Dear Family,
Tuesday, I had a long talk with my LZ Elder Lew. I love him so much. I'm so grateful he has enough understanding about missionary work, that what he did for me was maybe the most important thing done the whole day. He looked after me. He is such a wonderful example of Christ like love to me. That night we made cookies and talked about what we want in life and what is our personal purpose. The next morning we made a t-shirt trade and I gave him this surfing shirt I bought here and traded for an Under armour shirt that says "protect his house". I broke it in with 300 pushups. It's a good shirt, and in it, I will "protect this house." I also bought a pull up bar. I love it. I love exercise. It is so, so good for my mind. It makes me feel so good. I also have been eating particularly healthy and I'm thinking about telling the Irmas here that I can’t eat desserts because I just feel so much better.
This weekend was the baptism of Rafael! It was awesome. After I baptized him, he said "now I'll get your wet!" and he gave me a huge hug. I closed my eyes, so grateful for that little blessing of joy I felt. It was wonderful. (I forgot, last Tuesday on the division with Elder Lew an old investigator called in our area and said, I want to be baptized! Sweet! It was awesome and she will be baptized the 30th. Also I did another baptismal interview Wednesday. It's been awesome. She was nervous but we just talked about things, and it included the questions.) Sunday was our ward conference and there were 2 old investigators that were there. Their names are Samuel and Glaucia. We marked to see them Monday and they accepted baptism for the 30th as well. We're going to see them at a ward activity tomorrow for lunch.
Tuesday I gave another training and I had been studying a lot about the light of Christ. I didn't feel like that was what I should train about so I prayed for guidance in my scripture study Monday. I read about families and thought of a little Easter Egg/Candy hunt to relate the satisfaction of finding single individuals to a small candy, and the greater joy of finding families to cookies. I hit candies in the gym in obvious places, but hit cookies in places much more difficult to find. I worried it would be too childish, but I found that as I was enthusiastic about it, it fueled them as well. I was so grateful for the Lord, because much of the training was given to me in the very moment, and I saw it in the eyes of the district as they said things like I'd never thought of it like that before. The truth is neither had I. I promised them that there are families waiting to receive the restored gospel.
We did a training where we talked openly about the love for our families, how much we miss them, but the comfort we find in this gospel. The solutions to difficulties and the hope for the future is something we hold so dear to our hearts, that we left those we love the most to come to teach you. These are my words. The thing I emphasized was talking from your heart. Helping fathers realize that these principles will strengthen and bless their family the instant they are put in practice. This is motivation enough, but along with this comes the Eternal Blessings.
My favorite part of the ENTIRE week was a little event that happened Monday. We were walking down the street and we saw a little boy and his mom. The mom looked flustered and the little boy was crying and hoping on one foot. I asked if I could help and at first the mom said no. Then I asked the little boy if I could carry him. He nodded his head yes, and the mom looked at me, obviously very grateful and communicated that she would love it if I would help. I picked him up into my arms. He had hurt his foot earlier in the day but was hurting a lot during school. In tears he told me he was 8 years old. When we got to the car, the mother explained again that she was very grateful. I was thinking, "Should I talk about the church, should I do a contact?" I said you are very welcome, said goodbye and we continued walking. I thought about this event as I walked to the next appointment. I didn't want that woman and her son to think that I had helped them just so I could talk about the church. I helped that woman because I feel a love for people. I love people. I feel purpose when I am helping them.
I lack so much understanding, because I know this gospel is the greatest help I can give, but very often my most satisfying moments are from a hug inside the baptismal font, carrying a crying boy in my arms, asking elderly woman about their backs, remembering peoples names, and smiles. To me, this brings me joy. Every time I get into a missionary robot mode I feel like I am so much less effective. I have absolutely no doubt that that woman will talk to missionaries some day.
I have a wonderful example of a person who I look up to so much in my ward. His name is José Alves. My old companion gave him a watch and he said he could fix it for him. The shop he thought he could fix it in couldn't fix it, so he is going to drive more than an hour and pay 60 reis to get it fixed. He said, "I have a commitment." This same man was once talking to a friend who recently discovered he had aids. The friend came crying to his house and said how so many people are abandoning him because of his sickness. José picked up the cup his friend with aids was drinking out of and took a big drink. The friend just broke into to tears. This story just meant so much to me. He drives an old van that is purple and he is always such a joy to me, when he drives by and honks. He is a successful in his career, but most importantly to me a wonderful friend. He also loves weightlifting so we connect very deeply.
Anyways, that's about it. Oh, and the temple today was awesome. We made two friends on the train that helped us when we got lost in the city. A woman asked if we were missionaries and gave us cookies. And another man stopped us and said he also wanted to know what we do. Another did that yesterday as well. I love friends. I love relationships. I love all of you.
Love, Elder Calvert
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