Mudancas!!! - Nov. 10, 2014
Well this has been a very different day! It has been pretty strange
being back in the office again but not having to do anything with
payments or rent or reimbursements, nothing of that,so that is really
nice! So here is the low down: I am actually one of 4 Assistants!! Yeah!
Crazy right?? So I had found out I needed to come early and be here
today for a meeting with president but I had not been told my area, and
neither had any of the others. So we found out that for this transfer
President is doing an experiment to help the mission out... none of us
will have areas. Yep, that was different news! We will do exchanges
every single week. My companion and I (my comp is Elder Farias, one of
my good friends here on the mission and one of the most humble elders I
have ever met) will be responsible for all of the zones here in the
Capital and the other two APs will be responsible for the Interior. So
President basically reset the mission, there are TONS of new leaders and
he wants to really change the mission culture. So he is having us do an
exchange with a set of Zone Leaders each week. We are going to get in
their area on Tuesday morning and stay with them until Sunday afternoon!
On Sunday afternoon we will come back and have our weekly meeting with
President. It will be strange not having an area or investigators,but we
will be able to help the elders and their investigators and really get
to know them well on these splits. He said this will be a temporary
thing, one transfer, two at the maximum. So yeah! Very very different.
He is really excited as he wants us to truly help these elders in ALL
aspects of the work and to help elevate and inspire them in all that they
do. I am excited, it is going to be interesting and very tiring and
hard work, but it will be really good. So yeah! Tomorrow we will have
transfers and do all of that,help the new missionaries and train them,
then on Wednesday morning i will head off to another area Barueri for
hte rest of the week. Also, now it looks like my Preparation Day will be
on Monday, not Saturday. So yep, there we go. Last week was really good,
we were working really hard to continue what we had been doing. Igor is
really firm to get baptized this next weekend and truly understands
everything. I had really thought that I would stay another transfer with
Elder J Silva and I was happy with that, to me it was going to be
fine, but that is ok. I had a good birthday, it was basically a normal
day except for the whole traveling thing. Thanks for so many cards Mom
and everyone, it was great receiving them all! Well, I love you all, have a
great week!
Elder Carney
11/18/14- Jaragua!
Well this last week has been just absolutely crazy, so let´s get
started! On Tuesday we went to President´s house to be there to meet the
new missionaries, we had a good time and they were a really special
group. President commented on that and we all felt that the missionaries
who arrived were really prepared, they had a great spirit about them.
As president was interviewing them we went and did street contacts with
them, it was so awesome! We went to this huge avenue that is in front of
where president lives and it was so fun teaching with these elders,
several of the Americans did such a great job, haha they were really
nervous but did so great! I was grateful to do that with them. Then we
went back to the office and Tucuruvi and had the transfer meeting which
went really well. A lot of my friends on the mission are now training as
they are finishing up their missions, it was fun to see them and we
(Elder Farias and I) were able to give a training to the trainers which
went really well, the Spirit was really strong and we were all really
excited. On Tuesday morning we went to Jaraguá, we were going to go to
Barueri but the Zone Leaders are both new in their area so we decided to
go to Jaraguá first. It was so incredible! Such a great experience. We
were just working so incredibly hard, and the other missionaries in the
zone were working like crazy as well. In a week the zone (6 sets of
elders) marked 80 baptismal dates!!!! Hahah we were inviting everyone!
We were glad to see the elders really encouraging each other and calling
each other to share the miracles that were happening. The two zone
leaders there are incredible. Elder Marciano is from Rio and Elder Youd
is from Missouri, I knew them both beforehand but it was wonderful to
work with them. Elder Youd is always happy and excited and Elder
Marciano is a great leader, he has a really strong testimony. In one
lesson Elder Marciano testified about the First Vision and afterwards
the Spirit was so strong. I asked the investigator if he believed all of
it to be true and he said "After what he just said I know it is all
true." It was so awesome, we were really striving to learn together. I
felt like I learned so much working with these elders, it was sad
leaving! We also participated in their stake conference which went well.
Yesterday evening we had our meeting with President and it went so
well, it is incredible how much i learn each time I speak with him, he
truly is always teaching, we just have to pay attention. We also were
able to have a mini family night with his family, he really wants his
children to be involved in the mission and enjoys it when they are able
to have missionaries in their home. Now I am in Barueri, I am excited to
be here. I am really praying for this zone to get excited and really
strive to fulfill their missionary purpose. I love you all, have a
fantastic week!!
Elder Carney
Nov. 22, 2014
Haha, well sorry about all of this sporadic emailing that has been going on! It looks like for a good couple of weeks I will now be able to have a little more solid schedule, this is the first time the mission has done this whole us not having an area and traveling all the time thing and so we are kind of guinea pigs. This last week was really good. We arrived in the area called Barueri and one of the first things was Zone Training. It was great, in that zone the two district leaders are Elder Irineu and Elder Mussin, my trainer. They are two of my favorite missionaries in the mission so it was great to see them. Elder Mussin is going home in three weeks so it was a great opportunity to see him again. It was a good meeting and wonderful to feel the Spirit there with all of the missionaries. Hopefully we helped them get more excited and really motivated. Then we started the splits, my first day of splits I ended up... staying inside the house!! One of the Zone Leaders is Elder Mckinley, from Dallas, Oregon, and he was SUPER sick. He had some sort of stomach virus and was just trashed, so I stayed with him all day so that his companion could work with Elder Farias. Haha I kind of was his little caretaker for the day, I cleaned up their house a bit, got him things when he needed it, stuff like that. I wanted to really take the opportunity to serve, so that was nice that I was able to do a litlte something for him. He is a great missionary. Luckily the members took super good care of him and while he was sleeping I was able to do some studying and get some good Ensign/Book of Mormon reading in. The next day I left with Elder Sepúlveda, who is from Santiago, Chile. He is a great elder who is really enthusiastic. We worked hard and were able to find some good new investigators. I love working here in the Capitol, there are always so many people on the streets and it is always an adventure. Living in that house and working in half of Barueri is also Elder Singleton, who was my companion in Itapeva, and Elder Johnson, a good elder from North Carolina. They both are super tall and really white and blond, so everyone here calls them twins. It was really good working with them a little bit as well.
Haha, well sorry about all of this sporadic emailing that has been going on! It looks like for a good couple of weeks I will now be able to have a little more solid schedule, this is the first time the mission has done this whole us not having an area and traveling all the time thing and so we are kind of guinea pigs. This last week was really good. We arrived in the area called Barueri and one of the first things was Zone Training. It was great, in that zone the two district leaders are Elder Irineu and Elder Mussin, my trainer. They are two of my favorite missionaries in the mission so it was great to see them. Elder Mussin is going home in three weeks so it was a great opportunity to see him again. It was a good meeting and wonderful to feel the Spirit there with all of the missionaries. Hopefully we helped them get more excited and really motivated. Then we started the splits, my first day of splits I ended up... staying inside the house!! One of the Zone Leaders is Elder Mckinley, from Dallas, Oregon, and he was SUPER sick. He had some sort of stomach virus and was just trashed, so I stayed with him all day so that his companion could work with Elder Farias. Haha I kind of was his little caretaker for the day, I cleaned up their house a bit, got him things when he needed it, stuff like that. I wanted to really take the opportunity to serve, so that was nice that I was able to do a litlte something for him. He is a great missionary. Luckily the members took super good care of him and while he was sleeping I was able to do some studying and get some good Ensign/Book of Mormon reading in. The next day I left with Elder Sepúlveda, who is from Santiago, Chile. He is a great elder who is really enthusiastic. We worked hard and were able to find some good new investigators. I love working here in the Capitol, there are always so many people on the streets and it is always an adventure. Living in that house and working in half of Barueri is also Elder Singleton, who was my companion in Itapeva, and Elder Johnson, a good elder from North Carolina. They both are super tall and really white and blond, so everyone here calls them twins. It was really good working with them a little bit as well.
Funny story, we were all
walking to lunch and there was this woman who was walking really quickly
towards us, I think she may have been homeless and she took our hands
and kissed each of our hands as she took it, well she was pretty
insistent and really really wanted to shake/kiss our hands. It was
weird. Well she was eating a banana. And her mouth was full of banana.
So we got banana kisses on our hands. It was gross. I happened to have
alcohol wipes on hand since a member had decided to give them to me a
short time ago! That was nice. Elder Singleton really didn´t want to get
his hand kissed by this interesting woman, so he ran away from her and
was dodging her, haha so she threw her banana at him! You know, just
another day on the streets of São Paulo!
This week it was good
working with the elders. I was really pleading and asking for the
Spirit to be with me. We were there to help these elders, but we didn´t
really even know them or what they/their zone was needing. So even
though I don´t know, I know that Heavenly Father does. I was really
praying so that we could be guided to know how we could effectively help
these missionaries. I felt the Spirit so much this week. We truly were
guided, and we were used to help His children learn more about the
Gospel. I love it, I just love teaching, it truly is wonderful! But all
of it would be useless if we didn´t have the Spirit with us. I am
grateful for the opportunities that I have been receiving to help these
brothers and sisters of mine learn about the true gospel.
Today
was good, the members who gave us lunch were great, she served a
mission in L.A. working in the temple visitor´s center there. It was
cool, haha they did a BBQ and even had BBQ sauce!!! It was delicious.
But even better, they invited like 14 non-member friends and two less
actives!! It was the best thing ever. So we were talking like crazy with
them and all of them were really interested to know why we are here in
Brasil, things like that. At the end I was able to give a message and I
truly hope they felt the Spirit and accept the missionaries when they
visit. All of them took Pass Along Cards and promised to call and accept
a Book of Mormon as a present. It was great talking with all of them.
Elder Carney
This
month President Farnes is have uma "Mês de Gratidão" so I have been
trying to really be aware of the blessings that I have been receiving
and be more grateful. I love it, it is great to say thank you! Well,
have a wonderful week everyone!! I might not be able to finish emailing
tonight so I might be able to get on tomorrow. I found out one of my
recent converts here in Tucuruvi is having a hard time right now so I
might go visit them to see how they are doing. Love you all!!
