Week 46 - May 25, 2015

Cool Thing: Went to chapel in the center of Joinville that is the very first church building ever built in the whole south America! It was awesome!

Awesome Thing: I got to see Elder Keller for the first time this week and he is doing super good!

Weekly Triumph: Baptism marked for Raul this Saturday, we are super stoked for him!!

Weekly Difficulty: the baptismal font is outside the church building and it hasn’t been used for a super long time so we have to clean it this week...also...no one was ever home when we stopped by and all of our appointments fell through big time.

Spiritual Experience: We had conference with President this week and he compared us to the army in Judges 7.

Scripture: Judges 7

Hahaha Sorry that’s all I got - but hope you all have a great week!!

Elder Buck

 Zone Meeting

 Found a cool bridge!    

We made some coxinha and pastries!!

Week 45 - May 18, 2015

Week of Walking…

Cool Thing: We have a baptism marked for the 30th of May, and this kid is so ready to be baptized! 

Funny Thing: There’s a less active member in the ward who’s name is Naor. This guy is truly awesome but in the words of my companion he’s a little, "fora da casa..." We scheduled an appointment with him after church yesterday and when showed up and he was jamming out to California Girls by Katy Perry and using the boat he was painting as a drum set. I had to try so hard to not laugh! 

Interesting Character: Jessé (jess-ay). We went to an teaching appointment that we had marked with a friend of one of the members, but when we showed up she wasn’t home. So when we were trying to mark another day to stop by, Jessé walked up and kind of started listening in on our conversation. My companion just stopped talking and turned to Jessé and said, "Hey, what are you doing tomorrow (Sunday) at about 9 in the morning?" Jessé said, "nothing, just going to be here at home doing nothing." At that moment my companion just said," so you want to go to church tomorrow with us??" And he said YES. Hahaha The best part was that he actually showed up at 9:00 at the church building and stayed for the entire 3 hours. It was awesome!

Weekly Triumph: Our numbers improved this week from the last week and it felt good to know that our hard work actually pays off.

Weekly Difficulty: WE WALKED SO MUCH THIS WEEK AND SO MANY APPOINTMENTS ENDED UP FALLING THROUGH. 

Spiritual Experience: We did a contact knocking on doors and these people let us in after talking for 30 minutes outside their house. It turned out they attend an Assembly of God church or something like that. They decided to offer a prayer for us and it was the most crazy prayer I have ever heard in my entire life. The mom started to pray and during her prayer she started yelling and stuff and then her son got into it and started praying and he started yelling and stuff during his prayer, and then before I knew it there were three other people praying for us. I didn’t understand anything and neither did my companion and it was weird. They ended and my companion didn’t even say amen... he ended up talking a little about prayer and how God is a God of Order and our prayers need to be that way too. Afterward I asked if we could say a prayer the way we say prayers and they accepted. I felt the Spirit so strong in that little room as a said the simplest prayer and it was crazy. And yeah, they were really firm in their faith and weren’t about to listen to what we had to say but I felt good knowing that we left with the spirit from that house! 

That’s all for now. Love you all!

Tchau!

Elder Buck

Borrowed my comp's hat and took some pics...

Week 44 - May 11, 2015

Joinville

Me and Dos Anjos

Meeee

So yeah yesterday was a lot better than the Christmas call, WOW hahaha. I only cried a little bit this time! It was super good to see your faces and hear your voices; it’s been too long. I didn’t even feel super trunky afterward, so that was cool!  It was really good to talk to Skylar. I hope she is doing well and hope she knows how happy and grateful I am to be her brother. 

I can feel myself changing and its not a small change, it’s a big one. I realized at home I had a testimony, but it was so weak. I can honestly say I know exactly was it feels like to have that "burning" testimony. It is so real and so TRUE!  But I love you all and hope you know that when we are doing what the Lord asks of us, those are the things that make the difference!

Love,
Elder Buck

Week 43 - May 4, 2015

DAT TIE DO

I like it here!

Well this week was mostly just updating the area book and visiting people I don’t know very well, but it was a good one! I learned out here that if someone has fallen away from the church or decided to quit going, it is most likely because that person lacks a testimony of the Restoration. Or doesn’t fully understand the Restoration. At home I had a testimony, but it was super weak. Now I know with an absolute certainty that these things are true! It has to be! It just makes so much sense! Look to understand more fully the restoration, it makes a difference. 

Cool Thing: Me and Elder Dos Anjos took a ton of time out of one of our days to organize and update the area book and there were a lot of lost investigators and less active members there. So that was awesome.

Funny Thing: This ward hasn’t had an American missionary for a while and the whole week I’ve been telling people I’m from the Bahia and everyone believes me hahaha. Good times. The members either get a really good laugh out of it or they just get kind of confused.

Interesting Character: My companion: Elder dos Anjos. He reminds me so much of Skylar its ridiculous. For example one time he got super mad for some reason and started mumbling to himself and said, "I just want to punch a wall so bad right now but won’t because it’ll hurt my hand!" And then he just kind of sat on his bed and didn’t talk for a little bit hahaha. He’s a funny kid!

Weekly Difficulty: So I thought my last areas were huge but they were super small compared to this one I am in right now. I guess it’s the largest area of the two zones of Joinville.... It is so massive. We have walked so much!

Weekly Triumph: A member gave me a sick tie yesterday (see pictures)

Spiritual Experience: So my companion has been super frustrated this whole week because of the other pair of missionaries that are living with us. It’s been kind of a mess in this area but he was super frustrated and it was something I could just see. In my last area I also got a little frustrated about something that one of the Elders did and just sat in a chair for a while to think. One of the Elders in the house approached me and said, "You alright?" I said I was fine but just a little angry. He said to me after, "you know what makes me feel better and happier?....serving. Another Elder is not feeling very good and needs a blessing, will you come help?" I said yes and we gave him a blessing and I felt so much better. So with my companion I’ve just had a thought that blessing participated in helped me out A LOT, so maybe something like that would help him. Then I was thinking to myself, well do you even really need a blessing? Then at the moment I said to myself no, but I continued thinking and the last time I had received any blessing or had anyone lay their hands on my head was when I was set apart as a missionary. I have often needed a blessing from one of my companions but always ignored the thought. So I asked Dos Anjos to give me a blessing and it was one of the most inspired blessings I have received . And It just changed our whole workflow and attitudes, and I can feel the Spirit so much more when we teach, plan, pray, study, everything. It was super cool. The Priesthood is real!

Scripture: 1 Nephi 1:1

Eu amo vocês!!

Elder Buck

I know what happened to the am pm next to our house. It's here in Joinville!

Week 42 - April 27, 2015

Leaving Itajaí

Well folks it was that part of my mission again! I totally got transferred to Joinville and my new area is called Iririú. I am super stoked to be in a new area but super sad to leave Itajaí. That place was Zion.

Cool thing: I am now living in a home with 3 Brasilians and the amount of slang they use is outrageous. I’m learning their ways....and I look a lot like them so it’s pretty funny.

Funny thing: The elders in my last area and I did a short play for the Primary of when the Angel Moroni appeared to the boy Joseph and yeah… I’m pretty sure the kids had no idea what was even going on hahaha.

Weekly Triumph: I got Carlos a new bible that is approved by the church and "took away" his modern age bible that said some really whacky crap. hahaha I think he was happy!

Weekly Difficulty: Packing all of my stuff. I have a lot of things!

Spiritual Experience: Yesterday (Sunday) was my last day in Itajaí and the last time I would probably see any of those members for the rest of my life. Darlen walked up to me and shook my hand and just said, "Elder Buck, thank you so so much for everything you have done for me, my husband, and my kids. I wish you a very happy future and many blessings from God because you have helped bless the life of my family more than either you or I can fully comprehend. You helped us come to know of the true gospel of Jesus Christ." And for the first time I think in my entire life, I truly felt the happiness that this work brings all at once. The truthfulness of this Gospel and this church is so undeniable!

Scripture: D&C 18:15

I love you all and wish all of you a very good week! Tchau!
Elder Buck

Week 41 - April 20, 2015

Horsey!

Cool Thing: The family that just got baptized are doing so good! They still have a lot of questions and want to learn so much! Darlen already wants her patriarchal blessing and Carlos is preparing to receive the Priesthood. They are doing great. She told me a story about what happened to her at work this past week, which to me is proof that the Holy Ghost actually exists. She went to work and one of her coworkers mentioned that she looked different almost like she had a "light" around her. So that was cool to hear. Also, Carlos had an experience similar to hers! He said he has never been treated well by the people in charge at his work and is talked down to a lot; but after his baptism they were talking to him like he had worth and he could "feel" the difference the Holy Ghost has been making in his life. Also, the two men that we have baptized in the past couple of weeks (Carlos and Vilmar) bought white shirts to wear to church and it was awesome!

Funny Thing: My companion and I scared the Bishop’s wife to death on accident when we showed up at their house. I think she literally thought she was going to die.

Interesting Character: LIZZY from Luxinburg, Luxingburg, Luxenberg, Luxembourg, I don’t even know. She had a British accent and spoke English and I totally taught her in English for the first time in my entire life and it was so weird!! It was a lot simpler because I actually knew she understood exactly what I was saying. I talked to her with Elder Beecroft for like a whole hour this past P-day and it was sick! 

Weekly Triumph: My companion and I planned a family home evening with a less active family and it turned out pretty awesome! They made some killer food too!

Weekly Difficulty: Elder Cordeiro and I went to the hospital for like the whole day because he had an allergic reaction to something. So that was fun.

Spiritual Experience: We marked an appointment with a reference from our bishop (which we had met earlier this week and left a book of Mormon for her to read), and when we knocked at her door she came out with the Book in her hand and wanted to give it back. She said that it was super against everything she had learned in the other churches and she didn’t want to learn more about the book or our religion. So we stayed and discussed one of the concerns she had about dead people coming back (when Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith) among other things. We asked her afterward if she had read and prayed with real intent and an open heart and she said she did. We then responded by saying, “we know for a fact that you read, but NOT with real intent and an open heart because it is impossible not to receive an answer.'' It might have been a little strong but afterwards, she had admitted that she had not prayed with real intent and an open heart and we are planning on passing by her house later this week to see how things went. But the Spirit responded very quickly about what we should say in that very moment and it was super cool.

Scripture; I was reading D&C 138 and learned that each one of us can do what he did to receive personal revelation from God! Good stuff.

Love,

Elder Buck

Mini-Me: Daví

Week 40 - April 13, 2015

Cool thing: I was able to interview with president this week and that guy is super awesome and helps us a lot! Also, Cordeiro and I bought some yugioh cards this week for the two little boys of Darlen and Carlos and they were SO STOKED! That was so awesome.

Funny Thing: One of the young women in the ward put my first name in the Google translate in Portuguese and I guess according to Google, my name is "Big Spoon"....so…everyone has been calling me Colherão (Big Spoon) the past couple days...

Interesting Character: DANTE. Dante is a very cool guy. He’s a member of the church from Argentina and speaks English like as if he is American. He’s a super funny guy. And mom, I guess he knows who Taylor Tabile is because he served in the same mission or something. Small world. But yeah cool kid!

Weekly Triumph: We had 4 baptisms this week, which was flipping sweet! Carlos, Darlen, Poliane, and Davlin (daughters) all were baptized!

Weekly Difficulty: We had to go through about 10 different pages of paperwork trying to get the names and information right for the baptisms, but other than that, I have nothing to complain about! Also, one of the elders living with us picked up a mosquito transmitted sickness called "Dengue" this week so he’s been very sick.

Spiritual Experience: Seeing and feeling such a difference in the home of Carlos and Darlen after being baptized and confirmed. This Gospel is so perfect!

Scripture: I read D&C 11 this week and liked it!

That’s it. I love you all!

Elder Buck