December 20, 2010

I had a great week, but had some disappointments too. Tuesday was an awesome day. I did a division with one of our LZ named Elder da Silva. It was such a blast. We ate at Bishop's and went off to work. Right before our Bishop told us he wants us to baptize 3 people before the New Year, and 2 in the first 3 weeks of January. He said find a way, or make it happen. When you're serving a mission, it's hard to feel the same type of a "pump" I feel if I'm going for a new max weight lifting, but I felt so much energy and motivation as we went off to work.

We went home that night and I had some letters to read but we just talked instead. It is amazing the people you meet on your mission. Elder de Silva is such a wonderful man. He told me the last time he heard from his parents was 4 months ago, and before that was a year ago. His whole family is active in the church, but they just aren't writing. The last email he received was from his mom and it said that is Dad has been a little less excited about church. He is so strong. He said he is just entirely into the mission now. It was so much fun to work with him. It was raining and cold, but we had a blast. (It has rained every since last week when I told you about the rain! Today is really hot though and it's actually kind of nice.)

The good news this week is with Andreza Bruna and Joice, particularly Andreza. They have been reading The Book of Mormon really consistently and we had been giving good chapters throughout but we challenged them to start reading from the beginning. We returned the next day and Andreza was in chapter 4. She said she feels the book is true. We watched the Restoration with them and they said they felt something good when Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They will travel during Christmas but I think they will be baptized in the beginning of January. It's amazing to witness the power of The Book of Mormon. They are consistently reading and it makes a huge difference. They went to a dance our ward had Saturday and went to church yesterday.

So this morning I was thinking about Christmas. I read about the birth and child hood of Jesus Christ in the book Jesus the Christ. There was a part I wanted to type out really quick. I just love it.

"His advancement was from one grace to another, not from gracelessness to grace; from good to greater good, not from evil to good;from favor with God to greater favor, not from estrangement because of sin to reconciliation throguh repentance and propititation....Jesus was all that a boy should be, for His development was unretarted by the dragging weight of sin; He loved and obeyed the truth and therefore was free." -Jesus the Christ ch 9

There is something about the birth and early life of our Savior that really sinks in with me. The humble circumstances of Mary and Joseph. As I was cleaning our house to day and thinking about our Savior, all of the struggles of this week were put into a different perspective. A faith and hope entered my heart, faith and hope that all would be okay. I imagined our youthful Savior, and his progression, unretarded by sin and I imagine worry as well, and my worries seemed to be for nothing. The trusting aspect of faith seemed to be what I was missing. I felt this motivation enter inside my heart. It was a mental connection, which caused a logical desire to work. But it was feelings communicated to my heart, that my the results of service to my God seem much less important than simply honoring Him by my service. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives. I testify that He lives. That He is everything and more than we read in the Bible. I urge anyone who happens to read this email, to study about the life of our Savior. Think about His life and what one who has faith in Him believes Him to Be. Then ask in prayer if these things are true. I know that the very best way to receive a testimony about the Savior is through the Book of Mormon, for the pages purely testify of Him. Through that book, and an answered prayer, I gained my initial testimony of Him. His reality has been testified to me many many times sense. I pray that an interest can be sparked in your heart to learn about the greatest story ever told. It's true. His sacrifice is so awe-inspiring. A perfect sacrafice. I love Him.

I love you all this day. I am so excited to hear your voices. I will call around 8 in the morning on Saturday I believe. I know it will work out because I will use the Bishop's phone. Friday night I think we're going to be at our Bishop's house until late if we get permission because the big celebration is Christmas Eve where you eat a ton of food and play games. I can't wait to talk!!! I love you all.

Merry Christmas!

Love, Elder Calvert

December 13, 2010

I am still here as you know! As I started to type an email to my mission president, the wind began to pick up, enough so I could see the dust moving above the street, and then rain began to pour. People were running down the street to try to get out of the rain. Then the power went out. Then a wet dog entered the place where we're emailing. It was pretty sweet.

I am excited to spend another transfer here. Salta de Pirapora has been my mission other than the CTM. By the end of this transfer I will have lived in this ward for almost 6 months. That's almost as long that I lived at BYU. My companion was joking that if I stay one more transfer, they'll probably send my membership records from Salt Lake to the ward here. Tuesday was the day that we had planned to go around and just say bye to everyone, but instead it was a day of work. Our district meeting was really sad, because there was going to be only one change in our district and our last transfer wasn't that successful as a zone. There was very little energy. We went to work that afternoon and received a call from our zone leaders with a little challenge to mark a date. I am so susceptible to motivating things like that. I can't explain it but it is in my blood or something. It was such a great day of work and we marked 3 dates for baptism that day. It was such a blessing from our Father in Heaven and the challenge got me going!

We met with this couple, Jean and Josiane who have two kids. This couple is awesome. They are very, very kind, and quite successful. It is very easy to picture them members of the church, and their kids are so well-mannered. Here in Brazil, you say bem-educado for people that have good manners. If someone does something rude, you could say (if you wish to call them out on the rudeness) "falta de educação." They are so smiley and kind and just a great family.

Wednesday was great as well, Wednesday morning we went to teach this girl named Leticia. She has a date for baptism the 24 of December. Our training in our district meeting was about listening. We taught her about the word of wisdom and she was concerned she wouldn't be able to stop drinking alcohol. The question popped into my mind , ask her about other trials she has overcome in her life. She went on to share a personal experience and at the end of the lesson she said, "That really made sense to me." She had done all of the talking, but the connection she made, with just a little help of pointing out that she is already overcoming a challenge so much bigger made sense to her. I hope it gives her more courage to stop. It really was from the Holy Ghost.

We were fasting Friday afternoon and Saturday morning before our second lesson with Jean and Josiane, and when we showed up Josiane was getting her nails done. I was pretty bummed and it was hard to focus during the lesson where we read some scriptures with Jean. I wish it could have been different, but I know Heavenly Father desires that they enter the church. I have faith our fast was not in vain. That day I saw lightening strike nearer to me then I ever have in my life. We were sitting in a lesson and we saw this huge flash of lightening like 50 feet away. It was so so loud, and Elder Cavalcante gave a little yelp and spilled his juice on the ground.

Sunday after church we went to eat lunch with Luiz Carlos and his wife Efginia. He is going to mark a date to be married this week! He has been trying to mark one for a long time, but something hasn't quite gone right so we gave a challenge to mark a date this week no matter what. If you have to make some arrange with your boss, just do it so you can get married and be baptized. Last night we went to a family night that had 26 people there. It was really good. Luiz Carlos was there with his wife and their two little boys.

So that was the week. I wanted to share a funny little story that happened on the street where we had our family night. We have one there every Sunday night and I guess a few years ago the mom who lives in that home heard a fight going on outside and went to the front of their house to see what was going on. She saw someone getting beat up pretty bad outside a bar but fortunately someone called an ambulance. Unfortunately the guys who were beating the man up decided to beat up the medics in the ambulance, and steal the ambulance. They drove off, and I didn't quite understand the last part of the story but I guess someone that stole the ambulance with them was injured and they drove them to the hospital where the police were there waiting!

I love all of you very much. Merry Christmas!! Love, Elder Calvert

December 6, 2010

Well another week has passed! I want to give you a little summary of the week the best that I can. Tuesday I did a division with Elder Lew. He is a really good buddy from California and it was way fun to work together. But first that morning was district meeting and we heard right before that President Cooley and his wife were coming to do interviews for missionaries going home this transfer. Two districts have meetings in our chapel and he came to our district meeting. I was able to ask him and his wife questions about our investigators and my companion and I did a practice with him and his wife at the end. It was so nice. I was a little nervous but, President was awesome in the practice and I really felt good about it.

After the meeting Elder Lew and I went to work in our area. We went to an investigators house, one I had specifically talked about with President and we applied what we learned with her. It was really great. He is an awesome singer so we had a blast singing harmonies together during our lessons. It was so so nice. Our last appointment of the day was to visit a less active woman whose fiance (she is in her 60`s) is in a coma. On the way there, we met another couple in our ward walking slowly. We talked to them and found out that her fiance had passed away. A neighbor came up and was crying, but the couple from our ward told us that she was still expecting our visit. I had met her on a bus two weeks ago and was coordinating to have the Elders go and give him a blessing on Thursday. He passed away Monday night.

We went to the door, where others had knocked but no one came. As we approached, I had thoughts of inadequacy to handle the situation. The truth is, no one can be entirely prepared for comforting someone in a time like this, you just have to do all you can. The people in her home let us enter and we went and talked to her. She seemed rather peaceful but she had not accepted it. She asked me to iron the shirt that her fiancé would wear for the funeral. It was a very strange thought as I was in the room of a man who had been walking and sleeping and living 3 weeks ago. I could feel so much emotion in the house. We said a prayer with her that night and told her we would go to the funeral the next day.

We arrived during a viewing of her fiancé the next day. There were so many tears and people talked about her fiancé. People of all religions were joined together, and the hope found that day was found through the Savior. Although the understanding of what exactly that means may have differed greatly from person to person, it was wonderful. We don`t know the woman who lost her fiancé very well, but we were there to support her. I watched her say good bye to her fiancé, it was a very tender, sacred, human experience. I felt a strong desire to comfort those that stood in need of comfort. I`ve always thought those requirements for baptism described in Mosiah were different. But I felt that desire to comfort. I wanted to share a little bit of the pain, and share a little bit of the peace I felt.

We had a lot of appointments fall this week. It was a little discouraging, but I learned a lot. I learned a lot about efficiency and more about giving your all. I still do not know about transfers, but I am praying to accept the Lord`s will. Please pray for me as well that I can accept His will quickly.

Sunday was Stake Conference for our stake too! I will pray for President Dudley. He will be wonderful. He is such a sweet man. We had a bus that was going to come and pick up our ward to go to the conference but it didn`t come. So the ward ran around a bit and we ended up having 3 investigators go to the meeting with us as well. The Stake President spoke about being financially independent, which will help us be more Spiritually independent as well. It was great.

I love you all so much. My prayers are constantly with you. I know that Jesus is the Christ. Pray for me that I can achieve my personal goals.

Love, Elder Calvert

November 29, 2010

Well Thanksgiving was very, very wonderful! I wrote in my journal that night for quite a while to really capture the things I was thinking and feeling. I've never had a Thanksgiving that was so wonderful, and it felt silly writing that and as I looked at pictures of our family all together, I was questioning if my Thanksgiving was really as great as I thought it was. But I know it was, because amidst many more things that could have potentially made it sad, I was so very, very happy on Thursday. I loved thinking about you all together and I felt a little bit of the excitement of the season in my heart as I thought of you throughout last week. Thank you for sending the pictures I really did love them Mommy.

When we were standing around and Irma Silvia was filming me and Bishop went into the other room, I had a feeling something was going on. I loved opening the letter and I felt very, very special. I can't describe the emotions I was feeling, but I promise it wasn't really sad, it was just emotional. I really loved it though and I loved being with Bishop and his family. I feel pretty ready to have a new area and see new things, but I would love to stay just to be around the Bishop and his wife and their two little boys. Their son Ricardo reminds exactly of my cousin Tyler Edwards, but just imagine him speaking Portuguese!

This last week we kept teaching these 3 teenage girls, Bruna, Joyce and Andreza. We taught them 3 times this past week and everything was all set for Sunday but they didn't come! I was pretty bummed. We also began teaching this 21 year old man named Dione in a members home and he is understanding so well but he didn't go to church either! All is well though. Luiz Carlos and his wife Efginia are going to mark a date to be married later this month hopefully and be baptized as well!

We were teaching this girl named Leticia last night in a member’s house before a family night and I was listening to this testimony of a woman who joined the church 15 years ago. The church is so much apart of her and her family’s life, you would think they had been members for a long time. I watched Luiz Carlos bare his testimony as well (the man who will be baptized soon). I thought of my frustration with dates falling, and things not going exactly according to my plans, and these less meaningful things seemed of no importance. I was listening to a woman who one day didn't want to join the church, but after praying in her bathroom, felt impressed to bear her testimony and testified that she knew The Book of Mormon is true. I listened to Luiz who had rejected the missionaries several times and used to be a drunk, bear his testimony. Early in the day talking about what his boss had said to him about his potential in work as we shared a lesson about setting goals for the future in all aspects of life.

I thought of Alma 26:30 where the Sons of Mosiah supposed their joy would be complete if they could be the means of saving some. There is something very special about this principle. Numbers are very necessary for recording and increasing success, but these numbers represent sweet people. One could baptize 100 or none on their mission, but the way we give our hearts to others is what will be remembered. Their isn't a way to quantify "hearts we touch" but I think it is a worthwhile measurement.

Elder Cavalcante and I just got back from a mall in Sorocaba with Bishop Tyler and Silvia. We went to eat at Pizza Hut and take picture with Papai Noel! It was really, really fun to be able to be with them. I will find out next p-day where I will be for the Christmas! I am looking forward to talking to you all very much. I love you all so, so much. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. I really feel them.

Love, Elder Calvert