Feb. 24, 2014

Yup Its Hump Week...

And so I must say i´m disapointed... ok not really but i´m not sure if your thinking of the day that i was set apart or that i entered the MTC. But officially the day that I entered the mtc to start the whole missionary thing was on the 27th. not the 26th. i cant believe that my own mother forgot what day i entered into the mtc... thats worse then forgetting your own aniversery! haha! no i´m kidding.

So Let us talk about shoes. I was using those shoes that were tattered and dead till about the end of january. but I came out with two pairs of shoes. I have started using my other pair. they are still in working condition. but sadly will probably only last about 4 months. I think they were made more for show and confort. not exactly for working 5 miles every day. but just know that the shoes i´m using are treating my feet well.

and Now time for the news of the week. two stories that I would like to tell. First of all! we started teaching this woman named Silvania. She seemed rather interested but the more we asked the more we came to find that her working condition for the time being did not allow her to have much time for religion. but as we were talking with her we were talking with her incredibly depressed and drunk mother. she became slightly frustrated with what we were saying and burst how saying, "How many gods are there!!!" we responded calmly affirming the existence of just 1 god. she then told us "If god is only 1 how many churches should their be!" we once again affirmed just one. then she responded to us in her incredibly drunken state "No, no, no... To me... AT LEAST 2 ARE CORRECT..." I smiled and waited to hear her explaination... she continued telling that after Christ died 2 churches were created. the Cathlics and the Assembly of god... she grew up in these churches and this is where she will stay... we smiled and refocused our attention on her daughter Silvania.

But I have a better story. a little more focused on missionary work. remember that family I mentioned last week. well we´ve been teaching them everyday this week. we´ve committed them to baptism and they´ve even gone to church. but I must tell you of the miracle that happened to get them to church. First off let me start by telling that this is a family with a very low education and very little money. and so as we were teaching them. they told us that they couldn´t leave there house becuase they didnt functioning doors to lock the house. they always had to have someone in the home to guard what little they have. the problem was that the hinges on the doors were either horribly placed or missing all together. plus the door in the front had a gaint hole in it.

So we started asking the members if they new a little bit about how to fix doors and we found that Antonio (member) had the know how and the tools. he just needed that parts to do it. we went there together with Antonio with nothing but to just observe the problem. when he saw the doors he knew how to fix it but sadly it was late at night and we wouldnt be able to buy anything that day. but then all of the sudden a friend of the poor family showed up and Antonio being inspired asked him if he had any wood. He said let me see. he went to his house and came back with the two perfect sizes of wood that we needed to cover up the hole in the door. so he covered up the hole, replaced the door and finaly the door could shut but had no way to lock it at night. suddenly the family found a bag of nails and other metal dodads. within that bag we found a lock or bolt thing. (similar to what we have on the shed) we stuck it on the door and miraculously they can now shut and luck the front door.

We had one more problem. the back door. it was easy for a person to just come around the back and enter in through there. the problem with this door was that is was missing the hinges all together. but once again a miracle happened with this door too. within that little bag of metal goodies they found 3 slightly tattared hinges that we were able to use to hold the door in place. that door already had a bolt to lock the door but just needed the hinges. and therefore going there with nothing but the tools the lord provided for everythying that we needed to fix the doors and allow this family to go to church the next day. they loved the church and have commited to be baptized this saturday. I was speachless seeing how god provided for everything that day. truly his hand was involved in this.

this was a great week. I feel as if god truly is involved in our work now. because a lot of other good things happened this week but just because of time i´m forced to keep my email shorter. i´m very grateful to be working in a time like this. and I know that this family will be safe with the help of the ward and the savior. he truly does care for his chirldren and i know that he answers prayers.

Thats about all the time a got. Hope you enjoy this slightly longer email. perhaps it will be read in two sittings and not just one. haha! till next week my family! I love you all!

Elder Cornwall

Feb. 17, 2014

Miracles Never Cease...

So the animals are getting pretty old now huh. I can hardly beleive that Max will be 18 this year. Hes an old little muncher. =) Thats pretty cool to hear about Lissy too. Peppers Portuguese is pretty dang good actually. He´s communicating with everyone really well. He´s by far the funnest companion i´ve had on the mission so far.

So I´ve been doing pretty well and we finally had a miracle happen this week. No it was not a baptism but it certainly no less of a miracle. I´m not sure how much i´ve told you about our friend sandro. but he was a baptism from the missionaries before us that went inactive really quick. BUT! we found him in the street and just started talking with us for a little while. and at the end of the conversation he told us that he knew a familiy that he would like us to talk to and hopefully bring into the church. he told us where to go and we told him that we had a meeting to go to really quick but that we would return after the meeting.

we went to the other person we had and sadly she wasnt in her home. so we returned to where sandro told us to go. when we entered we found a woman and 2 young men. we started talking with them and asking a little bit about their background. just finding out who they were. well, as we were talking, the rest of her family comes in. I thought it would be a good idea to start talking about how the family can be eternal if we are obediant to the laws and ordanainces of the gospel. We gave her a quick run down of the Gospel of jesus christ. Talking about Faith Repentance and baptism. We helped her close with a prayer and during her prayer she asked god that she would be prepared to be baptised and that everything would work out that She and her Family would be baptized.

Its certainly amazing how god works in simple ways. Elder Pepper and I have been praying that we could find someone who wanted to be baptized and we´ve finally recieved an answer to that prayer. we will be preparing them to be baptized for the 1st of march.

I also was giving the opportunity to talk yesterday in the ward again. last week I gave a talk to the group starting in Teotonio. and this week and gave a talk to the people in the home ward São Miguel. I decided to talk a little bit about how the Atonement is truely important and how we can apply it in our own lives. I was asked to talk for 15 minutes. the talk was something like this.

The atonment started when Jesus Christ suffered in the garden and ended in the ressurection. This sacrifice is our only hope of returning to live with our Heavenly Father. and we can accept the atonement by having faith repenting and being baptized by proper preisthood authority.

That is basically what I said using different examples and scriptures to illustrate my point. but It was certainly a fun experience. I´ve come to like speaking in the ward. even though I´m a little nervous everytime I step up to the pulpit.

And so I think this is all i´ve got for this week. I love you all and hope all continues being great! till next week!

Elder Gringo.

Feb. 10, 2014

Shut Up Freaking...

yea i´m not sure how it happened but freaking has become the new portugues noun for someone that is really frustrateing among the missionaries. for example. if you are really annoying people will say Cala Boca Freaking! (shut up freaking!) or if you have an investigater really annoying or uncooperative, people say "só Deixa o Freaking" (just leave the freaking) I think its pretty dang funny if I do say so myself. =)

So hey! sounds like everyone is doing good! thats pretty cool to here about the double cornwall spirit testimony action! i´ve actually been trying to bear my testimony for the past few months but i dont want to take away the time from the members. and for some odd reason there are always lots of people on the pulpit. so I just wait for a little while and usually they run out of time before I have a chance.

So we had a leadership training for all the leaders in the mission. which means assistants, secretaries, zone leaders district leaders and senior companions. I thought it was kinda funny becuase its half the mission going taking a day off to listen to a little bit of training. So I left my companion elder pepper and went to maceio and was able to talk with president a little bit. It was cool what they had to say but sadly it killed our whole day and we couldnt really work. but it was a welcome resting day.

also with the other elders we went to Teotonio. which a little town about 30 minutes out of São miguel. We went their to support the group that is starting there. they are trying to form a branch out there. we went becuase the bishop had a lot of meetings scheduled that day and he sent us out there to be the preisthood leadership temporarilly. I was also chosen to give a 15 minute talk on the spot. It was a miracle that I was able to fill the time. I decided to talk a little bit about our duty as members of the church of jesus christ. I related it also to missionary work. I said something about how we are to learn our duty as members (D&C 107: 99) and then related to how we are all discples of christ and our duty is to help us come unto christ (3 Nephi 5:13) It was a good feeling to finally realize that i´m confident enough to give a 15 minute talk with just a morning to prepare.

anyway life is going good! I´m still loving the mission and trying to give my all to the lord. thanks for all your support too! Talk to you all next week! buh bye now!

Feb. 3, 2014

Religion...Its sure a strange topic somtimes....

So... yea... I´ll explain a little later. BUT FIRST!!! lets begin with the how things are going.

So this week were ALMOST had a baptism. i´m not sure if i´ve mentioned bruna yet but we´ve been meeting with her just about every day this week to try and get her prepared for baptism. she wants to be baptized but for some odd reason doesnt feel ready. She´s already stopped drinking coffee. talked with her significant other about the chastity thing and they are both willing to live law. she´s willing to pay tithing when she is baptized. she´s completely ready! but doesnt quite feel like its the right time. we tried really hard to baptize her on on saturday but it didnt work out. thankfully we were able to remark the baptismal date for the 15th of this month.

in other words we have a man named Alexandre who is very prepared for baptism! he was a very similar story to bruna. we had him marked for the 15th of january but it didnt work out right. so we remarked for the 8th of February. i´m certain that he will be baptized this saturday! he´s reading praying and attending church! its when you find people who truly are willing.

just a news update on how i´m doing personally. this week i feel as if i´m finally able to express my self in portuguese. I still have a little bit of a hard time understanding EVERYTHING that people say but i´ve been really happy this week. the work is going well. we are teaching LOADS of people. i´m excited that I can talk portuguese with out even thinking about it know. (usually) life is good!

So here´s a little bit of trunkiness news. I will probably be home for the next super bowl. =) woo hoo! Shrimp, bugles, little smokies and ecclairs! HERE I COME! wow... i think i´m a little hungry...haha!

So about the religion thing. lets just say that religion here is a very popular topic! we have about 7 different churches that exist on the same street. usually its just a large room with a poster in that back that quotes a scripture or says, "Jesus te Ama" which means jesus loves you... then you get a gaint stereo system with a microphone and you have a church! its a pretty easy set up! they dont have any laws against things like disturbing the peace so they usually just have the stereos really loud so you can here what the church says from about 50 meters from the entrance. but one day I was passing by one of the churches and I heard something fascinating. they shouted with all of their might "JESUS CRISTO É O FILHO DO ESPRITO SANTO!!!" which means "jesus christ is the son of the holy spirit" I was rather startled at what I heard. but I just continued walking and then saw many other interesting and creative things that I Marveled at... haha! I just saw a bunch of interesting ways to worship that night.

So I think thats about it! I´d like to go on but i have a letter to write to the president still and i have 16 minutes to do it! thanks for all the support! I love you all! stay happy! i´m jealous that you had the super bowl party without me but hey! i´ll be there for the next one! I think... unless I extend my mission one transfer which I have been giving some thought just to let you know but we´ll see. anyway! Love you guys! buh-bye!

Elder Cornwall