For those unfamiliar with LDS primary songs, that's the first line of one of my old favorites. When I was little, my family didn't go to church very often until I was about 8 years old, but I always wanted to serve a mission when I got old enough. It was a real help to me growing up, knowing that whatever I did, I needed to make sure I didn't jeopardize my opportunity to serve a mission.
I was called to the Brazil Florianopolis Mission, that included the whole southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, and a portion of its neighboring state, Parana. I was told to report to the missionary training center in Sao Paulo on Dec 29, 2004, where I would spend 9 weeks learning Portuguese and preparing for service by learning the missionary lessons I would teach to people investigating the church, and preparing mentally and spiritually for the arduous life style of a full-time missionary.
From the start, I had lots of support. My parents and grandparents were very happy for me and pledged to help me in any way they could (I was the first grandson to serve), and my then girlfriend, Shauni, assured me she was very happy and proud of me, that she would miss me, but would write me often (she wrote every week, and sent me tons of care packages!). I had to wait about 3 months from the time I received my call to the time I was to report.
About a month before I left, I had the opportunity to go to the temple for the first time. I received my endowments at the Portland Oregon temple, and that was an incredible experience! When we had gone through the session, my Dad turned to me on the couch in the Celestial Room, and asked jokingly "Well son, do you feel like you just joined a cult?" and I said "No, that was like the gospel on steroids!" I think my study of the old testament temple, and my other study really prepared me well for that special occasion. Maybe some other time I can write about the similarities between the old testament temple and the modern day temples.
I took a flight from Portland to Chicago O'Hara where I met up with a big group of missionaries all headed to Sao Paulo Brazil. The first one I met, incidentally, was named Elder Isaac Carr, from Portsmouth New Hampshire. He gave me a huge hug and talked my ear off. I didn't know it then, but we would be companions in the MTC. In fact, all of us who met that night in Chicago got to spend the next 9 weeks together in the MTC in Sao Paulo, and we became good friends: there was Casey Boyer from Springfield Utah, Kyle Reynolds from Vernal Utah, Derek Rigby from Layon UT, JT Holland from San Diego CA, Elli Roberts from Mesa AZ, Matt Spreng from Denver CO, Thomas Hebdon from Washington state, me, and later Casey Rawlinson from Utah, as well.
I was called to the Brazil Florianopolis Mission, that included the whole southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, and a portion of its neighboring state, Parana. I was told to report to the missionary training center in Sao Paulo on Dec 29, 2004, where I would spend 9 weeks learning Portuguese and preparing for service by learning the missionary lessons I would teach to people investigating the church, and preparing mentally and spiritually for the arduous life style of a full-time missionary.
From the start, I had lots of support. My parents and grandparents were very happy for me and pledged to help me in any way they could (I was the first grandson to serve), and my then girlfriend, Shauni, assured me she was very happy and proud of me, that she would miss me, but would write me often (she wrote every week, and sent me tons of care packages!). I had to wait about 3 months from the time I received my call to the time I was to report.
About a month before I left, I had the opportunity to go to the temple for the first time. I received my endowments at the Portland Oregon temple, and that was an incredible experience! When we had gone through the session, my Dad turned to me on the couch in the Celestial Room, and asked jokingly "Well son, do you feel like you just joined a cult?" and I said "No, that was like the gospel on steroids!" I think my study of the old testament temple, and my other study really prepared me well for that special occasion. Maybe some other time I can write about the similarities between the old testament temple and the modern day temples.
I took a flight from Portland to Chicago O'Hara where I met up with a big group of missionaries all headed to Sao Paulo Brazil. The first one I met, incidentally, was named Elder Isaac Carr, from Portsmouth New Hampshire. He gave me a huge hug and talked my ear off. I didn't know it then, but we would be companions in the MTC. In fact, all of us who met that night in Chicago got to spend the next 9 weeks together in the MTC in Sao Paulo, and we became good friends: there was Casey Boyer from Springfield Utah, Kyle Reynolds from Vernal Utah, Derek Rigby from Layon UT, JT Holland from San Diego CA, Elli Roberts from Mesa AZ, Matt Spreng from Denver CO, Thomas Hebdon from Washington state, me, and later Casey Rawlinson from Utah, as well.
From Chicago, we took a 16 hour flight straight to Sao Paulo. We were met by a bus driver and translator who helped us exchange our money, and took us accross that enormous city to a small bairro (neighborhood) called Casa Verde, where the MTC, or CTM in Portuguese, is located. It was a very special place. I can only describe it like living in a temple for 9 weeks. We studied the scriptures and Portuguese for 15 hours every day, except Monday, our P-day (preparation day), when we washed our clothes or left the CTM to go out and send mail or check email and buy things. That was our first exposure to real Brazilian culture and language. Of course there were lots of Brazilian elders in the CTM with us, about 50%, and they were lots of fun. My companion, Elder Carr, was a few years older than me and he is the most optimistic person I have ever met. He taught me a lot, and helped me overcome my homesickness and feelings of inadequacy with his contagious smile and clownish sense of humor. He could not speak Portuguese to save his life, but he never let that keep him from trying to speak with everyone he met, however bad it was. He was an inspiration.
When the time came for us to go to our mission, I was nervous but I felt I had learned as much as I was able to learn in the CTM, and I was ready to leave. We took another plane to the beautiful island city of Florianopolis, the capital of the state of Santa Catarina. We were met by our Brazilian mission President, Guilherme Tell Peixoto, and his assistants, also missionaries, Elders Murdock and Ruff. We spent that first day learning mission norms and lingo in the office, and taking notes from our mission president about how we should adjust to being "in the field," and giving us advice on what things to learn, and not to learn, from our trainers. In my mission, when one elder trained another, we said that the trainer was the trainee's father, or "pai," and the trainee was the son, or "filho." I was sent to the northernmost area of the mission, and probably the poorest area, which is in the state of Parana. The city is called Guaratuba, and my trainer was to be a gaucho from the city of Porto Alegre, named Elder Saucedo. Presidente Peixoto informed me that Elder Saucedo had a reputation for being a hard worker (he had been in the Brazilian military for three years before serving a mission), and also for being something of a prankster. He also told me that Elder Saucedo was not blessed with a lot of patience, and didn't speak one word of English, except for "shut up!" (pronounced: shhud uppy!) Needless to say, I was a little intimidated.
While in the CTM, we were fed three very delicious meals a day, buffet style, and I put on a little weight. OK, I weighed 300 lbs when I left that place! So, when I saw Elder Saucedo for the first time the only thing he could manage to say was "Que corpinho!" (what a little body!). The nickname stuck for the rest of my mission. I think he was dedicated to helping me lose some weight during our short time together, and so he marched through the sandy streets of Guaratuba with me always running behind, for the next 6 weeks, and I managed to lose 50 lbs. When I complained about the blisters on my feet (at one time I had at least one blister on every toe!), he would say "Para de chorar, homem nao chora!" (stop crying, men don't cry!) In gaucho culture, the men are very macho, and they have a saying "O Gaucho nao come mel, come as abelhas" (Gauchos don't eat honey, they eat the bees) . So that was my 'pai.' We butted heads, and played pranks on each other, and even though I was glad when he got transferred, I learned to love him and appreciate the things he taught me about working with passion, and the funny things we experienced together.
Guaratuba was a wonderful place to begin my mission. We were isolated from other missionaries by 1.5 hours by bus, and no-one in the whole city that we met spoke any English, and so I was forced to immerse myself in Portuguese. It took about 2 weeks before I started to understand what people were saying, and then about 4 months before I could speak comfortably, but everyone in our little branch, or 'ramo,' always commented on how fast I had learned to speak. We had a good branch of about 80 people who met in a large rented house that we used as a church, until we could raise the necessary money and membership to build a formal chapel. I still don't know if they have one there or not. The nearest big city was Joinville (where James E. Faust began his mission), about 50 kilometers away to the south, and Curitiba, Parana, about 2 hours north, but outside of our mission (my first week in Guaratuba, Elder Russell M. Nelson came to Curitiba to break ground for the temple there, but I didn't get to go). Guaratuba is a beautiful, seasonal tourist city on the beach with lots of ritzy high-rise apartment towers and hotels on the shore, and lots of slums and poor people living farther inland. There's a big statue of Christ on a hill on the beach, 'morro de Cristo,' which looks over the city with an outstretched hand, that's lit up at night. I fell in love with the place and its people, and I was proud to tell my mission buddies that I was "born" in Guaratuba. Someday I would love to go back there with my wife.
It's hard to summarize 2 years worth of incredible experiences in one post, so I'll have to come back and pick up again later.
When the time came for us to go to our mission, I was nervous but I felt I had learned as much as I was able to learn in the CTM, and I was ready to leave. We took another plane to the beautiful island city of Florianopolis, the capital of the state of Santa Catarina. We were met by our Brazilian mission President, Guilherme Tell Peixoto, and his assistants, also missionaries, Elders Murdock and Ruff. We spent that first day learning mission norms and lingo in the office, and taking notes from our mission president about how we should adjust to being "in the field," and giving us advice on what things to learn, and not to learn, from our trainers. In my mission, when one elder trained another, we said that the trainer was the trainee's father, or "pai," and the trainee was the son, or "filho." I was sent to the northernmost area of the mission, and probably the poorest area, which is in the state of Parana. The city is called Guaratuba, and my trainer was to be a gaucho from the city of Porto Alegre, named Elder Saucedo. Presidente Peixoto informed me that Elder Saucedo had a reputation for being a hard worker (he had been in the Brazilian military for three years before serving a mission), and also for being something of a prankster. He also told me that Elder Saucedo was not blessed with a lot of patience, and didn't speak one word of English, except for "shut up!" (pronounced: shhud uppy!) Needless to say, I was a little intimidated.
While in the CTM, we were fed three very delicious meals a day, buffet style, and I put on a little weight. OK, I weighed 300 lbs when I left that place! So, when I saw Elder Saucedo for the first time the only thing he could manage to say was "Que corpinho!" (what a little body!). The nickname stuck for the rest of my mission. I think he was dedicated to helping me lose some weight during our short time together, and so he marched through the sandy streets of Guaratuba with me always running behind, for the next 6 weeks, and I managed to lose 50 lbs. When I complained about the blisters on my feet (at one time I had at least one blister on every toe!), he would say "Para de chorar, homem nao chora!" (stop crying, men don't cry!) In gaucho culture, the men are very macho, and they have a saying "O Gaucho nao come mel, come as abelhas" (Gauchos don't eat honey, they eat the bees) . So that was my 'pai.' We butted heads, and played pranks on each other, and even though I was glad when he got transferred, I learned to love him and appreciate the things he taught me about working with passion, and the funny things we experienced together.
Guaratuba was a wonderful place to begin my mission. We were isolated from other missionaries by 1.5 hours by bus, and no-one in the whole city that we met spoke any English, and so I was forced to immerse myself in Portuguese. It took about 2 weeks before I started to understand what people were saying, and then about 4 months before I could speak comfortably, but everyone in our little branch, or 'ramo,' always commented on how fast I had learned to speak. We had a good branch of about 80 people who met in a large rented house that we used as a church, until we could raise the necessary money and membership to build a formal chapel. I still don't know if they have one there or not. The nearest big city was Joinville (where James E. Faust began his mission), about 50 kilometers away to the south, and Curitiba, Parana, about 2 hours north, but outside of our mission (my first week in Guaratuba, Elder Russell M. Nelson came to Curitiba to break ground for the temple there, but I didn't get to go). Guaratuba is a beautiful, seasonal tourist city on the beach with lots of ritzy high-rise apartment towers and hotels on the shore, and lots of slums and poor people living farther inland. There's a big statue of Christ on a hill on the beach, 'morro de Cristo,' which looks over the city with an outstretched hand, that's lit up at night. I fell in love with the place and its people, and I was proud to tell my mission buddies that I was "born" in Guaratuba. Someday I would love to go back there with my wife.
It's hard to summarize 2 years worth of incredible experiences in one post, so I'll have to come back and pick up again later.
I know, you were hoping for a "real" comment, but I just wanted to say how glad I am to be married to you! I am so glad you served such a wonderful mission, and I'm excited to hear more about it. I had heard most of these stories before, but you included some details I hadn't heard, like Elder Saucedo's "shut uppy". I'm glad you started your own blog. It will be fun to read! I love you!
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