June 9, 2014

Dear everybody-

In case you like geography, I don't think I've ever been as south as I am now. I ended up in a city called Rio Pardo, which means dingy or dirty river. But I haven't seen the river yet. Anyway, I'm working with Elder R. Santos in the branch here.

In D&C 26, we are commanded to read the scriptures. Well, really, a group of men is commanded to read the scriptures. But do you think that Heavenly Father would give one commandment to some of his children and a different commandment to the others? No. So we all need to study the scriptures. Also, 2 Peter 1:20-21 tells us that there is a reason for all the scriptures we have. So I guess we should all start studying to find the purpose behind scriptures like Mathew 15:20 :)

Anyway, my last day in São Chico was great! We did a big family home evening of everyone in the branch. There, I organized everyone to play some of the improv games that I learned from WIT last year. [Editor's Note: WIT stands for Warped Improv Troupe which is the name the high school theater students used last year for their improv group.] And it turned out really funny. I asked a member to take some pictures for us, and I ended up with some good ones! At the end, I said bye to everyone and took some more pictures. I think of all of my areas, (which I have a lot!) I love that one the most.

Branch Family Home Evening

improv

good bye to São Chico

Anyway, I ended up in Rio Pardo. Elder R. Santos is from São Paulo too, like pretty much all of my other companions. We started off our week by making a plan of action of how we're going to get the work running here. The Branch is small and doesn't have a lot of energy to do missionary work. So we're going to hype it up!

Elder R. Santos (new companion)

Our baptism this week was João, a teen with 16 years. He's funny and he plays trombone. He let me play his trombone but we didn't have our cameras to take a picture. Yay.

João's baptism

Well I've got some other great stories to tell, but I'll have to write a book and take it home with me because there's never time to type them all in on the computer. Have a great week! Remember that missionary work brings blessings! And being happy is the key to helping others.

Love

Elder Jasperson

Neri's baptism (from São Paulo)

my mission "father" (Elder de Oliveria, my trainer) in the middle
and mission "brother" (another missionary trained by E. de Oliveria)