Easter in Brazil

Hey Mom, it’s good to see pictures of the family! I really missed out on the Easter festivities and conference cinnamon rolls :( They don’t really have Easter like we do back at the states. Instead of decorating eggs they have a culture of selling chocolate eggs during Easter, BIG chocolate eggs that are super expensive. I didn’t buy an egg but I bought me and my companion boxes of chocolate to enjoy.  Here’s what happened this week (not much):

In our ward they had a talent show. I took some videos and things but for some reason they didn’t work right so I just have a photo of one of the acts. I didn’t perform; I don’t feel super comfortable in this ward and also don’t have a violin or a good piano nearby so I don’t have much talent to show. But it was fun to see the Brazilians doing things! I like how everything here is so laid back. In the US, a ward talent show is a little more serious.  People stress about performing and doing acts that are really amazing or special, but here it was just a night to goof off, really. I like how relaxed (usually) the people are and how easy it is for them to enjoy their time. I want to learn how to do this because I am always so uptight, stressed, unhappy and negative.  As of now, I have not found how to effectively apply the Brazilian way of life into my mission :(

I have mentioned how here in Brazil things are a lot more laid back, and that finds its way into the church as well. Meetings are a lot less reverent, people are a lot more ´´flaky´´ with commitments and lots of members go active and inactive in matters of weeks. It’s sad. There are members who are VERY strong and active though. They teach the same things and have the same organization, but the church definitely has a different feel here in Brazil.

I was really excited about a prospect baptism of a mom and her daughter, Maria and Daisy, but Maria, the mom, even though she says she already received an answer that our messages are true and she needs to be baptized, says she doesn’t feel she can leave work to do it.  She has a contract which has her working every other Sunday until the end of the year and that she won’t be baptized until this contract ends. What a bummer. We may baptize her daughter still, and then her daughter can be an example and help her mom see the importance of baptism and continued learning and growing in the gospel.

To answer your question, how we work with the ward really depends on the companion. With this companion, we do all our work with eh YM / YM.  They are really good about introducing us to friends. Unfortunately, because the culture of the mission has been to ´´just baptize,´´ lots of members and bishops have lost trust in the missionaries. Our current bishop is one of them. So really, not much happens with the ward leadership in helping the missionaries. It’s pretty sad to see. On the other hand, when I was with Elder Kozlowski it was better. We marked days every week to leave with members of the quorum to do visits and teach lessons. I don’t like this a lot because I feel like it’s just another set of eyes/ears seeing my weakness and judging me. I feel more inadequate when we have a member with us. But I know it’s the most important way for the investigator so as I grow and one day become senior (maybe, we´ll see - I don’t like thinking about more responsibilities and expectations haha) I hope to incorporate the members of the ward in missionary work much more.

Fun Fact: they have LOTS of motorcycles in Brazil. This week I asked my companion why the motorcycles have radio antennas (lots of motorcycles have a metal pole thing in the front of the bike). It doesn’t make sense because you can hear a radio on a motorcycle! This is what he told me:  maybe I already talked about kites, I can’t remember, but here in Brazil it’s like the book The Kite Runner.  Kids make their kites and then make a mixture of glass and glue to cover the line of the kite then they battle each other.  They fly their kites with friends and the friction of the line and the coating of glass cuts the line of other kites. Last kite in the air wins.  Apparently, sometimes when a poor guy on a motorcycle is driving down the highway, these innocent strings used by kids (coated with glass, remember) pass across the road and catch the motorist in the neck and LITERALLY DECAPITATE THEM. Not always the whole head, but lots of people die from this. I didn’t believe my companion at first, it seemed so wild (haha) but it’s true! The motorcycles have these metal poles in front designed to catch the string before it slices your throat. Just a fun fact of Brazil :)

Now about conference! I found myself laughing when Elder Oaks called the names of new members of the seventy.  With so many tough names, I had flashbacks of graduation when I had to read off the hard names of my fellow classmates -haha. We had a few investigators that came to church to watch, but they were all teenagers and it was tough for them to really get into it... none of them really liked it much. That was disappointing, but the young men/women in the ward are awesome and they make friends easily so I think they will return to church for a normal meeting this next week and hopefully down the line accept baptism! I am sure you were wondering how it was with the language... it’s just as you described. I understood more than I had expected, but less then I liked. It was like this: If I REALLY concentrated, listened intently, and blocked out all distractions and other thoughts, I could understand almost 100% of the words in each talk! It is a lot easier to understand things of the gospel because I study this style of speaking and I also teach in the same way. (Let it be known that when I am in a group of teenagers, I understand NOTHING. I swear they are speaking another language.) I really had to focus just to understand the words, and it was easy to get sidetracked. But it was cool to see how much I could understand without distractions. BUT, here is the sad part, I had no time to reflect or think about the messages and write down promptings and thoughts that I received because the SECOND I broke that focus, I instantly got lost. I have basically no notes from conference even though I was listening so intently and understood the words.  What I retained and also fully understood of the truths behind the words was super weak. The conference was not the spiritual experience I had been hoping for. I fasted both days to try and feel the spirit but really didn’t. The spirit definitely speaks to me through English, not Portuguese. If you attach the talk that you mentioned, I can print it off. I would also ask that in the next package you send the English Ensign of conference talks so that in the next few months I can really study the words that were said and feel the spirit (in English). I did understand the changes that were made (just not the details on how they will work). It is very interesting. Also super exciting about the new temples announced! I think a temple will be announced in my mission in the next few conferences, we had goals of baptizing quorums (priesthood holders) to help a few stakes divide, and to create new stakes because they need a certain number of stakes in the area to warrant a temple.  We are really close. It will be really cool when they finally have a temple, cool also to know that my teaching the gospel and helping people be baptized is also going to help everyone in this area continue to progress in their covenants by getting a temple close. Someday I hope to return here with my family when they have a temple!  I really miss the temple and the peace I always felt there. Visiting the temple is one of the first things (if not THE first thing) I would like to do when I get back.

I am really missing the family.  It is crazy how much this mission experience has brought to my attention the importance love and family has in my life. It grows each week I am away from you guys. And I get so excited just to read your emails and hear about your lives, to know you guys are okay, are happy, healthy, and all the little details. Never feel like you can´t write to me because I don’t have time to respond. I never have a problem reading all the emails I receive. As of late I have been receiving less, so it’s even easier to respond.

 I haven’t received any package from you or Cathy yet, I think I will get them the end of the transfer (the end of April), fingers crossed. I love you mom, have a good week.

Elder Sork