The Olympics, an Inspired Uber Ride, and a Golden Investigator

FAMILIA E AMIGOS...... Como vocês estão???

This week was really weird. It seemed like it really never got started, pretty strange. We have some really cool investigators that are progressing, we had Zone Conference this week, and we had some super cool activities in our ward this week.

So, last Sunday, a girl came up to us after church and asked us to be baptized. Yup, literally a miracle from heaven. She said that she's been going to seminary and she asked God if she should be baptized and God said yes!! Well, ask you can believe I was shocked because this is the first time that an investigator had asked to be taught for baptism. Her name is Sabrina and she brought her friend Camilla with her. We started to teach them, and its amazing to see investigators receive the lessons having already received an answer!! Sabrina and Camilla have already showed so much faith in keeping the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. They both have baptismal dates for this Friday (26/07) and I'm super pumped. 

We had zone conference this week and we focused on chapter 10 in Preach My Gospel which talks about teaching skills. We were heading to zone conference and we asked this dude at the bus terminal if this bus was the right one to take, and he said "I think so." We used our faith and took that bus and we realized that we were in the wrong bus after an hour in the bus haha.

So we called the Assistants and they called an Uber for us and told us that it would be 16 reais. We freaked out because me and Elder Ferreira just brought sufficient for the trip there and back. We both pulled out our wallets and to our surprise we had exactly 16 reais. I had forgot that I had put 10 in my wallet the night before, and when Elder Ferriera was headed downstairs, he told me he forgot something at the house. 

We went back to the house and I didn't even ask him what he forgot but when he pulled out his wallet, he said he went and got 6 more reais for no reason. So, we had exactly what we needed to get the zone conference (5 minutes late). Another testimony to how the Lord is in the detail of our lives and how important it is to pay attention to the promptings!!

So this week, the Litoral Stake is having the Litoral Stake Olympics!!! Volleyball, soccer, and basketball. Ward vs ward. Tensions always run high. Reminds me a lot of Stake Basketball tournaments. Shoutout to Allen 3rd Ward retaining the crown these past years. 

Anyway, Juliana, Janiele and Batata (Jarliane) are literally only the young women who like to play soccer. Sabrina also played with one other member on the team. So, 4/5 players are our investigators or converts so we felt like the coach watching their games ahaha. In the Semi-final, Beira Rio beat Beira Mar 16-0 and Batata scored 15 GOALS. FIFTEEN GOALS. What a monster. 

Beira Rio ended up winning the whole thing against Ala Jardim Guanabara 2-1 (2 goals from Batata). There must've been 100 members watching the game and the crowd started to chant BA-TA-TA !! It was super cool to see our converts not just staying firm in the gospel but winning gold medals for BEIRA RIOOOOO!!! Haha.

That's about it for this week!!!

Love you all!!

Abraço,

Elder Eliason

Fotos

1) Elder Oliveira (My first District Leader on the mission in Parquelândia, and my "trainer")

2) A friend from Parquelândia and a RC from Floresta!!

3) Festa Nordestina !!!

4) Lunch w/ Milena always has a selfie

Baptismos !!

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!

This week was a great one. João Vitor and Dejailson were baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints!!!

Lemme give you a recap on their stories.

João Vitor was found in divisão with Elder Oldham (comp. from the ctm) through a simple contact in the street. After that, we started to teach him. He is one of the craziest and one of the funniest youth I've ever taught on my mission haha. He calls everyone something that translates to "big animal" and when we start to converse with him, he always responds with "só de noite" which makes no sense but it's hilarious. He is already calling everyone in the neighborhood to talk with us and go to the church with him. In such a short time, we've seen him grow much more spiritually and see his gift in helping with us with finding other investigators!!

Dejailson was one of the friends that João Vitor brought to church with him. He accepted baptism and is a great youth. He doesn't have the best financial conditions so we're gonna help him get a white shirt and tie to start passing the sacrament here soon. 

We wanted a young man to get some experience and we asked if Pedro could baptize them both. Members baptizing is great!!

This week, we had Mission Leadership Council which was focused on Chapter 10 in PMG. We talked a lot about what went right last month in June. We talked how we can help retain the people we are baptizing and a lot of other issues that President Chamberlain and the mission is facing. After that, the assistants gave a great training on how we can use every technique in Chapter 10 as a leadership technique. How we can Start to Begin Teaching missionaries, how we can Teach missionaries according to their needs, etc.

The Leadership Council was great because it opened up my vision and how to lead and how to be a better example for our zone. Of all the leadership councils that I have participated, this was one of my favorites because President Chamberlain showed his faith in the leaders and we resolved problems as a true council as it should be. President Chamberlain said that our group has to focus on passing what we learned in our mission for all of the new missionaries that are coming through the ranks. By Christmas, the Leadership Council will be completely different with other Assistants, Zone Leaders, and LTS. Knowledge is only mastered when is taught correctly and simply enough for the missionary to apply in his mission. zone, district, and his companionship.

Also, Elder Whatcott and Elder Alves (my old comp.) got a buzzcut over in Bom Jardim. hahahah.

That's about it!!!

Amo vocês, tenham uma boa semana.

Abraço,

Elder Eliason

Fotos

1/2) BATISMOS

3) Twins - Me and Elder Whatcott at the leadership council

Divisões (Splits)!

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!

Time is going by so fast, holy moly. 

This week we had a lot of divisões, one with Beira Mar and the other with the Assistants in Aerolândia. I stayed here with Elder Wosnjuk who is in his 2nd transfer here in Fortaleza. He's from Utah and he already speaks fluent Portuguese because his parents are Brazilian. He's such a nice guy and has already learned so much in such little time on his mission. We were able to find some new investigators here and have some really great teaching situations. He reminds me a lot of me when I got in the mission and it was good to take advantage and give him some good tips to use during his mission.

In Aerolândia with Elder Fernandes, we had to run around Fortaleza a lot. We had baptismal interviews, marked appointments, everything you could think of. It was good to spend time with one of the elders from my group and my time in Zona Bom Jardim/Zona Nova Conquista. The Assistants sure do work hard.

In our area, we've acquired a good teaching pool. Most of which was taught when I was in divisão, so I don't have A LOT to tell about them. Our investigators that are progressing are Eduardo (18), and João Vitor. Eduardo is very relaxed and very interested in everything he learns about the gospel. João Vitor is crazzzzyy ahah. Crazy in all the good ways, he invites his entire neighborhood to come with him to church. He's the best. He brought one friend with him this Sunday who were going to start to teach and he's gonna introduce to the rest of his friends this week. What a stud.

Not much more than this, good week.

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Elder Eliason

Fotos

1) Elder Fernandes and me with the bathroom mirror tool pic

2) ELDER WOSNJUK IN THE BUILDING

Transfers & Zone Conference

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!

Since I didn't have time to write the last week, I'll give you guys an update on what's happening over here in Beira Rio.

First off we had 3 baptisms this week!! Jarnielle (15) and Willame (12) (Janiele's younger siblings), and Douglas (9). Jarnielle is more well-known by her nickname, Batata (Potatoe). I am convinced that there isn't a better nickname in the world than Batata, haha. We liked Batata's nickname so much we gave her brother Willame a nickname too. We nicknamed him Limão (lime), it was Elder Ferreira's idea haha. 

So, remember when Janielle's mom came up to us in the street and told us to go teach Janielle to help her not be "of the world"? So, Janielle brought her family with her and we started to teach the whole family! Limão and Batata were some of the most elect investigators I've seen on my mission. They accepted baptism and love the Book of Mormon!! Limão liked church so much, he invited Douglas to accompany him. Limão helped us teach Douglas and is gonna be a great missionary some day.

Funny story, after a lesson we had, we played a game of pick-up soccer with Janielle's family, and the kids in the neighborhood. It was me and Elder Ferreira versus about 6 kids, and we told them if we win, we would teach them a lesson about Jesus Christ. Well, we ended up scraping a victory and we taught like 18 kids the gospel of Jesus Christ haha. It was a good experience haha. By the way, the win was no thanks to me. Elder Ferreira is super good at soccer, he played on a youth team for Santos (A famous Brazilian football club). He played for the same team as Neymar and during the same time too!!! What a stud.

A week ago, we had Zone Conference and it was focused on chapter 8 of Preach My Gospel. We talked a whole bunch about how we can sift through investigators who just waste our time until we find the elect who will accept to be baptized in His restored church. We discussed how pride, fear, and laziness are the 3 main factors that leads to a missionary to get in his comfort zone. We gave examples and did role-plays to show how we can get out of our comfort zone and reach our goals!! 

Missão Brazil Fortaleza had a record month of 226 baptisms!! And Zone Litoral reached the highest number of baptisms in the zone for some 2 years!! The Mission is receiving so many blessings from our hard work. It's crazy how much success we have as a mission or a zone when we are united in the same purpose. When we have a goal and do all we can to get there, that's when Heavenly Father blesses us with MIRACLES!!! 

We had transfers this week, and I'll be staying for my 4th in Beira Rio with my bud Elder Ferreira. The zone got mixed up a bit but this transfer is gonna be the best one yet. Crazy to think that these are my last 2 transfers in the field. Something that President told me in my interview really struck me, he said:

  

"So goes your mission, so goes your marriage, so goes your life."

The way we serve our mission is a direct relation in how we will serve our spouse, and how we will serve the Lord for the rest of our life. I testify.

Also, a cultural thing here in Brazil. Every June, they have a "Festa de Juninha" where everyone dresses up in plaid, everyone uses accordion music, and everyone parties super hard. We had a little party at Bispo Cândido's house and we took a pic with the young men. Solid night. Lots of popcorn, bad music, and dancing.

AMO VOCÊS

Abraço,

Elder Eliason

Fotos

1) ZONA LITORAL 

2-3) BATISMOOOOOOO

4) Arlison (RC) is trying to be the next Elder Eliason!!

5) Festa de Juninha with the young men