Only the Penitent Man Will Pass

President Gordon B. Hinckley

Luke and the missionaries in his District.

Luke and his companion Elder Moraes.

I miss da snow… but it’s actually not too hot here. A bit more humid, but actually generally nicer than in São Paulo, and actually, it’s been raining for about a day and a half, so it’s actually quite nice temperature wise. I hope that doesn’t change, I feel sorry for my buddies in the neighboring district that are all in Forta Laza (I can’t spell). That’s heat for you. Anyway, cheers!

So first off, we had P-day changed for just this week only because we had a Mission Conference, yesterday. President and Sister Leal came down and gave us instruction, it was pretty good, and I actually understood most of what was going on. I’ve had a couple of missionaries tell me, “You understand what’s being said long before you’re able to respond,” and I’m finding out that that’s true.

During the meeting, we found out that Pres. Hinckley had died, which was very sad. Pres. Leal teared up when he told us, and I think that everyone was a little emotional. I mean, he’s been the President of the Church since almost before I can remember. It was sad to find out, but it’s good that he’s with Sis. Hinckley, again, and, age 97, wow. Pres. Monson is next in line, right?

On a happier note, we got to watch a clip from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade during Sister Leal’s presentation. It was the finale when Indy has to go thru the three challenges to get the Grail, remember? The Breath Of God (Only the Penitent Man May Pass. I learned a new word that day, cuz everyone kept repeating it in the film, penitente, penitente...ha ha!). It was pretty cool, watching Indiana Jones in the chapel in a different language on a mission.

Sorry about the pic. situation again, I remembered to bring my camera and all that stuff this time, but the place that we’re at is being stupid and won’t let me put them on. Again, there’s always a next time, sorry! [Thanks to Elder Moraes who took the two pic's above.]

Well, this week was pretty good. I’ve heard from other missionaries that it’s usually pretty tough while you’re in training and stuff, which I’ve heard is usually about 6 months until you get a decent hold on the language (that’s 6 months in the field, not CTM time and field combined) and some days are definitely harder than others. It’s still a bit annoying to not be able to understand everything that’s going on, or respond, but I’m getting better.

Lastly, thank you everyone for the mail that I received, even though I bet not everyone reads the blog. I will attempt to thank everyone that I can remember, and I will do my best to respond in letter form as soon as I can. I’ll do my part, and then pray very hard that the Brazilian mail system comes thru for me, heh, heh.

Now for fun stuff, Packers lost, huh? That’s sad, I hate the Patriots.

Oh, by the way, while I was in São Paulo I bought a Jersey, only 20 Real’s pretty good. My Soccer team that I support is The Corithians (Cor-inch-ee-ens in Portuguese). I know very little about them, but my teacher Irmão Silva really liked them, and he served in Londrina, so I figured I would adopt them. Some people think it’s cool when they see it, and some don’t like it, depending on which team they support. The 3 main teams here in the state of São Paulo are São Paulo (Red, Black and White), The Corinthians (Black, Gold, and Red), and Palmairas (Green and White). Palmairas are The Corinthians rival, so nobody cheers for them.

I’ve found out that liking The Corinthians is kinda like being a LA Raiders fan. They’re apparently so bad that they got demoted to the 2nd division this year, and their players have a rep. for being a little rough. But this is my team, so boo-yah!

I sorry if I don’t remember everyone, but here are the thank you’s to those who I can remember:

• Talisa (I got those two packages, and thanks for that notebook from Festivus.)




• Steve (Frankfurt, Germany, woo!)




• Caitlin,




• Debra,




• Corryn,




• Ilse (Muito Bem, not Muto Boen, ha!),




• Kamelei (who writes like a 6 year old),




• Steve and Tanya (Spidey toothbrush, woot! thanks!),




• Becca (who is great with child),




• Lacey (who will be great with child, someday. Married already, wow! Things change fast),




• Stephilnie and Philphanie (need I say more? Thanks for the pic, Stephil and thanks for the note Philphanie)




• Grandma and Grandpa (I got the peanut slab package, thank you very much!), and




• Mat6t and Kamelei (Thanks a lot for that Newspaper thingy about you Mat6t, that was hilarious! And, Kamelei, I hope that your collarbone heals soon, as well as your sense of feeling.)

And, if I have forgotten anyone, my apologies!

We have 3 investigators. I’m still trying to learn their names myself, so not much information for you guys, yet. Are closest to baptism is Irmã (Sister) R., who just needs to get married to the guy she lives with. She really is into the Church, but it’s harder to get her husband to change. He’s a really nice guy and seems to like us a lot. He’s just usually at various degrees of drunk when we come over to teach. I can’t understand a word he says normally, and he likes to ask me a lot of questions, to which I usually just nod and smile, or say I’m not sure.

Sorry, I don’t have the name of my stake, ward, or the address. I’ll get it next time.

Also, if it’s not too much trouble, could someone find the sheet music for "Army of Helaman-As Sisters in Zion" medley, and send it when you send the pic’s? It’s just that I played in Stake Conference on Sunday (lots of people, about the size of our ward at home, which is pretty huge here) and played the opening and closing hymn. But the ward choir needed help with as they were performing "Army of Helaman-As Sisters in Zion" medley and the only guy that could play it is the choir director. Unfortunately, I couldn’t play it without practice, so I was unable to help. I felt terrible, and now I want to learn that song.

Usually, before district meeting once a week, there is about a half-hour that I get to practice while we wait for everyone to show up for the meeting, so I could practice then. If you guys could get that to me, I would greatly appreciate it.

To summarize, a mission is quite hard. The schedule, learning and stuff is and can be brutal, but I think that I’m becoming a better missionary and worker thru it. My testimony is growing, and thank you all for your help and prayers. I’m still trying to adjust and be the best missionary that I can, I know that I’ll do well...

... it sounds like from Rob’s letters that he’s having a ball over there in Russia, and I take great courage from hearing that. I hope that I can be as good of a newbie missionary as he is.

I’m doing well. Thanks again to Grandpa and Grandma. Again, it’s a hard adjustment here, but I feel like I’m getting better. As soon as I get a good handle on the language, it should be a lot better. Not easier, I know, but better.

It’s quite different, where my only sources of council are usually my companion (when I can get him to understand me), myself, and the Lord. It’s a bit lonely sometimes, but I’m learning how to depend on the Lord for everything that I have. I’m also seeing that the way that I’m most happy is when I work the hardest and put forth the best effort.

Well, times up. So ´till next week.

Elder =w= Heperi

Okie-Dokie

Well, sorry again, but I don’t have my camera with me. Actually, I haven’t had the opportunity to take many pictures, although I will get on that. Again, I know that I said that I would send them, but I apologize.

About the address for our "house" not apt., (important difference, we live in a house, cuz the whole place is ours, all 20 square feet of it!). I will find out next week. I just asked Elder M., (using about half Portuguese and half English) and he said that he doesn’t know it, but we can get it from the family that lives next door. Apparently you can send mail here, he said it’s no problem. So I’ll find that out next week, along with the address for our chapel and other stuff.
Our chapel is kinda near our house, it’s kind of on a corner and really sticks out, you should be able to find it on Google Earth. Actually yesterday, while having dinner at a members house, one of the kids was using Google Earth, and I showed him our house and BYU. It looks to me like the picture on Google Earth got updated, cuz there are new roads and stuff on there. They were very impressed by the mountains, and they labeled our house and the chapel as "Igreja de Heperi" and "Casa Heperi". So, you guys have Brazilian’s looking at the house!

I’m a little wary about a package coming to the house though, cuz I heard that it might be taxed or something if you use UPS or FedEx. I think as long as you use Priority Mail, it should be fine, though.

As for my favorite scripture, well I can’t think of the reference, but I believe that it is in Alma. When Alma is talking to Corianton (at least I think that it’s Corianton) about life after death. It goes something like, "Now concerning the state of the soul after death, it has been made known unto me that the souls of all men, as soon as they have departed this life, are taken home to that God who gave them life" [Alma 40: 11]. Now, I realize that kinda sounds like an obituary scripture, (and I don’t think that I’m predicting things, although with the way people drive down here, we’ll see, heh, heh...) but this scripture has always given me great inspiration and hope. I like it because I know that I’m never too far from my house or my real home beyond this world. It also helps me because I know that even when people reject us and don’t want to listen, they are still loved by God and will know that He exists someday, if not in this life than the next. So, maybe this is not the typical kind of missionary scripture, but my favorite nonetheless.

As for candy, Butterfinger and Snickers are my favorite, and maybe a little beef jerky. They don’t have that down here. For the photos, I’d like some from high school and college and stuff like that. I believe that in the file where I stored my Ipod music, there are some picture files of my times in the dorms that I’d love to have. High School is good too, like stuff with me having fun with my friends and family. Also, if you have any of me in the snow (more recent maybe, like high school on up) that’d be great. Most people here haven’t been in snow, so they appear very interested. Ones of me with the family would be great as well, new ones aren’t necessary. Maybe some with Levi and I playing in Van Heperi would be great. Just whatever looks good to you. If when you print them out, could you put them in a photo organizer that lets me flip thru it, so the photos aren’t just by themselves and all over the place? Thanks.

Well, I hope that I covered the questions. The work is going well here. We’re learning to develop a better relationship with the members. I’m learning to be more patient with myself and others, as well as learning to improve in the language. Some days are harder then others, but I’ve found that the harder that we work, it becomes easier to do. Not easier in the sense that the work is any easier, but the fact that it becomes more bearable.

We have some good investigators. One lady in particular is extremely interested. We got her as a reference, and she has taken the first two lessons so far and showed up to church with her daughter, and I think has a baptismal date (I’m not entirely sure, because I can’t read our area book very well. To tell you the truth, half the time when we’re doing stuff, I don’t really have a clear idea of where we are actually going. Elder M. explains it, but sometimes I can’t quite grasp what is going on. I know that this will improve, but it’ll take time. I’ll be sure to remember their names for next week and give them to you.

We taught one family that wanted a Book of Mormon, but who are devoutly Catholic. They seemed good about our message, but didn’t want us to return. However, I got along very with their son, Anderson, who is 17. He plays the guitar and has his own band (Thrash Metal, unfortunately. I wouldn’t even listen to that if I was off my mission). But after the lesson, he brought out his guitar, and we traded some guitar licks. It was good to play again, (I played once in the CTM around Christmas) and he seemed to like what I was playing, although the language barrier was something to get around. He is a good player, and we got to talking a little bit (very little, as my Portuguese is not good yet) about different music and stuff. When it was time to go, he said that he appreciated that, and looked forward to out next visit. So though his family doesn’t really want to learn more, I managed to make a friend thru music. My language skills are not good, but my music skills make up for that in some areas. I am very grateful for the time that I spent learning my instruments.

In addition, I play the organ in Church on Sunday. It’s not a big organ, (smaller than that one we had in Ephraim) nor is it a big chapel (significantly smaller than ours), but it was cool nonetheless. It’s weird to play an organ, and I believe that I am the only piano player in the ward besides one other lady who left somewhere or for something. So, my piano is coming in handy here.

Thanks for sending me that talk Dad, unfortunately the place we’re using today doesn’t have a printer, so I’ll have to read thru it next week, but thank you. I’m learning more about Joseph Smith out here. I don’t know why, but that’s always been a part of the gospel that I didn’t know much about, his life and the monumental things that he did. I’m very grateful for the Prophet Joseph Smith. Well, times up, so till next week, stay classy.

Elder =w= Heperi

Yep, I'm in Bauru

Before it slips my mind, I would like to thank Lynette for helping me with my BYU experience. I am very grateful that I will be able to still continue my experience at BYU. Thank you very much, Lynette!

Also, thanks to Bro. Magleby for allowing me to take his class. I kinda feel like I didn’t really deserve that B, but I am very grateful nonetheless. Thank you again, and I hope that Andy and Rob are well on their missions. (Berkeley too, but she’s home now, so blah.)

You were correct, Mom in your assumption [Emphasis added]. I'm in the city of Bauru. Actually, I can’t pronounce it correctly, my comp. keeps correcting my pronunciation. And yes, my luggage was overweight at the airport. I forgot that the books that we received at the CTM in the bags, and that tipped the scales I think.

I’m glad that my Visa card works here, though. Some of the Elders in my district have cards that don't work down here for some reason. Although, Elder M. (Orem, Utah) got off easy, his bags were a little overweight as well, but the lady at the desk must of been a member because she waved the charge because, "Missionaries shouldn’t have to pay". Lucky!

Did you get the pic’s that I sent from the last e-mail a few weeks ago, the ones about Christmas in the CTM? I hope so, cuz I don’t trust this site, it does weird things sometimes. Sorry, no pic’s this week, I forgot my camera in our house. Next week though.

Anyway, it was sad to say goodbye to my district. We all flew over on the same plane, and we arrived at the mission home in Londrina. Oh man, the home of President Leal (Leh-al)is waaaay nice. It’s in a building, hotel or really-nice apartment style. It overlooks the city, and Londrina is beautiful. Nicer than São Paulo, I think. São Paulo has kind of that New York City look to it, but Londrina, while still a decent sized city, feels more like Provo or something, more trees, less buildings.

We ate a really nice lunch at the mission home, probably the best meal I’ve eaten while I’ve been here in Brazil, and I got to play the piano for an opening hymn. After dinner and stuff, they sat us down and other missionaries came in. These were our new potential companions. Pres. Leal had a bowl full of papers, and had an Elder come up and draw names from it. At first I was like, it’s just completely random, where’s the inspiration? Ha, but then I found out that he had written our name and the names of our companions on it, and this was just a way to make it exciting. So Elder H. (Panguitch, Utah) officially is no longer my companion. I’ll miss him, he was a good guy. I began to find that we had some things in common with each other, more so than I thought at first. When they drew my name, of course they couldn’t pronounce it. (Remember what I said about Brazilian’s being able to pronounce Heperi better than Americans? Well, that’s becoming less true. Ah, Heperi, the one name no one can say!)

My new companions name is Elder Moraes. Don’t worry, I can’t pronounce it yet very well, it sounds like More-Ice, but you need to put some spin on it. Anyway, He’s Brazilian, and speaks a little English. Not very much, and his grammar isn’t very good, but I appreciate the effort. Of course, English isn’t the point now, so I try to only allow him to speak English when I can’t understand, and something is really important. Unfortunately, I don’t really understand very much as it is, but I do try.

Bauru is...uhhm, I dunno yet. It’s good here, and good to be on a mission and out in the field, but, I’m still getting used to actually being out in the field. The CTM, when compared to actually being out in the field, is vastly different. While the CTM was no vacation, it wasn’t as difficult as out here. Over the past few days, I’ve felt everything from discouragement and exhaustion, to vast confidence and motivation. Heh, I know that I had been told it before, but I think that it takes actually being on a mission to realize that a mission is HARD WORK. And I’m only in my first week in the field!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in a constant state of discouragement, just at times when it seems that I have no idea what is going on because I can’t understand my companion all of the time, much less the investigators. But I also have felt the Spirit and been encouraged when I realize that I understand something someone said, am able to respond, and can carry on a little conversation. My Portuguese is not very good yet, but I know that it will improve.

Church was funny. The bishop had me and Elder M. bear our testimonies. Mine was a minute long, if that, but the bishop thanked me for the effort. I could understand a little about what was going on during the lesson. During class, the lesson was on the Plan of Salvation. I’m pretty sure the teacher was confused though, because in his diagram of the Plan of Salvation, he only used the Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial circles. From what I could understand, he was teaching the people that we came from the Celestial Kingdom, and are now living in the Terrestrial kingdom, and if we aren’t good, we will all go to Hell, which he indicated is the Telestial kingdom. Ha ha, it was pretty funny. I’m glad that there were no investigators in that particular meeting, otherwise there would have been a mess. I could tell that my comp wanted to correct him.

So, I haven’t had a decent conversation in English since, well, I left the mission home from my district. Actually, that’s not true. Yesterday in church, I sat next to a Brother who served a mission in Salt Lake. He was fluent, which I was very grateful for. I was a little on edge that day because of my frustration at not being able to express myself the way that I wanted to, and I had been hoping and praying for something to help. I believe that he was an answer, because he was able to offer encouragement and answer my questions. He said that I would be able to be do better soon, because right now I was in a phase where I am still thinking in English and having to translate what I want to say in Portuguese from English. I was very grateful for him, even though we only talked for about 10 min. I know that my mission is Portuguese, and I continue to learn the language, but it was very helpful to have a small dose of English from someone.

Our house is behind a gate that also houses another family, apparently the 1st counseler in the stake presidency. He´s very cool, and is a conductor in an orchestra. His kids are very funny, though they (and pretty much all Brazilian children) are inclined to laugh at my accent when I speak Portuguese. I’ve been called Gringo quite a few times, and Verdinho, which means "Little Green" as well. Brazilian’s tell me repeatedly that I don’t seem like an American until I open my mouth, then it becomes apparent.

I’d be grateful for pictures in any letters or whatever anybody sends, even though it might take a while to get here. Investigators and members like to see pic’s, and I only have a few, unlike my comp. Well, time is short, and as usual, I have about 2 million more things to say than I have time for. I hope that I covered everything that you guys wanted, and I’ll see you next week.

Obrigado!

Elder =w= Heperi

New Address for Luke in Londrina

Luke's leaving next Tuesday for Londrina. His new mission address is:

Elder Luke William Heperi
Brazil Londrina Mission
Rua Higienopolis, 1100, Sala 61
Centro
86020-911 Londrina - PR
BRAZIL

Happy New Year... on the move to Londrina, Tuesday.

So me and my district leave Tuesday morning at about 8 in the morning. Pretty cool and intimidating at the same time.

Before I forget, most likely you won’t be receiving an e-mail from me next week. P-days are on Mondays in the field (so I’ve heard), which means that we miss our P-day at the MTC by a day, and P-day in the field by one day as well (gag!). We get to write letters and mail them that week, and it is still rumored that we maybe…maybe…maybe…might get a phone call home, but I’m kinda disinclined to believe that. Just wanted to let you guys know so that if you don’t receive an e-mail from me you don’t get concerned. That probably should apply in any case. No mail doesn’t mean I’m dead…just that it got a little busy.

So, Dad saw stuff on TV about Rio's celebration on New Year’s, eh? So here’s how ours went. The past week has been absolutely BRUTAL in the temperature department. Most of the MTC has AC, but our rooms don’t. One of our Brazilian roommates has a thermometer and it has been reading a steady 92F. at night. It’s actually cooler outside, our room just has bad ventilation. So all of us just lie there on our beds at night, trying to fall asleep. At about 12am, I’m just starting to fall asleep when I guess the festivities started. Now I’ve seen fireworks and celebrations, but I’ve never seen a whole city celebrate. The noise was incredibly loud, it was impossible to sleep, so we all gathered at the window to watch for a bit. I seriously doubt that anyone in the whole MTC could sleep thru that. It was pretty intense. It seriously looked like the whole city was shooting off fireworks. A bunch were exploding right above our building, and I was actually concerned that one would detonate right outside our window. It was probably the best firework show that I’ve seen.

Oh, small side note. There is an Elder here named Elder Naidu who said that he ate dinner at Auntie Luella´s house with his parents. I think his parents are from Fiji or something. We were practicing with his district when he asked me if I had an aunt in NZ, he said he figured that Heperi wasn’t too common of a name. Funny coincidence.

So we are flying for sure. I guess it’s just an hour flight to the mission home, but depending on where my area is, it might require additional travel. One of our districts teachers, Brother Silva, served in Londrina, so he knows the deal. He said that if our area is the city of Londrina itself, it’s just a taxi ride away to our apt. But if we serve in Capo Grande, it’s a 12 hr. bus ride. Needless to say, I’m hoping for an area that doesn’t require extensive travel. I have no idea about domestic luggage costs, although I expect the bags to not be too much heavier. The only things that I’ve picked up besides my Portuguese stuff are just ties and things like that. Maybe you could just stick some extra money on the Visa card just in case?

We had a very good last Temple session... we went to the Campinas Temple today, which is my favorite out of the two we’ve been too… the other being São Paulo. It’s newer, and has very pretty grounds. I’ll miss not going to the Temple for a while, but hopefully I’ll be able to baptize people that can go instead. My district are good guys, and I’ll also miss the close friendships that we have.

Well, my time is up. Maybe you guys won’t here me for two weeks, but hopefully sooner. I hope you’re all doing well, and I’ll talk to you guys soon. Well, till next week, bye. See you cats next from Londrina or wherever I’m going!

Elder =w= Heperi