Transfers. . . a New Old Companion

Boa Tarde!! 

Heyyyyyy another week down in the book! Today has been so busy already! Today was transfers!! So we had to wake up really early and grab a bus to Asa Norte in Brasilia. Elder Tippetts and Reis got transferred. It was sad seeing them go! But Tippetts got transferred to a different zone, but same stake so I will see him at general conference on Saturday and Sunday. My new companion is.... Elder Machado! hahah again! The same Machado, that was my second companion in Santo Antonio. Lol. So at transfers, they have everyone that is getting transfered all sitting together in the church. The President and his wife speak, then the Assistants announce each area and the new companionships. It seemed like every companionship got split up this week! But when they announced me and Machado being together again, everyone just went crazy and nuts! haha it was funny. He goes home in 4 weeks, and so does Elder Soward´s new companion. Na verdade, Machado and Elder Soward´s new companion are from the same ward in Rio Grande do Sul, grew up together, and received their calls together and entered the mission at the same time!

This week was awesome!! We had a ton of fun. Last Monday was Elder Reis´s birthday and so we "partied" it up. haha  We bought pizza that night and gave him our gifts which was hilarious. He goes home in 4 weeks also, so we gave him a tie, and his birthday card. His birthday card was a "law of chastity" pamphlet that we turned into a birthday card by writing messages to him in it hahah, it was hilarious! We got creative. It was so fun being with them three!!

We had a baptism this week for Raillan!!!! He is 9 years old and is a stud!!!! His family are members, starting to become more active and he never was baptised. He is a funny little dude!! He asked that "Elder Feijão (Bean) would baptize him" haha. It was awesome, had a huge turnout!!! Could barely fit everyone in the room!! 

We have started to teach a guy named Antônio! He is a champ!! He is the manager at the Supermarcado that we always go to to buy groceries. It was raining pretty hard so we decided to sit down on the benches in the store and wait until it died down. He and this girl who also works there came up to us and asked if me and Tippetts were Brasilians. We ended up having a really good conversation with them. He’s a funny dude. So me and Tippetts always had this joke, we would always ask people we taught or talked to, if they new about Idaho, the state he lives in. haha. gosh I’m gonna miss tippetts! love that dude.   But everyone always says No. or when they ask where we are from, no one knows about Idaho. I think we found like 2 people in total, of all of Gama that have heard of Idaho. :) But everyone knows about Texas!! They all think it's way awesome!!  The states that everyone knows about here are California, Florida, Texas, and New York. 

When I told Antônio I was from Texas, he got all excited and started acting like a cowboy and shooting all the Indians.. haha.  We ended up marking another day to go visit Antônio. It went awesome!! He said that when he looked at me and Tippetts he felt inspired that he needed to talk to us. He felt that we had something he needed. 

I’m so stoked for General Conference this weekend!! It will be way awesome! Then before I know it, I will be skyping in about a month for Mother´s Day!!!!! yeahhhhhhhh.

I miss and love yall so much!!! Vocês tenham uma boa semana!!!!!

com amor,

Elder Bean

Sowards!!

Having fun after a day of hard work with Reis and Tippets!

Game night in Gama!

Kennedy and Rafael

Waiting for everyone to arrive for the baptism

Raillan's baptism

Primary kids singing a special musical number

With Preator and Lenon at transfers

Stadium in Gama, I walk by here everyday

8 Months, a Zone Conference, and more Baptisms

Oi, boa tarde!

dang 8 months today!!! caraca the time is flyin by! Today for our Pday we had our zone activity. Played futebol and made cachorro quente (hot dogs). Had a blast!!

This past week flew by but was awesome!! On Saturday we had our baptism for Maria!!! whoooooop!! And Elder Sowards and Reis also had a baptism for an 11 year old named Kennedy!! (named after President Kennedy). The kid is a stud!! 

Maria is the mom of Sabrina and Carol!! The baptism was really special and spiritual and it was also her birthday!!! I got to confirm her a member of the church during sacrament meeting on Sunday which was way awesome!! She is so awesome! It is so awesome getting to take part in these events and help people find the path! 

On Wednesday, we had our zone conference at President and Sister Gaertner´s house!! My first time being there since I arrived here in Brasil. We had a really awesome spiritual part, and learned a lot. Had a questions and answers part with President, which was also way sweet. Then we ate hot dogs!!! It was a great time. It is the last time they will be having a zone conference in their house since they will be leaving in June. Their 3 years are up. I’m so grateful for them and all that they have done for me and their service. We will be having a lot of mission conferences coming up with the entire mission, which will be cool!!

We have a baptism marked for this Saturday for Aline! We have taught her several times already, and she loves it and loves going to church. Really hoping that will all work out. 

We have still been visiting with Dino. The dude is a champ. His son who is like 6 years old was really sick. Dino allowed us to give him a blessing. He really wanted us to do it! He feels that God sent us to his house for a reason, not by accident. I really respected that, cause in Dino´s church, he was giving the calling of giving people blessings. But he really wanted us to do it and believes us to be men of God, So I got to bless his son, and the next day he didn’t feel sick anymore! 

Yesterday, we went over to a less active family´s house who are starting to come back to church. It is a single mom and her several kids. They are this sweet, beautiful family. We gave a message with the family and then talked with her 9 year old son about getting baptised. He really wants to! It was so fun teaching all them. There was a guy who is a member of the church and a couple of his kids who were also there! So there were about 10 kids all under the age of 14 and the two adults that we shared our message with. There was such a special spirit there, and teaching more simply. The 7 year old girl was hilarious, answering all the questions and saying how she wants to be a missionary too someday. hah it was really cute and funny. The mom had made dinner and invited us to stay and eat. She was so loving, gracious, and humble. There was only a little food, and just a couple pieces of chicken so I just put a little bit of pasta on my plate and rice. She was so funny. I was already sitting down, and she came and told me Elder Bean you better come back over here and eat my chicken! haha it was funny but so sweet and kind. I really love the people here so much. She was wiling to give me everything she had, even said I was looking too skinny haha. She was the perfect example of Christ like love and generosity. Making us feel so welcomed and loved in their tiny, humble home. I just remember feeling that Heavenly Father was going to pour out so many blessings on behalf of her and her family.

I love being a missionary!! So many great experiences and things happen everyday. I have really learned to try to put myself behind sometimes and focus on others, and see others for who they really are. Other children of Heavenly Father. When people give us a hard time or just call at us from a distance making fun of us, sometimes I get ticked but I’ve been learning to just think, Heavenly Father loves that child of God just as much as He loves me. Nothing more, nothing less. I love the work, and helping others find the happiness that I have found through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love yall so much. Tenha uma ótima semanã!!!! tchau tchau

com amor,

Elder Bean

Good times at Lunch

Gama

Every street has a bar, church, bar, church...thousands of small churches.

Gama

Kennedy's baptism

Irmå Chirley, she looks after us missionaries like a mom would.

Maria's baptism!!

Elder Reis and Kennedy

Maria's birthday

Squeezed into the back of a car to go home after the baptism

Gama

Sweaty from futebol....8 months a missionary!!

8 months!!! Me and Labrada both!!

Answer to Prayer

Hey!!

This week flew by. The weeks are starting to feel like days!! Can't believe I will have 8 months already next week!! crazy!!

This week was awesome!! We are hopefully going to have a baptism this Saturday for Maria. 

A couple days ago I got a phone call from Elder Machado, he is still in Santo Antonio. Miss that guy.  He told me that he had someone that wanted to talk to me. it was Danilo!! The first baptism I had here in Brasil!! He is doing awesome!! He is still strong in the church, goes home teaching, and goes to institute once a week!! I was so happy to hear from him!! He is a stud. He is 22, and thinking about maybe serving a mission in a year!!  It is so awesome to see how far he has come from when I met him my second week in Brasil until now!!

It was also good talking to Machado!! Had a lot of good times with him. He said a lot of people still ask about me in Santo, and even when they do contacts with random people in the street, some ask where the big blonde guy went! ha

This week we marked a date for baptism with 15 year old named Aline. Her cousins are members of the church and have been bringing her for a couple weeks. She loves it, and has made a bunch of friends. We set the date for March 29.

We started teaching a guy named Dino. Dude is a champ. We found him while we were knockin on the door of another investigator, who ended up not being home. I looked over saw a door open leading to another house. I felt like we should go and talk with them, and it was this really nice old lady who came to the door to greet us. She let us in and we started talkin with her and her grandkids. About 10 minutes later, this guy walks in and just seems so happy to see us! It was Dino. He is in his 30s. I figured he was gonna be a little ticked since we were already in his house, but he was gracious and made us feel welcomed.

Later in the week, we decided to stop by Dino´s house again, even though we had marked to meet with him on a later day. He was there and with another guy we hadn’t ever met!  Dino was beyond ecstatic to see us!! it was awesome. We found out that the other guy with Dino, was some homeless guy that Dino found in the street and invited him to come over to his house! Dino is a champ!!!! Dino had been praying that God would send someone to help him and his new friend who had a bunch of problems. Few minutes later, we show up :)   He was shocked, and knew it was an answer to his prayer. We taught about the Book of Mormon and about our purpose here on Earth. The homeless guy just broke down. I felt so bad for him. After the lesson, Dino was getting us something to drink and the other guy was really broken down. He was tellin us about his tough breaks in life and how he feels like God and Christ have abandoned him. I felt Heavenly Father´s love for him so much and literally saw him as the Child of God that he is. I was praying so hard that the Spirit would help me know what to say. I just got up and went and sat by Him, put my arm around him, and just started saying whatever came to my mind. It was an incredible experience. The words just flowed out faster than I could think. I felt the Spirit so strong and I knew he did too!  It's stuff like this that you can't plan, but is why I love being a missionary.

We taught a bunch of lessons this week. Some of our investigators are really progressing and some are kind of just not wanting it anymore. It really is tough sometimes, leaving a lesson after just bearing your heart to them, bearing testimony and feeling the Spirit witness to you that what you are sayin is true, but people still choose not to accept it. 

I love being here!! It truly is an incredible experience, being a missionary and preaching the word for two years. I know for a fact it would be impossible without the Lord´s help, to be able to speak to these people in Português and touch their hearts. It's a testimony in itself, that I can speak almost anything I want with only 7 months. I am so grateful for Heavenly Father,  and for all that He has blessed me with. 

I love y’all so much!!!! Vocês tenham uma boa semanã!!!

com amor,

Elder Bean

Futebol

Açai, love this stuff!!

Someone's sweet ride

Elder Reis hanging out in the trees like a monkey.