WHAT?!?!?

Bom dia! Well this week has been rough; the work is VERY slow in the area we are at right now. The one thing that I was really excited for when I got my call to Brazil was that I thought that all the people here were going to be very humble due to the Country’s circumstances. The Brazilian people are so amazing but some are a little prideful and it is very hard for them to change ESPECIALLY their religion. They are very content and don’t like to be told they are wrong. But it is ok, I still love them and will do anything I can to help spread the Gospel to anyone that will listen. We are working hard and finding new people to teach to so we are very excited about that!

Tuesday was transfers and Elder Torres and I are staying here in Jardim da Pehna for now. Like I said, the work is hard but we are moving forward. Elder Mitchell and Elder Conde were transferred. Elder Conde is now a Zone Leader for Serra and Elder Mitchell is a District Leader in Rio de Janeiro! We have one Zone at the top of Rio that is in our mission. I am way excited for them! They are awesome missionaries and I miss having them here.

Wednesday we visited with a lot of our new investigators and it was a pretty good day. I have learned that I do not like it when Brazilians make a tsk tsk sound and then they wiggle their finger at you like you are a little kid. I don’t particularly care for it but I guess that’s just one of those things you have to let roll off.  

Thursday was just an interesting day. I learned something that I really didn’t want to learn. So our house is having more sewage issues and I do not do well with smells at all!!! So I get Elder Torres so we can go talk to the owner again but before we leave Elder Torres asks me "Elder you aren’t flushing toilet paper are you??"
"Only the ones that that I wipe with!" I tell him.

Well…he goes on to explain that here in Brazil you wipe yourself, take the toilet paper and THROW IT IN THE TRASH CAN.... WHAT?!?!? Well I can tell you all right now that we are going to continue to have plumbing problems because I psychologically can NOT do that!! That is really messed up!

Friday we were able to visit with one of our investigators but we had to have a quick lesson because we had a wedding that we were invited to. The lesson went ok but then the wedding was awesome!!

Saturday was not good!!! Everyone we had set up appointments with fell through. It was a little frustrating because not only did we not get to meet with our investigators but we had walked so far! We walked from Maria Otiz to the neighborhood past Praia do Canto which is about 5 miles one way. But while walking we saw a man get off his Motor cycle and he was wearing a RUBBER SUIT.  It was really funny! After that Sister Regina made us cupcakes which were awesome!! She takes way good care of us!!

Last night while we were sleeping someone broke into our apartment AGAIN!!! It was pretty scary to think that they came in while we were sleeping. They took Elder Santos's suitcase and backpack and we don’t have an iron yet again. But, we truly were blessed that he didn’t come into our rooms and take other things or even worse, hurt us!! I love the lord and I am grateful for everything that he has taught me and the blessings that I have received from all of this!!

Well that was the extent of our exciting week! I cannot wait to have conference this week! I am so excited to hear the new instructions that the Prophet and Apostles will be giving us during these next sessions!!! Well I love you all and know that you are all in my prayers!!!

Love,
Elder Stilson

End of Transfer

BOM DIA!!

Holy cow this week really flew by... The days seemed like they took forever, but honestly this week has gone by really fast! Last P-Day was hectic trying to get things done and trying to help out Elder Torres put together a CD of all the Pics we have taken then we went back, ate, and went to work! Also Monday afternoon I got a haircut... RULE #1 when you are on a mission, DON’T trust elders to cut your hair. Haha the pictures are great.... But hey in 2 weeks it will all be alright again... I hope haha. After my haircut, Elder Conde asked me to cut his hair.  Haha, I think I did a pretty good job!! I am proud of it too! :)

I honestly don’t know where Tuesday went; all day Wednesday I thought it was Tuesday. Haha Actually, Tuesday, we went to a grocery store that is really close to our house that we got a referral for the owner. We went in there to meet with him and he has the biggest desire to do his family history work and wants to learn more about the church.  So we had our first lesson then talked to him about how he can do his family history work right at the church.  He was really excited and I am pretty sure he has already contacted the ladies who run the family history center! It was so awesome; he gave us some free fruit while we were teaching him.  That's always a plus, right;) After that we had an awesome lunch with some members! The guy is in his mid to late 60’s and his wife died not too long ago. One morning he wakes up, not wanting to break the law of chastity, marries the maid who already lives in the house. :) Haha he is a great guy and his second wife is a very good cook!

After that we got a call from our Zone Leaders, telling us that we need to fast for baptisms this transfer! Like I have said in the past, I LOVE fasting and the blessings that it brings but the whole "God will not be mocked" fraise came to my mind.  Why are we fasting for some crazy amount of baptisms that are our ZLs want to happen this Sunday? Shouldn't we have done this at the beginning of the transfer, or even last week?  Even though I disagreed with the timing I participated in the fast and had a great attitude and faith that we would have baptisms.

On our way back to our area from lunch we went into the store where my companion’s camera has been being worked on for the past 4 weeks. The camera still isn’t fixed but we are teaching the owners of the store now! The owner hasn’t been feeling well so we gave him a blessing and when we invited them to church later in the week he was feeling ALOT better!!

Thursday we went to yet another Dr's appointment haha. Since my glasses were stolen and I have NO clue what my prescription is, we had to get my eyes checked again and they dilated my eyes... Not a fun day!  I couldn’t see anything after the appointment and because my sunglasses were taken as well I had to have Elder Torres be my guide dog Haha

Friday was long, hard, but pretty fun! We woke up and went to help out a member. They are building a house for their daughter and soon to be son-in-law so we had to haul concrete for close to 3 1/2 hours.  I really liked it and worked hard! But my body has hated me since then but it felt great to work.  When we finished working we were supposed to have lunch for us at the church.  We were so hungry after all of that working but when we got to the church there was no food.  We called the lady that was supposed to feed us and she just said that she couldn’t do it.  That was a little rough haha but everything worked out and it was still a great day!

Service project for Adilson

 

Saturday we just walked and walked and walked and walked!! Our lunch was an hour and a half walk away from our house. Yeah, it was a little rough because after we ate lunch we had to walk back to walk back to the OTHER edge of our area to start teaching.  It was a great workout if not anything else.

I am staying in Jardim da Penha for one more transfer and hopefully I won’t have to be ETed again ha ha!  The blessings have started to roll and I really hope that they continue. I just need to remember my fear of God and to keep moving forward. The one song that has saved my life is Stand by Rascal Flatts. Anyone who is having a hard time with anything, look that up.  It helps even if you don’t like country! 

Eu amo Vocês!!

Amor Elder Stilson:)

 

Left is Elder Stilson & Isabel Weber (She is wearing high heels), Top right is Elder Stilson & Joao Henrique (He reminds X of Taeten), Bottom right is inside the Church in Elder Stilson's area.



Left is Elder Stilson & Adilson, Top right is Elder Stilson, Fernanda, Regina & Elder Torres, Bottom right is Regina having her dog Mel Honey fold her arms

Totally Robbed!

Elder Stilson...You need a haircut!

 Hi everyone,

Well this week, again, has been mixed with the good and the ugly! (It seems to skip the bad and go straight to ugly ;)) We started out great. Monday we played volleyball with the mission Presidents wife and some other missionaries. That was really fun! :) That night we didn’t have any lessons but we did have a bunch of people that we contacted on the street that we hope to get as new progressing investigators!:)

And then it got Ugly!

On Tuesday we had an awesome lunch at a member’s home and had quite a few lessons with our new investigators! We met Marlene last week and she is an amazing lady but has a crazy Catholic mother... It is rough trying to get any progression until the mom leaves but she leaves tomorrow so Marlene can come to church this week!!:) One other lady that we contacted on the street last week was Deusa (Goddess). She is a member of the Maranata church and Tuesday night we attended her church... Yeah a little awkward but it was really fun. A lot of just singing and they gave me one of their Hymn books so I have a pretty awesome memory haha!;) Also after lunch we went to the Ice cream shop and had awesome Açai!! It is a Brazilian ice cream. I thought it was way goofy the first time I tried it, I really didn’t like it but I think it is way good now :)  After we went to the Maranata church we got some other addresses and then went home.

Now the UGLY... So Wednesday started out pretty good! We woke up did everything we needed to, called a bunch of people and went to lunch.  Even though lunch was way good, it was different but couldn’t figure it out until we left... THERE WERE NO BLACK BEANS!!!! I felt totally robbed. The beans with the rice are my favorite things in the world and there were NO beans! :( Anyway, that morning it had already rained a ton and was kind of goofy haha but way cool! After lunch we had a lesson with Marlene again and it was good except for the mother was a big distraction and that wasn't helping out at all haha. By the end even her mom took the Book of Mormon that we gave her and said how beautiful it was especially because it was the word of God. That was good; then we started on our 45 min walk to our lesson that was at the far edge of our area. We start walking, talking to people along the way and we looked out at the Ocean and noticed that there was a huge storm coming! So we started to walk super fast but we got caught!! It was a “mild” tropical storm! It was the kind of storm where the rain comes literally at you instead of falling straight down. My umbrella was in front of me, not over my head! It was way cool! But my planner in my front pocket was soaked and my wallet in the back pocket was totally dry!! Ha ha ha weird things in Brazil! 

And the rains came!

 After we visited with Marlene, we contacted a bunch of other people and then met Eduardo. He is like 22 and lives with roommates. He really wants us to meet with him and his friends. We are really excited about that.  Anyway, we get to our house around 9:15ish and the lights are on and the door is unlocked. We walk in calling for the other Elders but no one is home... I walk into the kitchen and the microwave is gone. I walk into the bedroom and everything is thrown on the ground from my dresser. My backpack and carry on suitcase is gone... Yep... We have been TOTALLY ROBBED, twice in one day;) Luckily they didn’t take everything. They didn’t take my iPod. All my clothes were still there and so were my shoes!!! :D Haha I truly am grateful for the things that they didn’t take and had to thank Heavenly Father for that. The things that they did take are all things that can be replaced; everything except my journal from Colorado so I am very grateful!  Luckily I have been able to send home letters and journal entries so I should have some things. Yeah, I have to say it was a rough day.

The next few days were really good with the missionary work! We were even given an address to contact by some other Elders.  Iit was a wild goose chase but it was awesome!! We found 4 new investigators! The work is hard right now in the area we are in and I feel like I am being tried and test with more than I can handle but every time that I get these trials, I make it through and come out stronger! "I Glory in plainness, I Glory in truth, I Glory in my Jesus for He hath redeemed my soul from Hell!" 2 Nephi 33:6

Alma 32:41-43   - 

Love Ya'll

Love
Elder Stilson

The Beautiful City of Vitoria