Week 45 - Batismo in Cabanagem

Hello!

So this week was good. We had a meeting in Belém with Brother Holmes - the first counselor in the general young men presidency. It was super good!! The spirit was really strong. It was a little complicated because he was speaking in English and there was a translator. But it was still great! 

Thursday we had 3 baptism interviews to do. So we did a big exchange. I spent a day in Tapanã with Elder Rech. So that was fun.

We had a cool experience this week. Saturday was a very difficult day for us. All the people we had confirmed to go to church said they couldn't make it. All of our appointments were falling through and we just were lost. We hadn't been able to find many new investigators or addresses during the week so we decided to pick a road and just start knocking doors. I was feeling really bad because we have had trouble progressing our investigators lately. We find people and they seem interested but getting them to church is tough so we don't  have very many people preparing for baptism. I was feeling frustrated and confused while I was walking in the street thinking about it. We are working hard and trying to do everything just right, but we just aren't having as much success as we were having before. So we picked this road and said a prayer at the beginning of the road and then started knocking doors. In that hour of knocking doors we found 3 people who are really good. We taught the restoration and they loved it! Our goal is to baptize one of them on the 25th. So that was a cool experience we had.

We had a baptism on Saturday. Ana was baptized and she was SO excited! I really haven't seen anyone with such faith like she has. We taught the word of wisdom and she stopped drinking coffee on the same day. We taught the law of chastity and she told her boyfriend he has to back off. She went to church 2 weeks in a row and couldn't wait for baptism. It was really a miracle and a blessing to find her.

Yesterday was Ward Conference here in Cabanagem and there were a bunch of people at church. It was a really good meeting. The bishop and stake president both gave great talks.

For my next package I don't really need the brown shoes. But maybe you could send some of my Duke shirts and some dollars. Everyone here wants dollars!

That is really about all for this week. 

Love yall!!

Elder Green 

ELDER GREEN

MISSÃO BRASIL BELÉM

MISSÃO DE MACHO. 

NENHUM VENTO É FRESCO.

 Clay with Brother Holmes from the General Young Men Presidency

 Clay with Elder B. Silva (former companion)

 Clay with Elder S. Oliveira (former companion)

With Elder Bartoski (roommates at the CTM)

With Elder R. Santos

 Clay with Elder Christensen

With Elder Stephan

With Elder Belo

 Clay with Elder Galindo

 With Elder Nickels

 With Elder Rech

With Elder Romero

 With Elder Fernandez

With Elder Vander Werff

With Elder Alves

Week 44 - A Good Week in Cabanagem

Apparently eating Acai makes him crazy... and apparently 

Elder Steindorf is used to this since he stayed so calm!

Hello!!

So this week was good. We got quite a few things done.

Yall remember that lady I talked about last week whose son is a member? Well she is SUPER firm for baptism this Saturday! She came to the church activity last Wednesday and came to church by herself Sunday. She was inviting everyone at church to her baptism! She is super good. The last lesson we taught her was great. She has a problem with coffee but she promised to stop drinking it. She started crying during the lesson talking about how she felt when she prayed and recieved an answer about the church. To me, an investigator telling us that they recieved  an answer about the church is is better than a baptism. To see a person sincerely search for an answer from God and to recieve it, that is what the mission is all about. It makes me remember the time that I sincerely searched for an answer about the Book of Mormon and the feeling that I felt when I prayed. And thats really why I am here, to help these people feel the same Spirit that I felt and recieve the same blessings that I recieve because of the Gospel. 

So açaí is officially in full gear. Starting in December, açaí isn't as good and super expensive. But this is the best time of the year to grow açaí so everyone is selling it. Lucky for us, we baptized a lady that sells açaí for a living so she gives it to us for FREE!! Oh the blessings.

So this week will be special. We will have a visit from the first counselor in the general young mens presidency. He will talk to us on Wednesday. So that is exciting. My companion asked why the young mens presidency wants to talk to missionaries and I said that he will probably tell us that we aren't real men and we are still a bunch of kids. So thats probably what will happen!! haha

So funny experience last week. We went to another area to do an interview, and as we were coming back we walked along this wall that usually has a bunch of little monkeys. Sometimes we even get to play with them a little bit. But we saw a few and just kept walking. Then I felt something wet hit me. I looked at my hand and pants and had some sort of brown wet substance. So yes, I can officially say that I got pooped on by a monkey in my mission. 

But really, thats about it that happened this week. Next package can you send my fishing hat? I've been wanting that. And more peanutbutter please!

I'll try to send some pictures later!

Love yall!!

Elder Green

MISSÃO BRASIL BELÉM

MISSÃO DE MACHO. NENHUM VENTO É FRESCO.

Week 43 - Reaching goals in Cabanagem!!!

They all bought t-shirts and designed the logo - then a sister in the ward 

put it on the shirts for them! District Cabanagem!

So this was a good week! We got a lot of stuff done and met a lot of new people. We have been really praying and fasting as we are looking for new people to teach. We know that the Lord has people here for us to teach and we are doing everything we can think of to find them! Tuesday night as we were walking the street, this guy came running up to us and freaked me out a little. He tried to shake my hand but I was suspicious about him so I didn't shake his hand. But then he told us that he is a member in a different ward. He was baptized in our ward and his mom still lives in our area. She isn't a member so he introduced us to her and we marked a day to go back and teach her. We left the Restoration pamphlet with her and she read the whole thing! She enjoyed the message and went to church yesterday all by herself and she has already accepted a baptism date!! I have a really good feeling about her. Truly the Lord blesses us when we do our part! So that was 1 little miracle we saw this week. 

We were tired of knocking doors all day and not finding anyone with potential. So we prayed real hard that the Lord would guide us to the people that will accept us. And the first 3 houses we knocked this week, the people let us in and listened to our message. We were able to find 12 new investigators this week! We were very thankful.

So it was transfers last week and one of our zone leaders went home and my old district leader got bumped into being our new zone leader in Cabanagem. And I got bumped into being the new district leader. It is a lot more responsibility than what I was used to but I am very thankful and excited for the opportunity I have to help the other missionaries the best I can. Our district is just 3 pairs. Me and my companion, and 1 pair of sisters and 1 of elders. I got the call on Wednesday and Thursday I had to travel to the elders area and do an interview for their baptism. Friday I had to go to the other district leaders area and interview their baptism. So it was a real busy week!

In April our zone reached our goal for baptisms and we had a wonderful dinner in the presidents house. Now it is almost the end of May and this past week we were 5 baptisms short of our goal. But we fasted and prayed everyday for the people we have in our zone that were possibilities for baptism last Saturday. And on Saturday, our zone baptized 5 people!!! And we will be heading back to the presidents house for another delicious dinner! I learn so much from the missionaries in our zone, I am really so thankful for the time I have had to be in the Zona Cabanagem.

So that was about it for this week. I am absolutely loving my mission. Especially this area. What a privilege it is to serve the Lord everyday and see the Spirit work in my own life and in the lives of those we teach.

Love yall!

Elder Green

An excerpt from Elder Steindorf's email for the week (he wrote to his family in Portuguese so this translation is thanks to Google Translate - and is not completely accurate - but it's fun to see another perspective on the same week!):

This week it was really cool, we teach a lot of people, and we get new investigators. We want many baptisms this month of June. Our area hit the target again in the month of may so some day we'll have dinner again in the house of the president, monthly visit there lol my companion is leader of district now, which means that he is in charge of taking care, besides us, Two more doubles of missionaries of our area, and he does the baptismal interview of their investigators. Holiday in the mission is like normal day in the mission, the difference is that it is more difficult to find people in the house because the people like to go out. Thursday, Friday and Saturday we went to other areas to do interviews. We work hard.

Week 42 - Six More Weeks in Cabanagem!

 Selfie Clay took with a ward member's camera when he was supposed to be taking pictures of the sister missionary who was being transferred!

 Clay wearing Bishop Carvalho's work shirt that might be his now...

Zone Cabanagem May 2016

Cabanagem Ward Elders' Quorum 

Clay and Elder Steindorf with Felipe Monteiro 

who just received his mission call!

Hello!

So this week was pretty good. It had a lot of ups and downs.

So at the beginning of the week we had 2 people we were preparing to be baptized. We talked to one of them on Tuesday and she was super excited for her baptism. Then Wednesday was a very hard day for us. I am not sure what happened Tuesday night. We think one of her friends said some negative stuff about the Church and made her rethink the whole baptism thing. Because we went back Wednesday and she had completely changed. She said she doesn't want to be baptized. We were so sad. It is so disappointing because even though she is only 15 years old she already has a lot of difficulties with the commandments. But when she learned about the gospel she really started changing and she stopped doing some of the things she used to do. But she gave up at the last second. She could have changed her life forever but she chose a different path. Of course we will not give up on her, but it will be a lot harder now. So that was sad. And on the same day we went to see the other possabilidade for baptism and she also gave up. Her mom thinks that she needs to know more and prepare better before she gets baptized. Satan worked hard against us this week.

So we had transfers this past week and I will stay another 6 weeks in Cabanagem! After this transfer I will have 6 months here. To be honest I was expecting to leave. I have been here for a while and we finished Elder Steindorf´s training so I thought they would let him have the experience of another companion. But we both stayed and we are glad. We know the Lord still has work for the two of us here in this area. There are also 2 sisters in the ward here, and one of them was transferred and we will receive an American sister. So that's cool! I am super excited to stay here another transfer. It will be really sad when I leave, the members here say I have been here so long I am basically a member of the ward now!

So me and my companion have a lot of goals for these next few weeks. Our investigator list is small so we will really have to pray and trust the Lord to help us find "those who are being prepared to receive the restored gospel". It is exciting!

I love my mission! I cant think of a place I´d rather be than here in Belém! 

Love yall!

Elder Green

Week 41 - Baptizing, Teaching and Learning in Cabanagem!

The baptism of Luan's mom!

Farmer's tan is an understatement! It looks like he's wearing 
a white collared shirt under his jumpsuit!

Either pensive or tired of having his picture taken...

The traditional after-baptism pizza celebration!

Hello!! 

So this was a good week for us. I finally got better and was able to work normally.

On Monday I was feeling pretty sick, but we HAD to teach 1 person that was going to be baptized on Saturday. So I said a little prayer and I made it through. My companion had to do most of the talking but it was a good lesson. We got back to our apartment Monday night and I was feeling real bad. I went to bed and fell asleep without taking my medicine. But I woke up Tuesday morning feeling normal. They told me to take that medicine for 7 days but I felt better once I stopped taking the medicine so I was afraid to take it again. And I've been feeling fine.

Tuesday afternoon we took a little trip to the Mission Presidents house with the rest of our zone and ate some of the best lasagna I have ever eaten. We will have to start reaching our goal every month! While we were at the presidents house he told us that the mission will only be receiving 1 missionary this next transfer... Poor kid. He will be arriving here all alone! And 7 missionaries are leaving. The next transfer we are receiving 7 new missionaries and 14 are leaving.. So our mission is going to get small! 

We did another exchange on Wednesday. I went to Castanheira with Elder Gann again. It was good! We did a lot of walking that day. They just recently moved into a new house that is super nice. They are living there with 2 other missionaries. And one of the other missionaries is Elder Bartoski - a Brazilian elder I roomed with for a couple of weeks in the CTM! It was nice to see him and actually be able to talk to him. 

So do yall remember Luan? He was baptized 3 weeks ago and already received the Priesthood. He is super good! He is always at the church activities and is wanting to serve a mission! This Saturday was super special because we have been teaching his mom and she was baptized on Saturday. When we did the exchange on Wednesday so that she could be interviewed, my district leader called and said she chose me to baptize her. I asked if she knew that Luan could baptize her and he said he didn't know... Obviously it would be way more special if her son got to baptize his mom so I wasn't planning on baptizing her (which is why I'm wearing a jumpsuit in the pictures instead of my own white clothes). We didn't get to talk to her before Saturday but we just expected that Luan would come to his moms baptism and if he didn't know already we would tell him that he could do it. But a member in the ward who has made good friends with Luan took him to Institute... I know he was just trying to help and didn't realize Luan would miss his moms baptism. But anyway Luans mom showed up to the church all by herself on Saturday. We tried to call Luan to get him to leave Institute and come to the church but no one answered. So he didn't get to baptize his mom but it still was a really special meeting and a great experience to see this little family accept the gospel.

I am learning so much here. I absolutely LOVE the people here in Belém. They live a simple life but they are always happy. It is an honor to be able to serve these people and the Lord. I wake up every day determined to try my hardest to make someone's day better, to strengthen someone's testimony. But after 9 months I have realized that these people are helping me way more than I am helping them. My mission is passing so fast it is ridiculous. It feels like yesterday I arrived, and today I am here, and tomorrow I will be returning home.  But I have lots of work to do here and lots to learn!

Love yall!!

Elder Green

Dinner at the Mission Home

Clay and Elder Hall

Clay and Elder Varela

Clay and Elder Case

Clay and Elder D. Santos

Clay's trainer Elder Capello's thumbprint on the Mission Farewell Tree

Clay pretending to play piano...

Volleyball in the rain...

Game Faces