March 31, 2014

What a great week this was! I started by learning a new word. This is a very important word that I would like all of my brothers to learn and use – Fera. It means BEAST. And surprisingly, it's used in the same way that we use it in English (as in, Cara- tu é fera! Dude, you're BEAST) Remember, that for good pronunciation, the "r" will use the sound of a "d."

Another cool thing that happened – I ran out of shampoo. Yeah, for the first time on the mission. And yes, I do use it every day. I don't know what sort of miracle was happening inside of my shampoo bottle, but it lasted the past 9 months here in Brazil. And I didn't even buy it new before leaving home, it was the same one that I used at home for several months. Anyway, I finally ran out. So I had to take a risk and find a new brand. And guess what, I found a bottle of shampoo that has the smell of Guaraná (a delicious fruit)! And of course that's the one I bought! I didn't even have to hesitate. So yeah in case you're wondering my hair smells like magic angel tears now.

So we started off the week with a FHE at Junior's house. He has 16 years and most of his family is a member of the church. He reminds me a lot of my brother Jason. Anyway, I told a bunch of jokes and then we did some fun games like writing in Chinese with a fork and a knife and "Tom tom tommy tom tom" (ask my dad about that one). It was crazy fun. Junior's problem is that he doesn't feel accepted at church because he's different than the other young men. We're hoping to be able to help him out.

But making the week better, we starting finding new families. This week we found 3 families that are open and basically perfect investigators. They have the same questions that Joseph Smith had – Which church is true? How can I know it? And other ones like that.

The first ones we found were Michel and Sueli. We helped them push their car up a hill (it was one of those cars that didn't make it up). Afterwards, we made contact and he told us that they are "looking to be converted to a religion." We taught them the first lesson and the accepted everything. They have two little kids, a boy that's 5, and a girl that's 3. They didn't go to church because they thought it was at 8:30 at night, not in the morning.

After them we found Simone and Michel. She used to be a member of a Pentecostal church. (One of those churches where they speak in tongues and yell and fall on the ground) She started to see that the "spirit" she felt there was actually just energy of the moment and not the spirit of god. So she left the church, feeling like she was cheated of two years. Teaching her the first lesson she asked "How will I ever be able to know which church is right?" She promised to read the whole Book of Mormon. It was funny because we usually tell people that we'll loan them the book to read a chapter. That way we always have at least one follow up visit to "pick up the book." Then, if they liked it, we give it to them as a present. So we told her we'd loan her the book and she got all worried, asking how much time she could keep it, because she wanted to read the whole book and not just one chapter. So we told her it was a present and she could read all she wanted. She's excited to be able to hear the prophet talk next week. Michel and Simone have one son that's 2.

Lastly, Sunday night, we found an entire family. They used to be Jehovah’s Witness but they decided that their church wasn't true because they thought the bible taught other things. Anyway, I knew they were Jehovah’s Witness even before we taught so I was worried we'd have a bible bash! I warned Elder Moreira not to open his bible for anything. But in the end it turned out that they really did want to learn! Maristela and Nelson have 4 children. Douglas is 16, Natasha is 14, Bruna is 9, and William is 1. They are really and truly thirsting for the true word of God like we learn in Amos 8:11.

There's a recent convert family here with a powerful story. They went to different churches and were going to separate because of the difference of religion. Then one day he walked in front of our chapel and felt like he should enter. As time went on he accepted the missionaries and their visits. His wife never sat to listen, but couldn't help but hear what they said as she worked in the kitchen. In the end, they were baptized. They gave us a reference of their friend Leandra. So João will baptize his friend on Saturday in between conference sessions (fingers crossed)

I don't have enough time to tell my last two stories, so here's headlines to explain them:

TWO MISSIONARIES TRAPPED IN A GARAGE WITHOUT LIGHT

WOMAN ASKS MISSIONARIES TO BLESS HER SON'S MOTORCYCLE.

If I remember, I'll tell those stories next week!

Elder Jasperson

Elder Moreira (my companion) and me

four missionaries in Bento

above the highest point that we have passed

elder moreira and me on a high street

jumping on top of that high street

March 24, 2014

So I was transferred to Bento Gonçalves. This is the land of the grape. There are vineyards everywhere! The area is really hilly (or mountainous, if you're from Texas because the hills are really big). And the hills are really steep. Sometimes I feel like we turn the corner and hit a brick wall. Except that brick wall is really a road. So we climb up the wall like a ladder. Well at least it seems like it. I can't figure out how the cars manage to get up and down the hills. We've already seen some cars that haven't made it and instead slid backwards.

I don't have a ton of time today, so I'll be brief. It's really cold here in Bento. We're using sweaters and coats and stuff. The first three days it rained and rained, but now it's stopped. The area is good, despite the hills and the cold, because the people are cool. We have a ton of investigators here, and most of them need to get married. We're already putting together two marriages!

The chapel here is awesome- two floors of an apartment building and it's huge! I'll send pictures when I can. Elder Moreira is my new companion, and he's pretty new on the mission. I'm helping him get used to teaching and stuff, and he's helping me learn how to climb hills!

Sorry for being super short today, but here's a final story.

On Wednesday, we were planning and I told Elder Moreira that we should pick a road to tract. He and I prayed and we each chose three roads. When we compared the roads, we'd both chosen one in common! So we went there and found an elderly couple. They accepted our message and we've got a return visit there tonight! So we'll see how it goes!

I know that the Lord guides this work!

Love from the south

Elder Jasperson

[Editor's Note]

My department at Texas A&M University recently hired a new faculty member who happens to be from Brazil. In fact, when I called him to invite him to visit our campus for a job interview, I learned that he lived only 50 km away from Sao Leopoldo (Elder Jasperson's most recent missionary city). What a small world to have this person (who was a PhD student at the University of Oklahoma when I was on the faculty at OU) living only a short distance away from Elder Jasperson. 

When the new faculty came to town at the beginning of March for his interview, we sent a package back to Brazil with him to deliver to our missionary. 

As indicated by Elder Jasperson above, he was transferred to a new city this week. This new city happens to be the same city where my new faculty colleague lives! Imagine that!

with Eduardo, Jessica, and Adrias on my last day in Sao Leo

Bento my new city

me as the lacador (Google lacador) in my new gaucho clothes

March 17, 2014

Well what a good week we had! Started off with our visit to the temple, and ended with the transfer! I'm being transferred again! So I'll let y'all know next week where I ended up. It's sad to be transferred, because I've really loved this area. I've never been in such a good ward before. Anyway, more on that later.

I kept reading more in Mosiah this week, and found that King Benjamin knew his stuff!

Mosiah 4:7 -this is the man that receives eternal life- 4:6

      -puts faith in the Lord

      -keeps the commandments

      -endures to the end

Mosiah 4:10 and now, if you believe in this stuff, do it! I like this part. This is the key to the gospel and eternal life. It isn't just about believing it. A testimony that the Book of Mormon is true won't help you. You have to act.

Anyway, I felt like I was in a soap opera this week. Eduardo and Jessica are that couple that we helped separate a few weeks ago. We were planning to help Eduardo be baptized this Sunday. But guess what happened- he passed out in the bathroom. His mom found him there several hours afterwards, and took him to the hospital. He was white and cold to the touch. Luckily, he turned out to be okay. But when he woke up, guess who was at his side? Jessica. The trauma of him almost dying helped her remember that she really does love him. So then and there he asked her if they can get married now and she said yes. So his baptism will come after their marriage. (Which, sadly, I won't be here to see :-() I really like these two. I'm really happy that they've decided to get married after all!

So after going to the temple (which was a great experience) we started our week off with Wednesday. And from the start it was a good day. We taught a lady called Ivanir. She started crying during the lesson. I've never seen anything like this on my mission yet. She was touched by the truth and started crying! So we finished up the lesson and asked her if she wants to be baptized and she said yes. We asked her to say the closing prayer and she started crying all over again. It was a really powerful lesson! I wish that everyone would have an open heart like hers so that they could feel the truth testify to them.

We also had stake conference this week. It was nice, too. President Wright and his wife were there, and it's always great to see the mission president.

To conclude, be excited to read my email next week! Being transferred surely will help me have more to tell!

Hasta lá vista! (Spanish) Até logo (Português) Sib ntsib dua (Hmong)

Elder Jasperson

Elder Wilker and me at the temple

our new water filter is already brown!

I got a package from home!

a tree shaped like Moroni

my new tie is very good

March 11, 2014

Mosiah 2:21-25. After studying that this week, I focused a lot on making myself better. See, we owe God so much already, that it's our duty to serve him (which we can do in various ways, for example, by service in our callings)

This week, we're going to the temple! (That's why I'm writing on Tuesday).

We had a difficult week of work. But it was fun. The mission president has challenged us to be happy. After all, we have the great news of great joy and happiness- that Christ is the Lord and that His church was restored on the earth. I love being happy, so I gladly took his challenge. Being cheerful has a positive effect on others (unless they just like being sad or stressed). It’s fun to smile at people in the street and talk with them, and see if they will accept being happy or not. It's also sad to see how many people will resist being happy. There are times in my life when I've resisted being happy. I'm sure y'all can relate. But joy is more fun.

I went on division in Feitoria (a different area close to ours) and worked with Elder M. Dos Anjos for a day. He's pretty cool, brand new on the mission (he's from Rio de Janeiro) and ready to work. I had a great day with him. Back in our area, Elder Wilker and I spent the week running around getting ready for the baptism of Gabriel. He's a fun little guy (really little) who is just 8 years old. A large part of his extended family are members of the church, but his parents aren't. They didn't have much interest either, but are fine with taking him to church and to activities. But his baptism was like a miracle, because his mom brought him to church on Sunday and stayed for the meetings. After church, she asked me what she and Paulo (her husband) have to do to be baptized too! What a blessing!

 

Gabriel with his mom and sister

Gabriel's baptism

Then on Saturday, we ate lunch with an awesome family. (Lunch was awesome too). The father of the family isn't a member, but I felt strongly that it's his time to accept the gospel. So we're going to start teaching him. The rest of his family are active members. I am hoping that we'll be able to bless this family by helping the father be baptized, so they can all enjoy the blessings of the temple and the priesthood. We passed a good time at their house talking and making friendships.

We went to Luis' house on Sunday night (we're teaching him and his wife), and like always, he didn't let us leave without dinner. That was good, but in the middle of the meal, he jumped up and ran out the door. When he returned, he said that he'd seen his neighbors passing by and he'd invited them to come and hear our message. They came over, and Luis invited all of us to sit. He bore his testimony of the church and stuff, then promised his neighbors that the gospel will help them. After that, we taught the family about the restoration of the gospel. We'll see how that goes, but I was happy to see Luis taking part of the wonderful work of salvation. Inviting others to come unto Christ isn't just for missionaries!

Lastly, we had a great lesson with Eduardo yesterday, in which we committed him to his baptism on Sunday. He's really changing because of the gospel. As he put it yesterday, "I've never been able to develop faith in any religion until I found this one." He also said "I think that God is writing a perfect story with imperfect lines. I think that I had to break up with Jessica so that I could find the church." (As I wrote last week, he and Jessica separated). I really like this guy!

Anyway, stay happy and have a great spring! It's finally cooling down here as we make the transition to our winter!

Elder Jasperson

We changed the water filter on our sink. I'm glad we have a filter!

March 3, 2014

I can't believe we're entering March! Isn't it funny how time flies? Personally, I forgot that February only has 28 days (yeah, in my planner, I listed the days until Feb 30th, oops) so I was pretty surprised to find out that it's March already. March, in Brazil, means Carnival, and pretty much the entire population of São Leopoldo went to either Rio de Janeiro or the beach to celebrate. Don't google it because it's not very virtuous. Luckily, I'm not on the beach (in Osório) anymore.

I studied in the Book of Mormon this week, along with my patriarchal blessing (which is a great thing to read every now and then)

Enos 1:8 is interesting because Enos received remission of sins through his faith. But what happens to repentance? If you read 2 Nephi 31 or 3 Nephi 27, you will learn that repentance comes through faith too.

Also, I liked Mosiah 1. Mormon says several times that King Benjamin taught his children lots of stuff. Because 1) knowledge is important (see D&C 130) and 2) a dad-son relationship is important and one way to develop that is through teaching.

I thought a lot about families this week. We are teach Eduardo and Jessica, who have a little boy named Adrias (1 year old). We did something with them that I've never done before and never want to do again. On Thursday, we taught Jessica, who is a member, that the only thing that was holding her back from being an active, temple-recommend holding member, and the only thing holding him back from being baptized was their marriage. Since he wanted to get married, she was essentially the only thing holding them back from eternal progression. Well, she got the message alright, because when we passed by on Sunday, she was packing her bags. So Eduardo, Elder Wilker, and I helped her move to her mom's house. Yeah, they separated. That's really, really sad. But, it's also good, because now they'll be able to progress eternally. We marked a baptism date with Eduardo.

This week I made two contacts that were cool. Firstly, I made contact with a man who proclaimed himself to be a Mason. He said he's like a grand master chief or something (sorry if I offend any masons, I don't know anything about the hierarchy of the group). He is super smart. He shared a bunch of stuff (about science and history) that he knows with us. He had already heard some things about the church, and invited us to "pass by his house, anytime, to converse about our religion and eat hot cheese with forks." We never did pass by, but we found his house- it has a huge radio antenna behind it...

I made another contact on the train this week with an Englishman (from Liverpool). I thought I heard someone speaking English, so I followed my ears until I found him. His guide didn't speak English very well, but it was his second day in Brazil, so he didn't speak any Portuguese. At first, he didn't believe I was American, because he said that I speak with a thick Brazilian accent. (Oh no!) He had a bunch of questions about our mission here and stuff (he's here with a church called "Igreja Quadrangular"). So that was cool. Sadly, I had to get off the train before I could finish talking with him.

Lastly, on Domingo, Luis invited us to have dinner at his house again. So we went. This time, the other duo went with us (Elder Rech and Elder Blair). Luis even went to church this week (which is huge progress for him and Ivete)! He bore his testimony during the meeting and everything. So maybe we'll manage to reactivate him after all. But it will take a while to baptize Ivete because they have to get married legally and marriage is complicated here.

This week we're going to return to Porto Alegre for mission conference, so I'll get to see some of my old companions again! I'm excited for that.

Until next week!

Elder Jasperson

Party at Luis house with the other missionaries