Its so crazy that I have less than a month left! after today Iºll only have 4 more Pdays! Yesterday I had my last zone conference and i gave my last testimony. I think it went over well. I quoted Lion King, Mulan, and Boy Meets World. haha. :D
It didnt feel as weird as i thought it would be. It felt like a normal zone conference. I guess the reality hasnt really hit me. Hopefully its like that until i get home.
Oh, so last pday. I lost my greeny. We were hiking up to this castle and we decided to go off the trail like we have done before and hike up the face of the mountain. Well...i was trailblazing and then i decided to stop and wait for everyone else. And one other set of missionaries catch up then the companion of another missionary (elder smith) in my district that is training also. But my kid (elder Thomas) and elder Smiths kid (elder Bryant) werent theree. I asked where they were and they said that they decided to go on the trail to the castle. Well thats all cool, except for 2 reasons. 1, it would take us 4 times as long to get there as them (it would take us like 40 minutes and them 10) and 2, they didnt have a phone. so we get up to the castle and spend an hour looking for them, to no avail. we decide to go down the trail cuz maybe they´re waiting on the trail head. we go down and theyre not there. we got a call at that moment from Elder Bryant. He said that they went back to the chapel and were waiting there. So they hiked all the way down the mountain, caught the train and walked to the chapel to use the phone. We climbed down the mountain, got some lunch then met up with them.
So that was an adventure.
Then yesterday we were coming back from Zone conference and we got into our building and went into the elevator. and teh elevators here are a little different than the states. here they dont have a door that closes, so you open the outside door and the elevator goes up and you can see the wall passing by, even touch the wall. And elder thomas is a jumpy guy and is petrafied of the elevators. So I was wearing a backpack and i get in with my back to the door of the elevator and we start going up. I act like i get my back stuck in the elevator and start getting dragged down and elder Thomas FREAKS OUT. it was hilarious. I did that with elder gray and he just laughed......
Our investigators are doing really well. We are teaching a couple of brazilian families that are all friends. Their kids are awesome and coming to church every week with soem member friends. the parents are doing well but need to come to church. We got invited to one of the kids birthday parties and we played tag with them and ate cake and shared a message with TONS of people there.
Then Afra is doing really well...except she wont pray to know its true..sadly.
Elizabete and Edivaldo are doing well also and we´re finding lots of new investigators :D
Things are doing really well here and i´m keeping going untill the end!
Have a great week everyone!
-rhett
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
And his name shall be know throughout his life and upon the record of the church as...
5
My new comp...my new son is named Elder Thomas from huric´n (hurricain) Utah. Hes pretty cool. Quiet. but I think hes warming up though. Hes pretty green too, like the other day the zone leaders called and one of our zoneleaders is brazilian and doesnt speak much english. So he answered the phone and the brazilian was on the other line so he was talking to him in portuguese. And i was in the bathroom taking a shower so he wanted to tell the Zone Leaders that I was in the shower so he said Elder Hildebrandt...uhh....eu.....uhh...limpar seu corpo. (which is to be interpreted Elder Hildebrandt.......uhhh....I.....uhh.....clean his body) he brazillian laughted and laughed and laughed and i got outta the shower and got on the phone and they told me...it was pretty funny. But hes getting better and hopefully at the end of the transfer, he´ll be a pro!
Last week, we went to Fatima. Which is where a few decades ago, 3 kids claimed Mary appeared to them. And now they have a HUGE sancuary there and when we went was on the aniversary of the appearance of mary so there were TONS of people there! it was insane. Everyone was staring at us. We saw people burning candles to have their sins forgiving, people walking on their knees for blessings and people with bloody shoes who have been walking forever to get to fatima to show their faithfulness. It was all in all very apostate.
But as far as the work this week, it went really well. Elizabete´s kid is marked for baptism for the 18th of July (she wants him to wait till schools out) and Elizebete says that she has recieved more answers...but is really quiet about her answers that shes recieving. but she says they are good.
We had a lesson with this investigator named Ester and a member named Sergio was helping us. Hes this really humble type guy, really simple, big african dude. anyway, we go over to her house and her Aunt who lives wiht her said that she wanst home but went to go visit a friend. and she said that her friend lives in building Nº48 on that road. We said thanks and left, we got to building 48 only to realized we didnt get the floor or door number. and there were 7 floors with 3 doors on each. So i was like....well....we can guess. I asked sergio to give me a floor number and right away he said 5. then I asked for the door, and he said left. So i rang it. and it opened. WE went up and knocked on the door that let us in, while we were knocking Sergio said he doesnt think it is that one but the one across the hall. Someone answered the door, she wasnt there, so we thanked him and left to go try the door across the hall. We knock on the door, and some lady answers. We ask for Ester. and who comes to the door, none other than ester! i was shocked that sergio guess like that.....i think hes psycic. But we had a lesson with her and it went really well.
Oh and the other day, we went and had a lesson with that one brazilian family again. We went over there and they had a friend over that was giving the mom a pedicure. We talked about the plan of salvation and it went really well. Everyone understood VERY well. then we invited them to church. they all came up with excuses except for hte friend that wasgiving the pedicure. And then on sunday. She came and broght her whole family! Shes way cool and i think has alot of potential.
Then just 2 days ago. All of our appointments fell through...even the ones that NEVER fall through. So we decided to go by this romanian guy that we contated a couple days ago and give him a romanian book of mormon. WE called him up and he said he was home and for us to come over. We go over and ring his bell from outside and no one answers. We try calling again and he doesnt answer. Then i just though....Ill just ring his neighbors door so we can get in and knock straight on his door. So i ring it. his neighbor opens. We go up and start talking to the neighbor. I just did a very bland door approach so we could leave a pamplet or a card or soemthing and just move on to see this romanian guy. but surprisingly, this younger african man let us in. We entered and taught him the 1st lesson. We were showing him scriptures from the book of mormon that lots of the time are hard to understand. like from the isaiah chapters. But he was understanding very well. And at the end he prayed to know if it was true! it was really cool!
Umm.....and thats about all that happened this week that was exciting. We went to the Japanese restaurant yesterday and Elder Thomas tried sushi for the 1st time and almost threw up.....oh well...his loss...more for me :D
Oh and about the family of the boy, we found out that the house that was for sale was actually their neighbors house. But we went by a couple days ago...and no one was home. we´ll keep on trying.
Well......i´m gonna keep on running on the home stretch!
-Elder Rhett
My new comp...my new son is named Elder Thomas from huric´n (hurricain) Utah. Hes pretty cool. Quiet. but I think hes warming up though. Hes pretty green too, like the other day the zone leaders called and one of our zoneleaders is brazilian and doesnt speak much english. So he answered the phone and the brazilian was on the other line so he was talking to him in portuguese. And i was in the bathroom taking a shower so he wanted to tell the Zone Leaders that I was in the shower so he said Elder Hildebrandt...uhh....eu.....uhh...limpar seu corpo. (which is to be interpreted Elder Hildebrandt.......uhhh....I.....uhh.....clean his body) he brazillian laughted and laughed and laughed and i got outta the shower and got on the phone and they told me...it was pretty funny. But hes getting better and hopefully at the end of the transfer, he´ll be a pro!
Last week, we went to Fatima. Which is where a few decades ago, 3 kids claimed Mary appeared to them. And now they have a HUGE sancuary there and when we went was on the aniversary of the appearance of mary so there were TONS of people there! it was insane. Everyone was staring at us. We saw people burning candles to have their sins forgiving, people walking on their knees for blessings and people with bloody shoes who have been walking forever to get to fatima to show their faithfulness. It was all in all very apostate.
But as far as the work this week, it went really well. Elizabete´s kid is marked for baptism for the 18th of July (she wants him to wait till schools out) and Elizebete says that she has recieved more answers...but is really quiet about her answers that shes recieving. but she says they are good.
We had a lesson with this investigator named Ester and a member named Sergio was helping us. Hes this really humble type guy, really simple, big african dude. anyway, we go over to her house and her Aunt who lives wiht her said that she wanst home but went to go visit a friend. and she said that her friend lives in building Nº48 on that road. We said thanks and left, we got to building 48 only to realized we didnt get the floor or door number. and there were 7 floors with 3 doors on each. So i was like....well....we can guess. I asked sergio to give me a floor number and right away he said 5. then I asked for the door, and he said left. So i rang it. and it opened. WE went up and knocked on the door that let us in, while we were knocking Sergio said he doesnt think it is that one but the one across the hall. Someone answered the door, she wasnt there, so we thanked him and left to go try the door across the hall. We knock on the door, and some lady answers. We ask for Ester. and who comes to the door, none other than ester! i was shocked that sergio guess like that.....i think hes psycic. But we had a lesson with her and it went really well.
Oh and the other day, we went and had a lesson with that one brazilian family again. We went over there and they had a friend over that was giving the mom a pedicure. We talked about the plan of salvation and it went really well. Everyone understood VERY well. then we invited them to church. they all came up with excuses except for hte friend that wasgiving the pedicure. And then on sunday. She came and broght her whole family! Shes way cool and i think has alot of potential.
Then just 2 days ago. All of our appointments fell through...even the ones that NEVER fall through. So we decided to go by this romanian guy that we contated a couple days ago and give him a romanian book of mormon. WE called him up and he said he was home and for us to come over. We go over and ring his bell from outside and no one answers. We try calling again and he doesnt answer. Then i just though....Ill just ring his neighbors door so we can get in and knock straight on his door. So i ring it. his neighbor opens. We go up and start talking to the neighbor. I just did a very bland door approach so we could leave a pamplet or a card or soemthing and just move on to see this romanian guy. but surprisingly, this younger african man let us in. We entered and taught him the 1st lesson. We were showing him scriptures from the book of mormon that lots of the time are hard to understand. like from the isaiah chapters. But he was understanding very well. And at the end he prayed to know if it was true! it was really cool!
Umm.....and thats about all that happened this week that was exciting. We went to the Japanese restaurant yesterday and Elder Thomas tried sushi for the 1st time and almost threw up.....oh well...his loss...more for me :D
Oh and about the family of the boy, we found out that the house that was for sale was actually their neighbors house. But we went by a couple days ago...and no one was home. we´ll keep on trying.
Well......i´m gonna keep on running on the home stretch!
-Elder Rhett
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Hey my fellow blogguers
Theres not much news....umm last week Elder Tucker stayed with us for a few days cuz of Zone Conference. So he came up last wednesday and stayed untill saturday morning. That was fun seeing him again. Also on thurday we had a bbq with the new brazillian family we´re teaching. They are way cool. We played tag with the kids for a long time! it was a blast! we have an appointment with them on friday, im really excited for them.
We went by the families house of the little boy that died. When we got there, we noticed a for sale sign on the window. They had already moved out :( We´re planning on going back and talkign to the neighbors and maybe seeing if we can find out where they moved to.
We had a good lesson with Elizabete and her son Edivaldo yesterday. We asked her if shes recieved an answer from the fast she did with us on friday. and she said she did on sunday. We asked her about it but she kept really quiet and just said it was good........so hopefully it is good. but then her son, who we asked to think about baptism said he wanted to be baptised!!!! Hes been reading in the book of mormon and loving coming to church. So maybe we can get him baptised and then hopefully elizabete and her bf will be more willing to be baptised.
We also had a baptism this week. Kinda. Its this 8 yr old boy and his parents wanted us to teach him the discussions. so we did and he was baptised last saturday. It went really well and they invited alot of non members who LOVED the baptism. And after we had a ward party and the people stayed for that. it was fun. I got my groove on! haha. It was a good day.
And thats about it for the week. Today we´re going up to fatima. Its this city where like 80 yrs ago, 3 kids claimed they saw the virgin mary, who told them 3 secrets that they cant reveil. And now every year there is a huge migration of people the crawl on their knees to pray to Mary. And today is the migration day. so it should be pretty crazy!
Ill take lots of pictures!
Have a great day!
-rhett
We went by the families house of the little boy that died. When we got there, we noticed a for sale sign on the window. They had already moved out :( We´re planning on going back and talkign to the neighbors and maybe seeing if we can find out where they moved to.
We had a good lesson with Elizabete and her son Edivaldo yesterday. We asked her if shes recieved an answer from the fast she did with us on friday. and she said she did on sunday. We asked her about it but she kept really quiet and just said it was good........so hopefully it is good. but then her son, who we asked to think about baptism said he wanted to be baptised!!!! Hes been reading in the book of mormon and loving coming to church. So maybe we can get him baptised and then hopefully elizabete and her bf will be more willing to be baptised.
We also had a baptism this week. Kinda. Its this 8 yr old boy and his parents wanted us to teach him the discussions. so we did and he was baptised last saturday. It went really well and they invited alot of non members who LOVED the baptism. And after we had a ward party and the people stayed for that. it was fun. I got my groove on! haha. It was a good day.
And thats about it for the week. Today we´re going up to fatima. Its this city where like 80 yrs ago, 3 kids claimed they saw the virgin mary, who told them 3 secrets that they cant reveil. And now every year there is a huge migration of people the crawl on their knees to pray to Mary. And today is the migration day. so it should be pretty crazy!
Ill take lots of pictures!
Have a great day!
-rhett
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
A series of interesting event
This week was a great week. I bought my suit! its really cool, right now a member is fixing it for me (sleaves and pant legs). I really like it.
Also, something really interesting happened this week. On friday night, we were teaching a member and as we were talking, we heard a commotion outside. We looked out his window and saw a bunch of people grouped around on the sidewalk. A few of them were crying and yelling. We went outside to see what was happening, only to find a little african boy, about 3 or 4 years old, laying on the ground, not moving. He apparently had fallen out the window of the 4th floor, and was dead. He was at his aunt and uncles house and his aunt was screaming and crying and his sister (prolly about 16) had to be held back by 2 people cuz she wanted to go to him... The whole neighborhood was gathered around and then the amublance came. They tried recessitating him for like 5 minutes...to no avail. THey put the sheet over his head and it seemed like all hell broke loose. the sister started crying and going crazy again, same with the aunt. His uncle just fell to his knees and sobbed. His brother (maybe) who was prolly about 20 turned violent and started pushing people around trying to get to his brother, people tried to hold him back but couldnt. He was violently flailing around, they eventually pulled him away and he just sobbed. It was a very different experience.....very sobering. It was interesting how everyone reacted to death. His mom finally showed up, and she saw the body and lost her mind, litterally. went into shock and wasnt there in the head...she kept on just muttering and stuff. I went and talked to the grandfather, who was probably the only one who was sane at the time and expressed my condolances. I told him if there was anything we could do, they could call us. We have plans to visit them next saturday. But it was a very very different experience. I feel bad for the family and wish everyone could know the beauty of the plan of salvation....but I guess thats why Im here.
But onto more light matters. We tried the sidewalk chalk idea again where we draw out the plan of salvation in a more secure place. and it worked AMAZINGLY. in 1 hour we talked to probbaly 30 people or more and set up a bunch of appointments. it was really cool
Also we put the Kites that you sent to good use. We flew them in the park and invited kids to coem fly (because they are a rare thing here in portugal) and then we talked aobut how if we cut the string of the kite, it wont fly away but fall and related that to obedience to the commandments, about how some people think that the comandments keep them tied down, but really its what keeps them flying up.
We also got a really cool new brazilian family as investigators. They are friends of a brazilian family that moved into our ward. We went over to their house and they were really receptive. Then their 2 9 yr old twin daughters came to church! we have a bbq with them tomorrow :D
As for the rest of our investigators, they are doing great. Afra came to church and she and her 3 little kids LOVED it. so shes doing really well. And all the rest of our investigators are still doing really well.
and thats it.
ttyl todos!
-Rhett
Also, something really interesting happened this week. On friday night, we were teaching a member and as we were talking, we heard a commotion outside. We looked out his window and saw a bunch of people grouped around on the sidewalk. A few of them were crying and yelling. We went outside to see what was happening, only to find a little african boy, about 3 or 4 years old, laying on the ground, not moving. He apparently had fallen out the window of the 4th floor, and was dead. He was at his aunt and uncles house and his aunt was screaming and crying and his sister (prolly about 16) had to be held back by 2 people cuz she wanted to go to him... The whole neighborhood was gathered around and then the amublance came. They tried recessitating him for like 5 minutes...to no avail. THey put the sheet over his head and it seemed like all hell broke loose. the sister started crying and going crazy again, same with the aunt. His uncle just fell to his knees and sobbed. His brother (maybe) who was prolly about 20 turned violent and started pushing people around trying to get to his brother, people tried to hold him back but couldnt. He was violently flailing around, they eventually pulled him away and he just sobbed. It was a very different experience.....very sobering. It was interesting how everyone reacted to death. His mom finally showed up, and she saw the body and lost her mind, litterally. went into shock and wasnt there in the head...she kept on just muttering and stuff. I went and talked to the grandfather, who was probably the only one who was sane at the time and expressed my condolances. I told him if there was anything we could do, they could call us. We have plans to visit them next saturday. But it was a very very different experience. I feel bad for the family and wish everyone could know the beauty of the plan of salvation....but I guess thats why Im here.
But onto more light matters. We tried the sidewalk chalk idea again where we draw out the plan of salvation in a more secure place. and it worked AMAZINGLY. in 1 hour we talked to probbaly 30 people or more and set up a bunch of appointments. it was really cool
Also we put the Kites that you sent to good use. We flew them in the park and invited kids to coem fly (because they are a rare thing here in portugal) and then we talked aobut how if we cut the string of the kite, it wont fly away but fall and related that to obedience to the commandments, about how some people think that the comandments keep them tied down, but really its what keeps them flying up.
We also got a really cool new brazilian family as investigators. They are friends of a brazilian family that moved into our ward. We went over to their house and they were really receptive. Then their 2 9 yr old twin daughters came to church! we have a bbq with them tomorrow :D
As for the rest of our investigators, they are doing great. Afra came to church and she and her 3 little kids LOVED it. so shes doing really well. And all the rest of our investigators are still doing really well.
and thats it.
ttyl todos!
-Rhett
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