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