Sept 22, 2014

Transfers!!!

Well its transfer week again. are you guys excited to hear the news? So after a very long time of working in Siqueira Campos, President finally decided that it would be best that I serve in a different area. I´ve been here for about 5 Transfers. Nearly 7 months. i´ve only ever heard of a couple other people whove been able to stay in an area for such a long period of time. it was time well spent but its going to be nice to have a little bit of a change up. Thankfully this time i will be knowing where i´m going before i get there. =)

I´m heading up to a place called Boa Vista. I will be pretty much right underneath the presidents nose for the next little while. =) being here in Siqueria i was in the 2nd farthest zone for the presidents house Now i think that i will be seeing him just a little bit more now a days... oh boy...  My new companions name is Elder Garcia. he´s hispanic (bolivian) and just got out of training so i´m sure that he will be full of energy to work. (I hope....) 

So yep. I´m finally heading out. i´m pretty sure that with the patterns so far of our new president this will actually be my last area... ( what a trunky thought...) nothing is garranteed but the president has been really trying to keep the missionaries in the areas for longer periods of time. 

So instead of being the DL of sisters i´ll be going to be the DL of Elders. I´m going to have to learn how to do divisions. and fill out the other paper work that is involved with that... ugh... more work... haha but in all honesty i´m excited to be a little bit more involved. it will be good to have a little bit more control and be able to really talk with them and get to know how they are working rather then just sit and listen to them tell a bunch of stories over the phone... most of which i dont remember... haha! 

So i think thats about all the news. I´m going to have to go pack my bags here so i´ll head out for now. thanks so much for your support. i´ll talk to you guys next week! see you!

Elder Alexander

Fotos!

1. The Baptism of Gileno

2. Some of the elders of the zone. 

3. My "Oh so motivated" Companion. =)

Sept 15, 2014

Great Scott!!!

So this week i have a pretty cool story to tell all you guys!

about 6 months ago we found a man in the street. he was completely drunk and asked us for our help. he asked him where he lived and he told us that it was just up the road. he expressed his desire separate himself from the beer. We helped him home and Told him that we would come back another day.

When we came back the next day to asses the situation and to see if he had any teaching potential. while there we found out what it was that we needed to help him change. slightly more sober he continued to express that desire to change. we invited him to go to church. against all odds he came.

Because he decided to go to church we decided to continue working with him. He made small changes here and there. The first thing he did was he started reading the book of mormon. he began to question the material that he was reading. we taught him that he should settle these questions and the answers that we had given him through a confirmation by prayer. He prayed.

along the way we found out that he had a girlfriend that would come over every once in awhile. We taught him about the law of chastity. we invited him to live that law. with slight hesitation but a bigger focus on whats important,he committed.

During all this time he had been trying his best to stop drinking but had not been able to quit. He stopped drinking for about 2 weeks and he was completely ready for baptism. he had been interviewed and was ready to covenant with god. sadly one of the members of the church whom he held in a very high standing, told him that he wasn´t ready and that true preparation takes more time. Discouraged by those comments he fell back into his pattern of drinking. however He did not change his desire to change. He did not give up

This week he Demonstrated true diligence. During these six months rarely did he falter going to church and reading the sciptures and praying. he had many other dificulties along the way. but he was persistant. he had recieved answers to his prayers and knew what god wanted of him. Because of that diligence and perserverance, He proved to god that he was able and worthy. The difference from how he was when we found him on the street to today is almost indescribable. This Past weekend he was baptised and confirmed.

His name is Gileno and he is by far one of the greatest examples to me of how the atonement of christ truly can change people. Chirst has shown me a miracle. I was able to see first hand how he has power to change and heal. I feel very privelaged to have participated in this experiance.

I know that God lives. I know that He has power on this earth. I know that He cares about His children. He is involved in our lives. I know that he has power to heal and to change even human nature. I cannot deny the fact that I have witnessed a seemingly impossible change in a man. That change was wrought by diligence and through the help of a loving Father in Heaven. This is my testimony that this work is real in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Elder Cornwall

Sept. 8, 2014

Burned...

 

Well this week we had mission tour... It was pretty much awful... hahaha! It was a great spiritual experience though. so here is pretty much what happened.

For mission tour they invited Elder Aidukaites. he was part of the first quorem of the seventy and specifically heads over the missionary part of the entire church. and (I dont think i spelled it right.) He was a really great guy and really funny. But he was definitly firm with all of us. He talked with each zone individually. he helped us learn how we need to plan our weeks and our days better. We all go in thinking that hes going to give us some great motivating talk and make us super excited for the work. he started burning us about how we need to take at least 2 hours on the weekly planning. he asked by a raise of hands who had spent less then 2 hours on there last weekly planning. out of the 32 people in the room at the time 30 raised there hands. he pretty much denounced the zone as a disgrace at that point... however it was not without purpose. he started going through some of the techniques of how to plan. after he explained it we started thinking, "goodness... i dont think that we could get all this done in even 5 hours..." yep... We all walked out of that room with our tails between our legs.

Hey just for news I finally got the package this week on wednesday. i´ve once again shared a little bit of my goodness... and sadly thing only thing that is still alive from the entire package is the peanut butter, the glow sticks, the caramels and the tootsie rolls. =) the rest of it has gone down the hatch of four ravished elders. =) haha it certainly brought quite a few smiles to all of them and wish to send there gratitude to the mama cornwall. =) (in case you were curious. the chips ahoy were definately the first to go...) =)

So this was a really good week too. we are going to be attempting to baptized Gileno Sueliton and Viviane this week end again. We tried to baptize them last week but they did not feel quite ready so we are hoping that they are more willing this week.

Sadly I did not bring my camera this time to the lan house. so i dont have any pictures with me =( I wanted to send something this week but i forgot it at home. But either way i hope you guys have a good week and that you guys are eating healthy. my companion is not doing so great becuase of food choices. Keep them wholesome fibers up in your diets. =) haha! till next week. =) buh bye now!

Elder Cornwall

Sept. 1, 2014

Politics.

Well that little white bible that i carry around with me everywhere says that I cant talk about politics with you guys. but i dont think that includes telling you about how "the politics" are done here. I´ll fill you in later.

So hey my Cornwall family! Hope that Elder Max and Rock was a good enough little suprise. I was trying to keep you guys in the dark as much as possible about the fact that they were going home. I wanted it to be a suprise. I hope they were well behaved. =) haha! sounds like it was a welcome suprise. i´m curious as to how the visit was. =) 

anyway I have not gotten that package yet either. but it might just be in the office too. we have mission tour this week. so if it arrives or is already here before wednesday then president will bring to me from maceio. It should be soon. 

About the politics thing i mentioned earlier. so lets just say its about as crazy here as it was during the world cup... haha! So there are very few peace or sound rules here in brazil. so there will be an election in october. it happens every two years. so there are about ten thousand canidates that are trying to be governer, presidents and a bunch of other positions too. they advertise themselves by sending citizens out with giant soundsystoms balanced on the top of their cars trying to put there name in the heads of everyone. they all have cute little theme songs and short messages of how they are the best canidate. its a very different way that campaining is done here. everynight we are bombarded by parades and other types of propoganda trying to get the even the americans to vote. =) its pretty funny. 

So sadly those two people that I told you guys about last week werent baptised this week. they both pretty much arrived to the baptismal font and decided that they wanted to get to know the church more... we tried reasoning with them but they just said no in the end... kinda sad but they are still going to church. because of this whole shindig Viviane was able to invite her mother to listen to our message which was awesome. 

So i´m sorry if my emails are random and disorganized but thats what you get when your limited on time. =( just know that i´m still happy smiling and being that cute little elder thats just trying his best =) thanks again for all you guys do for me. till next week! 

Elder D. Alexander Cornwall (Hows that for a General authority name?)