Well I just created this email and realized that I have nothing to say...
The week was normal with nothing to report. Await further news next week!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Short Blog because of storm
Ok...freaking storm. I had been writing for a good 15 min when the power just went out. Oh poo. It's got to be short now.
BYU = Bye bye to the BCS.
This week my companion and I killed ourselves working trying to fill up our investigator list again. We worked way hard and found another 17 new investigators and marked another 5 baptism dates. It was really good. 2 of them are really firm for the end of this transfer. The other ones need to get married so will take a little bit...
We have another awesome investigator that we found named Jenaina. She is 22 and is from the "Assembly of God" which is a really popular church here in Brazil. Long story short she wasn't really wanting a whole lot but we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she LOVED it. Especially the whole 3 kingdoms of glory.
I told her that it would really make sense and God wouldn't be very just if there was only Heaven and Hell. Where's the line? There has to be a line that is drawn which 1 unrepented sin would mean the difference between eternal happiness or never-ending torment. She agreed completely and it was because of that she decided to miss her church on Sunday and come to ours.
I got really scared, as I am sure all you ex-missionaries can relate to, when I saw that the topic of the class was about temples and temple work. It's tough to explain to some people "why we baptize dead people" haha especially after 4 days of knowing that the church exists.
However, she loved it and now is wanting to do all of her genealogy work, something she has always thought was important but never had the courage to start. She is 22 and lives with a guy but isn't married and after learning about the sealing of the family in the temple she is wanting to separate herself from him because she could NEVER see herself together with him forever haha. She also has a little kid.
The baptism is going to take a long time I think but for sure it will happen...even if I am not here to see it. She said "I now see how ignorant I was; your church is way better than mine!"
Everything's fine here. It's been raining a lot which has been messing up the work a little but it's good. It's going to get REALLY hot really soon so it's OK if it stays a little chilly for a bit.
Farewell!
-Elder Parsons
Elder Bird (Logan) who played LAX at BYU last year - just arrived
BYU = Bye bye to the BCS.
This week my companion and I killed ourselves working trying to fill up our investigator list again. We worked way hard and found another 17 new investigators and marked another 5 baptism dates. It was really good. 2 of them are really firm for the end of this transfer. The other ones need to get married so will take a little bit...
We have another awesome investigator that we found named Jenaina. She is 22 and is from the "Assembly of God" which is a really popular church here in Brazil. Long story short she wasn't really wanting a whole lot but we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she LOVED it. Especially the whole 3 kingdoms of glory.
I told her that it would really make sense and God wouldn't be very just if there was only Heaven and Hell. Where's the line? There has to be a line that is drawn which 1 unrepented sin would mean the difference between eternal happiness or never-ending torment. She agreed completely and it was because of that she decided to miss her church on Sunday and come to ours.
I got really scared, as I am sure all you ex-missionaries can relate to, when I saw that the topic of the class was about temples and temple work. It's tough to explain to some people "why we baptize dead people" haha especially after 4 days of knowing that the church exists.
However, she loved it and now is wanting to do all of her genealogy work, something she has always thought was important but never had the courage to start. She is 22 and lives with a guy but isn't married and after learning about the sealing of the family in the temple she is wanting to separate herself from him because she could NEVER see herself together with him forever haha. She also has a little kid.
The baptism is going to take a long time I think but for sure it will happen...even if I am not here to see it. She said "I now see how ignorant I was; your church is way better than mine!"
Everything's fine here. It's been raining a lot which has been messing up the work a little but it's good. It's going to get REALLY hot really soon so it's OK if it stays a little chilly for a bit.
Farewell!
-Elder Parsons
Elder Bird (Logan) who played LAX at BYU last year - just arrivedMonday, September 21, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
11 months to go!
Greetings everyone! Glad to hear that all is good in your part of the world.
So our 2 baptisms this week went fine. The past month and a half has been the period of my mission that I have baptized the most which is way cool...however my companion and I have realized that we literally have "thrown" everything that we had in the water...now we are left with very little haha.
This week, and I am sure the next couple, will be completely dedicated to finding new, strong investigators to ensure even more baptisms for the end of this transfer.
I am glad to hear that BYU football took a small "number 2" on Tulane last Saturday. Looks like it could be their best year in a long time. Go team go! Win my favorite sports team, win!
Farewell!
-Elder Brent Parsons
So our 2 baptisms this week went fine. The past month and a half has been the period of my mission that I have baptized the most which is way cool...however my companion and I have realized that we literally have "thrown" everything that we had in the water...now we are left with very little haha.
This week, and I am sure the next couple, will be completely dedicated to finding new, strong investigators to ensure even more baptisms for the end of this transfer.
I am glad to hear that BYU football took a small "number 2" on Tulane last Saturday. Looks like it could be their best year in a long time. Go team go! Win my favorite sports team, win!
Farewell!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
No transfer
So this week was the week of transfers. We were talking to our Bishop about how this transfer is going to be complicated because tons of new missionaries are going to show up and how Elder Bie was probably going to be transferred.
So then on Sunday after having lunch with him he asked me to give him my cell phone and put me on the line with President. I was a bit confused but I dialed President's number and gave it to him. He said a bunch of stuff to President but pretty much said that if there was anyway possible to keep both of us here in the area then he would be really happy because we are doing really good work here in the area. I relaxed as I heard this haha and thought it was way cool that he did that.
So then Monday night came and we received the call to see who was going to be transferred. I still thought, despite my Bishop's call, that Elder Bie was going to leave...but it wasn't so. My Bishop got his wish and we both are going to stay here another month and half at least.
Well we didn't have much else to do and my comp had to talk to President about some stuff so we went to the Mission Office for transfers today.
Both us and my entire zone were sure that my comp was going to be transferred and that I was going to train seeing as I am "in that season" of the mission and there are 21 new missionaries showing up, but alas that didn't happen.
I was actually kind of disappointed. I thought that maybe I had lost some of President's respect or something like that but one of my friends who is one of the Assistants called me over during transfers and told me that they literally had put me up on "the board" that President has with all the missionaries in the mission as a trainer with my new noobie companion and everything...but then right before they finalized the transfer my Bishop called saying that he really wanted us to stay.
And so President decided to change everything and now I will wait a bit longer to train I guess. I mean, it's cool what happened and everything but on the other hand I really wanted to train. But whatevs, I am still happy with everything that is going on here in the area so I don't have much to complain about.
Speaking of that we had 2 baptisms last week and 2 more this week. Last week was a girl named Larissa who is 12 whose mom Viviane actually "contacted" us on the street. Viviane is going to be baptized this week.
And the other baptism last week was ANOTHER Viviane who is 19 that we found from an address that my comp had grabbed from her mom on the street.
Then the other baptism this week is a 65 or so year old woman who has been going to church off and on for 10 years and solid for 2 years straight but never felt like she needed to get baptized and she could never stop drinking coffee but she just stopped drinking coffee about a month ago.
The other day I went up to her daughter who actually just got home from a mission and was like "What do we have to do to baptize your mom?" She was like "I think we just need to invite her now because it is now or never!" Haha.
So the following night we were in a meeting with our Bishop and told him about her and he said "Leave it to me...Sunday I will interview her and get her to get baptized." So Sunday I saw him call her into his office and when she came out she started telling everyone "I am going to get baptized on the 12th!" Haha so that was cool. It wasn't much work but hey, I'll take it.
SIDENOTE: I can't believe BYU beat Oklahoma! Sweet! Sounded like a good defensive game. That would be awesome if BYU broke the BCS this year. Could somebody send me BYU's schedule for this year?
Man I am getting all 'trunky' thinking about the lacrosse season starting! It didn't help that a kid named Logan Bird that I know who worked the BYU Lax camps with me just got here today! He played all last year as one of the starting Def. Middies and luckily got sent to here to the interior (actually my last area: Julio de Mesquita) and took the bus ride with me back here which gave him time to give me the breakdown of all last season. It unfortunately just made me even more trunky but it was way cool. It was way cool to see him and to hear about the stuff going on back home.
So my Dad sent me a pedometer to see how far I walk everyday. I have had it for about 2 weeks and the average so far is usually between 18 - 22 kilometers everyday. We have hit 24 km though so far. It's not as much as I thought it would be actually...what's that like 10 - 12 miles? I dunno. All I know is that I rarely get tired anymore. I can walk forever but if you ask me to run I will stop at about 100 meters...
I hope everyone has a good week, loves a stuff!
-Elder Brent Parsons
So then on Sunday after having lunch with him he asked me to give him my cell phone and put me on the line with President. I was a bit confused but I dialed President's number and gave it to him. He said a bunch of stuff to President but pretty much said that if there was anyway possible to keep both of us here in the area then he would be really happy because we are doing really good work here in the area. I relaxed as I heard this haha and thought it was way cool that he did that.
So then Monday night came and we received the call to see who was going to be transferred. I still thought, despite my Bishop's call, that Elder Bie was going to leave...but it wasn't so. My Bishop got his wish and we both are going to stay here another month and half at least.
Well we didn't have much else to do and my comp had to talk to President about some stuff so we went to the Mission Office for transfers today.
Both us and my entire zone were sure that my comp was going to be transferred and that I was going to train seeing as I am "in that season" of the mission and there are 21 new missionaries showing up, but alas that didn't happen.
I was actually kind of disappointed. I thought that maybe I had lost some of President's respect or something like that but one of my friends who is one of the Assistants called me over during transfers and told me that they literally had put me up on "the board" that President has with all the missionaries in the mission as a trainer with my new noobie companion and everything...but then right before they finalized the transfer my Bishop called saying that he really wanted us to stay.
And so President decided to change everything and now I will wait a bit longer to train I guess. I mean, it's cool what happened and everything but on the other hand I really wanted to train. But whatevs, I am still happy with everything that is going on here in the area so I don't have much to complain about.
Speaking of that we had 2 baptisms last week and 2 more this week. Last week was a girl named Larissa who is 12 whose mom Viviane actually "contacted" us on the street. Viviane is going to be baptized this week.
And the other baptism last week was ANOTHER Viviane who is 19 that we found from an address that my comp had grabbed from her mom on the street.
Then the other baptism this week is a 65 or so year old woman who has been going to church off and on for 10 years and solid for 2 years straight but never felt like she needed to get baptized and she could never stop drinking coffee but she just stopped drinking coffee about a month ago.
The other day I went up to her daughter who actually just got home from a mission and was like "What do we have to do to baptize your mom?" She was like "I think we just need to invite her now because it is now or never!" Haha.
So the following night we were in a meeting with our Bishop and told him about her and he said "Leave it to me...Sunday I will interview her and get her to get baptized." So Sunday I saw him call her into his office and when she came out she started telling everyone "I am going to get baptized on the 12th!" Haha so that was cool. It wasn't much work but hey, I'll take it.
SIDENOTE: I can't believe BYU beat Oklahoma! Sweet! Sounded like a good defensive game. That would be awesome if BYU broke the BCS this year. Could somebody send me BYU's schedule for this year?
Man I am getting all 'trunky' thinking about the lacrosse season starting! It didn't help that a kid named Logan Bird that I know who worked the BYU Lax camps with me just got here today! He played all last year as one of the starting Def. Middies and luckily got sent to here to the interior (actually my last area: Julio de Mesquita) and took the bus ride with me back here which gave him time to give me the breakdown of all last season. It unfortunately just made me even more trunky but it was way cool. It was way cool to see him and to hear about the stuff going on back home.
So my Dad sent me a pedometer to see how far I walk everyday. I have had it for about 2 weeks and the average so far is usually between 18 - 22 kilometers everyday. We have hit 24 km though so far. It's not as much as I thought it would be actually...what's that like 10 - 12 miles? I dunno. All I know is that I rarely get tired anymore. I can walk forever but if you ask me to run I will stop at about 100 meters...
I hope everyone has a good week, loves a stuff!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Sweet Week...
This week was sweet.
The work here in my area is going extremely well which = I am happy. It definitely is the best the work has ever been on my mission yet. After a year I finally feel like I really know what I am doing on the mission. It's a good feeling.
The companions I have had so far (excluding my current companion) aren't really what you would call "diligent workers" and so it always hindered the work a bit...especially when I didn't speak very well or have a really good idea about how to do the work because I had to just follow in their "non-diligent" ways.
Now however, I know what I am doing and I have a companion that is willing to come along with me without hindering the work. It really shows how much it helps to have BOTH of the Elders in the companionship wanting to do the work instead of just one.
We have 2 baptisms this Saturday and more in the coming weeks. Unfortunately we have transfers next Wed. So most likely one of us isn't going to see the other baptisms. We both might stay together but it is pretty unlikely...one of us is going to go. We both think it is going to be my comp, Elder Bie but we will have to see. I hope I stay, but if I don't...whatevs. We'll find out on Monday night who is going to go and who is going to stay.
Loves and stuffs for all. Thanks for the emails!
-Elder Parsons
The work here in my area is going extremely well which = I am happy. It definitely is the best the work has ever been on my mission yet. After a year I finally feel like I really know what I am doing on the mission. It's a good feeling.
The companions I have had so far (excluding my current companion) aren't really what you would call "diligent workers" and so it always hindered the work a bit...especially when I didn't speak very well or have a really good idea about how to do the work because I had to just follow in their "non-diligent" ways.
Now however, I know what I am doing and I have a companion that is willing to come along with me without hindering the work. It really shows how much it helps to have BOTH of the Elders in the companionship wanting to do the work instead of just one.
We have 2 baptisms this Saturday and more in the coming weeks. Unfortunately we have transfers next Wed. So most likely one of us isn't going to see the other baptisms. We both might stay together but it is pretty unlikely...one of us is going to go. We both think it is going to be my comp, Elder Bie but we will have to see. I hope I stay, but if I don't...whatevs. We'll find out on Monday night who is going to go and who is going to stay.
Loves and stuffs for all. Thanks for the emails!
-Elder Parsons
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