Opening a new Area in Londrina 3

Question: I hope your transfer went smoothly and that you are all settled into your new area.  So tell us who your new companion is and what you are up to.  Still a Zone Leader?

Answer:

This was a little crazy, we thought that we were going to work in the V Ward (which is the neighboring ward of were I served here in Londrina 4 months ago) but after two days president changed his mind and sent us to the "Londrina 3" Ward, so we had to pack our bags again and open this new area. so my first day of work in this new area was Saturday. We are the zone leaders of the "T" zone, which makes up about half of the city of Londrina. My companion is Elder S.

It was weird working close to where already worked a couple of months ago, I got to see people that I did baptismal interviews for and stuff. The missionaries there are going to baptize the granddaughter of an old man that me and Elder A found knocking on doors when we did a split like 6 months ago. (At that time Elder A was my zone leader, yes, the same one that was my companion in M last transfer.)

Also, now that I’m here I’ll probably do a split to see how my recent converts are doing in the S Ward; maybe a family that I tried to baptize finally got married legally.

I’m sorry to hear that summer has come and gone already, now it’s back to school for you all. I’m also sorry to say that winter is ending for me here, so it will start to heat up again.

I Love you all!!

até a próxima semana!

-Elder Leete

It is Just the Work of the Lord, Baptizing the Elect

This week was more hard work for us, we found a lot of people that had a good chance of being baptized, but every single one fell through.

Until Saturday morning at 10:30am

The bishop called us and said there was a young man that wanted to be baptized at the mutual activity that was going on!

We ran to the chapel to find C, a guy that has been dating a girl in the ward, apparently he has been going to church off and on for three years because his parents don’t authorize his baptism. But this week he turned 18! We didn’t even have to teach him anything, Elder A did the baptismal interview right then. He was baptized on Sunday by one of his friends in the ward.

It made me realize how a lot of times we, as missionaries, as much as we work and work every day in the end it is just the work of the Lord, baptizing the elect. Where there are humble people who listen and accept the gospel there are baptisms. We just have to find them.

Love you all, Transfers are this week but I don’t know what will happen because the secretaries haven’t called yet, but if I’m still on the computer I’ll send another email to tell you real quick.

tchau

-Eler Leete

Left to Right:  Elder A, D (member friend that did the baptism), C, and Me

Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 8:43 AM

Subject: transfers

I’m being transferred back to Londrina!! I’m going to work in the V ward, which is the neighboring ward of where I was working last time. It will be weird, I’ll use the same chapel and everything.

love you all!

-Elder Leete

The Hardest Part about being a Missionary

This week was more of the same for me, working hard all day every day.

The hardest part about being a missionary is being a missionary leader.  I work with a lot of missionaries and it seems like they just don’t have a desire to work hard, or they work hard but they aren’t working in an effective manner so their numbers are low.

 These numbers or "key indicators" that we work with are baptisms, confirmations, investigators in sacrament meeting, lessons taught with a member present, other lessons taught, "progressing" investigators (they are reading the Book of Mormon and praying and trying to keep the commandments), references received  (from members), references contacted, new investigators, lessons taught to less actives and recent converts, and contacts on the street.

The goal of a good missionary is to work hard to increase these numbers every week, because as you do so you will help more and more people accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

The problem is when missionaries start to get satisfied with low numbers. Let’s say that I’ve taught 4  lessons today (4 lessons is like the minimum for a day´s work), I can 1) say that I’ve done enough for the day and not really try hard to talk to people on the street or even go to a member house to eat a snack for the rest of the evening. Or I can 2) still try my hardest and teach another 4 before the night runs out.

The missionaries that do the first a lot of times get stuck in the rut of only teaching a low number of lessons every day, so they start lowering their goals and instead of teaching a minimum of 4 lessons a day their goal BECOMES 4 lessons per day. Then they start teaching even less. . . .and then start slacking off  with the free time that they have because they aren’t exerting themselves during the day.

But then there are other types of missionaries that have good intentions but they don’t really know how to use their time wisely. They start teaching instigators in a wide, spread-out area so they spend half their time during the day walking.  They arrive in house tired at the end of the day working hard and obeying the rules, but they don’t baptize often because they aren’t teaching very many people.  (I was like this at the beginning of the mission.)

Our job as leaders is to help people improve the quality of teaching and planning (through training meetings and doing splits to teach by example) and to motivate and inspire the missionaries in the zone to work their hardest.

The hardest thing to do I think is to inspire people to work.  I’m not a very crazy and outgoing guy. I’m good at teaching  principles and solving problems, but when it comes to getting up in front of 20 other missionaries and trying to motivate them to work harder I’m like a fish out of water. I’ve been getting better with practice but it’s still awkward.

O well, I hope by the end of the mission I get a hang of it.

But that’s what I’ve had on my mind today, love you all

I bought new insoles this week, Dr. Scholls all the way. I’m gonna buy more this week too I think

até mais!!!

-Elder Leete

Nobody Beat Me Up

August 6, 2012

This week was another crazy week; I’m starting to get worn out. . . .

This week I did splits for 5 days in a row with different missionaries and different areas to help those who haven’t baptized in a while. on Tuesday i was in G(a small city about 40 minutes away), Wednesday in P (another ward in the city), Thursday in the ward in the center of the city, Friday back in P to work with the other  missionary there, and then Saturday I spent a total of 6 hours on a bus going back and forth to do a  baptismal interview in the city of O. Crazy.

To top all that off Saturday night I got bit like 5 times by a mosquito, but there is one certain species that I’m like allergic two so when it bites my I swell up really bad.  Sunday I spent the whole day with my right eye swollen shut. Oh the wonders of Brasil. The most annoying part is that the people here love the missionaries so much that I had to explain to everyone in the ward that I was fine and didn’t need any more Meds and nobody beat me up.

Anyway, I’m excited for this week to get a good week of work done in my own area, we have been teaching a woman that was going to get baptized this week but a pastor started visiting her and telling her a bunch of lies about the Book of Mórmon. So we gotta clean that up this week.

I’m glad that you all are melting in the heat over there; you can feel how I felt at Christmastime hahaha.

The mission is great, I’m learning so much about how to deal with all kinds of people and all kinds of situations, and above all about simply that the Church is true, there is no other explanation. I’ve seen too many people receive answers to prayers, it´s just not possible that it´s not true.

Love you all!
Stay healthy and happy!

-Elder Leete