Elder Pier Dick

Elder Rocha and I went looking for this man, Jose Dos Santos Filho, because he appeared in our area book as a less-active member who hadn’t been to church or taught in 2 years. So we decided we were going to go find him. We arrive at the last-known address and knock on the door. This husband and wife open the door, and before I could finish saying that we were looking for Jose the husband let us know, “we aren’t interested! Please, just go away,”....the wife started shouting, “You just wait there one minute, i’ll be right back!!”  In my missionary optimist mind, I was convinced she was going to get Jose! …..and then we heard the garage door open…….out comes the wife with a box in her arms. My next thought: Oh, Jose must have lived here before and a package came for him and she wants us to give it to him when we find him. This poor woman, she starts screaming at us again, saying, “You want to talk to Jose?! WELL HERE HE IS! COME TALK TO HIM! Say what it is you want to say because ...

Bastante neve! We woke up and already had more than a foot of snow. Did morning exercises, got ready, and when we started planning we looked at the forecast. It had been snowing all morning and wasn't projected to stop until TOMORROW. Not just snow, but 30-50mph winds. That's a blizzard haha. After we planned (we planned to just shovel snow all day) we spent some time studying. Then around 9:30 we got to work on our driveway. We live with the Tenempaguays (ten-imp-uh-gwaye) and they're really cool members. They're a whole other story. But we got started cleaning their massive driveway...took only about 3 hours :) there was about a foot and a half of snow. Then we hopped in his truck and he took us to their deli they own, and we had lunch there. It was closed, but it's this nice little building called Village Deli. It reminds me of that deli in downtown Swansboro whose name I've forgotten.. but then we cleaned the snow from their deli so they can open tomorrow...

Over the past 2 weeks our English class has exploded and we had TONS of people start coming, and since I'm the only one who seems to know english, I have the wonderful opportunity of teaching all the time!  But I like to teach so it is wonderful! We were able to get in touch with a very less-active family, and found out that the father is getting his Greencard this week! And he is getting a new job so he can come tochurch with his family. Awesome! Really cool thing happened the other day. After p-day (preparation day) ended the other week, we went finding. We had a referral (i think?) from the sisters, and we hadn’t visited them yet, so at close to 7:30 we head to this person’s house. Took us a long time to find it, and it was absolutely FREEZING outside, but once we found the correct door we were surprised at what we found! It was pitch black outside, in a really sketchy part of town, and this man (who I could have sworn was hispanic) opened the door. Both Elder Costa and Elder...

We had zone conference today and it was really awesome. I learned a lot of really really cool things. Like: Always remember and apply “Good, Better, Best” especially with making goals and plans. If you knew that any goal you set, you could achieve...what would your goals be? (Now remember that with God, all things are possible) Goal setting is an act of faith. Showing that you believe that God can and will help you accomplish it Only think about the Do’s. (For example: if your goal is to eat healthy, don't think “don't eat cookies, don't eat cookies” think instead, “okay I can eat salad and chicken and fruits and apples!) Become comfortable with being uncomfortable, especially in missionary work. If you're comfortable, you can probably work harder.

Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered Prayers. You can spot a spoiled kid from a mile away. Always gets what he wants, if things don't go his way he’ll throw a fit until they do. Really prideful and stuck up. The parents that raised him, that pampered him, that gave him everything he wanted even though they knew it wasn't best for him, are they good parents?......yes. But could they be better parents?......Clearly.  If when things are not going my way, I could just say a prayer and then I'd love life again, am I truly growing? If I get mad at my dad (the big one upstairs) and yell and curse him and scream until things are better, did I learn?  Do I think that sometimes I pray for the wrong thing? Yes. Sometimes my Will and God's Will aren't the same. When that happens, I've obviously got some work to do. Maybe some repenting, some changing. But I know He loves me. I've felt it, I feel it all the time. So I know that whatever His Will, his ...

Monday, 12-26-16 I g ot to skype with my family on Sunday. It was fantastic!  We were instructed to keep the call to less than an hour, and we were promised huge blessings if we did so. So our call was 58 minutes long. And let me tell you, the blessings came!  I wasn’t distracted at all thinking about home. It didn’t make me homesick, it made me happier. The blessings of following the rules truly come.

This week was great! Shorter than most though, since the change in P-days. Our days to prepare for the upcoming week used to be on Wednesdays, but now they are Mondays!   Elder Brasileiro is doing fantastic! He has some great news about his sister and her mission call! Their family is so excited for her.  She will be serving in Temple Square!  So all my Utah friends, come May, take a trip up to Temple square and ask around for Sister Brasileiro!  Please, she's super cool.   It's really cool because Elder Brasileiro's English is improving so much. When I came, he knew English super well. But it's cool to see the improvements!  I know for me, I've felt the improvements in my Portuguese. It's so amazing to be able to show that to our investigators, and members! Those that knew me my first few weeks saw how much I struggled to speak. And now, they get to witness a miracle of God with their own eyes. My Portuguese is far from perfect, but the lan...