Christmas photos from Jason

Fun with Fernanda, LOTS OF FOOD FOR CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR!

My Christmas was one to remember!

January 5, 2015

Dear family, The internet cafe is closing (we got here suuuuuuuuuper late, so we only had about 30 mins) but I wanted to send these pictures, because, as they say, pictures are worth a thousand words! Heavenly Father has been so good with us these past two weeks.  Even though LITERALLY everyone went to the beach and no one was left in town to teach or contact, we were blessed with a miracle baptism, K___, E____'s grandson who moved in with her a few weeks ago.  She has another daughter who will be moving up to Guabirotuba this week, too. :)  Hopefully she too will accept the Lord's call to follow Him. thanks for making my Christmas so wonderful!  It was great hearing from all of you, and great to think that in just 4 months, we'll be together again. This next week we'll be receiving transfers... I hope and pray that I'll get to stay with Elder E. Silva to "finish him off" (he'll be finishing his mission in 7 weeks!!)  We'll see what Heavenly Father has in store. The gospel is true!  It has been restored.  Let it touch your lives and change you for the better.  This new year is the time to change what needs changing, and become the you that you've always wanted to be! :)  Only Christ can help you achieve that. Love forever, Jason sweet Elvira's family entering into the covenant of baptism!!!

December 15, 2014

Another wonderful week!

It's beginning to feel a little more like Christmas, even here in the blistering sun!  EVERY Sunday at church, the member always laugh because I am ALWAYS super burned and red, and my name is "All-red".  Haha... it never gets old to them... but it's the truth!  Even with layers of sunscreen, I burn up!  You'll see on Christmas :)

This past week was a good one.  We had a wonderful time re-teaching the lessons to E____ and her family, and preparing them for their confirmation that took place this Sunday.  E____ cried again when we asked about her baptism, and told us how wonderful it was to be part of a new family.  Her father left her family, and her mother was a drunk, and ever since she was just seven years old, E_____ had to raise her family and be the Mom.  She has lived a hard life, recently divorced her alcoholic husband, and has been searching for peace.  She told us how wonderful it was to be so warmly accepted into a church family - she has never had anyone who cared in that way for her.  It was touching.  She and her family are so excited for this new journey in the gospel, and C____ - her 14 year old son who was baptized with her - is already wanting to serve a mission!  it is incredible!  E_____ wants to bring her WHOLE family to church so they can experience the change she is experiencing, too!  

This week, we baptized her granddaughter, E_______.  A sweet little spirit whose life will be changed forever if she stays on the path.  We're hoping to marry E_______'s parents, and baptize them in the week/months that come too.  :)  HEAVENLY FATHER IS GOOD!

Saturday, we heard some honking at the gate of the church in front of our house, and who was it?? SANTA CLAUS WITH MY SUITCASE FULL OF AMERICAN GOODIES FROM A THE SWEETEST MOTHER IN THE WORLD!  Holy cow... I almost started crying... That will feed us for a while!  THANKS MOM!!

I think things are looking up.  Things get a little complicated with christmas - lots of people traveling and such - but I feel happy and hopeful, and it feels good!

Just one more highlight this week.. Haha so every day we knock doors for about 4-6 hours, and about 99.99% of the people we talk too are SUPER rude. Buuuut... this week, we knocked on a door, invited this lady to church, and she said to us, "Wow.. I really have been needing to go to church... Maybe I'll even become a member of yours.".  Cool!  Never happens here, or anywhere I think... haha.  We'll see how sincere she was when we pass by this week.

I LOVE YOU!!!  I can't wait to talk to you in just 10 days!  WHAT?!?!  It will be wonderful to see and hear you all again.

Have a wonderful week!

Love forever,
Jason

Pictures!

-Our mission Christmas conference!  Can you spot Elder Allred?

- Miracle suitcase!

- E_______ :)

December 8, 2014

Wow... what a marvelous week!  It was so good reading your letters and 'catching up' with you!  I can't believe it's almost Christmas already, and in just 17 days we'll be talking via skype!  WOOOOOO!

This week was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father.  Literally.  It was peaceful, and happy, and hopeful and just wonderful.  That elect family we found last week and brought to church was BAPTIZED!!!  E______, G______, and C______!! 

 Let me just share a few little tid bits about them that really wowed me this week, and strengthened my testimony of "the elect of the Lord".

- Ever since we met E_____, I felt a familiar connection.  I had seen her before... I had known her from someplace... One evening this week as we were teaching them, she opened up to us that she let us in that day to teach her because she knew us and recognized us from somewhere - from a dream or from something else, she didn't know, but she knew that we were truly sent from Heavenly Father to her at this time.  My heart smiled when she told us that because I felt the Spirit whisper to me that she was one of the people I had promised in the Pre-existence that I would find and remind of the truths we learned together there. She was truly someone Heavenly Father prepared to receive us. 

- Before we taught about the Word of Wisdom, she had already stopped drinking coffee.  EVERYONE smokes or drinks coffee here in Brazil, and she had been drinking coffee for her whole life, and she told us that the day after she went to church for the first time with us, she went home, made coffee, went to drink it, and spat it out.  She told us she didn't know why but she had lost all taste and desire to drink coffee. #elect  

It has been such a wonderful experience getting to know this family, bringing the kids to seminary and mutual, and then baptizing them.  E_____ just cried and cried and cried and was so happy and thankful for the experience.  It was a touching baptismal service because E_____ and her family had a lot of ward support (this ward is AWESOME with integration, and it is pretty rare to find a golden little family!).

Holy moly... I know that literally Heavenly Father is aware of His children. He knows what each of us need, and when.  I am so thankful for the gift of having been here to help these people and see how beautiful the Gospel of Jesus Christ is when it changes the lives and hearts of others.

The Church is true.  God lives!  He heals.  He blesses.  He loves.  I am so thankful for the eternal blessings that await us if we live faithfully and endure to the end.

Love forever, 
Jason

December 1, 2014

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!  Judging from the pictures, it looks like it went pretty well!  I'm already excited to stuff my face with you next year and run that race!  This has been a crazy past two weeks! 

I think these past two weeks may have been the most trying of my mission so far... this area is a tough one, and this was my first transfer not baptizing anyone.  For nearly two weeks, almost no one opened their door to us, no one came to church with us, no one even cared.  I started to feel pretty down about myself, my mission, my purpose, when Elder E. Silva and I decided to fast one day.  NOTHING had been going right, and we were both super discouraged.  We gave it up to the Lord and decided to keep working through it, even if it seemed like there were no results.  Saturday arrived, and we still had no one to bring to church , very few lessons, and super hunger, but then... a miracle happened!

We were burned out, and decided to pray in that moment, asking Heavenly Father to send us where someone would accept us.  As soon as we finished the prayer, we both felt impressed that we needed to stay on the same street, and start knocking.  The first house we knocked, G______ and I_____ (mother and 17 year old daughter) answered the door.  They let us right in, we taught them, and the next day brought them to church.  They LOVED church.  When we went to visit them after church to answer questions/doubts that they had, they couldn't stop talking about how much they were touched by the special spirit they felt there, and how badly they wanted to return, and bring their entire family with them.  THEN THEY ASKED US TO BE BAPTIZED.  WHAT?!  It was such a crazy, tender, wonderful miracle from Heavenly Father.

I remember that day we were fasting, I was asking Heavenly Father for a confirmation that fasting works so that I could have more faith in this sacred principle.  He blessed me with this overwhelming experience that confirmed that truly - fasting and humble prayer works.  I was taken aback at this experience, because it's not everyday (in fact, it's almost never) that a person will seek the truth as they are seeking.  As they told us their story (they moved about 1 year ago from São Paulo to Curitiba, and missionaries had already knocked on their door before) it became clear to them, and even more clear to us, that Heavenly Father has truly been preparing them to receive us, and receive the sweet joy of the Restored Gospel.

In every mission call, there is the promise that:

"As you serve with all your heart, might, and strength, the Lord will lead you to those who are prepared to be baptized."  

As I re-read my mission call this morning during studies, it hit me strongly that the Lord will always keep His promises.  I am so thankful for the sweet manifestation of His love and mercy with us this week, and for Him having prepared these special daughters of God to receive greater peace, light, direction, and happiness in their lives.

Sorry I wrote a bunch this week, but I just wanted to close with a scripture that reminded me of G______ and I_____, found in Alma 32:16

" Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe."

I know that the Lord is preparing people in every land, in every corner, of every part - His elect who hear the voice of His representatives as the voice of the Good Shepard, and have the courage and faith to act.

Love forever,
Jason

Pictures!!

This week we had the mission Christmas conference, and the entire mission got together for an all-day event!  Super fun!  ALL OF THE SISTERS IN THAT PICTURE ARE FROM MY DISTRICT IN THE MTC AND ALL OF THEM ARE HOME NOW.  

- a pretty sunset here in Guabirotuba

- a wild rabbit that we found on the way home one night... #rabies!

November 10, 2014

Minha nossa... another week has literally flown by.  This is already my 4th week in Guabirotuba!

Like always we had lots of ups and downs... but as always more positive than negative.

We had been working closely with R_____, the man we brought to church last Sunday.  We marked a baptismal date, and a lot of things to help him quit smoking (oranges, Listerine, Vitamin C to fight the nicotine - the church has a super cool 7-day program).  He was a little nervous, but had a LOT of faith and by the end of our visits, he was determined to quit, and determined to be baptized this Sunday.  Unfortunately, his mother in a different city got sick and he had to leave, and will be staying with his dying mother for the next few days or weeks.... so... we'll see where this road leads with our friend, R______.

Because our baptism fell through, we were working frantically to find someone to bring to church.  Someone who had been searching, someone prepared by the Lord to accept us.  For three days, we had no success and not a single person let us to teach them.  Discouraged, Saturday arrived, and we left to work, praying praying praying that God would bless us with someone we could bring to church.  Then, we knocked a door, and some lady came right out to greet us, let us in immediately, and told us that she had been praying to God to send her someone who could help her and her family.  We talked with her, and she was crying and told us she'd come to church with us.  She came!  And brought her sister with her too.  Haha, M_____ was SO excited to come to church!  We'll be working with her closely this week to see if we weren't the answer to her prayer.  Cool how Heavenly Father works, right?

We were asked by the bishop to teach an 8 year old boy who is part of a part-member/recent-convert/less-active family.  Haha, complicated, right?  It was so fun teaching him the lessons and hearing his sweet, simple answers.  I LOVE the Gospel because it is so beautifully simple.  Children and adults alike understand, and yet we always have something more to learn.  So neat!  I'll include a picture of his baptism. :)

God is good.  The church IS true. The Gospel changes lives.  I am so so so happy and thankful to be a part of it.

Have a fantastic week!

Love forever,
Jason

Pictures! 

- Arthur's baptism

- Elder E. Silva and I found some "hipster" glasses in the chapel, so of course we had to take some pictures

- WE HAVE MCDONALDS IN OUR AREA!!!!!  Holy cow.. I almost cried when we discovered it!  It's hilarious.. here in Brazil, onlyreeeeally richy snooty people eat at mcdonalds.  It was funny when we walked in, and the only people were super rich, professional people who thought they were something because they were eating McDonalds!  crazy!  THANKFULLY, some member was there and bought our food for us... $80 later, we were still hungry and went to Subway... haha

November 3, 2014

Howdy Family!

Another week flown by... I can't believe it!

Lots of ups and downs, as always, but it was a good week.  We brought a could-be elect to church this Sunday who really liked it!  R_____, who has already been visited by other Elders, never went to church before, and never really progressed, but I think something is different with me and Elder E. Silva.  He accepted all of our commitments and today, I think, we'll invite him to be baptized.  Pray for us!

Unfortunately, that sweet little family decided that our church wasnt for them.  The kids LOVED it, but the mom got scared and decided to stay in her comfort zone.  It broke our hearts!  But Heavenly Father is SO good at opening new doors when others shut, so I'm not too worried.

Our ward here in Guabirotuba is SO fun!  Haha there are only about 100 members, but they always have some sort of activity going on in the chapel (in our front yard, haha).  This week, I made a bunch of "American Cookies" for them to sell at auction to raise money for the youth to go to EFY, and they sold for $40!  Funny how "American" will raise the value of something simple like cookies!  It has been a neat experience getting to know these members and trying to help a few that have fallen off the path.  Something that I've noticed in the Retention and Re-activation program, is that generally, people turn away from the church simply because they have a doubt or a question that no one has answered... I've seen time and time again in our visits and with the other Elders that a simple 15 minute visit of resolving questions and confusion can literally be the key to re-activity.  THATS WHY CHURCH LEADERS ARE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT HOME AND VISITING TEACHING!!  Just do it!  If we can't manage to do a simple 20 minute visit each month, how could we manage exaltation?  Would couldn't!  So go do your visits!

I'm still loving Elder E. Silva.... Haha he has been a blessing.  This week will have lots of door knocking, and lots of visits.  Should be good!

I love you all and miss you like c-r-a-z-y!!

Have a super week!

Love forever,
Jason

Pictures!

My last day in Tamandaré with some of our Recent Converts and the other Elders in our area.

OUR FILTHY MESS IN OUR TINY LITTLE HOUSE!!  Haha but I love it!