Week Seventy

This week went well but was a little bit stressful. We had tons of work to do and had to follow up on our investigators who were baptized this week. Also sorry, but my adaptor isn't working to send in the pictures. Edineide and Livia were baptized on Saturday. The baptism was great. There were tons of members there watching the baptism so that was really awesome to see.

Sorry I've got kind of a jumbled head because of the transfer. I can't really think straight right now because of a lot of the changes that happened in the zone/mission. We have another baptism for this week as well, a woman named Lane has a baptism marked. We have to follow up with her and teach the commandments still though. And her sister and daughter will maybe be baptized on the other Saturday 26.

We learned that Antonio had assassinated someone like 10/15 years ago so for now he will not be able to be baptized. We are going to have to resolve that.... I left that lesson wanting to sleep for like 1501522 hours. 

But I'm doing well. I'm happy and loving this area. Just a bunch of splits/baptismal interviews/change/transfer/emergency transfer and having to go to the bus station at midnight to pick up missionaries was stressful today but all is well.

Have a good week, love you

Elder Batten

Week Sixty Nine

So I didn't have time to  film the video that I said I would do so I guess  I'll  just write out what I wanted to say:

So we are teaching this women named Edinade. She has two sons who were baptized a few years ago but now are less actives and don't want to return. She was invited to a ward activity by a member and we grabbed her address and started visiting her. On the first visit she told us that she had this dream/vision. Basically she dreamed/visioned that she was in the place where everything was white and she was able to see her family. (Mom, sister, brothers and others who have already passed on.) They were all dressed in white and all happy and talking. She wanted to talk with them but wasn't able. She felt as if there was a glass wall or a veil (exact words) between her and her family. She said that she wasn't able to feel the presence of her children. She wanted to go talk with her family but wasn't able to, and then it ended. We explained to her about the spirit world and about the plan of salvation. She told us that she wanted to go to the temple, and explained that her friend (sister Dorinha who is a member) had taken the names of her family and done the baptisms and endowments for them. We explained to her that her family had accepted the gospel and the only way to take down the veil/ glass wall was to be baptized. And through her example one day she would be able to bring her sons back to activity in the church. She has a date set for the 12th but we will she if she is able to stop drinking coffee before then.

We have another investigator named Antonio. He went to church the other week. He knows the Book of Mormon is true, knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet. He has been ripping through the Book of Mormon. In less than 24 hours of recieving the Book of Mormon he read 15 chapters of 1 Nephi and was able to recount everything that happend and through his own knowledge he identified the Catholic church as the prostitute of the world. That was pretty funny. He found the 1 hour film of the restoration on youtube and watched the entire film. He was able to recount that Joseph went to jail, recieved two seperate visits from angels to receive the entire priesthood, also from Moroni to receive the plates, that he built a temple and that Joseph was murdered in 1844 sealing the testimony of the Book of Mormon with his own blood. He spoke of these things so profoundly that he didn't have the appearance of an investigator. In Principles of the Gospel two weeks ago the teacher was explaining about the spirit world. A member was explaining about how salvation being a personal thing is a lie that other churches teach. Because if Salvation was personal therefore we would not need Christ as our Savior. Antonio started to talk saying that he agreed, that in his church (quadrangular which is the Pentecostal foursquare church) they teach that salvation is personal and he doesn't agree because that isn't taught in the scriptures. The only thing impeding him from being baptized still is that he is heavily involved in his church and involved in an upcoming activity there and isn't able to leave completely his obligations just yet. He is a deacon in the church there, which is basically president of the quorum. But he will be baptized.

Also Clebson was baptized on Saturday. It was great. He is the 21 year old who moved from Sao Paulo recently to come live with his dad. He told us this week he had thought a little bit about serving a mission one day. That would be so sick. I'll send the picture.

Also on Sunday we had Stake Conference. Elder Perroti of the area seventy was there. He gave a good talk.

Have a good week, love you

Elder Batten

(Same shoes from last week, back from the shoemaker!)

Week Sixty Eight

This week was filled with some pretty funny experiences.

I was teaching this investigator named Jardi about the sacrament. I was reading John 6 about the bread of life, and explaining how we won't have hunger if we eat of the bread of life, which is the body of Christ. I asked him if he wanted to eat this bread. he said: "No, thanks to God I've never passed hunger in my life." I started laughing, it was pretty funny. He hadn't had a drink in 3 months and on Saturday he ended up getting super wasted and didn't go to church on Sunday. He had commited as well. It was frustrating and annoying. We may cut him off but we will see this week. 

Also we visited this guy named Pedro. He went to plug in the fan into this wild circuit that he had on the floor. It was a mess of cords and extentions. He ended up plugging in another fan to the circuit, and when the fan turned on and started blowing he goes "OXI THIS FAN IS CRAZY" it was pretty funny. The guy was a little odd but I liked the visit a lot.

We have a baptism this week. Cleberson is going to be baptized on Saturday. He is super cool. I like him a lot, and has been progressing ridiculously well. We may have some baptisms this next week as well. There is a story I want to tell you but it would take too long to type it out. I'm thinking about making a video for the next week instead of sending an email. 

Also we have a skunk living in this crack between our house and the wall.

Have a good week, love you 

Elder Batten

(Luke's shoes)

Week Sixty Seven

Hey! I put in some pictures from my old area. There are some from a ward activity in which I ripped my shirt pocket, and from a baptism. I received them from a member today. So there you are, more pictures. 

This past week we went to Viçosa for the open house there. It was cool and went really well.  We made a lot of contacts there in front of the "chapel" Inviting people to make a quick tour. It was good. I think the church got a lot of good publicity for Sunday. On our way home that night we stopped by an investigators house and then returned home. 

On Wednesday we had changes with one of the assistants to the president. He came to our area and spent the day with us and left the next morning. 

We had Ward Conference this Sunday. The church was packed with members, and a lot of less actives. We got some references as well. So we will have a lot of work for this week. 

We are teaching this guy named Kleberson who recently returned from São Paulo and is currently living with his family again. We started teaching him and he went to church this Sunday. He has a baptismal date set for the fifth. He asks a lot of good questions during the lessons and pays good attention. Also we are teaching this man named Jardi who has a date set for the 12th. He has been progressing a lot this last week. He received an answer to his prayers and told us that he wants to follow and believes that the church is true. 

Have a good week, love you.

Elder Batten

Week Sixty Six

On Tuesday I had to go to Viçosa to do a baptismal interview. Viçosa is a bit of a travel so we did changes with the other companionship. We ended up getting there really late, so I had to do the interview Wednsday morning. We ended up returning late to our area, but we were able to knock out a visit with a member that night. We started teaching this guy named Edson who is family of a member. I sent some pictures from my area but also from Viçosa. Viçosa is very pretty. There are a lot of green hills and valleys there. But it's been a little difficult to work in our area with all of the divisions and interviews that we have to do.

We have been working a lot with the members to find new investigators. I'm pretty determined that we will be able to have more progressing investigators doing this. I'm tired of making contacts and working with my legs. So we are pretty dedicated to work with members right now. 

My companion saw a skunk in outside of our house between the walls and the house this week. I started to feel the reek of the skunk. But when I returned outside with him we weren't able to find the skunk. 

We are going to have a bunch of activities and work this week in preparation for ward conference this Sunday. So I'll take pictures. Also I have to return to Viçosa because they are going to be opening a "chapel". (Not really a chapel but nicer than the house they are in right now). 

Love you, have a good week.

Elder Batten

Week Sixty Five - Gurguri

I wouldn't say I was "happy" or "sad" about being transferred. I had a good time in Arapiraca. But I'm excited to be here in Gurguri right now. It is a really good ward, and the members have been helping us a ton so far. They're really receptive and willing to help. So we had a good week.
I spent Monday saying goodbye to people, and on Tuesday morning I went to the bus station and returned to Maceió. Went to my area and set up house. The area that I am at is called Benedito Bentes 2. We live on the street right next to the chapel. Put Rua das flôres Benedito Bentes 2 on google maps and you should find the church and the street we live on. The house here is nice. It is usually for 4 missionaries, but for right now there are only two. (the mission is becoming low on missionaries)

 

We had a lot of things to do this week with interviews, leadership training, and zone meeting. We had to do a lot of planning and traveling. But it was okay because the members helped us out quite a bit this week. We had a lot of help with finding investigators and having members go to appointments with us. I'm really liking this area. We spent a lot of time visiting the members and getting to know them. So we had a productive week. We weren't able to bring anyone to church on Sunday, but this week I'm pretty confident that we will have someone progressing.

 

Also one day this week my companion needed to take out money from the bank, so we had to go to the shopping center to do it. It was the first time in over a year I've entered a shopping center. It was strange, because I had forgotten that the shopping center has kind of a particular smell. 

 

My companion's name is Elder C.Morais. He is from São Paulo.

 

I'm going to send a picture from the past Monday. It's from Arapiraca.

 

Love you, 

Elder Batten

 

 

 

 

Week Sixty Four - Transfer Day

Hey! So this week was great. We had a baptism on Saturday. João Vitor was baptized. Also I finnished training my companion. And I am getting transfered. I'm going to return to the same Zone as Rio Largo. It's called Tabuleiro. And I'm going to be in the area Gurguri.

I will send some pictures for you in this email. Also we had a ward activity this week. It was really cool. I ripped my shirt pocket during the ward activity. I'll get some of the other pictures from a member afterwards. 

 

I'll send more next week.  ​

 

Love Elder Batten