Blessings of the Temple of Fortaleza

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!

Well, it's good to know Seth got home safely from MX. The first one back from the Big 3, well done Big Mac.

I wrote you guys last week but the computer freaked out and didn't send it and deleted my draft so I'll try to combine 2 weeks into one letter.

This week Sabrina and Camila got baptized!!! Sabrina chose her seminary teacher (Tiago) to baptize her and Pedro (a young man headed on the mission soon) asked Camila if he could baptize her and she said yes!! Personally, I love it when members baptize because it helps a lot more in retention and shows the members that we are passing the responsibility to them. 

Sabrina and Camila are best friends and they are going to seminary every day of the week!! Sabrina is already working on her personal progress, and we got some young woman in the ward to help her out with the goals and stuff. We're just waiting on her baptismal record to get in the system to get them two to the temple and do baptisms for the dead!!!

Speaking of temple recommendations, Juliana, Cauan, Batata, Janielle, and Kayky all received their temple recommendations to go do baptisms!!! It's absolutely wonderful to see recent-converts so excited to get to the temple. The blessings of the Temple of Fortaleza are falling quick and hard. The retention of converts is going sky-high because of the temple. I'm grateful as well to awesome Ward leaders who are supporting missionary work and taking care of our converts. I wish I could go to the temple with them but we can't in our mission (stupid rule).

We had interviews with President Chamberlain this week!! We talked a lot about some issues we're having in our zone with some missionaries and how we can use what we learn from being a leader in the mission to our own ward and be stronger leaders in the future. As always we had to give trainings while President was holding interviews, and I thought it went really well. We analyzed all of the numbers of each district and saw where we can improve and see what's causing some problems and give possible solutions!!

We're heading into the last week of this transfer, and we have some awesome investigators with baptismal dates!! 

We're preparing Bruno Guilherme (Camilla's brother) and Gabriel (Sabrina's friend) for this Saturday!! We started teaching them a couple weeks ago and they are progressing super quick. When we asked Camilla if she had someone in mind that she wanted to bring with her to church she thought of Bruno first!! But after that she said, "No, I don't think he'll go, he's atheist." But me and S. Ferreira insisted that we wanted to teach him. 

So, she brought him to Seminary one day, and we taught him and Gabriel afterwards in the church. He accepted the date very hesitantly but he accepted to prepare to be baptized on the 10th of August!! He's making so much progress ever since then. For some one who didn't believe in God, his faith is growing so much and he's heading to seminary every day as well!! Stay tuned for baptism pics...

Also, Dayanne visited me again!!! She gave me my next daily planner all decorated with nice words from my sister haley, Ana Paula, and meu filho Elder Eiras. She came and visited me exactly on the date she was baptized 1 year ago!! She was called as the 1st counselor in the young woman presidency!!!! Super happy for her.

THATS ABOUT IT!!!

Amo vocês, abraço,

Elder Eliason

Fotos

1) Juliana and Cauan made some awesome hot dogs for us, love these guys

2/3) BATISMOS

4) Dayanne visiting me from Nova Conquista!!!!

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

Crazy Lady in Sacrament Meeting

HELLO EVERYONE!!

What a week. We had 2 baptisms on Saturday!! Janielle and Analice were confirmed new members of the Church of Jesus Christ. Bishop Cândido was super thrilled to see us baptizing young women because the Young Women President complained that there was only 7 young women. In the past 2 months, 3 young women were baptized. Juliana was baptized and then brought her 2 friends to church and were baptized as well. We helped all of them start up Personal Progress this week!!!

We are going to have the baptisms of Kelvy, Kelby, and Alexandre tomorrow. Kelvy and Kelby went to their aunt's house right in the hour of their baptism, but we remarked with them for Tuesday. Alexandre FINALLY went to church with us this week, and he wanted to be baptized together with his friends Kelvy and Kelby. MILAGRES!!

So, let me tell you the story behind the title. My companion, Elder S. Ferreira (he is the man) was giving his first talk in the ward and this crazy lady, who is known throughout the entire stake, enters the chapel and sits down. EVERYONE in the church knew that she was gonna do something crazy. So, Elder Ferreira was talking about himself in 3rd person referring to himself as Samuel, his first name. He started to talk about what "Samuel" used to do when he was at home. 

Then the crazy lady stood up, got right up to the pulpit in Elder Ferreira's face and yelled "YOU ONLY TALK ABOUT SAMUEL. AND HIS MOM?? YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HER NAME, ITS ANA." Crazy, right. Then when she went to storm out, she couldn't open the door and yelled at the poor usher "HOW DO YOU OPEN THIS DANG THING" and the usher opened the door for her. Crazy story haha. Everyone in the ward is messing with E. Ferreira asking what is the name Samuel's mom, and it's not Ana like the crazy lady said, it's Valeria. haha.

Well, this week we had interviews with President Chamberlain this week and he helped me open up my vision on how we have to stay strong in the gospel after our mission. He told me that the Zone made a full 180 not just in terms of numbers of baptisms but also in the general happiness and well-being of the missionaries. It was great to hear that what the DL's and me and my companion are doing is making a difference. 

THATS ABOUT IT FOR TODAY!!

AMO VOCÊS!!

Abraço,

Elder Eliason

Fotos

1) Elder Stevenson

2) Elder Soares

3) BATISMOSSSSS

Know the Why

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!

What a week. These weeks are passing by so fast, holy moly. We had a lot of success in finding new investigators and helping our current investigators progress!!

Our teaching pool consists of Kelby, Kelvy (funny right, they're brothers), Janielle, and Analice. We found Kelby and Kelvy when we asked to teach a friend of a less-active. He brought us there and they accepted us very well. They accepted a date for the 15th! They are progressing super well, they both loved church yesterday and always ask in their prayers to help them be prepared for their baptism!!

Janielle is a friend of our RC Juliana. She has gone to church a couple of times before but she always used to say no to baptism because she goes to another church. Elder S. Ferreira and I were walking in the street and her crazy mom stops us in the middle of the street and says "Hey, Janielle wants to be baptized in your guy's church. And you guys can try to baptize her sister, too." Me and Elder Ferreira literally skipped to our house in happiness haha. So we went over to Janielle's hosue and marked a date for this Saturday!! Miracles!

Ana Licia was a ex-investigator that we decided to give another try and worked out!! She has members of her family who are of the church as well, (I swear half of the people who live in our area have been baptized.) She is loving the Book of Mormon and is also preparing for the 15th for her baptism!!

So it's official. The Beira Rio Ward has an English Class. And I'm the teacher. I've already gave a couple of classes in Crateús but this class is the real deal. Brother Orlando is helping me out a lot because he's been an English teacher for about 20 years. We had a small turnout for the first official class but everyone loved it! It was a weird sensation to speak so much english haha.

One thing that I'm learning as the time is winding down on my mission is that we have to know the "why". Know the "why" meaning, we know why we're here, why we need to work, and why we have this calling. If we know the why, than the Lord will always show us the "how". If we do our best to show that we our worthy of the Lord's trust, than we can be sure that He will give us the means of how we can accomplish it. So, KNOW THE WHY. 

AMO TODOS DE VOCÊS!!!

Abraço forttteee,

Elder Eliason

Fotos

1-3 English class