cheese. Weird right? Cheese here is super expensive for a missionary, and they don't sell mac and cheese - only noodles and packets of cheese. Also milk here is fake. It's all in cardboard cartons and I buy a carton for 1.72 reals - so its cheap. Then I put chocolate in it to have chocolate milk in the mornings. I also buy cakes in these tiny packets and mix with milk and they're pretty good. I love juice. I buy juice packets so I always have juice for the week. It's pretty sweet. That's funny how my room still looks exactly the same. Did you guys figure out how to work the Gamecube? Just plug in the black wires into the box that has other wires. Well that´s as best as I can explain it so good luck! I'm sending you guys more letters this week so hopefully you can get letters from me every week.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
February 24
so things to know about my area:
Everyone owns a motorcyle
Anyone who has a pickup truck puts speakers in the back of it so the sound its incredibly loud and my ears have acually poped when they drive by somtimes I dont know how they can hear.
Brazilian barbeques are amazing!!
People never take there shoes off. I tried and my companion looked at me like I was commiting a crime
People here love english language but know body speaks it
I hear american music like katy perry and marron five and people here have american t-shirts but they can´t understand any english what so ever so I found that kinda funny.
When people findout I´m from the us they ask me to speak english and they find when I speak english that it sounds pretty so thats kinda cool
I have a wasp nest outside my window of my home I want to get rid of it sooo bad
And the people hear love talking about church and the subject of baptism
SO for this week I traveled alot between novo hamburgo and Saprianga and I got to go to Porto Alegre to get my brazilian passport for two years. And after got to eat lots of meat and that was sweet. Lessons with investigators is going great. We went to this one house and it is just filled with trash and smells really bad and the man is drunk and crazzy and kept patting my shoulder and offering me to drink so he was crazzy. His wife just was looking down and making necklaces out of plastic beads and I dont know what we taught them other than I dont want to go back there because they were crazzy but my companion really wants to teach them and so I´ll probally go back to that crazzy family agian but it keeps life interesting so its all good. THe man finds it amusing I cant speak portugese and then I´ll say things in english just to confuse him for fun. So him and I have fun hehe. The guy that wanted me to baptize him I went and saw yesterday and he had four friends so we ended up teaching 5 people at once and it was good. But I couldnt teach or communicate at all because they talk super fast and there were 5 of them and one of them was very confused about why we need the book of mormon and my companion tried so many things and the other 4 got it but he didnt... And at the end of the lesson he gave the closing prayer and 2 of the guys are very interested so that´s good. Also during the week I went house to house clapping out side gates. THeres no alarm systems in Brazil only for the super rich. The people here all own dogs and the big ones I call monstros for monsters and have big gates around all the houses. And for one of these houses we found a younge couple and they want to attend church with us this sunday so I´m excited for that. I went to a house to do a baptism inteview with a zone leader but he wasnt there, His wife invited us in. He has a mentally crazzy son. The son would look at me and say your crazzy and then start laughing. Then he put his hand on my leg and giggled. And then proceded to kiss me on the cheeck but I flinched away. And then he started laughing some more. And then he offered me some meat. NOW this part was awful I wanted to run away so bad!! He puts rotting solami a few inches away from my face I gagged. I grabbed his wrist and said por favor no hahahah and then the man finally showed up and he didn´t want to get baptized and I got the heck out of there!! Then later in the week I went with another zone leader and went to this woman´s house named Marly. And he interviewed her and so she´s getting baptized this week! Yea! And while the other elder was doing the interview I was all alone with her other family members and I was able to communicate with them through sharrades. And at one point I said isnt this fun? haha they were really cool. They asked about the church and said what church are you a missionary for? And then said the mormons. And they said`` ohh yea we have some friends that are mormon why can´t you drink coffe``? and in my bad portugese I explained how its addictive and how we believe how it has bad substances in it. And long story short im gonna go teach them sometime this week or next week so that´ll be great. ON sunday I went house to house and a lady invited us in and was super happy. It turns out the missionaries had baptized her and her son but not her husband and had not been to her house in 4 months! The husband this huge guy 6,4 with arms the size of twice my head hugged me and my companion and said thanks for coming back. And then he fed us sandwitches and I know that it was not a coincedience we walked there I looked at my friend elder Seidman and said why are we going this way and we walked and walked and then we found them. Miracles happen everyday here small and big and we squeduled an appointment and Im going back there this week. Miracles are everywhere on my mission the people I talk to the ones that let me into there home and we teach them somtimes only for 5 minutes and we give them a pamphlet of the restoration or the gospel of christ and we tell them to pray about it and they do and when they take the little pamphlet in there hands and pray about sincerly I know that they can get the answer they need. The mission is awesome, because every day I meet someone new.
I love you guys it sounds like you´ve all had busy and exausting weeks as well! Well I´ll talk to you guys again next week Im sure I´ll have more exciting stories to tell!!
AMO VOCES!!
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