December 22, 2014

This week we taught an english class for real. We started up an english class in the chapel. Elder Fullmer and I prepared a class about how to ask for a pizza and we played a fun game so that everyone could practice the english. That was cool. That night, we went with Maicon to the restaurant that is close to the chapel and we ate a french fried torpedo which is french fries, chicken heart, cheese, ham, roast, and everything else, all mixed together. That was intense! Maicon was baptized on Sunday.

Our week was pretty crazy because we went to Estrela and to Montenegro. So that was a lot of hours on the bus traveling and traveling. Luckily, we managed to work in our area too, and we had a good week of teaching.

The Ward Christmas Party was Friday night. They asked us to do the spiritual message. So we decided to recreate part of the Christmas story. Elder Fullmer was Joseph, Elder Teela was the donkey and Elder Kinney was Mary. We asked the first counselor in the bishopric (Quines) to help us out as the inn keeper. I narrated the action (as if I was reading from the scriptures "and behold, Joseph looked upon Mary and said unto her- wouldst thou that I giveth thee a donkey on which thee might ride?"). It turned out really funny, and then really spiritual. We ended the message when the inn keeper gave room for them in the stable. Then we bore our testimony about how we should leave room for Christ in our lives and not put in the stable in the back.
Sadly, we don't have pictures, but I'll see if I can get some from the member that took them.

Saturday, I went with Elder Kinney to São Leopoldo. We visited some of the Sister's investigators there and I saw Jessica again. It was nice, but I'm liking Sapucaia a lot more than that area! We'd planned at eating at this wonderful Xis place, but it was closed, so Elder Kinney and I ended up sweating in this dinky restaurant and eating xis that tasted like cardboard. But at least they had ketchup!

Saturday night, we'd undone the division and I was with Elder Fullmer when it started to rain. We were really far from home and without umbrellas so we just accepted it. Luckily I had my camera! Getting soaked isn't all bad.

Merry Christmas to you all! Love,
Elder Jasperson

December 15, 2014

This week started with a great Pday. We went to a city basketball court and we played basketball with some guys we're teaching and some young men from church (Ismael went). After playing a bunch of basketball, we played soccer and then we played ultimate Frisbee using a handbol ball because we don't have Frisbees. That we sweet.

That night it rained so much that the water didn't evaporate until two days later- which is rare, considering how hot it was!

Last Sunday night, I'd taught the Elders to play SCUM (that cool card game that some people call Capitalism). We played it as part of a Family Home Evening with some recent converts. So on the nights this week when we had a bit of time after planning, before sleeping we played scum. That's been really funny. We're thinking about learning new games, but we still haven't got tired of scum.

The work this week was really tiring. We taught a ton of lessons but we found few new investigators. Lots of the people we taught accepted everything - even baptism, until we talked about returning and then they declined to receive us again. That was annoying because without new investigators, our work doesn't progress. Surely this week things will pick up.

Anyway, in the ton of rejection we got this week, there were some funny excuses. One woman said she'd receive our message but when she came to open her gate, she said her husband had taken the key (because she couldn't find it in the house) with him and that she was locked in. So we told her that maybe we could come a different day, but while we were talking, her little toddler called out "Mommy! The key is on the table" and came running with the key. So then she had no choice but to hear our message! So the next day, the same thing happened again. The woman said that she'd listen but her kid had hidden the key and she didn't know where it was, so she couldn't let us in. Then she went off on this whole big acting thing, yelling at her kid for hiding the key and pretending to search her whole house for it while yelling out "nope, not under the sofa," "nope, not in my shoes," until we just left her there searching and went on to the next contact.

(To understand these stories, you have to understand that every Brazilian house has a large fence around it. They have spikes on top and usually are about 8 feet tall. It's not a solid fence, but it's made out of metal bars with 4" gaps between them. So you can talk with the people in the house, but you can't get in unless they open the gate.)

This old guy stopped us in the street this week, yelling "How are you?!!" (in English, with accent). We went over to talk with him (to see what he wanted) and found out that he can only yell. Yelling, he asked for our names and then he told us that he wanted to learn a word in English- Storm Chaser ("what do you call those people that chase tornados to film them," he asked). After telling him, he started yelling "Storm Chaser" really loud. That was funny because we were in front of a gas station and everyone was looking trying to figure out what was happening. They probably thought that the man was insulting us or something, but nope, he was just yelling Storm Chaser over and over!

We traveled to Montenegro this week to do a meeting with the missionaries. We'd marked the meeting at 9 o´clock, and guess who showed up late? Us! We slept on the bus (like always, it's a 1.5hr ride) but this time we didn't wake up like we usually do and we missed our stop. So we had to call a taxi to get us to the meeting quick!

On Friday, we were invited to do a presentation in an English School. We talked about US History and about our States. I represented Texas really well, yelling howdy and teaching everyone to say "y'all." I threw together some PowerPoint slides about Texas food, football, and rodeos. I also explained Texan history - six flags over Texas, the Alamo, etc. The other guys talked about their states- Missouri, Utah, and North Carolina. In the end, everyone voted on the best state and of course it was Texas! Yeah!

Saturday night, while sleeping, my bed fell. Elder Fullmer has been having bed problems, his bed falls apart during the night and his mattress falls on the floor. So we'd taken his bed out and he's been sleeping on the floor (on a mattress on the floor) with Elder Kinney and Elder Teela (we only have two beds). Anyway, my bed was a wobbly bunk bed that nobody dared to sleep in. Every night, I check to make sure that it hasn't broken and I carefully climb into it. I sleep on the second bunk because the first bunk breaks just like Elder Fullmer's bed. So Saturday night, I woke up falling! The bunk bed just fell apart! Good thing that I was on a mattress because it was a nice cushy fall. So now we're all sleeping on the floor!

And the highlight of this week was Sunday, because Ismael was baptized. That guy is cool! He's been reading the Book of Mormon every day and praying and everything. He spends his spare time watching Mormon Messages (especially He is the Gift) because he says he feels so good watching them. This guy is a Spiritual Giant! (He also pretty tall and plays basketball really well!)

Ismael baptism

Ismael baptism

The 12 days until Christmas countdown has begun! Merry Christmas

Love y'all!

Elder Jasperson

I briefly saw Elder Hortêncio this week

I briefly saw Elder Hortêncio this week

December 8, 2014

3 Nephi 18:12-13, compare with the last verses of Matthew 7 -- We are to edify ourselves on the Rock of Christ…..also think about Hymn number 258.

So last P-day was a blast because we played basketball. The young men in this ward actually know how to play it and they like it more than soccer. This is the first time on my mission that I played basketball. The chapels here don't have a gym like chapels in the US. We went to a school and used their court. So we had a great game. Vinícius (a young man here) invited Ishmael (is- my- el) to play with us. He is almost taller than me and plays well! (More on Ishmael later). So it was fun.

Anyway, we get back from playing basketball and find something strange in our house. Something had changed. There was bird poop on Elder Fullmer's bed. Well we were pretty confused about that, so I went up to the loft to see if the window was open. There's this little window up there and yep, it was open. And guess what was standing on the shelf beside the window? This bird! I threw a fork at it, thinking that I'd scare it out the window. But nope, that bird attacked me. I swerved and it hit Elder Teela who was behind me on the loft stares. He started running down with the bird clawing his back. So he got the grate from the front of our fan and I grabbed a cardboard box. Elder Kinney threw coins at the bird until it hid behind the chair. Then we cornered it and scooped it into the box. So that was funny and Elder Fullmer complained all day because he'd cleaned his sheets that morning.

So the next day we get up and go to study and guess what? Yeah, that bird had pooped all over his desk. We just hadn't noticed it before. So now Elder Fullmer hates birds.

the bird we trapped in the house

We kind of decorated our house for Christmas by hanging up our socks above the door. Then we went to the Mission’s Christmas conference. That was cool because I found Elder Hortêncio who gave me a bunch of good news about Rio Pardo. We four in Sapucaia got together with matching ties. Yes! Everybody wants to have cool red skinny ties like us!

our matching ties

A member called Max went out with us this week to teach. It was one of those crazy, crazy hot days (like today) where we studied laying down on the ground with the fan right next to us, wetting our scriptures with our sweat. But he went walking in the street with us without a complaint. Yeah he was sweating like crazy too (I sweated through my bag, through two pamphlets and onto the Book of Mormon) but he was happy to be able to teach with the missionaries. We taught some good lessons and then it started to pour rain. And we got even more soaked. But he still didn't complain and he stayed happy and cheerful. He stayed another hour with us and then we went home. I like his example. Lots of people don't ever go out to teach with us, and lots of them complain that they'd have to walk in the street or sweat with us. But not Max. He understands the importance of missionary work and was happy to have the privilege to take part.

So here's the cool part about Ishmael- we started teaching him on Thursday. And he loved our message! He's 21 and feels a bit without purpose. So he's happy to find that purpose with us. I gave him one of my white shirts and a tie, and he came to church yesterday all dressed up. We read 3Nephi 11 with him after church and invited him to be baptized next Sunday. He accepted! He's super cool. When we taught him the Book of Mormon on Saturday, he showed us that he'd searched about the church on the internet and had already found the Book of Mormon. He had started reading it and he had posted 1 Nephi 9:6 on Facebook. This was before he even visited church! What a great investigator!

Have a great week!
Elder Jasperson

December 1, 2014 (Photos)

no templo
(translation: in the temple)

os 4 caras. E' Kinney e E' Teela são... estranhos :)
(translation: 4 guys, E. Kinney and E. Teela are strange)

Na estação do trem
(translation: in the train station)

o trem (e elder fullmer)
(translation: the train and e. fullmer)

nossa batata torpedão!
(translation: our Torpedão potato!)

December 1, 2014 (English translation)

So sorry for not doing a spiritual thought for today. I did not study because I was sleeping. I was sick last night with belly pain and then slept late. I think I ate something bad, but it is already passing.

So I thought I would write in Portuguese because today will be faster and I'm in a hurry :)

This week a few things happened. On Tuesday we went to the temple. I really liked. I had a cool experience to get ready to go. I spent iron a shirt. She was a long-sleeved. When finished ironing, I saw that had a stain on the shirt. So I decided that, as would go to the house of the Lord, I'd get a new shirt. Not that passing, I saw that the second shirt was also spotted? So I spent the third. Also, she had a stain. Since the beginning of the mission, I kept a new shirt for me to wear the last day of the mission (as would be white and all). So I decided to take that shirt because I had no long-sleeved shirts. Well spent iron shirt and put it then, as I left the house going to take the train, you believe that dirty water falls from tiled and leaves a very large brown stain on my shirt? Have not had more time so I went to the temple with that thinking shirt that had at least tried. The moral of the story? If it is to go to the temple with a stained shirt, you go to the temple with the stained shirt. And now I do not have a new shirt to wear on my last day :(

On Wednesday, we went to a conference in Porto Alegre. We returned to the house only at 7 o'clock that night. So, wanting to work a little, went to the home of a researcher, Jason. He was not there and it was 20.30. We could have gone back to the house. But we decided to make one more effort. We made a prayer asking our Heavenly Father to where we should go. When we finished, Elder Fullmer felt we needed to go to a specific street. We were, and he once again felt inspired to hit a specific house. We knocked the door. A woman came to meet. Before we say anything, she said "It was God who sent you here!" Then she explained how she was experiencing difficulty and she was that day, seeking answers. That's cool that we could be an answer to her prayer! I know that God can really guide us and use us if we let Him.

In December, the Church is doing something really cool and special called "He is the present." Everything is related to a video on the internet about how Jesus Christ is the gift of Christmas. You supply should go to christmas.mormon.org site (natal.mormon.org in Brazil) and see it! The church is doing a lot of propaganda about it and you should see soon that this video is becoming a worldwide thing. I know that Christ is the reason for Christmas. I am grateful for the first gift we all receive.

Love you!
Elder Jasperson

(Editor Note: I did not edit this message in any way after it was translated by Google)

December 1, 2014

Então desculpe por não ter feito um pensamento espiritual por hoje. Não estudei pois eu estava dormindo. Fiquei doente ontem à noite com dor da barriga e então dormi tarde. Acho que comi algo ruim, mas está passando já.

Então achei que escreveria em Português hoje porque será mais rápido e estou com pressa :)

Nesta semana poucas coisas aconteceram. Na Terça-feira, fomos ao templo. Gostei bastante. Tive uma experiência legal ao me preparar a ir. Passei ferro numa camisa. Ela era uma de manga comprida. Ao terminar de passar, vi que tinha uma mancha na camisa. Então decidi que, como iria para a casa do Senhor, eu pegaria uma nova camisa. Não é que enquanto passando, vi que a segunda camisa também estava manchada? Então passei a terceira. Também, ela teve uma mancha. Desde o começo da missão, eu guardava uma camisa nova para eu usar no última dia da missão (porque seria bem branca e tudo). Então, decidi pegar aquela camisa, porque eu não tinha mais camisas de manga cumprida. Bem- passei ferro na camisa e a coloquei e então, enquanto eu saía da casa indo para pegar o trem, você acredita que água suja cai da telhada e deixa uma mancha marrom bem grande na minha camisa? Já não tinha mais tempo, então fui ao templo com aquela camisa pensando que pelo menos tinha tentado. O moral da história? Se é para ir ao templo com uma camisa manchada, você vai ao templo com a camisa manchada. E agora não tenho mais uma camisa nova para usar no meu último dia :(

Na Quarta-feira, fomos para uma conferência em Porto Alegre. Voltamos à casa só às 7 horas aquela noite. Então, querendo esforçar um pouco, fomos à casa de um pesquisador, Jason. Ele não esteve lá e era já 20h30. Poderíamos ter voltado à casa. Mas decidimos fazer mais um esforço. Fizemos uma oração pedindo ao nosso Pai Celestial para aonde deveríamos ir. Ao terminarmos, Elder Fullmer sentiu-se que precisávamos ir para uma rua específica. Fomos, e ele mais uma vez sentiu-se inspirado bater numa casa específica. Batemos a porta. Uma mulher veio nos atender. Antes de dizermos alguma coisa, ela exclamou "Foi Deus que enviou vocês aqui!" Então ela explicou como ela estava passando dificuldade e que ela estava, naquele mesmo dia, buscando respostas. Que legal que pudemos ser uma resposta à oração dela! Sei que Deus realmente pode nos guiar e nos usar se O deixarmos.

Neste mês de Dezembro, a Igreja está fazendo algo muito legal e especial chamado "Ele é o presente." Tudo é relacionado a um vídeo na internet sobre como Jesus Cristo é o presente de natal. Voceês devem ir a site christmas.mormon.org (natal.mormon.org em Brasil) e vê-lo! A Igreja está fazendo muita propaganda sobre isto e vocês devem ver logo que este vídeo está tornando se uma coisa mundial. Eu sei que Cristo é o razão de natal. Sou grato pelo primeiro presente que nós todos recebemos.

Amo Vocês!

Elder Jasperson

(Editor Note: see the English version from Google Translate in accompanying post)

November 24, 2014

3 Nephi 4:24-25 When I read this, I thought, "How many times do the Nephites beat the Lamanites by doing stuff during the night?" The answer is, a lot! Ya know, we can learn from the Nephite's example. They worked more than their enemy. The Lamanites were sleeping but the Nephites were still working. Yeah, they had to lose a bit of sleep, and yeah they had to work more than other people, but they won! Sometimes we have to lose some sleep and work in the early morning hours. Sometimes we have to do more than those around us. But that's how we'll win! I wonder if some of the Nephites complained that they had to wake up early to surround the Lamanites? I wonder if some of us complain that we have to wake up early to help other people go to church. The Lord's work is hard, but we're gonna win.

So now I'm in Sapucaia, and it's been a hard week. I'm with Elder Fullmer, from Provo, Utah. We're living with Elder Kinney and Elder Teela, who are also from the US. They'd hung an American Flag up in our house (which is a crazy awesome house, btw) and so I hung my Texas apron on top of it! Ha! Texas is the best :)

Texas apron and American flag

Our house is blessed with not only an American flag, but also an air-conditioner! We have an air-conditioner in our bedroom!!! So we sleep without sweating! I'd almost forgotten that was possible!
Elder Fullmer and I are opening this area, so we don't have any investigators. And for the first time on my mission, I'm having trouble finding investigators. The people here just don't want to receive the Restored Gospel. But don't worry, it's like they say "água mole na pedra dura bate tanto até que fura" (slow water on a hard stone hits until it bores a hole) So we're just gonna keep up the work and sooner or later we'll break through.

We've been arriving home everyday, completely beat and soaking with sweat... but it doesn't matter because THERE'S AN AIR-CONDITIONER IN OUR BEDROOM so we plan the next day as fast as we can in our super awesome planning loft (its where we hung the flag) and then we take a shower and chill in the bedroom (YES, LITERALLY!!)

bedroom air-conditioning!

So we're going to the temple today, which is also a blessing.

Happy thanksgiving! I'm thankful for the Air Conditioner in our bedroom. I'm grateful for the temple, and I'm grateful for the gospel

love y'all
Elder Jasperson

November 17, 2014

So this week was fun. We went to the temple, for starters! We arrived a bit later than we wanted because Elder Schiavoni got sick and we had to walk slowly. But we got there right on time for the session. We took the train to the Bus Station in Porto Alegre. There, we searched for a bus that'd take us to the Burro of the Temple. I started asking people in the street for directions, nobody knew. In the meantime, Elder Schiavoni was trying not to throw up.

Well from nowhere, two guys in military uniforms came over to talk to me. I wasn't quite sure what they wanted, but they started asking weird questions about the Church. They told me that they frequent the Universal Church, which is pretty popular here in Brazil. They were trying to "Confound me with their words" like the bad guys always do in the Book of Mormon. So instead of answering all their questions, I bore my testimony and invited them to come to church. Well then they started laughing and congratulating me, because they were actually members of the church. They complemented me for being a good missionary and then gave us directions to get the bus that went to the Burro "Chácara das Pedras" (which is where the temple is). Poor Elder Schiavoni ended up throwing up on the bus, but after that he felt a lot better.

So we were pretty lucky this week because we caught the new train. There are several trains that pass on the line, and when you're lucky, you get the new ones that have air conditioning and are completely open- you can walk from one car to the other. So Elder Giles and I decided that we'd get in the train on the first car and that we'd manage to cross the whole train before having to get out. So we went weaving around the people because it was pretty crowded and managed to get all the way to the last car before getting off! I'm pretty sure that we're the first people ever to do that! I wonder what the security guys thought!

To motivate a companionship of Sisters in Portão, I challenged them to do more contacts than me, promising to make a banana and strawberry cake for the winner. So I bought the stuff and went to bake the cake (which I took to the District Meeting to give them). Well I put the bananas in the blender and found out something really important- our blender has a hole in it! So when the banana turned into liquid, it all spilled out onto the shelf and the floor. Luckily, I'd bought extra bananas!

Last week we found Marisa. She seemed a bit skeptical about our message, but she accepted to pray and to receive our second visit. So we went there again and she had received an answer to her prayer! When things like that happen, it makes my testimony stronger- because it confirms that God really does answer prayers! Lots of times people don't pray, and lots of times they don't ever recognize their answer. But she explained to us how she felt- and that she would follow the answer. Sadly, she ended up not going to church :(

Another Investigator also received an answer to her prayer this week - Carine. She told us that after reading the part we'd marked in the Book of Mormon and answering the questions that we'd written in the margin, that she prayed. She too recognized the answer and told us that she wants to be baptized. Yay! The Transfer is tomorrow and São Leopoldo is going to change to have Sisters. That means that we're going to leave. So the Sisters will be happy to arrive here with two Investigators just waiting to be baptized!

Elder Jasperson

November 11, 2014

Helaman 8:17 Abraham rejoiced to know about Christ. Can this be said of us?

This week introduced a new twist in my mission- there was an emergency transfer that ended up with us in a trio. That means that along with Elder Schiavoni, Elder Giles is my companion! He's from Allyn, Washington.

This happened on Wednesday night. So we went to Feitoria to get Elder Giles and before we came back home we decided to try out the Xis Búfalo. It was a Xis made for 5 people to eat- (Xis is like a super hamburger) filled with bacon, fried hearts, fries, everything! We decided it was worth it to commemorate our new trio. Later, that night, we rearranged our house to have "triliche" - triple bunk bed! Yay! It turned out to be really hard to get into the top bunk so nobody sleeps there, but it was pretty cool.

our triple bunk bed!

view from the top

We had a pretty weird week, working in three. One advantage was that we got to take this picture of E. Schiavoni and me in front of the G.H. Drink shop. We'd wanted to take a picture for a while because "GH" has a special meaning for us, but we'd never had anyone to take the picture. It's in kind of a sketchy area of the city so we didn't feel comfortable asking someone to take it for us. Elder Giles acted like a super-spy and hid the camera under his bag so that we could take the picture! Being in a trio is a lot different in every other aspect. The whole teach-testify cycle that missionaries love gets all messed up in three. And contacting people in the street is pretty weird because three missionaries grouped around one person is kind of intimidating. But we're figuring things out little by little. And next week is the transfer so they'll get it all sorted out.

GH drink shop

On Friday, we were invited to Luis's house. A while back, the other time that I was in this city, I found Luis and Ivete. He was the crazy guy who invited us to lunch. Anyway, he invited us to have dinner at his house again. It was cool to relive the same thing again. I didn't ever imagine that I'd end up at his house again. He friend hearts and sausage with onions and it was great! (This week I ended up eating a lot of heart!)

I found out that Elder Giles has a lot of things in common with me- at least our childhoods were similar. We both grew up playing "Math Blaster," "Reader Rabbit," "Putt-putt," and "Arthur's thinking Games" on the computer. I'd almost forgotten about those games. I'm not quite sure how we got to talking about that, but it turns out that we grew up learning from the same games! How funny! And what a coincidence!

Elder Jasperson

November 3, 2014

Helaman 4:13 - because of the pride in their own force, they were abandoned to their own forces. If we don't realize that our strength comes from Him, then we'll realize it when we don't have His help anymore. Just like the Nephites.

Well the highlight of this week was Igor's Baptism. He's short, but he's 20. It's cool 'cause he's a guy our (Elder Schiavoni and I) age. He's changed a lot in these weeks that we've been visiting him. He was struggling with depression but bore his testimony after his baptism that ever since he received us in his house, he hasn't felt depression anymore. He says that the spirit he feels when he's in the church or hearing the missionaries teach is way more powerful than depression. It was really cool to hear his testimony after baptism!

Igor's baptism

My testimony was also strengthened by Jessica's testimony. We've been visiting her since her baptism last week and since Sunday, she's really changed a lot too! It's a proof to me that baptism really does change people's lives!

Last week I cut my hair. It's been a long time since I've had hair so short, but it's been nice with the heat to have short hair. And it's been hot, but it'll still get hotter because summer hasn't arrived yet.

cortei o cabelo e desfrutei minha nova cuia :) É bem curto, né?
(Translation: I cut my hair and enjoyed my new bowl :) It's very short, right?)

I had the chance to talk with the missionaries that are serving in some of my old areas this week and I was really happy to hear from the guys in Sarandi (Porto Alegre). They told me that Thiago (who we baptized in January last year) is one of the most active young men in the ward! I got so happy to hear that! Thiago was always a shy guy and I didn't know if he'd stay active or not. But they told me that he goes on divisions with the missionaries, goes to church every Sunday, and passes the sacrament, everything! That made me happy! He was baptized with his brother Gabriel, I think they were my first baptism this year.

Halloween passed by normally without anything happening this year (what a blessing!) unlike last year when Elder Angus and I almost got blown up! So now all the stores are filling up with Christmas stuff (I guess some things don't change no matter where you go in the world!)

Elder Jasperson

October 27, 2014

Helaman 3:1- the Nephites didn't have any problems except one- pride. Well, we all know that pride was always their biggest problem. But I like how Mormon puts it here- that they didn't let the pride continue in the church. I see lots of people that let pride get in the way of their testimony and personal spiritual progress. Pride should never have anything to do with the church. The calling we have isn't because we are better or worse than anyone. It is because God needs our service in that place.

So this week we had the wonderful baptism of Jéssica! It was great. The pictures we took didn't turn out very well, but the meeting was good.

This week our ward did the same activity that we did back in Rio Pardo- the members came and we divided up into companionships to visit the inactive members of our ward. It turned out pretty well with a high frequency in sacrament meeting on Sunday.

So one of the best moments of my mission happened this week- we were walking in the street to our next appointment, talking with the people, and I made contact with a guy named Igor. I asked him if we could pass by his house another day. He invited us to pass by right then! So I didn't even bother to take down his address, we just went! Well he's really prepared for the gospel. He accepted everything that we taught on Tuesday, and then we taught him again on Thursday. On Tuesday we invited him to be baptized, and we marked November 2nd as his baptismal date. He liked it all so much that he came to church on Sunday to see how it was. Well he LOVED church. He told us that he felt like he was "coming home"!

After the meeting, he reminded us that we'd marked a baptismal date with him and asked us if he still could be baptized that day. We told him that of course he could! Sunday afternoon we taught him the Word of Wisdom and we're excited for this week. Maybe he won't be baptized on the 2nd, however, because the Ward Leadership wants to have the baptism next Saturday. We'll see! Igor has been visiting lots of churches but he told us that he never felt good in the places that he went. We told him that the way he felt in the church is how we feel always because of the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Anyway, ya know what the best part is? Igor is 20. And he can serve a mission one day!

Well that was the highlight of my week. Yesterday afternoon Elder Schiavoni and I did a division in the Feitoria area. The elders there were needing a little lift up and so we went to help them out. I worked with Elder Smith, who has a really cool story. Anyway, we planned on sleeping the night at their house and to our dismay, we found their house completely without food! Luckily, I'd thought in bringing potatoes and popcorn with me so we had a little mini party. They didn't have mattresses for us, so we spread a blanket on the ground which turned out pretty nice because it wasn't so hot down there. And the ground was actually a lot more comfortable than the mattress that I use here in São Leopoldo! (Elder Schiavoni didn't agree with me and is complaining about his back, but that's because he won the good bed when we pulled straws) We returned back here this morning.

I love ya'll! Happy Halloween!

Elder Jasperson

Photo of the week

October 20, 2014

A question that we often hear is "Why did ______ have to die. He was such a good person! Bad people all around are alive and he got sick (or something) and died?" Well I found the answer in Alma 60:3. I hope y'all can find it too!

This week was good! We had Ana's Baptism which was really spiritual. We sang a special musical number and it was really special. Ana asked that we presented a Hymn that we'd never heard. She liked its name "Deus é Amor" (God is Love) I don't know if that hymn exists in English, because I've never heard of it. [Editor Note: I found a hymn in the LDS hymnal called "God Is Love".... not sure if this is the same hymn.]

Ana's baptism

Other than the wonderful baptism, not much happened. It rained all week! Elder Schiavoni managed to fill up his shoes with water. The next day, he filled up my shoes with water. The next day, he filled up my boots with water. Then I stopped loaning him shoes. I gave a talk in the Sacrament meeting which was great. It was about the parable in Luke 14 and how we can help fill the Lord's Table (the celestial kingdom). The price is already paid, and the hour of the dinner has come. We just have to fill the table!

Elder Sciavoni and me

We're excited for this week because we'll have the baptism of Jessica! Pray for her so that she can be firm in this decision! There is a lot of opposition in this city!

Elder Jasperson

October 13, 2014

So the transfer happened and who can guess where I ended up? Passo Fundo, the farthest part of the mission? Gramdo, the most beautiful city in the south? Canoas, where the church is the strongest?

If you thought of one of those cities, you thought wrong. I ended up in São Leopoldo. Again. Which was different. I've never met anyone who repeated a city. But I did!

Anyway, it's been a cool week. My new companion is Elder Schivoni. He's from Argentina. This week we didn't have many experiences because of the transfer. Elder Schivoni was a little surprised that I already knew my way around the city.

Today we cleaned out the house and found an onion growing in the fridge! I'm glad that I like cleaning because we had a lot to do! But now our house is beautiful!

Our investigator Ana decided to stop smoking this week. That was really great! We'll have her baptism soon!

Elder Jasperson

tchau, rio par

Lurdes made some breeches for me
(Editor's Note: Google Translate version)

October 6, 2014

General Conference was cool, huh? I guess we all made history since it's the first time that the speakers used their own language. I made sure to write that in the diary just in case it becomes a historic document one day. I loved the talk of Elder Godoy. Elder Bednar also had a great talk.

I'm being transferred tomorrow, so I'll have to use all my time today to say bye to all of my friends here (and to pack my bags).

This week Tainã was baptized. She is 16 and is really opening up with the young woman! She was really shy when we started teaching her and now she's a lot more open! The young woman of the branch are awesome and really are helping her feel included.

I was in Santa Cruz on division this week and we knocked on an older lady's door. I was with Elder Fullmer who is American. He told her that we were Americans and asked if she'd ever heard of the US. She replied "Well, I've heard people talk about that but I don't believe it" I replied "You don't believe in the United States?" she affirmed that. So I had a wonderful moment to bear my testimony and testify of truth "I testify that the United States are true" I said. Elder Fullmer almost died laughing. I don't think I'll ever have the chance to bear my testimony of that again!

Also- this week we tried to make tereré with hot water and that is HORRIBLE! Luckily, we have a window in our house that is great for throwing things out... especially when your mouth is full of hot tereré!

Elder Jasperson

Photos of the Week

Um ovo de um ganso
(a goose egg)

Tainã baptism

Meu cisne de papel :)

my paper swan

September 29, 2014

2 Nephi 3:8- if we do the Lord's will we will be great in His eyes. I want to be great in the Lord's eyes.

This week was good. I went on division two times to work in Santa Cruz and help out the missionaries there. I was with E. Fávaro knocking on doors and everybody was saying no. So I stopped in front of a house and said "this is the place" as if I was Brigham Young. Turns out that the man in that house was searching for an answer and we knocked on his door at the right time. He heard our message and really liked it! I know that miracles can happen. And that faith can be demonstrated by our willpower and action

We were teaching Maria this week and we asked her to pray. She is catholic and in her church they use prayers that are written. So she opened up the pamphlet we'd given her and started reading "your heavenly father loves you and wants to guide you..." That was really funny but we managed not to laugh (too much) :)

This week will general conference. We are planning a baptismal service to happen in between the sessions on Sunday. That'll be cool!

Elder Jasperson

our churrasco from last week

left to right E. Hortêncio (paraíba), E. Fullmer (Utah), me, 

E. Palma (Chile), E. Fávaro (Mato Grosso), E. Sánchez (Columbia)

cooking for the churrasco!

baptism of Jean and family

September 22, 2014

Well this week passed by as if it missing a few days. But in the end we had quite a few adventures! This Sunday was really special for me too- I gave a talk and sat up in the front. So I got to see all of the people in the congregation. And from there I saw almost all of the people that I've taught filling the benches. It was really cool because all of the young men who passed the sacrament on Sunday were ones that we baptized. I counted almost 4 benches full of people that we've baptized or reactivated. I feel happy and grateful because the Lord has allowed me to bless this branch so much!

Today we're in Santa Cruz with 4 other missionaries. There was a fireside last night so we stayed the night here with them afterwards. Today we did a churrasco together and it turned out pretty awesome! A member taught me once how to do it, so I went with Elder Palma to buy a bunch of meat (we bought like 5-6 pounds), coal, salt, and stuff. And then we went to grilling! September 20 was a holiday of the gaúchos (people in Rio Grande do Sul) and Elder Hortêncio did a churrasco in our house that day too! So I think I've had my share of meat for a while!

Speaking of meat, in one lunch this week Brother Daudt made fried liver for us. Well I'm not a huge fan of liver, and neither is Elder Hortêncio. Elder Hortêncio struggled to eat the liver on his plate and I realized that he'd made a LOT of liver. So I said "I love fried liver! This one is really good!" and put two more livers on my plate. I have never eaten so much liver in my life, and I don't think I plan on doing it again in the future either... but I realized that liver really isn't that bad after all. Also, if you have a lot of rice and mayonnaise, it's easier to eat liver.

And while I'm on the topic of food, I tried something new this week- we don't have a microwave, right, but we wanted microwave popcorn... so we tried to make it in the oven. I guess it might have worked out a little better if we'd remembered that we'd put it in there. Unfortunately the smoke detector remembered before we did!

I had a cool spiritual moment this week when we were walking along the highway one night. A car fell into a ditch on the side of the highway. The man wasn't driving very fast, and so the car didn't break or anything and he got out okay. But his car was stuck in the ditch. Well Elder Hortêncio and I made our way over to see what we could do. I suggested that we try to lift the car out of the ditch. Another man came over to look and he said we should call a tow truck. The car owner didn't want to do that because he didn't have money and he was in a hurry.

I suggested again that we could down into the ditch and lift the car out. They didn't think much of that idea, so I jumped down under the car to show them that it was possible. I lifted with all my strength and the car moved a little bit (no, I'm not super man I could never manage to get it out all alone). So Elder Hortêncio jumped down with me and lifted too. Seeing the car moving, the other man came down and joined us and we three managed to lift the car out.

I remembered a talk from General Conference by Elder Ucthdorf called "lift where you stand" I was reminded that we are often faced with hard problems but if we do our part and lift where we stand we can overcome them. If I had given up when I didn't manage to lift the car alone, we'd never have gotten the car out of that ditch. In the same way, when we face difficulties, we just need to continue with our part because other people will be able to learn from our example and help. Anyway, Elder Uchtdorf explains all of that better than I do, so read his talk! (Speaking of general conference, I heard that in this conference, everyone will speak in their native language, which means, I think, that Elder Uchtdorf, for example, will speak in German!)

In a lesson this week an older woman was listening from a different room. In the middle of the lesson, she interrupted us and asked if she could buy a bible from us. I told her that we give people bibles and she responded asking to have mine. Well that put me in a bind because the only bible I had with me was my personal bible and it's pretty special to me. So I reached into my bag and gave her a Book of Mormon, telling her that it was a book of scripture, like she'd asked. She accepted it without complaint so that becomes the easiest book of Mormon I’ve ever planted!

I'm loving the work here in Rio Pardo and hope y'all are all good!

Elder Jasperson

September 15, 2014

Alma 48:11-13 teaches us what a “real man” is like. Elder Hortêncio and I have joked a lot about being a man. When we drink chimarrão (we make it really hot and shout "SOU HOMEM" when it gets really hot in our mouth) but to be a real man, we don't have to drink something that is hot, we don’t have to play football well or be attractive. A real man is one who develops these attributes. (And becomes like Christ)

Well along with my memory card deleting my pictures, my camera isn't charging very well. Luckily my companion helped me out. With the pictures this week. I'm hoping to fix it this week so I can get back to normal.

Anyway, this week started with us having lunch with Álberson and his family. His mom, Patrícia was baptized this week. She's been invited us forever to do lunch at her house, so we decided to do it on Pday. Elder Hortêncio and I bought ingredients to make macaroni and cheese (which for them we called an "American specialty") and Álberson made pork and rice. It was fun!

our "American speciality" dish!

We visited them a bunch this week (even though they live in the Pine Village which is pretty far away from everyone) to help Patrícia feel really prepared to be baptized. She used to smoke a lot. Ever since we found them and Álberson was baptized, we've tried to help her stop smoking but nothing worked. We made goals, plans, talked about alternatives and everything, but she couldn't quit. But last week she just stopped.

She told us that one day she got up and gave her pack of cigarettes to her nephew and just stopped. She says that this is a response to her prayers and it certainly is! Ever since then, she hasn't had desire to smoke. Instead, she's had desire to be baptized! We taught her about real repentance and helped her prepare for the wonderful baptismal service we had on Sunday! I have baptized about 10 members of this family until now and it's awesome to see how they are all growing together in the gospel.

Patrícia's baptism

Patrícia's baptism with her family

Saturday night we got a phone call from Jean. He was baptized with his mom and grandmother (they are both widows) last month. He invited us over to his house because his aunt and cousins were there and he wanted them to hear our message! What a good missionary! He and his family are some of my favorite converts here. They are really fun! We passed Sunday afternoon with them, talking about the importance of a prophet. We're hoping to be able to help the rest of the family (Lurdes' other daughter, her husband and their children) be baptized too! The gospel is a wonderful thing for families.

It's been raining a lot recently and Elder Hortêncio have gone through 4 umbrellas this month. They break a lot because the rain comes with a crazy fierce wind! We almost went flying like Mary Poppins last week! I guess it's a good thing that the umbrella broke because if it hadn't, we might have ended up on the other side of Brazil!

I'm so grateful that I was raised with my family in the church I know that the gospel changes our lives!

Elder Jasperson

jaqueline's baptism (with her brother cassiano)

September 8, 2014

This week I had the chance to teach seminary. I taught thechapters 49-51 in Alma and talked about how high standards help us be protected. We played capture the flag, following the Nephite tactics and it turned out pretty fun.

Anyway, in my personal study, I'm also studying the war chapters in Alma. And I liked what I found in Alma 46. In this chapter (Amalequias(I don't know his name in English)) wants more power. He's seeking a position in the church because he wants to be recognized. I thought about how sometimes we want recognition in our calling or want a "higher" calling. But we shouldn't search for power like (Amalequias). We should follow the example of service like King Benjamin and Jesus (Mosiah 2:14 and Luke 22:26-27) after all, our job in the church is to serve, not to be served!

On Pday, we made some chocolate candies called Trufas. They are chocolate balls filled with sweet stuff. We made them to take with us to our meetings this week and give to the other missionaries. And guess what. When we got to the meetings, the sisters had made Trufas too! And theirs were way better than ours. So we hid ours in the fridge in the chapel and pretended that we hadn't brought them. And then we ate them all ourselves :) Yum.

We were clapping doors one night and my watch fell off. And landed on the other side of the fence. The gate was locked and nobody attended the door. So we were trying to rescue my watch with some tree branches. It was funny because people were passing and looking at two young men in dark clothes (we had our rain caps on because it was raining) trying to get something in someone’s front yard at night! But we managed to get the watch.

Last night, we visited Sister Rosinha. She takes care of her grandchildren as if they were her children. And I sat on the floor and played dolls with her two youngest grandsons. That was really funny. Elder Hortêncio thought I was crazy (but that's normal now) and I really enjoyed myself. We played make believe too, and acted like animals. Playing with children is a good way to relieve stress.

paying with Sister Rosinha's grandchildren

We did a family night with Lurdes, Eliane and Gean too. See the attached picture.

Love Elder Jasperson

vitória and flávia's baptism

another pic from vitória and flávia's baptism

September 1, 2014

Well I now have completed more weeks in Rio Pardo than in any other city on my mission. Elder Hortêncio and I are trying to find different things to do to keep things new and interesting. Like we passed by a horse race track the other day and had a spontaneous rock throwing contest for a few minutes. (Yes, another one of my wonderful ideas :)

But here's some good stories from the week

I was really craving some chimarrão, so I put some water to boil. And then I went to plan some stuff. Elder Hortêncio was looking at the map on our wall, and I was reading in the Area book when suddenly I smelled a certain sort of burning smell... And I remembered! The water! I jumped up and went running to the kitchen.

Well, Elder Hortêncio didn't know that I was boiling water and didn't smell anything either, so he thought that something crazy was happening because his companion bolted out of the room so fast. So he came running after me, almost screaming, "What happened what happened?" Yeah, the pan had dried up all the water. So I filled it again and put it to boil. Several minutes afterwards, Elder Hortêncio was looking at the map on the wall and I was reading in the Area Book... And yeah, I smelled that smell again...So we decided to have chimarrão a different day.

We were having lunch with an older lady and she put out (to be continued)