For A Birthday Present to Me...

Oct 15, 2012

Wow, it’s weird to think that I will turn 21 too. It’s weird on the mission too because you are so separated from the concept of time. Time here is just something that you are constantly racing against, that goes by really fast or not fast enough.

This ward that I’m working in know is a really old ward full of returned missionaries and stuff, so you´d think it would be a good ward to work in, but the area is really tough, its super hard to find people that are interested in your message.

The worst part is that even though the members are really great and knowledgeable, they don’t give references!!!! The worst sin that members of the church have nowadays is their disinterest in sharing the gospel with their friends. The excuse that everyone gives is that all their friends are Mormon too.

WELL THEN MAKE MORE FREINDS!!!!!!
There are millions of people around us every day that don’t know what their purpose in life is or how they can find peace in their homes or families but WE KNOW!! So what does it cost to tell your colleague at work or your acquaintance at school or that same guy that always waits at the bus stop at the same time as you?  It costs nothing!!!

Something my mission president says that really sticks out in my mind:

missionaries that don’t talk to people on the street are PRIDEFUL; they think more about what people will think about them than what God thinks about them.

All members of the church have the responsibility to share the gospel with others. if you don’t have a desire to share the gospel it means that you don’t really believe (you don’t really have a testimony) that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is God´s church on the earth, and that it contains the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, and is the ONLY WAY that all people on this earth can return to live with God and Jesus Christ and receive the fullness of joy with their eternalized families.

So think about this to yourself, everyone that reads this letter: I really believe? I REALLY believe?

And if you do, then you will tell your neighbor. Because you will have a desire that he knows how he can be happy in this life and saved in the next. You will feel like these great missionaries in Mosiah 28:3.

I know that this is true, I know it. Not because I saw a vision or had any supernatural experiences, but because the Lord reveals it to me every single day through the Holy Ghost.

For a birthday present to me, talk to somebody about the gospel this week. If they seem even the slightest bit interested, get their address and give it to the missionaries. Just do it.

I love you all!

 Thanks so much for the birthday cards!

We have an investigator that wants to be baptized but is having trouble trying to stop smoking.  If you could pray for her that would be great.

-Elder Leete

Best Thing You'll Ever Do

General conference was so great!!! as a missionary, the best thing in the world is listening to conference.

Ran out of computer time again so all i have to say is EVERYBODY THAT NOW QUALIFIES BECAUSE OF THE NEW AGE REQUIREMENT SHOULD GO ON A MISSION. IT IS THE BEST THING YOU WILL EVER DO IN YOU LIFE. (except for getting married in the temple of course)

Love you all!

-Elder Leete

Busy Pdays

Dad asked:  Are you taking any opportunity to see any of the countryside on P-DAY? It sounds like a nap is the best part of the day.  You might want to try to get to know the country a bit; the change might do you some good.

There isn't really much to do here to get to know the country, and even if there was something good to do I wouldn't have time. P-day goes like this:
Wake up 6:30 just like every other day and follow the normal study schedule until 10:00.
From 10 to eleven clean the house.
At eleven until twelve thirty use the internet to report all the numbers for the zone, write a zone newsletter, write to you guys, write to the mission president, and try to backup pictures.
12:30 to 2:00 buy food for the week.
2:00 arrive in house, eat.
3:00-6:00 free time! (Wash clothes, organize stuff, sleep, and write letters.)
6:00 back to work!

Basically, you have 3 hours of free time every p day. For example, if I wanted to go to the museum downtown, I would spend one hour on the bus to get there, one hour in the museum and one hour to get back to the area, so it isn't worth it. Plus I wouldn't have clean clothes for the week.

When I was in Bauru I almost had the courage to go to the zoo, but I slept instead.

The life of a missionary doesn't have time for sightseeing, and there isn't anything really of worth to go see. Maybe one day I’ll pass through Foz do Iguassu and I’ll go to see the waterfalls which is one of the 7 wonders of the world, but you can only go with the mission president so it’s rare to go. Maybe I’ll be a zone leader over there and I’ll be able to beg the president to go.

One more transfer comes to an end here; the time seems to fly by faster and faster. I have 1 year and four months on the mission, at the end of this transfer I’ll have 1 and a half years. Crazy.

I got a letter from Jessica, she knows Elder C, he was a really great missionary, in my first city  he was the zone leader of the other zone in the city. He was even an AP at the end of his mission, so Jessica you have my permission to date him.

I’m hopeful for this new transfer, me and Elder S will stay together (this will be his last transfer before going home) and I hope that we find some good people to teach. This Sunday a woman went to church that is really interested, but every time we talk about some kind of commitment (go to church, baptism, etc.) she just says stuff like "I can’t answer you that now, we´ll see when we get there." these excuses are really annoying. But she feels the spirit really strongly when she reads, we just have to help her recognize that it is an answer to her prayers.
Another family that we are teaching is a family of 4 that we tried to baptize at the beginning of the transfer, the wife and son want to get baptized but don’t want to do it without the Father, and he doesn’t want to commit to anything. It’s like watching in a horror film when you know the person is going to die and there is nothing you can do about it. you just watch as he is blinded by the craftiness of men and Satan leads him bit by bit to eternal damnation, and worst of all he is dragging his family with him.

Something that I've learned on the mission is how really there are only two options: Follow God through his Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Satan, by doing anything else.
It’s really that simple.

And it’s a pity that there are so many members and leaders of the church that don´t understand that and so they don’t have the desire to share the gospel with their friends. I was one of those people and I’m repenting of it now

Love you all!
até semana que vem!
-Elder Leete

It's up to their Agency

I’m working hard as usual, I’m starting to go a little crazy, it´s been almost a whole transfer without a baptism. But you can’t force anyone to do anything, just got to teach your best and help them feel the spirit. Whether or not the people act on these spiritual impressions is up to their agency. But it is a little discouraging after a while when nobody seems to want the restored gospel truth that brings you so much happiness and purpose.

But that’s just the way things are, not even God makes people accept the truth.

As for my birthday, the only thing i want is the movie "Joseph Smith: the Profet of the Restoration " in Portuguese to show my investigators. It’s that one- hour movie about Joseph Smith

love you all,

-Elder Leete

Just Gotta Have Faith

i love you all, sorry ran out of computer time today my week went by normally, just this area is being a little harder to find interested people. but we´ll find them. just gotta have faith!

 

-Elder Leete

Spiritual Work Work Work

Well this week chugged along as usual, we have been having a hard time in this new area, i think ive never been rejected so much as i am being now, and thus i´m teaching less than usual

but thats okay, it just means that you have to change your tactics. we started visiting all of the members in the ward and teaching a little bit about the doctrine of christ and then asking for references, and in ward counsel on sunday we asked for all the leaders to indicate 5 families for us to work with that are less active or are incomplete.

with this i think we are going to have a lot more success this week, it´s been like three weeks since i´ve had a "BATISMO!" so i´ve got to work a little harder. i know that God has people here in this area that are ready, the "Elect" that just arent baptized yet because they dont know where they can find the truth

i´ve spent a little bit of money in the last month or so. . .  don´t remember how much. as you get older and older on the mission you care less and less about stuff like this.

ive realized that really the mission is more mentally tiring than anything. just the fact that you are constantly concerned about the spiritual well-being of your investigators and the  missionaries in your zone you get tired.

thats why you get P-day! the best thing to do is sleep to unwind. i´m excited about that in a couple of hours. P- day really just is to short, after you study, clean your house and do email and shopping you have like 2 hours to sleep before you are on the street again.

but thats the life of a missionary, just work, work, work, all the time. it’s great that it’s a spiritual work that has real worth and brings satisfaction, if you were living like this just for a normal job to get money it would be a really annoying life

love you all!

-Elder Leete

The Gospel Really does Change Lives

The transfer is going great, me and my comp (Elder S) work well together.  We aren’t really opening up a new area, this is one of the oldest wards in the city so it´s always had missionaries, but the both of the last missionaries to serve here were sent to other areas and me and Elder S arrived here without knowing the area at all. We have both served in Londrina before but not in this part.

We found a family this week that has been taught by the missionaries for over two years but never was baptized. We arrived and taught a lesson where the spirit was so strong you could cut it with a knife. The mom and the son accepted to be baptized this Saturday.  Everything was going really well, we passed there every day to teach and the spirit was always so strong, but when Saturday arrived the dad didn’t want to get baptized, fear of entering into something new and stuff like that. Wants more time to think and prepare (like 2 years isn’t enough). The wife and the son want really badly to be baptized, but they also don’t want to be baptized if the father isn’t baptized too at the same time. A little frustrating for us missionaries, but you have to respect the free agency of your investigators. Your purpose as a missionary is to teach the restored gospel with the spirit, and baptize the people if they want to follow the spirit that they are feeling. Sometimes you just want to grab the people by the collar and throw them in the water because you KNOW that’s what’s best for them, but you just can’t.

Preach my Gospel explains it something like this: you know you are a successful missionary if you can feel the spirit work through you as you find and teach people. Whether or not the accept doesn’t have anything to do with your success.

But one cool thing that happened is that we went to do a baptismal interview in the ward where I served 6 months ago. I took the opportunity to visit a family where I baptized the daughters  but the parents weren’t married at that time so they couldn’t.  They still are active and happy in the church and the marriage papers are almost done, so here in a couple of weeks they can get baptized!!! I probably will still be here which is good because S tells all the missionaries that the only person that will baptize him will be me. They even were going to name their baby "Kevin",  (D is 8 and a half months pregnant) but they found out that it’s going to be a girl. When I talked with them I got to see the great change that happened in their lives in the past six months since me and Elder P baptized them. It is one great testimony that the Gospel really does change lives. It’s amazing to see.

The mission is an experience that I can’t explain; you are changing lives for eternity every single day.

Love you all!

-Elder Leete