July 13, 2015

Dear Family,

Well, my last week came and went, i tried to leave everything i had left on the field, we were able to set a new record for each of us with 16 lessons with member!  I had an awesome birthday party! their was a ton of cake and i even got presents!

I feel so old...haha

Oh Bella stay healthy my dear!

Ha, i sure hope thats the case with my knee...

Ya it´d probably be good to meet with the Stake President on Friday, but if not i can go out with the missionaries and do missionary work in my home town!!! how cool would that be?!

Im really excited about my topic, i hope i can nail. it´ll be difficult giving a talk in English, but itll be interesting!  

Ya i went back to my old area to do baptismal interviews and the ward was having a party and they wanted to take some pictures with me. ha. theirs a really cool party they do this time of year, but i will tell you all about it when i get back.

only 75?!   YES!!! its gonna be "COLD"  according to a brazillian! ha.  

 Well, these 2 years past so quickly, i dont know where the time went,but i hope i was able to do all the Lord wanted of me.

It´s a werid feeling, my comp always asks me if its hit me yet that im going home, and i always tell him "not really, maybe after church it will" or "when i start packing my bags"  but its such a foreign thought...leaving the mission.  I get really sad sometimes thinking about what im leaving, you wish you could help just a little more, or bear your testimony just one more time, but the time ends. Its really strange.  I dont know what the future holds in store for me, i dont know how many more blessings there are to come, because i and my family have received more than i feel like i deserved in these past two years.  I thank the Lord for every second i had out here...every ounce of strength he provdided for me to keep going and finish "Minha Grande Missão".  This Church is the true Church of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is our Saviour and Redeemer, He knows us perfectly, he can heal and strengthen us beyond our own capacity.  Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God.  Thomas S. Monson is a living prophet of our Heavenly Father.

I love you all.

See you in 4 days! 

-Elder Grondel

June 29, 2015

Hey Family,

This week was alright.  

Ya, we heard about the gay thing, their were groups here in Brazil celebrating it as well. Super Gay

(dont put this in the blog)

Thats great that the summer heat started up there!  its winter here right now and its in the 80´s during the day! but at night and in the morning it gets a tad bit chilly.

Thats great that everyone is going on missions!

Those cinnamon roles are looking bomb...

he sounds like a cool dude lex!  

This week we found this really cool young kid, he has 17 years old and we were walking to somewhere because all our appointments fell through and we just decided to stop and knocked his door on saturday and we were with another young man from the ward making visits and he taught with us and went and got the kid for church the next day,  When i was reciting the 1st vision in the first lesson he said, "wait!" and he left into another room, and i was like great! another distraction during the 1st vision! always happens!  but then he came to us with the first lesson pamflet opened to the page that has the first vision and was like "look its right here! i fouind this panmflet this week and read it!" this pamflet was super old and a little torn, we were shocked! this kid is super cool and is already being integrated really well!

The couple unfortunately wont be able to get married until after im gone...dang it.

but whats important is that they will be baptized!

Well have a great summer!

Be Safe!   Love you Guys!

-Elder Grondel

June 22, 2015

Ya sorry about that email, it was my week to put the numbers of the zone and all that stuff in the computer and it left me with super short time. But this weeks is my comps turn! ha.

But HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!!!  your are the best dad ive ever heard!  i may only be half the missionary you were but with me thats more than i could ask!

Well this week was cool! we had stake conference! and im still in the same stake in goiania that ive been in for 8 months so i was able to see some people form the wards i passed. it was wonderful to see them and to see recent converts super firm still!  Its an amazing and humbly feeling to see them going by themselves and grabbing the iron rod so firmly.  You think "how did God use an instrument like me to do that?!"  in spite of our weeknesse the Lord can strengthen us beyond our own power.

President Kuceki and Sister Kuceki gave amazing talks at conference yesterday that touched alot of people, President Kuceki is one of the most spiritually inspired people i know, im super grateful to be able to have learned from him, he speaks with so much power.

We have a couple that we are teaching that has been being taught for a while and theey got back from their 1 month trip and are really excited to get married and be baptized! i really hope we can mark their marriage before i leave!  They are so elect!  The man read the Book of Mormon everyday while they were traveling!

I would love to help out with both teams, i think itll  help meas well to get back in touch with the game before heading down to BYU.  I will for sure teach levi and gerritts team, but depending how my knee is and what my job hours will be will determine what i will be able to do.  I wanna get working as soon  as i get back.  Did you already schedule my doctros appiontment for me?    Ha, we watched a bit of "Meet the Mormons" at a members house before lunch yesterday...and the football part was killer!

Congrats on your studies mom and dad! you guys are amazing!

Yes jake!  im so pumped for you to go! i wish i could go with you guys to help out!  Enjoy it and look to feel the spirit.

Hey, idont know what byson brought home from brazil, but if you guys have any requests let me know!

Love you guys!

Have a great week!

-Elder Grondel

June 15, 2015

Dear Family!

Well they cut our email time down again...so itll be short.... lame.  Good thing i only got 4 more....HA!

Well we had an amazing baptism this week!  A man that has known the church for 12 years was finally baptized.  The prayers and faithfulness of his wife and daughter finally paid off! it was known as the miracle here! ha

 Well Gerritt thats freakin awesome bud! youre such a stud! 

Well i love you guys! have a great week!

-Elder Grondel!

June 8, 2015

Hey Family!

Congrats Jake!  You´re a BEAST brutha! just keep going hard, we will for sure hit up institute together.  The best thing you can do to prepare for the mish is complete your responsibility as a priest. dude you gotta go to the Y bro!!!  thats where its at.

This week was pretty good  for us, it was the week of transfers, so it was a little slow in the zone...but NO EXCUSES!

My comp from chile was transfered and now my comp is Elder Cheney from Maryland, he is super tight. I really like working with him, He will go home in August, right after me.  We got here together in Brasil the same day, so its weird to see how much has happened since then.

Careful Lex, hes a dangerous one. ha. jk, last time i saw him...2 years ago...he was a good guy. Just be smart.  Thats cool hes gonna keep playin!   That ticks me off that she has been treeted that way by Freaken returned missionaries.  Seeing what missionaries do out here and the experiences they have, and then to know what they did to her after there missions infuriates me. Freaken Fubecas que vão queimar nos fins do inferno!!!  

Dang, Park City Dad?!  What job is this?!?! haha.   It looks awesome there. 

YES LANDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   YOU DID IT!  Keep it up bro, you have no idea of the eternal blessings you will recieve.  Say hi to Addi for me too! 

Dude Caleb thats awesome bro!  ha, theres a kid here in our ward and his bro plays for Barcelona, that just won the championship Sunday, and he flew in today. i will try and snag a pic with him,  OH, and if you have any requests of soccer jerseys, tell me so i can buy them before i leave!

Atta boy gerritt! youre an animal,  ha. Looks like you guys had fun at NW trek! i think bear was cowering in youre presence!

Levi you´re looking buff man! ha

Olivia, thats awesome! you look like a pro! 

Bella is as cute as ever!

Wow, everyone is all grown up..thats so weird.

Ya for sure see if she can move the date of the open house, it´d be cool to do it together.

I finished the book  "A marvelous Work and a Wonder" this week, in the end it talks alot about the fruits of Joseph Smith.  INCRIVEL!

I also had a wonderful experience bearing my testimony about Joseph Smith, i love bearing my testimony about him, i feel like i have got to know him a little better as i have studied about him on the mission.   I remember when my comp passed the lesson to me after he finished teaching the Restoration this week,  and i felt such a grateful feeling for being able to bear my testimony of him, i felt the spirit testify at least to me, that he was a prophet.  An amazing feeling i will never forget.  I can feel that these moments are winding down, and i love being able to testify of this every chance i get. I know Christ called him to restablish His church on the earth in these last days. I " thank thee o God for a Prophet!"

Well, these past two weeks have been straight sun, its in the 80´s and its winter here... but we had alot of appointments fall through and ended up walking a ton and knocking doors, one day we were walking and we saw a young guy sitten on the sidewalk all by himself, he looked super lonely, so we did a contact with him, and he was super interested, we passed by the next day, and it was an amazing lesson, he lives in a super humble place, and as we entered he quickly hurried to the couch to clear all the stuff so we could sit down and apologized forthe humble residence. as we started to teach  he had some things in his past that he was really wanting to change, and we just taught about Faith, Repentance and Baptism,"The Gate" :)  and the spirit was so strong, we invited him and he accepted a date for baptism.  In the end of the lesson he offered such a humble prayer, you could truly feel the sincereity of him.  This sunday he went to church and loved it!  we have taken members there and he is progressing very well.

Well have a great week! 

Love you all!

-Elder Grondel

June 1, 2015

Elder Grondel's Zone

This week was alright. we had alot of freakin sun, but its nice because its already gone by 5 oclock. ill get back super red.  We had a zone conference with president and it went really well.  We made zone shirts! everyone was pretty excited. Elder Smith will go home this week and so will Elder Inman my my last two comps.  Today starts my last transfer on the mission. But i will work until the last minute, in my interview with president it finaly starting hitting me that my mission was coming to an end. Next freaking month i´ll be home. You can be sure that i will leave it all on the field!    My comp was transfered but i will stay and die in this area with my new comp Elder Cheney! 

I loved that talk that president uthcdorf gave! we got the Liahona from the conference this week, and it was the first talk i studied, i did a study of it together with my patriartical blessing. it was wonderful!  

I heard that L Tom Perry passed away this week, He looked so good in conference, it surprised me alot. He was a wonderful apostle and left a wonderful example for all of us.

Well I love you guys! Have a great week!

-Elder Grondel

May 25, 2015

Goodmorning fam!

This week is the big week, we are hoping for every area to have a baptism, so far things are looking pretty good, we just have a few that dont have one yet, but they have possibilities so we will pray, excersize our faith together with our works!

Ive gotten alot better, i got sick near the beginning of the transer and ive just started getting my forces back now, i havent let up, its just been a harder battle because of the sickness. An integration night is basicaly like a big family night!  We had even more people this past week as well! 

The members are helping a ton! we had a miracle this week, our elders quorum president wanted to visit an investigator of ours with us and so we tried everything to mark with the invetigator but he said it woulnt work, and we tried to think of others to pass by to take advantage of having a membrer and it didnt work out, and then we almost called the member and canceled the visit then my comp remembered a man we havent passed by in a bit, he is the husband of a member and has been going to church off and on for over 12 years and never has accepted a date for baptism. But he said we could pass by and teach, and so we went there with the elders quorum president and the man said he had some questions, and we asked him what it was, and he said it wasnt anything about the book of mormon but he wanted to know, how does someone get baptized in the church....and there fell a great silence in the room....my comp and the member both looked at me...and i was just as cabobled as them, but i just started talking trying to not scream of excitement, and the words came out of my mouth, and we started reviewing the baptismal questions, and after finishing, we told him, "alright, according to the requirements that Jesus established for someone to be baptized, you are ready..."  and then we invited him, and once again a great silence fell in the room along with a really strong spirit for a few minutes as he looked at the ground thinking....and after a little bit he looked up and said..."what time will it be?"  we said whatever time you want, and he said " alright lets mark the baptism"    the whole ward, even members from other wards are super excited about his baptism! the bishop went there this week, i went there on a division with the second counselor of the stake and he is super excited and progressing really well.  His wife was bapptized 12 years ago on June 15 and his date is marked for the 13 of June, to make it even more special. Everyone is saying, "MIRACLES CAN HAPPEN!"  It was such a great experience!

Oh, and the recent convert who lost her job got a job the day after being confirmed last week that is for mon-fri and pays way better! she was sooo happy, and we were too. "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and its righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" what a true promess.  Milagres são reais! 

Well have a great week family!!!

Love you guys!

-Elder Grondel

May 17, 2015

Hey fam, This week was pretty good.  We worked our tails off.  I am sooo exhausted.  My body is reaching an unbeleivable level of tiredeness that i didnt know existed.  But our baptism from the other week got confirmed this week.  It worked out pretty well cause she would have had to work this sunday and wouldnt have been able to get confirmed again but she lost her job.. ha. the lord works in mysterious ways! its good that she thinks this way as well.   We had an integration night here this last week at the church and it went really well!  the bishop liked it so much that he marked another one for this week.  the members here are on fire! our ward mission leader is a boss! and another guy was called to be his assistant and so now we have even more help. the missionary work is progressing very well here. We have a goal in our zone for all the companionships to have a baptism on the 30th, please pray for us! Its great to see you guys running the jog a thon! I bet you gave mom a run for her money Bells! ha oh dad, do you have the book, "The Great Apostasy" ?  i wanna read it after the mish, Ya, its best to avoid having a girlfriend before the mish, just jang out. ha tell jake to study preach my gospel and read his scriptures, learn to love the scriptures bro!  Jake! Just hang on a litte bit longer. I decided I´ll be coming home July 16th... and then we can kick it and catch up on things! im gonna need your help to catch up with your life and the times bro! maybe we can even head out fishin like the good ol´days! love you bro! ha, thats good for Bryson, he gets to make goals and plans and all that good stuff all over again! woohoo!  But im sure he´ll do a great job. Well have a great week guys!   I love you Tchau! -Elder Grondel

May 11, 2015

It was great to see you guys as well!  you all look like you are doing well.  everyone looks so happy.  Its amazing to see the promises of the Lord being fulfilled.

im cheering for you Lex!

Thanks for the spiritual thoughts in the emails.  They have all been really inspired.  Last week your spiritual thought was exactly what i had read that day in personal study.   

marissa got married?!?! what?  but shes in high school still isnt she?

wow bella is dancing like a professional!!!  atta girl!

well i dont have much to say becasue we talked yesterday...but one thing i forgot to tell you guys is that we had a baptism on saturday! a lady really great.  the Elders had been teaching her a bit before i got here.  but we went there the other day and she had this crazy desire to be baptized! it was so cool, she works on sundays quite a bit, but she is doing all she can to get a new job this week.  now we are working on the husband, for him to accept baptism. hes a little more difficult.   but this week should work out.

well i love you guys!

 Have a great week!

-Elder Grondel

May 4, 2015

Hey fam!  my new area is really cool!  We have a new chapel that was dedicated a week and a half ago, so basically everyone in the area has heard about the church or seen it.  It´s super pretty.  I went back saturday and was able to watch the baptism  of one of our investigators from my last area.  It was wonderful!  She was so excited to finally be baptized, and her son who baptized a couple months ago was in tears from happiness as well.  

Well we have been working like crazy here to find some new people that can progress, my zone leader comp has been here for almost 7 months now, and has done a great job and knows the area very well.  He is super excited, i can tell hes a little stressed because the size of his zone has doubled! ha. But he is from chile! my first hispanic companion. hes super awesome. Since we are in a tri-panionship we did a divison yesterday and i went with a kid from the ward, it was really weird to be without another missionary, but it was great! This kid invited someone to baptism in our second visit! and the guy accepted! he lives right next to the church and wants to help out a ton and prepare for a mission. His brother plays soccer for Barcelona! pretty coool huh?

well i love you guys! have a great week! Talk to you Sunday!

-Elder Grondel

April 27, 2015

Congratulations on the missionary work! Thats great you guys are particpating in the greatest humanitarian work that exists!  

thanks for the pictures, its nice to see whats happening there.

 

They are in the championship?! Thats what im talkin bout bro!!! você é o cara mano!  Arrebenta!!!

Thats great to see the pictures of addi and landon! Landons looking like an old guy...hes rockin that that Brigham Youny beard tho.... haha

EEEESSHHHH...   i hope it all goes well for lex and maddy. that could be a really great thing for them both.

Thats awesome lex is doing so well! Mayeb i could take some managing skills from her to help our zone to be #1  ha

Caleb is looking pretty tall!    wow. gerr and levi are looking like pros out there. is olivia able to keep up with the track and dance?     

Im pumped to hang out with jake when i get back! maybe we will be able to even work together at the valley.  Im gonna prepare him to be the best missionary for when he gets out in the field.  I brag about him alot and how he is graduating early.

Well, like the title of the email said, it was my last week here in this area.  The zone i will be transfered to another area but will continue as zone leader.  It will be my third area in this zone!  I will have two new comps, Elder morales, an Élder from Chile and do you guys remember the Élder that came and stayed with us for a week out here?   ya, i will be in a tripanionship with him again there.  Maybe the presidente is giving me a chance to redeem myself??.. ha    But i heard that my old comp, Elder Smith is a new assistant!  Hes super cool and has for sure deserved it, if he is, then he will be in my zone. Thatll be tight to work with him one more time before he goes home. Him and my comp, Elder Inman will both go home in 5 weeks.  Well we had a baptism kind of scheduled for this week, she said she would pray and ask God, and then tell us, but we couldnt get ahold of her until friday night, her cell phone got robbed, but we taught a lesson and she decided to be baptized the next day.  but she was called into work so we had to reschedule for this week.  And a mom of a recent convert that we have been teaching, since i got here, will be baptized this week, after the transfer, But because its in my zone i think i will be able to come and watch it!  They were both at church sunday and loved it, and are really excited for the baptism.  Im gonna miss this area a ton! i loved it here. the members are wonderful! there are so many elect people in this city.  today for lunch, a part member family will make fried fish for my "goodbye lunch".  

Well i love you guys! have a wonderful and safe week!

-Elder Grondel

April 20, 2015

This week was alot better!  We got our goals and marked a few baptismal dates and had some great people at church!  The zone did alot better too, and ever compnaionship has at least one date for this saturday, please pray that all goes well and 6 more souls can come unto Christ this Saturday. 

There is a family, a mom and two kids that went with us to church this week and really liked it, they were a reference from member.  The members here are awesome. we have, a great bishop here!  His wife called us lastnight and invited us to eat dinner with them, but unfortunately we had alot to do and they said "thats ok, we will bring it to you"  Score!   ha. we have been getting offered so much food lately that we have been like forcefeeding because some people have got offended that we dont wanna eat there food. not because its bad, but because we have like no room in our tummies! haha. its awesome.  

We have an investigator, she is the mom of a recent convert, who has been to church a ton of times, and Sunday she came up to us at church and told us she will get baptized and marked here own baptismal date! It was so special to see the seed grow within here little by little. they are wonderful people.  Her son was the first one to be baptized in Senador Canedo by my comp before i got here. I have to give alot of credit to my companion, he found some amazing people and did some great work to help the machine get running here.

Wow, i love that thought. i just finished reading Lucas this morning.  I have been noticing alot lately in my study of the importance of works combined with the faith. Every day in comp study i have a new scripture or story to share with my comp about the importance of works.  i think hes kinda gettin annoyed by now! haha. but i love this topic.

ya they have some great parties here!

Well have a great week!  I love you guys and i can feel your prayers, thanks a ton.

- O Elder Grondel

April 13, 2015

Well this week was super crazy.

  I have been getting super stressed because we had to go to goiania this week and work in an area there as well because the elders there were sent out. We went there one day and here another and have been trading in between the houses.  Its nice in that area because its right next to the church, so people are more chill with going, but i feel like our follow up with investigators got kinda bad because their is so much time between visits.   We had some tough things happen this week with some baptisms that fell, and other disapointments.  We are trying our best and sometimes it doesnt look like it, or we feel like thier is so much working against us.  We are learning how to deal with these situations and continue with Faith! Every little thing....is gonna be alright!  ha

 we had 13 people at church from the two cities we are working, but unfortunately some of them arent married and stuff or live super far wich messes up our work sometimes.  We have to organize our days so well so that we can get our goals, if we dont, we will fall way behind and not get close to our goals. i really liked Elder Utchdorfs talk about our ministry, and what the lord thinks about our callings, if we love the people or if we have high goals.  thats helped me alot, and im learning alot about that principle lately.  about loving those who you are serving.

Idk if i will stay here, i have two more transfers after this one, so we will see!

Good luck bryson! ARREBENTA!  

Thats awesome gerr gerr! your a beast!

well have a great week!

Love you guys

-Elder Grondel

April 6, 2015

Well i didnt get to see all of conference, but i saw most and it was really good! i really wanted to watch there talks in English to feel the power they talk with.  But it was nice to listen to the portugeuse translation one last time :p   my comp is downloading it to his pendrive so that we can listen to it when we get back in the apartment.  i really liked Utchdorfs explanaiton of grace.  It seemed the focus this year was MARRIAGE and freedom of religion.  Saturday was all about marriage...

We had three baptisms this week, it shouldve been four but the other son didnt want to.  It was a family of mom, dad, and son.  But they arent married, but they dont live together.  We had to get a firm commitment that they would keep the commandments. we are encouraging them to get married. But is was an awesome way to celebrate Easter or in potugease-Páscoa!  I couldnt imagine a better day to get baptized. The members were awesome, there were so many there to support them.  we got that video called PORQUE ELE VIVE / or because he lives, and a member put it on our pendrives last week and we have been using it in lessons, it worked really well for short lessons this week, and we got pretty little cards from the church with the site of the video to hand out to everyone.

The stake conference was at my old chapel and so i got to see all our recent converts and reactivated less actives!  It was such a special thing to see them all firm and go by themselves!  I saw a young man of 14 years old that came all by himself and the next day the whole family came to watch!  I gave Rogerio a big hug, it was awesome to see them, and others are really firm as well.  I am so grateful for the members that help in retaining new members, even though they dont know the converts that well they make a big difference, they dont even know the role they play in the salvation of such special special people!

Well the other Elders that were in the ward we go to were transferred out in an emergency transfer and now we have their area in goiania and the city of Senador Canedo and the city another half hour farther where the family that baptized lives, called Caldazinha! we have got work to do! but im really excited!

ha, so i missed like an hour of conference on sunday because the baptismal font wasnt draining all the way, and the baptism was after the session!  so i had to go in, roll my pants up and get to work! we took the rest out with a bucket and cleaned it out! there was a dead lizard in there...ha. but i was sweating and smelling bad! ha. i filled up the bucket and my comp took it outside and dumped it, TEAMWORK! ha.  but everything went jsut right and the font reached the limit right as the meeting began! a tender mercy from the Lord!

one more miracle in this great work.... 

Well today is my comps bday! he shares a bday with Jesus! how cool is that? ha.

idk gmas adress but tell her Happy brithday and that i miss her a ton!

well have a great week! love you guys!

-Elder Grondel

March 30,2015

What? Mom?!?!?   haha.  No i for sure knew that she was gonna make it!  Thats so cool! Im so Proud of my mom!!!  You for sure deserved it.

Well, for some not as cool news as moms.....this week was pretty cool!  We got our goal for the week.  We have been working with a famiy from another city, a mom and two sons who are really cool! the mom has been searching sincerely for an answer and reading the book of mormon.  She is a friend of a member out their and is progressing really well.  We found some really cool people this week that went to church. i think they liked it alot.  We are always excited to have new interested investigators.  

This week i studied alot about Love-Charity.  I started to realize the importance of having love, its so important that even if you do all the "works" and have all the faith, but dont have love...you are nothing!  Love is so powerful that it can give you an instant remission of sins! You can be purified if you love much!  What a wonderful thing.  I am trying so much to develop this "pure love of Christ".  It was such a great topic of study this week!

This week was the birthday of  the guy next to me cutting the food in that picture and Leandro our recent convert.  they had a barbecue sunday after church and invited Leandro and Patricia to eat with us.  That family is really special, the pictures on facebook are from the family nights at their house.  We gave them a family proclamation to the world in a really pretty picture frame i had in my suitcase :)  and gave the testimony of the living christ to leandro.  i gave each of them an old spice....because they dont have american deodorant here. haha. i told them that i wasnt trying to hint to them that they stink, haha. its because american things here are like "super cool" and "hi tech"  and thats like the only american thing i have.

Well i dont have to much other stuff to say, im loving this area! the work is great! my comp is really cool! we had some great cooler weather these past two weeks, it was wonderful, but today its already gotten a bit hotter.  

I have gotten really skinny, ha. i thought i would gain a little weight with the wonderful food we get, but my body just cant eat very much anymore. and i sweat so much of it off in this heat!

Well i love you guys! Have a great week!   congrats mom!

Tchau!

-Elder Grondel

March 23, 2015

this week was pretty cool!  We got our goal for the week.  We have been working with a famiy from another city, a mom and two sons who are really cool! the mom has been searching sincerely for an answer and reading the book of mormon.  She is a friend of a member out their and is progressing really well.  We found some really cool people this week that went to church. i think they liked it alot.  We are always excited to have new interested investigators.  

This week i studied alot about Love-Charity.  I started to realize the importance of having love, its so important that even if you do all the "works" and have all the faith, but dont have love...you are nothing!  Love is so powerful that it can give you an instant remission of sins! You can be purified if you love much!  What a wonderful thing.  I am trying so much to develop this "pure love of Christ".  It was such a great topic of study this week!

This week was the birthday of  the guy next to me cutting the food in that picture and Leandro our recent convert.  they had a barbecue sunday after church and invited Leandro and Patricia to eat with us.  That family is really special, the pictures on facebook are from the family nights at their house.  We gave them a family proclamation to the world in a really pretty picture frame i had in my suitcase :)  and gave the testimony of the living christ to leandro.  i gave each of them an old spice....because they dont have american deodorant here. haha. i told them that i wasnt trying to hint to them that they stink, haha. its because american things here are like "super cool" and "hi tech"  and thats like the only american thing i have.

Well i dont have to much other stuff to say, im loving this area! the work is great! my comp is really cool! we had some great cooler weather these past two weeks, it was wonderful, but today its already gotten a bit hotter.  

I have gotten really skinny, ha. i thought i would gain a little weight with the wonderful food we get, but my body just cant eat very much anymore. and i sweat so much of it off in this heat!

Well i love you guys! Have a great week!   congrats mom!

Tchau!

-Elder Grondel

March 16, 2015

So this week was pretty good!

We Didnt have as many people as we had hoped at church. We had some people super confirmed saturday night but the weather got a tiny itty bitty bit colder and everyone is getting sick and getting colds.  There is one family we are teaching that is really cool!  The dad understands so well about the restoration, his name is Leo.  He wanted us to go to his moms house and teach her, and when we did he went there with us and told the whole restoration and the book of mormon with so many details that we hadnt even taught him!  He had gone on the church site and studied all about it!  They had their family in brasilia invite them over saturday but they decided not to go because they had planned to go to church.  But he ended up getting really sick Sunday morning and couldnt go to church.  But they really want to go and are really excited.  He always offers to help us out and give us food, he even offered us his computer so that we could call and talk to our families! haha. not until mothers day Leo!!!

But another family went to church, and the mom was sick, but she stayed almost to the end before she had to leave and go to the doctor because she was soo sick. But they seemed to be really liking it. They are member references!

Their is another family that we have been teaching that was having alot of problems with their marriage, they had been married, divorced, and want to get married again.  Last night we taught with a member about eternal families. it was really cool.  The mom started to cry and thank us for coming, she said the fighting at home and the feeling in the house has completely changed since we have started going there, and last sunday they even went to church.  She said wether they join the church or go back to their old church our work has been in vain.  It was a bittersweet moment.  We were so happy to see a family changing as they applied principles of the TRUE gospel and studied the BOM, but it was sooo sad they didnt recognize the testimony that they have been given...how much clearer can it be?  Why in the world would you go back when God has revealed to you something so great!  Imagine if Joseph didnt follow the counsels of God he received in the first vision! If God tries to give us more knowledge, more light, and we dont accept it/apply it....he will take away even that which we have. 

 29 Wo be unto him that shall say: We have received the word of God, and we need no more of the word of God, for we have enough!

 30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him thatreceiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.

I hope we can all always remember to accept and apply the light that the lird has given us.   

This week i have started learning alot about myself and things i want to change before i return home.  I want to take advantage of this time so close to the spirit and aquire the attrirbutes of Christ.  I will be studying alot of the sixth chapter in Preach my gospel this week! :)

As Genereal Conference is getting here, i wanted to challenge all of you!!!  ALL OF YOU!   to write down a list of your friends (6-10 names)and pray about who you should invite to general conference. Your success as member missionaries is not if they get baptized or not, but if you invite or not!!! its all about the invite. Prepare a great invite for your friends, maybe practice inviting people in family night with each other doing role plays!  

have a great week everyone! miss you tons!  Boa viajem papai!

-Elder Grondel

March 9,2015

This week was another great week, maybe even one of the best ones of my mission!  We have a  level system here for all the key-indicators and there are 7 levels and we have been trying for a while toi get some of the higher levels and this week week got the level 5 and it was soo cool!  We were needing a few lessons with member and references from member or investigator and when the night was ending we got three references from one lady that led to three more!  and our recent convert, Leandro, from this past saturday went with us on two lessons! it was awesome! there is so much work to be done here. but we chased all of our goals and got home 9:26 happy with a great week. 

One of our investigators dogs ate one of our recent converts kittens..haha. but luckily it didnt cause any problems. 

 We had a baptism of Leandro this week, he was able to stop smoking and be baptized! he tried really hard and was able to stop!   

Patricia had a mircale happen last week!  She has been here for 3 months looking everywhere for a job and hasnt found anything. and 3 days after getting baptized she got a job!!! She had quite a bit of fear before being baptized and we talked with her alot about taking that step of faith in the darkness and the Lord will bless us....and she took that step and was extremely blessed! 

We ate lunch yesterday with that family thats trying to get married, it was soo good! They are so firm!  Its sooo cool to see them progressing, the daughter gave a talk in the "new beginnings" saturday night.   They posted the pictures of the baptism on facebook and his cuzin from the south of brazil emailed him and said hes a member and is the bishop of his ward and that he was really excited to see his kids getting baptized. he didnt even know he had family that were members!

i put a pause on reading jesus the christ because my comp finished a marvelous work and a wonder and is letting me read it, its super great! i wanna read as much as i can or all before he or i is transfered. My comp is super cool! he has a lot of patience with me and has great ideas.

Ya Josué has a ton of pictures and fotos of me on his facebook.   hahaha i saw dads facebook...superman!!! haha

Caleb thats awesome! congrats! i wish i wouldve played soccer, thats gonna help your cordenation out a ton for football!  and when you serve in brasil you can show all the brazilians how to play soccer!

but i will answer you questions dad.

1) i learnded that i have a lot to learn. My testimony has really been put to the test and because of this it has grown so much.  My knowledge of the gospel and the tests of faith have helped me strengthen my testimony as well.  I love being able to say with conviction That "I Know This Church Is True"

2)The Gospel/scriptures, and more about Joseph Smith, who he was, his story all that.

3)Go out with the missionaries! Tell everyone about the gospel! Share your testimony and your beliefs! Overcome the fear!  Study the first lesson in PME and gain a testimony of it. PRAY AND ASK! 

4)Read the explanations of the lessons and the book of mormon and practice telling it in role plays with your families and then set goals and plans to apply it by a certain day and then follow up with how it went!  Also its great to study the part about working with members so they can understand how the missionaries are taught to work with the members.

5)They give references and go visit with us/or invite us over to introduce freinds in a family night and THEY INVITE THEM to churhc and other things! They also inlcude the investigtors at church, because we always tell them that they will love church! if the members dont help them feel the "pure love of christ" they wont feel much to desire to come back.

6) Mark more family nights.

7)They have a desire to help and understand that the misisonary work is the most imortant...but the majority just doesnt know how to do it and how they can help.

8)Wake up and go? im not quite sure i understand this question.

9)DONT JUDGE! invite them to the activities. live the gospel.   love the investigators by word and action

There is a great book our mission uses called "The Power of Member Missionary Work" That is super great and deals with alot of these topcis, i think you would love it and get alot out of it.

We seem to be able to lead by example as we try really hard, but sometimes i want to be able to lead in other spects as well so that the others also have the same success we are having. we tell them and tell them but sometimes i feel like there is a lack of aplication.  how can i help them apply what is helping us?

Thanks everyone!

 

   Happy Birthday dad! thanks for everything that youve taught me and for pushing me a ton.  i hope to one day be able to be as great a leader as you.  Thanks for all your inspiring letters that keep me going.

Amo Vocês..

-Elder Grondel