December 12, 2011

My family and friends,

Well I just got back from the center of São Paulo a little bit late so I don't have very much time to write. I am going to write as quick as I can. After speaking to mom and Dad, I felt an incredible sense of peace. I haven't been able to sleep because of the excitement I feel. There are many emotions that I have been feeling, but through all of them I have felt an incredible sense of peace. I was incredibly comforted by these scriptures. In Salto de Pirapora, I remember one morning when I was feeling particularly low. I cried to the Lord in prayer, and I felt what is described in these verses. I felt it happen to me. I felt the burden made light,

Mosiah 24:12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.

13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

16 And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.

I felt my burdens taken upon His shoulders. They have been on His shoulders and mine now for over a year, and many, many times it has taken me to my knees. This past week, I heard the voice of the Lord through my Mission President, a counselor, and my parents say "Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage."

I know that God is willing to guide us in our lives as we are preparing to return home to his presence. I know that life will go on after the mission, and trials still exist, but I believe that this is the very best for me at this time in my life. I am so grateful for the tremendous support I have received from all. I feel very loved, and cherished, and many days it was your love that helped me through. I cannot wait to hug you and be with you and share my gratitude personally with you.

Love, Elder Spencer Calvert

November 21, 2011

Wow, well I just received a call from my mission President and he said he woke up late last night and felt that I ought to serve in Osasco. So I am being transfered Wednesday to serve in two wards in Osasco and I will continue as a Zone Leader. This is quite a shock for me, he complimented me and said that the Stake President here spoke extremely highly of me and that he joked around and said that he wants me to come live here after my mission. My heart feels soft, because of a simple compliment. I am going to be really sad to say good bye to those in my zone, for I truly love them, particularly my angel companion. We created a great bond very quickly.

I don't have much time to write, but I want to share an experience that happened this last week. I was feeling very low. I got on my knees before I left to work, and I prayed very sincerely for the Lord to help me. I asked him to bless me as I was walking in the street so that I could really feel his presence with me. I wiped the tears from my eyes, said a prayer with my companion and walked out the door. 1 minute later I got a call from the Secretaries and they said that Elder Knoblauch, my dear friend here on the mission, wanted to talk to me. I heard him say hello and he said, "Ahh I just wanted to hear your voice man, how are you." I told him about the prayer I had said, and he said that for some reason he knew he was going to talk to me that day. It was a tender mercy from the Lord, and a very quick, immediate answer. Elder Knoblauch and I are kind of switching places, because he is in Osasco and he will come here, and I will go fill his spot. He truly is a friend. One timely phone call.

I will be thinking about you on Thursday as I am having my first full day in my new area. I am excited for the newness and the new relationships that are to be found, and sad to say goodbye to people here. I will really miss this area, and the people, but I believe that it is from God. I love you very much. Thank you for praying for me. I will be praying for you.

Love, Spencer

November 14, 2011

My heart is really tender today. Do you think that because I was spoiled so much during my youth, that my mission is hard for me? It seems ridiculous to me because everything is going so well, there are relatively few difficulties, but still for me just being here seems so hard some days. My companion from the CTM, is going home tonight, 6 months early. He will be getting on a plane at 10:30, when I am getting ready to go to bed.

I want you to know, that I love my companion, and the zone is doing so well. I have many friends here in this ward, and in this mission. I think I'm feeling more sensitive because I am thinking about Elder Bavender. I am trying to trust in the Lord and come closer to Him during this time. Thank you for supporting me. I love you with all of my heart and I am going to try to give more and more to the Lord.

Love, Spencer

Elder Fonseca- New Companion

Well this last week was very busy. My companion is wonderful. In talking about the work and our plans, I got emotional telling him how grateful I am to serve with him. Elder Fonseca is one of the kindest people I know. He is so gentle and calm and peaceful about everything. He is a very loyal friend and son. His father passed away when he was 14 but I had no idea about it until a conversation a few days ago. He is very humble, and very mature. He has a girlfriend at home who he is very sure is going to marry, and I am very impressed how he lets this motivate him to work hard. It has been very wonderful to serve with him. We are reactivating a family and going to baptize their children in the next few weeks. The zone drastically improved this week. Many more people are progressing towards baptism. I am feeling much more peace about the work.

I sent many, many pictures, and I'm excited that you can have them all! Bishop Tyler and his wife came to the ward and I got to see them on Sunday! It was really nice to see them. It's great to have friends here.

Monday, Elder Evans of the Seventy and Elder Godoy of the Area Presidency came and talked to our mission, so we had p-day today. We went to the zoo today with the zone, and it was a blast. Usually everything is closed on Monday, so it was good to be able to take advantage of the Wednesday P-day and go to the zoo.

The picture of the monkey and the bird was hilarious. All of these monkeys were playing some sort of game to see who was brave enough to slap the bird on the back. They would sneak up on it, almost touch it, touch it lightly and then slap it and the bird would try to snap at them and they would run away. One time it did it with its foot. It was really funny, so I took a picture and wanted to send it to you.

Mom, I got 3 packages, thank you very very much! I started opening one but I saw Christmas wrapping paper so I taped it back up. I gave away nearly all of the candies, snacks and protein bars on the bus going back to our areas after transfers but it was a lot more satisfying than it would be eating it by myself. I saved the pumpkin bread to make for my zone.

I'm glad to hear that Grandpa and Grandma are going better. Grandpa must look very good in that new suit. He is a handsome man, and I'm grateful for his stature, strong shoulders, broad chest, because I think I got that from him.

October 31, 2011

We had a baptism! We are helping reactivate a family and we noticed that this little boy wasn't baptized so we worked really quick and he was baptized and confirmed yesterday. He is 9 years old an bore a sweet testimony of the gospel, very eagerly after he got dried off and was dressed back his clothes.

Today we had our last zone activity at this pizza restaurant and we made our own pizzas. We all ate a lot together and had a lot of fun socialing with the owner and his family. I played uno with his daughters and some other missionaries.

So I will be staying here in Santana and I will be receiving Elder Fonseca. I already served in the same district as him and in the same zone for all of my time in Freguesia do Ó. He is an amazing man, very kind and a very hard worker. I admire him so much from the time we have already spent together, and I am very excited about serving with him. I feel amazing about this next transfer. Our zone moved a lot, and we have amazing missionaries here in the zone. It's going to be a very successful transfer I believe. I really have faith that the work here in this Stake is going to make lots of progress right now.

Tuesday night, My companion and I had a meeting with the Stake Presidency and he asked a little bit about what was happening with the drops in the numbers. We are planning on doing a Stake Missionary Activity not this next weekend, but the following, and it is going to be very powerful. We are going to talk about the fears we feel as member missionaries, how to invite people to hear more about the church, and how to do an easy family night with your friends and the missionaries. It is going to be a wonderful next few weeks.

I'm excited to receive the letter from Daniel. He is such a dear friend of mine, I hope he knows how much I love him and think of him here as well. Every morning I exercise and I think of our times at Gold's Gym. He could destroy me right now in all of our lifts, but I'll catch up one day!

It was a good week. The work is wonderful. Love, Spencer

October 24, 2011

Well this last week was another good week.

I don't have a lot of new things to tell you, but I wanted to share an experience that happened at lunch one day this week. It was with a man in our ward that I love. He is almost 80 years old, and he literally has a twinkle in his eyes. I love him very much and I always give him a big hug when I see him. All of his daughters are married in the Temple, and the last one is engaged and will be married in the Temple. For some time now, his wife hasn't been going to church. She has only been one time in all of the time I've been here. I see this man, who is so faithful, working in the Temple, doing visits. The man who passed away in our ward was one of his best friends. After we ate lunch I was giving a message, and I told him and his wife how much I love them and being at their house. We always joke and play and laugh together. His eyes welled up with tears and I knew his heart was very sensitive that day. After we prayed his wife said, stay here talking, I'll do the dishes really quick. We began talking and I asked him what was wrong and he began to cry and cry. He expressed some of his feelings and he asked us to give him a blessing. The words came to my mind from the Lord and I believe that he was comforted.

I am trying, and I will continue to try to be the best man that I can be. I feel like I'm watching things fall apart, but I'm grateful that I could comfort one man this week. I don't know what it is the Lord wants me to learn right now. Maybe this is the humility that Morgan was describing, but I feel so amazingly weak. Transfers are this next week, and I don't know what is going to happen.

I really need your prayers. I love you.

Love, Spencer

October 17, 2011

Elder Lew is one of the Assistants and he will go home at the end of this transfer. It ends in two weeks, on November 2nd when I will have been here 1 year and 5 months. Time is flying by. You asked me to share some of the work with you. This has been a large struggle this last transfer in our entire zone. I am striving to help improve the work we are accomplishing, It is often on my mind. We did have an experience this week that really touched me and taught me a good lesson. Actually two. The first is about the importance of acting without delay. We were calling and following up with each companionships and seeing about the updates about references they have been receiving. One companionship was unaware of two references they had received from church headquarters. They went by there the following day and called us to say that the man passed away a month ago. I don't know what the situation was, but inside of me settled sense urgency. Not a sense of running faster then I have strength, but a sense of urgency and purpose in our work.

The second experience that really touched me was a man named Marco. In between the sessions of conference Elder Macfarlane and I (my friend who lived next door, is in the same group as me and is now in my zone) were talking outside of a pizza restaurant. We were talking in English and Marco began talking to us. We talked for a while and we said we would call this next week. Well I forgot. But when I remembered we decided to pass by his house. He looked out the window and said in a Brazilian accent with a huge smile, "just a minute guys". He has a very pretty well kept house and his wife is very sweet. Her name is Renata and they have a 2 year old son named Thiago. We talked for a long time and got to know them well. Marco told us about his first contact with missionaries, which was the experience that really touched me. He said that a few years ago the missionaries had marked to go by his house, but when they came he didn't answer the door because he had heard bad things about the church. After a new coworker talked about the church with him, he learned that it wasn't anything like he had heard, and when we talked outside the pizza place he was so kind. He went out to his car to get a picture of his son to show us. What I learned from this is that no act goes unrecognized. Whoever those two missionaries were that talked to him, I am so grateful to them for because of that initial contact, he was opened to our contact with him. Because of the example of his coworker, he learned that members of the church are not crazy. I felt the Spirit so strong, and as I talked about Eternal Families, Renata began crying. We didn't teach much, we just talked about the importance of what we do, and how we leave our families because we want to bring the happiness we have to others. It was a very sweet visit .

I'm going to try to send you a picture of this morning. I spent many hours just writing letters! Love, Spencer

October 10, 2011

This past week was a good one, and a tough one. Wednesday was Mission Counsel and I stayed over night in the office because Thursday I had to go to renew my visa. I was together will all of the members in my group and it was a good time to talk. I got to talk to Elder Knoblauch a lot and he listened and discussed my thoughts and feelings. He is a wonderful friend, I'm excited for you to be able to meet him. Wednesday night I went and worked near the Temple in an area with the Executive Secretary. We found a lot of new people and it was a great experience. An appointment fell through and we decided we were just going to find someone to teach, so we said a prayer to find someone to serve, or find someone who is ready to hear our message. Upon ending the prayer, we opened our eyes and saw a woman walking down the street. We talked to her and she was very opened and accepted to hear our message the next day. Thursday I went to eat lunch with Elder Lew and another Elder at a house near the Temple. I recognized the man as I walked in as a Temple worker. Brother Darci was the 2nd Stake President in São Paulo, and his wife Sister Marlene is a wonderful artist. They told stories about buying the grounds for 5 Temples to be constructed. I was very amazed as Elder Lew was giving a scripture message after lunch. He thanked them for all of their service and I saw something different in their eyes and quiet nods of thanks that they had some confirmation of their faithfulness beyond that man can give. The Spirit in their home was such that I lowered my voice when I walked in after I said, "I recognize you!" It was a sweet experience.

Well those are some thoughts from this week. Friday, my companion is having an endoscopia, so I will just be studying that entire day. I will be fasting as well so if you could remember to pray for me so I can find answers to my questions, I would love it. I love you with all my heart.

Love, Elder Calvert

General Conference- October 3, 2011

I wrote down 6 questions before conference started, and every question was answered. It seemed as thought those who were chosen to speak gave their talks based on my needs. I loved Elder Ian Ardern of the seventy who talked about planning and using our time effectively. He said how time flies on the wings of lightening and I am feeling that as I only have 8 months left to serve here in São Paulo. I watched the first session in Portuguese but the rest in English. I loved watching the children sing in the second session. I'm sure the woman who worked with them told them a million times not to look at the camera's, but it was so very cute to me to see them glance, realize they were on the screen, and see their various reactions. Some got nervous and smiled embarrassed. Some stopped and got serious. My favorite was a little girl who stopped singing, as it seemed like she recognized someone on the screen, and when she began seeing again she got a really excited face because it confirmed to her that it really was her singing. The music was beautiful. I love when it is just the voices, without the organ. I remember singing in the conference center, and ending a note in unison, and hearing the sound go to the back of the room like a powerful wave.

Elder Godoy came to our mission a few weeks ago, and he said that when you are working hard, and not seeing the results, that your blessings are going home. I will do my best to be proactive and worthy in my service. I love our family. I love God. I will do my best everyday. I hope that you can be blessed by the Lord to recognize any blessings He sees fit to give you because of my service. Know I love you and am praying for you daily.

Love your son, Spencer

September 26, 2011

The first picture is with my companion Elder Andrade. The last one is with

Elder Wilkinson who does gymnastics at the Air Force Academy and

everyone thinks we are blood brothers, like from the same parents.

He is a really good buddy of mine.

Well saying goodbye to Elder Galvão was quite the experience. I cried because I miss him so much. I use his pillow, his towel, his conditioner, his umbrella and many other things just because I want to feel close to him. My new companion's name is Elder Andrade. I am still in Santana and I am feeling very happy. I really, really love Elder Andrade. He is from Recife and he is really funny. He has( lost or gained?) 30 lbs since I last saw him, and I want you to get to know him a little bit. He likes longboarding, pyscology, languages, collects coins, lives by the beach, and is very laid back. We are laughing the whole day, and he is very good at conversations. We get a long very well and I am happy. He is very different from Elder Galvão and I thought it was going to be very hard, but my heart just seems to get bigger and bigger as I love more and more people. No one is replaced, my heart just grows.

We are going to work with a lot with members. I think about all of the doors I have knocked, and all of the contacts I have done. Many times I feel like I am searching for a needle in a hay stack. I know that the Lord can guide us to His elect, but I also know that the Lord gave us our intelligence to be used. Many times, we missionaries knock doors, because that is what missionaries do. We schedule time to do this, but all the while we hear that we have to work with members. I believe that it would be well worth my time to invest in the testimonies of the members, so that they can learn how to do missionary work according to Preach My Gospel. Please pray for me and these efforts. I don't want to give all I have to something that has such a high risk factor ( working and walking and knocking doors and contacts all day) and possibly not make a difference. I want to help here.

I bought new shoes that are awesome and are very strong. Thank you for putting money on the account. I also bought two new ties and two for my companion Elder Andrade.

All my love to you.

September 19, 2011

This is breakfast. We make these smoothies with all sorts of fruits and vegetables

I will keep praying for Grandpa. I love you very much.

Keep sending me updates about BYU football!

Well this last week has been a good last week for Elder Galvão. We worked a lot and he had some good byes. Tonight we are going to our neighbor's house across the street and we're going to have a good bye party with the ward. I am still here in Santana and I'm almost positive that I will stay here next transfer as well. President Monson said that he believes the ideal time for a missionary to stay in each area is 6-8 months, so I believe I will stay here for a long time. I absolutely love this ward. There is an attendance of about 180 people here in this ward, and I think the area is way smaller than our ward at home. The church is very strong. I love working in this ward. I love the members that are here. Everyday at lunch is a treat because it's with friends.

We found a girl and her mom this week knocking doors. We began talking to Paloma and talked about happiness. She opened up to us really quick and said her mom just separated from her husband and they aren't a very united family. These aren't the type of things that people just open up about after talking through their gate for 3 minutes to complete strangers. I know that the Holy Ghost touched her heart and gave her trust that what we want to share with her can help. A little bit into our conversation, her mom Benedita came walking down the street and we talked to her. I was nervous, because her daughter was so open, that she wouldn't like the idea. We said we had been talking to her daughter and that we were marking a time to pass by and talk a little bit more with them about Jesus Christ. She instantly opened up and we marked a day to pass by. She asked a question about prophecies and we are going to teach her tomorrow afternoon. We have many experience like this every week. I feel very blessed to serve here in Brazil, because the work is so exciting. The church is growing quickly here, and it is going to continue to grow. Our stake has a goal to divide and form a 5th stake in the city of Sorocaba.

The woman that I taught the last week on the division went to church last Sunday and had a really good experience. I think she will be baptized with her husband and brother in the following weeks.

On Wednesday, we had mission counsel. We talked a lot about applying the things that we have been learning in all of our other trainings. We discussed the fact that we don't need other programs or ideas, we just need more effective applications. I was so very impressed by President Martins again. He talked about how when he is working here in São Paulo North, he isn't thinking about just what he can help do here in his 3 years. He says that he thinks about how his work now can help strengthen the church in 5, 10 and 15 years. His decision making is very impressive to me. He seems to be very wise in always choosing the best thing, no matter how good the "good" and "better" options look. He is an incredible example to me.

Today we are going to have a zone activity to say good bye to Elder Galvão and Sister Peck, a sister in our zone. I love you all very much. Time is going fast.

Love, Elder Calvert

I'm running a little late so I will be a bit short. Sorry.

I just have time to tell one story really quick. Friday I did a division with an Elder from Las Vegas. We were teaching this woman named Ana in a home that didn't have chairs to sit down in. We began talking about the prophets and as when we asked her "so if you knew that a prophet like Moses was living today, would you want to know what he's saying?" She said yes as though she was yearning to know. We told her that there is a prophet today and her eyes lit up. While talking about the first vision, I recited Joseph's words and I could see in her eyes that she was being touched by the Spirit as they filled with tears. Immediately after I asked her what she was feeling. She said "a tremendous peace". I promised her that she was feeling the Holy Ghost confirm to her that these are good, true things. We invited her to be baptized that moment. She paused and the thought came to me, "uh oh, what did she not understand". Then she said "Yes of course". We invited her to read and pray to continue feeling this peace, and to visit church to find the fountain of that peace. As I stood inside those walls, I couldn't stop smiling. The joy in my heart. I said inside my mind that I never want to stop doing this work. We have had a few hard weeks, but the power of the Holy Ghost burns away all of those hard days. Any memory was gone, and my joy was as full as it has been. We left the house prayed, and talked about how great the joy was. It was so great.

I love you. Share this treasure we have. Love, Spencer

September 5, 2011

So Tuesday we went to São Paulo. I talked with Elder Wilkinson in the office during a lot of the day because he is training the new financial secretary and has free time. It was great. I love him a lot. We got back late Wednesday. This week we tried to do a lot of finding. The Lord really answers our prayers. We prayed to be guided to know where to go, and we started knocking doors and doing contacts on a street and it was full of people willing to listen. The street is called Silva Barros, and there are already many members on it so Elder Galvão and I decided it must be a very elect street.

I want to share something that I learned while studying my scriptures this morning. I was pondering about goals and numbers and baptisms and all of these worries of 19-26 year old boys that are on missions (I don't include Sisters because I believe that they are above these things). I thought about how to me, Elder Calvert, there is something fundamentally wrong with this type of thinking about numbers. I am reading in Alma 34, where I have seen the amazing missionary experiences of Alma, Ammon, Aaron, Omner Himni, Amulek, Zeezrom, to name a few. I don't recall ever reading a verse that said "And it came to pass that before they set out to do the work of the Lord, they prayed to know how many souls the Lord desired that they could bring unto Him in His Kingdom." Obviously the Lord wants all of His children to return. His work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Not just 88% or 90%. He is shooting for 100%. Now I know it is very unlikely that I can help every single person be baptized in Santana, but I don't believe that the Lord desires me to get really worked up about these things. I know that reports are part of the Lord's organization, so we can assess our work. But I believe that the Lord would rather we try to put of the natural man, through objective goals like scripture study and prayer, kindness and pure thoughts, rather then 23 1/2 baptisms per month and 36 lessons with at least 2 invitations to baptism per contact per second per street. I once read that the judgement day will not be an accumulation of all of the things we have done, but what we become. Missionary work is not different then the rest of life. The same eternal principles apply. Let's work on becoming more for the Lord. I know Christ lives. He is our Savior. Please don't trample Him under your feet. We do this by ignoring His counsel. If you believe in God, I hope that you will ponder about where you stand with Him. If He exists, we ought to be sure we are completing His expectations. I know He lives. It is so clear to me. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only church with His authority. Other churches can teach some true principles, but there is something fundamentally missing- His power, His words for today, spoken through His authorized servants. Please consider these things. Love, Elder Calvert

August 29. 2011

I must be honest, on Saturday morning I looked at the date and I saw that it was August 27. Then the thought hit me that it was mom’s birthday on the 26^th. I prayed for you and hoped that you had the happiest day on Friday. I love you so much Mom, I can't wait to be with you camping next year.

Well this past week was really busy with planning for the training on Friday. I was praying on Wednesday to know if we should go through with our training about knowledge, but I was led on a little scripture search by the Spirit, and we taught about correction. We emphasized the talk that Elder Christofferson gave in conference last April. The other two elders taught about the Sacrament. The training went really well, and after Elder Lew told us about the other leadership training in the capital and the two subjects of the training were correction and the Sacrament. It's awesome that the Lord thought it necessary for our whole mission to hear about these subjects. Unfortunately we missed two days of work getting our presentation ready.

On Sunday the Bishop was released and the Bishopric was reorganized. I was touched to see how emotional he was as the Stake President spoke the words saying he would be released. He is a wonderful man. I wrote him a little note to let him know how much I appreciate him.

During the day I had a thought that helped me a lot when I thought about all of the people that are praying for me at all times during the day. I worked last night giving all I could give. I love you all. Love, Elder Calvert

August 22, 2011

My companion and I were asked to give a training to all of the leaders in the interior of our mission at a mission conference this Friday. I am excited to speak, for I really love these opportunities to be able to instruct, but I feel so inadequate. I believe I need to understand the Atonement more. I know the scriptures lift me, and I have enjoyed the powerful change they have had over my mind. I pray that the Lord can provide me with the answers to the questions I have in my heart, the yearnings that I have. I believe He will.

I feel so blessed to have been able to study at BYU and to be here on my mission. I love BYU. I am so grateful for the chance I had to learn before my mission, and the rich opportunity I will have to learn after. I am so grateful for this education I am receiving here in Brasil. I am trying to get every single drop of learning that I can from my time here. I know that trials help us relate with God's children. Sunday we had a miracle when the husband of a member we have been teaching went to church for the first time in 7-10 years. We have been praying and trying to help him and it was a miracle to me.

As I think about the perfect love of the Lord, He declared that our joy shall be great if we help one soul enter into to Kingdom of God. Eduardo was baptized 2 weeks ago (Eduardo from Freguesia do Ó that came to church and is 25 years old). I feel that he will be an incredible servant in the church. I truly tried my best with him and others. I pray that the Lord can have mercy on me in my mistakes, and that I can feel and recognize the mercy he has.

I love you all with all of my heart. I think Elder Galvão and I are going to the gym today. I can't wait! He is very thankful for the letters. Thank you so much for writing them. Love, Spencer

August 15, 2011

Well another week has passed. My companion is nearing the end of his mission. I am sure he is feeling a lot of emotions and it makes our relationship a little up and down. I love him with all of my heart, and I learn so much with him, but as with any other relationship it is a little bit of work. He is one of my closest friends I have had in my life. He corrects me and I appreciate it very much.

I don't have a whole lot to say about the week of work. I feel like the whole mission is kind of catching its feet right now with the transition of the President. He teaches us how to do missionary work, exactly how the Savior would have us teach. He doesn't mix in "his" opinion, because his opinion is the scriptures. When he answers questions, he uses scriptures and the words from modern day prophets and apostles. He encourages us to always use a reference, so we never teach something false as a truth. He came to our Stake last night and gave a city-wide fireside. Almost our whole zone was there, and it was wonderful to see President Martins socializing before the meeting. He is an amazing man. I would love for you to be able to meet him someday. I feel a lot of love for him and his sweet wife. He is truly amazing. I respect him very VERY much. During the middle of his talk last night, he stopped and said "Pedro Henrique da Silva" or some Brazilian name, because out in the crowd he recognized someone from his mission. He said after I'll give you a big hug. I really, really like him. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Calvert

August 8, 2011

The first picture was a model shot on accident haha!

I am so excited that Adam and Emma are moving to Boston. Boston has quite a large population of Brazilians, and I will be really excited to go visit him. I have been thinking more and more and I am almost a hundred percent positive I will do something with Portuguese in business. I absolutely love this language.

Well this week was very busy. I have never had seen so many problems in one week in my life. There were many problems with missionaries and members in our zone, and I lost quite a bit of sleep thinking about all of it. Because of this, there was more tension between my companion and I, but it strengthened my testimony of the Lord, and the importance of scripture study.

I am studying The Book of Mormon, and I read almost the whole pday. I am touched by the importance of this book. While teaching a man very strong in another faith, my companion gave the following analogy: Imagine you have a single point on a sheet of paper. How many lines can you draw that will cross through that point? It's limitless. He then drew another line and said how many lines can you draw that will cross through both of these points? He compared this to the role of the Book of Mormon and clarifying Bible teachings. It is full of eternal truths, but the purity has been lost through time, translations, and intentional acts of removal. The Book of Mormon leads us to the pure doctrine, clarifying the truth, and confounding the false doctrine. I have thoroughly enjoyed this in depth study, and it has strengthened my testimony about the power of daily reading. What is our family scripture study like right now? Where are you reading? How consistent is it? I urge our family to study everyday. I read out loud with my companion today and we could talk and clarify our doubts(mostly mine). Together we can learn so much. I remember one night at home, we had read chapters in the Book of Mormon in seminary, my personal study, and for family study. I remember thinking "goodness I think this is a little much" but I learned things in that family study that I didn't the other times. My application was different, because my cirmcumstances were different. The scriptures are wonderful because they apply to us through out our lives.

At mission counsel, and Elder asked a question about the interpretation of a scripture. President Martins said, that is certainly A interpretation, but I wouldn't say THE interpretation. He didn't discredit it, but he didn't support it as the only truth. The scriptures are full of answers for every question we have. If any of us lack of wisdom, lets ask of God. The scriptures are full of His words. History is wonderful. I am so grateful that I have two years where I am counseled to only read books that hold the source of eternal truth. I remember thinking that I was missing 2 years of education, but I feel like I am richly feeding upon the words of eternal life. I don't feel like aspects of my mind are being neglected. I know that this is the greatest decision I have made to go on a mission. Please study your scriptures. I know they will help you in your life.

I know that God lives. I trust in His plan and although my mind can't comprehend how, I know we will live with our love ones again. Hold on to that faith you have been raised with and that you have in your heart.

Love, Elder Calvert

August 1, 2011

This last week was great. It is amazing how fast time is going isn't it? I got a letter from Dane and I appreciate him writing so much. Thinking of him has helped me so much on my mission. He has a way of being so funny and making even the worse situation humorous. I am glad he is home and served honorably. Thank you buddy, I love you. I too am excited to be together with all of you boys again soon. Until then, I am trying to do my best here in Brazil.

This past week we prepared Camila to be baptized. Her baptism yesterday was extremely spiritual. I got to sing that primary song that says "Whenever I feel, the rain on my face....". After, Mariana's daughter who is 7 came up to me with this really bashful face, fingers interlocked at with her hands at her waist, and her shoulders raised and thanked me for singing. She told me I have a beautiful voice. Then she started to walk away and ran back and jumped into my arms. Then she said "I thank thee" in a way in Portuguese that is very formal. A few more times, as we were greeting others and congratulating Camila, she continued to thank me. It was so darling.

Friday we did a division with the assistants. I was a good day with my buddy Elder Warner and we were able to help a lot of people. We went to this less actives house and got to know her. She was in the process of moving and very stressed. We felt the Spirit together and gave her a blessing. I saw in her eyes that she was lifted while leaving. We offered to help her move the next day, and she said she would call if she needed help. I was so impressed by the power of the calling we have, to instill enough trust in someone to call a complete stranger and ask for help. I am so grateful she called and as she took our hands and thanked us, I could really feel her gratitude.

Pray for me that I can be better at planning. There is so much work to be done, and I want to do more. Planning has been a weakness of mine.

Today we are in another area in our zone and we did a zone activity. We played, ate pancakes with real syrup and played soccer!!!! We can play now play soccer in our mission, and I scored 4 goals. Also I learned how to do a front handspring. Yesterday I drank a mug rootbeer. Life is seriously good here in Brazil.

I love you all very much. I will continue to pray for Grandpa. Mommy thank you for all that you do for me. Wednesday I will be heading to the office for mission counsel so I will get letters!

July 26, 2011

I just have a few minutes to write. Sorry I didn't write yesterday, I was in São Paulo the whole day. We had an extra hour so we went to this really fancy sushi buffet with all sorts of Japanese dishes. It was incredible. I ate over R$100 in salmon I am sure. The ginger here is even better than in the states.

This past week was wonderful. My companion and I are working so well together, and it is such a blast. I have never appreciated knowledge so much in my life. My companion truly is brilliant, and searching to gain knowledge is so exciting. I feel it in my heart.

We had a baptism on Saturday of the niece of a member of the ward. Her inactive uncle went to church after not going in a long time and he is such a great man. Missionary work is so, so wonderful. I was looking in the mirror and tying my tie on Sunday and thinking about all that would happen that day. I thought of missionaries that went home the last transfer. After 3 or 4 weeks, home is starting to feel a little normal again, and the mission is over and in the past. I believe my mind was opened and I was able to imagine the void that this work will cause in my mind and my heart when it is not such a large part of my everyday. I feel so blessed to be able to serve a mission, to strive to live a daily pattern that begets strong testimonies. My "job description" is to live the gospel, and I have 2 years to saturate my life with attributes and habits, that I can take into the rest of my life.

The conference addresses are scripture. Their messages are perfect for helping others. If we search them, we will be able to help others. All of us, lets strive to be better friends. Loyal friends. Let’s share with others the things we know to be true, not to push our beliefs onto others, but to teach them the principles that they are unaware of. Regardless of knowledge of the word of wisdom, human beings are dying because of health consequences. Beyond this, they are forfeiting blessings from the Lord that would be theirs if they would just live these principles. I believe with all of my heart, that there is peace in righteous doing. I am happy and healthy and alive. This world is tremendously beautiful. Read a good book this week.

Love, Elder Calvert

July 18, 2011

This last week was very busy again but wonderful. We had interviews with President Martins. He is a wonderful man. He talked to my companion and I first, and we talked about the inconsistency in baptisms that we've been having. He went on to instruct us to just forget about numbers. Forget about numbers and just focus on the people, and the numbers will come. I was so happy to hear that. I expressed to him that I don't like pressuring people to do things by "burning" them because I don't believe it works, and he agreed with me. It was just a really supporting interview that made me feel very confident. I did a division with an Elder named Elder Hoshimoto on Friday. He is from the same city as my companion and we spoke in English almost the whole time so he could practice. He taught me some Japanese words too, and it's interesting because it is really similar to Portuguese.

Saturday, we went to an investigators house and I had organized earlier for them to make a birthday cake to celebrate for my companion 7 months and 10 days just to joke around because he said he had never had a party that was for him on his mission. While I had planned that, the same family talked to my companion and said they were going to do a surprise birthday for me. Right before going I had him wait by the entrance of this little store so I could buy something. I said that, "I was embarrassed for him to see", two pens. When we walked in, there was a cake with both of our names on a little notecard saying Happy Birthday. It was a fun visit.

This family is so awesome and so different! Adriana, the woman in the picture loves lifting weights and UFC, as you can see by her replica belt. She has a ton of tattoo's including her “No pain, No gain” tattoo on her forearm to show her love for weightlifting. She is 42. Her daughter is 18 and she is a professional belly dancer. She too is full of tattoos and they are both members of the church that were reactivated recently. Adriana will get married to Luis, who is 26! He fixes electronics and he is absolutely hilarious. We always have a great time together. Adriana punches Luis really hard all of the time, and they all love rock music.

I am doing very well and I had more energy this week. I am learning a lot about organizing and utilizing my time even more right now. I am so grateful to be on my mission. I love all of you at home. Thank you for the prayers. Grandpa I love you.

Love, Elder Calvert

July 12, 2011- Happy Birthday Dad

I am going to write a lot to Dad for his Birthday, but I wanted to let you know that I am doing great here, and loving my companion. This last week was really, really busy, but wonderful. I went to my first mission council on Wednesday, and the power that President Martins communicated through his testimony was fantastic. He has an incredible vision of the work. He doesn’t want many kids to be baptized, and he said he prefers to wait 2 or 3 months and have the whole family baptized then have just one child baptized right now. I respect him a lot because I think it would be very natural for a new mission president to want to baptize a ton of people right now, because he wants to hit the ground running.

On Saturday night, Mariana, our baptismal date said she wasn't sure if she wants to be baptized. We prayed with her and spoke about the opposition that came before the first vision, and everything went smoothly for her baptism on Sunday. The water was really cold and the font had a smell of gas really strong, but it was a peaceful meeting. I have been so tired this last week, so I continue to ask for your prayers of energy.