I know that the work is God's

April 26, 2015

Nooosssaa I can’t believe Dad doesn’t have a job now.... imagine all the things he´ll be able to do around the house now! Maybe he´ll even get that model airplane working that he promised me when I was 3 :) haha I’m sure lots of job opportunities will show up. So we will be able to Google Hangout on Mother’s Day in a member’s house... so let me know if 3 o’clock my time works for you guys. And yes Elder Ballard is the secretary... and I actually forgot to call him so that’s my fault, haha, but I won’t forget again. And yes we are from the same group... and I’m pretty sure our release date is October 13th.  O and my camera still works. I don’t know why it wasn’t charging, but all is good now :) 

So I really liked Jackson’s new car. 

However, I think he should sell the car after this summer because I want it :) haha I already told the other missionaries how I might get a mini cooper after the mission! haha I’m glad May is starting to like the idea of having a mini-cooper, but maybe if I can get her on my side, we can get Jackson to sell the car. 

So this week was really good. Elder Vallo and I have been teaching this 21 year old girl "L" for 3 or so weeks, she’s our new ward mission leader´s friend. We taught her the first week and she was really excited to go to church and was sure she was going to receive confirmation from God that it was all true.. but she said she didn’t feel anything and after that day, she stopped reading the Book of Mormon.  On Saturday night some of our appointments started to fall through and Elder Vallo and I were debating if we should go back to teach her because she seemed like she wasn't interested anymore.

So then Sunday morning as we were walking to church we turned into the street of the church and we saw in front of us our ward mission leader.. who was with what looked like "L". She was at church! We didn’t know how that was possible. Of all of the people we were teaching, she was one of the last ones we expected to show up at church. Turns out that she had called our ward mission leader’s sister Saturday night saying that she wanted to go to church! 

So sometimes on the mission we see so many people that act indifferent and we see so many people who say, "if I can, I’ll show up", that our faith begins to falter and we forget that God has all power over all things and it is He that is at the head of His work. After seeing the change that happened in her, I know that the work is God’s and the power is His, and because of what happened with Lara I will never again not pray for an investigator that needs to go to church or read the Book of Mormon, falsely thinking that God won’t help that person because they are not committed enough. Seeing her at church, really was a miracle. 

So this week we baptized a girl that is a recent convert´s sister. She was extremely excited for her baptism. The whole family came to watch but only 3 of them are members.  We are working a little with her Mom as well. 

Cole is looking pretty tall these days. How tall is he?? We gotta get him in the weight room ;) sounds like you’re treating the missionaries well there. Here, sometimes the members can’t feed us (once a week) so they give us money to buy lunch, and we’ve been buying things that are cheaper to be able to use most of the money for Elder Vallos "Last Supper" here in the mission haha. This is his last week. Missionaries go crazy when they’re so close to returning home haha. But anyways, that’s about all I got. I hope Dad manages to get a job, and that Jackson comes to his senses and decides to sell me the mini cooper. Have a good week! Love you guys. Let me know if 3:00 works for Mothers Day, and send me my Google Hangout password and user name. Tenha uma ótima semana!!

-Élder Udy

An apostle is coming next week

April 20, 2015

Sounds like all is good in good ol Slippery Rock. I kind a figured that the e-mail wouldn’t get to you guys.. the mission secretary is new, and I think he’s still learning lots of things. But I’ll talk to him today. Fred must be pretty fast because I remember the kid that broke the hurdles record was an animal, haha. So that’s pretty exciting. Today I went to see if I had any pictures on my camera to send you guys... but when I went to turn on my camera.. it didn’t turn on. So I thought maybe the battery was dead... so I tried to charge the battery, but it wouldn’t charge... and then we left to send e-mails. So I don’t really know what happened with it, but hopefully I can get it working. So this week “F” didn’t end up being baptized. 2 weeks ago he was all excited for his baptism, and we were planning it. However, when we went to talk to his mom, she said she would be out of town and she really wanted to be able to see the baptism. So we re-scheduled 2 weeks ahead for this past weekend. However, when you delay baptism, the adversary starts to go to work. Felipe and his family are now having some doubts. But we´ll see what happens this week. 

This week our ward mission leader asked to be released, so now we don’t have one. However, I’m sure we´ll get a new ward mission leader soon. I can’t remember if I told you guys or not about how an apostle is coming here again. Everyone says its going to be Elder D Todd Christofferson, but no one really knows because they never said. So it’s going to be next Tuesday with the 2 missions (Fortaleza and Fortaleza East) in the same chapel. This week I can’t really think of much that happened at the moment. Sometimes I write things down in my planner that I want to write about, but this week I forgot. 

This week I learned about the importance of references and the work of members. One of the missionaries that lives with me, Elder Benitez, was telling me about how in the mission.. Salt Lake South, I think.. some of the missionaries baptize around 200 people during their mission.  In Pennsylvania I remember like 3 baptisms in 7 years! How can Utah be so different? One of the missionaries here, Elder Bishop, has a brother that served in Salt Lake.  And he said the difference is that the missionaries always receive references. If a ward trusts its missionaries, and passes references to the missionaries, and teaches with them, the ward will grow. The members can be the difference in their own ward if they want to be. So here we’ve started thinking about how we can use the ward activities and other means to find more people to teach. I think I wrote the word references, but I think the right word in English is referrals, haha. But anyways, I hope all is well and that Bandit’s still able to walk. (just old age) I’ll write down what I want to write about this week, so I remember more next Monday. Have a good week! Love you guys.

-Élder Udy

We have to decide to DO instead of just TRY

April 13, 2015

Hey... sounds like Cole is going to have a busy week with the English project. I remember when I did that project, I wrote lyrics to the song Good Riddance (Time of your life) by Green Day, and I brought my guitar to school and played the song.. over all it took about an hour and a half and the teacher loved it! I think I got 100% or if not, then it was 98%. So Cole could always just write a song and sing in front of everyone haha. Sounds like Slippery Rock is really turning into quite the school. A new football field and now new seats in the auditorium. Now the only thing that’s missing is a fast 4x4 and 4x8 team ;) they’re gonna have to run 32 seconds faster to beat the record on the 4x8! We´ll see what happens. 

This week President Bonini had a meeting with all the District and Zone leaders because the mission goals weren’t being met.  He has a goal to have 98 people baptized per week. That would be 1 person per companionship. Our expectations are really what change our results in the mission... and in life. He talked a lot about how we need to be committed to the Lord and his work.... And we have to decide to DO instead of just TRY.  So the meeting was good.

We’re teaching 3 brothers these days. They’re D (16 years old), J (19), and C (20). 2 of them are more or less atheists. They’ve never believed much in God. It’s not because they are against the idea, but they have never really been taught about God or Jesus so they don’t know. As we have been teaching them we´ve seen a change. They are starting to pray and believe more. They’ve been to church a few times and are progressing. They have a baptismal date on the 26th so we’re hoping to help them feel the Spirit a lot this week with the Book of Mormon so they can continue progressing. Also we are teaching a kid who is 12 years old and some of his best friends are deacons in the ward. He’s been getting to know the church for a while now. He’s been about 5 times, but he always has to visit this other city with his mom because they have family there.  And it’s hard to find a time when the Mom will be able to attend her son’s baptism.  However, this week is the week that we marked with her. So we’re excited this week for his baptism.

This week we had an invasion of wasps.  So we had to kill them.  Here's a couple of pictures.

So I think a lot of things happened this week.... but I can’t seem to remember anything at the moment. Oh ya, we had interviews with President Bonini this week and he said you guys can come out after my mission. So I called the mission secretary and he said he would send you guys an email with some information. So let me know if you get the email. This morning we got up at 6 to be able to play basketball with one of the other areas in the zone. We ran to the church in the rain, because here it’s raining every morning, and then we played basketball with them in the pouring rain haha. Im excited to play basketball when I get back... although on the mission we lose our talent for sports haha. I think its about the 5th time I’ve played basketball on the mission. So when does Dallas leave for his mission to the Chez Republic?? What language will he speak there??? That’s exciting that he got his call. Hope all is well "nos estates" in the states. Have a good week! Love you guys!

-Élder Udy

We have to understand our Duty to God

April 6, 2015

So this week was really good. I liked the talk from General Conference this weekend by Elder Michael T. Ringwood where he talked about Shiblon. I thought it was interesting how he said that his Dad, Alma, dedicated 50-70 verses to his oldest and youngest son individually... but Shiblon, the middle child, received less than 20 verses. Even Alma forgot about his middle child. And thus we see that the middle children have always been forgotten and neglected from the beginning of time until our days, haha.

(To watch any of the talks referred to from the April 2015 General Conference of the church from Salt Lake City follow this link www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2015/04?cid=HP_SU_4-5-2015_dPTH_fGC_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng

So this week lots of things happened. Well I didn’t end up going on exchanges to the beach area, so I couldn’t take any pictures for you guys there, but I do have some pictures.

This week we had a council with President Bonini and all the Zone Leaders and he taught us about how we have a duty to God to make this work go forward. How we have to understand this Duty. Well actually he used the word "compromisso" with the Lord... however I don’t remember at the moment how to say that in English. I thought a lot about what he said. When we don’t feel obligated to do something... most of the time, or almost all of the time, if that something is difficult, then we won’t end up doing it. However, if we feel a burning necessity, then we will live our lives around that necessity in order for it to happen. If a missionary is good but relaxed about the need to teach others about the gospel of Jesus Christ, then he will only baptize when people fall from the sky to be baptized or when some member gives a reference of someone that is asking to be baptized... which happens sometimes but not all that often.  However, if we realize our duty to God to bring other people to Jesus Christ and His gospel every week, if we really have that mentality, then everything we do in our lives as missionaries will be more effective. Our use of time, our studies, our effectiveness in lessons and our baptismal invitations. 

I also liked the 2 talks from General Conference about the Savior by Elder Holland and President Uchtdorf.  (click here to watch:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/04?lang=eng&vid=4154894180001&cid=10   and https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/04?lang=eng&vid=4154894179001&cid=12)  I think those 2 were my favorites. Here they even had the conference in English for the Americans. Usually the Stake President brings peanut butter and jelly for the Americans to watch, but he was sick and watched at home. He’s American too, so I guess he has a stock pile of peanut butter and jelly haha. 

I’m sure Cole will like working on the other side of the road (pro shop and carts) if he gets the job at the golf course. O and I got your letter this week as well. But anyways that’s about all I got. O and yo estoy aprendiendo español tambiem. My companion is teaching me some Spanish when we have time. I can’t remember if I said that last week or not. Elder Vallo is ending his mission this transfer. He has 4 more weeks now until he will be going back to Argentina. He’s a great companion. He’s already gotten his degree in Electrical Engineering! But anyways that’s about all I got. I hope you guys have a good week and enjoy the NCAA championship! Amo vocês!! 

-Élder Udy

A new area, a prank, and learning Spanish

March 30, 2015

Opppaaa bom dia... Sounds like things are good in Slippery Rock. I was thinking about Elder Anderson the other day... wondering if he was still on the mission or if he had already gone home.. It seems like yesterday that he was just starting!! The time goes by so fast. I had wondered as well if you guys ever got my letter... sometimes I’m afraid to write letters... because who knows if they will arrive or not haha. (We just received a letter Tyler sent 3 months ago!) O and Elder Bishop trained one of my companions, Elder Imperador. He has about the same time as me on the mission. The world’s pretty small. This week I met a member in my new ward that served with Trevor Pearcy in Londrina, Brazil. 

So this week was eventful. Here we don’t exactly walk on the beach haha. We’re like half an hour from the beach (walking distance), but there’s one ward in the zone (stake) that has all the water front. So in reality only one area in the zone touches the beach, but the area is huge haha.

This week when I got here, my new companion, Elder Vallo, said we received a reference from a member in some street that I didn’t know, so we went there to see who it was. When we knocked on the door someone answered who didn’t have the same name as the reference, so we talked a little and asked if we could teach him about the gospel and he let us in. So we sat down with this guy and his cousin. They started telling us about themselves a little bit as we talked. One seemed like a perfect investigator and the other was atheist and apparently they were always fighting with each other because of their differences in beliefs. So as we taught over the course of about 15 minutes they started fighting with each other a little and then all of a sudden the one that said he believed in God pulled out a foot long knife from his shorts, hit it on the ground screaming, “I can’t take you anymore” and went over to his cousin and held it at his neck... and then they just started laughing... and I was kind of confused by this point, and the one guy looks at me and says, “Dude, I’m not atheist, I’m Mormon!” haha quite the joke to play on the new missionary in the area haha. Apparently they are recent converts of 2 weeks. So that was interesting. I think they’re going to try to do the prank again when another missionary comes to the area on exchanges, quite the experience. 

So as Zone Leaders, Elder Vallo and I go on exchanges 2 times a week. Once on Tuesday and once on Friday, at least this is the pattern. It’s a lot of exchanges haha. Quite different from where I was at in Parquelandia where our district was our companionship, 4 sisters, and the assistants that never had time for exchanges. This week I went on exchanges with Elder McReynolds who is one of my friends from the MTC. I met him in the Atlanta airport on the first day of the mission. He’s one of the other 3 Americans from my district in the MTC that are here in Fortaleza. So it was nice to see him again and be able to help him with the problems of missionary life. Also I’m starting to learn Spanish again. I’m going to start reading El Libro de Mormóm more. Actually, our whole house has begun to speak Spanish haha. The other 2 Americans that live with us also want to learn spanish, Elder Benitiz and Elder Alexander. O by the way, Elder Benitiz said his parents are from Puerto Rico and I think Dad passed in the area where his dad lived... Its like Ponce of something like that. I’m pretty sure it starts with a P and its close to the beach. 

So this week I’ll try to take some pictures cuz I’m going to go on an exchange in the area that’s by the beach. I hope Cole and Dad can manage to get the Mustang running and looking good. It must need a lot of work, but now that Dad has been released hopefully he has more time. Anyways, that’s about all I got. I hope you guys have a good week... Love you guys. 

-Élder Udy

Zone leader near the Beach

March 23, 2015

Hey... so I laughed a lot when I read that Jackson told May to just pick the NCAA teams that have better mascots, haha.. 

I can’t believe Peyton is going to South Dakota. I always here about missions in the US and before the mission I didn’t really want to serve in the US, but now it seems like it would be great. It's definitely different from Brazil, however with diligence and obedience and the Spirit, I believe any missionary can have success in converting people to the gospel. 

So this week is transfers.. I’m being transferred to be Zone Leader in the zone that is on the Beach. Zona Litoral. My New companion will be Elder Vallo. He’s from Argentina... I think this is his last transfer so hopefully he’s not trunky #BotaFogo He’s a good missionary though. I’ve known him for a while. There’s 22 missionaries in the zone, and they're all Elders! When there’s Sisters it’s more complicated because you can’t go on splits to help in the area or to help them with difficulties. 

So this week our baptism didn’t work out. We were focusing on the importance of the Book of Mormon a lot with our investigator. Anyone that reads that book with an open heart in the spirit of prayer will be converted. However, if someone doesn’t read it, conversion can turn into a slower process. So our investigator doesn’t really like to read much, so turns out he wasn’t ready this week for baptism, but hopefully soon he’ll be baptized with his mom as well.... That’s exciting what you said about the investigator.. you guys should watch the Restoration movie with her. We always watch one that’s like 20 minutes that the missionaries have here. Maybe she’s already watched it, but if not it’s always good to help people feel that this really is the church of Jesus Christ. 

So I don’t really have much to say today, but I should have more to say next week because everything will be new. Anyways, I hope you guys have a good week.  Até próxima semana. Amo vocês! Tchau!

Élder Udy

Preparing for a baptism

March 16, 2015

Ward activity

Dad’s really getting more photogenic over the years. I’ve never seen such a natural smile on him like in that picture haha. Sounds like you guys are having fun with lots of activities and things going on in the house. That’s exciting that the missionaries have an investigator that is progressing. What did she say when they invited her to be baptized??? Hopefully she’s gaining a testimony. 

So next week is transfers. I can’t believe I only have 5 more transfers on the mission!

...It seems like here in the ward they like to ask the missionaries last minute to give talks haha. They asked Élder Tamanho last week when he got to church to give a talk just like they asked me a month or so ago. And they asked Élder Millett to prepare a talk Saturday night for Sunday (yesterday) haha. So now it must be Élder McDaniels turn. I just think about how you used to not like how the Branch Presidency asked people to talk the Wednesday before Sunday... but at least that’s better than the Saturday before Sunday... or the hour before sacrament meeting haha.

So this week we are planning on having a baptism. He is a 16 year old kid who is a friend of the couple that was baptized last week. The other day we were teaching him and some of the people that live in his little alleyway came to listen as well. We watched the 20 minute film of the restoration, and we were talking about how the true church and gospel was restored.  One lady that was there listening started to bare her testimony about how she knows the church is true. She said "If you look around you’ll notice that this is the only church that has 12 apostles just like Jesus established. So this is the true church" (keeping in mind that we hadn’t taught about the restoration or the 12 apostles yet.) Of course just because a church claims to have 12 apostles doesn’t make is stand out so clearly to everyone as the true church, but we thought it was interesting how everyone we were teaching seemed to have a testimony, even though small, about the truths we were teaching. 

So this week we´ll be preparing “D” for his baptism. But, that’s about all I got for now. Hope everything’s going well in the home land. Have a good week! Love you guys.

-Élder Udy