"Jesus arrived!!" (Week 21)

First i want to explain the title and why there is quotations around the phrase lol. So the other day and this was Saturday we had an interview for a baptism and then after we arrived to lunch and knocked the gate. A little boy of the family ran out and looked at us and ran back into the house and yelled "Jesus Arrived" ! Lol i just think its funny when little kids refer to us as Jesus arrived or other names. It was a very good lunch too !! After this we visited the temple with a investigator Vitor and his Girlfriend and he will be baptized this Saturday!! I am so excited for him to be baptized because he is so ready for this next step. I think he has been our investigator for 2 or 3 weeks and we didn't even have to ask the baptism question. He mentioned it to us and then we set a date for this Saturday. 

Lol this week we had splits with the Elders in our house and i learned that when you knock a door and they say i am about to leave... Lol we started talking with this guy that said i am about to leave so we started teaching on the spot and then he let us in. After 45 min to 1 hour we taught him and his wife so they were not about to leave at all lol. I have learned teaching on the spot is a lot better in the end because after a lesson normally people want to learn more about what we represent. Like the little boy said Jesus arrived we literally represent Jesus Christ in our area because we are called to be that representative of Him. 

I SAW # MUSTANGS HERE IN 2 WEEKS!!! one was a v6 but the others were GT´s!! I finally got a picture of one on the way to the Temple!!

This week i have been getting up at 7AM which is half an hour early then normal but it means i get to have 30 more minutes of personnel study every single day which means 3.5 more hours a week and this doesn't include when i read after the day is done to relax. I have found doing this i understand the scriptures in Portuguese a lot more and sometimes its a story in the scriptures i needed for that exact day for a member or investigator! 

Oh the other day when we went to the temple We played punch buggy but also include the Volkswagen vans and the score by the end of the day was 38-40! Lol usually not that high of numbers! 

Here are some fotos of this week too!

-Elder Hammond

 

 

Olá todos!! (Week 20)

This week has been really good and we have had a lot of progress with our investigators with dates for baptisms and they are really excited to be in church and go to activities even when we don't know about activities lol. Idk if its good we don't know about them but its good they attend the activities !! We have 9 baptism dates marked for this transfer right now and plan on marking more dates. Lebny Gabriel and Abner are really excited for their day on August 12th for all three of them to enter the water. Its really cool because next month Gabriel will be going with us missionaries to eat lunch with a member that doesn't have another man in the house. If some of you don't know Elders cant enter a home with only women in the house, there always has to be a man in the house for respect of the home. And same for sisters but they have to have another women in the house. So Gabriel will be going with us to lunch which will be awesome experience for him!! Gabriel and Abner actually asked what their name tag would say if they served a mission! 

We have a family too that is really special ! We have had 3 lessons with us and have a baptism date for the 26th of August which is the next transfer so idk if i will be here but still really excited for them! They told us the other day that when Elder Quaresma and I knocked their door they were really stressed and kinda annoyed we knocked their door lol. Anyways we started talking to them about who we represent and then had a quick prayer in the entrance of their garage and then left. Simple and to the point. She said after we left their day was much much more happy and not so stressful (they just moved into the house 3 days earlier) and could continue on their day. The next week we gave them The Book of Mormon and they began to read just the invite part in the front. Her daughter Isabely (14) said directly i want to be baptized now and am ready! If this isn't what a missionary wants to hear then idk what is lol. Really excited!!

This week we had splits with other elders in our district and i was in their area which was cold (-5 i think its about 20 in the US) and windy so that was fun but i like this area. We took another pathway there and we entered this huge field that had been cleared and there was ribbon that made borders like property for homes. So people cleared this area and build there homes very slowly from nothing into a home brick by brick, door by door and then shingle by shingle. Its amazing how hard working the people are here. It kinda reminded me when the pioneers settled in Utah and built the city. Its literally what they are doing but in 2017. 

This week i found out that our greatest power is our testimony. We could bible bash all day but when you bear your testimony nobody can even argue with you because its YOUR testimony no matter what. In 1 Nephi 1:3 Nephi talks about how he is making a registro (idk the translation i just know the meaning in Portuguese) oh wait it means record lol. But he is making a record and he says i know that this record is true. We all need to testify of the truth when we get the chance. ALWAYS! 

In other news i am just starting to get better lol. My companion recorded me sleeping the other night with the audio recorder and i sounded like Darth Vader because i was only breathing through my mouth lol. 

Ate mais yall 

-Elder Hammond

Packages from HOME!!! One from us in Colorado, and the other from Grandma June and Paka Michael. Sending love through the miles to our Dear Elder Missionary! We love you Bryson!!! 💓💓💓💓

A few weeks ago, Bryson was dying for some "real peanut butter" from home! They don't have peanut butter like he enjoys from America. I sent him some, and so did Grandma June and Paka Michael but it takes easily 2-3 weeks PLUS for packages to arrive from home. Meanwhile I also sent him directions how to make homemade peanut butter from roasted peanuts there in Brazil, and a blender. This way he can always have some! I added extra funds into his bank account at home, so he could afford the extra treat, because nuts in Brazil are considerably more pricey than in America. Great job making PB Bryson!!!
😉💓

He's enjoying a candy bar. This is possibly one of the ones I sent him from the Missionary Supply company. Trying to keep our boy happy and knowing he is thought of and loved! 💓😊

Look at THAT Face!!! 😊

PIZZA!!! LOL 😂 Happy boy!!! 😋

💓 A Book of Mormon in Creole 💓

Olá or oí (19 weeks)

This week has been tough because my companion and I were constantly sick him more than I but this prevented us from really working our hardest. This does not feel good in any way at all but we will continue on this next week with full force! We are doing much better now though! 

This week we found out that AnaPaula and Julio have moved to another ward :( I was really sad but then I realized that the Sisters there will help AnaPaula a lot more than us Elders can. Sometimes it's not about the baptisms in our area but that they get to continue to progress in another area. Because they moved they can now get married and then baptized which I will be so happy when they do get baptized and after a year be sealed in the temple!!! 

This week we marked 3 baptism dates for 12-8-2017 which is in August one day before we have transfers and yes we are already almost to that date which is crazy because time flew by so fast! They are super firm in this date and I couldn't be happier for them! They attend all church meetings and activities without us needing to always remind them which shows their desire to be in church and activities! 

Lol so funny thing is Saturday night the ward had a party and we were eating and talking and then a member came to me and said I don't mean to make you feel embarrassed but your pants have ripped.... I was so shocked because I didn't hear or feel them rip... He said it's okay just have fun and don't worry.... Lol yeah, I was like let's go and change my pants because the hole is enormous and our house is really close!! I don't think I can even save the pants to be completely honest. Either I am fat now (thanks, beans and rice and desserts ) or the pants were too small in the first place lol. I will always remember this which is cool I guess but idk who else knows about the rip 

Besides being a little sick and all I don't remember much more. Oh, I have had language and all my studies ever single day this week which is amazing and has helped my days to be a lot better! The language is coming !!! Zone conferences are tomorrow and I am so excited for that! 

Tchau!

-Elder Bryson Hammond

Curitiba Brazil Temple - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

4 Months (18 weeks)

This week was rely good with my new companion Elder Krepsz ! I am learning how to speak better Portuguese too which is great because I need to better my idioma lol. Its funny because even people here know that the language here is very difficult to be able to speak so they continue to help me out all the time. 

First I want to explain that Pday is today because we visited the Temple today and took some photos too. I was not allowed to write anybody that it was changed to Tuesday so I was kinda upset about that. Lol this week did go by fast and I think that this week will go by fast too because we have meetings this week and everything is being switched around and also because we have a lot of work to be doing right now with our investigators. This week we have had progression with our investigators as well and now after we visited the temple with some Saturday they see the bigger picture then they ever have. Lebny Gabriel and Abner have progressed and know baptism is the next step so now we just need a date for baptism now. We will plan for this date tonight when we teach the lesson tonight! Vary excited for this!!!

Lol So there has been some funny experiences this week and some weird ones too. The first weird one is that one girl believed in our message but would not or did not want to pray to know for sure so that it was true. Lol That was a bit of a shock to me but cant force somebody to want it. 

Elder Krepsz likes to play punch buggy a lot so we play that while walking from house to house and one day he won 5-18 which is crazy and other times I was close like 9-9 and today is 5-2 and I am winning finally but prob not for long lolol. Another night we were knocking doors and this HUGE bear/dog thing came out of the garage and a pit bull and I didn't see the pit bull at first. Then the pit bull jumped higher then my head and I almost .... "almost" screamed like a little girl xD 

I don't remember much of my week because it went by so so so fast but I am ready for the next week!!

-Elder Hammond

I HAVE THE BOTTOM BUNK (evil laughing)

So transfers was today and from the photos you can see that my new companheiro is Elder Krepz and actually he was the companion of my companion in the CTM if that makes sense lol. But anyways he is pretty cool and I know already that this transfer will be awesome!!! He has been serving for 10 months now so he is a great missionary as of now. 

This week has been great but also frustrating to say the least and not because of the idioma this week I have faith that I will gain an accent sooner or later lol. We has baptism fall through again and also the temple trip with them fell again but there is good news to that too! Lebny the sister of Gabriel and Abner said that she has a dream she was writing in The Book of Mormon about her testimony and experiences of her baptism in the front page! I know it has been hard to help her with certeza (Portuguese word idk in English lol) about baptism but now she said she is really really close to that special day! This is good because when she is ready this means without a doubt she will be baptized!! With downfalls we always have blessings!! Also AnaPaula and Julio are so close to marriage and then baptism!! All they need left is R$50 for this day! I cant wait for them to finally get married!!!! 

We started this thing this week of looking up and searching for ex investigators and we found A LOT with 11 new investigators this week alone and really good families specifically ones that are ready to hear the gospel and have their lives changed for the better! One family specific is Juliana and her daughter Isabely (14) and Isabely started to read the book of Mormon already after the first visit! She looked into the internet about Joseph Smith and likes the story of him. This is good and bad because the internet talks a lot of bad about the church so I will direst her and her family to the website of the Church lol. 

Lol this week na verdade Saturday night and Sunday night I set an alarm for 5AM for other elders in their room haha. They did not like that too much at all! Elder Barros said Vou voltar this means I will return so I have something coming soon for me and Elder Krepz!

Today we have family night in the house of our Bishop with Lebny Gabriel and Abner and we will talk about the Atonement of Christ in our life!!! Cant wait!

Tchau ! More fotos soon!!

- Elder Bryson Daniel Hammond