i'm coming home

Well this is probably my last email and since we talked yesterday I am not sure what to say. 

 

I guess it is sufficente to say that I worked really hard. For two years I worked for Heavenly Father. And that is about all I can say. 

 

Sometimes there were results sometimes there weren´t that was up to him and up to the agency of the people who recieved my message. I can say two things I never stopped working and i never broke rules. 

 

That seems to have been the test. 

 

The Lord wanted to see who would be obedient and who would work.

 

I learned to Love him here. I learned to love Heavenly Father more than I did before. I learned to work hard and love much.

 

I hope you all have enjoyed my emails thanks for all the support and for the love,

 

Elder Noel

So I am in a new area with a new companion and a new zone.

 

Things here are different. Only 14 people in the zone as opposed to 24. And the zone is a stake instead of a district with a larger growth ratio in the last trimester. The stake has had a lot of problems in the past with missionaries and with members but recently has gotten a lot better and is growing a lot.

 

This week I had to say good bye to my district which was pretty hard. It is odd how much friendship you make even when you just see each other once a week when you are all working really hard for one goal. I made the best cinnamon rolls that i have ever made for the good bye district meeting. So many good byes as a missionary.

 

I got a letter from Catherine and 2 from Hannah. Catherine is doing well I guess. She wrote me from the MTC so I dont~know how she is right now haha. But she liked it. Hannah is doing really well. IT was funny because you said she was liking the MTC but she told me she wasn~t really liking it. haha She said the first 3 weeks were like an eternity.

 

I also got your Package which was nice. I loved the chocolate and the notes were fun :)

 

Good to here that SVU gave me some money. I hope that it all works out. I know it will.

 

This week we had a meeting with Presidente Fernandes that was really good. He talked a lot about Planning. Which is something I need to get better at. I get so excited to do something that I forget to plan and my work suffers. He helped alot by talking about vision and how we have to see where we want to go before we can get there.

He really is incredible. He has turned this Mission around. For 10 years the church in this mission was basically dormant. And now it is the mission that grows the most in Brasil. It is incredible to me to see how the Lord put me with a President that helped me work the way I wanted to. He isn~t worried about Baptisms he is worried about real growth. And that is what is happening. The number of priesthood holders and number of people in sacrament meeting went up constantly over the past year. Something that it hasn~t done in a long time. It is cool to see that because sometimes we think that nothing we do makes a difference because no one gets baptized but we know that things are moving forward.

I know that Christ lives and that he loves me. I know that through him we can be perfect and we can be sanctified. I love him.

 

I also love all of you.

 

Elder Noel

So this week started out with a trip to Florianopolis on monday via Airplane. Tuesday night we came back to Chapecó via onibus (12 hours) and we had 22 boxes that people sent to missionaries. The bus company wanted to charge us more for our boxes  because there is a limit for bagage that isn~t written anywhere I asked him to show me the rule and he couldn~t show me but told me that it was a rule. I had to keep my mouth shut not to yell in him face about how stupid it was to have a un written rule about baggage when everyone needs to know how much you can bring. I was pretty upset but he gave us a discount for the baggage so it all turned out good. 

 

We didn~t really sleep on the bus so we were tired and the next day we worked normally and then on thurday we had a zone meeting that we had planned for the last month and we announced it 2 weeks earlier to everyone so that they could plan accordingly. The day before a missionary called me telling me he would be late because he had to do some errands before coming and wouldn~t be able to come on time. Once again I had to keep my mouth shut. But ended up convincing to come on time (he just wanted to show up grab his boxes and leave) and stay for the meeting (actually i didn~t really convince him I just told him that if he didn~t want to come on time he didn~t need to come at all)

 

Then on thursday I woke up at 5 after sleeping on the floor because we didn~t have mattresses for everyone and had a very stressful zone meeting that no one paid attention to (that is super dissapointing when you talk and practice and pray and no one pays attention) so I was a little frustrated and tired ( luckily a letter with pictures cheered me up for a little) then we went on with our week and saturday came and I was planning to fast and almost cried thinking about fasting because I wasn~t sure I could but ended up fasting anyway and it all turned out well. 

 

Yesterday we had some lessons with members that were amazing and we are working on the baptisms of Claudio and Margaride. We are really excited for them. 

 

I love being a missionary!!!

 

Hope all is well on the home front!

Wright

another crazy week

So this week was pretty crazy. 

 

From Chapecó (where I am right now) to Florianopolis. (Where I need to go to the mission meetings) is 11 hours on a bus. On tuesday i went to Florianopolis. On Thursday i came back. haha and both the buses were at night which means that i didn~t sleep this week because monday was the transfer and I was getting elders at the bus station all night. But it was a great meeting with Presidente Fernandes and this area is really special. 

 

We have marked 3 baptisms this week. That is crazy. How many baptisms did I mark in 8 months in Sao Fransisco? .... 2. haha it is really strange to have people accepting us and accepting baptism. I actually don~t really know what to do. hahaha

 

My new companion is a really good Elder. He is a little hard in his leadership style but he is a great leader and wants to help the missionaries. He teaches well and is obedient. I think he is the best zone leader that I have seen all in all. I was a little offended by that at first because I am a prideful jerk who wanted to be better than him.I was a little rebelious in the beginning but then Heavenly Father gave me a little inspiration. He told me that This might be the last time on my mission that I have a chance to sit back and learn from someone. It has been 9 months since I have had a companion with more time than me on the mission and might be the last. So I should enjoy the time and the chance to learn. After I learned that I started having better feelings for him. 

 

Yesterday we had an incredible experience here. The branch President asked us to do a presentation called Project: Chapecó Temple. That is a little strange because here only has a district and hasn~t even turned stake but he asked us to do this. Then He moved back to Sao Paulo. My companion who was planning it all with me was transfered and one of the sisters who had a significant part was also transfered. All one week before the fireside. Leaving ME with all the responsibilty of something that I had recieved second hand. haha I prayed and fasted for help and we worked a lot to practice and perform well. 

 

We borrowed computers from members and a projector from another area (4 hours away another story and another miracle) and we got ready. We prayed and it turned out great. 

 

My companion was fantastic in envolving the crowd and the members got into the practices we did with them and the fireside had an incredible spirit that you could see in the eyes of the members as they left. I am so excited to see what happens here. I know that one day there will be a temple here. We just need to work more. 

 

It was such a strong testimony of the power of grace. We did all we could and Heavenly Father made up the rest. We couldn~t have done that fireside as well as we did alone. It just ins~t possible. we don~t have the skills or the resources but the members helped and Heavenly Father sent a special spirit to the meeting that was incredible. 

 

I love being a missionary. It is something so special. 

 

 

Just a little comment here. Our district is great. We have 4 great elders and 2 great sisters that are all hard workers and very spiritual. It is so fun to be part of a district like that. They are funny and we can laugh and learn and have a great time together. They were fantastic in the presentation and afterward we had a little party with cinnamon rolls (made by me) and there was just a special feeling when 6 righteous people are together to do something good. 

 

Well thank you all for everything that you do. For your prayers and for your thoughts. 

 

Love you all,

 

Wright

October 22, 2012

Well I just got a call from the President telling me that I will be going to Chapeco.

 

So this week was kind of crazy with lots of made plans and fallen trough plans lots of contacts and some bright spots of progress with investigators. The highlight of the week was making cinnamon rolls with My companion and then making them bymyself  the next day for a family night. It was so cool to have members like them and things like that. I love cooking! haha unfortunately all the things I bought to help myself out here will have to be packed up because I was transfered.....

 

When the General Authority Elder Godoy came here he talked to us about two side of missionaries. The attributes side and the tactics side. That every missionary has these two sides the attributes to be like Christ and the Tactics to teach. I have thought a lot about that. As I read the book of Mormon I see that Moroni was so impressive because he understood the two sides. He had the attributes, but more importantly he understood that attributes are more impórtant than tactics. The lord rewards us based on our attributes. As moroni Prespared for war he put the attributes first. But he was also tactically brillant. He worked on the tactics and with inspiration he used tactics never before used. He was amazing.

 

I want to be like that. I want to have the Christ like attributes to see and help people and have the tactics to get things done.

 

I love you lots. I am so greatful for the prayers that you say for me. I am greateful that I have such a wonderful family that is truly faithful. I see so many problems here with kids because the parents don~t love each other or because the parents are more interested in themselves than the welfare of the family. I am so greatful for you two.

 

Thank you so much for everything.

 

Wright

 

Hey so I tried to make bread this morning lets see how it works out:)

So for the first time I will be leaving the Brazilian Coast. I was transfered to a small town in another state (Rio Grande do sul) called vacaria. So we will see how it goes. I know my companion already. He is from my group and has had a hard time so far on the mission. SO pray that I will be able to help the branch and also be able to help the missionary as well.

It is so odd to leave an area. I only had 6 weeks here but I love these people already. It is so great to be a missionary because you feel a love for everyone. But the hard part is that you are always coming and going. I guess life is kind of like that but that doesn~e make it any easier.

We had the stake dance festival here in our ward and had 3 investigators and 1 less active member that came to watch which was super fun. The youth did a great job and it was super fun to see everyone just excited about being in the church. Especially when it was competely modest and appropriate. It was so great.

I never know what to say in these emails.... haha sorry but it is so true.

I am glad that someone came to look at the truck. I hope it all went well. I have been a little stressed about everything this week. Mostly due to the fact that my life is completey blank after june of 2013. haha I have so many loose ends and sometimes they all come back to stress me out. But that is part of faith right. Knowing nothing more than God will help and moving forward.

My companion(who is just trained) will go back to San Fransisco  (where I just left) so he wil get to teach all the people that I taught there and will get to help in the growth of the church. He will be great there.

Well I love you all. I feel like time is passing really quickly right now. I hope we all make the best of it:)

Love Elder Noel

9-17-2012

Hey mom/dad so this week was a good week. 

 We had the chance to talk to a lot of people in their houses which is kind of rare here. haha and Heavenly Father opened doors for us that I never thought we would be able to get into. Please pray that we might be able to help these people as they grow in the Church. 

 The highlight of the week was that we had the chance to sit next to Leandro in church. Leandro is a man who two years ago was involved pretty deeply in international drug trafficking. He left and started going to churches but was a little confused as to why there are so many churchs and why so many talk about money so much. He saw us taking a break outside his house and asked if we wanted water. we said no and then he asked if we wanted an orange, you know me mom I never accept food from other people but I said sure and he cut up some oranges and told us his story. we marked a lesson and visited him with a member. 

 That was two weeks ago. This week he came to church for the first time. As the choir sung (As sisters in zion and Well bring the world his truth,) he told his story to the member and his wife as tears rolled down his face. He cried for the whole church meeting. It was something so powerful that reminded me that there is so much more than us. We as missionaries are pretty much nothing. We cant speak well. we are uneducated and we are immature. But as Heavenly Father helps us we can see miracles in the lives of his children. 

 I am increasinlgy horrified but the focus that the mission puts on Baptism. It worries me alot. I know we need to baptise people but is that really our Goal? Peter invited people to be baptized only after they had gained a testimony that Christ was the Messiah. Christ and his apostles baptised those who wanted to follow him. John baptised those who believed his words. Shouldn~t that be the first step? Testimony? Baptism comes after testimony. I dont know how to see this focus on baptism. It scares me but at the same time I see it as almost a necessary evil. Are we as missionaries ready to recieve the doutrine of teach for testimony and baptise the repentant? I don~t know. But that is how I teach and how I work.

 I love you guys I pray for you and for all that you do to help other people and to help me.