Elder Rhodes Missionary Experiences while serving the Brazilian people

I was transferred to poços de caldas and the zone has a little bit of difficulty so hopefully I'll be able to help them out a bit. My companion is Elder Matias from pernumbuco and he has 1 year and 7 months on the mission. He is cool, we will have to talk a little more about obedience but i think it will be ok. We had our mission conference of Christmas which was cool. One funny thing that happened is that we woke up today and the front door and the garage door were wide open and there was a bunch of stuff missing from the living room and there was mud on the floor. We got robbed, a backpack, a board game, headphones that were brand new and a guitar lol. We called president and they might move houses because this is the second time lol. But we are all ok. A cool experience is that there is a guy in this area that has what Steve Hawking has about the muscles stopping to work and he is paralyzed, but he can move his tongue a little and his wife understands him. I felt the spirit real...

Unfortunately the baptisms fell threw because of their catholic grandma that talked a bunch of trash to them that was not cool. We talked to them yesterday and set things straight so it should go well here soon. Its all good. We were able to mark 5 more baptismal dates this week. We had 11 but a couple fell on Sunday. Zone conference was a success, we had a lot of people learn from the training that was given. At the zone conference some people started trash talking that Brazilians were more athletic than Americans. So we got a little bet going and decided we would play three sports. Basketball, soccer and volleyball and whoever wins 2 of the sports takes the win. A team of Brazilians and a team old Americans. Of course we won, but we all dressed up super fly in our suit cots and sweats for the intimidation factor and it was hilarious when we got to the chapel the intimidation factor was real lol. I am being transferred this week; I will go to Poços de Caldas and will be a zone leader...

We set a new record here in this area for investigators in the sacrament meeting with 12. That was a huge blessing and we felt really good. I stayed in the same area with my same companion again. Elder Gonzales was transferred to Hortalandia for his last transfer here in the mission. Ary and his wife came to the church building Saturday night to see it and we took them on a tour before they would come on Sunday. They were having an activity with the young single adults and all of the returned missionaries grabbed them dance and they loved it. They then went to church the next day and absolutely loved it. They then asked us if there baptism was still on and we were like of course it is lol. They also gave us references of there 2 daughters that are married and live in our area. We visited one and she cried also, she felt the spirit very strongly and said that she will start going to church as well. Ary and Dezilda also said that they were going to take their parents to church, lol. ...

We found a family with mom dad, and two kids. Ary, Dezilda, Maria Elena and Leonardo and we taught them for the first time this week. The mom really wanted to know which church was true and so we taught the restoration and I asked everyone to close there eyes and imagine the first vision when I said it, and the mom and daughter started to cry. Even I almost cried because the spirit was so strong. Then my companion, Elder Gonzales asked them if they thought the church was true and they said that they knew it and we were an answer to there prayers, them he marked a baptismal date with all of them and it was awesome,. She looked at us and said that we were different and that we didn't have the appearance of people but that we were like angels. She then told us that we were literally angels and that it was a pleasure to have us in their house. It was one of the best lessons that I have ever taught. Also Gabriel and Ester are going well as well and have gained a testimony and just need ...

We were able to bring 8 people to the general conference sessions, so that was really good. A lot of them had questions that they wanted answered and they all got answered. We also found a lot of people and were able to work a ton. Things are finally starting to go well in this area and me and my companion are catching on fire as they would say. We now live in a house with 4 Americans which i have never seen before in the history of this mission but it is going well. Its really nice because everyone follows the rules and knows why they are here on the mission. It is now, me, Elder Sorenson, Elder Jones from Kansas and Elder Nielson from Utah who only has 2 months left in the mission. The coolest part of our week was probably when a member that helps us a lot called and said that she needed our help, she said that she and her husband were having a really hard time and that the family was basically failing apart and that she didn't know what to do, so we said we would do a family ho...

Things have been pretty normal, work a lot and it was hot as heck. We had a multi zone and the AP´s called us like 1 hour before the conference and told us we had to give a training and that they had forgotten to tell us, well we got it all ready really fast and when we got there they ran out of time and we didn't even end up giving our training session. Whatever, that is how it goes sometimes. President grabbed me at the end to ask me how I was doing and we had a quick interview which was pretty nice. We worked hard this week and found quite a few new investigators. We were able to bring a young man to church with a little luck maybe we can baptize him this week. We are working with a few other families and should be baptized in the next month. If you all remember the super golden family that we found in Botucatu by pointing at the map, the mom, sister and brother in law are getting baptized next week, I'm super excited. Also, the guy that was smoking 400 cigarettes per day a...

This week was good, we had a baptism! Which was awesome. Its was cool to see him go from smoking about 400 cigarettes a day.....stop completely and get baptized.  He is 2 weeks without smoking now. We should have a few more this week, and we will be running behind them to get them baptized this week. This is the last week of the transfer so we will be working super hard to get the job done. We were in the quorum meeting yesterday and we were called to the branch presidents office.  There was a less active member with his girlfriend. They said he wanted to return to church and get married in order for her to get baptized. So yeah that was pretty cool. We will be going to the civil thing to get them married and then try to get her baptized her soon.  Do you guys remember that super golden family we found in the division last week?  It's the mother and daughters living in the really nice homes on the corner of the map we picked out.  I talked about ...

One of the people that I was teaching back in Nova Italia got baptized this week. He was the one that when we knocked on his door he had just finished talking to his wife about how he wanted to change his life. I was super happy he got baptized. Here in Botucatu the members are helping us a ton, and we are working a lot with them. We basically have members going out with us pretty much every day and its going super well. We should have Sergio and his two nephews getting baptized soon. He just has a problem with the smoking but we are working with him and he and them will be getting baptized soon. I got sick in the first few days of this past week and lost almost 10 pounds lol. I woke up Tuesday feeling a little rough with stomach aches. We went to our first appointment at like 8am, I started throwing up at the appointment. She gave me Dramamine or something like that. When I got to the hospital they put in an IV and some more medicine and it knocked me out. I threw up another 4 ...

Well I don't know where to start, this was a very blessed week. When I grabbed my new companion one of the first things he said was "Man, president got it right on this transfer."  I was like how come? and he said that he had stayed in his house sleeping the entire last transfer and that its been like 4 transfers since he had done any type of missionary work or followed any of the rules, but he wanted to change. He told me that I would have to help him, but he would try his best.  I can do that. We get along and teach super well together and we seriously are being 100% obedient.  This past week we met our new mission president, President Barros and is wife and three little kids I'm excited for this new opportunity to learn from more people that have been called to serve us. I heard Maddux decided to miss his championship game because it was on Sunday.  Just want to say, Maddux nice job on getting to the championship, I know it must have been rough not to go to t...

This week was pretty busy but unfortunately we didn't have a ton of time to work. On Thursday we have to do about 8 hours of travelling because I had to do a baptismal interview in a different city which was far away.  The interview was for a guy named Gabriel and he was super cool. I used him to do something I've always wanted to do lol. We left the interview with serious looks on our faces and told the sisters that he didn't pass in the interview.  I told them that he had some problem that we would need to resolve first. The sisters looked so worried it was hilarious.  He did get baptized this week so that was good. On Friday we had our last interviews and conference with President Bangerter which was really cool. We had the interviews and it was basically him just telling me how awesome I am lol. ;) Then we went to lunch at a members house in our branch and it was like the best and most expensive lunch that I have ever eaten on the mission. It was steak, bbq...

Well my week was pretty good, I went to Piracicaba for a leadership council Tuesday and Wednesday which was pretty good. The council was over Tuesday but we missed the bus so we ended up staying there another night, which kind of sucks because we missed 2 full days of work because the bus ride is like 4 hours.  We slept on the secretaries floor.  Oh well it was good, we got the stuff done that we needed too. We were able to baptize Luciano this week and he chose me to baptize him even though I have only been here 2 weeks. I felt a little bad for my companion, but he got baptized and that is all that matters. The interview for his baptism was super funny he didn't really know if he wanted to be baptized and when we were talking to him the Zone leader Elder Grigio used an example from Alice in Wonderland saying that Alice got to a part in the road where there were two paths.  She asked the cat which path she should take and the cat responds that depends on where you want...

Well the first week in the new area was good. There is a what I would call a ton of apostasy and the members could be better, but we do what we have too and get the work done. We have a few good investigators and one of them should get baptized this week. The only thing that I really have to say that is cool is that I got bit by a dog! I was walking and a dog jumped up and put its head in a hole in the fence just to bite me. My comp was like dude that dog just bit you, and I was like nah man I'm good. And then it started bleeding and the lady walked out of the house and was super nice. She cleaned it up and we taught her a quick lesson and marked to go back to her house. It was a good week. Also, I got to go to Maris house on Tuesday to eat lunch, they are doing well and she is the Relief Society secretary now. They were happy to see all of us and we had a good time. I really love that family. Love you guys and hope all goes well this week with you guys. Have a good one. ...

So the best thing that happened this week was that there is this family in a neighboring ward the missionaries have been teaching and I have been there quite a few times now.  I did there baptismal interviews and I have gotten pretty close to them. There is a new missionary that just got in that ward so basically it was me and Elder Batista that baptized them.  I was invited to baptize one of their little girls that liked me because I played with her whenever we were in their home. The people that were baptized are Michel(dad) Cliede (mom) and Michelayne and Laura(Daughters) that was a really good experience. We also had a girl go to church this week that isn't a member but she is addicted to family search lol. The people in the temple know who she is because she goes there to use the computer ha in the temple because it has access to more books and records and they all know who she is. We are teaching her and her name is Nisia and who knows maybe we baptize her this week....

I will go ahead and send the big email first because I have been having a hard time remembering to do that. This week was good and I had a cool experience that I would like to share. There is a guy named Jose that went to church last week and he is the dad and husband of members, he had never believed in God or ever been to church one time in his life until last week. We were really busy at church Sunday so I didn't get to talk to him a whole lot, I just figured out that he wasn't a member and grabbed his contact. Saturday night I didn't know why but we both felt a really strong urge to go to his house and visit him, even though we didn't have his phone number to confirm a visit and they live really far away, but we went anyway even though we weren't sure they would be home. When we got there he opened the door and had a very surprised look on his face. When we went in he had said that he had just told his wife that when he went to drink today like he always d...

Well we baptized this week! It was really cool, her name is Julia and she is 13 and has a kid that is almost 2. Yup that is not a typo; not sure how its possible but its true, and we baptized her.  We were able to confirm her and give her child a baby blessing. It was really cool and a good experience. It was really great, I think Saturday was one of the most stressful days of my life, but it all worked out in the end lol. We had to clean the font because of all the spider webs (massive spider in the font as well), find a way to pick up Julia, find out she is not at her home, find a ride on short notice, cannot find my companion after splitting to pick her up, figure out how she is to dry off after being baptized; realize my companion does not have a towel either, find out he doesn't have white clothes to baptize in...... It was all worth it in the end. We watched 2 conferences at a members homes and we watched the other two in the chapel. It was funny when we watched them at ...

So this week had a lot of ups and one really big down. The ups were that i was able to go to Presidents house and pick up my companion which was awesome. He has been a member for 1 year, he is from Fortaleza and he is a really good missionary. He trusts me a lot and was having a lot of trouble in the CTM with wanting to go home. We had a nice talk this week and he told me that he wasn't going to think about going home anymore because I helped him find his purpose. He trusts me a lot and I'm learning a lot from him, and its giving me a good chance to learn how to do everything in the mission. We are having a good time and we are getting a lot of work done. I'm just glad that I'm able to help someone because the work here is going really slow. I saw Mari and Alice this week when we went to Piracicaba to get my companion, they are doing well and have been called as visiting teachers for a less active family in the ward. That is Awesome! They are doing well. The worst part ...

It's been a while and a lot has happened....all good things I think. I'll try and fill everyone in. In March, I was able to baptize Mari, which was the best part of my mission so far. The visit to Piracicaba was awesome to see everyone from there. Also, the first week as a district leader was great. I gave a training session that was sweet. It was about trust and everybody really liked it. We knocked doors a ton this past week and were able to find a couple of golden investigators. They accepted the baptismal invite the first time we gave it to them. It is a mom that is separated from her husband and her daughter that is 12. They are really golden and am looking forward to there baptism here in a couple weeks. Being district leader is fun and also a lot of responsibility, but apparently I needed more. I will be training a newbie and will go to Presidents house tomorrow to pick him up. Should be fun and I'm really excited. The best part of the week was that I got to do a b...

This week was really good, I'm not really sure how the phone calls will go. This is a lot more effective for the missionaries that have Ipads and things like that. This week all we did was knock doors all day everyday. Kind of sucked, but we found a ton of people. Turns out when you knock doors for a week straight you are bound to find at least a couple halfway decent people to teach.  We knocked on this one door and this guy named Dan came to the door and was like, come on in guys. He is around our age and he is married with a daughter and he is super sweet. We talked with him a good while shared a short message and then came back the next day and taught the restoration for him and his wife. They liked it a lot and they gave us dinner afterwards. The food was really good and we already have a really good friendship with them which is really weird because you do not normally find anyone like that when you are knocking doors. It is super rare for that to happen so we are...

This week was an interesting one. President called right after I got off the computer last week and was asking about a particular missionary. He then called him and to make a long story short he went home.. I'm honestly pretty sad that he got sent home but he really wasn't doing his best as a missionary and he was doing some pretty disobedient stuff. We also had a multi zone conference this week in which president did an analysis about the obedient and disobedient missionary's and how they are having a negative impact on the amount of baptisms we are having, So he basically said that he isn't putting up with it anymore and he moved a ton of the companionship's around and I have already heard about more than one missionary being sent home. The mission is changing a lot for the better. I am now in a trio and we have got a ton of work done this week. Elder De Lima is a very righteous missionary and we are finding success. We found a few new famili...