Monday, February 27, 2012

So, this week was a bit weird, but also kind of the same ´ol. We had a ton of investigators who said they were going to church. Then whe we went to go get them on sunday...........they weren´t home and they weren´t at church either. So that´s always dissappointing, however. One of our investigators was ready and waiting for us at her house with everything she needed for her baptism later that night........and......she called and payed for a taxi and we all rode to the church together. Awesome. She loved church and she got baptized later last night. Twas a good day. Euza (lady that got baptized) is super awesome. She´s hilarous too. She is retired and just stays home most days reading the bible and singing hymns to herself and just loves the Word of God and anything to do with God. She´s awesome, she not only accepted our messages right away, but she loved them, and she sees how much we have been blessed with the fullness of the gospel, a prophet and apostles in our days. She´s so legit. Haha she´s super funny because she is a bit forgetful. She has realy bad short term memory. But after a day she remembers everything. She´s so fun to talk to because of it. But like I said she does remember it the next day and she´s really smart and on top of things. But yeah she wants us to teach her daughter´s family and stuff so we have that and a ton of other stuff to do this week.  So, busy busy. Anyways, that is all until next week!
Spencer

Spencer's Companion with some Capybaras

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

So not a whole  lot happened here this last week. Carnaval was going on. No I didn´t get any pictures. In our area it was mostly just big groups of people filling the streets near bars with lots of loud music and drunk people dancing and junk. Pretty lame. And I guess on Saturday it was just Gay and drunk people in the streets near our apartment. Good thing I was sick that day and didn´t go outside. Oh yeah I was sick that day. So I slept for most of it. Things have been pretty lifeless here in the streets. Not many people out. It´s like a sickness epidemic is happening or something. Weird. Or zombie apocalypse. Seemed like it sometimes with only a few old people in the streets stumbling around drunk. Kind of funny but kind of scary too. Anyways, thats pretty much it here. Havent been able to do much work because we have had to be in early and our area is a decent distance away. And because people are just not available.......but anyways, thats all until next week!
Spencer

Sorry this is late getting posted! Been busy with baby all week!

Spencer's New Nephew: Chance Amari Merton
Born: Feb 16, 2012

Monday, February 13, 2012

So this week was a bit difficult. But we found a super legit girl who is actually really interrested in the church and not just us. So we taught her twice this week. But sadly her father would not allow her to go to church. So we were dissappointed yesterday. But we´re going to figure something out and hopefully work with the dad or something. Should be good. Also we had a crazy lady show up to church. One who is a chain smoker. We´ve tried to teach her and help her bu she doesn´t think smoking is that bad or that she should quit. She´s been smoking for 30 years and she´s like 50 something. It´s messed up. It´s blows my mind that she could think that she doesn´t need to quit. 4 packs a day..........thats alot of money......daily. That alone is a good enough reason to quit. But anyways, Carnaval starts tommorrow and goes throughout the week. So that will be interesting. We don´t know what our rules are going to be with that. Or rather if we have to stay inside all day or if we just go home early. Still have to find out from our zone leaders. But yeah thats it for now. Wish I could send pics but these computers here at this LAN house are lame. Capybaras are huge.......and legit. I want to send a picture so bad. Well it´ll have to wait. Well until next week. 

Elder Bender  

Monday, February 6, 2012

So this week was interesting and full of craziness. So first off Juiz De Fora is super green, people have more money and it´s like the united states almost, well super markets are alot faster, food is cheaper here, bus is cheaper, the air is much cleaner, and it´s not as hot as Rio. So, it´s kind of like being in Oregon during the summer. Which is crazy. Oh and I have already seen capybaras and monkies. So there´s that too. Also there are tons of hills. The bus ride out here was crazy. We rode through this mountain and we were on the edge of these cliffs several times that looked out over these huge valleys fills with hills full of trees and stuff it was way cool. This area is awesome. It´s way more calm than Rio. I don´t have to worry about getting robbed here. Only in the favela but even there is pretty calm. Another interesting thing I have seen here are termite hills. There are alot more white people here which is also more like Oregon. It´s weird. This city is almost like a cross between Portland and Salem. It´s cool. But, the work here is much different. People here are very comfortable in their lives and aren´t interested in changing or doing anything different. So......as I said it´s a bit difficult. But it´s good. My companion is from Dallas................Oregon. Small world huh? Anyways, he also amazingly knows a bunch of people that I know. Which is really funny and also crazy that we never met before the mission. Anyways, I´m excited to work here, carnaval is coming up, so thats going to be weird. Not sure whats going to happen with that but I hope all goes well and we don´t encounter naked people or crazy amounts of drunk people. So like I said, going to be weird. But, thats about it for this week. Until next week!

Elder Bender

Arial View of Juiz De Fora

Monday, January 30, 2012

So this last week was kind of difficult because I was sick with pneumonia last weekend. But mostly because we were unable to keep in contact with the people we were teaching. And so they made other plans for the weekend and during the week and it was super hard to contact them during the week. So, things were kind of slow. Not too much to do and having to find new people, which is always a bit difficult. But we found some and have been teaching some nice people. Unfortunately transfers were posted online today on the mission website and I got transferred. So I will not be able to see our investigators progress. I will be going to Juiz de Fora which is in Minas Gerais.......Most of you don´t know this but it´s kind of rural and I think has lots of hills. So that should be fun. And it´s supposedly a difficult area. But with hard work and dilligence and also faith we can do miracles. So I´m going to it with that attitude. Going to have a long bus ride tomorrow.......I´m not too excited about that. Should be interesting. But, should be a fun transfer. Anyways, looking forward to meeting new amazing people. Until next week!

Elder Bender  

Monday, January 23, 2012

So this last week was a doosy. Halfway though the week I woke up with a fever. It flooded that night, woke up the next day with a fever still, tried to work some, didn´t work super well, but we did well anyways, that night my fever got really bad, like 103, we got a ride home in a car, that was legit, It had AC, then saturday woke up with a fever again, went to the hospital and did some tests, found out I have pneumonia, FREAK! Didn´t work Saturday or Sunday, our baptism fell and pretty much none of our investigators went to church, so it was a major bummer of a week. But now I have antibiotics, and I´m feeling much better so this week will be much better. And transfers are next week. I have no idea what is going to happen.........

Elder Bender 

My companion and I had a baptism yesterday. A lady named Olinda. She is pretty cool. She has had a lot of emotional suffering in her life, with bad husband and losing two children. So the gospel has really helped her. She still kind of dwells on the past a little too much but we are helping her to do that. We had some trouble with her in the past. She didn´t want to get baptized. But we had some revelation given to us and we shared this really good conference talk with her and explained some things that the Lord wanted us to tell her. Afterwards, she gladly accepted the invitation to get baptized. And so we were able to baptize her this last sunday. It was great. It was a really cool experience to receive information like that specifically for her and to see the effects those things had on her. Actually being an instrument in the Lord´s hands to help another to make that covenant........it was awesome. Anyways, so things are good here. Not to much more to talk about really. Accept that everyone is preparing for carnaval. Which is bad. Starting to see more and more bad things that we don´t want to see. Anyways, Thats pretty much it for this week, Hoping to baptize again next week. We have some really great investigators that we are working with. And maybe we´ll have two people getting baptized next week. I pray that we will. Until next week.....

Elder Bender

Spencer and his companion with Olinda on her baptism day!

Monday, January 9, 2012

My companion and I are doin fine. We´re workin hard. Meeting good people, and we Baptized yesterday. So that was good. Caetano is a really good guy, and a super prepared investigator. He has a ton of faith and he was truly converted. He loves the Book of Mormon and he has a strong testimony. He accepted everything we taught him and he did everything we invited him to do. He was the perfect investigator. So, it was a good day for us and for him when he got baptized. We are workin hard trying to achieve our goals for this transfer which ends at the end of this month. And I know if we give our all we´ll make it. It´s going to be tough but I know it´s possible. I´m stoked to help more people in their lives. Also I think that it´s cockroach season. Like all of them hatched recently because there are a ton of small ones everywhere. And I see more of them each day. Oh also it´s raining alot more frequently lately. And there is alot of flooding in the state next to Rio. Apparently flooding is supposed to happen here too soon. And this week it´s supposed to rain alot. So that should be fun. Had a taste of it last night. Walked home from the church without an umbrella because my comp forgot money for the bus. We got drenched. Twas fun. But anyways, thats it for this week, until next week.

Elder Bender

Monday, Jan 2, 2012

For everyone.


So this week was good. Things have been better. It hasn´t been that hot because it´s been raining everyday. Which is good for me because thats exactly how it is in Oregon during the winter. So, it´s good. And I think that soon My comp and I will be able to get a house that is actually in our area. So that will be nice. I won´t have to spend like 75 reais of my 130 that we get every two weeks on busses. It sucks. But this week was a good one. We had a Baptism! This little old Lady named Arli. Her baptism was a huge blessing because we happened to be in the right place at the right time to meet her. Because she lives in the favela and normally we don´t work there because it´s dangerous. But she saw us in the grocery store and stopped and talked to us. We got her address and stuff and marked a time to go and visit her. When we went to her house, we discovered that she is way poor and she has pretty much nothing, and that she has been waiting a long time to get baptized. She was supposed to get baptized like 8 or more years ago or something like that. But she had to go to the hospital so she didn´t go to church on the day she was supposed to get baptized. But she´s really cool. She´s a kind person and really just wants to follow Jesus Christ. We taught her everything again because it had been a long time since she last talked to the missionaries. She believes everything we taught her and she reads the Book of Mormon too. It´s realy cool. Her baptism was a big blessing for her because she´s been weighed down by guilt from many things in her life and she was really depressed. But her baptism has helped her to feel the love of the Lord in her life. It´s really cool to see firsthand how much the Lord blesses those that follow him and keep his commandments, and how he cares for and looks after each one of his children. I´m loving the work and the opportunity I have to help others.


Elder Bender

Spencer with Arli on her baptism day!

Monday December 26, 2011

For everyone.

So this last week was a good one.........minus christmas. Well, Christmas Eve. My companion and I got sick with some kind of Virus or something. So I spent the better part of the day feeling like garbage and vomiting. So that was fun. Oh and Christmas Eve is when everyone celebrates the most here so all the big dinners and stuff were on that day. Lucky us we couldn´t keep anything down, neither did we want to eat anything. SO that was fun. Then, on Christmas, we got our investigator who is going to be baptized next week to come to church. She loved it and she´s super excited for her baptism next sunday. So thats awesome. She also knew a decent amount of people already at church. Which is way cool. So she already has friends and she will be warmly welcomed into the Ward. Got some good goals for this week and things are looking up. Until next week,

Elder Bender