Week 66 - Planning a Christmas Wedding and Baptism in Castanhal!

Hello!!

So this was a good week. We worked a lot to find new investigators. The members here are super nice. But it is a really big area!!! I got use to little small areas in the city so now it is a big change for me. Sometimes we have to get a bus for 20 minutes just to get to a members house to eat lunch!! There are 9 companionships in our zone. Our zone has  the most sisters in the whole mission!! Our zone is really far so we aren't able to meet every week, just once a month. We did a phone conference this week with the whole zone and we try to keep everyone excited to work. To loosen things up I decided to tell a joke that involved the Castanhal zone as being the largest womens organization in the world!! Everyone thought it was funny. But the sisters in our zone are super powerful. They put most elders to shame! So we are all excited! 

Our monthly zone meeting will be tomorrow. It will be a super long day for us because we have to interview and evaluate all of the missionaries in the zone and have an hour and a half of a district meeting and 1 hour for me and my companion... Should be fun. 

We are teaching a couple. Tiago and Nadia. They are super good and want to be baptized, but they have to get married. We went this week and we have planned to turn in the marriage papers on the 24th of this month. Then we have to wait 30 days before they can be married, so the 24th of December should be their wedding and baptism. MERRY CHRISTMAS!! We are praying that everything goes well.

I am loving the area. It is nice to be in a far away area but a nice city. We literally have everything we need right close to our house. We can look out of our window and see the chapel! This is the first area were I don't have to walk 30 minutes to get to church! Now it is 30 seconds! Our chapel has 2 wards. 1 ward is just us and the other ward is 2 companionships of sisters. So it is nice because when we get hungry or when a lunch appointment falls, they are usually willing to help us out!! But there is a lot of work to be done here. My companion goes home in January so we are running around like crazy! 

I am loving the mission. We figured out that I am the second oldest missionary in the zone. My companion is the oldest!! That freaked me out a lot!!

For my Christmas box I will ask for an english hymn book for my companion and more gatorade! I got my box on Tuesday and we already ran out of gatorade.... it had been awhile since I last had gatorade so I went a little crazy!!

Elder Steindorf called yesterday and said he expects a birthday present in return for the Curitiba shirt he gave me. hah. Don't send anything for him I can give him something here. We don't want to waste any precious space in these packages! And please send the same type of gatorade. Elder Steindorf is doing good. He said his companion is super shy and didn't like to talk much...but he's gotten better. But it scares me because Steindorf hardly talked at all when he was with me haha.

Sis Stasevskas called yesterday and said Elder Gann is in the hospital but I don't know. He has parasites. Elder Monzingo is super good and he will help him a lot.

Love yall!!

Elder Green  

ELDER GREEN

MISSÃO BRASIL BELÉM

MISSÃO DE MACHO. NEM O VENTO É FRESCO.

Week 65 - Tchau Marambaia!

Last pictures with Entrocamento Zone

Hello!!

SO this past week was super fast and stressful. Good news. We had a baptism Saturday! The family that we started visiting and brought back to church had a daughter that never got baptized so we baptized her Saturday. It was a super special meeting with a choir and everything!!

When I got to the Marambaia Ward, the attendance was around 50 people. Really bad. But we worked super hard! We didnt have many baptisms in this area. WE had very few. But we worked a lot with less actives. Along with the new leadership in the Ward, we were able to bring lots of people back to church. My last Sunday in the ward there was 139 people there!!! The Stake President was also there. I was asked to give my testimony in Sacrament Meeting because it was my last. Afterward, the Stake president spoke. I served almost 1 year in the Cabanagem stake and 6 months in the Stake President´s ward. So he gave me a shout out during his talk and thanked me for my time in his stake. Got me a little emotional!! 

So Sunday comes around and we got the transfers. I was moved to be the new zone leader in Castanhal with Elder Vilaça. Monday morning we had to be at the church at 9 am to do the changes. We got there at 9 but the van was late and didnt get there till 11:30. We drove around and finally got off in Belém. The van left to take other missionaries to a different building and I left my bag on the van!! So we had to wait for it to come back before we could leave for Castanhal. Castanhal is 2 hours from Belém. We got here last night kind of late so I wasn't able to write

Castanhal is super nice and we are excited to be here. Our zone is really distant and we only have zone meetings once every month because of the travel. But the city I am in now is super nice and organized. There is lots of work to be done but we are super excited!

Elder Monzingo - he replaced me in Obidos - replaced me in Marambaia too! I am pretty sure one day I will be his companion since we have had 3 of the same companions and 2 of the same areas! My much-loved son will now train so I will be a grandfather. And he will be in my same zone so that will be fun. 

I didn't get a chance to pick up my package during transfers but I think someone will bring it to me this week. I can't think of any special requests for Christmas - just whatever you want to send. My companion goes home in January so I will probably be his last companion. If you can send him something too that would be good.

I already wrote those essays for BYU. Pretty dang good I thought. But I left them at the house so I will try to send them next week. 

What's up with Trump?

Love yall!!

Elder Green

ELDER GREEN

MISSÃO BRASIL BELÉM

MISSÃO DE MACHO. NEM O VENTO É FRESCO.

 Clay's last Sunday in Marambaia

Clay's last dinner appointment at Nivia's house

 Clay and Elder Gann work together to set up Ana's Christmas Tree

Week 64 - Sore Throat in Marambaia

Hello!!

So this week was interesting. So I´ll just start from the beginning and tell how it all went down. Wednesday I woke up with a sore throat, no big deal. We went to our district meeting and always have a little breakfast there and I ate normally. Wednesday afternoon about 5 o clock, the people at the house we were at gave us food, just bread and hot chocolate. I ate a good bit but then my throat really started hurting and I couldnt eat anymore. The guy said it was inflamed. So I bought some medicine but it only got worse. Long story short, I didnt eat anything else on Wednesday, tried to eat lunch on Thursday but almost started crying because it hurt so bad. So we worked a little on Thursday but it was getting worse so we went back home and I slept for 30 minutes and woke up with a fever!! But we had a really important appointment that night so I had to leave the house for a little but the fever past after a couple hours. I couldnt even swallow normally because it hurt so bad so I stayed home Friday and we went to the hospital Friday night. They said I had a throat infection and gave me a perscription for antibiotics. I have been taking them for 3 days and now I am 100% better. I just have to eat a ton to make up for the 4 days that I didnt eat or drink anything!!! Definitely one of the worst sicknesses I have yet had in my life, wouldnt wish it upon anyone! 

Our baptism also didnt happen. That night I left the house with a fever was when we went to do her interveiw and the bishop said we should wait till next week. So this Saturday she will be baptized!!

We were really wanting to baptize Irlund this coming Saturday, but he needed to go to church 1 more time. We had a lot of really spiritual lessons with him and he started going to seminary and mutual and loves the church! He just had to go to church on Sunday to be able to be baptized on the 29th. He was excited to go and even in my sick state, we walked to his house Sunday morning to take him to church, his brother answered the door and said Irlund already left to go to church with his friend who is a member. We got all excited and when we got to church he wasnt there... We waited and waited and prayed but he never showed up. I was FURIOUS!! We havent been able to talk to him yet but we were super sad.

THis is the last week of the transfer and I dont know what to expect. 

We have started memorizing scriptures and one that I memorized fit in well with my week. D&C 107:99-100. I have a great duty here as a missionary and I must work diligently. Even if I have a throat infection. Christ felt much worse pain but He never stopped in this great work to bring God´s children back to His presence.  We must always remember our resposibilities as members of the true church! Nothing is more important than the Lords work! 

Love yall!!

ELDER GREEN

MISSÃO BRASIL BELÉM

MISSÃO DE MACHO. NEM O VENTO É FRESCO.

Week 63 - Planning Baptisms in Marambaia

Hello!!

So this was a good week. Nothing too special hapened. We had another exchange this week, I went to Julia Seffer with Elder Smith Wednesday and we were able to do some good stuff. It was the second time that I stayed with him and it was good. I dont even know what it is like to work with a brazilian! Its been so long since I have worked with a brazilian it will be wierd if I get transfered!

So there is a girl that the sisters are teaching in our district. She really didnt want to be baptized. She had made it clear that she wanted to wait a while. So the sisters asked me to go and do a little interveiw with her just to try and help. So after much fasting and praying we went there and were able to answer some of her questions and now she is SUPER excited to be baptized next Saturday!! So we are all very happy and thankful for that.

We were all told to ask the bishop for 5 names of less active families that we could visit. We got our 5 names and were able to bring 4 of them to church!! But one of the families hasnt been to church in a while and has a daughter that was never baptized! Her name is Victória. She will be baptized this Saturday. We are all super excited for her.

We also have been teaching a 17 year old kid named Daniel. Sunday we went to his house at 8:20 to take him to church. He came out and he wasnt ready to go. He said, "I got up at 7:30 and waited for yall until 9:00 but you never came!" We got a little confuesd, but eventually we figured out that Sunday was the day in Brasil that the time changes. It goes ahead 1 hour. But thankfully here in Pará, they dont do that so it was really 8:30but his phone automatically changed. So he actually got up at 6:30!! HAHA! But he did go to church and liked it a lot. We are going to work a lot with him.

Thursday morning we had to go to the police station and I got a real identity card. I am oficially Brazilian!! Now when I need to get a plane or something I dont need to use my passport I just show them my card. 

I dont know if yall remember Luan, a kid that we baptized in Cabanagem. But I saw him at stake conference and General conference. He sang in the stake choir and is preparing for a mission!!! His baptism was one of the best experiences that I have had on my mission and it was great to see that he is still firm and progressing in the gospel.

I have learned more about the Atonement of Christ than anything else here on the mission. It is sometimes a difficult subject to truly understand, but everyone has to learn about it. Because there is literally no other way we can be saved and be happy without the Atonement. My desire to share the gospel with people has grown as I have come to understand the Atonement a little bit. I know that Christ lives and His Atomement is real. 

Love yall!!

ELDER GREEN

MISSÃO BRASIL BELÉM

MISSÃO DE MACHO. NEM O VENTO É FRESCO.

Week 62 - Círio Marambia

Hello!!

So this week was good. I don't know if you have ever heard of the Círio, but it happened this week. It is the "largest manifestation of faith in the world" and happens here in Belém. The Catholic church does it. Apparently a long time ago they found some type of image object thing in the amazon river. They say it was sent from God so now every year they take out 4 days in October to put this "saint" on top of a car and thousands and thousands of people follow it in the streets praying to and worshiping it. They walk around all of Belém. It is crazy. Literally thousands of people following this thing around for 4 days. Its funny because then they say it isn't idol worshiping but whatever.

There is also lots of Círio food. Everyone eats the same food on Círio. It is some pretty weird stuff. One thing they eat has venom in it and you have to cook for at least 7 days or you will die!!!

So we did an exchange this week and I went back to the beach. But we can't go on the beach and we didn't even work on that side of the city. But it was still fun. We got a lot of stuff done.

So we pretty much wanted to start over here in the area. We were teaching good people but we had been teaching for a long time and they weren't wanting to progress so we decided to start over. So we spent this week finding lots of new people. 

We are teaching a house full of people that don't have a church! We found them this week and they are super good. They weren't able to go to church because they had to work, but this week they will. We are going to go there tonight and watch the restoration video. 

Thats about it for this week,

Love yall!

ELDER GREEN

MISSÃO BRASIL BELÉM

MISSÃO DE MACHO. NEM O VENTO É FRESCO.

Week 61 - General Conference in Marambaia!

 General Conference October 2016

 Political Hopeful

First English Class

Encantamento Zone

Hello!!

So this week was good. The elections are going on here in Belém for like governor and that kind of stuff. The campaining tactics are a little different here. Each canidate makes their own music with their name and everything, then they go drving in the streets blaring their name and music. I have no idea who any of these people are but I know almost all the musics. There is this on guy running, his name is Cabo Mauro. We met him this last week!! Even got a pcture with him! He is super cool and if I was Brazilian I would definitely vote for him!

Wednesday we had our first English class. We had little invites with our pictures that we handed out to everyone. A lot of people showed up late but we had about 40 people there. This week I will have to go to another area on Wednesday for an exchange so my companion will have to take over for the English class! We are expecting to have a lot more people within the next few weeks. 

So my ward here is part of the Cabanagem stake. General Conference here is only broadcast to the stake centers and most of these people cant get it in their house so the chapel is always full. The chapel we attend is the stake center for another stake, but our stake center is SUPER far and we had to travel almost 1 hour on a bus to get there. So that was frustrating. But we really enjoyed conference. Me and my companion went to the secretary´s office and watched it in English. There is just something about hearing their own voices. I get frustrated when someone like elder Holland gets up there and and starts getting into it and all we hear s a little no emotion Brazilian voice. So we decided to watch it in English. The internet was really bad Saturday. We weren't even able to watch the second session on Saturday.But Sunday it was all good and we watched it normally. We stocked up on snacks Saturday morning so that was fun.

I feel like the main topics of conference were the Atonement, prayer, and repentance. I really liked President Nelsons talk about our joy. Our joy depends on us. "Saints can be happy under any circumstances". Also liked what Elder Ballard said, "There are lots of excuses to fall away from the church, but where will you go?" I also liked Elder Bednar and Carl Cook and Dean Davies and pretty much all of them!!! I liked Elder Rasbands counsel that we name our kids after awesome scripture characters. It was a REALLY good conference!!

Thats about it! Love yall!

ELDER GREEN

MISSÃO BRASIL BELÉM

MISSÃO DE MACHO. NEM O VENTO É FRESCO.

 Dinner Appt in Marambaia

Week 60 - Getting Referrals in Marambaia!

Clay posing with Seminary students after making a presentation

Meal Appointments in Marambaia

Hello!!

So this was a good week. We have been having trouble receiving referels from members here, so last week we went to the ward counsel meeting and basically told everybody that we are tired of knocking doors and we want more referels. The bishop is a returned missionary and he also help. But really, we are representatives of Christ. Christ always had people to teach. If you can show me 1 scripture where Christ was knocking doors on the street I will spend the rest of my mission knocking doors all day everyday. Sure we have to knock doors, but there is a much better way to find people. In Christs time, His followers would bring their friends to hear His teachings. Thats how missionary work should be! Members have to help the missionaries!! So our average was about 2 referels per week... The rest of the week knocking doors. But this past week we recieved 16!!!!! It was such a more successful week. Now everyone in the ward is excited about missionary work and we are recieving a lot of help.

We asked the bishops wife to make a tree. A fake tree out of paper or some kind of material. And the tree would have no leaves, just branches. She had it ready and it was in the hallway at church this Sunday. Our ward missionaries were at the doors handing everyone who walked in a little cut ou leaf. They have to put their name and the name of someone they would like to come to church. Lets just say we got a TON of referels!! Our ward mission leader is still sorting them out and putting them on a list to give us this week. Also, we will start doing an english class at the church every Wednesday. There are flyers everywhere advertising and everyone has to bring a friend. So we are expecting a lot of people. Lets see how it goes. We are both from the south so we dont even speak correct english much less teach it!! But we will do our best.

We taught a kid yesterday that is super good. He is a youth and went to mutal last week and church on Sunday. He is super inteligente and really liked the church meeting. We are going to work a lot with him. We were praying and fasting a lot to find someone who was ready to recieve the gospel, and this kid showed up at church! Blessings.

I have sad news. I lost my planner. Yeah that really cool planner with the picture of Christ walking on water that took me forever to do. An appointment fell through on Thursday so we stopped on the side of the road to plan what else we would do. I forgot my planner on the ground and we left. After a few hours I noticed and we went back but it was gone. We asked a bunch of people around there if they saw it but no one could help us. I was pretty depressed. All of our investigators and referels and everything was in there. So with the Lords help, I was able to remember all our marked appointments and referels. But it was still sad.

We are SO excited about conference this weekend. We are planning on watching it in english. Its just something about hearing their actual voices that makes it way better. We will probably be in our own little room to watch it so we will stock up on snacks and what not. But I have been really ecxited for this conference. We are going to prepare ourselves this week spiritually to have an uplifting experience.

Is that Dad wearing a brown suit in that picture from Uncle Rick's funeral? I'm diggin that! 

Who are yall voting for in the election? We don't know what's going on in the states so we always ask people here. It's funny because they say the US is in a mess but at least our government isnt completely corrupt like the one in Brazil stealing everyone's money - haha!

Can I make a request? I would really love some gatorade. I dont know if they make 'Cool Blue' powdered gatorade but if they do can you please send me some in the next package?

Do you think I look different after one year in the mission? (Comparison pictures he sent are below)

Well thats about it for this week. Love Yall! HAve a good week!!

ELDER GREEN

MISSÃO BRASIL BELÉM

MISSÃO DE MACHO. NEM O VENTO É FRESCO.

 Comparison picture - beginning of mission

Comparison Picture - 1 year on mission