Bauru, April 11, 2011
April 11, 2011
Hello mother!
Thank you very much for your e-mail!
Happy birthday to Lucy too! I hope you made a delicious cake and ate it with family and had good memories. I am very excited to hear about your new job and office. It looks super cool. Like some kind of high tech secret agent deal. Are you secretly working for the FBI? There is a guy in our ward who is a spy for the government. He is way cool and says funny things.
So, I have some super exciting news. Today are transfers and................. I´m going to be a Dad! I got a call yesterday and learned that we will have 21 new missionaries who will be arriving this transfer and I will be training one of them! I will be going to Londrina later today to find out who it is and I will come back here to Bauru tomorrow. I don´t feel super prepared, but please pray for me that I can do my best and help out the new missionary.
This last week we had 2 baptisms in the ward! I don´t have pictures unfortunately because I was playing prelude music while they were taking pictures. It was super cool. It was 2 people that Elder Neal and I found while the Zone leaders were gone. It is in the other area, but I got to teach them several times and we marked their baptisms! Super super cool! The baptism was super spiritual and they were so happy afterwards. We had a lot of new people in church and it was just a terrific day. Then afterwards I ate way too much at lunch. The kitchen was really small and I was trying to get up to get seconds and Irmã Christiane said, “Can I get it for you to make it easier?” I couldn´t be rude and say no and then she took my plate and put more food on it than 3 oxen could eat in a month and gave it back smiling. I said a quiet prayer to ask to expand my stomach and I managed to eat it all without barfing. Miracles are real! Aww, the mission is super great.
So, André´s family is doing really well and we have FHE with them tonight with the bishop’s family. The mom LOVES church and the daughter can´t sleep anymore without the Book of Mormon under her pillow. Batismo! Whoo hoo! Elder Crosbie was transferred to Maringá and it will be pretty exciting here. Like I said, I am pretty nervous, but God is in control and I´ll go where He wants me to go. I know that this church is true. I know God lives and guides us. I know we have living breathing prophets and that families can be together forever. One thing we have talked a lot about here is being enthusiastic. I would like to give the same advice to you. You are awesome and don’t let anybody convince you otherwise. I will pray for you and I know God will bless our family.
até mais!
-Elder Markham
Hello mother!
Thank you very much for your e-mail!
Happy birthday to Lucy too! I hope you made a delicious cake and ate it with family and had good memories. I am very excited to hear about your new job and office. It looks super cool. Like some kind of high tech secret agent deal. Are you secretly working for the FBI? There is a guy in our ward who is a spy for the government. He is way cool and says funny things.
So, I have some super exciting news. Today are transfers and................. I´m going to be a Dad! I got a call yesterday and learned that we will have 21 new missionaries who will be arriving this transfer and I will be training one of them! I will be going to Londrina later today to find out who it is and I will come back here to Bauru tomorrow. I don´t feel super prepared, but please pray for me that I can do my best and help out the new missionary.
This last week we had 2 baptisms in the ward! I don´t have pictures unfortunately because I was playing prelude music while they were taking pictures. It was super cool. It was 2 people that Elder Neal and I found while the Zone leaders were gone. It is in the other area, but I got to teach them several times and we marked their baptisms! Super super cool! The baptism was super spiritual and they were so happy afterwards. We had a lot of new people in church and it was just a terrific day. Then afterwards I ate way too much at lunch. The kitchen was really small and I was trying to get up to get seconds and Irmã Christiane said, “Can I get it for you to make it easier?” I couldn´t be rude and say no and then she took my plate and put more food on it than 3 oxen could eat in a month and gave it back smiling. I said a quiet prayer to ask to expand my stomach and I managed to eat it all without barfing. Miracles are real! Aww, the mission is super great.
So, André´s family is doing really well and we have FHE with them tonight with the bishop’s family. The mom LOVES church and the daughter can´t sleep anymore without the Book of Mormon under her pillow. Batismo! Whoo hoo! Elder Crosbie was transferred to Maringá and it will be pretty exciting here. Like I said, I am pretty nervous, but God is in control and I´ll go where He wants me to go. I know that this church is true. I know God lives and guides us. I know we have living breathing prophets and that families can be together forever. One thing we have talked a lot about here is being enthusiastic. I would like to give the same advice to you. You are awesome and don’t let anybody convince you otherwise. I will pray for you and I know God will bless our family.
até mais!
-Elder Markham
Bauru, April 4, 2011
April 4, 2011
Hiya hiya hiya!
So, this week has been pretty good. With the help of a member from another ward we are teaching his entire family and they are super excited! He is named André and he has been a member for lots of time. Just now the rest of his family is getting interested and we are working with them. We had a family night with Elza (mom) Kelly (sister) Tainá (daughter) and Rodrigo (son). Rodrigo is 6 and waaaay funny. We did this activity and now he loves the missionaries and wants a game every time we teach a lesson! We have another family night tonight and Elza went to conference yesterday!
We almost baptized another person yesterday. On Friday we had a super spiritual lesson where we put the steps to heaven on the ground. Her sister had already been baptized a few months before and we had the rest of the family walk up to celestial kingdom and she (Christiane) had to stay on repentance. It really put things in perspective and after a while she just asked us if she could be baptized! The problem is the next day she got reeeaallly sick and couldn´t come to her interview. Then when we called back to check up on her she sounded upset and said she doesn´t want to be baptized anymore. We are going back there ASAP and hopefully we can resolve the issue. I think she is very close to baptism and somebody said something that scared her. The devil seems to work harder right before someone gets baptized. Pray for her and for us and I have faith that we´ll have good news next week!
Speaking of next week, it is transfers next week! It’s crazy to think that I´ve already been here in Bauru for a month. I still feel super new here, but it’s great. I think it’s a somewhat difficult area, but its gives a lot of room to grow.
I´m am so happy to hear all the good news from home. Your new medicine is working, you are starting your cool research job, Larry and Jennie got a house, the family went to Outback, man! Life is good. Thank you a lot for all your advice too. I´ve decided people are just hard to work with. Everything looks good on paper and then you have to cooperate with people and stuff goes crazy! We are trying a lot to involve the ward and it is having decent success. I just want to find out how to take it to the next level and really get some work done. This week we are going to make some super goals and do work. The only problem is that the LZ´s are going to Londrina for 3 days for some training. Oh well. Forward!
To answer your questions: Bishops name is Bispo da Paula. Conference was broadcast live. The problem is that we were only allowed to watch one session on Saturday IF we brought an investigator. I saw the Saturday morning and the two on Sunday. We couldn´t watch Priesthood because it was too late. My favorite talks were the one about to be vs. to do and also Elder Bednar about receiving revelation. Elder Holland gave a pretty cool talk too. A funny thing is that Elder Crosbie and Vilela heard Elder Scott´s marriage talk and now they are worried because they have to go home and get married! haha! I actually think it would be awesome if you could send me a copy of the Conference Ensign as soon as it comes out because it really takes forever to get them on the mission and I want to read the two sessions I missed. We had an ok turnout for Conference, but it could have been better. It rained a lot on Sunday and for some reason, if it rains here, the people just give up and don’t do anything, so I was a little hard to get people there. Oh well. Thank you for your letter! I like them to be long so please don’t apologize. I know Dad is closer than we think. I know God´s plan is real and I love the gospel. Thank you for all of your prayers and love. I couldn´t do it without you! Jesus lives and we have a prophet in our days. What more could we need?
Over and out;
-Elder Markham
Hiya hiya hiya!
So, this week has been pretty good. With the help of a member from another ward we are teaching his entire family and they are super excited! He is named André and he has been a member for lots of time. Just now the rest of his family is getting interested and we are working with them. We had a family night with Elza (mom) Kelly (sister) Tainá (daughter) and Rodrigo (son). Rodrigo is 6 and waaaay funny. We did this activity and now he loves the missionaries and wants a game every time we teach a lesson! We have another family night tonight and Elza went to conference yesterday!
We almost baptized another person yesterday. On Friday we had a super spiritual lesson where we put the steps to heaven on the ground. Her sister had already been baptized a few months before and we had the rest of the family walk up to celestial kingdom and she (Christiane) had to stay on repentance. It really put things in perspective and after a while she just asked us if she could be baptized! The problem is the next day she got reeeaallly sick and couldn´t come to her interview. Then when we called back to check up on her she sounded upset and said she doesn´t want to be baptized anymore. We are going back there ASAP and hopefully we can resolve the issue. I think she is very close to baptism and somebody said something that scared her. The devil seems to work harder right before someone gets baptized. Pray for her and for us and I have faith that we´ll have good news next week!
Speaking of next week, it is transfers next week! It’s crazy to think that I´ve already been here in Bauru for a month. I still feel super new here, but it’s great. I think it’s a somewhat difficult area, but its gives a lot of room to grow.
I´m am so happy to hear all the good news from home. Your new medicine is working, you are starting your cool research job, Larry and Jennie got a house, the family went to Outback, man! Life is good. Thank you a lot for all your advice too. I´ve decided people are just hard to work with. Everything looks good on paper and then you have to cooperate with people and stuff goes crazy! We are trying a lot to involve the ward and it is having decent success. I just want to find out how to take it to the next level and really get some work done. This week we are going to make some super goals and do work. The only problem is that the LZ´s are going to Londrina for 3 days for some training. Oh well. Forward!
To answer your questions: Bishops name is Bispo da Paula. Conference was broadcast live. The problem is that we were only allowed to watch one session on Saturday IF we brought an investigator. I saw the Saturday morning and the two on Sunday. We couldn´t watch Priesthood because it was too late. My favorite talks were the one about to be vs. to do and also Elder Bednar about receiving revelation. Elder Holland gave a pretty cool talk too. A funny thing is that Elder Crosbie and Vilela heard Elder Scott´s marriage talk and now they are worried because they have to go home and get married! haha! I actually think it would be awesome if you could send me a copy of the Conference Ensign as soon as it comes out because it really takes forever to get them on the mission and I want to read the two sessions I missed. We had an ok turnout for Conference, but it could have been better. It rained a lot on Sunday and for some reason, if it rains here, the people just give up and don’t do anything, so I was a little hard to get people there. Oh well. Thank you for your letter! I like them to be long so please don’t apologize. I know Dad is closer than we think. I know God´s plan is real and I love the gospel. Thank you for all of your prayers and love. I couldn´t do it without you! Jesus lives and we have a prophet in our days. What more could we need?
Over and out;
-Elder Markham
Bauru March 28, 2011
Momma! Bom dia!
As always, thank you very much for your letters! I´ll write in English again this week cuz it’s a lot easier! So anyhow, thank you for all the updates and stuff. I´m glad you are staying busy and keeping happy and it sounds like things are going well! To answer a few questions, ´legal´ basically means cool. I don’t remember if that high school (Westlake) was built yet. Yeah, I heard about the colors festival thing. Basically you just get lots of chalk in your eyes. I´m glad Sharon had fun there!
Man, time is really flying here. I still feel super new in Bauru, but we only have 2 weeks left in this transfer! I´ll probably stay, but that still means I´ve been here a month! So, yeah we spend a lot of time in divisions because Elder Crosbie gets to go help out other missionaries. Usually 2 days a week I am with other Elders and also if they have an interview to do or something. It’s cool to change things up, but sometimes it’s a little hard to remember everything! Our zone here is having a little bit of troubles right now, but I´m sure things will pick up. I just wanted to share a cool story that happened the other day. I was feeling pretty bummed out and frustrated (it happens). You know how I can be pretty hard on myself sometimes, but anyways we went to district meeting and I got a letter from one of my friends and at the end it just had a random last paragraph that said, “don’t ever waste time thinking negatively about yourself”. I really made me feel better and I thought it was really cool that God really cares for us. He inspired this person probably like a month ago to write something nice in a letter that took forever to pass through the Brazilian mail system to arrive on the very day that I was feeling down. Coincidence? I think not!
So, this week was cool, primarily because we had a BAPTISM! Yeah! The picture I sent is of a girl named Maria Eduarda. She had already been to church a few times and she has relatives that are members. She was so ready and excited to live the commandments and it was super super cool. She was baptized by the bishop of our ward and it was super spiritual. There is another girl named Jessica that will probably be baptized this coming week. We are trying a lot to work with the members here in the ward because it is really a much more effective way to find people, but it can get kind of complicated as well. Working with members always goes a lot slower than ideal. Do you have any good ideas about how to help them?
This week we found a really cool guy named Ricardo. I was in a division with Elder Neal and we got lost and missed our appointment and we were both pretty grumpy, but then we knocked on this door and found Ricardo. He had a weird thing where one day he just woke up almost completely blind and the doctors don’t know why. Anyway we taught him and he loved it and went to church and really liked it and agreed to be baptized! Wahoo! Way to go spirit. That day was great. The Zone leaders had left us to go to a meeting and accidentally took both cell phones AND both sets of keys to the house! Then they were late getting back and Elder Neal and I were sitting out in front of our house until like 10:30. IT was pretty funny and it would have been a cool story if we´d had to sleep out on the street. Haha! The other good thing is that we are all waking up invigorated and alert in the mornings now. This is because our shower heater broke and we have to brave the Antarctic flows to not smell bad. The mission is seriously just awesome. I know that this really is the work of the Lord. Thank you for all of the love and support and prayers. I really appreciate it. Tell the home teachers thank you too. I am so glad you are being cared for. I know God lives and Jesus is the Christ. Just think! Next week we will get to hear the prophet of the Lord! Yeah!
Até logo!
-Elder Markham
As always, thank you very much for your letters! I´ll write in English again this week cuz it’s a lot easier! So anyhow, thank you for all the updates and stuff. I´m glad you are staying busy and keeping happy and it sounds like things are going well! To answer a few questions, ´legal´ basically means cool. I don’t remember if that high school (Westlake) was built yet. Yeah, I heard about the colors festival thing. Basically you just get lots of chalk in your eyes. I´m glad Sharon had fun there!
Man, time is really flying here. I still feel super new in Bauru, but we only have 2 weeks left in this transfer! I´ll probably stay, but that still means I´ve been here a month! So, yeah we spend a lot of time in divisions because Elder Crosbie gets to go help out other missionaries. Usually 2 days a week I am with other Elders and also if they have an interview to do or something. It’s cool to change things up, but sometimes it’s a little hard to remember everything! Our zone here is having a little bit of troubles right now, but I´m sure things will pick up. I just wanted to share a cool story that happened the other day. I was feeling pretty bummed out and frustrated (it happens). You know how I can be pretty hard on myself sometimes, but anyways we went to district meeting and I got a letter from one of my friends and at the end it just had a random last paragraph that said, “don’t ever waste time thinking negatively about yourself”. I really made me feel better and I thought it was really cool that God really cares for us. He inspired this person probably like a month ago to write something nice in a letter that took forever to pass through the Brazilian mail system to arrive on the very day that I was feeling down. Coincidence? I think not!
So, this week was cool, primarily because we had a BAPTISM! Yeah! The picture I sent is of a girl named Maria Eduarda. She had already been to church a few times and she has relatives that are members. She was so ready and excited to live the commandments and it was super super cool. She was baptized by the bishop of our ward and it was super spiritual. There is another girl named Jessica that will probably be baptized this coming week. We are trying a lot to work with the members here in the ward because it is really a much more effective way to find people, but it can get kind of complicated as well. Working with members always goes a lot slower than ideal. Do you have any good ideas about how to help them?
This week we found a really cool guy named Ricardo. I was in a division with Elder Neal and we got lost and missed our appointment and we were both pretty grumpy, but then we knocked on this door and found Ricardo. He had a weird thing where one day he just woke up almost completely blind and the doctors don’t know why. Anyway we taught him and he loved it and went to church and really liked it and agreed to be baptized! Wahoo! Way to go spirit. That day was great. The Zone leaders had left us to go to a meeting and accidentally took both cell phones AND both sets of keys to the house! Then they were late getting back and Elder Neal and I were sitting out in front of our house until like 10:30. IT was pretty funny and it would have been a cool story if we´d had to sleep out on the street. Haha! The other good thing is that we are all waking up invigorated and alert in the mornings now. This is because our shower heater broke and we have to brave the Antarctic flows to not smell bad. The mission is seriously just awesome. I know that this really is the work of the Lord. Thank you for all of the love and support and prayers. I really appreciate it. Tell the home teachers thank you too. I am so glad you are being cared for. I know God lives and Jesus is the Christ. Just think! Next week we will get to hear the prophet of the Lord! Yeah!
Até logo!
-Elder Markham
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)