The Work

This week we had a divisão I was with elder Davies again. We had a good time, we taught a lesson to a family they had, and we shared the material very well, I love to teach the people in other areas, I am not sure why  just do :) 

Then we taught Tais, she is the older lady, that we marked, after much much hesitation for Baptism. She is just very very very timid, and it doesn't help that her cousin goes to church every week but isn't baptized.... But she said she would pray about it :) 

We taught two young friends in what we call the mini favela. They are just two guys that don't know much about the biblia or gospel, but they came to church with us this week!!! .... the house they live in was two mattresses on the cement floor, a table with a sink (for both food, and laundry) and a other table with a tv, and a pile of clothes under. It was very humbling to teach someone that lives in a "house" smaller than your room. Just made me more grateful for the blessings I have in my life :)

We also talked with a less active that I like more and more every time we visit. Named Filipe he is 24 and loves when we come and visit. The last time we talked with them we talked about soccer.  He is a Man U fan so that was awesome!!!!! Talked about CoD that was also awesome!!!!! And he loves to play FIFA, I was thinking "You are the freakin man!" haha he is awesome, and we are going to work with him to come back to church :) 

Then to Sunday, we had a great sunday!! to say the least.  We had 6 investigators in the church :)!!! what what!!! haha technically 7 but one is a youngin that is 7 years old so a family of 4. Manuel, Cida, Joel 17, and Samuel 7. They are awesome, they have another religion and think that their baptisms are already valid in their church, but they were there, and said that they wanted to eat lunch with us one time, so we will see :) They loved the meetings I think. 

Then we had a mom of a recent convert, she lives very far away, but comes here sometimes to church because her son lives here with her sister :) So she came and then the two humble dudes came as well. They have to work everyday so they left before sacrament, but they came, and when I say this I am not making fun or diminishing him, but just so you guys know :) One of the guys "Romario" came in jean shorts, a t shirt, and flip flops :) he is awesome :) haha I love it here"""" 

Mission Life

We have lunch appointments each day. normally 12-1:) this is a good sized meal, and the members are normally awesome with it. We sometimes get money, like 50 reais, and we buy normally chicken nuggets, bread with cheese in it, sorvet, fruit. And I have yet to eat ramen here, I eat a lot of sandwich for breakfast, and we buy pizza with a chocolate boarder once or twice every 3 weeks :) If we want to eat dinner, usually we pass a house of a member before returning home, and they give us a snack, sometimes we get a full meal :)

We get around $140 Reais each 15 days. Which changes because the money comes in $US so when the dollar rises, we get more :) 

I can take pictures whatever day I want, I don't like to take my camera places but I will start to take more pictures with the members and what not :) 

We have a phone for our dupla, we use it to call who ever, phones on the churches plan are free, and we have 100 min with investigators :) 

Old Friend New Shoes

The week started with a lovely experience of Irma Helena, the same who 'moved' but is moving back in the casa of an other person. I don't know the situation :) haha But she called us up and said let’s go to shopping (the mall) they call it "Shopping" here. And she bought us shoes, so I got some "chique boatinhas"; they look good and I wanted a brown pair of shoes so that is awesome. And in shopping they have Christmas set up, and a slide, and yes of course me and elder Jacobson slid down :) haha that is the blurry photo. 

Then the next few days were good, the same Irma took us to the temple for lunch, and she paid, this was a day we received money, so we just pocketed :) 

From Irma Helena, "Your son had lunch in my house last monday and he was here minutes ago. He and his comp are so special. He speaks portuguese very well and he-s here only for a month."

New Friends and Great Contacts!

We....had a golden day on Saturday.  Normally because our area has many things like Shopping, and the stadium, most of the people don't live here. But on Saturday we had 6 or 7 people that we talked with on the street that live here. So we found 7 new houses to visit, and we will visit them this week. I am praying for the best :) 

We have two new elders living with us this week. They are not in our area; they are in  the area next to us that got spilt.  And they are just living with us. One is a Brasilerio and one is a Utah born and raised. He went to the CTM in Provo and then here, and he is struggling with the language. I feel sorry for him and am helping him learn the best I can. 

Elder Barros and Elder Dohnal. He is from Utah :) he went to West Jordon.

A soccer game for Sao Paulo just finished. And we passed the side of the stadium, and as we said "We walked through Hell!”  It was crazy. Everyone (not exaggerating) was smoking, and had at minimum of one beer in hand with more to the side. Wowzers, that was fun, and an experience :) haha Love the people here ;) 

We had lunch with a guy who was investigating the church for 6 years. His family (two kids and wife) are members, but he couldn’t do it. One day he was walking in a park with his son who was 4 years old. The son said "Everything is so beautiful, Dad can we do something?" And that something was a prayer, and the cute 4 year old said dad can we kneel? :) after the sincere prayer of the son, the dad was baptized.  And 11 months later, he was made bishop. GREAT Story.

I started and finished a book that everyone needs to read!!!!  Believing Christ by Stephen E Robinson.  It is about the power of grace, mercy, and justice of God. Wowzers!  It explains great about the atonement and grace some of my favorite quotes :)

"Mercy isn’t mercy if we deserve it; so grace isn’t grace if we earn it"

"God knows our circumstances and judges accordingly. He knows who is standing in a hole, and who is standing on a chair and he does not just measure height; He measures growth."

The Ice Box?

Fun Missionary Selfies!

Photo Bomber!

 

Tranferencia 1 Acabou

Wow. Transfer one done. 

This week was good, although we had to say goodbye to our neighbor that always fed us. Which is sad, because no more 8:45 treats.  

Helena Pinheros our Friendly Neighbor

This week was the high of highs and some tough days also.Tuesday was the highlight!!!

We helped one family move and also we taught a couple people. Carol, a girl that we are trying to help but is difficult, because she doesn’t want to come to church.... tough. But we marked her (again) for Baptism!! We will, see I hope she comes.

Also, we visited a contact named Diego. He was awesome We shared the Restoration. and he loved it. We also asked him to prepare to get baptized (after he found these things to be true) he said yes!!!!  2 people marked in one day... wow. and it was all good until Diego isn't answering our calls, and we can't find him in casa.. and Carol couldn't come to church again. But life is all good. 

Tuesday evening a man was in the road with a broken down car. I asked E Jacobson, "You know a lot about cars?" he said he knew nothing, but we both knew we needed to help. We asked this gentleman if he wanted help. He said yes and in the pouring rain, we waited for the light to open (turn green) then pushed.  As we were pushing, I was saying a little prayer in my heart, and while we were pushing and in the middle of the intersection, the car started!! Woah.. prayers work my friends :) 

Dripping wet, but blessed by the power of prayer.

We had two non-members in the church last Sunday and one returned this Sunday!!!. Name Tais.  She is a nice lady and has a book full of questions for us. The story is this. She and the cousin. (This cousin isn't baptized, but she goes to church, lives the commandments, and is a 'Dry Mormon") She and the cousin Tais came to church. We taught a lesson to Tais.  The cousin lives in Brasilia so we aren't teaching her, but the other lady has promise.  Tais promised to return the next Sunday!!!! Yes it is nice to see someone who understands the joy the church brings. We are going to do our best to help her out. 

Primary Program was this past week. Oh my goodness was so cute. The theme was Families are eternal. And they had two families one at the start and one at the end, sing. It was adorable. The family at the end was a cute family of three kids: two girls and a little boy and this is how they were acting. The mom about 10 seconds in got teary, and 20 seconds in was crying. The little girls were singing beautifully. One had something in her eye the whole time and was trying to get it out, and wasn't singing. The little boy of 3 or 4 was trying to grab the microphone, and every time he succeeded we heard a loud voice singing something else :) and the dad, was trying the whole song to help the boy not touch the microphone. hahaha  It was hilarious and very adorable to me. 

The children are awesome and I love talking to them, even though most of them speak better than me :) haha but Portuguese is coming. I love to talk in it, and I get frustrated a lot with my self because I don't know something. But that is just the Iverson in me :) 

Study Time

"My Desk... You Like?"

Another side of São Paulo

This is a members apartment is the rico area of our mission. The most of the people south of the stadium are rich, rich. Here is a picture of their nice 3 or 4 story house with AC (no one has that here) and a pool.   Oh, they also have another house in the country.... :) haha wow, that was crazy to hear. 

Fun Things we Experience in the Street

"I contacted a dog the other day...hahaha.. the dog was dying to talk to us.  I just was walking and he was up on the edge, it was hilarious!"  Elder Iverson

"I bet you didn't know Herbie was in Brazil." - Elder Iverson

Food

"Pictures of food, because who doesn't love food?" - Elder Iverson

And we learned that the cat a dog poster is a gift from Helena Pinheros, their friendly neighbor so they hung it in her honor.

Halloween Costumes

Halloween was great, we took some killer photos. For my costume I was Elder Jacobson and he was me. Good times. I love my comp and we joke a lot, but not when we need to be serious. :) 

Work on the Streets of São Paulo

This week we ran into a atheist.  I bore testimony to him (he said he loved his family) about how he could have a forever family, and if nothing more than wanting to live with your family forever, could you not believe in God? and still he was persistent. Got to love him.

We did find a family that lives in a house, in a gated community, that had a motorcycle escort us to the door of the house, which the house had personal security also. It was kind of nuts. But we are teaching them now, and it is good to find new people to teach. This family lives South East of the temple, and is a long old walk to their house.

Our best neighbor moved yesterday, and it is sad. She would always give us food, and shampoo, and more food, and bags, and cake, and ice cream. Oh, I will miss her. But all is well. 

Also speaking about cake, we had lunch and the member yesterday gave us cake.  Later we past a homeless person, so I thought, I need to give this to him. And so, there is a homeless man with some great tasting bolo. :) 

I started the book Jesus the Christ, and it is life changing. Everyone needs to read this book. You learn more about our Savior and the things he does for us and the incredible love he has for us.  

So, everyone read the Jesus the Christ, it is difficult to start, but after you will be grateful for the knowledge you learned.

Betty Crocker made it to Brazil!

Also, E Davies, other new missionary. We were comps for one day. That was scary. But we did well. 

Yes Betty Crocker arrived in Brazil :) haha, those brownies you could put those on a billboard. Those suckers are fine !!!!:)

Missionary Barbers!

Also, we cut our own hair!! Do you like it?  :) haha it was a fun experiecne to do. I have never cut anyone's hair before.

  And his hair looks pretty darn good if I say so :) 

Pday Fun!

We went last Pday to a street called 25 de Março. Yes the whole name is strange, I know. But there we bought ties and a lot, 10 for 50 reais. That was a steal and I also learned to tie a new tie. Hope you all like it. Me and comp bought one tie the same and wore it to District Meeting. It was funny. But maybe that’s just me. :)

Time for Lunch! Chicken Nuggets anyone!  I think these two have way too much fun together. And the cat and dog poster definitely needs some explaining.....