So i just wanted you to know that i actually will be sending an email next week. I reread the email president sent and it just said the fast would be for those who broke the rule and were on facebook. I did not break that rule so i will be emailing next week. I just thought you would want to know.
oh also i found out last night that Elder soucy is getting transfered and I will be getting a new companion tomorrow. Elder fretas. he is a Brazilian. so that is going to be big change and a growing experience for sure. it will be good. I could you your prayers though. I was just starting to get sort of comfortable, and Now its back into the fire. I know this is not going to be easy, but thats what life is all about stretching and growing. and that doesnt always feel good. but I know that with heavenly fathers help I can do this.
It was so good to see you all yesterday! that really was the greatest present I think I have ever gotten. I got to see all the people I love the most yesterday. Thank You for that! thank you for being such a wonderful family. I know were not perfect but I love you all anyways!
I love you all and hope that the next couple of days all you have together are wonderful!
Love
Elder Clements
Monday, December 26, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
its a 90 degrees and Christmas is next week... its strange/ Sweet!
Dear family and friends!
okay so this week has been pretty good/ frustrating/awesome/ crappy. some days were awesome we taught alot of lessons found new people, weather was good. then other days everything that could go wrong did. sunday was kinda crappy we had confirmed with 14 people to go to church and only 2 showed up. and jeffersons babtism this week fell because he had to work . Jeffersons is almost 18 turns 18 on christmas and is just so cool. I freaking love that kid. he really didnt know much about religion at all when we started teaching him and his mom. but after we taught him about the plan of salvation and why Jesus Christs Atonement is central to that plan and why its so important. he was converted. we were teaching the word of wisdom and the mom said she didnt understand why a little beer was bad for her and before we could respond he said Jesus chirst suffered so much for us will forgive our sins and he just asked us to keep his commandments, thats all. it is not that hard. I was pretty stoaked about that answer from a kid who really didnt know anything about Christ a few days before. hes awesome and I hope everything will work out this week and we can get him babtized on sunday.
um so what else, oh i have had alot of runs in with people who have done way to many drugs in their lives. I dont understand anything their saying and neither does elder soucy. so i dont feel to discouraged about that. but that language is well... okay. its changes everyday sometimes I can speak and understand good, then others just understand, then others i cant do anything. its hard because I want to be a good missionary and be able to teach well, but I just cant do that yet. I know it will come with time. I just feel bad when I cant explain something.
okay well I need to go! sorry its short this week and really kinda of a crappy letter. I promise it will be better next week.
I love you all and Wish you all a Merry Christmas!!
okay so this week has been pretty good/ frustrating/awesome/ crappy. some days were awesome we taught alot of lessons found new people, weather was good. then other days everything that could go wrong did. sunday was kinda crappy we had confirmed with 14 people to go to church and only 2 showed up. and jeffersons babtism this week fell because he had to work . Jeffersons is almost 18 turns 18 on christmas and is just so cool. I freaking love that kid. he really didnt know much about religion at all when we started teaching him and his mom. but after we taught him about the plan of salvation and why Jesus Christs Atonement is central to that plan and why its so important. he was converted. we were teaching the word of wisdom and the mom said she didnt understand why a little beer was bad for her and before we could respond he said Jesus chirst suffered so much for us will forgive our sins and he just asked us to keep his commandments, thats all. it is not that hard. I was pretty stoaked about that answer from a kid who really didnt know anything about Christ a few days before. hes awesome and I hope everything will work out this week and we can get him babtized on sunday.
um so what else, oh i have had alot of runs in with people who have done way to many drugs in their lives. I dont understand anything their saying and neither does elder soucy. so i dont feel to discouraged about that. but that language is well... okay. its changes everyday sometimes I can speak and understand good, then others just understand, then others i cant do anything. its hard because I want to be a good missionary and be able to teach well, but I just cant do that yet. I know it will come with time. I just feel bad when I cant explain something.
okay well I need to go! sorry its short this week and really kinda of a crappy letter. I promise it will be better next week.
I love you all and Wish you all a Merry Christmas!!
Monday, December 12, 2011
dear yall
Olá family and friends,
Okay so as a request i am going to talk a little about my area : I am in Campanário which is a part of a city called Diademia which is really just an add on to the monster city of sao paulo. it is a pretty small area size wise probably about the size of the riverview ward and shoreline ward combinded. except there are a bunch of hills and the houses are everywhere. there is very little if any open spaces. except the jungle that boreders the area. I dont get it but they just left a huge patch of jungle in the city. and its huge!. anyways I am in a branch that just opened 3 months ago and now just got a new building. the goal is to have it be a ward in a month or two. which is very possible.
there are so probably about 50 bars, churches, in the area. its really kinda of sad people just decide they want to open churches up in their garages and get money from people. sadly many people are successful. most of the churches are evengelical chruches. everytime i walk by they are just yelling... one church we walked by the other day and people were all standing up screaming and shaking rolling on the floor.... I just felt sick and moved on real fast.
Most of the week the place is a pretty good place to be. sundays are usually pretty bad. almost everyone has work off and has partys and gets drunk. so sunday is just loud and people just do really stupid stuff like ride motorcycles around drinking at the same time. I saw a crash yesterday luckily no one got hurt to bad just some road burn that was pretty amazing.
um so about the Branch: the branch is small and the members are for the most part really new to the church the people that have been memebrs the longest have only been in the church for 10-13 years. so we are working alot with just strenghing the church and the members.
and yeah thats a bit more about my area. if any of you have questions and want to know something about here please just ask.
okay so my week
well it rained alot! like someone turned a shower on. most of the days this week i was soaking wet all day... like shoes filled with water and making that sound that wet salks and shoes make. and its werid brasil basically stops in a really good down poar. thursday was pretty bad. basically everything we planned fell and so we just were outside in the rain all day. but we just did are best to be positive and keep going. which was hard at times because I was just wet and cold and wanted to go home becasue know one was home or would answer. but god blessed us so much on sunday and saturday and we found a bunch of people and a lot of people are progressing I think we will be having at least 4 or 6 babtisms in the next two weeks. it was so awesome to just see things fall into place after such a terrible day.
okay also by request from my mom a story from the week. this actually happened yesterday. so we have been working with a family well since before i got here. teotonio is the dad and was babtised 2 weeks ago. and now his daughter jackoline is going to be babtised. so yesterday we were just talking and elder soucy was talking with teotonio and Marcie (the mom) and i was talking with jackoline Teo ( the son 23) and Ana (teo girl friend who lives with them) and jackoline asked me if i missed home I told her yes i did and i thought i would always miss home and the people i love there. but that I knew that this was the place god wanted me to be and that when I teach people like thier family that I could not be happier. and then some how we got on prophets and i pulled out the ensign magizine and was showing them the picture of all the general athoritys and was trying to explain the role of the president, the 12 and the 70. and then I told them about how i used to have doupts about if all of this was true, if the church was true, if these men were really called by god to be prophets and lead HIS church. and i told them about how I did exactly what we ask our investigators to do everyday. i prayed about it and searched for answers. i then started to try and explain the feelings i got when i knew that it was true remember this is all in really bad portuguese. and i just told them i didnt know quite how to explain it in protuguese or english (teo speaks a little english) but that is just a feeling. And then this was the really cool part teo said I know what you are saying its a feeling because i am having that feeling right now. it was really cool to see the Holy ghost share the feeling that i wanted to share so bad but couldnt.
I Miss Home, I miss I miss family, I miss Friends, I miss My dog! to know that i wont get to spend x-mas at home and see the people i love so much is a hard thought at time. BUT I dont have any doubts that this is where god wants me to be and that even though I miss you so much I that I am happy.
I love you!
sincerly
Elder Clements
Okay so as a request i am going to talk a little about my area : I am in Campanário which is a part of a city called Diademia which is really just an add on to the monster city of sao paulo. it is a pretty small area size wise probably about the size of the riverview ward and shoreline ward combinded. except there are a bunch of hills and the houses are everywhere. there is very little if any open spaces. except the jungle that boreders the area. I dont get it but they just left a huge patch of jungle in the city. and its huge!. anyways I am in a branch that just opened 3 months ago and now just got a new building. the goal is to have it be a ward in a month or two. which is very possible.
there are so probably about 50 bars, churches, in the area. its really kinda of sad people just decide they want to open churches up in their garages and get money from people. sadly many people are successful. most of the churches are evengelical chruches. everytime i walk by they are just yelling... one church we walked by the other day and people were all standing up screaming and shaking rolling on the floor.... I just felt sick and moved on real fast.
Most of the week the place is a pretty good place to be. sundays are usually pretty bad. almost everyone has work off and has partys and gets drunk. so sunday is just loud and people just do really stupid stuff like ride motorcycles around drinking at the same time. I saw a crash yesterday luckily no one got hurt to bad just some road burn that was pretty amazing.
um so about the Branch: the branch is small and the members are for the most part really new to the church the people that have been memebrs the longest have only been in the church for 10-13 years. so we are working alot with just strenghing the church and the members.
and yeah thats a bit more about my area. if any of you have questions and want to know something about here please just ask.
okay so my week
well it rained alot! like someone turned a shower on. most of the days this week i was soaking wet all day... like shoes filled with water and making that sound that wet salks and shoes make. and its werid brasil basically stops in a really good down poar. thursday was pretty bad. basically everything we planned fell and so we just were outside in the rain all day. but we just did are best to be positive and keep going. which was hard at times because I was just wet and cold and wanted to go home becasue know one was home or would answer. but god blessed us so much on sunday and saturday and we found a bunch of people and a lot of people are progressing I think we will be having at least 4 or 6 babtisms in the next two weeks. it was so awesome to just see things fall into place after such a terrible day.
okay also by request from my mom a story from the week. this actually happened yesterday. so we have been working with a family well since before i got here. teotonio is the dad and was babtised 2 weeks ago. and now his daughter jackoline is going to be babtised. so yesterday we were just talking and elder soucy was talking with teotonio and Marcie (the mom) and i was talking with jackoline Teo ( the son 23) and Ana (teo girl friend who lives with them) and jackoline asked me if i missed home I told her yes i did and i thought i would always miss home and the people i love there. but that I knew that this was the place god wanted me to be and that when I teach people like thier family that I could not be happier. and then some how we got on prophets and i pulled out the ensign magizine and was showing them the picture of all the general athoritys and was trying to explain the role of the president, the 12 and the 70. and then I told them about how i used to have doupts about if all of this was true, if the church was true, if these men were really called by god to be prophets and lead HIS church. and i told them about how I did exactly what we ask our investigators to do everyday. i prayed about it and searched for answers. i then started to try and explain the feelings i got when i knew that it was true remember this is all in really bad portuguese. and i just told them i didnt know quite how to explain it in protuguese or english (teo speaks a little english) but that is just a feeling. And then this was the really cool part teo said I know what you are saying its a feeling because i am having that feeling right now. it was really cool to see the Holy ghost share the feeling that i wanted to share so bad but couldnt.
I Miss Home, I miss I miss family, I miss Friends, I miss My dog! to know that i wont get to spend x-mas at home and see the people i love so much is a hard thought at time. BUT I dont have any doubts that this is where god wants me to be and that even though I miss you so much I that I am happy.
I love you!
sincerly
Elder Clements
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Dear family and friends!
well yet another week has gone by. its crazy I have already been in the field for 4 weeks. Pday was today because we went to the temple today. it was so nice to be in the temple. I was so grateful for the peace that i felt going into the temple. if their is onething i know is that satan is working really hard here and I feel it everyday. I didnt realise how much until i went into the temple. sunday was a huge soccer game between two big teams here and the corithains( the team basically everyone in the favela likes) won the game. the streets were everything but peaceful. people went crazy. basically everyone was drunk and setting off fireworks yelling driving motobikes around without mufflers....we went home because the spirit was long gone. the partying went on to the wee hours of the morning... which reminds me can someone send me earplugs. that would be an awesome gift.
besides sunday it was a pretty peaceful week. yesterday i went on splits with a brazilain. it was pretty fun. I was suprised to see just how far my portuguese has come. it was good to spend all day speaking portuguese but it was so nice when I got back to home with elder soucy.
thursday we had a lesson with claudia and ardioçõn and thier family. i dont know if i have talked about them very much but they are the first people i taught when i got here and its so awesome to see the light coming on in their lives. we are going to invite the kids to be babtised in a week or 2. they are such a awesome family. the parents have to be married first but they already have plans to be. hopefully we can do that this week or next.
I am learning so much here. I am learning about myself. I see how blessed I am everyday. I see how blessed i am to live in the US how blessed i am to have a wonderful family and friends. I see how blessed i am to have loving parents that taught me so much. I see so many kids everyday that really dont have anyone in there lifes their mom had them at 17 the dad walked out and so she works all the time and the kids have no one. I am so blessed to have this gospel in my life and i know the answer to so many of these peoples problems is the gospel. I know that. it sounds so cliche but Honestly the gospel can and will bless anyone in any circumstance. thats why i am here because I have been blessed with so much and I want everyone to have these blessings too. I know this church is truly Christs church. its not a mans church. it is Jesus Christ Church and he leads it through prophets.
Alright até proximo semana
I love you all!!
Elder Clements
well yet another week has gone by. its crazy I have already been in the field for 4 weeks. Pday was today because we went to the temple today. it was so nice to be in the temple. I was so grateful for the peace that i felt going into the temple. if their is onething i know is that satan is working really hard here and I feel it everyday. I didnt realise how much until i went into the temple. sunday was a huge soccer game between two big teams here and the corithains( the team basically everyone in the favela likes) won the game. the streets were everything but peaceful. people went crazy. basically everyone was drunk and setting off fireworks yelling driving motobikes around without mufflers....we went home because the spirit was long gone. the partying went on to the wee hours of the morning... which reminds me can someone send me earplugs. that would be an awesome gift.
besides sunday it was a pretty peaceful week. yesterday i went on splits with a brazilain. it was pretty fun. I was suprised to see just how far my portuguese has come. it was good to spend all day speaking portuguese but it was so nice when I got back to home with elder soucy.
thursday we had a lesson with claudia and ardioçõn and thier family. i dont know if i have talked about them very much but they are the first people i taught when i got here and its so awesome to see the light coming on in their lives. we are going to invite the kids to be babtised in a week or 2. they are such a awesome family. the parents have to be married first but they already have plans to be. hopefully we can do that this week or next.
I am learning so much here. I am learning about myself. I see how blessed I am everyday. I see how blessed i am to live in the US how blessed i am to have a wonderful family and friends. I see how blessed i am to have loving parents that taught me so much. I see so many kids everyday that really dont have anyone in there lifes their mom had them at 17 the dad walked out and so she works all the time and the kids have no one. I am so blessed to have this gospel in my life and i know the answer to so many of these peoples problems is the gospel. I know that. it sounds so cliche but Honestly the gospel can and will bless anyone in any circumstance. thats why i am here because I have been blessed with so much and I want everyone to have these blessings too. I know this church is truly Christs church. its not a mans church. it is Jesus Christ Church and he leads it through prophets.
Alright até proximo semana
I love you all!!
Elder Clements
A note to Mom including info for sending packages
Hi Mom!!!
first things first, I am doing well. yes this is by far the hardest thing i have ever done and I struggle everyday. and yes god is helping me!
I got the package you sent. Thank you so much!!!! about the cost for a package. yes if you mark the package over 50 i have to pay about double. sister tanner said that you should mark is below no matter what and be general about the contents like missionary supplies and candy. I am not sure how it all works but the way sister tanner explained it is that you should mark it below 50.
for calling home i will be buying a card and calling home with a members phone. it is a 6 hour time difference from home. i am 6 hours a ahead. I think i will be calling around 5 or 6 my time if that does not work let me know because i can call later. the time is not set yet so let me know what time works for you and ill figure it out.
Love joe!
first things first, I am doing well. yes this is by far the hardest thing i have ever done and I struggle everyday. and yes god is helping me!
I got the package you sent. Thank you so much!!!! about the cost for a package. yes if you mark the package over 50 i have to pay about double. sister tanner said that you should mark is below no matter what and be general about the contents like missionary supplies and candy. I am not sure how it all works but the way sister tanner explained it is that you should mark it below 50.
for calling home i will be buying a card and calling home with a members phone. it is a 6 hour time difference from home. i am 6 hours a ahead. I think i will be calling around 5 or 6 my time if that does not work let me know because i can call later. the time is not set yet so let me know what time works for you and ill figure it out.
Love joe!
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