This week we had transfers which was cool. It's funny to be leading the transfer meeting up at the pulpit and to watch all the missionary's reaction from there as we call out their new companion's and new areas. It's impossible for them to hide what they are feeling in the first few seconds after we call it out. haha. Sometimes they get really happy because it's a friend or someone they have heard really good things about, but then it's even funnier to see them when an elder gets a guy they don't like very much or someone they have heard bad about. Haha. What can you do though?
On Monday we went with President to the MTC for him to interview the new missionaries that are coming to our mission and for us to give them a training about obedience and do some practices with them about how to do contacts on the street and stuff. It's hilarious to see all the new little Americans walking around there not understanding a word of what is being said around them and to realize that I was exactly the same haha. We got a new group of missionaries this week that are really good though.
We also did divisions with the zone leaders in Casa Verde and Jaguaré on Thursday and Friday. It was crazy because Casa Verde (MTC area) was my very first area and after 1 year and 4 months without going there I got to go and spend the day there. There is a kid member that used to be a little scrawny kid that wore glasses when I was first there, but I went and visited him on Thursday and he went through puberty and is a giant now! It's funny to talk to people now because they all say "You can understand Portuguese now? Poor little kid didn't understand a word when he first got here! You just sat a looked at me with a blank face when I tried to talk to you haha!" Good times, good times.
My p-day is going back to normal and is going to be on wed. for the next few weeks. Get them emails off before then!
Until next week my friends!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
It's transfers week...woot!
This next Wed. (the 24th) is transfers so this week the President, my comp and I locked ourselves up in President's office and did the transfers. It sounds really funny but I loved it. It's hilarious. You sit there (in the spirit of prayer of course) and look at the board of the missionary's pics trying to decide whose life you are going to change by making him change areas, companions, houses, and/or responsibilities...and they have no idea. Haha.
That's why I am emailing today because we had a transfer meeting on my regular p-day so we switched it. This past week and a half was really good there. We are officialy just traveling missionaries here without an area so the free days of the past week were spent traveling the mission doing divisions.
I know these names don't mean anything to any one of you but it's funny to see all the zones names; we went to Barueri and Pirituba last Thursday and Friday then on to Jaraguá on Tuesday here in the capital then this Thursday and Friday were spent out in Sorocaba at Barcelona and then to Itú.
Yep, Barcelona was my old area last transfer so it was sweet to be able to do a division for a day there. I even got to spend the day with my old comp Elder Jara and got to visit a bunch of old investigators and members. When the Bishop found out I was there, he and his wife said that we had to come over that night. We went over and they ordered us 4 a bunch of pizza and stuff. It was awesome. It was a really good ward and area.
It's awesome to see the working-styles of all the missionaries. I learn new stuff on every division because every missionary has some sort of good quality about him that I can take with me and teach the other missionaries. I also get to see all the amazing investigators of the church that are in our mission.
Haha, the other day at Jaraguá one of their investigators told me about how she found out that the BoM was true. She was coming home from work and was really tired while waiting for the subway to pass by. At night the subway is REALLY crowded, hot, and it is really rare that you get lucky enough to get a seat. She had been investigating the church but still had doubts about the BoM. Standing there she silently said a prayer and said "Father, I am SO tired, and if the Book of Mormon is true then the subway is going to stop with a door right in front of me for me to be the first one to get on in order for me to get a seat." She finished her silent plea and waited for the subway some more. It came and the subway came to a stop as one of the sliding doors opened right at her front. She entered and was able to get a seat. Haha! She said that after that she knew the BoM was true and should be getting baptized in the coming weeks hahaha. It was really funny. Not the usual answer that people get but it works I guess :).
In Pirituba we were knocking doors and a lady came out and we could see that she really didn't want to let us in. But all of the sudden it looked like her countenance changed and she became warmer with us and let us in. We shared a message with her and her two daughters which was really good. She loved it and said "I never let anyone in my house because I am scared for the safety of my family and I didn't want to hear what you guys had to say. I was about to lie to you both and say that I didn't have any time to hear your message, but then I took a good look at you two and something whispered to me that you guys meant no harm and had something that I need to hear, so I let you in." There are tons of these little experiences that I am having on the divisions that strengthen my testimony of the Lord's restored gospel.
Throughout my whole mission I haven't been exactly very diligent with my exercises in the morning. I've been pathetic, actually. However I always told my self that "when I have 1 year and 6 months on the mission I will start doing them faithfully every morning." 1 year and 6 months just always seemed so far away so I never felt like I would have to start doing them again. But 2 weeks ago I made 1 year and 6 months on the mission ha. I have been faithul to my promise though and let's see if I can rid myself of the extra beans and rice I have accumalated around the waist-region.
I am grateful for all the supporty ya´ll give me. Farewell!
-Elder Brent Parsons
That's why I am emailing today because we had a transfer meeting on my regular p-day so we switched it. This past week and a half was really good there. We are officialy just traveling missionaries here without an area so the free days of the past week were spent traveling the mission doing divisions.
I know these names don't mean anything to any one of you but it's funny to see all the zones names; we went to Barueri and Pirituba last Thursday and Friday then on to Jaraguá on Tuesday here in the capital then this Thursday and Friday were spent out in Sorocaba at Barcelona and then to Itú.
Yep, Barcelona was my old area last transfer so it was sweet to be able to do a division for a day there. I even got to spend the day with my old comp Elder Jara and got to visit a bunch of old investigators and members. When the Bishop found out I was there, he and his wife said that we had to come over that night. We went over and they ordered us 4 a bunch of pizza and stuff. It was awesome. It was a really good ward and area.
It's awesome to see the working-styles of all the missionaries. I learn new stuff on every division because every missionary has some sort of good quality about him that I can take with me and teach the other missionaries. I also get to see all the amazing investigators of the church that are in our mission.
Haha, the other day at Jaraguá one of their investigators told me about how she found out that the BoM was true. She was coming home from work and was really tired while waiting for the subway to pass by. At night the subway is REALLY crowded, hot, and it is really rare that you get lucky enough to get a seat. She had been investigating the church but still had doubts about the BoM. Standing there she silently said a prayer and said "Father, I am SO tired, and if the Book of Mormon is true then the subway is going to stop with a door right in front of me for me to be the first one to get on in order for me to get a seat." She finished her silent plea and waited for the subway some more. It came and the subway came to a stop as one of the sliding doors opened right at her front. She entered and was able to get a seat. Haha! She said that after that she knew the BoM was true and should be getting baptized in the coming weeks hahaha. It was really funny. Not the usual answer that people get but it works I guess :).
In Pirituba we were knocking doors and a lady came out and we could see that she really didn't want to let us in. But all of the sudden it looked like her countenance changed and she became warmer with us and let us in. We shared a message with her and her two daughters which was really good. She loved it and said "I never let anyone in my house because I am scared for the safety of my family and I didn't want to hear what you guys had to say. I was about to lie to you both and say that I didn't have any time to hear your message, but then I took a good look at you two and something whispered to me that you guys meant no harm and had something that I need to hear, so I let you in." There are tons of these little experiences that I am having on the divisions that strengthen my testimony of the Lord's restored gospel.
Throughout my whole mission I haven't been exactly very diligent with my exercises in the morning. I've been pathetic, actually. However I always told my self that "when I have 1 year and 6 months on the mission I will start doing them faithfully every morning." 1 year and 6 months just always seemed so far away so I never felt like I would have to start doing them again. But 2 weeks ago I made 1 year and 6 months on the mission ha. I have been faithul to my promise though and let's see if I can rid myself of the extra beans and rice I have accumalated around the waist-region.
I am grateful for all the supporty ya´ll give me. Farewell!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Going Private
Elder Brent Parsons has requests we make this blog private. If you would like to continue looking at his mission blog please leave your email in a comment or email it to karrissa{at}inpnet{dot}org. I will leave the blog open for a few weeks while I gather everyone's email addresses. After that you will need to log on with your google account to access this blog. I am sorry if this is an inconvenience for anyone. Thanks!
Zone Conference and a Baptism
Sup!
This week is Zone Conference week and it's been really rushed. There are three zone conferences that we do on the mission. The first one was yesterday and was for the four of the zones here in the capital in Zona Norte (the north part of S達o Paulo that our mission has). Today's P-day then tomorrow will be the next conference for the 4 more zones including the zone I belong to. It will be done here in the chapel right next to the Temple. Then on Friday we will go out to Sorocaba to do the conference for the 5 zones in the "interior" or rural part of the mission.
We had mission council last week on Tuesday and had to prepare a training for that but after Tuesday we started working on the zone conference training. We have about an hour in each conference. We spent a long time on it but I think it paid off because it went really well yesterday in the first conf.
We have very little time that we get to work in our actual area but usually any time we have in the area is spent teaching a family that we have. They are way cool. They have a kid that is on a mission right now and they finally accepted to be baptized last two Sundays ago! So this Sunday after church we had their baptisms. The missionary's Mom, 2 sisters, and 2 cousins got baptized! The missionary is alone in the church and has sent an email home every week of his mission (he has been on the mission as long as I have) encouraging the family to read the book of mormon, go to church, and get baptized; and finally after all this time they started going to church and reading and were baptized! I can't even imagine how happy this missionary will get when we send him the picture of his family finally getting baptized. I attached a photo of the baptism. And yes, I am well aware that I look HUUUUUGE and am in front of the poor child who just wanted to get in the picture...but unfortunately it's the only pic I got.
I am defintely learning about how stupid missionaries can be with this calling, but I am loving it. Every day is completely different...which is good because it breaks the routine of the last 18 months of my life. I have eaten 8 pizzas in the last 3 weeks. Just thought I'd throw that one in there.
Love ya'll! Thanks for the emails!
-Elder Brent Parsons
This week is Zone Conference week and it's been really rushed. There are three zone conferences that we do on the mission. The first one was yesterday and was for the four of the zones here in the capital in Zona Norte (the north part of S達o Paulo that our mission has). Today's P-day then tomorrow will be the next conference for the 4 more zones including the zone I belong to. It will be done here in the chapel right next to the Temple. Then on Friday we will go out to Sorocaba to do the conference for the 5 zones in the "interior" or rural part of the mission.
We had mission council last week on Tuesday and had to prepare a training for that but after Tuesday we started working on the zone conference training. We have about an hour in each conference. We spent a long time on it but I think it paid off because it went really well yesterday in the first conf.
We have very little time that we get to work in our actual area but usually any time we have in the area is spent teaching a family that we have. They are way cool. They have a kid that is on a mission right now and they finally accepted to be baptized last two Sundays ago! So this Sunday after church we had their baptisms. The missionary's Mom, 2 sisters, and 2 cousins got baptized! The missionary is alone in the church and has sent an email home every week of his mission (he has been on the mission as long as I have) encouraging the family to read the book of mormon, go to church, and get baptized; and finally after all this time they started going to church and reading and were baptized! I can't even imagine how happy this missionary will get when we send him the picture of his family finally getting baptized. I attached a photo of the baptism. And yes, I am well aware that I look HUUUUUGE and am in front of the poor child who just wanted to get in the picture...but unfortunately it's the only pic I got.
I am defintely learning about how stupid missionaries can be with this calling, but I am loving it. Every day is completely different...which is good because it breaks the routine of the last 18 months of my life. I have eaten 8 pizzas in the last 3 weeks. Just thought I'd throw that one in there.Love ya'll! Thanks for the emails!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
