Football and Prison

Yola! (Yo and hola together). This week was cooler than the weather here. Tons of work, tons of fun. Okay, so here's whats been going on down here in the meio de nada:

 

-So I've been praying for spiritual experiences this week and some cool things happened. Simple, but quite dandy. So we were working and I had a thought that we should pass by the one inactive family and leave a message. So this family was sealed in the temple and were all super active and then one day they just stopped going to church. I think they've been away from the church for almost 5/6 years now. So we passed by and talked, and it seemed like they were having a lot of problems. The wife is having health problems and the dad, Paulo, is out of work. So I shared D&C 58:2-4 that talks about tribulations and the blessings we receive when we keep the commandments during our tribulations. Well, before I could even explain the scripture, Paulo starts looking at his wife and explaining why it's important to keep the commandments and go to church every sunday. He was explaining as if he was desperate to go to church but she wouldn't let him. Then afterwards, Paulo wanted us to give a blessing to her, but only if she wanted. And she wanted, so we gave her a blessing, and the Spirit was super strong. Then we asked (kind of sassily) what they're gonna do Sunday. They didn't really say anything until the 8 year old whispered to her mom that she wanted to be baptized. It was really cool to see how the Spirit affected their determination to return to church. But the sad news is...they didn't show up. It was a spiritual experience because I got to see how the Spirit works, but they still have their agency. I'm super bummed, but we'll keep trying.

 

-So a couple weeks ago, a lady stopped us on the street and said we could stop at her work to teach some youth about Jesus. So we went by this week (turns out it is the building right next to our apartment), and we entered. We asked what kind of facility it was, and she explained that is was sort of an open prison. Boys who did something bad, but not bad enough to go to prison, come here, where they live/work/study and if they're good, they have more freedom to do stuff. So we're starting to teach them and they're really excepting. You can tell that there are some that are totally down to change their lives and there are others that are still a little stubborn. But hey, I'm like the Apostle Paul, I'm teaching in prison!

 

-So we were searching for the house of the one guy in our ward, but we just couldn't find it. So after quite a few attempts, we decided to visit another member close by. It was almost time to head back home, but too early to start heading back yet. So as we walked we passed by a house, and I said "Boa Noite!" to a women who was sitting out front. I had a feeling to talk to her, but I ignored it and kept walking. We passed the house and turned the corner, and the feeling stayed, so I told my companion that we needed to go back and talk to her. So we did. She received us really well and we taught her about the restoration and eternal families. The Spirit was really strong and it was awesome to see how the Spirit guides us. Her name is Mariza.

 

-This last Saturday, we gather the youth to play soccer and bring their friends. But instead we totally played football. My companion bought a football, and now all the Brazilians are learned how to be real men.

 

-Church was crazy. We brought Lázaro, our 11 year old investigator. And there were a lot of children. I ended up entertaining all the little ones and Lázaro, who was having a hard time paying attention, while my companion sat with our other investigator. I got to draw pictures and do silly things, which was flippin' sweet. I'm on a mission and I'm already starting Papa Prep!

 

Well this week rocked, and I hope you all have a radical time, n' stuff. I hope you're all feelin' my prayers! LOVE YOU ALL!

 

Elder Hintze

 

P.S. Dearest Mother Who I Absolutely Adore, all the Brazilians want cookies. Do you have a good recipe?

Hola People

Howdy folks. So this week was weird. Last Sunday, it was super duper cold and then the rest of the week was flippin' hooootttt. I do not understand. I feel like I'm in the bipolar whether of Virginia again. But all is well. Easter was pretty dandy. 

So my week:

-Tuesday, we went back to teach Claudia, that one lady that accepted baptism. She was there and we taught her, but I'm starting to think that she doesn't get it. We explained very clearly and simply that if the Book of Mormon is true, than our church is the only true church in the world, and the only way we can really return to our Heavenly Father. But she keeps saying things like "But I already got my church and I don't think God wants me to go church-hopping." Bah. But her she said her son doesn't have a church and so we started teaching him. His name is Lauro, and he went to church with us on Sunday! We thought he would be sleeping because it was early, it was a holiday, and he's a skateboarding 16 year old. But we got to his house, and he was all ready, waiting outside, so that was cool.

 

-Lázaro is 11 and we've been working with him for a while. His mom was pregnant so it was hard to get in with them. She's inactive, and a little protective of her kids, but they're cool. She had the baby Wednesday (and he is the cutest darn little baby ever), and we got a good lesson in with them this week. And then the mom let Lázaro go to church with us. I think she's opening up to letting him get baptized, which is sweet peas. But keep them in your prayers. 

Me and Paulinho at the river. Paulinho is the only member in his family but I think he's one of the strongest members in the ward. He's the coolest. and his name means Little Paul

-We did 2 service projects this week. We painted a house, and then we cemented the walls of another house. It was pretty sweet. I have a newly developed skill of making and applying cement now. Yeah, I'm cool. 

-I made crepes last P-day, and my companion loved them, and he tells all the families about them, so now, all the families in the ward want me to come over and make crepes. And, they are pretty fantastic, thanks to a recipe of my wonderful mother who I absolutely adore.

-We worked a lot with inactive members this week. It sort of bothers me. Here, all the inactive members have awesome testimonies, they're just flippin' lazy. GET OFF YOUR BUTTS PEOPLE. THE CHURCH IS TRUE. But really they're pretty cool in their own lazy way. 

Well, this was my week. I hope you're all having a wonderful time of magical awesomeness and stuff. I love you all and you all rock socks to the utmost degree of rocking on the Mike Hintze scale of Rockage. Well, peace out, peeps. 

Dad on his mission, and me on mine!

Elder Hintze 

Funky Town and Modern Day Revelation

So this week I learned that chocolate soap is not edible. It was a crazy week, like always, so here are the highlights:

-General Conference was sweet. It was a really different experience listening in Portuguese. Also, it was hard to pay attention. The song "Funky Town" was playing through the loud speaker in the chapel all Saturday. It was so quite and subtle that if you didn't focus , you couldn't hear it. I think me and my companion were the only people who could hear it anyways. I still have no clue why.

-We are going to baptize a senhora (an older lady) by the name of Silivia this Saturday. It's gonna be sweet. She went to conference and she loved it, so I'm excited!

-The chapel always had this weird chirping noise the whole time that I've been here. Well, we now know why. We went to go put some things on the bulletin board, and there were some exterminators there, killing bats. Like, a lot of bats. They had grocery bags full of dead bats. It was crazy weird/cool.

-There is this cool member in my ward who was the mission companion to Austin's mission president! How cool is that?

So I was explaining the story of Nephi going to get the Plates to this 11 year old investigator. I had this huge realization of the importance of the scriptures. The Lord knew that it was necessary for Lehi and his family to have the scriptures with them while they were in the wilderness. It was one of the things most vital to them. So this is what you guys need to do. You guys need to make the scriptures one of the most vital things in your lives. A day without the scriptures is a day without food. So nurture your Spirits and read the scriptures every day! It's something that is so important. I know the scriptures have so much power. Use the amazing opportunity that you have and read, read, read, read, and read.

Anyways, this email is kind of lame, but I love you guys so much! You all are super incredible and I am so grateful to be part of my family! You all rock socks to the utmost degree of sock rocking. Just remember how important each and every one of you are to your Father in Heaven.

Love you guys!

Elder Hintze