On Wednesday, April 9th Elder Kamilos wrote:
Dear Mom and Dad,
So Transfer Day again! Already! This past transfer fleeeeeew by! And it´s great because for the first time on my mission, I´m staying in my area! This next transfer will only be 5 weeks too, I don´t know why exactly, but oh well. I do have a new companion, Elder Borges of São Paulo (surprise!). I´m very excited to see what happens this transfer!
I enjoyed conference very much, although at times it was difficult because it was all in Portuguese. I understood a lot, but it was easy to lose focus at times. I really enjoyed President Packer´s talk. I don´t know if he´ll make it to next conference, but he certainly left a grand impression on me and everyone.
This past week was tough. We ended up cutting a large portion of our teaching pool, but we found one excellent family that I feel very good about. We first contacted the father on Sunday, and he was drunk like
none other. But he called out to us, saying that he wanted "the word". So we sat down and we plainly explained to him that if he sobered up and had real desire to change, we would stop by the next night to
speak with him. So the next night, we went. And he had cleaned up to the point of being a completely different person. He explained some of the difficulties he had, but he listened very intently to the message
of the Restoration, and when we followed up on Tuesday, he had actually read the assignment we gave him! Not only that, but he´s LEGALLY married (miracle in Brasil) and has 5 kids, and he said he wants to take them to church with him on Sunday. If all goes well, he and his family will be baptized on the 20th this month. Please continue to send your prayers, because I have certainty that something probably WILL happen to try and stop him from progressing.
Keep the missionary fire going in Fayetteville! I think a lot about all the things I want to do when I get home concerning missionary work. I hope to make time every week (or multiple times a week) to help the work back home. And I look forward to receiving that letter! I made pancakes this past week, with maple and everything! It was super good.
Anyway, I love all of you! I look forward to next time!
Love,
Elder Kamilos
On Monday, March 31st Elder Kamilos wrote:
Dear Mom and Dad,
This week was full of challenges, but I have one of the coolest
experiences to share! I don´t have much time, but I have to share
this.
It was monday night last week, and I had gone to bed like normal. But the dream I had that night went like
this (more or less). I was sitting in a van and we were driving. I was in California (I don´t know how I knew I was there, but I just knew. It´s difficult to explain) and we were driving north toward Oregon. I knew this because there was an ocean to the left of us, and I figured it was the Pacific. We were crossing a bridge, and as we crossed I recognized that one of my zone leaders, Elder Georgianna, was driving. I looked at the passenger seat, and I realized that it was Elder Williams, one of the assistants to the president of the mission. It was strange, because I had only met him maybe one time before. There were other details to the dream, but that´s all of the important stuff. I woke up at 2 AM and I felt super compelled to write it down. I wrote down four pages, and as I was finishing, I could hear one of the other Elders I live with wake up. He came in to our study room and I told him all about it, because I felt super overwhelmed, haha. The next morning we had a zone training with the assistants, (I figured that´s probably why I dreamed of the two Elders, but I didn't really know why). The training was super good and all, but what happened after was crazy. Elder Georgianna came up to me and told me that he thought maybe he could help us out in our area (we´ve been having a little trouble lately). He said that he and Elder Williams would spend the afternoon and evening blitzing our area! I had absolutely no idea that this was going to happen at all! And I believe that it was
symbolic how in the dream, we were driving, because the word for driving in Portuguese is "dirigir", which also means to direct or conduct (conduct like how a bishop conducts a meeting). And what was
even more crazy was that afterwords I found out something that I had no knowledge of before. Both Elders are from Oregon! So with this new knowledge, I knew there was a reason that all this was happening. We
ended up directing our focus to Mayara (I´ve mentioned her before I believe. We had a lot of challenges with her situation.) But at the end of the day, everything fell into place, and she was baptized that night!
I don´t have any more time. But this experience made the gifts of the gospel very real to me. I also gained a testimony of leadership, in the mission and in the church. This. Is. Real. I cannot deny it. This work is true, and this gospel is true! I just wanted to share that experience :)
I love you all so much!! And thanks for the pancake recipe!
Hope all is well!
Love,
Michael
On Monday, March 24th Elder Kamilos wrote:
Dear Mom and Dad,
This week has been... a little rougher. We´ve been having a lot of challenges with some of our investigators not progressing or not understanding the full length of the conversion process. Due to this, Elder Castro and I have had to reevaluate our teaching methods, and we both concluded that we need to be more direct. Our baptism fell through again, and we´re both getting very discouraged. We have SO much potential and so many investigators that are prepared, but it seems that no one will commit. I hope the news next week will be very good though, and I feel very positive about this week! We sat down and just talked things out yesterday, and now our companionship is more united than it´s been all transfer. Unity is key, and I totally
understand why.
Before I forget! I wanted to ask you for a few basic recipes that I can use here in Brasil so I can make some "American" food now and then. One that I was thinking of was pancakes... good old classic, fluffy, american pancakes. Any easy-to-make american food would be great. Brasil has all of the principle ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, oil, etc. If it doesn´t involve peanut butter, I can probably make it!
A few that I´ve been thinking of...
Pancakes
Biscuits
Pizza (dough)
Banana bread (or bread in general)
Rolls
Oh, and we have yeast here too, so the recipes can include that too. Feel free to add anything else if you want! These will give me something else to do on p-days or when I have time at night or in the morning.
As for me, I´m doing very well. The language seemed almost natural this week. I was on division with one of my zone leaders, Elder Price, on Thursday and my district leader Elder Vieira on Saturday, and they both said that I was speaking super well. It was very encouraging to get compliments from my leaders here. Of course, I´m with my companion all the time, and we talk solely in português, so naturally I´m picking it up a lot faster. Also, I now have an official soccer team! The Palmeiras (of São Paulo)! I never picked a team before, because I honestly didn´t know which to pick, but Elder Vieira gave me a Palmeiras jersey, so that made the decision for me! I need to ask Matt what team he is, haha. Also, it´s kinda funny. Almost every brazilian missionary here is from São Paulo, and almost every return missionary that lives here served in São Paulo (mostly Interlagos and South).
Love,
Elder Kamilos
Monday, April 21, 2014
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
"We work work work!"
Dear Mom and Dad,
FELIZ ANIVERSÁRIO MÃE!!! SAMANTHA TAMBÉM (in 4 days)!! PARABÉNS!!
"Parabéns pra vocês! Nesta dia querida! Muitos felicidades! Muitos anos de vida!"
That´s the birthday song in Brasil, ha ha. I´ll have to send you pictures of the cake we made! We made a giant strawberry cake on Saturday night, at first because we just wanted cake, but then I remembered your birthday, so we dedicated it to you and Sam, ha ha. It was super good too! We sang Happy Birthday and everything! It was a blast. It´s really difficult to find a place where I can safely upload pictures. I really really want to send pictures home, but I don´t want to get a virus from these lanhouses. This week I´ll try to see if we have a member that can help.
This week was super good! The only sad thing is that our baptism of Mayara is being delayed because we need a signature from her mother, and she never seems to be home. Literally. So we´re doing the best we
can to take care of that! But besides that, we´ve been working super hard. In this mission we have what´s called a pattern of excellence, which means we have certain goals for the key indicators that we have to reach every week. It´s basically the minimum standard for all missionaries in the mission. The pattern is 25 lessons, at least 10 with a member present, 10 new investigators, 3 marked for baptism, and 3 at church on Sunday. Elder Castro and I have a goal to reach the numbers for lessons and new investigators by Thursday every week. So by Thursday, we have to have 25 lessons, at least 10 of those with a member, and 10 new investigators. That way on Friday and Saturday we can focus our efforts on confirming the firm investigators for church, contact and teach our new potentials, strengthen less-active members and recent-converts, and service. It´s a great way to work, really. We work work work the first half of the week, and then the second half of the week... we work work work, but it´s a little more relaxed and enjoyable.
I had my first dream in Portuguese!! It wasn´t much, but I distinctly remember one part of my dream where I was speaking Portuguese! I hope that means that my brain is converting over. It´s still very difficult, to be honest. I thought I´d be farther along by now, but I guess the Lord wants me to stay humble and patient. I´m slowly learning, little by little. The important thing is that my testimony strengthens as I experience the day to day miracles in the work of the Lord. It´s a blessing to serve.
Sounds like the whole family is doing awesome! I really miss yáll a whole lot. This week seemed to have been extra hard for me, as far as homesickness goes. But it hasn´t kept me from focusing on my purpose.
Just know that I love you all and I pray for everyone in the family every day!
Almost out of time. I love you all! Keep well! Hopefully winter ends soon!! You can send the snow down here, ha ha. On that note, this past week was a lot wetter. It rained just about all day Thursday and Friday. Today is sunny and hot though... Hope it rains tonight. Anyway! Until next week!
Amo vocês!
Michael
FELIZ ANIVERSÁRIO MÃE!!! SAMANTHA TAMBÉM (in 4 days)!! PARABÉNS!!
"Parabéns pra vocês! Nesta dia querida! Muitos felicidades! Muitos anos de vida!"
That´s the birthday song in Brasil, ha ha. I´ll have to send you pictures of the cake we made! We made a giant strawberry cake on Saturday night, at first because we just wanted cake, but then I remembered your birthday, so we dedicated it to you and Sam, ha ha. It was super good too! We sang Happy Birthday and everything! It was a blast. It´s really difficult to find a place where I can safely upload pictures. I really really want to send pictures home, but I don´t want to get a virus from these lanhouses. This week I´ll try to see if we have a member that can help.
This week was super good! The only sad thing is that our baptism of Mayara is being delayed because we need a signature from her mother, and she never seems to be home. Literally. So we´re doing the best we
can to take care of that! But besides that, we´ve been working super hard. In this mission we have what´s called a pattern of excellence, which means we have certain goals for the key indicators that we have to reach every week. It´s basically the minimum standard for all missionaries in the mission. The pattern is 25 lessons, at least 10 with a member present, 10 new investigators, 3 marked for baptism, and 3 at church on Sunday. Elder Castro and I have a goal to reach the numbers for lessons and new investigators by Thursday every week. So by Thursday, we have to have 25 lessons, at least 10 of those with a member, and 10 new investigators. That way on Friday and Saturday we can focus our efforts on confirming the firm investigators for church, contact and teach our new potentials, strengthen less-active members and recent-converts, and service. It´s a great way to work, really. We work work work the first half of the week, and then the second half of the week... we work work work, but it´s a little more relaxed and enjoyable.
I had my first dream in Portuguese!! It wasn´t much, but I distinctly remember one part of my dream where I was speaking Portuguese! I hope that means that my brain is converting over. It´s still very difficult, to be honest. I thought I´d be farther along by now, but I guess the Lord wants me to stay humble and patient. I´m slowly learning, little by little. The important thing is that my testimony strengthens as I experience the day to day miracles in the work of the Lord. It´s a blessing to serve.
Sounds like the whole family is doing awesome! I really miss yáll a whole lot. This week seemed to have been extra hard for me, as far as homesickness goes. But it hasn´t kept me from focusing on my purpose.
Just know that I love you all and I pray for everyone in the family every day!
Almost out of time. I love you all! Keep well! Hopefully winter ends soon!! You can send the snow down here, ha ha. On that note, this past week was a lot wetter. It rained just about all day Thursday and Friday. Today is sunny and hot though... Hope it rains tonight. Anyway! Until next week!
Amo vocês!
Michael
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
"I´m picking up Portuguese a lot faster now.."
On March 10, 2014 Elder Kamilos wrote:
Dear Mom and Dad,
It´s really been a great week! But man, it´s exhausting. I found that I´m picking up Portuguese a lot faster now, but it´s still difficult when I want to communicate something but I just don´t exactly know how. But all is well here in Valentina! And those landmarks you described sound right. The church building here is right next to Mercado São José, if you happened to see that at any time. Of course, there a ton of evangelical churches everywhere, haha. I don´t know how it was for Matt in São Paulo exactly, but here it seems that evangelical churches dominate. Of course, almost everyone we talk to was born/baptized Catholic, but as far as activity goes it´s much more towards the evangelical denominations.
I had a very strong spiritual experience the other night in one of our lessons when we were teaching Mayara, one of our investigators. Towards the end of the lesson, we were going to leave a chapter in the Book of Mormon for her to read, but before we did, we had to ask her if she knew how to read (unfortunately, a large percentage of the population is illiterate, so we always have to make sure). The father of the member-family we were with seemed to really make a big deal out of it, and it got to the point where I could tell that Mayara was starting to be uncomfortable. Suddenly, I just felt such a strong force of the Spirit moving through me, and I opened my mouth to talk. I told her that it doesn´t matter whether she knows how to read or not. The feelings that come through the Spirit are much more important. The Gospel is a message of happiness, and we want her to feel good when we have discussions. And then I asked her, "Mayara, how
do you feel right now?" She managed to crack a smile and she replied, "good." Then I smiled and asked, "are ya happy?" She said, "of course!" And then I bore my testimony that that is exactly what the Gospel does for us. We learn much more from our feelings through the Spirit than by what we read.
It was in the very moment following that I realized everyone had their eyes fixed on me, and it seemed that the noise of the world seemed to be silenced. We had truly entered into a spiritual state, and I can´t describe exactly how it was, but it was real.
Sounds like the Springdale Zone is on fire right now! That´s awesome. My comp and I are working super hard right now, and I´m loving the area and the people. We seem to do a lot more work with members here,
and the unity of the membership is just wonderful. And to answer your question, "white-washing" is what they call "shotgunning" in the OTM. It´s when both Elders are new to the area, exactly how you said.
Also, funny thing. You said that we should´ve set our clocks back in February, but to be honest, I forgot about daylight savings. I don´t think they actually do it here. At least, I haven´t heard anything, haha. The cool thing (and I forgot until yesterday) is that here, we´re the first people on American soil to see the sun! I think that´s pretty awesome. Sunrise is about 5 AM here, haha. It was hard to get used to after Utah, where sunrise was about 8:30 due to the mountains and what not.
Anyway, sounds like it´s been a great week! I look forward to the adventures of this week to follow!
Até mais!
Elder Michael
Dear Mom and Dad,
It´s really been a great week! But man, it´s exhausting. I found that I´m picking up Portuguese a lot faster now, but it´s still difficult when I want to communicate something but I just don´t exactly know how. But all is well here in Valentina! And those landmarks you described sound right. The church building here is right next to Mercado São José, if you happened to see that at any time. Of course, there a ton of evangelical churches everywhere, haha. I don´t know how it was for Matt in São Paulo exactly, but here it seems that evangelical churches dominate. Of course, almost everyone we talk to was born/baptized Catholic, but as far as activity goes it´s much more towards the evangelical denominations.
I had a very strong spiritual experience the other night in one of our lessons when we were teaching Mayara, one of our investigators. Towards the end of the lesson, we were going to leave a chapter in the Book of Mormon for her to read, but before we did, we had to ask her if she knew how to read (unfortunately, a large percentage of the population is illiterate, so we always have to make sure). The father of the member-family we were with seemed to really make a big deal out of it, and it got to the point where I could tell that Mayara was starting to be uncomfortable. Suddenly, I just felt such a strong force of the Spirit moving through me, and I opened my mouth to talk. I told her that it doesn´t matter whether she knows how to read or not. The feelings that come through the Spirit are much more important. The Gospel is a message of happiness, and we want her to feel good when we have discussions. And then I asked her, "Mayara, how
do you feel right now?" She managed to crack a smile and she replied, "good." Then I smiled and asked, "are ya happy?" She said, "of course!" And then I bore my testimony that that is exactly what the Gospel does for us. We learn much more from our feelings through the Spirit than by what we read.
It was in the very moment following that I realized everyone had their eyes fixed on me, and it seemed that the noise of the world seemed to be silenced. We had truly entered into a spiritual state, and I can´t describe exactly how it was, but it was real.
Sounds like the Springdale Zone is on fire right now! That´s awesome. My comp and I are working super hard right now, and I´m loving the area and the people. We seem to do a lot more work with members here,
and the unity of the membership is just wonderful. And to answer your question, "white-washing" is what they call "shotgunning" in the OTM. It´s when both Elders are new to the area, exactly how you said.
Also, funny thing. You said that we should´ve set our clocks back in February, but to be honest, I forgot about daylight savings. I don´t think they actually do it here. At least, I haven´t heard anything, haha. The cool thing (and I forgot until yesterday) is that here, we´re the first people on American soil to see the sun! I think that´s pretty awesome. Sunrise is about 5 AM here, haha. It was hard to get used to after Utah, where sunrise was about 8:30 due to the mountains and what not.
Anyway, sounds like it´s been a great week! I look forward to the adventures of this week to follow!
Até mais!
Elder Michael
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Transfers and New Companions...
On February 26, 2014 Elder Kamilos wrote:
Dear Mom and Dad,
So I have surprising news! I am once again in a new area: Valentina! It´s fairly close to Mangabeira actually, and it´s in the same zone. But needless to say, I was very very surprised. Not only that, but my new companion, Elder Castro (Brasilian. Yay!) and I are white-washing again! On top of that, we´re both still very young missionaries. He actually reported to the MTC in October, a month after me! So we have the same total amount of transfers, but he´s my senior companion, considering I can just barely communicate still, haha. But man, this Elder can cook! He made lunch for the whole house today, and he made bolo de cenoura (carrot-cake, but it´s different) which was awesome! I´m very excited to work here in Valentina! I was devastated to leave another area, but I had a thought: maybe the Lord plans on having me ouch the lives of as many people as possible. I have yet to stay in an area for more than a transfer, but I know the Lord knows what´s best.
Here´s how the mission has gone so far:
4 transfers
4 areas (in two countries/missions) Smithfield, UT; Hooper, UT;
Mangabeira 2, JP-PB; Valentina 2, JP-PB
5 houses/apartments
2 trainers/6 companions (if you include the two short-term trios)
Elder Trujillo (Trainer), Elder Jensen (Trio), Elder Richie, Elder
Patino (Trio), Elder Gilliam (Trainer), Elder Castro
Just when I thought I´d finally have a little bit of stability, the Lord has once again humbled me and set me in yet another place to serve, with new people and experiences. I can definitely say that my mission experience so far has been very unique!
I´m finally starting to get more comfortable with the language. Also, I know I´ll learn much faster now that I have a Brasilian companion and we live with another Brasilian/American companionship in our house (which is huge!). So it´s going to be hard, but I feel like this is going to be quite a growing phase in my mission. I´m excited to see what the Lord has in store for me!
I love you all so much! Keep doing well, and never forget that we have angels and the Hosts of Heaven working for us everyday, even when we can´t see them. I know that our Savior suffered all so that we don´t have to bear the burdens of mortality alone. I know this because I have gone through some of the hardest, most physically, mentally, and spiritually draining experiences of my life, and yet here I stand, getting stronger everyday as my testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ grows. Elder Gilliam shared a revelatory thought with me after we had a very dark experience a couple weeks ago. We realized that Satan is very organized. He probably has his followers organized into missions, zones, districts, etc. We have 80,000 full-time missionaries, but the adversary has a third of all of the hosts of the pre-mortal life. For every missionary on Earth today, doing the Lord´s work, Satan probably has entire districts of his followers working against us. This is why the Apostles in Christ´s time were commanded to cast out devils in the name of Christ. We cannot do this work alone. We MUST rely on divine assistance, and for this to happen, we must remain humble and receptive, and trust in God. With this in mind, I´m even more determined to fulfill the task that God has given me. I have witnessed miracles, and they always give me hope.
This work is true, and I know that with surety. I love our Savior, and I know He loves us!
Until Monday! I look forward to your next email!
Love,
Elder Kamilos
On February 17, 2014 Elder Kamilos wrote:
Dear Mom and Dad,
63 degrees Fahrenheit sounds soooooo nice! It´s almost always above 30 Celsius during the day (upper 80s, sometimes 90s). The humidity just makes it that much hotter, haha. But I´m getting used to it. The nights are pretty pleasant here, we just keep the windows open and a fan blowing.
This last week was... difficult. We had a baptism fall through, and we don´t have anyone marked for this week either. We´re in a finding stage again, but it´s okay, because we actually found a lot of new people yesterday! The work continues.
I really do feel like a child sometimes, haha. I have really good days, and then some not-so-good days with the language. Also, I find that I can keep a conversation going really well with the people that we visit more often. And then there are some people that I can´t understand a single word. But I´ve definitely discovered that my language skills are much better on the days that I do effective personal study. It´s amazing how much of a difference it makes.
Two weeks for letters sounds right, because I did receive your other letter this week. It was so nice to get a letter from the family! Thank you! I´ll be sending a letter home today, hopefully with some pictures if we can find a place to print them. Uploading pictures on these lanhouse computers is just asking for a virus on my camera, so I can´t really send any picks through email. An Elder we live with had all of his pictures on his SD card erased two weeks ago, so I learned vicariously NOT to do that.
Next week is transfer week, so you won´t hear from me until next Wednesday. I´m almost positive that I´ll stay in Mangabeira, because Elder Gilliam is leaving and we just white-washed the area this transfer. But anything is possible! We shall see. I´m hoping my next companion is Brasileiro, I´m ready for a little extra push with the language. I´m learning quickly, but with 4 Americans in our apartment, it´s way too easy to just revert to English. I feel like that would help me a lot. But needless to say, I´ve been very blessed to have
Elder Gilliam as my trainer! He´s an awesome guy, and a great missionary.
I love you all! Hopefully the weather stays nice! I´m just hoping it starts raining here more, because it´s a lot cooler when it does. And don´t everyone leave me so far behind in life!! Haha, love you all. Stay well!
Love,
Elder Kamilos
Dear Mom and Dad,
So I have surprising news! I am once again in a new area: Valentina! It´s fairly close to Mangabeira actually, and it´s in the same zone. But needless to say, I was very very surprised. Not only that, but my new companion, Elder Castro (Brasilian. Yay!) and I are white-washing again! On top of that, we´re both still very young missionaries. He actually reported to the MTC in October, a month after me! So we have the same total amount of transfers, but he´s my senior companion, considering I can just barely communicate still, haha. But man, this Elder can cook! He made lunch for the whole house today, and he made bolo de cenoura (carrot-cake, but it´s different) which was awesome! I´m very excited to work here in Valentina! I was devastated to leave another area, but I had a thought: maybe the Lord plans on having me ouch the lives of as many people as possible. I have yet to stay in an area for more than a transfer, but I know the Lord knows what´s best.
Here´s how the mission has gone so far:
4 transfers
4 areas (in two countries/missions) Smithfield, UT; Hooper, UT;
Mangabeira 2, JP-PB; Valentina 2, JP-PB
5 houses/apartments
2 trainers/6 companions (if you include the two short-term trios)
Elder Trujillo (Trainer), Elder Jensen (Trio), Elder Richie, Elder
Patino (Trio), Elder Gilliam (Trainer), Elder Castro
Just when I thought I´d finally have a little bit of stability, the Lord has once again humbled me and set me in yet another place to serve, with new people and experiences. I can definitely say that my mission experience so far has been very unique!
I´m finally starting to get more comfortable with the language. Also, I know I´ll learn much faster now that I have a Brasilian companion and we live with another Brasilian/American companionship in our house (which is huge!). So it´s going to be hard, but I feel like this is going to be quite a growing phase in my mission. I´m excited to see what the Lord has in store for me!
I love you all so much! Keep doing well, and never forget that we have angels and the Hosts of Heaven working for us everyday, even when we can´t see them. I know that our Savior suffered all so that we don´t have to bear the burdens of mortality alone. I know this because I have gone through some of the hardest, most physically, mentally, and spiritually draining experiences of my life, and yet here I stand, getting stronger everyday as my testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ grows. Elder Gilliam shared a revelatory thought with me after we had a very dark experience a couple weeks ago. We realized that Satan is very organized. He probably has his followers organized into missions, zones, districts, etc. We have 80,000 full-time missionaries, but the adversary has a third of all of the hosts of the pre-mortal life. For every missionary on Earth today, doing the Lord´s work, Satan probably has entire districts of his followers working against us. This is why the Apostles in Christ´s time were commanded to cast out devils in the name of Christ. We cannot do this work alone. We MUST rely on divine assistance, and for this to happen, we must remain humble and receptive, and trust in God. With this in mind, I´m even more determined to fulfill the task that God has given me. I have witnessed miracles, and they always give me hope.
This work is true, and I know that with surety. I love our Savior, and I know He loves us!
Until Monday! I look forward to your next email!
Love,
Elder Kamilos
On February 17, 2014 Elder Kamilos wrote:
Dear Mom and Dad,
63 degrees Fahrenheit sounds soooooo nice! It´s almost always above 30 Celsius during the day (upper 80s, sometimes 90s). The humidity just makes it that much hotter, haha. But I´m getting used to it. The nights are pretty pleasant here, we just keep the windows open and a fan blowing.
This last week was... difficult. We had a baptism fall through, and we don´t have anyone marked for this week either. We´re in a finding stage again, but it´s okay, because we actually found a lot of new people yesterday! The work continues.
I really do feel like a child sometimes, haha. I have really good days, and then some not-so-good days with the language. Also, I find that I can keep a conversation going really well with the people that we visit more often. And then there are some people that I can´t understand a single word. But I´ve definitely discovered that my language skills are much better on the days that I do effective personal study. It´s amazing how much of a difference it makes.
Two weeks for letters sounds right, because I did receive your other letter this week. It was so nice to get a letter from the family! Thank you! I´ll be sending a letter home today, hopefully with some pictures if we can find a place to print them. Uploading pictures on these lanhouse computers is just asking for a virus on my camera, so I can´t really send any picks through email. An Elder we live with had all of his pictures on his SD card erased two weeks ago, so I learned vicariously NOT to do that.
Next week is transfer week, so you won´t hear from me until next Wednesday. I´m almost positive that I´ll stay in Mangabeira, because Elder Gilliam is leaving and we just white-washed the area this transfer. But anything is possible! We shall see. I´m hoping my next companion is Brasileiro, I´m ready for a little extra push with the language. I´m learning quickly, but with 4 Americans in our apartment, it´s way too easy to just revert to English. I feel like that would help me a lot. But needless to say, I´ve been very blessed to have
Elder Gilliam as my trainer! He´s an awesome guy, and a great missionary.
I love you all! Hopefully the weather stays nice! I´m just hoping it starts raining here more, because it´s a lot cooler when it does. And don´t everyone leave me so far behind in life!! Haha, love you all. Stay well!
Love,
Elder Kamilos
Monday, February 10, 2014
"Despite my lack of language skills, the Spirit touched her heart..."
Dear Mom and Dad,
Another week in João Pessoa a Missão Celestial!
I feel like this last week has been one of the hardest weeks yet, but I also feel like I´ve improved more rapidly than any other time on the mission. We seemed to do a lot of divisions this week with other missonary companionships, and most of the time I remained in Mangabeira when Elder Gilliam went out to others. I don´t know if I ever mentioned that he´s our District Leader, but that´s why we do a lot of divisions, haha. I feel like it´s a great opportunity for me though, because not only do I get to spend time with more brazilian missionaries, but being "senior" comp in my area helps me feel more responsible, and I feel like I´m a lot more pro-active in those circumstances.
We had a very special baptism this week! Her name is Mel, age 28. She was the VERY first person I ever contacted on the street alone. Let me just say, I feel extremely blessed that she progressed and was
baptized, because 99% of missionaries usually say their first contact was terrible, haha. But it just so happened that Heavenly Father placed an elect person who was very prepared to hear the gospel in front of me, and despite my lack of language skills, the Spirit touched her heart. We first met here on Friday the 17 of January, which was my third day in Brazil. She is so awesome! She even made us dinner on Saturday!
Thanks for the birthday wishes! And yes, I got the card you sent me!! Thank you!! I got it last Tuesday or Wednesday I can´t remember for sure. I don´t know when you sent it, but now you know roughly how long
it takes. I´m planning on sending a letter home this week, so i don´t know how long it´ll take to go the other way.
As for the answers to your questions in your email, yes. It´s VERY hot and VERY humid. Always, haha. But when it rains it feels really nice, and the nights are actually very pleasant. The description of Mangabeira you found sounds exactly right. Also the word Mangabeira means (I think) "next to the mango field" or something like that. It´s basically a word that means it´s near a place that produces mangos.
My shoes are holding up well, but I can tell that they´re really starting to wear down faster now. We aren´t allowed to wear sandals, but I wish we could! I don´t know if that will ever be a possibility, but who knows.
I´ve now met 4 people here who served in SP Interlagos, and 2 of them know Matt! I told Matt about it in my email last week, and I think one of them talked to him this last week. Small world, huh??
I hope the snow slows down up there in Arkansas! That´s just ridiculous! Also, my time is about up. But I love you all! I hope you all are doing great up there! I look forward to next week´s email!
Love,
Elder Kamilos
Another week in João Pessoa a Missão Celestial!
I feel like this last week has been one of the hardest weeks yet, but I also feel like I´ve improved more rapidly than any other time on the mission. We seemed to do a lot of divisions this week with other missonary companionships, and most of the time I remained in Mangabeira when Elder Gilliam went out to others. I don´t know if I ever mentioned that he´s our District Leader, but that´s why we do a lot of divisions, haha. I feel like it´s a great opportunity for me though, because not only do I get to spend time with more brazilian missionaries, but being "senior" comp in my area helps me feel more responsible, and I feel like I´m a lot more pro-active in those circumstances.
We had a very special baptism this week! Her name is Mel, age 28. She was the VERY first person I ever contacted on the street alone. Let me just say, I feel extremely blessed that she progressed and was
baptized, because 99% of missionaries usually say their first contact was terrible, haha. But it just so happened that Heavenly Father placed an elect person who was very prepared to hear the gospel in front of me, and despite my lack of language skills, the Spirit touched her heart. We first met here on Friday the 17 of January, which was my third day in Brazil. She is so awesome! She even made us dinner on Saturday!
Thanks for the birthday wishes! And yes, I got the card you sent me!! Thank you!! I got it last Tuesday or Wednesday I can´t remember for sure. I don´t know when you sent it, but now you know roughly how long
it takes. I´m planning on sending a letter home this week, so i don´t know how long it´ll take to go the other way.
As for the answers to your questions in your email, yes. It´s VERY hot and VERY humid. Always, haha. But when it rains it feels really nice, and the nights are actually very pleasant. The description of Mangabeira you found sounds exactly right. Also the word Mangabeira means (I think) "next to the mango field" or something like that. It´s basically a word that means it´s near a place that produces mangos.
My shoes are holding up well, but I can tell that they´re really starting to wear down faster now. We aren´t allowed to wear sandals, but I wish we could! I don´t know if that will ever be a possibility, but who knows.
I´ve now met 4 people here who served in SP Interlagos, and 2 of them know Matt! I told Matt about it in my email last week, and I think one of them talked to him this last week. Small world, huh??
I hope the snow slows down up there in Arkansas! That´s just ridiculous! Also, my time is about up. But I love you all! I hope you all are doing great up there! I look forward to next week´s email!
Love,
Elder Kamilos
Monday, February 3, 2014
Life in Brazil
ON FEBRUARY 3, 2014 Elder Kamilos wrote:
Dear Mom and Dad,
More snow?? Sounds like a pretty harsh winter! It´ll be awhile til I see snow again, haha. We´ve been getting a little more rain lately. It rained quite a bit this morning, which was really nice because it cooled it down quite a bit. It really is extremely hot though. I already have a pretty good tan (i´ve been using sunscreen, don´t worry!), and I´m almost constantly sweating. I shower twice a day, at morning and night, just because I get so gross. The morning shower is usually just a rinse though.
I´m really loving the ward and the people here in Mangabeira. Also, I forgot to answer a question Matt asked me in his e-mail. The area I´m in (Mangabeira) is in the city of João Pessoa, but it´s not in the middle of the city, so it feels more like a small town. João Pessoa isn´t nearly as big as São Paulo, but it´s still a big city of about a million (a bit less I think). Also, I mentioned this to Matt as well, but I´ve met a lot of people that served in the Interlagos mission, and two of them said they remember Matt! They saw my nametag and
recognized Kamilos, haha.
We´re continuing to have quite a bit of success! We had another baptism yesterday for a sister named Rosa. She´s absolutely wonderful. Everytime we taught her, she accepted it and knew it was true. Every commandment we committed her to keep, she accepted without any doubt. She gave up smoking a pack of cigarettes a day in just 2 weeks, for real. She hasn´t smoked at all in the last week. The faith of this woman is astounding. And one time, when I was on a division with another american Elder who only has one transfer in Brasil (Elder Motley) we visited her and she asked us if we could give her a prayer with our hands on her head (a blessing, she just didn´t know what to call it). I was the one to be the voice, and although it was a very simple, very broken-worded blessing, when I closed and ended, she had tears in her eyes. She´s truly wonderful.
Anyway, my time is up! I love you all so much!
Love,
Michael
ON JANUARY 27, 2014 Elder Kamilos wrote:
Dear Mom and Dad,
Well! This has been a buuuuusy busy week. But we had a lot of success! We had another baptism on Saturday for a young man named Markos (the older brother of Nawanna, the girl that was baptized last weekend). They both got confirmed yesterday in church! And Elder Gilliam asked me if I wanted to do one of the confirmations, and I was hesitant at first... but I did it! It was a verrry simple confirmation, but I could really feel the Spirit working, and that brought me comfort and courage to do this confirmation in front of the whole congregation. Not only that, but I also got to do the Sacrament prayer for the blessing of the water. So in the past two weeks, I´ve had a lot of opportunities to take part in our Sacrament services (last week I said the closing prayer). And it´s because I have an awesome companion/trainer! I´ve grown to love him so much in the last week. He´s really pushing me hard, almost beyond my limits, but he´s so helpful and understanding and I´m really learning fast under his leadership and guidance.
As for the water, we don´t have any hot water. It´s just plain water, haha. But it´s good that way, because
it´s so hot here that a cool shower feels really nice at the end of the day.
I´m glad the package got to you!! I actually left that in the care of Elder Richie and Elder Patino (the trio comps I had in Hooper). I left them $20 to send it back, and they said they´d cover whatever was rest, so I'm glad they took care of that!
It sounds like Tom and Lacey are doing well! It´s an exciting thought to think about having a nephew when I get home! And I´m sure Matt is doing really well with the internship! That´s cool that he´s out in the field and getting to experience being on the job.
The diet here is mostly rice and beans (of course), pasta, and lots of couscous. And then there are a lot of different sucos (juice), which is really awesome! My favorites are maracujá (passionfruit) and abacaxi (pineapple). I´ve had a looot of fresh pineapple here, and it´s the bessst. My health has been very good as well! I haven´t gotten even slightly sick since I´ve been on my mission. It´s a real blessing, especially when
I´ve seen plenty of other missionaries get way sick. I hope I´ll continue to be blessed with such good health.
The only thing that slows me down sometimes is that I´m aaalways tired, haha. But that just comes with being a full-time missionary I think.
It sounds like things are going real well at home! Until next week!
Love,
Michael
ON JANUARY 20, 2014 Elder Kamilos wrote:
Dear Mom and Dad,
Well, it´s easy to say that this has been one of the hardest, most physically, emotionally, and mentally draining weeks of my life. It´s also easy to say that it´s been one of the most rewarding. Sure, my Português is pretty rusty, but my learning rate is so rapid that I know it´ll come with a lot of work, practice, and hardship. We do aLOOOT of contacts on the street, and many times Elder Gilliam will be talking, and then he´ll stop and just look at me and smile, haha...I´m not going to say that I always seem to know what to say, or that the right thing always just happens to come out, because that isn´t true. Sometimes it does go very well, and I´m actually able to communicate! But many times I´ll freeze up, or I´ll make a mistake, or I´ll just get completely lost and then I get confused, the person we´re contacting gets confused, and we walk away and I honestly want to cry (I actually did once). But it´s all okay! Because that´s how it works. There are trials and opposition in all things so that we can learn from it and grow. I´m growing so much in every way because I
face so many trials every day. But the Work. Pays. Off. We had a baptism yesterday, and we have a few others marked for baptism in the coming weeks (one more for this week!).
It´s such a blessing to see people change and leave behind past problems and become truly clean. And believe me. People here have some reeeaaal problems. I mean with everything. We´ve encountered people
who have problems with financial issues, every part of the word of wisdom, chastity, homosexuality, self-inflicted injuries and suicidal thoughts and just about everything. To see people rise up from a pit of despair; overcome these trials and turn towards Christ is a miracle.
Now I´ll tell you about the actually city and our living conditions! So our apartment is actually pretty nice. In fact, it´s just about as good as any other place I lived in Utah. The only main difference is the lack of AC and American food, haha. We actually have a washing machine though! We dry our clothes by hanging, of course. Also, the showers are different. The shower is just part of the bathroom, and all the water just goes on the floor and drains in the corner. Also, the sun rises at like 5 AM, so I almost always wake up without an
alarm at about 5:30 or so, and it´s hard to fall back asleep because there´s a ton of buses across the street from us. The city is SOOO GREEN! There are trees everywhere (except for in the main part where it´s just tall buildings). Our area is one of the outer parts of the city called Mangabeira, and it´s pretty poor. I love it here though! It´s always hot, I´m always sweating, but I´m loving the work! The people here are so humble, and the ward members are so faithful.
Before I forget! Here´s the address that´ll work!
Elder Kamilos
Rua Deputado Jose Mariz #515, Tambauzinho
Joao Pessoa, PB Brasil
58042-020
I love you all and I look forward to next week!
Elder Kamilos
Dear Mom and Dad,
More snow?? Sounds like a pretty harsh winter! It´ll be awhile til I see snow again, haha. We´ve been getting a little more rain lately. It rained quite a bit this morning, which was really nice because it cooled it down quite a bit. It really is extremely hot though. I already have a pretty good tan (i´ve been using sunscreen, don´t worry!), and I´m almost constantly sweating. I shower twice a day, at morning and night, just because I get so gross. The morning shower is usually just a rinse though.
I´m really loving the ward and the people here in Mangabeira. Also, I forgot to answer a question Matt asked me in his e-mail. The area I´m in (Mangabeira) is in the city of João Pessoa, but it´s not in the middle of the city, so it feels more like a small town. João Pessoa isn´t nearly as big as São Paulo, but it´s still a big city of about a million (a bit less I think). Also, I mentioned this to Matt as well, but I´ve met a lot of people that served in the Interlagos mission, and two of them said they remember Matt! They saw my nametag and
recognized Kamilos, haha.
We´re continuing to have quite a bit of success! We had another baptism yesterday for a sister named Rosa. She´s absolutely wonderful. Everytime we taught her, she accepted it and knew it was true. Every commandment we committed her to keep, she accepted without any doubt. She gave up smoking a pack of cigarettes a day in just 2 weeks, for real. She hasn´t smoked at all in the last week. The faith of this woman is astounding. And one time, when I was on a division with another american Elder who only has one transfer in Brasil (Elder Motley) we visited her and she asked us if we could give her a prayer with our hands on her head (a blessing, she just didn´t know what to call it). I was the one to be the voice, and although it was a very simple, very broken-worded blessing, when I closed and ended, she had tears in her eyes. She´s truly wonderful.
Anyway, my time is up! I love you all so much!
Love,
Michael
ON JANUARY 27, 2014 Elder Kamilos wrote:
Dear Mom and Dad,
Well! This has been a buuuuusy busy week. But we had a lot of success! We had another baptism on Saturday for a young man named Markos (the older brother of Nawanna, the girl that was baptized last weekend). They both got confirmed yesterday in church! And Elder Gilliam asked me if I wanted to do one of the confirmations, and I was hesitant at first... but I did it! It was a verrry simple confirmation, but I could really feel the Spirit working, and that brought me comfort and courage to do this confirmation in front of the whole congregation. Not only that, but I also got to do the Sacrament prayer for the blessing of the water. So in the past two weeks, I´ve had a lot of opportunities to take part in our Sacrament services (last week I said the closing prayer). And it´s because I have an awesome companion/trainer! I´ve grown to love him so much in the last week. He´s really pushing me hard, almost beyond my limits, but he´s so helpful and understanding and I´m really learning fast under his leadership and guidance.
As for the water, we don´t have any hot water. It´s just plain water, haha. But it´s good that way, because
it´s so hot here that a cool shower feels really nice at the end of the day.
I´m glad the package got to you!! I actually left that in the care of Elder Richie and Elder Patino (the trio comps I had in Hooper). I left them $20 to send it back, and they said they´d cover whatever was rest, so I'm glad they took care of that!
It sounds like Tom and Lacey are doing well! It´s an exciting thought to think about having a nephew when I get home! And I´m sure Matt is doing really well with the internship! That´s cool that he´s out in the field and getting to experience being on the job.
The diet here is mostly rice and beans (of course), pasta, and lots of couscous. And then there are a lot of different sucos (juice), which is really awesome! My favorites are maracujá (passionfruit) and abacaxi (pineapple). I´ve had a looot of fresh pineapple here, and it´s the bessst. My health has been very good as well! I haven´t gotten even slightly sick since I´ve been on my mission. It´s a real blessing, especially when
I´ve seen plenty of other missionaries get way sick. I hope I´ll continue to be blessed with such good health.
The only thing that slows me down sometimes is that I´m aaalways tired, haha. But that just comes with being a full-time missionary I think.
It sounds like things are going real well at home! Until next week!
Love,
Michael
ON JANUARY 20, 2014 Elder Kamilos wrote:
Dear Mom and Dad,
Well, it´s easy to say that this has been one of the hardest, most physically, emotionally, and mentally draining weeks of my life. It´s also easy to say that it´s been one of the most rewarding. Sure, my Português is pretty rusty, but my learning rate is so rapid that I know it´ll come with a lot of work, practice, and hardship. We do aLOOOT of contacts on the street, and many times Elder Gilliam will be talking, and then he´ll stop and just look at me and smile, haha...I´m not going to say that I always seem to know what to say, or that the right thing always just happens to come out, because that isn´t true. Sometimes it does go very well, and I´m actually able to communicate! But many times I´ll freeze up, or I´ll make a mistake, or I´ll just get completely lost and then I get confused, the person we´re contacting gets confused, and we walk away and I honestly want to cry (I actually did once). But it´s all okay! Because that´s how it works. There are trials and opposition in all things so that we can learn from it and grow. I´m growing so much in every way because I
face so many trials every day. But the Work. Pays. Off. We had a baptism yesterday, and we have a few others marked for baptism in the coming weeks (one more for this week!).
It´s such a blessing to see people change and leave behind past problems and become truly clean. And believe me. People here have some reeeaaal problems. I mean with everything. We´ve encountered people
who have problems with financial issues, every part of the word of wisdom, chastity, homosexuality, self-inflicted injuries and suicidal thoughts and just about everything. To see people rise up from a pit of despair; overcome these trials and turn towards Christ is a miracle.
Now I´ll tell you about the actually city and our living conditions! So our apartment is actually pretty nice. In fact, it´s just about as good as any other place I lived in Utah. The only main difference is the lack of AC and American food, haha. We actually have a washing machine though! We dry our clothes by hanging, of course. Also, the showers are different. The shower is just part of the bathroom, and all the water just goes on the floor and drains in the corner. Also, the sun rises at like 5 AM, so I almost always wake up without an
alarm at about 5:30 or so, and it´s hard to fall back asleep because there´s a ton of buses across the street from us. The city is SOOO GREEN! There are trees everywhere (except for in the main part where it´s just tall buildings). Our area is one of the outer parts of the city called Mangabeira, and it´s pretty poor. I love it here though! It´s always hot, I´m always sweating, but I´m loving the work! The people here are so humble, and the ward members are so faithful.
Before I forget! Here´s the address that´ll work!
Elder Kamilos
Rua Deputado Jose Mariz #515, Tambauzinho
Joao Pessoa, PB Brasil
58042-020
I love you all and I look forward to next week!
Elder Kamilos
Thursday, January 16, 2014
FINALLY IN BRAZIL!
Dear Mom and Dad,
You probably emailed me this week, but for some reason I didn't get it. But just to let you know, I am now in João Pessoa!! And I am LOVING it! It is very very hot, haha, but thats okay. I can't really understand people when they talk, but I will! My trainer is Elder Gilliam, and he is way awesome! He is from Washington and this is actually his last transfer on the mission. He is super obedient and he takes his calling very seriously, but he is also a lot of fun! He has 11 siblings (9 brothers and 2 sisters) and he is the 2nd youngest! He told me that my training will be more intense than any other missionary that he has trained, and I told him that I am ready! We are also white-washing our area, so we are ready to light it on fire! Our area is called Mangadeira 2, and it is in the middle southern part of João Pessoa, so I get to experience the city life!
By the way, our p-day is actually on Mondays, except for on transfer week when it is on Wednesday. Just so you know when to send your emails :) I will be honest, I was a bit scared at first, and I am still pretty nervous, but I already know that I love the people and they wont judge me at all when I am not able to communicate very well, haha. Brazilians seem so easy-going, and I can't wait to get to know everyone here! My mission President--President Nogueira--is very cool. He has only been out for about 8 months or so, so he will be here for my whole mission, which I am very happy about!
The weather is hot, I am always sweating, I don't speak the language, but none of that can possibly hold me back from loving this place and the people here. I am going to do all that I can to learn the language, and (more importantly) share the Gospel and serve the people of João Pessoa. The time has come for me to stand a little taller and be a little better everyday. I am essentially a greenie again, but that is all good! I want to stay green my whole mission, because green means growth, and I never want to plateau and stop progressing.
I love you all! I hope you are staying warm still! If not, you can have some of the heat from here, haha.
Love,
Elder Kamilos
You probably emailed me this week, but for some reason I didn't get it. But just to let you know, I am now in João Pessoa!! And I am LOVING it! It is very very hot, haha, but thats okay. I can't really understand people when they talk, but I will! My trainer is Elder Gilliam, and he is way awesome! He is from Washington and this is actually his last transfer on the mission. He is super obedient and he takes his calling very seriously, but he is also a lot of fun! He has 11 siblings (9 brothers and 2 sisters) and he is the 2nd youngest! He told me that my training will be more intense than any other missionary that he has trained, and I told him that I am ready! We are also white-washing our area, so we are ready to light it on fire! Our area is called Mangadeira 2, and it is in the middle southern part of João Pessoa, so I get to experience the city life!
By the way, our p-day is actually on Mondays, except for on transfer week when it is on Wednesday. Just so you know when to send your emails :) I will be honest, I was a bit scared at first, and I am still pretty nervous, but I already know that I love the people and they wont judge me at all when I am not able to communicate very well, haha. Brazilians seem so easy-going, and I can't wait to get to know everyone here! My mission President--President Nogueira--is very cool. He has only been out for about 8 months or so, so he will be here for my whole mission, which I am very happy about!
The weather is hot, I am always sweating, I don't speak the language, but none of that can possibly hold me back from loving this place and the people here. I am going to do all that I can to learn the language, and (more importantly) share the Gospel and serve the people of João Pessoa. The time has come for me to stand a little taller and be a little better everyday. I am essentially a greenie again, but that is all good! I want to stay green my whole mission, because green means growth, and I never want to plateau and stop progressing.
I love you all! I hope you are staying warm still! If not, you can have some of the heat from here, haha.
Love,
Elder Kamilos
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