This week, we really became the representatives of Christ that missionaries are.

First week of the transfer down, and I couldn't be more satisfied!! So Tuesday I got up early and made a huge breakfast for me and Elder Rangel and went in and woke him up with the food when the 6:30 alarm went off. (He never wakes up on time) Nothin wakes an elder up faster than a hot breakfast! I did that every day this week and by Saturday he was getting up before the six thirty alarm and calling the other elders in the district telling them to wake up and exercise. 

We completley transformed our nightly planning this week. It used to be us sitting on the beds while he sat there thinking then told me what to write down. It wasn't exactly the most effective planning. Now we actually converse and discuss all the investigators individually. not just what time we will go but actually make a lesson plan. Weekly planning was completly different as well. It was pretty much the same as the daily in the past. Write down some goals and write down who we want to baptise. Yesterday we took well over an hour making detailed plans for everyone and what they need. We did companion inventory and talked about what we need to work on individually and as a companionship. Our studies, our planning, our lessons, our lunches, EVERYTHING magically transformed this week. We are actually doing things right! When you start with the simple things like getting up on time, the bigger things fall into place.When you do well in the small and simple things you feel the success and the spirit in that, and it makes you want to have more. Then you start doing a little more and a little more until you are truly excelling in all aspects. The same goes for the other way too. Whether you are or are not obedient, it creates a cycle in which you will either grow or regress. I've gotten to see both sides of that cycle here in the field and its a lot more fun to watch the good side!! The other thing I learned is you can't do this work alone. You and your companion have to be aligned on everything. If your companion isn't doing his part you gotta lovingly kick his butt into gear, cause you can't do it alone.

   

Our work with the investigators went great this week!!! We did some door knocking this week and it turns out I havn't lost all of my door to door salesman yet! I was pretty discouraged a few weeks ago knocking doors because in English, I'm a pretty smooth talker, but in Portugues I was just stumbling through door approaches. This week Elder Rangel and I decided to knock on opposite sides of the street to get more contacts done. We were able to get in and teach 3 out of the 5 people I talked to.  He also found a family that we taught and we picked up 8 new investigators on one street corner!! Allison (new guy) is super cool. He read the Book of Mormon and prayed and said he wanted to keep reading and felt super good after just one day. He said he wanted to come to church and bring the rest of his family. He's super sincere and humble. I'm excited to work with him. Vilma, another newbee, is super straightforward and outgoing.  She says it like it is and tells you how she feels. Super excited to continue working with her as well. Then the family that Rangel found is great. Mom and three kids and they said they don't attend a church right now, but they have gone to a lot and have a lot of questions and confusion about religion. That's the most perfect concern someone could have! This church was restored because someone had the same doubts. They seem to have recieved the lesson of the restoration really well and we will follow up with them tomorrow. Our other family is still progressing super well! They come to church and do family home evening every week without fail! We are working with them on marriage right now so they can be baptised. She believes whole heartedly in the plan of salvation and said she is going to be married because she wants to go to the celestial kingdom with her family!! 

    

This week finally felt like we became missionaries! Before we were some young guys talking about God. This week, we really became the representatives of Christ that missionaries are. We tried to be obedient in everything and put forth a conscious effort to become better. We were so blessed for this and were able to be very successful this week. Not only were we blessed but we are able to bring the blessings of eternities to more and more families. The Lord really does bless us for everything and we will never be able to repay Him for everything we recieve. 

The luxurious life of a missionary. At night after planning I spend about 20-30 minutes in my hammock writing in my journal and looking at the stars. There isn't anything better at the end of a long day of work.

Love Y'all; 

Elder Little

Does the Spirit just guide people to you or what?!!!

TRANSFERS!!!! I actually have no exciting news for transfers. We both will be staying. One guy in our house is going and he's pretty sad, but other than that, nothing.

   

So this week started out a little different than I was hoping. Last P-day I busted my ankle in a hole in the road. (The roads here are the pits.) It was the same ankle I busted in February that benched me for a month. Tuesday it was hurting quite a bit so I called Sister Bangerter after lunch just to let her know, and she told me to take the day to rest it and go to the doctor if I needed. I wasn't going to go, but then Elder Rangel was having stomach pains for two days straight, so we decided to go together. He got two injections in the butt cheek and I got four days without walking and a prescription. 

 

 

After almost losing my mind the first day of prison, I gave up and went back to work. Since then it's been fine. Doctors are the worst and so is not working. I did get a lot done at home though. I read the entire "Our Heritage" book, I constructed air conditioning in my room by resurrecting two broken fans, and I made a lot of food. We still went out and made one visit that day to a family that lives close by. The rest of the week has gone great. We got some crazy rain again and helped get all the water out and clean Lucas' house. The waterfall on the street came in this time. It's a lot different than the flood clean up I did back home. We just swept all the water out with squeegees and brooms, then brought a hose in and cleaned with soap. We were done in two hours. These Brazilians know what they're doing with the concrete! We had A LOT of appointments fall through this week and our area is so big we can spend four hours+ just walking around trying to find someone that's home. 

 

   We still had some great visits and progress made with investigators. Irma Silvia and her family came to church again and stayed for all three hours. She said after that she wants to come every week. Her family and kids are so happy at our church that she wants to come!!!! I don't think investigators can say much better things than that.  All their kids loved it and their dad told the bishop (they work together) that he wants to keep coming because it makes his daughters so happy. The power of getting investigators to church is HUGE!! Without good experiences in the chapel with members, and feeling the Spirit in classes, conversion is so much harder. The church and sacrament is a key part of testimony. 

 

 We have a new investigator that approached us at the bus stop in a different area. He asked if we were from a church then asked "Why do bad things happen in life even when you always try to do good?'' and "I've been looking for answers in a church but I still just feel lost." Does the Spirit just guide people to you or what?!!!  We have experiences similar to this all the time! About 20 minutes ago right before I came into the lan house to email, a guy stopped his car on the road and asked if we had a Book of Mormon. He told me as everyone was honking at him that he's really wanted to read one but didn't know where to get one. When you work to find investigators the Lord will always show you who's ready! It's amazing how much the Spirit guides our work everyday. I'm happy to be here and be a tool in bringing salvation to the people of Brazil.

 

 

I finally got my hammock!!! I'm being blinded by the sun here but I really just use it at night. From 9:30-10 I lay in my hammock and write in my journal and look at the stars. It's pretty much paradise.

  

A MEMBER GAVE ME A LICENSE PLATE!!!! I'm going to collect one from everyone of my areas. Every city has a different plate.

 

 The avocado of Mom's dreams. It's as big as my head!!! It's going to be  a whole meal for me.

 

My air conditioning! There was a plate on the wall, so naturally I had to take it off and it was just a tube for more wires. I took parts from two different fans and constructed one that I was able to attach to the wall. The wire comes out right next to a different outlet next to my bed so I can plug in my AC without leaving bed. It's pretty bomb!!  Nothing more than a pocket knife and a little duct tape.

 

 

This was a family home evening slash birthday party. Elder Rangel shared a lesson and I was in charge of games. We played pterodactyl.

 

Love everyone tons, 

 Elder Cam Little

It was a much improved week and I'm happy with the results. Onward and upward from here!!

Here's a picture of your son after a game of soccer having the most severe case of football withdrawls ever to be diagnosed.  It's futebol here (futchybol) but no, its not the same. I havn't been homesick for anything except for football.

So this week I want to start out talking about something I learned this week. This last conference there were many talks about member missionary work and assisting the missionaries. I want to help anyone that's reading this think of some ways they can do that. My first way to help this missionaries is when you see the elders serving in your ward, or even the ones that aren't, ask if they know that the time is gunna change an hour!! We got snuck up on by the time change. It moves the opposite way here so we went forward an hour and we didnt find out till we got a call at 7:00 (really 8:00) Sunday morning. Everything sped up really fast after that!!

 

 In follow up to my last email, I talked with my comp about the obedience stuff and it went better this week. Wasn't perfect, but it went better. I put forth more effort to be firm about the rules and he tried a lot more to be obedient. And we were blessed with two families, Edward, a BAPTISM, and a ton of nonmember family of the baptizee, at sacrament meeting!!!

 

  We had a good week with a handful of new investigators and some others that made steps forward. Last Monday after p-day I was with on splits with Elder Lourero. We were going to go to a family home meeting at a member's house, but that fell through. So we were trying to decide what to go do, and thanks to a little bit of inspiration, I decided to go make a surprise family home evening with Irma Silvia and her family (investigators). We went and had a family home evening, I shared a message about the importance of family and having the gospel in the home. Then after I taught them how to play "não coma Pete" the Brazilian version of "Don't eat Pete". I brought Swedish Fish and gummy worms (thanks mom!) so they could try with American candy, and I of course brought Guaraná as well. It went super well and she said she is going to start doing it every week. I got word yesterday that they will be going to the bishop's house tonight for "Noite familiar". (They are friends with the bishop's family.)

 

  The rest of the week we've been battling some crazy rain and hail here. I love it because it seriously reminds me of home with my good old Texas thunder storms. So you know when it rains real hard and all the ditches fill up with water and run real fast? Imagine if those ditches were roads and you've got Aracy. The roads turn into waterfalls. There's no underground drainage, and no one has yards, so everything is straight run off. The city is also built onto a mountain so it FLOWS!! One of the other Elders in the house hurt his back pretty bad bailing water out of a house, so we spent some time trying to help him at the hospital and went on splits with his companion too.

 

 

Here's me and Elder Maia (zone leader, on splits) siting under a tree next to a creek that is pretty much identical to the one behind the house and sent me right back home. I

was in heaven.

 

  Our investigators are progressing well. Our new ones are receptive and I'm excited to work with them.  Emily, the girl that was baptized is 9 years old. Her mom passed away but was a member and lives with her grandma now. A tooon of her family came to the baptism and her grandma listened to all the lessons and has been coming to church with her!

 

   It was a much improved week and I'm happy with the results. Onward and upward from here!!

Love Y'all tons!!

                      Elder Cam Little

I can change things and it doesn't matter if I'm the brand new greenie.

So remember that week I had in the CTM where I talked about having kind of a turnaround with the district? This week was kinda similar.

 
I'll start back on the last P-day. We stayed at the district leader's house for the weekend for general conference and p-day. After emailing last week we went back and everyone wanted churrrasco, but no one knew how to cook it.  I claimed I did (I know how to make Texas barbecue not Brazilian) so I was dubbed the churrasco boy. I just want to claim that I am the Grill Master. That stuff straight up tasted like Fogo!! I was surprised at myself. That's what I do a lot of times. I act like I know what I'm doing when in all honesty I don't. Kind of like when I cut the entire district's hair in the CTM the last week. Oh - and my haircut in all the pics for the last 5 weeks. Yeah, I did that myself and told an elder what to do for the parts I couldn't do. I'm a haircut master too. You taught me well, Obi Wan.

Then Tuesday we had a district meeting and after we went on splits. I was with another elder for the next 24 hours. I was pretty excited because I got to be the leader and do most of the talking with the investigators. I was also slightly nervous because I got to be the leader and do most of the talking with the investigators. With a lot of prayers and just going for it, it was one of the best days on the mission!!! I extended a baptism invitation, taught the plan of salvation to another visited a lot of the investigators to check with them and share a small message. It was by far the most talking I'd done and it went so smoothly. (I also got a mommy package with peanut butter, candy and toothpaste.  That upped the cool factor as well.)

Shout out to Ashley for sending me honey!  Nothing better than peanut butter and honey toast!

  The next day we did the companion switch. Let me take two seconds to whine about how much I hate the bus. I get sick every time, there are always WAY too many people, and its just not fun. Throw expensive in there too. But anyways, my comp was back and it was a normal day of work.

 

Elder Little and Lucas

  The day after that we went on splits with two members to do some finding. I had gotten pretty sick that day and felt like I was dragging my face through gravel all day. After knocking a few doors Lucas (the member that got home from his mission in Curitiba South 4 months ago) sat me down on a bench to talk and rest for a minute. He said he noticed how happy I was with the other elder that one day, but that I was a lot quieter and didn't look as happy. I then talked about how frustrated I've been lately with the lack of adherence to the rules. It's hard for me to fix things because I didn't have the confidence or the words to really be firm and tell him we gotta get our butts moving and change some things. Lucas helped me out a ton by just listening and telling me I just gotta be firm. We talked a while and I really felt a ton better afterwards. I went back to knocking doors after that and really felt good. I made the best contacts I've ever made. We got into one home and taught the restoration and will be going back soon.

  The next morning I was the only one awake until 8:00 and I started studying like normal. I studied straight through companion study hour, greenie training hour then moved on to language study. At 11:00 I was pretty frustrated. I opened an Ashley letter labeled "when you need an inspiration".. It had a note from everyone in the family for me. I was out behind the house in my little sanctuary reading these notes and crying. I felt super good after wards and there will definately be a lot of things changing in the coming week. It was a good week for me to just realize that I can change things and it doesn't matter if I'm the brand new greenie. I need to take charge if things aren't going like they should ( stay tuned for next weeks episode....)

Texas skies in Brazil!

 A week of a lot of ineffective time usage and when I look back on the week, I can see how ineffective our work was. We taught a lot of lessons, we found new people, we had little miracles, but we did not have any moments where it really  felt like we were changing lives and magnifying the calling. That comes through exact obedience and an effort to always do the extra. We didn't have that this week and it shows. 

   Our investigators are really doing well and we have some new ones. One lady came out and called for us to come pray for her because she was confused about religion!! She has a lot of doubts but is showing tons of faith and progressing well already. My language is getting so much better. I've been putting forth a lot more effort to be a part of conversations and not just be lost in the blur of fast slang filled conversations.

  I'm really grateful for this week because I learned a ton. Everything happens for a reason, and as frustrated as I was this week, it's good it happened here at the beginning so I can learn fast. 

Also, I just want to let everyone know that if you drive outside my house with a loudspeaker announcing " 3 pineapples for 5 real" I will chase you down with money.

Gotta go now! Love you tons and have a happy birthday!!

It's just the most fun ( but fun isn't even the word) I've ever had.

You know, after three weeks I still can't complain about a thing. The Mission is always a great experience!

 There was a lot of time taken off of normal teaching and proselyting this week because of conference and other meetings. We had a multi zone conference with president Bangerter and then the two days of conference. We've had to stay here in São Carlos centro for the last two days. It's too far and too expensive and not enough time to return everyday.

 

  So we had a lot of appointments fall through this week and some people that we weren't even able to make contact with, but we also had some people progress really well.

 

  The two families we are teaching are progressing really well. The next step is to get them to church, but its been difficult for all our investigators because this week and next church is in the centro. It's quite a long ways away. 

 

 

We have a lot of investigators and appointments that we are kind of just frozen with because the entire zone has ZERO Book of Mormons. Just in case you didn't know, being a missionary with no Book of Mormons is extremely difficult. We should get some this week. The secretaries and assistants have been useless, but we talked to President and he's getting things done.

 

  We had a multi Zone conference with President on Thursday which was AMAZING!!! President Bangeter is one of the most incredible speakers and teachers. The dude is a Mary Poppins bag of smart. He gave some amazing council and training. I got to bear my testimony because I'm a greeny. It's kinda nerve racking to speak in front of a whole bunch of people in Portugues. It went well and like I said last week, it's my testimony so I can just speak how I feel.  

 

 I've got to tell you a happy from the multi zone conference. Afterwards,  President Bangerter pulled me outside and said he was really impressed with my letters and I seem to be adjusting super well. I had mentioned something about the pest control and he said its awesome that I did that and asked if I could share with him sometime some of the things I learned and use. I just sent him a letter with my three part formula to being happy, successful and learning. But it just made me really happy that President Bangerter wanted me to share my knowledge!! This is what I shared with him on what I learned.  I hope he's able to use it to help some elders one day. It has helped me more than I can even say. With this stuff and relying on the Lord for the rest, there's no reason you can't be happy during anything that happens. The talk about finding joy in everything reminded me a lot of this because we've definitely had some disappointing times these last three weeks, but because I use this and just the knowledge that everything that happens is part of a bigger plan, and rely on the Spirit to help me in my steps. Man I love the mission! I honestly don't know how to type out how I feel about it here.
It's just the most fun ( but fun isn't even the word) I've ever had.

 

 This is what I wrote him. "On the sales team we had something we called STD´s.(We can probably come up with a better acronym that that) STD stands for Self Thoughts that Destroy. During your day selling you have a lot of time to just think to yourself which can be dangerous if its negative. STD´s are anything negative that you think about during the day and we talked about changing them to something positive that helps instead of hurts. For example, if you thought "Man , it's raining and I'm wet,this sucks." You can either change that to "at least it's not hot" but that is still giving in to the negative and adding a positive. We want to be only positive, so you could change it to "It's not hot outside, everyone will be home because they won't be out in the rain, and they´ll all feel bad for me cause I'm wet. I'm about to sell some contracts" Eventually when you change any negative thought to a positive, you start to think like that and everything is a lot easier. 

 

Second was every time I would find myself getting in a slump and just being frustrated, I would change whatever I was doing and do something to just have fun. When I got down on myself or if the neighborhood was just bad, I would start running from house to house. After a few I was jumping over bushes and hopping and skipping around. It was just something that worked to make me happy. I didn't have time to feel sorry for myself and mozy on to the next house. I was just running and having fun with myself. Or if I had a neighborhood where people were really tired of salesmen or just grumpy, I would forget trying to make sales and make a goal to just make the next person laugh. When I focused on just selling and I didn't sell, it was frustrating. If I focused on having fun and making myself funny and cheerful, I was happier and I sold more contracts.

 
Third and probably something that helped me more than anything else was taking the drive home or ten minutes just sitting at my desk to think about the day. What went well that I want to repeat tomorrow? What was bad that I don't want to do again? And what could I have done to improve the day, that I want to try tomorrow? When you analyze the day, you can learn and progress way faster. You can not analyze your days, but then you have a bad day that you don't learn anything from, or a good day that you've got to be lucky to have again. Or you can analyze and have bad days that you won't repeat and good days that you can make the norm because you know why it was good.

 

  General conference was amazing!! During the opening hymn of the first session the stake president found me and told me I could watch in English if I wanted! He had prepared a room for me with a tv playing in English! I had a private room with a desk, a notebook, of course some candy, and conference in English!!! It was awesome! there were some amazing talks and I took a ton of notes. I can't wait for the Ensign to come out. I'll probably get that in Portugues but that's fine. I can understand at my pace and I already know the messages.

 

  I realized that this email kinda sounds like a lot went wrong but it really was a good week! We taught a lot of good lessons and I learned a ton.

 

Love you more than the stake president letting me watch conference in English. (And that's a lot more than just normal conference)

 

Elder Cam Little