UTAH Elder's Ripping it Up in CC

This large apartment building that looks like it could be in a horror movie is where we live in Cerqueira César.  It is a large city with many apartment buildings. There are more people that live in one apartment building that in the whole of Plain City. So the work will be interesting.

Of course we had to get pizza to celebrate our new apartment and new area and two Utahan's working together in Brazil.  The pizza is half chocolate and strawberry and half normal.  I of course had to try eating them together. 

Good Bye Good Friends in the Rose Garden

My friends, Elaina and Juanaldo.  I love them. They own this restaurant and love to feed the missionaries.  They love your oatmeal cookies, mom.

This is Gabrielle.  He was baptized while we where here.  He gave me a shirt from a Brazilian soccer team.

 

I got another shirt (it's a little large :) from the same team from Vagner and his family.

This was our last FHE in the Rose Garden.  We had to get our favorite 10 liters of ice cream.  This is an awesome family,

Goodbye Rose Garden

Funny sign in our area. I guess they ran out of uphill signs so they turned a downhill sign upside down.

This was a fabulous week. We were able to work hard and the results, while they weren't what we wanted, we could work hard and see God helping us. 

We were able to talk to many people this week who were very humble and neat people. We talked to Erika, who is incredible - a person that is so ready to live the gospel. And Viviane who also was able to receive an answer. And also our new friends Bruno, Lucas, and Gabriel who were all baptized recently.

We see that God wants the work to go forward, but in all things there needs to be opposition. And recently we taught a married couple (Jonathan and Viviane) they are members of another church and we taught them first about the family and the eternal nature of the family. Then we explained about the Restoration; we invited them to read and pray about the BoM so that they too can know it is true. When we returned on Sat. they both had read, and they gave us their report and Jonathon was very unsure. (his dad is a pastor of another church) and he doesn't feel like moving would be right. When we asked Viviane she said that She thinks differently, but that she needs to follow her husband.... 

It is so incredible that God will give us an answer based on our real intent. Viviane was willing while Jonathon was a little stubborn, We invited him to ask directly and with real intent so God can give him his answer. The member that was with us was able to bear strong testimony and he actually started to tear up as he talked about his family. We could feel the spirit so strong, and we were moved, but sadly the spirit can’t touch a stubborn heart so easily. And they didn’t come to church yesterday as they had promised. I pray for their success and that in the future the missionaries can reach them. Elder Stevens will still be here to help them out.

I know that we need to be ready to hear what the spirit tells us. He can tell us anything we need to know. And he is ready, when we let him, he will help us out. He can help us strengthen our testimonies of The Savior Jesus Christ. We as missionaries are dependent on this divine power of the Holy Ghost.

I love you all. 

I’ll be leaving the Rose Garden to head to the center of the city. It will be a great change for me. I will be companions with another fellow Utahan. Good things to come from SP 😃

Elder Iverson 

Vagna did well with our three knifes and cups lesson.  I think he may have seen it before.

Erica and Marianna.  Erica is an amazing lady with a strong testimony. I pray she will be baptized soon.

Fernando is a great guy in our ward. He feed us lunch.

We had to get pizza to celebrate Elder Canvacanch turning 25 years old!

The mission has been hard on my suitcase.  The wheel broke on the first transfer and the handle on the last.  Duct tape will get this home to Utah.

Cooking Update

I made stroganoff and rice for our last meal in the Rose Garden.

Out with President

Don’t worry its not our Mission President. He will still be here until June. But here is Brasil is getting kinda crazy with politics. They had a vote yesterday to impeach their president and she will be going to like presidential court to probably be impeached.. All the people in the street and when we enter in their houses tells us about it.

This week was a great week to learn more about why we need to be grateful. This week we talked to many people who have a few difficulties with the family. While every family has a few fights and arguments, I am so grateful for the family that I have.

Something that was really cool this week. We have 2 young women that were baptized a little before I got here in Jd das Rosas. They were having a hard time and their mom was very very stressed out. We were able to share with them things about general conference like The family council and how this communication can help them have more love in their home. We returned another day and they were already better. And we counseled them to have family prayer. I was able to bare testimony of how grateful I am for my family always have family prayers. It is an essential part of a successful family. Keep up the work those who are praying as a family. And those who aren't. Start today!:) 

Also in my studies I found one awesome scripture. D&C 6:7 we need to be rich in the gospel so that we can receive the most amazing blessings. We don’t have notion of the blessings that await us. We know that it will be incredible. But it will be more than we can imagine. 

I love you all. The mission is great. I love being Elder.

Birthday S/O to my now priesthood holding little brother Jettstar who will get the Aaronic priesthood on Sunday. feliz niver.

with love

Elder Iverson

These are some pictures of us looking for our church building. I don't know if you can see it. It is a little point out there. ;) haha our area is kinda big. 

 

Cool Kids

 Some cool kids from our ward. 

One wanted to be elder so I let him. :)

25 de Marco

This week was awesome.

To start off last week we went to 25 de Março that is a crazy, really crazy street where they sell lots of stuff. And we got some team jerseries, and also I bought new flip flops and also ties. 

Then we had to get some sweet pizza right?:)

My New Career!

Well we learn many things in the mission, and one of those things is to cut hair, and I had the chance to cut everyones hair 

I think I have a career when I come home ;) 

That would be elder Cavalcante(from Ceará) elder Stevens, and Elder Alves (Rio Grande do Sul) 

The Weeks Go By

This week was a great one here in Jd das Rosas. This week we were working really hard with the parents of Bruno. He is a recent convert of our ward who is extremely excited about the work. He is visiting people with us EVERY single day, and he is super active doing contacts in the street, bearing strong testimony. A great reminder of how we need to be. 

His parents are awesome, José had a problem with beer, but these days he made a decision to stop, and it has been 2 weeks that he stopped. He always cries, and can feel the spirit so strong. Lu is his mom, and she always liked us and just drinks coffee. She never showed a lot of interest until these days. We visited them on Saturday and we were able to have one of the most spiritual lesson in my whole mission.  We talked about the plan of salvation. And we explained everything about how we can have a family that lasts forever. And we were finishing the lesson and then we asked Bruno to tell us what this plan means to him. What a sweet spirit came into the room. He bore strong testimony of how he knows the plan is meant for us to be an eternal family, and then started to cry overwhelmed with the spirit saying how all he wants is his family to be more united and loving. And that he wants to have an eternal family. I was wordless (literally) and just said a prayer and left. 

On Sunday Jose and Lu went to church and loved it. It was testimony meeting, and 2 brothers of the church bore their testimony about how their families came to the church after their baptism and how they knew that Jose and Lu would be baptized soon :) They again felt the spirit so strong, this week we will work with them to get them ready for a eternal family through the baptism.

I know that this is Gods work.

Love

Elder Iverson

We had our interviews with Pres. Which will be his last interviews, because he is going home at the end of June. 

I will have a new president for 19 days. :)

Fun Times in the Mish!

The pic with Bruno, we are teaching a family and they had a mask, when they werent looking we took a quick selfie ;) haha 

Lunch with nerf guns and dinosaurs.... :) haha  

A classic pizza pic. :) 

And lets just say trying to do a march maddness bracket without knowing anything doesn't turn out to good, but I still had a better bracket then Elder Stevens. :) 

These days it is really hot, and when I got home I had sweated a whole lot.......... (EITA!) 

Temple Trip & Lunch

We Have A Prophet

Fransisco & Lucia members of 20 years.  They love to feed the missionaries lunch.

What a spectacular week and weekend that we all had, throughout the world, whether you be in Brasil, or Utah, or the Grand Canyon- Conference was awesome. And not just because it is the last General Conference in the mission. 

I was really inspired by the talks that were given and say that we need to be better everyday. I could really see the focus on the holy Ghost and how we need to be worthy of his presence. Also how we need to pay attention to how he will help us out. because through the HG we are able to know what God wants us to do. And if we can know what God wants us to do, then we are in really good shape. I love the words of the Apostles and Prophet that encourage and inspire. We know, as Pres Eyring started, that the testimonies that are born at Conference are so powerful and we need to pay attention to how we are feeling. This conference was one that I could literally feel the spirit with me, it was an incredible feeling of love, and calmness. I love that the spirit can help me as a missionary, can help you as a member of the church, and can also touch the hearts of those who haven't made the step yet to be baptized. I love how he can help so many people with so many different things at the same time. How does he do it? He is a God, he is powerful, and he is able to do all that The Father asks of him. I know that through the study of the scriptures we can learn how to recognize the HG. And we can feel of his presence. 

I know that the prophet said what God needed him to say. We need to make the right choice, we don’t need to be popular, cool, recognized or loved, we just need to chose the right. If we do that, we will be blessed. 

I love you all, and encourage that you all go back and study these talks.

I am well, healthy and excited for the work that will be done here in Jd das Rosas. I love being a missionary.

Elder Iverson