September 26, 2016 - Ribeirão das Neves

I see a Belo Horizonte

Well this is week two in my new area and the ward made a discovery... they know I can play piano. They don´t have anyone here that plays and this week was ward conference. So, I played piano for a choir piece, but only managed one and sang in another. They roped all the missionaries into singing in the choir and we made more than half the men singing. The director didn´t lead the music super dramatically, but I´m used to music professors and Brother Abbott. It´s hard to be more dramatic than them.

During the ward conference the stake president gave a talk and used a story where he was talking with a young man and asked him a question,"if you could be anywhere, where would you be?" The response he received was, at home. All of the elders started to laugh a little, because, first off, it is a little true at times, but we are on a mission and try not to be preoccupied by what is happening at home. Also, one of the elders was just like, "why´d he have to say that?" We all ended up laughing behind the pulpit during sacrament meeting.

We bought gas this week and I am back to eating eggs as they are the cheapest thing I can find. I will literally be perfect at making eggs when I get home. What style do you like; broken, over-easy, hard boiled, scrambled, or do you want an omelette? I´ve also learned how to make home-made pancakes in a blender, but I still haven´t learned how to cook beans.

Elder Quain

September 19, 2016 - Ribeirão das Neves

I see a Belo Horizonte

Well I´ve passed my first week in the new area. Here in Ribeirão das Neves it is a little bit hotter than my last area, but not too bad. This area is a really good area and I´m excited to get going and work here. 

My new companion is Elder Sabino. He has about three months on the mission now and is the youngest companion I´ve had until now. He is the only companion that I´ve had that is younger than me, which is a little different as all my other companions were about one year older than me. He is excited to work and we are getting along fine. He is Brazilian, so that´s pretty normal for me. I think I´ll finish the mission without having an American companion in the field.

We live with two other elders; Elder Matamala, District leader, and Elder Erazo. They are both from Chile and are the only two elders from Chile in the mission. Elder Erazo is new on the mission. They both speak Portuguese very well, but because Spanish and Portuguese are similar they sometimes will say Spanish words. I can understand and it is just a little funny sounding.

I´m learning the area right now and from what I can tell is isn´t super big. We share the same area with the other elders. It can be a little funny when we knock on a door and the people say that they talked with the missionaries two weeks ago. We have to ask a few question to know if it was the other companionship or Jehovah witnesses.

Random

* They are in elections for mayor and here they can play music as advertisement. We are hearing a lot of music right now.

* We saw a toucan this week again, but I always forget my camera

Elder Quain

September 12, 2016 - Sete Lagoes

I see a Belo Horizonte.

Well this is my last week here in Recanto da Serra as I have been transferred to Servilha, Ribeirão das Neves. I'm heading there next week, so I should have some new things to write this next week. 

Sadly, I will probably not be here when my investigators are baptized, but it is great to know that I had the opportunity to help them come unto Christ a little bit more. The decision to be baptized is a big step to take and really is a commitment, but, when someone wants to follow the Savior it is their only choice. In 2Nephi 31, Nephi asks a great question. "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?" It is a great soul searching question that everyone needs to ask themselves at least once in there life if not many times. Christ was the only one to fulfill all of the commandments of God. We will not be perfect and God knows that, but that doesn´t mean that we have the excuse to stop trying. We actually have many things that we can become perfect at including; church attendance, daily study, tithing and baptism. God commands all to come unto Christ and be baptized. And when we have been baptized we have fulfilled this commandment perfectly.

This week we did have one miracle. I had an investigator with my last companion that we had stopped visiting simply because he told us that he wasn´t interested. I felt that it was time to return and visit him. We went to his house, knocked on his door and he opened it with a great big smile. He invited us in and told us that he had decided to read the Book of Mormon that morning. He is now reading the Book of Mormon, when last time it was only his Mom that was reading. It is really cool how the Lord has his own timing and knows how to move his work forward.

random

*Two of my past companions are now companions. Elder Ribeiro and Elder Gonçalves will now be companions in Recanto da Serra

*We were looking at a little snake swim through the water when a bird swooped down and ate it. It felt like the movies when you see a cute bunny and suddenly a bird carries it away.

Elder Quain

The street concert by my apartment

Our last district meeting

Carne BBQ

We had lunch at home one day and this is what I made.

The Brasilians had me teach them how to make onion rings afterwards.

September 5, 2016 - Sete Lagoes

I see a belo horizonte

This week was a pretty good week and had a few miracles.

The first miracle has to do with rain. So, it hasn´t rained for a long time here, but it decided to start pouring. We hid under an overhang and waited for the rain to pass. Unfortunately, I remembered that my bed is under a window that was entirely open. There was another Elder making jokes and saying that I would sleep with the fishes, but when we got home the only bed that was wet was his. He started a joke, but didn´t see that the joke was on him.

The second miracle is that Elder Ribeiro and I were having one of those days where everything falls though, when we had a guy wave us down. We were a little skeptical at first, but we talked with him and found out that he was an inactive member that we didn´t have on our area book as he had moved. He asked us where the church was as he wanted to return and feel the same spirit that he had felt before. We brought him to an activity and we are working with him now.

The third miracle is that I slept at all Saturday night. Saturday morning we looked out the window and saw a mobile stage being set up. I just though, there´s a storm ahead. We returned that night and it had already started, a live concert in front of our house. They played MPB, Sertaneiga and worst of all, Funky. It took quite a while to fall asleep and my companion had a really hard time in ward counsel the next morning. I took a clip to send, but forgot my camera, So I will send it next week

Elder Quain

August 29, 2016 - Sete Lagoes

I see a Belo Horizonte

Well this week I will focus on two investigators; Márcia and Paulo.

Márcia is progressing really well and has the desire to be baptized!!! She has already been to church many times and is natural with the members. Before church starts we are out front inviting people to enter and almost every time we enter the chapel she is already there and we didn´t even see her walk in. This means that she´s arriving more than a half-hour early. Right now we are working with her to give up coffee so that she can be prepared to be baptized. We were explaining the Word of wisdom to her and her mom and the understood all of it, except the coffee. We explained that many members say it is because it has caffeine and is habit forming, but the real response is that we do not drink it because God asked us not to. In the scriptures God says, 'my thoughts are not your thoughts.' He knows better than us and wants to help us. Also, it is a test of obedience. To see if we will be obedient to God´s commandments even if we do not understand them.

The other is Paulo. He has been coming to church for about two months now and we were teaching him. When we came to baptism he told us that he didn´t know if God really exists. We asked him if he had been reading the book of Mormon. He responded one time per week. We invited him to read and pray everyday for an answer. He told us that he still doesn´t have a certainty, but he wants to believe. That is the first step, to have the desire. We are trying to help him see how his life has changed since he started coming to church.

Everyone passes through trials and doubts in this life, but we are not alone. When we turn to Christ we have a power that is beyond our own. It can help us overcome our weaknesses and face the unknown.....that rhymed....

Elder Quain

August 22, 2016 - Sete Lagoes

I see a Belo Horizonte

This week was pretty good.

To start off the week we had a family home evening with one of the investigator´s families in the second counselors house. We decided to watch the Restoration video with everyone. It made me remember when I used to watch it with English subtitles to try and learn Portuguese. Now I can understand it easily. The FHE went well and the investigators really liked it. It is a great tool to help the investigator gain friendships with the members and feel comfortable at church.

We went to teach a lesson to Márcia this week and her nephew was there. He was practicing guitar and started playing American music. He actually sang fairly clearly. I decided to sing along as he played some Ed Sheran and made them laugh when I tried falsetto. Márcia hummed along too. My companion sat there a little awkward and Márcia´s nephew decided to play a Portuguese song so he could sing along, but my companion declined.

We also had a recent convert receive his mission call this week. He will be serving a mission in Cuiabá. He is super excited and the missionaries that taught him are excited too. Knowing a little bit of what he will experience, I know that he will grow and enjoy the mission and helping other. He is a little shy, but will lose his timidness fast.

Teaching a lesson this week I had a shock. We have an investigator that has been coming to church for two months and has received all of the lessons. He had even accepted a date to be baptized, but during the lesson he told us that I doesn´t really believe that God exists. I had not been expecting that. My companion and I were lost for a moment until we thought of the story of Aaron and the King. We read it with him and invited him to act like the king and pray to know if God exists and be willing to give up all to know him. I really hope that he will act to be able to receive a testimony.

Randoms:

* We have a Mexican in our house that is teaching us to sing in Spanish. Baile tu cuerpo alegría   macarena.

* We had a week where another elder was pooped on by a bird and I wasn´t.

Elder Quain 

 FHE from last week at the Paixão family house

Juliano and his mission call

a monkey in the street. It´s fairly normal for me now, but I thought you would like to see it.

August 15, 2016 - Sete Lagoes

I see a belo Horizonte

This week, like many others has gone by really fast. I feel like I don´t have anything super interesting to say right now.

This week we continued to work with Márcia and she has progressed a lot. We have taught her almost all of the lessons and she is learning rapidly. We were teaching her about temples and family history and she had her computer out. I decided to use the opportunity to set up a family search account for her. I realized that I really should use genealogy more as a tool to help my investigators feel the spirit. I also realized that I don´t have patience with computers. I have gained more patience with people, but I haven´t quite mastered slow Internet patience.

One of the great things about teaching there is that she gives us cake every lesson, and it is quite a bit better than the exploding cake that I make. She even sent us home with cake one time. 

This last week we did a family home evening and taught the plan of salvation. It was going well until one of the members decided to talk about deep doctrine and the lesson got derailed. I can talk fairly well in Portuguese, but I haven´t figured out how to stop members from saying things that will just cause confusion. It is just due to the fact that everything is new and we don´t want to overload people. Luckily, we finally gained control of the situation and finished the lesson, but it was about 30 minutes longer than expected.

Randoms:

• This Sunday was Father´s Day here in Brasil...parabéns pra você
• Everybody that sees me asks if I´m watching the Olympics
• Everybody tells me that America is stealing all of the Medals
• I drink Chá Matte here

Elder Quain