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 

Dream Transfers

Elder Hamm, Elder C and Elder L (former companion)

First for Dad's Question:  

How do you watch conference?  Do you watch in Portuguese or English? We watch it in the chaple in portuguese. We´re in brazil dude ;) Haha

MAN!! SOO many things are happening this week this next week is gonna be crazy. so were all waiting for the call to be transfered and the assistante calls and is like, well there's gonna be a big change in Cascitinha... first off Elder J was called as a LD then he said, Elder Hamm and Elder C, your area is now closed. Elder Hamm you will stay in Cascitinha and be companions with Elder H... So now our areas are combined into one area and its just me and H-Man in our house. Hahaha sooooo im excited for this next transfer.

But yeah my birthday was pretty normal... We knocked some doors, visited our investigators, then Irma A called and told us to swing by her house where she made a cake and some brigadeiro. It was pretty sweet. Then she tried to egg me and put flower on me cause thats what they do in brazil for birthdays but I convinced her not to...

Got my first cold here in Brazil and it freakin sucks. But its work as usual. Its gettin a little colder here in Petropolis, Its like 20 degrees at night and during the day its like 25. (Celcius)

Sooo this week we were teaching a family and the dad´s been in the hospital in a coma for some time now so we went with the family saturday to give him a blessing but only 2 can enter at a time so we enter into this room with a man with 1,000 tubes in his body and were like... e agora? What now? So we offer a prayer to get the spirit and I felt the impression that we should explane what this blessing is and who we are. So I kinda sheepishly start to say, hi, Im Elder Hamm here with Elder C and we're missionaries. And my comp just kinda goes with it and so we explain in like 2 minutes what this blessing is and then we give him the blessing and leave. We later find out that he can understand everything cause when his mom talks to him he cries. And she'll say like close this mouth of yours and in a minute or two he'll close his mouth. So that was pretty cool. 

But yeah other than that its gonna be pretty weird to adjust to only living with me and H. And having a huggeee area and having to get rid of all the stuff we have in our house and join these two areas. But yeah we'll see how that goes. I love you guys!! miss you guys so much! I sent a photo to you guys through drop box of Irma A and her fam and me and C. haha Im gonna miss C. But its all part of the experience. I love you guys!!

Elder Hamm

Birthday wishes

Questions

 – How do they celebrate birthdays in Brazil?  Literally they make that cake that The Friaça´s make all the time. Its chocolate cake and you cut it in half and put brigadeiro in the middle then you make more brigadeiro and put creme de leite in it so its a little more like a liquid and then you put the bird poop brown sprinkles on top. its pretty freakin good. But everyone and their dog has a birthday in March here so we already made 5 cakes this week so I told my comp NO MORE CAKES!- Tell us the background story about one of the people you have met there and how they came to be converted to the gospel. hmmm that seems like a long one so ill write that in a letter..

Good news! So I took my shoes with the holes in the bottom to a store that repairs shoes! he said hell replace the soles of my shoes for 40 Reias!!! which is better than buying 100 Reias shoes that will last 3 months. So as of wednesday I will have good shoes to wear. haha

Other thing. the other companionship had emergency transfers and guess who arrived?!? Elder H!!!! My buddy from the MTC!! Well at least half of him arrived here.... He lost 20 kilios already! Its crazy, but yeah.

This week was pretty normal. Something kinda dissappointing happened this week. We had a date to baptize the sister of A on Sunday but she said she didnt want to go to church. when I heard this I was kinda suprised at my response. I was on the phone with A and she told me and so I kinda paused for a few moments and then said "Não quer, não quer. Fazer o que?" And then she kinda paused and just kinda said yeah.
I realized that even though A knows this Gospel is true, and even though me and my comp know this can give her happiness beyond imagination, AND even though she has already received an answer from God that this is the church of Jesus Christ, no one can force her to be happy or go to church. That's agency. That's the choice that God has given each and every one of his children. The option to choose. And we can only do our part to help her choose the right. So we will visit her this week and we will try to help her realize that this is the best thing for her but in the end, if she doesn't was to, we can't force her to be happy.

Just kinda a spiritual though for the week. I love you guys! thanks for all the birthday wishes! Love you guys.

Elder Hamm

Swimming

Dad's Questions: 

What different fruits have you enjoyed there?  aw man all different types, Jabuticaba, Manga, Goiaba, Maracujá... literally so many different fruits.
What animal do you see there that would be strange for us to see here? Capivaras. and Little monkeys
Are the leaves on the trees turning colors there (do you have fall)? I dont think so.... No everything is still green.

So this week we went to the toppppp of Provisora. And everyone here knows its like a 40 minute straight stairs and dirt path to the top of this mountian. So we have 6 kids who the last Elder here baptized so were trying to help them come back to church. So we reach the top and the Mom of Ronald is like, ``Eldereesss, can you do me a favor?´´ And my comp immediately gets this face like, kill me now. And shes like, ``someone down at the bottom has a fridge that she said she would give me (cause her fridge broke) and if I dont pick it up today she´ll give it to someone else! Can you two with Ronald and Leandro (some other guy up there) go pick it up for me? Ill pay you guys!`` And so were like, ``yeah. Of course. Sem problema. Não precisa apagar.´´ 

So we go all the way down and theres 3 paths to climb up this mountian and really only one of them is safe... so we are on the path that is supppper sketchy. Im talkin, dogs, voodoo people, bandits, dogs, skinny stair cases, dogs, dirt trail parts that have a drop off on the other side, and DOGS. So yeah we decided it would be faster to take this path. So we´re about 1/4th the way up there and we see this dog up ahead, just a huge fierce dog and Capela (who is super afriad of dogs) is like ``shhhhhh´´and he kinda slows down and stops and the dog is on all four just lookin at us and hes like ``this one bites.... seriously.. lower the fridge´´ so we slowly put it on the ground as the dog starts coming toward us slowly, kinda growling and barking. We all freeze and the dog stops and then he barks twice and takes off in a dead sprit toward us. Capela yells ``RUNNN´´ and Ronald, whos 14, jumps on top of the fridge. Me and Capela jump the railing to our left and drop like 5 feet into the yard of someone and Leo starts running up the right side of the mountian which is just matt (which is like weeds 5 feet tall where snakes, spiders, rats and where everything else bad lives) and the dog starts going for Ronald on top of the fridge. Hahaha we start dying cause the dog cant reach him but Ronald is screaming.

So we see the owner and he calls the dog off and chains up the dog in his yard. So we think we´re all safe and all when Ronald looks at us and hes like, ``come here, come here, fast fast!" and were like, why? and he saids you guys jumped into the yard of a Macumbeira... (someone who does voodoo and stuff) So we look around and see this lady, I swear, growling at us. Pretty sure I feared her more than that dog now... And without more hesitation we turned and tried to skamper up this 5 foot wall to leave her yard. Ronald and Leo help us up and we literally start running with this fridge. Hahaha

Haha but yeah interviews with the prez are tommrow.

Sometimes experiences remind me of The other side of Heaven (as most things in this life do, cause that movie rocks).  Sometimes God calms the storm. Sometimes He calms the sailor. And sometimes He makes us swim.  And like Elder Groberg you might be swimming, and you´ll reach the shore and find what you were looking for and this hard stuff will all be in the past. And in the next life, you´ll see why you had to go through this. 

Love you guys! Miss you all so much!!

Elder Hamm