Me and my new companion Elder Briggs.It`s getting pretty cold actually so we put some jackets on.
Check out this dog`s eye! 
Pic of me watching conference "só de boa"!Saturday, April 10, 2010
Pictures from this week
Me and my new companion Elder Briggs.It`s getting pretty cold actually so we put some jackets on.
Check out this dog`s eye! Pic of me watching conference "só de boa"!
New Companion!
So I got my new companion on Wednesday and he is way cool. It was really tough to see my old companion go because he was such a good guy and a great missionary and he taught me a lot...but his 2 years were done and that's how it is. I got an email from him already saying that it was weird getting home but that things are good at home and he will probably even get married soon. Go Filipão! If you are reading this :).
But my new comp is way cool. His name is Elder Briggs and by the name you can deduce that he is American...my first American companion on the mission. Pretay crazy. We already knew each other pretty well because we have been in the same zone twice already. We both are missionaries that have spent most of our time in the "interior" part of the mission so we always saw each other at zone conf. and stuff. He's from Seattle and went to the U of Washington for a year before coming out here. He has 1 transfer less than me on the mission so he has about 1 year and almost 7 months on the mission.
He got here on Wednesday and Wednesday night we were already brainstorming for a couple of hours about ideas that we could implement in the mission to help the elders and sisters fulfill with their callings then on Thursday and Friday we were already out doing divisions. On Thursday we went to do a division with the Zone Leaders with the zone leaders of the office here in Zona São Paulo but it didn't really work out for various reasons.
It was one of the weirdest days ever actually. We went to study with them in the morning but then our lunch was moved to 5 o'clock in the afternoon (lunch?). We were going to go out and work with them until 5 but it ended up that the secretaries needed them to do some baptismal interviews at 1 o'clock so seeing as we don't have an area to work in and if the ZLs left then we wouldn't have anything to do, we offered to go do the baptismal interviews in their place so they could stay working in the area.
These four baptisms that the secretaries will have are some of the best baptisms I have yet to see on the mission. It was a reference from one of the members in their ward and what a reference it was. It is a full family that was completely prepared to hear the gospel. They live in a really nice apartment building in one of the richest areas in São Paulo. The dad has a factory where he makes a snack product called "banana chips" haha. The dad isn't even baptized yet and said "I want to get my factory working in such a way that I don't have to even work in order for me to dedicate 100% of my time to the church." They have two kids that are a little over 20 years old and they are awesome too. It was a privilage to do their interviews. They all passed and their baptism will be today at 5:00 and we will probably go.
It was a weird day because we ended up doing those interviews which weren't planned and they insisted on feeding us "lunch" at 3:30 pm. Then we left at about 4:15, got a bus back to the ZL area and got there at about 4:45pm...right in time to go to THEIR lunch at 5:00 haha. It was with an American couple that works in the temple here and it reminded me of my mother's Sunday dinner. Crockpot meat, potatoes, and carrots, dinner rolls, ketchup, etc. It was delicious. I even gave the lunch message in english. Then we left and it was almost time for my comp and I to leave to the next day's division in Jaçanã. So we went back to the office to do a couple things their, packed our bags, and then headed out for the 2 hour journey to Jaçanã. Strange day indeed.
The division yesterday in Jaçanã was good, but normal.
So how about General Conference né? It was awesome. My companion didn't have to worry about any investigators or anything at church so we just chilled out here in the office watching it in pajamas while eating hot dogs and ice cream throughout the day watching it on the internet. Way better than getting all ready and going to the church haha. The talks were truly awesome though and helped me a lot. Hope you all could enjoy them as well wherever you are.
My p-day was on Saturday this week but should go back to the normal Wednesday next week. Love you all!
-Elder Brent Parsons
But my new comp is way cool. His name is Elder Briggs and by the name you can deduce that he is American...my first American companion on the mission. Pretay crazy. We already knew each other pretty well because we have been in the same zone twice already. We both are missionaries that have spent most of our time in the "interior" part of the mission so we always saw each other at zone conf. and stuff. He's from Seattle and went to the U of Washington for a year before coming out here. He has 1 transfer less than me on the mission so he has about 1 year and almost 7 months on the mission.
He got here on Wednesday and Wednesday night we were already brainstorming for a couple of hours about ideas that we could implement in the mission to help the elders and sisters fulfill with their callings then on Thursday and Friday we were already out doing divisions. On Thursday we went to do a division with the Zone Leaders with the zone leaders of the office here in Zona São Paulo but it didn't really work out for various reasons.
It was one of the weirdest days ever actually. We went to study with them in the morning but then our lunch was moved to 5 o'clock in the afternoon (lunch?). We were going to go out and work with them until 5 but it ended up that the secretaries needed them to do some baptismal interviews at 1 o'clock so seeing as we don't have an area to work in and if the ZLs left then we wouldn't have anything to do, we offered to go do the baptismal interviews in their place so they could stay working in the area.
These four baptisms that the secretaries will have are some of the best baptisms I have yet to see on the mission. It was a reference from one of the members in their ward and what a reference it was. It is a full family that was completely prepared to hear the gospel. They live in a really nice apartment building in one of the richest areas in São Paulo. The dad has a factory where he makes a snack product called "banana chips" haha. The dad isn't even baptized yet and said "I want to get my factory working in such a way that I don't have to even work in order for me to dedicate 100% of my time to the church." They have two kids that are a little over 20 years old and they are awesome too. It was a privilage to do their interviews. They all passed and their baptism will be today at 5:00 and we will probably go.
It was a weird day because we ended up doing those interviews which weren't planned and they insisted on feeding us "lunch" at 3:30 pm. Then we left at about 4:15, got a bus back to the ZL area and got there at about 4:45pm...right in time to go to THEIR lunch at 5:00 haha. It was with an American couple that works in the temple here and it reminded me of my mother's Sunday dinner. Crockpot meat, potatoes, and carrots, dinner rolls, ketchup, etc. It was delicious. I even gave the lunch message in english. Then we left and it was almost time for my comp and I to leave to the next day's division in Jaçanã. So we went back to the office to do a couple things their, packed our bags, and then headed out for the 2 hour journey to Jaçanã. Strange day indeed.
The division yesterday in Jaçanã was good, but normal.
So how about General Conference né? It was awesome. My companion didn't have to worry about any investigators or anything at church so we just chilled out here in the office watching it in pajamas while eating hot dogs and ice cream throughout the day watching it on the internet. Way better than getting all ready and going to the church haha. The talks were truly awesome though and helped me a lot. Hope you all could enjoy them as well wherever you are.
My p-day was on Saturday this week but should go back to the normal Wednesday next week. Love you all!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Some more pictures
The first if an example of one of the pics that we take on every one of our divisions with the elders. I have tons of these already...
The second is of the Housing Secretary who went home last week. He actually stayed for 2 years and 1 month on his mission to help train the new missionary couple to be the new housing secretaries. Who knows why my comp and I put him up on our shoulders...it was funny though.
The third is of me with a piece of cold ham on my eye because we were playing this game we call "the slap game" and my comp slapped me in the eye...it hurt really bad and turned all red and stuff. I still have a headache because of it haha. It's all good though...ham works miracles!
The second is of the Housing Secretary who went home last week. He actually stayed for 2 years and 1 month on his mission to help train the new missionary couple to be the new housing secretaries. Who knows why my comp and I put him up on our shoulders...it was funny though.
The third is of me with a piece of cold ham on my eye because we were playing this game we call "the slap game" and my comp slapped me in the eye...it hurt really bad and turned all red and stuff. I still have a headache because of it haha. It's all good though...ham works miracles!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
My companion goes home next week!
Not much to report for this week. We stayed on division from last wed. night until saturday night (we went to Jaçanã, Jardim Bonilha, and Pirituba here in the capital) which was a swift kick in the nuts to our energy level. I get back after these three-day divisons wanting nothing more than a meangly bunk bed and patched up blanket; which is exactly what awaited me...
Then the fun began. Transfers! Woot. We started them on Monday and spent 7 hours in President's office but didn't finish; we'll do the rest on Friday. It's always a good experience.
This week is going to be awesome! Not only will we have the other transfer meeting, our visit to the MTC to see the noobies, and sending the old guys back home but it is going to be General Conference! I literally am so excited. I have been studying the talks from last general conference lately in our daily studies and it's made me really excited for this weekend.
I always took General Conference for granted when I was at home. Watching it on the couch, a little bit of eating, a lot of sleeping, and pretty much no paying attention was how it was. I have repented mother don't worry!
Love ya all! Later! This week I am going to make 1 year and 8 months on the mission. Weird.
-Elder Brent Parsons
By the way, The myldsmail email system changed. I am pretty sure all the emails sent to my old account will be forwarded to my new one but I am not sure if that will continue when the take down the old site in May.
So my new email is brent.parsons@myldsmail.net instead of brentparsons@myldsmail.net. OK?
Then the fun began. Transfers! Woot. We started them on Monday and spent 7 hours in President's office but didn't finish; we'll do the rest on Friday. It's always a good experience.
This week is going to be awesome! Not only will we have the other transfer meeting, our visit to the MTC to see the noobies, and sending the old guys back home but it is going to be General Conference! I literally am so excited. I have been studying the talks from last general conference lately in our daily studies and it's made me really excited for this weekend.
I always took General Conference for granted when I was at home. Watching it on the couch, a little bit of eating, a lot of sleeping, and pretty much no paying attention was how it was. I have repented mother don't worry!
Love ya all! Later! This week I am going to make 1 year and 8 months on the mission. Weird.
-Elder Brent Parsons
By the way, The myldsmail email system changed. I am pretty sure all the emails sent to my old account will be forwarded to my new one but I am not sure if that will continue when the take down the old site in May.
So my new email is brent.parsons@myldsmail.net instead of brentparsons@myldsmail.net. OK?
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Update for the Week
We finished up the last 2 zone conferences last week and they went fine.
Last Thursday night we did a division with the Elders in Cerquiera César which is in the center of São Paulo. They had called us and asked us to come with them to a lesson that night. The lesson they marked was with a Baptist bible study group haha and they wanted us to go with them for "backup".
We got to the lesson with Mathew 18 fresh in our mind because that was the subject that the group was going to study (for no specific reason, they just happened to be debating that chapter and we wanted to be able to participate as well). After our debate about that chapter they allowed us to give our message.
We gave them the message of the Restoration and it went really well. They are actually very intelligent people and had good, honest questions which was a great break from the usual dull questions we get every day. They asked stuff like "If the Book of Mormon didn't exist, would there still be a way for us to be saved?" and stuff like that. Good questions I thought. We were able to answer them and we also learned stuff about their religion.
They invited us back for the next Thursday's study group which is going to be tomorrow night but unfortunately my comp and I will be doing a division in another area and won't be able to attend the session, but the other Elders are going to go.
Yesterday we went to the São Paulo Norte zone and did a division with the ZLs there. The next three days are going to be spent on divisions...yay! We are going to start doing the transfers next week so maybe my P-day will be changed to another day but we will see.
Until next week!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Last Thursday night we did a division with the Elders in Cerquiera César which is in the center of São Paulo. They had called us and asked us to come with them to a lesson that night. The lesson they marked was with a Baptist bible study group haha and they wanted us to go with them for "backup".
We got to the lesson with Mathew 18 fresh in our mind because that was the subject that the group was going to study (for no specific reason, they just happened to be debating that chapter and we wanted to be able to participate as well). After our debate about that chapter they allowed us to give our message.
We gave them the message of the Restoration and it went really well. They are actually very intelligent people and had good, honest questions which was a great break from the usual dull questions we get every day. They asked stuff like "If the Book of Mormon didn't exist, would there still be a way for us to be saved?" and stuff like that. Good questions I thought. We were able to answer them and we also learned stuff about their religion.
They invited us back for the next Thursday's study group which is going to be tomorrow night but unfortunately my comp and I will be doing a division in another area and won't be able to attend the session, but the other Elders are going to go.
Yesterday we went to the São Paulo Norte zone and did a division with the ZLs there. The next three days are going to be spent on divisions...yay! We are going to start doing the transfers next week so maybe my P-day will be changed to another day but we will see.
Until next week!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Zone Divisions
Last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were spent on division in Itú and Sorocaba. 3 days in 3 different areas is pretty taxing on the body. But at least we were able to get the divisions done with all the Interior Zones for this transfer, now we will just stay here in the Capital.
After almost a 4 hour chain of bus rides getting back home on Saturday night my companion who only has 3 weeks left in the mission said "Dude, you know I don't like to say things that make you trunky...but I am SO glad that is the last time I ever have to do that." But after a good night's rest of 5 hours of sleep and the beautiful alarm clock ringing in our ears at 6:30 am it seemed like paradise was almost in our grasp.
It was really cool on Saturday because we went to Zona Trujillo and my companion stayed with one of the ZLs in that area and then the other ZL and I went off to one of the other areas in the zone to do a division: Julio de Mesquita. And for those faithful blog readers that name might sound familiar because that was my 2nd area on the mission where I spent 6 months of my life.
From 6 months until I had almost a year on the mission my time was spent walking the wonderfully organized streets of the Big Julio. It was probably the area that I grew the most on the mission. I spent 4 and a half months with 1 comp there too (Elder Affonso) which was the longest I spent with 1 comp.
It was really strange to do a division there, but really cool because I was able to go back to see some old recent converts and I got to talk to the bishop for a while. It was even cooler because I was able to do a division the division with my good buddy Elder Bird who played on BYU lax with me. He has over 8 months in the mission now and Julio is still his first area. It was really fun to do the division with him and I saw that he is an awesome missionary. He is speaking the language amazingly and cares a lot about his investigators. It was fun to remember the good ol' times on the lax field too.
I said "It's so crazy, imagine 2 years ago when we were together coaching lax at the BYU Lacrosse Camp, would you have ever imagined that 2 years later we would be walking the streets of some city in the rural part of São Paulo, Brasil called Sorocaba together speaking another language?" Crazy indeed.
Then on Sunday and Monday we had meetings with President and started our trainings for Zone Conference that is this week on Tuesday (yesterday), Thursday, and Friday. We are really trying to help the missionaries in the mission get over their fear of inviting people to baptism. Yesterday was a really good conference and I hope the next 2 are going to be good as well.
4 and half months left...it's coming! Love you all!
-Elder Brent Parsons
After almost a 4 hour chain of bus rides getting back home on Saturday night my companion who only has 3 weeks left in the mission said "Dude, you know I don't like to say things that make you trunky...but I am SO glad that is the last time I ever have to do that." But after a good night's rest of 5 hours of sleep and the beautiful alarm clock ringing in our ears at 6:30 am it seemed like paradise was almost in our grasp.
It was really cool on Saturday because we went to Zona Trujillo and my companion stayed with one of the ZLs in that area and then the other ZL and I went off to one of the other areas in the zone to do a division: Julio de Mesquita. And for those faithful blog readers that name might sound familiar because that was my 2nd area on the mission where I spent 6 months of my life.
From 6 months until I had almost a year on the mission my time was spent walking the wonderfully organized streets of the Big Julio. It was probably the area that I grew the most on the mission. I spent 4 and a half months with 1 comp there too (Elder Affonso) which was the longest I spent with 1 comp.
It was really strange to do a division there, but really cool because I was able to go back to see some old recent converts and I got to talk to the bishop for a while. It was even cooler because I was able to do a division the division with my good buddy Elder Bird who played on BYU lax with me. He has over 8 months in the mission now and Julio is still his first area. It was really fun to do the division with him and I saw that he is an awesome missionary. He is speaking the language amazingly and cares a lot about his investigators. It was fun to remember the good ol' times on the lax field too.
I said "It's so crazy, imagine 2 years ago when we were together coaching lax at the BYU Lacrosse Camp, would you have ever imagined that 2 years later we would be walking the streets of some city in the rural part of São Paulo, Brasil called Sorocaba together speaking another language?" Crazy indeed.
Then on Sunday and Monday we had meetings with President and started our trainings for Zone Conference that is this week on Tuesday (yesterday), Thursday, and Friday. We are really trying to help the missionaries in the mission get over their fear of inviting people to baptism. Yesterday was a really good conference and I hope the next 2 are going to be good as well.
4 and half months left...it's coming! Love you all!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Monday, March 15, 2010
Pictures from Sao Paulo Temple
Me "studying" in the front of the temple
The São Paulo temple
The construction dude sleeping on top of the temple haha
Waterfall with the temple
Pic of angel Moroni. Yeah it's under construction
What is that doing in there?It was funny because only one other time in 1 year and 7 months
have I ever forgot my nametag at home...
the second time was today...what a noobie mistake!
Whatever, it's p-day!
Me and the executive secretary elder Vianna with cute matching shirts.
Me with this sweet car we got a ride home inwith an investigator in the secretaries area.
Yes, I had just shaved my head completely the previous day.
Me...hitting another door haha. I love pics like this.
My comp Elder Vasconcelos, and President and Sister Cooleyat the CTM when we went to see the noobies a couple of weeks ago
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