Fasting.

Zone picccccc

What is your stove like?  We have a stove like we have at home but the gas is in a can inside a hole in the wall that costs freakin 60 reais to refill.

What is something American that you find there? So they have this store called lojas americanos. which means american store. And they have everything... everything brazillian. the only american thing I found there is skittles, milkeyway, snickers and little candies like that. But its a store that kinda feels like im home. Even though no one speaks english, me and H try to talk english with everyone who works there. Hahaha

Are there any fast food restaurants there that you enjoy? eh, we dont really go to restaurantes very often. its more like a bread store that has a little bar of food that normally has rice, beans, some type of noddles, meat, french fries and salad. But I have gone to habibs once with elder L and it was good. 

So yeah this week a lot happened actually.

Freakin pb and j com chocolate milk man.
U.S.A. oh btw I got your packages!

So in Cascatinha really no one wants to hear our message and I was freakin tired of knocking doors for hours and hours so I was talking to my Zone leader and he was like, well have you guys fasted? and I was like no... So this week we fasted as a district and miracles happened! 

So we all fasted saturday starting at 2ish and went 24 hours without food and without water. We all passed the names of all of our investigators to one another and fasted for the purpose that they will have a desire to be baptised and ask God if this church is true. So sunday comes around and only 1 investigator went to church out of our 12 investigators in the district. But we had faith that it would all workout. So during the second hour of church a member comes up to me and saids that her husband just changed his mind and wants his 9 year old daughter baptised in our church. and asked what day we could come over and teach her daughter. Then later before we left, P came up to me and said that one of her daughters friends, (who we´ve already taught and sometimes come to church but didnt have interest in being baptised) said that she wants to be baptised, and we just need the approval of her partents. THEN we went over to G and M a married couple who are literally the best and we were preparing her to get baptised and she said that she prayed and God told her this church was the true church. So we gave her the word of wisdom and she said that she would stop drinking coffee starting right now! So my testimony of fasting increased so much this week.

But there cant be all good news. for the past 4 months weve been visiting a family L. Me and Elder C found this family and started teaching them and helping them out and stuff. But a few weeks before we started teaching them their dad got really sick and fell into a coma. Me and Elder C went to the hospital to give him a blessing at the end of March and the weirdest thing happened. 

So in our church we believe in the blessing of oil like it saids at the end of chapter 5 in the book of James. We bless oil and then put a drop of it on the sick persons head and then we lay both hands on the persons head and consecraite that oil to bless and heal the sick and afflicted. Then we give him a blessing conforming with the words the holy ghost is giving us, with our hands still on his head. So when I went to give him a blessing, I wanted to say that he will get better and come home soon. But it was like I didnt even know how to speak portuguese. Like the gift of tounges stopped. I paused for 2 minutes thinking about what to say. and I ended up saying that he will have the force to withstand this challenge god gave him, among other things. At the end I closed the blessing in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. I looked at JM who was still in a coma and I saw he was crying. So of course at that moment in time, I think something from the ceiling fell into my eye and I started tearing up and C just kinda gives me a hug and was just kinda quiet. Sunday at 3 oclock he passed away. And the family is taking it really well, I think better than me. Haha but yeah. We´re all here on a ticket, traveling and when its our time its our time. Who are we to try and go against the will of God? 

But we got a lot of work ahead of us for the next few days so thats good. I love you guys I miss you all

Elder Hamm

Elder L is still in my zone.  This might be the last zone time
I'll ever see my trainer again.  

Hospital

 So you are in “Petropolis” – but your area isn’t really Petropolis, so is that your district or zone? Thats my zone, Petrópolis, my district is actually Correias and my area is Cascatinha. Complicated nah?

How many Mormons are there in the area? I think like 500 or more but right now we have a frequência of like 50

 So you have been there 6 months – tell me about a family or two that you love and that helps take care of you. Well of course theres Irmã A cause shes awesome. We bought a box of chocolates and a flower for here for mothers day. Then theres the bishop and his wife. His wife, Irmã c is freakin awesome and she has a daughter who just got back from a mission in salvador so they take really good care of us, she drove me to the hospital and back this week so we also bought a box of chocolates and a flower for her to thank her. 

But yeah, so I went to the hospital this week! That was loads of fun. Ill just sum it up cause I already told you guys on the call, but basically I was helping Irmã a move some stuff and I fell and 3 nails went into my hand. One above the rist (which was the deepest, like 4-5 centameters) and two other on the side of my hand which only went in like 2-3 centemeters. But yeah it was bleeding like crazy and the fact that the nails were 1,000 years old the presidents wife said that I need to go to the hospital to get it cleaned and take a tetanus shot. I told her, what can I say, just trying to be more like Crist ;) all hole-y and stuff. 

Haha but yeah Ill send you ugys a picture of my hand. its lookin good now. Ill also send you guys a picture of my buddie who let me use his hoodie cause it was freezing and mine was wet. but yeah hes awesome and this hoodie makes me look like a thug. haha his name is lucas. but yeah  I love you guys!! miss you guys!!

Fourth transfer's the charm!

How does your area compare to the rest of your mission given what other Elders have told you? welll.... I dunno I dont really like to talk about my difficulties or success and I really try to avoid comparing me to anyone, or my area to any area because nothing makes me more mad than people who make excuses for the success they´re not having. Every area has bad times and good time, different problems and struggles. These difficutlies are yours to use as an excuse and complaine about, or try to help change. Its funny cause in the end the biggest change you´ll really see isnt in your area, its in yourself. 

Do they have a Mother’s Day there?  Dude. For evey holiday they have in the united states, Brazil has that... and 3 more. Seriously, every month theres like 3 or 4 holidays for random things. But Brazil does have a "kids day" like a fathers day and mothers day. 

What is your current favorite treat? my favorite treat.... hmmm... I like condennsed milk alot. And here they use it as a topping for pretty much everything. But I also like the fruity gummy candy they sell here in big bags. Its like the consisstancy of a tootie roll but a fruity flavor. 

But yeah so you guys remember that little surpise party I hoped that no one would know about? Yeah... So this sunday was testimony meeting (where every first sunday of the month members from the congregation will get up and bear their testimony) and the grandma of the girl got up there and right when she started talking I knew we were outted. So she starts off all good and then shes like, "this week the elders went to the birthday party of my grandaughter. And my daughter in law....blah blah blah.... She saw them havin a good time and laughing and now wants to hear their messages..." So the bishops wife was sitting behind me and shes like, "okay elder hamm, went there to share a message, saw cake, and stayed for the festives eh?" Haha and now our invistigator who was sitting beside me wants to have a party and invite all her friends and is saying that we haveee to come. so yeah... that didnt really end too well.

But as for transfers!!! I will be staying in Cascatinha for one more transfer with Elder Howard. And you know what they say! Fourth transfers the charm! Haha Love you guys!! Miss you guys a lot!!

Elder Hamm

Surprise

Do you have a favorite scripture? 

1 Nefí 4:6 and the beginning of 7. It says

6 And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.

 7 Nevertheless I went forth,..."

I really like how Nefi didnt have any idea what he was doing, but yet he went forth trusting in the lord. I realize that everyday when I wake up, I go forth, trusting in the Lord, not knowing what will happen. Its pretty sweet.

 

What do you study during study time? The presidente wants us to study The Book of Mormon everyday and also Preach my gospel. But I like the bible too so I try to study all three of them everyday. If you open Preach My Gospel, you´ll see that every section of that book has both references to the bible and aso the LdM. And when we have investigators that have questions or we will teach a lesson to someone difficult, during comp study we´ll so a dry run or something. 

What is the public transportation there like? Busses. Here in petropolis it costs 3.20 reais. Which is like a freakin arm and a leg cause in my last area it cost 1.60. But yeah Petrópolis is pretty expensive. The bill for lights went up like 20% the last 2 months. Its crazyyy.

So yeah this week was pretty good. We went around and decided that knocking doors here in Petropolis isnt really doing anything so we decided to work with the members this week and see if they had any refrences for us.

So we started visiting the less active and we would enter, talk with them for 15-20 minutes and then give a short lesson about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just to help them remember what we have and how important it is that we share this knowledge that we have. So almost all of them gave us references! Which would be the first references ive received since I arrived here in petrópolis. 

So we had a conference with the presidente I think wednesday... But yeah it started at 9:30 and ended at 6... it was wayyyy long but it was a super good training. We met with the zone of Volta Redondo and Teresópolis so I got to see Elder C!!! Man I miss that guy. He was really tough but in the end he taught me so many things and I really miss him. Also I got to see Elder B from my CTM group!!! He's comps with C. But yeah. 

We also saw alot of monkeys this week which is weird because it was kinda chilly. But we fed a banana to a few of them. 

Oh! So we were walking home one night and it was only 8. So we pass a house where a member lives and I felt like we should visit them because only the mom and daughter are members. So we ring the buzzer and she invites us in and shes like, "come with me" so we enter a room where the lights are all turned off and we hear some other people whispering and shes like "stay quiet and hide" and I look over at Elder H and I can hardly make out his face but hes just as confused as I am. So we hear someone coming down the stairs and so they light the candles on the cake and Im thinkin, "ohhhh great we just crashed a surprise party.... fantastic" So everyone jumps out and yells surprise! when the girl walks in. So her daughter is turning 13 and all of the girls from the ward are here and family and im thinking, Perfeccctttttt. The last thing I need is for someone to snap a picture and put it on facebook! Cause then the presidente will see it and he will think that we went to a surprise party for a 13 year old girl! So right after we yell surprise all the family is like, Oh the missionaries are here! How great! and since only 2 members of the family are members and knew us it was a little weird. So the dad, (who's huge and scary and not a member) is like, Sit! EAT! So without hesitation we sit down and start eating little sandwiches they made and so the group of 14 year old girls makes their way over to us and starts talking and before you know it someone breaks out a camera and the song "skyfall" comes into my head and im like yeah this is it.... this is the end... 

But long story short, (or less long) we left after 40ish minutes cause it was 9 oclock. with the address of all the people there cause they saw that the missionaries were actually just two 20 year old guys trying to share the love of Christ. I also asked that if anyone wanted to put a photo on facebook they can, just block Sister C and mission Brazil Juiz De Fora =)

Other than that its just the same ol same ol. love you guys!!

Elder hamm

wooooooooo

Other than lighting their floors on fire, what do most people do for heat?  hmnmm don´t know. If I had known of any other way to get heat, I wouldnt have lit my floor on fire.

Do people have cars in your area?  yes and no. only people who have good jobs have cars cause cars here are expensive. But Michael V will be glad, if you have a camry here, it pretty much means you made it. Camry´s are fancy here.

Do most people have electricity and phones? Yeah I think everyone has electricity but some people cant afford to have electricity evey month. So sometimes they´ll go a week or two without power cause they didnt pay the bill and they cut their power, so they have to wait and save their money to pay the bill to get more electricity. and most people have phones here but not everyone has credit to call or to text people. they can only receive calls and stuff. 

But yeah this week was awesome! -__- We had a bunch of people we were teaching and every single one of them told us that they dont want to hear our message any more and one of the families told us that if we come back the dad (who's brothers with a big drug dealer) will kill us with a plank of wood. And I know he will because he already went to jail once for attempted murder. So yeah. This week we will choose a new part of our area and knock doors over there. 

So this week we were walking back from lunch Sunday and we pass these 3 girls and 2 guys trying to move this fridge and so me and H run over there to help and we're like can we help? and this was the first time I really realized that we must look insane. Because they look at us in our suit and tie and are like, are you serious? So im like "dead serious" so I take off my suit coat and roll up my sleeves and they just laugh. haha So we help these guys move this fridge, 3 stores up, through a window (cause the staircase is pretty small) using only seat belts and 2 ropes. Yeah this was some Acme comic book stuff. But we got the fridge up there without breaking too many things. 

So I start talking to the guy, F, who runs this place, turns out its like a place where people without money can get, dental care, doctors, reading lessons, physical therapy, and a bunch of other stuff, for less than it would normally cost. And he's learning english to go to Vanderbuilt Law school! so he presented me to his wife and he said that he would love to have us over to share our lesson with them! 

This was just a hugggeee moral boost after our last family said they were gonna kill us. So yeah im excited to visit him this week! but other than that this week was pretty calm.

hmmm I really need to start writing in my journal more often because if I write in my journal, its easier to remember the funny stuff to tell you guys. Haha. But yeah

Love you guys!! I miss you all so much!! 

Love 

Elder Hamm

P.S. This transfer is only 5 weeks so transfers are 5 de maio. 

Colder

What do most folks around there do for work?  The girls here work sewing. Everyone one has at least one sewing machine in their house and what they do is get a bunch of shirts and pants and stuff and sew them together to make a shirt and stuff. you need like 4 different types of sewing machines to make a shirt. Its actually pretty sweet. The men here do what they can.  If you went to school you can be pretty much whatever. If you didnt go to school you can work at Bramil (supermarket) or really do pretty much whatever. You can earn a decent living working at grocery stores or opening your own bakery. 
Where do you do your laundry?   We do laundry in our house with a washing machine that kinda dirties your clothes the first time. so you have to run it twice. then hang them up to dry. Its chill
Do you have air conditioning?  No. But some people do but its expencive and its one of those things you stick in the window.
What about hot water for showers? Oh you´ve done it now. You opened a can of worms. Its freakin 10 degrees when we wake up at 6h30 and the correct thing to do is to take a shower at 7;30ish and get prepared for the day before you do personal study. That has not happened for the past week cause our shower water is slightly warmer than body temperature... Do you have any idea how much of a tease that is? And the window leads to a room in our house that doesnt have a roof cause we dry our clothes there. And the bathroom door hasn't been on the hinges for 3 months now because the hinges broke. So we're talking breezey 20 degree (C) weather with water slightly warmer than your body. So we bought alcohol in jell and now we're squirting in on the concrete floor and lighting it on fire just to get a little heat going in our house. Hahaha and that stuff heats up the whole house pretty quick. 
Yeah its cold here now. Im sleeping with 3 blankets and the fan..... still turned on ;) hahah but im doin that thing where I get out of bed and untill like 8:30 im walking around with a blanket around me like I used to do with the peach blanket. haha our floors are more clean now!

But yeah this week was good. nothing really big. We worked our butts off goodness gracious. We were trying to get all of our goals and we almost got all of them... But yeah
We started going to Bela Vista. This area that's kinda like the ghetto. we walked across this bridge that looked 5 years past its last safety inspection and entered this little town that's on top of a mountain beside a huge waterfall. Its such a beautiful sight, but there are so many drugs and poverty there too. Its pretty sad. But we now know like 50 kids there and promised that one time this week we would go over there and fly a kite with them. 

Its pretty cool being a misionary because we´re not meant to fit in. We wear white shits and ties every day to stand out. when kids see us they treat us differently, kinda like outcasts. But once you get talking to them they realize that we´re just 19, 20 year old guys trying to help people. And pretty soon you got like 10 kids following you around asking questions, joking around with you. Its freakin awesome when your climbing up a staircase and people on both sides of the staircase are calling you out. But no one can pronunce my name right so it sounds like elder am! am! Haha you just gotta love them. Im doing good and I have so many people here who love us its so nice. be it that they're not members they are still super nice people and always call us to come eat something or just to talk.  

haha so theres a type of music here called funk. and the closing prayer of the last session of General Conference was given by Brother Funk so in the middle of the prayer the feed cut off so everyone is silent for like a minute and me and Elder H are dying so I keep my head down and say "in the name of jesus christ Amen."(but in portuguese) hahaha everyone laughs and then we have a real closing prayer.  

This week we entered a super sketchy part of Bela Vista and there was a cement soccer court with like 20 kids flying kites so I walk over there and start talking to one of them. His name is T hes 10 and were just talking about kites and stuff and one of his buddies shouts Policia! Policia! and points at us. Im like "PO! SE MALUCO!? Nos não somos policial! Caraca vou tomar um tiro em este bagulho" which means like, "Wow you crazy!? we´re not police! geeze we´re gonna get shot in this place." and they like started to laugh so we explained who we are and what we're doing and they were super cool about it and, well, the ones who had parents invited us to talk with them. It was super cool
But yeah things are going well here. We´re teaching a lot. but yeah I miss you guys!! Love you all so much!
Elder hamm

Conference

Easter was pretty normal. Everyone exchanges chocolate here its kinda annoying. But yeah

Man General Conference was pretty sick but there are a few things I dont like about conference on the mission.  First off, it is a hugggggeeee trigger for me to be homesick because I remember what we do during conference and I miss sitting at home on our sofa watching conference in my pj´s. 

Secondly, Portuguese has a tense that's called Subjunctive tense. It is suppppper annoying and has certain triggers when you should use it. Its like hypothetical, if then, desires, feeling, dreams, and a lot more stuff. The prophets use this tense, WAAAYYY too much. so that makes it super hard to understand. 

Thirdly, I love hearing the voice of the prophets and apostles. In portuguese they have some guy speaking portuguese over the voice of the prophet and apostles. So thats kinda sad too.

But yeah for Easter everyone kinda exchanges chocolate and stuff.  Sunday we had lunch at Irmão J's house and when we got there he was cookin meat on the grill so that was super exciting. We had barbeque meat for lunch and then they gave us chocolate! so the second session of conference Sunday was hard to stay awake. haha

But yeah this week was pretty normal. I got to know the other side of my new area. There's this area called Bela Vista which means beautiful sight and man is it a beautiful sight (Thats where we took the pictures) and we're also helping 3 people be ready to be baptized this Saturday so hopefully one of them can stop smoking to be baptized. haha but yeah

Me and Elder H are good. Working hard. Last night we had a card that said #porqueelevive that was about Christ and the resurrection so we handed out those cards for an hour last night. It was pretty funny cause we didn't let anyone pass. haha at times we ran across the road to the other side to snag someone. 

But yeah just work as usual. I love you guys. I was pretty trunky this week but that's life. Love you

Elder Hamm