Monday, February 16, 2015

A perfeição se encontro nos detalhes

Hey everyone! This week was great. If your trying your best, it's hard to have a week that isn't great. This week wasn't filled with amazing, glorious miracles, just the little day to day miracles, for which I am so grateful.We worked hard this week, and we were able to help our investigators to progress. So here's what happened.

On Tuesday, instead of having district meeting, we stayed at home for another 2 hours studying the doctrine of Christ and doing special practices on how to invite others to be baptised. It was great, and we learned a whole lot.



We've been working with a family that is part member. There are 2 children that are members, but the parents and the other siblings aren't. We're working a lot with Mariana and Vitoria, 2 girls who are super awesome and are progressing a lot. They went to church last week, and they stopped drinking coffee and everything. They're marked to be baptized on the 28th, so please pray for them! They went to a special conference this week, so they'll be out of the city, but they both brought their Book of Mormon with them to read, so that is pretty awesome! Pray for them!

Elder Aguiar. my companion, is super awesome. He is a hard worker, and I'm so grateful that I can learn from him. I know the Lord loves me because he puts me through experiences that help me grow and become more like him. I'm so grateful for the Gospel!

Sorry, this ones short, but I hope you all know that I love you!!!!!

I hope your week rocks more than Rocktopus.



Elder Hintze

Monday, February 9, 2015

You Could Make That With Just One Tie!

OLLLLAAAAAA GGENNNNTTEEE!!!

So this week was really awesome, like always. But first I want to congratulate Elder Josh Hamm and Sister Sydney Sperry for completing their missions! Congratulations! You guys are awesome.

So Monday was sweet. After completing all of our p-day responsibilities, we went home and slept. Oh, what a wonderful feeling. Then, that night, we went and visited some people. We had marked a family night at a members home, but when we got there, it didn't work out because the wife hadn't gotten home from work yet.



On Tuesday, we did a special zone meeting to start off the transfer. We sang "Called to Serve" and I can't express the power of a Zone of missionaries singing this song. Wow. It's amazing. The Sister Training Leaders gave a training about keeping commitments and helping our investigators to understand the importance of commitments. Afterwards, I gave a training about obedience, and my companion gave a training about really loving our investigators. It was a powerful meeting and we all felt the spirit very strongly.

On Wednesday, we visited a ton of people, and then we had a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader.

On Thursday, we visited some people, but mostly prepared for the mission tour on Friday. We had to organize the travel plans, and prepare the zone to travel to Alegrete. And then, that night, we had a baptism of a really awesome guy named Alex. They were married and got baptized that night. She was already a member and was returning to church, and Alex had been prepared to be baptized. It was amazing.



On Friday, we all went to Alegrete to see Presidente Mazzagardi, of the 70, and in the Presidency of the Brazil Area. He came and visited our mission, and wow, was it powerful. He gave us so many little tips to help us to be better missionaries, and he inspired us with amazing words. Holy moly, it was indescribable. One thing that he said that caught my attention was:
"When the tribulations and difficulties come, it's because the blessing are in reserve".
I thought a lot about what he said, and it is really awesome. It reminds me of a thing that mom taught me when we lived in Stoneleigh in Round Hill. I woke up one Sunday and didn't want to go to church. I wasn't sick, or anything, I just didn't feel like getting up. Mom came into my room and I told her that I didn't want to go and that I'd just stay in bed. She asked me why and I told her that "I wasn't feeling too well". She looked at me and told something that I have remembered my whole life. She said "Nick, there is always the most resistance before something good happens." I thought about that and decided to overcome the resistance of wanting to stay in bed, and I got up and went to church. Nothing extremely special happened at church that Sunday, but I learned an important lesson...We need to be stronger than the resistance. And we we do that, we qualify ourselves for the blessings that are in reserve.

Saturday and Sunday were normal days of searching for people. We're opening an area, so we're trying to find a bunch of new investigators.



Well this was my week. It was fun, and simple, but it was awesome. I love being a missionary and I love working hard.

I hope your week is cooler than polar bears surfing on ice.

LOVE YOU ALL

ELDER HINTZE

Monday, February 2, 2015

Todo Mundo tá Sassy Rapaz

HELLLLLOOOOO THERRREEE PEEEOPPPLLEEE

So I'm here in the infamous Uruguaiana again! Woohoo! It's not that bad of a city, actually. The people here are awesome and the ward helps a lot, but man, do I miss Santa Maria. But all is well. It's whatever the Lord wants for me.



So I'll be quick, because this week was mostly walking and searching addresses.

And yes, once again, I am opening an area. This is the 5th area that I've opened, holy moly.

So on Monday, we went to Carla's house and spent a fun p-day there. It was quite awesome. We ate hot dogs, played ninja, took pictures, and played hymns on guitar. It was sad because I love that family so much. It was so hard to leave that ward, my goodness.

On Tuesday, I woke up early and went to the Mission Council.  It was my first mission council and it was pretty cool. We first heard President Parrela give a talk to all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders. Then Sister Parrela talked for a little. Then we went into the cultural hall and sat in a circle by zone, and talked about some ideas that we have to help the missionaries and any problems that we were having in the zone. We were super busy and we didn't have much time so it was pretty rushed. My bus left the station at 12:30, and the Council ended at 12:10...and we still had to run to the restaurant to grab our lunch, pay a taxi, and run to the bus station. Luckily, everything worked out, and after a 7 1/2 hour bus ride, I'm here in Uruguaiana again!

On Wednesday, we visited some addresses that the other elders left for us, and then we went with the Ward Mission Leader to show us the area.

On Thursday, we visited some people with the bishop. We asked him if he had any friends that he wanted to visit with us and he decided to take us to his coworkers house. We went and we taught about faith, repentance, and baptism. Then, he miraculously asked us when he could get baptized! We marked a date to return and teach him the restoration and mark a baptismal date with him. It was pretty sweet! His name is Fenner, and him and his family are really really great. If you could pray for them, that would be wonderful.

On Friday, we walked the whole day, looking for addresses.

Saturday, we ate lunch with the ward at an activity. Ya'll really need to eat churrasco (Brazilian barbecue). It is the best thing ever. And I'm here in the south, where they have the best churraso ever. Then we taught an English class to all the youth. That night, we were going to have a family night at an investigators house, but it fell through, so we went the the Ward Mission Leaders house. It turned out that there was a friend of the Ward Mission Leader's son who was there playing soccer, and he wasn't a member. We started to talk, and we ended up teaching him and marking a baptismal date for the 14th of February! It was a little miracle! His name is Marcelo, so pray a lot for him.

Sunday, we went to church, and it was really cool. It was a great testimony meeting. Afterwards, we went to lunch. Then, we went to the chapel that I attended when I was here in the city a year ago. We went there to make a missionary choir for the zone conference that's coming up this Friday. Elder Mazzagardi from the Area Presidency will be there, so we're preparing something super-duper. After, we went to ward council, and then we visited some other people.



This week was super simple but it was full of little miracle, and hard work.

I was studying this week about personal values, and how we need to all establish our own personal values in order to remember who we are and what we stand for. For example, Benjamin Franklin had 12 values, the Young Women's theme has 7, President Hinkley had 10. So what we need to do is:
1. Determine what our values are
2. Write a paragraph about each value and what it means
3. Make goals about what you can do daily to live that value.

As we learn to live our Values, we can be guided in our lives, and we will be more established. We will know who we are and we will live to reach our potential. And we will know what we stand for and who we can really become. Every person is different, therefore, every person should establish their own personal values, according to who they are, what's important to them, and the goal to be more like Jesus Christ.

My 12 Values are:
Hard Work
Knowledge
Charity
Patience
Organization
Perseverance
Self-Control
Creativity
Diligence
Discipline
Efficiency
Wisdom

You should all establish your own values and recite them weekly as you plan your week so that you can remember who you are and what you want to become. This will help you to recognize who you really are and who God wants you to become. Do this in the spirit of prayer so that the Holy Ghost can guide and help you. I can promise so many blessings! It really helps, I promise!

I love you all so much and hope your week is full of awesome spiritual experiences!!!!


Alright people. I LOVE YOU!!!!

Elder Hintze