Captain Moroni

Hello, I hope you all are doing well. The work out here in Brazil is slowly coming along. On Sunday the 9th we tried to have a devotional fireside activity a tad far from the church. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the area to do it. People still came though and we invited them to go next week. We also had a bunch of FHE activities this last week as it was Elder Becker’s last week here. On Monday, we had FHE and around 13 people were there. We watched a church film about the Prodigal Son then ate cake. However, there were plenty of tears shed at the end as it was the last time some of them would see Elder Becker. The next day, Tuesday the 11th, was transfers. President Gonzaga gave a decent talk about the different kinds of missionaries, then I got my new companion, Elder Clark. It is his first time as senior, but he is pretty cool. He is from Monterey, California. He likes or has heard of all the games I enjoy, but at times he seems a tad awkward around people. For this week, I’ve been showing him around and helping him get to know everyone.

On Saturday the 15th, we had a baptism of Captain Moroni (this is what we call him but his name is Clayton Moroni). He is a cool kid who is only 9 years old. Paula brought cake and soda for it. The one issue with the baptism is someone left the font running (not us) until water was literally spilling out of the church. That made for a hectic hour before the baptism, mopping it all up. On Sunday, we managed to have the meeting/devotional in the new houses and I managed to give a 10-minute talk there. Overall, things are going well here.

Elder Vincent Malmrose.

Living frugally

Here is a quick update about my week. As for the work it has still been going somewhat slowly. However, we do have two people I have hope for. One is a Mom, her daughter, and a son who is 9 years old. She wasn't able to go to church this week, but is insisting she will next week. We will continue teaching her this week. As for our other investigator, it is a Man, his wife and his 10 year old daughter. They live far away from the church but we are doing a "Church Exposition" up there this week. It is only a 20-30 minute walk but there are a bunch of less active members up there. On Tuesday we had a division with two of the youth, Wellington and Wemerson. That means I was with one of the youth as the "Senior Missionary" for a day. I haven't even finished training, but Wellington is pretty cool and he is basically ready for a mission already.

As for the fun stuff. For today and another day this week we went out and did service out on a ranch/farm thing. We wandered through a wooded area a bit, cut plants down with machetes, drank natural water that is just spewing out of a pipe on its own, and helped plant and harvest some Macacheira.  I had a lot of fun there, but I believe I've gotten a sun burn or two. Ah well. We are also still teaching English Class. That is going well and this time we had a decent amount of people there. I got a package from my Carlson Grandparents and just want to say thanks a lot. The treats are good, and lasting so far. I found out how to make cake in a cup, with only the microwave. I'm going to be working on that and finding out how to make it taste even better.

Living frugally: This is a photo of me, my comp, and Severino the Elders Quorum President. The hut is the thing he built on his own on his farm. Don't worry, our house is a tad better. Severino only sleeps in it when he really needs to.

Editor's comment - The following is from a handwritten letter from about the same time:


Well, I should get this letter off this week.  Sorry again it has been so long.  Anyway, to the work out here.  On the 31st we had a division in Tabuleiro 2 again.  It was decent, even though they stuck the two trainees together.  We didn’t find anyone for them, unfortunately.  Other than that we are beginning to work a tad far from the church.  It is a newer area about 20-30 minutes walk away for the chapel.  However, we are holding a church exposition up there that should be easier for them and the less active members to get to.  We have found 3 new investigators as well.  The first lives close to the church and was insisting that our message was true in the first lesson.  The second is a family, married by law, who liked our message.  The third is a man who wants to change his life and was almost crying in the first lesson.  Hopefully they all get baptized, but we shall see.

As for other stuff, last P-day we went to the farm again.  This time we helped Severino, the Elder’s Quorum President, plant macacheira, beans, and a banana tree.  Then we went for a hike, got awesome pictures, and worked a little more on the farm.  Oh, Elder Becker also got a slingshot, and they had fun with that.  Other than that all is well here and I hope all is well in the States.

Elder Malmrose

News from Brazil on the 27th

We have started teaching English again. We stopped for a 2-3 weeks as only 2-3 people showed, but some people are asking for it so we are going to give it a try. I have also decided that missionaries get really excited really easily. Just about anything can excited a missionary. We also invited everyone to bring a kilo of food to help a family who is going through a lot of trouble. The daughter is a member, and the mom wants to be but needs her own house and a job first.

As for the photos, the first should be self explanatory; we got to go to a wedding. They are all members and they got married in the chapel this Saturday. It was awesome. The second is a picture from our doorway. Yep that is our church out here in Rio Largo, and we live right in front of it. The third is a young mens and young womens activity me and Becker dropped by. They were preparing for Super Saturday, and they made headbands which said "SUD" which is the Portuguese version of LDS. So overall we are doing well. Oh we also got a small electric piano thingy that me and Becker are practicing with.

Editor's comment - The following is from a handwritten letter from the same time:

I will try to write more often.  A bit has happened.  First though, I should write about the work.  It is coming along slowly.  There are some issues in the Branch we are working on, but mainly we are trying to find new people.  We can find plenty of people to talk to, but often there is a problem with going to church or getting baptized.  We currently have one family and two other women we are teaching.  I don’t know if anything will happen with the family as the Grandma is a firm Catholic believer.  One of the women knows the Branch President so she has a good chance to progress.  The other I’m not sure about.  She enjoyed the lesson and said she would pray and read the Book of Mormon.  She did at first tell us that her pastor said not to go meet us.

One day I had a division with my (LZ in Portuguese), zone leader, Elder Biddulph.  We did some contacts and visited some investigators.  Then we went to family night.  That was a half hour walk away and I got lost on the way, so I am glad we left early.  Overall it was good.  That was on Friday the 17th.  On the 23rd, Wednesday, we went out to Tabuleiro to do baptismal interviews for them.  I got to do some visits with Elder Biddulph in his area while Elder Becker, my companion, did the interviews.

On the 28th, Tuesday, we had another division in Rio Largo.  However, this time it was with the young men.  Yep, not even past 3 months and I got to be the senior.  But all the appointments we planned for Wellington and me for the day fell through.  Instead we did some contacts and visited some less active members.  I thought it was pretty decent for a day with just me and a non-missionary.

Now the stuff for fun.  Two things stick out in my mind.  The first was on the 25th, Saturday, we got to go to a wedding.  Two members got married in the chapel.  It was awesome.  They hung up balloons for decoration and we had an electric piano play the bridal march music.  The second councilor to the Branch got to perform the ceremony and the quorum president gave a talk.  After that was a party of sorts with music, cake, chocolate and soda.

The second amazing thing we did was to go to Severino’s roça.  A roça is a farm-like place.  It isn’t an American type of farm, but he does grow food on it.  Basically it isn’t that organized.  It is somewhat, but not as straight lined as American farms.  Actually, we helped clear a path through a forested area with machetes.  He also told us about a somewhat swampy forest like area not far away that was a tad dangerous.  Afterwards I got to eat some food from the farm that we cooked on a fire.  We ate it in his wooden hut with a plastic roof.  I certainly had fun that day, even though the back of my neck got really sunburned.

So overall, the work is slow, but we are persevering.  In our free time we have some fun but most of it is work.  On that note, I am feeling tired.  Until next time, or, até mais.

Elder Vincent Malmrose