Casamento!

Well, Reginaldo and Maria were married on Friday and baptized on Saturday night. We also had several investigators at the baptismal service which was wonderful. We are teaching another great family, Raimunda and Salete. We also need to help them decide to be married so they can be baptized. It was really good for them to see the service.

 

Church on Sunday was also fantastic. We are seeing lots of miracles here. We are getting more people to CHurch than I ever have on the mission. The best part is that they are families and adults. It´s great to have youth and children investigators, but it´s even better when they are adults. And better yet, men! The Church really needs to focus on growing through increasing ppriesthood holders. Yesterday was one of the best Sundays I have had. I also gave a talk in Sacrament meeting about the difference between testimony and conversion. We need to have a testimony of the Gospel, but it´s more important to be converted to the Gospel. I think it went fairly well. I was informed Saturday night about the talk. It´s amazing how the mission teaches you to prepare talks on the last minute if necessary. I spit out the Doctrine so quickly.

 

It´s so amazing to see snow at home! I am soooooo jealous. It has been hot as can be here. Luckily it´s cooled down a little these past few days. I think the brutal summer heat might be finally ending. I sure hope so. May-August gets pretty chilly here and I´m excited for it.

 

Things are better than ever on the mission. Our zone is struggling a bit but, the area here is amazing. I really hope to stay until the end of the mission. It´s not likely, but prayers can be answered.

 

Have a great week!

Elder McLelland

I´m not dead!

P-day was moved to wednesday this week. Elder Tobias of the 7th quorum of the Seventy came to my ward on Sunday for a ward conference (the second time he spoke in the ward I was serving in). Then on Monday we had a short little conference with him, that´s why I didn´t write on Monday. 

Things are going really great here in the area. On Friday we have the wedding of Reginaldo and Maria. They will be baptized on Saturday night. It´s finally happening. We also had a bunch of great investigators at church for the conference. 13 in total! It was so wonderful. We are teaching another family that needs to get married. They are really cool. We helped them move to a new house because their last house was in such horrible shape. They were afraid of their kids getting sick from the rats that were infesting the property. Their landlord didn´t take very good care of the place. They are still a bit hesitant to officially get married despite having two daughters and living together for eleven years already. I think it´s more of a financial issue though. It´s such a  joy to be teaching whole families.

We basically only teach people from the Nordeste (northeast) of the country. They all come to the state of São Paulo to work and save up money. Working conditions are much better here. There is a lady in the ward from Bahia. She was telling us that where she lived she would work hard for a full month just to earn 40 reais (about 25 dollars). Here in São Paulo minimum wage is about 800 reais per month (equivalent of about 500 dollars. It´s such a  big difference. All the people from the Nordeste are so simple and humble. It´s so much easier to teach them than people naturally from São Paulo. It´s so much fun to be teaching them and how happy they are to hear the message. I can´t believe I have less than five months until I come home. Can you believe that I hit the 1 year 7 month mark on Sunday? It´s too soon!

Elder Bean´s birthday was on Monday. We were excited to be able to celebrate his birthday on a P-Day, but lo and behold it was cancelled. But we will celebrate today with the Betty Crocker brownie mixes his family sent him. I might be more excited for it than he is.  I´m loving the work with Elder Bean. He is such a fun guy. Its a big stress relive to have an experienced companion.

Í´m about to have a heat stroke. We have been having 100 degree weather about every day. And we are in a stifling hot lanhouse right now. I can´t wait for the cool season. It actually does get surprisingly chilly  in Brazil in the months of May-August. I can´t wait!

I love you all and shortly I will already be writing again. This P-Day in the middle of the week has really thrown off my weekly routine. 

Até Segunda-Feira!
Elder McLelland

Big Black Creek Park (it´s fun to translate the names of Brazilian locations)

This week was a really busy week and a bit frustrating too. We had a bunch of meetings with the Assistants this week. We had a meeting with the all the zone leaders on Tuesday. Then on wednesday we had a meeting with all of the district leaders and zone leaders together. We lost a lot of time in our area because of it. But things turned out okay. We had two cool families at Church yesterday. We had kind of a miracle too. we are teaching a couple that had a lot of difficulties going to Church because the wife worked on all but one Sunday a month. But she was fired so she is able to go to CHurch every week. The cool thing is that she realizes it as a blessing to be fired. Now we've got to work on getting them married.

 

Next Weekend we had the wedding/baptism of Reginaldo and Maria. We are really excited. This family is one of the most devoted families I have met. It is truly a pleasure to work with them. Maria is learning to read through the Book of Mormon. She never went to school as a child and is just now learning. It´s fun to hear her reading slowly and deliberately. She has made a lot of progress. The GOspel inspires so much change in a person. Not just a desire to obey the commandments but to improve your quality of life.

 

We were challenged by our president to work closer to the Church because it´s easier to get people to go on Sundays. We started knocking doors and it was incredible to find out that people that live basically next door have never talked to missionaries before. Even people that have lived there for 15 years. We had some cool teaching expereinces as a result.

 

Well, I guess that about sums it up. I love you all! Have a great week.

Elder McLelland

 

 

Dad asked for a couple of teaching experiences I have had.
 

A neat teaching expereince I had was teaching that family in Birigui which was baptized. The dad, Jair, told us one day about an experience he had at work one day. He always got there a bit early and a co-worker said to him that he seemed different. It wasn´t clothing because they wear a uniform at work. It was just a change in his countenance (Alma 5:15,19). He made miraculous changes because of the Spirit. We never had to make direct invitations to have him change. He himself decided to stop smoking/drinking/etc.

 

Another was last night teaching a young couple that is having a lot of marriage trouble because the husband drinks a lot and gets violent. We visited his wife in the morning and cheered her up and she said the day was so much better just because of our presence their. I had kind of a reality check when her sister-in-law (a member) told me to go there and help because I am the only one this man will listen to. It was really strange to realize how much he trusted in me. and I really haven´t taught him that many times. We went back last night and taught them together about the Word of Wisdom. He was still a bit drunk but calmed down. Even drunk he felt the Spirit and started to show signs of wanting to repent. He told us he wants to fix his life and one day be baptized. He has a long journey ahead of him, but he will make it. It was a really neat spiritual experience.

 

Elder McLelland

Marriage!

Wow, exciting news in Auberry Ward. I never got to know Bishp Rasmussen very well. I spent so little time in the ward after moving back. But I really liked him for the little time that I knew him. I´m excited to hear that Marty Page is the new bishop. he will do a great deal. I have learned a lot on the mission how important the bishop is in a ward. If the bishop doesn´t do things well, it can cripple an entire ward. Or it can lead to great success.

 

Well the things are going great here in the area. Elder Bean and I are working very well together. It´s going to be a great experience. It´s really nice to have an experienced companion finally. It was a lot of fun training but also stressful and tiring. We found a ton of new investigators last week. We are teaching so many families, it´s fantastic. One of the families we have been teaching for a long time finally got their wedding marked this morning. They will be officially married on March 16th and their baptisms will be that weekend. It´s going to be so awesome. Reginaldo and Maria (the ones that have given us pig ear 3 times) are some of the most humble and faithful investigators ever. I´m so excited for them.

 

This week we are going to have a bunch of training with president and the assistants. Tomorrow we have the monthly zone leader council, wednesday a training for all the leadership of the mission and thursday our zone meeting. It´s going to be a very busy week. But ``correria´´ (busy work) is a lot of fun.

 

I don´t really know what else to say, the week was great but not too many big events. It´s always a bit different adjusting to a new companion, but it´s been great. Kind of a relief. And that´s about it I think. Have a great week folks!

 

Elder McLelland

A new horizon

Well, today is a new transfer and I´m really excited to have stayed in my same area. I was really nervous to leave because we finally are getting the work to run more fluidly and are having a steady flow of 7-8 investigators at Church weekly and soon the baptisms will come rolling in. I really didn´t want to miss this opportunity. But, I do have a new companion. Elder Bean from South Jordan, Utah. We have the same amount of time on the mission. But, he went to the Provo MTC because of visa delays. I´m really excited to be his companion. We are gonna have a blast together. I can´t lie, I´m really excited to have an American companion. It´s awesome how we have an instant cultural connection. But it was sad to say goodbye to Elder Mateus.

We had some great experiences this week. We took a new family to Church this Sunday. We are really developing the work with families in the area. Ever since the great experience in Birigui baptiziing that complete family it has become my main focus. Here we have 4 couples that we are teaching and they are showing good progress. The biggest challenge is getting them legally married before baptism. A majority of the people we are teaching are from different states that have come here for work opportunities. The North Eastern region of the country is very poor and has very few work opportunities so many move here to work in construction to try and build a more stable lifestyle. They are such humble people and come here not knowing anything and have ready hearts to hear the gospel. It´s been quite a humbling experience. Also, the pig ear soup is starting to grow on me.

Our mission really kind of strayed from the basics of Preach My Gospel and numbers had been used in many incorrect forms and we all basically turned into robots. But we are having some amazing changes in the mission to really get us more focused on the people and their specific needs. These past two weeks I feel much more relieved and less stressed about my numbers and more focuse on my investigators. Interestingly enough, focusing less on the numbers in themselves is actually helping them to improve. We are getting a lot more people to commit to go to Church and they all are loving it. I´m really loving the mission again.

This weekend is a big Brazilian holiday called Carnaval. It is probably one of the most wicked holiday traditions ever. But luckily it´s not too big of a deal here in Ribeirão Preto. It´s basically Mardi Gras but 100 times worse. Kind of sad to be honest. I can´t wait to celebrate a good, clean 4th of July celebration.

Well, I hope you all have a great week. This has been a great one here for us. I´m really excited and pumped of for the mission. My gas tanking is filling up rather that draining out on the mission....despite the occasional trunkiness and excitement to see you all soon. I love you all!

Elder McLelland

1 year 6 months!

Can you all really believe that on Saturday I hit hte official 1 year six month mark. I also found out the day that I come home. i get the plane on July 31st and on August 1st I will be arriving in the Sates. It´s so wierd to be writing this kind of information. Bummer that I´ll miss Cousin´s Camp.

 

This week was strangely one of the most spiritual yet least successful and most frustrating of all I have had on the mission. Every night planning we had so many people to visit that there just wasn´t time to fit everyone in, yet executing our plans was terrible. No one was home. It was really stressful. But it was a really spiritual week because of a great zone conference we had. Things are changing on the mission and we are receiving a new vision, the correct vision of using numbers. A lot of things in the past I didn´t agree with, especially a part in Preach My Gospel that says a Standard of Excellence may be established by the President and it is not used to impose goals or to be used as a quota. I always believed so much in that phrase and the mission is finally realizing this correct vision. Such a stress reliever. We have a new assistant on the mission that is really revolutionizing the mission and eliminating bad habits such as the incorrect view of the Standard of Excellence.

 

It was also a great week being on Division with my Zone Leader Elder Davis. In his area they received a referral from a pass-along-card and she was baptized yesterday. It was quite a miracle and a greta experience. I did the baptismal interview and have never seen someone more prepared to receive the Gospel. We also contacted a referral from a pass-along-card. He is a young policeman and has suffered a really sad tragedy. Him and his wife had an argument about financial stuff and she went off the deep end and ran away basically kidnapping his two daughters. No one, not even his wife´s parents know where they are. He was really heart broken and called for the Lamb of God DVD hoping to find solace. It was a really neat spiritual experience. We explained the healing power of the Atonement, that it doesn´t only cover our sins but all of our sorrows.

 

The week despite being difficult was great. And I can´t believe we will already have transfers again next week. I can´t be positive but I have a feeling that Elder Mateus and I will e separated. It´s been a great time working with him. One of the humblest missionaries I have ever met in my life. Have a great week! Love you all!

Elder McLelland

Another threesome!

So I´m in a threesome for a few days again with Elder Davis. He is our Zone Leader and his companion was Elder Rich. Elder Rich went home a coupe of weeks early with his parents. Elder Davis came to stay with us for a few days and should be getting a new companion tomorrow. It´s been fun to talk a lot with him. He is a fun Zone Leader.

 

Yesterday was a little frustrating because our planned baptism fell through. We had a crisis with the water at the Chapel not working. WE were running around bucketing water into the font and half way through the girl called us up cancelling the baptism. WE aren´t even sure what happened we didn´t find much out. Hopefully we haven´t lost this invetigator. But it was also a good Sunday becuase I got to attend two wards and meet the investigators of Elder Davis´ward and we also had some cool investigators in my ward. I´m loving the area and hoping to stay a while.

The realization that my mission is coming closer and closer to its end has been settling in. It´s a really strange feeling. I can´t believe I only have 6 months left! I´m still loving the mission with all my heart and at the same time excited to come home. I got the package you sent and about cried with joy to get the boxes of Reese´s Puffs and Honey Bunches of Oats. When Elder Davis saw it he was speechless. I shared the loot and let him have a bowl. I´m also excited for the blueberry muffins, yummmmm. I also really enjoyed reading the Thanksgiving leaves from everyne in the family. My favorite was Odin´s tooth getting whacked and Lily´s ``cowboy girl boots´´. Oh I can´t wait to see all the little ones again.

 

Well, it´s been a pretty normal week. I hope you all have a great one. And remember, give referrals to your local missionaries. We have been having some great experiences teaching through referrals.

 

Elder McLelland