"Give me the Badge" - Gwen Stacy

Mike, that was for you.

First off, CONGRATULATIONS DAD! That is so sweet about your service mission call. You will be the best photographer the church ever did have. Plus we'll be missionaries at the same time. Quite dandy, if you ask me. Way to go, Pops.

So the big news of the email....

I'm being transferred again! Elder Pontes and I arrived together and opened the area, and now we're leaving together and closing the area. Doesn't make any sense, but if it's what the Lord wants, I'm down.

                               We should all be ninjas!

So I'm going to a city called Palmeiras das Missões, which means "Palm Tree Missions". Somebody has to come up with better names for these cities. It's a smaller, German city, and I'll be serving in a branch! They don't even have a chapel. Just a giant mansion where they have church and where I'll live. Yes, I'm totally going to be living in a mansion. My companion will be Elder Gomes and I'll be finishing up his training. I am more pumped than a brand new bicycle wheel.

So this week was pretty darn cool. Here's the details:

-There was a baptism in the other ward here on Saturday, so we took Poliana, and Regina and her husband (Regina isn't a member but her husband is). They liked it a lot and they got excited to be baptized. But the only problem is that Regina has to get married and Poliana is waiting on an answer for baptism. But I know they'll be baptized soon. Elder Pereira, my last companion in Uruguaiana, is coming here and he is flipping sweet, so I trust that the Lord knows what He's doing.

                               At the Baptism

                                Poliana and Family

-It has been raining and been extremely cold all week. But I'm not complaining.

-I can't remember anything else at the moment, so I'm just gonna send pictures.

Well I love you all a whole heck of a ton. Ya'll better chose the right and stuff.

Rock to the on,

Elder Hintze

{Insert Creative Email Titile Here}

YO YO YO

Hey people. So this week was very interesting. So here's how it went:

-We went and ate lunch as Maria Rita´s house. Afterwards, she told us that the neighbor's daughter-in-law has a "bad spirit". Well, her neighbor is a less active, so we went over to see if we could help. Well, we heard crazy screaming and it was kind of scary. I totally thought that she was faking, but who knows. We called President and asked how to cast out a bad spirit and then we went and talked to them. Well, they didn't want us to enter because the pastors from the other church were there and they didn't want conflict, so we didn't enter. But, later we found out that she has some psychological problem, and that she was probably faking. It wasn't a demon  or anything, but wow, that was a close one. So this almost happened to us: https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/jesus-heals-a-possessed-man?lang=eng

                               Missionary Day with Maria Rita

-Okay, so we were teaching English and a girl walked in. We totally thought that they were members, but afterwards we asked, and they said no. But they had been going to church for the past 2 months! So we talked to them and they are getting baptized this Saturday! Miracle of the transfer!

                               Sweater Vests, Baby!

-So we taught Poliana about the commandments and she agreed to keep them all. Incluiding the word of wisdom. When we talked about fasting, we invited her to do a fast with us and she got super excited so we planned to return Sunday morning to eat breakfast, start the fast, and then take her to church. Well, some things happened and we ended up going Sunday after church to eat lunch and then fast. When we got there, she had a hangover because she went to a party the night before. Then she said "Now I understand the Word of Wisdom a little better". Then we taught her about faith and baptism. Ever since we started teaching her, she never wanted to get baptized, yet she's already expressed that she knows it's all true. Well, she is also a college student studying agriculture, so we were able to teach about seeds and fruits and tie it to the gospel.I never realized how many agricultaral scripture metaphors there are. My goodness it helped a whole lot. It was cool. 

                                Pedro's Birthday

-We are also teaching another guy named Leonardo who will be baptized not this Saturday but the next! It's pretty cool to see a lot of cool things happen after a lot of work!

Well, this was my week. It was cooler than an ice skating polar bear with a milk shake. 

LOVE YOU ALLL!!!!!!

Rock on. 

Elder Hintze

World Cup in Brasil

Alrighty folks, here was my week (heads up, this letter may be a tad bit short)

-So one day this week, we went to the hospital to give a baby a blessing. This baby is the grandaughter of a recent-convert, but the mom isn't a member. So we were talking with Tais (the mom) and we were about to give the baby a blessing when a priest from another church walked in. He preached to us and was talking about free agency. It was interesting. But then he said, "You have free agency, so will you use your agency to except a blessing?" My companion was about to say, "Well, we're about to give a blessing too, but our time is short" But before he could finish this priest said "It's just a blessing, dude." and then he put a hand on his head and gave my companion a crazy evangelistic blessing. Then he blessed me, Tais, the baby, and the other mom and baby in the room. Then I invited him to our english classes at the church. After he left, we gave the baby a real blessing. The Spirit was so different. With this priest, it was loud and confusing, but through the proper authority, it was peaceful and calming. There was an amazing difference when we gave the blessing. It was cool to see the real effects of the Priesthood.

-Yesterday, we were teaching Poliana again, and we watched the 20 minute film about the Restoration, and then we watched a 1 hour film called The Testaments. It's about when Christ arrived here in the Americas. I think she enjoyed it, but afterwords, we talked about faith. She's studying agriculture, so we shared Alma 32, about seeds. It was kind of cool how she understood, but then we talked about baptism again. She doesn't want to get baptized but she still wants to read the Book of Mormon and go to church and all that stuff....What? We explained a lot, but she is being a little stubborn. But we're just gonna let the Spirit work in her a little bit.

-So this month is the World Cup, right? While, the first game Brazil played was very interesting. We can't watch the games (obviously) so we have to either have to
a.) Teach people who don't like soccer
b.) Stay in the apartment
Well, there is not a Brazilian soul that doesn't like soccer, so we went to our apartment. I didn't need to watch the game to know about it. Every time Brazil scored, the whole city was screaming and fire works were going off. I think our apartment was shaking. Then, when they won, it was a bagunça. Crazy.

Well, I sure do love you all a lot! Hope all is well!

Rock on.

Elder Hintze

Howdy Folks

Alrighty people. Before I begin my letter, I just want to give a shoutout to my fabulous, amazing, spectacular, perfect mother who I absolutely adore. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!
Okay, so here's my week:

-Wednesday, we went to Santo Angelo for a mission conference. Elder Mozart Soares of the 70 was touring our mission and we got to meet him. It was AWESOME and inspirational. Bah, it was amazing. I also got to see almost all of the people from my MTC group, and that was awesome.

-Elder Knowles, from the MTC who served in Georgia with me, told me that Elder Rodrigues, my companion in Georgia that had cerebral palsy, had to go home to have surgery :( But he was released as an honarable missionary! If someone could get me his home email, that would be great. He was an AWESOME missionary. His name is Ryan Rodrigues from South Jordan Utah

- We taught an AWESOME lesson with our investigator Poliana. Her mom and brothers are members, but she isn't. She's studying at the college here in Cruz Alta, so she's a college students, so I'm having some memories of teaching people in the Singles Ward in Georgia. But it was an awesome lesson. She said that she believed that everything we're teaching is true. But she won't pray about baptism because she knows the answer will be yes and she doesn't want to be baptized. I don't get it, but okay. We're gonna try our hardest! She's definitely gonna be baptized one day. Her mom bore her testimony fast sunday that she wanted all of her children to be members. It was awesome.

-I got Ashley's package and I'm totally eating mint oreos when I get to the apartment

Well people, I love you all a whole heck of a lot. Stay strong and don't do dumb things.

I LOVE YOU

Again, Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!

Rock on,

ELDER HINTZE

Miracles and Stuff

So this week was kind of slow in terms of the work, but full of amazing things. So heres my week:

-Wednesday, I caught a little bit of the cold, so we stopped and did some extra studying until I got better. And I got better so it's all good.

-Thursday, we went to eat at the house of this old couple (one's a german lady). After lunch, the old man who has epilepsy asked us to help him out with good ol' wood choppin'. So we were choppin' up all o' dat wood. After a while, we turned around and he wasn't there. So we ran over and he had fainted. We quickly gave him a blessing and he woke up . Then we called for an ambulance. He's all good now. But what a miracle it was that we were where we were when it happened!

-That same day, we went to teach Rafael and Iliane, a couple that we're teaching that want to get baptized. The lesson was guided by the Spirit and the Spirit was putting things in my head to teach them specifically about what they needed to learn. It was incredible. Then, afterward, Rafael asked for a blessing. So we gave him a blessing and afterwards he told us his experience. He said "Wow. I have never felt this way before. I felt like I was on fire. When Elder Pontes put the oil on my head, it felt like he poured fire on me. And when you gave me the blessing, it was like it was exactly what I needed. It was so...purifying. I've never felt this way." He went on and then we were able to explain that this is what the Spirit and perhaps his answer he was looking for. It was amazing to see how the Spirit was working.

                                Rita- New Member

-This week was Stake Conference here in Cruz Alta, and a member of the Area Seventy came and talked. His name is Elder Leal, and it was SUPER AWESOME!!! He is so flippin' cool. He called all the missionaries up to the stand and had the missionaries name one truth that was restored through the restoration, all because of the first vision. Then the members would name another truth. And then the missionaries. And so on. Then he asked one of the sisters, a japanese-brazilian sister (she told us that shes from the tribe of Dan. Pretty cool), to share the first vision and then teach the congregation about it as if they were investigators. It was so powerful. It just reminded me about the power of the restoration, and the power of sharing the first vision. Hey people at home, SHARE THE FIRST VISION WITH A FRIEND THIS WEEK. Got it?

-The weather has heated up a tad, but that only means that winter is gonna punch us in the face next week. But it's pretty cool....cool, get it? hehe

                               The view from my apartment on a foggy morning

Well, this week was super cool and I am so grateful for the Spirit that accompanied me this week. It rocked. Well, love you all. Don't do drugs.

Elder Hintze

Challenge of the week:

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/06/the-call-to-be-christlike?lang=eng

PEACE OUT