in the streets of Brazil
Graffiti is not against the law here
Casa Trouso (Treasure House)
August 1st
This week was just amazing! So much. I´ll begin with an
activity that we did for the ward on saturday night. We hid clues all over the
church and families had to translate the clues from these easy made up
languages and in the end there was a message about how we all need to love
eachother and work together. It was sweet.
Next, Our freezer was completely frozen
over. I´m trying to upload photos of it now but this computer is slower than
dirt. So we let it thaw, to speed up the process we used the iron to melt the
huge block of ice away from the walls of the freezer! It was legit!.
The slang is so funny. To say "Hey
dude" you say "Aí Mano" and then you can say "Esta Ligado
(You excited or lit)" and then you can say "Passa (pass the vibe on
to me)" Its so funny. There is this one member and he literally just
teaches me Giria (slang) during almoço. We went to the favela in our area! On
our area map, it says over the favela, " You will die", but we had a
service project there and so we went anyway. We helped a member put mocca on
the walls. All the houses and structures here are made of brick and concrete.
So in order to paint you have to put this coat of putty stuff on the walls. It
was legit. You could tell that i am an american and have never done it before
because in the time it took me to finish an area the size of a door, my companion
had done an entire wall. But i got pretty proficient by the end! Then we left
the favela. We arent supposed to teach in there because its just a giant drug
trade with prostitutes. If we need too, we will. Right now the favelas in São
Paulo are the worst in Brazil because the ones in Rio are under police control
for the olympics.
So we had two strange experiences this week.
First, we were running home one night (we always run home becuase we are always
almost late) and barely anyone was on the street. This man was walking towards
us with a bag and then two motorcycles came up the road towards us too. As soon
as they reached the man, they slammed on the breaks and whipped around.
Immediately to draw a gun on him. The man put his hands up. Took me a minute to
realize that those men were police. I just kept running but now that i think
about it, my companion and i ran directly in the line of fire if anything were
to go wrong. Its all good though, the lord is with us. But now i know that the
police here seriously dont mess around. The other strange experience was during
a lesson. This 24 year-old girl just pulled down her tank top and started
breastfeeding her child while we were talking about the 10 commandments. I had
no idea how to react, so i just stayed calm, continued teaching and stared at
my companion until she was done.
I am working out a ton every morning. Thirty
minutes in St. Mary´s Wellness Center 2.0, which consists of a floor, my
dumbells (two 2 liter soda bottles filled with water), and my squat bar (an
empty stove gas tank). Its the best gym in the world, i´m getting torn. Today i
am going to try to make bread for the first time in my life and with a gas
stove. I´m getting all sorts of recipes from members of cool fruit shakes and food
i can make on p day. Mainly because i´m sick of microwaving eggs for every meal
and washing it down with water. We´ll see how it goes. I´ll take pics.
So the work in this area is generally
difficult. The people in the ward have a lot of problems, there are a ton of
less actives, a ton of calling slots that are empty in the auxiliaries, and
plenty of recent converts that dont have a responsibilty, and plenty of strong
members that slack off. I have never been to a more irreverant sacrament
meeting. Every two minutes an adult gets up to do something. They dont have
someone assigned to play piano so starting next week... its me! yay... but i am
gonna need to find some time to practice. Asside from the ward, the people in
the baixo (named section of the city) work an average of 5 days on, 1 day off.
This is problematic with church attendance and appointments. But we find ways
to work around it. We are the busiest at night when everybody gets home from
work. São Paulo truly is the working business center of Brasil.
We are having so much success though, our
prayers are being answered. The few investigators we have are praying, reading,
and trying to attend church. I love the Familia Souza. They are a family that
we have and they are just diving into the scriptures and want so badly to know
what God wants for them. The father of the house, Marcillo, prayed for the
first time. He has already read the book of mormon up to Alma, but hasnt prayed
until then. He prayed for the first time with us and it was amazing. The spirit
was so strong. Always pray everybody. God is our literal Father in heaven and
always wants to hear from us. There are many blessings that depend upon us
asking for them. Dont be afraid to pray. It is just a conversation with your
loving Father.
I read a scripture this week, it was
actually shared with me in the CTM by an elder in my district but i have been
really thinking about it and how to apply it personally and with the people i
come in contact with and teach.
In the New Testament, Mark 15:34 it says,
"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a
loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Jesus Christ had to be completely alone and
seperated from the Father in order to know our pains and sufferings and how we
feel when we are alone. I testify that Jesus Christ knows you indiviually. He
knows what you want, he knows what you need, and he is waiting for you to
submit your will to his though obedience to the commandments, so that he can
bless you and fill you with love. Not love of the world, but the love of God,
an indescribable, unending love.
Family and friends, i miss you guys and i
love you guys, but there is no better thing that i could be doing right now. I
have already had some of the strongest spiritual experiences on this mission
and i have seen so many ways that i need to improve. At the end of this week, i
reach my 2 month mark. We are gonna by a pizza that is bordered with chocolate
because they do that out here... Oh heck yes! I hope my pics make it this week.
Fam... did you get my letter from the CTM? How is summer everybody? winter here
is not that bad ;)
Com Amor,
Elder Sanchez
Me and my companion
my apartment
I figured it out!
August 8, 2016
The problem with the pics is that they are huge. This camera
is so good and the computer is so slow. So my photos will come little by
little. I have a lot. I am trying to send them right now.
This week was amazing! The more we work, the more we are
blessed. The Lord looks out for his missionaries. Right now we are implementing
a plan that we made to get members more involved in the work. We assigned a
member to every investigator. I hope this works out at least a little.
Beans beans and beans... so much rice and beans, every meal. I
like them a lot but i dont know how brazilians can go a lifetime with rice and
beans everyday.
We had a strange experience last night. We were walking to
our apartment from the other side of our area and we saw a small fire on the
side of the sidewalk along the fence of a junkyard. The problem though was that
there is a ton of bamboo both living and dead in the junkyard and the fire was
beginning to spread. Somebody lit it and left. As we got closer we realized it
was not a wood fire but with other stuff. We didnt want a huge fire to burn
down our area so we ran to the closest house and luckily a lady was opening the
door as we arrived. We asked for a bucket of water. She got it for us and we
ran back. There was a fence separating us and the spreading fire but i swear
the Lord helped my comp fling the water because we put out all the fire that
was spreading. There was still the original fire on the sidewalk that we needed
to take care of. We poured water on it but it wouldnt go out. We started
spreading the burning contents around. The contents were a bunch of papers and
socks in tin pans and they wouldnt go out becuase they were saturated in
alchohol. Obviously somebody really wanted to destroy this stuff. We went and
got another bucket of water and after seriously drenching everything it was
done and good. We returned the bucket, thanked the lady, and set up a time to
teach her the gospel haha. We left the stuff on the side walk and havent been
back to see what it is but i´m glad we found the fire when we did.
The First 12 Weeks (training program for new missionaries) is
working. Every day we study a topic about teaching and in that same day we
always have an experience that we can apply what we learned. Its pretty cool.
We really focused on Love this past week and really listening to that concerns
of those we teach. It made a huge difference even in contacting.
We are helping a guy quit smoking right now. Addictions are such
a difficult thing. To start my companion presented this challenge to him to
demonstrate how bad smoking is and he agreed to it. We had him break two
cigarettes into boiling water. Saturated the water in tabacco juice. and he had
to drink it after straining the tobacco. He grabbed the cup and sipped and spit
it out immediately. And then he stood there staring at the cup and i could feel
how bad he wants to stop and how much this addiction weighs on him. I have so
much love for him. Then he tried again and again and again. Everytime he gagged
and spit it out. After he rinsed out his mouth i shared with him Alma 7:11-12
about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how Jesus Christ suffered for us according
to the flesh. He physically felt exactly what we feel and that if he relys on
Jesus Christ, reads the book of Mormon every day, and prays. He will overcome
his addiction. I hope he relys on the Lord. We are going to help him as much as
we can.
I love all you guys back home. I am so happy that i figured out
the photo situations. It was actually really getting on my nerves haha. I want
some Olympic updates about the USA. There is so much Brazil pride here, i need
a little Donald Trump/Michael Phelps to cope with it haha. Reality, I love
Brazil, it is an awesome place. Jesus Christ lives and loves us. His love has
the power to change our hearts, relationships, attitudes, and actions according
to his will and our faith.
Elder Sanchez
Area map
Iron to thaw freezer
Saint Mary's Wellness Center 2.0
Giraffe for Mario
Feliz Dia dos Pias
August 15, 2016
First thing, It is Fathers day in Brazil, yesterday! Love you
dad! Everybody being outside celebrating made contacting a little easier haha!
Second thing, My mailing situation. Send all to the mission office, it is how
my mission handles it. Mom, you sent a box. Thank you but i cant get it until i
pay 241 reais, (80 bucks apprx) I withdrew all from my personal account that i
have. Dont worry. I´m gonna pay for it today and retrieve it. The Correiro
(mailing company here) charge based upon what is inside. I dont know what you
sent that made it so much but just keep that in mind. If you send another box,
back up my personal account with enough to cover on my end. I do have one
request... My birthday is coming up and i would love my spiderman pillow case.
Or any pillow case, i cannot find one or a store with one in my area haha but i
really want one. If you cant find my spiderman pillow case, then a star wars
one would be pretty legit as well. But this is all i want for my birthday...
pillowcase:)
Mom i would love the recipe for your pancakes and brownies. All
the brazilians are asking me to make american pancakes and brownies for them.
Just because i tried making bread once, I am now a professional cook in the
eyes of the members haha. Not even close, i have now idea how i pulled off
making that half alright bread.
I keep hearing about how well america is doing in the olympics!!
GO USA, I heard Phelps took the silver... but our gymnastic team is killing it?
Seriously the members dont like when i bring up the olympics because we are
doing so well. What are the numbers? How many golds, silvers, and bronze of USA
vs. Brazil? Which country in the world is in the lead overall? What events are
we dominating?
The work in this area is picking up. I´m getting to know the
ward a lot better and the area in general a lot better. We taught one family
that came to church and is on date for baptism. Antonio, Camila, and their mom
Maria. Their mom loves us missionaries so much that she always tries to make
some amazing food when we go over to teach. I dont mind haha. I love working with
the recent converts, We have three and they are all so awesome. They are all in
the range of 22-28 years old and i love teaching them. One of them is a fighter
and his academy shut down so he is looking for a new academy to sponser him in
competitions. He is in charge of our Gospel principles class too. Which is so
awesome. I love Gospel prinicples, it is cool to talk about the basic concepts
of the gospel. There is so much power in the simple meaning of principles like
Charity, Service, and Responsibility.
That is cool that he has an accent. I am not even close to an
accent right now. Every one says that i look like a brazilian until i open my
mouth haha. Oh, if any brazilian sends me a friend request, please accept it!:)
The Family of the Bishop wants to see my life haha.
Dad i cant believe you bought a truck! Parabens!! The kitchen
looks fantastic. Mom i´m glad you have a good class. If they have any questions
about mission life, have them go ahead and shoot me an email or ask through
you. I am recieving porters emails. He is in the perfect world of the MTC right
now where every investigator gets baptized haha. I do enjoy reading his stuff.
He met Maddie. Winter is finally coming to an end! After what seems like 9 long
months of winter. I had winter in the states and left to winter here haha. But
with the gradually brightening days, the bugs are creeping out too.
Mosquitoes!! Gotta lovem!! Okay so i stepped in dog poop this week. Well, i
step in dog poop every week, it is almost impossible not too at least one time
per week. But this week was the worst kind of stepping in dog poop and i didnt
notice until i was in the house haha. Geez i spent like 15 minutes cleaning up
haha. I love the stray dogs here actually they have some funny habits and are
commical to watch. One investigator has this puppy and the little devil chewed
up my hand. I didnt realize that his bites were actually penetrating skin haha.
Its just a flesh wound, it will heal! He is so cute though, his name is
ralph!
This week we have multi-zone meetings with the President!! I´m
so excited, i love any meeting with the President! And its nice to talk with
other missionaries about their areas and such. We have actually had some pretty
hilarious lessons this week. One, i spent 10 minutes teaching the restauration
to this old lady and we looked eachother in the eyes the whole time. I thought
i did fantastic, my portuguese was on point and i felt the spirit. And then
like most of our older investigators, after we ask a question, they tell a story
about their life completely off topic (usually about some estranged relative
that was in the hospital for some serious illness) before they answer haha. She
did just that but by the time it came that we asked again "Who is Joseph
Smith?" She look me straight in the eyes and said "Quem é?" (Who
is that?).... oh my gosh, i had to hold back from laughing. We literally taught
and explained about his whole life minutes earlier. She was clueless. We closed
with a prayer and left before she started another story about how her 2nd
cousin got sick one time haha. She is a sweet old lady and does have a strong
conviction of Jesus Christ in her life.
Love all you guys,
Elder Sanchez
license to teach
First time making bread
Homemade bread covered with hot dogs!
