Saturday, November 14, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
This is really the last email...
So this is actually the final e-mail. My bus to Londrina leaves in about 30 min., so I´ll be seeing you cats around town soon. I´ll be hitting up the Fudruckers that they have in the Dallas airport, which will be a great blessing.
Woo-hoo!
I´ve got nothing more to say. See you soon!
Woo-hoo!
I´ve got nothing more to say. See you soon!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
This is probably my last email...
So, this will in all likelihood be my last e-mail, as next Monday we´ll be at the mission home in Londrina. The flight leaves on Tuesday, and the secretaries said that I´ll be setting foot in our lovely deseret on Nov. 3rd 11:15 Wednesday morning. Woo-hoo!
Actually I have a lot of mixed feelings about all of this ending. I remember back at the MTC thinking that when this time came, I´d be bouncing off the walls, and while there is a little of that, I´ll also be way sad too.
I´m going to really miss Brazil, especially the people and the food. I consider it one of my greatest accomplishments that I learned to like and eat tomatoes out here. I´ll show you guys when I get back. I´m sure Mom will be proud.
To sum it up, the mission was definitely worth it. Yeah, it kicked my butt a lot of the time (language, people, companions, just about everything come to think of it) but I´ve definitely enjoyed my time here.
I feel like my testimony has grown a bunch as well. It´s now clearer to my why the Church is so important, and why we do what we do. I´ve felt confirmations about things that I knew very little about here, and I´m happy with the progress that I´ve been able to make. It´s become more real to me that God does live, and that He is involved with our lives on a daily basis. Many a time I´ve felt and seen my prayers answered, though almost never in the way that I thought or wanted.
Jesus is the Christ, and I´ve seen his atoning sacrifice at work in my life and the lives of my investigators, some of which have a lot more faith than I do.
Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the restoration, and I´ve seen how important the truths that he restored are, and the world is pretty confused in general. His teachings are so important.
President Monson really is the Lord´s Prophet here on the earth today, and I´ve seen how his teachings and revelations guide us. (Just this week, Lu..., an investigator who reads a lot but has a very hard time remembering anything, read Pres. Monson´s “Sugarbeets and the Worth of a Soul” article in the Liahona and felt touched and that it applied to her)
The Book of Mormon is true, and though I´m only beginning to really understand it´s truthfulness and how good it actually is, I´ve found a deeper love for it out here.
Also, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really is Christ´s church here on the earth, of which I´m glad to be a member.
Simply put, I´ve learned tons, and I see that I have to learn a lot more as well.
It´ll definitely be weird coming back home, and sad to leave here, but it´ll be good as well.
Welp, I´ll see you guys around town next week.
Anyone who happens to run into me, please give me a nice big hug and a can of root beer, both of which I´ve been without for a little while.
-Elder Heperi, over and out.
p.s. I´ll see you guys in a little more than a week. Oh, and for dinner, I wouldn´t mind anything, as long as you make it Mom. Cheers!
Actually I have a lot of mixed feelings about all of this ending. I remember back at the MTC thinking that when this time came, I´d be bouncing off the walls, and while there is a little of that, I´ll also be way sad too.
I´m going to really miss Brazil, especially the people and the food. I consider it one of my greatest accomplishments that I learned to like and eat tomatoes out here. I´ll show you guys when I get back. I´m sure Mom will be proud.
To sum it up, the mission was definitely worth it. Yeah, it kicked my butt a lot of the time (language, people, companions, just about everything come to think of it) but I´ve definitely enjoyed my time here.
I feel like my testimony has grown a bunch as well. It´s now clearer to my why the Church is so important, and why we do what we do. I´ve felt confirmations about things that I knew very little about here, and I´m happy with the progress that I´ve been able to make. It´s become more real to me that God does live, and that He is involved with our lives on a daily basis. Many a time I´ve felt and seen my prayers answered, though almost never in the way that I thought or wanted.
Jesus is the Christ, and I´ve seen his atoning sacrifice at work in my life and the lives of my investigators, some of which have a lot more faith than I do.
Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the restoration, and I´ve seen how important the truths that he restored are, and the world is pretty confused in general. His teachings are so important.
President Monson really is the Lord´s Prophet here on the earth today, and I´ve seen how his teachings and revelations guide us. (Just this week, Lu..., an investigator who reads a lot but has a very hard time remembering anything, read Pres. Monson´s “Sugarbeets and the Worth of a Soul” article in the Liahona and felt touched and that it applied to her)
The Book of Mormon is true, and though I´m only beginning to really understand it´s truthfulness and how good it actually is, I´ve found a deeper love for it out here.
Also, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really is Christ´s church here on the earth, of which I´m glad to be a member.
Simply put, I´ve learned tons, and I see that I have to learn a lot more as well.
It´ll definitely be weird coming back home, and sad to leave here, but it´ll be good as well.
Welp, I´ll see you guys around town next week.
Anyone who happens to run into me, please give me a nice big hug and a can of root beer, both of which I´ve been without for a little while.
-Elder Heperi, over and out.
p.s. I´ll see you guys in a little more than a week. Oh, and for dinner, I wouldn´t mind anything, as long as you make it Mom. Cheers!
Friday, October 23, 2009
I hate this computer!
I hate this computer. I was writing a really good e-mail, and the whole thing just shut down. So, now you guys get to have the watered-down version. Sorry.
So it´s been raining for almost a week now. And raining hard. But, we´ve amazingly been able to teach a lot of lessons. It´s almost impossible to get into people´s houses in the rain, as most people aren´t even willing to come to the gate to talk to you, but we´ve had some success surprisingly.
On Friday, we were walking around in the rain when we passed a house with a Ford inside the gate. On the car were a bunch of stickers that said stuff like “Smith Bros. Roping Supplies-Texas” and others with a “Don´t Mess with Texas” saying on it. Me and Elder W. got a little curious, wondering if maybe some guy from Texas happened to live there. Anyway, we knocked on the door, but of course in the rain nobody came to the door. We kind of forgot about the house, and went on to others. About an hour later on the way back, it had stopped raining and we were heading back when we passed the same house. We decided to just try knocking again, and somebody actually came to the door. Long-story short, it wasn´t a guy from Texas, he just liked Texas a lot, but we found a family that seems to just have been waiting to receive the gospel in their lives. A guy named Vin... (24), his Mom, and his sister Ev... (19) all were very receptive and Ev... went to church this week and has a date marked for this Halloween. Vin... can´t go for now, as he has to stay in bed for a month or so. I guess he was taking a shower last month, when his bathroom floor just caved in and he sliced his Achilles tendon open, and has to stay in bed for another month or so. He said that he´s excited to read the Book of Mormon as he doesn´t have anything else to do. It´s funny, but I really think that the Lord inspired Vin... to put those stickers on his car to grab the attention of two American missionaries.
Our recent convert family, Ju... and Ro... are doing really well. Ju... got ordained a Priest yesterday, and he had a bunch of questions about it. The Branch Pres. asked him to bless the sacrament next week, so we got to help him out with the prayers.
I think that´s all from me for now. I don´t have any patience to write anymore after my big e-mail closed up.
´till next week, which will be the last one, I think?
-Elder =w= Heperi
So it´s been raining for almost a week now. And raining hard. But, we´ve amazingly been able to teach a lot of lessons. It´s almost impossible to get into people´s houses in the rain, as most people aren´t even willing to come to the gate to talk to you, but we´ve had some success surprisingly.
On Friday, we were walking around in the rain when we passed a house with a Ford inside the gate. On the car were a bunch of stickers that said stuff like “Smith Bros. Roping Supplies-Texas” and others with a “Don´t Mess with Texas” saying on it. Me and Elder W. got a little curious, wondering if maybe some guy from Texas happened to live there. Anyway, we knocked on the door, but of course in the rain nobody came to the door. We kind of forgot about the house, and went on to others. About an hour later on the way back, it had stopped raining and we were heading back when we passed the same house. We decided to just try knocking again, and somebody actually came to the door. Long-story short, it wasn´t a guy from Texas, he just liked Texas a lot, but we found a family that seems to just have been waiting to receive the gospel in their lives. A guy named Vin... (24), his Mom, and his sister Ev... (19) all were very receptive and Ev... went to church this week and has a date marked for this Halloween. Vin... can´t go for now, as he has to stay in bed for a month or so. I guess he was taking a shower last month, when his bathroom floor just caved in and he sliced his Achilles tendon open, and has to stay in bed for another month or so. He said that he´s excited to read the Book of Mormon as he doesn´t have anything else to do. It´s funny, but I really think that the Lord inspired Vin... to put those stickers on his car to grab the attention of two American missionaries.
Our recent convert family, Ju... and Ro... are doing really well. Ju... got ordained a Priest yesterday, and he had a bunch of questions about it. The Branch Pres. asked him to bless the sacrament next week, so we got to help him out with the prayers.
I think that´s all from me for now. I don´t have any patience to write anymore after my big e-mail closed up.
´till next week, which will be the last one, I think?
-Elder =w= Heperi
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Change in Luke's Return... Mom is NOT happy!!!
Dear Sister/Brother Heperi,
I am writing to inform you that there have been some changes made in Elder Heperi's travel plans. He will arrive in Salt Lake City Utah on the 4th of November at 11:15AM. He will arrive on American Airlines Flight Number 395. I am sorry for the late changes and any problems that we may have caused. We beg your forgivness and thank you for your patience.
Thanks,
Elder Dunn
I am writing to inform you that there have been some changes made in Elder Heperi's travel plans. He will arrive in Salt Lake City Utah on the 4th of November at 11:15AM. He will arrive on American Airlines Flight Number 395. I am sorry for the late changes and any problems that we may have caused. We beg your forgivness and thank you for your patience.
Thanks,
Elder Dunn
Monday, October 12, 2009
2012
So I got an e-mail from the Mission Office secretary, today. They said that my group is actually going to be flying out Nov. 3rd instead of Oct. 28th. I guess President has some type of meeting with one of the 12 (maybe in Utah?) that week and won´t even be in Londrina, so they told us they had to move the date. Anyway, I guess I won´t be back for any Halloween party after all…
This week was good. We made a really concentrated effort to get people to church, and we managed to get a couple. The attendance was a little weak as most people were traveling because today is a holiday(it´s Kid´s Day today. Who knew that that was a holiday like that?) The last 20 min. of the Church meeting were a little awkward, as no one seemed to want to bear their testimony, so everybody just sat there in silence and our investigators kept looking around thinking “Uhh, is something suppose to be happening right now?”
I guess some thing about the world ending in 2012 has been circulating around the branches here, and what´s worse is that a couple of the folks have been telling some ward members that they are pretty much 100% sure that it´s going to happen in 2012. I thought it was a joke an all, but apparently some of the other Elder´s investigators started hearing members talking about it, so the District Pres. had to go around talking to pretty much all the branches to squash the little seeds of apostasy before the grow any more.
We´re doing well here. The Zone is pretty happy, except for the Sister's who are a little stressed out with their areas, so we head out there once a week to go work with them. I think it´s a little difficult for them, because their city is about the size of Provo, and there are only 2 companionships in the city.
That´s it from me. ´till next time.
-Elder =w= Heperi
This week was good. We made a really concentrated effort to get people to church, and we managed to get a couple. The attendance was a little weak as most people were traveling because today is a holiday(it´s Kid´s Day today. Who knew that that was a holiday like that?) The last 20 min. of the Church meeting were a little awkward, as no one seemed to want to bear their testimony, so everybody just sat there in silence and our investigators kept looking around thinking “Uhh, is something suppose to be happening right now?”
I guess some thing about the world ending in 2012 has been circulating around the branches here, and what´s worse is that a couple of the folks have been telling some ward members that they are pretty much 100% sure that it´s going to happen in 2012. I thought it was a joke an all, but apparently some of the other Elder´s investigators started hearing members talking about it, so the District Pres. had to go around talking to pretty much all the branches to squash the little seeds of apostasy before the grow any more.
We´re doing well here. The Zone is pretty happy, except for the Sister's who are a little stressed out with their areas, so we head out there once a week to go work with them. I think it´s a little difficult for them, because their city is about the size of Provo, and there are only 2 companionships in the city.
That´s it from me. ´till next time.
-Elder =w= Heperi
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Week without P-Day
Yeah, so yesterday was enlighting. I guess if I´ve got to sacrifice my P-day, I might as well do something worthwhile. The meeting with Pres. Leal was good in Londrina, and I got to see a lot of my buddies, probably for the last time.
General Conference was good as well. Everbody was buzzing about the announced temple in Forteleza, Brazil (There are some Elders from there so they´re really excited.) I liked that Elder Bednar burned the people who proclaim their love from the pulpit, as some guy just did that last week in our branch last week. Hilarious.
We were a little disappointed with some of the turnout at conference. It seemed like barely anyone went. We even arranged to come by with a member to pick up Cle... and Ta... (our really golden family) only to show up at their door to find that nobody was home. Really sad.
One of the recent converts, named Ia..., brought some of her sisters and cousins to conference, and her little sister, named Io..., age 16, has got a baptismal date set for later this month. She couldn´t get baptized because she was living with her... ex-boyfriend ... but it seems that the Lord has blessed her because her ex-boyfriend ended up in prison as a result of some situation, so now she says that she´s good to go.
I loved Elder Heperi the Younger´s e-mail. I liked how many times he managed to work the word ghetto into the e-mail. It´s funny, because I kind of get the same reaction from people here too. I´m thinking that about 90% of the country here has never seen a brown American before, so people get a little weirded out.
My thanks to Rob, Talisa, grandma and grandpa for the letters this time. Whoa, I can´t believe that Dave´s getting married already. I guess I´ll be home in time for the wedding, though, huh? Yeah!
I think that´s all from me for now. Time´s short today. Till next time.
-Elder =w= Heperi
General Conference was good as well. Everbody was buzzing about the announced temple in Forteleza, Brazil (There are some Elders from there so they´re really excited.) I liked that Elder Bednar burned the people who proclaim their love from the pulpit, as some guy just did that last week in our branch last week. Hilarious.
We were a little disappointed with some of the turnout at conference. It seemed like barely anyone went. We even arranged to come by with a member to pick up Cle... and Ta... (our really golden family) only to show up at their door to find that nobody was home. Really sad.
One of the recent converts, named Ia..., brought some of her sisters and cousins to conference, and her little sister, named Io..., age 16, has got a baptismal date set for later this month. She couldn´t get baptized because she was living with her... ex-boyfriend ... but it seems that the Lord has blessed her because her ex-boyfriend ended up in prison as a result of some situation, so now she says that she´s good to go.
I loved Elder Heperi the Younger´s e-mail. I liked how many times he managed to work the word ghetto into the e-mail. It´s funny, because I kind of get the same reaction from people here too. I´m thinking that about 90% of the country here has never seen a brown American before, so people get a little weirded out.
My thanks to Rob, Talisa, grandma and grandpa for the letters this time. Whoa, I can´t believe that Dave´s getting married already. I guess I´ll be home in time for the wedding, though, huh? Yeah!
I think that´s all from me for now. Time´s short today. Till next time.
-Elder =w= Heperi
Monday, September 28, 2009
Doctrinal Pursuits
So no news from the other Elder Heperi yet, huh? That´s cool that he called you guys from the airport, why didn´t I think of that?
This week was a week of finding a bunch of new people. As the are always difficulties getting people to go to church, we went back to the old strategy of finding the house that´s closest to the church and try there. And, what do you know, there turned out to be a family there interested. A young couple named Cle... and Tat..., along with their 3 little kids. Cle... was really interested, and had a lot of questions. He said that he´s always belonged to some evangelical church ever since he was a kid, and always wanted to follow a correct doctrine. As he put it “We always followed all the things that my pastor told me, even the parts when he said that I can´t play soccer or wear shorts, or that my wife can´t use make-up, cut her hair, or use jewelry. Sometimes she´d want to try a different hairstyle or use some make-up to go out, and I´d always tell her: No way honey, we´ve got to follow the doctrine!” Anyway, he said that recently, his pastor decided that suddenly everything that was “sin” is now ok, and Cle... started praying to find some direction and what he should do. He understood really well (Tat... too, but the kids started fighting and she had to go take care of that and missed a part of the message) and understood the 1st Vision better than anyone that I´ve seen in a long time. He´s willing to follow, and as he put it “If I find out that all of this that you´re telling me is true, then I´m in. I´ll be baptized.” Sweet, no?
On the other hand, we´re still working with Ad... and Luc..., the young couple who have more problems in their marriage than this country has beans. We´re taking our ward mission leader and his wife with us to the next visit to see if they can help them resolve their conflicts. Luc... said that she´d love to be baptized, just that he doesn´t want to resolve their differences so that they can get married. He goes to church with her, but he has yet to even pick up the Book of Mormon. It´s weird, because sometimes the way that he acts and makes decisions is like a little kid, even though he´s 27. They don´t have any electricity in the house because they´re behind on their energy bills, but when we showed up for visit and he said “Hey, check out my new phone” and showed us phone that is an mp3, and lets him watch TV. Anyway, I think that he needs to wake up a little.
In other news, this past week or so there has been a mailman strike around here, so I haven´t been able to send out any letters to anybody. I don´t know if the strike is over yet, and it´s a bit annoying.
I think that´s all from me.
´till next time.
Excelcior!
-Hlder =w= Eeperi
This week was a week of finding a bunch of new people. As the are always difficulties getting people to go to church, we went back to the old strategy of finding the house that´s closest to the church and try there. And, what do you know, there turned out to be a family there interested. A young couple named Cle... and Tat..., along with their 3 little kids. Cle... was really interested, and had a lot of questions. He said that he´s always belonged to some evangelical church ever since he was a kid, and always wanted to follow a correct doctrine. As he put it “We always followed all the things that my pastor told me, even the parts when he said that I can´t play soccer or wear shorts, or that my wife can´t use make-up, cut her hair, or use jewelry. Sometimes she´d want to try a different hairstyle or use some make-up to go out, and I´d always tell her: No way honey, we´ve got to follow the doctrine!” Anyway, he said that recently, his pastor decided that suddenly everything that was “sin” is now ok, and Cle... started praying to find some direction and what he should do. He understood really well (Tat... too, but the kids started fighting and she had to go take care of that and missed a part of the message) and understood the 1st Vision better than anyone that I´ve seen in a long time. He´s willing to follow, and as he put it “If I find out that all of this that you´re telling me is true, then I´m in. I´ll be baptized.” Sweet, no?
On the other hand, we´re still working with Ad... and Luc..., the young couple who have more problems in their marriage than this country has beans. We´re taking our ward mission leader and his wife with us to the next visit to see if they can help them resolve their conflicts. Luc... said that she´d love to be baptized, just that he doesn´t want to resolve their differences so that they can get married. He goes to church with her, but he has yet to even pick up the Book of Mormon. It´s weird, because sometimes the way that he acts and makes decisions is like a little kid, even though he´s 27. They don´t have any electricity in the house because they´re behind on their energy bills, but when we showed up for visit and he said “Hey, check out my new phone” and showed us phone that is an mp3, and lets him watch TV. Anyway, I think that he needs to wake up a little.
In other news, this past week or so there has been a mailman strike around here, so I haven´t been able to send out any letters to anybody. I don´t know if the strike is over yet, and it´s a bit annoying.
I think that´s all from me.
´till next time.
Excelcior!
-Hlder =w= Eeperi
Clarification on Arrival Time
Dear Family of Elder Heperi,
Unfortunately the information on the letter previously sent was wrong. Elder Heperi will arrive in Salt Lake City at 11:15 AM on the 29th of October. I am sorry for the confusion. Thank you for your Patience.
Elder Dunn
--
Missão Brasil Londrina
Av. Higienópolis 1100 sala 61
Londrina, PR
CEP:86020-911
Fone:(43)3324-9346
E-Mail: 2013096@ldschurch.org
Unfortunately the information on the letter previously sent was wrong. Elder Heperi will arrive in Salt Lake City at 11:15 AM on the 29th of October. I am sorry for the confusion. Thank you for your Patience.
Elder Dunn
--
Missão Brasil Londrina
Av. Higienópolis 1100 sala 61
Londrina, PR
CEP:86020-911
Fone:(43)3324-9346
E-Mail: 2013096@ldschurch.org
President Leal: Letter of Release
Londrina, September 2009
Dear Family of Elder Heperi,
It is with pride that we inform you that your son is finishing his mission with praise and completed worthily the work of the Lord, whom he honored and we know that the Lord accepted his offering and will surely bless him for his effort.
We thank you for your help and support during this journey and we know that the work continues and now he will need, not a time of vacation, but once more your support, patience and love in the task of readapting himself to everyday life, his studies, work, family life and church life.
We know, not by faith, but by personal experience, that the blessings of this work of love will be infinite, felt and remembered throughout all of his life, therefore, the effort is not just valid, but highly beneficial.
We feel as if your son was part of our family as well, and truly he is, for we are all brothers and sisters and children of the loving Heavenly Father that unites us in His love.
We want to inform you that Elder Heperi will leave the Mission Field on the 28th of October, 2009 and should arrive at the Salt Lake City, Utah airport at 9:35AM on the following day.
We pray that everything may go well, that we may have in short the opportunity to meet and get to know you and that the Lord may eternally bless you.
With love and appreciation,
President and Sister Leal
Dear Family of Elder Heperi,
It is with pride that we inform you that your son is finishing his mission with praise and completed worthily the work of the Lord, whom he honored and we know that the Lord accepted his offering and will surely bless him for his effort.
We thank you for your help and support during this journey and we know that the work continues and now he will need, not a time of vacation, but once more your support, patience and love in the task of readapting himself to everyday life, his studies, work, family life and church life.
We know, not by faith, but by personal experience, that the blessings of this work of love will be infinite, felt and remembered throughout all of his life, therefore, the effort is not just valid, but highly beneficial.
We feel as if your son was part of our family as well, and truly he is, for we are all brothers and sisters and children of the loving Heavenly Father that unites us in His love.
We want to inform you that Elder Heperi will leave the Mission Field on the 28th of October, 2009 and should arrive at the Salt Lake City, Utah airport at 9:35AM on the following day.
We pray that everything may go well, that we may have in short the opportunity to meet and get to know you and that the Lord may eternally bless you.
With love and appreciation,
President and Sister Leal
Monday, September 21, 2009
Among the Utahn's
Hey, that´s really sad to hear about the Cougars losing to the Seminoles. I guess if it´s not one Indian tribe (Utes) coming in to mess with them, it´s another huh?
My thanks to Rob and Alex for finally getting a letter out to me. And my apologies to those who have yet to receive a response.
Like I said last week, the Zone changed a lot. Including me, we now have 5 missionaries representing Utah in the zone: Elder Fillmore from Fruit Heights (I didn´t know that that was a city), Elder Williams (My comp from Cedar City), Elder Nielson (a greenie from Orem), and Sister Grover (from Logan). At least I´m among my fellow statesmen here.
Thanks for the package. I opened the Oreo´s at the Zone meeting, and those were a big hit, especially with the Brazilians. One of the Sisters (a three-foot tall Sister from Northern Brazil) ended up eating almost half of the package. I know that we Elders have the reputation for eating, but those Oreo´s didn´t stand a change against the Sisters.
So last week we baptized Jul... and Ro..., that really cool family that was progressing really well. It was really good, as they were really prepared beforehand to receive the gospel. I´ll be sending the picture in a bit. It was really nice to actually find a family that is really motivated to follow the gospel. Their biggest challenge was coffee, but in the end they ended up throwing it out.
Once again, we´re trying to help our investigators get married. It´s kind of weird, but I´ve taught a bunch of people who have progressed really well, and have been really liking the church...but the moment when we talk about how they need to get married and all, “Whoa, hold on there. We don´t want any type of commitment here”. It´s kind of frustrating, because the great majority of people that we teach have been living together for many years, have a couple of kids, but who think that marriage is some huge step that will bring too many troubles.
Take Ad... and Luc... for example. They´re a young couple (mid-20´s I think) who have been together for a while and who have a couple of kids. Luc... has been going to church for the past 2 weeks, and they went together as a family yesterday, and really liked it. We brought up the fact that they have to get married to be baptized, and they really didn´t like the idea very much. We´re in the process of finding out exactly what is the problem so we can help them.
It´s cold here again. I´ve noticed that it seems like I talk about the weather a lot, but here it really interests me as I´m amazed that it´s still quite cool here even though we´re in the hot season.
Welp, I think that´s about all from me.
´till next time, and keep those e-mails from Other Elder Heperi coming.
Heh, I liked the comment about Levi wanting to be sitting on the couch in a wifebeater when Lauren´s Homecoming date showed up. Maybe I´ll be able to do the honors when I get back. There are some hippies around here who make some cool looking stuff (parrot feather earrings, fuzzy wallets from some type of animal skin) and there´s a nice looking death-staff thing that looks like something a Lamanite king would use that I´d like to get my hands on.
-Elder =w= Heperi
My thanks to Rob and Alex for finally getting a letter out to me. And my apologies to those who have yet to receive a response.
Like I said last week, the Zone changed a lot. Including me, we now have 5 missionaries representing Utah in the zone: Elder Fillmore from Fruit Heights (I didn´t know that that was a city), Elder Williams (My comp from Cedar City), Elder Nielson (a greenie from Orem), and Sister Grover (from Logan). At least I´m among my fellow statesmen here.
Thanks for the package. I opened the Oreo´s at the Zone meeting, and those were a big hit, especially with the Brazilians. One of the Sisters (a three-foot tall Sister from Northern Brazil) ended up eating almost half of the package. I know that we Elders have the reputation for eating, but those Oreo´s didn´t stand a change against the Sisters.
So last week we baptized Jul... and Ro..., that really cool family that was progressing really well. It was really good, as they were really prepared beforehand to receive the gospel. I´ll be sending the picture in a bit. It was really nice to actually find a family that is really motivated to follow the gospel. Their biggest challenge was coffee, but in the end they ended up throwing it out.
Once again, we´re trying to help our investigators get married. It´s kind of weird, but I´ve taught a bunch of people who have progressed really well, and have been really liking the church...but the moment when we talk about how they need to get married and all, “Whoa, hold on there. We don´t want any type of commitment here”. It´s kind of frustrating, because the great majority of people that we teach have been living together for many years, have a couple of kids, but who think that marriage is some huge step that will bring too many troubles.
Take Ad... and Luc... for example. They´re a young couple (mid-20´s I think) who have been together for a while and who have a couple of kids. Luc... has been going to church for the past 2 weeks, and they went together as a family yesterday, and really liked it. We brought up the fact that they have to get married to be baptized, and they really didn´t like the idea very much. We´re in the process of finding out exactly what is the problem so we can help them.
It´s cold here again. I´ve noticed that it seems like I talk about the weather a lot, but here it really interests me as I´m amazed that it´s still quite cool here even though we´re in the hot season.
Welp, I think that´s about all from me.
´till next time, and keep those e-mails from Other Elder Heperi coming.
Heh, I liked the comment about Levi wanting to be sitting on the couch in a wifebeater when Lauren´s Homecoming date showed up. Maybe I´ll be able to do the honors when I get back. There are some hippies around here who make some cool looking stuff (parrot feather earrings, fuzzy wallets from some type of animal skin) and there´s a nice looking death-staff thing that looks like something a Lamanite king would use that I´d like to get my hands on.
-Elder =w= Heperi
Monday, September 14, 2009
Short email... sorry.
Hey, so I used all my e-mail time writing “Elder Heperi the Younger”, so this will be an incredibly short e-mail. Also with transfers today, we´re gonna spend all day waiting at the bus station, woo-hoo! Elder Arg... is being transferred to another area in the city. My comp is gonna be Elder Williams. I met him once. He was from the Curitiba Mission when the missions divided, and he took my place when I left Londrina. I believe he´s from Utah as well, so we´ll get a nice UT rhythm going here in the Zone. Ha ha!
Also, today my group and I officially become the oldest group in the whole dang mission. Time flies, eh?
Welp, till next time.
-Elder =w= Heperi
Keep me up to date on things. Now that I´m in my last transfer, things are gonna be interesting. I still feel quite focused, and my desire to work is still there.
G´luck, and till next time.
P.S- My fly out date will be the same. Oct 27th, I think. More info to come as the transfer unfolds. The Secretaries called last month to ask what airport I´d be coming home to, and I told them the Honolulu airport would be just fine, as I´d like to spend some time at the beach. (Ha ha! Salt Lake International is the one actually.) Till next time!
-Elder Heperi
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
BYU tops Oklahoma, Brazil tops Argentina
Happy Brazilian Independence Day everybody!
I haven´t seen any celebrations today, and everything is closed, which is kind of annoying. Also, we don´t have any fireworks in our house, so we might celebrate by lighting our mini-jungle that we have growing out in our back-yard. Seriously, there are three plants out back that I think were originally weeds, but are now taller than our house. I´ll take a picture sometime.
Hey, so I´m happy that them Cougars pulled off and upset against the Sooners. I´ll be honest, the only team that I hate more than the Sooners are the Utes, so that was a good happy moment for me. Can´t wait to see a nice American football game, as 2 years of just hearing about soccer is starting to wear me down...
So this last week there was a soccer game on between Brazil and Argentina (Brazilians hate Argentina, so it was pretty intense I guess) , and so as normal everything basically shut down during the game. It started at about 8:30 at night, so we didn´t miss out on too much working time, but just the same even people that we had marked appointments with didn´t want to come out of their houses during the game. Brazil won, so everybody is happy this week.
It was a fairly good week. Two investigators, Es... and her daughter Ma..., got baptized this week. It was the most painless baptismal process that I´ve had so far, as they are neighbors of some members and Es... works with the branch President´s wife, so they had plenty of support. They´re a really good family, and I´m pretty sure that they´ll keep going strong.
Ju... and Ro..., our golden family, have their baptismal date marked for this Saturday. Yesterday was a little rainy, cold, and had a nice blanket of fog that covered the city, but all the same they came with their family on foot to get to church. Ju... in particular is really good, and studies the scriptures like he´s been a member for a long time now, marking references and looking up topics that he wants to learn about. He´s even stopped playing soccer on Sunday so he can get to church with his family. Also, he found out about the members giving us lunch, and signed up on the calender for this Sunday. Yeah!
The weather continues to be quite cool. I know that we´re getting to the hot time of the year here, so I´m bracing myself for when the days of endless sweating will arrive, heh.
I think that´s all from me. ´till next time.
-Elder =w= Heperi (The Original)
I haven´t seen any celebrations today, and everything is closed, which is kind of annoying. Also, we don´t have any fireworks in our house, so we might celebrate by lighting our mini-jungle that we have growing out in our back-yard. Seriously, there are three plants out back that I think were originally weeds, but are now taller than our house. I´ll take a picture sometime.
Hey, so I´m happy that them Cougars pulled off and upset against the Sooners. I´ll be honest, the only team that I hate more than the Sooners are the Utes, so that was a good happy moment for me. Can´t wait to see a nice American football game, as 2 years of just hearing about soccer is starting to wear me down...
So this last week there was a soccer game on between Brazil and Argentina (Brazilians hate Argentina, so it was pretty intense I guess) , and so as normal everything basically shut down during the game. It started at about 8:30 at night, so we didn´t miss out on too much working time, but just the same even people that we had marked appointments with didn´t want to come out of their houses during the game. Brazil won, so everybody is happy this week.
It was a fairly good week. Two investigators, Es... and her daughter Ma..., got baptized this week. It was the most painless baptismal process that I´ve had so far, as they are neighbors of some members and Es... works with the branch President´s wife, so they had plenty of support. They´re a really good family, and I´m pretty sure that they´ll keep going strong.
Ju... and Ro..., our golden family, have their baptismal date marked for this Saturday. Yesterday was a little rainy, cold, and had a nice blanket of fog that covered the city, but all the same they came with their family on foot to get to church. Ju... in particular is really good, and studies the scriptures like he´s been a member for a long time now, marking references and looking up topics that he wants to learn about. He´s even stopped playing soccer on Sunday so he can get to church with his family. Also, he found out about the members giving us lunch, and signed up on the calender for this Sunday. Yeah!
The weather continues to be quite cool. I know that we´re getting to the hot time of the year here, so I´m bracing myself for when the days of endless sweating will arrive, heh.
I think that´s all from me. ´till next time.
-Elder =w= Heperi (The Original)
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sun-shiny Day
Wow, so Levi is finally gonna be getting out of there this week, huh?
I find myself with mixed feelings of happiness and sadness. Happiness because he´s going out to his mission...and sadness because I now lose my unique status as the only Elder Heperi on the face of the earth.
Make sure to have him send his e-mails to me so I can keep updated. Oh, and on the blog you can call him “Elder Heperi 2” or “Elder Heperi the Younger” or something like that to denote a difference.
We´re having some pretty good success teaching some really good families. One of them, Ju... and R... are the kind of family that it seems like you serve your whole mission just to find them. They really were prepared to receive the gospel as they already are willing to be baptized and are already married. The only thing we have to help Ju... along with is his love for soccer. For the past few years or so he´s always gone to play soccer every Sunday morning, so now he´s trying to get used to the church schedule. Last week he went to church, but yesterday he went and played soccer. He said that he missed being in church, so I think that he´s coming round.
Another guy we´re teaching, named Ni... is also going really well. His wife, named Sô... has visited just about every church around here in the past 15 years, and says that she really wants to find out which one is the true church. She liked the Book of Mormon a lot, but unfortunately couldn't´t make it to church this week as she had already promised a friend that she´d visit another church in her process of finding. This week though, she should be good to go.
The weather cleared up this week, and we´re back to the brutal heat that I´m oh so fond of. Heh, I guess it´s just going to be another couple of months sweatin´it out here. Luckily the city has a lot of wind, so I shouldn´t suffer too much.
Today should be ok. We´ve got a basketball game planed in the center today, and rumor has it that someone has a football, so maybe we´ll see how the Brazilains fare in a good ól game of two hand touch.
That´s all for me.
Good luck to the other Elder Heperi as of Wednesday.
-Elder =w= Heperi
I find myself with mixed feelings of happiness and sadness. Happiness because he´s going out to his mission...and sadness because I now lose my unique status as the only Elder Heperi on the face of the earth.
Make sure to have him send his e-mails to me so I can keep updated. Oh, and on the blog you can call him “Elder Heperi 2” or “Elder Heperi the Younger” or something like that to denote a difference.
We´re having some pretty good success teaching some really good families. One of them, Ju... and R... are the kind of family that it seems like you serve your whole mission just to find them. They really were prepared to receive the gospel as they already are willing to be baptized and are already married. The only thing we have to help Ju... along with is his love for soccer. For the past few years or so he´s always gone to play soccer every Sunday morning, so now he´s trying to get used to the church schedule. Last week he went to church, but yesterday he went and played soccer. He said that he missed being in church, so I think that he´s coming round.
Another guy we´re teaching, named Ni... is also going really well. His wife, named Sô... has visited just about every church around here in the past 15 years, and says that she really wants to find out which one is the true church. She liked the Book of Mormon a lot, but unfortunately couldn't´t make it to church this week as she had already promised a friend that she´d visit another church in her process of finding. This week though, she should be good to go.
The weather cleared up this week, and we´re back to the brutal heat that I´m oh so fond of. Heh, I guess it´s just going to be another couple of months sweatin´it out here. Luckily the city has a lot of wind, so I shouldn´t suffer too much.
Today should be ok. We´ve got a basketball game planed in the center today, and rumor has it that someone has a football, so maybe we´ll see how the Brazilains fare in a good ól game of two hand touch.
That´s all for me.
Good luck to the other Elder Heperi as of Wednesday.
-Elder =w= Heperi
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Up the hill, down the hill.
Luke and some recent converts
Luke and his companion
Wow. I didn´t even realize that Levi´s departure date was so close. Yeesh. One more week and there will be Elder Heperi 1 and 2 wandering around, huh?
This week was full of lots of rain, and even more cold. I dunno if almost two years of Brazilian heat has made me a wuss to the cold, but I was freezing this past week. Actually, I´ve heard that Apucarana is one of, if not the, coldest cities in our mission. The city sits on top of a big mountainous region, and is really high up. There are a lot of hills here, so we spend a lot of our time going up and down. Just to get to our chapel from our house we have to walk up two hills, cross some railroad tracks, and walk thru a small Gypsy community. (They´re nice, though I´d like to know why they have a nicer washing machine than us when they don´t even have a house.)This next week we get to visit another part of town that is known as the Anthill. Should be fun to walk up that street.
Because of the rain, I had to put my clothes out to dry in our house, and under a little patio that we have out back. The clothes in the house dried ok as we turned on every fan that we had, but my shirts out back didn´t fare as well. We´ve basically got a jungle out back with 20-foot tall plants that have become trees whose weird-looking seeds attached themselves to my shirts. Also, I found out that the local birds like to hang out in that portion of the backyard, and ended up pooping all over two of my shirts. Man, how I miss a good dryer…
On the work side of things, we´re having a lot of success finding some good families. One guy that we taught on Saturday night named Ni... ended up going to church with us yesterday, which was good because I usually find that people take a week or two to get going. He was pretty tired during the meetings and ended up sleeping thru most of sacrament meeting, but he said that he enjoyed it all the same.
Another family that we´re teaching really have been prepared to receive the message. They´re a young family named Ju... and R..., with two daughters ages 6 and 3. They just happen to live on the other side of the street of the Young Men's president, and, Hallelujah, are legally married! Ju... said that a couple of years ago they decided to officially get married, as he said that it seemed like the right thing to do. They went to church for the first time yesterday, and Ju... said that he´d definitely be coming back next week. It´s really been good to see a whole family interested and progressing, and normally we just find more individuals.
Anyway, on a closing note I saw a guy in a restaurant wearing a New Zealand All-Blacks shirt. I went over to go talk to him but unfortunately he got up and left in a hurry. Maybe he was afraid of me as a missionary or something. Who knows?
That´s sáll from me. Till next time.
-Elder =w= Heperi
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Wed's and Med's
So Lauren´s a licensed driver now, eh? I´m sure she´ll do fine, but, just be careful. As they say here in Brazil, “Woman at the steering-wheel, constant danger!” It´s funnier in Portuguese because it rhymes.
Today I´m writing from Londrina. My new visa finally came thru after months of waiting, so now I´m officially legal up until Nov. 7th. Whoo-hoo!
Well, this week I was in bed for a bit with a sinus infection. I stayed in bed all of P-day last week, but found that I still wasn´t better, so I had to stay in the house all of Tuesday and some of Wednesday, which was a pain. I actually wasn´t sure exactly what I had, and since going to the doctor´s office here can sometimes do more harm than good, Sis. Leal had me talk to a medical doctor serving as a church missionary. I was grateful that he was American, as I was looking up words in the dictionary like crazy trying to find medical terms that I didn´t know. Anyway, he gave me a check-up over the phone in English, and I got myself loaded up on a bunch of Brazilian meds. A plus is that over here you don´t need a prescription from the doctor to buy all the medicine from the pharmacy, even when the package has, “To be sold only under doctor´s prescription” written all over it. Good times! Anyway, lots of rest, a blessing and 800 mg of something called “Azitromicina” per day had me up and ready by Thursday.
This week had some interesting highlights. One of the Elders from the Zone, Elder Pi… (who goes home with me funny enough)broke a mission record and had 53 investigators come to sacrament meeting on Sunday! Ha, so the rule on the mission is that anybody who´s not a member can be counted as an investigator, even if you haven´t taught them yet. I guess one of the members is a soccer coach, and the team was traveling or something that day, so he decided to bring the team to church. Their branch there only has an attendance rate of about 50 or so, so you can imagine the look on the members faces when the attendance more than doubled. Definitely one of the funnier things that I´ve seen with the work here.
The only downer of the day was that two of the Relief Society sisters (some of the younger ones, 20´s or so) had a bit of an argument afterwards about something. It ended up in a purse fight and a couple of bloody noses. I´d say about par for the course with the 53 investigators when weighed against the purse fight.
Our Branch is doing well. Currently, there are a lot of youth who are interested and getting baptized, so the branch is pretty excited about missionary work. We had a baptism this last week, and there has been so many recent converts in the past 6 months or so that they´ve had to call 8 ward missionaries just to meet all the demands, which is pretty cool. We´re gonna train the ward missionaries this week on the discussions, and it should be a pretty good process.
The Branch is good still. All the members are nice, and which makes us feel pretty welcome. The only member who´s a little…different is some lady named ???... She´s in her late 20´s, unfortunately, just had her marriage end. Anyway, every time that we have lunch at her family´s house, she always gives us an earful about how ... how marriage is terrible. She´s... told me and my comp. that we should never get married because “There´s not a man on the face of this planet who´s worth anything!” Yeah, it´s a bit intense.
On Sunday there was a special lesson about Eternal Marriage that I´m extremely grateful that no investigator participated in, and she made about 200 comments about how marriage is terrible, and how nobody should get married. Anyway, that would be no good for an investigator to hear, so the branch president had to talk to her a bit...
Welp´, I believe that´s it from me.
Thanks, as always, family and friends.
Here´s a “good luck” shout out to Phil and Stephanie... I believe that they´re getting ´hitched this week (if not just save it for next week). Also, thanks to everyone for this round of mail, (Talisa, Andrea and Kamalei) and as always I´ll try to send a prompt response.
´till next time!
-Elder =w= Heperi
Today I´m writing from Londrina. My new visa finally came thru after months of waiting, so now I´m officially legal up until Nov. 7th. Whoo-hoo!
Well, this week I was in bed for a bit with a sinus infection. I stayed in bed all of P-day last week, but found that I still wasn´t better, so I had to stay in the house all of Tuesday and some of Wednesday, which was a pain. I actually wasn´t sure exactly what I had, and since going to the doctor´s office here can sometimes do more harm than good, Sis. Leal had me talk to a medical doctor serving as a church missionary. I was grateful that he was American, as I was looking up words in the dictionary like crazy trying to find medical terms that I didn´t know. Anyway, he gave me a check-up over the phone in English, and I got myself loaded up on a bunch of Brazilian meds. A plus is that over here you don´t need a prescription from the doctor to buy all the medicine from the pharmacy, even when the package has, “To be sold only under doctor´s prescription” written all over it. Good times! Anyway, lots of rest, a blessing and 800 mg of something called “Azitromicina” per day had me up and ready by Thursday.
This week had some interesting highlights. One of the Elders from the Zone, Elder Pi… (who goes home with me funny enough)broke a mission record and had 53 investigators come to sacrament meeting on Sunday! Ha, so the rule on the mission is that anybody who´s not a member can be counted as an investigator, even if you haven´t taught them yet. I guess one of the members is a soccer coach, and the team was traveling or something that day, so he decided to bring the team to church. Their branch there only has an attendance rate of about 50 or so, so you can imagine the look on the members faces when the attendance more than doubled. Definitely one of the funnier things that I´ve seen with the work here.
The only downer of the day was that two of the Relief Society sisters (some of the younger ones, 20´s or so) had a bit of an argument afterwards about something. It ended up in a purse fight and a couple of bloody noses. I´d say about par for the course with the 53 investigators when weighed against the purse fight.
Our Branch is doing well. Currently, there are a lot of youth who are interested and getting baptized, so the branch is pretty excited about missionary work. We had a baptism this last week, and there has been so many recent converts in the past 6 months or so that they´ve had to call 8 ward missionaries just to meet all the demands, which is pretty cool. We´re gonna train the ward missionaries this week on the discussions, and it should be a pretty good process.
The Branch is good still. All the members are nice, and which makes us feel pretty welcome. The only member who´s a little…different is some lady named ???... She´s in her late 20´s, unfortunately, just had her marriage end. Anyway, every time that we have lunch at her family´s house, she always gives us an earful about how ... how marriage is terrible. She´s... told me and my comp. that we should never get married because “There´s not a man on the face of this planet who´s worth anything!” Yeah, it´s a bit intense.
On Sunday there was a special lesson about Eternal Marriage that I´m extremely grateful that no investigator participated in, and she made about 200 comments about how marriage is terrible, and how nobody should get married. Anyway, that would be no good for an investigator to hear, so the branch president had to talk to her a bit...
Welp´, I believe that´s it from me.
Thanks, as always, family and friends.
Here´s a “good luck” shout out to Phil and Stephanie... I believe that they´re getting ´hitched this week (if not just save it for next week). Also, thanks to everyone for this round of mail, (Talisa, Andrea and Kamalei) and as always I´ll try to send a prompt response.
´till next time!
-Elder =w= Heperi
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Coming to America
Yeah, so I got called to be a Zone Leader, which means it´s yet another episode of “what-the-heck-am-I-doing-here?” in the life of Elder Heperi.
Ha, but seriously I was way surprised, but it´s going well so far. My comp. is Elder Argolo from São Paulo, and actually he´ll be going home with me as we´re from the same group. What´s more, is that he also passed thru Adamantina. The guy´s a trooper, as he started his mission there AND stayed there for 6 months. We´ve had fun trading stories about what when on there, ha. The zone doesn´t have hardly any greenies, and I think about 4 Elders are going home with me.
Also, I got transferred from Londrina. I´m now in the city of Apucarana (Ah-poo-kah-rah-na) about an hour or so to the south of Londrina, so I didn´t go to far away. It´s just a branch here, (the branch is Branch America, funny enough. I´m already back in the states apparently), but, it´s growing pretty quickly. I was actually really surprised that I was transferred, as I had only been in my area for 2 transfers. It was pretty sad, as I had gotten to like the ward and my comp. a lot. Ah well.My area here is really good.
The last Elder here with my comp. was Elder J. Johnson, the only other Elder in the mission from Provo. He finished his mission last week, and should be up at BYU right about now. Anyway it makes it easy for me to introduce myself to the members and investigators. When they ask me where I´m from I just say “I´m from the same city as the last guy that was here.” And then everybody acts like they can remember the name “Provo”. (Somebody asked me if I was from “Povo” which is people in Portuguese.)
Apparently they were baptizing a bunch of people this last transfer, so we´ve got to keep up the pace.
I´ve been a bit sick since Tuesday. It´s just a bit of a head cold, but of course people have the tendency to think that it´s the pig virus. Anyway, I´ll be in bed the rest of this P-day getting better. It´s a good record for me, as I´ve almost been able to go the whole 2 years without getting sick enough to stay in bed.
The medicine that I´ve been taking works pretty well, just that it makes me incredibly sleepy. I actually fell asleep for a little bit in sacrament meeting yesterday, which was pretty embarrassing with it being my first week.
Welp, that´s all from me.
Till next time.-Elder =w= Heperi
P.S.
Give my congrat's to Cassidy on her mission call.
Ha, but seriously I was way surprised, but it´s going well so far. My comp. is Elder Argolo from São Paulo, and actually he´ll be going home with me as we´re from the same group. What´s more, is that he also passed thru Adamantina. The guy´s a trooper, as he started his mission there AND stayed there for 6 months. We´ve had fun trading stories about what when on there, ha. The zone doesn´t have hardly any greenies, and I think about 4 Elders are going home with me.
Also, I got transferred from Londrina. I´m now in the city of Apucarana (Ah-poo-kah-rah-na) about an hour or so to the south of Londrina, so I didn´t go to far away. It´s just a branch here, (the branch is Branch America, funny enough. I´m already back in the states apparently), but, it´s growing pretty quickly. I was actually really surprised that I was transferred, as I had only been in my area for 2 transfers. It was pretty sad, as I had gotten to like the ward and my comp. a lot. Ah well.My area here is really good.
The last Elder here with my comp. was Elder J. Johnson, the only other Elder in the mission from Provo. He finished his mission last week, and should be up at BYU right about now. Anyway it makes it easy for me to introduce myself to the members and investigators. When they ask me where I´m from I just say “I´m from the same city as the last guy that was here.” And then everybody acts like they can remember the name “Provo”. (Somebody asked me if I was from “Povo” which is people in Portuguese.)
Apparently they were baptizing a bunch of people this last transfer, so we´ve got to keep up the pace.
I´ve been a bit sick since Tuesday. It´s just a bit of a head cold, but of course people have the tendency to think that it´s the pig virus. Anyway, I´ll be in bed the rest of this P-day getting better. It´s a good record for me, as I´ve almost been able to go the whole 2 years without getting sick enough to stay in bed.
The medicine that I´ve been taking works pretty well, just that it makes me incredibly sleepy. I actually fell asleep for a little bit in sacrament meeting yesterday, which was pretty embarrassing with it being my first week.
Welp, that´s all from me.
Till next time.-Elder =w= Heperi
P.S.
Give my congrat's to Cassidy on her mission call.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Recent Letter from President Leal
LETTER FROM PRESIDENT LEAL
Dear Family of Elder Heperi,
Sister Leal and I are pleased to inform you that Elder Heperi has been called to be a Zone Leader. Your son has gained our confidence and we have observed his missionary service. We’re certain that he has the necessary qualities to fulfill his calling that is so important. He and his companion, who is also a Zone Leader, will be responsible for eight to eleven companionships of missionaries in their zone. Their greatest responsibilities are:
- Teach and Train
- Manage the zone, including interviews for baptism
- Communicate regularly with the mission president about the zone
- Delegate and guide through his love and example
The most important thing that has helped your son to be successful until now is the support of his family. Thank you so much for your support. We hope that you may continue to pray for him and offer your counsels. The Lord is blessing us here in the Brazil Londrina Mission and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve with Elder Heperi.
With Love,
President and Sister Leal
Missão Brasil LondrinaAv. Higienópolis 1100 sala 61Londrina, PRCEP:86020-911Fone:(43)3324-9346E-Mail: 2013096@ldschurch.org
RESPONSE
President Leal,
Thank you, again, for your most recent update regarding our son. We remain ever grateful for the opportunity he has been given to serve the Lord in Brazil. His service continues to bless both our immediate and extended family.
Our prayers remain constant on behalf of Elder Heperi, all of your missionaries, and more especially you and your dear wife. We are aware of the sacrifices you are all making and extend a special thanks for the leadership you are providing in the Londrina Mission.
The Lord bless you all!!!
With much gratitude for our association through Christ the Lord,
Elaine and Vernon Heperi
Monday, August 3, 2009
More work...
Me and Elder Lima at the baptism 2 weeks ago. The girl is Karina, and her brother baptized her.
Me messin' with a football.
Graffitti downtown.
Me and Elder Stowell in Londrina. Elder Stowell is from my group and this was the first and only time that I saw him in the field, as he went to the other mission soon after.
A Zone activity 2 months ago.
Well we've reached the end of yet another transfer. Today we find out about transfers, but I don´t think it´ll be until tonight. With a big group leaving, a smaller group coming in, and the missionaries from the other mission being moved around, it´s all up in the air as to where everybody is going.
It was a tough week as far as our investigators go. Basically all of them decided that they didn't want to hear the message anymore and told us not to come back. Also, we were encouraged by President to... review our teaching pool. The quest for these next few weeks will be for new investigators... who are willing to learn.
We finally got ourselves involved in the Ward Council meetings. Yesterday was a big meeting about how everybody can help the ward to grow, and more importantly, stop shrinking. Frequency is a little low a lot of the times, and yesterday I think there were less people in the chapel here than I was used to seeing at the branch in Adamantina which was a little scary. A nice thing though is that the ward here seems willing to go out and fix it, which is good.
Sounds like everybody is nice and nervous about the pig virus (swine flu). Elder Han... from my district got sick with some throat sickness this week (not Swine Flu), so Sister Loeal had him just stay at home the whole week, and forbade him to leave the house. As she put it, “The last thing we need is somebody thinking that the Mormons have Swine Flu, then nobody will let us in the houses!” He called me this week and was going a little stir-crazy, poor guy.
So the mission shopping is wrapping up for Levi, huh? That´s funny to think that he´ll be outta there in a month or so.
G´luck with that stuff.
Sa'll from me for now, til next time.
Elder =w= Heperi
It was a tough week as far as our investigators go. Basically all of them decided that they didn't want to hear the message anymore and told us not to come back. Also, we were encouraged by President to... review our teaching pool. The quest for these next few weeks will be for new investigators... who are willing to learn.
We finally got ourselves involved in the Ward Council meetings. Yesterday was a big meeting about how everybody can help the ward to grow, and more importantly, stop shrinking. Frequency is a little low a lot of the times, and yesterday I think there were less people in the chapel here than I was used to seeing at the branch in Adamantina which was a little scary. A nice thing though is that the ward here seems willing to go out and fix it, which is good.
Sounds like everybody is nice and nervous about the pig virus (swine flu). Elder Han... from my district got sick with some throat sickness this week (not Swine Flu), so Sister Loeal had him just stay at home the whole week, and forbade him to leave the house. As she put it, “The last thing we need is somebody thinking that the Mormons have Swine Flu, then nobody will let us in the houses!” He called me this week and was going a little stir-crazy, poor guy.
So the mission shopping is wrapping up for Levi, huh? That´s funny to think that he´ll be outta there in a month or so.
G´luck with that stuff.
Sa'll from me for now, til next time.
Elder =w= Heperi
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Rain and Raincoats
This week was a bit slow. Unfortunately, we spent more time hiding from thunderstorms than teaching. No joke, it rained every single day this week, and not just the little sprinkle kind. Full on Brazilian monsoon kind. (My comp says that they don´t have monsoon's in this part of the country, but I beg to differ.) Wet wet wet.
I´m glad that I have my big raincoat, as I´ve been using it all week. I get lots of compliments when I use it. Adults say I look more American with it on (I guess because of the heat here, nobody has a coat as big as mine) and kids say I look like Neo.
On a happy note, we had a baptism this week. A guy named Mau... who got back from his mission a few months ago had us start teaching his sister. She progressed really quickly, probably due to the fact that she had already been to church a few times and already knew a lot of the doctrine. Anyway, she became the only other active member of the family, so Mau... said he was really grateful.
Ha, today I feel like I dodged a bullet. There´s an all-day meeting with Pres. Leal and all the Zone Leaders. And as of yesterday, all the District Leaders were supposed to go. I was a little sad as that meant that my P-day would be spent in a meeting all day, but at the last minute I guess that President changed his mind. Hooray!
This next week is transfers, so we´ll see if everybody moves around. I´m pretty sure that me and Elder L... are gonna stay together. I guess a huge group is going home this time, with not to many arriving, so the mission will be a little emptier.
Welp, I think that´s all from me.
Sorry it´s so short this week.
´till next time.
-Elder =w= Me
I´m glad that I have my big raincoat, as I´ve been using it all week. I get lots of compliments when I use it. Adults say I look more American with it on (I guess because of the heat here, nobody has a coat as big as mine) and kids say I look like Neo.
On a happy note, we had a baptism this week. A guy named Mau... who got back from his mission a few months ago had us start teaching his sister. She progressed really quickly, probably due to the fact that she had already been to church a few times and already knew a lot of the doctrine. Anyway, she became the only other active member of the family, so Mau... said he was really grateful.
Ha, today I feel like I dodged a bullet. There´s an all-day meeting with Pres. Leal and all the Zone Leaders. And as of yesterday, all the District Leaders were supposed to go. I was a little sad as that meant that my P-day would be spent in a meeting all day, but at the last minute I guess that President changed his mind. Hooray!
This next week is transfers, so we´ll see if everybody moves around. I´m pretty sure that me and Elder L... are gonna stay together. I guess a huge group is going home this time, with not to many arriving, so the mission will be a little emptier.
Welp, I think that´s all from me.
Sorry it´s so short this week.
´till next time.
-Elder =w= Me
Monday, July 20, 2009
Pushin' the Elders
Hmmm...sounds like quite the party was had at Rob’s homecoming talk, huh? I tell you, there better be at least that many people at my one, or I’m going to weep bitterly for having lost the RM popularity contest.
A lot more moving around of missionaries happened this week. I guess the missionaries that we got from the new areas have a different transfer schedule than us. Their transfer ended, today, so some missionaries went home, which generated a little chaos with some emergency transfers. I’m not even sure if the same missionaries are in my district anymore, so I guess I’ll find out this week.
This week we were highly disappointed as two really good families we were teaching didn’t make it to church. We stopped by to visit one of them with the bishop (The family is Ro... and Pat... and their kids) on Saturday night, only to find that Pat... had gotten some pretty bad food poisoning and had to go to the hospital, so that was a no go. The other family had relatives visit from out of town at the last minute, and couldn’t go either. (BTW: that’s probably the most common excuse that I hear, that some relatives showed up last minute to see them, but this time it was actually legit. We stopped by their house just to make sure)
There was a ward temple trip this last week, so about half the ward went for about a week to the São Paulo Temple. It made it a little difficult to teach lessons with the members, but we’re hoping that they are back with some extra motivation.
I talked to a guy who I think had the best/most extreme reaction to my talking to him about the gospel. Me and my comp. were strolling along, when I spotted a nice couple in front of us. (In their late 40´s or so). Stopping to talk to them, I had just opened my mouth and stuck out my hand to shake hands, when the guy screamed “Noooooo! I already follow a religion! I’m already Christian!” Then he shoved me in the chest and started backing up slowly like I was wielding a knife or something. I looked at his wife who was pretty calm and expected something like, “Oh, don’t mind him, he’s a bit nuts.” Or an “I’m sorry that he pushed you,” from her. But, she just started shaking her head and said “We already have a religion.” At that point the guy grabbed her hand and they were off at a pretty brisk pace. That guy definately gets the award.
Well, sáll from me for now.
Till next time;
-Elder =w= Heperi
A lot more moving around of missionaries happened this week. I guess the missionaries that we got from the new areas have a different transfer schedule than us. Their transfer ended, today, so some missionaries went home, which generated a little chaos with some emergency transfers. I’m not even sure if the same missionaries are in my district anymore, so I guess I’ll find out this week.
This week we were highly disappointed as two really good families we were teaching didn’t make it to church. We stopped by to visit one of them with the bishop (The family is Ro... and Pat... and their kids) on Saturday night, only to find that Pat... had gotten some pretty bad food poisoning and had to go to the hospital, so that was a no go. The other family had relatives visit from out of town at the last minute, and couldn’t go either. (BTW: that’s probably the most common excuse that I hear, that some relatives showed up last minute to see them, but this time it was actually legit. We stopped by their house just to make sure)
There was a ward temple trip this last week, so about half the ward went for about a week to the São Paulo Temple. It made it a little difficult to teach lessons with the members, but we’re hoping that they are back with some extra motivation.
I talked to a guy who I think had the best/most extreme reaction to my talking to him about the gospel. Me and my comp. were strolling along, when I spotted a nice couple in front of us. (In their late 40´s or so). Stopping to talk to them, I had just opened my mouth and stuck out my hand to shake hands, when the guy screamed “Noooooo! I already follow a religion! I’m already Christian!” Then he shoved me in the chest and started backing up slowly like I was wielding a knife or something. I looked at his wife who was pretty calm and expected something like, “Oh, don’t mind him, he’s a bit nuts.” Or an “I’m sorry that he pushed you,” from her. But, she just started shaking her head and said “We already have a religion.” At that point the guy grabbed her hand and they were off at a pretty brisk pace. That guy definately gets the award.
Well, sáll from me for now.
Till next time;
-Elder =w= Heperi
Monday, July 13, 2009
Letter from/to Parkway 2nd Ward CTR 5 Primary Class
LETTER FROM PRIMARY
Dear Elder Heperi,
Our class has been learning about missionaries and how Heavenly Father blesses and helps them. Our class wanted you to know that Heavenly Father loves you and protects you. Your family loves you too.
We hope you have a good day on your mission. Be happy, good, and keep
smiling.
Our class was wondering if you are a good missionary? Do you like Brazil? We hope you are safe, and you can help your family when you get home.
Sincerely,
The CTR 5 Primary Class
Parkway 2nd Ward
Cooper Roscher
Jackson McCarty
Keith Borrowman
Sierra Walker
Lydia Peterson
Madeline Stochlia
Danielle Slagowski, and
Sister Martin (Teacher).
RESPONSE
Dear Primary Class,
Thanks a lot for the letter. I really appreciated the love and concern that you guys show for me. It helps to know that people pray for me, even while I’m far from home.
I do my best to be a good missionary. It isn’t always easy, but it’s always worth it to follow the Lord’s commandments.
I’m loving it here in Brazil. The people are very friendly, the food delicious, and the members very accepting. Thank you again!
-Elder Heperi
Weather still cool...
Another cold week.
Ha, I feel bad for my comp. because every night he goes to bed looking like he’s going to leave for a Klondike campout(pants,sweatshirts,gloves,beanie) even though it’s only about 14 Celsius in the house. He’s really missing that Northern Brazilian sun right now…
This week, my comp and I have got to go help the other Elders in the district with some of their work. Unfortunately, with us losing a bunch of areas and missionaries, there are two newbie’s together as comps. (One Elder has about 6 months, and the other is only in his 3rd week in the field), so we get to head over there and help them with some stuff. The Elder in his 3rd week has had 3 companions in 3 weeks because of all the moving around that’s been happening. Poor guy never gets a chance to get used to anybody. His name is Elder D.S., and it turns out that he’s a rugby player and a big NZ All-Blacks fan. He plays on some local team in his city in southern Brazil (which is pretty rare, as rugby isn’t very popular here). I think you’d like to meet him someday, Dad. He wants to buy a ball here at the store, just that it´s about 130 Reals. Maybe we could get a game started some P-day...heh.
We found a bunch of good people to teach this week, but unfortunately everybody really good isn’t married, or has a family who doesn’t like the church and ends up scaring the person away. We found this really good guy named Fe... who actually asked during the lesson “You know, I’ve always really wanted to know, with so many churches around here, there must be just one that’s true. But which is it?” His wife also just had a baby, and he asked “Where was she before she was born last week?” Two questions that we, of course, love to hear. We had a great lesson with him, but unfortunately right as we were finishing, his uncle (a minister) showed up. We just passed him on the way out, but he didn’t look too happy to see us. Anyway, long-story short, Fe... told us later that it would be best if we didn’t come back. Definately a low point on the week.
On a higher note, Se... (our investigator that needs to get married and stop smoking) managed to stop smoking this past week. He had been cutting it down to about 2 cigarettes per day for a while now, but finally decided just to stop altogether. Now we just got to see about that dang marriage…
For P-day today, we’ve got a nice basketball game lined up with the whole district. I haven’t actually played basketball since I left the MTC in São Paulo, as it’s kind of difficult to find somebody who has a good basketball (or a bad one for that matter) and even harder to find a court with hoops. (They have a lot of basketball courts here, just that kids like to hang on the hoops instead of playing basketball, and they’re always broken.) We’ll see how it goes. We usually play Brazilian's against American's when it comes to sports, which means that we lose quite badly when it comes to soccer, so I figure we might do well today in basketball. (Actually, there’s only 3 Americans, Me, Elder Han... and Elder Har....)
Sáll from me today.
´till next time!
-Elder =w= Heperi
Ha, I feel bad for my comp. because every night he goes to bed looking like he’s going to leave for a Klondike campout(pants,sweatshirts,gloves,beanie) even though it’s only about 14 Celsius in the house. He’s really missing that Northern Brazilian sun right now…
This week, my comp and I have got to go help the other Elders in the district with some of their work. Unfortunately, with us losing a bunch of areas and missionaries, there are two newbie’s together as comps. (One Elder has about 6 months, and the other is only in his 3rd week in the field), so we get to head over there and help them with some stuff. The Elder in his 3rd week has had 3 companions in 3 weeks because of all the moving around that’s been happening. Poor guy never gets a chance to get used to anybody. His name is Elder D.S., and it turns out that he’s a rugby player and a big NZ All-Blacks fan. He plays on some local team in his city in southern Brazil (which is pretty rare, as rugby isn’t very popular here). I think you’d like to meet him someday, Dad. He wants to buy a ball here at the store, just that it´s about 130 Reals. Maybe we could get a game started some P-day...heh.
We found a bunch of good people to teach this week, but unfortunately everybody really good isn’t married, or has a family who doesn’t like the church and ends up scaring the person away. We found this really good guy named Fe... who actually asked during the lesson “You know, I’ve always really wanted to know, with so many churches around here, there must be just one that’s true. But which is it?” His wife also just had a baby, and he asked “Where was she before she was born last week?” Two questions that we, of course, love to hear. We had a great lesson with him, but unfortunately right as we were finishing, his uncle (a minister) showed up. We just passed him on the way out, but he didn’t look too happy to see us. Anyway, long-story short, Fe... told us later that it would be best if we didn’t come back. Definately a low point on the week.
On a higher note, Se... (our investigator that needs to get married and stop smoking) managed to stop smoking this past week. He had been cutting it down to about 2 cigarettes per day for a while now, but finally decided just to stop altogether. Now we just got to see about that dang marriage…
For P-day today, we’ve got a nice basketball game lined up with the whole district. I haven’t actually played basketball since I left the MTC in São Paulo, as it’s kind of difficult to find somebody who has a good basketball (or a bad one for that matter) and even harder to find a court with hoops. (They have a lot of basketball courts here, just that kids like to hang on the hoops instead of playing basketball, and they’re always broken.) We’ll see how it goes. We usually play Brazilian's against American's when it comes to sports, which means that we lose quite badly when it comes to soccer, so I figure we might do well today in basketball. (Actually, there’s only 3 Americans, Me, Elder Han... and Elder Har....)
Sáll from me today.
´till next time!
-Elder =w= Heperi
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Scaring the Drunks
Sad as it seems, I completely forgot about the 4th of July until yesterday. Too bad, as I was gonna celebrate by lighting something on fire. Also, I´m a bit tired of hearing all the news about Michael Jackson dying. If it happens in the USA, it becomes the question of the week for people to ask me around here.
Yeah, so the big news this week was the mission boundaries changing. I guess it happened to all or most of the missions in Brazil. (BTW, I hear that the Rio North and and Rio mission are now one mission. Does that mean that Jeff Johnson and Jenny Morrisse are in the same mission now?) We lost the state of Mato Grosso Do Sul (Where I was in Ponta Porã and Campo Grande), along with about 24 or so missionaries who were there to the Cuiabá Mission. A good chunk of the Elders that´d I would be coming home with went there, including Elder Mont... It was actually pretty sad to hear about it, and President had a meeting for us last week, and he was feeling it too. We did gain a couple of cities here in the state of Paraná though, so maybe I´ll get to go there sometime. Who knows? I was glad to stay put here in Londrina, but I did think that it would have been interesting to say that I served in 2 different missions, if I had had to switch.
Some companionships got shifted around, so my comp. Elder Per... went somewhere else, and now I´m with Elder Lima. He´s from the city of Belém (Bethlehem in Portuguese) in the state of Pará, which I found out is a city that sits basically on the equator. He said that 105 F weather is pretty normal for him, which makes me happy that I´m not serving there. Unfortunately, he´s suffering a bit for the cold here., (65 F for him is cold) and usually walks around in a long sleeve shirt and gloves. Ha, he´s a good guy, and we get along pretty well.
This week, church moved from it´s 10:00 am time slot to 8:30, which resulted in many people not showing up to church yesterday. I personally like the 8:30 time better, but 10 was a lot easier for our investigators. The frequency is kinda low at our ward, at times approaching the number of people that would go to church in Adamantina. (That´s worrysome). Those who do go to church seem to be a happy, motivated lot, which helps when we have investigators at church.
President challenged us to invite people to get baptized more, even in our contacts on the road, so we´ve been having success on that front. Those who do accept a visit already know why we´re there, and so they´re more prepared. I´ve also found that it helps scare away drunks. Last night we were doing contacts when some drunk guy approached us and started begging for money. (At least he was honest. I asked him why he needed money, and he said he wanted more beer.) I told him that we didn´t have any, but that we could help him to be baptized and could even show him the baptismal font. He looked a little fearful, and left in a big hurry after that.
Not much else from me.
Hey, I thought that Rob and Alex would be home by now, but not till next week, huh?
Did Levi get all his mission shopping done?
´till next week.
Excelcior!
-Elder =w= you-know-who
Yeah, so the big news this week was the mission boundaries changing. I guess it happened to all or most of the missions in Brazil. (BTW, I hear that the Rio North and and Rio mission are now one mission. Does that mean that Jeff Johnson and Jenny Morrisse are in the same mission now?) We lost the state of Mato Grosso Do Sul (Where I was in Ponta Porã and Campo Grande), along with about 24 or so missionaries who were there to the Cuiabá Mission. A good chunk of the Elders that´d I would be coming home with went there, including Elder Mont... It was actually pretty sad to hear about it, and President had a meeting for us last week, and he was feeling it too. We did gain a couple of cities here in the state of Paraná though, so maybe I´ll get to go there sometime. Who knows? I was glad to stay put here in Londrina, but I did think that it would have been interesting to say that I served in 2 different missions, if I had had to switch.
Some companionships got shifted around, so my comp. Elder Per... went somewhere else, and now I´m with Elder Lima. He´s from the city of Belém (Bethlehem in Portuguese) in the state of Pará, which I found out is a city that sits basically on the equator. He said that 105 F weather is pretty normal for him, which makes me happy that I´m not serving there. Unfortunately, he´s suffering a bit for the cold here., (65 F for him is cold) and usually walks around in a long sleeve shirt and gloves. Ha, he´s a good guy, and we get along pretty well.
This week, church moved from it´s 10:00 am time slot to 8:30, which resulted in many people not showing up to church yesterday. I personally like the 8:30 time better, but 10 was a lot easier for our investigators. The frequency is kinda low at our ward, at times approaching the number of people that would go to church in Adamantina. (That´s worrysome). Those who do go to church seem to be a happy, motivated lot, which helps when we have investigators at church.
President challenged us to invite people to get baptized more, even in our contacts on the road, so we´ve been having success on that front. Those who do accept a visit already know why we´re there, and so they´re more prepared. I´ve also found that it helps scare away drunks. Last night we were doing contacts when some drunk guy approached us and started begging for money. (At least he was honest. I asked him why he needed money, and he said he wanted more beer.) I told him that we didn´t have any, but that we could help him to be baptized and could even show him the baptismal font. He looked a little fearful, and left in a big hurry after that.
Not much else from me.
Hey, I thought that Rob and Alex would be home by now, but not till next week, huh?
Did Levi get all his mission shopping done?
´till next week.
Excelcior!
-Elder =w= you-know-who
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Letter from President Leal; Letter to President Leal
Dear Family of Elder Heperi,
Sister Leal and I are pleased to inform you that Elder Heperi has been called to be a District Leader. Your son has gained our confidence and we have observed his missionary service. We’re certain that he has the necessary qualities to fulfill his calling that is so important. He will be responsible for two to four companionships of missionaries in his district. His greatest responsibilities are:
- Teach and Train
- Manage the district, including interviews for baptism
- Delegate and guide through his love and example
The most important thing that has helped your son to be successful until now is the support of his family. Thank you so much for your support. We hope that you may continue to pray for him and offer your counsels. The Lord is blessing us here in the Brazil Londrina Mission and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve with Elder Heperi.
With Love,
President and Sister Leal
RESPONSE
President Leal,
Thank you for the update regarding our son. We are so grateful that he loves the people of Brazil and is anxiously engaged in the work of the Lord. We continue to be blessed as a family, as he serves in the field. We also trust that you and your dear wife are being blessed because of your great service.
In September, we look forward to our next son, Levi, serving his mission in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He will be a strong missionary, and has been learning many good things from the weekly reports we receive from Elder Heperi. We are so grateful that Elder Heperi's example has set a standard for the rest of his siblings.
President, my email is short but I hope that you know of our love for you and your wife, even though we have never met. Thanks, also, to the great people of Brazil who care for our son! The gospel is a wonderful thing and I am grateful that we are acquainted through the gospel and missionary work.
We pray for you and your missionaries, night and day, and know that the gospel is true!!!
With much love and gratitude,
Elaine and Vernon Heperi
Sister Leal and I are pleased to inform you that Elder Heperi has been called to be a District Leader. Your son has gained our confidence and we have observed his missionary service. We’re certain that he has the necessary qualities to fulfill his calling that is so important. He will be responsible for two to four companionships of missionaries in his district. His greatest responsibilities are:
- Teach and Train
- Manage the district, including interviews for baptism
- Delegate and guide through his love and example
The most important thing that has helped your son to be successful until now is the support of his family. Thank you so much for your support. We hope that you may continue to pray for him and offer your counsels. The Lord is blessing us here in the Brazil Londrina Mission and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve with Elder Heperi.
With Love,
President and Sister Leal
RESPONSE
President Leal,
Thank you for the update regarding our son. We are so grateful that he loves the people of Brazil and is anxiously engaged in the work of the Lord. We continue to be blessed as a family, as he serves in the field. We also trust that you and your dear wife are being blessed because of your great service.
In September, we look forward to our next son, Levi, serving his mission in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He will be a strong missionary, and has been learning many good things from the weekly reports we receive from Elder Heperi. We are so grateful that Elder Heperi's example has set a standard for the rest of his siblings.
President, my email is short but I hope that you know of our love for you and your wife, even though we have never met. Thanks, also, to the great people of Brazil who care for our son! The gospel is a wonderful thing and I am grateful that we are acquainted through the gospel and missionary work.
We pray for you and your missionaries, night and day, and know that the gospel is true!!!
With much love and gratitude,
Elaine and Vernon Heperi
Mission Got A Little Smaller
I´m here at the Internet café getting some stuff ready for our meeting tomorrow, but I thought I´d let you guys know that the mission boundaries for the Brasil Londrina Mission changed. The state of Mato Grosso do Sul (Where I served in Ponta Porã and Campo Grande) got moved to be part of the Cuiabá Mission, along with all the missionaries there. Elder Monterrosa is in Campo Grande, so I guess I won´t get to see him on the plane ride back, which is kinda sad. I guess the mission just got a little bit smaller.
Elder Heperi
Elder Heperi
Soccer and Pastors
Yeah, I heard about the game between Brazil and the US. Actually, I´ve been able to hear about every game, as all week I´ve been hearing about the games going on from basically everyone I talk to. Walking down the center street in my area, every single bar or business that had a TV was open and showing the game. Teaching is always difficult on a Sunday afternoon with a soccer game, and just imagine how it is when Brazil is in the finals against the US! (We didn´t get a lot of acceptance in terms of people listening to the message, but we did get a lot of invites to watch the game.) Ah well, come World Cup time we´ll see who wins...
Heh, so I became District Leader, which I think has a lot to do with the fact that no one else in the district is available, so I think I became it 80% by inspiration, and 20% by default. (Elder Han is training, his comp is a newbie, my comp just got here and isn´t familiar with the area, and the other companionship are the Pres's Assistants, and they´re always traveling, so I guess it landed with me.) I´ve never done a baptismal interview before, so I´m excited to do something new.
This week, our really good investigators Ro... and Ca..., who just have to get married and then they´ll be baptized, started avoiding us. It was really weird, because we went there for an appointment, and I knew they were home, but they wouldn´t come out when we´d knock. They didn´t go to church yesterday, so we passed by there on a surprise visit, and found them both at home. Carla seemed pretty embarrassed, and when I asked what was going on, she said that her extended family (who we taught a couple of times but are waaay Evangelical and just want to stick with the Bible) and a pastor from the family´s church had been visiting a couple of times during the week and putting ideas in her head. They had this problem when I got here in the area, but it had stopped after a bit. The family and pastor are getting pretty desperate it seems to convince them to not get baptized. They told her a bunch of stuff that the church supposedly does, (something about writing your name in blood in a book that we have in the chapel when you get baptized, also a lot of confusion about baptisms for the dead) and unfortunately they believed it and got scared and started avoiding us. We sat and talked to them for a bit, and they told us how they had started fighting a bunch in the house again, and how they had started smoking (they had stopped for almost 3 weeks) as a result of all of this. We helped them to see how it was just more trials as they are getting closer to the truth and baptism, so naturally there will be more obstacles. I think they felt better after the visit, and I think they´ll get back on track now. I´m pretty ticked off at their extended family though, and I´d love to talk to the pastor. (Oh btw, we were teaching C...´s brother, Moi... (Moses in Portuguese) who´s pretty Evangelical but said that he´d get baptized if he got a response that the Book of Mormon is true. C... said that after a visit from the pastor telling him that the book is demonic, he burned the book right there in his house. More love from the family, eh?
On a happier note, another family that we´re teaching is going really great. J... and Ma..., along with their three kids. J... works most Sundays, but Ma... and the 3 kids went to church on Sunday, and liked it a lot. They still have to get married and stop smoking, but they´re doing great.
Welp, sáll from me this week. Good to hear that things are rolling along, and somebody give Rob, Nate, Yader and Alex a big manly hug from me if they see them. (Preferably Levi, as he is the person that most resembles me.) And, a friendly reminder to Comrade Magleby and Emperor Morrisse that they owe me a couple of letters from home, as I sent a bunch while they were at the MTC. Now it´s your turn, heh.
Peace
Elder =w= Heperi
Heh, so I became District Leader, which I think has a lot to do with the fact that no one else in the district is available, so I think I became it 80% by inspiration, and 20% by default. (Elder Han is training, his comp is a newbie, my comp just got here and isn´t familiar with the area, and the other companionship are the Pres's Assistants, and they´re always traveling, so I guess it landed with me.) I´ve never done a baptismal interview before, so I´m excited to do something new.
This week, our really good investigators Ro... and Ca..., who just have to get married and then they´ll be baptized, started avoiding us. It was really weird, because we went there for an appointment, and I knew they were home, but they wouldn´t come out when we´d knock. They didn´t go to church yesterday, so we passed by there on a surprise visit, and found them both at home. Carla seemed pretty embarrassed, and when I asked what was going on, she said that her extended family (who we taught a couple of times but are waaay Evangelical and just want to stick with the Bible) and a pastor from the family´s church had been visiting a couple of times during the week and putting ideas in her head. They had this problem when I got here in the area, but it had stopped after a bit. The family and pastor are getting pretty desperate it seems to convince them to not get baptized. They told her a bunch of stuff that the church supposedly does, (something about writing your name in blood in a book that we have in the chapel when you get baptized, also a lot of confusion about baptisms for the dead) and unfortunately they believed it and got scared and started avoiding us. We sat and talked to them for a bit, and they told us how they had started fighting a bunch in the house again, and how they had started smoking (they had stopped for almost 3 weeks) as a result of all of this. We helped them to see how it was just more trials as they are getting closer to the truth and baptism, so naturally there will be more obstacles. I think they felt better after the visit, and I think they´ll get back on track now. I´m pretty ticked off at their extended family though, and I´d love to talk to the pastor. (Oh btw, we were teaching C...´s brother, Moi... (Moses in Portuguese) who´s pretty Evangelical but said that he´d get baptized if he got a response that the Book of Mormon is true. C... said that after a visit from the pastor telling him that the book is demonic, he burned the book right there in his house. More love from the family, eh?
On a happier note, another family that we´re teaching is going really great. J... and Ma..., along with their three kids. J... works most Sundays, but Ma... and the 3 kids went to church on Sunday, and liked it a lot. They still have to get married and stop smoking, but they´re doing great.
Welp, sáll from me this week. Good to hear that things are rolling along, and somebody give Rob, Nate, Yader and Alex a big manly hug from me if they see them. (Preferably Levi, as he is the person that most resembles me.) And, a friendly reminder to Comrade Magleby and Emperor Morrisse that they owe me a couple of letters from home, as I sent a bunch while they were at the MTC. Now it´s your turn, heh.
Peace
Elder =w= Heperi
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Transfers are in...
We just got our transfer info. Elder Cr... is leaving, and I´m getting a guy named Elder Pereira. (I met him once, but just briefly. Should be good times.)
Oh, and a funny side note. I found out that there´s a road named Utah here in Londrina! We´re gonna see if we can pass by there and take a picture... 'till next week.
-Elder Heperi
Oh, and a funny side note. I found out that there´s a road named Utah here in Londrina! We´re gonna see if we can pass by there and take a picture... 'till next week.
-Elder Heperi
Brazil Party
I´ll be honest. I completely forgot that it was Father’s Day. Sorry Dad, and Happy Father’s day. (They have father’s day here in Brazil, but I think it’s a different day. Maybe that’s why I didn’t remember.)
This week we unfortunately didn´t get our baptisms to go thru because the people have to get married still. It’s a bit complicated, as the place where the do the weddings in wa...aay in the center of the city, and we can only travel there on P-day (They need us to be with them to get the discount that the church gets). A big mess, but we’ll figure it out.
I was pretty happy with the ward this week. We were lacking a bunch of lessons with members, and it seemed liked the ward seemed kind of detached from missionary work, so we made up a calendar and went around last Sunday, asking who could work with us during the week. The ward was very receptive, and we had members leaving with us everyday this past week, and so we managed to accomplish our goals and have the ward be more involved at the same time.
Oh, and I got sick for the first time on the mission. (Sick as in had to stay in bed, not just a runny nose.) I got a fever and everything, but after a blessing, ½ a day in bed, and lots of Brazilian medicine (the kind I took had a mysterious florescent yellow strip of color on the pill), I was up and about in time for the ward party on Saturday, where we had a decent amount of investigators. The party was Fiesta Junina (June Party, I guess), where everybody dresses like a Brazilian Hill-Billy (basically everybody looks like they’re from a Mark Twain novel) and dances around a lot. It was good, and I thought that it was just missing a Conga Line, some Limbo, and a dancing lady with fruit on her hat, but it was fine just the same.
Transfers are today, and I’m thinking that Elder Cr... is heading out, as he’s been here for quite a bit. Who knows?
So Levi gets to have a biking mission, huh? Hey, I’ve been hearing stuff from Kamalei´s mission, and it seems like I’ve missed out on the perks of transportation. All I get it the bus…
Welp, sáll from me. Sorry it’s short this week... ´till later.
- Elder =w= Heperi
This week we unfortunately didn´t get our baptisms to go thru because the people have to get married still. It’s a bit complicated, as the place where the do the weddings in wa...aay in the center of the city, and we can only travel there on P-day (They need us to be with them to get the discount that the church gets). A big mess, but we’ll figure it out.
I was pretty happy with the ward this week. We were lacking a bunch of lessons with members, and it seemed liked the ward seemed kind of detached from missionary work, so we made up a calendar and went around last Sunday, asking who could work with us during the week. The ward was very receptive, and we had members leaving with us everyday this past week, and so we managed to accomplish our goals and have the ward be more involved at the same time.
Oh, and I got sick for the first time on the mission. (Sick as in had to stay in bed, not just a runny nose.) I got a fever and everything, but after a blessing, ½ a day in bed, and lots of Brazilian medicine (the kind I took had a mysterious florescent yellow strip of color on the pill), I was up and about in time for the ward party on Saturday, where we had a decent amount of investigators. The party was Fiesta Junina (June Party, I guess), where everybody dresses like a Brazilian Hill-Billy (basically everybody looks like they’re from a Mark Twain novel) and dances around a lot. It was good, and I thought that it was just missing a Conga Line, some Limbo, and a dancing lady with fruit on her hat, but it was fine just the same.
Transfers are today, and I’m thinking that Elder Cr... is heading out, as he’s been here for quite a bit. Who knows?
So Levi gets to have a biking mission, huh? Hey, I’ve been hearing stuff from Kamalei´s mission, and it seems like I’ve missed out on the perks of transportation. All I get it the bus…
Welp, sáll from me. Sorry it’s short this week... ´till later.
- Elder =w= Heperi
Weddings and Stuff
Sup yáll.
This week was pretty cool. The conference Elder Natã Tobias was good. We all got to go up and shake his hand before the meeting. He said that he has some family/friends living in Provo, but couldn´t remember exactly where. He actually did pretty well on pronouncing my name correctly. When I shook Sister Tobias´s hand, she asked where I was from, and when I said “Provo, Utah” she looked surprised and said “No way! You don´t look it Elder!” I laughed, because I´m used to that reaction from people, just not from General Authorities wives, ha. The conference was great, and I learned a lot about how I can improve my teaching skills.
As for our investigators, two of our families are at a standstill because we´re trying to see what we can do with getting them married. We just went to the marriage place (I don’t know what you call it) today, and while they can get a discount for them because it´s a religious thing, Unfortunately it´ll take about a month to go thru, and it´s a bit expensive, so we´ll see what we´re going to have to do. One of the guys, named Se..., is so determined to get baptized this week that he says he´s going to move out of his house and live with his brother while he´s waiting for the marriage business to go thru.
On a sadder note, the really great family that we where teaching, Ad..., Lu... and Ka..., decided that they don´t want to be baptized anymore. They where all progressing really well (Lu... is already in Alma) until the Word of Wisdom lesson. They told us that they were happy with the lifestyle that they were leading, and Lu... told us that she´d rather die than stop drinking her beer. (Very encouraging hearing that) So…unfortunately they´ve decided to stop investigating for a while. It´s kind of sad, as both of them have already prayed and received an answer that the message is true, they just lack the desire for now.
It continues to be nice and chilly here in Londrina, which sometimes makes people unwilling to come to the door when we show up, but when we do manage to get in, it makes teaching twice as effective as usually everybody stays in the house on cold days.
So, Levi´s getting started on the mission shopping, huh? Good to hear that he got them Ecco shoes.
Welp, sáll from me. Till the next time.
-Elder Heperi
This week was pretty cool. The conference Elder Natã Tobias was good. We all got to go up and shake his hand before the meeting. He said that he has some family/friends living in Provo, but couldn´t remember exactly where. He actually did pretty well on pronouncing my name correctly. When I shook Sister Tobias´s hand, she asked where I was from, and when I said “Provo, Utah” she looked surprised and said “No way! You don´t look it Elder!” I laughed, because I´m used to that reaction from people, just not from General Authorities wives, ha. The conference was great, and I learned a lot about how I can improve my teaching skills.
As for our investigators, two of our families are at a standstill because we´re trying to see what we can do with getting them married. We just went to the marriage place (I don’t know what you call it) today, and while they can get a discount for them because it´s a religious thing, Unfortunately it´ll take about a month to go thru, and it´s a bit expensive, so we´ll see what we´re going to have to do. One of the guys, named Se..., is so determined to get baptized this week that he says he´s going to move out of his house and live with his brother while he´s waiting for the marriage business to go thru.
On a sadder note, the really great family that we where teaching, Ad..., Lu... and Ka..., decided that they don´t want to be baptized anymore. They where all progressing really well (Lu... is already in Alma) until the Word of Wisdom lesson. They told us that they were happy with the lifestyle that they were leading, and Lu... told us that she´d rather die than stop drinking her beer. (Very encouraging hearing that) So…unfortunately they´ve decided to stop investigating for a while. It´s kind of sad, as both of them have already prayed and received an answer that the message is true, they just lack the desire for now.
It continues to be nice and chilly here in Londrina, which sometimes makes people unwilling to come to the door when we show up, but when we do manage to get in, it makes teaching twice as effective as usually everybody stays in the house on cold days.
So, Levi´s getting started on the mission shopping, huh? Good to hear that he got them Ecco shoes.
Welp, sáll from me. Till the next time.
-Elder Heperi
Monday, June 8, 2009
Building lives, breaking homes.
It seems like a lot happens during the week, but then P-day comes and I forget. I gotta learn to write stuff down to remember better.
Last week we had a service project, that was probably the funnest that I´ve done yet. One of our investigators was living a an old little house that the government ordered be taken down cuz they´re gonna build a park or something, so he asked us to take his house apart. It was a blast. The house was pretty small, (about the size of our front room) and took a couple of hours to take apart. First he took the roof off and the beams supporting it, and then it was all hammer swings and Street Fighter ninja kicks from there. Our legs where pretty sore afterwards, but it was pretty cool to kick down a bunch of walls. Unfortunately, the house and walls were infested with tons of spiders that would come out of the walls sometimes, so that was a fun part. Ha, after so long of helping people build stronger homes, it was a nice change to help someone destroy theirs.
Today we´re gonna pass by the place that does marriages, as many if not all of our investigators are in need of it. I´ve heard that it´s a bit expensive, but that the missionaries usually can get a pretty decent discount after some begging. Unfortunately, there´s no free marriage here like in Campo Grande, so that´s the part that´s holding some of our investigators up.
On a better note, we found a large family who are pretty religious, receptive, and (even better) legally married! They´re a a Presbyterian family. One of the kids has a really weird name that I can never remember, but it sounds like “Anakin” so I usually just end up calling him so. I think they´ll do well.
Usually one of our first questions after getting to know somebody is asking if they´re married. It usually goes something like this:
Us: So, how long have you guys been together?
Investigators: Oh, about 10 yrs.
Us: Cool, did you guys get married here?
Investigators: Yeah, we started living together here.
Us: What kind of wedding cake did you guys have? Chocolate?
Investigators: Huh? No, there wasen´t any cake, we didn´t actually do the whole legal process, but we´re pretty much married, you know, after being together so long.
The cake question gets to the point every time.
So they had some of that swine flu/fever at the MTC? Yeesh, that´s kinda scary. There´s a lady in the ward here that says that the swine flu/fever is the animals are rebelling after centuries of mistreatment, or something like that. She´s a bit of an animal activist.
Yesterday I was the pianist in sacrament meeting, as the lady who usually conducts was absent, and I have absolutely no idea how to conduct. So, the beehive who´s the piano player conducted, and I did backup duty for the day. It was nice to play in sacrament meeting again. The chapel was a little empty, as frequency keeps going down in the ward for some reason.
I´m getting to know the area a little better now. There´s quite a few hills, and there´s an area at night that we have to avoid as it´s where all the drug dealers go, but other than night it´s a pretty peaceful place.
Welp, sáll from me.
The weather continues to be nice and cool, and I don´t think I´ve sweat a drop since getting here. Here´s hoping for more of the same!
-Elder Répri
Last week we had a service project, that was probably the funnest that I´ve done yet. One of our investigators was living a an old little house that the government ordered be taken down cuz they´re gonna build a park or something, so he asked us to take his house apart. It was a blast. The house was pretty small, (about the size of our front room) and took a couple of hours to take apart. First he took the roof off and the beams supporting it, and then it was all hammer swings and Street Fighter ninja kicks from there. Our legs where pretty sore afterwards, but it was pretty cool to kick down a bunch of walls. Unfortunately, the house and walls were infested with tons of spiders that would come out of the walls sometimes, so that was a fun part. Ha, after so long of helping people build stronger homes, it was a nice change to help someone destroy theirs.
Today we´re gonna pass by the place that does marriages, as many if not all of our investigators are in need of it. I´ve heard that it´s a bit expensive, but that the missionaries usually can get a pretty decent discount after some begging. Unfortunately, there´s no free marriage here like in Campo Grande, so that´s the part that´s holding some of our investigators up.
On a better note, we found a large family who are pretty religious, receptive, and (even better) legally married! They´re a a Presbyterian family. One of the kids has a really weird name that I can never remember, but it sounds like “Anakin” so I usually just end up calling him so. I think they´ll do well.
Usually one of our first questions after getting to know somebody is asking if they´re married. It usually goes something like this:
Us: So, how long have you guys been together?
Investigators: Oh, about 10 yrs.
Us: Cool, did you guys get married here?
Investigators: Yeah, we started living together here.
Us: What kind of wedding cake did you guys have? Chocolate?
Investigators: Huh? No, there wasen´t any cake, we didn´t actually do the whole legal process, but we´re pretty much married, you know, after being together so long.
The cake question gets to the point every time.
So they had some of that swine flu/fever at the MTC? Yeesh, that´s kinda scary. There´s a lady in the ward here that says that the swine flu/fever is the animals are rebelling after centuries of mistreatment, or something like that. She´s a bit of an animal activist.
Yesterday I was the pianist in sacrament meeting, as the lady who usually conducts was absent, and I have absolutely no idea how to conduct. So, the beehive who´s the piano player conducted, and I did backup duty for the day. It was nice to play in sacrament meeting again. The chapel was a little empty, as frequency keeps going down in the ward for some reason.
I´m getting to know the area a little better now. There´s quite a few hills, and there´s an area at night that we have to avoid as it´s where all the drug dealers go, but other than night it´s a pretty peaceful place.
Welp, sáll from me.
The weather continues to be nice and cool, and I don´t think I´ve sweat a drop since getting here. Here´s hoping for more of the same!
-Elder Répri
Sunday, June 7, 2009
See you in St. Lou...ay!!!
Nelly songs are running thru my head. Oh dude! Wow, I can´t believe how soon it seems like Levi´s call came. St. Louis, Missouri, eh? Hey Levi, maybe you can find and teach Nelly while you´re down there. (And don´t forget the Rams.)
I guess it´s official now, huh? 4 yrs. without seeing each other. That´s really weird. So I left at 19, and won´t see Levi until I´m 23? Ha.
Well, any news that I have seems small in comparison, but I´ll try to give it. I was reflecting last night in bed, (I think because of the cold. It got down to about 7 degrees Celsius, and made me feel like it was Christmastime. Very cold in the apartment.) and got to thinking how much time it seems has passed. I mean, Levi with a mission call and Rob about to come home? Yeesh. (BTW: It was rumoured that we´d get a visit from an Apostle this year as well, but as yet it hasn´t been confirmed.)
This week was good and productive. We´re trying a lot harder to involve the members in the work, and the members seem a little more excited about it. Frequency is a little bit low though. As yesterday was pretty chilly, (I walked around in my sweater and suit coat, something I´ve never done before on this side of the equator) which unfortunately made about ½ of the ward stay at home instead of braving the icy winds of Londrina. (Maybe we could get some of Elder Magleby´s people from Russia to talk to them about cold weather and going to church.) Rod... and C. (the young couple that we´re teaching) didn´t go to church because their baby was pretty sick. We passed by there later and taught a lesson about priesthood blessings and gave one to the kid. Rod... seemed pretty touched when we told him that one day it would be his responsibility to bless his family with the Priesthood. They´re a really great family. Rod... is really curious and writes down every scripture reference that we use to read later. Their neighbors are a less-active family that we´re trying to work with to get reactivated as well. They´re good, just that the wife has a bit of a drinking problem, but is always willing to help.
Yesterday we were at lunch with a member who´s an immigrant from Yugoslavia. He speaks Portuguese and German, so I got to practice a bit of my horrible German with him. I guess two years of class weren't all in vain, as he could understand as I asked him important questions like “What´s your name?” and “Do you like bratwurst's or guitar?”. He told me to stick with the Portuguese, and I should be fine. His wife was a bit familiar with New Zealand, and when I said that Dad was from New Zealand, she asked “Oh, so you´re Maori then?” A nice family.
Welp, today we´re off to a BBQ at one of the chapels close to President Leal´s house. I guess it´s gonna be an activity with the two Zones here in Londrina, so I´ll get to see a couple of people that I haven´t seen in a while. He told us to bring shorts and sneakers as well, so maybe we´ll have a soccer game or something with the two Zones. Free food and a Zone activity. Nutin´ better.
That´s my time for today.
Congrats again to the future Elder Heperi, and I hope that you leave all your cool stuff for me. I´ll take good care of it come November. Heh.
-Elder Heperi
I guess it´s official now, huh? 4 yrs. without seeing each other. That´s really weird. So I left at 19, and won´t see Levi until I´m 23? Ha.
Well, any news that I have seems small in comparison, but I´ll try to give it. I was reflecting last night in bed, (I think because of the cold. It got down to about 7 degrees Celsius, and made me feel like it was Christmastime. Very cold in the apartment.) and got to thinking how much time it seems has passed. I mean, Levi with a mission call and Rob about to come home? Yeesh. (BTW: It was rumoured that we´d get a visit from an Apostle this year as well, but as yet it hasn´t been confirmed.)
This week was good and productive. We´re trying a lot harder to involve the members in the work, and the members seem a little more excited about it. Frequency is a little bit low though. As yesterday was pretty chilly, (I walked around in my sweater and suit coat, something I´ve never done before on this side of the equator) which unfortunately made about ½ of the ward stay at home instead of braving the icy winds of Londrina. (Maybe we could get some of Elder Magleby´s people from Russia to talk to them about cold weather and going to church.) Rod... and C. (the young couple that we´re teaching) didn´t go to church because their baby was pretty sick. We passed by there later and taught a lesson about priesthood blessings and gave one to the kid. Rod... seemed pretty touched when we told him that one day it would be his responsibility to bless his family with the Priesthood. They´re a really great family. Rod... is really curious and writes down every scripture reference that we use to read later. Their neighbors are a less-active family that we´re trying to work with to get reactivated as well. They´re good, just that the wife has a bit of a drinking problem, but is always willing to help.
Yesterday we were at lunch with a member who´s an immigrant from Yugoslavia. He speaks Portuguese and German, so I got to practice a bit of my horrible German with him. I guess two years of class weren't all in vain, as he could understand as I asked him important questions like “What´s your name?” and “Do you like bratwurst's or guitar?”. He told me to stick with the Portuguese, and I should be fine. His wife was a bit familiar with New Zealand, and when I said that Dad was from New Zealand, she asked “Oh, so you´re Maori then?” A nice family.
Welp, today we´re off to a BBQ at one of the chapels close to President Leal´s house. I guess it´s gonna be an activity with the two Zones here in Londrina, so I´ll get to see a couple of people that I haven´t seen in a while. He told us to bring shorts and sneakers as well, so maybe we´ll have a soccer game or something with the two Zones. Free food and a Zone activity. Nutin´ better.
That´s my time for today.
Congrats again to the future Elder Heperi, and I hope that you leave all your cool stuff for me. I´ll take good care of it come November. Heh.
-Elder Heperi
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